October+2012

October 23, 2012.
I have had a few days to reflect on the one day [|Embracing the Edge] conference that was held on Friday the 19th. It really was a fantastic day: the Keynote address by [|David Warlick] was informative and interesting- neat to see him grab a set of raw data about earthquake locations and then run it through a spreadsheet to create a map of the world solely based on the incidences of earthquakes over the past decade or so.

David Warlick also grabbed a very old educational meme and turned it on it's head. Most of us know "reading 'riting and 'reithmetic" as the three "R"s. Warlick's reinterpretation of this old understanding expands the notion of reading, of arithmetic, and of writing. As [|this Prezi] from 2010 shows, Warlick has been working on these ideas for a while, but they were fresh again for me on Friday, and it was good to see him in person.

I also had a chance to sit in a small round-table session with [|Reyn Redekopp] from the University of Manitoba and [|Mike Nantais] from Brandon University. They shared about what they teach pre-service teachers about the ins and outs of ICT use in the classroom. Interesting to see that many of the things expected in their courses are the kinds of things I would also want my high school students to do. It is important to have a web-presence, to cultivate it, to use social networks in a professional capacity, and, when the time comes, to be reflective and write about life as well in a blog of some sort. The session went quickly, and it was good. The short set of slides from this presentation can be found [|here.]

I too had an opportunity to present (twice) during the day. My one hour session was all about my journey as a teacher as my school adopts a 1 to 1 Bring Your Own Device model. I did a presentation very similar to this one in February 2012, and my slides were very similar for this presentation as well. The slides can be found and. I know, I have to start using slideshare. You'll have to live with this for now.

The teachers in my sessions came from a variety of schools, and most of them were curious about the BYOD experience because they anticipate similar pilot programs in their schools sometime in the near future. They asked good questions, and they were kind to me as well. I think that fun was had, and that we all learned a bit. If you were there, thanks (again) for attending!

An idea that has been percolating for me was amplified at the conference and I mulled it a bit more over weekend (as I raked leaves). I have been thinking about "MICRO" open online courses instead of MACRO open online courses. I tried this idea out with Redekopp and Nantais. They thought it was novel, maybe a bit interesting even. Anyways, it occurred to me that all kinds of informal learning could benefit from the simple formality of running through an edmodo course, or moodle, or choose whatever free online learning management system one wanted. If one person could teach four others a basic course in "small engine maintenance and repair" then that learning and course could be replicated, in a cellular fashion. Small things can become big things, and starting with small bits of structure helps to form larger structures as well. Micro-courses could also help people to find some camaraderie in learning together. Right now the idea needs more time to percolate, but I also have more yard work to do, so there is hope.

Good things come from sharing, and much was shared on Friday. It was a fun day of learning. Thanks to all of those at [|ManACE] and [|MSLA] who sponsored the conference!

October 12, 2012.
Had a meeting all about Microsoft and their Partners in Learning Program today- looking to see how this fits with our journey at Dakota. Relevant Link: []

October 10, 2012.
With the first few weeks of school behind us the focus is shifting away from the "getting to know you, students" phase to the "what can you students do?" phase. Our first set of (anecdotal) reports have already been created, and teachers are well into their programs of instruction, assessment, evaluation and ultimately reporting. In the midst of this I have a Professional Growth Plan (PGP) to write, and a couple of school based Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) to sort out with colleagues. The truth is that I enjoy all of the planning and organizing, but it does take time and energy.

This year my PGP is a group effort with three other teachers. Since the four of us are in the same PLCs, it seemed to make sense to write a group PGP as well. The acronyms make me feel kind of funny- acronyms for professional jargon seem to make a simple idea just a bit more confusing. So, to put this all in plain English, a group of four of us are going to share professional ideas about learning and teaching. We are also going to write out a plan so that our Principal knows what we are doing. There, that's better. . Sometimes it really matters to just keep it simple. (K.I.S.S., right? Keep It Simple, Silly.)