We're just "telling the computer what to do!"

During a meeting with my district Technology Integration Specialist, we were sharing the challenges we face with getting into classrooms to encourage more coding opportunities.  Especially for our younger learners first starting out, getting started requires time, exposure, coaching, and a chance to “play” with code.  Teachers and staff do an awesome job every day ensuring they are meeting the state standards, teaching key skills and content, while fostering the well-being of every child through social emotional learning.  Students often get a chance to try coding during their library/media time or during special events (like #HourofCode day), but it hasn’t yet made its way fully into daily instruction. I am hopeful that bringing coding into the daily routines of school will continue to grow as we see more and more of our future careers and college experiences requiring this skill.

After a long talk, what we realized is that there won't be a better time than now... and that since we can't find a good time, we would MAKE a good time! 

We started a trial (one session with grades 3-5, another day with grades K-2) with a morning Drop-In coding sessions. Our first day alone was a learning experience for us, as we had a significantly larger turn out than we were expecting (see 50+ as compared to our expected 15!) causing us to think on our feet while dealing with some wifi glitches. We connected together to reflect on what worked and what didn't, and with each session that has followed we have met to revise, reconsider, and plan how we are going to continue to engage our students in this work.  What originated as a chance to participate in #HourofCode has turned into an ongoing offering for all our students.

I have found joy in watching the process of discovery – a written code, a mistake, trial & error, and then success!  The whoops of excitement that come from groups that figure it out are contagious, leading others to inquire about what they did.  This process has fostered communication, flexible thinking, collaboration, applying skills to an unknown context, learning from mistakes, organization, and planning strategies.  Those skills are some of the many bonuses we’re observing, in addition to the learning gained from the growing coding skills our students are developing. 

It has also been a great chance to step back into a teaching role facilitating the learning.  the flexibility demanded from our teachers each day; planning for a lesson that doesn't always go the way you expect, taking advantage of the "found" learning opportunities that come along naturally when working with kids, managing unexpected glitches, and fostering quiet leaders - that have found a niche and a love of learning in this area.

Some of my favorite conversations have been at the end of the session when students turn in their devices and I have asked them "What is something new you learned or new you tried?"  My favorite is when a student starts off with explaining how they made a big mistake and had to change what they were doing to figure it out.  I am also finding students approaching me when they see me in the cafeteria, hallways, or classrooms to talk about their excitement about coding or their plans for our next session. That's when I let them in on a little secret... I'm excited for our next session too!

It may not be your fault...

It may not be our fault but it is our responsibility.

I have been thinking about the many tragedies that have occurred lately, with Las Vegas being the most recent one and I am heart broken.  Author Mo Willems' tweet had a sad and significant impact on me;

It is easy to feel helpless with these continued senseless acts of terror and violence. When these events occur I try to listen and hear everything I can. Where was the glitch? What went wrong? How can we prevent this in the future?  Unfortunately, no answer comes.

What I know is that there is never one reason, one organization, or one law that are at fault. And while we may not be able to cleanly lay blame or fault, that does not excuse us from our responsibilities. Because it takes just ONE to make a positive impact on a life. 

As leaders in our classrooms, leaders in our school, and leaders in our community, we play a massive role in the development of our future generations. Yes, a daunting task - but one as educators we embrace each day we enter our schools. It is our responsibility as educators to build the relationship bridge for these little humans we have the honor of working with every day.

It is our responsibility to teach, model, and reinforce what we hope our communities will look like and sound like in the future.

It is our responsibility to model what caring and loving adults do.

It is our responsibility to connect with our kids, with our parents, and with our wider community to build a support network for our children.

Our work has ripple effects, and if we want to make a change in the world, we must start within our four walls, cultivating our future generations.

it's about the HOW...

I received a great reminder this weekend of the impact we have on our students.  My kindergarten daughter wanted to play school, she was the teacher.  We couldn't play right away, as she spent a long block of time getting prepped and ready (very true to life, right?)  

Once we went into play, she had set up the materials at our “desks” and had even hand-made our Fundations papers.  

I watched her play the role of her teacher (whom she adores!) and could see and hear her mimic her teacher’s inflection, catch phrases, and even her physical movements. How she called on her "students," her nonverbal strategies for getting our attention, and even her positive feedback about our work (and coaching when we made a mistake!)

It was a powerful example that students are not only focused on what we say but, even more so, how we talk with them.  This was a wonderful reminder to me as I get ready for a new week – and I share this challenge with you.  If the students you work with were playing school, what sound bites do you want them to pull from you?  How do you hope they say it?  Go out and model it and be great for kids!

#KidsDeserveIt #MomsAsPrincipals #PrincipalsInAction

I Broke Out!

I did it!

I broke out of being a “reader not user” of Breakout EDU!  I have been hearing about Breakout EDU from colleagues in my Professional Learning Networks for about 8 months now.  I did my research (on breakoutedu.com, Facebook page, Twitter, and more!) to learn how it works and why it was such a big hit with everybody.  It became pretty clear that the excitement around Breakout EDU was focused on what we’re all looking to do for our students; create engagement, have authentic challenges, foster perseverance, develop opportunities for collaboration, and embed hands-on learning opportunities to apply our knowledge and skills.  That was it – I was hooked.

About 3 months ago I decided I was going to jump in and I purchased 2 kits for my school.  Once they arrived I spent a lot of my own “play” time to learn how to use and set the locks, playing with the kits, exploring Breakout EDU Games, and playing with the UV light/pen (super fun!) 

Ok, I was ready… It was official and I put it on a staff meeting agenda!  I used the Faculty Meeting Breakout game from the website.  Kits were put together, resources were printed, locks were on.  And then… SNOW DAY!  My Breakout EDU staff meeting had to be put off for another month.

Yesterday I finally had the opportunity to share this resource with my staff.  After sharing some of the information I’ve learned about Breakout EDU with them, I turned them loose.  It was awesome to watch.  My staff members got working together in teams – some jumping right in and trying while others hung back to watch how this was going to unfold.  Some folks stepping up as leaders of the work, others were thinking creatively outside-the-box ideas for clues and combinations.  I split the staff into two groups, to provide more opportunities for each person to engage with the tools – which created an unintentional fun bit of competition between the groups -I overheard a team plotting to swallow the other team’s key (all in good fun of course!)

Both teams were able to successfully Breakout of their boxes – to find some exit tickets from our meeting.  My teachers’ feedback highlighted some of the things that worked well for them or their team;

• Teamwork
• Communication
• FUN
• Chance to show different strengths
• Working together/collaboration
• Upbeat – no cheating
• Teambuilding
• Listening
• Everybody coming at the task from different perspectives and ideas
• Patience
• Brainstorming
• Trial and error
• Perseverance
• All people invested

Many staff were also able to think about how they could utilize this with their students! As much of a learning activity as it may have been for participants, I think I learned more as the facilitator of the activity (both about myself and about my staff.)

After some reflection time, some of my take-aways are;

• Back off!  Don’t rush to help… be patient.  I offered multiple times that if teams wanted a hint they could ask for it – and each time the teams said “NO!”  They wanted space to try it for themselves. Our educator brains are wired to “help”  - so acknowledging the space to struggle is huge… and in doing it again I would give teams the ‘hint’ card for them to raise if they needed to ask me and then I would BACK OFF!
• Some people will jump in and use a lot of trial and error while others need to hang back to watch and warm up.  I worried that those hanging back were disconnected from the activity and their team.  I may not ever be able to know for sure, but I did observe some of those that were hanging back get more connected and engaged as the activity went on – and saw cheering when a lock was opened! It may be that the style of learner and style of collaboration may respond differently when put into this unknown situation – or when asked to problem solve with team-mates they don’t always work with.  I need to be sure as an educator I honor and respect that time folks need to process and allow that engagement to happen at varied paces.
• There are different leaders that may pop up when given the opportunity. As an educator I need to consider when to assign “roles” and when the group dynamic should organically allow people to step up.
• PREPARE!  I used the tools multiple times when the kits first arrived.  I also set and reset the locks while getting ready.  Once I set the kits all up – I did each of the tasks myself to make sure they all worked.  In doing this I found a few pieces that needed to be adjusted or clarified before sharing with my teachers.  It reminds me of when I was in the classroom and had prepared a sub plan for a day I expected to be out.  I ended up not being out and found the day went beautifully because I had “over”planned everything thinking that a substitute would be there.  Especially when engaging in something new – there are measurable benefits to “over” practicing and preparing!
• Take risks – be willing to fail publicly.  I told my staff when we started that this was new for me and that I had never done this before.  I appreciate that my staff was flexible enough to jump in with me and try this tool – whereas it could have just as easily failed!  I felt it was important to take this jump because I hope that my teachers know they can take risks too (and FAIL when trying!) – just as we ask our kids to do each day.

I am so appreciative of my staff’s willingness to try this activity with me. Thank you for giving it a go and engaging in the collaborative process while taking a risk trying something new with me! I am excited about so many of the new innovations happening in our field – and I cannot wait to see what our learners take on next!

Why a new blog?

As I have become more engaged in social media, I realize that there are benefits and challenges to working in this growing space.

I had been "playing" with Twitter for about 6 months before I actually shared that I had an account.  From there, I spent time becoming more comfortable using the tool. After about a year I realized the potential that it held, and found myself trying to work through my personal learning on Twitter (Twitter Chats, following other leaders, etc.) and using Twitter as a way to share out about my school community.  Once I hit this crossroad I developed 2 accounts.

I'm finding myself there again.  Although I don't write/blog with enough frequency, I do enjoy it.  When the opportunity arises to share my personal thinking I find myself hesitant to blog, because my blog was originally developed to be a platform to share information with my school community.  I have decided to create this additional blog for the same reason as above - I want to be sure I'm engaging in professional learning activities for myself to maintain a "learner" perspective and grow myself as a lead learner while also using social media tools to communicate with my larger school community.

Of course there will be overlap - as there should be.  My personal and professional learning and growing are so intertwined with my work... this is a challenge I will have to learn how to work through!