Oh, OCTELA, Here We Go!

 Oh, so excited to attend the 2024 OCTELA Conference near Columbus, Ohio.  I can't wait to learn from all of the great educators attending as well!  Conferences do so much to restore the energy level of educators.  Being around people who are so passionate about the content focus of the conference propels learning to another level.  

This year, I will be co-presenting with another educator from Bowling Green State University, Colleen Boff.  We met in the fall of 2023 at the Ohio Council of Social Studies conference (ironically at the same location).  We both share a passion for literacy and books.  We look forward to sharing how the books we bring along can do so much to lift student voices.  

We will be sharing all about how to create a literacy cafe and promote book tasting with others.  Be sure to join our session!  Make it your first stop of the day!  Nothing is better than a cuppa joe and some great books.

Place-based Education and My University Class

 The Fall of 2022 was a busy time for me.  I had the opportunity to lead a group of undergraduates in a new class called "Teaching Social Studies for Primary Teachers".  It was truly and amazing opportunity to learn and grow as a professional educator.  I truly enjoyed learning with my scholars.  They showed so much perseverance and learning each week in class.

I arranged for them to have a special opportunity to make a connection with experiential learning and place based education.  We toured Stan Hywet estate and participated in quests to learn about how they involve learners from the community to gain a historic perspective of the estate.  The students gained much knowledge about the history and impact created by the FA Seiberling family.  A special shout out to Toivo Motter and his willingness to help us grow and learn about the estate.

Power of the PBL

 One of the most exciting opportunities and challenges in 2022 was the powerful PBL created with The Akronauts, Myers School of Art from the University of Akron, and the Curated Storefront.  The Akronauts needed our scholars to design a mission patch for the launch of their rocket, The I Promise Project.  The project was a smashing success and we celebrated our scholars' work with a recognition banquet.

I was so proud of the way our scholars showed their habits of promise (problem solver, perpetual learner, perseverance, partner and perspective).  You can see their excitement in the pictures shared here and the final outcome of the patch the Myers School of Art artists designed for the Akronauts.

I believe our scholars learned the value of hard work-perseverance and will always remember this special day when they saw how a "challenge" can be solved when we work together to reach new heights!

Conversations on Corona Virus Impact and How to Support Self Care

Yesterday, I was able to hop on a virtual meeting with other coaches from around the US.  We talked about ways instructional coaches can support teachers.

I know self-care is critical at this time.  There are feelings of stress, pressure and sadness as we witness the warpath of the virus and how it's wrestling people for their lives.  It's tough to take.

Teachers are holding their own learning, doing and trying to stay positive for families and students.  I witnessed a tearful moment today as I watched my daughter's school teachers drive through the neighborhood beeping horns and showing signs that said, "we love you" and "we miss you".  Well, we love you and miss you too...my heart was in my throat! I choked back the tears but they came anyway.

I worry about teachers.  I want to help but how?  What's the best way?  Dr. Brad Johnson shared a wonderful meme earlier in the week.

 

I thought about how I could help teachers with a focus on self-care.  So, I created a self care bingo board.  I wanted to add this cheerful message:

 

and create a video to introduce the self care board along with incentives for completion without it feeling like one more thing to do.

Here is the board I created:

header created using Canva

I hope it's seen as a way to support teachers.  What do you think?  Helpful or harmful?

Living in the Time of Corona Virus-Pioneers Blazing the Virtual Learning Trail

I can't believe the way of the world...

A Pandemic...

A Super-spreader virus...

I never thought...

None the less, the journey's begun.  We are living in quarantine and have been for the almost three weeks.  It feels like an endless Saturday or Groundhog day where it's become cycle, rinse, repeat.

It's all over the place.  Our governor and the state director of health have shut it down.  Thank goodness because many more people would be infected if it weren't for them sounding the alarm about how we can fight the virus through the use of "social distance" planning.  We're doing it. 

Now, school has become a  virtual learning experience too.  I am experiencing it as a teacher, a coach, and a parent.  It's not easy.  I worry about the equity of it all.  Many families don't have internet access but students are suppose to learn "online".  This is likely how it will be through the end of the school year.

Yet, every day I am a witness to absolute dedication and living out of the habits of promise by our teachers and students.  I see the smiles on their faces, the digital determination alive in our tiny humans.  I have joined in our promise circles to hear the dear things our kiddos are saying.  I am so proud of their commitment to learning as they share their thinking with their classmates.

So here we are crossing the bridge together to blaze a trail on the other side where no one has gone before.  We are virtual learning pioneers.  And-we've got this!

How Breathe, 2020 OLW, Found Me!

One of the blessings of this winter break has been the time to work on projects around the house without interruption.  There are so many of these projects just waiting for me to embrace them.  I love that they are calling out to me to try and get my attention! "Pick me!"  "No, pick me!"  "Choose me!"  "I need your attention!"

It just so happens that the one most inspiring project has been the cleaning and keeping of my crafting room.  It's become a "catch all" over the last ten years.  Around the house when no one knew what to do with something, its new home became the crafting room.  One of the things that landed in there was my dad's bag of coloring books which got passed back and forth between him and my mom as they were in separate nursing homes the last two years of their lives as they both had extreme health issues that were incompatible with cohabitation.  My dad passed in 2017 and my mom passed a year ago on New Years Eve.  Touching the coloring books felt off limits.  I just couldn't look.  I couldn't handle thinking about how much time they spent in the last moments of their lives with the books and colored pencils.  It calmed them, passed their time when we couldn't be there.

Finally a few days ago, I was  clearing the crafting room, going through the stack of books (one by one)-this is how my one little word for 2020 found me.  I opened the book to this page as it was marked by two pencils left in the book.  My dad colored the picture a few months before he died.  My mom got the books from him but her dementia didn't allow for remembering that he had passed.  She wrote him a note on the back of the page...she loved him and missed him so much.

Just Breathe

Steve Senior, Always think outside the box and embrace opportunities that appear, wherever they might be.   Good job!

After reading the adoring message she wrote to him, I flipped back to the colored design and seeing it, burst into tears...ironically, not being able to breathe is what brought my dad's life to an end.

After my tears subsided, I reflected and felt like my parents were angels just then, talking to me, whispering a reminder to take things slowly, calmly.  Then, consider things but remember to breathe, just breathe...embracing opportunities when they appear!

So that is how my #OLW2020 found me and I chose Breathe...

Shout Out! Scattering Summer Kindness

A few days ago, I saw this tweet and thought about playing Summer Twitter Bingo...

Summer Twitter Bingo starts on Monday! Who’s ready to scatter kindness in this world?

Snap a photo completing one of the kind acts listed on our board and include the hashtags #passionforkindness and #hcpspln. How many ways can you get a #KindnessBingo?#tlap #edchat pic.twitter.com/JCiiuqhAvo

— Tamara Letter (@tamaraletter) June 14, 2019

The first square I wanted to check off is "writing a note of appreciation to someone".  The someone I'd like to write an appreciation letter for is Eric Curts!  Eric is generously sharing ideas, links and learning and constantly inspiring me and others.  Here is my letter:

Dear Eric,
Thank you for always inspiring me and others with your ideas, links and learning.  You are so great about creating and sharing your ideas with the world.  The world has become a much brighter place because of the kindness and citizenship you exude on your blog Control Alt Achieve and on Twitter and other tech avenues.  I am so grateful that I met you through different conference venues in the Northeast Ohio area.  Thank you for being you.
Gratefully,

 

Amy Rudd

Who would you consider giving a shout out to?  Spread some seeds of kindness today...

I Promise School Year 1-Lights Out

I heard it over and over:  “I can’t believe it’s the last day!” “I don’t want it to end.” and “I don’t want to go home.”

I saw tears streaming from children’s eyes as they said goodbye when the buses rolled down the lane toward the street.  They were hanging out the windows waving.  The buses were honking...we were waving back, choking back the tears...

Many smiled, some sobbed few were hysterical...it was a beautiful summer send off-one I’ll always remember as we ended our inaugural year at the I Promise School.

I feel so blessed to be a part of this opportunity to connect with pupils, people and partner organizations at our school.  There’s no place like home.  Our lights are now out for the summertime but we’ll be back home soon.

OETC 2019 Nuggets of Newness

OETC 2019 was an amazing experience.  I learned so much from colleagues, coworkers, and speakers during the event.  I loved reflecting and reviewing all of the nuggets of newness I mined during the conference.  There were so many amazing sessions as well as inviting vendors in the exhibit hall.  This year, I created a google doc to display all of the learning links that I wanted remember.  So, here, in no particular order, I have shared the most important information acquired during the conference.

To open links in the Google Doc, try right clicking on it and selecting, "Open in New Tab". 

A Byte about Pear Deck

Last Friday, I joined in being trained with other "inspearational" educators to become a Pear Deck Regional Coach!  I was overjoyed to be a part of the group and learn more about the "Peardagogy" from the Pear Deck trainers.  It's now official-I'm a regional coach and I'm happy to #sharethepear.  

During our training, we read articles to learn more detail about the philosophy of the company.  One of the articles I found inspirational included the details highlighted in the picture I shared here:

Source https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/opinion/sunday/are-college-lectures-unfair.html

Active learning is one of the key reasons I know using Pear Deck is valuable and can make an impact on the students with whom teachers work every day.

If you have not yet used Pear Deck, check out this sample deck I made to share.  Kids love how Pear Deck works and as a teacher, you will too!  Each time a teacher publishes a deck with the "Google Slides Add-on", a random 5 letter code will generate and allow students to join via a web enabled device.  The teacher can then use the dashboard feature to monitor student responses and give immediate feedback as students participate in the lesson.

The product allows for all students to have an active role in participating throughout the lesson.  After the lesson ends, teachers can give additional feedback to students via the "takeaways" that are published and stored in the student's google drive.  The takeaways serve as a digital note sheet that collected their answers from the lesson.  This could be used as a study guide for future assessments.

Are you excited to see this in action?  If you are interested in learning more about Pear Deck, click here.