Planning and Organizing for a Conference

A week ago at this time, I was a nervous wreck as we prepared to launch our first ever district literacy conference.  I am so happy to share today that it was "Mission Accomplished".  We hosted the conference with two keynote speakers, Tim Rasinski and Carol Jago.  We also had seven different presentation sessions to pick from for each of the four time blocks.  As the exit surveys slowly trickle in, we are proud that our conference was met with a high degree of success.

One of the sessions I was able to present on was an "Ignite Style" session.  If you are interested in reading more about the ignite style, you can go here.  It's a challenging format and took a lot of practice and advance prep to get it right but I think it was a beneficial way of getting a lot of information across in a little time.  My session was about using Twitter to grow a professional learning network.  I think it went well but my animations made some of my slides not work.  Two strategies that our lead organizer, Kristi Sacha, did for our panel added was a turn and talk half way through and a note sheet with our names down the left column, contact info and a place for notes for each one and then how it could be applied in the classroom.


Another fun part of the conference was tweeting to the #APSIgnite2016.  I am so happy that we decided to add this element.  I think it was a great way to get more people thinking about how to use Twitter to grow professionally.  Hopefully we will have even more tweeters tweeting when we have our conference next year.

Here is the Storify I made of our conference:

Many teachers and administrators came together.  Tons of collegial sharing occurred throughout the conference.

One of the tools we relied on heavily was a shared folder within the Google Drive.  This allowed the six of us to collaborate on shared documents.  We began with a timeline to help us organize our plan for the conference.  I highly recommend doing this to determine the dates of when things should be stepped out.  We then used the folder to share our google form for inviting presenters,  We also shared a brochure and save the date bookmarks (originally published in Microsoft Publisher).   The next tool we added was the summary of the conference sessions once the presentations were selected.  We also added a registration form and an exit ticket via google forms.

Overall, I love the way we could collaborate and edit together as we worked through the conference planning process thanks to Google Drive.  If I have the chance to work on organizing the event again next year, I will investigate using Guidebook as well to make the sessions available online so that more people can plan digitally for their session selections.

I feel privileged to have been through this learning experience.  I look forward to future events.

Changing My View

Today's #Digilit Sunday is all about perspective..."Changing My View"

"Perspective has a Latin root meaning "look through" or "perceive," and all the meanings of perspective have something to do with looking. If you observe the world from a dog's perspective, you see through the dog's eyes. In drawing, perspective gives your drawing the appearance of depth or distance. If we say someone "has perspective," we mean she has a sensible outlook on life."     Source:  Vocabulary.com

I wanted to spend today sharing about how what I learned from the #educoach tweet chat on Thursday changed my view.

The chat was focused on responding to questions from Chapters 8 and 9 from the book, Better Conversations by Jim Knight.  I haven't read the book, yet.  So, I mostly lurked during the chat.  There were some resources shared that helped me to learn about having "Better Conversations".

The first is the idea of empathy...watch this short digital text on "Empathy" and I'll see you on the other side:

The big takeaway from this video for me is that "empathy fuels connection" and by being connected, I can make a situation better.  As I build relationships with the teams of teachers, I aim to better my connections.  One of the quotes I really related to was "I know what it's like and you're not alone."  I will also be more cognizant of trying not to "silver-line" things.  

The other source of learning I connected with from the chat was the video Kathy Perret shared in her tweet about body language that she learned from Elena Aguilar, author of The Art of Coaching which is officially on my TBR pile.

@artofcoaching1 shared a great TED Talk at a workshop this week on body language https://t.co/7kpSxnotDg #educoach https://t.co/VXpPR4NZxw

— KathyPerret (@KathyPerret) May 26, 2016

Take the time to watch this Ted Talk...body language has an amazing impact on perception!

I have realized that my body language is doing a lot of non-verbal speaking.  The way others see my body responding and the way I see myself has a lot to do with how I'm communicating.  If I want to have better conversations and a more empathic perspective, my body language must be considered in the conversations.

I connect this to #digilit Sunday as I change my views to better understand others while living, learning and leading in my role as an instructional coach.

A special thank you to Margaret Simon for hosting #digilit Sunday and inviting me to write on the topic to share with others.  Head there now and check out other responses to "Perspective".

Intent

Digit Lit Sunday

I felt eager and excited to post when Margaret shared the #digitlit topic on Thursday:

#DigiLit Sunday: Join me with "Intent". @ChristinaNosek @cvarsalona @flynn_catherine @CathyMere @Mhaseltine @DrMaryHoward @AmyJoRudd

— Margaret Simon (@MargaretGSimon) May 19, 2016

I have been thinking a lot about intent this week as our district will be moving forward with 1:1 device plans within the next two years.  And suddenly, I observed all of these tweets popping about the intentional use of technology...

7 ways to use technology with purpose @sylviaduckworth @ajjuliani pic.twitter.com/HxD0swMvrh

— MindShift (@MindShiftKQED) May 15, 2016

New Post: Are We Integrating Tech in a Meaningful Way for Students? #edtech https://t.co/JFavlMu2hp pic.twitter.com/PdhHSFLZsl

— Kara Welty (@kara_welty) May 22, 2016

I celebrate using technology for a greater purpose as we move forward with 1:1.  There is much work to be done and some shifting that needs to take place before we're ready but I know we'll get there.  I look forward to this "intentional" journey...in the words of Lao Tzu, "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

I hope we learn that it's not just about using technology but using it for a greater purpose.

Refresh in Sharing

Hey, it's "Digilit" Sunday with Margaret Simon-Join in the fun and link up there!  The topic for today's digilit is "Refresh"...

Refresh means...

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=refresh

Think...
think...
think...
think...

I thought and I thought some more.

I really wanted to revamp what I am doing with my blogs and how I share what I've learned.  I have "The Rudder" where I have written most of my blog posts.  It's a swirl of so many things in my life...I feel like it's a mish-mosh of work, learning, family and personal experiences.  I felt the need to separate my career learning from my life learning-

as a result, I've started a new blog!  The Learning and Leading Cafe!  I thought of it as a place to share my work related learning with colleagues and connections from the world wide web.  I am excited to "refresh" how I share my learning!  I think I need a life coach to help me separate or organize how I operate...I feel so wishy-washy sometimes.  Feedback anyone?

Here's the new button I created to link up to this blog:

I look forward to learning how others reflected on the topic of refreshing today!

Celebrating Colleagues

Thank you to Ruth Ayres for hosting the weekly celebrate link up!

In the midst of the school year ending, there's always so much to do.  I have had three big projects to put together over the last few weeks and now they are almost nearing completion...what I love about this opportunity is that it allows me to collaborate with colleagues who are part of my professional growth puzzle.  I ran across this description as I received the book A Mindset for Learning by Kristine Mraz and Christine Hertz on Thursday.  I immediately started reading it and found connections and smiles within just the first few pages.

In the dedication, Kristine Mraz wrote this quote:  "There are people you meet who fit with you like a puzzle piece and you realize together you are more than you were alone."

I immediately identified with this quote and pictured my close colleagues who inspire me and nudge me to grow professionally nearly every day.  So this week, I'm celebrating being connected with these co-workers and thank them for helping me to better my actions within the teaching profession.