EdCamp ELA

Every time that I get thinking about EdcampELA, I get so excited. I'm excited about how much I'm going to learn, how much I hope to teach others, and how many fellow educators I'm going to get the opportunity to meet!

Okay, maybe I'm jumping ahead of myself a little bit.

So, what is EdcampELA? Well, EdcampELA is the brain child of my good friend Kristy Louden (@kmkteach). While we were sitting together at EdcampBirmingham, she looked at me and threw out an idea: let's do this for English teachers.

Edcamps are an amazing experience for professional development. I'm one of those odd birds that genuinely enjoys PD. I like to sit there and listen to other teachers talk. I love to read "teacher books" and then join book clubs about them. I check Twitter on a daily basis for any new educational information that I can get my hands on.

But none of these things, not one of them, compares to Edcamp.

What's so great about Edcamp is that it's an "unconference," which basically just means that the day is open to those who are there. There are no sessions; no keynote speakers. There are no definite schedules to follow; no defined "lesson to learn." It's all up to the people that show up. The attendees are the speakers, the teachers, and the learners. All in one day, you get to play all of the roles! It's amazing.

So the day goes a little something like this:

At about 8 am, you arrive at Edcamp. When you get there, you're given a chance to mix, mingle, and most importantly, check out The Board. The Board is a literal board (either a whiteboard/chalkboard or a virtual board) that attendees use to create and check out the schedule of sessions for the day. There are usually about 5 sessions throughout the day with multiple choices offered during those sessions. You might have one about Twitter, one about Tellegami, and one about GAFE all at the same time. You choose what you'd like to go to. Also, during this time, if you have an idea for a session you're welcome to write it on "The Board"! All you need is a sticky note and a quick description or title.

After checking out The Board, attendees are given a welcome from the Edcamp organizers and they are given the lay of the land -- AKA directions around what is usually a school you've never been to before. Then it's time to start learning!

My personal favorite part of Edcamp is the idea that you "vote with your feet," which basically just means that if you want to leave a session, no apology needed. Go somewhere that you'll learn something. Nobody's feelings will be hurt (and even if they are, they are sworn to keep it to themselves :) ). 

At the end of the day there are usually giveaways and chats between new friends. It's really a great day.

So, with that explanation out of the way, EdcampELA is a bit different than the majority of Edcamps around, as it's really, specifically for English teachers, reading coaches, literacy instructors, administrators, and librarians. Or, well, anybody interested in reading, writing, listening, speaking, and literacy skills. If that's you, you should be there!

EdcampELA will be held September 6 at Hoover High School (mark your calendars!).

It's going to be a day unlike anything else, because it really will speak to those of us there. We will get a chance to share ideas that we can DIRECTLY transfer into our classrooms. We will learn about strategies, books, skills, and technology that we can use in our classrooms without having to figure it out. We can collaborate with those who experience our daily lives in their daily lives. We can build relationships in different schools so that we have a PLN across the state! It's going to be a special experience.

So, please, join us for EdcampELA. Kristy has worked unbelievable hard to make this a great experience for all involved. She has a vision for this day, and it's one that I'd love to experience. So let's make it a reality!

When you come to Edcamp, don't feel like you have to present. You don't. But if you have a great idea, please share it with us! We are excited most about learning from each of you, so come with ideas! I know you all have them!

You can find more about EdcampELA at our website: http://edcampela.weebly.com

For tickets (THEY'RE FREE!): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/edcamp-ela-registration-11521961497

Also, help us spread the word! We want diversity and collaboration, so we need as many people as we can get! Follow the hashtag #edcampELA and us on Twitter at @EdcampELA .

If you have any questions, feel free to email Kristy or myself at EdcampELA@gmail.com.

We look forward to learning from and with each of you!

Ms. Z

@hanzarz

AETC 2014

Today I attended my first Alabama Educational Technology Conference, and I'm exceptionally impressed.

I'll tell you a secret: I wasn't too terribly excited about going. Not only was I nervous about presenting (first time), but I'm a bit burned out on tech. I teach in a 1:1 school, and this was the first year with all students having iPads. The majority of our PD this year has focused on-you guessed it!-technology. I didn't even realize how tired of it I was until my great friend Kristy (@kmkteach) mentioned how much she missed content-specific PD. As much as we both love and are excited to have tech in the classroom, we really miss English and digging deep into that world as well.

But I was signed up to present and figured heck, why not get the most out of paying for parking?

I got so much more than that.

I won't get too specific, but the day was amazing. It began with Dr. Tommy Bice, our state superintendent, urging us as educators to step out of the box. He requested that we step up to the plate and make a difference-shake up the education world. He guaranteed years ahead without test scores effecting teachers' jobs and school accountability. He refused to apologize for adopting the CCRS, turning away from NCLB, and causing disruptions in the traditional education system. Truly inspiring. I couldn't be luckier to work in Alabama with the support of Dr.Bice.

Next I got the opportunity to see one of our assistant principals at HHS win the Marbury Award for technology integration. Dr. Sutherland (@BUCSlead) has been a wonderful leader in our Engaged Learning Initiative for Hoover City Schools. I'm very proud to work with her daily.

Then the true conference began. Jeff Utecht (@jutecht) was the keynote speaker and was jaw-droppingly hilarious. If you don't know Jeff, you should connect with him on Twitter immediately. He's taught and worked with schools and children all around the world, which makes him an interesting speaker. He showed us what technology looked like globally and how many misconceptions many Americans hold about our technological advancements in comparison to other countries. Believe it or not, we're actually behind. Rwanda and Ethiopia are aiming to have 100% wifi connection at least a year before the U.S. is projected to. 

His presentation really urged us as educators to change the CONTEXT of how we teach in today's globally-connected society. He reminded us that standards will always be standards, but we need to teach in the context that our students will experience in the world around them. Instead of focusing simply on paper-based reading skills, why not integrate reading the internet search pages? Why not focus on how we can train students for jobs that are cloud-based (which, by the way, had 1.7 MILLION unfilled jobs in 2012 due to the lack to knowledge needed to carry out the job).

To say the least, the presentation was eye-opening and humbling. I will continue to connect with Mr. Utecht over Twitter and hope to continue learning from his global experiences.

Next, I attended a session given by Kevin Honeycutt (@kevinhoneycutt). I had heard so much about him before attending the session that I was overjoyed to have the chance to meet him. His presentation argued for educators that are constantly learning, showing a love for learning, and passing that along to students. He argued for creation (with self-created businesses, startup projects, and student-driven compaines) on all levels. 

One of my favorite things that he recommended was having students work in companies for a semester. They were given "money" to "buy" things that they would need in order for their companies to be successful. I'm thinking about taking this concept and putting it toward my PBL project for next year. Stay tuned! :)

I then went back to hear more from Mr. Utecht. The two sessions I attended were amazing. The first was based on Google Apps and how to use them in ways that we don't consider at first. The second informed us of how to use blogs as an eportfolio system. Both of these sessions were unbelieveably helpful. Here are the links that he gave us with resources from the sessions:

http://www.jeffutecht.com/google-apps/

http://www.jeffutecht.com/efolios

Also, here's a bonus interesting link from Jeff about how Wikipedia is actually more accurate than your most recent textbook (even in HISTORY!)

http://ow.ly/xCGG9

Lastly, I presented with Nikki Robertson (@NikkiDRobertson) on Doctopus, Goobric, and Google Hangouts. You can find my video on how to use Doctopus and Goobric below. I'm just getting started with making vidoes, so beware!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yNCLMxvR06w

If you're able to attend next year, I highly reccommend this conference. You can go ahead and mark your calendar for June 9-11 2015!

Until next time,

Ms. Z

@hanzarz

Why Grade/Subject Level PLCs Aren't Enough

I'm exceptionally lucky to work with amazing English teachers on a daily basis. I have been shocked at the level of passion that these teachers have, even after 20 years. However, I rarely get the opportunity to discuss lessons and ideas with all of them.

My school requires that we meet with our PLC once per week during our off periods. This time is usually spent sharing and creating, critiquing and praising. It's a time that's always very interesting to me as a new teacher. I usually develop ideas, borrow resources, and, sometimes on really good days, feel a bit better about what I do in the classroom. And as much as I do enjoy meeting with this team...it's just not enough. Luckily, a lot of people agree with that.

When I began working at my school, there was already a group in place that called themselves the Writing Team thanks to our department head Chad Cooley. This team works vertically in order to better develop an expectation at each grade level of where students should be. This team meets completely voluntarily after school about once a month/once every 2 months. We've spent this year laying out a plan that I think will be great for the department that we're going to try next year. We're focusing on creating a "toolkit" that students will become familiar with throughout high school - in academic vocabulary, worksheets, handouts, and assignments - so that things don't need to be constantly retaught due to a misundertanding rather than not understanding the content. It's an exciting process, and it's one of the things that I believe will truly make a difference in shaping our school and building our students' writing skills.

Two of our principals, Jennifer Hogan and Carrie Busby (@jennifer_hogan, @hhsbusby), have begun a new team that will work on literacy in all areas of the school. They have dubbed it the Literacy Team. It's much different from Writing Team, as it incorporates all subject areas. We have science teachers, math teachers, administrators, history, and English teachers all prepared to work together to improve literacy in our school. We are reading The Core Six Essential Strategies for Achieving Excellence with the Common Core as the basis of our first year. Split into groups of 3, we will focus on one of the 6 strategies focused on in the book. I can already feel the change that this will make at HHS. It's an exciting endeavor for the students, but also for us.

We, as educators, need to build off of each other. We need to know where our kids are when they come to us and how to prepare them for where they are going. As a teacher working in a large high school, I know that this can be difficult. I know that there isn't always time to sit down with an entire department and discuss what each of us is doing in class. But I think it's important. I think knowing what our students have read, touched, written, felt, experienced, and learned thus far in their education gives us a better idea of how to push them forward instead of running the endless wheel of reteaching.

Let me give you an example of what I mean-

When I began working with the Writing Team, I created a Google Form that I asked the department to fill out. Basically, I wanted to know what we all called different parts of an essay. We had discussed the need for a more common academic vocabulary when teaching and discussing writing, and this was our first step in interpreting where we stand. I turned this form into an infographic using www.piktochart.com. Here are our findings:

 

I apologize for the bad quality of the image. You can see the results here as well:

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/1757612-writing-team

Although we would never ask all teachers to use certain vocabulary, it was important for us to know what our students had called a certain part of an essay. If I'm introducing a topic sentence and call it a claim, I can tell students that it's similar, or the same as, a topic sentence. They should then be able to tap into their prior knowledge to better understand the concept, and I won't have to reteach the same concept that they already know.

I'm excited about where my department and my school is headed when dealing with vertical learning communities for educators. I personally believe that it will benefit our students, our faculty, and our administration in the future. I hope that this becomes something bigger than what it is in these beginning stages. We all have a lot to learn from each other. It's time that we start collaborating in a real, noteworthy way.

Until next time,

Ms. Z

@hanzarz