#FallCUE Conference

Wow. What an amazing 2 days in beautiful Napa, CA! I was able to learn, connect, and reflect at CUE's annual Fall Conference at American Canyon High School, which is an incredible campus in its own right. The conference was split into two days which challenged, inspired, and mentally wore me out thinking about how to flip, disrupt and Googlefy my classroom. I was continually reminded that technology is not just something to use in the class, but rather something to enhance the learning of today's 21st Century learner. So here is a summary of that reminder and my experience at Fall CUE.

Day 1: Google Apps EDU Certification Training

I was really excited about this training and learning how to expand my knowledge in the arena of Google Apps for Education. Little did I know of what all this entailed. I was lead by three fantastic Google Teachers, Danny Silva, Dave Childers, and Alice Keeler. All three were trained in the Jedi ways of Google and really gave me a better grasp as to how to not only use Google Apps more effectively in my class and school, but it also gave me a deeper insight of what Google EDU can do to enhance learning and collaboration. I was also blessed to have a great partner, Shauna Hawes, to work through the day with and bounce Google Apps language between the two of us.

Throughout the day training I became better accustomed with Google Docs, Forms, Spreadsheet, Sites, Calendar, Gmail, Marketplace, and Dashboard. All of these absolutely blew my mind with how they work together and are used to better the classroom effectively. Now, implementing them amongst my staff will be another journey, but what I discovered was the need to gain approval for our school's own domain for Google Apps. I think that will be my next step in getting staff and others on the Google Apps train for success.

Day 2: 5 Excellent Sessions

Session 1: Technology + Student Directed Learning = Success for All!
What a fantastic first session to start my 2nd day at FallCUE. Julie Garcia and Tim Weidmann presented on how to use iPod Touch's, Math Apps, and Wikis in the classroom to enhance learning. We were split up into three stations that allowed us the opportunity to listen in on their specific classroom strategies and ideas. Tim had a fantastic example of how to use Wikispaces to allow students to collaborate and access projects and resources for math experience. I was then able to get a hands-on experience with some IPod Touch's and some radical apps that supplement math standards. One in particular was Math Legend which is an app that allows students to feel like they are playing Guitar Hero but apply the math skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Finally, Julie Garcia showed some great video ideas to implement into the classroom with particular math objectives. I really enjoyed hearing her ideas of using video to capture math in a way that is disruptive and innovative for the student.

Session 2: Knowledge is Freedom: CIPA, COPPA, and FERPA Explained Succinctly
Ok...this session was really an eye opener for me! Mark Wagner, Google pro, was very specific in describing what these laws say and how they apply to the classroom when using the Internet within the classroom and throughout the district. I really appreciated how Mark lead this course in sort of an open discussion/forum. Many of the people that chose to go to this session had some connection with how these laws effect them in some sort of way, either positive or negative. At any rate, I feel that after this session, CIPA, COPPA, and FERPA are a little more clear to me and what my actual rights are in using the web in a more accurate way.

Session 3: Google Earth
Now, if I do have to pick one session that didn't impress me as much, it had to be this one. Unfortunately, the projector was not as clear, which was out of the presenter's hands, but didn't help his particular presentation. However, with that said, I did begin to see the amazing things that I can use Google Earth to enhance lessons, specifically in the subject of Social Studies. I discovered the use of 3D Buildings and Tours as being two fantastic tools to utilize within the Google Earth application that could be truly powerful.

Session 4: A 45 Minute Social Studies Makeover
If there is one area that I always feel I need to improve in is the subject-area of Social Studies. Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the curriculum of Social Studies, but there are times that I really struggle with teaching my 6th graders in that captivating way that I was taught that gave me the appreciation I have for history today. James Gates did an incredible job in sharing specific resources within Google search that could really illuminate how to research and find specific things on the Internet. I also learned about using the Pecha Kucha method to implement when students present. Basically, the Pecha Kucha limits the students to present their slides in a 20 second per slid fashion. It also makes it to where students cannot use bullet points to help them in their presentations. Overall, a fantastic course on how to make Social Studies a little more interactive and interesting for my students.

Session 5: Flipteaching: Using Screencasting and Tablet Technology Shift the Homework-Instruction Paradigm
Now there is always that one session that completely blows your mind and refreshes your outlook at some of our teaching practices. Well, Ramsey Musallam's Flipteaching session was that for me! Now, whenever your presenter starts out with the fact that he might get the phone that he needs to leave because his wife could go into labor at any second, you know you picked the right session to be at! Musallam introduced me to the concept of an "Explore - Flip - Apply" model. This alone was a paradigm shift for me, and it was only the beginning of the session. I have always been intrigued on the idea of filpteaching, but I never really knew how to structure it in a way that made it practical to use with 6th graders. Now, Musallam has access to a lot more resources than I do at my site, but I am tired of that being an excuse of wanting to accomplish something that I think can be seriously effective for my students. One idea that he shared with the group was the use of screencasting to record lessons in order for students to access in order to assimilate the instruction during class. He also modeled how to use Google Docs to help record when students watched the screencast and complete the desired activities for the next day's assignment. I have used Screenflow to capture movies on my desktop, but my subscription has recently expired and I don't have anything to use to screencast any of my lessons. I was bummed about this until Musallam shared that the newest version of Quicktime can record desired sections of your screen and it is free! So that is what I am destined to begin with when creating my screenflows for my lessons. Overall, a fantastic session and completely opened the floodgates with ideas for creativity with flipteaching.

So that was summation of FallCUE! Michael Horn and Tammy Worcester were fabulous keynote speakers begin and end the conference as well. They were the perfect bookends to the conference I was influenced and inspired by the two of them. I think the best thing about the weekend was the fact that I was able to spend it with my beautiful wife. This was our first get away in a long time and it was much needed! Fantastic conference Fall CUE! I am looking forward to next year already!

Wk4 BP Entry 4 - EDM613 MAC - ETC!, Publishing/Leadership, and Thank You's...

For my final free choice blog post of Media Asset Creation (MAC), I have decided to write about the Education Technology Conference (ETC!), put on by the California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP) that I attended in Modesto, CA this past weekend. Every year I attend this conference and I seem to be inspired to try new things in my classroom that have to do with technology integration. In fact, it will always be a special conference to me because this is where I connected with the presenter, Paul Devoto, who was the one that introduced me to the EMDT program at Full Sail University. Paul has not only been a very inspiring educator, but he was also one of my critical friends for my Action Research Project.

Aside from the great sessions I attended on free Web 2.0 resources, CyberSafety education, Prezi, and iPad ideas for the classroom, I was able to get into contact with two people that were able to give me some great advice and connections for publishing my research project. Burt Lo and Brian Bridges were able to give me some great advice on how to get my research published into OnCue, one of the journals I am aiming at for possible publication. Not only were they both very helpful in getting me connected with who to contact, but both, specifically Burt Lo, was very excited in what I found with my research and was going to possibly contact someone at ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) to look at my project for possible publication. I was super excited about this and was extremely grateful to Burt and Brian for offering their time into getting my project published. Not only did I get more information on my Publishing/Leadership project, but I was also led down a path that I was not expecting with the possibility of ISTE picking up my project. Talk about the art of possibility!

At any rate, by attending ETC! this year, I was able to get my Leadership/Publishing Project rolling by connecting with people who could assist me in this part of my Full Sail journey. So I would like to take this time to thank Paul Devoto, Burt Lo, Brian Bridges, and all the people that have been influential in not only my ARP, but through the whole EMDT program. All of my colleagues, mentors, and course directors have been very inspiring through all the courses, projects, team projects, peer-critiques, blog comments, and everything else that came along with the FSO experience. I have enjoyed collaborating with all of our classmates, but specifically Bryan Antos, Pamela Hickman, Brooke McKaig, and Orlando McLin,


whom I worked together with from month 1. We have had quite the journey together and I look forward to keeping in touch with all of you!

Entry 3 - Wk4 Comments to Pamela Hickman: Art of Possibility Ch. 9-12

Week 4-Blog Post 2-The Art of Posibilities Ch. 9-12

Pamela Hickman's Comments:
This weeks reading was very good. I would have to say the whole book was very good I liked how it talks about like possibilities from every angle imaginable. I really enjoyed chapter 10 talking about our life being a game board. It seems like my students over the past couple of years have this sense of "entitlement" there is no self responsibility anywhere. I have noticed students will say "that teacher gave me an F" instead of "I earned an F in math." This generation of kids are looking to blame someone every time something goes wrong in their life. I like how the booked refers to life a board and we are going to make choices and mistakes, but we have to learn from them. Sometimes we have to put our pride to the side and say "yes this is my fault how do I fix it?" I try to teach my students you are not entitled to anything the successes you get in life are earned, but so many students think that they are going to make millions of dollars have a perfect life without hard work. I hate to say this but that is not reality. People in general want to blame diffrent people for hardship and bad things, but the ugly truth is sometime we make mistakes and have to learn from them.

I lost my brother four years ago to this "game" called the choking game. I was so heartbroken over the lose of my brother. I just wanted to blame the kids that showed him how to "play." I wanted to blame the God, but I didn't want to blame him for doing it. I guess we never want to blame the people we love for bad things that hurt us. The ugly truth was my bother made the choice to play and the consequence was that he died at 19-years-old. I guess in that first year of losing my brother I just wanted life to stop and people to just piety my situation. I got alone with God and my Bible and realized life hasn't stopped people will not continue to piety my situation. I began to think OK this has happened know what can I do to make a difference. My family and I began to give speeches to youth groups in churches in the area about the dangers of the "Choking Game." My family and I didn't want this to happen to another family so we are trying to make a difference through educating parents and teens on the deadly game. My challenge to everyone is this when God allows bad things to happen to you use it to help others. God allows bad things to happen to good people because He knows that we can handle the bad thing and use it for His Glory.

Posted by Pamela at 3:10 PM

My Comments to Pamela:
Pamela,

What a heartfelt blog post! I think it is interesting that human nature is always ready and prepared to point the proverbial finger at anyone but themselves when they should be looking at in the mirror in the first place to evaluate what they could have done differently (which I do believe has some biblical application). I think today's student/individual spends so much effort on how to cast their problems onto someone else rather than "being the board" and looking at life from that perspective. I think as teachers, we shoulder a lot of the burden in attempting to persuade our students into believing that they can accomplish something great in their lives, but we also must realize that at some point the student must be the one that has to take that initiative and discover their own art of possibility. And as a educator, I am always trying to be a catalyst in each of my students' lives to be the one that generates that spark of possibility that encourages them to take that risk that leads them down their "road of passion" so-to-speak. But at some point, I must be content with the fact that I have done my best to reach each student and now it is up to them.

Anyways, I was really touched and inspired by what you shared about your brother. I know that with the strength of God, you and your family have seen the positives that came from this event in your lives. As hard as that is to understand at times, those are the instances that God uses to give us clarity and perspective about certain aspects of this thing called life that we would have never understood before. Thanks for sharing Pamela!

Entry 2 - Wk4 Comments to Saray Taylor-Roman: Art of Possibility Ch. 9-12

wk4 reading - Chapters 9 - 12

Saray's Comments:
I have truly enjoyed this book. It has open my eyes to the possibilities around me in my job, my marriage, and my life. In three years of teaching, I had caved into the downward spiral of the teacher's lounge. In three years, just around the time to be granted tenure, I had become whom I swore to never be as a teacher. I had lost my vision. I had forgotten why I went into teaching.


My calculating self blamed my students for their lack of enthusiasm and work ethic in my class, blamed my department for lack of cohesion, blamed the administrators for lack of communication, trust, and leadership, blamed the parents for lack of involvement, blamed my master's program for taking away too much of my personal time. I was taking myself way too seriously that instead of seeing everyone as a contribution, I saw them as obstacles. There was a clear distinction of the I and Them. There was no WE.

Then, came this book "The Art of Possibility" and the video that all of you watched was more a message for me than anyone else. When I watched it the first time on YouTube I cried as I realized no one was going to do change things for me, I had to take the initiative. I had to put on my shoes and start the walk...


Really, it was not until I accepted the way things are and that defined myself as the board that my perspective changed and I saw opportunities rather than obstacles.
I'm not saying that suddenly I'm living a fairy tale, but I was given the opportunity to dream,


to redraw my professional framework, to redesign the rules of my own invented game and, in the process, I've gained a refreshing vision and I'm starting to see the change: first in me, then in those around me.

Once, I had a clear vision of who I am as a teacher I was able to see the power of enrolling my students in my course. I have seen the power of enrolling the head of my department and the principal of our school to get an Apple Learning Lab with 30 mac books and a mobile cart for my classroom next year. It is now that I can, once again, be excited --like Zander's friend when she was six years old and about to play the cello in the competition- right before I get to teach each of my classes and my students have seen the change and they want to be a part of it. Like Ben put it "enrollment is the art and practice of generating a spark of possibility for others to share." (pg. 125)


Let's share that spark!
Posted by Saray Taylor-Roman at 9:04 PM

My Comments to Saray:
Saray! Awesome blog on the last 4 chapters of "The Art of Possibility! You had some great insight on the book, as did I and many others in this course, that we will take with us into the fields of education and corporate training.

I think the part that struck me the most was your observation on Zander's, being the board analogy. I like how you stated that it wasn't until you accepted the way things are is what began to define you and that is when perspective changed. I can completely relate to this because there are times in education when it is so easy to get jaded because of the way the system is designed that we can lose sight of why we became a teacher in the first place. But it is not until we change our perspective and realize that we can only control what is in front of us everyday that causes us to view things differently and approach our practice in a refreshing and more effective way. Anyways, I enjoyed reading your post and enjoy the endeavor of lighting a spark of possibility for others!

Wk4 BP Entry 1 - EDM613 MAC - Art of Possibility Ch. 9-12

There are the books that we read that are intriguing at times and sort of tails off into nothingness. There are the books that we read that start off great and seem to go nowhere chapter after chapter and we regret the fact that we cannot get those hours of our life back. And then there are the books we read that are thought-provoking and life challenging. "The Art of Possibility," to me, was one of those books. I was really impressed at the perspective and the direction that this book aimed to achieve through each chapter. Chapters 9 through 12 were no exception.

There were several things that caught my eye during this reading, but I think the two things that impacted me the most were the ongoing theme of the downward spiral and us "being the board." As I read about these two concepts I kept thinking about leadership and how I as a teacher can influence so many minds with each learning opportunity in my classroom. One thing that I connected with this "being the board" concept is how I present content to my students. I am a huge believer in the way that I present my material is how my students will receive it. For instance, if the lesson is something I am not that excited about, my students will receive the lesson the same way and not be motivated to learn what I want them to learn. "Being the board" sort of confirmed to me that I have control of the situation no matter what the scenario with my students. This especially holds true when I feel that no matter what occurs during the a common day of teaching, I can "declare that I am the framework for everything that happens." In other words, I am the leader of how each situation and each aspect of my day is approached and dealt with. The kicker with all of this is how easy it is to get caught and brought back to the downward spiral. I don't think that Zander ever wrote in this book that any of these concepts were going to be easy to put into practice. So I must be conscious of the fact that the downward spiral is close by and take me right back down into my old ways of pessimism and negativity.

My vision is to understand that my goal is to keep these concepts in the forefront of my mind. These new ways of thinking are just that: NEW! So I know that I won't be able to ascend as quickly as I want to, but rather, I probably will find myself on the downward spiral. But just like anything, I know that it has to get harder in order to become easier when a new way of thinking is out into practice.

The photos used in this blog are from Flickr, under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.

Photos Attributed to:
"Stockmann spirals" - hugovk
"chess board" - niznoz

Wk 4 Publishing_Leadership Project

My initial plan is to propose my Action Research Project to be published into two educational technology journals. Since my project deals with the idea of using age-appropriate social networking in the classroom (Edmodo), I wanted to aim for two publications that might be interested in publishing the research that I discovered. My first choice of publication is through the nonprofit education organization, Computer-Using Educators, or CUE. This organization's goal is to advance student achievement through technology in all disciplines from early ages through college. CUE publishes a quarterly journal entitled OnCUE and I thought my research would benefit the audience and readers of this publication.

My second choice for possible publication is through a journal dedicated to informing and educating educators from the K-12 levels in improving and advancing the learning process through the use and integration of technology. This journal is entitled T.H.E Journal and is perfect for the possibility of publishing my Action Research Project findings and discoveries. In fact, T.H.E. Journal recently published a whole article on the use of social networking in the classroom and Edmodo was one of the featured sites. So hopefully the journal would take note of my research and possibly publish it in lieu of their recent articles on social networking in schools.

* Link to Publishing/Leadership Think Out Loud BP1

* Link to Publishing/Leadership Think Out Loud BP2


* Eilers_Gregg_PubLeadProject.docx

Publishing/Leadership Think Out Loud BP#2

After further thought and several moments of clarity, I have made the decision to present my Publishing and Leadership project in the form of a document to propose for publication. I feel that this would be the best way for my research to be highlighted and made public for others to not only read about my findings, but to hopefully encourage other educators to continue further research on social networking in the classroom. I think there are a plethora of journals out in the educational world that would consider publishing my action research for others to read about. Another reason that I chose the path of publication instead of a presentation is that the audience that would read my research would probably more likely go and attempt it in their own classroom. And for the sake of research, that is what I would most desire from what I discovered and worked for within my project. So there it is. I am finalizing my decision on publishing my ARP into a journal. Now the question is, what journal do I want to attempt to use? That is soon to be determined. Stay tuned...

The photo used in this blog is from Flickr, under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License.

Photo Attributed to:
"Writing" - jjpacres