Monday, September 17, 2018

Don't Miss It: Annual Minnetonka Educator Site Visit October 25, 2018 or April 4, 2019


Register today for the Annual Minnetonka Educator Site Visit on Thursday, October 25, 2018 or Thursday, April 4, 2019. For the past 15 years, thousands of educators have visited Minnetonka, including the National School Boards Association, which hosted its second visit to Minnetonka in 2014. Come see learning in action, witness proven programs and gather innovative ideas which you can take back to your school!

Historically, our tours focused on how Minnetonka uses technology as an accelerator of learning. Back in 2003, visitors came to see SMARTBoards and sound fields and a learning management system implemented in K-12. In 2011 visitors came to see iPads used in learning in a 1:1 environment. With the advent of our Teaching and Learning Instructional Framework the 2016 tour focus shifted from technology to the eight dimensions of the Framework and how they are embedded in our programming, our instructional platform, and our culture.

You can choose to start your visit at an elementary school, middle school or our high school. Specialty programs include Navigators and high potential programs, VANTAGE, Minnetonka Research, Chinese and Spanish language immersion, Tonka Online, athletics and the arts. After your tours at a school, you will transition to our District Service Center for lunch and breakout sessions of your choice. Choose from a wide variety of sessions led by Minnetonka staff to learn how things work behind the scenes. Sessions include innovation, the Teaching and Learning Instructional Framework, coding, Design for Learning, assessment, the curriculum review process, gifted and talented programming, student support services, personalized learning, 1:1 iPads and more. Discover best practices for implementing meaningful instruction that will accelerate learning, have time to ask questions and head back to your own school full of ideas! Availability is limited in order to keep sessions small. Lunch is provided. Register today!
Learn more about Minnetonka Schools and Technology Integration:

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Monday, September 10, 2018

Flipping Parent Curriculum Night

Parent Curriculum Night is a common occurrence at the beginning of the school year. Typically it is a time when parents come without their kids to learn about the curriculum that will be covered in the upcoming school year. At the secondary level parents often follow a shortened version of their child’s schedule moving between classes every ten minutes or so. At our middle schools this event is held on multiple nights to accommodate the parking needs for the large number of attendees.

 For the past few years, principal Dr. Paula Hoff has flipped this format at our West Middle School. Instead of parents physically coming to the school and sitting and listening as they move from classroom to classroom, a link to a pre-recorded video of the teacher providing the curriculum overview and class information is shared. The video includes some personal information about each teacher, too. Just like a flipped classroom where the learning from direct instruction is done through a video watched outside of class, parents get this information on their own time without having to come to school for another event in early September. Parents already were at school a week before it began with their child to meet the teacher on Back to School Night.

Instructional Technology Coach Sara Hunt provided the teachers with instructions, training, and guidance to make their videos. Staff had the option to use ScreenCastOMatic, the screen recorder built in to their iPad, Explain Everything, or a few other options. A shared Google Slide deck was used with a slide for each teacher. A link to this slide deck with the video links was sent out to families in the school newsletter, QR codes were posted on the board in each classroom for families to access the video on Back to School Night, and teachers posted their video to their Schoology page. Each teacher sent out a link to the video along with an introductory letter during the first week of school, too. You can see some of the videos linked in the slideshow above.

Minnetonka Middle School West is not our only school doing this flipped method for parents and students. At Minnewashta Elementary this idea was brought forward in our annual Big Hunt for Ideas a few years ago. Principal Cindy Andress had second grade teachers begin piloting this technique by recording videos to send home to families rather than asking them to come to school one evening. As a parent at this school of a second-grader a few years ago I appreciated this format. I was able to get the information on my own time and did not need to add another meeting to my evening schedule.

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Monday, September 3, 2018

Twitch 101 for Parents & Educators: Watching A Stream of Gamers & More IRL

Many parents of current K-12 students grew up playing video games themselves on systems like Atari, Commodore, Nintendo 64 and perhaps physically went to video arcades, too. However many aspects of video gaming are new to today’s parents—such as online gaming with multiple players--sometimes hundreds playing simultaneously--as well as being able to talk to one another and/or possibly see one another in real time around the world. This newer type of gaming is unfamiliar to most parents. Equally unfamiliar to many parents is the current growing trend of watching others play video games. The most popular hub for this new form of video games is Twitch.tv, and this something all parents should know. Ask your kids and students about it, especially boys, as they likely spend quite a bit of time on it each week. A few months ago I wrote about Fortnite, currently one of the most popular video games in the world, and one of the most popular games to watch on Twitch.

What is Twitch?

To understand Twitch, imagine playing a video game online while having a webcam aimed at yourself plus an open chat window on the side of the screen to interact with anyone watching you. In a recent podcast worth listening to entitled Twitch and Shout, On the Media explains that "Twitch.tv is a video streaming platform where tens of thousands people broadcast their lives and video game game-play in real-time. It's like unedited, real, reality TV... the site draws more viewers than HBO and Netflix. It's like unedited, real, reality TV." 

 Four years ago, Amazon bought Twitch for 1.1 billion dollars (source). Some gamers on Twitch are so popular that celebrities contact them asking to play. For example, celebrity Drake joined Fortnite streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins in April 2018 and broke the record for most concurrent viewers on Twitch--over 667,000 viewers (source). In the podcast, you can hear how boys watching Ninja playing video games not only learn how to better play seeing his techniques, they even ask him for life advice such as how to deal with girls. This 28 year old video gamer freely gives them advice.--it's pretty amazing to think of his influence and power. Personally, from the little I have seen on Twitch, not all popular gamers being watched are the best role models who I would want my own children asking for advice. The reporters also explain that these popular Twitch.tv streamers make a lot of money mentioning sponsor's products and having paid subscribers--up to a half a million dollars a month! Not everyone makes it to the big time on Twitch--there are thousands of streamers, including kids, with little to no viewership.

Overwatch & Esports


Two additional things about gaming covered in the podcast are worth knowing. The first is the existence of the Overwatch League. This League is like the NFL of the video game world. Professional teams with millions of dollars in funding are being organized in cities for competitions that fill arenas of spectators watching them play the Overwatch game against one another. Players, or video athletes as they are called, are becoming famous enough that they can draw hundreds of fans to a location just for a sighting. Esports is gaining in popularity. A college in Ohio even offers a full ride for world-class gamers to join their Esports team. 

IRL


The final story on the podcast--and most disturbing to me--is the IRL (In Real Life) channels on Twitch. The podcast highlights the story of a homeless man whose life was saved by Twitch, which initially sounds good. This gentleman streams his day to day life on Twitch.tv and viewers pay money to get him to do things-wear things, say things to people, and more. I decided not to make a direct link to his Twitch videos from my blog. You can hear more about it if you listen to the podcast and then decide to take a look yourself. 

What Should Parents and Educators Do?


Certainly not all video games are bad. And watching others play video games seems to be a trend that is growing and in moderation, isn't bad either. Let's continue to have conversations with kids about what is appropriate to view and do online, and how to keep things balanced as well as when is too much, inappropriate, and taking things too far. Take an interest in the video games kids are playing and play with them sometime. Encourage the use of speakers to hear the conversations on sites like Twitch and multiplayer games versus headphones. Keep doors to rooms open versus shut so no one can see or hear what is taking place. Remind kids to behave as if their grandmother is sitting with them--if they know she wouldn't be pleased with what they are seeing, hearing, doing, or perhaps streaming, then they shouldn't be doing it in the first place. As I've suggested in the past, remember to begin your conversations about technology use with "What if..." instead of "Have you ever..?" Let's share our expectations and values with today's kids so they develop a moral compass and can better navigate the world--whether it is online or IRL.

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Monday, August 27, 2018

Make Learning So Motivating & Fun, Students Won't Realize it is Homework!

   
A few months ago Apple released the iPad commercial above showing students completing a homework assignment on iPads. In the background of the video, the narrator recites a fun Jack Prelutsky poem originally entitled, "Homework! Oh, Homework!" If you haven't seen it, it's worth a look and does a nice job highlighting some of the many ways that an iPad is a great tool for learning beyond the traditional mediums of textbook and keyboards.

The beginning of the video starts with a Hollywood stereotypical classroom teacher unable to control his class of disinterested and sleeping students. He barely has their attention while trying to explain an upcoming project about gravity. After naming off a few students tasked to work in a group he is naturally interrupted by the bell. What then follows is anything but a stereotypical assignment--the rest of the video shows students' experiences as they go about their neighborhood filming and documenting the many ways they experience gravity, from dropping a watermelons off a bridge to bike jumps to swinging from trees. They use their iPad to edit, annotate, and illustrate their learning in many of the ways our students have been able to use their iPads over the past eight years of our 1:1 iPad program. (See related posts below.)

Over the past week our instructional technology coaches showed this video to teachers who were attending our summer training classes, either in person or online. They discussed ways that the iPad can continue to support our Framework for Teaching and Learning by using technology to foster creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking and make learning more authentic and real-world for deeper learning. 

This year, our district has goal to increase the experiential and inquiry based learning opportunities for our students. We hope to create more opportunities like the one shown in this video where all students can be immersed in memorable events and experiences. Technology can enhance and facilitate these experiences, and the iPad is an excellent tool to harness the power of technology for experiential and inquiry based learning.

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Monday, August 20, 2018

Newly Remodeled Collaborative Learning Spaces at Minnetonka High School


Summer is a time in schools when construction projects and renovations can take place. In the past I’ve written about some of our media center remodels as well as our Design for Learning initiative. This summer we have a few remodeling and construction projects underway in Minnetonka. 

One of the big renovation projects is at our high school. In analyzing the existing space and looking at needs we realized we had multiple locker rooms that were underutilized. Specifically, on the second floor of our high school near the gyms we had old varsity team locker rooms that weren’t really used much. Newer locker rooms had been built in the lower level of the building back in 1996 and were the main space in use. So the existing 7,000 square feet of old locker room space was available to be reclaimed for instructional purposes.

This remodeled space has been designed to be provide flexible options for classes to meet and groups to collaborate. Five new classrooms will be available as well as more restrooms. This remodel was done with existing resources to cover the costs and no new bond had to be issued. As you can see from the pictures above, things are shaping up nicely and looking more and more like the architects' renderings. This new space will be called "The Loft" and should be completed in time for the first day of school on Tuesday, September 4.
As part of the remodel, windows were added to the outside letting it a lot of natural light. Numerous flatscreen monitors will be mounted on the walls in many of the rooms for both large group presentations and smaller group meetings. There are walls of glass and other walls covered with whiteboards for writeable space. Some of our high school computer science classes will now be taught in this area. It will be exciting to see how this new space gets used in the coming school year!
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    Monday, August 13, 2018

    90 Years Ago New Teachers Made $1,400: My Grandmother's First Teaching Contract

    About 90 new teachers are beginning soon in Minnetonka. Over the next two weeks we'll spend time getting to know them and help them learn the ins and outs of teaching in our district. This year we are offering most of our technology training for them online through Schoology. They actually started this last week. Next week they will all be in our district in person in meetings, luncheons, a bus tour of the district and further trainings.

    It seems like a long time ago I was one of these new teachers in Minnetonka--24 years ago to be exact. Even longer ago than that, almost 90 years ago, my grandmother, Dorothea, was an English teacher. She graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, the same school from which I graduated 65 years later with my own degree in education. Unfortunately I never got to meet my grandmother because she passed away from cancer before I was born. 
    Dorothea got her first teaching job in Sentinel Butte, North Dakota, a small town on the far western end of the state near the Montana border where my mother grew up (pictured on the right). She taught in a three level schoolhouse (pictured above) that had around 10-20 students per grade. Elementary students mainly had classes on the first floor and moved up to high school by attending classes upstairs. The basement housed a cafeteria, science labs and a shop class. The school is no longer standing. Its last class graduated years ago and the building has since been torn down. The few students who still live in the area are now bused to another town nearby for their education. 

    My mom recently showed me my grandmother's first contract. Back in 1931 my grandmother signed the contract pictured below to begin her teaching career. As an English teacher in a very small school, she had numerous preps. My mother had her own mom as her teacher many times over the years. Dorothea taught writing classes, speech classes, journalism, Latin, music and more. According to the contract, she earned an annual salary of $1,400 for this work, minus an annual retirement fund withdrawal of $14(!). This worked out to $154/month for a nine month contract. It's hard to imagine a time when that would be enough money for an annual salary. I'm sure if my grandmother were alive today she'd be amazed to see how far education has come in the past century, not only in salaries but in many other ways, too, such as all the technology now available.

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    Monday, August 6, 2018

    Tip #7 for a Tech Healthy Summer: Spend Time Off the Grid



    Nothing makes you realize how much you are used to something by its sudden absence. Technology is certainly one of these things we are used to having as a constant presence in our lives. For those of us who grew up prior to this connection (and interruption), extended time away from technology helps us recall they way things used to be. Technology is a powerful tool that has made our lives better, allows us to do more and be connected and communicate like never before possible. There are also some downsides to constant connection and the interruption by technology notifications attempting to gain our attention. 

    One of my Top 10 Tips for a Tech Healthy Summer is to get off the grid and spend a few days or more tech free. Almost every summer I do that by taking a trip with my kids to the Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA), a wilderness of forests and lakes on the northern Minnesota/Canadian where the only method of transportation is paddling canoes and hiking. Visitors to the BWCA pack all their gear in gigantic Duluth packs and like the French Voyagers from hundreds of years ago, paddle across the lakes, carrying their gear and canoes over land in between each lake on their route. There is no cell phone signal, no electricity or running water and very few people.

    A couple of weeks ago my eighth-grade son and I went on a trip for three nights in this wilderness on Pine Lake and our time off the grid was great. This was my 19th trip to the Boundary Waters and my son’s fifth trip. We spent time canoeing paddling, fishing, swimming, hiking, playing cards, reading and just hanging out together. I enjoy being disconnected from email and the Internet, having time to look around and appreciate nature while spending time with my son. I’m sure I would miss the comfort and convenience of a connection to the grid if our trip had been a lot longer--some people take trips that last weeks or more. 

    I always am surprised at how quickly the relaxation and carefree feeling of time away ends as we return to the grid. After we get to our car and drive about a half an hour back into civilization, our phones pick up a connection and begin buzzing and beeping with missed messages and other items. I’ve written in the past about my efforts to cut out technology distractions and the importance of self-monitoring how much time I spend with technology overall, something I call tecognition. I worry somewhat that my kids have spent so little time off of the grid disconnected. I hope that my kids will remember these experiences off the grid and that it will help them be better at recognizing what how technology can create interruptions in their lives. 

    Even if you can't get away from the grid and make it impossible to disconnect, you can make an effort to take a break. Consider taking a trip or even spending a few hours relaxing, keeping your phone off as long as you can (or in airplane mode with WiFi off and Do No Disturb mode on). If you have children, help them experience time off the grid, too. Afterwards, be sure to have conversations discussing how it went, how it felt, and the role that we let technology control and interrupt us. Take steps to take control of your technology and turn off unnecessary notifications for social media, news, sports scores, and whatever else buzzes or beeps during your day that isn't essential for you to be alerted about at any given moment. Help your kids do this, too.

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