Congratulations to Nicole Snedden, Minnetonka's Design for Learning Project Leader, for winning this year'sISTE Learning Space PLN Outstanding Learning Space Designer Award. Besides being our Design for Learning Project Leader, Nicole is also our Innovation Coordinator. "Each year, ISTE honors individuals who are leading the way in accelerating the use of technology to solve tough problems in education and inspire innovation. These winners represent a who’s who in the edtech world." Nicole received her award yesterday at the ISTE Conference in Chicago.
Elementary Instructional Technology Coach Rachel Studnicka wrote the following about Nicole:
Nicole is a visionary leader that fosters a learning culture for modern learners in the digital age... Nicole wanted to empower students by giving them a voice in the design of their learning spaces to impact student engagement and learning... Nicole has transformed our district through her vision and grassroots initiative to better the student learning experience by providing learner-centered environments to meet the diverse needs of all learners... She has provided teachers with innovative professional development training and opportunities to work closely with experts in design such as Cannon Design, author of The Third Teacher... Nicole’s efforts and clear vision for modern education have brought positive change for students and teachers district wide with design thinking and Human Centered Design practice.
As stated on our website, Minnetonka's Design for Learning Committee “empowers Minnetonka students, staff and the community to transform teaching and learning through the design of the learning environment.” This team meets quarterly to:
Engage in conversations regarding the design of spaces in the district both present and future.
Offer staff development to teachers who are interested in learning about the design process.
Support teachers through a grant process as they apply for funding to re-envision their current learning spaces.
Provide research-based information to Minnetonka Teachers and Community as well as host a yearly event with guest speakers who specialize in learning spaces.
I have lost track of how many times I have heard George Couros speak at conferences--eight or ten seems about right. Today I heard him at the Ignite Inspire Innovation Conference in Stillwater, Minnesota. We've had him come speak at some of our past events in Minnetonka, too.I’m surprised I haven’t had a blog post about him until now, asI always enjoy hearing him present. George is an energetic, fun and passionate storyteller who can move and inspire an audience. He uses so many great images and video clips to get points across, and his jokes as a Canadian are a nice bonus.
He always encourages the use of Twitter by educators to build a network outside their school with whom they can share ideas and best practices. This is something we encourage our own teachers to do in Minnetonka. I also encourage each of my online students who are mainly teachers around Minnesota working on their masters through the Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota program where I teach to do this as well. Although it's easy to sign up and start, it's not a practice I see all teachers follow through with in the long term. I've heard it said that it takes about ten weeks to form a habit, and I think using Twitter is no different. One of the more memorable stories I’ve heard George tell is what he is called
the Twitter Factor (see A Higher Chance of Becoming Great? The “Twitter” Factor), in which he describes walking into a teacher‘s classroom and seeing all sorts of evidence that a teacher has a network outside of his or her school district. The evidence is visible by some of the projects the teacher is doing with her/his students, from makerspaces to genius hours. One of the other points he makes in his talks and did so again today was that "isolation is now a choice educators make. If you want a world class education, you've got to look at what the rest of the world is doing." I agree. If you have been hesitant or have tried Twitter in the past but haven't found value in it yet, here a two tips I have to make it easier and more useful:
Use a free Twitter dashboard tool like HootSuite pictured. Rather than scrolling through an endless feed of random tweets of followers as well as ads, you can create columns organized by search keywords and hashtags you select, such as your school district, #edtech, #digcit, #ipaded, and more. You can then easily scroll through these sorted Tweets. Almost everyone I show this tool loves it and feels it is a much easier way to manage Twitter. Simply leave this webpage open as a tab in your browser and take a look at it as you have time. You can favorite, retweet, and compose new Tweets directly through the dashboard.
You can also turn on mobile alerts for colleagues/important connections so you receive a text every time s/he Tweets and don't miss out, without having to got to Twitter or a dashboard tool like HootSuite to see if they have posted anything.
You'd be hard pressed to find an educational technology leader unfamiliar with the SAMR scale. The concept of differing levels of technology integration with stages of use in education is not new. Over the past few decades, we've had various acronyms like ACOT, RAT, TPACK and more. With SAMR, we've seen analogies like ladders, coffee, pools, and wheels. One of the limitations with each of these is they really just focus on technology, sometimes pigeon holing a technology tool or app into a specific level, when instead the focus needs to be much more broad. For example, even though a green screen end product might look great, students might simply be at the basic level of learning. And looking beyond technology, what about the four C’s, authentic real world learning or global learning?
Four years ago in Minnetonka Public Schools we stopped referencing technology scales and acronyms and developed our own framework for teaching and learning. We found great benefit from reflecting on all areas of teaching and learning, too. Now conversations about technology not only include the levels of complexity, but also to what extent students are thinking critically, communicating, what they are creating, if their experiences were authentic, personalized, collaborative, and global. It all fits together as part of the conversation and bigger picture of instructional best practices.
The Minnetonka Framework for Teaching & Learning
Each of these other areas of instruction and learning have their own levels and stages, too. For example, you can say that your students are collaborating, but is it at the basic level of talking with a neighbor about their answer to a problem or a higher level of collaborative skills involved in negotiating and resolving decisions about what information is most important for a group presentation? Because of this, we developed a larger framework for instruction overall. There are eight dimensions on our framework, and each has its own levels of complexity (similar to SAMR levels).
The Framework shows "how often modest adjustments to lesson design and learning environments can significantly elevate students’ opportunities to learn. It provides educators with a launching point for planning meaningful, engaging instruction for learners who already live in a complex information society in which the nature of work is rapidly changing. Teachers can create places of learning that engage students at high levels and lead to deeper understandings by intentionally planning learning experiences with these strands in mind." Framework Overview document
To develop this comprehensive framework Sara coordinated the work and efforts of teacher and administrator teams who worked to identify and compose the definitions and levels for each level of complexity on the Framework, as well as write an overview document and create guides of about 10-15 pages that detail each of the Framework's eight dimensions. (View the draft guide for Authentic & Real World Learning). Sara also scripted an overview video that we showed our staff during back to school workshops a few years ago:
Our Framework now guides our curriculum writing with dimensions and levels being identified in our UbD units. It also is the focus of our staff development, including technology. Our instructional technology coaches meet with teachers and do trainings focusing on strands of the Framework. Teachers meet in roundtables to discuss how they are designing instruction around different dimensions of the Framework and how technology integrates with these other areas. They also discuss the progress they are making on their technology goal for the year which is tied in with another Framework dimension. These goals are shared with the instructional technology coaches and their building principals.
The Minnetonka Framework for Teaching and Learning has helped us move beyond SAMR ladders and pools to designing student experiences for meaning, engagement, and deeper learning. In fact, our teachers haven’t even heard of SAMR. Come discover a way to design and implement a roadmap for teaching and learning alignment and move beyond simply focusing on technology implementation toward successfully creating more meaningful, deeper and engaging learning experiences for students. If you'll be at ISTE in a few weeks, please join me on Tuesday, June 26 from 4:15-5:15pm.
Learn more about Minnetonka Schools and Technology Integration:
Last past week we launched our annual summer catalog of professional development for our teachers. There are almost 100 sessions from which teachers can choose, including 18 online options. You can view all the course descriptions and the schedule. Hundreds of our teachers will spend time in classes and trainings we offer over the next three months, right up until school begins. Each summer over 400 Minnetonka teachers take technology professional development classes in addition to the other curriculum trainings and courses offered. Summer is a prime time for teacher training to occur. Our summer program has grown considerably over the past 12 years--back in 2005 we only had eight technology related classes! Over the next three months there are technology classes related to iPads, Schoology, computer coding, digital health and wellness, maker spaces and more. In addition to technology classes, there are also many non-technology sessions offered such as classes on assessment, engagement, special needs, and our teaching and learning framework. We also offer extensive training sessions in August for all of our new teachers.
We use My Learning Plan to manage all of this. Teachers can sign up and drop classes, automatically be notified and reminded of classes and locations, and we can track rosters, waitlists, and CEUs. Teachers receive a stipend for the time they spend learning in summer technology sessions.
As one of my top five most popular posts of all time, I'm reposting this at the start of Summer 2018 with some updates:
For many students around the country, summer vacation has either started or is about to begin. This is a great time to help our children practice a healthy balance with their use of personal technology tools and devices. Take advantage of relaxed schedules and more downtime to provide opportunities for your children to reflect upon the role of technology in our lives. It is an opportune time to practice balance, control and moderation, and form healthy habits for the future. Here are ten tips for making this happen:
Be proactive. Begin talking to your kids now at the start of the summer about your expectations, hopes, and your own struggles. Check out these parent-child media agreements from Common Sense Media as a starting point. Print one off and add your own rules on the back and discuss consequences, too. A smartphone with an internet connection is a privilege, not a right. You can turn off the internet by using Restrictions to remove access or apps for a while if necessary, but still let your child have a phone for contacting you when needed.
Take advantage of tools to help you monitor the time you and your child spend on devices. On an smartphone, you can simply go to Settings>Battery and tap the clock to view the number of minutes per day/week spent in each app. Set goals for reducing times if necessary. If you want a more advanced tool, check out Curbi, which lets you set time limits and create automated rules, remotely toggle the internet on/off on your child's phone, and see what apps are in use.
Summer doesn't have to be tech free. Entertainment on a screen in moderation isn't bad. Just don't let it be a huge part of your day. Decide what an appropriate amount is for you and your child and try to stick to these guidelines. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends two hours of entertainment screen time per day for kids over age two. Watch movies and play video games with your kids. Common Sense Media has great questions for parent child discussion about most movies, apps, and video games. Have them show you what their friends are up to on social media and talk about it.
Help your child create a positive digital presence. Talk about how your kids represent themselves online and how it will affect their future. Discuss what is OK to photograph and video. Talk through what is OK to share through Snapchats, text, and social media. Nothing is temporary with technology, and anything can easily be stored, re-shared, or screen shots taken. Help your kids T.H.I.N.K. before they post and digitize things Grandma would be comfortable viewing.
Boredom is OK. Help your child learn it's not necessary to always be entertained, watching YouTube, playing video games, surfing the internet, or checking social media to see what others are doing—joy can even be found when missing out. Model this as a parent when you have downtime, too! Get creative and find ways to occupy your time without technology. Encourage physical activity, being outside, reading a book, and playing a board game.
Go off the grid occasionally. Plug your phone in to charge and leave it leashed. Don't take it with you, go do something with your child, and don't post about it on social media. Show children that the time you spend with them is important, doesn't have to be shared with anyone else, and doesn't require likes and comments from others for validation or affirmation. Talk about this with your child, even if this is a struggle for you. Try spending an hour, part of a day or even going longer without technology.
Practice being present. Limit distractions when technology is present (three ways to do this) and be where your feet are. Establish tech free zones like the dinner table, car rides, and on family outings. Friends are especially important to teens, so talk through and agree to boundaries and expectations for vacations, such as allowing an hour of social media/gaming each evening to maintain those connections yet prevent constant distraction and interruption, texting and SnapChatting during the day.
Trust your kids and gradually give them more freedom as they show responsibility. Check in with them and discuss how they are using technology and social media. Let them carry their technology with them and practice not constantly checking it. Turn off notifications and help them not to get caught in the trap of using their phone as a pocket slot machine. When your kids make mistakes use them as teachable moments rather than having super harsh consequences. Don't snoop or spy unless your child is really struggling, having behavior problems or mental health issues--and if they are, don't go it alone--seek out professional counseling.
Talk with other adults about helping kids have a healthy balance with technology. Compare notes with other parents and share successes and struggles. Even though your child may tell you that everyone has an iPhone, Snapchat, and uses Instagram by fifth grade, you will find that's not the case. Many parents don't give kids smartphones in elementary school, many parents keep devices out of kids' bedrooms overnight, and many parents hold off on allowing social mediauntil middle school or later.
Now take action! If you made it through reading all ten tips, great, but don’t stop! Do something when you finish this article. Learn more by looking through the links below. Subscribe to Common Sense Media's parent newsletter. Remember, you are the parent and can set the rules. Research shows that the most stable adults had parents who set limits and said no to some things when they were kids.
Fortnite has been a popular game for quite a while, but it seems like just recently its made it to the headlines in educational news organizations as a problem for schools. If you don’t know what it is, it is basically the latest video game craze that tweens, teens and even 20 and 30 year old adults love to play or just watch others play for hours. It’s a mix of Minecraft and Hunger Games in a really engaging, well designed environment where up to 100 players simultaneously work to build up their own defenses while at the same time trying to eliminate all other players--the last person alive or small team of one or two players wins. The boundaries of this virtual world even shrink over time so people can’t hide out through a storm that players have to avoid. More on Fortnite from Common Sense Media.
Nintendo Wii Just Dance- Fun Without Violence!
I’ve never been a fan of violent video games. When our oldest kids were in elementary school we purchased an original Nintendo Wii which they still occasionally use. Our games are pretty basic such as Mario Cart, Wii Sports, and Just Dance. We never purchased any of violent games, and managed to avoid getting a Play Station or X Box or having our kids play a lot of video games online in general. We’ve always tried to limit their entertainment screen time to about 60 minutes per day and have discouraged any sort of violent video games with guns and killing. I know this doesn’t mean that our kids haven’t ever played these games at a friend's house or more recently through their phone. Games are now easily accessible through mobile devices with high quality graphics in an experience that rivals what used to only be available on the external game consoles. But it does mean they've spent a lot less time gaming and in simulated violent environments which we believe is better for them. Although you can find studies that will back both sides, I've read enough about the negative effects of playing violent video games that makes me believe avoidance is important.
Recently our sons were playing Fortnite, so I sat down with them and talked about the content of the game, its objectives, as well as the pretty realistic graphics as players kill off opponents. We talked about how playing something repeatedly conditions ourselves to be less affected by violence. I know there are certain games that are much more violent and gory than Fortnite, and I’m very thankful that we our kids haven’t been into those or wanted to play them. I asked them to cut back on their time playing Fortnite and encouraged them to try to stop playing this type of game altogether. I had each of them go to their phone's settings and look at their battery usage, which lists the total amount of time spent per app. I’ve use this technique in the past as a good tool with my kids to review and talk about what they’re doing on their phones and how much time they are spending on entertainment and social media. I had them take a screenshot of their battery usage and asked them to hold on to that so we could refer back to it in a week and compare their usage overall.
What story are your kids living out in their video games?
Two weeks after this conversation, I'm thankful to report that both boys have stopped their playing of the game altogether. I hadn't expected them to both stop completely so soon. I know this isn’t always the case and that some kids will have a much harder time stopping their play of a fun, addictive game. Mathew Meyers, a licensed marriage and family therapist with whom I've done some parent webinars, specializes in helping young people with video game addiction, and begins by having them track their time spent gaming and gradually reducing this. Years ago I heard Dr. David Walsh talk about the dangers of having kids play violent video games and how every game teaches you a storyline. He stated that "Whoever tells the story defines the culture" and asked, "What story are your kids living out in their video games?" I think these are important questions to continue to ask ourselves and as parents and work to not let our children spend their time in the culture of violent video worlds. We try to limit our exposure to violence in our movie and TV media and news channels as well.This is tough, especially when something like Fortnite is so popular. But as parents, we need to help our children learn to have a healthy balance in the amount of time spent on entertainment and video gaming and steer them to experiences with more positive story lines. They'll be better people in the long run. Check out Common Sense Media's tips on How to Handle the Violent Videos at Your Kid's Fingertips Related Posts:
