This week, my teacher life was changed. The change was quick, swift, slightly unexpected, appreciated, and beautiful. Oh, so beautiful. I embraced my inner book nerd and it was magical. nErD Camp 2016 Two days of wonder. I think that simply being in the presence of teachers, librarians, administrators, authors, and illustrators will fill you with a wonder so magical that there are few words to describe it. Wonder because I was sitting in the same room as the author who wrote the book that touched my life as a middle schooler. The book that was published on my birthday. The author who has created so many masterpieces that have brought light into the lives of so many readers. Kate DiCamillo just has a way of making you cry tears of joy. You just want to squeeze her and tell her thank you. Wonder because you are so honored to be in the presence of so many amazing individuals who are continuously making the world a better place ...
Blog Post
ISTE 2016 Recap
Let's talk about ISTE....or let's not. I honestly don't think I can yet. I am currently sitting in the Denver airport trying to decompose after an amazing week at the 2016 ISTE Conference. I tried to pull some pictures from my phone to document the trip then realized that I didn't really take any. I know. I know. Sorry! I am a visual person too. But, I spent a lot of time connecting, collaborating, and reflecting so my camera was a complete afterthought. This was my first ISTE experience, and it was overwhelming, heart wrenching, inspiring, and simply beautiful. I am pretty sure that it is going to take me a few weeks to sift through all of the information that I soaked up and give it all a chance to simmer so I can figure out what I want to implement or alter for the new school year. But I wanted to a least share something on the blog now before I go home. Yet, as I sit here trying to figure out where to start, I realize that there is just too ...
End of the Year Student Survey
Recently, I was eating lunch with a fellow educator, and we discussed how important it is to get real, authentic feedback from our students. They, after all, at the ones that are with us all day, every day and are needing us the most! So, shouldn't we ask them how we are doing? Isn't student feedback and getting to know our students as persons and individuals what learning/teaching is all about? So, why not empower them and give them voice in their learning process AND the reflection process. They need to have the power to offer feedback about their learning experience just like we offer feedback to presenters when we attend professional development sessions and workshops. This led me to create a quick end of the year survey in Google Drive. I wanted to know what they had thought about our school year. So, I created a Google Form then added questions that were created by me, my students, and modeled from other student survey versions that I found. Before I ...
