PD Fridays

 A few years ago, my school decided that the first Friday of every month would be Gladiator Forum Friday. From 12-4pm anyone trained as a facilitator (this is done in-house by our Learning & Development team) can present on a topic of their choice, staff can then attend any session they choose. It's a great way to share expertise among the staff, especially since we are spread out all over the state of Colorado.

Each Forum Friday finds a myriad of choices for paras, teachers, councilors, admin etc. For example, just today there were sessions on the following topics: project based learning, instructional videos (3 different sessions focused on 3 separate areas of making videos), SIOP (EL student support - 2 sessions on 2 different topics), digital body language, Microsoft apps support and learning, suicide training, and medication delegation.

Each month I end up facilitating at least 1 session if not more, and try to attend at least 1 session. The staff has such a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, and on-going learning to share!

After one of my sessions today I was looking at the feedback that 2 people had already left for my colleague and me. We presented on how to integrate numeracy into all content areas. The question was: What aspects of the learning helped you the most in learning what was taught?

This feedback got me thinking about what an amazing group of people I work with at my school. Because of all of the diverse backgrounds and experiences, the conversations I've had with my colleagues is always rich, interesting, and filled with knowledge. Today's conversation can sometimes be a tough one because so many people have a fear of math, but these staff members were engaged in the topic and willing to discuss the importance of numeracy in every subject and every day life. It created an aura of acceptance and willingness to show students that learning is for life, and math shouldn't be a scary topic.

So here is to all my colleagues, past and present, that have helped to shape my outlook on teaching and who continue to guide me in improving my skills on a monthly (and sometimes weekly and sometimes daily) basis! Cheers!

Casa Bonita and a Curriculum Audit

 I recently had the opportunity to enjoy an evening at Casa Bonita here in Denver. It was opened in the 1970s in a large pink building and the inside contains a 70 foot waterfall and cliff divers. In 2021 they shut their doors and the Colorado community was devastated, soon after the creators of South Park (the TV show), bought the building and started renovations. It has been a huge process and since June of 2022 it has been invite only. 

Casa Bonita in 2015 - the stage and waterfall in the background.

As you leave the building there is a museum about the history and restoration of Casa Bonita. It's small but contains some treasured memories for many people. There are also pictures of the restoration along with artifacts they found behind bench seats and walls. So, what does this all have to do with education and curriculum audits?!?!?

I was starting to think about the process that was followed to break down the interior of this huge building and re-vamping, fixing, and updating it. This is similar to the process of a curriculum audit, you have to break down the curriculum and look at the structure provided, then dig into what needs to be re-vamped, fixed, or updated. Sometimes you may find old, unused parts that are buried and can be removed.

This process is slow and takes a lot of patience from everyone involved. My school went through a curriculum audit in the fall and now the feedback is being slowly combed through my our administrators. Honestly I was worried they would jump right in and try to make quick and easy fixes, but I am pleasantly surprised by the fact they are taking their time and really digging into the feedback.

The school uses Schoology to build our lessons and assessments. As most of the curriculum was developed, staff used whatever resources they could get their hands on. Specifically the math person who built the curriculum pulled bits and pieces from text books that were previously used in their classroom. Some content after that was pulled from another online curriculum. Schoology has some great features for building and using curriculum within it, and now we are in the process of finding something that can actually work for us as a school and create a smooth transition between courses.

A curriculum audit is hard (just like breaking down an existing building and trying to update it), but with a little time and patience we all can come out the other end with something that benefits teachers and students!

Virtual Snow Days!

Teachers and students along the I-25 corridor in Colorado celebrated this week for snow days!! Many schools start spring break next week (March 18th), and districts declared snow days based on high levels of snow being predicted. Mid-Thursday many of those districts called a second day, thereby creating an 2-day early spring break. Much rejoicing!!

Oh wait... I work at an online school... no early time off for me and my colleagues.

I'm not one for taking pictures of the snow, but here's a shot out my office window:

This is probably the only thing I can think of that makes me sad about working for a virtual school - no snow days. I work from home 90% of the time anyway, so it doesn't feel different, but my husband has been substitute teaching. The past week and a half he's been at the same school subbing for the same teacher, therefore doing a bit of planning every day. Wednesday night when he arrived home he said that the principal let them know Thursday would probably be a snow day. He was a bit disappointed because this is his first time actually planning and getting ready to teach students (as opposed to just following the teacher's given plan), but he also was excited to be able to sleep in!!

Thursday night, watching TV he would have just continued to watch late into the night, but I said, "I still have to work tomorrow!"

There is an upside though, the Teams chats were blowing up all day. Most everyone is used to being at the site, busy with students, but being at home it's much more quiet, so they needed to get their interactions online. Staff were sharing pictures of their backyards and their own kids playing in the snow at lunch break. It was very lively and fun to see what everyone was up to!

Asynchronously Teaching Math

 There is a lot of discussion lately about math discourse in the classroom. And I agree with every bit of it, if we can get students to talk about math with each other they can come to develop their own meanings and understandings about math. We could really make strides towards making math less 'scary.'

My classroom is asynchronous though, so how can I develop that discourse? Students work throughout the day and sometimes late into the night, sometimes they are online at the same time, but most likely not.

Using resources like Which one doesn't belong? and Would you rather? I have attempted to create some type of asynchronous discourse. It's not always successful, but as I continue to use it and encourage those around me to use, students get used to it. They are starting to get better at knowing what to do, and engaging with each a bit more as time goes by.

Here is an example of a WODB discussion post. Students were given the following graphic and asked to pick which one they think does not belong and why: 

Here are some of the responses and interactions I found: 

Student 1 says: I believe B is the one that doesn't belong. The others follow a pattern of being multiplied by 10 each time. Meanwhile B doesn't follow that same pattern and gets multiplied by 100 first.

Student 2 says: I think either B or D doesn't belong im honestly not 100 percent sure which one but i strongly believe its B because it goes from a single number automatically jumping to a 3 digit number when everything else goes by tens.

Student responding to student 2: Your the only other person I saw that also thought two didn't belong ut the the two I thought didn't belong are C and B.

Students 1 says: I think D donst belong to the fact that the pattern shown appears to be all numbers in the 1s place. It may still fit the pattern due to the transition into whole numbers but it doesn't appear to fit properly into the diagram.

Student replying to student 1: I agree that the decimal sets C apart.

Student 2 says: I think the one out of place is C. All the boxes have a right triangle shape and pattern while C does not. If not, D also seems sus, dealing in decimals while the other three are all whole numbers.

I love reading these because the students are using their math vocabulary to describe what they are seeing and to explain their reasoning.

There is still work to be done. I need to continue creating a safe space for making mistakes. In the first example, student 2 is unsure about their choice and states that, as a teacher if I can create a safer space for them, this student would just state their choice and reasoning without feeling like they have to back pedal just in case they are wrong.

Also, the student responses are very short and to the point most of the time. I pulled some better examples above, but when I look at the majority of responses to posts students usually just say 'I agree' and never delve into why.

These fun discussions will continue to be used in my classes, and I will continually reflect on how to make it a better and safer experience for students!

Microsoft OneNote

 Okay, yeah, this is another post about Microsoft products... I can't help it because my school is deeply involved in Microsoft!

But really, OneNote is a tool that can be used at home and at school, so it's a dual purpose here.

It's like having a 7-subject+ spiral notebook right on your computer. You can create different sections (for any subject you can think of) and then create pages within each section to hold any info you may need. This includes links, videos, voice recordings, PDF print outs, and more.

As an instructional coach I have used OneNote to collaborate with a teacher on coaching cycles. All of our notes, links, data, etc. will go into the notebooks so we can reference them throughout the cycle and the school year. It becomes a one-stop shop for me and the teacher, plus they can use the notebook for their evaluations with the principal.

Recently I have used OneNote to help me plan out lessons I am building in Schoology. It has helped me to create a standardized format for the lessons, including colors, highlighting, and outline. It's nice to come back to the OneNote and easily start a new lesson by using the templates I have created. [You could probably use this for Google Classroom too - build your basic course and template in OneNote, then copy/paste into Classroom.]

OneNote can also be a great way to organize yourself at home too. Use it for lists, planning parties, or gathering important documents.

If you have Microsoft at your school, then you should be able to access OneNote in the apps page. If not, it's easy to create a free Outlook/Microsoft account and utilize OneNote from the browser.

Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert

 A few years ago, the leadership at my school said that a small group of us would need to apply to become MIEEs. It honestly felt like it came out of the blue, but was actually tied to our showcase school status with Microsoft. The Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert program came about to bring educators across the US (and the world) together to share and learn more about Microsoft education products.

The application - when I first applied - asked for a lot of evidence that I was using Microsoft products in my classroom or with staff. I had a lot of fun making my first Sway application! It was easy to find all sorts of ways I was using Microsoft products throughout my school day.

Here is the link to my application:

MIE Expert Application

April Griffith-Stephen

Go to this Sway

I chose 2 Microsoft apps to focus on, OneNote and and Teams.

OneNote is a notebook-like application that can be used for all sorts of reasons. In school I have used it to help me track instructional coaching with teachers I support, connections and notes for myself around teachers, information about students in my classes, and helping me keep organized when planning lessons. OneNote allows you to create sections and then within those sections you can create pages - it's very similar to a 5-subject notebook you might be at the store, although you can have more than 5 subjects!

Teams is Microsoft's instant messaging & video platform, but it also contains digital classrooms. When I first applied to be an MIEE in 2020, Teams was new but something I used everyday. In the past 4 years the features have increased and it's become very classroom friendly. During the stay-at-home COVID era, Zoom and other video platforms were making leaps and bounds of progress in their systems. There are still features in Zoom that I admire and hope that Microsoft will copy, but Teams has taken a slower, more methodical approach to rolling out their features. 

Check out my following blog posts to learn more about both of these applications.

A (not so) New Blog

 Way back in 2010 I started a blog called "My Life Online" and I imagined it would be this wonderful blog that I would totally pay attention to and keep up on. I still have that blog page, but it's neglected, so I'm starting fresh and in a place that is easy to access from my work computer.

Welcome to "Seeking Online Teacher Blog"!!

Yep, I am an online teacher. Once a looked-down upon sect of the teaching profession, now a little more revered post-COVID stay-at-home era. It's hard teaching online. You do not have the students right in front of you, and it's mostly asynchronous (at least where I teach), so it's a struggle to implement the latest and greatest grouping and teaching activities.

I've been teaching online since 2010, and technology has changed, for the better, to allow teachers to do a lot more. This blog (I hope) will share out some methods and best practices that I've come across. Fair warning, these do not always work in every situation.

Happy reading!!