On one of our teacher work days recently, we had a GAFE summit. I had seen GAFE around twitter, but never really knew what it stood for. I then found out that it means Google Apps for Education. I became really excited and wanted to sign up for every single session, but of coarse, I am only a person of one, therefore couldn't get to every session and felt like I missed out on other sessions that may have been equally, if not more, benefitial than the sessions I had attended. I felt what the kids now a days call FOMO, fear of missing out. This happens at every conference. I have decided to blog about my own personal reflections, lessons learned, and experiences from the GAFE summit at my place of work.
The day started out like a normal professional development day. The head of schools made announcements, then introdcued our keynote speaker @HollyClarkEDU. She discussed being #futureready and really, what I got out of her presentation was that she was around when the internet was just starting to become a common household comadity. She also happen to be at the right place at the right time, Silicon Valley, which was the tech hub for all these new techy intiatiators. It doesn't hurt to have experts in the field in your neighborhood where networking can lead to amazing accomplishments in the classroom. With those elements and a creative outlook at what was to come, she harnessed her students digital curiosity and used it amazingly. We are talking about different times now though, and the battle between content or skills seems to be hot tamale around my neck of the woods. What does that mean for us teachers? She did not quite hit the nail on the head for us, where skills are trumping content, because for some of us, that like where the future is heading, but know the value of education, know that a beautiful thin balance beween content and the 5 C's of 21st Century Skills is curcial.
1. Leaders should remove frictions from the system.
2. Choices are important for all constituents, especially students
3. Blockbuster is being talked about way too much, in both the first keynote presentation, and now in this one. Read about the Rise and Fall of Blockbuster Here
4. Leaders should create a culture of Yes, and build others up.
5. Having students in your sessions to allow input from a student perspective of the professional development that will eventually affect them after implementation is both enlightening and powerful. [The MOST POWERFUL THING I LEARNED ALL DAY, and it wasn't from a presenter but from the students in the room that chose to speak on their own accord on their perspectives of our topic at hand for our Professional Development]
6. Who are the 5 people that do your job better than you? Are you learning from them?
The second session that I attended was called "Differentiated Instruction"
These are the top thing I leanred:
1. We are teaching teaching Generation Z
2. Most important for all students is making their thinking visible
3. Technology in the classroom is not about the tool, it is about what students can do with the tool.
The Third session that I attended was called "The Right Questions"
These are the top things I learned:
1. Two Books to Read to learn more: Make Just One Change and A More Beautiful Questions
2. Use the Formulation Technique:
A. Design a question
B. Design a question focus
C. Produce questions
D. Work with closed-ended and open-ended questions
E. Prioritize questions
F. Plant next steps
G. Reflect
Something that was said that I try to do in my classroom daily: Student Agency is very important; letting the kids be the leaders in their own learning.
The last session that I attended was called "Feuling Future-Ready Students"
These are the top things I learned:
1. Students enjoy instant feedback and little consequences, that is why they enjoy gaming.
2. We have functional fixedness which prevents use from learning new things since we see patterns but our brains cannot see tools in other ways because it helps us survive.
3. There are two types of problems - Algorithmic Problem Solving and Wicked Problems. Wicked problems are those that are so bad, that it is so difficult that we as adults cannot answer.
4. We need to motivate wicked problem solving via autonomy, mastery and purpose.
Below is a dump of resources spoken about during the presentations I attended, that I have not had time to look through. It is interesting how presenters throw a bunch of resources at teachers at these events. I'm sure many teachers feel the same as I do, when would we have time to peruse these resources, implement them, and reflect on their efficiency? These presentations should focus on one or two specific resources, practice with them, and then test them out in the classroom, until we can get our bag'o'tricks.
The day started out like a normal professional development day. The head of schools made announcements, then introdcued our keynote speaker @HollyClarkEDU. She discussed being #futureready and really, what I got out of her presentation was that she was around when the internet was just starting to become a common household comadity. She also happen to be at the right place at the right time, Silicon Valley, which was the tech hub for all these new techy intiatiators. It doesn't hurt to have experts in the field in your neighborhood where networking can lead to amazing accomplishments in the classroom. With those elements and a creative outlook at what was to come, she harnessed her students digital curiosity and used it amazingly. We are talking about different times now though, and the battle between content or skills seems to be hot tamale around my neck of the woods. What does that mean for us teachers? She did not quite hit the nail on the head for us, where skills are trumping content, because for some of us, that like where the future is heading, but know the value of education, know that a beautiful thin balance beween content and the 5 C's of 21st Century Skills is curcial.
The wonderful world of twitter caught my attention, and of coarse, as students, we teachers can be easily distracted by our own devices. My focused shifted from her presentation, especially when she said that people "under 35" would not know what she was talking about, and she said that about 6-7 times. I took offense to that, because I, being "under 35" am not considered a "millenial" by many, and I remember what life was like before "the internet". I used encyclopedias, typewriters, record players, and all things that you would think a millenial wouldn't remember. Luckily, her presentation did not last much longer, and onto our first session we went.
The first session that I attended was called "Leading a Connect Classroom" by @ideaguy42
These are the top things I learned:1. Leaders should remove frictions from the system.
2. Choices are important for all constituents, especially students
3. Blockbuster is being talked about way too much, in both the first keynote presentation, and now in this one. Read about the Rise and Fall of Blockbuster Here
4. Leaders should create a culture of Yes, and build others up.
5. Having students in your sessions to allow input from a student perspective of the professional development that will eventually affect them after implementation is both enlightening and powerful. [The MOST POWERFUL THING I LEARNED ALL DAY, and it wasn't from a presenter but from the students in the room that chose to speak on their own accord on their perspectives of our topic at hand for our Professional Development]
6. Who are the 5 people that do your job better than you? Are you learning from them?
The second session that I attended was called "Differentiated Instruction"
These are the top thing I leanred:
1. We are teaching teaching Generation Z
2. Most important for all students is making their thinking visible
3. Technology in the classroom is not about the tool, it is about what students can do with the tool.
The Third session that I attended was called "The Right Questions"
These are the top things I learned:
1. Two Books to Read to learn more: Make Just One Change and A More Beautiful Questions
2. Use the Formulation Technique:
A. Design a question
B. Design a question focus
C. Produce questions
D. Work with closed-ended and open-ended questions
E. Prioritize questions
F. Plant next steps
G. Reflect
Something that was said that I try to do in my classroom daily: Student Agency is very important; letting the kids be the leaders in their own learning.
The last session that I attended was called "Feuling Future-Ready Students"
These are the top things I learned:
1. Students enjoy instant feedback and little consequences, that is why they enjoy gaming.
2. We have functional fixedness which prevents use from learning new things since we see patterns but our brains cannot see tools in other ways because it helps us survive.
3. There are two types of problems - Algorithmic Problem Solving and Wicked Problems. Wicked problems are those that are so bad, that it is so difficult that we as adults cannot answer.
4. We need to motivate wicked problem solving via autonomy, mastery and purpose.
Below is a dump of resources spoken about during the presentations I attended, that I have not had time to look through. It is interesting how presenters throw a bunch of resources at teachers at these events. I'm sure many teachers feel the same as I do, when would we have time to peruse these resources, implement them, and reflect on their efficiency? These presentations should focus on one or two specific resources, practice with them, and then test them out in the classroom, until we can get our bag'o'tricks.
Resources:
Amazon EDU
EdPuzzle
VideoNotes Resource
Quad Blogging
Start Empathy
Building Schools 2.0 → to Read
The Big Drink → book about water
NewsELA: current issue articles that are written in different levels of grades
RW Puzzle piece
Draftback
Book to Read: Drive - by Daniel Pink & Steal Like an Artist
All in all, there were a few take home points, but overall, I really wish I would have received more out of the experience. I wish there were more practical applications that I could easily and readily implement in my classroom soon after the summit, but sadly, I cannot say that there was. I do believe that some of my coworkers did receive great applicable resources that they implemented in their classrooms, and perhaps, it can be tied into the selections of the workshop that I attended, but for the future, I would want to suggest to read up on the experiences of the presenters, view any past presentations they were involved in, and do a little more research before selecting the workshops instead of just reading the workshop descriptions and selecting presentations based on that sole criteria.
Please feel free to comment on any different experiences anyone has had from GAFE.
On my next post, I will dicscuss how I coordinated a cross-curricular project based field study with my coworkers!
On my next post, I will dicscuss how I coordinated a cross-curricular project based field study with my coworkers!
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