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Daily Inspiration is the Norm

Posted by Unknown Selasa, 14 Januari 2014 0 komentar

I'm not going to lie, New Milford High School is an amazing place to work. We have fantastic students, supportive parents, a Technology Director that gets it, and a Central Office and Board of Education that provide us with the autonomy to take risks. With these elements in place the stage is set for innovation and the creation of a school culture that works for students in the digital age. Change does not happen when all of the gears are not working in concert. What more could a Principal and learner ask for in a place to work?

Makerspace at NMHS

You know what else I love? The fact that there is so much going on these days at NMHS that it is near impossible for me to know all of the great things taking place. This is where my incredible teachers come into play. Not only are they working extremely hard to adjust to the many new mandates enacted in NJ, but in the face of this adversity they have not departed from what makes NMHS a special place to teach and learn. Instead of shying away from taking risks to improve professional practice, my teachers have readily embraced the autonomy they have been provided. Not only are they innovative and consistently redefining teaching and learning at NMHS, but they readily share their great work on a routine basis. Below is a snapshot of some of their latest work with students:

Mr. Devereaux's AP Biology class used the apps iMotion HD and Stop Motion Studio to create stop-motion videos showing the process of meiosis. They used iMovie to put voice-overs into their videos to describe the process.
Mr. Groff’s US history classes piloted Paperlet, a new educationally based technology platform where students create digital stories that incorporate various multimedia elements including video, sound, and image files. The students worked with Mrs. Fleming on new Google Chromebooks in the library to design their e-books. As part of the pilot program students made recommendations to Paperlet designers on needed changes and enhancements, which were immediately made to improve student experiences.
Mrs. Chellani continues to search for new ways to make the learning environment more engaging and interactive for her students. In addition to playing a review game of jeopardy via the Smart Board in her Calculus classes, she decided to have students use an interactive whiteboard on their phones by downloading the sketchpad app. As opposed to final answers being submitted on paper, Mrs. Chellani had her students use the app to submit the final answers. The learning process was much more enjoyable for the students through the use of the game and much more relevant to them through the use of the phones
Students in Mrs. Groff’s Voices in Poetry and Prose classes have been reading independently since the beginning of the school year. They choose their own books to read based on their interests and reading levels. Students then worked with Mrs. Groff and Mrs. Fleming to create book trailers on their favorite books. Students will use WeVideo, Windows Movie Maker and other available technologies to create their videos. These trailers were then loaded onto an NMHS book trailer.
Mrs. Fleming provided opportunities for the students and staff (and the district) to participate in Computer Science Education Week and the Hour of Code. Students were invited into the media center to used the computer programming tool Scratch to create interactive holiday cards. In addition, Mrs. Fleming collaborated with Mrs. Haskill’s math class as they used coding to create various things including creating their own games.

This is but a small sample of what is happening at NMHS. Each day I can start my morning off with a bang by stopping by our digital journalism class to see what The Lance is up to. I count my blessings everyday that I work in a school where daily inspiration is the norm.

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World Of Difference

Posted by Unknown Rabu, 11 Desember 2013 0 komentar

In my opinion one of the most important roles in any school is that of Media Specialist. Over the years I have longed to create a position that would serve a multi-faceted role of librarian, media specialist, and educational technologist. The challenge for me though was that Shannon Miller's, Joyce Valenza's, and Gwyneth Jones's don't grow on trees. This mere challenge did not deter me in my search in the least bit as I had my eyes set on one such individual that fit this mold perfectly. That person was Laura Fleming, who in her own right has been blazing a trail in the transmedia world for the past couple of years. Once I knew I had this position available the courting process began.

Luckily for me, but more importantly my students and staff, Laura jumped on the opportunity to become a part of the transformation that has been occurring at New Milford High School the past couple of years. Upon hiring Laura I challenged her right off the bat to embrace her new role as an innovative change agent in a space that is extremely outdated and to collaborate with staff in order to push their boundaries to authentically engage students. Our vision for her was to provide meaningful learning opportunities for our students while supporting teachers in the process of effective technology and media literacy integration. I told her to only come to me with solutions to problems and not excuses as to why something could not be done or implemented.

I write this post extremely proud that Laura has run with the autonomy she has been granted and has joined a cadre of NMHS educators and students who are constantly redefining what education should look like in the digital age. She has become a pillar of sustainable change. Here are a few highlights from her short tenure thus far:

Created a digital badge platform to recognize informal learning being undertaken by NMHS staff. Check out this great article from the School Library Journal on this project. Currently she is now working on a similar program for students here.
Collaborated with Mrs. Westbrook in the English Department on the school's first virtual film festival. Students filmed documentaries based on the New York Times One in 8 Million film project. The film festival took place both in person and on Twitter. Student films were tweeted to #knightatthemoviesfall and as the films were viewed, students tweeted film reviews. Students were taught how to effectively tweet a film review and were encouraged to be smart, be positive, and to focus on content and technique. View the Storify here, which includes all films and tweets related to this festival.
Facilitated a #mysteryskpe with a school in Georgia. Numerous NMHS teachers participated in this educational game. The aim of the game was to guess the location of the other classroom by asking each other questions. This involved using online maps and doing some research. The purpose of this Skype was to expose teachers to a wonderful educational tool that they can use with their classes.
Collaborated with business teacher Mrs. Vicari and her students on developing apps for their small businesses using iBuildApp. Students were introduced to the concept of mCommerce and how it can be used to leverage the marketing and promotion of their products in this digital age.
Collaborated with special education teacher Mrs. Mackey and her students in beta-testing a new writing platform called Paperlet. Paperlet is an online participatory publishing platform that takes the existing traditional writing process a decisive step further by bringing the readers into the creative process too. Writers and readers come together in a uniquely combined effort. Writers gather feedback on their writing from readers and are then able to refine their stories based on this feedback. Paperlet guides students through the process of expanding their writing into this new media form.
Created a Makerspace in the media center. Check out this nice article by the Center of Digital Education on the space that Laura has created.
Collaborated with English teachers Mrs. Groff and Mrs. Westbrook on a research project related to CNN Everyday Heroes. Students researched heroes, curated their research using Pinterest and cited their sources using the online citation maker, EasyBib.
Worked with the IT department to develop a procedure to sign out Chromebooks for any student to use throughout the school day as part of our BYOD initiative.

Laura Fleming is having a substantial impact on the culture here at NMHS. In September she created a new blog called Worlds of Learning. It is safe to say that she is making a World of Difference here at NMHS.

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Making to Learn

Posted by Unknown Rabu, 04 Desember 2013 0 komentar

The following post was written by Laura Fleming who is the Media Specialist at my school. It is also cross-posted at her blog Worlds of Learning. Here Laura describes our philosophy and journey to create a Makerspace for our students.

Setting up a Makerspace has been a priority of mine from the moment I started here at New Milford High School, and it’s already well on its way to being achieved. Having a school principal who provides the perfect mix of encouragement and autonomy has, of course, been a great help, but it has also been very much a team effort: the school’s tech team and custodians have been very supportive and cooperative, along with a diverse variety of students interested in ‘making’ experiences.

Makerbot (3D printer) that just arrived to NMHS

At the heart of the vision for my Makerspace is to develop the space and to provide resources and opportunities that will aid in promoting web literacy. These components encompass Mozilla's Web Literacy Standard. The standard is make up of three key elements: exploring, building and connecting and focuses on reading, writing and participating on the web.

As it is shaping up so far, all students will have access to a Makerspace where they can collaborate on STEM-related concepts and ideas through lunchtime activities, independent study, and classroom collaborations. The themes of my Makerspace include:

Robotics
Stop-Motion Animation
3D Printing/Design
Hacking/Remixing the Web/Coding/COMPUTER PROGRAMMING
Molecular Gastronomy
Wearable Tech
Electricity/Papertronics
Polymers
Engineering Inventions

My intention is that instruction for students across the themes will make use of open-source options wherever possible. A good example will be Mozilla Webmaker, a suite of open-source tools dedicated to teaching digital skills and web literacy, as well as Scratch, which offers open-source programming for kids.

Visitors to both our physical and virtual Makerspaces are greeted with the following message:

"What is Worlds of Making @ NMHS? Well, that is up to you, the maker. This space, both physical and virtual, is a place for you to collaborate, hack, invent, share, create, make and do. You have been given the tools you need to get started, but where it goes is up to you. The world is your platform. The aim of our virtual space will be a place to guide students, to showcase their creations and to provide them with a virtual sandbox in which they can play and create."

Our Makerspace will be stocked with:

Legos - Architectural, Simple Machines
Raspberry Pi
3D Makerbot Printing Station
Makey Makey Kits
Little Bits
Arduino Boards
Molecular Gastronomy Kits
Robot Kits
Papertronics
Wearable Technology

NMHS students tinering with Legos

Our physical space will be an attempt to create an environment that encourages creativity and ideas in designing and constructing a wide variety of 3-D artifacts.

For example, we have provided computers designated for students specifically to disassemble and investigate. We are building a Little Bits Bar in which students will have the opportunity to participate in using modular electronics to invent their own creations. We will have a lego table in which students can bring STEM concepts to life. Our working computers are transparent so students can see their innards, perhaps gain an understanding of how the major components fit together, and begin to examine how they work. Everything is hands-on and nothing is off-limits (within the obvious bounds of safety).

Our Makerspace is about creating a genuine and committed culture of innovation at New Milford High School, encouraging tinkering, play and open-ended exploration for all students.

Student drawing on new SMART Board E70

And this is only the start – the concept will grow and grow, with new ideas being brought into the space over time. Keep an eye on our Makerspace site at www.worlds-of-making-nmhs.com and also on Twitter for updates.

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Integration of Digital Badges to Acknowledge Professional Learning

Posted by Unknown Senin, 07 Oktober 2013 0 komentar

The following is cross-posted at Laura Fleming's blog titled Worlds of Learning. Laura is the new media specialist at NMHS and has been challenged to develop innovative ways to create structures to recognize informal learning of both teachers and students.

As a 21st Century Library Media Specialist, part of what I strive to do is to serve as an instructional technology resource for both educators and learners.  In my new position here at New Milford High School, I face the exciting challenge of reaching as many staff members as I could at one time.  I threw around many models in my head until I finally found one that seems right for us.  

I am proud to announce Worlds of Learning @ New Milford High School, a digital badge professional learning platform. The idea behind this platform is to provide professional learning with a pinch of gamification.  For some time now, we have been hearing about digital badges and how they can be used to guide, motivate, document and validate formal and informal learning.  In recent years, Digital Badges have evolved from what were originally static images, to a tool used for capturing and communicating knowledge. Badges can now contain critical metadata that reflects who is issuing the badge, who has earned the badge, the date upon which it was earned, and any relevant criteria for earning the badge.  Digital badges are flexible enough to be able to recognize granular skills that one acquires as well as an individual’s entire learning.   I designed the platform in WordPress using a plugin called BadgeOS - through this plugin, I am able to easily define the achievements and organize the badge requirements.

Worlds of Learning @ New Milford High School provides a framework to allow our teachers to earn digital badges through learning about a range of technology tools and applications.  The platform has been designed so that its resources will help to prepare our educators to fully leverage the potential for mastering digital age skills embodied in the ISTE NETs Standards for Teachers, as well as the seamless integration of technology addressed in the Common Core Standards.  After registering, teachers can earn badges by learning about a tool and then demonstrating how they have successfully integrated it into their instruction. Teachers must register to access all features of the site.  Once completing tasks and earning their badges, they can then showcase their knowledge by displaying their digital learning badges in a number of possible ways:

By putting them onto Credly, the free web service for issuing, earning and sharing badges - Credly is a universal way for people to earn and showcase their achievements and badges.
By putting them on Mozilla OpenBadge.  
By embedding them into their own sites or blogs and pushed out to their social networks.
The badges will also of course be showcased on the Worlds of Learning @ NMHS site.

As technology convergence and integration continues to increase generally in our society, it is paramount that teachers possess the skills and behaviors of digital age professionals. Educators should be comfortable teaching, working and learning in an increasingly connected global digital society.   The real aim of educational technology is to modernize pedagogy and to shape the education of the future. NMHS teachers will be able to take the tools presented in this platform and seamlessly integrate them into meaningful learning that addresses the standards in their respective content areas.

By flipping our professional learning, teachers will receive job-embedded coaching and will be supported by face to face, personalized support.    I will be available to collaborate with teachers on implementing these tools into their instruction as well as offering both face-to-face and virtual support and encouragement. This platform was not designed to be used as a formal evaluation tool. Instead the purpose of this platform is to track, share, celebrate and be given credit for informal learning.

Teachers at New Milford High School document their learning journey throughout the school year so that it can be incorporated into Professional Growth Period (PGP) portfolios (that teachers present at their end-of-year evaluation conferences. The PGP, created by our principal Eric Sheninger, was launched in New Milford High School in September of 2011. As a result, every New Milford High School teacher has two to three, forty eight minute periods a week, to engage in growth opportunities of personal interest. Each staff member has to create and present a learning portfolio at his/ her end of year evaluation conference. This learning portfolio articulates how they integrated what was learned during this time into professional practice. The badges teachers that earn will be a part of their year-long action plan goal.

I hope that New Milford High School teachers will be able to benefit greatly from this sustained initiative because of the professional learning flexibility an online platform provides as well as it being a means to document and showcase the skills they have gained and  putting their learnings into practice in the classroom. With only a handful of badges available to be earned on the site at the moment, I will be adding to the list considerably all throughout the school year.

Needless to say I am extremely excited about how Laura has risen to the occasion and created a model for a program that will acknowledge informal learning of teachers that is aligned to professional standards. Once we have this up and running the next challenge will be to set up something similar for students. In the meantime please share your thoughts on Worlds of Learning @ NMHS.

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