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99 Life Hacks to make your life easier!

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I am using technology in my classes to support learning. Aren't we all? 

Faced with a pending one2one conversation with the boss, I wanted a way to sort my ideas and bring everything to one place.

Then I read a tweet this morning about wallwisher.com. A wall to organize my ideas and links was just the thing I was looking for! #etmooc

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I'm not even sure the majority of my colleagues at my school have considered online learning as an option. And I am only beginning to wade into it, myself. There seems to be so much to learn, and it's exciting to think that I get to choose what I can learn - and when - and how much! I feel like - if I could just get my students to approach their learning this way, they could be in control of their futures too.

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I found this list interesting - I already use some of the items with my grade 8's; some of them wouldn't fit with what we are trying to do; some of them I use myself - though not yet with students; and some of them look like they will be worth checking out.

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My animated introduction for #etmooc.

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#etmooc!

I am starting a new adventure in learning. I have joined the MOOC movement. (Is that what it is called - amovement?) MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course. This one is all about Education technology.

If you are a teacher, and you are interested, it is not too late to join. Find all the details you need at #etmooc on twitter or at etmooc.org.

I am excited because I haven't been part of a course since I finished my Master's degree nine years ago. I am excited because there are already hundreds of participants who have declared their intention to think about and discuss issues around edtech: connected learning, digital storytelling, digital literacy, digital citizenship, and the open movement.

It's ten weeks. I hope it is as useful and thought-provoking as I think it's going to be!

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Professional Development Day

Just a week after some of the best professional development I've had since traveling to Hawaii for a summertime AP conference, I can't help but be struck by the idea that PD days at school are so often boring, top-down, lecture-style affairs.

The edcamp model for professional development is so much more relevant, not least because it allows the participants to guide their own learning and participate in teaching others something new. And if we are going to talk about 21st century technologies and how important it is that we use them in our classes, perhaps we should begin to model our PD for ourselves on these "new" practices. I know firsthand that my students are much more engaged in their own learning when they have a say in what they learn, and an opportunity to share their knowledge. It seems like an easy assumption that teachers (people who chose a profession in which they share their knowledge) would appreciate the same opportunities.

Today I wished I was teaching my classes instead of sitting quietly in my desk while one or another of my colleagues talked about the next new thing we, as a staff, need to consider.

I guess I am happy to think that the students in my classes are more engaged than our teachers were at today's PD, even if I do have a long way to go before my grade 8 language arts class is fully immersed in 21st century technologies. Today's experience reminded me that I am at least on the right path.

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EdCamp inspired me!

I never went to camp when I was a kid. My summers were spent in lazy pursuits like reading novel after novel and laying around on the beach. And when I wasn't being lazy, I was busy with summertime lake living. Camp didn't interest me.

Last Saturday I went to camp for the first time ever; it was EdCamp YEG at Lillian Osbourne High School. It was cold and snowy outside. I was talking and really thinking about work on the weekend, and it was great!

Never mind that November had only recently arrived and I'm still having fun with my students; never mind that I have great colleagues at my school who patiently listen when I enthuse about all the cool new web 2.0 tools and technology I am discovering; it was so nice to be able to listen to other teachers who are more than mildly interested in improving their teaching and their students' learning in these ways. I wish we could have EdCamp more than once a year. I went back to work this week, inspired to try some new things.

I'll be at the next camp, and I'll probably bring some people with me!

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My Tumblr Experiment

This is an experiment. My hypothesis is that having a place to share ideas about teaching and learning; successes and failures will, at the very least, give me a place to keep track of those things.

Everything around me is changing at an alarming rate. Alarming, not least because the rate of change seems to be related to my own willingness to change. I find I am very open to new ideas.

There are a lot of new ideas. Everyday I walk SMACK into five new ideas.

Right now, I think this blog is about my search for ways to increase student learning and decrease my own work load! After all, all this edtech stuff is not useful if it doesn't do both of those things.