Diary of a Digital Learning Coach

Let's "take 5" (minutes that is) for a Schoology Profile checkup!  Do you have your profile page filled out to put your best "face" forward?  Check out the video below! Have questions?  Let me know!

This week I'd love to encourage you to learn by doing!  I've talked a little about Flipgrid with some of you and I know some of you are thinking of using it soon or have had learners use it during  Jodie Deinhammer's Earth Day global project . So instead of me writing about it, let's have some fun...no stress, you get to wear your learner hat for this exercise! Step 1 Download the Flipgrid App  and enter my grid by using the code   xy69faa or  Go to directly to my FlipGrid by following this link  https://flipgrid.com/xy69faa Step 2 Pick one (or more) of my topics and record a short video response. Don't let me be the only one talking to myself! Step 3 (optional, but fun)  Watch someone else's video responses. Y ou do not need to set up an account to participate as a learner in a grid, but you would want to if you decide to create one to use with your class. Educators get one grid like my example above to host video topics and responses

Happy Monday, Readers! This won't be long, just a quick reflection and reminder.  I am currently learning something that feels foreign to me.  A new language, if you will.  As a high achiever, I am longing for the time when it will be easier, but I am stuck in the struggle.   It reminds me that the process of learning is messy and it is supposed to be hard.  If it is too easy, I am not learning.   It reminds me that mindsets are fluid.  I don't always have a growth mindset and you probably don't either.  After all, we don't "achieve" growth mindsets, we work at them. It reminds me that I don't have to be the expert right away.  Learning takes time and patience. It reminds me that if I feel this way, you and our kids might feel this way sometimes too. Learning is messy, but when we work at it, it is so worth it. Hang in there, readers, and I will too. Image created in Pablo by Buffer

A couple of weeks ago, my team put on a webinar focusing on design resources.  I think most of the time as educators, we push ourselves to reinvent the wheel.  In some ways, this is awesome because innovation starts with creativity and new ideas.  But in other ways, I think part of our struggle in balance as educators has to do with feeling like design is all on our shoulders. So how do we capitalize on the great design of others while continuing to seek ways to innovate and provide experiences that are customized for the needs of our learners? There's no easy answer to that, but you have heard me say this many times over this blog...we learn better together. That said,  I highly encourage you to add some of these Apple Design Gems to your summer learning plans.  Many resources in these Gems are made by educators like you and there are some great ideas just waiting to be uncovered. Gem 1:  iBooks A collection of books with resources that can be used when creating auth

What would you do if you could have a window into each learner's interests?  Would you engage them differently?  Would you consider designing learning content with those interests in mind?   What would you do if you could create projects and collaboration activities around those interests?  Would you use them? Meet Thrively , a place for learners to explore their passions and strengths inside and outside the classroom. Check out this 3 min overview video from the creators of Thrively to get a better understanding of what it can do to enhance the design of passion driven units, Genius Hour, or projects. I have been interested in passion driven learning since reading Angela Maiers' book, The Passion Driven Classroom several years ago.  One of my schools dived into the concept of a whole campus Genius Hour not long after doing a book study on it.   Genius Hour lets learners explore and develop talents outside of traditional core content.  It is magical what our