Diary of a Digital Learning Coach

I once read that in order to grow, we must learn something new everyday by getting out of our "comfort zones". I think we sometimes make this too hard - like we have to make a big jump like changing a job or a grade level or a school placement.  But the truth is that little steps out of our comfort zones have the potential to provide just as big shifts in thinking.   We just have to be open and take the step. Last week, I challenged myself and my team to ditch our MacBooks for a couple of days.  It doesn't seem that big of a challenge...after all, educators in our district have been issued both Macs AND iPads in order to support learning design for our 1:1 iPad district.  But what I found was that much too often, I default to using just my MacBook.  My team felt the same.   Now, we all tend to have a preferred device and there is nothing wrong with that.  However, I wondered what kept us going back to our MacBooks and how our perspect...

Have you ever followed someone on Twitter that you wished you got to work with in person?  That is exactly how I have always felt about Sam Neal . Earlier this year, I was overjoyed to learn she was joining our team.  Read this week's post and you'll see why I #fangirl her so much!  This week, we link up with Sam's blog t o learn all about how the ease of  Apple's Clips App  makes it possible for our learners to focus on their creativity and thinking.  Clips  is similar to iMovie or MovieMaker but simpler, with built in music, animated transitions and more.  In her post, Sam writes,  "...when you spend time using digital tools with digital natives, it doesn’t take long to see that they don’t really need you to show them which buttons to click - they can figure out a lot of that on their own. What they need is to be guided in reflecting on their thinking and learning processes, creating quality content, and sharing their ...

My favorite partner in learning and I were at it again last night.  Just a quick reminder that learning together is better...even when your learning buddy is younger than you. Video created in Apple Clips.  Drawing Machine made with Little Bits Steam Kit. Stay vulnerable, friends.  You might just surprise yourself with what learning you find.

Some days as a DLC I am reminded that my job is pretty fun.  Tinkering with new things helps me learn and being the learning nerd I am, that makes me pretty happy.   The other day,  I took some time to explore a new app from Apple, Clips .  Clips lets you create movies using a series of video, transition and subtitle clips.  It makes movie creation a little more fun, while being super easy too.   Things I love about Clips : no login needed start and stop recording seamlessly filters to make videos more interesting subtitles automatically added when recording - great for ELL's and emergent readers easy title slide editing import media or record from the app music options that don't distract share to camera roll or open in other apps What would #dlcoachalli do with Clips ? Make nerdy example videos for introducing content (like on my blog!) Have learners explain the steps in a process, create a procedural text video or reflection of l...