Diary of a Digital Learning Coach

The countdown is on!  Tomorrow is the last (half) day of school for our learners and our educators are about to have a much needed break.  I hope summer allows you to disconnect a little, to take things a little slower, to recharge.   It's a great time to learn also...I know a great blog (hint, hint!). For me, this year was tough, but that just means I was growing.  While I was sad to leave an amazing campus, I ended up falling in love with a new one.   While I worried about keeping up with all the new things, I made connections, leaned on my people, and learned. While I struggled thinking maybe I wasn't enough, I was reminded in the relationships I made, the smiles in our learners and the growth we shared that the struggle is worth it.  For you.  For them. I hope if your year was tough that this summer gives you a similar perspective. So thank you for being my why. Thank you for reading.  Thank you for learning with me bu...

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...

When I started this blog series, my intent was to challenge myself to really explore how Apple can be used for deeper learning. I wanted to develop my answer to the question, “Why Apple?”  and encourage you to consider it as well. I hope it has opened your mind to some different ways that the Apple foundational programs can be used within your classroom. Though our series ends with this post, I challenge all of us to continue to share ideas in the comments, on our Flipgrid and via Twitter.  Learning, after all, isn’t ever “over” - it morphs and changes and shifts, but with an open mind, it never ceases. I owe a great deal of thanks to my teammates who co-wrote, linked up, brainstormed ideas and recorded Flipgrid videos. Could I have written all of the posts? Maybe. But there is such power in different perspectives and learning collaboratively.  I hope that my teammates have learned from me through this process as well. To my inspired educators...

As I pulled into the campus parking lot last Thursday, which also happened to be Digital Learning Day, I received a text.  It went something like this: Create at Imgflip The internet is down is not something ANY of us wants to hear.  It is inconvenient and most of the time throws our best laid plans out the window. But as the time ticked on and I kept hearing the half-hearted laughs of a no internet Digital Learning Day (many from myself), I began to think...why does everything have to stop?  Digital learning is not about tools.  It's about creating. It's about processing thinking.  It's about more than just connecting via the web. You might remember that I am on a mission this year to really explore how to better provide deeper learning experiences through Apple devices. So I challenged myself to make a list of all the things that worked on my iPad, even with no internet.   What I found was...well, awesome.   Many...

In this week’s post, we focus on Numbers.  New to Numbers?   Think Excel or Google Sheets, but with whiteboard capabilities, easy to use charts and more. “ With Numbers, you can create beautiful spreadsheets that include impressive charts, tables, and images. And with real-time collaboration, your team can work together on a Mac, iPad, or iPhone — even on a PC using iWork for iCloud."  - Apple As I prepared to write this post, I had to laugh at myself.  If you would have told me 3 years ago that I would have become a champion of the Numbers program, I would have never believed you. I had so many misconceptions of what Numbers was that I didn’t even give it a chance when designing learning.  So in the spirit of someone who has seen the light, I will use this post as my confession. I used to think Numbers was for “data geeks” but now I know it is for “creativity geeks” too. Numbers doesn’t have to have gridlines visible in a sheet -...

If you have been following my Twitter feed lately, you've seen me use #gratitude a lot. It is because my team has challenged ourselves to spend 21 days of gratitude. I'm finding it is helping me see my world using a lens of positivity and growth. Speaking of gratitude, we’ve now entered November, and what better time for our learners to celebrate our gratitude than the month of Thanksgiving? "Attitude of Gratitude" Wall in Stephanie Shannon's 2nd grade space at RJL My teammate, Sam Neal , has created a FlipGrid just for that purpose. We are inviting you all to share your own gratitude and to use this is a reflection space for your learners! There are 21 Days of Gratitude sentence stems on the FlipGrid if anyone would like to use that as inspiration or to help the learners express what they’re grateful for. Feel free to use this resource or ignore it completely! A neat feature you might also explore with your learners is the ability to resp...

Next week I am providing a professional learning session on making global connections.   It has made me think a lot about how we connect and why.  It is so much more than talking to someone on a video conference or connecting to an expert.  Sure, there is great learning to be had from those experiences, but I find myself seeking more.   As my team talked about our goals this past week, my friend Amanda and I talked about the difference between global connection vs. global collaboration.  Both break down the walls of our classroom, but which leads to deeper thinking, broader perspectives and higher engagement?  As with every learning experience, it has much to do with the way the experience is approached, the reflection that happens after and the questioning opportunities to which it leads. Even so, what would our classrooms look like if we strived for more global collaboration?  Kids working with other kids and cultures to create, t...

Can we all just pause a second to reflect on how awesome it is to have a 3 day weekend 2 weeks into school starting?  I don't know about you, but I sure needed it after a long week of supporting our tech department, educators and learners with iPad rollout. Image created with the Mematic App While necessary, rolling out iPads has never been my dream.  The logistics tend to overwhelm my perfectionist soul, last minute unknowns keep everyone on their toes and hiccups are inevitable.  Always hard on myself, I worry about the time spent away from classrooms and design work as if I am constantly letting someone down. But as I reflect on my last couple of weeks, I keep coming back to our kids.   Our kids are ready and able to learn using technology that much faster because of the team of dedicated people who helped with iPad rollout. In education, most of us have a small line at the end of our job description: other duties as assigned. Most of the time, we t...

Hello, blog readers! No, I didn't fall off the face of the planet.  Life events forced me to truly disconnect this summer, which I rarely do.  It was needed and it was worth it.  Since my One Word for the year is BREATHE, I knew this summer must be one of rest. But...a new school year is upon us.  As I move from dreading the alarm clock to the inevitable excitement a new year brings, I am reminded of a quote from the movie, You've Got Mail .   We met our new hires today during Digital Learning Day.  I wanted to tell them all the things - how our district promotes risk, how we believe in learning beyond the tools, how little kids can and will when we have growth mindsets. I wanted to tell them that is is less about technology and more about relationships, that if they are willing to let go, the sky is the limit for our kids. I wanted to tell them that they have as much to teach me as I have to offer them. It's a lot for a "first day", but I kn...

Happy Tuesday, Blog Readers! We are inching toward the end of the year so I will make this TMST post short.  I attended a the R10 Tech Conference yesterday and I made a quick storify of the conference hashtag.  Yes, that's right, you get to learn from me AND my PLN in this post! A Storify is just a collection of social media posts, pictures, and links that are curated into one place!  It can be great for telling the "story" of a CBL or UBD, as a way to reflect upon your learning for summative conferences, or as an end of the year reflection activity! [ View the story "#R10Tech Conference" on Storify ] How do you share out learning from conferences and PL? 

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.

For years, we as educators have been talking about connected classrooms.  Over the years, many classes I have worked with have connected with experts, used tools that allow for online collaboration and joined projects that involve learning with others outside of their classroom walls. But how do we make sure those connections promote deeper thinking? I've been thinking about this question a lot lately. To me, a connected classroom starts with a connected educator.  Connected educators are inspired by connected coaches.  As I reflect upon the types of connections made by myself and modeled to the educators with which I coach, I realized something. It's a step to put yourself out there, and I took that step by starting this blog. But connection isn't just putting yourself out there, it is the conversation between thinkers, the shared work of collaborators, the process of problem solving with someone and more. That's why I decided it was time for me to show y...

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

Growing up, I was the kid in your class that wanted to do everything just right.  A 92 was not a high B, it was not quite good enough to be an A.  A reprimand made me want to hide under a rock.  I didn't even read the rest of the rubric - the only thing for me was the exceeds column. I wonder sometimes if that is why receiving feedback is hard for me.  Somewhere along the way, I taught myself that if a process or work was analyzed and questions arose, that it must be wrong or not a good idea.  It is hard for me to accept help in the form of feedback from others.  My sensitive heart paired with not wanting to be seen as not being smart enough or enough in general holds me back. They say admitting you have a problem is the first step. Last year, I tried to step out of my critical brain long enough to LISTEN to my critical friends. I tried to separate any attachment I had and just grow.  I watched and noted how others handle receiving feedback, ...