New Ways to Learn with a Book Club

Learning is Social

Thanks to the brilliant Ann Kozma (@annkozma723), I am participating in the #MLmindset book club. Bri Buck @bbucktech is co-moderating the book club. I really appreciate how they set it up. It got me thinking about what the elements help support adult learning, particularly in shared and open learning environments. This is a book club that is taking place on Twitter, using visual images!

Voice and Choice

The sign-up took place using a Google Form survey, inquiring how the participants wanted to connect and share learning. Options included Twitter chats, a Voxer group, and posting learning using visual tools. The group chose using visual learning tools. Sample results can be viewed at the Twitter hashtag #MLmindset. My own creation was done on Canva, a free online design tool that also has an app for mobile use. Allowing for a creative way to respond to the book club was motivating and fun. Using a visual tool allows readers to translate the learning into a visual expression. Here's a link to Ann Kozma Adobe Spark creation on Chapter 1 of Mobile Learning Mindset: The Coach's Guide to Implementation by Carl Hooker. Very impressive, Ann!

How to Bottle It?

Thursday, March 16th at 3:30 p.m. #CUE17

Just as legend has it that the way the creator of  Coca Cola was told how to make money on the fountain drink was to bottle it,  I wonder how to replicate this book club plan with teachers in my district. Not all teachers use Twitter, but we are a Google Apps for Education district, so creating  Google+ Communities is a way to create a safe and closed community. Would that work? I'm going to explore it more. Lindsey Blass and Amanda Haughes will present at the CUE National Conference on Mobile Professional Development with Voxer Book Clubs. There are many ways to creatively provide opportunities to connect and learn together. One of my favorite ways is to connect with others on educational Twitter chats, like #TOSAchat on Monday nights at 8 p.m. PST. I'll be moderating on 2-27-17, discussing blogging with the TOSAchat crew. I hope to see you there. Let me know if you have more ideas on how to creatively "bottle it"-- professional learning, that is!

What's with Formative Assessment?

Formative Assessment is Assessment for Learning

Formative assessment is getting a great deal of notice of late. Chapter 8 of the State of California ELA/ELD Framework focuses specifically on this topic. This post will explain what it is as well as some best practices will be identified. Also, information about some online and digital formative assessment tools will be provided.

The definition of Formative Assessment from Chapter 8 (page 822) is to “provide information about student learning minute-by-minute, day-to-day, and week-to-week so that teachers continuously adapt instruction to meet students’ specific needs and secure progress”. Instead of providing information at the end of a learning cycle, Formative Assessment provides learning information to teacher and student alike.

There has been discussion about whether it is appropriate to grade Formative Assessment. Learners may not have all mastered a topic when a Formative Assessment is given. The teacher learns who has and has not learned material, then can adjust teaching strategies. Students learn what they do not have a complete grasp of, so must work toward that goal.

There are a variety of tools that can be used to assess learning during the learning cycle. Some are tried and true, while others are digital and new. Each has its place. The State of West Virginia provides examples of Formative Assessment at this site. Some tried and true elements are exit tickets, graphic organizers, and discussion. Some new resources include digital games and websites that gather important data about student knowledge. These include: Socrative, GoFormative, and Kahoot. These new tools are worth investigating, as they can help gather the formative data needed to evaluate student learning, while engaging students at the same time.

When addressing the formative assessment and grading question, teachers ask, “How can we motivate students to try?” I challenge them to observe a classroom playing Kahoot to ask that question. Novelty is worthy. It keeps the learning interesting and the learner motivated to learn. Try these new learning tools!

Want more information? Check out this Edutopia blog on having a Courageous Conversation about grading practices.

This blog post is dedicated to my friends at #TOSAchat where the Formative Assessment discussion began several weeks ago. I expect it will continue!

TOSAs Chat Up Twitter #TOSAChat and #ConnectedTL

This Twitter thing is hot! I know that I"m behind the times, but am working hard to catch up. There are so many educational chats out there, I didn't know where to begin.  Since I will be starting a job as an Instructional Coach in the next week, I wanted to find a PLN (Professional Learning Network) that I could learn with and from. Then I found two, while at the #CUERockStar Black Label sessions for TOSAs (Teachers on Special Assignment) on August 15-16, 2015.

The first, @TOSAChat and #TOSAChat, held its first chat ever on Monday, August 17, 2015 at 8:00 p.m. PST. It was lively! Luckily, I just added Tweetdeck the day before, so I could follow the chat. Holly B. Steele (@hollybsteele) gave me the great suggestion of opening up two columns for the chat, one for old and one for current tweets. I'm going to use that strategy next week! Here is a link to the Storified version of the inaugural chat.

A short 23-hours later, the @ConnectedTL and #ConnectedTL (short for Connected Teacher Learner) began at its regularly scheduled time, Tuesdays at 7 p.m. PST. The hosts of this ongong Twitter chat are @rhondacorippo, @mrvaudrey, and @catetolnoi. This chat is really organized! The chat has a Pinterest Board with resources and posted the questions before the chat, which was really appreciated. That kept me from having scroll fever during the chat, wondering what the current question was...and what the answers being posted related to.

If you are a TOSA, TOSA-wannabe, Coach, Administrator, or Teacher on the lookout for good stuff, I encourage you to check out these chats...and start following some of the innovative teachers in these chats! Start off the new school year by building a PLN that meets your needs, whether as a TOSA or otherwise.

Need to find more educational chats, I suggest having a look at the cybraryman educational chat schedule and list of educational hashtags. Find a PLN that fits!