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Your school closed because of Covid-19. You found out that your students will be off for the next few weeks. You still have to teach them or provide resources so they continue to learn. You may not have taught any classes online. This could be all-new for you. If so, it can be scary and overwhelming.

Instead of trying to redo your entire curriculum, this might be the time to look at how you can communicate effectively in an online environment or in whatever way you can reach your families to provide a calming effect. This means connecting you with your families using different strategies along with realistic expectations.

Reaching out to your students and families

Many schools and districts have ways to communicate with their families.

• Did you receive instructions on how to communicate with your students when you are not at school?
• Do you have your own website or blog, a page on the district site, use learning management systems or use google docs?

You may want to reach out to your families introducing what learning will be like for the next few weeks. Families are looking for routines.

• Introduce yourself as an online teacher.
• Put up a picture or video of you.
• Share how you plan to communicate and receive messages.
• Start slow with a simple schedule for one day. Check out My Thoughts below.

Here is a Daily Schedule Planner that you can copy and use thanks to Rebekah Madrid. Instructions:

1. Click here to open the Google Doc
2. Go to File > Make a copy
3. Type a name and choose where to save it
4. Click OK
5. You’ll then find an editable copy of the Google Doc in your Google Drive

If you did not receive instructions or do not have a way to communicate with your families, then you may have to resort to sending mail home or sending messages via text. I know there are students that do not have access to digital resources so I’ll look for ideas to share with you, but I know that just connecting and checking in might be enough. I’ll share what I find in future posts.

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My Thoughts

I hope that schools and districts ease what is expected of teachers and families during this crisis. This is a time to not worry about grades or tests. Instead of trying to teach anything new, encourage reading, playing together, exercising, and maybe doing puzzles together. If there is a way to connect occasionally online or another way for families that do not have access, maybe we need to rethink what “teaching” means at this time during this crisis. We need to empower “learning” at home that is accessible, equitable, meaningful, and fun. Every moment can be a teachable moment.

What if we are there to just check in with families to help calm anxieties? Maybe on the daily schedule planner, you suggest mindfulness activities, games or other ways to play, books to read, music to dance to, movies to watch, etc. I just saw this on @elisabostwick’s email and think this is a great idea from @drlangraad.

Take a Few Breathing Breaks

Meredith Johnson @mjjohnson1216 shared “Breathing Breaks” on Twitter when we were discussing how to handle anxiety and consider social-emotional learning strategies. I figured teachers probably everyone might need to calm ourselves during this crisis.

I sent out the Rethinking Learning Report Vol 2. No 2. with way too much information, so I plan to share a little at a time in shorter posts. Each day there are more resources people are sharing. This is a time that we’ve never had to deal with before so each day will be new for all of us.

I’ve spent most of my life as a teacher, a coach, and a mentor supporting teachers and administrators. Something is different now. I feel there is a sense of urgency to rethink the idea of “school” and what it means to be a teacher, a principal, and a student. I have also heard from people in and outside of education who felt lost and didn’t know their WHY. They said they accepted that they went down the wrong path and felt they were living someone else’s story. This made me stop and rethink my WHY. I became aware that that had happened to me. I thought I had no other choice to keep doing what I was doing, but I did. I thought of Churchill’s quote and that all of us need to live for something. 

“It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something.” ―Winston S. Churchill

Through these conversations, I realized how challenging it was to teach, how difficult it was to be a student, and how many educators had gotten lost in the WHAT and HOW that they’ve forgotten or maybe never knew their WHY. 

In 2017, I started the Rethinking Learning podcast to share stories about people who inspired me. It wasn’t long before I got it. It was all about the stories. I needed to learn more. In the process, I found out that most everyone I talked with had struggled or had made choices that didn’t always work. In fact, those struggles made them stronger. At this same time, I was searching for my WHY and considered the different struggles I had and other events in my life. I had changed careers, had taken projects that were only for the money, and went in a direction that was more about the WHAT and HOW instead of the WHY. 

I needed to search for my WHY. I adapted the strategies that I used during my coaching sessions and workshops to learn more about me. What did I love? What am I good at? It all came back to the stories and my love of writing. You see, I used to write poetry and short stories years before. I did co-author two books on personalized learning which I enjoyed, but that was not the kind of writing I wanted to do. I wanted to write about the stories and the WHY. To get me in the mood to write, I decided to blog, journal daily, and write a post for each podcast. The posts changed me. I realized that when I listened to the podcast I wasn’t connecting to the person as much as I wanted.

I asked my guests to share information about themselves in a Google doc so I could do research about them before our conversations. I also decided to listen closer by transcribing some of the conversations for the post. If I wanted to learn more, I reached out to the person after the podcast for more information. I know I was spending way too much time on each post, but I loved it. I loved learning about each person and collaborating with them to find pictures, links, and other resources about their lives. The stories motivated me to want to write more.

I asked different people who were on my podcast if they would like to collaborate with me by sharing some of their stories about their WHY in a book I wanted to write. 26 people said yes. I found My WHY: to write my new book, Define Your WHY. I’m really excited to share the stories and the strategies I used to define the WHY. I’ll be sharing more soon because my book is launching on Monday, February 17th and the link is up on Amazon for pre-order. http://bit.ly/defineyourwhybook

“Believe in yourself, your abilities and your own potential. Never let self-doubt hold you captive. You are worthy of all that you dream of and hope for.”     

––Roy Bennett

Connie Hamilton Ed.S. is a curriculum director in Saranac, MI and educational consultant working with school districts across the United States. She is a certified trainer in effective classroom questioning, teacher evaluation tools, visible learning and supports teacher learning in the area of literacy.

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Connie is the co-author of Hacking Homework and is the author of her new book Hacking Questions: 11 Questions to Create a Culture of Inquiry in the Classroom. Hope you enjoy our conversation!

Your background 

I grew up in Michigan as an only child for 10 years with my mom. So I grew up with that only child mentality to keep busy and find something to do so I played school. With my stuffed animals all in a row. I would take stacks of old worksheets home and give Big A+s at the top to some and also have struggling learners giving them red Xs. Then I would encourage those who were struggling to do it over. I ended up doing them over also as the teacher and part of the class. I had a lot of time in my room by myself with my stuffed animals playing school. I always knew I wanted to go into education. When I was 9, my mom remarried. When I was 10, my first sister was born and at 14, my second sister was born. My youngest sister was in kindergarten when I left for college.

The Dr. Will Show – Standards-Based Learning with Connie Hamilton, Ed.S.

What it was like when you were a student

I was a pretty good math student and my mom wanted me to capitalize on some of my math skills I had. So I entered Michigan State University as an Aeronautical Engineering major. My heart was always with kids and education, but she really encouraged me to check out that field. I took 2 or 3 calculus classes and thought this was not for me. So I changed my major to education and I didn’t tell my mother for almost a year. So I became a teacher even though my mom discouraged me from education. Sadly, there’s not enough recognition that teachers deserve. Even back then, my mom recognized that teachers work very hard and don’t get enough accolades or perks. She just wanted me to get the benefits for all the hard work I was doing. I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished. I never thought I would wake up every day and love what I do.

Your journey as an educator

School was really good for me. Some classes were easier than others. My first year as an educator, it was hard for me to relate to struggling students because I never experienced that as a learner myself. I embraced the challenge. When the Rubik’s Cube came out, I was going to fix that thing and would not quit until I had it solved. That idea of  “I don’t get this” when it seemed so clear to me made me reconsider what it meant to be a learner especially those struggling who were in most need of a teacher who knows how to deliver the curriculum. 

When I first graduated from Michigan State, I couldn’t find a teaching job in Michigan. I took my first position in Houston, Texas. I taught there a couple of years. As a first year teacher, I didn’t think I was prepared and was afraid to teach kids to read because it’s such a big responsibility. They hired me as a third-grade teacher and I thought they would know how to read by then. My class was really small so I  got to know them well. After a few weeks, the principal told me that the 1st-grade class numbers are really high and 3rd grade classes are really low, so I’m going to give you a couple of days off to get ready for a new group of 1st graders. I was terrified with teaching 1st graders how to read. Remember I was from Michigan and teaching in Texas so vowels sounded different. Teaching students to decode words when phonemes are a little different the way that I pronounce them versus how they pronounce them was just another added challenge. It ended up working out in the end.

Episode 132 Podcast Educators Lead with Connie Hamilton: Be Patient! Sometimes You have to Go Slow to Go Fast on iHeart Radio

I got married and moved back to Michigan. I was a Title I teacher working with small groups of 8th-grade students who were struggling, then I became an 8th grade English teacher and really enjoyed middle school. In fact, I got my administrative degree and became an assistant principal at the middle school. Then I moved to Saranac Public Schools and became the curriculum director. 

Your family

My husband’s name is Paul. We have three awesome kids that are all very different. Our oldest is Paul, the third, and we call him Tre. He is a junior at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit as an illustration major. He was a great student, an AP everything, and was planning a career in engineering but he loved his electives. Every chance he got, he wanted to take an art class. When he visited the College for Creative Studies, he knew that was the place for him. Our middle boy, Luke,  is a Marine and is leaving for Japan this summer for three years. We’re very proud of him but have mixed emotions. He struggled more and was not a typical AP student. Going through school through his eyes helped me become a better educator. Alison is our youngest and just finished as a junior in high school. Ali would like to be an Autism consultant and special education teacher. She is every teacher’s dream. She had some supports. Learning is not easy for her, but she works very hard. She even comes in early for extra help. All three of my children are close.

Hacking Homework: 10 Strategies that Inspire Learning Outside the Classroom by Starr Sackstein and Connie Miller

When we look at learning outside of the classroom, there are things that have more value and can be more relevant than homework. Hacking Homework shows you how to:

• Workaround the policies and Break Up With Daily Homework
• Teach Organization and Responsibility in Class so it translates to home
• Ramp up accountability and time management skills
• Establish positive relationships to motivate learning
• Customize Assignments to Meet Student Needs
• Be flexible with timelines
• Encourage Students to Play, so they’ll want to work
• Support innovation and creativity
• Spark Curiosity Before the Lesson
• Make connections that generate interest in learning outside the classroom
• Use the Digital Playground and harness social media for learning
• Amplify Student Voice and Incorporate choice in how kids learn at home

[This is Barbara. Listen to what Connie shares about why doing homework impacted her and Starr’s relationships with their children and why homework doesn’t do anything to gain responsibility skills.]

Note Taking Tips

Hacking Questions: 11 Answers to Create a Culture of Inquiry in the Classroom by Connie Hamilton

IDK (I Don’t Know Kick the Bucket) is a chapter about how to work with kids that don’t know the answer, it is a start to explore what they know. Each chapter has different hacks like Hear the Music behind the answer is a thoughtful answer to thought to still reach success. We need to listen to the process as prompts to the ideas.

Questions are the driving force of learning in classrooms. Hacking Questions digs into framing, delivering, and maximizing questions in the classroom to keep students engaged in learning.

• Hear the music: listen for correct answers
• Scaffold to trigger student thinking without doing it for them
• Kick the IDK bucket to avoid “I don’t know” as the final answer
• Punctuate your learning time to end with reflection questions
• Spin the throttle to fuel students to ask the questions
• Fill your back pocket with engagement questions
• Make yourself invisible by establishing student-centered protocols
• Be a Pinball Wizard and turn students into facilitators

The book provides talk protocols that can frame their curiosities as a progression to evolve the process in asking questions. It prompts students to shift their level of thought.

5 Ways to Create a Culture of Inquiry in Your Classroom (10 Minute Teacher)

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Connie Hamilton Ed.S. is an author, K-12 curriculum director, and international presenter/speaker. Her thorough overview of instructional strategies such as questioning, student engagement, and feedback, perfectly align with her experience as a teacher in K-8 classrooms and principal at both the elementary and secondary levels. Collectively, her educational background and a broad range of experiences provide a solid base from which she draws to bring learning connections and actionable strategies to schools, districts, and audiences nationally.

Connie uses her communication skills to listen and promote the type of outside-the-box thinking that teams of educators will use to reason through problems and develop comprehensive plans that connect initiatives in strategic ways.

She currently serves as curriculum director in Saranac Community Schools and provides a series of professional learning workshops for districts across the country. Connie’s passion is questioning and coaching leaders to better support their most valuable school assets: teachers.

Website:https://conniehamilton.net/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/conniehamilton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conniehamilton1207

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connie-hamilton-ed-s-42459554/

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For all of the Conversations on Learning podcasts with Barbara Bray, click on the podcast tab at the top, the logo below or go to https://barbarabray.net/podcasts/

Trevor Bryan is a K-5 Art Teacher in a New Jersey Elementary School who has two core beliefs about the arts. The first is that the arts foster joy and connection, especially when times or topics are tough. And the second is that the arts help us to make meaning of our human experience.

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Trevor is a teacher, author of The Art of Comprehension and co-founder of Four O’Clock Faculty with Rich Czyz for educators looking to improve learning for themselves and their students. Enjoy Trevor’s journey!

You and your family

I grew up in Glen Rock, New Jersey, which is a small town in the northern part of the state about 20 minutes outside of New York City. I currently live down at the Jersey Shore, close to Asbury Park, which is the town Bruce Springsteen helped to make famous, with my wife Laura, and our two children, Johanna (12) and Owen (7).

We live close to Ocean Grove to which is a national historic town that is about one square mile with more Victorian homes than Cape May. My parents have a summer home there. We’re a bike ride away so we visit them often. We love living down near the beach and enjoy the art and great music scene there along with a bunch of wonderful restaurants.

[Source: https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:ft848r126]

What it was like when you were a student

My school experience was pretty good for the most part. I wasn’t always the best student but I was decent. I was really good at doing my own stuff but not always that great at doing the tasks that I didn’t find too meaningful. I had some wonderful teachers. I had a really rich writing experience in 6th-grade that ties into my work right now. I was probably one of the first students in New Jersey to go through the Writers’ Workshop model. My art education experience was where I had super art teachers with a lot of support. Because we were only 20 minutes outside of New York City, I had a lot of opportunities to see museums and shows on Broadway.

I loved to make things and was always in my basement where I had access to tools and supplies to make stuff. I also built things outside like tree houses, forts, all kinds of stuff. One of the things that have influenced me the most as an art educator is that one of my childhood friends who moved to town in 3rd grade grew up to be a well-known street artist.  As friends from 3rd to 6th grade, we just made things constantly and explored together. Seeing how he saw things and worked as a child and then how he grew up to become a really successful artist has influenced how I approach art education and how I think about creating. His name is Momo and you can learn more about his work at https://momoshowpalace.com/About

Your journey as an educator

Since high school, I always wanted to be a teacher. As an art student growing up in an upper-middle-class community there weren’t a lot of artists or makers as models. I loved the arts but the only artists I knew were art teachers and my parents were educators so I went into education. I originally thought I was going to bring the arts into the regular ed classroom and studied at Bank Street College of  Education to be a regular ed teacher in elementary school. I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to be able to do the arts as a classroom teacher. There wasn’t enough time. It wasn’t structured that way, and I didn’t want to do all the stuff that classroom teachers have to do. That’s when I decided to go back to the art room because I missed the environment. I never regret that decision. Thankfully, New Jersey has continued to support art educators. Eventually, I figured out how to bring the arts into the regular ed classroom through my work which has turned into The Art of Comprehension.

Classroom Close-up, NJ Art & Literacy at Princeton Video Feature with Trevor Bryan

I met my wife teaching middle school a couple of towns over. I left there when I had the opportunity to work part-time and took the time to write a children’s book. It was a disaster. I went back full-time in another district and then moved on to Jackson where I am now. They are very supportive and allow me to explore some paths that I feel fortunate to have gone down. It’s where my book, Art of Comprehension, came into fruition. I’m really happy with where I ended up and with the administrators, I work with. Not to mention, it’s where I met Rich Czyz.

Journey with Four O’Clock Faculty

https://fouroclockfaculty.com

Rich Czyz and I taught together for a few years and explored all kinds of stuff together. It was really a fun relationship where we kind of tried all kinds of ideas with the kids and pushed boundaries. Although we never really talked about it back then, I think what drove our explorations was a sense that we thought there had to be better ways to do things. So we searched for those better ways.

He ended up going into administration so our professional lives separated but we still talked regularly. Then a few years ago, we started at Four O’Clock Faculty just to work together and explore again. Rich had the idea of starting the blog and so we started it. This is the fourth year since. We always said that we would keep doing it as long as we enjoy it. We still do and I think both of us feel like it helps our writing. The blog has been a great way for both of us to find our voices. I think it’s fair to say the blog has significantly impacted our book projects. The hashtag is #40CF and we share what we think about and learn from other educators on Twitter. Rich and I really believe that is our job as educators is to help kids find their voice. Adults too.

@trevorbryan

Your passion for Art and Reading/Writing

The way that I look at it, my book and the work that I am focused on now, creativity, including writing/story-sharing as a form of creativity, has its roots in my childhood when I was a student and has been a thirty or forty year plus journey. My mission is to inspire kids to share their voices and give them the means to do that. Here is a good visual representation of my mission: to help every child to find and share their voice. It was done by my friend, Kyle Stevenson. Prints are available at  https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtOfComprehension?ref=search_shop_redirect

The Art of Comprehension

https://theartofcomprehension.com/

The Art of Comprehension: Exploring Visual Texts to Foster Comprehension, Conversation, and Confidence is built on the idea that nearly all students, non-readers, striving readers and beginning readers can decode visual texts such as illustrations and paintings, effectively. Because these learners can decode visual texts it means they can also engage with meaning-making skills, such as inferring, using text evidence, recognizing symbols and patterns, identifying themes and big ideas and making rich, meaningful connections. Thanks to Peter and Paul Reynolds for believing in my mission and supporting me to help make my mark. I hope readers enjoy the eclectic collection of art and illustration by Peter Reynolds and other art from 19th-century masters. 

Access Lenses and AOC Approach

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Trevor Bryan has two core beliefs about the arts. The first is that the arts foster joy and connection, especially when times or topics are tough. And the second is that the arts help us to make meaning of our human experience. These beliefs, along with numerous, meaningful arts experiences as a student, established Bryan’s North Star as he entered into teaching 20 years ago: to show how the arts could positively and meaningfully impact every students’ academic career. For the first 10 years of his teaching career, Bryan struggled to transform his beliefs into meaningful educational practices and to clearly demonstrate the relationship between the arts and academics. Then, he had a breakthrough. Bryan started to explore the relationship between viewing artwork and reading comprehension skills. This is when his beliefs and practice finally began to converge.

Through this exploration, Bryan found ways to share his passion for the arts and to show how they can be used to support the academic growth of all learners.  At first, this work solely focused on using visual art to teach reading comprehension skills. But slowly, Bryan began to see how visual texts could also help students explore and strengthen their writing. Ultimately, Bryan’s work has become about helping all students to comprehend their own lives and help them develop and strengthen their unique voices so that they can flourish doing work that truly matters to them.

Bryan’s journey has been a bumpy ride, filled with ups and downs. It is his passion for the arts (reading and writing included) that provided him the fuel that enabled him to keep moving forward, find his purpose, and learn to share it with others, which he does whenever he can. Over the last several years, Bryan has presented at numerous conferences, both large and small, and has worked with teachers and school districts across the country. He is grateful that his life’s passion has become his life’s work and looks forward to sharing them with both you and your students.

Bryan lives at the Jersey Shore. When he’s not creating, he enjoys long runs on the boardwalk, beaching it with his family and friends, great restaurants, and the thriving local arts scene.

Bryan can be contacted through his blog fouroclockfaculty.com; through Twitter, @trevorabryan; or through email at trevorabryan@gmail.com.

Hashtags to follow:

#4ocf  
#artofcomp
#AoC

Jon Harper is a former elementary school teacher and current assistant principal at Sandy Hill Elementary at Cambridge, Maryland on a mission to help people of all ages realize that it is okay to make mistakes; especially really big ones.

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Jon hosts two podcasts, Teachers Aid and My Bad and I was on his show sharing my story about My Bad. Jon also has a new book out called, My Bad: 24 Educators Who Messed Up, Fessed Up and Grew”.  Enjoy!

You and your family

I lived on the eastern shore of Maryland since I was six. A few months ago, we moved about 20 minutes from where I work in a town called Easton, Maryland with my wife, who is a math coach. I have to say she is a much better coach than I ever was.

We have two amazing kids, Derek who is seven, and Bailey who is thirteen. Easton is very rural and is an hour and a half from Baltimore and in the other direction an hour and a half from DC, and an hour from the beach. Life is good for me. I’m a very lucky man.

What it was like when you were a student

When I was a student, I didn’t think much about schoolwork. I thought about playing soccer, tennis, and running around outside. I just had fun outside. It’s funny because I try to get my kids to read and they are great readers. But when I came home, I don’t remember reading like that. It was fun growing up in Cambridge on the eastern shore because it is a wonderful place to live, peaceful, quiet.

Image: Cambridge Maryland – A Meeting of the Past and Present

I have fond memories of my childhood. My dad coached my soccer team. I probably spent 95% of my childhood in one square mile.  I used to play tennis and soccer not that far away. Actually, I am assistant principal at Sandy Hill which is where I went as a child. In fact, that is where I got the itch to become a teacher. I never thought I was going to be a teacher. I went to school as an undergrad at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina majoring in philosophy. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with that. My dad was a doctor so I thought maybe that’s what I would do. I went back and took pre-med courses for a couple years and applied for medical school. While I was waiting, I needed to get a job so my mom suggested I substitute at the school down the street. So I did and absolutely loved it. I decided to go back to school to get my teaching credential.

Your journey as an educator to administrator

I was 26 when I started teaching which I believe was better for me than starting at 21.My first class was second grade.  I taught elementary school for 10 years; first, second, fourth and then fifth grade for six years. In fact, one of the children in my first second-grade class is now a teacher in my school. I was lucky to have some of the same children in the second, fourth, and fifth grades. When you work with children at different levels, you can truly appreciate what teachers are doing at each level.  

I wanted to try something different and became a math coach for about three years at a different county where I live now. I see what teachers are going through, some of their struggles, and how difficult it is to teach. Teaching is much more difficult now than when I started teaching 20 years ago.  I never thought I would become an administrator but I got the itch and started applying. After about my 13th year as a teacher and coach, I became an assistant principal where I became a math coach for seven years and have been one ever since.

My Bad Podcast

went to a conference in 2013/2014 and heard Todd Whitaker @toddwhitaker say that if you are not on Twitter, you have to be. Before then, I had no idea of Twitter or social media. I thought this was the place to follow movie stars but I decided to get on Twitter. Then I started blogging. After that, I started My Bad Podcast . It’s scary to share your mistakes.

One of my first guests said, “once you share those mistakes, they no longer own you or has that power over you.”  It doesn’t mean you didn’t mess up. It just no longer weighs you down. It’s powerful to share these mistakes. It’s important for us as educators to be leaders stepping first. If I share a mistake in my building, then others will feel it is safe to share a mistake. People will realize that you don’t have to be perfect. Kids have so much more information and can even teach us.

Teacher Aid Podcast

Last year Mandy Froelich @froelichm and I took over the Teachers Aid Podcast. There are so many difficult issues that are not addressed. There are many books on how to become a better educator, but there’s not that much out there that addresses how teachers can take care of themselves and how to handle the personal issues they face. Mandy and I have guests who talk about anxiety, time management, fear, setting goals, the guilt we feel as parents. Kids don’t see us as people outside of school. We have lives outside of school. The Teachers Aid Podcast is there to give teachers some tools for becoming better at dealing with the difficult issues they face. One podcast that stands out is Phyllis Fagell @pfagell on “Should We Really Hide All of Our Negative Emotions at School?”

New Book:“My Bad: 24 Educators Who Messed Up, Fessed Up and Grew”

The writing was a two-year journey for me. I never knew how much went into writing a book. I am fortunate to have 24 of the most amazing educators in my book who share their stories and how they grew from their mistakes. Many of the educators, people know or may not know and some are visionaries in their field. Dave Burgess @burgessdave shared in his story that “mistakes are constant feedback so we can better and grow.” So much of what we see is “perfection” when we really need to share what is not perfect because no one os is perfect. Here’s a link to my new book: “My Bad: 24 Educators Who Messed Up, Fessed Up and Grew”

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This is Barbara. I really enjoyed my conversation with Jon. Not only the coincidence of growing up near where he lives, but learning so much from him about being okay about making mistakes. I highly recommend his book and listening to his podcasts.

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Jon Harper is Vice Principal at Sandy Hill Elementary, Cambridge, Maryland.  Jon shares his bio as his story: Being a former elementary school teacher and current assistant principal on a mission to help people of all ages realize that it is okay to make mistakes; especially really big ones. Simply put, sharing epic mistakes inspires others to do the same.

Because once people realize that they are not the only ones making mistakes, they begin to grant themselves a little grace. I have witnessed this firsthand with children as young as eight to graduate students whose age I don’t dare guess. It is amazing to witness and one day I hope to show you in person.

Interviewing some of the country’s leading educators for my podcast My Bad has been quite an honor. My guests have been wide ranging, from New York Times best selling author Jonah Berger to EdCamp founder Kristen Swanson, from motivational speaker Baruti Kafele to digital pioneer Eric Sheninger.

I have had the unique opportunity to interview over 100 of the world’s leading educators and in doing so I have learned much. Much that I want to share with anyone and everyone who will listen. I am certain that once you hear what I have to say about how powerful sharing mistakes can be, you will be inspired to share some of your own.

I not only get others to share their mistakes, but I often share big mistakes of my own on my podcast and through my blog pieces. I am of the belief that if I am going to ask others to be vulnerable, then I must be willing to take the first step. And I have. On topics ranging from racial prejudice to parenting skills.

Lucky for me, I have had the opportunity to share my mission with countless others not only through my podcast and my blog but also through Google Hangouts, Podcast Interviews, Conference Presentations, and Keynote Addresses.

Contact Information

• Email: jonharper70@gmail.com
• Website:jonharper.blog
• Twitter: @Jonharper70bd
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jon-harper-215486113

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Teachers have so much on their plate. When you ask them to step out of their comfort zone and personalize learning, some throw their hands up and shake their heads. The idea of personalizing learning means something different to different people. Some teachers only heard that they have to change and felt they were being attacked for the way they taught. Others were confused about the terms. Yet, teaching practice is changing because the world is changing. Preparing children for their future means building competencies and skills along with academics. It also means empowering students to take more responsibility for their learning. This is why I created the Teaching and Learning Approaches chart.

The last PDI version 3 chart was created in 2013. That chart has helped educators understand the differences between the terms. Kathleen McClaskey and I worked with schools around the US for over 4 years using that chart in our work and in our books. I am proud of all the work that Kathleen and I did during that time. We decided in 2017  to close our company, Personalize Learning, LLC and go in our own directions to do what we do best. The website for that business will be closing July 2017.

Over several years, I was being contacted by schools and teachers from around the world with questions about the Personalization vs. Differentiation vs. Individualization (PDI) v3 chart. Here are just a few of the questions educators were confused about:

• Why is Personalization in the first column?
• Why didn’t we include the whole class?
• Is it wrong to differentiate or individualize instruction?
• From outside the US, I was asked: “what is the Carnegie unit?”
• Why did we put teacher and learner at the top of the columns?
• How can learners be responsible for teaching and learning?
• What does an assessment OF, FOR, and AS learning mean?
• How can I move to Personalization when my students are not ready?
• How can I help my students develop agency when the system doesn’t allow it?

I then invited educators to provide me feedback so I could help guide the new direction: the Teaching and Learning Approaches chart. What everyone agreed on was that a teacher may address some of the criteria under the different columns and from all of these approaches in a day and maybe even in one lesson. In the work with teachers implementing one lesson or project, teachers may…

• introduce a topic to the whole class.
• provide resources and support for different groups.
• work one-on-one with individual learners.
• encourage learners to have voice and choice.

Personal or personalized learning is when learners drive learning with support from the teacher. You can use either term “Personal Learning” or “Personalization” because they mean the same thing. The confusion brought up questions about who owns and drives the learning or if the learning is being done BY the learner or TO the learner. Some organizations feel more comfortable using the term “personalization.” All of this is up to you and how you want to adopt any of these approaches in your teaching practice.

I didn’t want to argue over semantics so what I tried to make clear in this chart is how much value a teacher is in all of the approaches and that it is all about the “person” who is learning. That can be the teacher who is also learning about changing their teaching practice. Moving to learner agency takes time for students and teachers. Students may not be ready to let go. Many have learned how to do school and may resist change. Teachers may not have the support, resources, or time to jump in and change how they teach right away. It was clear to me from the feedback on how important and more effective scaffolding the skills was for teachers to gently nudge and empower students to take more ownership of their learning. When teachers and learners build positive relationships first and a culture where everyone’s voice is valued, they will know when to change and try new ideas. This chart is meant as a guide and to calm the fears about changing what they know and do around teaching and learning that I heard from teachers.

I just added a link to Download the chart from here. You are also able to view and download this chart from the Slideshare above.

Please let me know what you think of this chart and how you might use it. You can either email me at barbara.bray@gmail.com, use the contact me on this site, leave a comment below, or share on social media.

I will be sharing more materials and professional learning opportunities soon, so if you would like to subscribe, go to the top left to connect so you’ll be the first to receive those announcements and resources in the Rethinking Learning Report.

We’re all storytellers. We’ve been telling stories for thousands of years. This is how we transfer ideas, connect, learn, and inspire. First I would like to share three inspirational stories.

During a graduation speech in 2005, Steve Jobs shared how he had just learned he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He changed his speech so he could talk from his heart about what this devastating news meant to him. He said: “Knowing your time in life is limited, think carefully about how to spend it. Don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” He finished with “do what makes your heart sing!”

“What makes your heart sing? Steve Jobs

The second story is about J K Rowling who saw herself as a failure. Her marriage had failed; she was jobless with a young child. Her writing kept her going. She wrote wherever and whenever she could. She submitted “Harry Potter” to 12 publishers all who rejected her. Finally one publisher took a chance but advised her to get a day job and only printed 1000 just in case the book didn’t sell well.. Rowling described her failure as liberating by not giving up because her story mattered.

“Don’t let failure be an ending. Make it a beginning.”

My third story is about Mark Burnett who at 22 came to America with no experience and very little money. He first started as a nanny working for very wealthy people and realized he could do that. He bought $2 T-shirts and used good stories to sell them for $18 and other . Within 8 years with his passion for extreme sports, he bought a British competition that became the TV show Survivor that he calls an irresistible story, a drama unfolding before your eyes. These three stories are just short examples of how stories can captivate and inspire.

“See the future better than today and make it happen.” Mark Burnett

Stories are more than just finding ourselves. When you start telling stories about you, you are “creating” yourself. We are our experiences, our history, and our connections.
Paul Zak researched and found on how the brain changes from a good story by increasing the empathy chemical oxytocin in the brain. If you start with a story of human struggle and eventual triumph, then you capture people’s hearts.

The dramatic arc can layout the personal story.  Ever since young children are told their first bedtime stories, they become familiar with the dramatic arc inherent in most stories. Stories using this can be effective instruments for conveying important information and life lessons.

So let’s tell more stories in the class. Our stories; their stories. This helps build a culture of learning based on trust. Personal stories help build connections that create a caring and compassionate community.

My story: I was a dental hygienist and taught dental hygiene. Then I had an accident. I broke my leg, my neck, and couldn’t practice anymore. I became a teacher and love every moment. My good friend Sara Armstrong who is a storyteller said to me that I went from dental flossing to mental flossing.

I don’t know if you’ll remember my story or any that I shared here. But personal stories do touch our hearts more than any lecture, quiz, or test. Consider today’s kids.

How do you capture screenagers’ attention when all they want to do is to stare at their mobile device?

Stories. Have them tell their stories with their device. Share your story and model it. Write your story in a blog, through pictures, podcasts or videos. Then share it with your Personal Learning Network (PLN). Everyone loves a good story and you have good stories to tell so share them. Stories can be as small as 140 characters. Join a twitter chat like #plearnchat that I co-host or a Voxer group. I learn so much from other educators who share resources, ideas, and their own personal stories on social media.

Ted Talks is a great resource you can use with your colleagues. Check out teacher Rita Pierson’s Tedtalk about how every kid needs a champion. Her story came from her heart because she truly believed in each child.

Another Ted Talk is from Timmy Sullivan who graduated from high school this year and has been speaking for some time about “his education” his way. His voice and stories matter for kids. More kids are sharing stories on TedTalk and social media now.

Model how to do this by telling your story. Encourage their voice by starting with the prompt “imagine if…” Yes.. “imagine if” for you too.

Stories do connect us. Share what makes your heart sing. Reach out to someone you don’t know like I did 20 years ago at ISTE for a column I was writing. Many of those connections I made then last today. So ask someone “What’s your story?”

I love the idea of making, inventing and tinkering. Just watch kids who are immersed in the activities and you can see the engagement. But is the learning authentic and relevant?

I presented three sessions at the Free Maker Movement event at One Work Place on Wednesday, September 30, 2015 with some amazing educators who presented hands-on activities. The event will took place at our Oakland Center for Active Learning .

I decided I needed to spend some time researching where the Maker Movement was happening and find examples of authentic learning. This gave me the opportunity to talk to several of my friends and share how they have transformed learning spaces to Makerspaces. Everyone I talked to made a point that it is about creativity not consumption. Yet when I went to different Maker events, I saw activities that an adult set up, purchased a kit or provided directions for activities. They were all fun, but I was having trouble seeing the connections to real learning or any ownership from kids.

I read Jackie Gerstein‘s post: MAKE STEAM: Giving Maker Education Some Context where she wrote “recent discussions with other educators and administrators made me realize that the idea of maker education is often vague and seems unrealistic in terms of regular classroom instruction.”  She shared her thoughts of Maker Education in the context of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) where teachers integrate maker projects into their classrooms. Read her blog and check out the Thinglink by clicking on the dots for more information.

@jackiegerstein

I reached out to Shannon McClintock Miller, @shannonmiller, who is a Teacher Librarian at Van Meter Elementary in Iowa. Shannon stretches the imagination of children and manages the Library Voice as a place to be heard through creating, technology, connecting, reading, collaborating and noise.  I love her quote:

“We as librarians and educators and as people
who care about young people need to CHANGE!”

Shannon emphasizes the power of story where learners can play with content, media, narratives, remix, mashup and then tell their story. She encourages her learners to connect to the story in different ways: Skype with authors, create their own stories, and publish eBooks. One learner loved the “I Spy” books and wanted to Skype with the author “Jean Marzollo so Shannon set it up. What came out of the Skype was for learners to create their own “I Spy” book for Van Meter School.

Shannon redesigned the library to move to creative, innovative spaces: Makerspaces around the concept of stories. Learners took their iPads and used an Augmented Reality program, Layar, to add multimedia to texts, posters, and books. She found different apps and organized them in a Digital Makerspace using Symbaloo. After pulling together different Makerspace activities, Shannon wanted a way to provide opportunities for making in the classroom.  So she created Makerspaces Mobile bags that teachers could pick up and use in their classrooms.

Laura Fleming, @NMHS_lms, is a Teacher Librarian at Milford High School in New Jersey who is a strong advocate of using New Media and Vanguard Techniques for Interactive and Transmedia (multi-platform) Storytelling. Her website is Worlds of Learning.  She wrote the book World of Making where you can find invaluable guidance for creating a vibrant Makerspace on any budget. The book includes practical strategies and anecdotal examples that help you:

• Create an action plan for your own personalized Makerspace
• Align activities to standards
• Showcase learner creations

Laura’s goal is to create learning experiences that empower and equip students with necessary skills to effectively produce and consume content across multiple media platforms. She went from K-8 to the high school to a library that was very traditional that was under-utilized.

In less than two months she transformed the library by just adding activities aligned to classroom instruction. She even used DonorsChoose to purchase a 3D printer and provides multiple suggestions to build your own makerspace.

Diana Rendina, @DianaLRendina,  is a Media Specialist/Librarian at Stewart Middle Magnet School in Tampa, Florida. Diana is passionate about school libraries being places for students to discover, learn, grow, create, connect and collaborate. She shares her journey on her blog, Renovated Learning: Building a Culture of Creativity and Discovery in Education.  She has worked to transform her school’s library from a quiet, dusty, cluttered room into a vibrant and active learning space where students want to be.  In 2014, she created a Makerspace in her library to serve as an informal STEM learning space for her students. 

Diana shared how their Makerspace has changed, grown and evolved since it was first conceived and started in January 2014.  Follow along with the story of their journey here.  Hopefully it will inspire you to start your own Maker journey.

This is just the beginning and a short overview of how libraries are transforming to Makerspaces. But one thing I did find from talking to Jackie, Shannon, Laura and Diana is that the librarian’s role is changing and Makerspaces can connect to learning. The Library is changing and bringing stories to life. Makerspaces can be digital and mobile. If Teachers and Librarian/Media Specialists collaborate on curriculum design, projects can be integrated in to STEAM and other curriculum activities. So this is just the beginning of my investigations how these Makerspaces can expand authentic learning activities.

I was one of the lucky few who was given an advance copy of Seth Godin’s book: Linchpin: Are you Indispensable? His book hits home for me especially involving education. I asked Seth how his ideas fit with schools today and how we can better prepare for our students’ future:

Q. Since I work with educators, I am curious how you see teachers leading this change to more of a gift-giving and artist model? How do you see teacher education in the future as it relates to this model?

I’m curious what you think of this new type of artist that we will need. Comments are welcome and encouraged below.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in change, the future, and what type of person we will need for our future. You can set up your own Lens. This article was cross-posted on The Environmentalist

I’m on my way to ISTE in San Diego soon. I’m going to be talking about personalizing learning. I’m pulling together my presentations, events, and meetings. I’m pretty excited about seeing many of my friends from around the world. Now here’s my dilemma — I want to spend time with friends but I am planning to network. Some of my friends have contracted me to provide services. I guess I’m what you call a “networker” and “digital friend.” But the boundaries are getting fuzzier and fuzzier because of social media. This is my avatar on the right. Red hair — always smiling. I kind of look like my avatar. The real me may appear a little shorter  🙂

I started looking at my Personal Learning Network (PLN) and get it that I’m all over social media. I do love it. I love the connections, learning from friends I’m following and who are in my circles, on Scoopit and Pinterest, connections on LinkedIn, those who share on my FB timeline or in my Twitter feeds. I guess one of the decisions I had to make when creating circles in Google+ is what circles to put people in. I didn’t feel right putting some people in acquaintances because I felt like they were kind of “friends.”

So now I have to think about what is a friend? Who do I call my friends? Actually, most of the same people are popping up as friends or connections across social media. Many of these friends I don’t know but look forward to meet at ISTE. I hope you introduce yourself and say “I’m your friend on …..” That is if you want a hug.

I’m a hugger and networker. See me walking down the exhibit hall and I’m talking to everyone. Meet you the first time, I’ll shake your hand, look you in the eyes, and have a great conversation. Next time, I’ll probably hug you. Can’t help it. That’s me!

So if you hug me back, then we can call each other friends? Nooooo! It’s more than that. Friends and business acquaintances are different. Can you be both? Yes!

MMMmmmmmm……

I only started thinking about this when my social media connections got pretty big and I was scooping this and tweeting that and spending too much time on social media. Social media started taking over. I love connecting to all my friends. Now I’m getting ready for ISTE and will see so many of you — my wonderful friends. But I’m going to ISTE to share my research, my work, and learn from you.

This time I’m very excited about the prospect of working with others who are researching Personalized Learning and how it can transform education. I’m looking to talk to you, learn from you, and maybe work with you. I have been collaborating with Kathleen McClaskey and set up our own site Personalize Learning. We both believe that learning starts with the learner.  We are getting connected to new “Friends” because of our work around Personalized Learning.

I hope to see you at ISTE at our sessions. We’re hosting a Birds of a Feather session on Monday  that is mainly interactive by you the participants. You bring the questions, talk about them in small groups, and then share back. We’ll collect the information and share them with you on our website. We are also doing a presentation about Personalized Learning Toolkits  on Tuesday at 3:45 and anticipate lots of feedback and sharing. Kathleen and I have worked very hard on this presentation and hope you find it beneficial. Join us!

So I hope to see lots of my friends in San Diego. I am hooked on social media. Probably will be hugging a few of you. I just have to say thank you to so many of my friends who have been there for me for so many years. I feel very fortunate. It will be fun to see you and meet in person some of my virtual friends for the first time.

Some ways to connect:

• Facebook (barbarabray)
• Twitter (bbray)
• Linked In (barbarabray)
• Google+ (barbarabray)
• Pinterest Boards (bbray27)
• Skype (bbray27)

• Apps for the Student Centered Classroom
• Making Learning Personal
• Creativity, Innovation, and Change
• Communities of Practice about New Learning Environments
• Curate Your Learning 

Contact me via barbara.bray@gmail.com if you want to set up a time to meet at the conference.