My favorite tool for the 2016-2017 school year has very quickly become Recap (by Swivl). This straightforward video response tool allows teachers to pose questions to students, as groups or as individuals, allowing them to record their own video response in return. Over the last couple weeks I've shared Recap with several of our Prairie Lakes districts, and the application that I'm currently most excited about right now is for math.

Many of our districts participate in "number talks" - a process by which students verbally think through and explain their computational process. The classrooms I've visited during their number talks have done this as a whole class, where all students benefit from the thoughts of others, helping their peers understanding the problems in different ways. Jeromy Keehn, math teacher at Belmond-Klemme, had his kids do a quick demonstration of solving a problem after a unit test to help familiarize the kids with the tool, as well as show their learning in a different way. The brief videos show not only whether the students came up with the right answer, but also that they understand the steps to the process. After their video response, students can quickly self-assess, showing the teacher how the class at the whole feels about a given skill or assignment. 

To learn more about Recap in your classroom, check out their blog!

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Last week I attended the #itecia 2016 conference and it was an unusual/very different experience for me this year.
My summer 2016 was crazy. The deadline for presenting at ITEC came and went, and I completely missed it. I felt *so* guilty. I've always felt like it's an unwritten expectation of someone in my position (AEA tech integration) to present and share expertise. And then came Bob Dillon's ignite talk. He stated, "I'll never be sorry for being a learner."
I've been incredibly lucky in that I've had supervisors/bosses that have always encouraged continued learning - you can't be at your best if you aren't staying up on current best practices, research, and new ideas. You need to invest in yourself as a learner in order to be a leader. However, it didn't really hit me until I sat down last week to reflect on my ITEC experience. I took away SO MUCH from this year's conference. I wasn't stressing about presentations or deadlines or resources. I was able to spend that time, instead, on finding sessions that really fit my needs and interests, on combing through tweets, and on bookmarking things that I wanted to come back to later. Because of that, I left with numerous new ideas and a renewed enthusiasm for implementing them with my districts - instead of how I typically feel, which is often times exhausted and relieved. 
Don't get me wrong, I will definitely be submitting proposals next year, one of the ways that actually I learn best is by preparing to share with others. But because I took the time to step back and be a learner, I feel like I have new ideas to grow and share the next time around. 
Don't forget to invest in yourself, and as Bob Dillon said, don't apologize for being a learner. 

I am literally 20 minutes removed from another great #itecia conference, and my head is spinning with new possibilities and takeaways. I wanted to jot down the top takeaways, the items that left me with numerous open tabs, before I get back into the whirlwind that is everyday life!

1. George Couros was the opening day keynote, and once again I was blown away. My favorite takeaway from the keynote was definitely this idea - "We need to make the positive so loud, that the negatives are almost impossible to hear." There are things in life that suck (yes, I'm going to be blunt about it). Watch the news, you'll hear it all day. There are things in technology and education and social media that suck. But the amazing things? THOSE are the stories we need to be sharing. Especially in schools. Each and every child, teacher, building, community (I could keep going) has an amazing story to tell, and we live in a world in which it can be shared with millions with the click of a button. Let the positive stories bury the negatives.
2. Recap App is a tool from Swivl that I sent out to several teachers immediately - as in I was still sitting in the session and I drafted a quick email to see who might want to pilot this FREE student video response tool with me (if you're a PLAEA educator and interested in exploring this together, or have a success story to share, let me know)! I had a class set up for my kids, a prompt created, and was ready to go within 5 minutes. I can't wait to see what this does for both capturing the student learning process AND what implications it may have for coaching and adult learning! Thanks Diana Byriel for sharing!
3. One of the featured speakers this year was Pernille Ripp, and while I didn't get to make it to a session, I followed closely on Twitter (thankful again that I'm a connected educator) and I can't wait to explore her list of global projects to share with our teachers.
4. Another Couros resource, sort of, that makes my list is his crowd-sourced Google Doc of educators and "must see/read" websites from one of his breakout sessions. Harnessing the minds in the room is always incredibly powerful, and fits in with one of my huge thought takeaways from that session. He suggested that we spoon-feed too much - as in "make it so compelling that they want to learn it on their own."
5. Finally, I want to round out my list with an author I learned about and am excited to read - Dr. Steve Constantino. Family engagement, especially around 21st century learning concepts, is an area of focus for me again this year, and I can't wait to add to my knowledge base through another expert. I already downloaded his free eBook, and am looking forward to purchasing another.

And for the record, I am now 45 minutes removed from ITEC, so for those who think blogging takes up too much time, I am literal proof that in 25 minutes I organized my thoughts and resources into something that I'll be glad I can come back to later - and might even help a few other educators along the way!




Cross-posted from rethinkredesign.org