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Episode 6

7/29/2018

0 Comments

 
Hey there everybody. Welcome back to the podcast, How Does She Do It? I'm your host, Heather Kaiser and it has been awhile. It has been since February and life just happened. It got in the way, but I am super excited to be back. Today, it is summertime, but I have been working through the summer on a course for beginning teachers in my district. And I've been working with a friend and colleague, Dustin Best and I'm excited because he's here for this podcast and he's my first guest person. So thank you Dustin. 

DB: Oh, you're welcome, I'm excited to be here.
HK: Yeah, so Dustin why don't you introduce yourself to our listeners and granted some of our listeners will be people from our beginning teacher course because we want them to hear our teacher author voices as we talk about engaging all learners in the 21st Century classroom. So I'm going to let Dustin introduce himself.
DB: My name is Dustin and I'm from Pennsylvania originally. I moved to North Carolina 6 years ago and been teaching 1st grade ever since. I will be teaching 3rd grade next year and am nervous, excited, hopefully will be successful. We'll see.
HK: For sure. Absolutely. I'm excited about that too because you'll be right next door to me this year. 
DB: Yeah, so you're gonna see me a lot.
HK: Partners in crime (laughter). And collaborating. So let's talk a little bit about some of the collaboration and stuff we see ourselves doing because that's one of the big things we put into this course. We've collaborated on the course - number one. 
DB: We have.
HK: And we've got a lot of the 4 C's built into the course as ways to engage learners. So why don't we talk a little bit about the 4 C's and 21st century learning, engaging all learners, what you see that like in your classroom. 
DB: Well, in my ah
HK: or defining it.
DB: Defining it. So, I consider 21st Century learning to be - ah - a lot of people look at 
it as a technology piece. I think. Where they just assume that technology and using technology in their room is what 21st Century learning is. And while that is correct, we have to be sure that it's a meaningful use and not just a substitution kind of thing. And I also think that sometimes, people forget that 21st Century learning also has a global component to it. Where, not everything is meant to evolve around just technology use. There's a lot more to it than just throwing some kids on a laptop and having them Google some things.
HK: Right. Absolutely. Earlier we were talking about how our school, we're fortunate that we're at a global themed school. But not all the schools in our district or across the nation are global themed. So, it's more at the forefront for us to think about - oh - we need to integrate some global connections. Each grade level has a specific continent they are focused on even. What was...
DB: 1st grade is the Oceana region. So, it was Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, and that kind of, that area of the globe. So, it was amazing because not only was I - I got a chance to learn about stuff that I had no idea about and then I got to pass that knowledge and information along to my kids. 3rd grade is Africa, so again, I get to learn a whole new section of things and region of things and learn some things and it's amazing. I'm excited.
HK: Right. That's exciting. You were telling me earlier about some things you did with language. With some cue cards, with the letters of the alphabet and kind of promoting - and how you were engaging your kids in some conversation about other parts of the world.
DB: For the numbers, you know in K-2 classes you need to have these anchor charts up. A lot of basic ones. And one of them is numbers 1-20 and my numbers were both in English and in Māori. And so the kids were learning to count in English and in Māori, which worked really amazing for math because they do tens and ones place value and that's how they count in  Māori. So instead of saying eleven, they say one ten and one one and one ten and two ones for twelve.
HK: Oh
DB: And for the alphabet, instead of it just being a picture of a nest for the letter "N", it was a picture of Ned Kelly, who's like a famous outlaw there, and for "L", instead of a lion it was a Lamington, which is a dessert. And it really helped the kids because the kids questioned these things and instead of me just giving them an answer, they were able to research it for themselves. They were like, who's Ned Kelly? And I was like, you tell me who Ned Kelly is. You have the ability to find that out for yourself. So they were able to go to a computer and look it up. 
HK: That's pretty cool. Also, um, we collaborated a little bit last year with the virtual reality Goggles. I'm just remembering that as we're sitting here talking.
DB: Oh yeah.
HK: We brought everybody into the classroom, you know a group at a time, and let them explore the different global regions and things using the virtual reality through Google Expeditions. That's another neat connection, that although not everything needs to be tech driven, we do want to infuse it and integrate it in a really meaningful way. 
DB: Right, because we were studying sea turtles at that time. And so, we went on an underwater dive, to go and see some other underwater things and the sea turtle was in that Google Expedition which was really amazing.
HK: Yeah - the kids got really into it.
DB: The kids loved it! They really did.
HK: Did that prompt anything when you got back to the classroom? For them to continue engaging with that?
DB: It did. I think it did, because they had a lot of questions then and that's really the goal of education - isn't it? Is for them to ask questions and they were like, how do these specific animals interact with these other animals. And how does the turtle live, you know, alongside of a shark. How does the shark not eat the turtle? When we learned these different things. And so, it did have a lot of - you know, they're 1st graders - so their questions were all about the shark and eating things, but (laughter) - they did have some great questions. I remember that we went back and we had another week of talking about it because of that. Where I think, ultimately, we were about ready to shut down, but then they came up with a bunch more questions and we just continued to go. So it was very student driven which I think is another component of 21st Century learning. Isn't it?
HK: Absolutely! Yeah. So, in the upper grades, an example of some student driven instruction that I'm really excited about has been the Passion Projects and Genius Hour things. I work with gifted students at this point but I also work with some of the regular classrooms and anybody can really do this but you've gotta be, you have to be intentional about it - I've found out. I'm a 20 year veteran teacher and I'm still learning things. We were talking about that earlier. Like we're gonna keep learning every year because it's not gonna be perfect.
DB: Every year!
HK: Especially as we try new things and engage with our students in new ways.  So, um, I thought, oh - my students could really do these Passion Projects. They probably know what they're really into. You know, gifted kids tend to be really passionate about things. Right? It's not always the stuff we're trying to teach but there's a lot of great skills that go into it. So whether it's the content that we need to teach them for our standards or whether there is a standard that can be taught using a content that they're interested in. Either way is ok, but I found out the hard way - um - my first go around. That they still - when you give them an opportunity to explore and learn - um - about things they're interested in on their own - they still need a little structure. They still need a little guidance because we're still talking about elementary students, that just are not super well versed in how to manage their time, work towards a long term project, and those kinds of things. And all of those things are great for them to be doing.
DB: Staying on task is hard. 
HK: Yeah - right?
DB: It's hard for me and I'm not 9 years old. 
HK: Yeah.
(Laughter)
HK: And then collaborating with each other too. It was neat though. The 2nd time around the collaboration was better. I only tweaked just a really small portion of what I wanted to give them for structure. And all it really was, was checking in a little more often. Just checking in a little more often. That was all it took. Um - the collaboration increased where friends were helping each other - saying - "Oh, I know how to do that. Oh, you're trying to learn how to do this?" So that was pretty cool and then to see the product at the end, was, they owned it and the learning and the growth that happened was just amazing. So, I know I could talk a whole other show just on Genius Hour and Passion Projects. But, we have a lot of other things that we want to talk about.
DB: I would be interested in hearing that, myself, because I know that coming up from a lower grade, that's going to be - I'll have more opportunities to do more things with children that they can be a little more independent on and I'm not going to have to stop every 30 seconds and tie a shoe or get a band-aid.
HK: Right, you know but I've even seen some people online. One of the ways, that I learn about things that I feel will engage my students is by exploring places like Twitterchats and 
DB: Yeah - hitting up those hashtags. Right?
HK: Exactly. So, #edchat, #elemchat, #mathchat, #2ndgradechat, you know every grade level has a chat. And, um, it's a great way to grow our professional learning network as teachers. So, when I'm looking for something, a new idea, that's where I will go. But, I've seen some people as early as kindergarten doing Genius Hour with students. But again, it's really gonna be about what you feel works in your classroom, what you feel you can manage.
DB: What your kids can handle. 
HK: Sure.
DB: Which is gonna change, every year. 
HK: Right.
DB: Because I feel like that goes back to what we were talking about - or what you mentioned about - something not being successful the first year. There are those instances where something is going to be astoundingly successful the first year and then the second year it's going to flop because you've got a whole different batch of children, with a whole different batch of needs.
HK: Absolutely. And not everything I see on Twitter, or Facebook, or Pinterest, for that matter, is going to be something I'm going to try in my room, with my students. Because ultimately, I still have to know - um - you really have to know your students to be able to engage students. Right? Wouldn't you say so?
DB: Absolutely. Yeah. 
HK: Right, so - um - you told me a story earlier and I told you I was going to put you on the spot to share it with everybody listening in. We all have those dreaded observations and having our students engaged is one of those things that the administrator's are looking for when they check off the boxes. So, I want you to share your experience of the observation, I think you referred to it as - "the dog and pony show" - and we all know what that means. 
DB: Yeah - the dog and pony show.
HK: But, tell everybody about that experience and what your take away from it was because I think we'll all benefit from it.
DB: I'm not a dog and pony kind of guy. I always pride myself on the fact that I am who I am, but this was my first year at a new school and um I knew that he had heard - my old principal and I did not see eye to eye my last year there - which was part of the reason why I was leaving. So I knew he had heard a few negative things. So I really wanted to - and this was my first observation at this new school - and I really wanted to make sure that I was giving him what he - what I thought he liked. Because I listened to ALL of my new friends at my new school and they were like - oh he likes these things, he doesn't like these things. Don't do that. Don't do these things in your room. So, I listened to all these people and while it wasn't a dog and pony show to make myself look better, it was more of a dog and pony show so that he would be more engaged. It was more geared towards him. 
HK: So, it would be the stuff you would expect - you thought he expected to see.
DB: Right. And it wasn't geared - so I geared my lesson and my activities more to please him than to meet my students needs. 
HK: Sure.
DB: And my students' interests.
HK: Look, I think we've all fallen into that trap at some point.
DB: It went down in flames! Um, and I noticed it halfway through or probably sooner than halfway through. And  so, I did some recalibrating and thought about it and I brought them back to the carpet and we kind of came back together and talked a little bit more about what was the expectation of this lesson and what was the activity that was at hand. And I sent them back out there to try it again. And, again, it was going down, so I just shut it down and brought them back to the carpet and told them - "Hey, this was not a success and that's OK. And it's not your fault, it's my fault." I owned up to the fact that I sent them out there and had them doing things that they weren't quite ready for. Which, it's an activity that we were going to do it's and activity that I had planned to do. I just kind of rushed it along because I thought it would be - I thought that activity was something that he would want to see. So, I just told them that. I told them that "I sent you out there unprepared and I apologize. And moving forward from here, we're going to get prepared for this activity and we'll come back and we'll visit it again."
HK: Right.        
DB: And, several days later, we came back and revisited it and it was much more of a success. But I owned up to my mistake.
HK: And that's I think our big huge takeaway we want everybody to get from this.
DB: Yeah
HK: That, we need to be willing to admit those mistakes, willing to make those mistakes, um - and share it with our students and own it. Let them own it and let them - because that's how we can help them to feel like it's ok to make a mistake in this room.
DB: It's how you learn.
HK: And that we're going to learn from them and we're going to move forward from them. A mistake is not the end of the world. Failure is not the end of the world.
DB: No. It's the best lesson. You learn more from a mistake than you learn from a success. And it's important that we teach our students that. How you can grow from that. Accept it. Grow from it and where they can go to - give them the resources that they need and the knowledge that they need to go and find out how to fix it or where to fix it or what to do. That's critical thinking skills.
HK:  Yeah - so that's really important too. That it's not just, oh well, that didn't work and we abandon it and we don't think about it and we don't try to improve it. So, our teaching, our student learning, all of that just needs to be a really iterative process where we're constantly trying to be better. None of us are all the way there. Ever! Because it's a constantly moving target. Our students are changing. The world is changing and um - nobody can do everything either.
DB: No one can do everything. No one's perfect and it's important that the kids realize that too. Especially those children who are gifted in the class, that believe themselves - that they're always getting things right and they're always doing the right thing and they're always... Gosh, I had a student one time who - perfect, perfect child. I loved this kid. He was super academically gifted and amazing and always well behaved. But then, he did one thing, one time. In the hallway, he talked in the hallway which is one of my biggest things. So, I gave him a red point on Class Dojo and he lost his mind. That was four years ago, and I saw his mom recently and she says that he still holds it against me. He got that one red - because to him he made a mistake. It was this mark, because he made a mistake. And I think it's important that kids know that it's ok to make a mistake. Because no one's perfect, you're gonna mess up sometimes.
HK: Absolutely.
DB: And you have to just go from there.
HK: So, let's talk about how you set routines then and organize and structure - what we each do in our respective classroom environments to keep it student centered, to engage our students, not let it become total chaos although it may be noisy and messy and to an outsider not always look entirely organized.
DB: Yeah - that's my room.
HK: (laughter) Yeah - me too so it's going to be interesting being next door to each other.  (laughter) But, yeah - how do we go about - so that there is actually an underlying structure all the time. It may not, you know an outsider may not know what that is exactly but that our students understand it and we understand it and that we've - for me and I think for you too - we've sort of built that together. I work with my students to build those structures. What do they feel like is going to work in this given situation we have coming up. We're getting ready to split into 3 groups or whatever and everybody's going to be working on a similar objective, similar goal, similar end product in mind but you can go about it the way you choose to go about it in your group. What does that mean for them? Does that mean you can just have a free for all and everybody goes and just grabs all the materials and supplies out of the little Makerspace or the supply closet or whatever? Or is there some order to it? And how do you go about doing that. So, you know with older kids you can sit down. We have a conversation and all of those kinds of things and kind of come up with class norms. Real official like. And really let that be their voice. And things that don't come out from the kids, it's real easy for us  to just sort of twist and say, as the teacher, "so, I think that you mean...thus and such.  I see all of these things about sharing or respecting, so I think all of that together means that no one group is going to monopolize all of the materials. Is that what we mean by that?" And everybody agrees and we move forward so that we can take their voice and give a formal, agreed upon statement to it. With that buy-in. I think that's really important. So, I've had really great success with that in the upper grades. I long ago, gave up on having just a singular set of rules for the whole entire time that we are together because it shifts and changes with the type of learning that we're doing.
DB: Always. And the type of activity.
HK: But we do have our Panda 4. We are a PBIS school. For anyone listening that does not know, it's a Positive Behavior Intervention and Support system. I mean - we have that so we have some school-wide norms, in general, anyhow.  
DB: And all the rules fall under [the Panda] 4 and really it's amazing because when I came over to New Century and I saw the Panda 4, I was like - Wow! Because all the rules that you could possibly come up with really do fit under these four essential rules. 
HK: Exactly.
DB: And it's amazing because I utilize these things. I had to make it a very - um - I had to think about it all the time in the beginning. All the time. It was always at the forefront. And I had to be very - uh - I can't think of the word I want
HK: intentional
DB: intentional. Yes, that's the word. I had to be very intentional about making sure that I was implementing those 4 things and always referring back to it and now it's just very 2nd nature.
HK: Right.
DB: To do that. But at the very beginning of the year, and I think this is really important in those K-2 grades, um especially K-1, at the very - those first couple of weeks of school, everything you do, for all routines, constantly come back to those school-wide rules or your classroom rules. And for us one of them is being a problem solver. And the other one is being respectful. Those are two of our Panda 4 things as you know. So I always come back to those two, no matter what we are doing. And I always bring it up. So before  send kids out to do anything, I always say "and remember our Panda 4." One of those is being respectful. So make sure that you're thinking, not only are you thinking about yourself but you're thinking about your peers and me. Is the decision you're making respectful to yourself, to your friends, to the school materials, and to me as the teacher - and toward the expectations? And are you being a problem solver? Are you... Because I don't assign jobs. I let them do it, so when they go out into those groups to collaborate or to do whatever, I say "here's - someone's going to have to do this, someone's going to have to this, someone's going to have to get these things, someone's going to have to be the timekeeper, someone needs to be the - you know - the moderator, someone needs to do this. You know, but I'm not assigning those jobs. Those are up to you. You need to be a problem solver. 
HK: And this was at 1st grade?
DB: This was at 1st grade. Yup. 
HK: I mean, I know people are probably listening, thinking - this is not going to work with these little people. 
DB: And it does! It takes time. It does. It takes time. It takes patience. It takes some perseverance because... Which was again, all lessons that you can put towards the end goal with your kids too. Like, they can learn these things too. 
HK: Right
DB: And again, at the beginning of they year, it's a lot of you going over and checking in, and talking to them and going over it with them. It's a practice thing. And you're like - "OK you guys weren't super successful at that, this go around. Here's how you can fix this. Here's how we can all fix this. 
HK: Right
DB: The next time. And then you just do it again and do it again and do it again. And I think anyone who teaches K-2 knows that pre-Christmas, it's all a lot of stress. A lot of wrinkles.  A lot of gray hair grown. (laughter) And then that post-Christmas break, it's a drastic change and that's really amazing! It's amazing what a kid, what 1st graders are capable of doing that 2nd half of the year. And so, putting the education in their hands is attainable.
HK: Right. I know some people are listening and thinking, hey I thought this was all about engaging all learners - and it is! 
DB: It is!
HK: Because without this, without structure, without the classroom management part of it; you cannot engage them because they will be wherever they will be.
DB: It's going to be chaos. It will be chaos.
HK:  So that's a little bit of a disclaimer there. We felt that was really important. We needed to go into that because you just really gotta have a plan for how you're going to engage them and what they're going to do while they are hopefully engaging in a really excellent learning opportunity. 
DB: and what they are capable of. Because let's face facts. You might have a group of kids one year, that just, you are gonna have to lay down specifics for that year. If for whatever reason you have a group of children that just can't get along or can't make the best decisions or can't do those things for themselves. 
HK: Absolutely. So, let's talk about some of the specific activities. Let's go back a little bit and talk about some specific things we've done in our rooms that we feel like are prime examples of students being engaged. OK? So, I'm gonna go back and I want to revisit a STEM challenge that we've done in our room where everyone had the opportunity. This goes to some student choice and all of those things that can really allow kids to get engaged. Um - we chose - and they love STEM challenges. Just generally speaking, kids of all ages seem to love STEM challenges. And, um, I found one called the Pringles Challenge. Where you try to successfully build a container that will ship a single potato chip, a single Pringles chip, to some other classroom across the country. So again, we're interacting with other classrooms and things. I believe that the program is still an active program, um - we did not do it last year. It's been a couple of years, but everybody had the choice: I can build my own, I can build with a partner, I can do a small group. So you've got all this flexibility. We can use whatever kinds of recycled materials we want to, but we also knew that size wise, we were aiming for the most compact packing as possible. Although there were limitations on how small of a package the US Postal Service will actually ship. (laughter) So, but, there was a formula.   We were trying to get it to be intact as much as possible and not break by the time it reached - and for us it was all the way to California. From North Carolina to California. And my kids did some practice rounds too, where they shipped to my parents in NY and my father would video record himself opening it and share with them exactly how the chip came out; which was kinda fun. Um - I know he got a kick out of it and I know the kids got a kick out of it 
DB: Now this was standard USPS?
HK: Yeah. Just standard mail.
DB: You throw it in the mailbox. 
HK: Yep and they had wrapped it. They had it in like a sponge around it and all kinds of things. And ultimately, then, we decided as a class which packing material we thought was the best and that's what we shipped across the country. But they were engaged in picking materials to bring from home. They were engaged with choosing what size things would work best or how to cut and how to change and how to pad around the chip without the padding breaking the chip. To try to form it, because Pringles have an interesting and unique shape to them too. 
DB: They do.
HK: So, there was a lot of critical thinking going on, there was communication, collaboration - All the 4 C's and we had that authentic - I mean, if they go into business somewhere and they want to ship something...
DB: Yeah
HK: Then it can translate to an authentic real-world problem, there too. I mean, no one's probably going to ship 1 chip, but if you're shipping something fragile. Let's put it like that. You're shipping something fragile to somebody. A relative or something. Or a gift - right? 
DB: And these days - in this new 21st Century world - everyone is doing all this online shopping and so if you go into that - say you go into that realm, it is going to be useful information because ...
HK: and they can open up the packaging from something that was shipped to their home and they can compare it and have discussions and conversations around it. So, that to me was a real - the students were just super engaged around it. Um - they were engaged - they had that authentic audience too, which is a hard thing! Even with the upper grades in elementary and I would think even in middle and high school. That, for me, remains my hardest piece. Is getting that authentic audience for my students. That when they do something they are getting feedback from outside our four walls. Because when you do that, that seriously engages them because they've got this person on the outside who is also invested in this for whatever reason and wants to know what they were thinking. And wants to know what they did. So, for me that is just a prime example of a really cool and low tech - I mean it didn't include any tech really.
DB: no, yeah
HK: So it doesn't have to be techy.
DB: It doesn't have to be techy. 
HK: It can be. I've got plenty of techy - um - you know - examples of engaging the students too. But, honestly, that low tech/no tech was outstanding. So, how about you? What kinds of things have been super engaging in your room?
DB: Well, ah, one of the things that I did this year, heavily, was I got rid of a lot of morning work and I started doing morning bins. And, so this is kind of Maker spacey almost. 
HK: OK
DB: And there were LEGOs. I had Brain Flakes. These - I think they're called Qubits and oh, there was another one that I had - off the top of my head, I can't think of it. But they - all building materials. And I would have on the Smartboard, just projected, like - create a dinosaur. Pick a material and create a dinosaur. And so at each of the 4 tables that were in my room was a material sitting on it and they had to sit at that table, like whatever table they sat at - because I [use] flexible seating, I don't have assigned seats...
HK: Gotcha
DB: in my class. So they just come in and wherever they sat, they sat. And so, for morning they just came in and wherever they sat, they had to build a dinosaur. It didn't have to look like anything particular. It just had to, in whatever material they were using... And it was amazing because I thought that most of the kids would sit at the LEGO table and but they didn't. A lot of them sat at the Brain Flakes, which I would have not chose that because to me, I felt that would have been much more complicated to make a dinosaur than out of the LEGOs. And the Qubits thing I also thought was - I think they're called Qubits - but they're also much more complicated because they're in a - like a trapezoid shape.
HK: OK
DB: And they interlock together. So if you don't know what those are, they're actually really awesome for geometry.
HK: We'll drop some links in the transcript of all the different kinds of things that we talk about.
DB: That we use in our classroom. Yeah. These are great for math and geometry, but one of the kids sat down and he was the only one to sit down at that - and his dinosaur was AMAZING! It was - he made it so it was kind of a hat/helmet that went over him. And then he made little raptor claws that he had and so instead of actually making a dinosaur, to sit on the table...
HK: He became the dinosaur.
DB: He made a costume out of it. 
HK: Amazing! He was engaged!
DB: He was engaged. And he is NOT a kid that is easily engaged. (laughter) So, he was engaged and he loved it and all the kids chose him as the winner for it. Yeah - because he didn't do something typical.
HK: That's fantastic. 
DB: Amazing. 1st graders can be amazing.
HK: They can. Alright, we're gonna wrap it up here. Is there anything as we start to wrap up that we didn't hit on, that you really want to make sure everybody took away from this? 
DB: I don't know. There's just so much really. Isn't there?
HK: There is.
DB: When it comes to 21st Century. Like the use of Memes and Youtube. Twitter.
HK: Comics
DB: Skype. 
HK: Cartoons
DB: The mail. Even the mail. This nontypical...
HK: I know. Right? It doesn't seem 21st Century but it does work. 
DB: Well, I think that's what 21st Century is though, isn't it? It's not necessarily using technology - it's just - new education. It's education where children aren't just sitting at that - and I mean we've all seen that/those ads or those videos and those Memes and posts on Facebook - where this - children aren't what they were 50 years ago. And then they show you that picture of kids just sitting. And then, so why are we doing that?
HK: Right
DB: And I think that's what 21st Century education is. Is making sure that all the students are engaged and they're not just sitting there in rows with their hands raised.
HK: Right. Which means acknowledging the fact that we are in a global
DB: a global 
HK: a global
DB: a global world these days. 
HK: Our schools are global. Plain and simple. 
DB: And we do have access to technology and you can use that. Like one of the things I do for center work is to cut down on paper usage. Because - 21st Century - we need to - let's eliminate some waste.
HK: Well, sure.
DB: Right?
HK: We can.
DB: I have printed out, each of my students has a number, you know, that's what they all do. They're assigned a number and they go over and they do a center that I've been using for the last 5 years. They do it. It's all laminated, precut. They just do the activity. They lay their number card down beside it and they take a picture of it. That gets turned in that way, which is preparing them for submission. How much do we submit online?
HK: Sure. RIght.
DB: So, it's kinda the same aspect for them now. Preparing them for that college experience of submitting things online. There's so much to do. So many different ways.
HK: Yeah. So I'm looking forward to, speaking of things to do, I'm going to test the waters along with all of the beginning teachers who are just learning the ropes and hopefully lots of other veteran teachers who never stop learning. We're going to branch out and try some of the TED Ed clubs. 
DB: Very nice.
HK: This year and see how that goes. But I'm also really excited because last year, I got connected with a teacher in Texas. And we did a Mystery Skype with my students and hers. And then we, actually, she and I met face to face this summer. We both were at an event together in Nashville and got to spend time together. And we ended up spending a significant amount of time planning out, in detail, how our two classes are going to collaborate this year and I am so excited for that to get started!      
DB: Oh that's awesome!
HK: We're going to collaborate on the global read aloud. We're going to do Twitter Math Task Challenges together, the #GMTTC, and we're going to do some writing back and forth. I'm a little frustrated. So, you know, nothing's perfect - right? 
DB: No, nothing's perfect.
HK: We really wanted to share a Google Classroom together and I don't think we can because I think we're outside of each other's domains and I don't think it will let us.
DB: ahhhhh
HK: But, we're going to figure something out about that because we wanted the students to, you know, be able to write back and forth to each other. I just thought that Google Classroom would be a great place to do that so we're going to have to figure that out yet, but I'm super excited for what's coming up because I really think that - again, that the more we connect our kids because that's another thing, we're connected in the 21st Century - right? We're all connected - all the time. Like all the time.
DB: All the time! With all the stuff we do.
HK: And so, you know, we can either see it as a problem. Or we can see it as something that is available just in time, when we need it, right when we need it, to help us do exactly what we're trying to do. So, um, that's kinda how I'm looking at it anyhow.
DB: And I think the key - and I think with Google Classroom, that's my - for me, that's my thing this upcoming school year. I tried to implement it last year and it failed. It flopped  a little bit, but only because I didn't keep up with it the way I wanted to and I didn't implement it correctly. But next year, I plan on doing it much better. And one of the things that you can do with Google Classroom, and making sure that you are engaging all those learners is, you can give more options and list more things. Like on an ELA [assignment] and I realized that it was a little more complicated for 1st grade. It was easy for them to go in and click on Prodigy game for example and click on that and automatically log in. But, to really set up the folders on the sides and things.
HK: and follow that to be able to differentiate, like, this is your group and go to that
DB: Yeah. 
HK: Yeah and to use the tags
DB: Yeah. That was a little harder at times, but fortunately for games like Prodigy - it did it's own differentiation, so it engaged them and put them at their level. And the kids loved that but I can easily go over and put a math folder and put different things and then for them - they can choose their own. Which I think is also 21st Century education. Allowing students choices. 
HK: choice - and we've heard that today. Several times. We've both mentioned it. We've mentioned it in seating. We've mentioned it in group jobs. We've mentioned it 
DB: Choices. Because then they can take ownership of their education and when something doesn't go the way they wanted it to and the way we wanted it to, we can go back to that and say: "What choices did I make? What choices did you make?"
HK: Right. 
DB: And how can we make better choices next time.
HK: Exactly.
DB: To get what we wanted in the end.
HK: Yeah. I think we could keep talking for a really long time.
DB: Yeah, forever. I'm a talker.
HK: No - we both are and we have - um - you know combined - quite a bit of experience with it and across the gamut from K-5. So, um if people want to ask us anything, you can certainly drop it in the comments of this podcast. Afterward, there will be a spot for you to do that. And like I said, we're gonna go ahead and link into the transcript, all of the different tools that we dropped names of and all the different hashtags and things that we tend to go to. Our biggest "go-to's".  We hope that this podcast has been helpful to you. So, good luck this year in 2018-2019 everybody.
DB: Absolutely. You can do it!
HK: Have a great year everyone!
DB: Bye.
   
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Episode 5

2/3/2018

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​Hello again. Thanks for tuning in to Episode 5 of "How Does She Do It? I'm your host, Heather Kaiser. In my first few episodes, I have been focusing on 3 main points each time. For this episode, I plan to share just one.  Today's focus is global collaboration with Mystery Skype. Let's dig right in.

One of my personal professional learning goals for this school year is to be more intentional about global collaboration as an educator.  I chose this in part because one of the schools I work in has a global theme. We have a number of visiting international faculty and our students all learn Mandarin. Some of our students are immersed in the language while others receive Mandarin instruction as a foreign language resource. I know I can be doing a better job of integrating global connections in the learning that takes place in my classroom.  One way I am hoping to boost global connections and geographic awareness is with a giant map of Asia that we will be purchasing thanks to the Bright Ideas Grant.  A second method has been borrowing culture kits from the Carolina Navigators program. But the really big idea I want to share is Mystery Skype. 

Mystery Skype has been around for a long time.  There are loads of blogs, teacher forums, and websites where you can get information to get started. I like to describe it as a twist on pen-pals and 20 questions.  First you need to find another class willing to participate and work out the details of any time zone differences.  The idea is to ask questions that yield a "yes" or "no" response and will allow you to hone in on the location of the other class.  So, where do you go to make that connection? My "go to" places are Facebook teacher groups, Twitter, Proteacher.net and Microsoft in Education's Mystery Skype connection page.  I'm sure there are many places others would recommend and I hope that some listeners might chime in and leave me a Speakpipe or write a comment to share their "go to" places for finding a classroom partner.  

Once you have a partner class and a scheduled date/time for the Mystery Skype, it is a good idea to have a practice session with your class.  I pretended to be the other class. I chose a place I was very familiar with so that I could answer the yes/no questions. We practiced asking good questions and keeping track of the clues using maps, atlases, and customized Google docs and Google forms.  For the practice session I did not assign students a specific job. Everyone had the maps and could ask questions. They did a great job and had "found me" in about 30 minutes.

Following the practice session, but prior to the actual Mystery Skype event, I did create some Google docs and forms to be used during the event. I also created Google Slides with job descriptions and assignments for each student. You can view all of these using the links found in my show notes.

The day before the event, I made sure to connect with the other teacher via Skype.  She had some concerns about bandwidth and connectivity which turned out to be very legitimate concerns.  I imagine these could be even bigger issues in more remote regions. We were able to connect but we could barely say hello before the video would freeze.  Some people would get frustrated and give up, but that's just not my style. We made it work. Skype has an Instant Message style chat feature so we agreed to just type our questions and responses back and forth instead.  You know what? This worked great! Mystery Skype is a very controlled chaos type of learning and I think that we might have struggled to hear each other and maintain good communication in our 1st Mystery Skype if we had be "live".  The student jobs kept everyone engaged and gave them each a purpose. We could see when the other class was working on typing a response or a question and the entire room came to a halt each time. After about 45 minutes, both classes had narrowed in on each other and knew the state but we ultimately had to end our session without knowing the exact location of the other class.  In some cases, that might be the end but for us, we agreed to pick up where we left off next week.

Mystery Skype takes some planning but the value is incredible! On a whim, I sent an email to all of the teachers in my building to let them know that we were hosting the event and they were welcome to come see it in action if they could slip away from their class. Not only did 3 teachers stop by, but one teacher brought her whole entire class! At first I wasn't sure how we would accommodate that many people in my space and if we had been on video I might not have found a solution.  Given that we were using written text to communicate though, I gathered her class around me and briefed them on what we were doing. Then I told them to wander the room and eavesdrop on the work that was happening. They became so engaged! They started figuring out the clues and offering suggestions for the next questions.  What truly humbled me was when I found out they chose to come in my room to watch this event when they should have been outside at recess! Can you believe it? I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it!  

Well, I could say more but I think you get the idea.  If you haven't tried Mystery Skype, I highly recommend it and what's more, I would love to connect my class with yours. Let's make it happen.  Leave me a message using Speakpipe or in the comments section and we'll get busy ironing out the details. 

That's a wrap for episode 5. I  hope it left you not only with some new ideas but also a better understanding of How I do it and How you could do it too! Check out the podcast notes for helpful links and the schedule of upcoming podcasts along with topics. You can also connect with me via comments and questions. Using speakpipe, you can even leave me a voice message. Who knows I might include your message in an upcoming Podcast. Oh and one last thing - you might want to consider subscribing to the feed so you will be notified when a new podcast comes out. Thanks for tuning in.
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Episode 4

1/20/2018

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Hi there. Thanks for tuning in. I’m Heather Kaiser and you’re listening to the 4th episode of How Does She Do It? 
If you’ve listened to any of my earlier podcasts, you know that I started creating a bi-weekly podcast that focuses on topics my colleagues have asked.  During my 20 years as an educator I’ve had plenty of challenges and spent plenty of time seeking innovative but realistic solutions.  I am also a bit of a social butterfly. Where some people get their work done and head home, I tend to get distracted when I pass by another teacher’s room. Some people would probably call me a busy body. In any case, this frequently leads to a conversation that involves brainstorming solutions to obstacles we are facing in the classroom.  Somewhere in the conversation, I usually mention a strategy or tool that results in the inevitable question... “How do you do that?”  or  “Where did you learn about that?”  This podcast is my way of intentionally sharing some of the ways I stay abreast of new ideas, best practices, current research, trends, and everything else that goes into making me the educator that I am.  In this episode, I will be sharing a few ways to make good use of assessment data. Before I begin, I want to make sure to point out that the websites and tools I share with you today have been classroom tested by me. I am not receiving any compensation or fun SWAG for sharing these. I really just believe they can help educators and students. With that being said, let’s talk data.
Teachers have no shortage of assessment data. The question really is which assessments provide the most useful data what are we doing with it? Certain assessments are externally imposed. I don’t know about you but I often find these are usually the least useful to me as a teacher. Some assessments are initiated externally but we opt in. These have potential to be useful. The most useful to me are generally those that I have selected based upon prior teaching or areas that will be taught soon. Today I will share with you 3 types of data and how I have made use of it to improve student learning. Let’s start with the Snapshot tool in Edmodo. I do not use Edmodo as frequently now that we have transitioned to Google Classroom in our district. But Edmodo does have something that Google classroom doesn’t and that is the Snapshot tool. It is aligned with Common Core State Standards and I love that I can create these short assessments to use for small groups of students. Here’s how I do it. First I set up my classroom and create my roster in Edmodo. Then I create some small groups based on student ability. Next, I generate a snapshot for a specific standard. Suppose I am getting ready to teach multiplying and dividing fractions. If I believe there is a group of students that may already know how to do that, I can pre-assess with a snapshot and then provide an alternate learning experience for those who demonstrate mastery. Suppose some students have been struggling with finding equivalent fractions. I can re-teach in small group and then assign a short snapshot assessment based on that standard to see if they have a better understanding. The snapshot tool is super easy to use and it’s the main reason that I still have students linked to my Edmodo account.  There are some pros and cons that I have found while using this tool. In fact, I wrote a more detailed blog post about the tool and will share a link to that post in my show notes.

Let’s talk spelling. If spelling is part of your curriculum, I have a few questions for you to ponder. Do all of your students have the same aptitude for spelling? What methods do you use to differentiate spelling for your students? Do you have separate lists? Are these lists based on novels, content area vocabulary, sight words, word origins, or something else? If you are not differentiating for your students, what is stopping you? If you are differentiating, how much time are you spending creating lists, assignments, and conducting assessments? What if I told you that differentiating spelling for your students could actually save you time? I bet that got your attention!

It’s true and there are lots of ways you could be doing it.  One easy way is to give students a pre-test from the Words their Way book. Yes this takes time on the front end but it pays off later. This assessment is an excellent guide if you want to use spelling lists that target specific spelling skills. After pre-testing I chose the appropriate list from K-12 reader. Did you know that this site has a whole bunch of lists leveled by grade and target skills? I’ll put a link in my shownotes for you. These lists save me the time of creating a list but I still need an easy way to assign the list to students. Once again, I still like the small group feature in Edmodo. I have another blog post that explains how I assign students to spelling groups and how I assign lists and assignments within those groups.  What I like even better, is Vocabulary/Spelling City. There are a number of options that are free but I have used DonorsChoose for several years to fund a classroom subscription. I am pretty picky about my classroom subscriptions to online programs. SpellingCity definitely makes the cut. Spelling is so easy now. Set up a roster. Create lists. Assign lists to students. Preset certain activities for spelling practice in class and for homework. This is really a set it and forget it type of tool. If you pay the subscription cost, you will have access to reporting features. It’s been years since I gave a whole class spelling test. Students all work at their own pace. Do you have students that really excel when it comes to spelling? Would you be interested in allowing students to customize their own word list? Here’s another thing I really love… on Friday, I have students take a pre-test on the spelling words for the next week. Any words they miss will remain on their list but the ones they already know get replaced with words from higher level lists or words the students have chosen from a novel they are reading. Better yet, why not have students keep track of words that they frequently misspell in their classwork. These can become the filler words and then students are really focusing on learning something targeted specifically to their own deficits. Like I said, there are efforts on the front end that will be a bit time consuming but when you no longer have spelling assignments to grade or tests to give, I think you will see the long-term benefit!
Alright, so here’s a biggie. We all have externally initiated assessments that we find ourselves opting into with varied levels of buy-in. Regardless, the data that we receive can be a powerful tool if we use it right. One of the ways I have found to be really useful is to empower students and I’ve done this by designing fast-paced review. Preparing the activity is a bit tricky but so worth it.  Let me break it down for you. We are preparing to administer benchmark tests for 5th grade students in math, reading, and science.  Let’s consider math.  When the test is over, teachers could review the data and make decisions for future teaching. We would probably feel pretty good about that. We might decide that the majority of students missed certain questions and we should take time to discuss those questions with the whole group. Not a bad idea but what about those students who got that question right? Honestly, it is unfair to force them to sit through that review. So, maybe we can identify small groups of students that have made common errors and we can hold multiple review sessions while other students work independently. That’s better but poses huge demands on the teacher and let’s face it - the person doing the work is the person that is learning.  So, the goal is how do we get the students doing the work? Our entire team of 5th grade teachers work together to make this happen. Again, I have a blog post that gives more details and you can follow up with that if my podcast has piqued your interest, but the gist of it is we will be identifying students who demonstrated mastery on the majority of the test and assigning these students to be teachers. Every other student will be given a list of questions that they missed and a schedule to visit the appropriate student/teacher to receive instruction about how to solve that problem.  The teachers just monitor traffic as students move from room to room. We received really great feedback from the students after trying this last year and we’re hoping to improve our practice as we prepare and conduct these math meet-ups again. It’s kind of like speed dating, but for math. In fact, the main thing we know we need to improve on is the pace. Our pace was a little too fast for kids who are really struggling so we will be keeping that in mind as we move forward. Don’t forget I have a link in the show notes where you can see some action photos and follow my “how to” if you want to create your own Math Meet-ups.
Alright, that just about does it for this episode of “How Does She Do It?” Podcast. I  hope it left you not only with some new ideas but also a better understanding of How I do it and How you could do it too! Check out the podcast notes for helpful links and the schedule of upcoming podcasts along with topics. You can also connect with me via comments and questions. Using speakpipe, you can even leave me a voice message. Who knows I might include your message in an upcoming Podcast. Oh and one last thing - you might want to consider subscribing to the feed so you will be notified when a new podcast comes out. Thanks for tuning in.


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Episode 3

1/6/2018

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Heather: Hi there. I’m Heather Kaiser and I’d like to welcome you to the 3rd episode of How Does She Do It?

This week I am going to share how I have used technology to clear some things off my teacher desk, manage the scheduling of parent conferences and simplify  planning for classroom parties. I am going to be sharing several websites and apps that have free and paid versions. Please know that these are tools I have personally used and found to be helpful. They help me work smarter rather than harder. There are probably others that could do the same job just as well or better, but these are the ones I have experience with which is why I am sharing them. I am not affiliated with nor do I receive any compensation from any of the companies behind the tools I am sharing. I don’t even expect to get any cool SWAG and you know that teachers love free SWAG!

So here it goes, episode 3 of How Does She Do It? 
First lets talk about scheduling parent conferences. Gone are the days when teachers send a conference date and time with student report cards. Remember all the paper passing and phone calls that used to follow as you tried to accommodate the schedules of 25 parents? Email streamlined this and for me often resulted in more completed conferences but it was still tricky to make sure none of the conferences were scheduled for conflicting dates and times. Maybe some of you are better at scheduling than me. This never came easy for me. You’d think that keeping a date book would make it easy enough but I struggle. So, when I found the website YouCanBook.Me, I was hooked right away. The free version is all I have ever needed and I love how it shifts the responsibility of choosing a date and time for a conference from me to the parent.  Once you create your free account, you can set your times and availability, create instructions for parents booking a conference, and customize the booking form. When I need to meet with parents, I simply login and update my settings. Then I copy my custom link and send it to the parents with a request that they go to the site and choose a date/time that is convenient for them to meet with me.  I have sent the link in email, class dojo, and even a traditional letter for parents that prefer not to communicate digitally. After parents sign up, I receive an email notification and if the conference needs to be rescheduled, I can go to the site to view my bookings and make adjustments. The YouCanBook.me site will even sync to my Google calendar so that I will receive notifications when a conference is coming up.  I’ve been really happy with how YouCanBook.me has automated my parent conferences. It seems like a win-win to me. Work smarter not harder right? Set the dates and times I am available and then let parents choose. First come - first serve. No double bookings. Plus, it’s FREE! If you want to try it for yourself there will be a link in my show notes.

Another great tool for automating parent sign ups used to be called Volunteer Spot but now I see that it redirects me to SignUp.com. Any time we are having a class or team party, I go straight to this tool. Again, the free level has always provided me with plenty of options. Parties like this usually mean that I am looking for parent volunteers. I may need actually parents to assist or just donations. Either way, this is my go to tool.  Here’s why… I create the event and then start itemizing the types of things I need for the event. Then I can set the number for each item. So maybe I need 3 parents to help set up and 2 parents to assist during the event. I create each of those needs and assign the number then when parents get the link to sign up to volunteer, those choices are only available until all of the slots are filled.  SignUp.com sends me notifications and if I don’t enough volunteers for a particular task or donation, it is obvious. There are even options for allowing unlimited volunteers for an item or task if you prefer. If you aren’t already using SignUp.com to share the burden of planning a class or team party, you should really consider moving this chore off your plate!  

Today I want to close out with some apps that will help clear some space on your teacher desk. When I started teaching, there were a few tricks I could do with technology to reduce the clutter on my teacher desk but now, the possibilities are really endless. In fact, there have been years where I was able to get rid of my teacher desk altogether! I’ll save that for another conversation.  As a young teacher, I recall evaluators emphasizing the need to call on every student. In order to make sure no one is left out and everyone has a turn before anyone is called on a second time, many of us kept a container of popsicle sticks on our desk. I bet some of you may even still have one. There are loads of apps and tech tools that make this an unnecessary item. One of my favorites is the Name Selector Pro. Yes I actually paid for the upgrade of this app, which means it must not be very expensive. But, it was worth it because I can create custom groups and categories which is great if you are picking from within a small group or if you teach more than one block of the same subject. If I have a small group of students (5 or less), I might just use the Pick a Finger app.  This is fun for students because they each place one finger on my iPad or iPhone and then I tap the Pick a Finger button. The iPad glows randomly under their fingers like a roulette wheel and lands on one. This is an easy way to choose or eliminate a student. It works great if you are trying to decide who presents their project first or even the order that they will line up. You could even use it to assign class jobs. Just choose a job before pressing the Pick a Finger app. So ditch the container of sticks.

While you’re at it, check your desk to see if it is free of sticky notes. Admit it, teachers love sticky notes! I have a huge variety myself. But I did not know that Post-It makes an app for that. If you have sticky notes on your desk, you can turn them into digital sticky notes and maintain the power to sort, group, and edit them. I was amazed by this app when someone shared it at the National Association for Gifted Children convention this fall.  Going to conferences is definitely a great way to learn new things! What a great bonus when you can immediately put the learning to use. This app is one of those instances. The main thing I learned the hard way is to make sure the Post-It notes are not touching each other when you take a picture of them. The app magically outlines each one in green and lets you choose which objects are sticky notes.  You can drag them around, change their color, add text and draw on them.  Truly amazing was my discovery that I could use the eraser tool to erase the handwriting if I wanted to.  You can add a second set of sticky notes to an existing set too. So what are you waiting for? Capture those sticky notes on your desk digitally and then get them off your desk.

Do you keep a calendar or agenda on your desk? Could you replace that with a digital calendar like Google calendar? Personally, I still keep a traditional agenda but I use my Google calendar to help me remember appointments and events occurring at times that I would likely forget about without my digital assistant reminding me. I’ll probably elaborate more on that in the future.

Speaking of the future, that just about does it for this episode of the “How Does She Do It?” Podcast. I  hope it left you not only with some new ideas but also a better understanding of How We do it and How you could do it too! Check out the podcast notes for helpful links to all the tools I shared today and the schedule of upcoming podcasts along with topics. You can also connect with me via comments and questions. Using speakpipe, you can even leave me a voice message. Who knows I might include your message in an upcoming Podcast. Oh and one last thing - you might want to consider subscribing to the feed so you will be notified when a new podcast comes out. Thanks for tuning in.
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Episode 2

12/22/2017

0 Comments

 
Hi there. I’m Heather Kaiser and I’d like to welcome you to the 2nd episode of How Does She Do It?

Time and time again this is the question that I am asked. And every time, I struggle to find a good answer. You see, I am one of those overachieving people who is constantly on the look out for innovative ideas.  A couple of weeks ago, I started this podcast with the goal of sharing some of the ways I stay abreast of new ideas, best practices, current research, trends, and everything else that goes into making me the educator that I am. So here it goes, episode 2 of How Does She Do It?

Today I have 3 things planned to share with you. First, I want to share with you a little about the music that is incorporated into my podcast and how you can do something similar. Then I want to share an idea for student accountability if you use small group rotations in your class and finally I will tell you about one of my favorite ways to use Twitter with my elementary age students. Yes - you heard that right - I use Twitter with students at the elementary level and I’m excited to tell you all about it.

So let’s dig in. First of all, I know you are hearing music fade in and out from time to time within my podcast and you may be wondering how that is incorporated. Well it does take several steps but once you get used to it, the process isn’t as daunting as it may first seem.  Obviously, you’re going to need some music and there are two ways you can proceed. You can hire someone to create a custom set of audio transitions (or if you are gifted in that area - record your own) or you can search for royalty free audio.  The 2nd option is what I have chosen - in my show notes, you will see where I have given credit to bensound.com - as long as I give credit to the source, they have given rights for their audio to be used under a creative commons license.  For that I am super grateful. I’m sure there are other sources of audio with similar terms of use and I want to note that I am not receiving any compensation for endorsing bensound - this simply happens to be the resource I use which is why I mention them.  Right now they have about 76 files that are easily downloaded. Which makes for great variety.  
You may remember from my 1st podcast that my program of choice for creating my podcast is Audacity. First I record my narration and then I layer in a separate track for the audio transition music. My shownotes will have a link to a blogpost in the next week or so that will have some screenshots of the process.  Basically, I add a new track and drop the audio file that I downloaded into place. Getting the audio just right can be a bit of a trick. You will want to learn how to clip the audio and move it in the timeline to the exact spot. I also use the fade in and fade out features to make the transition more subtle. All of this involves clicking or highlighting the placement of the audio file that you want to adjust and either using the trim tool to use only a portion of the audio or using the fade in and fade out features found under the effect menu.  Another trick I use is to layer the same audio file on multiple tracks. This is especially useful if I want to use the same clipped portion in more than one place throughout my narration. There may be some better ways to do this but for now, this is my method.

On to my next topic… but before I talk about my accountability strategy, I just couldn’t help but think about how my listeners were probably paying closer attention to the transition audio they just heard. Alright moving on… In my first podcast, I mentioned that a colleague had inspired me to begin this adventure when she asked me how to make a podcast for the parents of her students. Hopefully I’ve given her plenty of info to follow through on. When we were talking about my first podcast and the Title I had chosen, it spurred a whole other story from her.  She recounted a time earlier this year when she was struggling with the management of small groups. Now when I say struggling what I mean is - she was grappling with the concept as she planned for her year. She was weighing the pros and cons of having time to work with students in small groups vs. whole group instruction. She was wrestling with the frustration of students having limited accountability when working in stations while waiting for their turn with the teacher. She was searching for a way to limit her workload (papers to grade) while keeping students engaged and accountable.  During our conversation, I made a suggestion which she recently reminded me of.  Is the suspense killing you yet? Well my suggestion is something that has been going on in lots of classrooms and you can find it documented over and over again but I’m not sure how many teachers are really sharing it as being an accountability strategy.  It’s really simple. I said to my colleague, why not just have the students work on dry erase boards or use the manipulatives you provide and then have them take a picture with your iPads to document their work? Then you can pick and choose which ones to look at. They will never know what you are going to choose and so they will need to do everything just in case.  Such a simple idea but it has been powerful and made a big difference for her this year. Now that’s not to say we didn’t just have a conversation about the fact that she has piles of papers to grade at home during the winter break, but at least it has helped students stay on task during her small group lessons. Of course there are lots of ways the images can be shared and I’m not entirely sure what she has chosen to do with them.  Maybe she will chime in and leave a SpeakPipe voice message that I can play as a follow up in my next Podcast.

And now for one of my favorite topics! Twitter!!  

For those of you who do not know me, I am pretty passionate about Twitter. That may even be an understatement. In May 2017 I actually defended my dissertation (successfully I might add) and it was all about teachers growing professionally by using Twitter - but that is a topic for another time.  Actually - I think I will digress for a moment and make a shameless plug for anyone planning to attend the NCTIES conference at the end of February in Raleigh - I will be there and have paired up with  my colleague Angela Westmoreland to share a session about teacher professional learning and Twitter. It will be an engaging hands on session and I would love to meet some of my podcast listeners there if you are attending.  (End of shameless plug).  Moving on - several years ago I came across a project called the Global Math Task Twitter Challenge.  The show notes will have a link. This challenge is the brainchild of Heidi Samuelson (@swampfrogfirst) and Beverly Ladd (@BevLadd).  Basically, teachers and students follow a specific hashtag GMTTC that contains their grade level at the end - for example 3rd grade would be #GMTTC3.  All you have to do is type the hashtag in the search bar of Twitter and you will see exactly what I am talking about. Classes take turns hosting the weekly and in many cases daily challenges. You can sign up to host a week using the shared spreadsheet. If you are the host, it is your responsibility to tweet a math problem each day using the hashtag. Other classrooms will view your tweet and try to solve the problem. Some students and teachers get really creative in sharing their responses! Do you have students that are ready for a bigger challenge? Try searching a grade level above.  Need to remediate? Try a grade level below.  Want to match questions to the skill you are working on? No problem - just spend a little more time reviewing the various tweets and you are sure to find what you need.  Even if a particular question is from a few months ago, what does it hurt to post it on your whiteboard or take a screenshot and load it into your Google classroom if you prefer.  I’ve shared this use of Twitter with loads of teachers in the past few years. It truly is one of my favorite uses of Twitter with students because it is content driven, student driven, and globally collaborative!  

Alright, that just about does it for this episode of “How Does She Do It?” Podcast. I  hope it left you not only with some new ideas but also a better understanding of How I do it and How you could do it too! Check out the podcast notes for helpful links and the schedule of upcoming podcasts along with topics. You can also interact with me via comments and questions. Using Speakpipe, you can even leave  a voice message. Who knows I might include your message in an upcoming Podcast. Oh and one last thing - you might want to consider subscribing to the feed so you will be notified when a new podcast comes out. Thanks for tuning in.



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Episode 1

12/9/2017

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Hi there. I’m Heather Kaiser and I’d like to welcome you to the very first episode of How Does She Do It? 

Time and time again this is the question that I am asked. And every time, I struggle to find a good answer. You see, I am one of those overachieving people who is constantly on the look out for innovative ideas. My goal with this podcast is to start sharing some of the ways I stay abreast of new ideas, best practices, current research, trends, and everything else that goes into making me the educator that I am. I hope to provide a new episode on a bi-weekly basis. Who knows, eventually I may even manage a weekly podcast. But for now, I think bi-weekly is more realistic. So here it goes, episode 1 of How Does She Do It? 


Choosing a topic for my first podcast was no small task. But after a little consideration, I decided to begin with the beginning. Well, the beginning of podcasting anyhow. Earlier this year, a colleague of mine asked me “how can we create a podcast for parents?” Well, I’m embarrassed to say that although I told her that would be easy for me to help her with, I still haven’t helped her. So, I guess that would be a great place to begin as I begin this new podcast of my own. First of all, my favorite tool for audio recording is Audacity. It is free and the learning curve is minimal. In fact all the vocals and background music encompassed in this podcast have been created using this tool. It is a download and the buttons are easy to comprehend for those of us who grew up using a Walkman or boombox to record things off the radio. Once I had my recording, I just needed to decide where to make it available. You can place the recordings in so many places. Choosing the place really depends on the audience you are trying to reach. For my colleague, placing the podcast in Google Drive and then sharing a link via Class Dojo makes really good sense because she is trying to reach parents in her classroom. For my podcast, I am probably going to publish in several places while hosting it on my blog or website. Well, that is the basic gist of it. I would add that writing a script for your podcast can be a big timesaver in the long run and help you to talk smoothly without rambling on or getting off track. Yes, I tried to do this without a script a couple times and then realized that it was really a huge waste of time. So I sat down and typed up a script which took me about 10 minutes. Voila, hopefully you can tell how much that helped just by the way this podcast has flowed along in a fairly organized fashion.
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I should mention that I separated the vocal and background music sound tracks. This is really a simple step. First I recorded the vocal (talking) part. In my script, I made notes of places where I should pause and how long I wanted to pause for a musical interlude. Then I selected my music from some royalty free music (a topic for another podcast - maybe in a couple weeks) and placed it in an underlying track. Adjusting the volume is done easily by just dragging the arrow on the volume bar for the music sound track.
Alright, that just about does it for my first “How Does She Do It?” Podcast. I hope it left you not only with some new ideas but also a better understanding of How I do it and How you could do it too! Check out the podcast notes for helpful links and the schedule of upcoming podcasts along with topics. I’m planning to include an area for listeners to interact with me via comments and questions, so please be on the lookout for that and consider subscribing to the feed so you will be notified when a new podcast comes out. Thanks for tuning in.
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    Heather Kaiser, Ed.D.

    sharing ​20 years of experience integrating technology into education in a bi-weekly podcast

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