March 18, 2022 was a much anticipated day. Our 4C team of Digital Learning Coordinators has been working for years to mentor educators throughout our school district to leverage “making” and student agency as a natural part of their lesson design and helping them learn how to teach students to collaborate well, despite this pandemic. The workforce needs eligible employees who are collaborators, who are creative, who can communicate effectively and who can think critically. Our current 4C PLN is doing well to set up learners for this successful future. Those we have mentored are doing fabulous things including setting an envious example for other educators to do the same and they have done well to help recruit a new group. March 18 was the day we welcomed a new cohort of curious and eager educators to a room filled with hands on challenges, consumables, robots, and digital tasks. The day was better captured with a video than with paragraphs. En-JOY!
wcpss
Makerspace: Just Trust the Kids!
I don’t usually do this; blog on a school night. Especially after my work day involves supporting teachers and administrators with ways they can ultimately impact student learning experiences. Blogging often keeps me up way too late, crafting just the right ways to express all the “wonderful” I experienced in a day. But if I keep not sharing by blog, not enough people get to share in the awe that is happening around us. This email was one I sent to a principal after an experience “I” had in his school one afternoon. But it only reached him. Continue reading
What did I do with an idea…?
What Did I Do With An Idea…?
I fed it. I nurtured it. I let it grow. I grew to love it.
In November 2016, I was charged to have an idea. Being creative on demand has never worked out well for me so this was a very frustrating charge for me.
Although it was much more carefully articulated by the professionals facilitating this, the message was the same. Here is what I heard.
“Come up with an idea and do something with it.” Also, “Do this idea with other people. They must agree with you and nurture the idea with you. And in the end, you must show off your idea with pride to everyone else charged with this daunting task, and other professionals in your field who are expecting you to succeed with this idea.” Continue reading
Learning: Them & Me 