#leydenpride

I first heard of #leydenpride after meeting and then following @JasonMMarkey, the principal of East Leyden High School, at ISTE 2013 in San Antonio. Jason is a genuine instructional leader who encourages student voice and provides opportunities for student as well as teacher ownership of the school. Jason has really used twitter to encourage other educators in our pursuit of excellence. Jason was one of many of my PLN I asked for input this summer while planning for this school year. Jason was one of three administrators presented with the 2014 NASSP Digital Principal Award!

Leyden is one of many schools that has harnessed the power of social media for the good of students, parents and educators. Check out the #leydenpride hashtag to see what some students are tweeting and instagramming about their school.

This November, I visited Jason's school, East Leyden High School. The Leyden High School District 212 is a 1:1 chromebook district of two high schools with about 3500 students total. Leyden is in its second year of 1:1. Leyden High is an exciting district with many opportunities for students to learn outside of the normal classroom. I first visited the culinary classroom with a kitchen. Students were working with the teacher to prepare the catering for the East Leyden site visit the next day. Students have the opportunity to take the food and safety test necessary for certification in order to work in a restaurant.

The Culinary Classroom 

A History Classroom

Next, I visited several classrooms where I saw students engaged in learning. I visited a Social Studies classroom where students used VideoNot.es to take notes on YouTube videos used in class. I was able to see the Hapara Teacher Dashboard being used in action to manage student engagement with technology. I visited a French classroom where the teacher doled out digital assignments, giving students the opportunity to hear, speak and write in the target language. I visited English classrooms where students were analyzing literature using a Google document. I visited a Math classroom where students were actively problem solving using a calculator, a chromebook and their minds. Every student was working at their own pace. Teachers and students have continuing discussions about the use of technology in instruction. Technology coaches and administrators support teachers in the transition of a digital classroom. Parents and students attend a brief orientation before the student receives a chromebook. Students also take a class on digital literacy within their first semester of receiving the chromebook. Every part of the 1:1 program is a learning experience for all who are stakeholders in the Leyden district.

@JasonMMarkey speaking with students during an assembly

@LeydenASCI trying out @JasonMMarkey's Google Glass

One of the many takeaways I had from visiting East Leyden is student and teacher voice. Developing the 1:1 program took time. It was a gradual process of equipping each classroom with base-level technology, upgrading the network, training and continually supporting the teachers and, most importantly, continuing communication with those who are actively involved in instruction, whether students, teachers, administrators or parents. They all listen to each other. Listening is a big part of Leyden.

For more of my takeaways from my visit, click here to see a more detailed report.

Melinda Sears is the Title I Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Tuscaloosa City Schools.  Check out her website or connect with her via Twitter.  

Battle Scars or What Being Connected Means to Me

It is October, which (to me) is traditionally a month of burnout.

In three days, I have inventoried 1110 chromebooks by hand. Thankfully, there was a scanner and most of the barcodes were read by the scanner. And thankfully, I only had to inventory about 400 by myself. Over 700 of those chromebooks were inventoried in a tag-team effort with our elementary math specialist, Ruth.

She really is dear to me. Ruth will be retiring November 1. I have worked in the same department with her for over a year. She has been teaching longer than I have been alive. While scanning the chromebooks at two of our schools, we talked about life, education, and everything in between. She loves her grandkids. She is looking forward to retirement. She shared stories of when she first started teaching. We both enjoyed meeting the teachers and seeing the students during the inventory process. Being in the schools reminds us why we're doing what we're doing and why we love doing what we're doing.

Let me just tell you that 700 chromebooks plugged in carts with zip ties can wage war on your arms. Ruth and I both have scratches from inventorying the chromebooks. We put our blood, sweat and tears into those fixed assets. I am still applying Neosporin.

As educators, we lose blood, sweat and tears every day on the battlefield of education. It is a battle. Most everything in life is. Some days you advance. Some days you retreat. Many days you might not be able to tell where you stand. Yet you are still standing.

A talk I was listening to described having two methods of attack in strategic planning - an air war and a ground war. For me, twitter is my air war. I can send for help, ask questions, make funny comments, and encourage others via twitter. My ground war is waged by my network of colleagues and coworkers in my city, state and region. I view my role as encouraging other people in this battle as well as equipping them as I can.

For example, in a battle on Wednesday, I was able to discuss a tech problem with three colleagues in an office while simultaneously tweeting with three others in Texas, Idaho, and Pennsylvania for help. Together, via twitter and in person, we were able to solve the problem in ten minutes. That's what being connected means to me - having a network of like-minded people who will fight with me.

This month is Connected Educator Month. Being connected to me is about your allies in battle, whether on the air or on the ground. The end result of our battle is the betterment of learning. Don't ever lose sight of that.

So call in reinforcements. Request assistance. Celebrate victories. Bear those scars proudly. The scars reflect what we've been through, how we've grown and where we've been. And share the war stories. We want to hear them. We must share them. We grow from listening to them and talking through them.

In conclusion, I leave you with one of the four best motivational speeches before a great battle. Here's President Thomas J. Whitmore to fire you up for the battle at hand!

Melinda Sears is the Title I Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Tuscaloosa City Schools.  Check out her website or connect with her via Twitter.  

I've Got a Cart Full of Chromebooks, Part 2: HP Pavilion 14 Tour

The machines issued in the TCS English and math 8-12 classes for the 2013-2014 school year are HP Pavilion 14 Chromebooks, most notable for their 14-inch screens.

Check out the short video below from SlashGear for a little tour of the Chromebook you'll be working with, which includes information on the available ports, battery life, and other features.

So what does this mean for our daily classroom use?

First up, the USB 2.0 ports allow you to access files for upload and use in web apps (think photos needed for presentations and photo-editing apps or Microsoft Office documents you might want to access via Google Drive).  You can also use these ports for peripherals like USB headsets or mice.

The HDMI port is handy for video output and will allow you to display your work on a separate monitor, TV screen, or through some projectors.  Most of our classroom projectors use VGA instead, though, so these aren't likely to work with them.  The good news is that everything students and teachers might create and want to project will be stored in the cloud and easily accessible from any computer with an internet connection, so swapping out machines attached to a projector in class probably won't be necessary.

The 4-5 hour battery life means that on days of heavy use you may want to plan for a quick mid-day charge to keep your devices going until the last bell.  Your mileage may vary when it comes to battery life, so gauge your usage in the first few days and weeks, and establish a plan that works best for you.

You'll also note that there's no option to hook up a Chromebook to a printer.  There are work-arounds, but the best advice I've heard is this: "Don't print.  Create, publish, share."  The how of that will come in blog post form soon.

Do you have practical tips about the Chromebooks or observations to share? Post them in the comments below!

This post is Part 2 of an ongoing series intended to orient teachers to their new devices as part of the Tuscaloosa City Schools 1:1 digital conversion.  You might also be interested in Part 1:

I've Got a Cart Full of Chromebooks, Now What? (classroom setup basics)


Laren Hammonds is an 8th grade English teacher at Rock Quarry Middle School.  She's @_clayr_ on Twitter and blogs about her classroom experiences at Game to Learn.