The most recent Google Teacher Academy was held in Austin, TX on Dec 2-3 and I was one of the lucky participants selected to attend. The badge that comes with this event - Google Certified Teacher - is highly sought after by many educators as they yearn to become a part of this exclusive community.

I have to preface this post with the fact that I am not an advocate for badge seeking. Educational badges do very little to tell about the skills that educators actually possess. In fact, becoming a GCT didn’t really require me to fulfill any particular abilities with Google tools at all. Did I know stuff on my own already? Sure, but I learned all of that from Twitter and from attending various conferences such as CUE, ISTE, and GAFE Summits. So why all the hype then?

For me, it was really about getting into that room with the other 50 or so participants that have also been selected for the event. Big thinkers in the educational world with diverse perspectives from all over North America? Yes, please. I could have spent both days just talking to the other attendees and I would have left happy as a clam.

The event consisted of a combination of design thinking, session-based learning, and group activities. Throughout the academy we were exposed to different people and groups depending on what we were doing. I didn’t get to connect with every member of the cohort - not even close - but I’d say I got to talk to about half of them.

On the  second day, we had an opportunity to actually brainstorm ideas, create “SMART” goals - those which were specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and with a time limit. We got to interact with other attendees’ goals and give constructive feedback on how they could reach them. The room was plastered in colourful Post-It notes all emblazened with endless ideas about how to make positive impacts in education, free to adopt or adapt for our own needs. 

Sessions

The sessions were based around advanced Google tools and tips from our lead learners. The lead learners were an incredible group who had a lot to offer. In fact, I attended some of their sessions at the aforementioned conferences, making some of the sessions a repeat of something I’d already done. But that right there is a personal problem. Every one of the sessions had good things to offer and got us exposed to each of the lead learners and their strengths. I could honestly listen to Chris Aviles talk all day about storytelling and data and I stole an amazing amount of presentation tips from Katie Christie and Amy Mayer.

The issue I had was that the sessions were a bit disconnected from the design thinking process that we had been going through. Because of my previous personal experiences with some of the session content, I wish that we’d had the choice of continuing with our design thinking or attending the sessions. The plus was that we got exposed to different lead learners and their strength areas.

In the End…

The Google Teacher Academy is more than just a badge. I’m coming out from it having consolidated some existing relationships and igniting some new ones. I got to spend a bulk of time discussing some big educational issues with Karl, John, Matt, & Rachel. I got to have a great late-night chat with several others from the cohort, among them Stephanie, Richard, Suzie, James, and Alicia. And most importantly, our cohort finally defined how GAFE is really pronounced (I’m looking at you, short “a” people). For all of you non-believers out there, it’s now called GAFÉ. You will never look at it the same ever again. And you’re welcome.

More seriously, the goals that I set for myself and the design thinking process were the most important aspect of this experience. I can honestly say that these goals are going to be difficult to reach while being enrolled in my Masters program, but as Chris McGee would tell me, I should just say YES. On that note, if someone asked me if I would ever go again, I would say YES!

Thanks to all who supported me in getting to GTA - you know who you are!

I know my blog is named "Tech Teacher on a Mission", but every once in awhile I like to post other classroom ideas that have not very much to do with technology.  Consider this as your forewarning that this post is one of the "non-techy" ones, but it is by and large one of the coolest things that happens in my classroom. This idea has been adopted from my practicum experience in a multi-aged (Grades 1, 2, & 3) classroom and is now used weekly with my Grade 3/4s.

The concept is simple: a class meeting. That's it. Seemingly, it's nothing groundbreaking. But, like anything, it's all about how you frame the learning that makes it so powerful.

As an aside, I purposefully set up a lot of unfair and unstructured environments in my classroom that allow students to design the rulings within the space. For example, the job chart is a hot mess of disorganization in September, there is no set regulations on turn-taking in our classroom comfortable reading space, and there is certainly no order as to who gets the high honour of turning off the lights when we leave the classroom. These are things that are very important in the eyes of my students as they can cause social duress... Small people, small fights.

So I use Class Meeting as a place for my students to govern their own school experience. The activity is designed to allow them to make rules within the classroom to help it run more effectively.  These can include regulations that may positively impact their safety, learning, or social experience. My students run the Class Meeting session completely from start to finish. I model this at the beginning of the school year by using a loose framework of Robert's Rules of Order. 

1) Set-Up & Orientation

I always begin Class Meeting by setting my students up in some type of circular format so that everyone can see the person who is speaking. We do this on an open mat area on the floor, but if space is limited, moving desks into a circle works just fine, too. It is most important that the Chairperson and Secretary sit in a space where they can make eye contact with each person attending the meeting.

The meeting runs once every week, and is used to create new rules, amend or abolish old ones (the kids use this language!), or to re-visit unsettled business from a previous meeting.

2) Selecting a Chairperson

When modelling this, I highly emphasize that the chairperson is a responsible student who has the ability to manage the meeting. There are many speaking and listening challenges integrated within this role, as well as social expectations surrounding leadership.

The Chairperson is the student whom the meeting centres around, as they will be the one who keeps the entirety of the meeting on track, setting the agenda, and moving through that agenda within half an hour of time.

The Chairperson lets the class know that business has officially begun. Several students raise their hands to suggest topics:

• "Daily 5"
• "Using technology"
• "Line ups"
• "Math Centres"

These are among several topics that are brought up in my classroom. Each student's name and topic is recorded by the secretary (typically me, but I have had students do this job in the past) before any are discussed formally. We usually can get through 5-6 topics in half an hour.

4) Carrying out the Agenda

The Chairperson calls upon the first order of business recorded and that student will present their rule to the class. The Chairperson then paraphrases their rule back to the student to clarify what the follow-up discussion will be. Once the presenting student consents with the rule description...

Student hands fly up to ask questions of the presenter and to vocalize their support or rebuttal for the rule itself, stating evidence that backs up their opinions. By pushing for the "why", students will begin to see alternate viewpoints and consider how the rule may impact others, ultimately helping them to develop empathy and to exercise social problem-solving skills. Typically, the Chairperson limits the question and support/rebuttal commentary to three students, but if it is a hot topic or more discussion is required, they will allow for additional dialogue.

Votes are carried out after each rule is proposed, summarized, questioned, and defended. Sometimes rules will change on the fly depending on the line of questioning. In these cases, the Chairperson is responsible for clarifying the rule being voted upon before the vote occurs. Students are taught the difference between 'Yes', 'No', or what it means to 'Abstain' one's vote in the first few meetings and are encouraged to use their own voice to vote for what they believe in, not just to follow their friends.

In the event of a tie, the chairperson (who does not vote in the original rule election) must vote to break the tie. Remember, rules can always be amended or abolished at later meetings if they're a point of contention. As a teacher, I will often re-propose these topics at later meetings to see how opinions have shifted on topics in the classroom.

The students repeat going through each rule proposal, summary, questioning, and defense until the entirety of the agenda is carried out.

5) Closing

My students close the Class Meeting with what I like to call the Self-Esteem Circle, but it can really be any variation of speaking and listening activity with a talking piece. With a mirror in hand, they state one thing they like about themselves, and pass the mirror along to their neighbour telling one thing they like about them. This continues around the circle until it has been passed to every set of hands in our classroom, making sure that each person is included in the activity. We've also done this as a Gratitude Circle. This small, but effective activity has built up a ton of friendly community in the room, and the kids are adamant that the adults are included, too!

I am also intending on creating a how-to video on Class Meeting this year so that other classes can see how self-regulated and powerful this activity is for us. Engaging students in critically thinking about the social governance of their learning space is a powerful way to put the importance of community into their hands.

This is a video project that I created for my Mobile Technologies class (ETEC 565M) in the UBC Master of Educational Technology program.

My personal journey with this social media has opened up and transformed my educational world. Because of Twitter, I have enjoyed several professional experiences over the past six months like connecting with colleagues at edcamps, traveling to California to attend conference and collaborate with other educators, and establishing online communities and conversations through hashtags like #bcedchat. I am passionate about the use of this tool, among many, to help educators connect and transform their own professional learning experience.

Check out my video below to find out more!

Thanks for reading, watching, commenting, and sharing! Happy tweeting! 

Remind101 is a free, safe, and efficient way to communicate with students and parents via SMS (text) messaging.  You can sign up for the service on their website or through their iOS or Android apps on your phone or device. 

Remind101 does not give your subscribers your personal phone number and does not allow for them to reply to your reminders.  Likewise, you cannot access the personal phone numbers of your subscribers. Messages cannot be edited or deleted once sent, either. 

Once you sign up and create a class, Remind101 will generate a domestic phone number and unique class code so that subscribers to your class can begin to sign up.  Any phone that receives text messages will be able to subscribe to your class reminders.

Through both the web portal and the app, you can schedule SMS messages to be sent out at specific times.  Another cool feature is that if you are composing a message at a late hour - let's be honest, teachers work often work late - you will be prompted to schedule the message to roll out at a more reasonable time.  After all, your subscribers probably don't want to receive a text message at 12:30 AM! 

The text message interface is set up exactly as a regular SMS message.  In the screenshot below, I have sent the code to subscribe to my class texts, and followed the prompts sent back to set up the subscription.  Having your parents and/or students inputting their full name is important so that you can manage your subscription lists.  You don't want to have anyone on your subscription list that isn't a part of your class.

Near the bottom of this same screenshot, you will see that every time I send out a text message via the Remind101 web portal or iPhone app, my name will appear at the front of the text.  This will remind parents and students who don't save your Remind101 number into their phones that the text is from you. 

It is my hope that these instructions can help you get set up with this awesome app.  Communicating is easy when you have Remind101! 

This post will be available for future reference under "Remind 101" on my site.