Addressing Twitter concerns...

I am often asked about social media’s role in education, Twitter in particular. These questions are often brought about by parent concerns, which often mirror the initial concerns of teachers.

When addressing parent concerns I approach it just as I do with teachers:

1. concerns are normal
2. I’m happy we are discussing concerns as opposed to flat out rejecting the concept
3. concerns are a learning process for me as much as for those bringing them to me, as they help me reflect on my practice as well as see what I do through an external lens

I have written many things in the past about social media in schools but there are always new questions that aren’t addressed by old posts.

This post looks at the two most recent concerns I’ve received:

1. There is a time stamp if you follow it. One can piece together a class schedule.
2. Why are teachers stopping instruction to take photos?

Let me address each of these one at a time…

Celebrating the tweeters @HeathcoteSchool

I think it is important to promote, and celebrate colleagues. Especially when they step out of their comfort zone and embrace new challenges.

When I joined the staff at Heathcote Elementary School in Scarsdale last year only a handful of teachers had Twitter accounts. And those that had accounts used them mostly for tweeting a picture of the whiteboard with the homework written on it.

When I interviewed for the job I expressed my passion for Twitter in schools and I was given full support by my new principal to push it as a school-wide initiative.

And my new colleagues were awesome. They jumped in full force.

Kindergarten seems to be working

Over the last week or so I wrote about my toughest day as a teacher and how we survived the first day of Kindergarten.

I'd say we've more than survived..

... I think we've rocked it.

And by "we" I mean my daughter. Her mother and I have coped with our little girl growing up as any parent does, a few tears of our own and lots of nostalgia. My rock star daughter has gone from tears on day one to excited for school by day three.

She has even turned our playroom into a classroom:

We survived the first day of Kindergarten

Yesterday was my toughest day as a teacher, but we all got through it. And by "we" I mean what I like to call the "over 6 set." Mother, father, grandparents... more butterflies for us if I had to count.

It was my daughter's first day of Kindergarten. A half day, but a first is a first.

There were tears, a few from my girl and a few from my wife. Apparently Nana, my mother-in-law, got a bit weepy looking into the classroom at pickup and seeing my girl with a giant smile on her face. But who wouldn't. End of the first day and she's got a giant smile. Good stuff.

My son just wanted to play. Because he had a donut as a treat. On my daughter's first day of school. Do the math on that one. Apparently being the little brother has it's privileges.

My daughter was a champ. She love it. My wife was a champ. Apparently there were no meltdowns or major hysterics from the over 6 set. Proud of everyone.

Another first today

Today is the first full day. The first time my daughter is eating lunch at school. Another day of nerves. More the over 6 set, I think my daughter's fine with it. She practiced eating lunch with her lunchbox when she got home yesterday.

Should be some awesome stories when I get home tonight. School cafeterias always evoke interesting emotions. More on that in a minute...

Mrs. V and Mrs. Liz

Mrs. V is my daughter's teacher. Mrs. Liz is the class para professional. Apparently they are both rock stars. My daughter had a few tears at drop off. Mrs. Liz came right over, comforted her, took her in and it was all good from there. I heard a lot about Mrs. Liz when I got home from work. Good things.

Mrs. V is now an icon. In the words of my daughter

"Mrs. V. is so beautiful and kind..."

Post dinner we had to go sit in our playroom and act like students so my daughter could draw on her easel and teach us. Just like Mrs. V.

The bad with the good

It was a great morning. Everyone did great. Everyone was, and still are, excited. Minimal tears all around. But as with anything there's always a flip side, a bit of a bummer for every win. The bummer for the day was the second half of the quote from my daughter:

"... but the cafeteria smelled like yuck"

Welcome to elementary school!

It's going to be an awesome year.  My daughter is a rock star and is embracing school like a champ.

Now I just have to get Mrs. V to tweet...

My toughest day as a teacher

My toughest day as a teacher is today.

It's not my first day of school, we started last week.

It's not a new school, that was last year.

It's not a new content area.

It's my daughter's first day of Kindergarten.

As the sun sets on summer

I'm down to the last few days of summer vacation.

That means I'm cramming in the summer projects I always postpone to the last minute: Costco trips, cleaning out the basement, and starting the 15 blog posts drafts I told myself I'd be writing and publishing all summer long.

I don't lament the end of summer. I'm looking forward to the start of the school year.

School Technology Summit 2015 presentation - NYCSTS15

Welcome to my portion of the School Technology Summit 2015, presented by the Division of Instructional & Information Technology of the New York City Department of Education!

This is the third year for the Tech Summit. My materials from last year can be found here. Just like last year I have created this post for my session slide deck. Once again, the day looks to be an amazing day of learning with a lot of great session opportunities. I am putting all my presentation resources here, in this one post, to make it easy for everyone to have access to my content, even if you are unable to attend in person.

I hope you find my material & presentation valuable...

Life moves pretty fast, especially with wifi

I'm on a bus. Headed from Portland, Maine to Boston. I'm blogging on my iPhone using the bus' WiFi.

It's crazy to think the iPhone is only 8 years old (version 1 was released 6/28/07). That's nuts. Less than a decade ago flip phones, the smaller the better, we're all the rage. Remember Nokia and the Blackberry?

The iPad first came to stores in April of 2010. Just over 5 years ago the world was introduced to what has become a truly landmark and revolutionary device. 

June 2007 the world got the iPhone.

April 2010 the world got the iPad. 

And here I am, July 2015 and I'm blogging on a phone using wifi in a bus doing 70 mph south down the Maine turnpike.

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Periscope the school

A few months ago the concept of live-streaming video directly to Twitter hit the market. Meerkat was the first app to launch. It rapidly gained popularity, so Twitter went out and bought its competitor Periscope.

Why does this matter? Because live streaming video of school events is awesome. And not just graduations and PTA meetings, but everyday events. Things like student presentations and project shares are natural fits. If students are practicing presenting their work to an audience, their class, why not also give them some experience presenting live to the world? No, they can't see their Periscope audience, but knowing someone could be watching is a great way to hone presentation sills.

I used it for two main purposes this year:

• Student shares
• Live performances

The Power of the Hashtag - Social Media as an Educational Imperative

I fully believe social media is a new school imperative. Yes, social media in school is absolutely necessary, required, and unavoidable

At various time throughout history schools have taken on new technology imperatives. From the slate to the pencil to the mimeograph to the fax machine. Then computers, email... the eternal stream roller that is progress and innovation.

There have always been the new "must haves."

I'm sure with all of those iterations of educational transition there have been naysayers. People who shunned the pencil. Thought the mimeo was a ridiculous expense. Saw no use for a fax machine. Tried to leave computers unplugged. Even email, in 2015, gets the occasional "I don't use that" response from the occasional staff member (yes, not a joke, last year, 2014, as a New York City Department of Education employee I was told by a colleague to communicate via handwritten notes because he "doesn't do email").