Know Your Why!

Collaboration is an Essential Skill for Today's Learner

When an educator evaluates a new digital resource, it is important to start with the essential skills that can be connected to the tool. Too often, a tool will fail to meet its full potential when the teacher simply uses the tool to distribute content. A web quest is not innovative if it is little more than a digital worksheet.
Don't get me wrong, I have experienced some incredible learning in classrooms with technology at the substitution level. The substitution level of the SAMR model can be a great starting point for incorporating EdTech. I do believe that if a tool is never used beyond substitution, it may live up to its potential to support teaching and learning.
Tools must support good teaching before I think about the connecting the tool to any content. I want every tool I use to support at least one of the 4Cs of collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity.
My go to skill is collaboration. I am a strong believer that we learn best by sharing. I try to blend digital and face to face collaboration in my classroom on a daily basis.

Collaboration - Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students will:

Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

ISTE National Education Technology Standards

With the help of my incredible PLN, I've compiled a list of tools that can support collaboration in classrooms. These tools can also be used to support teacher professional development.

Collaboration Tools to Support the 4Cs and Student Growth

Here are some great video clips connected to collaboration:

What other tools can you recommend to build collaborative skills with students and staff?

Learner Centered Classrooms and Google Apps for Education

Google Apps for Education has changed how I teach and how my students learn. A few years ago I agreed to pilot Google Drive after spending years using Microsoft Office and Smart Technologies to support teaching and learning. Up until that time, Google was only a search tool that help with research in and out of the classroom. My students collaborated on a some in-class activities, but we rarely collaborated using digital tools. My classroom was very teacher centered. We focused on content first and foremost and student skills connected to learning was an afterthought.
I can't tell you that I started using Google Drive and I immediately became a different teacher. It was probably a full year before I fully engaged in Google Drive. Today I rarely touch an Office Tool or Smart Notebook file. They are great products but no longer meet the needs of my classroom. My classroom has become a learner centered space with content supporting the development of critical student skills.
The change in tools also brought a change in my teaching. Today the activities in my classroom start with the 4 Cs (collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity). Google Apps for Education provides me with a great set of tools to support these skills.
Since I shifted my classroom to be more learner centered, my own learning has shifted to a greater reliance on my personal learning network. I've learned a great deal about Google Apps for Education and a student-centered classroom and I am always driven to learning more. I learn the most by sharing, so here are a few resources that I've found or created to support learning in a student-centered classroom using Google Apps for Education:

Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” ― W.B. Yeats

I am just amazed how much education has changed in a decade. I earned my Masters of Education in Instructional Technology in 2004. This was three years before I took on the dual role of part-time Science Teacher and part-time Instructional Technology Coordinator. (I might argue that both are full-time jobs, but that may be a post for another day.) I earned my degree in the 21st Century, but I honestly don't remember any of my classes focusing on 21st Century Skills.
Much of my learning was focused on the creation of tools, technical skills, and technology resources. EdTech was only a for substitution, not for enhancement. I learned very little about the skills needed to support learners in a student-centered classroom.
The tools were cool, but I'm not sure I could name more than a handful that I used to complete my Masters. While the tools have faded, my learning and philosophy has continued to evolve.

I first began to think a bit about the 4Cs and 21st Century Skills in 2008 when I stumbled on the Partnership for 21st Century Skills Website. P21 was a game changer for me as a teacher and learner.

I've heard many a keynote speaker or read a blog post mention how important 21st Century Skills are for schools.
On the flip side I often hear or read about teachers and students already being in the 21st Century so we need to stop talking about 21st Century Skills.

I stand firmly in the middle of these two statements. I think the 4Cs are essential and should blanket everything we do in every classroom. I don't think we need to sell them as something new and innovative. I believe that the 4Cs have been supported by most good teachers throughout educational history. We just sometimes need a reminder about how essential these skills can be for the future of our students and our world. We cannot get to trapped in our content.

My recommendation to all educators:

Remember that the 4Cs are skills students can use in any classroom at anytime. More importantly, they can use them outside of the classroom in their daily lives. I challenge each of you to to design and develop classroom experiences that fit your curriculum, but also support student mastery of the 4Cs. I've embraced this challenge, and it has made all the difference in my love of teaching.

Do you want to learn more about tools and ideas to support 21st Century Skills in education? I've created a site dedicated to the 4Cs. The site provides resources and digital tools that I use to influence teaching and learning in my classroom.

Checkout the tools and resources I use to support the 4Cs in my classroom: rechargelearning.com

Above and Beyond - 21st Century Skills and the 4Cs

Technology Habits for Teachers - Planning Professional Development

Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it’s useless.

Thomas Edison (Inventor)

A year ago we started using this infographic with our faculty: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Effective Teachers Who Use Technology. It started more as a motivational idea, but actually became part of our planning and implementation of the professional development activities. Depending on the topic, we will share one or more of these to open up our learner centered professional development. I love the simplicity of the seven habits and it has really helped us move forward with many instructional initiatives connected to Instructional Technology.

Here are a few examples of how we've used several of these habits:

We use the habit of embracing change to get people started with a new resource. For example, this is a great starting point to introduce and new LMS or Gradebook.
We use the habit of sharing to get people to collaborate and share their learning both in our PLCs and embracing broader PLNs. Here is an example in our PLN Challenge.
We use the habit of why to start conversations about how the technology could support learning. We shift the focus away from the tool and on the pedagogy the tool can support.

Think about it:

What other Habits might you suggest?
How could you use these Habits to support teaching and learning?

Additional resources:

My Day at NSTA

The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them. -William Lawrence Bragg

NSTA 2015 Conference

The NSTA Conference is an incredible event filled with science teachers of every size, shape, and teaching style. The diversity and skills of the educators at this event cannot be truly described. Add to the incredible educators is the incredible Vendor Area. (Probably the biggest I've ever seen. I hauled out 3 bags of cool stuff. I was a bit conflicted as an Environmental Science Teacher.)

Most of the time I love being a learner even more than a teacher. Believe me, I love being a teacher a whole heck of a lot. I consider it a boring day when the only questions anyone asks me are the ones I already know or think I know the answer to.
When it comes to environmental science, technology, and online resources for teachers I sometimes fall into a trap of forgetting how much I don't know. No worries about that at the NSTA a conference. I found many new inspirational questions.

So what questions am I looking for answers to after my first day at the NSTA Conference?

What can the Argo Buoys tell my students? How can I use the data to support learning and engage my students?
What are the Next Generation Science Standards? How will they help my students "Change the Word" (Courtesy of Bill Nye!)
How do we think like an expert without being an expert in the content? (We want students to learn to behave like experts. Not no it alls, but learners who solve problems like the experts.)
What is 3 Dimensional Learning and how can I use it with my students?
How did Bill Nye become and expert on taking selfies? (You had to be there!)
How did I not know about so many of the incredible resources the vendors shared today? (I actually have 3 full tote bags for of some awesome learning swag! More to come tomorrow!)
How can I use more formative assessment to support learning and improve my teaching?

I guess its time learn some new things and be inspired.

This is my secret to staying young - Never Stop Learning!