Technology Integration Coaches Rock Teacher Leadership

“The principal goal of education is to create men and woman who are capable of doing new things, not repeating what other generations have done.”

~Jean Piaget

Linn-Mar's Technology Integration Coaches presenting to teacher leaders at a recent meeting.

Linn-Mar has five coaches specifically tagged to integrate technology into teacher’s classrooms.  These five individuals work with teachers in grades PK-12^th.  Dana Lampe is assigned to the High School.  Todd Lane collaborates with Excelsior Middle School and Oak Ridge Middle School.  At the elementary we have three coaches:  Karla Koenen, Ryan Gotto, and Jessica Zimmerman.  They cover all seven elementary schools.

Recently, our coaches traveled to Des Moines, Iowa to the ITEC Conference.  They brought back a myriad of ways for teachers to integrate technology and technology tools into daily instruction and curriculum.  The impact their presentation will have on direct instruction and student engagement is prodigious.

Today we had the opportunity to observe the TICS (Technology Integration Coaches) present their learning to fellow teacher leaders.  The TICS provided information on how to navigate the tools as well as practical application for teachers to use in classrooms.  

Green Screens, Sway, Office Snip. App Smashing, ScreenCastify, and Coding were all hot topics of discussion from the TICS presentation.  All of these topics are timely as educators strive to foster more creative thinking in our students.  We know we want them to do more than just spit back information.

If you are classroom teacher at Linn-Mar, and are interested in increasing student engagement, book an appointment with your building TIC.  You’ll be so glad you did. 

To contact our Technology Integration Coaches Click Here

The Building Blocks of Research

On a brisk, Friday afternoon, one might imagine students in a classroom watching the clock tick the final 90 minutes of the day away.  I can think of many Hollywood movies that this happens.  At Linn-Mar High School this is NOT the case.  On a recent visit to Jeanne Turner's AP Psych class,  I was schooled on the scientific method, operational definitions, and several facets of psychological research.

Before the lesson even started, students were engaged in meaningful conversation discussing the previous night's homework.  As they shared their "a-has," Ms. Turner worked the classroom checking for understanding and answered questions.  The verbal feedback Ms. Turner offered pushed students to think beyond the surface.  Ms. Turner provided students with the opportunity to learn that hearing the word "no" is not a bad thing.  You can get valuable feedback and information from the wrong answer.

Students completed several tasks during the 90 minute block of learning.  Students were asked to identify, discuss, and know the differences between confirmation bias, overconfidence, operational definitions, replication, and controlled variables.  Students learned the importance of seeing evidence, not just anecdotal information.  They were given some clues on how to have healthy skepticism.

My favorite task of the day was the Lego Activity.  During this portion of the lesson students had ten minutes to work in groups to create a structure from a bag of random Legos.  They also had to provide exact directions of how to create the structure for another group to replicate.   Most groups built their structures first and then created directions.  As groups finished their structures, Ms. Turner photographed the creation and posted the photos on Twitter.  Groups rotated, and tried to follow directions to replicate the structure.  Groups had 5 minutes to follow the directions.  As groups checked their work on Twitter, they debriefed with reflection questions.  They self-assessed their ability to replicate the structure, and how the task tied into currently discussed research topics.

Again, the conversations students were have at 3:00 on a Friday afternoon were astounding.  What they found was that specific directions were vital to exact replication of the structures.  The operational directions that they stumbled on during yesterday's homework, were resolved.  They needed operational definitions in their directions.  Ms. Turner gave students the building blocks of research to help them complete the Lego Activity.

Not only, did Ms. Turner engage students on a Friday afternoon, she took time after class to visit with me, ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON.  She answered my questions, and helped me think of how I can use similar learning strategies with students and teachers.  As I reflected on my observation of Ms. Turner's class, I wished I could time-travel back ten years and re-write my thesis statement for my Master's degree.

Linn-Mar is lucky to have Jeanne Turner along with 34 additional model teachers with whom staff, students, and administrators can collaborate.  If you haven't had a chance to schedule a model teacher visit I highly encourage you to visit our model teacher website and get one schedule today.


Click here to visit our Linn-Mar Model Teacher website.

Coaching with Coaches

Technology Integration Coach, Karla Koenen, co-teaches with Kim Sheehan, utilizing a SMARTBOARD at Wilkins Elementary.  Mentor Coach, Carol Kesl, observes Kim as a new teacher.

Last year the Linn-Mar district spent eight days in Cognitive Coaching^SM training with Chrysann McBride from Thinking Collaborative. This training provided our full time coaches, and principals with tools, language, and questioning to help them work with teachers, students, and staff.  The intent of cognitive coaching training is to produce self-directed persons with the cognitive capacity both independently and as members of a community.  Research indicates that teaching is a complex intellectual activity and that teachers who think at higher levels produce students who are higher achieving, more cooperative, and better problem solvers.

These eight days impacted our district so much that our two program coordinators took Advanced Cognitive Coaching^SM training during the summer of 2015 in Minnesota.  Erin Watts and Debra Barry are the TLC Program Coordinators.  They are both in the process of becoming agency trainers, to help them train the Linn-Mar District.  Chrysann McBride from Thinking Collaborative is helping train them over the course of the 2015-20017 school years.   

Last year was spent on get all positions up in the air and running, as well as training for teacher leaders.  At the end of the year survey data revealed some coaching happening, but the coordinators knew they wanted more.  The focus of year two is to keep building capacity, increase use of district-wide model teachers, and provide teachers with support and tools to impact teaching and learning for them and students. 

Erin and Debra have been observing coaches in their craft, and having reflective conversations with instructional coaches, mentor coaches, and technology integration coaches.  The learning has been beneficial to both the coaches, and Erin and Debra.  The conversations are an opportunity to practice paraphrasing, mediative questions, and work through coaching maps.  As we embed these skills into our daily practice, we are helping each other to produce new thinking and become self-managing, self-monitoring, and self-modifying individuals.  We truly all hold the capacity within to problem solve.  We sometimes get stuck and just need the right question to get our brains thinking from a different perspective.  Each month Erin and Debra will observe and coach with the full time release coaches.  They have currently divided the list of coaches in half to observe and coach and will switch groups at the semester. 

Debra has just completed co-training Days 1-4 of Cognitive Coaching^{SM with} Chrysann McBride.  Twenty-six Linn-Mar teachers, coaches, and administrators participated in the training.  It was exciting for Debra, Erin, and Chrysann to see a second group go through the training.  It will be even greater to see the impact on the teachers, classrooms, and schools, as more and more staff participate in trainings.

Tina Oberbroeckling and Marta Pumroy coaching during Days 1 and 2 of CC.

Four more days of training are planned for spring, so Erin can begin her co-training.  And Days 5-8 of Cognitive Coaching^SM training will be set for next year.  The coordinators are excited to see the impact coaching will have on Linn-Mar's program year two.

If your school would like to participate in Cognitive Coaching^SM 

at Linn-Mar Register here

How Visiting a Model Teacher Impacts Professional Learning

  

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

~Helen Keller

In the past, education has been an isolated profession.  Teacher leadership has allowed us to shine a light on the benefits of collaboration, observing our peers, and coaching each other to improve our practice.

Every teacher faces challenges.  Various academic needs, schedules, testing mandates, daily paperwork, and behavior issues plague our direct instruction of students.  Sometimes we become bogged down in the grit of the day and struggles we face, that we lose our perspective.  Sometimes we need an opportunity to see the same lesson, content, grade, or curriculum modeled in a different way. 

Linn-Mar teachers have the liberty of visiting thirty-five model teachers this year.  These teachers cover a variety of content, and grade levels PK- 12^th grade.  Specialty areas, the arts, music, physical education, and student services are also represented.  To help teachers in our district access these teachers, Erin Watts, one of the Teacher Leader Coordinators, created a website.  Teachers can visit this link to view all the model teacher’s schedules, a short bio, and skills they demonstrate.  Videos will soon be added.  

This website just launched end of September and has experienced high traffic.  These visits can take place during teacher prep periods, and instructional coaches, mentor coaches, technology coaches, or teacher leader coordinators cover classes for teachers to observe, collaborate and discuss what they observed and how to apply it to their grade level or content area.

Visiting another teacher not only provides a model of how to teach a lesson or content area in a different way, it allows teachers to reflect on his/her current practice and see how colleagues produce results with different strategies, techniques, and tasks.  Teachers are building relationships, rapport, trust, and learning to direct their professional learning to improve practice and impact student learning.

Having visited these model teachers this fall, I learned an extreme amount about teaching, student learning, collegiality, and empathy.  Sometimes in education it feels like our current reality is more stressful than any other grade level or classroom.  

I learned to appreciate my peers.  I know that teaching high school math is not in my wheelhouse, but I certainly am in awe of the pace and strategies the teacher modeled for students.  I cannot play any musical instruments, but have great respect for the teachers who instructed students how to master the craft.  I do not have any experience in student support services, but I quickly observed the skill sets teachers in these classrooms have mastered to help students be successful, and to keep classrooms running smoothly.  I saw strategies in elementary classrooms that could be used in secondary rooms, and I saw secondary classrooms that could offer valuable grading, assessment, and common core teaching strategies to elementary classrooms.  

We clearly are better together. If you haven't considered stepping out of your four walls to learn something new, or to reaffirm why and what you do on a daily basis, or to gain some perspective on what your colleagues face each day, I strongly encourage you to schedule a model teacher visit.  

Collaboration Solves Problems

As a classroom teacher there is no shortage of problems to solve.  At the middle school, CJ McDonald found a challenging one to help resolve.

The problem: Taking attendance accurately in a handful of large middle school classes in an efficient manner

The solution: Collaboration with the Teacher Leadership Program

With a vocal classroom that typically has around 75 students, Kelsey Brown was always looking for ways to create efficient procedures.  Attendance has been a challenge in the past.  The second her students aren't engaged in singing, they are tempted to turn and talk to their neighbors, so it is hard to see exactly who is where when they aren't facing the front and standing still.  "Calling roll" took way too long.  Having student volunteers do attendance from a seating chart was inconsistent and sometimes became a distraction.  

Kelsey mentioned this to her mentor coach, Jennie Lorenzen and to her Instructional Coach, Steven Starkey.  They, in turn contacted the Technology Integration Coach(TIC), CJ McDonald.  Collaborating with his fellow TIC Ryan Gotto, CJ tried a handful of different attendance strategies such as using an iPad to scan QR codes that students held up at the beginning of class.  After a few dead ends, Ryan suggested having students scan in with their ID card like they do at lunch and the library. 

CJ then created an Excel spreadsheet that would automatically identify students with their bar code number, refer to a master class roster, and black out the name of students who scanned in at the beginning of class.  The scanner was purchased with building funds, by the Excelsior building principal, John Christian. 

At the beginning of the 2015 school year, the new TIC Todd Lane worked with CJ McDonald and Kelsey Brown to set up the Excel document, the scanner and to brainstorm classroom management strategies to have students scan their cards as they walked through the door each day. 

SUCCESS.  Kelsey had this to say:

“This new ID scanning system has created a very efficient, reliable procedure for attendance.  I take attendance much more consistently and save time during class.  Some days last year I either forgot, submitted it all at the end of the day, or got frustrated and didn't take it at all.  This year the kids think it's sweet and high-tech, too.

Each grade level has an Excel workbook, and each day has its own tab.  I look at PowerSchool shortly before class starts and make a note of excused absences.  As students come into the room, then know that they need to grab their folder, scan their ID, and find their spot.  I usually stand by the scanner to expedite this process, and to make sure nobody is sneaking out after they have scanned!  About 5 minutes into class, after our warm-up, I call the names of students who have not scanned in.  If a student doesn't have their ID, they just say "no id" and again, I make a note.  

At the end of the process (which takes less than a minute) I have a short list of names, in alphabetical order, to mark "absent" in PowerSchool.  I also have a permanent record, of class attendance and specific reasons kiddos missed class, without having to log into Powerschool."

Problem solved.