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Change – Do Something Great
It’s been a little while since my last post. I have been extremely busy. Between ISTE and hosting the Lake Michigan Tech Conference, much has been happening. Much has been happening in my local district as well. Change is an inevitable part of the educational process, in fact, we hope for change from day one…
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When a Grade is more than Academics
At the 2018 MACUL Conference, I joined a conversation around the topic of grading in the classroom, and one thing that popped up in the conversation was the idea of compliance-based grading. This was a topic that I have heard and dealt with before, but this renewed…
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MACUL 18 Recap
As the month of March winds down, I am wrestling with a lot of big thoughts in my heads about grading, grades, school culture, design thinking, and school climate. I am really wrestling with it. I can’t quite get it down coherently at this time. So, instead, you get some resources from an event that…
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Hacking Google Slides – METS VirtuRally Presentation
I am on the steering committee of an amazing, grassroots organization in the state of Michigan. The Michigan Educational Technology Specialist (METS) Group is comprised of over 600 Technology Integration Specialists and technology using teachers. The group hosts three major events for members throughout the year. In the fall, the METS Group hosts a Fall…
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Goal for 2018 – Don’t Be the Sea, Change
While I am not one to set resolutions that the start of the year, I was able to travel to Eleuthera in the Bahamas over our winter break. We visited a beautiful place towards the north end of the island called Queen’s Bath, a formation that has been carved out thousands of years that has…
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Tips for Managing a 1:1 Classroom
As we gear up to start a new year, your district may have new devices for your classrooms. Maybe you have new carts of devices, a classroom set of devices, or maybe your district went fully 1:1 with devices. If you have carts, you have an out. You can’t use the cart all of the…
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Offline Coding Challenge
At the end of the school year, I was asked to help at an “Amazing Race” style challenge for our 4th and 5th-grade students. Specifically, I was asked to do something that was coding related in a 15 minute time window with two teams. My mind began to race as I explored and thought about…
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My Tips for Technology Integration – Leave the Giant Steps to the Astronauts
Technology integration can be frustrating. It is difficult to change the way that people have done things for years. The introduction of a shiny device will not bring everyone onboard with your vision as an Edtech Coach. Besides focusing on basics like relationship and time, it is essential that you also keep these three things…
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Reflection on Professional Learning – Design in Five Workshop
Two days last week, I had the opportunity to go to the county regional education service agency to partake in some professional development based on assessment. My role was to seek ways to bring this back to our staff, most likely in a summer institute. The two days were riveting, as the ideas around assessment…
