Tag: Professional Development

Choice PD Bingo!

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I’ve heard it said many times that Educator TikTok should count as Professional Development! I have to say that I, too, have learned so much from other educators on TikTok! So… as a principal, I decided to try to make TikTok PD a reality on a recent Professional Development Day on my campus. TikTok is blocked in my district, so I started by finding great TikToks that were also available on YouTube. Then, I found other short-form (about 3 minutes or less) videos on YouTube to create a Choice PD Bingo!

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#BookSnaps Google Slides Template

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#BookSnaps Google Slides Template.png

Several years ago, while I was an Assistant Principal at Ault Elementary, my awesome partner AP, Julie Clements (@jclements01), and I lead an online book study together. We wanted to have all of our participants create a #BookSnap as evidence of their learning and as a way to process their reading. If you aren’t familiar with #BookSnaps, the original idea was to snap a picture of a page from a book and using the SnapChat app, add annotations, bitmoji’s, and stickers to elaborate, express your feelings, or connect with the quote. Continue reading →

EDU Podcast Tasting 2.0

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EDU Podcast Tasting 2.0 Menu (1)

I listen to podcasts to learn, be inspired, and get motivated almost every day. When I need to be inspired or get a fresh idea, I know I can pop in my earbuds and get what I need from other educators who are out there sharing through this media. Listening to podcasts is truly personalized professional development at it’s finest. Continue reading →

Choice Learning Interactive Hyperslides

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Choice Learning (1)

I was working on preparing for a day-long professional development coming up on my campus. Throughout the year staff members have shared different professional development needs that they would like me to cover when possible. As I began to plan how to cover all of the different topics requested, I realized that not everyone is on the same level or has the same learning needs for each topic. While some teachers need the basics of how to set up a twitter account, others want to know how to effectively use hashtags, and still others are twitter experts. And that’s only the topic of twitter! How could I possibly meet everyone’s needs without having them sit through information they already know or don’t care about? Continue reading →

#MakeDecemberMagic Twitter Challenge

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#MakeDecemberMagic (2)

Want to keep kids engaged in your learning and not dreaming of Santa and presents? Need some motivation for the weeks leading up to the Winter Break?

Take the #MakeDecemberMagic Challenge! Not only will it fuel you with ideas of what to tweet (if you’re new to twitter), but it will challenge you to keep things fresh, positive, and fun for your students so that you’re not just trudging through until the break, but you are *hopefully* motivated to #MakeDecemberMagic for students! Continue reading →

Fail Fast, Fail Forward

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Fail Fast, Fail Forward

A pottery teacher split her class into two halves. To the first half she said, “You will spend the semester studying pottery, planning, designing, and creating your perfect pot. At the end of the semester, there will be a competition to see whose pot is the best”.

To the students in the other half of the class she said, “You will spend your semester making lots of pots. Your grade will be based on the number of completed pots you finish. At the end of the semester, you’ll also have the opportunity to enter your best pot into a competition.” Continue reading →

Level Up Professional Learning, Growth, and Sharing with Gamification

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Level Up (3)Gamification of learning is an exciting trend in education. I’ve heard of many different schools and districts that are using ideas started in the classroom to gamify Professional Development by offering learn-on-your-own modules that teachers can complete to earn points or badges. I have been interested in this idea and have even started developing ideas for setting up a choice menu and badges for a summer professional development offering for my staff (more details to come 😉 ), but this morning, after listening to a couple of episodes of the Well PlayED Podcast on my morning run, I was inspired to gamify EVEN FURTHER! Continue reading →

EDU Podcast Tasting + Podcasts & Pedometers for PD with Choice and Movement!

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Podcasts & Pedometers Graphic

We are offering a new kind of PD this spring at Ault Elementary inspired by an idea shared by Tricia Reilly @PrincipalReilly at EdCamp Cy-Fair. Instead of a standard “sit and get” we are encouraging staff to get up and move as they listen to an educational podcast of their choice – taking care of their minds and bodies during this stressful time of year! Continue reading →