Running Into the Future of Education

Last week we working with 7 amazing teachers from our program to write curriculum. This always leads me to thinking about planning for the classroom and how the work we are doing affects this task. Now I am not currently planning for a classroom of students as my planning involves my work with teachers, but this process somehow seems mystical for many. When I was starting in my own classroom many years ago, I was lucky enough to have many mentors helping me through some of this work especially as I transitioned to the world of education and alternative curriculum. Over time, my process evolved as I moved to different places and had to adapt to the expectations of each. The most recent version went something like this... explore the standards for the bimester (the 2 month grading periods we had in Mexico) and find the main themes. Explore both my own collection of resources as well as those found through blogs and websites for material for a unit project. Design the unit project and u

Back in July as I transitioned from Mexico City to New York City, I also transitioned from the classroom to being an instructional specialist (coach). It is a new challenge that I was ready to accept. And being a new role, it has been a challenge though totally fab. I have an amazing team of colleagues who are super supportive and am working with a cool group of teachers and schools. I am doing some very different types of things - doing inquiry of student work with teacher teams, observing classes, and  coaching teachers. It is fun, nerve-wracking and exciting all at the same time. I hope to share some of my insights here as I work in this role. So far, it has been an education in school cultures and teaching styles. Stay posted...

Inspired by the wonderful group of ADEs I met at my institute, I decided to try some flipping the classroom in my 8th grade math class. I created my very first video of instruction...  http://youtu.be/XznkLRH3Z_U ... and hope it to be the first of many. This one is a simple direct instruction video made using my  InterwriteMOBI TM and their Workspace software along with QuickTime Players screencast with audio function. I used iMovie to do a quick edit and published it to YouTube from there. It was pretty easy though I am sure not what will be my finest work.  I am hoping this gives the students who take longer to copy notes down the time they need and the ability to replay as often as needed. Also to refer back later for review.  Let's see how it goes tomorrow in the classroom. Check back for details. What do you think of this first video?

Well a bit more than a week has gone by since the institute and I am still excited about all I learned. I went in not quite knowing what to expect, but already there have been huge benefits. I have connected to a learning community of teachers around Mexico who all understand what it means to integrate technology. There were so many different examples of way to do this at all levels brought out during the week's presentations from each other and I continue to see them posted on our Facebook group and through emails and on our ADE community. It is very exciting to continue to work on our projects and learn from each other. Things you thought you were great at, you find your are good at, but came home with new ideas to make you even better. I am excited to be a part of this community and hope to bring great ideas to others and share what I am learning and experiencing.

Day 3 was the day to figure out project groups. Our main idea had a group of 11 people and it took us a while, but we finally came up with a theme and broke into smaller sub-groups. Yesterday we outlined our project and now each know what we have to do by what deadline. Today we will present our ideas to the big group and hopefully get some good feedback. I feel like I have a good handle on what I need to do going forward. Day 3 had another talk from Bill Frakes where he shared not only more videos, but the stories behind the videos as well.  He finished up with a show of his favorite Sport Illustrated photos he has done.  Then yesterday, we also had an inspiring talk from Bill Rankin. (You can watch his TEDxDubai talk here .) He gave us visionary thinking about the design and direction of schools. One of my favorite points was that a lecture hall is a place for rhetorical questions. And a very cool photo walk around town will Bill Frakes teaching us about using light and

Had another great day!! Learned more about fellow ADEs and had a few guest presenters as well. Saw some great stories told through video and some great ways of thinking about how to tell a story from Marco Torres, Bill Rankin and Julie Garcia. The University of Guanajuato is a beautiful place.  Tonight, I had my photo taken by a pulitzer prize winning photographer, Bill Frakes, with help from his assistant & editor Laura Heald and we started to write down ides for what group we want to be a part of for our project. Thinkning science development right now, but anything can happen tomorrow. Will keep posting. Meals have also been a good time to connect and meet new people.  And lastly beautiful night views.