- Survived my first podcast interview with Principal Center Radio!
- USM Summer Spark - left right after school got out Monday, hung out with the best Twitter peeps that night in Milwaukee, then gave three different presentations (with book signing with Jason Bretzmann at lunch!), and sped home for the second-ever #ShiftThis chat. I LOVE these people! (That's right - that's Kevin Honeycutt's badge I "won"!)
- Woke up the next day to enjoy breakfast with these lovely ladies - Marialice Curran from Connecticut, and Kristen Mattson from Oswego, IL. These two women are doing WAY more than I am to change education as we know it!
JULY
- July has us in Boston - soooo fortunate we were invited back this year to BLC17! I hosted a workshop on Genius Hour, and presented twice, with two book signings as well!
- Met Paul Solarz for dinner. We work in the same district - crazy, huh?
- Gladly joined TJ Parrish on his new podcast - he's a fan of Shift This!
AUGUST
- Taste of Tech (Technically July 31st and August 1st, but I really didn't do much else but vacation in August!!) At #TOT17, I was able to learn a bit of Scratch, meet wonderful educators, and provide a short workshop on Genius Hour. This was hosted at the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora, IL.
AUGUST
- Taste of Tech (Technically July 31st and August 1st, but I really didn't do much else but vacation in August!!) At #TOT17, I was able to learn a bit of Scratch, meet wonderful educators, and provide a short workshop on Genius Hour. This was hosted at the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora, IL.
- A local school summer reading group invited me to lunch at Emmett's to answer their questions about Shift This! Thank you so very much to Valerie Reils and her group at Big Hollow Middle School.
SEPTEMBER
- found me at Ditch that Conference! #DitchCon2017 was in the perfect location, had such great sessions, and I laughed and cried. What could be better? My husband NOT hitting that deer!
DECEMBER
- EdCamp Lake County - second year, second visit! I won Kristen Mattson's new book - Digital Citzenship in Action AND Trevor Mackenzie's Dive Into Inquiry!
- Participated (by watching) in the #DitchSummit for the second year in a row. Learned that Illinois is now offering online PD credits!!
JANUARY
- Found me near Peoria... my biggest presentation yet. Also the first one that - I believe - truly flopped. I learned so very much from this one when I reflected on what went well and what I need to change for next time.
FEBRUARY
- I was able to present again at the ICE conference! I facilitated a session on healthy grading practices. I was also able to chat with some of my favorite educators!
I was also honored that two teachers from my own school attended my session on "healthy grading practices, and that teachers left with more questions than answers. Let's keep these conversations going!
- Two of my classes participated in our first Mystery Skype sessions!! We got to connect with Debbie Holman in Wellington, Colorado, and Meghan Deegan in Oak Lawn, IL! This was a great activity for that "extra" time two of my classes had during PARCC testing week. We're ready to do better at the end of the school year. Once I get more practice with this idea, I'll be sharing it at school more so other teachers get involved.
- Held a book study of Shift This with my own district! (Out of my comfort zone!) Although 11 teachers from my own school were signed up, four of them never made the meetings. Made me wonder... Did they not agree with what was in the book? The meetings the group had were productive, and the conversations got us thinking!
APRIL
- I figured out what was causing my migraines, and the last one was on April 5th!
- Joined a personalized learning panel for ICE members
- Presented a session on healthy grading at iEngage / Midwest & got to chat with Jennifer Casa-Todd before her keynote!
MAY
- Happy first birthday, Shift This! Still surreal...
- Two podcast interviews (not out yet)
JUNE
- Survived my 23rd year of teaching. It was a tough year, but a good one, overall. I loved working closely with my ELA counterpart and also my co-teacher, and I have confidence we'll do even better next year. Even though I'm exhausted, our last day is Monday (teachers only), and I'm heading to a local edcamp on Tuesday.....
Let's never stop learning and sharing!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for adding to the conversation!