Comet Tech

This past week, I had the opportunity to attend a REMC and MDE event on Open Educational Resources (OERs). This event was the launch of a new #GoOpen push within Michigan schools. While OERs have been a part of our school and an option, little has been done to truly push these into the classrooms. The #GoOpen Summit was put on to launch a new initiative in Michigan. Michigan will be launching a database of OERs created by and used by Michigan teachers. This is incredibly powerful. The beginnings of the site can be viewed on this MDE page . The biggest part of the website, something that has been missing from so many OER databases is the fact that these resources will be evaluated before publishing to ensure their openness and their quality. Some of the biggest takeaways from the event is the reminder that there is a significant difference between an Open Educational Resource and something that is free on the internet. The difference comes in the restrictions on use. Some resources, su...

This past Saturday, I had a chance to go to Edcamp Michiana. Edcamps are some of my favorite forms of professional development because it doesn't at all feel like professional development! The event is set up as an unconference, with the idea that the participants will generate items that they wish to discuss and people will volunteer to facilitate those conversations! Yes, it is conversational! No one is in the front of the room leading a session with a slide deck. It is all participant-focused. The youngest Edcamper award goes to @danieltmares beautiful little Adrienne. Bonus points for her. #MSU attire! pic.twitter.com/6nwUvbjolB — Ed Camp Michiana (@edcampmichiana) October 7, 2017 This years' Edcamp Michiana was awesome, at least the part that I stayed for. I had to travel with my daughter, so I was only able to attend the first session. The first session was meaningful technology integration and 1-1 classroom management. The conversation between educators from di...

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the 41st Annual Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning Conference held at Cobo Hall in Downtown Detroit. The conference has been a staple of my professional development since I entered the teaching profession. It is the conference that re-energizes, sparks, and guides me through the "Ides of March" each year. This year's version was no different. For the first time, I was able to participate in the Pre-Conference Sessions on Wednesday. I lead a workshop on using Chromebooks in the K-8 classroom. With about 20 dedicated teaching professionals, we worked through how to use the Chromebooks and how to connect Google Suite and our students' learning opportunities. One of the things that I shared was the ever-growing list of activities and resources for the classroom. On Thursday morning, the conference got off to an amazing start with Sir Ken Robinson providing the opening keynote on being the change in the educat...

On Monday and Tuesday last week, I was able to attend a workshop on becoming a facilitator of Classroom Learning Labs. Classroom Learning Labs is a protocol that allows educators to participate in deeper, more meaningful communication around the practices in their classrooms and their colleagues’ classrooms. Classroom Learning Labs involves a series of meetings and plans that allows for teachers to devise a plan and observe a colleague’s teaching practice, then have a positive reflection period after. There are multiple roles in which that educators participate in. To begin, you will need to determine a facilitator or co-facilitators to oversee the process. The facilitator's’ role is to help the group maintain the process of the protocol. Next, you will need to locate a “host teacher.” The host teacher is who will be observed by the team. Next, you will need guest teachers that agree to come in and assist the host with a problem that they are having within their classroom. ...

On Tuesday, Tonya and I were able to attend the miGoogle Conference at Lake Fenton High School in Linden, Michigan. This conference was a collection of nearly 500 passionate Michigan educators who came together to discuss the impact of technology on our students and how we can better serve their needs. Overall, the day was a very informative one. Anthony Buza of the Genesee ISD was the keynote speaker. He focused on many different things that impact education, but the main take away was the importance of relationships with students. He provided an example of a relationship that he had with a student, learning about some of his interests. He brought these interests to the other teachers to try and better serve the needs of the student in the schools. He reiterated that fact that we have to trust ourselves and persevere over difficulties that happen in our professional and personal lives, realizing the great impact that we can have on students everyday. Finally, he finished the...

Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend the Michigan State University College of Education’s 33rd Annual Technology Conference on the Campus of Michigan State. The focus of this year’s conference was on equity in education. Through the lens of equity, there was tremendous discussion focused on what equity looks like and how we can guarantee a viable curriculum for all of our learners. To start the day, we had a wonderful keynote presentation from Ruthe Farmer, the Senior Policy Advisor for Technology Inclusion at the White House and the leader of President Obama’s Computer Science for All initiative. During her opening keynote, she opened eyes about the lack of equity in our current schools, everything from availability of specific courses (over 500,000 students took AP Biology, but only 60,000 took AP Computer Science in 2016), to the types of careers that are available in the United States (600,000 Computer Science jobs available in the United States with median starting ...

Professional Learning Reflection - Day of Discovery at the Berrien RESA The Day of Discovery at Berrien RESA was very informative about a tool that we all have access to. Much of the content that is broadcast over the Discovery Channel is available along with much more. The streaming service is available to all staff members and students within the district. If you are planning on using it, please plan ahead to ensure that we can get the access that you and your students need. The day was highlighting all of the items that are available to us within in the district. Libby Galster, a professional development presenter from Discovery Education led our discussion and activities. To get access to the site, you simply have to let Tonya know and go to the Discovery Education website. One of the coolest parts of the day was a highlight on the ability to make a board. A board is similar to a hyperdoc or glogster, it is an interactive poster with videos, text, pictures, and other conte...

Design in Five by Nicole Dimich Vagle For two consecutive days at the Berrien RESA, I had the opportunity to learn along side co-workers and begin to think of ways, as educators, we can improve relevance, meaning, and current practices revolving around assessment of students. The Design in Five process is a process in which using five principles to help guide the design of your assessments. More information can be found at allthingsassessment.info . The workshop was lead by Nicole Dimich Vagle , author of the Design in Five book. She started with a quote about the purpose of assessment, stating that “assessment is about digging deeper and figuring out what is going on in our students’ heads.” As educators, we are to examine what our students are learning, how they are learning, and what we can do to assist them in their continuous improvement. It is essential that we have assessments that allow us to identify the learning that are students are taking with them. We also b...