10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher

Today is a recap of #ISTE19 from 4-time attendee Matt Miller and first-time attendees Angie Ridgeway and Nate Ridgeway. They share what people were talking about and their observations about what was missing. (Record Date: Thursday, June 27, 2019) These three educators co-authored Don't Ditch That Tech: Differentiated Instruction in a Digital World. www.coolcatteacher.com/e525 Matt Miller Matt Miller is an educator, blogger and the author of “Ditch That Textbook,” a book about revolutionizing the classroom with innovative teaching, mindsets and curriculum. He has infused technology and innovative teaching methods in his classes for more than 10 years. Matt is a Google Certified Innovator, PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator and two-time Bammy! Awards nominee. He writes at the Ditch That Textbook blog about using technology and creative ideas in teaching. Reach him at matt@DitchThatTextbook.com or on Twitter at @jmattmiller. Angie Ridgeway Angie Ridgway began her career in middle and high school Spanish teaching. She's now working with future secondary teachers and new faculty members at  University of Indianapolis. Her passion lies in supporting new teachers' work in the implementation of original pedagogies that strive to meet all students' needs. She holds an M.Ed. and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with areas of emphasis in secondary education and Spanish. Nate Ridgeway Nate is a tech-loving history teacher in Indianapolis, Indiana. He specializes in lesson design and differentiation and also is licensed in Special Education Mild Interventions. He's taught in both middle school and high school settings, but currently is enjoying teaching World History & Dual Credit U.S. History. He is currently finishing a Masters degree in History at University of Indianapolis.

Mark Sparvell cites current research about what students really want in their classroom and how social-emotional learning relates to education technology. www.coolcatteacher.com/e524 Sponsor: Urkund Urkund is great as a plagiarism prevention tool and connects with most common Learning Management Systems like Google Classroom, Moodle, and Canvas or as a stand-alone web tool or by email.  The Urkund system is highly accurate, cost-effective, and even better, doesn’t sell licenses to students or others. Just teachers can use the power of Urkund. So, if you use another text similarity detection tool, or if you haven’t used one yet, now is the time to start your free trial at www.coolcatteacher.com/detect  and learn more about Urkund today. Mark Sparvell - Bio As Submitted Mark Sparvell is an experienced educator with over 25 years experience leading learning for schools, systems, higher-ed and professional associations. In his current role, he works directly with education leaders and organizations globally to identify innovative leading and teaching practice, building community and capacity by leveraging digital solutions.  As Associate Director, Professional Learning with Principals Australia Institute, Mark designed and delivered professional learning for education systems across Australia and Asia Pacific. Mark has taught both pre-service and post-graduate studies. As Education Leader with Microsoft, Mark developed and implemented the Global Leader audience strategy and developed the global Showcase School program. In his current role Mark has led the Class of 2030 and Emotion and Cognition in the Age of AI global research initiatives. Mark is the host of the monthly What’s New in Edu Youtube channel, the Teaching Happiness web-series and regular presenter at Executive Briefings, conferences and workshops.  Education Leader Microsoft Education Microsoft Corporation, USA | marksp@microsoft.com

Mary Howard's sixth-grade class is doing amazing things with augmented reality. This 10 minute episode highlights some of the things Mary is sharing right now at ISTE19 about her work with students in augmented reality! Enjoy! www.coolcatteacher.com/e523 Today's Promotion: Check out Jennifer Gonzalez’s 2019 Teacher’s Guide to Technology. It is a great teacher PD tool which includes videos and resources to help you learn new techniques and technologies for your classroom. Mary Howard - Bio as Submitted Mary Howard, a 6th-grade teacher from Grand Island, New York and an ISTE Certified Educator that has found success using digital tools that not only make learning fun for her students, but encourage critical thinking, collaboration, and create a life-long passion for learning. Whether the digital experience is related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics or promotes literacy, Mary believes passionately in digital equity and the potential that technology has for reaching and engaging ALL learners. In pursuit of this passion, Mary has spent the past 10 years presenting at dozens of technology conferences across New York State and has become a globally recognized speaker on the topics of augmented reality and virtual reality in the classroom. Mary shares her strategies through her blog, http://www.yoursmarticles.blogspot.com and was featured as a NYSED New York State EdTech Innovator in October 2018. She has published numerous educational technology articles and has as provided webinars on Virtual Environments, Virtual Reality, 3D Design, QR codes and engagement strategies. Mary’s accolades include recognition as the 2018 International Society for Technology in Education’s Virtual Pioneer of the Year and a Silver Presidential Volunteer Service award. She was a New York State Teacher of the year finalist for 2018 and an M & T Touchdown for Teachers finalist that same year. When Mary isn’t elbows deep in her technology initiatives, she is a mother of 3 boys and devotes her free time to refereeing youth hockey and volunteering within the hockey community. She is an avid runner and hiker and is just a few peaks away from becoming an Adirondack 46er.

Monica Burns @classtechtips  talks about the hottest edtech topics right now (and those that aren't so hot) in this candid and wide-ranging conversation. www.coolcatteacher.com/e522 Sponsor: Go to Advancement Courses use the offer code COOL20 to get 20% off your professional development. That’s just $120 per graduate credit hour or $160 for 50 clock hours. Take courses on helpful topics like social-emotional learning, classroom management, teacher wellness, special education classes and more.  Monica Burns - Bio As Submitted Dr. Monica Burns is a curriculum and educational technology consultant, Apple Distinguished Educator and founder of ClassTechTips.com. As a classroom teacher, Monica used one-to-one technology to create engaging, standards-based lessons for students. Monica has presented to teachers, administrators and tech enthusiasts at numerous national and international conferences including SXSWedu, ISTE, and EduTECH. She is a webinar host for SimpleK12 and a regular contributor to Edutopia. Monica is the author of Deeper Learning with QR Codes and Augmented Reality: A Scannable Solution for Your Classroom (Corwin Press, 2016) and #FormativeTech: Meaningful, Sustainable, and Scannable Formative Assessment with Technology (Corwin Press, 2017). Monica visits schools across the country to work with PreK-20 teachers to make technology integration exciting and accessible. She also provides support to organizations using technology to reach children and families in need. Her mission is to help educators place tasks before apps and promote deeper learning with technology. You can find out more about working with Monica, and her books and resources by visiting ClassTechTips.com.

Stacey Roshan, author of Tech with Heart, talks about seven edtech topics that are sparking conversation this summer both online and at ISTE19.  www.coolcatteacher.com/e521  Sponsor: Urkund Urkund is great as a plagiarism prevention tool and connects with most common Learning Management Systems like Google Classroom, Moodle, and Canvas or as a stand-alone web tool or by email.  The Urkund system is highly accurate, cost-effective, and even better, doesn’t sell licenses to students or others. Just teachers can use the power of Urkund. So, if you use another text similarity detection tool, or if you haven’t used one yet, now is the time to start your free trial at www.coolcatteacher.com/detect  and learn more about Urkund today. Stacey Roshan - Bio as Submitted Stacey Roshan @buddyxo is the Director of Innovation & Educational Technology at Bullis School and author of Tech with Heart: Leveraging Technology to Empower Student Voice, Ease Anxiety, & Create Compassionate Classrooms. She is passionate about discovering and bringing innovative tools into the classroom to create a safe learning environment for all students to find their voice and build confidence. Her work has been featured in major media outlets such as USA Today, The Washington Post, CNN and PBS Newshour. She has also been named Teacher of the Future by the National Association of Independent Schools. In addition to teaching high school students to love and understand math, Stacey works closely with faculty and staff to design tech-infused lessons aimed at providing the optimal learning environment for all students.

ISTE 2019 is here but there's no reason for all of us edtech geeks who can't go this year to miss out on the learning. The #NotAtISTE19 hasthag is already hopping. Peggy George is one of the many leaders in the #NotAtISTE19 community and she tells everyone how they can join in even when they are not there. (And how those who are joining can share and help in this community.) www.coolcatteacher.com/e520 Today's Promotion: Check out Jennifer Gonzalez’s 2019 Teacher’s Guide to Technology. It is a great teacher PD tool which includes videos and resources to help you learn new techniques and technologies for your classroom. Peggy George - Bio as submitted I am a life-long educator, now officially retired, who is an enthusiastic advocate for the use of technology to support learning both in and out of schools. I live in Phoenix, AZ, and have been a professional educator for over 50 years with many roles including principal, special education director, elementary teacher, university pre-service teacher education instructor and Professional Development School (PDS) program coordinator with Arizona State University. I hosted the Classroom 2.0 LIVE weekly webinars for 9 years to support teachers with technology integration. I spend many hours weekly participating in online webinars and virtual conferences to continue my learning and collaborating/connecting with other educators around the world.

Teachers need personal professional development. In today’s episode, we’re sharing five real-world examples of teachers who used their summer to improve their classroom and earn professional development credit. From combatting student anxiety, helping special needs students, rewriting a physics curriculum, building student relationships, and reducing stress school-wide -- these teachers use their learning to improve real-world problems. The post and podcast episode are sponsored by Advancement Courses. This episode includes advertorial content as I am interviewing the sponsor of the show. This happens one episode a year during the week of ISTE.   www.coolcatteacher.com/e519    5 Examples of Positive, Personal PD for Powerful Teacher Learning - Transcript Vicki: Today we're doing a special episode with Krysia Lazarewicz from Advancement Courses. Now, those of you who have been listening to my podcast for a while, you know, what I think about Advancement Courses, and they have so many incredible offerings, but today we want to talk about five examples of transformative PD. You know, in the summertime, sometimes we teachers have a difficult time figuring out, okay, what am I going to learn, and sometimes the stuff we learn, we feel like, is not relevant to what we're doing in the classroom. So, Krysia, you have some examples for us of relevant, impactful, learning. What's your first one?   PD Example #1: Combatting Student Anxiety with a Class in Mindfulness Krysia: Sure, so our first one actually has to do with something that many of our educators are identifying as a big problem, which is student anxiety, and it may not be surprising to any of you, but our students are dealing with so many challenges these days: from safety drills, to weather drills, bomb threats, active shooter lockdowns, things that students don't always know how to process, and so we have a lot of educators who come to us saying: 'What can I do to make this better?' So, this particular story is about a 2nd-grade teacher, who decided that she was going to turn her summer PD into a productive use of time in her classroom and teach herself and her students to use specific mindfulness techniques that could then her students actually turn that anxiety into productive moments of resilience. Course mentioned in example #1: Staying Present: Mindfulness for Better Teaching and Learning (3 Grad Credits) Use the code COOLCAT to get a 20% discount. So, to do this, she created her own five-minute activity that refocuses students. So, thinking about: How do they reset their bodies? How do they focus on mindfulness rather than fear? How do they think about different ways that they can bring attention to what's happening internally, rather than focus on the fear and anxiety that happens outside? The other really cool thing that she did, is she brought parents into this. So, she welcomed parents into the classrooms to help students learn some of these new techniques, to bring some of those ideas home. She presented at Parents' Nights, she presented to other teachers in her building, to then, help spread some of these skills to other students, and what she found was that through doing this, her students were actually better able to manage those drills, but they were also better equipped to make it through other stressful factors like testing week, or in-class assessments, or many of the other social conflicts that we know kids experience on a day-to-day basis. So, this is a great story because it showed how one teacher can really turn some of these disruptive classroom moments into events for learning. Vicki: So, if teachers are struggling with, you know, helping kids calm or the stress, then mindfulness may be a great option? Krysia: Absolutely. Vicki: Okay, so you've given us one example of transformative PD: helping our kids with anxiety and us with anxiety by mindfulness. What's another example?   PD Example #2: A PD Care Team for Special Needs Students Krysia: So, another example that really happens when our educators start coming together and collaborating around professional development that they can then bring together the community. This story is about what happens when a community of educators come together to help solve a particular issue that a particular grade level may experience. Course mentioned in Example #2. Strategies for Addressing Student Anxiety (3 Grad Credits) Use the code COOLCAT to get a 20% discount. So, for this one, we had a group of educators who had a classroom of high-needs students, and what they did is they came together in what they called a Care Team to then develop specific plans for each student as they developed through that particular grade. What's so inspiring about this approach is that we actually had a cohort of educators rallying around the specific need that their group of students had. In this cohort, what they did was they focused on developing a strategy to bring all the relevant people into a community around each student. So, they included the principal, the counselor, the occupvational therapist, classroom teachers, parents, special education liaisons: all the different roles that they could bring to help create this formulaic plan, and what came as a result of this particular cohort of teachers taking ownership is that they created a school-wide approach to helping those special students across multiple different contexts within the building. So, again, they practiced relaxation techniques, they changed the daily schedule that they had at the school for their students, they also came up with new ways that they could manage transitions, help students learn to expect change, and help them think of different ways that they could chunk information to better see progress that those students were making, rather than letting those students just see the work left to complete. Vicki: Cool, so this was part of a professional development they did? Krysia: It sure was, and they came together over the summer to do that. Vicki: Well, that's great. Okay, what's our third?   PD Example #3 - Rewriting a Physics Curriculum and Building a PLN Krysia: So, we know that educators are very collaborative, but sometimes, teaching can be very isolating. So, this particular story comes from an educator, a high school physics teacher. This teacher took two courses each worth three grad credits: Next Generation Science Standards: A New Framework for Authentic Instruction Integrating Engineering Design With Middle And High School Science Instruction Use the code COOLCAT to get a 20% discount. She moved from a school building, where she was one of many teachers, to where she was the only one. She was given a curriculum to teach that required lecture and required worksheets. It wasn't what she wanted for her classroom. So, she decided that she was going to come and take a few courses so that she could connect directly with other educators across the nation to think about how she wanted to improve and rewrite that curriculum. What I found really inspiring about this is that through taking some of these content-specific courses, she actually connected into a network of educators all across the country; they came together, they rewrote an entire curriculum, they shared resources, and through the use of this PLC, she was actually able to come up with a new curriculum over the summer, which she then was excited and inspired to use. One of the greatest compliments I think we can get is when educators come back year after year to continue to hone and refine what they worked on, and so now we have seen her take courses three summers in a row as she continues to grow and develop the curriculum through the help of that network she created. Vicki: Wow, that's awesome. Okay, what's our fourth?   PD Example #4: Building Connections with Students Krysia: So the fourth one is: sometimes, we find that there's just that one student, and I think we all know that one student who we just can't quite seem to reach, and that's actually a motivation for a lot of educators to pick a course. Course mentioned in example #4:Creating Meaningful Relationships and Setting Boundaries with Your Students There's a student. They want a strategy that can help them with that student. Well, this particular educator decided that this year, she wasn't going to have that one student, and so she set about building a proactive plan that she could use to make it much more likely that she would have a connection with each one of her kids. To do this, she created a series of activities at the beginning of the year with the sole purpose of making her students feel known, and what she found was that by doing this, she was able to connect with them very quickly, she was able to connect meaningfully with their parents. She then wrote these informational pieces on cards that she kept throughout the rest of the year, and what she said is that as she found she was running into trouble connecting with those kids, she pulled out the cards, she talked with the student, and said 'Look, these are the things that we said we had in common, these are the things that you said are important to you, let's talk about one of them.' So, by doing that, she was able to then find a way to at least open a conversation with that student. She then was also able to go to other teachers of that child and have a conversation much more specific about what she could do to find an 'in,' and she actually learned that by condensing with those other teachers in that way, the other educators were likely to help her connect with that student. So, it opened up the door to have those courageous conversations with other teachers who may be able to help in cases when you're struggling with an individual student yourself. Vicki: Well, you have to relate before you educate. Krysia: Absolutely, it's important. Vicki: Okay, so you've talked about taking care of students and improving the curriculum and helping kids be mindful. How about teachers taking care of themselves?   PD Example #5: Self Care and Reducing Stress At a School Krysia: Which is one of the most important parts of teaching! So, social, emotional learning is gaining momentum for our students, but sometimes we forget that it applies just as much to ourselves, and so in this particular story, one of our students came to us because she actually said that she was 'a negative influence on our students as they endure a physically and mentally worn out teacher trying his or her best to present a substantive lesson,' and that's a direct quote. Course mentioned in example #5 From Burnout to Productivity: Creating a Path to Teacher Wellness So, what she did, is she went through and said 'Well, how am I feeling stress,' and she created a stress journal; she noted and described what those situations were, and what she found is that those stressful situations were things that resonated with other educators in her building. She worked with her principal to have all educators create that stress journal and they found that they actually had control to change many of those pieces that were causing that stress; things like: their meeting schedule, their PD structure, policies around structures for attendance. So, what came out of this was an actual awareness that they could influence change in their building to reduce the overall stress and increase the amount of time educators spent helping students. Vicki: Wow, I love that idea of a stress journal. I think that could be very, very helpful for everyone. So, educators, as you plan your summer, remember to select PD opportunities that are actually going to improve your classroom. We need to have professional development, so let's make it meaningful and relevant and purposeful. Thanks, Krysia! Krysia: Thank you! Krysia Lzarewicz - Bio as Submitted As General Manager of Advancement Courses, Krysia Lazarewicz partners with universities and enables them to deliver practical and relevant graduate-level professional development for K-12 educators.  Prior to her current role, Krysia taught middle school math and science, as well as worked in content development for Pearson before moving to Learning House, a Wiley brand, where she supported higher education faculty in developing and delivering high-quality online programs. Twitter: @AdvanceTeaching Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Katie Martin, an ISTE 2018 keynote, talks about the importance of putting learners at the center of your innovation model. She starts with the questions we need to ask ourselves and our students and talks about what learner-center innovation looks like. Get inspired and motivated by listening to Katie. See her ISTE 2019 presentations at www.coolcatteacher.com/katie Sponsor: Advancement Courses Go to advancementcourses.com/coolcat and use the offer code COOL20 to get 20% off your professional development. That’s just $120 per graduate credit hour or $160 for 50 clock hours. You can take courses on helpful topics like social-emotional learning, classroom management, teacher wellness, special education classes and more. You have over 240 graduate-level courses to choose from in 19 different subject areas.  Special ISTE19 Episodes  From Monday, June 17 to Thursday, June 27, the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast will be airing some episodes full of education technology learning from popular ISTE speakers. These are is created particularly so those educators who can't attend will have some special and exciting learning experiences - in just 10 minutes a day. About this episode This is an episode recorded previously with Katie Martin. Katie has four sessions this year at ISTE 2019 and you can find them at  www.coolcatteacher.com/katie - she was a keynote from ISTE 2018. We recorded this after her keynote at ISTE 2018 and are sharing it to get you excited! Katie Martin’s Bio as Submitted Dr. Katie Martin @KatieMartinEdu is the Head of Partnerships- West at AltSchool. Over the last 5 years, she has worked in diverse contexts to learn, research, and support deeper learning for all students. She has also served as a middle school English language arts teacher, instructional coach, and led the district new teacher mentoring program. Katie has a Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in middle school education and her Ph.D. and in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on the support that impacts teacher efficacy and retention. Blog: katielmartin.com Book: Learner-Centered Innovation: Spark Curiosity, Ignite Passion, and Unleash Genius

Michael Cohen, aka the Tech Rabbi, and author of Education by Design talks about classroom design. We should design the classroom environment for learning. Special ISTE19 Episodes  From Monday, June 17 to Thursday, June 27, the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast will be airing some episodes full of education technology learning from popular ISTE speakers. These are is created particularly so those educators who can't attend will have some special and exciting learning experiences - in just 10 minutes a day. Stay tuned, also, to the Cool Cat Teacher Blog for some other learning. Many of us (me included) cannot attend ISTE 19 but there's no reason for FOMO - let's instead flip it and Learn Online Together Always! About this episode This is an episode recorded previously with Michael Cohen. Michael has three sessions this year at ISTE 2019 and you can find them at www.coolcatteacher.com/cohen. Bio of Michael Cohen aka "The Tech Rabbi" As Submitted Michael Cohen, The Tech Rabbi, is a designer, educator and creativity instigator. He is the author of Educated By Design: Designing the Space to Experiment, Explore, and Extract Your Creative Potential. His mission is to help educators around the world reveal their own creative abilities so they can empower students to solve interesting problems and become positive contributors to our global society. When he isn’t traveling the world sharing his message, he serves as the director of innovation for Yeshiva University of Los Angeles Boys School (YULA). Blog: www.thetechrabbi.com Twitter: @thetechrabbi  

Eric Curts @ericcurts  teaches us twenty-three ways to use Gsuite tools in our classroom. With ideas for Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Drawings for all subjects and ages, you'll want to scroll down and follow the links in our enhanced show notes. www.coolcatteacher.com/e516 Special ISTE19 Episodes  From Monday, June 17 to Thursday, June 27, the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast will be airing some episodes full of education technology learning from popular ISTE speakers. Thes are is created particularly so those educators who can't attend will have some special and exciting learning experiences - in just 10 minutes a day. Stay tuned, also, to the Cool Cat Teacher Blog for some other learning. Many of us (me included) cannot attend ISTE 19 but there's no reason for FOMO - let's instead flip it and Learn Online Together Always! About this episode This is an episode recorded previously with Eric Curts and with a full transcription (with hyperlinks) at www.coolcatteacher.com/e516 - all of his ideas are still relevant and super cool! I've taken all of the seven presentations Eric will be giving this year at ISTE and linked them for you at www.coolcatteacher.com/eric. Eric Curts - Bio as Submitted  Eric has been in education for 27 years and is currently serving as a Technology Integration Specialist for the Stark Portage Area Computer Consortium in Canton, Ohio where he oversees Google Apps for Education implementation, training, and support, as well as online learning and other technology integration initiatives. Eric is an authorized Google Education Trainer and a Google Certified Innovator and provides Google Apps training to schools, organizations, and conferences throughout Ohio and across the country. He is a co-leader of the Ohio Google Educator Group (GEG) at tiny.cc/geg-ohio and runs the award-winning blog www.ControlAltAchieve.com where all of his Google Apps and edtech resources can be found. Eric is married with four children.