Take Time To Connect

After teaching for twenty some years I feel confident walking into most classrooms. No matter how many times I do it however, presenting to adults makes me a nervous wreck! The only thing reassuring me about my presentation at the BPS Learning Conference 2012 yesterday was the quality of the material, most of which was generously supplied by Phil Macoun. I helped to facilitate a MoodleMeet with Phil in January, and when asked to present on global collaborative projects by my boss, it seemed natural to revisit the wonderful course Phil had put together.

One of the many resources was a video by Vicki Davis, describing seven principles that can take your classroom global and the current challenges and misconceptions surrounding what it means to globalize your classroom. I’ve watched this video many times and every time I take away a new nugget.

Presenting to strangers yesterday the principle that resonated most with me was the need to take time to connect with others. In fact, the whole reason I was there in the first place was through connections I had made over the course of the last year. Again I owe much thanks to Phil Macoun, who, after a brief meeting at a conference in Vancouver last summer, became my Twitter tutor. Phil responded to every one of my emails about how to find people to follow, hashtags, and chats and in doing so, opened up a whole new world for me. I’m amazed by how much I have learned and how much my teaching has been positively affected by the generous sharing of educators from all around the world. Teachers I can only dream of meeting like Michael Graffin, Miss Noor, Paul Bogush and Vicki Davis herself, by taking the time to answer my questions, by supporting and encouraging and by sharing their wisdom have impacted me and my students in ways they will never know.

Several months ago, Monica Noakes, a teacher from Vancouver contacted me through Twitter and we have since forged a friendship that will I hope, last a long time. Monica was looking to collaborate on a global project and together with our students we created Ingreenious Inventions, a wiki that documents our students growing understanding of the invention process. Working with Monica was an absolute joy. She embodies the qualities that we were trying teach our students in order to be successful: perseverance, flexibility, adaptability, understanding, active listening, respect and trust. She has enriched my personal and professional life immensely and while I will miss our weekly Skype sessions throughout the summer, I am determined to reconnect and continue working with her and her colleague, Natalia Russo, in the fall.

Microsoft’s Partners in Learning Network has been another wonderful way for me to gain a deeper global perspective and next month I am excited to attend the U.S. Forum in Redmond. Being my second time attending I know I can look forward  to learning from my peers from around the country about the wonderful ways that they are integrating technology into the classroom and being provided with the opportunity to make new connections. I am also thrilled to be able to meet up with some of the wonderful people I met last year including Kelli Etheredge who gave me the courage I needed to start this Blog and Lou Zulli who inspires me every day with his wit, wisdom and wealth of experience.

I could go on ad infinitum mentioning the people who have impacted me this year. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have found my new friends. One of my favorite lines from Vicki’s video is, “When you are ripe you rot!” Twenty years of teaching definitely makes me ripe, but by growing my personal learning network and by learning with and from others I’m finding it difficult to find the time to rot. I urge every educator-take time to connect.

It Takes a Village

I recently “found” my cousin via Facebook. Over twenty years ago she moved to Ireland and we just kind of drifted apart. It has been so wonderful to reconnect and we’ve had fun Skyping and sharing memories of growing up as cousins. Our mothers were two of the eight sisters and one brother raised by my Grandma Grimes, which meant we had a whole lot of cousins and a whole lot of fun times to remember. While it has been lovely to reminisce, it’s also made me think about about what my own children are missing out on because of our decision to come and live in the U.S. I’m reminded of the ancient African proverb: It takes a village to raise a child.

 I know my husband and I have often missed the support and comfort of close family members to help us weather the storms life brings, and I began to panic at the thought of the eternal damage we must have done to our children by denying them the opportunity to grow up surrounded by their extended family. How much will our decision to emigrate cost us in therapy in the future? My panic subsides as I realize that they do, in fact, have a village. An adopted village that has grown around all of us as we have made friends and acquaintances that have sustained and nurtured us during the ten years we have lived here. It then occurred to me that it also takes a village to raise a teacher.

The first decade of my teaching career was spent in a small elementary school in a leafy suburb of Liverpool. I was fortunate to work with and learn from an amazing group of teachers whose combined teaching experience totaled close to one hundred years. Like a sponge I soaked up every tip, technique and strategy they employed to help students reach their full potential and they fostered in me a true passion for my job. Here in the U.S I have been equally fortunate to work with dedicated professionals at Birmingham Covington School and I have been able to connect, collaborate and create with my peers like never before. My lust for learning is fed by my personal learning network which I have been able to cultivate with the use of technology. Twitter, Partners in Learning Network, MoodelMeets, and Blogs are just a few of the tools I use to create the global village that is guiding and supporting me on my learning journey.

One of my goals in the last few years has been to help my students learn how to use social media to create their own global village and in the last few weeks I’ve discovered that we don’t have to look too far. For the second year my class is participating in Cyberfair, an international program that encourages students to use technology to research and share their learning about a particular aspect of their community. The topic we chose this year is local businesses, how they meet the needs and wants of the community and how sustainable they are. My students have connected with local experts who have embraced their pursuit of knowledge with a level of enthusiasm I never expected. Bradley MCallum thrilled a group with a tour of the basement of the famous Westin Book Cadillac Hotel. Ruth Kremer gave my students the royal treatment at the Detroit Receiving Hospital and Michael Hauser shared his extensive knowledge of the history of American theater while allowing three of my girls to do cartwheels across the stage of the famous Detroit Opera House .All of my students returned from their visits gushing about what they had learned and how exciting it was to learn beyond the classroom. These are the days they will remember. I sincerely appreciate the time our local experts took out of their working days to help me educate my students about their community in a memorable and authentic way.

We are lucky to be living in an age when technology allows us to reach out and make connections with people who can help us learn and grow. My own kids may well need therapy for something in the future, but it certainly won’t be for lack of a village to cherish, support and encourage them.

Just Another Day

We woke up this morning, made coffee, had breakfast, read the papers, just another day right? But it isn't is it? The first day of a new year is so much more than that because it holds promise. It's like the human version of pressing the refresh button. We wake up excited to clean the slate, learn from the mistakes of last year and commit to achieving new goals. The prospect of new adventures, new opportunities and life taking us in a new direction makes waking up today downright exciting!


Professionally I'm excited about three new adventures. Next weekend I'll be helping to facilitate a Moodle course called Authentic Global Collaboration. I was invited to participate by Phil Macoun, a technology teacher at Aspengrove School on Vancouver Island. I met Phil at the World Future Conference in Vancouver last summer and despite the fact that we spent a very short time together I learned so much from him and he became my Twitter Tutor, opening up a whole new world of learning for me. He continues to push and expand my thinking by inviting me to take part in this class. This is a whole new territory for me and while I'm nervous and unsure about what I can offer, I 'm also exhilarated by the challenge of it and the learning opportunities it will provide.


I was lucky enough to receive an iPad just before Winter break and have been invited to take part in some action research to determine the value of educational applications. Once again, I'm exploring a whole new landscape. Being part Luddite the Land of Apps is new to me and I've been reading and learning throughout the break to get a feel for where to begin. Education researcher Michelle Riconscente, a USC professor, conducted a study to assess the effectiveness of Motion Math with 122 fifth-graders. Her findings were very positive, reporting an improvement in test scores , attitudes and confidence. The full study can be found at http://bit.ly/gamedeskmotionmath. Being given the opportunity to take part in a similar kind of action research project that may result in useful and meaningful data other teachers can use is exciting for me.


I also want to try and get more exercise in my life in 2012-well, technically in my classroom. I saw Dr. John Medina in Redmond, Seattle last summer. He is the author of Brain Rules, a wonderful collection of stories that demonstrate how the brain works and how physical activity can get your brain working at it's best. One of the most outstanding stories he shared in Redmond was the impact of exercise on mathematical ability. The studies he referred to showed that just twenty minutes of aerobic activity each day can result in a huge improvement in mathematical reasoning. As a math teacher this obviously fascinated me and I've been trying to figure out how to make this work in my classroom. After attending the Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum and seeing the work that many great educators are doing with Kinect, my aim for the year is to try and get Kinect into my classroom . I haven't figured out all of the details yet but have heightened my chances of success by enlisting the help of some fabulous people I am proud to know and now call friends: Lou Zulli, Johnny Kissko and Doug Bergman.

When I woke up on January 1st 2011 I was equally as excited as I was this morning. I could never have envisioned the year that followed ,the many marvelous people I would meet and places I would go. That's what 's so thrilling-the not knowing what lies ahead. I hope 2012 brings you joy. Look out for new opportunities and new adventures-if you want to ride shotgun with me for a while please jump on board!