What Is #PubPD and Why You Should Participate

Perhaps you've heard me talk about #PubPD, or you've seen Tweets from Jeremy or me about #PubPD. Perhaps you've wondered what it is all about. Perhaps you haven't given it a second thought. Regardless, I'm going to share with you a little about it and hopefully inspire you to attend a #PubPD session!

I actually learned about #PubPD from Jeremy. In a nutshell, here is what #PubPD is all about:

• It takes place once a month, usually on a Thursday near the end of the month.
• It lasts for one hour (6-7 PM).
• It takes place at a local pub that has wifi (currently, the local one has been at Nevin's Brewing Company on Rt. 59 in Plainfield).
• You need a Twitter account and your phone or computer/Chromebook.
• You join other educators from the area at your local pub to eat, drink, and chat face to face and on Twitter.
• The Twitter chat is hosted by @MapleSyrupEDU and uses the hashtag #PubPD.
• An education topic is chosen each month (last month it was classroom devices). Questions are posted about the topic and people respond on Twitter AFTER talking with their fellow pub pals.

If you are wondering why you should attend a #PubPD session, well, here are some ideas:

• It is professional development that YOU choose for yourself, not something hoisted upon you by the powers that be.
• You get to combine professional development with food and drink (you can choose to imbibe in an adult beverage or not).
• You get to make some new friends and educational connections.
• You get to develop your online professional network -- you will find some great people to follow on Twitter and other people will follow you, too!
• You get to learn so many new ideas and perspectives on really timely topics in education -- things you can use immediately when you get back to school the next day.
• You can "lurk" if you're new to Twitter chats or still learning how to participate. (Side note: my first #PubPD, I was pretty much a lurker -- I didn't say much on Twitter, did more retweets than tweets -- it was so far out of my comfort zone to attend this both in person and online!)
• The people who attend #PubPD are friendly and helpful. They will show you how to participate in a Twitter chat. They will ask you about the questions being posted online. They will see you as a valued expert in the field. All of this will leave you feeling inspired -- I promise!
• The participants in #PubPD are from the United States, Canada, and aroind the world so you get a really unique perspective on education topics (plus you get to see some Tweets in French -- so cool! Bonus: Charlene Doland often attends the #PubPD at Nevin's and she knows French -- so she can translate the French Tweets for you -- and she is super nice!!!!
• #PubPD always ends with a raffle for a free ticket to an EdTech Team event anywhere in the world (caveat: you have to pay for your own airfare!) -- and I won a free ticket at my first #PubPD, and I believe that two other Channahon teachers have also won!

I believe the next #PubPD is happening on March 29, which is our spring break. I won't be at Nevin's since I will be on vacation, but if I am able, I am planning to join in via Twitter while sitting on the beach at Shaggy's in Biloxi, MS. Watch Twitter for the announcement and link to RSVP to the next #PubPD!

Hope to see you at a future event!

Authentic Learning Opportunities

One of the stickers/badges that are available for teachers here in CSD 17 is the "Authentic Learning Author" sticker. In my opinion, this is one of the easiest and most valuable stickers you can slap on your computer!

A common frustration shared by teachers is that assignments don't get completed by students. Students would likely counter with an explanation that their assignment are dumb. When I translate that, I think that means that the kids have a hard time seeing the value in what they are being asked to do. We see the value and importance, but the kids sometimes struggle with that. An easy way to remedy this is to give kids an authentic learning experience. Authentic learning happens when a connection is created between what students learn in school and the real world (here's an interesting overview of authentic learning). Here are some ways to do that. Hopefully they inspire you to come up with ways that fit in your class! (Or reach out to your friendly Instructional Technology Resource Teacher to help develop an idea!)

Reading a Novel or Short Story

• Have students write letters to the author.
• Have students write Tweets to the author; Tweet them from your teacher account or from a class account.
• Organize a Skype session or Google Hangout with the author.
• Have students create a podcast about the book.
• Have students create an e-book for younger kids based on the novel/story you read then share it with other classes in the district.

Social Studies

• Find pen pals (written, email, or video) for your students.
• Skype or Google Hangouts with classes from other parts of the country or the world.
• Have students bring in photos or videos from places they have visited that are also being studied in class.

Science

• Have students create their own science projects, bring in local experts to assist and answer questions, then host an expo for the school and/or the community.
• Have students take pictures or videos of things they are studying in class (ex. different kinds of trees/plants/rocks/animals).

Physical Education/Art/Music

• Have students create how-to videos and post them on your YouTube channel (ex. how to do different kinds of push ups, how to use different kinds of paint brushes, how to properly hold a violin and bow).
• Allow students to create their own expo (art, exercise routine, music, singing) and invite the school or community.

Math

• Find local opportunities for students to put their math skills into practice (ex. suggestions for how the park district can budget their money to improve local parks/playgrounds).
• Have students assist with planning a school event (ex. planning the Dream lab expo: how to set up the room incorporates geometry, budgeting money for refreshments or setting a schedule of events involves computation).
• Have students collect and analyze data from a school event (ex. Family Fun Night at Pioneer Path -- how many people attended? How many were parents/students at Pioneer Path/students at another CSD school? How many people attended each event? Which were the most popular/least attended?). This data can be graphed and then converted/manipulated (What percentage of attendees were kids? Rank order the events from most well attended to least attended. Have students share this data at a school board meeting.)

Authentic learning experiences can be created by you, the teacher, for the kids. Knowing their work is being seen by someone other than their teacher amps up the engagement in the work. Kids are also less likely to blow it off because they know someone is waiting for that information from them. Want to really kick up that authentic learning a notch? Let the kids generate their own ideas (much like happens in the Dream Lab at the junior high) and you act as a facilitator. Scary but rewarding when you see what the kids can do (much like what happened the one year my 8th graders got fired up after reading Fahrenheit 451 and organized a fundraising effort to create a library in a school in Nepal through Room to Read).

Have you created any authentic learning experiences for your kids? Be sure to share them in the comments! Thus is a great way to inspire other teachers (and to let me know that you need the Authentic Learning Author sticker!).

#ICE18 Recap

Last week, I attended the ICE Conference, a large, 3 day conference focusing on educational technology and 21st century learning. It's an exhausting 3 days but I always come away with some interesting new things. I'd like to share them with you now, and maybe there might be something I can share with you directly!

• Blogging: got some great ideas on how to continue with blogging. Obviously, I have this one, but I actually have 2 others I keep as well. I've got some ideas I can share with you if you're interested in starting your own blog professionally, or of you're thinking it might be good to use for parents or your students, or even if you want to start using blogging in your classroom with your students.
• Ed tech tools: I attended 2 different sessions that highlighted lots of different ed tech tools, including some specifically designed for giving quick and easy feedback. Want to hear about them? Let me know and I'll come show you all the cool things I learned and maybe some of them will work in your class.
• What's new at Google: I learned some new things about Google Classroom and about using Jamboard -- a cool, interactive, collaborative whiteboard app. We can get together to find ways to use Jamboard in your class.
• Makerspaces: Want to incorporate aspects of the maker movement into your class? I've got ideas!
• Get published: I attended a really inspirational session on how to write a book. Have you ever thought of doing that? I'd love to share what I learned. Or maybe we can collaborate on a book together!
• Digital footprint: I got some interesting new resources for teaching technology safety. Looking to add some lessons in your class? I can show you what I've got! (For example, I saw the video below -- what an eye-opener for what can happen if someone uses location services and social media -- look how easy it is for someone to find you and get information about you -- guaranteed to make you freak out a little!)