Teaching is a challenging and rewarding profession. I'm so grateful that I have been able to do it for 9 years now, but not without considerable effort and help. In addition to all the teachers, mentors, parents, students and supervisors that have shaped and supported my educational journey, I have learned a lot from professional growth seminars, websites, and social media.
Here are the organizations that I have found to share valuable content in seminars:
- Bureau of Education & Research (BER)
- Every seminar I've attended from BER is packed with great ideas & resources.
- Adventist Education
- As my employer, they have always had very relevant information for me to learn.
- Imagine Easy Solutions
- They have an excellent set of free professional development videos online.
Besides just searching for what I need on Google, here are the websites that I have used the most for teaching resources:
- Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything
- She has links to a LOT of useful educational tools!
- Discovery Education
- I mostly use the science & social studies videos w/handouts for my class.
- Google Apps for Education
- My students and I use these everyday!
- Common Sense Media
- This is a great resource site for online media, tools, games & digital citizenship.
- ETA Hand 2 Mind
- They have great math manipulatives.
- Evan-Moor
- They have daily language workbooks.
- Teacher Created Resources
- I really like their Writing Workshop book.
- Khan Academy
- My students enjoy the math activities and coding tutorials.
As far as specific people that I look to for support, that would be, first and foremost, my wife. She is a high school math teacher, so we have a lot of great educational conversations. She is a great sounding board, helps me tackle issues from a broader perspective, and affirms my decisions. Without her, I would probably need to see a counselor regularly! :)
Other priceless souls who have supported me over the years have been my direct supervisors, board chairmen, mentor teachers, and pastor.
When I want to learn more about an up-and-coming idea, I have a couple friends that always seem on top of the latest educational & technological trends. The first is @AaronNKoleda. In working side by side with him (and online) on the NAD Elementary Technology Standards, we became friends and explored new tech ideas together. He specifically helped me start implementing a makerspace & genius hour environment in my classroom. I also consider my mother-in-law, Jeane Lutz, a wise mentor. Having taught multi-grades and most subjects for 25+ years, she knows a lot and always has neat ideas with math, language arts, and technology in the classroom.
Besides the above two people, I've made a lot of great contacts through Twitter and Google+ that have given me great ideas and advice. The e-Nable Google+ Community has specifically helped me learn a lot about 3D printing, especially about constructing body-powered hand prostheses.
As I have experimented in the classroom with new ideas or technologies, I have faced the most common challenge of finding time to first learn about the idea or tool, then decide and figure out how it might help my students learn, plan how to use it in class, and last of all, evaluate its effectiveness. With all those time-consuming factors, searching for or hearing about a new idea or tool can be pretty daunting. But as my mentor teachers always told me, I try to improve just one subject each school year, and make only 1 lesson during the day special. Otherwise, I would have burned out long ago.
I value your friendship Chris. You are an incredible teacher, and I am inspired every time we talk about what's happening in our rooms. You are doing great things and really making a difference!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Aaron. I look forward to continuing our work together on technology for Adventist schools!
DeleteHi Chris!
ReplyDeleteIt's great to meet you! I just had to say that I really like what you said at the end about one subject in the year and one lesson a day. I think sometimes I trip myself up in the school year by spreading myself too thin and trying to take on too many things at once. No surprise, just like you mentioned, I was a little more burned out than usual at the end of this school year. Going into next I definitely will keep that phrase in my mind! One week into this course and I'm already pulling out great things!
Thanks!
-Tom
Thanks Tom. Even those simple goals can be difficult to maintain throughout a school year, but just having a goal always motivates me to spend a little extra time thinking about and experimenting with how to improve my teaching.
DeleteI also feel like I benefit a lot from these Master's classes. The challenge will be choosing what idea/method I will commit to trying next year, and not trying to do all the cool things we learn!
Thanks for sharing. I was very excited to hear of our implementation of genius hour in the classroom. I recently attended a workshop where this concept was presented and I definitely found it to be intriguing! I would be interested to hear about your experience. Also, how was genius hour received by both the parents and the administration?
ReplyDeleteWhen I did Genius Hour a couple years ago for the last week of the school year, my students loved it! I gave them a sheet that asked them to describe their goal, steps to accomplish the goal, what they would expect to learn, and how they thought their project would impact others. I let them work independently or in small groups, and told them their project needed to relate with something we had studied that year. They did great, and we had a blast listening to (and viewing) each other's genius hour presentations at the end of the week. As far as parents' reaction, they didn't say anything that I remember because the last week of school is a bit chaotic with graduation and everyone gearing up for summer. As for administration, I was the principal, so I approved doing it. ;)
DeleteHi Chris!
ReplyDeleteI am happy for you that you get to move close to your family once again. My parents and brother are in PA and my husband, son, and I live in OK. Having a family support system will be great for your family. I cannot imagine teaching 4 grades at one time. I grew up outside of Chicago where I had split level classes, but only two grades at a time. That would be very challenging as a teacher. You provided a wide variety of sources for us to take a look at in your post. I look forward to learning from you over the next few weeks. I hope the move goes well for you!
Nichole
Nichole, I am definitely excited for my family to be closer to all of our relatives in CA! It will be so nice and convenient to see each other more often without having to pay for expensive flights.
DeleteTeaching 4 grades at the same time was a challenging situation to jump into since I had grown up in single-grade classrooms. But, multi-grade classrooms lend themselves nicely to peer tutoring, flexible groupings, mentoring, and a family-like environment. If you want to read more about how a small, multi-grade school can be advantageous, go to http://upper22.adventistschoolconnect.org/site/1/images/Bigger_is_Not_Necessarily_Better.pdf
Hi Chris!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of genius hour! That sounds like something my fourth graders would love. Speaking of, welcome to fourth grade! I can't imagine teaching the wide range of grades that you have worked with. It sounds like you have some exciting times ahead of you with the move and all, good luck! Looking forward to working with you!
Thanks Emily. I would love any pointers you have for teaching 4th graders, since that is a relatively new challenge for me!
DeleteGreat to meet you Chris. Looks like you've got a lot going on both personally and professionally. Exciting to be taking a new position and moving closer to family. All the best. Golf is a big passion of mine too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dean. Golf is a great way to enjoy nature, friends, challenges, and grow in character! :) I approach golf similar to each day at school - I may botch things sometimes, but my attitude is my choice and I can do something awesome right after failing.
DeleteHi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI agree, that as a teacher, there are many resources and individuals who help provide guidance to support one another within the profession. I too appreciate that support. Thank you for taking the time to post all of these helpful links to resources that have assisted you. I am familiar with discovery education, but I look forward to exploring the other options you have provided! My wife also is a teacher, and a very important part of my support system. It is great to meet you, and I look forward to our future discussions!
I hope that the ideas shared here can help you Kevin. I'm excited to learn from you as well.
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