A Full Day of Professional Learning: Organic EdTech Integration with Google Workspace for Education

Are you looking for an action-packed full day of professional learning? If so, look no further. Bring in AdaKat EdTech Consulting to lead a day of affordable professional learning that will build teachers' capacity to organically integrate technology with Google Workspace for Education and more.

What does it mean to organically integrate technology? In our book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Supporting Digital Learning, we state "If you plan with the 4C's in mind, the tech will take care of itself". This means we lead with learning, never with tech. Using our 4C's lesson design process, teachers identify a learning goal and brainstorm how students will engage in communication, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking. As the coach in this process, we rely heavily on the teacher, drawing upon their content expertise and years of experience. They know their content and students best and we will recommend technology we know resides in their teacher toolbox and only if it fits naturally. If no tech is required to enhance the learning process, we will not force it.

                         

This day of professional learning begins by building teacher capacity and adding to their teacher toolbox. Using Google Workspace for Education tools primarily, we will show how use simple tools and strategies in innovative ways.

Executive Processing and Simple Tools for English Learners

Teachers will learn executive processing skills to expedite their workflow and how they can impart these same skills to their students. From there, we dive into simple tools that will give English learners access to content and curriculum. Supporting English learners is something all teachers must do, and we will demonstrate ideas, tips and tricks that hide in plain sight, and can be used effectively by anyone.

Engagement with Chromebooks

Too often Chromebooks are used only as tools for word processing or algorithm-based learning programs. Using Chromebooks in this manner does not engage all learners in the 4C's and makes students passive consumers of content. During this portion of the day, we will investigate ways to use Chromebooks to guide your students to be active creators of content. We'll take a look out maximizing the Chromebook's camera, built-in screen recording app and ways to strike a healthy balance of paper/pencil with technology.

Google Classroom Shells

With all of these ideas, skills, tips, tricks and strategies at the forefront, we will next take a deep dive into the development of Google Classroom Shells. Google Classroom Shells are a simple way to power up PLCs and departments increasing ability to collaborate. Attendees will learn to develop Shells for go-to lessons, common activities, common assessments, Eduprotocols, specific curriculum and even PE classes.

Now that attendees' toolboxes have begun to fill, this day of professional learning will culminate by designing lessons using our 4C's lesson design process. Using a simple 4 square, presenters will guide teachers in a brainstorm in how students will work towards a learning goal while engaging in each of the 4C's. The presenter will rely and draw upon the teachers' years of experience, content expertise and tech toolbox empowering them to organically integrate technology into the lesson. They will be given time to work one on one with the presenters, in groups and or with department/PLCs. Attendees will end the day with at least one lesson they can use in class the next day.

Are you interested in an action packed day of professional learning and lesson design like this? If so, please reach out to AdaKat EdTech Consulting. Click here to book an appointment discuss logistics and pricing. Click here to purchase a copy our book The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Supporting Digital Learning.

4C The Future: Lesson Design That Empowers

 

 

Have you ever struggled with student engagement and effective technology usage?  Would you like students using technology to interact meaningfully with content rather than just staring quietly at a screen? With our 4C's lesson design model, we will help you focus on student engagement and organic tech integration while honoring your years of teaching experience and skillset.

In our book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Supporting Digital Learning, we say "If you plan with the 4C's in mind, the tech will take care of itself". We believe you should "lead with learning, never with tech". Using our 4C's lesson design model, we begin with a conversation about your learning goal and your teaching experience & toolbox. With those things in mind, we brainstorm the student moves in how they will engage with each of the 4C's, communication, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration. In this process, as coaches, we lean on your years of experience, skillset and content knowledge as we delve into each of the 4C's. You are the expert and you know your students best.

There is nothing fancy to it. On a whiteboard or scratch paper, draw an open-ended four square, one square for each C. After deciding on a learning goal, discuss and jot down ideas for how students will engage with each C in pursuit of the learning goal. It is this brainstorm where technology naturally finds its way into a lesson. If no technology is needed for students to engage in one of the C's, no worries. We aren't going to push technology for technology's sake. If the technology is the best fit for your students to engage in a C, it is used. When finished with the 4 C's brainstorm, your lesson ideas, with organically integrated technology, can easily be plugged into any district or school mandated lesson plan template. This can be a great activity for departments and PLCs.

Faces were covered for privacy

Questions and ideas to consider when brainstorming with the the 4 C's

• Creativity: What will students create to demonstrate understanding?

• Communication: Who is the target audience for the student work? Just the teacher? Whole class? School community? Local community? The world via the web? What structures do you have in place for real-time teacher to student feedback?

• Collaboration: Where and how will students give each other peer feedback as they work together? How might they act on the peer feedback?

• Critical thinking: How will students engage in problem solving? How might they think outside the box? Will they be given voice and choice to choose the best tools and methods for demonstrating understanding?

• Teachers and Coaches: With what tech tools am I familiar? With what tech tools are my students familiar? What strategies are my go-to teaching strategies? What are the various skillsets of my students? What student accommodations need to be made?

• Coaches: Recommend technology tools if a teacher is hitting a brainstorm roadblock. Recommend a technology tool if it truly is the best way for student engagement and demonstration of learning. If a teacher isn't familiar with a tech tool, offer to co-teach part of the lesson.

Faces were covered for privacy

If you would like to bring AdaKat EdTech Consulting to your school for PD, workshops, a keynote, training or a follow-up on this or previous blogposts, click here to schedule an appointment to chat.

Our book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Digital Learning, co-authored with my wife Katherine Goyette is now available on Amazon. Click here to purchase. It is published by Dave Burgess Publishing. Be sure to follow the hashtag #OrganicEdTech and #CVTechTalk for updates.

Power Up Your Collaborative Lesson Design with Wipebook!

 

Floor to ceiling whiteboard walls are luxury most educators do not have. I am one of the fortunate educators whose learning space has floor to ceiling, magnetic whiteboard walls. They make teaching students and leading professional learning sessions a blast. But what about the times when I am not in my learning space where I don't have this amazing luxury? In those instances, Wipebook the rescue!

The Cardinal Innovation Center in Orosi, CA

When I teach and or present in spaces other than my own, Wipebook allows me to design lessons as if I was still in the friendly confines of the Cardinal Innovation Center. Pinning up Wipebook pages around the room allows me to quickly and easily increase my dry erase, writable space to give students and teachers the ability to get up and make their thinking visible. With their ideas up, on the walls, on Wipebook pages, the ease and opportunities for feedback increase tremendously. In addition, this is conducive to fostering collaboration. 

In my book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Supporting Digital Learning, my co-author Katherine Goyette and I promote a 4 C's lesson design style. We begin with a learning target/goal/standard and use a simple 4 square diagram to map out how students will engage with each of the 4 C's as a way of reaching the learning target/goal/standard. As we like to say, "When you plan with the 4 C's in mind, the tech takes care of itself."

Wipebook is great for departments and PLCs to collaboratively design 4 C's-infused lessons and learning experiences. They are lightweight, flexible, easy to transport and fit well on a tabletop. This allows all colleagues to easily gather around, brainstorm and plan. Simply gathering around a Wipebook page to design a lesson is like a family gathering to share a meal. In this instance, colleagues are sharing some edu-fellowship and fostering a culture of collaboration.

Start by writing your learning target/goal/standard at the top and drawing a basic 4 square diagram. Each of the 4 C's (communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking) will go in one of the 4 squares. From here, the conversation begins on how students will meet the learning target/goal/standards via each of the C's. If you download, the Wipeboard Scan app, you can easily keep a record of your planning with you and reuse the Wipebook. One of the simple, yet brilliant things about Wipebook is that they are reusable. Try doing that with chart paper! 

Below is a sample from a "Causes of WWI" lesson my colleagues and I designed with Wipebook. 

My wife (co-author) and I use Wipebook when we lead 4 C's lesson design workshops. As mentioned, they are lightweight, flexible and easy to transport. In most instances, the spaces in which we lead workshops and professional development have little to no dry erase whiteboard space. With Wipebook, we are covered.

My wife Katherine and I right before our 4 C's Lesson Design session at 2019 NSTC Conference in Palm Springs. This was the first time we used Wipebook to facilitate this session.

Below are some action shots of our first session using Wipebook. In each image, you can see how the versatility of Wipebook made it easy to facilitate collaboration. 

You can see some teams collaborating on the Wipebook while at the same time using devices to research strategies and standards. This provides a healthy balance of tech and non-tech in the lesson design process. 

As my colleague and good friend Joe Marquez says, "Teaching is a collaborative sport." Wipebook is a simple, yet powerful tool for fostering collaboration amongst educators. Many of us have fond memories of sharing family meals and the great conversations shared. Wipebook can bring a similar feel to the lesson design process. Oftentimes, lesson design can feel like a chore, and it becomes dreaded, but what if it felt more like sharing a family meal? I can't imagine much dread in that. Let Wipebook help you set the table.

My book, The Complete EdTech Coach: An Organic Approach to Digital Learning, co-authored with my wife Katherine Goyette is now available on Amazon. Click here to purchase. It is published by Dave Burgess Publishing. Be sure to follow the hashtag #OrganicEdTech and #CVTechTalk for updates.