PD

Sharing my #gratitude: #PDBytes presents #Gratitude180 online mini conference

/ Mrs. Shannon Steimel / Leave a comment

In the summer of 2017, I began a journey toward positivity with a daily gratitude practice. I decided to call this project #Gratitude180 because there are roughly 180 days in a school year, and I believe that you could truly have a 180 degree change in attitude by focusing on the positive. You can read more about my #gratitude180 journey here.

This year as Thanksgiving was approaching, I decided it was the perfect time to reflect upon those people who have truly changed my thinking in an area of education and have made a visible difference in my teaching practice in the last year. So, I reached out to them to record conversations about what I had learned from them and why I was grateful to them.

I am sharing these conversations with you via my YouTube channel PDBytes in the hopes that you might also be inspired by their work, and perhaps you may also take some time to reflect upon the educators who have influenced you and let them know how they’ve helped you.

It is my pleasure to present the #Gratitude180 Online Mini Conference. I hope to release a new video every day this week along with questions to get you thinking about your own #gratitude. Hope you will join me!

Today’s conversation is with Dr. Amy Peach of Lindenwood University. Dr. Peach and I talk about Action Research. Tomorrow’s guest is Carolyn Allen, a librarian who inspired me incorporate Makerspace & STEM activities tied to state-award nominated books into my library. On Wednesday, Matt Miller, author of Ditch That Textbook, will be here to talk about the terrific virtual PD he offers every December called Ditch Summit. Thursday’s conversation will be about Mindfulness in the classroom with Michelle Benedict. And, Friday will wrap up with a conversation about Digital Citizenship with Dr. Kristen Mattson.gratitude180

Trending now in #STL #edtech from @ETAofSTL members

/ Mrs. Shannon Steimel / Leave a comment

etatopics

At our Welcome Back meeting for ETA of STL, the Education Technology Association of St. Louis, we asked our members what is happening in their districts and what topics they would like us to cover at ETA meetings this year. Above is an AnswerGarden of their responses.

In thinking about how technology integration can transform learning, SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition) is a big topic to kick off the school year, and one that my Academy has been using to frame our technology pd. Many ETA member districts participated in a summer #METCpd SAMR institute sponsored by Edplus.  They brought in Dr. Ruben Puentedura, who developed the framework. They will also be partnering with the Clayton School District to offer a free SAMR unconference on Saturday, Sept. 9.

STEAM & MakerEd continue to be big topics in the region as well. Mehlville School District opened MOSAIC this year, a new school of innovation for elementary students, and Ferguson-Florissant has a new middle school STEAM Academy. South Technical High School has a new makerspace this year, which we hope to be visiting at a future ETA meeting. For those looking for professional development in this area, you might check out the year-long STEM Academy or the new MakerEd Academy being offered by Edplus.

Chromebooks seem to be the 1:1 device of choice in area, with many districts rolling out new or additional Chromebooks including a K-12 program for Winfield, 1:1 Chromebooks at North Technical High School, and Rockwood District rolling out Chromebooks to 6-9 this year. In Ferguson-Florissant the STEAM students are 1:1 with new Dell touch screen fold-able Chomebooks.

Digital Citizenship and related topics are also in focus this year. Our next ETA meeting on September 20 at Hancock Place will be centered around Digital Citizenship, Digital Footprint, and Student Data Privacy. Educators may want to follow the lead of Orchard Farm School District, who is hosting a  Teen Digital Citizenship day for their students October 13. METC’s middle school summit on digital citizenship is Sept 21, and Oct 6 is DigCit Day: Moving Beyond Internet Safety .

As always ETA members are looking for innovative and “new big ideas.” I’m excited to join Tierney Brother’s free STL Tech Tour on October 24. If you are interested in joining in, you should contact Dawn Shuler (dawnshuler@tierneybrothers.com).

It’s sure to be another busy year in #STL #edtech, but we hope you will take time out each month to join us for my favorite local #PLN: ETA of STL.