Milobo’s Musings

You know the saying…. “Someday I’ll get around to documenting and collecting all the ideas and resources we’ve created at our school.”  Well, for Colleen (PCHS Technology Coordinator) and I, this was the week that we finally got around to it.

For the past several days, we’ve spent most of our waking hours organizing, collecting, uploading, and designing a website that gathers all the pieces and parts of our 1:1 program into one comprehensive location.  Our goal was not only to make it easy for us to document and find our 1:1 program components, but also to be able to share them with other schools so that we can learn from one another.

The site, located here, is divided into 3 sections:

• Considering a 1:1 (How did we go about preparing our school for a 1:1 rollout?)
• Conducting a 1:1 (How do we support the ongoing needs of students and staff?)
• Continuing a 1:1 (What are future plans and how will we adapt and reflect on our progress?).

It’s by no means a complete list, but we hope it will be of use to others who are just beginning the 1:1 journey.

What I’m hoping too, is that you’ll find a way to get around to doing the same – sharing what you, your students, or your fellow teachers have created.  Dean Shareski spoke about the power of sharing on his blog a while back, and that post along with a conversation we had afterward have both stuck with me since.  The best kind of leadership and excellence come not from holding on to what you have, but from sharing what you know.

What will you get around to sharing today?

Picture from  Denise Mattox, Flickr Creative Commons

I’m a believer in positive thinking and a great example of this philosophy comes straight from the Improv community in the form of Yes, and… thinking. I wrote about it a bit here in a page about collaboration, but basic premise is that by taking an idea and building on it, you’ll find lots of great outcomes as a result.

What can “Yes, and” thinking lead to? My newest adventure is a perfect example. When I emailed Katie Morrow to ask if she’d be interested in a dual-blogging venture to help classroom teachers who use laptops, she upped the ante by suggesting we start a podcast on learning with laptops instead.  I’ve helped students with our school podcasts, have given workshops on using GarageBand to create podcasts, but have never actually created my own. Sounds like it was about time, right?

So, here we are, two episodes into our new podcast, Always On. You can subscribe to the podcast via the iTunes store, or from your favorite podcatcher. We hope you’ll join us as we explore strategies and share ideas for using laptops both in and out of the classroom.  Leave us a message, or send your feedback and ideas – we look forward to hearing what you think!

The following is an email I sent to our faculty as we begin our 1:1 journey this year.

Enjoy.

To: CHS Faculty

From: Michelle

For those of you who are teachers of freshmen, the day is fast approaching when a class full of students will walk into your classroom with a laptop in their hand.  The first laptops will go home with the students in D period Computer Applications on Tuesday and the remainder of the students will receive their laptops on Wednesday.

That means that as soon as Thursday, every student who walks through your door will have at their fingertips a machine that can be the most powerful learning tool they’ll ever own.

24 hours a day.
7 days a week.
All year long.

But remember, it’s only a machine.  It can’t think, plan, organize, create, or inspire on its own.  All of those things require a good teacher–that’s where you come into the mix.

This summer, we spent a busy week trying to prepare ourselves for this change.  I know that many of you did even more preparation in the time between our Digital Learning Summer Institute and the first day of school.  Now, the time to put all that planning into play is here.  If you’re still wondering how you’re going to make it work, don’t worry.

We’re all in this together.

I’ve spent a lot of time myself this summer talking to teachers in 1:1 schools, asking them what advice they’d give you on your first days.  Here are the words they selected just for you:

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