From the newsroom to the classroom

Anyone watch the GOP debates recently? Or the state of the union address? Chances are you did. And if you happened to be following it on twitter you may have also seen how several news stations were using the new Microsoft Pulse to get real time data on how the country was reacting to what was being said. By real time I mean actual real time- not from polling done after the debate or speech but hundreds of thousands of people every second responding and being able to see those results in a graph live on the news. It was incredible! they even broke it up into demographics such as male/female, age groups and political affiliation. Imagine the data they were able to break down just from that night alone?

 Now imagine transferring that to a classroom or an auditorium full of teachers or students? During a lecture you could know in real time how well students are understanding what you are trying to teach them. During professional development you could watch how teachers feel about the usefulness of a new application or technique? Not only that but you can even add in polling questions to send out when you see interest or understanding drop to find out why. You can send out quiz questions at the end to see how much information was actually retained and how much you need to expand next time around. The possibilities are endless in both the classroom and the professional development sides of education.

Microsoft Pulse can be adjusted with varying levels and scales, thumbs up/down, smiley faces and even the meanings can be changed to best suit the feedback you are most looking for. When someone pushes the button for "this is the most useless thing I could be hearing" its pretty clear what they mean. Even young students can respond to a question with a simple smiley face or sad face.

Oh, and its anonymous. So be careful. You may get more honest feedback than expected.  It's what you do with it though that can really make the difference.

Microsoft.com/pulse

Office Mix Across the Ages

The first time I saw Anthony Salcito use Office Mix I was in awe. I could hear the whole auditorium start buzzing as we watched him  add audio and video while inking on a power point presentation....the same kind of powerpoint we had been using for years. The same kind of powerpoint we were witnessing become less and less effective in the classroom. We were watching him breath new life into it and open up a whole new world of possibilities.  I've been showing those possibilities to anyone who would listen ever since.


Recently, I have had the opportunity to show it off to two very different groups. One was a group of reading specialists required to learn it in order to create modules on specific reading topics. These are going to be used for training teachers on implementing the new reading model. The other group was made up of about 25 second graders who were looking to go above and beyond for a research project on bats.


Even though their ages were quite different, I realized that not only was I teaching them the basic tools in almost the exact same way, but they were learning and using the steps just as effectively! The ease of use of Office Mix makes it a tool that any age group can quickly learn and apply. The groups had very different objectives but were able to use the same basic tools of inking and audio/video recording to make something meaningful and useful to others.


I was skeptical about trying to teach Office Mix to second graders but, I have to admit, they made me a believer. They may take a little more time to learn all the different tools available, but even these 7 year olds can use tools like Office Mix to give more meaning to their work and share it out to broader community!

To Spain and Back Again

About 1 year ago I sat in my old high school auditorium with every teacher and administrator in my county half listening and half checking my email on my phone. Honestly I don't remember much from the speeches- a Harry Potter story and a motivating speech from the teacher of the year I think. One thing I remember clearly though, my superintendent said he had been at a global event and thought our teachers should be showing at events like this. I was about to return to my email when he mentioned a trip to Barcelona Spain for the Microsoft Global Forum this year. At that moment I leaned over to my principal and said, "I want to do that!"

After quite a journey, with lots of ups and downs, I found myself just days away from flying out across the ocean to the Microsoft Global Forum.  Naturally I had pretty high expectations of deep meaningful conversations, seeing incredible new products and forging relationships that would challenge me. And even though all of those things did happen it was completely different than I expected and taught me a few things I least expected. Some of them it's taken me this whole month to really wrap my head around. So instead of the obvious here's a few things I brought back with me from Spain.

 1. Don't limit your friend list.
When I left for Barcelona I was pretty sure the US team would be the only people I would hang out with outside of the work sessions. Not because I didn't think the other educators would be mean or boring, I just didn't really see how we would have much in common and it seemed natural to me that we would sort of stick together. I couldn't have been more wrong. I had a great time with the US team, don't get me wrong- I was just surprised how much fun I had outside of the conference with teachers from around the globe. It didn't seem to matter that we were from different parts of the world or taught different subjects- we are educators and still face the same struggles and frustrations.
When I got back, I couldn't help but wonder what teachers, even in my own building, had I been avoiding because of some preconceived idea that we wouldn't have much in common. I've been trying hard to break out of my shell and reach out to teachers that, in the past, I may have just waved to in the hall and walked right passed, and I have been surprised at who I've found.

2. Sometimes it's good to go it alone.
In all honesty, I was pretty nervous going across the ocean basically all alone. Every other conference I've attended was with a group, it always gave me someone to talk to right after I heard a new exciting idea and I loved it. By attending sessions alone though, I realized I had time to think about the information on my own for a while first, without anyone else influencing my opinion or thoughts. What made the global forum even more exciting was that once I wrapped my head around it, I had hundreds of educators from around the world to spin that opinion on its head again! Had I been with teachers from my district, I probably wouldn't have pushed out of my comfort zone and would have never considered the other perspectives.


3.  There's hope for education.
Teaching is hard. A lot of days it feels like you are all alone and no ones got your back. After being at the Global Forum I realized just how many of us are in the same boat, facing the same challenges. Not only did I meet teachers who encouraged me but I realized how many people outside of education are investing in education. I had a chance to meet representatives from companies who also believe in educators and want to give us tools to be successful and to help us reach more students. Not only is Microsoft making a stand for educators, but companies like Corinth, are also pushing forward in educational technology and making it accessible to educators and students. It might not always make me feel better when I have a stack of papers to grade, parents to email and more meetings than my calendar can handle. But when I step back and look at the big picture, it is encouraging to know that there are non-educators out there trying to help. Trying to improve. Trying to help us and our students thrive.

The Microsoft Expert Educator program was an experience like nothing I have ever had. Not only did I get to see cutting edge educational technology from Microsoft and other companies, meet incredible teachers from around the world but I gained a whole new perspective on what we, as a whole, are capable of if we work together.

What's in a name?

So it turns out for me, the hardest part of creating a blog is coming up with a name. There's a lot of advice out there about the topic and just as many viewpoints. Some advise creating a unique name, a new word totally all my own. Others told me to create a logo before creating a name and some even suggest just flipping to a random page in a book to find good words to use. Some advice I took, some I didn't.

I landed on Out of the Foxhole for a few reasons. I liked the idea of using my last name and kept coming back to the idea of a foxhole, which by definition is a defensive hiding place meant to protect you from an enemy. A lot of teachers tend to look at their classrooms like that, a foxhole where they can hide from people who might critize them or try to tell them a different way of doing things. Teachers are often fiercely defensive of their clasroom and students and feel they have to protect it. As a proponent of 21st century learning, I hope to inspire teachers to come out of their foxholes and be open to new ideas and ways of thinking about education.

The idea of coming out of a foxhole can be pretty scary- it was for me. You never know exactly what's out there, who's going to try to shoot you down or who's going to support you. And it's something you can only find out by climbing out of the foxhole. It took multiple administators and fellow teachers to encourage me to do just that and I am so glad they did. I've taken my share of fire along the way, and I didn't always handle it with the most grace, but every step was worth it.

My hope is that through this blog, I can embolden teachers to take that step out of the foxhole and see what's out there. Education is rapidly changing and we need teachers to be bold and couragous. Also, that those of us already pushing the boundaries will reach out to other teachers who may need someone to encourage and inspire them. Otherwise, teachers will stay hunkered down in their foxholes and miss out on this incredibly exciting adventure of teaching.

Check back in frequently for stories and thoughts from Out of the Foxhole!