tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29141331924114737002024-03-29T00:13:57.717-07:00Start with a QuestionLearning, Teaching, and TechnologyKerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.comBlogger298125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-83586848317697594992020-11-11T11:49:00.000-08:002020-11-11T11:49:01.587-08:00The Teacher As Visionary<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsoZr4E2iUc/X6w9ptHEObI/AAAAAAAAD4Q/3N20JgJRKZMaT8CG-1Xz1d0ETkNSJC8swCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/My%2BPost-21%2B2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsoZr4E2iUc/X6w9ptHEObI/AAAAAAAAD4Q/3N20JgJRKZMaT8CG-1Xz1d0ETkNSJC8swCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h640/My%2BPost-21%2B2.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Teachers all over the country are reinventing themselves and creating new visions for what learning looks like for their students. This is the core of the professional craft of education. We educators are looking for new ways to engage our students in active cognitive processes so through our lessons they <i>experience</i> what they learn. Education is about much more than receiving a lesson: It is social, interactive, and -- when done right -- requires us to create new knowledge.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thanks to some of the new technology platforms available, teachers are able to connect and work with their students like never before. In order to find success, they need solid infrastructure and support to learn how to use those platforms and roll them out effectively with their learners.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I had the pleasure of sharing my experience and vision for education today and tomorrow on <a href="https://www.theteacheras.com/podcasts/the-teacher-as-visionary-with-kerry-gallagher" target="_blank">The Teacher As podcast with Melissa Milner</a>. Give a listen!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><p></p><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed-podcast/show/7LFWajS0gFVFe9U3fXkkEN" width="100%" height="232" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe>Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com77tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-7612389557940845972020-10-28T08:21:00.000-07:002020-10-28T08:21:11.831-07:00Student Privacy During COVID-19<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BzcZIRMPs0E/X5mLZX7ASOI/AAAAAAAAD38/xojCqtY-J6YMhI1gzAS_abW0Z2hQtndZQCLcBGAsYHQ/s810/k_gallagher.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="810" height="221" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BzcZIRMPs0E/X5mLZX7ASOI/AAAAAAAAD38/xojCqtY-J6YMhI1gzAS_abW0Z2hQtndZQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h221/k_gallagher.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This article is cross-posted from the <a href="https://studentprivacycompass.org/kgallagher1/" target="_blank">Student Privacy Compass</a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">and was originally published there Oct. 27, 2020</div><div><br /></div><i>On July 22, Juliana Cotto, a policy fellow on FPF’s youth and education team, spoke with Kerry Gallagher, Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning at St. John’s Prep and Director of K-12 Education for <a href="https://www.connectsafely.org/">ConnectSafely.org</a>, about training teachers on video call platforms, how school leaders should work with teachers in adopting new tools, and important considerations for monitoring student behavior and engagement. </i><br /><br /><b>Juliana: What are lessons learned from online learning last spring? How should they inform preparations and operations this fall?</b><br /><br /><b>Kerry:</b> A new privacy element is that through virtual classes, we see into students’ homes. The majority of our students participated in virtual classes from their bedrooms because that was the one place in their homes they could focus. It wasn’t ideal to teach students in their bedrooms, but we needed students in a place where they could concentrate. So we had to set expectations on what was in their background, what they were wearing, and whether to sit or stand. These expectations were not to get students to be compliant per se; it was more that we didn’t want them to share more than they intended to share with classmates or teachers. Some adolescents are hyper-aware of what they’re sharing, while others are blissfully unaware. It was about raising students’ awareness about how much we were finding out about them just through what was in their background. In some cases, that meant we encouraged the use of a virtual background. Some educators may believe virtual backgrounds are a distraction, but if students use them well, it helps eliminate distractions. We also talked to students about effective lighting to promote participation in virtual learning. <br /><br /><b>Juliana: Do you believe schools, educators, and students are more prepared for video classrooms than they were last spring?</b><br /><br /><b>Kerry:</b> I know that in my school community they are because of the work we did. We started with Google Hangouts because we are a G Suite school. We intentionally asked teachers to start with what we already had built into our systems, to determine if that would meet our needs. We found out early on that it wasn’t robust enough to allow our teachers to do what they wanted to do. Google has added some robust features and qualities since then, by the way, and many schools have been using it successfully. So we explored different platforms, including Microsoft teams, Zoom, all of those. We decided on Zoom and purchased licenses to give us access to important security and privacy features. We were clear with our teachers that those features were important to protect them and our students. For teachers to get access they completed a custom training module that we designed. <br /><br />Zoom is pretty easy to learn on your own, but the training taught teachers how to enable security features that we wanted in place before any of our students under 18 or 13 started using the tool. And we held our teachers accountable. Our teachers were very vigilant and grateful that we provided this training for them. So that’s what we did and it worked. It doesn’t mean there weren’t hiccups, but I can count on one hand the number of “zoom bombs” that happened for our entire community. The teachers self-reported when it happened and, due to their training, were able to identify why it happened: “I forgot to check this box that we learned during our training.” I could then ask the teachers what help they needed. “Do you need help with having a follow-up conversation with your class?” “Do you feel like you need to address it?” “How can I support you?” “Do you want the dean to follow up?” “Do you think a student was complicit?” In a couple of instances, that was the case, so we just followed up with a disciplinary conversation, not consequence. We’ve laid the groundwork for these processes because we’ve been talking about data privacy and privacy concerns with our teachers for years. <br /><br /><b>Juliana: How should schools consider and prioritize student privacy this fall?</b><br /><br /><b>Kerry:</b> Many teachers across the country took advantage of the limited-time free offers that many edtech tools put out there from March to June. For the most part, that was okay because they were, in fact, tools that were designed for K-12, and so they complied with all the privacy and information sharing laws that we are concerned about. Five years ago, edtech privacy was the Wild West, and many edtech tools were not in compliance. Now, most companies have done their due diligence and have become good stewards of student data. <br /><br />The big thing districts have to do now is to make sure our students are the focus when deciding which edtech tools to adopt. What tools are the foundational ones that we, as a school, are going to tell families that we use? How will we explain to them that we’ve chosen these tools not just because they’re the best for teaching and learning but because they’ll keep their childrens’ information safe? Schools need to be proactive about this because more schooling is going to be happening online than ever. Parents are going to ask more questions about that, and schools need to be prepared to answer those questions. <br /><br /><b>Juliana: What are best practices for protecting student privacy in a remote learning setting?</b><br /><br /><b>Kerry:</b> Schools and districts should avoid adopting tools for teaching and learning that are not designed for teaching and learning. Just because an adult loves an app doesn’t mean it should be used by students, if it’s not designed for K-12 with the built in privacy protections for the K-12 audience. <br /><br />For administrators and school leaders who vet and decide which tools are safe to use, it’s a balance of the head wanting everything to be secure and the heart wanting teachers and students to feel empowered to be innovative. There may be a tool that’s really useful and innovative that does not fit neatly into established privacy guidelines. Be willing to be creative and allow students to use those tools under certain circumstances, even if it isn’t a perfect fit. We can partner with teachers to create structures that allow administrators to feel comfortable and give them the ability to be creative and innovative in the classroom. I have a student who is super into digital art creation, and our studio art teacher wanted to provide him with more opportunities to create digital art. But many digital art apps are not designed for K-12; they’re designed for professional artists. So we emailed his mom and explained her son’s passion and the opportunity we wanted to provide him through a digital art app that isn’t designed for kids. We asked her for express permission to do this solely with her son, not across the board. And she said “of course.” I think that’s the key. The teacher knew enough to say, “I know these apps are not meant for K-12 but I want this boy to have this opportunity to pursue his passion,” and then trusted that leadership would balance the head and the heart to come up with a creative solution.<br /><br /><b>Juliana: In an online environment, how should schools consider monitoring attendance, participation, behavior, and engagement? What should schools be cautious of?</b><br /><br /><b>Kerry:</b> Behavior data is inherently more private than academic data. Our students should be permitted to be vulnerable and make mistakes when they’re in the classroom. Every single mistake shouldn’t be held against them. Classes are the time when students are supposed to be making mistakes behaviorally and academically so they can learn from them. The caution is, we need to carefully consider how we are using these monitoring tools, who has access to them, and whether we truly need to record and monitor certain data. The answers to these questions should be thoroughly examined before engaging with any companies. <br /><br />This past spring I had a conversation with my daughter’s second-grade teacher. My daughter was muting herself during virtual class so that when the teacher asked her a question, she couldn’t hear my daughter’s answer. My daughter didn’t realize what she was doing because she saw me mute myself when I’m on calls, to avoid extraneous noise. It’s actually good digital citizenship to use mute when appropriate. But she needs to be told that in this specific class, the expectation is different. My daughter also wasn’t always looking at the camera, which the teacher interpreted to mean that she was not listening. But, I asked myself, was my daughter always making eye contact with the teacher when she was still in the classroom? Probably not; she’s eight. Their eyes wander. So I recommended that the teacher have a one-on-one call with my daughter explaining these behaviors and why they are important. <br /><br />When it comes to monitoring children, before we start relying on technology to do the work for us, we need to remember that the human-to-human relationships should still be the primary way that we share those expectations, even if the humans are on the screen together instead of in a room together.<br /><br /><b>Juliana: What trends in technologies do you believe schools will adopt this fall?</b><br /><br /><b>Kerry:</b> I think we’re going to be asking teachers to create video recordings of their lessons. That’s going to be new for teachers and may be a privacy concern for some. Schools will have to figure out ways to make teachers feel comfortable. It won’t be suitable for teachers or teacher unions to flatly refuse to record their lessons, because students may need to access lessons asynchronously. But it’s also not suitable for administrators or district-level folks to demand it of teachers without coming up with a solution that everyone is comfortable with. Hopefully, administrators and teachers will come together on a solution because that’s what’s going to be best for students and families. <br /><br />Another trend in technology we may see is the streamlining of communication tools. In addition to educators, leaders, families, and students, the folks who run the school facilities and manage health and cleanliness will need to be a part of communication more than ever before. So, any tool that makes communication more transparent and easier may be a trend. Learning models may change quickly, so whenever we have to transition from hybrid to remote and back to in-person, communication is going to be key so that it can be done successfully.<br /><br /><i>This interview was conducted by Juliana Cotto on July 22, 2020. It has been edited and condensed for clarity. </i><p> </p>Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-44099828097172976192020-10-23T10:17:00.004-07:002020-10-24T07:59:17.407-07:00Cyberbullying Prevention Strategies in 1 minute, 40 minutes, or 60 minutes!<p>October is Bullying Prevention Month and I've had the tremendous opportunity to share research and strategies with audiences through a few different channels. Here are the resulting resources to share with your educator colleagues, homeschool parent network, parent-teacher organization, or just to give you peace of mind in your own classroom or with your own children at home. No matter how much time you have, there is something here for you.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">1 Minute Short: Bullying vs. Cyberbullying</h3><p>Source: <a href="https://www.connectsafely.org/radio/" target="_blank">ConnectSafely Report from CBS News</a></p><p><br /></p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CGsNJDGJKPp/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px; width: calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding: 16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CGsNJDGJKPp/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;" target="_blank"> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0px;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0px auto 12px; width: 50px;"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g fill-rule="evenodd" fill="none" stroke-width="1" stroke="none"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;"> View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0px;"></div> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px;"><div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px); width: 12.5px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12.5px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 14px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px); width: 12.5px;"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style="border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); border-top: 2px solid transparent; height: 0px; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg); width: 0px;"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="border-right: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); transform: translateY(16px); width: 0px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; transform: translateY(-4px); width: 16px;"></div> <div style="border-left: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); height: 0px; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px); width: 0px;"></div></div></div></a> <p style="margin: 8px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CGsNJDGJKPp/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">It’s important for parents to understand the difference between bullying and cyberbullying so they can best help their kids. Click the link in our bio for resources and more on how to talk to your kids about it. . #kids #onlinesafety #parentsofteens #parents #digitalwellbeing #kidsandtech #kidsandtechnology #bullyingprevention #bullyingawareness #stopbullying</a></p> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0px 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/connectsafely/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> ConnectSafely</a> (@connectsafely) on <time datetime="2020-10-23T15:24:09+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Oct 23, 2020 at 8:24am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">40 Minute Podcast: Keep Your Kids Safe from Online Bullying</h3><div style="text-align: left;">Source: <a href="https://readingwithyourkids.libsyn.com/reading-with-your-kids-keep-your-kids-safe-from-online-bullying" target="_blank">Reading With Your Kids Podcast </a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gJnz8YiLPUM/X5RBFslXp1I/AAAAAAAAD3w/g6uoVck05bcsLpATnOR7RkqPoQGOHyLRACLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/Kerry%2BGallagher.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gJnz8YiLPUM/X5RBFslXp1I/AAAAAAAAD3w/g6uoVck05bcsLpATnOR7RkqPoQGOHyLRACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Kerry%2BGallagher.png" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div> <script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><iframe allowfullscreen="" height="90" mozallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/16490375/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/0814fa/" style="border: none;" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">60 Minute Keynote Video: Bullying Prevention Strategies and Resources</h3><div>Source: <a href="https://ibpaworld.org/webinars/bullying-prevention-strategies-and-resources-for-parents/" target="_blank">International Bullying Prevent Association</a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZbIEQqTiUVs" width="320" youtube-src-id="ZbIEQqTiUVs"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-28894089308553243532020-10-06T04:59:00.001-07:002020-10-06T04:59:26.011-07:00We Are Using More #EdTech Than Ever! How do we Train Teachers on Student Data Privacy?<p> Now that we are using more education technology tools than ever in order to reduce contact and reach students and families from a distance, the concern about the private information we are creating and sharing in the course of our work with young children is as much of a concern as it has ever been. In a time when teachers are eager for training and support, but have little time to dedicate to it as they learn how to plan physically distanced, hybrid, and virtual lessons; </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>How do we make sure they are aware and able to implement important student data privacy protection practices? </li><li>How should policy makers support schools and districts? </li><li>What can school and district leaders do in their roles to keep students safe and teachers supported?</li></ul>I was fortunate enough to be part of a panel of researchers, practitioners, and policy advisors last week to talk about the solutions to these very questions. You can watch our conversation below.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lnq3u7T7nus" width="320" youtube-src-id="lnq3u7T7nus"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>To open the panel, <a href="https://www.flipsnack.com/GeorgeMasonLEC/elementary-school-teacher-use-of-edtech.html" target="_blank">new research about teacher access to tools and training</a> from <a href="https://www.law.gmu.edu/faculty/directory/fulltime/cooper_jamesc" target="_blank">James Cooper</a> of the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. The research was done in partnership with the <a href="https://studentprivacycompass.org/" target="_blank">Student Privacy Compass</a>, led by Amelia Vance, and Future of Privacy Forum. I was proud to represent both <a href="www.stjohnsprep.org" target="_blank">St. John's Prep</a> and the work we have done with student privacy as well as <a href="connectsafely.org" target="_blank">ConnectSafely</a> and the resources we have produced to help parents and teachers learn more and increase the efficacy of their protection methods. <a href="https://twitter.com/lorriecowens" target="_blank">Lorrie C. Owens,</a> a CTO for a large district in California, also joined us and shared her valuable experience.<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LExaNfUYZp0/X3xb4e-lX0I/AAAAAAAAD3Q/HyNqMv9cyNUXJJvRhNoEtxxTAct37mapACLcBGAsYHQ/s1528/Oct2FPFPanel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="1528" height="259" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LExaNfUYZp0/X3xb4e-lX0I/AAAAAAAAD3Q/HyNqMv9cyNUXJJvRhNoEtxxTAct37mapACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h259/Oct2FPFPanel.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p></div>Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-36589671296910231372020-09-30T12:14:00.001-07:002020-09-30T12:14:28.491-07:003 Tips for Educators Coping with #EdTech Overload<p>We are all learning how to "do school" differently, whether as teacher, support staff, administrator, or even parent! In partnership with <a href="https://blueribbonschools.com/" target="_blank">Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence</a> and ScreenBeam, and in anticipation of our upcoming webinar, I created this short video with 3 tips you can use and share with your educator colleagues.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vHYDeyuTUJ0" width="320" youtube-src-id="vHYDeyuTUJ0"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.screenbeam.com/webinars/the-blue-ribbon-schools-of-excellence-webinar-series/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b4BTB894SzA/X3TYhGi-YrI/AAAAAAAAD28/FhKVThUYNZkDJQ8ya2B5FTC-AYqJgsOcACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/BRSOEScreenBeam.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click the image to register for the webinar!<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p>Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-57159958564637504222020-09-29T06:21:00.004-07:002020-09-30T12:04:03.391-07:00Cybersecurity in Schools as Learning Goes Virtual<p> </p>How do we keep our students safer in the virtual environment and in the virtual classroom? Cybersecurity is increasingly important, especially for youth and students, as more of our educational, social and work environments move on-line during this time. Watch this keynote about the basics of safety in the virtual classroom and how to work with both parents and students to increase awareness.<div><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/462758069" title="vimeo-player" width="640"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://interactive.america.gov/cyber-security/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img data-original-height="436" data-original-width="466" height="374" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-e-61Z_Vu89w/X3M0mIY9pwI/AAAAAAAAD1k/kFBsm7MR5NwcU9rVA06BsJ7T8gO7mL8awCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h374/Image%2B9-24-20%2Bat%2B8.48%2BAM%2B2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /></div></div>Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-70226233764383097332019-11-03T06:51:00.000-08:002019-11-03T06:51:54.227-08:00Do You Have a Creative Classroom? Here's What You Need to Know about Copyright<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.connectsafely.org/copyright/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-66WW0YNC478/Xb7oey51vnI/AAAAAAAADvY/XTQvVNR_qZk5NixyWJ4px1mP9-AWH_OoQCK4BGAYYCw/s400/Girl-closeup-1024x576.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Click the image above to see ConnectSafely's full guide <br />and quick guide to Creativity and Copyright. <br />Both were co-authored by Larry Magid and Kerry Gallagher. <br />Design work by Maureen Kochan.</span></td></tr>
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<i>The article below is cross posted from the <a href="https://www.iste.org/explore/featured-videos/what-every-teacher-should-know-about-copyright-law">ISTE Blog</a></i>.<br />
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When it comes to plagiarism, teachers have no trouble identifying it and dealing with it. But copyright law is another story. It’s an area where teachers are a little less confident. But it is something they need to know, not only to stay on the right side of the law, but also to help students protect their own work, says Kerry Gallagher, assistant principal for teaching and learning at St. John’s Prep in Massachusetts.<br />
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“We think of plagiarism as it’s our ethical obligation to give credit for work done for ideas that have been put down in printed form,” Gallagher said. “We do this by adding a bibliography or a work cited to any product where we use those things. …<br />
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“When it comes to copyright though, the law part, this really has nothing to do with us as the user, it has to do with the rights of the creator. … It’s the legal right of the creator to determine how their original creative work will be used by others.”<br />
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Copyright holders have wide latitude in placing restrictions on the use of their work. They can decide that children can use their work but not adults. Or that copies can be made digitally but not on paper. Or vice-versa.<br />
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“You can decide whatever you want,” Gallagher said. “There are no government guidelines about what you decide here, as long as you share it really clearly.”<br />
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And it’s not just about the work itself. Anything that is inspired by a copyrighted work is subject to the law. Gallagher cites the case of “Joey,” the sitcom that was spun off from “Friends.” The producers of “Joey” had to get permission to make it from the creators of “Friends.”<br />
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However, there’s an exception to copyright law and it’s called fair use, which allows use of a protected work if certain conditions are met. There are four factors to consider:<br />
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1. Purpose and character of use.</h3>
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“Are you using it to do something new, or are you using it because you want to get credit for that idea as a part of some other thing?” Gallagher says. “You don’t want to use it in a way that’s going to insinuate that you should get any kind of credit for that creation.</blockquote>
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2. Amount and substantiality of the portion taken.</h3>
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If you use a whole chapter of a book, that’s probably going to be copyright infringement and will not qualify as fair use.” Gallagher said. “If you use just a small quote or something, then that’s OK. That’s going to be fair use.”</blockquote>
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3. Nature of the work.</h3>
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This just establishes what the creation actually is – fiction or nonfiction and whether it has been published.</blockquote>
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4. Effect on the potential market.</h3>
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Has the person retained their rights to profit from their original creation if they want those rights? That’s really important.”</blockquote>
Gallagher says these “are not boxes that you check, this is a balancing test. If you hit two factors really hard, then you’re probably going to get fair use.”<br />
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And just to be clear, Gallagher says, “there is no factor that mentions that if you’re an educator, it’s automatically fair use. Educators aren’t even mentioned in the factors. It’s really, really important for us to share that with our colleagues.”<br />
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Learn more about how to apply copyright law in the classroom by watching Kerry Gallagher's ISTE19 presentation below: <br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jerry Fingal is a freelance writer and editor who covers education, finance and business.</span></i>Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com390tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-25811300043579303082019-03-21T13:11:00.000-07:002019-03-21T13:16:22.706-07:00Technology & Student Health: the FEAR, the REALITY, the FIX<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had the amazing opportunity to be part of an Ignite session with 9 other <a href="http://www.ascd.org/programs/Emerging-Leaders/Emerging-Leaders.aspx" target="_blank">ASCD Emerging Leaders</a> this past weekend at the Empower 2019 conference in Chicago, Illinois. Each of us focused our talk on one of the five <a href="http://www.ascd.org/whole-child.aspx" target="_blank">Tenets of the Whole Child from ASCD</a>. My tenets were SAFE and HEALTHY.<br />
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According to the <a href="http://www.ignitetalks.io/" target="_blank">official Ignite organization</a>, an Ignite talk is defined as:<br />
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<ul>
<li>a series of presentation that happen one after another without breaks</li>
<li>each presenter uses 20 slides</li>
<li>each slide auto-advances after 15 second</li>
<li>the result is 5 minutes and high energy!</li>
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Watch my 5 minute Ignite below. Let me know what you think in the comments. And <a href="mailto:kerryhawk02@gmail.com" target="_blank">contact me</a> if you want me to visit your school to work with parents, students, and teachers on health, wellness, and technology use.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j5ykCXsvahw" width="560"></iframe>Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com652tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-46668860549202668962019-03-05T10:59:00.000-08:002019-03-06T05:25:31.981-08:00Why Cooperative Learning Works<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yWRSlqn8xLw/XH7GkOemO8I/AAAAAAAADq8/_gzQMdc7HbUl0Ks-p5EhkrC6rd02AR6-wCLcBGAs/s1600/My%2BPost-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yWRSlqn8xLw/XH7GkOemO8I/AAAAAAAADq8/_gzQMdc7HbUl0Ks-p5EhkrC6rd02AR6-wCLcBGAs/s400/My%2BPost-14.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This post was first published on the St. John's Prep <br />
<a href="https://www.stjohnsprep.org/page.cfm?p=17636&eid=70499" target="_blank">GOOD to Go blog</a> and was authored by Chad Konecky.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br />It’s a classroom technique that goes by a number of aliases—peer-to-peer, small-group and team-based learning, to name a few—but at its core, the concept is rooted in </span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">cooperation</strong><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">—a classroom priority at St. John’s Prep that’s been proven to work.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">A synthesis of 168 studies conducted over the course of 73 years by researchers at the University of Minnesota found that </span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">cooperative learning is almost 150-percent more effective than instructor-focused learning in terms of greater academic achievement, increased persistence throughout courses and programs, and more favorable attitudes toward learning in general</strong><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">.</strong> Another Harvard-published study showed that students working in teams ask more questions and are more engaged than non-grouped students. </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.stjohnsprep.org/page.cfm?p=8244&viewdirid=57224&showFilter=1&dgid=1&firstname=Kerry&lastname=Gallagher" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0a7bab; text-decoration-line: none; transition: background 0.3s ease 0s, border 0.3s ease 0s, color 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Kerry Gallagher</a></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">, St. John’s assistant principal for teaching and learning, knows the research well, but says that seeing is believing.</span></span></div>
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<img align="middle" alt="Cooperative Learning" class="fs_style_7" height="232" hspace="7" src="https://www.stjohnsprep.org/uploaded/GoodToGo/CooperativeLearning.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 222, 223) !important; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 15px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 6px;" title="Small Group Learning" vspace="7" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">“I think </span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">peer-to-peer teaching and learning is a hallmark of an effective classroom and very much aligns with our ‘no one walks alone’ mindset here at St. John’s</strong><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">,” says Gallagher. “Research shows that adolescents and young adults are affected as much by feedback from their peers as feedback from parents and teachers. </span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Students’ primary role is to learn, but we encourage them to </strong><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">understand the importance of their stepping up and seeing themselves as teachers as well</strong>.</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> And when their teachers model that kind of growth for themselves, conveying that thirst for lifelong learning, everybody wins.”</span></span></div>
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<strong style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">WHAT STUDENTS SAY ...</strong></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">For Eddie Amodeo ’19, his classroom experience reflects many of the attributes Ms. Gallagher highlights.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">“</span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Prep teachers recognize the fact that being able to work with others is a very important skill to take with us into the real world</strong><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">,” says Amodeo. “By working directly with classmates in my Spanish conversation, cinema and literature course this year, not only have my comprehension skills improved, but also my ability to better express emotion in a different language.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Andrew Behling ’20 reports that he’s reaped the benefits of collaborative work in his calculus class. “</span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Collaboration has been a heavy focus in this year’s class, and it’s helped me adapt to the challenging pace</strong><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">,” he says. “</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Many times this fall, I’ve been able to consult a classmate about a specific lesson or computational function. When we were learning about implicit differentiation, I was struggling to complete the problems quickly enough, but </span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">a classmate provided me with a method to work more efficiently, and that carried through to our test on that unit</strong><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">.”</span></span></div>
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<strong style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">BONUS OUTCOMES …</strong></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Gallagher points out that peer-to-peer learning carries benefits beyond pure problem-solving and subject-specific advancements. </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">A cooperative, small-group or team-based component to classroom learning fosters broader perspectives that often result in students making cross-disciplinary connections</strong>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">“I think there’s a focus at St John’s on broadening the horizons of every student, and for me, that’s helped me to think outside the box,” confirms Amodeo. “That approach has made me more aware of wanting to learn the </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">next</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> thing. For instance, </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">group work has encouraged me to learn more about topics and ideas that are less familiar to me as opposed to continually focusing a specific subject that’s always interested me</strong>.”</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-2e5c501f-7fff-c3e5-2134-e1feee2296de" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">“I feel like the teachers give us the freedom and space to tap into knowledge from another class and bring it into their own classroom,” adds Behling. “That’s taught me to look at the bigger picture, and </span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">I’m now able to see connections across many different subjects</strong><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">. For example, in English, when we discuss a certain time period of literature, I’m now able to see the direct relationships between the literary themes of that time period and the topics we’ve discussed and debated in history class.”</span></span></div>
Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-81998246629420449162019-02-08T12:10:00.000-08:002019-02-08T12:10:33.670-08:00Tough Topic: How to Teach Your Students to Stand Up to Hate Speech<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b>Hate speech</b> is spoken or written words that are used to insult or belittle a person or group of people based on an element of their identity. Hate speech can targeted based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or other identifying factors.</i></blockquote>
Hate speech is ugly and can be hard to talk about with children and adolescents. It can also be hard for children to relate to hate speech. While many have seen it online or in other media, they likely have not been on the receiving end. While this is a good thing – because we don't want our children to have to experience this hardship – it can make it difficult to convince children that they should act to prevent hate speech. Often our students – especially those in middle or high school – find it easier to scroll past it on their screens or walk by it when overhearing it in the hallway. After all, stepping in could result in them being targeted by the person saying the hateful things as well.<br />
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At <a href="https://saferinternetday.us/livestream/" target="_blank">Safer Internet Day earlier this week</a>, <a href="https://www.connectsafely.org/seattle-snow-kept-buses-from-rolling-to-u-s-safer-internet-day-but-cameras-rolled-and-families-came/" target="_blank">ConnectSafely</a> put together a panel of two women who bravely shared their stories of the impact of hate speech and how they stood against it. We call them <a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/upstander" target="_blank">upstanders</a>. You can use these stories to engage your students in a discussion about hate speech. <a href="http://bit.ly/SID19us" target="_blank">Here is a lesson</a> with conversation starters and learning goals.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bit.ly/SID19us" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1130" height="231" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GRngkJdgt-E/XF3dZE1IsVI/AAAAAAAADps/nASWCiIFGxY_851ZYm5LWev7o-huLblIgCLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-02-08%2Bat%2B2.49.06%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bit.ly/SID19us" target="_blank">Click here to see the full lesson.</a></td></tr>
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Heller and Khan's stories are a key part of making hate speech real in this lesson. Their stories can help inspire all of us to be upstanders as well. Click PLAY on the video below to watch the 30 minute interview of Brittan Heller and Hani Khan.<br />
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When you are finished, as the lesson suggests, challenge your students to use online programs such as <a href="https://spark.adobe.com/" target="_blank">Adobe Spark</a>, <a href="https://sway.office.com/my" target="_blank">Microsoft Sway</a>, or <a href="https://www.google.com/slides/about/" target="_blank">Google Sites or Slides</a> to create their own digital messaging about how to stand up to hate speech and why it is worthwhile to do so. Some great examples from students who have tried a similar activity at schools where I've visited are below.<br />
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When they connect with the personal stories of others, you will find your students inspired to take action and flood the internet with positivity in an effort to counteract hate speech. What will your students come up with?<br />
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Share their creations with us at SID@connectsafely.org and kerry@connectsafely.org. We might share them on our Twitter feed and feature their great work!Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-24812638740487635842019-02-06T13:56:00.000-08:002019-02-08T12:15:56.168-08:00Three Social Media Starter Tips<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MJ3xEXZ3Igg/XFtXRlHcsXI/AAAAAAAADpk/RhdeNAktFbUDIAEdGrSrD3NAStpKfc8DQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/My%2BPost-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MJ3xEXZ3Igg/XFtXRlHcsXI/AAAAAAAADpk/RhdeNAktFbUDIAEdGrSrD3NAStpKfc8DQCK4BGAYYCw/s400/My%2BPost-13.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Note: This post was recently <a href="https://www.stjohnsprep.org/page.cfm?p=17636&eid=68352" target="_blank">published on the St. John's Prep GOOD to Go blog</a><span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;">. <br />Chad Konecky interviewed me and wrote the post based on our discussion.</span></span></td></tr>
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Demonstrating and reinforcing common-sense social media engagement is important, especially when it comes to adolescents and teens. Kerry Gallagher, St. John’s assistant principal for teaching and learning, is leading the Prep’s emphasis on developing best practices when using social media.<br />
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“Mentoring healthy guidelines like ‘Think before you post,’ ‘be kind and respectful’ and ‘be mindful of who you friend’ are key, but we need to foster—and the boys need to hone—an even keener sense of their life online.”<br />
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Interestingly, the challenges of building an online identity can become even more difficult if students and their parents choose not to use social media, explains Gallagher. Alternatively, when students do create an online presence, it can become an opportunity to learn how to act appropriately and with accountability.<br />
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Gallagher offers three “startup” principles for students and their <a href="https://www.connectsafely.org/parentguides/">parents</a> as young people reach the age of 13 and wade into the wellspring of social networking. These principles revolve around being authentic online, understanding that anything you post should be considered permanent, and learning to discern the accuracy of what you read online.<br />
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Be you, for you</h3>
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“Ideally, whenever they engage with social media, the boys should be asking themselves: ‘How am I helping my future?”, advises Gallagher, who is also chair of the EdTech Committee at St. John’s. “In other words: ‘Think of social media as an online resume of your interests and activities.” She notes that students’ online identity should be one of kindness, respect and an <a href="https://www.connectsafely.org/teens-stress-authenticity-at-a-meeting-about-what-they-want-the-internet-to-look-like/">authenticity</a>.<br />
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“Showing yourself as a whole person is important. It’s also important to be real,” says Gallagher. “Don’t try to make yourself look like you’re something you’re not. It’s not just disingenuous, it’s a disservice to yourself in the long run, and at some point, people will see through it.”<br />
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Remember: it’s a permanent record</h3>
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“Middle school is a time when there are many teaching moments available to us in the digital age,” says Gallagher. “At some point during our boys’ grade 7 year, certain federal rules and requirements for online services regarding adolescents no longer apply to them because they’ve turned 13. So, grade 6 is about preparing them for that transition. Once they’re legally permitted to access social media across all platforms, we want them to be able and accountable as they manage their <a href="https://www.fosi.org/good-digital-parenting/your-teens-online-identity-college-career-ready/">own reputation</a>.”<br />
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St. John’s goal is to reinforce that message at every available opportunity, particularly when it comes to communicating that anything you post is permanent. An array of tools, tips and classroom examples underscore the notion that online activity is indelible.<br />
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“We stay consistent with that and other healthy messages,” says Gallagher. “Once they grasp the basic concepts, they are better informed as they access all the resources that we provide them along the way.”<br />
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Separate fact from fiction</h3>
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In addition to taking ownership and responsibility for what they post online, users should always carefully assess the content and context of what they share, avoid posting on the fly, and remain sensitive to any perceptions or misperceptions that might result. But there’s a deeper layer.<br />
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“Urban myths, meaning ‘facts’ or stories that aren’t true, can spread easily on social media when users don’t verify the details,” says Gallagher, who has partnered with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence to create <a href="https://www.connectsafely.org/fakenews/">strategies</a> for building <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/">fact-checking</a> skills into the classroom experience at the Prep. “Research consistently shows that when we see a ‘fact,’ we tend to believe it if it supports how we’re feeling at the time. That’s our <a href="http://ei.yale.edu/">emotional intelligence</a> as opposed to logical, critical thinking.<br />
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“This is a challenging concept to teach adolescents because at that stage of development, they’re not always able to distinguish between the two, but it’s very important,” she continues. “To help students learn, we present scenarios that allow them to see how they’re making decisions in real-time and whether their conclusions are based on an emotional response or logical thinking, or, ideally, a healthy mix. We are actively walking students through how to research, evaluate and parse the information they’re absorbing.”<br />
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The overall teaching and learning goal is to educate our students about developing and evolving an online reputation that showcases who they really are, while chronicling some of the <a href="https://www.stjohnsprep.org/page.cfm?p=19631">great work</a> they do throughout four years here as students. “That doesn’t necessarily occur to everyone right off the bat,” notes Gallagher. “We encourage students to recognize those opportunities and take advantage of them.”</div>
Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com299tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-85356190371682122782018-04-26T18:18:00.002-07:002018-04-26T18:18:30.984-07:00Guest Post: Digital + Traditional = Teaching at Its Best<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8YQ_z7su24Y/WuJ5dt9XLbI/AAAAAAAADnE/QxFQ_t14_P4404YTK-C6nophpkr9tNZzQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/GyutySwh.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8YQ_z7su24Y/WuJ5dt9XLbI/AAAAAAAADnE/QxFQ_t14_P4404YTK-C6nophpkr9tNZzQCK4BGAYYCw/s200/GyutySwh.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/MrsSalingerSJP" target="_blank">Rachel Salinger</a> is a high school English teacher at my school, <a href="https://www.stjohnsprep.org/page.cfm?p=1" target="_blank">St. John's Prep</a> in Danvers, Massachusetts. She is passionate about literature and about giving her students learning experiences that arm them with the skills they need to be thoughtful and good stewards of our future. I asked her to share her recent project on my blog because I think it is a stellar example of how traditional teaching and learning strategies can be effectively combined with digital tools for a deeper student learning experience. I referenced this project briefly in <a href="https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-04-12-why-effective-digital-learning-shouldn-t-disrupt-traditional-teaching-techniques" target="_blank">my recent EdSurge</a> column and wanted to be sure to highlight it in detail on my blog.<br />
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<h3>
Introduction</h3>
In my CP sophomore classes, we read Macbeth over the course of a few weeks. The students really enjoyed the play (surprisingly!) and I wanted to do a more creative assessment at the end instead of a typical paper or test. In the past, I’ve done an iMovie project with Macbeth but really wanted to do something different this year. I met with our digital learning specialists, <a href="https://twitter.com/JulieCremin" target="_blank">Julie</a> and Kerry, to try and brainstorm some new ideas for what we can do. I also needed to incorporate some research this year, though a traditional research paper is a lot for my CP kids to take on. <br />
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Assignment</h3>
In Macbeth, we focused on two main themes: Power and destiny/fate. With those ideas in mind, we came up with the idea of giving each student a <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1197GaN1UNaCWjOCsacSc4BovuESrcecYBQPbtV3CRYc/edit">historical figure</a> from the last 100 years. The list included politicians, athletes, celebrities, and authors. Students were assigned a person (randomly assigned with the opportunity to re-pick one time)<br />
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Students then researched their historical figure using library databases, and found connections to Macbeth.<br />
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After they did their research, they put their research and comparisons on an infographic and presented it to the class. The infographic showed the main ideas and comparisons that they found between their historical figure and Macbeth. </div>
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Modeling</h3>
I first did this project myself for two reasons:<br />
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<li>To figure out how much time it would take the students so I could plan accordingly and make sure they have enough time to complete it.</li>
<li>To show them a model so they could visually see my expectations of what it should look like and refer back to what I did to avoid some repetitive questions. </li>
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I chose Hitler as my example, since I knew all students had heard of him and he was not an option on their list. I also <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/13AA0V82rNhpFTeRk3YaIw4O0CnnL6Va7MRc4o06IlJ0/edit" target="_blank">created a graphic organizer</a> to help students keep their research focused on the topics they needed to cover in the project and completed the organizer with my own Hitler research. Then, of course, <a href="https://create.piktochart.com/output/28461819-new-piktochart" target="_blank">I designed my own infographic</a> detailing my analysis.</div>
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Student Example</h3>
This example was one of the best and I particularly loved it because comparing someone like David Ortiz to a Shakespeare character is not an easy feat. It is an unusual pairing, but this student really did a great job going above and beyond with his analysis. <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uQ_h96v1eW4t_OmBHtPLWXLPdXBVxlJ0_gSmTFWNIWQ/edit" target="_blank">His research was really well done</a> and it was clear that he spent a lot of time working on this.<br />
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<h3>
Overall Reflection</h3>
I absolutely loved this project and my students really enjoyed it as well. I got an email from another teacher on campus saying they overheard students talking about it and how it really helped them understand the text better, which is such a wonderful and reassuring thing to hear. While this was a major risk for me to take, I am so glad I did it! It was something new and challenging for me, but the students really did benefit from it much more than they would a traditional paper or test. I look forward to trying more things like this next year!</div>
Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com309tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-73525376064733587342018-03-27T17:03:00.000-07:002018-03-27T17:08:50.161-07:00Stop Thinking About Screen Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I was lucky enough to be part of an Ignite breakout session at ASCD's Empower 2018 conference in Boston, Massachusetts this weekend. My co-presenters were impressive educators from throughout Massachusetts. My Ignite was focused on the changing research and education around screen time. Please watch, think, and comment.</div>
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<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9cO04F4StVA" width="560"></iframe>Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-8131870228309783552018-02-13T16:43:00.000-08:002018-02-13T17:01:03.669-08:00Why Student Creation is the Hardest/Best Form of AssessmentThe goal of assessment has traditionally been to measure student mastery. With that mindset, some students measure high while others do not measure up. While that seems pretty cut and dry, it can be problematic. <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may07/vol64/num08/Assessment-Through-the-Student's-Eyes.aspx" target="_blank">The students who measure high tend to always measure high. And the students who don't measure up tend to experience disappointment over and over.</a> For students who experience continued success, the consequence is that they believe in their abilities and continue to challenge themselves to achieve more. For students who don't measure up, the consequence is that they learn not to trust their own work and fall into a cycle of self-doubt. They tend to avoid challenging tasks and always take the easiest path to completion.<br />
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<h3>
Why Students Prefer Creative Assessments</h3>
When students are able to go through a creative process (rather than taking a traditional test or quiz) to demonstrate their learning, the process includes benchmarks at which students receive feedback from their peers and their teacher. Feedback in this instance is not in the form of a score or a grade, so it feels less like a rating and more like an opportunity to improve for many students. While traditional tests and quizzes are <i>intended</i> by educators as an opportunity for students to improve, that is usually <i>not</i> how it feels from their perspective.<br />
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The final product that results from a creative assessment is a unique expression of each students thinking and learning. Because it is unique, students are often proud and empowered to share that work with an audience beyond their teacher or classmates. These creative projects tend to be the ones students choose to share via digital portfolios or as part of applications to internships or even college. If the students are younger, these are the projects that are put on display at parent nights or open houses.<br />
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<h3>
Why Creative Assessments Are a Challenge for Educators</h3>
In traditional tests and quizzes, answers tend to be correct or incorrect. Grading is measurable, simple, and usually efficient. Putting a number or value on student work in the form of a creative artifact is more challenging. Sometimes teachers meet this challenge by creating instructions and rubrics that resemble step-by-step recipes. Their students follow the recipe and create a product that looks just like their classmates' products. This is actually not a creative assessment at all. It is an exercise in ensuring students can comply with instructions.<br />
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Another question from educators: How do we come up with these creative assessments? For many of us, both our experience as students and training as teachers comprised of readings, lectures, note-taking, studying, and test-taking for scores and certifications. The answer is that educators need both training in <a href="http://www.bie.org/for/gold_standard_pbl" target="_blank">project-based learning</a> (<a href="https://rosscoops31.com/hackingpbl/" target="_blank">Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy's Hacking PBL is a great place to start</a>) and opportunities to observe teacher leader colleagues who are successfully implementing that model in a tech-rich purpose-filled way. At St. John's Prep, a group of teachers who have excelled at this implementation and who want their colleagues to experience the same challenge and joy with their students banded together to create this video:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="500" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/249402333" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe><br />
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<h3>
Wait... No More Tests and Quizzes? Ever?</h3>
That's not what I'm saying. Not even remotely. Short quizzes and summative tests have their place in every learner's academic experience. There are regulated, standardized, and necessary. They help colleges and professional organizations determine the readiness of their applicants. They have their place. At the same time, every learner deserves to experience an iterative creative process filled with plans, mistakes, feedback, and micro-successes along the way. In the course of day-to-day work for most professionals, this is the process:<br />
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<ol>
<li>We pose a question or are challenged with a task by a supervisor.</li>
<li>We do some research. Usually this includes reaching out to our networks, crunching numbers and data, and consulting academic/scholarly suggestions.</li>
<li>Based on the unique question/challenge and what we've learned, we come up with a solution.</li>
<li>We ask for informal feedback from colleagues and friends we trust.</li>
<li>We use that feedback to edit and revamp our work.</li>
<li>The first, and still somewhat rough, draft of our idea is proposed to a supervisor.</li>
<li>More feedback.</li>
<li>More editing and revamping.</li>
<li>Rinse. Repeat. You get the idea.... It's a process.</li>
</ol>
If the purpose of school is to prepare our students for the experiences that await...<br />
If the purpose of school is to prepare them for the challenges and successes they will encounter...<br />
If the purpose of school it to help learners build the skills they need for success in the modern professional world...<br />
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It is worth noting:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jqwxZV7_JAY/WoOEb-gElMI/AAAAAAAADlg/DJSdM1499rYSH4bEovSQxYXt1dqgaAmAgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/My%2BPost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jqwxZV7_JAY/WoOEb-gElMI/AAAAAAAADlg/DJSdM1499rYSH4bEovSQxYXt1dqgaAmAgCK4BGAYYCw/s400/My%2BPost.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Source: <a href="http://www.p21.org/news-events/p21blog/1118">Partnership for 21st Century Learning</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If creativity is the "premier skill", then schools should focus their work on building creativity into lessons for their students. Student creation activities open the door to meaningful feedback, more honest relationships among learners and educators, and an environment that build the characteristics of creativity.<br />
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Encouraging student creation is <b>hard</b>, but it is also what is <b>best</b> for our students.</div>
Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-17655331689688089252018-01-11T13:19:00.000-08:002018-01-11T13:28:49.821-08:00Semester Check-In: Three Tools That Are Trending at My School<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qNsspt0HVCU/WlfXCXqveqI/AAAAAAAADiU/L1SxuXMjigYf4VVNKo_v7vouQk-FIZGJwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/As%2Ba%2Bprofessional%2Bcoach%2Bfor%2Beducators%252C%2BI%2Bmust%2Bmodel%2Brisk-taking%2Bwith%2Bnew%2Bstrategies%2Band%2Btools%2Bconstantly.%2BEspecially%2Bif%2BI%2Bwant%2Bmy%2Bcolleagues%2Bto%2Btake%2Brisks%2Bin%2Btheir%2Bclassrooms%2Bwith%2Btheir%2Bstudents.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qNsspt0HVCU/WlfXCXqveqI/AAAAAAAADiU/L1SxuXMjigYf4VVNKo_v7vouQk-FIZGJwCK4BGAYYCw/s400/As%2Ba%2Bprofessional%2Bcoach%2Bfor%2Beducators%252C%2BI%2Bmust%2Bmodel%2Brisk-taking%2Bwith%2Bnew%2Bstrategies%2Band%2Btools%2Bconstantly.%2BEspecially%2Bif%2BI%2Bwant%2Bmy%2Bcolleagues%2Bto%2Btake%2Brisks%2Bin%2Btheir%2Bclassrooms%2Bwith%2Btheir%2Bstudents.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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One of the most important values I hold as a professional coach for educators is that I must model risk-taking with new strategies and tools constantly in my work. If I take a risk and use the tool in a professional learning workshop or as I facilitate a meeting, then my colleagues will see the potential of the tool in their own classrooms.<br />
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Now that we are halfway through the school year, there are a few tools that have caught fire after my digital learning colleagues and I demonstrated their use whenever we could.<br />
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<h3>
Adobe Spark Post</h3>
To facilitate professional learning or even co-teach classes of students, often I create slides with prompts or instructions. Spark Post allows me to create more beautiful designs that inspire my learners to think bigger or make more connections. When words are cleverly paired with an image, mood and tone are more evident and the audience will not just process the information. They will feel or experience the information. One of my favorite examples comes from a keynote I've presented to educators and parents about the impact of screen technology on the human brain and on teaching and learning. Notice how the colors, words, and images combined can send different messages about the same idea.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cvYLrsIlJMQ/WjqJyotArJI/AAAAAAAADhE/8DQdfs9ICC4WZxwbpryes9QtS38Q1FsygCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Adobe%2BSpark-16.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cvYLrsIlJMQ/WjqJyotArJI/AAAAAAAADhE/8DQdfs9ICC4WZxwbpryes9QtS38Q1FsygCK4BGAYYCw/s200/Adobe%2BSpark-16.jpg" width="200" /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bBWG1Jo-gxA/WjqJ1HSvjGI/AAAAAAAADhU/pI24xg60Rps8rdUl6YL7umwkImIg35BPgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Adobe%2BSpark-14.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bBWG1Jo-gxA/WjqJ1HSvjGI/AAAAAAAADhU/pI24xg60Rps8rdUl6YL7umwkImIg35BPgCK4BGAYYCw/s200/Adobe%2BSpark-14.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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We've taken Spark Post into professional learning by asking teachers to set goals and then create a Spark Post to share their goals with their colleagues. The resulting quote graphics capture their willingness to take risks and also inspired many of them to use similar strategies with their students in their classes. Some of our students even created PSA style quote graphics, after learning about digital distraction and the skills of concentration and focus, in Spark Post that are displayed on our middle school plasma screens in the hallways and lobby.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qLHQ7EH8f9k/WlfTp3WfpgI/AAAAAAAADiA/7VT1bh4Z4DYuXUHZDuC2LgYZZ9RQhbtLgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_1151.PNG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qLHQ7EH8f9k/WlfTp3WfpgI/AAAAAAAADiA/7VT1bh4Z4DYuXUHZDuC2LgYZZ9RQhbtLgCK4BGAYYCw/s320/IMG_1151.PNG" width="320" /></a> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fvkxbHp6Ek8/WlfTskdFMVI/AAAAAAAADiI/5GRsffDgVIY0TJ4PSIWYm0bW5ESSwIGtQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-11-17%2Bat%2B1.47.46%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fvkxbHp6Ek8/WlfTskdFMVI/AAAAAAAADiI/5GRsffDgVIY0TJ4PSIWYm0bW5ESSwIGtQCK4BGAYYCw/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-11-17%2Bat%2B1.47.46%2BPM.png" width="319" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Worth noting: Educators should be sure to review <a href="https://adobespark.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/219243657-Can-students-use-Adobe-Spark-" target="_blank">this guide</a> for information about privacy and security when using Adobe Spark.</span><br />
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<h3>
Flipgrid</h3>
I'd heard about Flipgrid in the spring, but really didn't get a feel for it until I talked to some of my edu-friends at ISTE in June about how they were using at their schools. My colleagues and I decided to give it a try at the annual in-house conference, we call it <a href="https://flipgrid.com/jumpstartsjp17" target="_blank">#JumpStartSJP</a>, for our teachers in August. To help kick off the week of professional learning, <a href="https://flipgrid.com/2c8c8e" target="_blank">I reached out to some of the top education expert</a>s to ask for their tips for our teachers. Then our teachers used Flipgrid to reflect on some of the most used and most misunderstood <a href="https://flipgrid.com/255c8f" target="_blank">education buzzwords</a>. At the end of the week they used Flipgrid to give us feedback on their <a href="https://flipgrid.com/0575d7" target="_blank">top takeaway</a> from the week and how they were planning to use it in their teaching during the school year.<br />
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Since then, many of our teachers have been using Flipgrid with their students. It has been especially popular in our world language classes. Students tend to work harder at speaking the language fluently when they know they will be recorded on video and those videos will be shared with their classmates.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MCe9h3QMrr0/WlfP3CeCQ2I/AAAAAAAADhs/QakCBWLG_PIksrdihVZrwuetiuZltuHEACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-01-11%2Bat%2B3.57.29%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1027" data-original-width="1600" height="256" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MCe9h3QMrr0/WlfP3CeCQ2I/AAAAAAAADhs/QakCBWLG_PIksrdihVZrwuetiuZltuHEACLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-01-11%2Bat%2B3.57.29%2BPM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grade 8 German students record interview in Flipgrid.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Of course, we are planning to continue to use Flipgrid in lots of upcoming meetings and workshops so that more teachers can experience how fun and easy it is to use and how valuable it can be to share ideas in the form of a selfie video to make the sharing feel more personal.<br />
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<h3>
OneNote</h3>
Oh. My. Goodness. Creative, collaborative, multimedia notes are at their best in OneNote. I have tried pretty much every other note taking and note keeping tool out there and this beats them all. I can draw, type, embed documents, record audio, hyperlink, and collaborate all in one place. Once my school integrated Microsoft 365, it wasn't long before I started tinkering with and was won over by OneNote.<br />
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Recently, my colleague and introduced it to the teacher leaders in our innovation cohort. We asked them to each create a note in a shared notebook and use that note to share out photos and artifacts from a recent lesson or project implementation they were proud of.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pVOKOpnvTcw/WlfPJjC5hQI/AAAAAAAADhk/gcRrf-agawogbJSWLINfYkg-ykDzgwxDACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_0981.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pVOKOpnvTcw/WlfPJjC5hQI/AAAAAAAADhk/gcRrf-agawogbJSWLINfYkg-ykDzgwxDACK4BGAYYCw/s320/IMG_0981.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Note that each page was created by a different teacher in the cohort.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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It is only a week later and one of those teachers has already rolled it out in her high school Latin classes. Others are using it to take their own professional notes in faculty and team meetings.<br />
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There are at least 3 more tools that are on the brink of catching fire now that we've started 2018. I can't wait to see how they're used by teachers and students and share those stories here soon.</div>
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Which thoughtful uses of edtech tools are trending at your school this year? How have you modeled those strategies and tools for your colleagues?</div>
<br />Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-58347087552812376742017-12-06T10:29:00.001-08:002017-12-06T11:46:03.244-08:00How Evil is Tech? A Response.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iX5iyA3225E/WigxkSvXNaI/AAAAAAAADfw/5-mQlzzswcUmB6XPKO1NmaFW3ndY9B1IgCLcBGAs/s1600/Kerry%2BGallagher%2B%257C%2Bwww.KerryHawk02.com%2B%257C%2B%2540KerryHawk02.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1024" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iX5iyA3225E/WigxkSvXNaI/AAAAAAAADfw/5-mQlzzswcUmB6XPKO1NmaFW3ndY9B1IgCLcBGAs/s400/Kerry%2BGallagher%2B%257C%2Bwww.KerryHawk02.com%2B%257C%2B%2540KerryHawk02.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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I believe in the power of technology to connect people, to empower people to be creative, and to open doors to opportunities that would otherwise be closed. This does not mean that there aren't mistakes that people can make with technology. I have made it my mission and my work to educate people so they can know the difference and use technology to make real positive change in their lives. Unfortunately, in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/20/opinion/how-evil-is-tech.html?rref=collection/column/david-brooks&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection" target="_blank">a recent op-ed for the New York Times</a>, David Brooks focuses only on the mistakes and boldly states:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Some now believe tech is like the tobacco industry — corporations that make billions of dollars peddling a destructive addiction. Some believe it is like the N.F.L. — something millions of people love, but which everybody knows leaves a trail of human wreckage in its wake."</blockquote>
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Brooks starts his argument by talking about teenagers. He references data from Jean Twenge, to whom <a href="http://www.kerryhawk02.com/2017/08/generations-will-not-be-destroyed-by.html" target="_blank">I responded in this recent post</a>, showing that teens on social media are less likely to "hang out with friends, date, and work." He failed to recognized data that demonstrates today's teens are actually more healthy than their parents were as teens. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/index.htm" target="_blank">The Center for Disease Control</a> recently found, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/a/teens" target="_blank">Vox.com reported</a>, that today's teenagers are 46% less likely to binge drink and 21% less likely to have tried alcohol at all than 20 years ago. The percentage of teens who smoke cigarettes is down from 34.8% twenty years ago to 10.8% today. Teen pregnancy rates are also dropping. In many ways, perhaps due to more options for how to connect with their peers using social media, teens actually feel less compelled to engaged in risky behaviors. We are looking a new pattern of teen social behavior. New does not necessarily mean worse. In many ways, these new patterns are healthier.</div>
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The second concern expressed is the "compulsion loops" that capitalize on "dopamine surges" with social media use. The research behind this phenomenon is the basis for much of my recent work – as a blogger and speaker – for educators, students, and parents. Brooks argues that media companies like Facebook and Snapchat use what they know about our biological responses to certain stimuli to increase their profits. There is plenty of research from <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797616645673" target="_blank">UCLA</a>, <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/109/21/8038.abstract" target="_blank">Harvard</a>, and more that demonstrates how posting about oneself on social media and getting likes and comments help with those "dopamine surges". Just as parents faced the reality of helping their children learn healthy nutritional balance with <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/fast-food3.htm" target="_blank">the increased popularity of fast food in the late 20th century</a>, today's parents and teachers must help their children understand this research and learn how to balance healthy intake and production of media in an era of media-overload.</div>
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The third proffer in the op-ed is that tech companies produce and sell "technologies [that] are extremely useful for the tasks and pleasures that require shallower forms of consciousness, but they often crowd out and destroy the deeper forms of consciousness people need to thrive." When Brooks makes this assertion, he fails to recognize that the users of technology are the ones in control of whether they are using "shallower" or "deeper" forms of consciousness. Technology itself it not evil or good. Technology creators and users determine whether they will create and use tech tools toward positive and active purposes. These uses include connecting with far away colleagues/friends/family, collaborating on a movie/infographic/digital artwork, building momentum for a social movement, and more. Does this mean that those creators and users will not make mistakes at times or indulge in some of those "shallower" activities? Of course not. Just as we indulge in a bowl of ice cream or a glass of wine, it is permissible to indulge occasionally in a game of Clash of Clans or a scroll through an Instagram feed. It is up to us to share our positive digital products far and wide, and to own up to our mistakes so that we can learn from them and use technology better moving forward.<br />
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Brooks closes saying that he wants tech to "pitch itself" with "realism" and "humility." He says, "Imagine if instead of claiming to offer us the best things in life, tech merely saw itself as providing efficiency devices. Its innovations can save us time on lower-level tasks so we can get offline and there experience the best things in life." I certainly agree that offline time engaging in hands on, in-person, nature-filled experiences is an essential part of being human. Tech can never offer us those things. In fact, tech is incapable of "pitching itself" to us at all. It's creators can, but remember that those creators are also users. Blaming the tech itself is not helpful or useful. It is step back from taking personal responsibility for our behaviors and encouraging our children to do the same. We need to shift mindset away from blaming the tech, step up, and take action toward living healthy, positive, productive, full lives in a tech-rich world.Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-72591771068076292772017-11-17T19:21:00.000-08:002017-11-20T12:58:01.107-08:00The "Good Kid": Compliant or Engaged?It's interesting when I hear teachers describe a student as "a good kid". I was that good kid in school. And, unfortunately, I definitely described some of my former students that way earlier in my career.<br />
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But what do we mean when we say "good kid"?</div>
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A good kid completes school work without many complaints. A good kid never breaks school rules. A good kid studies hard and carries out assignments to the best of her/his ability. A good kid is quiet when appropriate and participates when appropriate in class.</div>
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So, when we say that a student is a "good kid" we are actually describing someone who is compliant. A teacher with compliant students is able to get through each school day rather smoothly. But, from the student perspective, is using the path of least resistance actually the best way to learn?<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TWjoSGDdMr4/Wg-jbRjw7RI/AAAAAAAADfM/UVaMv2sgDLIzL7wIa0ccXLOdlLZqvAgFACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/The%2B-Good%2BKid-.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TWjoSGDdMr4/Wg-jbRjw7RI/AAAAAAAADfM/UVaMv2sgDLIzL7wIa0ccXLOdlLZqvAgFACK4BGAYYCw/s400/The%2B-Good%2BKid-.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Instead, we should encourage our children to be engaged at school. The <a href="http://edglossary.org/student-engagement/" target="_blank">Glossary of Education Reform</a> explains student engagement in this way:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jlodHwClDVc/Wg9J7ys5XeI/AAAAAAAADe4/vKPAvqCH90YWgEr1zDj6wdwTmVCiCpkrQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-11-17%2Bat%2B3.43.00%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="1274" height="127" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jlodHwClDVc/Wg9J7ys5XeI/AAAAAAAADe4/vKPAvqCH90YWgEr1zDj6wdwTmVCiCpkrQCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-11-17%2Bat%2B3.43.00%2BPM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<h3>
Inquisitive, Interested, Inspired.</h3>
These three descriptors – inquisitive, interested, inspired – are the defining elements of student engagement. In order for student to be engaged, they must be curious about their topic and task (INQUISITIVE). They must be wondering what the answers are and where they can find them (INTERESTED). They must believe that finding those answers and sharing them with others will make an impact (INSPIRED).<br />
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A student who is quietly completing instructions provided by a teacher and contributing to a peaceful silent classroom might be engaged. But she also might be merely complying.<br />
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A student who participates in class activities and games, often filled with music and fast-paced rewards, might enjoy playing the game. But it is not guaranteed that he is invested and engaged in his learning.<br />
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A student who turns in a high quality final project might have been engaged throughout the process. But she might have been merely complying through each step.<br />
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<h3>
How can we tell the difference?</h3>
Students who are compliant:<br />
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<ul>
<li>are quiet or are vocal and obedient.</li>
<li>never (ever) question the lesson or asks questions the teacher doesn't anticipate.</li>
<li>when faced with a mistake, the student worries about the impact on his/her grade.</li>
</ul>
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Students who are engaged:<br />
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<ul>
<li>are eager. Sometimes this manifests as quiet and busy. Other times it manifests with vocal and even disruptive questions.</li>
<li>wonder out loud about the facts and ideas they are being asked to learn. They are inherently curious.</li>
<li>when faced with a mistake, the student redoubles effort toward the goal or adjusts – not dilutes – the goal accordingly.</li>
</ul>
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<h3>
How can we make the difference?</h3>
The answer is student choice and voice. These terms have become buzzwords and, for many, have lost their meaning. Still we should ask our learners questions like:<br />
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<ul>
<li>What do YOU want to research?</li>
<li>What do YOU need to be successful?</li>
<li>What story do YOU want to tell?</li>
<li>What do YOU want to make?</li>
<li>How do YOU want to show what you've learned?</li>
</ul>
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When teachers ask their students these questions, students are often ready to share their ideas. Some students have been ready their whole lives and the ideas will explode. Others will be hesitant because they've become accustomed to a compliant school culture. These learners will want to know the formula or recipe for success. Resist. Respond to their questions with the questions above. Stir the curiosity and engagement inside of them.<br />
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As parents, teachers, coaches, and administrators we can rise to this occasion. We can show the learners we care for – whether they are our students or our own children – that we want them to be curious and engaged, not obedient and compliant. Engagement is the key to deep learning and active citizenship.<br />
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I don't want anyone to describe my daughters or my students as "compliant." What is easier is not always better. When it comes to the children I care for, whether they are family or students, I'd much prefer adjectives like "engaged" and "curious."<br />
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Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-28448460693286905142017-11-09T11:55:00.000-08:002017-11-10T05:34:13.406-08:00Getting Real About the Teen Depression-Cyberbullying Connection<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
A couple of months ago <a href="http://www.kerryhawk02.com/2017/08/generations-will-not-be-destroyed-by.html">I wrote a response</a> to a psychologist's theory that smart phones are responsible for the increase in teen depression and anxiety. The overemphasis on screen technology as a root cause for <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2016/11/10/peds.2016-1878">the increase of major depressive episodes among teens and young adults</a> is not new. The most popular articles about this topic found online, like <a href="http://time.com/4974863/kids-smartphones-depression/" target="_blank">this recent one from Time</a>, will continue to confirm that screens are the problem because it is an easy answer and soothes adults who are not sure how to manage the tech use of the adolescents and teens in their lives. There is not doubt, the stories of individual teens they tell in those articles are touching and concerning.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-slWfPiFRos0/Wf8xBGd_EYI/AAAAAAAADd0/wK5KKd8b64AznsUCvIhkaE2hAeLScDz-QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Getting%2BReal%2BAbout.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-slWfPiFRos0/Wf8xBGd_EYI/AAAAAAAADd0/wK5KKd8b64AznsUCvIhkaE2hAeLScDz-QCK4BGAYYCw/s400/Getting%2BReal%2BAbout.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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According to the <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/teen-depression/symptoms-causes/syc-20350985">Mayo Clinic</a>, the true causes of teen depression are:<br />
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<ul>
<li>biological chemistry</li>
<li>hormones</li>
<li>inherited traits</li>
<li>early childhood trauma</li>
<li>learned patterns of negative thinking</li>
</ul>
<br />
Surely some of the learned patterns of negative thinking can stem from some interactions students have online, especially cyberbullying. While cyberbullying is a phenomenon educators and parents need to help their children understand and overcome, its prevalence should not be overestimated. In fact, <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/10/27/553845463/learning-how-bullying-happens-in-order-to-prevent-it">a recent survey</a> shows that most bullying is verbal and the vast majority is in person.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8auWKRToEis/Wf8hXLZTrEI/AAAAAAAADdo/btDKBGO2kwgZTLZBYcDShu1ba7A6VYG3wCEwYBhgL/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-11-05%2Bat%2B9.30.40%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="980" data-original-width="540" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8auWKRToEis/Wf8hXLZTrEI/AAAAAAAADdo/btDKBGO2kwgZTLZBYcDShu1ba7A6VYG3wCEwYBhgL/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-11-05%2Bat%2B9.30.40%2BAM.png" width="220" /></a></div>
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This information is not meant to minimize the traumatic impact cyberbullying can have. (There is help available. My favorite resources are ConnectSafely's <a href="http://www.connectsafely.org/cyberbullying/" target="_blank">Parent's Guide to Cyberbullying</a> and <a href="http://www.connectsafely.org/lgbtq/" target="_blank">Parent, Educator & Youth Guide to LGBTQ Cyberbullying</a>.) It is meant to provide a realistic understanding of the myriad of causes of teen depression and anxiety. Even if we were able to eradicate cyberbullying among children and adults, the major causes of teen depression would still exist. It's time to stop blaming devices and apps and start addressing the true root causes more holistically.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Ba84z8snroC/?taken-by=diginutrition" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-41YJ5mmdRAc/Wf3tbqeKRfI/AAAAAAAADdQ/Vr4LDyEgYcAtCJK5YfzPz3ei3bYXiYVSwCK4BGAYYCw/s400/IMG_7737.jpg" width="291" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Ba84z8snroC/?taken-by=diginutrition" target="_blank">You can follow Jocelyn Brewer on Instagram at @diginutrition.</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The well-being of the teens and adolescents in your life depends on your awareness of ALL potential causes of depression and anxiety. In addition to the Mayo Clinic webpage hyperlinked earlier, I also recommend the <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/teen-depression/index.shtml" target="_blank">National Institute of Mental Health</a>. Read them, build your awareness, and be careful to avoid simple explanations – like blaming cell phones and social media – for the rise in teen depression and anxiety. Raising and educating healthy children is challenging, complicated, and incredible rewarding.</div>
Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-59940087812971372302017-11-05T08:30:00.000-08:002017-11-10T05:31:11.358-08:00Are curriculum specialists in edtech denial?As an educator who has built my career during the 21st Century, I've found that my fellow education professionals often classify themselves in one of two categories:<br />
<div>
<ol>
<li>Specialize in curriculum (often in one specific subject area)</li>
<li>Specialize in technology (either as part of IT or integration)</li>
</ol>
This is a mistake.<br />
<br />
Curriculum is the what, education technology (aka edtech) is the how. They have to be developed together in order for a student's learning experience to be engaging, effective, and relevant.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sQJenrxVsyE/Wf86OxRa0-I/AAAAAAAADeE/YkZ929Qivr0PJbmSWog2-J5P7XMkgNKSgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Are%2Bcurriculum%2Bspecialists%2Bin%2Bedtech%2Bdenial-.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sQJenrxVsyE/Wf86OxRa0-I/AAAAAAAADeE/YkZ929Qivr0PJbmSWog2-J5P7XMkgNKSgCK4BGAYYCw/s400/Are%2Bcurriculum%2Bspecialists%2Bin%2Bedtech%2Bdenial-.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<h3>
Edtech Defined</h3>
Recently I was asked to define edtech. Here is how I responded:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-97cbfbd2-8791-3704-f1ea-9500da4f59af"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Education technology – or edtech – is the study and practice of effective teaching and learning processes and strategies that incorporate devices, apps, programs, and media. Edtech can be used in traditional classrooms, at home, and as part of learning in almost any setting."</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My definition encompasses more than devices and apps. Because we put the word "education" in front of "technology" we are giving the term greater meaning. Education is not made up of tools. Rather, education is made up of research-based, interpersonal, creative instructional practice and the teachers and students who participate in that practice. Teachers who seek to make their instructional practice a best practice in today's world seek to incorporate technology devices, programs, and resources.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While it is appropriate for an educator to specialize in a particular curriculum area – like early childhood, middle level humanities, studio art, or advanced chemistry – it is inappropriate for any of these specialists to brush off edtech as if it is not something needed in their classroom. Effective teaching practice incorporates the tools and skills that students are already using and will need to learn for the future. These include accessing, analyzing, and interpreting digital resources. They also include communicating, creating, and sharing using digital tools and programs.</span></span><br />
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This does not mean that students should not be writing with pencil and paper, reading physical books, creating with materials like scissors, wood, string, glue, and paint. But they should be using edtech </span></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">seamlessly</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> as they plan, design, organize, analyze, and share their learning with these items.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span>
As with other education concepts – such as common assessments and standards-based grading –edtech can be practiced properly or it can be practice poorly. For instance, when fill-in-the-blank worksheets are distributed as digital PDFs instead of on paper, teachers should not be surprised if their students succumb to the temptation to navigate away from the PDF to other media on their device. Mere substitution of digital for paper is an example of poorly practiced edtech. Learning what constitutes effective edtech is essential.<br />
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<h3>
Effective</h3>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Edtech is effective when it allows students to access information, collaborate with others, and create in ways that were previously impossible. </li>
<li>Edtech is effective when it is use in concert with face-to-face social environments and non-digital resources. </li>
</ul>
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<br />
<h3>
Not Effective</h3>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Edtech is not effective when it is used as a substitute for a great teacher who cares to get to know her students and build positive educational relationships with them. </li>
<li>Edtech is not effective when a paper worksheet is merely traded for a PDF and and hardcover is merely traded for an ebook.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Often educators enter the classroom with a passion for their subject matter specialty and for working with children. The most effective educators constantly seek to learn more about their subject matter AND about how to best teach the children they serve. Edtech must be a part of that professional learning and a part of every classroom.</div>
Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-12662981724279051322017-11-04T07:34:00.000-07:002017-11-04T07:34:21.586-07:00Breaking my Blogging Dry SpellThe people I live and work closely with know that I've been neglecting this blog for nearly 2 months. But there's more to it than that. Because I haven't been writing, I haven't been processing my professional thoughts and experiences in the same way. For years this blog has been the place I go to sort out and express my professional thinking, and I'm back.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-03U5vxy08tA/Wf3LSCXjADI/AAAAAAAADdA/Cic_4K_jcSIhkthc04aPYApcLuIBFV0mQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/authentic%2Bleather.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-03U5vxy08tA/Wf3LSCXjADI/AAAAAAAADdA/Cic_4K_jcSIhkthc04aPYApcLuIBFV0mQCK4BGAYYCw/s400/authentic%2Bleather.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<h3>
How it happened</h3>
Just after my last post, there was a sudden change that happened at my school. What the change was does not matter in this context, but it did turn my understanding of my place and my role there upside down for a while. It took a lot of mental energy for me to develop new understandings and I was honestly a bit unsure of myself during that time. I was afraid to share here.<br />
<br />
<h3>
A realization</h3>
Now I realize that I should have blogged about a lot of that. Like many education bloggers, the topics of my posts are often inspired by experiences that I have every day at school. I do not write specifically about students or teachers without their permission, but I do share my research and ideas based on my work with them. During the last 2 months, I've done a LOT of research and thinking. The act of writing pushes me to organize and interpret that research and thinking into strategies that I can use and share here.<br />
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By failing to go through the writing process during that transition, I was failing myself.<br />
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<h3>
Forgiving myself</h3>
I was probably ready to start writing a couple of weeks ago, but restarting was harder than I expected: <i>What should my re-entry post be about? Was anything I was currently working on or thinking about interesting enough to share with other educators? The first post of my return had to about something important in order to be worthy, right?</i><br />
<br />
Now that I read those questions typed out plainly on my screen, I can't even believe I let myself think those things. Those are precisely the questions of self-doubt that I'm often telling my colleagues to avoid as they venture into blogging. Educators who are willing to take the time to write about their professional work and share it with others are committing an act of generosity, inspiration, and selflessness. Your colleagues around the country and around the world learn more from you than you realize.<br />
<br />
I have 3 or 4 more blog posts outlined in the notes app on my iPhone. I pledge the write them over the next few weeks and share them here. No more self doubt. No more perceived writer's block.<br />
<br />
When you go through a similar time in your professional life, I hope you can remember this post and forgive yourself sooner than I did. Educators everywhere need your ideas and work so that they can grow and become better. Don't hold back.Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-21685318094945404522017-09-18T18:44:00.000-07:002017-09-18T19:55:52.683-07:00LGBTQ Cyberbullying: Real Data and Real AdviceWhile I am a fierce advocate for free speech online, I'm also an educator who works every day in my own school community – and by writing on this blog – to spread awareness among students and teachers about how to practice positive and helpful digital citizenship online. Since my passion and my work bring me back to cyberbullying quite often, it has become clear that certain groups of young people are targeted more often than others.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>52% of LGBTQ youth between the ages of 11 and 22 reported having been the targets of cyberbullying several times (<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19361653.2011.649616?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=wjly20" target="_blank">Blumenfeld and Cooper, 2012</a>)</li>
<li>55.5% of LGBTQ students across the United States felt unsafe at school based on their sexual identity (<a href="https://www.glsen.org/article/2015-national-school-climate-survey" target="_blank">GLSEN, National School Climate Survey, 2015</a>)</li>
</ul>
<br />
This data makes it clear that our students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are particularly vulnerable to bullying, discrimination, and abuse. The way we use digital tools to communicate also makes them vulnerable to cyberbullying.<br />
<br />
This is why my work with ConnectSafely.org is so important to me. While I can make an immediate impact in my school by working with our teachers and students everyday, it is my hope that some of my contributions to ConnectSafely can have a broader impact nationwide. I'm proud of <a href="http://www.connectsafely.org/lgbtq/" target="_blank">our new guide</a>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.connectsafely.org/lgbtq/" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jxG42V0J35g/WcBtRm-i26I/AAAAAAAADck/mIEFSKFF2rUVNY656WYQLeS_J2G-G8BJQCK4BGAYYCw/s400/LGBTQ%2BGuide%2BTwitter.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Specifically, you can look for advice and expertise on:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<ul>
<li>The benefits and risks of online interactions for LGBTQ youth.</li>
<li>How parents can support their children before, during, and after they experience cyberbullying.</li>
<li>The importance of sustained positive school culture to support students.</li>
<li>TONS of action items and resources to help schools figure out what to do next.</li>
<li>A review of legal protections and case law.</li>
<li>A section specifically directed at children and teens to help them learn to protect themselves from and cope with cyberbullying if necessary.</li>
</ul>
Not ready to read <a href="http://www.connectsafely.org/lgbtq/" target="_blank">the whole guide</a> just yet? Check out the <a href="http://www.connectsafely.org/wp-content/uploads/LGBTQ-Guide-Top-5.pdf" target="_blank">Top 5 Questions</a> to kickstart your thinking and the <a href="http://www.connectsafely.org/lgbtq-resources/" target="_blank">Resources Page</a> to learn more about organizations and materials available to you beyond our guide. When you do read the guide, feel free to comment and let us know what you think, how you're planning to use it, and share your story to help bring more power and positivity to the online world for all youth.Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-76938931736885084792017-09-11T17:44:00.000-07:002017-09-11T18:04:07.603-07:00When is learning truly authentic?It is not uncommon for educators to bristle a bit when asked whether they engage students in "authentic" learning. Without providing more context for the term, some might think they are being accused of developing and delivering lessons that are not genuine, or are fake. In education, authenticity means much more than genuine over fake. According to the <a href="http://www.bie.org/blog/gold_standard_pbl_essential_project_design_elements" target="_blank">Buck Institute for Education</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In education, the concept has to do with how “real-world” the learning or the task is. Authenticity increases student motivation and learning. A project can be authentic in several ways, often in combination. It can have an authentic context, such as when students solve problems like those faced by people in the world outside of school (e.g., entrepreneurs developing a business plan, engineers designing a bridge, or advisors to the President recommending policy). It can involve the use of real-world processes, tasks and tools, and performance standards, such as when students plan an experimental investigation or use digital editing software to produce videos approaching professional quality. It can have a real impact on others, such as when students address a need in their school or community (e.g., designing and building a school garden, improving a community park, helping local immigrants) or create something that will be used or experienced by others. Finally, a project can have personal authenticity when it speaks to students’ own concerns, interests, cultures, identities, and issues in their lives.</blockquote>
<div>
Upon gaining better understanding of what authentic learning is, most teachers buy in immediately. They recognize that students will be more invested and engaged in their own learning if they see the tasks and content as authentic. Many educators, however, need examples to help them get started with creating authenticity in their own project and lesson plans.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NYESNtXbW34/Wbcs4-NE_yI/AAAAAAAADcU/sb-EbFUngNA1HJfvbHt6RtkHrNTlqsHWQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Learning%2Bis%2Bauthentic%2Bwhen%2Bit%2Bfeatures%2BREAL-WORLD.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NYESNtXbW34/Wbcs4-NE_yI/AAAAAAAADcU/sb-EbFUngNA1HJfvbHt6RtkHrNTlqsHWQCK4BGAYYCw/s400/Learning%2Bis%2Bauthentic%2Bwhen%2Bit%2Bfeatures%2BREAL-WORLD.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Melissa Greenwood, editor at SmartBrief, recently asked me for examples of authentic learning at my school, <a href="http://stjohnsprep.org/" target="_blank">St. John's Prep</a> in Danvers, Massachusetts. Here is my response:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
At St. John’s Prep, students often use such tools as <a href="https://spark.adobe.com/" target="_blank">Adobe Spark</a>, <a href="https://www.apple.com/imovie/" target="_blank">iMovie</a> and <a href="http://gingerlabs.com/" target="_blank">Notability</a> to create clean, professional-quality media. Their quote graphics, videos, animations and infographics are clean and beautiful and demonstrate content mastery. By creating the digital products they see adults sharing online, they are more invested in learning. What makes these authentic creations even more exciting is that they are encouraged to share them beyond our classrooms. Our digital portfolio program gives our students that chance to share their work broadly if they wish. But perhaps even more important, through the portfolio process, they have the chance to reflect on what they've learned and why they are proud of their creations. Their authentic learning experience is twofold: They will create what adult professionals create, and they will get to share their graphics, videos, designs and writing with the world beyond our school if they choose.</blockquote>
<div>
The resulting article brought together four unique stories of authentic learning from teachers all across the country. My three co-contributors are certainly educators I admire: <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyChaffee" target="_blank">Sydney Chaffee</a>, the 2017 Teacher of the Year; <a href="https://twitter.com/WonderTechEdu" target="_blank">Alice Chen</a>, a brilliant and well-known technology coach; and <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanChristo4" target="_blank">Bryan Christopher</a>, a journalism teacher and Teacher Voice Fellow. Click the image below to <a href="http://smartbrief.com/original/2017/09/authentic-learning-school-year?utm_source=brief" target="_blank">read the full article</a>. Share these examples with your colleagues and encourage them to add more authentic learning to their lessons and projects this year.</div>
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<a href="http://smartbrief.com/original/2017/09/authentic-learning-school-year?utm_source=brief" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1504" height="153" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k6kso8_6w3w/WbcomiB8EAI/AAAAAAAADcE/c0I8EEyiHpkmPuP1qH0His35_enIUNoAgCLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-11%2Bat%2B8.21.31%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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How do you bring authentic learning to the students in your classroom. How do you support teachers who are looking to add authentic learning to their lessons and projects? Comment below! The more examples we share, the more our students will benefit.</div>
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Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-42249085133980157922017-08-31T09:07:00.001-07:002017-08-31T09:07:09.270-07:00The Power of School Culture for New TeachersThroughout the month of August, shiny brand new teachers have been preparing their classrooms, reviewing curriculum, planning welcome activities, and tossing and turning the night before that big day. (OK, let's be honest, veteran teachers are doing these things too. But first year teachers' hearts are beating a little faster.) Everyone wants these newbies to be successful: the administrators and colleagues who were on their hiring committees, the students who enter their classrooms, the parents of those young learners, and all of us who want them to breathe new life into our education system.<br /><br /><h3>
Where We Are</h3>
<div>
Sadly, recent research shows that new teacher retention is poor. Nashville, Tennessee l<a href="http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2017/07/12/nashville-schools-teacher-vacancies-2017-school-year/467337001/">oses half of its new teachers within 3 to 5 years</a>. Even worse, in Oakland, California schools <a href="http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/03/04/oakland-about-70-percent-of-new-teachers-leave-the-district-in-five-years-report-says/">70% of new teachers leave within 5 years</a>.<br /><br />The top recommendation for retaining these teachers is to <a href="http://smartbrief.com/original/2017/08/3-ways-aid-new-teacher-retention?utm_source=brief">build meaningful and sustainable mentorships</a>. Most schools and districts have mentor programs in place the formalize the feedback and support loop between new and veteran teachers. These programs can be effective, but perhaps the greatest indicator for their success is how the mentors feel about their profession and their school.<br /><br /><h3>
The Data on New Teacher Burnout</h3>
</div>
<div>
A new study shows that the climate of a school and burnout level of veteran teachers in school is perhaps the greatest factor in predicting the longevity of early career teachers (ECTs). The <a href="http://www.infectiousdiseaseadvisor.com/practice-management/social-network-use-linked-to-early-career-burnout/article/675152/?DCMP=EMC-IDA_Update_20170809&%3bcpn=&%3bhmSubId=2XqZW0aL_iY1&%3bhmEmail=fBR91aanciKBBhZIP3EcJX5NgBgGs9Qbpip7VDn3Yrw9wzMC5RyTkQ2&%3bNID=1477503498&%3bdl=0">Infectious Disease Advisor</a> reports:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
Jihyun Kim, from Michigan State University in East Lansing, and colleagues examined factors associated with burnout levels of 171 ECTs in 10 school districts in Michigan and Indiana. The authors assessed the impact of burnout levels of ECTs' mentors and close colleagues in a social network influence model. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The researchers found that ECTs' burnout levels correlated significantly with the social network exposure term, indicating that ECTs' with mentors and colleagues with higher burnout levels were more likely to be burned out at a second time point.</blockquote>
<br />Those of us who are veteran educators should pause here. We make up the in-person social network of early career teachers. The words we use to describe our profession, our body language and facial expressions in the hallways and copy rooms, and the tone of our farewells on Friday afternoons have a deep impact on the newest colleagues in our schools. We teachers and administrators have the power to shape school culture, and therefore shape the chances of success of our new colleagues.</div>
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<br /><br /><h3>
Who We Are</h3>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iA5zHN9RSyw/WagsY8WkplI/AAAAAAAADbc/lNfEaYalBqsx-5flIWExjVmUx9sS5XoTgCLcBGAs/s1600/117034b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="280" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iA5zHN9RSyw/WagsY8WkplI/AAAAAAAADbc/lNfEaYalBqsx-5flIWExjVmUx9sS5XoTgCLcBGAs/s320/117034b.jpg" width="224" /></a>The teachers and administrators who work together to serve students in a school are all leaders. Students look to them as learning leaders. Parents look to them as academic leaders. And, of course, early career teachers look to them as leaders of the profession. In <a href="http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Books/Overview/Learning-Transformed.aspx" target="_blank">Learning Transformed</a>, a new book from ASCD by authors Tom Murray and Eric Sheninger call upon education leaders, whether they work at the classroom, school, or district level, to be LBAs. Here's the rub:</div>
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LBT = leader by title</div>
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Murray and Sheninger write, "LBTs often exhibit... defining characteristics such as egos, power trips, ... ruling by fear, and insecurity when their ideas are challenged in the open."</div>
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LBA = leader by action</div>
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According to the authors, LBAs are those who have "taken action to initiate meaningful change in their classrooms or schools. These leaders don't just talk the talk; they also walk the walk."</div>
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Murray and Sheninger go on to write:</div>
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In our opinion, the best leaders have one thing in common: they do, as opposed to just talk. Leadership is about action, not position of chatter. Some of the best leaders we have seen during our years in education have never held any sort of administrative title. (p. 34)</blockquote>
<br />The remainder of the book is a treasure trove of research strategies to practice the mindset needed to be a leader for positive progress in education. The authors go on to address many opportunities that can help new and veteran educators alike: creating intentional learning experiences, designing learning spaces, providing personalized professional learning, and collaborating with colleagues and community members. As we embark on this school year, think about who you are as an educator. It important to plan for impact we have on our students, but also the impact we have on the other learners in our school: our newest teacher colleagues. <a href="http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Books/Overview/Learning-Transformed.aspx" target="_blank">Learning Transformed</a> is a key resource toward this honorable goal.</div>
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As the school year begins and you welcome new educators into your school, remember that what you do and the disposition with which you do is a form of leadership and can have a long term impact on their success. Even if the school year has been rolling for a few weeks, take time to reflect on how much energy you had during those early days. Is it sustainable? How can you build on it instead of letting it wane?</div>
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Your contribution to school culture will shape the experience of your new colleagues. Help transform learning and teaching for them by being a force for good each day. When teachers feel supported and empowered, so do their students. At the end of the day, we are all there because of the students.</div>
Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com71tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-48859397898916776902017-08-15T18:59:00.000-07:002017-08-16T03:38:10.199-07:00Generations Will Not Be Destroyed by Smartphones<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MrzCiOEy9B0/WZOmbtUx6TI/AAAAAAAADbM/ZM-6bgOGtTwd_s1L2dSGiEwoqA5AuAaJwCLcBGAs/s1600/Before%2BGenerations%2BAre%2BDestroyed-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1024" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MrzCiOEy9B0/WZOmbtUx6TI/AAAAAAAADbM/ZM-6bgOGtTwd_s1L2dSGiEwoqA5AuAaJwCLcBGAs/s400/Before%2BGenerations%2BAre%2BDestroyed-2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/" target="_blank">This article from the Atlantic</a> appeared multiple times in my Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter feeds last week. The author is a professor of psychology and experienced researcher with a focus on generational differences. Her title claims that smartphones are destroying the post-Millennial generation. This paragraph is perhaps the clincher:</div>
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"Even when a seismic event—a war, a technological leap, a free concert in the mud—plays an outsize role in shaping a group of young people, no single factor ever defines a generation. Parenting styles continue to change, as do school curricula and culture, and these things matter. But the twin rise of the smartphone and social media has caused an earthquake of a magnitude we’ve not seen in a very long time, if ever. There is compelling evidence that the devices we’ve placed in young people’s hands are having profound effects on their lives—and making them seriously unhappy."</blockquote>
My concern is that the author, although certainly qualified to utilize the mental health data given her background and experience, is connecting her conclusions to the phones themselves. Her focus is misplaced. She should be more focused on <i>people's behaviors</i> when using their phones, not the phones themselves.<br />
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A couple of days later, a response to the Atlantic article <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/yes-smartphones-are-destroying-a-generation-but-not-of-kids/" target="_blank">appeared on JSTOR Daily</a>. The author is also a published researcher and she encourages readers to shift the focus of their blame away from phones. She claims GenXers, the parents of those post-Millennials, are really the generation facing destruction. Her overall message is captured here:<br />
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"...you know what smartphones and social media are really great at? Tuning out your children.</blockquote>
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I know, we all really enjoy reading articles about how it’s those evil smartphones that are destroying our children’s brains and souls. It lets us justify locking their devices up with parental monitoring tools, or cutting off their mobile plan when they fail to make the grade.</blockquote>
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Fellow parents, it’s time for us to consider another possible explanation for why our kids are increasingly disengaged. It’s because we’ve disengaged ourselves; we’re too busy looking down at our screens to look up at our kids."</blockquote>
At least this author is focusing on behaviors. She is calling out parents to be models of healthy technology use before pointing fingers at their children. I do agree with that concept, but I'm still concerned about the blame game.<br />
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What do educators think?</h3>
When educators read articles like these two is it easy for us to think, "If my students are hooked on their phones, it isn't my fault. The data shows that the phones themselves are the problem." Or, if we are more likely to believe the second article, educators might think, "If my students are hooked on their phones, it isn't my fault. Their parents are the real problem." The purpose of this post is to reject those two mindsets emphatically and remind educators of what they already know:<br />
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<b>Placing blame does not solve problems. Taking action does.</b> </blockquote>
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And, what's more, simply banning students from accessing smartphones and social media at school is not going to work. Actually, according to <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7IfUYG44Ps9RmpTR0J0YktTRm8/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">a new study from the University of Pheonix and Harris Polls</a>, educators' social media use is clearly trending up.<br />
<ul><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Orb5SCcb_X8/WZOR12NctjI/AAAAAAAADak/67FpBHeSWY8RlJnBgzl-1Ja3xrszeE-LQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen_Shot_2017-08-15_at_8_24_16_PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="682" height="275" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Orb5SCcb_X8/WZOR12NctjI/AAAAAAAADak/67FpBHeSWY8RlJnBgzl-1Ja3xrszeE-LQCLcBGAs/s320/Screen_Shot_2017-08-15_at_8_24_16_PM.jpg" width="320" /></a>
<li>41% of teachers use social media at school, up from 32 percent in 2016.</li>
<li>28% of teachers don't use social media in the classroom, but would like to.</li>
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This data seems to show that more educators are recognizing at least the potential value of social media use as part of their work in education. My hope is that we also recognize that our learners will not develop healthy social and technological habits with their devices unless we intentionally teach them. Just as we work hard to teach our students skills like keeping notes organized, managing their time, and how to write a lab report, we need to teach them how to leverage social media to help them learn and share in positive and productive ways. The children we serve will not learn these skills unless we recognize our duty to model them and teach them.<br />
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How will educators step up?</h3>
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<li>It starts with cultural norms – not disciplinary rules – that all community-members agree to be held to. Yes, even adults. At St. John's Prep we have developed these and are rolling them out intentionally this year. Our infographic was even designed by a student and is posted in every classroom all over campus. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<li>Bring parents into the conversation. Share <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-plugged-in-parents-of-tweens-and-teens-2016" target="_blank">the data on parent screen use</a> with them and ask them to hold themselves accountable as well. Provide them with practical tips and resources, <a href="http://digcitsjp.weebly.com/for-parents-and-school-counselors.html" target="_blank">like these we curated for the parents in our community at St. John's Prep</a>. Offer consistent opportunities for them to come together and talk about successes and struggles as they raise, and you educate, their children in this brave new world.</li>
<li>Take tech risks with your students! When they are excited about a new tool or a new way to share their learning using their smartphones, embrace those ideas. <a href="http://www.connectsafely.org/eduprivacy/" target="_blank">Be sure to help them learn about privacy and security when trying a new app or program</a>, but as long as it is safe students should be able to get creative even using tools you are not familiar with.</li>
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We will not get caught up in the blame game.<br />
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We will not succumb to a fatalist attitude that we are already on an inevitable destructive path. </div>
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We will not make the mistake of oversimplifying the solution and imposing unrealistic bans.<br />
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I'm confident that educators will step up, be the voice of reason, and get to work making the meaningful changes that we need so that all generations develop healthy proactive habits.</div>
Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2914133192411473700.post-82609930490607135622017-08-07T13:40:00.000-07:002017-08-08T09:50:17.787-07:00Home School Communication: It's Not About Progress Reports<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TnzQ5x1bhqA/WYjEO6m0QFI/AAAAAAAADaM/NAzsmutw1gkO3wvYBYJLtNJsevUxkhysACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Don%2527t%2Bcomplicate%2Byour%2Bmind..png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TnzQ5x1bhqA/WYjEO6m0QFI/AAAAAAAADaM/NAzsmutw1gkO3wvYBYJLtNJsevUxkhysACK4BGAYYCw/s400/Don%2527t%2Bcomplicate%2Byour%2Bmind..png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Each afternoon during the last school year, my daughter's 2nd grade teacher sent a few cell phone photos and a 2-3 sentence explanation of what they showed. It probably took her no more than 5 minutes to snap the shots of her students, type up the words, and hit send. About once per week I would dash off a few sentences in response thanking her for the photos or letting her know what my daughter had said about school that day. These seemingly mundane quick interactions helped me build an everyday relationship with my child's teacher. The benefits of building that relationship went far beyond a teacher fulfilling her contractual obligations to communicate student progress. There are 5 specific scenarios that come to mind in which her quick photos and messages created a lasting benefit for my daughter and for my husband and I as her parents:<br />
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<li>It made it easier and more natural for me too reach out to her one night early in the year when my daughter left her homework at school. Together we were able to come up with an alternative assignment that my daughter enjoyed and also helped her practice the skills she was working on.</li>
<li>That everyday relationship made me think to ask her about her favorite online educational games so that I could direct my daughter's at home screen time toward positive activities.</li>
<li>At one point in the school year, a new class seating assignment created a little social conflict for my daughter. I helped her brainstorm potential solutions. She went to school the next morning ready to advocate for herself, but I also know I could send her teacher a brief email to keep an eye out as my daughter navigated this tough situation.</li>
<li>When we ran into her and her family in town, we were able to talk effortlessly about the exciting things my daughter was learning and doing in school. These conversations didn't turn into awkward impromptu parent-teacher conferences. They were more like pleasant small talk.</li>
<li>Speaking of those parent-teacher conferences, I actually had a tough time scheduling one this year due to our busy schedules. Because of all of our communications throughout the year, though, I could just up the phone or email my daughter's teacher anytime I had a question. No need for a special conference to touch base.</li>
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I hope my daughter's 3rd grade teacher takes a few moments each day to use the devices at her fingertips to help build a relationship, too. It is likely that throughout her elementary education experience I will get that kind of communication. But will it continue in the upper grades?<br />
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It isn't about nightly homework checks</h3>
There is a common practice to hold back on daily updates to parents as learners mature. Usually, the philosophy behind this shift is that as children get older they should take more responsibility for their own learning. But I'm not talk about daily communications that include each night's homework assignments or regularly scheduled progress reports. Rather, as a parent I want to know what my daughters have tried, learned, read, and discussed each day. That way, when they get home we can share and discuss in a way that is more meaningful than, "How was school today?"<br />
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Adolescents and teens can be help accountable for their school work without sacrificing teacher-parent communication. The more parents know about their child's day, the more likely they are to be positive proactive forces in their child's education. Every teacher needs as many parent allies as possible, and every parent wants their child to have a healthy and strong relationship with her teacher.<br />
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How educators can make it happen</h3>
This year, I'm happy to be a part of the <a href="http://blog.classtag.com/pledge100-reach-every-parent/" target="_blank">#Pledge100 campaign</a> to reach every parent during the 2017-2018 school year. Much of this post has been about my experience as a parent, but as an educator I also saw great benefits when I stayed in constant communication with my students' parents. As a middle school teacher, I kept up a class website where parents could find the class calendar and all materials. Additionally, I sent home personal emails to 3-4 students' families each afternoon letting them know about how their recent experiences, successes, and struggles in my classroom.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A9llzUTZ0DA/WYi_mfELtYI/AAAAAAAADaA/XOLI61Hbp5A-G_JtPDJgmV2QmvKNjPcywCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/kerry-gallagher-parent-communication-tips-pledge100-classtag%2B%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A9llzUTZ0DA/WYi_mfELtYI/AAAAAAAADaA/XOLI61Hbp5A-G_JtPDJgmV2QmvKNjPcywCK4BGAYYCw/s400/kerry-gallagher-parent-communication-tips-pledge100-classtag%2B%25281%2529.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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These emails took me no more than 15 minutes to write each afternoon. The benefits were two-fold:<br />
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<li>Parents knew that I thought about their child as a unique individual who deserved an education that fit him best.</li>
<li>My end-of-day daily reflections helped me think more carefully about how I spoke to and served every student every day. I believe I grew into a better teacher because of this practice.</li>
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As a high school teacher, I kept up a similar class website, but also sent home weekly detailed emails with links to examples of student work. These links featured student videos, podcasts, and even ebooks authored by entire classes. Parents enjoyed the celebration of their teenager's learning and I found that the rapid-fire 5-minute parent-teacher conferences we held once a year were much more relaxed.<br />
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Start this summer</h3>
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZY5KFlZgoGc/WYi9rdHmsgI/AAAAAAAADZw/MGmAH81B0rs7pfswTfQO_PFdAZnWIJ1pACLcBGAs/s1600/SummerRead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="878" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZY5KFlZgoGc/WYi9rdHmsgI/AAAAAAAADZw/MGmAH81B0rs7pfswTfQO_PFdAZnWIJ1pACLcBGAs/s320/SummerRead.jpg" width="301" /></a>We even got a message late last week - in the dog days of summer - from my daughter's teacher reminding her former 2nd graders to read. I was so impressed. I showed it to my daughter and she said, "I can't wait to go back to school so I can visit Ms. W and Ms. R. They will be so happy to see me and I can tell them about summer camp!"<br />
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If you haven't communicated with your former students yet this summer, don't underestimate how powerful and positive it can be for them to hear from you. The fact that you thought of them during your vacation time will mean to world to them.<br />
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And, of course, reach out to your incoming students as soon as possible. Hold off on homework policies and class expectations. Share a little about what you love about being a teacher and how you used some of your summer to get ready for them. Reassure them that you are excited to meet them and get to know them. Perhaps you could even encourage them to write back to you.Kerry Gallagher, JDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929055111516475230noreply@blogger.com1