Let me preface by saying that Ditch that Textbook Digital Summit ends in 4 days on Dec. 31! So if you're reading this before the videos go offline, head over there ASAP to view the ones that call out to you. (You can always go to Matt Miller's main site too after his summit is over.) Online professional development can be such a great way to learn from the comfort of our own homes. I typically prefer in person PD and conferences, but sometimes those aren't in the cards (like when I was on maternity leave and taking care of a newborn this past summer). Plus online PDs can broaden your horizons, as they're sometimes national or global in scale. I started getting into online PD back with EdCamp Global a few years ago (they've since changed their name to EdChange Global), and then I got into EdCamp Voice and NotAtIste the past two years. I would highly recommend all 3 of those and have learned from each of them and plan to participate in them again. All three of them are highly interactive and have so many options for how to be involved and what you want to learn about. These interactions also provided me with so many new, amazing educators to follow and connect with via Twitter. These online PDs also introduced me to some of my favorite educational technology tools that I still use (Flipgrid, Piktochart, Canva, etc.) as well as expanding my thinking and creating open dialogue around topics key to education. That being said, I find webinar-esque PD to be rather hit and miss, and recently I stumbled upon a tweet by a fellow teacher in my district about Matt Miller's Ditch that Textbook Digital Summit. I figured I could listen to some of them during some of my holiday season driving, and I'm SO glad I saw that tweet. At the time I'm writing this, I've already listened to 4.5 of the 9 (I need to go back and finish some obviously). I want to dive into the two that have stayed with me the most so far and some of my takeaways. I listened to The Science of Happiness with Kim Strobel first. Wow. I needed to hear some of that conversation as I think all educators do. "At some point it is diminishing returns to put in the extra time and effort and it is hurting our own life and relationships." Yes! I was constantly working my first 5 years in education. I didn't know how to stop, how to draw boundaries, and how to not be a perfectionist! It took a lot of tears, heart to heart talks, and struggle (and having children) to get me to a point to where I have made noticeable progress in those areas. Although even now I sometimes slip back into those old, bad habits. As educators, we have to realize that our to do list is always growing, and to find a stopping point for each day. She also talked about how keeping a gratitude journal can help reframe your thinking and have you notice things throughout the day. This reminded me that last year for Lent, I decided to start a new habit instead of kicking an old one like usual, and everyday on my drive to or from work I'd think of 5 things I was thankful for and 5 different people I wanted to ask for help for. It really did start shifting my viewpoint and having me look for and notice things throughout the day. I unfortunately didn't keep up with that habit after Lent, but she motivated me to try to start it back up but in a different way. The other thing Kim said that really stuck out to me was that, "Thoughts become words. Words become beliefs, Beliefs become actions. Actions become habits." She mentioned this in relation to a characteristic of hers that she saw as a weakness and that teachers had criticized when she was younger. It made me start thinking about what weaknesses of mine could possibly be affected just by starting to change my thinking about them.
Jon Corippo's EduProtocols chat blew my mind. That would have saved me so much time and energy when I was a classroom teacher and allowed time for the projects I always dreamed of doing but never had time to do. I haven't figured out how/if it could apply to the library yet, but I'll be thinking about it! His EduProtocols are about setting up reps and routines with students that allow teachers to cover several skills/standards more quickly and efficiently that also have the students helping to create the material. In the beginning these reps and routines can take a lot of time, but as you go, the students get faster and ultimately you're left with more time for those in depth projects that we all dream of having more time for. He does this by creating workflows for his students. So that each unit has a similar workflow but with different content and projects, so that kids don't have to relearn the process each time. He also has students more involved in creating the content, so they're more engaged in learning it. In most classrooms we have different workflows for every unit and create all the content ourselves or from other educators. I loved his ideas! I cannot do justice to explaining his protocols, but I'll list some of the ones he mentioned if you'd like to research them: Iron Chef Protocol, 8 Parts Protocol, Fast and Curious Protocol, and MathReps. So many other amazing ideas and people involved with Ditch Summit. You need to check it out! If you're too late, maybe he'll have it again next year, and I'd definitely encourage you to check out some of the other online PDs that I mentioned above. Most if not all of those usually take place in the summer months. Sometimes the right tweet or the right online PD or online community can come along at the right time. Keep your eyes open and look for opportunities that work for you.
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