Empowering the Voices of Others

Over the past year, I've learned that I enjoy speaking/presenting at conferences. But there's a different kind of joy found in empowering and raising the voices of others!

My district hosted its annual Innovate@BVSD conference this week. Rather than leading sessions (for the most part), my work was behind the scenes, making sure everyone else was good to go. And it was awesome! I loved seeing friends and teachers in our district share their learning. They had amazing things to say! I loved seeing the conference attendees engaging in the conversations and soaking in everything they could. I loved the buzz and energy of a group of educators ready to start a new year.

Having fun is an essential part of conferences...right?

I think my favorite part, though, was seeing some teachers who were nervous to present absolutely rock it! As one of the people organizing the event, I fielded many emails & questions in the days leading up to it. Many were from first-time presenters who decided to step out and share, even if they didn't feel 100% ready (newsflash: no one ever feels 100% ready). I remember being there a year ago...heart pounding, wondering if I was good enough or if anybody would want to come to my session or if it would be a total flop. If you feel that way, you are not alone!

Seeing friends step past their nerves and grow in confidence was amazing. As a teacher, I loved seeing my students step up and grow. As a person who works with teachers, now, there's nothing more rewarding than seeing them become leaders in the district and beyond! Their voices are so much more authentic than mine, because they are doing this work every day in the classroom.

Teachers, we need you. We need your voices. We need to hear from you.

And just like that, I've learned another cool facet of my job. Happy August, everyone!

Summit Summary - Colorado Springs 2018

Once again, I find myself sitting down to write a summary after a wonderful #EdTechTeam summit experience! Check out previous blog posts here:
Colorado 2016 | The first Ed Tech conference I ever attended!
Colorado 2017 | My first time presenting - thoughts from before, during, & after
Aspen 2018 | Continuing to learn and grow as a learner and a presenter

Each time I attend, I struggle to summarize my experience, so here are some big themes:

I love reflecting on my own growth as a presenter.

One of the best parts of this summit was presenting with my brother :-). I love that we are both in education, and it is so cool to be able to collaborate on things like this! His attendance at the 2015 Colorado Summit is what sparked my interest in attending & getting into ed tech in general, and look at where that's ended up! I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to share this experience with family and initiate my bro into the world of leading PD at the same time (and I have to say, he is awesome)!

Biggest personal win: I was much more confident and not as nervous as I have been in the past! That's not to say that there were no nerves, but I am growing more comfortable with it all. I even tried two new sessions this summit, and felt pretty good about them (which isn't always the case - I'm my own worst critic at times). I was able to enjoy myself not only during the presentations, but also before and after, because I wasn't worrying as much about everything.

I always learn new things.

No matter how many professional development events I go to, I always learn something new. I learn new ways to use tools, I learn hacks I hadn't known about previously, I learn about the new tools on the market, and I learn how to be a better presenter by watching those around me. And, as I overheard somebody say before we started the second morning, this is good professional development! It includes choice for the participants, isn't just "sit-n-get", and it is about relevant topics. As a person who leads a lot of PD, I appreciate the times when I am able to be a learner.

In the end, it always comes back to the people.

This is not a new revelation for me, but it comes back every time. I was excited to meet some PLN friends face-to-face for the first time, and make new friends F2F that are now a part of my PLN! You know when you find "your people", and it just clicks? I felt that way these past couple of days. I appreciate the positivity, the energy, and also the honesty of those who attended. We are not trying to brush over the hardships, but we are all there because we truly care, and we want to make education better for every single kid.

I also have to give special shoutouts to my old/new friend Lisa who took the time to chat with me and give me amazing advice during lunch one day, to Pam for initiating a Twitter DM conversation a few days before the event so it felt like we were old friends by the time we finally met, and to Jess for continually encouraging me and nudging me out of my comfort zone. That is not an exhaustive list, but it's these personal interactions that I remember the most, and they make the conference for me!

What's next?

Well, I'm not sure, but I'm excited to continue presenting, learning, and forming relationships wherever I go! And, of course, I can't let this opportunity go by without putting in a plug for the next #EdTechTeam Colorado Summit, coming in November! I hope to see many of you there!

Music + Tech

I am a music teacher. I am an educational technology specialist. But how do those two mix?

Recently, I have become more and more excited about how my background gives me a unique perspective into how to integrate educational technology into the music classroom. The more I got into it, though, the more frustrated I became. Here's what I heard the most about:

• SmartMusic
• Finale/Sibelius/Noteflight/Flat.io
• GarageBand
• Practice/playing test videos
• Electronic practice logs

Now, don't get me wrong, I think all of those can have a place in the classroom, and I used many of them myself. But we are only talking about the tools. This usually means that we are only talking about substitution - substituting a paper-and-pencil task with an electronic version. What are students doing differently that they couldn't do before? What are they learning? That's the conversation I'm really interested in having!

• How are we teaching our students to be creative with the tools at our disposal?
• How are we helping our students collaborate, both inside and outside the class, using these tools?
• How are we ensuring our students are becoming critical thinkers, rather than just relying on machines to think for them?
• How are we teaching our students to communicate, through words and/or music and/or visuals, in a way that tells a powerful story?
• How are we, as educators, taking advantage of the globally connected world that we live in to reach out, learn, and grow ourselves as professionals?

These are the questions worth asking.

These are the conversations we should be having in professional development sessions.

These are the things that will truly change our classrooms.

To anyone who works with music and technology, I'm begging you to make it about more than just the tools. We're aiming for a mindset change & instructional shift, not just a change in what tools we use. Let's not sell our classes short when they can be about so much more!

And, really, can't this apply to any content area? The deeper we go, the more our students will benefit. I want to keep designing professional development that challenges the notion that ed tech specialists just want to see you using technology in the classroom. It's so much bigger than that.

How do you move beyond just substituting tools in your classroom?