Tag: Celaina Huckeba

TCSS in Corpus–Edutaining!

by Celaina Huckeba, posted in #Immooc

So I’m a bit behind in the #IMMOOC. It has been a busy time at work and at home. I’ve been keeping up as best I can with twitter and the facebook groups. My plan is to read some updated blogs and comment this evening.

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Today, I’m heading to Corpus Christi to attend and present at the Texas Council for Social Studies conference. I’m excited to attend and to present. I’m presenting with a fellow coworker on ways to “Edutain” learners in a social studies classroom. Are we presenting anything innovative?  I think so, using the whole “Is it New, Is it Better?” mentality.  It’s not necessarily new to us, but it will be new to some of the attendees.  And is it better? I think so! We are presenting 5-6 ideas, that you can easily use in class to make the learning more engaging and student centered. Hopefully teachers see these as easy ideas to implement to break up the standard routine most in social studies follow of lecturing or having students read articles and answer questions. Here is a copy of the handout we are giving participants: Edutaining Learners in Social Studies Classes.  We are presenting on Saturday. Wish us luck!

–Celaina

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EduBlogs…..who uses them?

by Celaina Huckeba, posted in #Immooc

I’m a little behind on posting for the #IMMOOC.  My plan is to watch the google hangout from Saturday either today or tomorrow and then post some reflections after that. Plus a meme (like the one of my daughter, below). I’ve been keeping up with the Voxer group and it is so great. There are some wonderful ideas being shared. If you haven’t joined, it’s not too late. But between the hangouts, facebook, twitter, and blog postings–there are so many new ideas out there! That has been the beauty of the MOOC, right??

So Edublogs…does anyone use them and not have a pro account? I was a winner for the #IMMOOC selfie contest and my prize is an edublogs pro account. I use wordpress (obviously), so I don’t need an edublogs account. Who needs one? I’m sure I can transfer my winnings over to you.  Comment and let me know your info!

Happy Monday! Have you had your Coffee yet?

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Shifting Culture

by Celaina Huckeba, posted in #Immooc

Shifting Culture: a reflection on being an instructional coach and week 1 of the #IMMOOC

How do you create an innovative environment in your school? As an Instructional Coach, this is something I think about often. How can I help teachers try new things, reflect on their teaching, experience new professional learning, and grow in their craft??

Everyday is an opportunity to get better. Don’t waste it! And of course, a favorite quote from George Couros, Chapter 1 of The Innovator’s Mindset:

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Change is difficult and sometimes when we are looking for change, we expect it to happen all at once. But in reality, change comes in small opportunities. The important thing in shifting culture it to take advantage of those small opportunities.

In Instructional Coaching, those small opportunities come by finding a few educators who are willing try new things, to reflect, and to grow. The energy of success and excitement from those few educators will spread around the school. An excellent example is #ObserveMe!

Change is a great thing if you look at it as an opportunity. Take a moment and think…what transformational things you have seen around you? Those started out as a change. How can you embrace those?  How can you use what you teach to enable the students to be ready for the real world? Many teachers are already working with students in transformational ways. I see teachers working hard everyday to individualize instruction for each student, getting to know each student, finding their strengths and thus preparing them for success!

Everyone has their strengths. How can you find small opportunities and use your strengths to make great change? To innovate in education? Start small…you might surprise yourself! Shift the Culture of your department, your school, your community!

#ObserveMe

by Celaina Huckeba, posted in #Immooc

Have you heard about the #ObserveMe idea? It started about a month ago, posted on a blog from Robert Kaplinsky.  I saw it on twitter and retweeted it to the other Instructional Coaches on my campus. I’m at a high school and we have 4 instructional coaches: Math, Science, ELA, and Social Studies.  Other Instructional Coaches around the district started tweeting and emailing about it as well and it has grown!

I could not be more excited about teachers being vulnerable, opening their doors, taking risks, and working on goals to improve their teaching!

Here are a few examples:

 

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So far, a lot of teachers are putting their goals as the instructional focus for our campus, which I think is great! We have a strong campus instructional focus this year on:

  • Small Group Purposeful Talk
  • Writing Critically
  • Framing the Lesson (we took the phrasing/terminology from the Fundamental Five).

For me, in Social Studies, this means there is more time for the students to interact with their learning (to analyze, think, process, question, create, and more) and less time for the teacher to be the giver of information.  Many of the teachers on my campus are already working well with more student focused lessons. Physically writing their goals and displaying them on the #ObserveMe sign outside their classroom door is enabling more opportunities to grow and practice. It is also giving them more feedback from others on those goals and growth.

I am so excited that teachers are embracing #ObserveMe. I love that they are making goals on what they are working on improving!  If you follow any Steve Barkley, you have probably heard him say that Teaching is a team sport and Teaching needs to be a public act.  I think #ObserveMe helps connect both of those!

What about you? Have you opened your door?

Joining in on the #IMMOOC

by Celaina Huckeba, posted in #Immooc

So here we go! Technically the Innovator’s Mindset MOOC doesn’t start for another week, but already people are jumping ahead and getting started! So I thought I would jump in as well.

George posted a question to spark our thinking, “Why is “innovation” so crucial in education? What impact do you see it having on our students and ourselves long term?”

A few people have already responded on the Facebook post with inspiring answers connecting problem solving, creative solutions, relevance, staying fresh, keeping up with the world around us, and much more. All such great answers!!!

I responded with: “We, as educators, can’t stay the same because the world around us is changing. We live in a world of 3D printed cars and houses! Who knows what is coming next? We have to harness that energy and excitement to empower our students. We should give our students the tools to analyze and create and live in a world that is changing everyday. So yes, I believe innovation is crucial to education.”

Do you listen to podcasts? I have a few that I just love and learn from every time! Recently, I listened to Steve Kotler (Tomorrowland) on the James Altucher Show (The James Altucher Show is currently my favorite podcast, I learn so many new things every single episode). If you have some time, you should check it out. This episode, I think feeds directly into the question George asked us about innovation being crucial in education. I wonder what you all think?

I’m excited to participate in the dialogue on The Innovator’s Mindset. Are you joining in??