Reflecting on FETC 2018

There truly is nothing more magical than Christmas in January.

In Florida.

At a 3-day edtech conference, appealing to my ever-loving joy-of-learning self.

With one of my favorite people in the world, a former teaching colleague... reliving our time at last year's FETC (Future of Education Technology Conference), and making new memories this year!

With 70° weather, when what you have left behind is 40°, maybe 50° weather.

45,000 steps on my Fitbit... 10 sessions (amounting to over a dozen hours of insight and education) ... multiple dozen of booths and poster presentations visited... and what feels like that many photos, notes, and links to check out. January really is the perfect time for this conference (for more reasons than just the weather). There's plenty of time for implementation here in the next 4 months of school before summer.

With Christmas in January, rather than holiday lights, the twinkling comes in the form of LED lights, iPad and laptop screens, and the idea-flashes that come with the inspiration of speakers of the 36th annual FETC conference last week. 

My favorite parts:

1. The 20 minute free chrome extensions presented by Dr. Lynn Herr. My reading specialists will be giddy and I can't wait to get them on our Chromebooks!

2. Getting inspiration from my girlfriend as we talked about her MakerLab and learning about all the things she found fascinating in her workshops.

Sir Ken Robinson

3. Hearing education guru Sir Ken Robinson and tech goddess Kathy Schrock share their own unique wit and wisdom.

4. Getting my book Tasks Before Apps: Designing Rigorous Learning in a Tech-Rich Classrooms autographed by Monica Burns, realizing that we'd met about a decade ago as my partner in green and I visited her then-school (Alain L. Locke in NYC). With that partnership, later she and a team of their teachers came to visit us at our school to discuss our environmental initiatives. At the book signing, Monica and I discussed how both of our experiences at Alain L Locke ultimately and serendipitous led us both down our current paths.

5. Being able to walk away with at least 30 new-to-me websites and apps, ready to come home and more deeply explore each one... and eager to bring those back to my school to inspire both students and teachers alike!

6. Learning about the varied and amazing top 25 AALS websites (& resources there) from Shannon Miller... who's session last year at FETC 2017 turned me on to both Buncee and Padlet.

7. Speaking of Buncee...Hanging out with the Buncee crew, getting to meet other Buncee Ambasadors "live and in person," both at the conference and after hours.

It all reminded me how vital it is to step out of your daily routine, take a break, explore new things in your field (expanding the field of vision of those things you love), and to never stop learning or connecting.




My walk-away websites & apps to investigate, & you might want to check out too.

1. Post-It Plus
2. Chatterpix
3. KidLit.TV
4. Explore.org
5. Book Creator
6. Little Bird Tales
7. Flipgrid
8. Booktrack
9. Google Draw
10. Google Keep
11. Google My Map
12. Classhook
13. My Simpleshow
14. Elink.io
15. Spreaker
16. Write the World
17. Sugarcane
18. Baamboozle
19. Vizia 
20. Cite This For Me
21. Formative
22. Rewordify
23. OER Commons
24. Wizer.me
25. Nearpod
26. Adobe Spark 
27. Listenwise
28. CommonLit
29. Media Smarts
30. American Association of School Librarians Website: Tools & Resources
31. Make Belief Comix
32. Sutori
33. Hyperdocs

Of course, as I look at them in number list here, my work is cut out for me! 

Maybe I'll take it a day at a time. Leading me forward, look at where I'll be a month from now! 

That's the beauty of being out in the learning world of FETC... you come away so completely rich! Yes, richer for the experience, indeed!


Pics from my camera and my experience down at FETC 2018.

Green Team Gazette: A Historic Timeline

In December of 2008, a concept was born.

After visiting Alain L. Locke School in Harlem with CG Kidz (from the parent company Cynergreen), Eagle Cove School's Science Guy and I were a swift part (along with CG Kidz) in helping Alain Locke become a Green Magnet School.  With that came a Green Kit from Cynergreen/CG Kidz  We had decided a newsletter would be a good addition to that kit.  A newsletter of helpful teaching hints, books, eco-ideas and more.

Green Team Gazette was born, in monthly printed newsletter form.

For 2 and a half years, I crafted that monthly newsletter.

About a year and change in, I was challenged by my brother:

 "If you want to be a writer, then write. Write something you know about."  

I was already doing that.  I was writing a monthly eco-newsletter.  I was reading all the eco-info I could get my hands on.  I wanted to share it with other schools.  It came to a point, I wanted to share it with the world.  It was at that point that I not only became an environmental educator, but also an environmental-blogger.

Green Team Gazette was reborn--this time via Google's BlogSpot and as a webpage.

Over time, the "EdTech" side has infiltrated (which one could argue is truly environmental!)... and my blog has become multifaceted.

At this point:  we are circling back.  My newsletters for that 2.5 years have been housed on the Gibson Island Country School's Website (until our name change/website change in 2010 when we became "Eagle Cove School").  They have all been housed at the Eagle Cove site ever since.

But Eagle Cove School (the school I have known and loved the last 7 years) is closing here in June, and the website will shut down as well.

So, here we are.

I have uploaded my GTG's up to SlideShare.net, and for the next year I will share those same-month issues here.  Even though some of the info is nearing 5 years old, it's all good and current for the beginning environmentalist. May it serve and find you well!!

Find those eco-archives here tomorrow!  Enjoy the GTG history and progression.  Thank you for trekking along with me!!



Images:  Avatar = GTG's iconic symbol
"Green" = created on KidPix by a former student
Recycle sign = from Microsoft word clip art

In the Clouds In Costa Rica This Holiday Season

One of the things I love about my job is that there is always something in the works at Eagle Cove School [aka: "ECS"]!

On one of our last few days of school this December before break, there was more going on than just holiday parties, making ornaments as parent gifts, reading holiday stories, and an all-school sing-a-long. In between all of that, my 3rd graders managed to squeeze in a quick FaceTime iPad conference with our science teacher. This, in and of itself, isn't so unusual. But, the FaceTiming was a tad farther than just the other side of campus. It happens that way when Tim Decker, our science teacher, happens to be in Costa Rica!  [Rumor on the street, our 5th graders also FaceTimed Costa Rica and Mr. Decker as well.]

Christmas and Costa Rica don't normally go hand in hand in our neck of the woods... but they do this year. Using part of his Christmas break and the last few days before break, Tim Decker flew south to spend some time at The Cloud Forest School. The Cloud Forest school (el Centro de Educación Creativa) is an is an independent PreK--11th Grade school located on 100+ acres of cloud forest in Monteverde, Costa Rica.

The reason for this mid-December visit? To foster an environmental & educational friendship with a like-minded school. When you look at their vision, it is easy to see the parallels to ECS, a Maryland "green" school since 2006. From the Cloud Forest School's website:

"Our vision is to help foster a sustainable future for the Earth by educating individuals to:  Love, respect and protect the natural environment;  Strive for justice and peace as well as academic excellence, and;  Work towards conserving biodiversity and enriching community life."

Like-minded indeed!

Additionally, while packing for Costa Rican warm-weather-wear during our typical Maryland winter season, Decker packed heavy for his trip down south.  He took a suitcase-full if needed school supplies that were brought in by ECS students & their families.

Once down in Costa Rica, Decker met with school leaders and teachers to brainstorm future collaborations between the two schools. He also shared a virtual tour of ECS that our 5th graders created with their 1:1 iPad program using the iMovie app. Plans are in the works between the two schools for future video-conferencing visits and student activities comparing and contrasting our riverside/wooded school campus with their Cloud Rainforest campus. Wheels of educational ideas are turning on both sides!

Eagle Cove School's Parent Association funded Tim Decker's trip through the sales of special eco-Tshirts. First through fifth graders submitted designs centered around an environmental quote. The winning design (by one of our ECS 2nd graders) included a quote of her own creation.

As quoted in the December 2012 Bay Weekly, "'This project seems perfect for our students,' Decker says. "It brings together science, language, geology, culture, technology, and service.'" To learn more, be sure to check out Bay Weekly's link or go to the the 12/11/2012 article in The Arundel Patch.

Given the mutual environmental passion of both schools, it's easy to see the magnetic attraction. Additionally, given the lens of community stewardship and collaborative spirit of learning that are at play, the following quote seems to strike a chord:

"A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed...It feels an impulsion...this is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons." ~ American author, Richard Bach

Mural in the works at The Cloud Forest School (photo taken & shared by Tim Decker)

White-faced monkey in the Costa Rican jungle (photo taken & shared by Tim Decker)

 

Classroom FaceTiming pic and Tshirt pic from my camera; map of Costa Rica from http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/camerica/cr.htm; Classroom pic of Tim Decker from http://bayweekly.com/articles/news/article/chesapeake-bay-monteverde-cloud-forest

Green-ness & Greatness... And Nothing Less!

25 months ago, in December of 2008, my Eagle Cove School "partner in green" and I were semi-lost (http://www.eaglecoveschool.org/).  Not hugely--we knew we were in the right neighborhood, but we must have turned left instead of right.  We ended up circling a whole block before finding ourselves almost right back where we started, surprised (and shaking our heads) that we somehow managed to miss the entrance of our destination--which was perhaps right there all along, right under our nose!  

Sometimes that's how life is--true gems are right there, under your nose, the whole time!

Our destination--Alain L. Locke School (PS208) in Harlem, New York (http://alainllocke.org/).  We were meeting up with 12 year old Riley Hoffer and Danelle Hoffer of CGKidz and CynerGreen, who were doing an eco-assembly with this 3rd through 5th grade school to help them set up their first Environmental Club.  It was at Alain L. Locke that we first met a powerhouse of a principal, Ms. Susan Greene, and saw an energy in these students was was hard to compare to anything other than electric!  Add in Riley and her "3R's" message--from a kid, to a group of kids--and it was such an amazing experience!  

This Smilebox slideshow below of our trip as well as this press release about Alain L. Locke School at http://teachers.net/wong/SEP10/ tell the story of what an amazing gem this school is.

Fast-forward 25 months to this past week at Eagle Cove School.  

Based on our continued friendship with Alain L Locke and our Maryland Green School initiatives, a crew of 7 dynamic and amazing Alain L. Locke teachers, administrators, curriculum specialists came to Eagle Cove School this week to visit, share, laugh, and observe. Was it just reunion week?  No...our Alain L. Locke friends came with a mission--to work toward becoming one of New York City's first environmental magnet elementary schools, and they wanted to bend our ears. And not just ours...our students too!  Handfuls of our youngsters were giving them a run down on what it means to be a green school, and what it looks like to "live" green!

It is in the sharing of a dynamic group of people that you learn so much!!  We had approximately a dozen or more of us in a classroom together on a Friday afternoon after a full day of observations and conversations.  Anyone who teaches school knows what that means for a Friday afternoon!!  That time slot is a sacred moment of release and escape for many!  Yet for us, this past Friday, it was so much more!  It is my true opinion that everyone in that room walked away so much richer than before!  What a truly amazing bunch of people, and what an fabulous opportunity to share green resources and curricular ideas back and forth. We at Eagle Cove School are anxiously looking forward to our next opportunity, perhaps in the spring, to head north to visit our extended family of friends at  PS208!

I have no doubt that the teachers of Alain L. Locke will achieve their goal, to the "N-th" degree!  Anyone who belts out the following school mantra daily will most certainly do with nothing less! 

I was born from Greatness
Therefore that makes me Great.
Today I will spread Love
Not hate
Not lies
Not violence
Just Love.

Today I will do more,
I will learn more,
I will be more
Than anyone ever thought I could.
Today I will strive for GREATNESS and nothing else.
Created by Susan M. Green © 2007

To see the Smilebox video above, click the Smilebox above, or go to

http://alainllocke.org/2008/12/marylands-gibson-island-day-school-environmental-club-partnership-with-harlems-alain-l-locke-ps208-their-video-visit-to-ny-city/

 

Photographs of Alain L. Locke School taken by Vicki Dabrowka in December 2008; Eagle Cove School Calendar photo taken by Carl Treff to make our 2011 ECS-Shutterfly Calendar.  If you are interested in purchasing an ECS calendar, please contact Mary Bell in the Eagle Cove School office: SchoolSecretary@eaglecoveschool.org

Green Vitals Press From CGKidz/GICS Trip to NYC

For the actual internet article, click on the title above ("Green Vitals Press") to read more about our trip accompanying Riley Hoffer up to Alain Locke School in NYC

Sixth Grader Brings Eco-Friendliness Message to a Harlem’s Alain L. Locke School

NEW YORK - Spreading the message of eco-friendliness across elementary schools throughout the United States, 12-year-old Riley Hoffer has come to New York this month to visit the Alain L. Locke Elementary School in Harlem.
     Young Riley is the spokesperson for CGKidz, the community outreach arm of stainless-steel water bottle maker CynerGreen, Little Rock, Ark.. The Hoffer family-owned company has devoted itself to spreading the word about conservation and environmentally friendly living.
     The event opened with a school assembly for the upper grades in which the student listened to a presentation about how they could be more environmentally friendly.
     Riley opened the event discussing the three Rs—Reuse, Reduce and Recycle. “I want to talk to you about attitude, the attitude to think green,” she said, adding, “Most of the things that you use today, like light bulbs, newspapers and cardboard boxes can be recycled.
     You can do things at home to help out your parents, like separate cans, bottles and newspapers for recycling, and you can join your environmental club at school. Just find a way to get involved because every little bit helps.”
     Riley also showed the students how to decorate for Christmas using things that they had around the house, such as colored paper to make origami candy canes and ornaments using CDs.
     She showed the students a Rudolph Junior CD ornament and explained the procedure as follows: “He is made out of just a regular CD that I had, some pipe cleaners, jingle bells, googoly eyes, and colorful pompoms that I put all together. If you add a magnet, he can go on the refrigerator.”
     Following her demonstration, the students were introduced to teachers from the Gibson Island Country School, Pasadena, Md., which will be providing mentoring and curriculum materials for the Locke school to get it started with its new environmental club. The Gibson school is Maryland’s first certified eco-friendly school.
     Vicki Dabrowka, a teacher from the Gibson school, spoke to the Locke students saying, “I thought that maybe we should bring a message from our kids because we have been doing a lot to help the environment over the last couple of years.
     We do all the plastic, paper, and cardboard recycling, and we are also recycling glue sticks. We even recycle food and that is called composting which can be a messy job, but we get to keep a lot of those things out of the trash. And so the kids from the third, fourth, and fifth grade wrote some letters and helpful hints that we are going to leave with the school.”
     Danelle Hoffer, co-founder of CynerGreen and Riley’s mother, presented the Locke school with an “environmental club in a box,” which contained: green pens, pencils, notepads, an environmental guidebook, and a binder full of letters from students from the Gibson school.
     After the assembly, the Hoffers went up to one of the classrooms and worked with the students on making more origami candy canes. During this time, speaking with Mrs. Hoffer, she said the guidebook is “a collection of different projects that they could do. We combined them with projects from what Gibson Island does. There are probably 100 different types of projects, tips, and ideas of how kids can get involved in the community.”
     Also as a gift to the students, CGKidz gave a stainless-steal water bottle to every student in the assembly. “Our gift to these kids is not just that club, but that bottle. There is such a message behind that bottle, that we really want them to think about and use in their everyday lives. We are also hoping that it will rub off on their parents.” said Mrs. Hoffer.
     All of the bottles were donated to the school by CGKidz. All of the profits that come out of the CGKidz division of CynerGreen, go back into making the bottles that are donated to the schools, according to Mrs. Hoffer.
     This school event was brought about in collaboration with PENCIL, New York City-based organization that supports customized relationships between business leaders and principals to inspire innovation and transform public schools, Karasma Media,, a Harlem-based boutique specializing in social media, and Sperling Greene Partners, a Tenafly, NJ-based marketing and public relations company.
     CGKidz next stop on its school tour will be Riley’s own school, Cabot Middle School North, Cabot, Ark. Subsequently, CGKidz is in talks to present their message in schools in Oregon and Wyoming.

from http://www.greenvitals.net/communitypoliticsnet/2008/12/15/sixth-grader-brings-eco-friendliness-message-to-a-harlems-al.html

Live from New York....

Wish you could have been there...seriously!   It was a great experience.  Here we are, on the road in NYC and hanging out with the kids and classes of Alain L. Locke school!  To learn more, don't pass up clicking on "Live from New York" Smilebox.

image from http://play.smilebox.com/SpreadMoreHappy/4e5463324d7a49354d5877784d4441344e7a6b344d773d3d0d0a

Riley Hoffer at Alain L. Locke Elementary

This is a video-must see!  New York's local CBS affiliate's news story of Riley's and our visit to Alain L. Locke School....Click the "title" above or go to http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=120818@wcbs.dayport.com!!