Snapchat for Teacher Development

SnapChat for Teacher Development

Snapchat has a place at school! (I'll repeat that again for the disbelievers) Snapchat has a place at school! Just like any tech tool, teachers and students can use it to enhance their learning, rather than automatically thinking it is a distraction. 

This past June I had the opportunity to present at the national ISTE conference. My presentation titled: Snapchat Coaching, aimed to describe ways educators might use snapchat to grow professionally in their craft.

The idea initially grew out of a struggle I've had as an instructional coach. Due to limited collaboration time, I often ended up leaving notes or e-mails to support teachers in honing their craft. One struggle of notes and e-mails is that the recipient misses out on a large part of communication, which is the tone and non-verbals that go along with a message. Being able to use snapchat, allowed me to send a video message to the teacher. The video could then be viewed when the teacher had time later in the day. This often happened during plan, when they were sitting at their kids ballgame, or watching tv later that night. Since the video disappears after it is viewed, teachers viewed the coaching comments as formative and were more open to sending a short video clip back to dialogue about their instructional choices. Snapchat also allowed me to make use of bitmoijs to send quick affirmations to teachers recognizing all the great things they are doing in their classrooms.

Beyond coaching, teachers can use snapchat to collaborate with their PLN (professional learning network). They can ask for ideas planning lessons or share ideas they considering. This tool can be especially helpful when supporting younger teachers who are new to the profession. These teachers are already using snapchat in their personal life, and welcome a way to informally get help as they are growing in their craft.

Snapchat may also be used by principals or other instructional leaders to spotlight schoolwide instructional methods using the "My Story" function. As a principal tours the school and visits classrooms, he/she can snap pictures of ideas and post them to "My Story". This then becomes part of their story for the next 24 hours, and any faculty member who is on their friend list will be able to see the spotlighted instructional method. Using "My Story" in this way allows the leader to publicly affirm teachers for good instructional methods as well and give ideas to all faculty on methods they may use.

A few cautions in using snapchat for teacher development. It is never appropriate to discuss specific students using the tool. Snaps should be limited to instruction and curriculum. 

The world of technology often means people think you are available 24/7, and because snapchat shows the user if you have or haven't viewed a message, lines can easily be blurred. Set parameters to when you will and won't respond to snaps (and then stick to it!). Work will always be there, and a response can wait til the next morning. 

Do begin with the willing. This may be teachers who are using snapchat in their personal life. It may also be teachers who you are having trouble reaching. Be strategic, and let the tool grow over time to include more staff. 

When creating videos, be aware of your non-verbals. When I first started making videos, I noticed I had the tendency to look up when I was thinking about what to say. On video, this came across as rolling my eyes. It took some practice to get it right! 

Lastly, choose a focus for snapchat. There are several ideas here for how it might be used. Focusing on using the tool one-way will help the staff to see the benefit of snapchat. Initially using it in too many ways will spread the purpose thin, and muddy the waters eventually leading to tech tool abandonment. 

Get to snapping! 

Too Good at Goodbyes Close Reading and Response

Too Good at Goodbyes 

By: Sam Smith

Close Reading and Response

 Students often have strong connections to songs. "Psychologists and neuroscientists have confirmed that these songs [we listen to in our teenage years] hold disproportionate power over our emotions" (Stern) Educators have an opportunity to leverage this connection and power for learning that engages the student. 

Sam Smith's new song Too Good at Goodbyes is a song can evoke emotion in teenager. Some may think of romantic relationships. Push students to connect with this song by examining other relationships in their life. Some might have relationships with parents or grandparents that they can connect to this song. 

Use the song as a hook to incorporate reading, writing, and social/emotional skills into the classroom. 

Link: Too Good at Goodbye Close Read and Response Activity

Monster Mash Close Reading and Response

Monster Mash

Close Reading and Response

It's that time of year again, where I dig out a costume from the depths of my attic, and throw it on in an effort to be festive. The day of Halloween can be one of the longest days an educator can face in teaching. Enticing candy and epic costumes await students. As the clock slowly ticks by, the buzz and excitement build until the bell finally rings releasing students into the promise of Halloween night. 

Perhaps teachers should dress up as tight rope walkers, as they often spend the day balancing teaching/learning with childhood enjoyment. 

Recently I saw a tweet by The Mindy Project writer, Chris Schleicher that got me to thinking about how often readers (or listeners) really pay attention to the details of a text. 

This tweet gave me the idea for a close reading/response activity that could be used with students on (or around) Halloween as teachers are trying to walk that tight rope of continuous learning that still acknowledges the excitement in the air. 

"Do or Do Not, There is No Try!"

This is the second post with a Star Wars Theme. You can read the other one here.


Learning is hard work. When done right it can be frustrating, time-consuming, maddening, headache making...work.

There are many mentors throughout the Star Wars movies. Yoda mentors Luke Skywalker, Obi Won mentors Anakin Skywalker. Darth Sidious who mentors Anakin on the dark side of the force. In The Force Awakens, it is mentioned that Kylo Ren was once mentored by Luke, and it looks as if going into episode 8, Rey may get a chance to have Luke as her mentor.

Mentors are the backbone to personal and professional growth.

Star Wars Episode II- Attack of the Clones

Mentors have an important role to play in the growth of education. A true mentor must be more than a friend. A mentor must be able to build a relationship, care deeply about the other person's success, share in their triumphs as well as their failures, and be able to say things frankly and honestly.

Being able to say things frankly and honestly takes practice. It does not usually feel comfortable, and sometimes you have to remind yourself that you are an adult and can do this! The growth seen from honest conversations is immense.

 In Episode II, Padme tells Anakin, "All mentors have a way of seeing more of our faults than we would like. It's the only way we grow." We grow when someone holds the mirror up to our face and forces us to see what others see. We can no longer hide behind our false impressions of ourselves or our own hubris. With the right mentor, we are forced to see what others see, forced to see our flaws, and then given a choice to improve or ignore.

This isn't to say we should all go around giving the "brutal truth" to our colleagues. Mentorship requires a certain kind of finesse when holding the mirror up to their mentee, but without examining our faults and flaws we can not grow.

The force is strong with this one!

With all the excitement surrounding Star Wars: The Force Awakens it is only fitting to have a couple of Star Wars themed posts! (Be on the lookout for the next post in a few days!)

Going back in the story, during Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace, a young Anakin Skywalker is a slave on the planet Tatooine. Even though Anakin is a nine year-old slave, he has impressively built a protocol droid, C-3PO, and is a skilled podracer. 

Thinking about this from an educational and developmental standpoint, it is amazing what this nine year old boy can do! He has had no formal schooling or training, yet given a problem and a reason to learn, he has. This is problem-based learning rooted in real world application. Educators need to give students the ability encounter problems, and then work to fix or improve those problems. This type of approach motivates students to learn and requires them to develop and use critical thinking skills. 

A student can learn the rules of grammar, but that does very little for him/her unless they can use them to effectively communicate. A student can memorize history facts/dates, that does very little until they can use that information to see patterns or cause/effect and make informed decisions. He/she can memorize an algorithm, but that won't help them in a job until they can apply it to situations.  By giving students a problem to solve, he/she will learn the grammar, history, math, etc that will help to solve the problem. They will be able to apply the grammar, history, math, etc and isn't that the point of education? To help students learn the background knowledge they will need to apply to decision making in their adult life! 

If Anakin* can do such high ability things with little more than a problem to solve, and perseverance, our students can with teachers who are willing to step outside of their comfort zone. Think of what students can do if they were only given the chance! 

* Anakin also had "the force" working for him, but hey, our students have gifted, talented, dedicated, and passionate teachers in their corner! 

Hope: Helping students struggle out of the dark

Awhile back, I woke up in the middle of the night to strange rustling and struggle in my closet. My initial thoughts were the boogey man was there to get me, but as my adult brain took over I went to investigate the noise and found my dog. My 65 pound, lanky, English Setter mix dog, named Ranger had somehow wandered into the closet at 3 o'clock in the morning. My closet is small and has a low hanging bar that I hang shirts on.  Ranger went in and tried to turn around and walked his head straight through a shirt. Now his head was stuck in a shirt, the shirt was stuck on a hanger, and the hanger was stuck on the bar, so he was stuck wrestling and fighting his way out of the precarious situation. I'm not sure how long he had been in there, but eventually I got him out and we were able to settle back in for the night. 

Metaphorically, this can happen to students too. Their minds can go into the dark places and get stuck. Some students have problems pulling themselves out and they think this is the best it is going to get. Some struggle and fight till they make it out on their own. Then there are others who struggle until someone wakes up, realizes the struggle, and offers help. 

Students deserve to have teachers who are in tune to their mental health and status. "Being close to a caring, hopeful adult paves the way and prepares the heart for hope. All children are not born into loving families, but even on caring adult can buffer a child from the pains of the past and the fears of the present. Only with that support and protection can our youth invest in the future. Only with the help of a caring, hopeful adult do our young people have the luxury to imagine a better future" (Lopez, 191) 

Educators can get caught up in assessing, curriculum work, planning, and grading and forget there is a child behind all of that . A child who is "stuck" and needs help. Take time to check on the mental status of students in your class. They may not be able to "get out" or even know why they are stuck, but they need someone to wake up to their situation and help!

Stop Technology Integration!

Teachers need to integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an add-on, an afterthought, or an event. – Heidi-Hayes Jacobs

Technology has become a part of our everyday lives from smartphones to tablets there is rarely an hour that goes by we aren't using some piece of technology. I make an appointment with my hairdresser, and I pull out my phone to plug it into my calendar. I drive up to the Subway, and put my order in on a touch screen before reaching the drive-thru window. I want to take video of my dog jumping through the fall leaves; I grab my tablet to record. These pieces have all become part of my daily life. 

According to a study done by Common Sense Media, teens spend about nine hours a day consuming media. James Steyer, chief executive officer and founder of Common Sense Media stated " It just shows you that these kids live in this massive 24/7 digital media technology world, and it's shaping every aspect of their life. They spend far more time with media technology than any other thing in their life. This is the dominant intermediary in their life." 

There are other statistics about how much screen time teens get every day, or the amount of teenagers with personal devices, but the bottom line is that students are growing up inundated with technology. No longer is using a laptop, tablet, or cell phone "new" and "exciting" for kids and we need to stop acting like it is. Students need to be allowed to use the tools at their disposal to complete their learning tasks. Teachers don't need to teach them how to use Prezi, or set up an account to edit videos using WeVideo. Instead , teachers need to create deep thinking problems and allow students to discover, learn, and use new tools to help them complete the task at hand. The days of choosing/teaching a specific technology are over and a new era of simply using the tools at hand has been ushered in. It's not technology integration it is simply life to today's students.