Research Skills: Helping students find the most reliable results

I think I'd like to post a series of blog entries dedicated to helping teachers with strategies for teaching research skills (skills we often assume kids have when they walk into our classrooms).  I am going to phone in the first entry of this series by embedding Google for Education's original Google Plus post. It's a great little visual reminder of a search technique.  Enjoy!

Making it Matter

It's been almost 3 months since I started my new job. At first, I'll be very honest, it was a seemingly uphill battle. I found that I started shutting down when I met with resistance. I felt like I wouldn't be able to make a difference here.  And for that, I am regretful. I wish I was not so quickly & easily dissuaded. Because I have made progress here. I am MAKING progress here.

Recently, middle school campuses in our district were tasked with delivering lessons meant specifically for preparing their 8th graders for college & career readiness. As part of their task, campus Directors of Instruction will teach twenty 45-minute lessons to every 8th grade student, educating them on the requirements for receiving endorsements, choosing the right courses and generally giving guidance to them before they are off on their high school journeys. This begged the question: how were they going to deliver this content to every student with limited facilitators and during advisory period?

The answer: Google Hangouts on Air.

I've spent the past two weeks meeting with admin on various campuses, showing them that we DO have Google for Education accounts, walking them through the steps for verifying their YouTube channels, creating their Google + profiles and finally, showing them how to host their first GHOAs. The results have been overwhelming.  I'm receiving so many requests for meetings and help that I'm finding it difficult to keep up.

And it hit me today: What I'm doing matters. These administrators do very important jobs and they're asked to do "one more thing" each day. The fact that I can help simplify their lives just a little by providing them with a tool like Google Hangouts on Air means I'm helping them find perhaps 15 minutes more in their day to spend on things that mean the most to them.

While this isn't a perfect example and these admin are working out their sound issues, this is my PRIDE & JOY right now. Watch as this campus principal and her director of instruction teach their first College & Career Readiness lesson together. I'm #soexcited to be a part of this!

When did life become a 80s hair band song?

I've packed my bags, my desk, and my big girl panties and have made my way to a new job in a new district with new people.  My plate is full right now! I left the classroom 3 years ago to pursue a technology specialist position. That decision led me on a whirlwind of experiences the past 2 years as I left the financial security of working in a large district behind to try my hand in a smaller district just north of my city.  It was an eye opener being in such a close community. Outsider was never an uglier word in my vocabulary, but that's what I was: an outsider.  It took me almost 2 years just to get some teachers to even SMILE at me!  By the end of 2 years I had learned a lot about myself and gained some humility as well. And then I decided to leave.

Here I am again on my own. I just started a new gig over in a metro area, in a very large district on a team of 10 instructional technologists, and I'm quickly realizing I will miss my old job. I don't dislike this one, it's just a whole new world of educational politics and big-district bureaucracy. I am used to saying "I have an idea!" and someone saying, "Go for it!".  So far, in my new position, I've had a few ideas but have been told the dreaded "That's not how we do it here".  There's no other way to say it...I'm sad.

Let me be clear, though: I'm not trying to bash my new gig. The people have been great here. The district is very successful and people want to live within our boundaries so to their kids can come to these schools. This is just the lamentation of someone who values creativity more than convention, freedom more than money, and innovation over standardization.  Also, I'm about actions, not words. I want to make things happen and I've got a long road ahead of me. As my buddy Ann would say, find the silver lining and learn from this because it's going be a benefit in the long run.

Okay, Ann. Challenge accepted ;-)

I'm PUBLISHED!!!

I just want to commemorate this momentous occasion in the history of me. I have officially published  my own website, iTechJess.com, and have launched myself full-speed ahead into a new frontier as an independent consultant and staff development provider.  I have arrived!! Woot!

For a couple years now, I have been dipping my toes into the independent and contract workplace, taking tiny jobs that friends of mine recommended me for...just a gig here and there.  Nothing fancy.  And nothing permanent.  I go to work in a job I enjoy, I work with great people, and I feel relatively fulfilled. But all the while, I've been thinking about how much I enjoy the extra challenge of doing business in exotic places, with exotic people (well, exotic is a stretch...usually they are just closer to one of the state borders and say y'all a little differently).  I'm small-time. But no matter, I'm excited :)

So in tribute to my venture, I am giving away free hi-fives to anyone who wants one. I'll be in Austin, TX at the TCEA Convention this week (Feb 3-7) and can meet you anytime to give you your little piece of the celebration.  Warning: I am an enthusiastic hi-fiver. Be prepared.  And if you're going to be down that way as a participant, stop by my sessions (both on Wednesday): Not Secret Code: Add Pics to Forms and Flipping Out: Tools4Flipped Classes and get not only a hi-five, but a chance to score some TechSmith swag as well! (I'm tellin' ya, I am kinda a big deal)

When Dinosaurs walked the Earth and YouTube didn't exist

I recently read an article that showed YouTube has edged out Facebook as the most used social media website by teens. Honestly, I'm not shocked. Kids nowadays want to know and they want to know NOW. The students I work with feel forced into reading and don't have long attention spans, which is pretty typical of their age group. Enter YouTube: don't read, just type in a few words, click around until the video playing catches your attention. Did it answer your question? No? Okay, check out a related video...oh, yes, that's what you needed to know. This trend used to worry me, but I see the same behavior in grown up humans outside the classroom as well.

Take my roommate, Audrey, for instance.  As it turns out, she thinks so much like a teenager that YouTube is her search engine of choice. Google, who? She knows all about the "cool kids" of the interwebs and could probably quote every Jenna Marbles episode ever produced. In fact, given a free moment without agenda or itinerary, she is attempting to convert me into a YouTube voyeur like her! And it might be working...I woke up from a YouTube Coma the other night....visions of cats and vacuum cleaners still appearing in the dark from the backside of my eyelids. I literally didn't know how long I'd been watching (3+hrs it turns out).

Despite the quirky social ailments spawned from over-indulgence, I really like YouTube. It's an ingenious idea that has quietly morphed into a vital element of our social fabric. In fact, because of it's social importance, YouTube has also become a necessity in the classroom.  Think about it teachers: when was the last time you conceived a unit lesson plan or project that did not rely in SOME way on a YouTube video?  I literally cannot remember, since my years in the classroom are not quite in the double-digits and YouTube has never not been around for me. YouTube videos have essentially been a part of my daily experience since its conception in 2005. 

YouTube consumption is well established in our classrooms. So I love it that one of the new trends in education is to "flip" our classes.  We are harnessing tools like YouTube to extend beyond the walls of our brick-n-mortar classrooms and taking learning to a new level.  Some sites, like Sophia.org or MentorMob EDU, allow teachers to collect videos and other online resources for students to use in lieu of the direct teach element of the traditional learning pathway. I find this immensely valuable. Breaking down the walls of the traditional system one classroom at a time, right? Right.
Perhaps the most powerful aspect of YouTube is that the content is user-generated. It's not simply a one-stop consumption source. It's an outlet for creation as well.  Anyone can become the authority or the teacher. Even our students! Opponents of the online education revolution often argue that nothing can replace the face-to-face teacher/student experience. I agree 100% but who says the faces must be in the same room at the same time? YouTube allows teachers to capture themselves as they'd be in their classroom.  Mess-ups, lame jokes, questions from other students, digressions and all...turn on the webcam and keep going.  I love it (and so do many other educators and students).
I don't know where education will trend next, but I do know this: YouTube in the classroom will be around for a long time. It's not "new" anymore, and this blog post is just a few years too late; however, we still have educators who deny the power of the online video. Let's abandon our fears about technology people. Let's embrace what we know is true today: kids learn this way. We must meet them where they are....even if it makes us a little uncomfortable.

And, as always, please visit my website www.itechjess.com