Finding Purpose: "Talk Less, Smile More"

By: Rachel Vissing

Last week I had the opportunity to see the musical Hamilton.  Though many would say I was late to the party, I had listened to the music many times prior.  Listening to the soundtrack, however, was not as powerful as putting the music with the context on stage.  I left with my brain running for many reasons, but for this blog post, I'm am going to focus on one important line:

Talk Less, Smile More

Let's see...where have I seen this before?  Oh yes!  My wise mentor, Linda Ashida, has been sharing a similar message for years, complete with a post-it note by her desk (which is still up despite her retiring at the end of last school year).  

Whether the line is from Aaron Burr telling Alexander Hamilton to keep his opinions to himself or Linda's philosophy of learning from listening to others, I find that I struggle with this.  Therefore, I'm challenging myself to button my lips and to observe and listen more.

With My Students

In the classroom, I have started asking myself "Do I need to be talking now?"  I am questioning whether or not students need specific information or whether they can pull it from prior knowledge or work with peers to obtain this information.  For instance, instead of giving notes on the key terminology in mathematical translations like I have done in previous years, my students brainstormed on the whiteboard wall all of the terms that are associated with the math symbols +, -, >, =, etc.  Instead of correcting or adding words that were missed, we worked together throughout various translations and made adjustments to the board throughout the week's lessons based on our findings.  

The experience was surreal.  Many students thrived, and I saw their confidence soar!  Other students struggled a great deal and questioned me, "Why aren't you telling us what to do?  I need notes in order to learn."  It was hard for me to stand my ground with these students and not cave to provide them what they were asking, but by the end of the week these students trusted in the process and found more confidence in their abilities.  When I noticed that most groups were struggling with a concept, I had another group go to the board and explain their thought process.  It was really eye opening for me to step back and allow the students to teach one another, and I plan to continue to facilitate these types of processes as much as I can.

With My Peers

I get very excited talking and collaborating with others about education, lesson ideas, and new methods of facilitating learning in the classroom.  Often times when I am talking with a peer, I find myself interjecting suggestions that I have observed in other classrooms or those that I have tried with my students because I get very excited to bounce ideas around.  I have realized that I sometimes cut off the other person's thinking or impose my own beliefs on them instead of allowing my peers to find what works best for them and their students.  I'm challenging myself to go back to my mentality as a student teacher: I am a sponge.  This was my philosophy of listening, absorbing, and processing all of the ideas around me and then figuring out what works best for my situation.  This is especially important in my role as instructional coach, to provide my peers with the tools to set goals, brainstorm lesson ideas, and self-reflect purposefully.  

So as I am adapting this phase as my new mantra, you can listen here to have a positive song stuck in your head the rest of the day!  Maybe it will influence you as well!

Learning Moment at Elk Grove

By Mark Heintz

How do we define learning at Elk Grove? 

Schools are centers of learning.  Each day, the people who walk through the halls of Elk Grove learn, connect with others, and share.  However, much of the learning that takes places goes undocumented; it is not document or shared.  As a community, let us take a moment and connect with one such learning moment in hopes to share a common vision of learning and grow together.  

If you have a learning moment you would like to share with the larger community at Elk Grove, email your request to Mark.Heintz@d214.org  

Student Voice: Students and Teachers as Partners in Learning

By Linda Ashida

Nicole Holubec & Nathan Beltran lead an Institute Day Session

Over the course of the last few years, it has become more routine for us to include students in our Collab Lab's Professional Learning experiences––not just to participate, but also to plan and lead sessions with teachers.  Whether for our Teaming on Tuesday Workshops, Virtual Learning Cohort, Peer Observations, Institute Days, whenever we partner with students we learn so much from their perspectives: how they learn best and what motivates them in their learning. Their insight and thoughtful questions provoke us to reflect more deeply and make shifts in our practice based on their feedback.

At the same time, the students learn from the teachers and why we make the decisions we do. We build mutual understanding that contributes in an important way to the culture of learning of the school. And, after all, the students are the reason we're all here, so it only stands to reason that they should have voice in what learning looks like for them!

Nathan started our Weekly Quote Wall

To ensure that student voice is more routinely embedded in all that we do, this year we have invited two students, Freshman Natalia Habas and Senior Nathan Beltran, to join our Collab Team of teachers. In addition to joining us for scheduled meetings, they often drop by simply to see what's new, offer to help with our latest learning ventures (often inviting more students to join us), share insight from their classroom or external learning experiences, or share a new inspirational "Weekly Quote"  on our Whiteboard wall (totally their idea!).  It's becoming a genuine partnership.

In all of these shared experiences, we become learners together.  We walk the walk of one of our favorite Collab Lab mantras: "We are all teachers, we are all learners." Together we stretch our thinking, problem solve, explore possibilities––and we have fun, too!

Wonder what it all looks like? Sounds like? Read on!

Students lead Institute Day sessions.

Matt, Ryan, Mike and Zoe share insight on learning in their
Athletic Performance class.

To Learn more about what our Institute Days look like, check out this Collab Blog post:  Construction Zone: Drafting Blueprints for Learning

Students join Instructional Coaching sessions and Peer Observation Experiences.  
Following class visits they ask probing questions and offer feedback. 
They really do make us reflect more deeply on why we do what we do.

Nathan asks probing questions of Mark Heintz following a visit to his AP World
History Class. He inquired about how Mr. Heintz decided student groups, how he
knew if the students learned, and how he followed up when they needed support.

To learn more about what we learn from students when they join us for class visits and follow-up conversations, check out the following Collab Blog posts:   #214EdPrep: Collaborating in Professional Learning; Students Giving Teachers Feedback

Students share their perspectives with teachers across District 214 and beyond 
via Zoom in our Virtual Learning Cohort focused on Student Voice in Learning.

Nathan and Autumn share insight with Ms. Frazier from Grove Jr. High in CCSD59,
Mr. Loch, and Ms. Ashida from EGHS

Learning is serious business, but it's fun, too!

Check out the video clip below from a recent Virtual Learning Cohort conversation. 
Nathan and Autumn share examples of how their teachers foster a classroom culture 
that helps them learn.

To learn more about our Virtual Learning Cohort, check out the following Collab Blog post:  A New Way to Connect and Learn Across Schools

Teachers invite students to share feedback and help plan future lessons.

Students give Mr. Heintz feedback on his plans for upcoming lessons
in AP World History

To read more about how Mark Heintz solicits feedback from students, check out his weekly Collab Blog posts: A Year in AP: Student Feedback and Reflection.

Students join us for Teaming on Tuesday workshops.

The photo above is from a Teaming on Tuesday conversation with a panel of students who joined us to talk about the purpose of school and learning in their classes. To learn more about the insight the shared, check out this blog post:  What is the Purpose of School: Students Perspective

Students collaborate with Principal Paul Kelly to explore possibilities to broaden student voice school-wide via an Advisory Group. They visited Maine South High School to exchange ideas with Principal Ben Collins and students.

Natalia and Nathan listen and learn from Maine South HS students and then present their ideas to the group.

Students share their learning experiences via Twitter.

Nathan shares Institute Day experience with shout out to teachers.

Nicole shares Institute Day experience participating in a session
facilitated by English teacher Kim Miklusak and a panel of students.

Natalia encourages and congratulates teachers and students at
Friendship Junior High School for their community service.

Nathan shares experience reading with elementary school students.

Natalia retweets with comment to share her experience joining teachers
in the Collab Lab's Virtual Learning Cohort

Students share their learning experiences as guest writers for the Collab Blog, publishing 
posts that reach hundreds of readers in the Elk Grove Community and beyond.

Natalia served as our student Collab Lab rep to write a blog post about and
EG student leadership experience at Grove Junior High School

Hannah wrote a Collab Blog post to share her teaching experience in the
Ed Prep program

Here are a few links to some of the student-authored Collab Blog posts:

• Student Voice: Business Incubation and App Creation
• #214EdPrep: Karolina Shares Her Experience
• #214EdPrep: Nicole Reflects on Her Experience 
• Student Leaders Mentor in the Junior High: A Fun Day of Learning For All! 

Feedback from both staff and students on the impact of all of these learning experiences has been overwhelmingly positive. In the future we plan continue to make it even more the norm to Connect-Learn-Share with students––to partner even more in our learning together!

"It's Given ME My Own Voice" S1E11 of the WeAreEG Podast

Nic Baggetto is the editor-in-chief of the Elk Grove High School newspaper The Guardian.  As a senior at Elk Grove High School, he has evolved both personally and as a writer through his experiences.  He shares some of his favorite stories that he has written, as well as how much he has learned through this process.  He intends to pursue a career in communications to continue his passion for writing and film.

Nic mentions some favorite articles in the podcast.  Here are some of those, as well as a few other noteworthy and recent ones:

Sci-fi Film Arrival Overlooked Amidst Changing Genre

Filmmaking requires extensive planning, patience

Police reforms help reduce numbers of fatal shootings by Chicago officers this year

Nic's Flicks (Pt. 1)

The music in this podcast was provided by

    Podington Bear, "Funk" from his Dance album (Creative Commons License 3.0)

    Podington Bear, "Golden Hour" from his  Springtime Album (Creative Commons License 3.0)

    Podington Bear, "Movin On Up" from his Bon Voyage album (Creative Commons License 3.0)

    Podington Bear, "Arboles" from his Encouraging album (Creative Commons License 3.0)

A New Way To Connect and Learn Across Schools: The Collab Lab's Virtual Learning Cohort

By Linda Ashida

Imagine starting your day collaborating with a group of nearly 30 educators and students, from 10 different schools, from the comfort of your own learning space. Imagine the new connections, learning––and fun!––the conversation could lead to!

That is just what happened in the first meeting of the Collab Lab's Virtual Learning Cohort. Taking advantage of District 214 schools' daily common professional learning time from 7:15-8:10 (before 1st hour classes begin at 8:15), we used Zoom to connect virtually across schools. 

Our group included twenty-two staff and two students from D214, four educators from neighboring districts, and a middle school teacher from Texas! In a mix of whole-group and small-group break-out conversations, we enjoyed exploring and sharing ways to involve students and encourage them to take the lead in their own learning. And, since we were talking about student voice, it only seemed fitting to include students. We were so happy our two Collab Lab Team students, Freshman Natalia Habas and Senior Nathan Beltran, were willing to start their school day an hour early to join us!

A tweet from Kim Miklusak captured what the experience looked liked, showing the synchronous video chat and how we used the "Share Screen" function to share resources and models of work. 

During both the whole-group and break-out video chats, we also interacted via text chat. One of our participants, Bob Schuetz, volunteered to monitor the chat. Much like a Twitter chat host, Bob welcomed participants, shared highlights, and responded to participant comments and questions. Just the small sampling from the chat below reveals the great way it added another layer of conversation and sharing with the group.

The comments in the chat also reveal how impactful it was to have students in the group––how inspired we were by their insights––reminding us how important it is to foster student voice in our classrooms, too.

Before ending our session, we took a few minutes to reflect and consider a "Call to Action" before we meet again next week: Connect with another participant in the group; share a resource in our Curated Resources Doc; try something new, capture and share "Pictures of Practice" from our classrooms . . .  

It was great to make new connections, renew some "old" ones, and learn together without leaving our own "home base." We were inspired by new ideas and resources, and we're looking looking forward to the conversation in the weekly meetings to come! 

Natalia and Nathan were happy to be included and they stopped by the Collab Lab in person to to debrief with Bob and me and let us know that they would be inviting more students to join us next week! They are pretty great!

We are grateful for a District 214 Innovation in Teaching and Learning Grant to support The Collab Lab's vision to expand collaborative learning experiences across our schools with a  Zoom Pro account and our new Collab Lab Zoom Room.  Look for future blog posts to learn how we will use our Zoom Room to invite colleagues from other schools to join us virtually in the Collab Lab for Teaming on Tuesday workshops, cross-district learning exchanges, and more!

If you are wondering about Zoom and how you might use it too, we'd love to talk to you! It is incredibly easy to use. In just a few minutes you can create a free account and, with little or no training use it in much the same way we did to connect across learning spaces, schools, the country––and even the world! There are so many possibilities. And maybe you have ideas for us, too. Stop by the Collab Lab or drop us a line; we'd love to brainstorm with you!

Spring Brings New Collaborations

Written by Linda Ashida

In all of the professional learning that the Collab Lab facilitates, we always look for opportunities to expand our collaboration across schools, both in person and virtually, using Periscope, Facetime or Skype, and Google Hangout.

We have written about some of these collaborations in previous posts:

• Persicoping our way into classrooms in D214 and Beyond
• 2 Schools Collaborate in Professional Learning with Periscope and Google Hangout 

In this post we'll highlight new collaborations we are enjoying this Spring.

April 2017 In-Service Day

Our April In-Service Day gave us the chance to connect with our colleagues at The Academy at Forest View.

The Collab Lab team planned a kind of hybrid EdCamp, giving all staff the opportunity to offer input on their needs and interest several weeks beforehand.  We used the feedback from staff to pre-plan some of the session offerings, and we also gave staff the opportunity to suggest workshops the morning of the In-service day.

Prior to the In-Service day, we got to thinking about the possibility of inviting some of our colleagues from the Academy at Forest View to join us, since, from prior collaborations, we knew that our staff had a shared interest in learning about, and/or sharing our practice, regarding social emotional learning and instructional technologies.

We weren't sure if the logistics would work to bring teachers together from two buildings, but we figured it didn't hurt to try! We thought it would be great, even if just a few of the teachers could join us, and if not in person, via Google Hangout or Periscope.

So, we presented our idea to Kara Kendrick, the Director of The Academy.  Not only was she open to the idea, but after sharing the idea with some of her teacher leaders involved in planning their day, we were able to work out a plan that would allow for the entire staff from the Academy to join us at Elk Grove for the morning EdCamp!

Staff from both schools facilitated sessions, and even student teachers and students joined in and presented too! As always, we documented our learning in each session using Google Docs so that we would all be able to access the notes for future reference, including for sessions we were interested in, but unable to attend.

Feedback from the day was very positive, with some great suggestions for future In-service days.  Almost all of the EG staff who completed our feedback form indicated how great it was to have this opportunity to get to know our colleagues from The Academy, and to learn with and from each other.  We have already discussed plans to continue our collaboration with them during the coming school year!

The visual below gives you a glimpse of some of the sessions.  Check out this link for more details.

 




Collab Lab Book Chat Series in May

A literacy research project done by our colleague, Katie Winstead, as part of her year-two Mentor Program project, inspired the Collab Lab to partner with Katie to host a book chat series.

We will meet on Tuesday mornings in May from 7:40-8:05 in the Collab Lab and we will read and discuss the book Readicide by Kelly Gallagher.

Each week we will share our key takeaways and questions. We will also reflect on our practice and, looking ahead to the coming school year, plan specific strategies that we can embed in our lessons to improve student literacy.

All EG staff are welcomed to join us, and we have extended the invitation to our colleagues across District 214 as well who will be able to join us via Google Hangout.

Look for future Collab Blog posts with updates on our Book chat series to see what we learn!

Student Voice: Models of Student Work

By Mark Heintz

I have been going around school stopping students at random to hear what they feel teacher's do that impacts their learning.  It is so important to continually ask the population we serve to get their feedback on what helps them master the content and skills we are trying to teach.  The responses have been so insightful into what works for each of the unique learners that enter our classroom and can continue to drive the methods we use to instruct them.  Once I captured the student's voice, I tracked down the teacher to share and get their input on the practice that was highlighted. 

The student I asked in the video highlights the way Mr. Asmussen uses different levels of student samples to improve students writing ability. 

Here is Mr. Asmussen explaining the impact and process of using student samples in his instruction.  

#214EdPrep: Collaborating in Professional Learning

This is the first in a series of blog posts discussing the collaboration of the Collab Lab and our EG Ed Prep students.  Please follow along on our journey using the hashtag #214EdPrep or clicking on the label #214EdPrep in the word cloud!

Students in the District 214 Ed Prep Program at EGHS, taught by Kim Sander, have begun collaborating with the Collab Lab on varied professional learning experiences. This previous post explains a workshop we did with the EdPrep students on how to use Social Media to learn, lead, build community, and to expand their professional portfolio. 

Most recently, the EdPrep students joined teachers in a class visit experience. The class was split into four groups, each accompanied by EG teachers, to observe a class for 20 minutes. We visited the classrooms of Persida Bujdei, Mark Heintz, Bonnie Kale, and Kim Miklusak. 

The focus of the class visit was to look for examples of learning target(s) and how they are communicated, and formative feedback (given by the teacher and/or peers). Here is the a document we used to take notes and to facilitate our conversation afterwards.

After the class visits we returned to the EdPrep Classroom to debrief in a jigsaw conversation.  Each group had at least one student from each class we visited, and at least one teacher facilitator. We discussed what we observed and learned in each classroom.

The students shared insight from both their student and future-teacher perspectives. The teachers were inspired, and we learned from them too! Here are some highlights of their observations:

Schoology quizzes before a test help students understand exactly what they know and don't know.  It isn't graded, it is just for learning.  Several students commented on how much they like these kinds of quizzes that they have done in some of their classes, and that they aren't graded.

Teachers gave clear explanations of how to do the practice for the learning targets, and then did a model problem/reading and then students worked in pairs. The modeling really helps. During the pair work the teachers gave feedback and students give each other feedback too.  We talked about how this intentional scaffolding (I do, we do, you do) supports learning.

The whiteboard tables are so good to foster collaboration and feedback. One student said she was so sorry she was "too old" that she missed out on having the whiteboard tables in her English class last year! 

The pros and cons of Quizlet live and Kahoot for feedback.  Quizlet is good at the beginning of the unit as a "hook" and for collaboration, but if your group doesn't finish before the winning group wins, you don't see all of the questions.  Kahoot is good to make sure every student sees all of the questions and gets individual feedback. It can get boring if teachers do them all of time. But they are so good for feedback.

It is helpful it is to plan activities with a model, small group work and time for students to then do it on their own (scaffolding).

We're looking forward to having the EdPrep students join us again for future professional learning experiences.  We have so much to learn from each other! 

You can connect with them too! Follow their Ed Prep journey via #214EdPrep on Twitter.  You can encourage them with a "like", a "retweet" or a comment!  The would LOVE to hear from you!

Student Voice: Questioning and Student Feedback

By Mark Heintz

I have been going around school stopping students at random to hear what they feel teacher's do that impacts their learning.  It is so important to continually ask the population we serve to get their feedback on what helps them master the content and skills we are trying to teach.  The responses have been so insightful into what works for each of the unique learners that enter our classroom and can continue to drive the methods we use to instruct them.  Once I captured the student's voice, I tracked down the teacher to share and get their input on the practice that was highlighted. 

The student I asked in the video highlights the way Mrs. Perkins questions at the beginning and the end of each class and allows time for students to process the material from the day before.

Here is Mrs. Perkins explaining how and why she uses the questioning strategy at the beginning and end of class. 

Sharing Student Voices: "Where I'm From" poems using Adobe Spark

By Sandra Lee

For first quarter, freshmen created "Where I'm From" poems while reading House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. They then recorded their readings of their poems using the Adobe Spark app. While the requirements were minimal, students applied their creativity using Adobe Spark by adding images, background colors, and music to reflect their poems. We required students to use this app because we wanted them to practice speaking loudly and clearly, but we wanted them to have opportunities for practice. Since we assess students' speaking skills in a number of formal and informal speeches, it was important for students to be able to practice speaking skills such as volume and annunciation in isolation. Overall, the students exceeded our expectations as listed in a rubric and created interesting and original projects that displayed their unique personalities and backgrounds.

Check out this student sample! 

And this one!

It's Yearbook Distribution Day!

Written by Linda Ashida

Finally the day has come!  After a full year of hard work--decision-making (on design, theme, layout), collaboration, interviewing, taking photos, managing deadlines, writing copy, designing, problem-solving--it is Yearbook Distribution Day! It is a day that Lisa Martineau and her Flashmob, along with all of the EG staff and students, have been eagerly awaiting! 

In anticipation of this exciting day, I had the chance to visit Lisa Martineau's Yearbook class and talk her students to learn more about what really goes into creating the final product.  There is so much more that goes into creating a yearbook than meets the eye.


I enjoyed learning how students take such care to plan a book that will really capture the essence of our school.  So much goes into creating and publishing a yearbook that several students told me that the class has been one of their best and most challenging.

Michella told me that Yearbook is one of her most challenging classes.  She said that is such an awesome class because:  "It has a little bit of everything. You learn social skills, interviewing, writing, computer skills, photography and technical skills. It's like a bunch of components of all the classes in school combined into one class. You learn stress management, time management, people skills."  Mariana concurred with her thoughts, as did all of the students with whom I spoke.





I enjoyed chatting with Denise and Pedro to learn how they decide the theme, layout, colors, and all the elements that will unify the entire theme of the book

Amairani and Ayleen shared how they use Photoshop to work on the graphic design.

Each member takes ownership of certain pages, but all must collaborate as a team to make the final product come together and capture the year at Elk Grove High School.


Students are excited to get their first look at the 2015-2016 EGHS Yearbook!