PodcastPD

This is part two of our reflective and look-ahead series. We now turn our attention and conversation to the 2017-18 school year and what we anticipate learning in the coming school year.

1. Stacey is super jazzed about the Jim Knight visit her district will have in the early fall of 2017. All of the Teacher Resource Specialists (aka instructional coaches) will receive training to help create a common coaching model/framework.
2. AJ is ready to take on an even larger leadership role in his school, offering more PD, sharing ideas, and inviting teachers into #watchmeteach.
3. Stacey also has plans to leverage her school’s Google Classroom to deliver more PD, help teachers set tech goals, and share content specific articles, information, and activities.
4. AJ is on a mission to find and share relevant PD with his teachers. He will also be challenging his colleagues to co-present and attend conferences with him. Other PD opportunities AJ will be sharing include NJAMLE, CoffeeEDU, and EdCamp.
5. Chris stopped us in our tracks with the notion that he’s not sure what he wants to learn/do in the 2017-18 school year…and that’s ok!!! It’s ok to NOT have a plan. Take the summer to focus on small PD, recharge, reflect–then set your goals for this coming school year as we get closer to Back to School. We all know it will be here sooner than we know it!

• Jim Knight Instructional Coaching Group

AJ: In preparation for summer personal PD, AJ is narrowing down his list of 10 books for 10 weeks of summer. The 10 books are centered around Student-Centered Learning, Project Based Learning, the Flipped Classroom, Leadership, Personal Growth and a better use of technology in his social studies classroom. Follow along on AJ’s journey on his blog and with #10bks10wks.

Chris: Learned he could only be a physical education teacher at the elementary level after volunteering at his son’s field day/fun day.

Stacey: Returned to her #OneWord…Balance and is finding a balance between listening to audio books and keeping up with the constant download of podcasts in Overcast.

As the end of the 2016-17 school years approaches our discussion turns reflective as we look back at our learning since the start of the school year.

1. CoffeeEdu
2. EdCamps
3. FOMO and Being Selective with PD
4. Books/Podcasts/Other
5. THIS Podcast!

• WOW in the World Podcast from NPR
• Calm.com for bedtime stories

AJ: I am prepping for my 10 books in 10 weeks reading challenge! Some of the books I’ve selected already include:

• Learn Like a Pirate
• Gamify Your Classroom
• Hacking PBL

Chris: I recently started listening to the Stories Podcast with Miles! The Stories Podcast was created to provide family-friendly content to families on the go, Always free, the podcast is a great way to entertain kids on the go and limit screen time while encouraging imaginations.

Stacey: I passed my Google Level 2 exam! Additionally, I am listening to Steven King’s On Writing and I went to my first formal yoga class.

Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique. Anne Rosenberg provides insight about how to bring mindfulness into your classroom and introduce it to your students.

Anne Rosenberg is a graduate of TCNJ and currently teaches 5th-grade in West Windsor-Plainsboro, New Jersey. Anne is a passionate educator who likes to experiment with technology in the classroom. Outside of the classroom, Annie teaches yoga to adults and kids.

• Airtime from GoNoodle
• Calm.com
• Glitter Jars
• 6 Mindfulness Exercises You Can Try Today

AJ shared his take on his SGDP for this year and talked about what he’s thinking about for next year which is a student-centered classroom for differentiation.

If you can help AJ out please connect with him!

Chris learned how to make fire! He attended a 3-hour class to learn multiple ways to start fires. He took this course through the Monmouth County Park System.

Stacey collaborated with Adam Schoenbart on Google Sheets project for the district her children go to. If you need help with Google Sheets Adam is THE MAN!

Stacey’s other PD has taken place at home as she and her husband have opened up their washing machine to perform a little DIY maintenance.

Mike Andriulli joins us as our first-ever guest on the podcast! In this episode, we’re talking all about ASCD Empower 2017, as well as conference attendance benefits. Mike shares his experience at the west coast conference, highlighting a session with education power-house, Baruti Kafele, one of the most sought-after educational speakers in the country. Other conference highlights include using math performance tasks, which Mike plans to turnkey to his district in the near future, as well as personal conversations had during downtimes. Mike’s biggest regret/criticism was his inability to attend all the sessions he wanted to attend; the offerings were so robust that he could have easily attended more than one offering per session — we should all have that problem!

Mike goes on to discuss his role in bringing new strategies to the teachers of his district and passionately shares his views that it is NOT ok for teachers to say, “I’m just not a math person.” We hope you enjoy our conversation with Mike as much as we did.

Mike Andriulli is the Supervisor of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, at Hillsdale Public Schools (NJ). A former elementary and Math teacher, Mike has degrees from both Rowan University and Ramapo College. He is a well-respected educational leader with experience in curriculum design, staff development, and technology integration. Mike is also a member of the North New Jersey Chapter of ASCD.

• ASCD
• Baruti K. Kafele – @PrincipalKafele, PrincipalKafele.com
• Mathematical Mindsets – http://amzn.to/2ooHulL
• Denis Sheeran – @MathDenisNJ; denissheeran.com
• Gretchen Bridgers – Always A Lesson’s Empowering Educators Podcast

AJ is continuing to research and learn about ways to help students create a growth mindset and change the culture of the middle school social studies classroom. He is also taking the time to learn more about the use of learning menus, asynchronous and personalized learning, which will hopefully create a stronger student-centered classroom experience.

Chris continues to learn a lot about 20% Time and has implemented it for the last marking period with his High School Social Studies students. He has limited prior experience when it comes to this topic but is not afraid to try and put this opportunity in front of the students.

Stacey has recently learned how not to deliver PD at a recent conference/PD Day. She was also able to pick up a few copies of Denis Sheeran’s book Instant Relevance and hope to be leading a book group with my team. It was a great book with ideas that can easily be brought back to her team.

#PodcastPD celebrates its 2nd birthday with the release of this episode! If you would like to read about our history visit Stacey’s original blog post.

In this episode we get back to our original roots and share some of the great podcasts we’re listening to and that we think you should check out to add to your own personal learning.

Be sure to download and use Overcast if you listen to podcasts on an iOS device! Not only does the app intelligently remove some of the dead air, but the user interface is also amazing. Stacey suggests you listen to everything at a minimum of 1.25 speed, this way you can listen to more great content in less time!

Here are our podcast recommendations:

The Story Behind Podcast (Chris) – Do you like trivia and fun facts? Have you lost hours to Wikipedia rabbit holes? Do you ever wonder about the history of everyday things in your world? The Story Behind is the show for you!

Ask Me Another (AJ) – Ask Me Another is the rambunctious live show from NPR and WNYC that blends brainteasers, pub trivia, comedy, and music into an hour of mind-bending fun. Host Ophira Eisenberg invites guests and listeners alike to stretch their noggins, tickle their funny bones, and be serenaded by house musician Jonathan Coulton. What you’ll hear resembles the casual intimacy of game night at a friend’s house: one where scores are forgotten in favor of hilarious gaffes.

Magic Lessons (Stacey) – Author Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat Pray Love) offers wisdom and advice to artists trying to overcome creative obstacles. To help these writers, poets, dancers, and comedians she enlists the help of several friends including Sarah Jones, Neil Gaiman, Gary Shteyngart, Amy Purdy, Michael Ian Black, Brandon Stanton, Martha Beck, and Glennon Doyle Melton. Magic Lessons are roadmaps for the path to creativity, the extra nudge we need when we’re feeling stuck in our creative lives. The podcast evolved out Gilbert’s book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear published by Riverhead.

Note to Self (Chris) – Join host Manoush Zomorodi for your weekly reminder to question everything. Is your phone watching you? Are your kids real? These and other essential quandaries for anyone trying to preserve their humanity in the digital age.

Teachonomy Talks (AJ) – Hosted by Chuck Poole this is a podcast brought to you by Teachonomy.com for busy teachers who want to be inspired, encouraged, and empowered each week. Our goal is to give you nuggets of value in 5-7 minutes so you can walk away energized, refreshed, and ready for your day!

Angela Watson’s Truth for Teachers (Stacey) – This podcast is designed to speak life, encouragement, and truth into the minds and hearts of educators and get you energized for the week ahead. With 11 years of classroom experience and 7 years experience as an instructional coach, Angela Watson creates resources that make teaching more effective, efficient, and enjoyable.

AJ – Looking forward to catching up on podcast listening, for both professional and personal growth, and also continue reading about his newest passion, Blended Learning, during the Spring Break.

Chris – Build a Stand-Up Planter – Jon Peters Art and Home

Stacey – Working on creating a digital order form using Google forms and formMule or autocrat. It’s a steep learning curve for this lady who detests spreadsheets!

What are your biggest fears related to professional development? Stacey, AJ, and Chris run the table about some different areas of education where our fears and insecurities creep in.

• Dr. Spike Cook
• #IMMOOC
• Padlet
• NJAMLE

AJ – I presented at the recent NJAMLE Conference.

Chris – I’ll be replacing a portion of the waste line under the House of #EdTech!

Stacey – I’m doing a 30 day blog challenge! I’m also reading Building Teachers’ Capacity for Success: A Collaborative Approach for Coaches and School Leaders

Your Professional Personal Learning Network (PLN) is an invaluable resource to both your career in education as well as your private life outside the walls of your school. In the third episode of PodcastPD, Chris, AJ, and I discuss the people you should include in our PLN and how to go about building a PLN of your own (step 1-include US!).

Personally, we like to build our PLN with people who are: like-minded, share the same interests, share ideas, positive and upbeat, and push our learning and thinking. We connect in a variety of ways and a variety of platforms, from Twitter and Voxer to Facebook and CoffeeEdu (be brave-start your own!). We even discuss less traditional but more fun ways to connect with you PLN, like DinerEdu, EdCampOut, and BoardGameEdu! What would be your entry point for building your PLN? Who would you connect with?

• Our favorite Twitter chats:

1. #BFC530
2. #SSTLAP
3. #TLAP
4. Find a chat that will help you grow your PLN

• Voxer Walkie Talkie App
• Overcast.fm
• Innovator’s Mindset MOOC

AJ is currently reading Blended Learning in Action: A Practical Guide Toward Sustainable Change by Catlin Tucker, Jason Todd Green and Tiffany Wyckoff.

Chris recommended a podcast from WNYC (NPR) called Note to Self. His wife recently turned him on to this podcast and his jumping off point was a series of episodes called The Privacy Paradox.

What is the Privacy Paradox? It’s the term behavioral economists use to describe the disconnect between our feelings about digital privacy (we value it!) and how we act online (we give privacy away!).

Stacey is back to listening to podcasts (YAY!) after a really long affair with the OverDrive app! She recently listened to NPR’s Hidden Brain, specifically episodes 59 and 60. Each of these episodes deal with current events and have a place in any SS, political science, psychology, or humanities class.

• Shout out to Bruce Reicher (@breicher), fellow NJ educator who is enjoying the podcast and let us know by tweeting to us @PodcastPD. Thanks for listening Bruce!
• Shout out to Tina Monteleone (@tinamonte), another NJ educator, she’s a MS technology teacher and college professor who has enjoyed the launch and beginnings of this podcast!

We hope you enjoy episode #2 of PodcastPD! We discuss Lego Batman, EdCamp-style PD and share the latest in our own learning.

In this episode, Stacey, AJ and I discussed the idea of bringing edcamp-style or unconference learning to your school or district. We discuss our experiences and the topic for the episode grew out of Stacey’s upcoming district PD day where she’s planning this type of PD for her colleagues.

Both styles of professional development revolve around the common theme of choice and teacher-led and self-directed learning.

• Lego Batman Movie
• Adam Schoenbart – The Schoenblog
• Google Teacher Tribe Podcast
• The Art of Manliness Podcast (ep 274)

PodcastPD is back! AJ, Chris, and I are so happy to be creating this podcast for you. As you will learn in this episode this new podcast is a little different from the original #PodcastPD Twitter chat.

Our goal with the podcast is to provide you with the PD you’re not getting in your faculty meetings or another district's professional development.

We would be honored if you would subscribe to the podcast and include us in your podcast listening schedule. Look for a new episode every few weeks!

In this episode, Chris, AJ and I discuss the origin of #PodcastPD (it all started with a little blog post), the resulting Twitter chat, our expectations for professional development, topics we might explore in coming episodes, and how we like to learn best.

PodcastPD is a bi-monthly show where your hosts will come together to discuss some hot topics in education, the professional development we are taking part in within our districts, as well as the topics and areas of discussion we are leading for others.

As with many of you, there is no one way that Chris, AJ, and I learn. We use myriad methods to inform our practice and improve ourselves both professionally and personally. Chris and AJ learn by doing and taking part in demonstrations. An emphasis is placed on teaching and movement. I, on the other hand, will soak up new information I am interested in any way it is delivered; be it a book, podcast, or anything on the internet. Just don’t ask us to sit through a boring panel discussion!

• The original PodcastPD blog posts (1, 2, and 3)
• Jennifer Gonzalez
• Derek Larson
• Brent Warner
• Rich Czyz

• Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
• Check out #PodcastPD
• Chris Nesi - Twitter, Instagram
• AJ Bianco - Twitter, Instagram
• Stacey Lindes - Twitter, Instagram