Soaring with Soerens

Rockin' Robin My brain hurts. I just finished my first ever Twitter Chat and I feel like I ran a triathlon! Not only am I winded but I am also overtaken by the amount of positivity and shared resources that I gathered during the half-hour sprint. Okay, let me regroup: Twitter . Prior to this course I thought that Twitter was outdated and one that was being phased out. I would hear about it through some hysterical Jimmy Kimmel skits , bad social media experiences, or while my aunt was talking during a family dinner. I didn't really pay much mind to it except to get some juicy gossip or laughs on how things were misinterpreted. I would even ignore it when at professional developments the facilitators would start off saying, "we are on twitter! Retweet and see your name on the screen!" I would always sit back, sort of roll my eyes and think, "MAN - you all are OLD!" I. Was. Wrong. I have no problem admitting that I was wrong, either! You could actu...

Let me provide you a little background before I begin: I am a math person. I love everything math. I love patterns, I love the simplicity and yet the complexity of a math problem. I love to problem-solve, I love to organize my work, I love things clean cut. I love math and often say that it is my "heart." When I initially left the classroom four years ago it was to be our district's K-8 Math Curriculum Specialist. I.LOVED.IT. I could go into detail of all the reasons why, but I will save you from it. 😉However, like many things in education, that role was phased out and replaced with "Instructional Support Staff." And if you read really closely, you wont see the word math  in there. Trust me - I wove it in when I could. When working with elementary teachers, I often kept our focus to still be on math. It was easy to do - I knew the curriculum, knew the strategies, knew how engage students into loving math. And I needed to keep my heart alive! This year I wa...

Things That Make Me Go "Hmmm...." In a recent blog post I spoke about Edgar Dale's "Cone of Experience" and its progression from passive to active learning. A handful of times since then I have quietly smirked when I paraphrased them to say, "so you would like to encourage active learning in your classroom."  It is no wonder that when reading Digital Learning: Peril or Promise for Our K-12 Students by Julie A. Evens, Ed.D., I paused with some of the statistics. Take this one for example: 84% of middle school and 78% of high school students indicated that they regularly use YouTube to access online videos. Obviously my initial reaction is, "holy cow, that is a lot!" mixed with "oh no, I've seen some of the videos out there and they are not.good." 😬  However, I pushed aside my personal feelings and continued to read. Middle school and high school students' experience was broken down further in how  they use Yo...

ACTIVE LEARNING: Greetings from Room 211 According to the emaze presentation on Generation IY by Tim Elmore , nearly half of the world's population is under 25 years old. 😲 They are also the "first generation that doesn't need leaders to get information; they have electronic access to every piece of data you can imagine." In other words, if you are still thinking that teachers are in the front of the classroom on a chalkboard reading out of a basal, you are sorely mistaken.  To adjust to Generation IY (you know - i Phone, i Pad, i Message, i Pod), educators around the world have to get creative. They need to include opportunities for the learning to be centered around students and ways for them to be connected both socially and technologically. They need to students to be active  in their own learning where the information is relevant, engaging, mindful, and experiential. Students are held accountable and the teacher facilitates the learning and discussions.  ...

KHAN ACADEMY Stuck on a concept? Not sure the correct steps to take in order to solve that difficult math problem? Confused on how to help your child? Just type it in to a Google search and the first videos that often show up come from Khan Academy .  Sure, Khan Academy has been around for a while, so why is it still trending? Unlike many online programs that have reached it's max potential and is spinning its wheels, Khan Academy keeps getting better.  Don't believe me? Check this out:  Additional Resources : Khan Academy Kids - A free app that I highly recommend if you have children from ages 2 - 6. Disguised as games with fun characters, children are captivated by the interactive lessons, games, and activities. Their personalized learning path adapts to them to allow them to learn at their own pace while collecting fun rewards as they learn.  Still not sold on incorporating it into your classroom? Check out this article ...

Apps, Programs, Websites… Oh My! When was the last time you sat down and went through all of the applications on your phone or computer? The websites you frequently visit? Truly thought of what technology you are using on a regular basis and for what purpose? I did yesterday and truly cannot stop thinking about it. Source for Images: Google I wont lie - there are  plenty  of other apps on my phone that are rarely used but still live on there "just in case." But these are the  T O P   5 0   apps, programs, and websites are the ones that I frequent most often. ↠LETS BREAK IT DOWN ⇩ I am a numbers gal so it only seems right for me to break it down to the numbers:  Image Source: Personal Creation with Google Images 36% of the technology I frequently use allows me to be creative.   Being creative is important to me. It is something that drives me, keeps my mind going, and allows me to continuously problem-solve. I secretly e...

E ngagement – E nhancement – E xtension Last year I did something I never thought I would do: I applied for a position in a different district. Do not get me wrong - I love  my current district. They are my family. But it was a  u n i c o r n position. One that stopped me in my tracks and made me think and then challenge myself for. I made it to the second round but not any further - which was perfectly fine as my life completely changed at that time and I needed  my Marquardt family - but during that round they asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks: "What model do you follow for integrating technology?" I fumbled.   I spoke of the SAMR model and tried to remember everything that I had ever learned from our school's Instructional Technology Specialist. I did alright but I definitely didn't nail the answer. You see, I have always seen technology and the SAMR method through the eyes of a teacher and how I could implement it to my students. I do ...