Using Blogging to Connect, Learn, and Magnify Teacher Voice

In the coming weeks and months, The Fund will feature blogs from teachers in the Next Generation Instructional Design network. They will share their journey, their ideas, and their collaborative work related to being in the network and with building units of study with LDC modules embedded. Today, we’ll hear from Renee Boss about why blogging is important for teachers and how it can be used to improve connections, learning, and practice.

By: Renee Boss

In today’s connected world, teachers no longer go all summer without connecting with each other, using social media (Twitter, Voxer, Blogs, Facebook). Rather, teachers learn from their personal learning networks (PLN) year-round. Even with frequent formal and informal connections, let’s consider specifically what we can learn from one another through blogging. Blogs are excellent resources for helping us connect, learn, grow, and magnify our voices. 

When our Marketing Communications Manager at The Fund asked me to write this post, I initially thought “no problem--I blog, I support bloggers, and I read blogs all the time--I’ll pull this post off in no time at all.” Wrong. What I found is that there are so many blogs I enjoy it was hard to pare it down into the size of one readable blog post about educators blogging. After days of considering my options, I determined that I would allow myself only four slots under three categories (learn, magnify voice, and connect). The blogs listed below are the ones I return to regularly, and there are many more I could have included. Do you have favorite educator blogs? Please share!

Blogs for learning

The New York Times Learning Network 

With the editor of this blog (Katherine Schulten) having a long experience in education and regular contributing bloggers being teachers, you can count on the NYT Learning Network blog for daily resources for teaching and learning. You will find lesson plans connected to reading the NYT (valuable for all subject areas), questions for writing and discussion and opportunities to join the conversations by commenting on posts. Personally, I have utilized The New York Times in my work with high school students and college students because the resources are free, the topics are timely, and it’s also a great resource for staying current on issues in our country and world.

CoolCat Teacher

For years now I have been following the work of Vicki Davis from Camilla, Georgia. As a leading educator in technology and blogging, you can count on Vicki’s blog for resources on a plethora of topics, especially technology. A few years ago I met her at an education conference and she shared the story of the title of her blog coming from students who thought she was a cool teacher and the school’s mascot were the cats, so her blog became CoolCat Teacher. She’s been all over the world speaking and inspiring fellow educators and she still teaches in South Georgia and shares her expertise with all of us.

Kevin’s Meandering Mind
Kevin Hodgson writes about technology, digital literacy, jazz, connected educators, and teaching middle schoolers. His posts are witty, informative, and innovative. Read his blog to learn new ideas for teaching students at any grade and be inspired by his level-headed approach to education.

Partnerships in Learning
A blog written by Tricia Shelton, a Kentucky teacher and connected educator, offers inspiration for learning and sharing through a lens of science for all students. Tricia engages other teachers as learners exploring the Next Generation Science Standards, and she believes science should be exciting and accessible for all students. 

Blogs for magnifying voices

Getting Smart

Another site I’ve followed for years is Getting Smart. Here you find innovative ideas for teaching and learning in blogs written by teachers and journalists alike. All positive ideas for reimagining learning and sharing the voices of teachers as leaders. Coincidentally, I re-connected with a fellow Piedmont College graduate through his blog on Getting Smart. Our liberal arts college Masters in Teaching program served us well because we both maintain forward thinking ideas for teaching/learning and education reform. Check out all the innovative blogs on Getting Smart and access John’s contributions here.

Teaching Channel 

Teaching Channel started with videos but I’m finding more and more blogs by teachers as another way for teachers to share their ideas about teaching and learning. Sometimes the blogs connect with the videos (another great resource for learning) and sometimes the blogs stand alone on topics relevant to the time of the school year or to issues in public education.

Blogging Through the Fourth Dimension

In this popular blog, teacher Pernille Ripp shares thoughts on teaching and student voice. I’ve always believed one of the major reasons teachers should be sharing their voice is because they are some of the best advocates for students. Ripp believes students have the right to raise a ruckus when education being given to them is not working. I couldn’t agree more, and I also believe teachers and parents have the same right. Let’s raise our voices & do so with the tips Ripp offers--with kindness, empathy and persistence. Together, we can make a difference in education.

Impatient Optimists: Education

The blog for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation frequently features teacher bloggers. My personal experiences working with the BMGF and with other teachers across the country working with them have been top notch. They listen. They learn. They support and encourage. They value teachers’ voices as experts in the field of education, and I couldn't agree more. Teachers know what students need to be successful in life.

Blogs for connecting

KYEdvolution

This teacher generated site hosts information for teachers in Kentucky wishing to connect with one another for optimal student learning. Visit to learn more about professional learning opportunities, to learn about Kentucky teacher blogs, and to add your voice to the change making happening in our state.

Literacy Design Collaborative Blog (LDC)

LDC provides tools for classroom teachers seeking to ensure students graduate college and career ready. The LDC instructional design system helps us think about the learning experiences we provide for students. LDC’s blog provides updates on information related to the tools and also shares educator perspectives on the usefulness of the tools for improved student learning. If you use the LDC tools or even if you don’t (yet), following the blog provides a great way to learn and stay connected.

Center for Teaching Quality

Established by a non-profit organization over a decade ago, CTQ created the collaboratory for teachers to blog and connect with one another around topics of interest. Not only do they have the larger collaboratory, they also have smaller groups (called labs). Lab topics range from advocacy to leadership to sharing professional expertise. One of my personal favorites is the lab on Teacher Powered Schools.

National Blogging Collaborative

Created by teachers for teachers, this service oriented blog offers various services to teachers, including free writing coaching by fellow educator bloggers. The NBC encourages more teachers to blog and share their perspective on issues in education. Check out the site and start your own blogging journey today!

Engaging Students and Improving Instruction Using One Tool

By: Leslie Bartow

For eight years, I taught 8th grade Social Studies and served as 8th grade team leader in middle school. For four years, I was an Site Based Decision Making (SBDM) Council member who had the privilege of interviewing and hiring two principals. I have served on various school committees; culture, discipline, data, PLC’s, and teaming. As 8th grade Social Studies teacher, I worked in a PLC with the social studies departments at both middle schools. As part of our PLC, we dove into analyzing data to drive our instruction. A huge part of that was the implementation of gradecam, an online multiple choice grading system. Because gradecam immediately grades multiple choice questions, feedback for teachers and students was immediate. Therefore, students did not have to wait for days to receive feedback from their teachers. Teachers could use feedback to make instructional changes on the spot and have intentional conversations with students about their progress. Also, it made the sharing of data with other teachers of the same content quick and easy, which created a culture of using data for instructional purpose, focused on improvement, not a just a wasted planning period of talking but no doing.

For the past school year, I have moved into a new role, curriculum specialist at a K-5 elementary school. My role includes various responsibilities, from co-teaching and modeling lessons in classrooms, to analyzing data to help make needed instructional changes, to mentoring teachers. Soon after my arrival, we integrated using gradecam with our 2-5 grade levels. This has allowed us to really use data in our instruction with students. Teachers are able to quickly grade assessments so that more time can be used for instruction because results and feedback is immediate. For students, it allows for conversation about progressing and really understanding the content, rather than getting a letter grade.

Students get excited about knowing and seeing their progress. They also now discuss their grades and their progress by looking at the item analysis and overall class percentages. It creates a positive classroom environment because the students are engaging with the teacher about what instructional changes need to be made. Gradecam is an excellent resource to allow for improved instruction and student engagement. 

This is a guest blog written by one of the teachers in our Innovative Teacher Leader cohort to share about an innovative teacher or practice from their area of the state. To learn more about the work happening in the Commonwealth from these Innovative Teacher Leaders, who are working to redefine teacher leadership in Kentucky, check back throughout the month of March. We’ll be sharing guest blogs all month long.

The Fund Celebrates Its First Full Year

By Barbara Bellissimo, Executive Director

On January 1, I celebrated my first anniversary as the executive director of The Fund, and The Fund celebrated its first full year of operation. I am so proud to share with you some of our accomplishments over the last year.

We continued our Common Assignment initiative, bringing together a group of Kentucky teachers with a group of teachers in Colorado to develop common units of study aligned to Kentucky’s Core Academic Standards (KCAS). During 2014, we more than doubled the number of teachers and districts participating in this work. And we continue to get requests from others wanting to participate. In 2015, we’ll expand the work even further, into new grade levels and content areas.

We joined the extended team and advisory council for the Kentucky Network to Transform Teaching (KYNT3) on both the extended work group and advisory council. The goal of this work is twofold:  increase the number of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) in Kentucky and to innovate and improve teacher leadership opportunities for existing NBCTs. This project is key to the success of our Transforming the Teaching Profession initiative.

Our work in this area involves an expanded network of state and national partners:  Kentucky Education Association, Hope Street Group, the Center for Teaching Quality, Bluegrass Center for Teacher Quality, the Kentucky Network to Transform Teaching, the Kentucky Department of Education, the Education Professional Standards Board, the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence and many individual teachers and superintendents to engage Kentucky teachers to design, execute and continuously improve policies, practice and the profession so that students reach their maximum potential. During 2014 we developed our strategic vision for our work together, and are now focused on defining our Five-Year Goal and Implementation Plans.

On January 25, 2014, we facilitated the first statewide Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teaching and Teachers (ECET2). 45 teachers braved a snowstorm to meet in Lexington to inspire, motivate and celebrate each other. This event was so successful, that we have since facilitated four regional ECET2s (Green River, Ohio Valley, Central KY and Northern KY), and are expecting 300 teachers to join us at the second annual ECET2 KY this January 30-31 in Louisville.

In August 2014, we awarded the initial round of Innovation Fund grants to six different individuals and organizations, to pilot and scale innovative tools and practices across Kentucky. Our interim report on these projects will be available in early February and we are currently fundraising for our 2015 grant cycle.

We grew our team from three to five in 2014, and have already added two more in the first month of 2015! While we were growing our team, we grew our social media and online presence as well. Our Facebook page and Twitter handle (@TheFundKY) now have hundreds of followers. We also redesigned our website so that it’s easier to find information and keep our stakeholders informed about our work, and redesigned our blog to match the new site.

I’m so excited and proud of our work in 2014, and hope you will stay tuned to this blog as we announce even greater accomplishments for our students in 2015!

Are You Ready for Connected Educator Month?

By:  Renee Boss

We are only ten days away from the launch of Connected Educator Month (#ce13). At The Fund, we have decided to participate, and we would like to encourage you to participate as well.

Not sure what being a connected educator means?  Basically, you are a connected educator when you are learning and connecting to other educators across school, district, state, and country lines.  By connecting beyond your own location you learn and develop your own professional learning community (#PLN).

Over the next few weeks we will finalize our plans about how we will participate and promote Connected Educator Month, but we'll let you in on a few of our ideas thus far.

During October's #ce13


We will highlight Kentucky teachers who are engaged, connected, continuously learning, giving, and receiving from others within our state and beyond our state.  We also hope to showcase collaboration globally because we know Kentucky educators connect with educators across the world.  While one social media platform over another is not necessarily best, we will be using Twitter, Facebook, our blog, Linkedin and perhaps some other online collaboration tools as well.   The point is to be involved!

Our staff members will continue with twitter chats launched by Kentucky teacher Donnie Piercy and encourage educators and community members to join those chats, too.  All of us together have the potential to impact education in positive and meaningful ways.  Join us Thursdays 8 pm #KyEdChat.

We will emphasize digital citizenship week October 21-25 by providing suggestions and ideas for teachers to try in their classrooms with students.

We welcome your ideas, feedback and participation in ways that makes sense to you.

Connected Educator Resources:

The Cruciality of Connected Educators
http://connectedlearning.tv/karen-cator-cruciality-connected-educator-month

The Connected Educator Month Starter Kit
http://connectededucators.org/cem/cem-getting-started/

District Toolkit for Connected Educators
http://plpnetwork.com/2013/09/13/connected-educator-month-district-toolkit-released/

National Association of Elementary School Principals
http://www.naesp.org/communicator-september-2013/sign-now-connected-educator-month-resources

National Writing Project
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/4195

Ways for KY Teachers to stay Connected!

By: Karen Handlos

The principal characteristic of teacher leadership is that it is completely informal. Teacher leaders don't gain their authority through an assigned role or position; rather, they earn it through their work with both their students and their colleagues. Teacher leaders play a highly significant role in the work of the school and in school improvement efforts. Precisely because of its informal and voluntary nature, teacher leadership represents the highest level of professionalism. Teacher leaders are not being paid to do their work; they go the extra mile out of a commitment to the students they serve (Danielson 2006).

The Fund presents great opportunities for teachers to become those leaders within their schools and/or districts. We have partnered with The Center for Teaching Quality and Hope Street Group in an effort to build online forums for teachers to share their resources, ideas and expertise across the state.

The Center for Teaching Quality will be working with teacher leaders throughout the state who are interested in sharing and improving their knowledge of the Common Core standards and who would like to engage with other teachers in a virtual community.  This project will focus on Common Core policies and practice, with the end goal of creating a strong network of Kentucky teachers who will be ready to inform district- and state-level planning for effective, integrated implementation of Common Core.  Teachers involved in this project will have the opportunity to engage virtually both in the Collaboratory (www.teachingquality.org) and also through interactive webinars.  Also, teachers will have access to an online "lesson library" containing reflections, teaching materials, unit plans, and videos that showcase Common Core-aligned resources (such as MDC and LDC tools), vetted by National Board Certified teachers.

Hope Street Group recognizes the powerful role that effective teachers play in increasing student success. As a result, their vision is to spread the implementation of relevant and robust teacher evaluation systems that are built with the involvement and input of teachers and accepted by all major stakeholders. Hope Street Group (www.hopestreetgroup.org) has selected several teachers “fellows” across the state to lead in this work. These teacher fellows will take policy to practice with teachers on the ground and virtually, gather feedback from crowd-source convenings, translating into usable recommendations, implementation adjustments or scaling opportunities, and provide expertise to document and disseminate all work efforts.

The Fund encourages all teachers to find ways to elevate their voices, get connected, and transform education in Kentucky!

Teacher Engagement Project

 By:  Karen Handlos

Kentucky has consistently been a leader, from being the first state to adopt the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) to establishing systems through the state’s Leadership Networks that engage accomplished teachers to help their colleagues understand the standards and to design and implement instruction aligned to the standards. In order for CCSS implementation to be realized in Kentucky schools, teachers must develop instructional tools and assessment strategies to deliver the new types of knowledge and skills represented by these standards.  These efforts must be coordinated to ensure that CCSS implementation is rigorous and teacher-led.

The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky (The Fund) Teacher Engagement Project will work with national and local partners to develop and engage teachers as leaders in implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)/Kentucky Core Academic Standards (KCAS) and the new Professional Growth and Effectiveness System (PGES). The Fund will partner with the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) as well as other national and state partners to coordinate all aspects of teacher engagement work across the state. In doing so, The Fund will work to establish teacher networks and forums so innovative teachers can more easily “connect” with other teachers around the state and share promising new ideas for improving student outcomes. 

As part of The Fund’s Teacher Engagement Project, The Fund will work to oversee development of a Teacher Leadership Network—a cohort of deeply knowledgeable teacher leaders on key issues of practice and policy (e.g., the Professional Growth and Effectiveness System (PGES), the Literacy/Mathematics Design Collaborative (LDC/MDC) frameworks, Common Core State Standards implementation)—who will work to serve as leaders by:

·       (1) continuing a Teachers as Leaders Conference (TALK Conference) to engage and place teachers in the lead on sharing best practices and engaging in professional learning (by, for, and about teachers);

·       (2) establishing and supporting a Teacher Leadership Network (TLN), building on advocacy efforts through partnerships to develop a network of teachers to lead teacher voice efforts

The work of The Fund is consistent with Kentucky’s goals in the service of college and career readiness for students.

1. Teachers leading teachers
2. Teachers connecting around content
3. Using technology-enabled as well as face-to-face interaction
4. Connecting new and existing networks
5. Developing corporate support for teacher communities and practice improvement

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog about transforming education in the state of Kentucky. As our description suggests, we do hope this blog will be a place where we can share the work of educators across the state as a way to inspire and a way to learn from one another.  We also hope the blog will be a place for supporters and partners of The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky to learn more about what we are doing and how we are doing it.

 You can expect to see blog posts on regular basis coming from Fund staff members with guest posts from teachers involved in the various projects.

To get us started, project leaders for The Fund share thoughts about the first two major initiatives.  The Teacher Engagement Project is being led by Karen Handlos, and The Common Assignment Study is being led by Renee Boss.