Paper...Get Your Paper Here!

I have always loved the following quote about education:

"Who dares to teach must never cease to learn."

Each year I have the simple goal of continuing to push myself to grow as an educator.  I'm always talking to my students about becoming life-long learners and I believe that I should demonstrate that first hand.  As educators, we live in an amazing time regarding professional growth.  With access to conferences, webinars, educational blogs, social media, podcasts and more, teachers really have a number of avenues to chose from regarding individualized PD.  For that reason, I have always tried to provide professional development in a multitude of ways so that teachers could access training, materials, and assistance in whichever way they find most convenient and useful.

While I have always found face-to-face, individualized professional development to be the most beneficial, time restraints and other challenges frequently get in the way.  In addition to face-to-face PD and Lunch & Learns, previously, teachers had access to Schoology, a rare blog, an occasional "Askin Lascon" tutorial video and some emails with step-by-step instructions.  All of this is good, but I'm always looking for new ways to disseminate information and training to help teachers and students in any way that I can.

So this year, we released the new Instructional Tech website, started a Res Instruction Twitter account, and now I can officially promote the release of the Res Tech Times paper!


What is the Res Tech Times and why would I want to read it?  Glad you asked.  Utilizing a website called paper.li, I am able to quickly curate educational content that may (or may not) be of interest to you.  For a teacher who may not have the time to search for educational content via social media, blogs and/or educational journals, this may be an option for you to explore.  By visiting the Res Tech Times, you can quickly find a variety of education content covering a wide array of mediums and issues.

The page will update each day, providing access to new articles, blogs, videos and journals, removing the need for you to search multiple tools/resources for access to such content.  Historically, I have spent a few minutes a day on my Twitter account going through my feed to read about educational projects, news, contests and more.  I am hoping that this paper can work in a similar way for teachers who are interested.  In addition to this blog, I will provide access to the Res Tech Times via the Instructional Technology website (under the "Instruction" tab).  Feel free to check it out, and as always, feel free to make any suggestions that you may have!

In Other News:

1. I will be sharing folders with each of you that will contain the new walk-through observation data.  The data will no longer go into a spreadsheet for you to view but rather will be placed very nicely into a Google Doc for easier viewing.  Because of the new format, you may not have immediate access to your observation data but should have it within a day of being observed.  Once the folder has been shared with you, I recommend right clicking on the folder and selecting "Add to My Drive." This will make access the folder much easier moving forward.  Please contact me with any additional questions.

2. This week's Inspiration Educational Video of the Week has been updated.  This week's talk is called "Power to the Pupil" by Jennifer Magiera.  Join Jennie as she takes you on a journey of "bright spots" that illuminate student creativity in a world that has historically crushed it.

3. In addition, the Video Tip of the Week has been updated as well.  This week's video tutorial walks you through creating engaging discussions in Schoology.  This is a very well done tutorial that can help you take your discussion boards to the next level!

Well, that's it!  Happy Friday and in case you haven't heard...Shawn Mendes is coming to Resurrection!