We have updated this site with curated, active Ontario blogs that can act as a model for your own blog, or a source of learning to inform your teaching practice.
If you are a blogger and you have not yet added your blog to this site, please fill out the form here.
We hope you have enjoyed the work of two Ontario bloggers over the past two days, Leigh Cassell and Michelle Parrish.
After two years of promoting connected learners, OSSEMOOC is updating its blogroll to feature active education bloggers in Ontario and beyond. You can see to the right ——>
how we are adding ACTIVE blogs to the site, curated so that you can find what you are looking for.
Please share your blog information with us in the form below. We will be removing links to blogs that are no longer active.
Thank you for your dedication to making your learning and thinking visible to others.
If you are not a blogger, please continue to visit this site so you might learn from your colleagues, and see examples of educators who believe in building our knowledge together.
Featured image shared under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non-commercial license by Thomas Hawk.
As we continue our focus on blogging, today we feature the reflective practice of KPDSB teacher Michelle Parrish. We can learn so much from teachers who openly reflect on the work they do with our young people.
You might remember Michelle’s insights as she also generously shared with us as a guest panellist during the Innovator’s Mindset book club Google Hangouts on Air.
Thanks, Michelle, for your generous open practice that helps us build knowledge together.
Please take a moment to read and comment on Michelle’s blog, or the blogs of her students, here: https://mproom31.wordpress.com
It’s blog hop day in the #innovatorsmindset book study!
Have you done some writing on this topic? Please add it to the form below. It’s March Break, so we are taking some time with this one.
Here are the blogs that have been submitted so far. Please enjoy reading and commenting!
We encourage you to keep writing, keep thinking, keep adding to the list. Let’s really make a big contribution to the knowledge base on this idea. This is a BIG one to tackle and an important one to consider.
We can all learn more about how we can measure the impact of changing practice in ensuring all our learners will thrive in this changing world. We look forward to your contributions to our collective understanding of how we can do this well.
You don’t have a blog? We are happy to post your work for you here on #OSSEMOOC, or just add to the comments below, or post a quick tweet under #innovatorsmindset #ossemooc hashtags, or post to the Voxer Group for the Book Club.
We’ve come to a cross-roads in education: continue with the status quo or innovate. Where do we go next to best support each of our learners? How can we innovate our practice across the province? At its core, what is innovation in education?
Using George Couros’ Innovator’s Mindset book as a provocation, educators from across Ontario, in a variety of leadership roles, will engage in book club conversations about innovation in their personal and collective practice.
We are a group of Ontario leaders who are interested in delving deeply into the ways in which we can move innovative change forward in the service of our students. We will begin with some of the discussion questions in the book, and our own wonderings and let the conversations go where they may. We invite everyone who participates to share their questions, their ideas, and their stories. We have provided a sample overview of what each segment might look like, but we the conversations are intended to be participant driven.
We invite you to join in the conversation!
Innovation in Education: ‘What it is, what defines it, and what it looks like in practice.’
Tuesday February 9th
8 p.m.-9 p.m.
In this segment we will discuss the concept and characteristics of innovation presented in chapters 1-3 of the book. We will also discuss the ways in which we see ourselves, our schools and our Districts exemplifying these characteristics, the innovative practices happening in our Districts, the conditions that have made this possible, and some of the obstacles that get in the way. Participants are invited to share their ideas and their own stories
Laying the Groundwork: ‘Empowering a culture of learning and innovation’
Tuesday February 23rd
8 p.m.-9 p.m.
This segment will focus on chapters 4-7 and will explore a few of these questions:
What are the conditions that are required for schools and Districts to move forward? How can issues such as equity, privacy, & safety be met without stifling a culture of change? What does an innovative leader look like? How can we empower students and staff to take risks? How do we move from vision to reality?
Unleashing Talent: A Collaborative Journey
Tuesday March 8th
8 p.m.-9 p.m.
Based on chapters 8-12, we hope to explore how leaders might practice balancing trust and autonomy with strong mentorship. We will also consider the role of technology in our schools. What is personalized learning and how can technology help with personalization? What might leaders be looking for when they look for innovation in a classroom?
Concluding Thoughts: ‘Relentless Restlessness’
Tuesday March 22th
8 p.m.-9 p.m.
Chapters 13 and 14 are named Concluding Thoughts. In our last book club discussion, we will consider what successful implementation of innovation looks like and how we might measure that success. We will explore one thing we’d like to change immediately and what actionable steps can be taken to make that change a reality. We will share our stories and next steps and we invite you to share yours!
STAY CONNECTED!
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At last year’s 21C Roundtable, there were many conversations about how to spread “best practice” around the province.
Over the past year, speakers such as Pak Tee Ng and Simon Breakspear have emphasized that learning is contextual, and a “best practice” in one setting might not translate well into another setting, but educators can adapt and adopt the ideas of others to suit their environment.
One great way to spread “best practice” is to have educators share their work and their thinking openly on their blog.
Today we highlight the writing of Jamie Reaburn Weir, as she documents her thinking about her work.
While I read Jamie’s blog faithfully, I was particularly drawn to her post entitled “Team Teaching“. It’s a powerful post, in that Jamie reflects on her own state of mind during this busy time, her conversations with her colleague, Andrew Bieronski, and his visit to her classroom. But the real gem is the documentation of the student voice after the visit, and Jamie’s reflections on how team teaching might change the learning opportunities for her students.
As leaders, how can we enable, encourage and nurture this type of open practice (team teaching, deep conversations about learning, and blogging/sharing openly)?
Take a moment to comment on one of Jamie’s rich posts, and consider how her work can inform the work of other educators in 2016.
If you are just joining us today, please refer to this post where we share what we are up to!
Never before has there been such an abundance of information to contribute to our learning. At the same time, there is no doubt that our collective plates are brimming over with things to do. As a positive, we challenge ourselves to think differently and explore ways to learn on the go.
I thought I would share a couple of ideas that have improved my mobile learning. Part of my practice is to capture information using Notability on my iPad. This is a powerful app that allows me to write, record, and insert images in documents that I can refer to at any point in time. One of the things I like to do is re-listen to my recordings in the car. You can apply this idea to other mediums too, such as a livescribe pen.
Enjoy Day 4: Listen While You Work. We look forward to hearing about your learning on the go ideas too.
Oh yes. If you know a colleague that might like to participate in the 30 days of connected program, give them a nudge!
Yesterday we looked at the important digital literacy skill of curation. Today, we learn to use a popular curation platform (Sccop.It) both as a place to gather curated material in areas you are interested in and as a place for you to share back content that you want to curate.
As a resource, we are using Day 13 from our 30 Days of Getting Connected: Curating with Scoop.It.
As a challenge today, set up your own Scoop.It account and share a link you have found valuable this month. Then, share back on Twitter using the #OSSEMOOC hashtag.
Podcasts and Personalized eZines.
Ten Minutes of Connecting Day 4 (here)
Ten Minutes of Connecting Day 11 (here)
Be sure to use your new knowledge of Twitter to check out three live events happening in Ontario today:
#CanConnect15 – @CanConnectEd
(Watch live here: http://www.canconnected.com/)
#TLLP – http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/teacher/tllp.html
#OAME2015: http://oame2015.ca/
#uLead chat – 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDT
What podcasts are you interested in listening to?
Let’s crowd source to find out what other educators are listening to online. We will take you through the crowdsourcing process next week.
You know you need to get connected.
Like running, sometimes you need a little help to keep going.
May is the month to get this done! OSSEMOOC will scaffold the learning this month as you work through 30 days to get connected.
We will simplify the process into four 1-week steps:
1) May 4 to 8 Collect – Where do we go to find the information educators need?
2) May 11 to 15 Connect – How can I connect with other educators around the world?
3) May 19 to 22 Curate – How do I share great resources with my network?
4) May 25 to 29 Create – How do I make my learning and thinking visible? (Including a group project you won’t want to miss).
We will work through the four weeks in the supportive environment of a cohort of learners, complete with screencasted instructions, responsive learning, and incremental challenges to keep your learning moving forward!
So grab a colleague and make the leap to accessing the learning all over the world!
(Sign up is NOT required, but if you sign up (here), you will be on our mailing list for support and event notification in your email stream.)
OSSEMOOC 