Let's Celebrate Classroom Visits!

It's time to CELEBRATE This Week with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.  Every week Ruth invites us to share our celebrations from the week and link up at her blog. What a fun way to reflect on everything there is to be thankful for. 
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This week I'm celebrating classroom visits!

*throws confetti*

This week I visited eight different teachers in my district who are integrating technology into their instruction. These specific teachers all applied for and received laptops to use in their classroom. We have about 50 teachers who received laptops and I get to visit their classrooms, offer ideas, and gather feedback from them and their students for how to support technology integration across the district. It is so exciting to hear from kids about how the laptops change the learning they do in their classrooms.

I saw students...

• typing stories
• giving feedback to peers by leaving comments in Google Docs
• doing research on colleges and universities
• presenting Genius Hour projects using Power Point
• sending e-mails to ePals
• using Edmodo to access resources to learn about the scientific method
• peer reviewing presentations that were created with Google Presentation, Prezi and Padlet

More than that, I saw students...

• helping another student save a document
• thinking of a synonym to might use in a search to locate information
• using standard English grammar and punctuation so that her ePal would know she is able to write formally in English
• collaborating to create presentations that other students will be able to use as a resource
• evaluating a product and offering feedback

I've visited schools throughout the school year and have provided professional development for teachers but being in these classrooms and interacting directly with these students was so refreshing. After seeing what they are doing and talking with them, I have so many more ideas and so many more discussions to have. As the year winds down, I've been reflecting on the year and thinking what I have learned in this new role. While I've accomplished a lot this year, it's exciting to see a vision of what still needs to happen this year and then what I can plan to do next year.

This week was the beginning of many classroom visits that I have planned for the next month and a half. I'm so excited to hear from more teachers and students as I reflect on the year and think through how to support teachers in order to provide transformative experiences for students. It's an exciting time!

What are you celebrating this week?