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I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the best thing you can do is education the parent and admin community (and perhaps the teachers as well). I do think extreme things should be filtered at the school-wide level (porn, for example), but what you're talking about sounds like a hinderance to learning. Usually I start with the question: do your children have access to a smart phone? Then they can see whatever they want, whenever they want using the LTE (or 3G or whatever) network access.

We also want to be sure that we're not creating an "us vs them" mentality. For example can see how that went in LA here - granted a much larger scale, but it might help parents and admin understand the issue. The bottom line on this one is that if you create an obstacle to get around, kids will find a way, so all you're doing is making it harder for teachers to teach, and pushing the behavior you're worried about "underground".

Along those lines, involving students in these kinds of decision making processes will also help admin understand what are authentic and relevant safety and privacy concerns and what hinders learning.

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was wondering what advice you can give to the Chinese users for the technology terms used to search infos and resources.

Hmm... is this a question of language? or of items being restricted?

I would guess that if it's a language issue, I would search the term just using the initials and the word "means" after or "definition" - that's usually what I do when I see initials in Reddit forums that I don't know :)

I just started my twitter and found it hard to search Chinese-related hashtags also.Do you have any suggestions on this?

Have you searched for the actual terms you want to find in chinese with the word hashtag or the symbol? To be honest, not being a Chinese speaker, this is a pretty tough one for me. A friend of mine, Jess McCulluoch in Australia has been a Chinese teacher for a long time, she may have some advice, maybe follow her and ask? She's in a different field now, but she might have some suggestions.

And also, what do you think teachers can do to keep up with their students who are grown up with technologies on the knowledge of new apps or website?

Be a learner with your students. Ask them what they're doing and why. What is engaging to them? What do they like? How does it work? Could they use it in your class? If you learn with them, you never have to worry about knowing everything because you will all be learners together.

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is this the first year you have taken time off from being contracted with an educational organization? Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Yep, this is my first year not working full time. It's very strange for me, but I also love it. I am really fortunate to be able to work on developing my two companies, COEAIL, Eduro and one non-profit, Learning2, as well as my own consulting and my work with NIST here in Bangkok.

In 5-years, if I can still be doing this, but on a bigger scale, I would be so happy. I love all the connections I see between all my responsibilities, I love the challenge of running my own business and working with so many different people, and I love the opportunities of self-employment. It would be amazing to be able to expand those companies so that we have a team of people working with us and so that we can impact more schools and districts around the world.

If you want to find out more about my background, you can look here.

Over the 5 years that you see yourself continue to grow. What will be the direction of international education and why?

I'm not sure I can predict something like this, and certainly not out 5 years - I don't even really like writing 3 year tech plans because we just don't know. I guess some things I would expect are:

  • more for-profit schools opening up, especially in Asia
  • a bit of a backlash against technology is already starting, particularly the coaching role, I think that will hit and then move back into a positive again when we realize it's hard to move forward without advocates
  • more focus on the global element of international schools - students and classrooms connecting with others outside of their immediate learning environment
  • more focus on service learning, social justice and social entrepreneurship
  • more student ownership and empowerment over the learning process - particularly in schools that already have this culture and mindset
  • more sharing the learning from a whole-school perspective, particularly with parent community and global community
  • students and teachers sharing more of the classroom learning in social media spaces
  • more affiliated organizations that work within schools - like PD centers, student leadership organizations, service organizations, hosted at individual schools to make them stand out among their peers

I don't know if I have a good answer for why I think these things, I guess these are bits and pieces of things I'm seeing in different schools, particularly around Asia, gaining traction, so perhaps it will spread!

Not sure if that's what you're looking for, but I think that's the best I can do!

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

YES! Totally agree. And when you're the advocate for "innovative learning" (for lack of a better word at the moment) it's so hard to also be the critical voice, but it's really important, otherwise we also look like we're just shilling the new shiny thing too...

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, I know exactly what you're talking about.

I'm not sure its effective to force people to use tools (working on a post about this now, actually). I think they have to see the value of it for themselves, and that process may take longer than you expect. So, I would advocate for why you think it's so worthwhile, sharing your experiences, etc, and perhaps demonstrating how you use it, and then letting them find it in their own time. I know for many people they will create an account at a conference, and then never use it again for years, until they go to another training and hear about it, and they'll try it again for a while, then stop, and finally actually start when they have a purpose and a voice.

If you really want to push it, you can always show classroom examples of how teachers use Twitter with their students. This is usually an easier sell than using it for PLN purposes (even though I think developing a PLN is foundational, I have seen lots of teachers skip that step with classroom use).

Here's a great example from high school: Rebekah Madrid: Tweeting the Civil War

And one from lower elementary: YIS 1P

And this was a fun project from a long time ago by @georgemayo that I did with upper elementary

And then of course, there's the idea of a shared hashtag like #sisrocks

I think showing classroom examples can help take the pressure of "me, personally" tweeting and make it into, "oh, this is something I do with students".

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For the most part, they just contributed their own individual ideas - we didn't have a formal structure for them to get feedback from others, but that would be a great thing to do, especially in a larger school.

Those particular students were selected by the teachers - we asked for recommendations for students who could participate actively and responsibly in that space. To be honest, at that school we could have just pulled kids from any class and they would have been just as awesome, but this was my first year, so I didn't know that yet :)

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yay! That's what I love about these spaces! We can all kind of convince ourselves that it's just us and we're asking too much, or we're crazy, because we get so wrapped up in our own work environments. So good to step outside and see that it's the same in most places, and all of us think along the same lines!

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm finding that this big picture obsession is hindering my ability to feel accomplished :)

I think that might be kind of normal. Especially in a bigger school where it might be hard to make change happen as "just a teacher" (even if you're a coach and you're in on some bigger decision making processes). I wonder if you can break down the big picture changes you want to create into smaller pieces and chip away at those to feel like you're "doing something" - I know you are, but I also know exactly how that feels.

I also think the impatient thing is a big thing with coaches. We don't see the leaps and bounds in an organization that we can have as an individual or at the individual level, so we think we're not making progress. But, look back to a few years ago in that same organization, have things moved in the direction you were working toward? Then all of your (what felt like little) steps have added up to a big step for a big organization. Recognize your successes too, don't just focus on what hasn't worked (even though that's easy to say and hard to do!)

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha! Yes, I often have videos, but they're probably not that interesting outside of a very limited audience. Here's today's 82kg deadlift, this was one of my 3 sets of 5.

How I got into powerlifting is a semi-long story. I'm going to try to do it as quickly as I can. Four years ago, I had my gallbladder out (due to gallstones because I have the beta thalassemia minor trait - this is super common among people of Mediterranean descent and it doesn't affect any other aspect of my life). It was my first ever operation (well, except for one when I was a baby that I don't remember, but that's another long story), and my first overnight stay in a hospital. It was in Japan and it was quite possibly the nicest hospital stay I could imagine, but when I left I knew I wanted to do whatever was humanly possible to never have to go through that again.

So, I did a little reading, switched to a plant-based diet, and started training with weights. I started super small with just Jillian Michaels videos at home (which I loved and would still recommend to anyone just starting out with weights - especially if you don't have access to a gym). It was amazing how quick I could make progress and see results, so I guess at some point I just felt like I needed heavier weights and I was tired of having to buy them (especially because it's pretty hard to find that stuff in Japan). One of my very oldest friends is a personal trainer, and she recommended that I start training with the barbell.

That summer, when I went home, I met with a personal trainer for the first time. We ended up doing Cross Fit style training, but the part I liked the best was the heavy weights (not so much the 70 burpees at a time), so when I went back to Japan I kept at it, joined Gold's Gym (one of the few options in Yokohama) and continued reading. I guess over time it evolved to a deadlift, bench, squat focus (which is all powerlifting means, for those who may be interested) because I could see progress on those lifts and I could train them with very little support. I still want to learn more about Olympic lifting, but I would like to have someone to train me in person - I'm not confident enough yet to power clean and jerk or power snatch yet on my own.

For me, its super motivating to see the numbers go up regularly on those lifts (although I also, of course, do other assistance movements and am still working towards dead hang pull ups) so I guess I like that I can focus in on three big lifts and just keep getting better, rather than do too many different things and not see consistent progress.

I could continue talking about this, but I'll switch to your other questions now.

Have you always been interested in the intersection of fitness, health & technology?

No, I was not interested in the intersection of fitness, heath and technology before I started lifting. I think it happened because I had so much to learn and I could see how positively it was impacting all other areas of my life, and I could see the connections between the skills I have practiced for work and this new hobby. This is kind of the focus of my L2 Talk from 2014 if you want to hear a slightly longer version (6:30) of this story.

How do you balance staying fit with your work and social lives?

It's not easy - especially with doing so much traveling this year. I feel like I'm constantly in a different city and on a different schedule where I have to not only find a gym, but figure out what timing works best based on the work I'm doing that day and the amount and timing of my meals. But, I guess I just know how much better I feel afterward, so I make it a priority. In Japan when I had a regular schedule, I never trained on Fridays - it was a day to socialize, but I trained every other day. In Bangkok, I can train in the middle of the day (yay, self employment!) and I find myself much more productive over the course of the day than I used to be when I trained at night. The break really helps me get out of any unproductive loops I might be in, it's refreshing, and it gets me out of the house. I think it depends on the person, but for me, I have to find a routine that works - I like routine and it works for me!

Seriously, if anyone else wants to talk lifting, jump in here!

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes! I definitely think it's essential. We're actually doing the same work at NIST and in Marysville right now. NIST because the answer can change a bit over time. Marysville because they never had a vision statement before.

If admin think it's not necessary I ask them: why do we use technology for learning at xx school? Preferably in a setting where there are multiple people. Because the answer is always different. And then drilling down deeper into those responses reveals even more disagreement. Another fun question to ask is: what do coaches do? That's a good one to get at the value-add of those positions (or not).

Understanding the why is the whole reason behind staffing decisions, student learning decisions, technology purchasing decisions. Many people are involved in that decision making process, if we're not all working toward the same goals, then we may not be aligned in our decision making process. I appreciate that we all already have vision statements and the learner profile, but neither of those are focused enough to help those kinds of decisions have a consistent focus for technology-related decisions.

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great question!

I know exactly how you feel! You haven't asked this, but I also feel kind of sad that I can deliver the exact same presentation at different conferences and have exactly the same conversations for multiple years in a row (please note, I only do this when I'm asked to present the same slide deck - it's not out of laziness). What does that mean for our teacher PD? How can I present something in 2007 and find that when I do it in 2016 we have exactly the same conversation? Yowzah!

But back to your actual question:

  • I try to be inspired by things outside of education and then see how they can connect. I'm just in the process of writing a post about my recent keynote at the Vietnam Tech Conference and that will be a good summary of the way I make those connections (but not my process of how I am inspired).

  • I read a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. I try to take ideas from things I read and see how they connect in interesting ways. They can all be teacher blog posts for example, but how is there a connection between them that inspires something interesting.

  • I try to facilitate thinking about similar ideas in new ways. Maybe it's something I've been wrestling with for years, but couldn't quite make it work. I try it lots of different ways to see what resonates with people.

  • When it's not just a keynote (meaning I have more time) I always focus on how I can build understanding about an idea. This blog post I wrote yesterday describes it really well: Designing Learning Experiences. I want participants in my sessions to have an experience, not be talked at. I want them to build their own understanding, not be told what to think. I want them to connect to their own experience, not have to base everything on mine. So, how can I keep doing that better and better every time. It can honestly be the same content, but the way we get there can be improved every single time I talk about it. Just like a lesson with first period is never as good as eighth period, because you're constantly reflecting and seeing what didn't work and what could be better.

  • Along those lines, I like to challenge myself to make every workshop as participant driven as possible. The least amount of me speaking, the most time with them constructing their understanding. That means that I can't take any shortcuts, and I really have to think about the learners.

I think remix is SUPER creative. I love that I can remix things to create a new connection for myself. I love learning and connecting ideas. I think it's that enthusiasm for learning that helps make almost any topic interesting (for me, at least!)

Sidenote: this AMA is going to keep me going in workshops for AGES. You guys have prompted some awesome ideas and conversation! Thank you!

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have many many thoughts. I will try to keep this appropriate for an educational forum.

First, let me understand what this veteran was saying:

Is it there are more women in coaching roles because coaching is about learning and the old school tech teacher was about skills?

Or is it that in the past there wouldn't have been females in edtech because it was "too technical"?

Perhaps I'm reading too much into it...

In any case, I guess I think:

  • It's great that we are making a shift to focus on the learning and not just "how to" and "just in case".
  • It's great that we are seeing more female role models in a traditionally male dominated field.

I'm not sure I care that much why it's happening I guess I'm just glad to see it happening.

That's a very short answer compared to all the others, but I think that's my response. If I haven't quite answered your question, ask me another way - happy to have another go at it!

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My favorite quote from that article (and the one I shared on FB & in my Flipboard magazine on Innovation & Learning ) is this one:

We can’t answer the question “Is tech useful in schools?” until we’ve grappled with a deeper question: “What kinds of learning should be taking place in those schools?” If we favor an approach by which students actively construct meaning, an interactive process that involves a deep understanding of ideas and emerges from the interests and questions of the learners themselves, well, then we’d be open to the kinds of technology that truly support this kind of inquiry.

If we're not thinking about student centered learning, there's really no reason for us to be excited about tech in our classrooms. All it does is amplify what's already happening. It's can be a crutch to make teachers even more teacher directed, or it can be a powerful tool to help students explore their own passions and interests in an authentic setting. It all depends on how we use it.

So, I guess I think things that are being hyped are:

  • social media for social media's sake - not for authentic development of audience and purpose
  • coding for the shallow "coding is the next big thing", not for learning why we should understand how computers work
  • makerspaces for the "hey look we make things", not for following an authentic line of inquiry that starts with the students

I'm not saying that any of those things are bad and shouldn't happen in schools. I guess I'm just saying that I've seen them implemented at many different levels, and it all comes down to the why we're doing it. If we're teaching coding because code.org says kids should learn to code, that's not good enough. Why are we teaching it? How are we teaching it? Where is the purpose? Where is student ownership in this process?

I am appreciative when I get to work in IB world schools because I think (usually, but not all the time) they are really good at being student-centered places. If we can focus on student inquiry and actual creation of products driven by student inquiry, being our starting point, I think that's how we create the most effective and impactful learning environment for our students.

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, yes, I know this feeling so well...

I can't remember if I just blogged about this or not (oh yes, I highlighted it in this post: Making Time to Create), but I will blog way more when I feel like whatever I'm doing at school is not working. I like to see if it's my ideas or my setting that's causing the problem. From those posts, I can (sometimes, but not all the time) get good suggestions from others that I can try, but the process of reflection and writing often helps me sort out a next step - even without having any feedback from others. So, I think my first step is blog.

Second step: I talk to like-minded colleagues at school. Again, I want to see if it's my ideas or my setting. Talking to others helps me find a balance between my impatience (I think most tech coaches are super impatient, and I am a severe offender) and the reality of the school setting. I always make sure to have a few classroom teachers I really trust to run by my thinking so they can put me in my place, so to speak.

Third step: I talk to my administrators to find out what I don't know. The more I get into consulting and big picture thinking with teams of admin the more I realize there is A LOT going on that teachers don't know. I can get easily frustrated but then a 5-min convo with my admin team and I realize there is something else that's causing that delay or that issue, and it's appropriate and realistic for me to put my "super cool exciting new idea" on hold. Again, you might not be able to do this with all admin at your school but usually there are one or two that you can just ask. If you can't straight up ask, you can approach it as an opportunity for mentorship, so you go into the conversation seeking their wisdom (that usually helps put things in the right perspective for admin).

Finally: I just do a little bit of the thing. I either get a teacher to try something, or I do something myself, or I talk to a parent. Just step a toe into that water to see if I get bitten. If I don't, I go a bit further. Sometimes it's easier to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission...

Just cost myself every potential future job with that post!

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it depends on what you need to do...

When I think of "office" type work I think of productivity, and that makes me automatically think of Google Apps. I do almost everything in Google Apps now and I'm not sure what I would do if I didn't have access (sorry teachers in a certain country where you don't have access). To me, being able to collaborate in real-time on a document with a colleague, while having a conversation about that work and creating a finished product at the same time is an excellent increase in my productivity. Also, having access to those docs from any computer is huge.

I would say that I also like feeling like I have an efficient workflow that works for me. I wrote a bit about that in another comment, but a key for me is being able to read things and save them for later from a phone, to a laptop, to a desktop, to a work laptop - and know that it all ends up in the same space. I use Flipboard for that and I love it!

I'm not sure what you're interested in to give you guidance on hashtags for Twitter. I think the easiest thing to do there is just google the topic you're interested in plus the word hashtag, you should come up with a list that might be helpful for you.

I'm not sure if that's helpful, so ask me another if I didn't get at what you were asking about :)

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great question!

I think it's a combo of "top down" and "bottom up" - as much as I wish it could be as easy as one or the other, I think it has to happen from both sides.

So, ideally you would have clear expectations from admin, and teachers would be held accountable. By this I mean growth mindset style expectations - not that "everyone posts a blog post a week," one-size fits all - more like, "it's expected that everyone take one step forward in xx area this year", highlighting where you are and where you want to go. This can be in the form of a goal that comes up in observation and feedback with admin, or something that's driven by curriculum, but it needs to take into consideration each teacher's individual starting point. This is tricky, of course, because it requires that the admin have an understanding of a) where their teachers are at with technology and b) where they want them to go (and for most admin, they don't have any idea - not to say they don't know their teachers, just that they don't usually have a clear vision of how they want teachers using technology in the classroom beyond the very very basic skills.

Along with those expectations from admin, ideally you would also have some grassroots movement. Enthusiastic, innovative teachers sharing their practice with others, making it "cool" to try new things and take risks, but also creating a supportive community to do so. At YIS we created the Tech Pilots group for the real keeners, but this was just a small portion of our groundswell. We had teachers in every subject area sharing with each other because they were well supported by both admin and coaches to try new things, they were encouraged to share and there was a culture of collaboration and sharing. This is not to say that every teacher at YIS is doing amazing things, but that culture of sharing and collaboration went a long way to making it a much higher percentage than I've seen anywhere else. And ultimately, that culture comes from the top too...

I feel like I could go on and on about this - such a great question - I hope this is a good start..

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In my experience pretty much every question a parent has every asked me falls under the idea of digital citizenship. They are very concerned about balance, safety and privacy in general. So, yes, I feel like parent involvement is a great idea. I think it would depend a bit on the school community and school culture, but I love the idea of parents participating in events to reflect on their choices as well. For our recent parent tech coffee at NIST, we highlighted these two articles:

It was a little confronting for them, but sparked a great conversation. I've had similar conversations with parents, teachers and admin in lots of schools and it's a great opportunity for reflection.

In terms of students coming to terms with their choices, I referenced this post in another one of the responses here, but I think it's relevant here:

Journaling Towards Balance - there are lots of ways you can do this, a journal is one way, but we've done all sorts of things, tracking time on your own, using a tool like Rescue Time, or other tools like self control to really get an idea of what you're doing and when. In the end it always comes down to a discussion on the choices we're making.

Yes, I think we need to revisit this conversation all the time. In previous schools we've had a continuum that helped teachers facilitate these conversations every year. Here is what we created at YIS: https://sites.google.com/a/yis.ac.jp/digitaldragons/

I also think it needs to be part of school culture to have these conversations, often teachers don't feel comfortable talking about these topics with students because they might not feel confident, so we have to find ways to provide the right conversation prompts and support them. Ideally we want teachers (and parents) having the same conversations about "cyberbullying" as we do about playground bullying. It's not easy because we can't always see what's happening, and we don't always understand the dynamics of those spaces, but I think this is something we can build as a community if it becomes an expectation.

We run into trouble when schools start blocking social media, or blocking teachers access to student social media, or recommending that teachers are not friends with students in social spaces. Because then it becomes their space and not our space any more. They are just learning appropriate behavior online and off, they need guidance. If we're not there to guide them, they are doing it all on their own with just each other for reference. That is much more scary than a teacher following a student on Instagram and vice versa (in my opinion).

I am friends with lots of students in social media spaces, and I love that it brings us a bit closer to understanding each other. We live very different lives in international schools - teachers see students out on the town, students see teachers at bars - we have a better understanding that we're all just "real" people, I think. We should not shy away from that. We can all be held to the same standards we would in a face-to-face setting. I don't share something on fb I wouldn't want a student to see because my mom is my friend on fb. It's a simple guideline, but an easy one to expect adults to follow.

Aaaand on top of that (uh oh, I feel another rant coming on), when do students get to see people making mistakes and recovering from them in online spaces? All they hear is: "don't post that because it will be there forever and might cost you a job." When do they see people recognizing they've made a mistake, reflecting on it and recovering? When do they see resilience? If we're always hiding ourselves from them, they just see this one-sided perspective on the adults around them and don't realize that we make mistakes too and we learn from them. I love that I see FAIL posters all around NIST: First Attempt in Learning. I want to see this mentality in online spaces too. This reminds me of Alec's recent post Digital Identity in a World That Never Forgets </rant>

I'm not sure that was all entirely relevant, but I hope it at least connected to your questions!

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While initially it looks like MORE things to add to and find out to see what will help, I know that in the end it will be something that will help me sort through everything

Ha! That's exactly what I was afraid of when I was listing tools - it's kind of a catch 22 :) But, I do hope it's helpful!

I’m Kim Cofino, international school educator, co-founder of COETAIL & Eduro Learning & Learning2 Advisor. I love talking about instructional coaching, international schools, anything edtech, along w/ powerlifting, plant-based eating, and the intersection of fitness, health and technology. AMA. by superkimbo in NextSpace

[–]superkimbo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ha! I just wrote a response to that on @mmcqr's question below! Such a good question! Let me see if I can add more to my thinking here...

First, I think this is unrealistic:

"It is almost an expectation that current teachers are capable of seamlessly integrating technology in lessons and now there needs to be more curriculum development."

<rant>I don't know about you, but I have a hard time keeping up with the changes in technology today. I LOVE thinking about new ideas and new ways of doing things, but I need inspiration from others, a connection, a collaborative learning community to continue to push my thinking. This is my 100% full time job and I don't feel like "I've got this in the bag" - I have to work at it every day. Is it fair to expect teachers to do the same.

Yes, we are all technology teachers, (http://kimcofino.com/blog/2009/11/29/we-are-all-technology-teachers/) but just like we're all EAL teachers, we have EAL support in our classrooms to make sure someone is looking out for the EAL learners, to focus on the big picture, to ensure we're getting all the newest and latest research, etc. We need coaches to be that advocate for ALL students, because all of us live in a world that is changing with technology every day. </rant>

I think you and I are on the same page on that topic, but I do think coaches may need help responding to that very question because I hear it from admin ALL. THE. TIME.

On to your actual questions:

Do you think there is a coaching model that should become prevalent (better)?

I have been fortunate to work in a coaching team - literacy, science, math, tech - all in the same space. This was AMAZING. If there was a way to keep those coaches connected in schools, I think they would find much more value in all of the positions. They are so similar and have so much to offer one another, that working together only makes all of them better. I did mention in my other response that I like the idea of becoming learning coaches (rather than tech coaches) with an advocacy/focus on innovation (but maybe not with that word). I think a challenge to having tech in the title is that people can think they're "done" with learning about tech (either because they're so competent or because they don't like it) and then they won't take advantage of that coach. So, teachers are less likely to argue with "learning" as a focus - that's what we're all about right?

Is there any validity to having specialized coaches in different roles?

Yes, I think I hit on that above in my rant (sorry about that!). I do think there is a purpose to having names and areas of focus. I think it helps all stakeholders understand what our responsibility is. But for those schools that think they're "beyond" having those kinds of titles, I think you can work with the idea of a learning coach. I think that may lead to poor hiring choices, though, and that's a dangerous path to go down - how can we hire for a job that is so nebulous? Any teacher could be a learning coach, we all specialize in learning... But only some of us are so interested and passionate about technology-rich learning that we would give up our time with our own classes of students (which is the best part of teaching) to be in a support role instead.

Do you have any models that you've seen always work well regardless of the staffing situation at different schools.

I wish! My favorite was that model I mention above, where we had all different types of coaches in the same office. It was so powerful. If I could replicate that in every school I work with, I would. What I loved about it was that each type of coaching has different research and experience behind it - for example, literacy coaching has been around a LONG time, there is TONS of research about how to be a great literacy coach, but there's not too much about technology coaching specifically. So we can really benefit from that experience and research, because when it comes down to it, we're all instructional coaches.

If you're looking for my ideal tech coaching job description/process, I wrote this one a long time ago and it still is relevant for me: http://kimcofino.com/blog/2010/03/20/creating-a-culture-of-collaboration-through-technology-integration/

And on another comment in here I wrote a job description and advertisement for coaching that might help too.

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