I recently wrote a Year 2 reflection and it was incredible to reflect on my second year in this role. This post is meant to accompany that earlier post with the following image I recently completed. Inspired by Ryan O'Donnell (@creativetech) last year with my Year-End Reflection after year 1, I just completed my process of tallying, calculating, and summing my second year. Again, this in no way reflect every aspect of my 2016-2017 year but it does give a glimpse into my work as a Math & STEAM Coach / TOSA and offers a nice overview of my work. Just like last year, I was surprised by the numbers.
- Just like the first bullet in my Year 1 reflection, connecting with Ben (@cogswell_ben), THE Karly Moura (@karlymoura), and Kelly (@kmartintahoe) and continuing our collaborative effort to support other TOSAs and coaches through #tosachat, @toaschat, tosachat.org. Celebrating our First Anniversary!
- Organizing @tosachat's book study of Trevor MacKenzie's book Dive into Inquiry, using Flipgrid as the platform for the conversation.
- Working with amazing educators to support other educators with their GAFE / GSuite Edu questions through @gsuiteeduhelp.
- Working with a fantastic group of elementary TOSAs: Amanda (@AmandaGantley) Amy (@amy_doss), Heather (@HSCleland), Hilary (@hmark321), Leslie (@lfaustedu), Mangla (@manglaozaduv), and Nikole (@nikole_manou).
- Working with grade level teams across the district on deepening our understanding of the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics through a standards mapping exercise.
- Seeing continued influence and impact as I had the opportunity to work with the same schools I did during my first year. Continuing to have that regular anticipated support on the TOSA schedule greatly helped with the work, relationships, and outcomes.
- Designing and facilitating two district-wide professional learning sessions on the Next Generation Science Standards.
- Facilitating PAUSD's elementary math pilot group, presenting the progress to the School Board throughout the school year, and successfully completing the pilot year with a very smooth adoption of the recommended curriculum from the pilot group.
- Facilitating the STEAM Inquiry Group with my colleague, Leslie Faust, PAUSD's Literacy & STEAM Elementary Coach.
- Partnering with Dr. Jeong Choe of PAUSD's Advanced Authentic Research Department to bring Creativity Carts to every elementary school in the district.
- Designing a successful elementary STEAM-themed summer school program, truly bringing the A in STEAM by including instruction in visual arts and music. The addition of mindfulness lessons by a Spectra Art teacher was also an incredible experience for the students and teachers. [Tweets]
- Jennifer Williams quoting me on her blog post and creating an amazing graphic of my passion and calling.
- Attending the CA STEAM Symposium with my colleague, Mangla Oza, where we gained a lot of great information and ideas to share with our district.
- Finally getting to meet Kelly Martin in person at the CA STEAM Symposium.
- More #TOSAchat Tiki TOSA Meetups - one during the CA STEAM Symposium in Anaheim and another during the runDisney Star Wars Half Marathon weekend.
- Writing 5 BreakoutEDU games (and counting) after learning about the game from Heather Cleland the year before and playing my first game with Jody Green (@peerlessgreen) at the #TOSAchat Tiki TOSA meetup during the 2015 runDisney Star Wars Half Marathon weekend.
- Attending EdCampCoCo and having the pleasure of listening to Dave Burgess's keynote on Transformative Passion.
- Organizing EdCampSV with a fantastic team of educators. [Blog post]
- Co-presenting with Karly Moura at MDUSD's 2nd Annual STEM & EdTech Symposium on Google Expeditions.
- Continuing to work with amazing STEM/STEAM educators on the South Bay Science Collaborative, facilitating NGSS workshops.
- Helping to build new websites for the South Bay Collaborative, PAUSD NGSS Resources, PAUSD STEAM Lending Library, PAUSD Elementary Math, and more.
- Being a part of The Teacher Advisory Council at The Computer History Museum.
- Being an ambassador for ClassDojo, Flipgrid, Khan Academy, Schoology, and a Swivl pioneer.
- Completing the Apple Teacher modules.
- Having the pleasure of designing a Design Thinking workshop for EdTechTeacher for its summer institute in Menlo Park and then receiving the support from the EdTechTeacher team and George Garcia (@edtechchamp) with a change in my summer schedule.
- And finally, JOY!
It has truly been another incredible year collaborating with teachers in PAUSD and beyond, connecting with coaches and TOSAs from all over the globe, partnering with administrators, and ultimately continuing to impact students.