Why did I create this blog?  Well obviously, at some point, my plan is to become an internationally renowned educational expert – particularly in the realm of curriculum and instruction.  A girl can dream, right?
     I created this blog in the hopes of helping other teachers and maybe starting a few conversations.  I also created this blog as a sort of personal educational journal.  Hopefully, as I continue my path through the realm of education I will be able to look back at my posts and see how I’ve grown as an educator. 
     With professional growth in mind, I hope that you will indulge me as I do a little planning and a little dreaming about one of my favorite topics: Professional Development. 
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I love teaching and I think that I am a good teacher but I want to be better. I have aspirations to maybe one day earn a PhD.  I am planning on beginning the process of becoming a National Board Certified Teacher this year.
     But like a greedy person, I want MORE! I have categorized my “demands” into three categories: gotta have it now, maybe next year, and in my dreams.  I’m a bit conflicted with my gotta have it now choices.  Am I biting off more than I can chew?  What do you think?  Regardless, enjoy my wish list and if you see Santa Claus, please tell him that I have been very good and I deserve to go to each of these events!

Gotta have it now!

• ASCD Conference on Teaching Excellence (June 28–30, 2013, National Harbor, Md.): My Superintendent actually recommended that I join ASCD.  I found out that my district will give me some money towards the conference fee and my sister-in-law lives in DC so I might be able to avoid paying for a hotel.  I’d like to one day go to the ASCD Conference on Educational Leadership but that happens to be in Las Vegas and in November and that’s not going to happen.
  
• Summer Institute for National Board Candidates: Since this is one of my immediate goals, and I want to be as successful as possible, this looks like a perfect opportunity for me.  The institute is described as being “created to give candidates an entry point to the National Board process that is experiential and inviting. Candidates will learn the fundamentals of the NBC process: core propositions, teacher standards, entry requirements, types of writing, and framework of accomplished teaching.”  This conference is about two hours away from me and the $175 cost includes meals and hotel.  How can you go wrong!  It is being held July 10-12th.  
  
• APA-Clark University Workshop for High School Teachers: This conference may have to move into the “maybe next year” category.  It’s a wonderful opportunity.  Twenty-five high school psychology teachers from around the nation travel to Clark University in Worcester, Mass. for three days (July 22-24) to learn from great professors about teaching psychology---what can be better!  Actually, what’s better is that it is free and within driving distance and housing is included.  Why would I not go (or at least apply)?  Because I am definitely going to go to either the ASCD Conference of the NBTC Summer Institute AND because I have been accepted to the Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institute for this August.  *Can I just take a minute to say how excited I am about this?!?  Holy cow this is going to be amazing!!!* With an already busy summer scheduled, should I add on one more thing?  I’ll let you know what I decide.
  

Maybe next year?

• National Council for the Social Studies Annual Conference: I have been to my local and state Council for Social Studies conferences but this is the holy grail.  Sadly, this year the conference is in St. Louis and the conference fee coupled with transportation and hotel makes this impossible.  Next year, however, the conference is in Boston (November 21–23, 2014) which makes this doable.
  

In my dreams…

• Harvard Graduate School of Education, professional development: Ah, Harvard.  The ultimate dream.  This year they are offering 8 week-long courses.  I particularly like the look of Enhancing Teacher Effectiveness in High Schools and Project Zero Classroom.  Project Zero Classroom “features various frameworks and tools that enable you to look at teaching analytically, develop new approaches to planning and make informed decisions about instruction”. Meow! Sadly, these courses cost $2,500 a piece and that does not include housing for the week.  I’m going to save up to make this dream come true!
  
• ISTE Conference: This June the conference is in San Antonio and again travel costs are the biggest obstacle.  I had actually asked our director of technology about going to this conference the last time it was in Philadelphia and was turned down due to lack of funding.  The next time the conference is in Philly is 2015 so I can certainly try again then.   
  

*Update: (3/28) I couldn't help myself- I applied for the APA Clark Workshop for Psychology Teachers.  It was just too good to pass up --- or at least to try for.  I'll let you know if I get accepted!

     Practice what you preach.  This is quote that teachers should live by.  If we expect students to develop 21st Century Skills such as curiosity, cooperation, communication, and critical thinking then we should be willing to do the same. 
     It would be wonderful to have a district that provided all that a teacher needs to be successful but in the age of budget cuts and ominous regulations we’d better not hold our breath! This series of posts on creating your own Personal Learning Network by using 21st Century Skills is meant to start you on a path towards filling in some of the gaps.  We can’t continue to expect someone to be there to spoon feed us information to keep us current.  We wouldn't want that for our students, so why do we sink to the lowest common denominator ourselves?
     I hope that you will be able to use your critical thinking skills to decide what type of PLN you need vs. what you want to reach your future goals.  Some ideas you may come across are cutting edge while some might be too good to be true.  Use your PLN to get real life reviews of what works and what doesn’t and ask questions about things that you don’t understand. 
     This is the start of possibly many new and wonderful doors opening to you and your students.  Make the most of it, choose wisely and don’t forget that we can never stop learning!

*I’ve included a few more links to help you on your quest to create a 21st Century PLN.  

     Curiosity and cooperation – obviously these are vital requirements to be a successful student and/or teacher no matter what century you are in.  The 21st Century, however, forces us to be willing to cooperate with people from around the world.  Thankfully, as I discussed in the previous two posts, there is technology available to assist us in meeting those goals.
     Now, we are ready to move on to the next component of 21st Century Learning: communication.   Although you do not have to contribute to your PLN the more you contribute, the more that people will be willing to contribute to you.  It’s always positive to have someone to bounce ideas off of or to discuss the best approach with.  I have found that since I am unfamiliar to so many of the new methodologies being used, I need to ask questions, a lot of questions!  I am much more likely to get people to answer me if I am willing to provide contributions myself.  Here’s how to get some serious skin in the game:

• Twitter- This is by and large the best way to create a diverse PLN and it’s not as hard as you might think! I’ll be writing a post on this topic later on.
  
• Edmodo- I had heard of Edmodo previously but did not have the opportunity to use it until I was selected to be part of the SMART Board turnkey trainers for my district.  The person who facilitated the training used Edmodo as a means for sharing resources with the group.  I became hooked!  I downloaded the app, joined a bunch of groups, and haven’t looked back. What can you do with Edmodo?  According to the website: “Edmodo provides teachers and students a secure place to connect and collaborate, share content and educational applications, and access homework, grades, class discussions and notifications.” Feel free to connect with me by searching for Dawn Clemens.
  
• Wikispaces- Wikispaces has been around for a while but should not be overlooked as a place to collaborate with others.  “A wiki is a space on the Web where you can share work and ideas, pictures and links, videos and media — and anything else you can think of.”  You can find and create many wikis on many different topics.  They are also great to use for class projects.  Just completing a search will offer a wide array of resources (for example Karen Brooks from Ulster BOCES has a wiki with specific resources for technology and the Common Core.   Many groups allow anyone to post within a wiki once you receive posting permission.
  
• Google Sites and Google Drive -  Create your own website using Google Sites to collaborate, plan, and share information.  Google Drive allows you to share and edit files with others via the internet.  
  

     My final post in this series will focus on critical thinking.  I'll also be including a bunch of other links to assist you in creating a PLN that works for you!

A variation of this post can be found in my original article “What is a PLN and Why Do You Need One” found here.

As teachers, we want our students to be career ready for the 21st Century.  What happens when we’re not ready to be in the 21st Century ourselves?

In my previous post, I talked about 21st Century Learning Skills: curiosity, cooperation, communication, and critical thinking (Find out more about 21st Century Learning at http://www.p21.org with a focus on curiosity.  Now we are ready to move on to cooperation.

If you join a PLN you are going to have to think about what your level of contribution will be.  It is fine to be a “lurker”, or someone who watches what happens but does not necessarily take part in discussion or provide ideas.  If you like the idea of sharing anonymously without any expectation from others that you should share in return; here are some great resources for you:

• Pinterest- This is a social bookmarking site where you can organize information you gather from around the web.  
  
• EduClipper- This site is very similar to Pinterest except that it is specific to education.  The idea is that you can create your own digital clipboard.  This site is part of EduTeacher.
  
• Symbaloo for Education- This is another alternative to Pinterest for social bookmarking.  You can create your own boards of bookmarks as well as view what others have created.  An interesting way that Symbaloo is being used by teachers is to provide a means for students to stay on task when using the internet.  For example, have your class visit your Symbaloo board for resources on a specific topic of research rather than worrying about students getting off task or viewing sites that are off topic.  There is an app which can be used for this resource as well. 
  
• Delicious- This is another social bookmarking site but with much more utility than Pinterest and EduClipper in my opinion.  Any site, regardless of whether or not there are images can be saved, described, and categorized.  I have literally hundreds of sites bookmarked for both school and personal topics.  Additionally, you can search within the site to see other people’s bookmarks that they marked available to be shared.  
  
• Learnist- Of the sites mentioned in this post, this is the only one which is currently blocked on my district’s network.  However, there is an app for this resource and I have the ability to submit a request for the site block to be removed.  As stated by the website: “Use Learnist to share what you know and learn new things. Create Learn Boards on topics you understand and add learnings by pointing to videos, blogs, images and documents on the web”.
  
• Livebinders– What are Livebinders?  Think of it as the ultimate way to organize your resources whether you have created them yourself or found them on the internet.  It’s truly a wonderful source for you to utilize to keep yourself organized as well as to get new ideas and resources from others.  Here’s an example for math Common Core: http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=187117  
  

Our next topic is communication where we’ll talk about how you can really get involved with your PLN and really learn a lot!

A variation of this post can be found in my original article “What is a PLN and Why Do You Need One” found here.

Education has always been full of acronyms and buzzwords but the pace at which new requirements, initiatives, and methodologies have been thrown around recently has been at light-speed. We know about No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Race to the Top (RTTT), Response to Intervention (RTI), STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math fields), and Common Core State Standards (CCSS).  But are you familiar with 21st Century Skills, flipped classrooms, BYOD (bring your own device), digital native, gamification, MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), digital storytelling, 1:1 technology, or PBL (Project Based Learning)? Maybe you have heard of some of these ideas but you don’t know exactly what they are or how to apply them to your classroom.  Maybe you would like to be ahead of the curve rather than constantly trying to play catch-up.  If this is the case, you should work to create your own personal PLN or a Professional Learning Network.

You should already have a PLC (Professional Learning Community). These are the people that you can lean on frequently. If you have a PLC why would you need or want a PLN?   A PLN is a wider group of people who you can get a much more extensive set of resources and ideas.  You can find out what your counterparts are doing to help their students in another county, another state, or in another nation.  Your information is only limited by the size of your network.  The question is how does someone acquire such a network? I will teach you to do just that by following the four C’s which are the focus of 21st Century Learning Skills: curiosity, cooperation, communication, and critical thinking. Find out more about 21st Century Learning at http://www.p21.org.

For this post, we’ll stick with Curiosity!

Before you do anything you should think about what it is you are hoping to gain from your network.  Do you want to increase your technology knowledge?  Do you want to find someone to collaborate with?  Do you want to find funding for particular projects?  Are you looking for feedback or do you just want to see what is out there?

To start getting a broad idea of what is trending in education now; here are just a few great places you might want to check out:

• Edudemic- Great articles about the cutting edge of education
  
• Education Week- A print and web-based weekly newspaper which focuses on current news and policy in education (I happen to subscribe to Ed Week and I think it is great!)
  
• Edutopia- Resource for innovation in education
  
• Teacher Cast- Podcast on education with a focus on technology (Great to listen to during your commute or during a spare minute, wonderful range of guests and topics.)
  
• Teach Thought- Website and blog with a focus on technology in the classroom
  

Remember, before you get into the game, you need to know what the game is about.  If you’re not up on the latest jargon then reading up on educational trends is a great place to start.

What are your go to sources for Education information?  Let me know in the commentTune in next time for Cooperation!

A variation of this post can be found in my original article “What is a PLN and Why Do You Need One” found here.

I love where I teach and honestly I can’t imagine teaching anywhere else.  But my district, just like many districts throughout the nation, does not put a lot of focus on professional development.  There are many reasons for this including a revolving door of administrators and funding.  I think that the problem is also a systemic one.

A teacher’s education and career path is fairly static in New York.  We get our bachelors and then either enter the classroom or go directly on to get a master’s degree.  Teachers either have a professional certification (those who entered the profession after 2004) which requires them to receive 175 hours of PD.  Those who have permanent certification are not required to take part in any PD.  This is all that is specifically required by the State in a career where teacher must work until they have thirty years in the retirement system and are at least fifty-five years old to receive a full pension.  That is a great many years to serve such an important role in shaping children’s lives with little to no PD required.

I fall into the category of having a permanent certification and stopping the learning process does not work for me.  Thus, I have taken to creating my own PD.

I attend conferences and go to in-service classes through my local BOCES and teacher center but that still doesn’t feel like enough.  I learn new things and gain new ideas but I feel like they just scratch the surface and don’t go into the detail that I need to really effect change in my classroom.

At this point, I feel like a dog chasing my tail.  I have so many ideas and I don’t always know the best way to implement them.  I just want to be the best teacher that I can be and do my best for my students. 

What’s a girl to do?

My district’s Assistant Superintendent stated during our first Conference Day this fall that teachers must remember their moral purpose.  My moral purpose is to provide the best possible education to my students to help them to become successful adults.  So, I guess I’ll just keep searching and learning on my own because I cannot give up on my moral purpose and because my students deserve the very best.

A variation of this post can be found in my original article “Take your learning into your own hands: Create your own professional development” found here.

Welcome one and all to my blog!  My name is Dawn Clemens and I have been a high school social studies teacher for the past 13 years.  I am the Vice President of my local teachers union (probably more on that in the future) and I am the editor of our newsletter, Between Assignments.  These three positions have shaped me as a teacher and shaped my ideas about education as a whole.  As a result, I have a lot of opinions, experiences, and knowledge to share with the world of education.

Why a blog? Why me? Why now? 

Teaching is my life.  Seriously.  I eat, breathe, and sleep teaching.  I decided when I was in kindergarten that I wanted to be a teacher and I never changed my mind.  It’s pretty rare to make a decision as a 5 year old and stick with it for the next 30 years but here I am.  When I was 22 and had my very own classes to teach for the first time I thought that I was doing a decent job.  I knew I was very far from perfect but I knew that I had the basic elements of a good teacher: I loved teaching, I loved my content, and I loved my students. I always knew that teaching was a journey and that as I continued I would gain more of the specific skills that I would need to be successful and to truly meet the needs of my students.

Each year, at the end of the year, I set goals for myself to improve on.  I usually do it while the kids are taking their Regents exams or right after I’ve finished grading their exams.  I need to incorporate more political cartoons, change how I teach essay writing, make sure I come up with a new system for assigning homework, etc.  Each year, the list is just as long as the year before---even though I implement most of my goals the following school year.  My list is always long because I’m always growing as a teacher; always trying to be the best teacher that I can be.

This year I started using Twitter as a way to expand my own personal professional development.  There will certainly be a lot more on my love affair with Twitter in the future!  Twitter taught me that I need to do more to improve as a teacher because there is a world out there that I was completely unaware of---and I want to be a part of it.  Actually, I want my students to be a part of it too!  So, I decided to start a blog to chronicle my continuing journey.  Maybe I can help other teachers and maybe they can help me.  Maybe people will want to hear all of my ideas or want to share their own.  Maybe I just want to expand who I teach outside of my own classroom walls.  I’m not totally sure.  I think that possibly I just want to know that there are other people out there just like me that just can’t stop eating, breathing, and sleeping teaching.

Welcome to Clemens’ Classroom!