"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." ~George Bernard Shaw
On Tuesday evening July 21, a group of educators from various parts of New Jersey with a strong connection to Middle Level education assembled for thirty minutes on Twitter for #NJAMLEchat; a virtual conversation that focused on Building Culture in Remote Learning Environments in our public schools. The conversation was presented by NJAMLE and hosted by Black River Middle School and Centenary University educator Joseph S. Pizzo.
The questions ranged from techniques used in a regular or remote classroom to maintain the existing culture, to challenges presented by remote instruction, to strategies that could be implemented to combat some of the challenges presented by the remote learning experience. In response to the question of techniques used to maintain the existing culture, NJAMLE President Tina Monteleone said " A daily check in of some kind is key in both situations. As simple as using the question function in the Google Classroom to connect or monitor students both for understanding and emotional status." Longtime NJAMLE leader Sandra Wozniak emphasized the importance of student/teacher relationships with her reply stating " You need to get to know the kids. I think the same activities that you use to introduce yourselves can be done virtually. " Dr. Frank Rudnesky, a former South Jersey principal, current author and motivational speaker added that " There are still many team builders that can be done remotely that still resonate positivity." All three educators provided great advice for districts that may be implementing a remote model as we move toward the fall re-openings.
The second question shifted to challenges facing educators and students in an asynchronous or remote learning environment. Here there seemed to be a common thread among the educators that responded regarding issues with interaction, engagement and relationships. Bruce Reicher a Technology Educator from Upper Saddle River said " The biggest challenge with asynchronous learning is that all the students aren't always there and it's so tough to get non verbal clues when you can't see the students, when you are sharing your screen. Dr. Maribeth Edmunds the principal of the Monmouth Junction Pre K-5 school, doubled down on this idea stating, " Correct, asynchronous learning is more difficult to manage. We need to ensure that students are engaged in the activity and are self regulated and motivated." adding on that " Check ins with students would be helpful. Brianne Adams a Technology Teacher in Westwood and a member of the NJAMLE leadership team added "As an elective teacher I had many students in March who had only just started my class and thus I wasn't able to build that relationship with them that I was able to do with students in September." Moving forward, understanding the nature of these challenges will undoubtedly help educators when preparing for and implementing some type of remote learning model.
The third and final question focused on the implementation of strategies to ensure success within the Remote Learning Model. Dr. Rebecca McLelland-Crawley an accomplished Gifted educator from the West Windsor- Plainsboro School District shared the following regarding her experiences." Frequent check-ins with learners & 1:1 conferences whenever possible. Hosted lots of open Google Meets throughout the day for kids to jump on when it was convenient for them. I let them choose their passion projects and brought outside experts to speak often." Bruce Reicher added " I also gave them more choice with choice board assignments. I hoped they would find one assignment to get excited about." Dr. Rudnesky shared that his University class "literally got up and danced." Kristin Baker the Lead Stem Teacher from Mansfield Township said she used, " Intriguing projects that built upon each other, growing in spiral: geometrical constructions, tessellations, Celtic knot patterns." Dr. Cheryl Wright an Instructional Coach and University Lecturer said " Some of the strategies I use include protocols, discussion boards, guiding questions, podcasts and student created You Tube videos. A different type of strategy was shared by both Mr. Reicher and Dr. Edmunds to ensure connection with students. They suggested that there be an open time at the end of the day to conference with students or a time slot for routine office hours. Not only does this meet the need for connection but it also allows the teacher the opportunity to address any academic concerns for their individual students. Professor Pizzo emphasized the importance of this adding, " Agreed, middle level students need to have the opportunity to ask questions. In fact we all do."
Our panelists provided a sample blueprint for future success as it pertains to Building Culture in a Remote Learning Environment. They addressed how to build a positive culture in a traditional and remote learning environment, identified challenges brought on by remote instruction and offered solutions to various types of challenges brought about by this current mode of instruction. The discussion clearly demonstrated the passion that this group of educators has for their craft. Moreover it revealed a strong desire to provide assistance for both students and educators, as they continue to clear hurdles brought on by an educational landscape that shifts often and unexpectedly.
(Note: The entire text of last nights conversation can be found on #NJAMLEchat. If you wish to add any responses to any of the questions in an effort to help other educators, please feel free to do so.)
Thursday, July 23, 2020
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
The Road Back..... A story of Resiliency and Restoration
"Devoted to providing leadership, professional learning, resources and support for middle level education." NJAMLE
On March 6, 2019 NJAMLE was ready and poised to provide middle school educators in the state of New Jersey and surrounding areas with a professional development experience for the ages. All of the boxes were checked, everything from the venue to the keynote speaker to the presenters to the caterers were ready to go. Truthfully, it was about managing the final days leading up to our State Conference and then running the conference. Confidence was high that we had put ourselves in position to provide a special event for the middle school educators who committed to attending our event. We were sold out and we were ready! Unfortunately there were catastrophic events that were rapidly unfolding in the world that ultimately would have a preemptive impact on our plans.
Just two days later, a virtual meeting with our NJAMLE leadership team was convened. The Covid 19 virus was worsening daily and a national quarantine was a definite possibility in the upcoming days. Postponing, even cancelling the conference now, just five days away, was on the table for discussion. Arriving at the decision to cancel was difficult emotionally because of the hours of preparation and the passionate effort that had already been put forth by the organizational team. There would be economic consequences that would result from the decision to cancel as well. Ultimately, although a difficult decision, there was only one right decision to make. Do what was in the best interests of our members and attendees and cancel the conference. The response to the cancellation from the majority of the attendees was extremely supportive and positive. There were monumental tasks to complete as a result of the decision, but they would be completed efficiently in the days ahead. We were moving forward, confident that the right decision had been made.
We all know what happened next, as five days later on March 13, ( the scheduled conference date) we were all at our respective schools drafting remote learning plans for a three week period that would keep learning fluid for our students. What we didn't know at the time was that the three weeks would become the norm for the duration of the school year. As dedicated professionals and caretakers of children we immediately began to consume our efforts with finding the best methods to teach our students remotely. As a result of the resilient, committed and crafty leadership efforts of our President Tina Monteleone we continued to meet remotely as an executive board, first in an effort to support each other professionally, socially and emotionally, then as time went on we shifted our efforts to our membership. We focused on and discussed how we could best serve them during this crisis brought on by the Pandemic. Slowly we began to travel the road back and develop a plan full of strategies that could help educators manage the crisis and provide support for them as we continued to move forward.
Moving forward into the summer months NJAMLE continues to be committed to providing first class, cutting edge professional development for our members and middle school educators in the state of New Jersey. We also know that we have to modify the manner in which we provide these experiences knowing that quarantine restrictions still in place prohibit us from utilizing physical space for large groups of people. Our message is clear " We are Still Here" for you. We appreciate your needs and we appreciate your consistent support of our organization. We are all in this together and in continued recognition of this, the organization is providing all existing and new members for the current membership period, (now through June 30 of 2021) with Free Membership to NJAMLE. We are all traveling the road back together and we will continue to be there for you as the navigation continues.
Implementation of various ideas generated by the NJAMLE brain trust continue to evolve. Our Summer Newsletter is currently under construction and will be available during the early part of the Summer. Beginning on July 6 we are launching a mini professional development series of short videos called the Middle Ground Minute. They can be found on our Twitter handle on Monday Wednesday and Friday thru August 28 and are designed to share wisdom from our executive board members on various educational topics that hopefully will prove beneficial to beginning, new or even seasoned educators. We have two Twitter Hashtag Chats scheduled, one for July 21 from 8- 8:30, focusing on Building School Culture in a Remote Learning Environment hosted by Joe Pizzo (using the Hashtag NJAMLEchat) and then another focusing on Transitioning Back into the Classroom, to be held in August on a date and at a time to be determined. We also continue to share an almost daily dose of articles and blogs on various educational topics written by experts in their fields. Finally, the centerpiece of our efforts culminates on August 5th with our Virtual conference that is the masterpiece of designer Christina Requa.
The conference will be conducted virtually on August 5th from 9am-12pm and is free to all educators. There will be a series of relevant and fantastic pedagogical workshops, including but not limited to the following content areas, SEL, Virtual Instruction, Foreign Language and more. There will be a focus on interdisciplinary teaching strategies and resources. The session board is currently live on Twitter and we have over 450 people registered for the event already which will be provided in a Zoom room format. The event should provide a great deal of inspiration and multiple tools in which to help attendees confidently follow the road back to their classrooms in September.
We all continue with this personal navigation of the road back to our respective schools. While the road has been cracked and requires rebuilding, we will continue to navigate it together. We will provide guidance and support, while utilizing and sharing resources with each other as we go. Because that is what we do, we are NJAMLE, and "we are all better together".
On March 6, 2019 NJAMLE was ready and poised to provide middle school educators in the state of New Jersey and surrounding areas with a professional development experience for the ages. All of the boxes were checked, everything from the venue to the keynote speaker to the presenters to the caterers were ready to go. Truthfully, it was about managing the final days leading up to our State Conference and then running the conference. Confidence was high that we had put ourselves in position to provide a special event for the middle school educators who committed to attending our event. We were sold out and we were ready! Unfortunately there were catastrophic events that were rapidly unfolding in the world that ultimately would have a preemptive impact on our plans.
Just two days later, a virtual meeting with our NJAMLE leadership team was convened. The Covid 19 virus was worsening daily and a national quarantine was a definite possibility in the upcoming days. Postponing, even cancelling the conference now, just five days away, was on the table for discussion. Arriving at the decision to cancel was difficult emotionally because of the hours of preparation and the passionate effort that had already been put forth by the organizational team. There would be economic consequences that would result from the decision to cancel as well. Ultimately, although a difficult decision, there was only one right decision to make. Do what was in the best interests of our members and attendees and cancel the conference. The response to the cancellation from the majority of the attendees was extremely supportive and positive. There were monumental tasks to complete as a result of the decision, but they would be completed efficiently in the days ahead. We were moving forward, confident that the right decision had been made.
We all know what happened next, as five days later on March 13, ( the scheduled conference date) we were all at our respective schools drafting remote learning plans for a three week period that would keep learning fluid for our students. What we didn't know at the time was that the three weeks would become the norm for the duration of the school year. As dedicated professionals and caretakers of children we immediately began to consume our efforts with finding the best methods to teach our students remotely. As a result of the resilient, committed and crafty leadership efforts of our President Tina Monteleone we continued to meet remotely as an executive board, first in an effort to support each other professionally, socially and emotionally, then as time went on we shifted our efforts to our membership. We focused on and discussed how we could best serve them during this crisis brought on by the Pandemic. Slowly we began to travel the road back and develop a plan full of strategies that could help educators manage the crisis and provide support for them as we continued to move forward.
Moving forward into the summer months NJAMLE continues to be committed to providing first class, cutting edge professional development for our members and middle school educators in the state of New Jersey. We also know that we have to modify the manner in which we provide these experiences knowing that quarantine restrictions still in place prohibit us from utilizing physical space for large groups of people. Our message is clear " We are Still Here" for you. We appreciate your needs and we appreciate your consistent support of our organization. We are all in this together and in continued recognition of this, the organization is providing all existing and new members for the current membership period, (now through June 30 of 2021) with Free Membership to NJAMLE. We are all traveling the road back together and we will continue to be there for you as the navigation continues.
Implementation of various ideas generated by the NJAMLE brain trust continue to evolve. Our Summer Newsletter is currently under construction and will be available during the early part of the Summer. Beginning on July 6 we are launching a mini professional development series of short videos called the Middle Ground Minute. They can be found on our Twitter handle on Monday Wednesday and Friday thru August 28 and are designed to share wisdom from our executive board members on various educational topics that hopefully will prove beneficial to beginning, new or even seasoned educators. We have two Twitter Hashtag Chats scheduled, one for July 21 from 8- 8:30, focusing on Building School Culture in a Remote Learning Environment hosted by Joe Pizzo (using the Hashtag NJAMLEchat) and then another focusing on Transitioning Back into the Classroom, to be held in August on a date and at a time to be determined. We also continue to share an almost daily dose of articles and blogs on various educational topics written by experts in their fields. Finally, the centerpiece of our efforts culminates on August 5th with our Virtual conference that is the masterpiece of designer Christina Requa.
The conference will be conducted virtually on August 5th from 9am-12pm and is free to all educators. There will be a series of relevant and fantastic pedagogical workshops, including but not limited to the following content areas, SEL, Virtual Instruction, Foreign Language and more. There will be a focus on interdisciplinary teaching strategies and resources. The session board is currently live on Twitter and we have over 450 people registered for the event already which will be provided in a Zoom room format. The event should provide a great deal of inspiration and multiple tools in which to help attendees confidently follow the road back to their classrooms in September.
We all continue with this personal navigation of the road back to our respective schools. While the road has been cracked and requires rebuilding, we will continue to navigate it together. We will provide guidance and support, while utilizing and sharing resources with each other as we go. Because that is what we do, we are NJAMLE, and "we are all better together".
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