Bye 2017....Hello 2018!

LONG POST ALERT!!!

Today is January 1, 2018 and as I sit here enjoying the last days of the holiday break, preparing and planning of the new year, I can't help but to reflect on 2017 and all that it brought!  At the end of 2016, I declared that my #oneword for 2017 would be "INTENT."  I chose this word based upon witnessing my twin brother's recovery from a horrific car accident that left him having to learn how to breathe, eat and talk all over again.  He's still learning how to walk.  His experience has reiterated to me the importance of living with intent and not taking any second of any day for granted.  I can truly say, that I lived 2017 with intent.  I stepped out of my comfort zone, stepped out on faith, and conquered a lot of fears!


Here are a few of the things that I conquered in 2017, fears that I overcame, experiences that brought me joy, and things that I'm proud of!

Tablet2Read
At work, we are in the middle of providing all of our first grade students with a tablet that they will be able to take home as a means of increasing literacy and providing remediation opportunities.  This year, I created the handbook for this project and was a part of the successful launch and pilot of the project.  To see the looks of the children's faces when they received their tablets was so fulfilling!  I helped leading the efforts in creating the project's name, the logo, choosing the applications, the device, and created the training plan for implementation.  We are getting ready to launch phase 2 and I'm so excited!  We also presented about this project at #GAETC this year!

Central Office "Tech Talk Series"
This was fun!  I was able to successfully launch a series of educational technology trainings for our central office staff!  My colleagues and I created and facilitated 3 sessions, 1 each month in the Spring (February, March and April) that allowed for colleagues in our central office to come and learn what is going on in the schools.  We led sessions on Google, Microsoft and other Web 2.0 tools that would help make their work days easier!  They were blown away at the ability to collaborate virtually and as a result, Google an Microsoft use have skyrocketed in our district!

Classy Graphics
Scrolling through Twitter one day, and maaaayyybeeee stalking Tony Vincent's feed, I saw that he was going to be hosting a class called Classy Graphics.  It was a 6 week course that he facilitated, created content and videos for, and taught it's participants how to create graphics that were sure to be eye catching!  I signed up and LOVED every second of it!  I looked forward to the new videos and assignments releasing every week and couldn't wait to try my hands at what he was teaching!  He is now going to release a Classy Videos course that I will DEFINITELY be signing up for and I can't wait.  If you see this offered, trust me, you NEED to do this!!

Started This Blog and created my LLC
This was a HUGE step out of my comfort zone moment for me!  Not only did I get inspired to start my own educational technology company that allows me to share my love of all things edtech with others, but I started this blog and have had some AMAZING traffic to it!  I am so humbled and blown away that so many of you care to read what I have to say!  I love learning and sharing with others so this is a win win for me!


Google Certified Trainer
A couple of years ago, Chris Craft came and trained our staff on all things Google before our district implemented Google Apps for Education.  He inspired to me to delve deeper into the world of Google and as a result I completed the requirements to become a Google Certified Trainer!  The knowledge and experiences that have come along as a result of this have been so rewarding!

Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert
This is my second year as an MIEExpert and I have LOVED every minute of it!  My district is a Google and Microsoft district so I have to be proficient in both!  Being an MIEE has been so amazing and the educators that I am fortunate enough to interact with make me a better educator!  The number of MIEEs in the state of Georgia have significantly grown this year and that just means that there are more people to learn from and collaborate with!

Twitter
I think I learn more from Twitter than I do anywhere else!  I have loved virtually meeting (and then meeting in real life) so many of my edtech heroes.  Being active on Twitter is the BEST way to grown your professional learning network.  There is soooo much professional development available out there on Twitter!  All you need to do is get involved!  I've loved taking part in different Twitter chats (ie. #alphasquirrels, #msftedu, etc) and learning from others all around the world!

ISTE
This was by far the BEST ISTE experience that I've ever had!!  I met soooo many amazing educators and got to interact with some really really smart people!  This was the first year that I was able to attend the Google Certified Trainer Meet-Up, the Alpha Squirrels Meet-Up, and the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Meet-Up!  San Antonio was beautiful, hot, but beautiful!  Seeing Jennie Magiera deliver the keynote was so inspirational!  Who knew that I'd meet her later in the year??

EdTechTeam Virtual Summit
Some how I was asked if I'd be interested in participating in the first Virtual Summit held by EdTechTeam.  Uhhhh, yeah!!!  I've blogged about this experience so won't relive it here, but it was amazing!  I was able present alongside some of the edtech people that I've looked up to and fangirled on Twitter over!  Definitely a highlight of 2017!

Our Voice Academy
BEST experience of 2017!  I'm STILL on a high from this experience!  Again, I've blogged about this a few times so you can read all about my experience there.  Being able to learn from 19 other minority ed tech leaders for a weekend in Minnesota was mind blowing!  I am so excited to use what I learned during this Academy in the future to help me continue to share my story and amplify my voice.  The main takeaway from OVA was that we all have a voice that deserves to be heard!

Looking forward to 2018
There is sooooo much that I'm looking forward to in 2018!  The #oneword that I have chosen for 2018 is "BE." I want to be present, be mindful, be intentional, be kind, and be impactful, just to name a few.

Professionally, there are a lot of ideas that I have for my school district that I can't wait to share with our teachers and students!  Some of these include:

• Launching the first Google Bootcamp in our District!
• Creating a district wide instructional technology podcast.
• Creating a cohort of edtech superhero educators!!!
• Launching the next phase of Tablet2Read.
• Launching the second year of our Central Office Tech and Talk Series.

Personally, I am looking forward to a lot as well!  Whether or not I will accomplish all of this is left to be determined, however these are SOME of the things that I want to do/accomplish in 2018.  I post these as a means of accountability for myself and I figure that once I put it out there, I don't have a choice, but to do it!  So, hold me accountable!

• Continue growing my PLN on Twitter, learning from amazing ed tech educators!
• Continue blogging, more often.
• Spotlight Speak with EdTechTeam.
• Deliver at least ONE keynote this year.
• Sign up for and take Classy Videos by Tony Vincent.
• Renew my Google Certified Trainer status.
• Renew my Microsoft Innovative Educator and Surface Expert status.
• Apply for the Google Innovator program.
• Being active with the second cohort of Our Voice Academy.
• FINISH MY DISSERTATION and FINALLY become Dr. Natasha Rachell!!!!
• Attend ISTE.
• Get healthier: eat better, exercise, drink more water, meditate.
• Continue on my spiritual journey.
• More to come.....

What accomplishments are you most proud of from 2017?  What's your #oneword for 2018?  What are you most looking forward to in 2018?  Write it down and find an accountability partner!  You can do whatever you set your mind to!

Our Voice Academy! The experience of a LIFETIME!!!

Last month, I received an email from THE Jennie Magiera!!!!  TOTAL fangirl moment!  In the email, she informed me that I, along with 19 other minority educational technology leaders across the nation (and Canada) had been chosen to be a part of the first cohort of the Our Voice Academy through EdTechTeam.  This opportunity brought 20 of us together along with 4 leaders (Jennie Magiera, Ken Shelton, Monica Martinez, and Sarah Thomas).

I was fortunate enough to have my blog post shared on the EdTechTeam blog.  I've posted it here, below, along with including the links:

Blog: https://www.edtechteam.com/blog/2017/12/voices-academy-entire-story/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/edtechteam/status/942771780631924737

Our Voice Academy: www.ourvoiceacademy.com

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."

-Maya Angelou

This quote, by Maya Angelou, is what set the tone for a life changing weekend in Minneapolis,
Minnesota.  Jennie Magiera brought together 20 different, but like minded minority educational technology leaders from across the country (and Canada) to engage in an intense 2 days of growth, laughs, smiles, and tons of tears.  It was an emotional weekend as we learned to tell our stories and share our voices.  We all have something to say and we deserve to be heard.  Jennie led the weekend with a phenomenal crew of edtech leaders: Ken Shelton, Monica Martinez, and Sarah Thomas.   

Receiving an email inviting you to be a part of the first ever Our Voice Academy from THE Jennie Magiera was just about enough to make me freak out!  After examining the list of the other 19 minority edtech leaders that were included, I just about passed out!  The experiences that this particular group of people were able to share will never be repeated again.  And I can proudly say that I am both honored and humbled to have been a part of history.  The weekend kicked off with inspiration from Justice Alan Page, a former Minnesota Vikings football player (The Purple People Eaters-Google it!), now Minnesota Supreme Court Justice and author.  He shared his story of the power that education had on his life and encouraged us to continue to pour into the lives of the students and teachers that we interact with each and every day.  We each shared a 2 minute story during dinner to get to know each other and to become comfortable with one another.  I think it was in this moment that I truly realized that I was in the presence of some outstanding edtech leaders.

Flipgrid graciously hosted our Academy at their headquarters which was perfect as the environment fostered innovation and creativity!  The rest of the weekend’s activities included some movement activities, examining the 6 parts of a keynote, professional headshots, training and time to prepare to deliver a keynote that would be delivered to the Academy before  closing out the weekend.  To hear the stories that everyone had to tell, left me absolutely speechless.  Some of the trainings that our leaders delivered included:

Jennie:  Stage presence, how to develop a memorable keynote, storytelling.

Ken:  Slide design, image format, how to use fonts effectively.

Monica:  Slide design, all about graphics and fonts, how to appeal to the 5 senses.

Sarah:  Branding (blogging, podcasting, chats and livestreams).

The keynote that I delivered focused on using your why to drive your intention.  I shared the story of my “1 in 5.” This was a group of African American male students that I taught during my second year of teaching.  Two of the 5 are deceased, 2 of the 5 are in jail, and the fifth is a part of the 17% of African American males in the United States to earn a bachelor’s degree.  He currently serves as a police officer in a major city and is doing well!  This keynote is still a work in progress, as we only delivered a snippet of it during the Academy.  Click HERE to view the presentation that I delivered.  The story of my “1 in 5” will become a part of my larger keynote.

My top three takeaways from this whirlwind weekend were:

1. Everyone has a story to tell that deserves to be told.
2. “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.”  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  Tell the ENTIRE story!!
   
3. You only see the outside of what people present to the world.  You don’t know their daily struggle.  

This was the most inspiring time that I’ve ever spent in a professional development environment in my life!  Each and every second left me hanging on the edge of my seat wanting more!  The time that I spent with the other cohort members and the 4 leaders from all different walks of life has truly made me feel like I have found my tribe.  A tribe of passionate educators that want better for this world and the students and teachers that we are able to interact with each and every day.  I can say that I have made some lifetime friendships, more of a family, that I know I can lean on and depend on for anything that I may need.  I absolutely cannot wait to see each and every one of these individuals again!  I owe a HUGE thank you to EdTechTeam, Jennie, Ken, Monica and Sarah for seeing the need to bring together this group of educators and helping us find our voices and share our stories. I am forever grateful.

Natasha Rachell, Ed.S.

Our Voice Academy-Cohort 1

Digital Learning Specialist

Google Certified Trainer

Atlanta, Georgia

@apsitnatasha

#OVAcademy

Click here for a list of the Our Voice Academy-Cohort 1 members.

Courageous Edventures Challenge - Day 3

Today's #courageousedventures Challenge was to spend an hour on educational technology YouTube playlists.  I spent some time on the YouTube channels of Tony Vincent, EdTechTeam and Teacher's Tech (Jamie Keet).  You definitely want to search for all of these on YouTube and follow their channels as they offer a TON of educational technology information, how to videos, tutorials, etc. You could really fall into the YouTube "time suck" with these channels!

Tony Vincent in the man behind the website, Learning in Hand.  You definitely want to check that out as well!  He is chalk full of all kinds of information from creating your own avatars, to using emojis, all kinds of web 2.0 information and everything else in between!  You can find a ton of videos on his website, but his YouTube channel also provides a lot of great videos as well.  I love the ease of his videos and how when he teaches you something, he goes step by step.

EdTechTeam is another channel that I spent some time on today.  I love this channel because there are so many different "presenters" of information that you get to gain a ton of different perspectives and you are able to learn a lot of information from a lot of different people all across the world!  I may be a little partial to this channel because I was able to present at the Best Year Yet Virtual Summit last month!  I blogged about it when it happened and I am still in awe that I was given the opportunity to present alongside some of my educational technology idols!  I digress....this channel is definitely one that you need to check out and subscribe to for all kinds of ideas!  Here you can find live author chats, demo slams, recorded webinars, etc!

The last YouTube channel that I explored today was one called Teacher's Tech and Jamie Keet is the man behind the channel.  He pretty much walks you step by step through different educational technology tools and resources. His videos are really simple and streamlined.  I like that he makes all of the content simple and easy to understand to the point that you could follow along with him and do what he's doing at the same time.  He has playlists for EVERYTHING!!!  His tutorials are Google and MAC heavy and that works for me, because so am I!  Like the two previously mentioned channels, subscribe to this one as well!  

I loved being able to explore different educational technology YouTube channels.  I heard recently, at a conference, that people are relying more heavily on learning how to do things via YouTube rather than looking for the information on Google.  With the videos that these three channels have created, I can definitely see this being true.  About a year ago I was putting together a piece of IKEA furniture for my mother and instead of reading their instructions, I found someone on YouTube that had put the same piece of furniture together and followed along with them!  If we do that for our day to day activities, like putting furniture together, then why not for learning how to better incorporate technology into our classrooms?

There you have it!  Day 3....DONE!  What YouTube channels did you explore today?

Creating Spaghetti Taco Moments

WOW!  I am still floating on cloud 9 from my experience presenting yesterday afternoon with EdTechTeam at their Virtual Summit!  Yesterday was definitely a spaghetti taco moment for me!  My presentation focused around the critical thinking strand of the 4 C's: communication, creativity, communication and critical thinking.  Critical thinking is often the least favorite of the 4 to present on, however, I welcomed and appreciated the charge of making it more engaging, liked and fun through this presentation.  Molly Bennett from EdTechTeam put this all day virtual experience together and it was AMAZING!  Participants literally participated in PD in their PJ's!  I learned so much from the other 11 presenters and am so eager and excited to begin implementing what I learned!  See my previous post before this one for more details and the schedule of the day!

I was truly honored to be presenting virtually alongside such #edtech leaders as Dee Lanier and Holly Clark (Hyperdocs anyone???)! Like I totally had a few fan girl moments!  Like, what did I do to be able to present with these phenomenal #edtech gurus?!?!?!?


Part of my presentation focused on choosing "tech with intent" and being intentional about what you want your students to know and understand before you choose the tool that will deliver the content.  I also talked about a video (included in my presentation) that I recently watched about a mom that works for Buzz Feed that did an experiment in which she told her kids, "yes" every day for a week.  One of her kids wanted spaghetti tacos for dinner!!  What?!?!?  Well, since she was doing this experiment, she had to say yes!  LOL!  And guess what....her kids ate, and ate, and ate those tacos some more....something they don't normally do. Her kids will ALWAYS remember the day that mom let them eat spaghetti tacos.  This got me to thinking that we should be creating those "spaghetti taco" moments in our classrooms and with our teachers.  What will they walk away and remember from their interactions with us?  Think about the teachers you had while growing up.  What made them memorable?  Was it the content, or HOW they made it interesting, relatable, and fun?

I also shared how we can integrate the SAMR (substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition) to improve and increase thought processing with our students.  Engaging students in activities that encourage critical thinking will create those spaghetti taco moments that will drive the content.  The technical tools are not what's important.  All the tech tools do is deliver the content that we want to and are charged with getting across.

Link to my presentation: http://bit.ly/2yl9KM5

I received some awesome feedback in both the chat on the live stream as well as through Twitter.  I definitely blushed a few times at the comments that came through Twitter:

 

 

 























The event was over 5 hours long and included not only the presentations from the 12 presenters, but a TON of awesome giveaways!  If you missed it, you missed out.  But don't fret!  Because it was streamed through YouTube, you can totally watch it again, and again, and again!

All of the presentations were amazing and chalk full of information!  My presentation began at the 4:33 mark and ended around the 4:51 mark.  I would be honored if you took a few moments to check it out!

As you are putting your lesson plans together and thinking about what you want your students to know as a result of your teaching, I encourage you to think about creating those spaghetti taco moments that they will always remember....

EdTechTeam Virtual Summit THIS Saturday!!!

This Saturday, October 14, 2017, I will be presenting virtually along side 11 other AMAZING educators during the first ever EdTechTeam Virtual Summit!  This virtual summit is being hosted by Molly Bennett, Director of Summits for EdTechTeam (www.edtechteam.com) which leads Google for Education, hands on, fast paced, high energy summits all across the world!  I am so honored to be a part of this amazing opportunity and with soooo many techie educators!  The theme and hashtag for the event is #bestyearyet !

You still have time to register for this FREE opportunity!  Click on the link below to join over 1200 of your closest friends online!  The sessions will be live broadcasted on YouTube so you will definitely be able to go back and watch it later.

To register, here's the link:  https://nvite.com/edtechteam/y21l97

This summit is going to focus on the 4 C's of instructional technology: collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking.  The day will start at 11:00am with a keynote speech from Dee Lanier and then roll immediately into 1 hour sessions for each of the 4 C's that will each contain 3 mini sessions within each hour.  Click here to view the schedule for the day!

I'll be presenting during the critical thinking portion of the day which begins at 3:15pm EST on the topic of Improving Thought Processing through G-Suite.  I'll be focusing on a few key areas of of the G-Suite and how to improve the process of critical thinking with these tools!  Sessions throughout the day range from beginner to intermediate.  At the end of the 4 C's presentations, there will be a demo slam that begins at 4:30pm EST and is chalk full of quick presentations that will be sure to leave you wanting to dig in further!  Here is a Flipgrid that introduces a few of the sessions that will be presented throughout the day.

Will you be joining us for this Virtual Summit?  Have you registered yet?  Be sure to share with your fellow educators as there will be something for everyone!  Join the summit so you can gain some goodies to help you have your #bestyearyet !  Can't wait to "see" you online this Saturday!