Summer Learning Had Me a Blast, Summer Learning Happened So Fast...

Each summer, administrators participate in two administrative conferences.  The purposes of these conferences are to build lead learners and ensure calibration of key systems in the district.  Last week, administrators gathered at Moore to prepare for the start of school.

We started the half day program with a quick warm up, focusing on communication and reflecting on how communication processes can break down.  Administrators were in groups of three:

Person #1:  Had directions for person #3 to complete.  They communicated the directions nonverbally to person #2 to convey to person #3.

Person #2:  Had to interpret person #1's nonverbal directions to provide person #3 with clarity through only verbal communication.

Person #3:  Had to listen intently to person #2's instructions to complete the task.

Johnicka Turner gives nonverbal directions to Doug Barton who communicates to Jodi Meese.  

Kathy Wood works on her task communicated from Ronni Zagora though Stephanie Ringhofer.

Mike Franklin completes his task as communicated through his partners.

Activities like this can be replicated in the classroom to emphasize the importance of clear communication and direction following.  When I was teaching, I used similar activities at the beginning of the school year to set a purpose for learning in an English classroom.  In this scenario we used 5 different sets of instructions to ensure no one "cheated."  If you'd like to use them in your own classroom, email or call me (ext. 8611).

Keeping administrators engaged is just as important as keeping students engaged, so in C and I we model tools that can be replicated in your buildings and classrooms.  To review the teacher handbook with administrators, we used the augmented reality app Aurasma for a scavenger hunt.

Administrators worked in pairs, using Aurasma to view the questions in the provided pictures along the scavenger hunt.

Competition relaxes as groups begin to work together to ensure accuracy of their answers.

Beth Johnston and Mike Kuhn work together to view the question and find the accurate answer within the teacher handbook.