Digital Badging To Inspire Student Success

The Rubidoux high school football team is on a roll. This team has already made history by going 10-0 for the first time since 1981 to win the Mountain Valley League Championship. They are currently ranked #1 in division 10 and have won their first two playoff games. Tomorrow night they play in the CIF Semi-Finals against St. Anthony's of Long Beach.

In a recent interview (min 12:56) Head Coach Patrick Thompson and his team discuss the sledge hammer helmet stickers they earn if complete their assignments during the game. Players earn the stickers by making tackles, getting an interception, and completing their individual game assignments. Each position has a unique standard and criteria they must meet to earn their sticker. Every Monday, the team has a meeting to give out their Sledge Hammer Award Stickers. Players proudly display the stickers on their helmets for all to see.

The stickers reminded me of the opportunity for digital badging in education to motivate learners who otherwise may not be motivated by traditional report cards and transcripts. @dajbelshaw defines digital badges as "useful moments of transition. They are human-scale way to credential knowledge, skills, and behaviors using the web". Digital badges, like the Sledge Hammer stickers, can be showcased to a larger audience. The Sledge Hammer stickers are worn on helmets for everyone in the stands and on the field to see. Digital badges can be showcased through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Another similarity is, like the Sledge Hammer stickers, each digital badge has a unique standard and set of criteria before the badge is earned. The badges form a digital resume.

In Jurupa we've started our digital badging journey by encouraging staff to earn Leading Edge Badges, Google Apps for Education Badges, Common Sense Certified Educator and others.

We've created our own badges for staff that complete education technology staff development.

Other districts are providing badges for attendance, behavior, work habits, meeting math standards, developing career plans, fulfilling college-entrance requirements and scoring proficiency on state exams. The possibilities for digital badging in education are endless:

Credit: @bryanmmathers, visual thinkery and @dajbelshaw

Time - Embracing Life's Challenges

According to Cortana, the intelligent personal assistant created by Microsoft for Windows 10, between 50 and 70 billion cells die each day due to apoptosis in the average human adult. The average person takes between 3,000 to 4,000 steps per day. On average person takes about 16 breaths per minute and 23,040 breaths a day. We do a lot in a day. Even some things we aren't even aware of.
This past summer we took a road trip up Highway 395 to Oregon. The long drive gave me time to unwind and free my mind.

Fossil Falls, covered in volcanic rock.

Randsburgh, Ca. Road doesnt't go straight through so they don't get a lot of visitors.

Manzanar War Camp, a dark time in U.S. History.

Ghost Town of Bodie, Ca.

As we visited these locations I continued to think about time. How do the people of Randsburg spend their time as they wait for visitors. The time it took for the fossil falls to form. The long winters residents of Bodie faced and of course the time Japanese Americans spent in the interment camps.

On our return to California we visited the Oregon Caves and Alcatraz. Once again I wondered how the prisoners of Alcatraz, especially those in solitary confinement, spent their time. How long did it take the caves of Oregon to form?

Alcatraz

Oregon Caves, One of the darkest places on earth. 

Ultimately the trip helped me to think about my life and the lives of our students. Many of them have had one or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Adverse childhood experiences are potentially traumatic events that can have negative, lasting effects on health and well-being. These experiences range from physical, emotional, or sexual abuse to parental divorce or incarceration of a parent or guardian. A lot of research is now being done to study the connection of ACEs with negative behavioral and health outcomes (ie. alcoholism and depression). I would have to say I cannot remember any ACEs in my life. I know I'm extremely fortunate. Life isn't always filled with roses. All of us will face challenges and tragedy in our lives. I had no idea that when I returned from the trip our department would be rocked with life's challenges. When these events occur we naturally ask why? Another approach is to ask what? What are we to do with this challenge or situation that has come in our lives? Could it be that we are going through this difficult time for another reason? Perhaps to make us stronger, to teach us a lesson, to help us grow. Whether it is a colleague going through a difficult time or our students I think it's important we embrace the challenge. The tragedy or difficult is that consumes us for the moment is quite possible vital to our future, a critical lesson that we must learn. Possibly to help others, or to grow in our personal or professional lives.

Reflections on 15-16 School Year - All About People

One my favorite hobbies is hiking. @krysshayes had recently conquered Etiwanda Falls and it inspired me to take my family on the hike over Memorial Day weekend.

My wife (Felicia) and I studied Biological Sciences in college. Felicia took a Botany course and loves to identify plants along our hikes. My daughter Kaylee posed for this picture of the parasitic plant witches hair (Cuscuta). 

The three mile hike ends with a stream that cascades into a fall. As I watched the peaceful, cool water flow down to the thirsty ground below I reflected on the past school year. 

In education our chief goal is to impact lives and change futures. The projects, events, deployments and upgrades that have mattered the most have been the result of working with amazing individuals. I came across this video from Jerry McGuire that reminded me of this. 

Dale Carnegie gives some great advice on working with people in his classic book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People." 

1. Don't criticize, condemn or complain.

2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.

3. Become genuinely interested in other people. 

4. Smile

5. Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language. 

8. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.

9. Talk in terms of the other person's interest.

I coach basketball for my kids (Kaylee - age 13, Jacob - age 8). This Saturday was the first Saturday in months that I've been able to sleep in. I spent the morning catching up on a verse that also reminded me of the importance of others in my life. 

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." Philippians 2:3-4. 

This year has been an amazing ride! My 7th grade English teacher Mr. Garcia told us, "Find a job that you love and you'll never work a day in your life." I love my job! I look forward to coming to work everyday to work with great people: @veronicajusd, @Jheckman, @edtechgypsy, @krysshayes, @pfordjusd, @joseramirezedu, @aalaniz, @nriverajusd, @jusddwhitman, @mgarciajusd, @netspecjusd, @matthahnjusd. Many more to list that I have time for at the moment. They mean a great deal to me. Their talents, passion and desire to give their best everyday for the students and community of Jurupa inspire me. 

#CUE16 - Day 2 and 3

#CUE16 Student Power Showcase

My CUE day 2 began with an inspiring keynote from Code.org CEO and Founder, Hadi Partovi. Hadi reminded attendees of America's proud future in inventing the computer and the need to continue to inspire the next generation of computer programmers. Hadi highlighted the new Inland Area Consortium with Code.org which includes Jurupa Unified.

Robert Craven, CTO for Tustin Unified shared the work he is doing to create a 1:1 deployment guide in partnership with CUE. Some of the key insights he shared was to use student, staff and parent surveys as well as infographics from Haiku and other platforms to show the benefits of going 1:1.

Next up was a student data and security session from Angela Larkin, Program Manager from Google. Highlights of the session included: 

• Students can view all personally identifiable information. 
• If Google did have a data breach (let's hope not!), the district would be responsible for notifying all students.

Coachella Valley USD's Darryl Adams, Michlelle Murphy and Israel Oliveros shared how their IT department has evolved with the California Standards and SBAC. These changes have lead them to focus more on customer service, operational effectiveness and ensuring that computer techs are aware of the California Standards so they can be better prepared to support teachers. 

My Friday ended with an amazing Inland Area CUE affiliate meeting. Ina Arbuckle's Jason Atkinson and Mira Loma Middle's Mary Ward received awards for their work with the Student Powered Showcase. The affiliate meeting was a great time to network with other like minded colleagues from the area. 

Day 2 ended with the annual JUSD CUE dinner. Our group is getting bigger every year. 

Saturday was an incredible day seeing JUSD students participate in the Student Powered Showcase. The event is designed to help us reflect on how students are learning by doing. This was a special year for JUSD as two projects from JUSD were chosen to participate. Temecula Unified was the only other district in Riverside County to have a presentation in the showcase. Way to go JUSD! JUSD was represented by a Sparki the robot project by Jason Atkinson's Ina students and Mary Ward's Mira Loma Middle students wind power project. Both were very impressive. Special thanks to our CBO Paula Ford @pfordjusd and our board trustee Mr. Robert Garcia @gamiroo1969 for making the trip out to support our students. 

Student Power at the CUE Student Powered Showcase.

#CUE16 Day 1

 @veronicajusd, @edtechgypsy, @joseramirezjusd, @richardsroom16 and I had a chance to discuss #JUSDdigitalgateway with @tomtorlakson.

My #CUE16 journey began with a pep talk from  @iamkidpresident who reminded us we were made to be awesome.

@pgilders shared how her staff is personalizing their learning by creating personal learning plan. Professional learning in her district is broad-based, inclusive of classified staff, geared to inspire passion, intentional. Many professional learning options were shared including virtual collaboration using Voxter and Skype. In her blog pgliders.com , Pam shares recommendations for those interested in Leadership, Education and 21st Century Learning. The biggest take away was to get out of our comfort zone.

Esther Kligman shared the power of multiple primary resources to help students gain a deeper understanding of history and the complexity of the past. 

Joanna Conrado, Teacher Tech Coach from Ballico-Cressey School District shared several strategies using Google resources to teach writing skills, promote collaboration and publish writing. Many of their resources including their CUE presentation can be found here.

Here's an example of how a teacher pushes out an image to students and then asks them to write what the character is thinking or saying. 

This was an example of a picture that was shared to help students develop character by asking them to describe who is in the picture using creative details. 



In my final session Jeremy Davis, executive director, Capistrano Unified, explained how they were able to deploy 24,000 chromebooks in 24 months (#24in24). Jeremy's homepage for all users of Chrome is a genius idea we will need to develop in Jurupa. As part of the initiative parents, students and teachers were surveyed to capture the impact of the tools (chromebooks) in the classrooms. Jeremy shared many inspiring quotes on failure include (FAIL=First Attempt In Learning).

My first day ended with a CTO focus group. As a group we discussed the challenges, opportunities and specific next steps the CDE can take to support our work. The main topics discussed included Data Privacy, Equity of Access, and Infrastructure. Some of the ideas from the brain trust included:

• Data Privacy Certification similar to the new mandated reporting and sexual harassment trainings. 
• Equity of Access - Susan McPeak is advocating for Internet For All Now. The homework gap is a reflection of the income divide and opportunity divide. Access delayed is access denied. Charter article regarding affordable internet. 
• Infrastructure - The Common Core Standards require more bandwidth than SBAC. We can't have one-time funding for devices and infrastucture. We need to develop a minimum bandwidth needed for CCSS (not just SBAC) and receive adequate funding.

Opportunity Ahead: Future Ready Professional Learning

Albert Einstein once said insanity is, "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." The past few years have brought many changes. Students today are saturated with digital tools, the Common Core State Standards require all students to communicate, collaborate and do research using technology and all students are required to test online. These changes require a fresh new approach to professional learning. Daniel Pink's book Drive explores what motives us. Pink uses decades of scientific research to explain we are motivated by our natural human desire to be self-directed, make progress and get better at what we do, and be apart of something greater. These principles must be considered in desiging Future Ready Professional Learning. Professional Learning today must leverage technology to create ongoing, high-quality, job-embedded, opportunities that meet the needs of the learner. I believe many teachers have what Carol Deck defines as a Growth Mindset. These teachers have, "a passion for sticking to it, even when it's not going well." Teachers with this mindset believe their "true potential is unknown" and "impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil and training." Jason Atkinson (@jasonjusd), Ina Arbuckle 2nd grade teacher is one teacher with a growth mindset. This week I saw him present his students' work with Sparki the Robot at our Technology Leadership Network. His students have been using Sparki to write code to change geometric shapes, words and messages. Jason's students will participate in the CUE student showcase coming up this spring. Jason wasn't always a "techy" teacher. In a short time Jason has transformed himself into a light tower of energy inspiring every teacher, staff and student he meets.

Teachers need to be empowered to take learning into their own hands, learn at their own pace and focus on areas of their interest. Project RED is a study that survey nearly 1000 schools to determine if properly implemented educational technology can substantially improve student achievement. The study is a call to action to transform schools based on second-order change. Second order change is not easy change. "The change mechanism is broad scale and addresses all student populations," Project RED. I am looking forward to working with the teachers and staff of Jurupa Unified to design Professional Learning that is Future Ready.

Get Connected

I have to admit, when I took the #YourEdustory challenge I imagined I would try to blog once a month. The challenge was actually to blog once a week, but for someone who's never blogged I thought once a month would be a great accomplishment. Yet, here I am. My second weekend into the challenge and I'm blogging! The credit this week goes to @Catlin_Tucker. This weekend as I watched the NFL divisional playoffs, I did what I always do when I watch TV: I multi-tasked. I have a tough time sitting, even while watching amazing edge-of-your seat playoff game that will go down as the wildest of all time. As I watched the games, I read Catlin Tucker's new book, "Creatively Teach The Common Core Literacy Standards with Technology". Catlin used the description of a college and career ready student to make the argument that every student, "must be given countless opportunities to engage with different types of technology over the course of their kindergarten-12th grade education." For many teachers, making a shift to integrating technology into the classroom is a scary proposition. Catlin suggests 5 tips for getting started. The 5th tip is where I found my inspiration for this blog: Get Connected. Getting connected with others who have similar goals and aspirations inspires us to take risks, see a clear vision, and provide support as we continue to move forward toward accomplishing the goals we have set for our students. In the spirit of getting connected I wanted to take a moment to thank some of the individuals I have connected with throughout my educational journey.

Pat Monaco: I'll begin with my first mentor Pat Monaco, Jurupa Valley High School (JVHS) science teacher.  I met Pat in my second year of teaching. Pat not only taught me everything I know about teaching science, he is responsible for my decision to pursue a Masters in Educational Leadership. When I needed a letter of recommendation to apply for a Master's program. Pat refused to write one for anything other than for one that lead to a MS in Ed.

Pat gave me this card, "How To Empower A Person" - adapted from Stephen Glenn. I've reflected on this card numerous times since he passed it on.

Ilsa Garza Gonzales: As Principal of Jurupa Valley High School, Ilsa saw something I honestly didn't even see in myself: a leader. Ilsa gave me an opportunity to write the WASC report for JVHS and then gave me my first administrative position as Assistant Principal of JVHS. While for most, the first year of administration can be a nightmare, mine was a complete joy. Ilsa provided a clear vision and direction for where our school needed to go and gave me the tools and opportunities to spread my wings. To this day she is still my sounding board and encourager.

Ilsa connected me with John Maxwell at a conference at the Riverside Convention Center. I've since read over a dozen of his books. 

Paula Ford: As Assistant Superientendent of Business Services, Paula gave me an opportunity to lead our district into the 21st Century. In a short two and half years we've been challenged to upgrade infrastructure at every site in the district, build a data center, build a digital platform to support California Standards,  implement standards based report cards, and deploy 5000 chromebooks in the first phase of a 1:1 initiative. Through each challenge Paula has been by my side, sharing her experiences and providing me with the necessary resources.

Dennis Large and Mike Lawrence: You graciously agreed to be our keynote speakers for our first two #JUSDtechfest events. These events were enormous under takings. We were in need of inspiration to not only kick off our events but provide inspiration and a mindset going forward to create learning environments that mirror our students daily lives and the reality of their futures. Your keynotes hit a home run!

Vince Butler, Hamilton McDermott, Shane_Pinnell, Steve Thornton, Matt Penner, Jose Romero, David Thurston, Sue Gott, Mac Patel, Jon Lewis, Joseph Williams, Aaron Barnett, Beverly Beemer and all the amazing K20 educational technology leaders in the Inland Area Technology Group: I have an enormous respect and dependance on your many years of experience in this field. I look forward to learning and collaborating with each of you at our upcoming regional meetings.

Tim Goree, Jay Greenlinger and Colby Clark:  Fellow California Educational Technology Professional Association colleagues. I am continuously inspired and enjoy seeing what is going on in your districts. Thanks for sharing.

Dr. Lisa Gonzalez: My Leading Edge Admin Instructor. I'm grateful for your leadership during the #LeadingEdgeCert and continue to be inspired by your leadership.

Matt Harris, ED.D.: A international Ed. Tech leader. I'm constantly learning by your tweets, blogs and videos. You provide a unique perspective that is valued and appreciated.

Amy Noyes, Veronica Gonzalez, Jose Ramirez, James Heckman, Krystal Freeman, Matt Hahn, Angela Alaniz, Buzz Reagan, Nancy Rivera, Daniel Whitman, Joel Foster, Andrew Ayala, Michael Dumire, Jonathan Mendoza, Gus Hernandez, Christopher Harlander, Sonya San Juan and Sabu Thrower: the World's Greatest Education Information Technology Department. Every day you give your very best for Our Students. Our district would not be where we are today without each and everyone of you. You inspire and encourage me more than I could ever express. Thank you!

Cue Admin Rock Star Camp

Today was the final day of the Cue Admin Rock Star Camp. The Hero's camp provided new, hands-on skills for administrators who desire to create positive, disruptive, process of change in their organizations. The theme of the camp was a Hero's Journey based on Joseph Campbell's book: The Hero with a 1000 faces. On the final day we were given the opportunity to reflect on the new skills we've learned to take back to our district. The camp has truly made an impact on me and given me some new skills as we move forward in creating learning environments that reflect our students' daily lives and the reality of their futures: The Road to 1:1 Learning.

The final session I attended was, "Lead Change. Learn. BLOG"  presented by World-Class Mindset Leader and Co-Founder of @#CAEDCHAT Jo-Ann Fox. This session gave me several reasons to blog as an educational leader including: creating a positive digital footprint, communicating with digital tools, connecting with like minded educators, sharing my learning, and inspiring others. The Yoda meme below was encouraging.

The challenge was given to join #YourEdustory: a network of educators who make a commitment to blog once a week. Being someone who has never written a blog this seems like a daunting challenge.

So here it is, my first blog dedicated to my new community #YourEdustory.

What motivates me in my position? 

What motivates me in my position? Our students, Our schools, Our future. This is the slogan of the Jurupa Unified School District and I love it. Thinking about Our Students and their future motivates me to be the best I can be. This Monday, 18,991 students will walk through the doors of our schools to begin 2nd semester. Every day is an opportunity to make an impact on their lives and change their futures. Recently our district made the decision to provide an internet connected device to every student. The desired outcomes for the 1:1 initiative include: increased student engagement and productivity through personalized learning and equal access to technology, extend and expand learning beyond the school day – anytime, anywhere learning, provide authentic and relevant learning experiences, increase student achievement and academic rigor, increase 21st century skill development in collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking and problem solving, digital literacy, global awareness, and finally students are creators and producers of their own content, not simply consumers of content. In today's global market place Our Students need the right tools to produce authentic work. Here's a short video about the 1:1 initiative here in at JUSD.

Some our motivated by money. Others by advancing their careers? How about you? What motives you in your position?