Gearing Up for Fall with NYEDChat

Mid-summer is upon us and although NYEDChat is on summer hiatus, the moderators: Bill Brennan, Vicki Day, Blanca Duarte, Starr Sackstein, Tony Sinanis, and I, are gearing up for a new season of connectivity with NYS educators and those from across the states. Last school year saw the relaunch of #NYEDChat as the voice of NYS educators and a partnership of committed moderators grew to a team of six. Every other Monday at 8:30 pm #NYEDChat posed lively discussions. Guest moderators often visited the chats and one of the highlights of the year was a triple state chat #NJNYCOL with ten moderators from #njed, #NYEDChat, and #COLchat. This chat was not only a great collaborative effort but a fast-paced, successful discussion that trended on Twitter. Many connections were made that night. 

Following this was a joint venture by #njed and #NYEDChat, the Showcase of Teaching and Learning, a highlighting of best practices, blogs, and lessons from educators around the globe. The site created hopes to attract educators who wish to globally share their best learning. It will remain open to all who would like to add to the collection of shared practices. 

With its expansion as a professional learning network (PLN), #NYEDChat continues its journey to connect educators from across New York State so that they can add their collective voices to a broader, global connected community.  Vicki Day has taken one step forward to make #NYEDChat a more dynamic and united front. She has worked diligently to construct a new website from the previous wiki site that we have seemed to outgrow. You can see the new look that is under construction at http://nyedchat.wordpress.com/. Today, Vicki and I collaborated on adding a new page to the site and I must admit it was quite an experience for me, a worthwhile endeavor but a frustrating one while learning a new platform. 

Thank you @VictoriaL_Day for creating the new NYEDChat Website



 

This summer educators are reenergizing their personal lives by engaging in activities that are relaxing and a departure from daily school work. The moderating team of NYEDChat wants you to know that we are gearing up for another dynamic year of connectivity, driven by our passion to impact teaching and learning. Remember as Connected Educators: Together We are One. 

Join the first #NYEDChat conversation of the school year on
 August 25, 2014, 8:30 PM 
for a lively discussion, 

"Beginning the School Year on a Positive Note"

In the meantime, enjoy your summer!

Tri-State Connectivity Promoting Collaboration

The key to interstate collaboration is to cultivate 

a culture of listening, learning, and empowerment. 

@danieldmccabe

Tuesday night's #NJNYCOL was born out of collaborative union of three state chats, #njed (New Jersey), #NYEDChat (New York State), and #COLchat (Culture of Learning from Michigan), and ten moderators. What started with two quick messages from Billy Krakower of #njed and Michele Corbat of #COLchat to me and several weeks of collaboration between our three lead moderators and moderating teams turned into a history making event. Much to the delight of the moderators, the first Tri-state chat was a Twitter success. Midway through the chat, Billy Krakower tweeted that #NJNYCOL was trending on Twitter while @trendinaliaUS provided tweeters with backup data on the success of our chat. "64 users and 102 tweets (41 RTs) in 17 seconds made #NJNYCOL a trending topic in the United States. 102,219 people could have seen #NJNYCOL since its first mention until it became a trending topic."

From a moderator's vantage point, accountable talk and quick conversations centering around six questions focused learning. Passionate educators around the country and Canada joined in to#NJNYCOL to converse and connect making the new tri-state chat a fast-paced, amazing venture in collaborative learning that set a high bar and exceeded expectations. The fun began with a tagging activity as select educators from across the states were asked to join the rapid conversation that was creating a buzz in the Twittersphere. Tweetdeck was alive with connectivity and collaboration as 770 tweets paraded across the screen and were storified at the end of the night by Billy Krakower. Excitement at being part of a new collaboration across states was expressed by a myriad of active participants whose positive spirit was grounded in a collective growth mindset. 

Following each other is a beginning. Tweeting together is progress.  

Learning together is success. 
@venspired

Question 1 opened the chat with an interesting statement from Michele Corbat.  "A virtual collaborative learning culture includes sharing ideas, feedback, and pushing thinking. Most importantly: relationships develop." What started as a statement turned into a reality. During the NJNYCOL conversation, ideas about ways to impact teaching and learning were shared openly and relationships developed in turn. Replies to Q1 set the foundation for a collaborative threaded conversation about a virtual learning collaborative learning culture that "removes physical location as a restraint" (@Sgaglione) and looks beyond boundaries and fixed ideas to provide "non-judgmental and supportive" (@DRich0696) "24/7 source of learning with virtual collaboration," (@JayBilly2) "funneling all best practice into one platform" (@DaSirotiak) and "...using everyone's knowledge and perspective for a common goal." (@robert_kalman) Following this was a conversation about how collaboration across states build cultures of learning. "Working together is about building capacity, momentum, and best practices. Learning is not only across the states. It's universal." (@DJr Schug)

Question 3 allowed educators to provide interesting collaborative projects that would  build a culture of learning across the country.  Some ideas floated were:

• Run virtual debates @AngelinaShy & @elissamalespina
• Students collaborating across the states-Imagine what students can do if they work with people they don't know @AJBianco
• Mystery Skypes for elementary students @Sgaglione 
• Edmodo for a book discussion or a Facebook discussion @brennanamy
• Tri-state Edcamps @syndesn2
• Youth participatory action research that lets students investigate their communities together and analyze and interpret the data @MissCas22
• Talks with Teachers Challenges that nurture the soul and provide PD @TalksWTeachers
• Virtual Gallery Walk via Skype or Facetime @DRich0696
• Using Voxer to connect with other educators 
• Multi-media project about how NJNYCOL educators are connected using Vine videos @mssackstein 
• Students blogging on Kidblog @thereadingzone
• Collaborative iBook with one class from every state & country in the world contributing @theipodteacher
• Showcase of Teaching and Learning for educators to share their best practices through photos and links - June 16, 2014 8:30 pm hosted by #nyedchat & #njed - All educators across globe are welcomed to participate for an active shared learning experience.
• #COLchat invites all to join them in Michigan on June 29, 2014 for @COLchat2Action with keynote @gcouros Smore

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As connected educators, we know that collaboration is important in education. "When educators are connected and collaborating, everyone wins!" (@rickrowe) On June 3, 2014, #NJNYCOL proved that "sharing with people from different backgrounds enriched the teaching tapestry." (@jeffreyderdad). As I walked away from the collaborative venture, I was on a new found high, as were many other educators. What better way to understand the magic of connectivity than this retweet: "I have a little fire lit under me now...PD at my fingertips...literally...thank you for tonight." @CarrieLueker1 

"The future is bright in our field as long as we are committed to collaboration." (@snydesn2) 
Collaboration Counts

(As evidenced by the First Tri-state chat, #NJNYCOL)

May our tri-state journey continue to fuel the collaborative spirit across state lines with the hopes of improving teaching and accelerating learning.