Thank you for a great week, Pinnacle Leaders!

This has been an amazing week filled with learning new tools and training on strategies we can use in our classroom this year!  My challenge today was to come up with the "Top Ten List" of important takeaways form our week spent with great colleagues!  Here goes:

Here goes:
10. Eating at South Fork! Why didn't we go on Monday?! #skilletchickensandwich
9.  Having a great team to work with that covered all grades (Kindergarten, Middle school and High School). Help to see different perspectives! # allthreecanagree
8.  Nearpod activities for icebreakers! #nearpodwillnotbefar
7. Served the essential 4 food groups! #yaychocolate
6. We received stickers badges for accomplishments. #everyoneluvsstickers
5. Google Moments to help us use the products better! #thanksChrisG
4. Planning time with ITFs!#anothercreativeplandone
3. AppMazing Race! The first race I was able to complete without a sweat! #Runningtowin
2. Mine Craft. I learned to love a game I may not have a lot of time to use this year. # Streetfighter
1. People Machines! We created a toaster. If you were not there - you missed a "popping" great one! #toasted

In all this was a super week! We have been pushed to using our creativity and various tools to create amazing products! Only 3 more weeks and we are ready to go!

First Day Back!

It was so good to see all of my Pinnacle cohorts today!
We had a great time packed with learning, exploring and reflecting!
I learned more about how to use 4C's in my classroom and am so excited about implementing this into a math classroom.

Trying a little coding using google forms was "interesting", but I think I am up for it this school year. Have so many questions! We were broken into teams of 3's and have a kool APPmazing race to work on.....will touch bases with you all tomorrow!

Andragogy

So, I have heard of pedagogy, but today I learned about another "ogy" .... Andragogy. Can you say that three times?! Dr. Judy Moore came to our Pinnacle XIX training and taught us the importance of understanding teaching our students vs. teaching adults.  We all agreed often adult learners (especially in professional development) act like children, but that's another story.

We learned how teachers want the information straight up! Nothing cutesy or a song and dance.  No icebreakers are really needed.  We want to find out why we are here and how we can use the information to help make me a better instructor. She explained how important it was to know your audience and allow the adult learners to be more self directed.

We all learned something new to take back and share with our peers. Most of all, my next adult learning experience will be forever changed!

First post!

Your "first" are always important.  First day at school, first job, first kiss, and of course your first blog post! Today, begins my first post of many as I will use this blog to share my journey of implementing the Algebra 1 Common Core this school year (2013-2014).

I named this blog, Teach an older dog new tricks, because as a more seasoned (older) teacher, I am always seeking to find engaging lessons (tricks) for my students.  Students today (digital natives) learn and process information differently than I did when I was their age.  Sometimes teachers can get stuck in doing the same old things or pull out the same lessons that worked previous years.  I know in order to guide them in using 21st century skills, I must "learn new tricks".  I hope by sharing "new tricks" such as handouts, ways to use technology and resources, we will both find this blog as a tool find or create new ideas for the math classroom.