I recently attended the ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education) 2016 Conference in Denver. It  is the largest conference for technology using educators in the world. Over 14,000 people from 71 countries attended this year's conference.

While there, I had the pleasure of visiting with Peter Reynolds (@peterhreynolds) of Fablevision Learning (@FableLearn). Peter is the author and/or illustrator of many children's books including Ish, The Dot, The North Star, So Few of Me, I'm Here, and Judy Moody books. His books are inspirational, to say the least.

In recent years, Peter illustrated the phrase "Create Bravely", which is shown above. I was immediately drawn to that phrase. It spoke to me. For years I have been trying to put fun and joy back into the teaching culture. This phrase leads strongly in that direction. His Create Bravely posters are hanging in a number of classrooms in our district.

A few years ago, I was inspired by Rushton Hurley (@rushtonh) to "Innovate Wildly" and this website and project were born. I shared my story with Peter at the ISTE Conference. I told him how the "Create Bravely" phrase complemented "Innovate Wildly". He agreed. He then offered to illustrate "Innovate Wildly" for us. I was beyond thrilled to receive his illustration for use in our efforts.

Thank you, Peter, for joining our party.

Keep changing the world!

Dave Tchozewski
Founder of the JPS Innovate Wildly Movement

It was Sunday morning, a few months back, and our church pew was steadily shaking, vibrating almost. Was the shaking of the pew from a mild earthquake? A small stampede? The choir reaching unbelievably low notes? For the third, maybe fourth, time, my mom nudged me and asked me to please “just sit still.” I couldn’t. I physically could not sit without moving. I hadn’t 'checked out' mentally from the service. I wasn’t totally bored and unengaged to the point I needed to entertain myself. I just truly could not refrain from shaking my legs and bouncing my feet.

High amounts of movement have always been an absolute necessity for me. I did well all through school, but the students in front of me were constantly telling me to stop putting my feet on their desk’s basket and shaking them.I even rock back and forth in bed until I finally fall asleep. In college, we had the pleasure of sleeping on bunk beds…for 4 years. No one wanted me on their top bunk because they knew they would be falling asleep in an earthquake simulator. Movement is comfort to me. Movement is natural for me. Movement is who I am.

As I was reflecting on this over the summer, my desire to offer more movement for my students kept growing. I have always felt like the tables and chairs confined us as a class; like being in them created this distance that separated us from each other. I wanted to offer them the freedom to move, wiggle, bounce, shake, or stand, but at the same time bring us closer together as a class. 

My classroom is typically pretty high energy and it incorporates a lot of movement- but I still felt like I needed to offer students something more to better meet their sensory needs. When I got the green light from my principal, I was determined, and terrified, to take the next step in offering my students options for alternative seating.

I teach Spanish at two buildings, so I knew that to really implement and test it well, I could only incorporate alternative seating to its full extent in one building to start. Financially and physically, I wanted to do it well and did not want to stretch myself too thin, so I committed to transforming one of my classrooms with the hopes of transforming the second one in the future.

There have been some AMAZING successes, some “face palm” worthy fails, and a lot in between. Overall, I have watched students that used to struggle with behavior be able to self-monitor and handle the responsibility of freedom in their learning. It is not the magic method or perfect prescription to fix behavior problems, but it sure offers support in the class management department when so much less of my time can be spent asking students to sit correctly in their chairs. 

If you are interested in bringing different methods of seating to your room, here are some tips to get you started....

1. Ease into it - Add in a few items at a time. Stability balls, cushions, bean bags, raising desks so students can stand- these are all small things that can start to transform a classroom.
2. Teach- and reteach- and teach again the expectations. I made a video for behavioral expectations and students know these tools are a privilege. I am constantly refreshing the rules and reminding them of acceptable behavior vs non-acceptable behavior. (Excessive and distracting bouncing on balls, choosing to stand and blocking someone’s view, etc)
3. Embrace the new look- At any given time, my classroom looks like a zoo/messy basement. Kids bouncing softly on yoga balls, some flopped over on bean bags working on their stomachs, others standing and pacing in the back of the room and everything in between. I love control and letting go of the perfectly neat and organized classroom is tough at first. If students are on task and focused, I have learned to accept my new normal.
4. Develop a system and routine. I have students draw popsicle sticks with their seat assignment. I teach 6 sessions of 50 minutes per day, so when I greet them at the door, they draw a stick that says “Orange ball” or “Green bean bag”. Students have the option to either accept that seat assignment or say “no thank you” and grab a regular chair. There are students who prefer the traditional table and chair, and of course I always offer the traditional seating option to those students. Ideally, I would love a class set of stability balls, which seem to be the favorite of almost all kids. I am slowly working towards that point, but for now, I am unable to offer them to every student. Once I have enough for each kiddo, I will adjust my procedures and routines slightly to match my new inventory.

There have been ups and downs and all arounds (literally on the exercise balls) the past four weeks, but I feel so passionate about offering these opportunities to students. They are learning. They are engaged. They are feeling free. They are moving. 

I would LOVE to talk with you about offering different styles of seating in your classroom. I have many  fails you can learn from, some victories to take encouragement from, and tons of ideas and tips for how to make this a success in your classroom. I am by no means an expert, but have learned so much from simply going for it. Please feel free to email or call me with any questions you may have! 

Here's to getting your move on,

Jenna Wiley
Spanish Teacher ~ Elementary

Hi folks,

A while back, I shared a link to the International Dot Day webpage. This is a terrific way to gently innovate wildly. Over 1.4 million students worldwide will be doing "something" related to Dot Day. 

This project is the work of a friend of mine who teaches music in Minnesota, Terry (TJ) Shay. His passion is overwhelming when it comes to connecting with kids. Follow him on Twitter at @tjshay or check out his blog. This guys knows how to Innovate Wildly.

Here is a real quick way to innovate with students of all ages with Dot Day stuff.

1. Download the colAR Mix app onto your teacher iPad. This app is already on the student iPads.
   
2. Download and print a copy of the attached 1 page file.  Copy enough for each student.
   
3. Have your students color the page.
   
4. Launch the colAR Mix app and hold the camera of the iPad over the colored picture to see it come to life.
   
5. Use your teacher iPad and your Apple TV to project student work onto the big screen for everyone to see.
   

Want to innovate wildly? This is a guaranteed hit with your kids!

1. Cut out the circular center part and discard the circle you cut out. Keep the rest of the sheet.
   
2. Hold the sheet up to a students face so their face shows through the hole in the paper.
   
3. Use the colAR Mix app to view their face and watch it come to life.
   

As with any technology related lesson, test things out fully BEFORE you attempt this with students. Download the app, download and color the paper, run the app on YOUR colored dot.

Share your favorites with others via Twitter, Google+, Facebook, etc....  

Dot Day Official Website

Fablevision Learning (where you can buy the book, The Dot)

colAR Mix app download

colAR Mix website (with other free pages to download)

Celebridots (view Dots created by celebrities)


Keep changing the world!

Dave

Dave Tchozewski
Jenison Public Schools
Director of Information Technology

Hi friends,

I have been holding back on sharing with you a “project” that we are implementing in our school district this year. I held back because it wasn’t until today that we unveiled the “project” to our district wide staff. They got to hear about it first.

This “idea” is not a one-time event, not the next thing to come around. It is here to stay. It is to become part of our culture. It is designed to re-capture the joy in education.

Our “movement” is called Innovate Wildly! Our slogan, mission statement, catch-phrase, motto, call-it-what-you-want is "Unleash your passion for teaching and learning".

I am tired of seeing educators figuratively beaten up by so many. Far too many teachers and students have had their fires extinguished. No more. We can sit back and let it happen, or, we can do everything we can to make a difference. We can bring the passion back into our profession. Innovate Wildly! will help us do that.

Innovate Wildly! was inspired by Rushton Hurley (@rushtonh, nextvista.org), a well known educator, speaker, and cheerleader for kids. During his closing keynote at the 2014 MACUL Conference, Rushton shared a story where the Superintendent of the Singapore American Schools, Chip Kimball, challenged his teachers to Innovate Wildly. I heard that phrase and my wheels started spinning.

I met with our Curriculum Director, Kristy Rogalla (@KristyRogalla), and shared my thoughts that we should encourage our staff to do just that: Innovate Wildly! She agreed and our project had legs. 

The MACUL Conference at which we heard Rushton was an unusual one for our district in that we were able to send over 40 teachers and administrators. Kristy and I convened an informal meeting to capture the momentum of the conference and to push forward. During that meeting, we asked for volunteers to be part of a team do help us determine our next steps. Five teachers stepped forward: Kevin Groothuis (@MrGroothuis), Becky Steele (@beckysteele), Amy Hage (@amy_hage), Lori Barr (@LbarrBarr), and Kristin Terrigno (@KristinTerrigno).

At our first meeting with those teachers, I shared my "vision" about Innovate Wildly! I voiced my opinion that it is time to re-ignite the fire that inspired teachers to become teachers. To make a long story short, we are on our way. Our team has grown and we are ready to change our world.

On Tuesday, August 26, at our district school year kick-off, Innovate Wildly! was launched. Where it goes, we will have to wait and see. There is no manual for this. No recipe. We will build this as we grow.

To keep you in the loop, visit our newly created website where we intend to share our successes, failures, inspirations, and resources. Check it out here: innovatewildly.weebly.com  Follow us on twitter at #JPSiWild. 

Join us as we Innovate Wildly! and unleash your passion for teaching and learning.

Posted by Dave Tchozewski
Director of Information Technology
Jenison Public Schools
dave@jpsonline.org
@daveski61