312 - Instructional Storytelling: Google ALL Experience

Google for Education is always at the forefront of innovation to best equip educators with their educational technology needs! But how do they get their new innovations in the minds of educators? Through a partnership with Forward Edge, the creation of the Google Adaptive Learning Lab allowed for fast paced, but interactive sessions for educators to learn new Google tools from our instructional coaches. The main event was at ISTE 22, but two coaches took the show on the road to tour the US to continue to show off these Google features in a new and exciting way! We’ll learn more from Angela Lyman and Jamie Clausius about this event and what to expect for the event at ISTE 23 in a few weeks! 

Podcast Team
Hosts- Katie  Ritter & Justin Thomas
Editing Team- Michael Roush, Justin Thomas 
Social Media/ Promo Team- Annamarie Rinehart, Lisa Kuhn, Maggie Harris
Creative/Content Team- Justin Thomas, Brooke Conklin
Producer- Justin Thomas

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Transcript

Brooke Conklin: 0:00

Calling all instructional coaches join Forward Edge coaches camp in summer 2023. Coaches camp is packed with high quality professional development exclusively for you. Attendees will work with like minded coaches on creating strategies for building teacher relationships, executing coaching cycles and building a culture of coaching and tech integration within their district. Come visit us in Cincinnati on July 27, and 28th, please visit forward hyphen edge dotnet slash coach camp to reserve your spot today.

Katie Ritter: 0:31

Aloha Bob, Katie Ritter

Justin Thomas: 0:33

and I'm Justin Thomas. And this is the restart recharge podcast, a podcast by coaches for coaches, tips and tricks to help you in your everyday work as an instructional coach, or whether they go your school.

Katie Ritter: 0:43

So hopefully you're gonna leave this episode with us today feeling a little bit less? Oh,

Justin Thomas: 0:48

that's right, and we are into the summer months, it's finally come it seems like I'm sure as a coach in your new school that never seems like it's gonna happen.

Katie Ritter: 0:56

But maybe you're on a real Island.

Justin Thomas: 0:57

Maybe you're on a real deal. And right now, that'd be nice. You should phone us in and tell us where you're at. But as you know, over the summer, there's also a lot of conferences that come up and goofy education is always in the forefront of innovation to best equip educators with their instructional and educational technology needs. But how do they get the new innovations in the minds of educators, they have all this cool stuff that comes out, but they're not really sure how to get it out there sometimes. So through a partnership with Forward Edge, the creation of the Google Adaptive Learning Lab allowed for a fast paced but interactive sessions for educators to learn new Google tools from our instructional coaches. So the main event was at St. 22. Last year, but two coaches have took the show on the road here and toured the United States to continue this show off of Google features in a new and exciting way. So we're going to learn more from Angela alignment and Jamie Clausius, about these events that they have done and traveled across the country and what to expect coming on the rise and as st will st 23 In a couple of weeks. We're going to be there again performing this so let us first introduce Angela Lyman Angela is the learning programs coordinator at Forward Edge. Her classroom experience has taken her from the outback of Australia to the heart of London and England and most recently to teaching K through six technology in Cincinnati. So follow that journey. That's quite the journey Angela's got on here. Angela's passion for technology kicked off as she attended a coding course back in 2012. She has immersed herself in learning about technology ever sent. So welcome in Angela.

Angela Lyman: 2:26

Thank you, Jake. Justin, pleasure to be here. Welcome.

Katie Ritter: 2:29

And I have the pleasure of introducing Jamie classiest. And might I just say before I introduced Jamie. It is allergy season here in the Midwest. So if I make it through this podcast without sneezing or having some sort

Justin Thomas: 2:41

of the same break down,

Katie Ritter: 2:43

it will be a miracle. Okay, Jamie is an instructional design coach here at Forward Edge. And she has also assisted in the traveling roadshow for Google's adaptive learning lab that we're talking about here today. Prior to coaching, Jamie was a seventh through 12th grade science teacher with 10 years of classroom and the leadership experience. She enjoys working with teachers, students and administrators to contribute their passion for teaching, learning and supporting education. And in her free time Jamie enjoys traveling, hiking, boating, and spending time with family and friends. So Jamie, we are super excited to have you on the podcast with us here today to

Jamie Clausius: 3:17

hit our guys. Thanks for having me. Yeah, to kick us off, because

Katie Ritter: 3:21

we actually started this journey prior to both Angela and Jamie joining the team with ISTE. Last year, As Justin mentioned in the introduction, so kind of just a super quick background. We are Forward Edge. We are a Google professional development partner. So we do a lot of different events like with our local school districts, and different opportunities to teach educators how to really embrace the suite of Google for Education Tools for teaching and learning. And we're pretty passionate about it. And so through that work that we do is a PD partner, we were actually chosen to develop the content and the experience for se last year. So it was a whirlwind. It was really exciting. We learned so much. Yeah, through is a team Justin here in our office. Maybe we should send a tweet out with this episode. But we actually Justin took down one of the design elements if you were there at ISTE. Last year, it was a little trophy that was hanging in the in the room at sea and it's actually hanging in our office now. So that was kind of a fun, triumphant moment for Justin to bring the trophy back home for us. But really kind of the Why make a podcast episode out of this that I'm hoping our listeners will gain and something that I thought was just really cool as we went through the experience and how I think it's awesome that it has expanded for now the two of you to take this on a road show across the country is I just think it's a really cool spin on professional development and I'm not going to like steal the thunder because I know the two of you are going to talk about thought a little bit. But for me, I think it's a really cool way, especially for our technology coaches, but regardless of what type of coach you are, whether you're introducing a new curriculum program, or an instructional strategy or a new tool, I just think it's a really cool way and how it is, it tells us story, this is, uh, this is PD, that tells a story within the context of, you know, everything we're talking about is like a 40 minute session of content here. So it might, it might sound as they talk, like it was a full day event, but it's not. It's like little chunks of sessions. So I just think it's a cool like unique and different way to think about putting PD on for your teachers. So with that, ladies, I'll turn it over to you to give us for those folks who maybe weren't at ISTE last year, or they haven't been at one of the conferences throughout this school year that you've all been asked to present the Adaptive Learning Lab. Give us an overview, what is it what that what the heck is this adaptive learning lab?

Jamie Clausius: 6:02

Yeah, so it was pretty much just like a really immersive hands on experience. For anybody who chooses to come to one of our sessions, they all get to use a professional Chromebook, which is really great, they get to see the great features that come along with that. And then we really just take all of our participants kind of along the journey with us, kind of through like the typical Teacher Day, we start out with lesson planning, and use some different tools through Google and show how teachers can use those. And then we take it into Lesson implementation, how you can actually implement all of these different tools in your class with your students to really impact learning. And then we wrap it up with some feedback, how you can really give some good constructive feedback to your students, and kind of bring families along into that, to really make sure students are, you know, doing the best that they can in their class.

Katie Ritter: 6:53

Awesome. Angela, you give us an example of one of the tools or activities that are done.

Angela Lyman: 6:59

Sure. So one of the great tools that we love to introduce and have the participants create and work on themselves is the practice sets. So in the beginning, they get to see it from the teachers perspective, how to create one, then in the second middle section, they get to see it from the students perspective. And then, as Jamie mentioned, they get to see the feedback side of things as to how to help them guide for their next steps for lesson planning and teaching their classes. Yeah, and

Katie Ritter: 7:28

I'm going to ask a little bit of a leading question here, but is, do you when you are doing practice sets? Do you say, Okay, now we're going to do practice sets, and you teach practice sets, or talk a little bit more about how that's kind of woven in again, with this idea of like the story

Jamie Clausius: 7:45

again, so yeah, we definitely start out with practice sets, from the teachers perspective, how you can actually build a practice set all of the elements that come along with it. So that's through the lesson planning portion. And then we kind of come back and circle back around to practice sets, so that the

Katie Ritter: 8:00

participants capture having done some other things around lesson plans. Right, exactly

Jamie Clausius: 8:04

right. Our whole first portion of the session really is all around lesson planning and different tools that teachers can use to lesson plan for their students. Once we wrap up lesson planning, we move on to the implementation piece, how you can actually use this with your students in your class. So those participants actually are able to see that same practice it from the students perspective, they can see how students work through the practice set all of the great features that come along with it, to really see what students are going to experience as they work through a practice set. And then that's so again, that's all within that implementation piece. And they're actually taking the practice they are they're taking the practice set, they're answering questions, they're seeing the feedback that comes along with it. A lot of initial or excuse me immediate feedback that students get while they're taking that practice it. And then we kind of wrap it up at the end of our session is all about feedback. So with that practice, it comes the teachers insights dashboard, which is a really great way for teachers to not only collect a student's excuse me data on their students learning, but it also helps the teachers actually kind of analyze that data and really use it to inform their instruction moving forward.

Katie Ritter: 9:16

Yeah. Awesome. Thank you.

Justin Thomas: 9:18

That's important to click students, too. I mean, you want to make sure your students so awesome. Well, obviously, I mean, it's a very interactive session that both of you have, and that you ever see yourself in a position like this, where you were traveling around and really showing off some amazing new features that are on the horizon for Google for Education, but did you see yourself in position like this down the road? Or you know, maybe not necessarily like that's what I want to do when I grow up, but how did this kind of change come and kind of what have been some aspects you've enjoyed about it?

Angela Lyman: 9:52

Well, firstly, no. Short answer, yes. There's safety and being in a room with children, right? You can say Get what you want. And you there's a safety with them. But so it was a little daunting to think, oh gosh, now I'm speaking to a roomful of adults. And there's a lot of them, and they all have expertise of their own. But actually, I found that I really quite love it. I mean, it's fun. I love the things that we're showing them, and you get lots of WoW factors. And you can see how engaged the participants are. And it's just fun to meet people from all around the country. So yes, I'm enjoying it, but it wasn't what I was expecting.

Justin Thomas: 10:32

Sure. And obviously, it's a situation where I mean, you both mentioned it, but you're not just think, Alright, here's practice sets, you're actually showing teachers, this is it from the teacher side, this is how you can use it, then you show it from the student side, so you can see what they're getting from it. So how do you kind of move that to what our listeners are trying to figure out here with as instructional coaches? What are some nuggets that you've learned from presenting multiple places? how to best kind of use for our listeners in terms of what they're gonna actually do and take away from this episode? And how do I present all these cool tools, Ben away actually is meaningful to the adult educators that are of different expertise in the room?

Jamie Clausius: 11:10

Yeah, I think a couple of different things. It's really important, instead of just taking one tool and presenting it from maybe top to bottom, really taking it through that story, like we've been talking about seeing it from all different perspectives, so that everybody within this session can really relate to it, and take it home with them. And they have something Oh, I can actually use this in my classroom. I know how my students are going to perceive it when they're going through it as well. Yeah, so I think just using it and more of a storyline, rather than this is the tool. This is how it works, and kind of going from there.

Angela Lyman: 11:42

And I think people connect along the way with the study story, you know, people are getting get oh, oh, I hadn't thought of it from that perspective. And there's obviously other tools along the way. Oh, that one would be work for this situation. I think you can see them thinking through that as well. And then just as a former technology teacher, the other takeaway would be just, it's okay. Things can work and things can be a little bit glitchy. But eventually it all rolls together and comes comes forward. So it's good. Yes, yes.

Katie Ritter: 12:09

Okay, well, we are going to take a quick break from our sponsors. But we will be back in just a quick minute.

Justin Thomas: 12:17

Calling on instructional technology coaches Forward Edge has launched a new hub for coaches to find strategies and resources to use for their coaching the ED EDU Coach Network provides a place for instructional coaches to come together for Coach specific professional development, building a community and finding mentorship moving through the school year, the network provides a place to casually seek resources or join in with book clubs, Twitter, chats, webinars and workshops. Along with much more, join the EDU Coach Network by going to Ed edu Coach network.com and join the coach community today. As your badges the anytime anywhere badging program to learn edtech tools and strategies is now open for individuals to sign up. Whether you're an instructional coach looking for new ideas to share or teacher wanting to implement more technology in your classroom. Edu badges is the answer. Individuals can now sign up for both the free or premium account by visiting edu badges.com. And as a listener of the podcast, you can get $20 off your premium account by using promo code podcast. So visit Edu badges.com and begin earning your badgers

Katie Ritter: 13:20

All right, welcome back to the restart recharge podcast, you have your co host, Justin Thomas and Katie Ritter here. And we are speaking with Angela Lyman and Jamie glossiest about the Google for Education adaptive learning lab that was first introduced at ISTE. In 2022. We're gonna be getting into in just a second, maybe a little bit of what that might look like in 2023. But these ladies have been traveling around the country putting this on and kind of looking at how it's a unique take that our coaches might be able to walk away with to think about their own PD, to maybe spice things up a little bit. So with that, let's take a little nod. And see Angela, I'll ask you because I know you've been already early involved in some of the planning what, if anything, can we expect about this sort of experience at SC 2023 in Philadelphia in a couple of weeks? Oh,

Angela Lyman: 14:18

well, thank you, Katie. I can't give away too many details. But it will be another hands on learning experience where people get to engage with devices and the new tools or features. And everyone will get to participate with their professional Chromebook like they have before. And then we'll be doing some sessions. So you'll have to look for the name. So Google for Education, and it's going to be called made for the way you teach sessions. And I believe you can register for those sessions on through the SD site. And they are running every 30 minutes while we're there. So yeah,

Katie Ritter: 14:57

and that was something that I think folks didn't realize last time So if you're a listener, and you're going to see or your listener and you know, some colleagues is going to St, you do have to pre register for this event. So as Angela just said, it runs every 30 minutes pretty much for the duration of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, when the conference hours are open, you do have to pre register. So Google Events fill up quickly. So be sure to get in there and pre register for yourself. Yeah, so

Jamie Clausius: 15:25

if you are currently working with Google for Education tools, or if you're just wanting to learn a little bit more about about them, you're brand new, please come join the sessions, make sure you pre register, there's going to be something for everybody, everybody is going to be able to learn a little bit, or maybe we're going to come and learn a lot. We just hope you, you come and enjoy. Yeah,

Katie Ritter: 15:43

and I would build on that too. In the like, context of kind of the theme of this episode, I think it even if you're just looking, you know, maybe you're not even using Google tools in your school, but you want to understand what the heck do we mean by this story and how things are woven together? It may may or may not be exactly like it was last year, but I think you'll still get an idea of, you know, in the context of how do different tools work together? And how might you weave those in together for your teacher, so even if you're just looking for some ideas, if you lead and deliver professional development, I think you can get some good ideas too.

Justin Thomas: 16:20

Absolutely. Especially because it is very much immersive very much weaving, as you mentioned, the two, it's not just Alright, here's here's a new tool, it's actually going to show you very tangible ways that you can use it. And then as a teacher, and what it looks like on the students side. So it's going to be a nice rope. And as you mentioned to me, if you're just looking for new ideas for your own PD, you can kind of see how this all plays out. And then take some notes and take that back to your school district there as well. So obviously, we like to finish our episodes on our top three tips.

Katie Ritter: 16:50

I feel like it hasn't landed on you in a while. So you really just like when

Justin Thomas: 16:53

I did go for it. It's been it's been a minute, it has been a minute, but that's okay. So it's back to me how to really put the enunciation there. But for both of you, what are your top three tips for kind of presenting in this way that instructional coaches can then take back and how they can deliver their own PD,

Jamie Clausius: 17:14

I think some of my top tips would just be to be flexible, you know, every conference we go to is different, it looks different. There's different people there, the session run sessions run a little bit differently. So just being really flexible, Angela and I have gotten really great at that throughout the last couple of months of traveling together. So staying flexible is key. I think another one of my great tips would just be to find somebody. Well, to be honest, we got paired up together. And it has been pretty great. Having being able to work with somebody who can really count on I know if you know I'm struggling with something Angela's right there to pick me up and move me forward. And she just somebody that I can really count on. So we really have each other's backs. While we're traveling while we're presenting, you know, the entire time that we're away at the conference. So I really appreciate Angela for that.

Angela Lyman: 18:05

And my tips are so a little bit building on the flexibility also being contextual, because as Jamie mentioned, we are at a different venue and every layout is different. It's not the same. And so you just roll with it in the context of it, and then right back atcha Jamie, I couldn't do this without you. She has been a great team player, team partner, we just I just know she's there for me if I need help with something. So it's very much a team team effort from start to finish. And then my last thought is pack snacks. Because sometimes those days are long.

Jamie Clausius: 18:38

Our sessions can go back to back sometimes and you know, Angela, she's always got those snacks. She's got us covered. Yeah, so

Katie Ritter: 18:44

whether you're doing a traveling roadshow or you're traveling to conferences this summer. Those are some great tips. I know I was I learned a tip years ago to kind of snow those tuna kits. I feel like this is so disgusting. I know. They're like they're like little packets, tuna and they come with little crackers and like mayo and relish a little spoon you like mix it up and then you have like your little tuna salad crackers. And it's just in this little quick snack. Yeah, but it's good because it's a little protein in it like you can pack it on a plane you can pack it in your travel like if you're checking a carry on they'll pack in a carry on. So anyway, that's my tip to like Tip three a building off of tuna kids are where it's at for conference snack right

Jamie Clausius: 19:35

and we got some trips coming up. Grocery store pick us up some tuna

Katie Ritter: 19:41

you do have to like tonight. Chicken Salad one so

Jamie Clausius: 19:46

I can get down with that.

Justin Thomas: 19:48

I'm out. Obviously, both of you have some expertise on this matter, but it's been really interesting talking to you. I know you guys always go to these different places and Have a great a great time it seems like and you presented in were some of the places you present Utah, Washington DC over there recently Texas or else Washington State. Can't get those two mixed up.

Jamie Clausius: 20:12

We were in Louisville, Kentucky. You were out in California, Palm Springs,

Angela Lyman: 20:17

California, Macomb and Michigan.

Unknown: 20:20

Okay. Do you see EA? EA? Yeah, yeah. And then slate and nice skate. Oh, that's right. Me. And

Jamie Clausius: 20:27

that seems like so long ago. That was back in November and December. You

Katie Ritter: 20:30

know, I'm looking. I'm like, looking at you too. I'm like, I don't even remember. What was it?

Angela Lyman: 20:36

Um, so nice guy is my accent. So you said,

Justin Thomas: 20:41

okay. Yeah, I know. We're New York is

Angela Lyman: 20:46

is in Wisconsin. Okay.

Katie Ritter: 20:47

Which one from a conference perspective. I know, obviously, you two are presenting. But we know like, our listeners are always looking for new conferences to go to good ideas. I feel like when you're at a conference, even if you're not, even if you're kind of stuck in your room, you're sorry, you you were presenting. So you weren't out attending is what I meant to say. But I still feel like you can like get a vibe, right? And like from the attendees, and like who's most excited and who's talking about the cool things they've seen and like the hustle and bustle. So what is maybe the like one, this conference seemed like a really great conference that you would recommend that people check out if they're in the region.

Jamie Clausius: 21:25

I would say I mean, we didn't list it, but oetc was pretty great in Columbus. I would also say T CEA in Texas was really, that was great, too. I seemed like a lot of the participants and people attending were really jazzed on a lot of the sessions that they got to attend.

Justin Thomas: 21:44

Yeah. Oddly enough, it was a warmer in Columbus and it wasn't San Antonio.

Katie Ritter: 21:50

So as a throwback, we did a recap on TCE from a session. So yeah, we did. Yeah. Angela, what

Angela Lyman: 21:57

do you think? Well, out in Palm Springs is definitely a great vibe out there. And that was cool, was actually

Justin Thomas: 22:03

cute. California weather

Angela Lyman: 22:06

as well. And then just yeah, just so sort of like new and interesting. Things are sort of like a bit of a buzz. So that was kind of fun. And then also nice skate. It was cool, because they had their weather challenge that weekend. But and so many teachers came together. And just so that was kind of fun, just to see. And apparently they get together. It's always the same weekend right before Thanksgiving. And so that was nice just to see and hear what they're all up to. And they were very engaged and interested. So

Justin Thomas: 22:32

nice. Awesome. Well, cool. Well, that actually is going to wrap up our episodes until we're going to go into our summer break. But then we're going to come back in kind of the middle of August. And once we come back, we're actually gonna kick off with a really good second half of the season for season three here. We're gonna have Ron Madison, he's going to have a conversation with Yeah, talking about how he motivates educators to find the best versions of themselves and continue their growing in teaching and impacting students. So that should be a really good one to kick off the second half of season three, come mid ish,

Katie Ritter: 23:06

August. Okay, that's awesome. And this isn't goodbye, this is hopefully see you at ISTE if you are listening and you will be a seat please definitely come say hello to our team. We will be in the main for the way you teach space you know with for with Google. We also have a couple of coaches who will be presenting in some different places. And then we will also have be with edgy badges on the vendor Hall. So see us there too. Yeah. And with that, be sure to subscribe to restart recharge wherever you listen to podcast, and follow us on all the social media at our our coach cast,

Justin Thomas: 23:41

as always, feel free to reach out to us and yeah, if you're gonna be at ISTE and it's up on the social media and let us know and let me know where to get a good Philly cheesesteak because we're gonna be in Philadelphia.

Katie Ritter: 23:52

Oh my gosh. Sorry.

Justin Thomas: 24:01

No, yeah, no, I think everyone's interested now.

Unknown: 24:04

I don't want to offend any native Philly,

Justin Thomas: 24:07

Philadelphia. That's probably a good idea tonight. Okay, all right. So all fair. Well, we'll have a conversation about

Katie Ritter: 24:13

All's fair in love and Cheesesteak. So press the restart button,

Justin Thomas: 24:16

recharges your coaching batteries and leaping, equip and inspire to coach fearlessly with the restart recharge podcast, a tech coach collective. I help sounds like something my cat eats. I'm sorry. That was me. I think you should have gone with your peanut butter snacks though. You

Katie Ritter: 24:36

know what? All right, but you're feeding them to the cat or you're packing them

Justin Thomas: 24:49

I apologize. That was mean to me. i

Katie Ritter: 24:51

I'm sorry. It doesn't you don't have a mean bone in your body. That when I felt like it was borderline I probably hit

Justin Thomas: 24:56

right there. So if you take a good job, okay, good. Good. I mean myself. I don't touch you. That's see that's rude and disrespectful you can ask it feel thrown off if you don't fit okay? Are we recording? We are

Unknown: 25:23

okay