Hello EDU Friends! I hope you are surviving this crazy world that we are living in right now. Whether you are in distance learning, hybrid, or fully back in the classroom, I hope you and yours are safe, healthy, and happy.

Today, I will be sharing a simple, easy, and interactive presentation that can be given during professional development. The district in which I work is huge with the 4 C’s which, eventually, morphed into a personal passion through my Google Innovator project. I truly believe the 4 C’s in an excellent way to evaluate the depth of teacher lessons and improve these lessons for the future.

Recently, I delivered some PD to our new teachers breaking down the 4 C’s into a simple, short presentation. The 4 C’s can be a really deep and complex concept, so I tried to break it down to its simplest form, while also providing more depth for the future. In this presentation, you will find that it is broken into three parts:

1. What are the 4 C’s?
   • In this section, teachers are introduced to the lowest level and highest level of the 4 C’s, as well as provided rubrics for breaking down each C.
2. How Can I Assess the 4 C’s in my Lessons?
   • In this section, teachers are challenged to evaluate the current depth of 4 C’s in their own lessons and find next steps for improving their lessons.
3. Resources for Lesson Design
   • In the last section, teachers are provided links to lesson design ideas, websites, and resources.

Below, you will find a preview of the presentation, the view access, and a link to make your own copy:

(View) (Make Your Own Copy!)

I hope you find this presentation beneficial and feel free to drop any comments, ideas, or suggestions below!

After a couple of years of talking about this launch…I am excited to release BoostEDU’s 4 C’s Self-Assessment! In this self-assessment, educators can assess the depth of 4 C’s in their lessons and find strategies, lesson ideas and technology tools to help them “boost” their future lessons. After the self-assessment is complete, educators will receive an email contain their detailed report and next steps.

Interested in trying it out? Click on the link below!

Need more details? Watch this video for an overview of the 4 C’s self-assessment:

Finally, I am still looking for some feedback on this self-assessment. If you have gone through the self-assessment and are willing to provide feedback, please go to this survey: bit.ly/4cFeedback

Did you try the 4 C’s Self-Assessment? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

It’s been over a year since I started my Google Innovator journey and it is amazing to see the progress of my project, BoostEDU. While I feel like I have been able to accomplish so much, I am still so far from achieving all of the goals and dreams that I have for this program.

A couple of months ago, I launched the “SAMR Database” – a database that contains lessons, activities and project ideas for implementing technology in the classroom. As I launched this database, I realized that keeping it as a “SAMR” database was very limiting. It did not allow a lot of room for growth of the database nor should SAMR be the only method in which we evaluate our lessons. I started thinking about how I could create a database that included SAMR, the 4 C’s, ISTE standards and potentially other methods for evaluating our instructional practices. In addition to this, I also realized that I wanted to create a database that had cross-curricular and subject-specific resources.

That being said, I am excited to announce and launch the BoostEDU: Instructional Resource Database!

While the SAMR database still exists on the BoostEDU website, it will be slowly phased out in the next few weeks. Instead, it has been replaced by a larger and more comprehensive database. In this database, users will lessons, activities, and projects that they can sort by:

• Content Area
• Grade Level
• SAMR
• 4 C’s
• ISTE Standards
• Tech Tools
• Educator

Interested in seeing it in action? Click HERE and watch the video below!

Would you like to add some ideas to the Instructional Resource Database? Click HERE to submit and you may be featured on our Facebook and Twitter pages!

Today I am excited to share some big updates to BoostEDU!

If you are unfamiliar with this resource, BoostEDU is a program that supports teachers in transforming their traditional lessons into 21st-century lessons through an inquiry-based self-assessment and guided lesson design process. The purpose of this program is simple – help teachers “boost” their lessons through a personalized approach.

Over the last month, I have been working on several updates that I hope will be exciting to current and future users of this program. Check them out below!

1.) SAMR Database

Recently, I wrote a blog post on the SAMR database that replaced existing Google Docs with an easy-to-use database of resources. In this database, educators can search for ways to reach deeper levels of SAMR for note-taking, writing, assessments, presentations, reading, and research. After selecting specific categories, features and tech tools, the SAMR database will offer instructional strategies for teachers to try in their classroom.

Here’s an example of the database:

Click HERE to check it out!

2.) Self-Assessment Form Updated

One of my favorite parts of BoostEDU is the SAMR self-assessment form. (Keep an eye out for the 4 C’s self-assessment later this year!) I am excited to share that there have been significant updates to this self-assessment form, particularly when it comes to the instructional strategies and tech tools.

If you haven’t used the self-assessment form, the goal is for teachers to assess the depth of SAMR in their classroom based on specific instructional strategies. Teachers will receive their results and be given suggestions and tech tools to try out in their classroom. Over the last month, I have added over a dozen new suggestions, instructional strategies, and tech tools to the self-assessment.

Ready to test it out? Click HERE!

3.) Free Workshop Resources

Finally, I am so excited to share a workshop/training resource with you! I have had several educators and districts ask for a resource to train their teachers, so here it is!

If you are interested in sharing BoostEDU at your site or district, feel free to use this presentation!

Have you used BoostEDU for yourself and/or with your site/district? I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!

It’s been a little over a month since I shared any updates on BoostEDU. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it’s not that I wasn’t working on anything for BoostEDU – it’s just that I wanted to truly finish something that I am really excited to share. It’s the completely neurotic, OCD part of me! While I have quite a few more updates coming, I am super excited to share today’s update with you!

As a quick reminder, BoostEDU is a program that supports teachers in transforming their traditional lessons into 21st-century lessons through an inquiry-based self-assessment and lesson design process. If you’re curious about the four parts of the BoostEDU program, watch THIS video.

What’s Changed?

While I am excited about the progress I have made for BoostEDU, there is one part of the program that just hasn’t felt very clear or organized to me. I designed a “resource” page for educators to use to find lesson ideas specifically aligned to the SAMR model. See what it looked like before by clicking on the image:

It’s not terrible but it’s definitely not clean or easy to navigate. All of the resources are in different Google Docs – which is great. However, it’s kind of messy and all over the place. I think it takes away from all of the (hopefully) great resources and lesson ideas that are within those documents.

So, with the inspiration from my good friend Dee Lanier (founder of SmashboardEDU), I decided to create an Awesome Table to organize all of these resources into one, simple table that is easy to navigate via filters. Check it out by clicking on the image below:

Much better, right? I have to admit – it took wayyyy more time than I anticipated to build this awesome table. However, I think that this is a much better resource and solved one of my biggest problems. Many educators have been asking if I could add links to the tech tools on the self-assessment form. While Google Forms does not allow me to do that, I was able to add links within this resource.

How Does This Support Educators?

This resource will support educators by:

• Helping them lesson ideas for a variety of instructional strategies, such as assessments, note-taking, reading, writing, research, and presentations.
• Allowing them to sort by SAMR depth, tech tool, and instructional type.
• Helping them to reach deeper levels of SAMR.

As always, this resource is just recently released and I would love some feedback. Share your thoughts about the SAMR Database in the comments below!

I am excited to announce that the BoostEDU community is growing! 

BoostEDU is now on Facebook and Twitter and is a community where teachers can receive updates on resources and support from teachers all around the world.  Interested in joining this community?  Click on the links below!

In these communities, feel free to share resources to support teachers and post your own lessons for community feedback.  In addition to this, each week I will be posting a question and/or poll to spur conversation and bring more resources to our community.  This week’s question:

I look forward to seeing this community develop and the conversation grow!

Earlier this month, I publicly released my Google Innovator Project: BoostEDU.  BoostEDU is a program that supports teachers in transforming their traditional lessons through an inquiry-based self-assessment and guided lesson design process.  (Interested in learning more?  Watch this video.)  It’s been a lot of work but it has been very exciting to hear feedback from teachers that have started using these tools to support their lesson design.

In this blog post, I wanted to spend some time talking about the two self-assessments that are currently available on BoostEDU: the Basic and In-Depth SAMR Self-Assessments.  In the future, I plan on expanding the self-assessments to include 4 C’s, ISTE Standards, and TPACK but SAMR was an excellent starting point for this project.  Here is some information on the two self-assessments:

The Basic SAMR Self-Assessment

The Basic SAMR Self-Assessment is a short self-assessment that provides educators with the depth of SAMR within their overall classroom.  Here are some key features:

• Short self-assessment that includes 7 questions.
• Focuses on the classroom as a whole, rather than a specific lesson.
• Results are immediately delivered within the screen.

The In-Depth SAMR Self-Assessment

The In-Depth SAMR Self-Assessment is used to analyze the depth of SAMR in specific areas of a lesson.  Here are some key features:

• Focuses on a specific lesson, activity, or project.
• Results are immediately delivered to the user’s email in an editable Google Doc.
• Offers suggestions, tech tools, and next steps for lesson planning.

Are you interested in seeing these self-assessments in action?  Watch the video below!

Ready to try it out for yourself?  Go to www.boostedu.org to start!

Have you used the BoostEDU Self-Assessments?  If so, I would love to hear your thoughts below!

I’ve had a few people recently ask me how BoostEDU is developing and when it will be released.  The official release date for BoostEDU is January 8, 2018 – yes, just 24 days away!  Although I had planned for an earlier release, I realized that there were some parts of my project that I wanted to finalize before I release it to the public.  Mostly, I think the A-type, neurotic part of me started getting a little paranoid that it wasn’t ready or that it wouldn’t be good enough to release to the public.  (Transparency – remember, it’s my favorite word.)

After a lot of feedback and encouragement from my beta testers, I realized that it is time to take the jump and release BoostEDU.  It’s still going to be in beta and it is still developing but…isn’t that everything in life?  Aren’t we always constantly developing, revamping, and tweaking things that we have created, released, and shared?

Anyways, I wanted to share a “sneak peek” at BoostEDU.  In the video below, you will get a sneak peek at the BoostEDU website and all of the resources that will be provided on the day of release.  I tried to make the video as short as possible but there was so much to share!

I would love to hear your feedback and if this is something that would benefit your teachers, so please share your thoughts in the comments below!

If you would like to learn more about BoostEDU, please visit the “Adventures in Innovation” series on my blog!

BoostEDU will be released on January 8, 2018 at www.boostedu.org.

BoostEDU is coming soon!

It’s hard to believe that my last post on BoostEDU, my Google Innovator project, was nearly 3 months ago.  It’s not that I haven’t been working on it.  In fact, I have actually been working on this project on a (nearly) daily basis since my last post.  I’m excited about where this project is going and I truly hope that it will be a resource that will support teachers in transforming their current lessons into 21st-century lessons.

If you are trying to refresh your mind on my project, I have created a “teaser trailer” for the program that will highlight the key features that will be released:

www.boostedu.org

So, you might be asking, “What have you been working on over the last few months?”  Well, I’ve been working on the final stages of the first iteration of this project.  That’s right – the first iteration.  This project is big.  Seriously – it’s a big, technical project that has required me to do a lot of research on education, but also on form logic and website development.  The product that will be released next month will be beneficial to teachers but it will also be something that is continuing to evolve.

So, here is what I have been up to…!

What I’ve Done

During the last few months, I have:

• Finished developing the SAMR self-assessment form.
• (Nearly) finished developing the lesson design formats.
• Created a crowd sharing option for the program.
• Created a launch page and a “teaser trailer” to engage educators in the release.
• Developed a website.
• Recruited educators to beta test my project.
• Researched creative commons, copyright, and trademarks.

Although I feel like I am missing a few things, I think that this pretty much sums up the many tasks that I have pushed myself to complete over the last few months.  It was a bigger undertaking than I imagined but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Upcoming Goals

In the next month, I will:

• Finish lesson design formats.
• Revise and edit program based on beta tester feedback.
• Develop a workshop model for BoostEDU.
• Release BoostEDU to the public.

I’ll admit, I am very nervous about releasing this project.  Excited but nervous.  I’ve spent a lot of time on this project and I hope that it is a resource that will benefit teachers in transforming their lessons.  However, there is something quite nerve-wracking in releasing a project that is so personal and important to you…to the real world.   Yet, this is one of those true “out of your comfort zone” moments that I have to face because only great things can come from taking great risks.

If you are interested in subscribing for updates on BoostEDU, please visit www.boostedu.org or subscribe below.

BoostEDU will be released on November 27, 2017.