Going WAY Outside My Comfort Zone (Or Genius Hour Success!)

Today I took a giant step outside of my comfort zone by presenting at the Hamline Summer Literacy Institute.  This is a professional development opportunity for teachers which is strongly attended by educators from Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.  I volunteered to present several months ago.  What motivated me to present was my new knowledge and experience in the area of Blended Learning.  I felt I could help fellow teachers by sharing what I have learned and used since starting my pursuit for the Innovative Leadership Certificate program.

I was asked to arrive 30 minutes early to prepare for my presentation.  I was a bundle of nerves which made me think I needed more than 30 minutes to get set up and prepare myself mentally for my presentation.  (I arrived almost 3 hours early.)  I was glad I did arrive early as I experienced technical difficulties with the internet which resulted in the need for help from the Hamline IT department.  About 15 minutes before I began the coordinator stopped in to make sure I had everything I needed.  She then told me not to be concerned if only 1 or 2 attended as I was scheduled the same time as one of their keynote speakers.  I was concerned (and secretly hoped) nobody would attend.  Much to my surprise I had an audience attendance of 15 teachers.  With the information I was given, I was thrilled to have this many people attend.  The majority of my presentation was loaded on Google Classroom.  I had lesson samples, videos and announcements posted.  This was a refreshing change from the usual power point.  My presentation went very smoothly and the audience seemed interested in what I had to share.  Pacing was challenging and because I was nervous and talking fast I still had 15 minutes left.  For a moment this worried me but I was then able to open this up to a round table discussion.  One teacher in attendance had experience with using Blended Learning in her classroom.  She discussed how it did not work well for her.  She said that is wasn't because of the platform but the curriculum her school used was not very good.  My audience seemed the most interested in the different apps that I used and as I demonstrated how they worked I noticed several of them were feverishly writing notes as I talked.  Another teacher had used Schoology in the past and we talked about the differences between Google Classroom and Schoology.

Before I gave my presentation I had researched countless numbers of Ted Talks, websites and other sources of information to help me deliver a smooth presentation.  Many sources suggested that I know my audience and be prepared to give them the information they were seeking.  This was very difficult as I had no idea who the audience was (besides being teachers) and what they may want to know.  I had to anticipate what that may be.  Another source stated to, "stay in the lead".  I was able to do that until it came to the point where my presentation was complete and I had remaining time.  But rather than putting the audience in the lead it became more of a collaboration of experiences.  Another source suggested to remain confident.  Much to my surprise, I was able to do that.  I became more relaxed within minutes of beginning my presentation.

One of the main points I wanted to get across to teachers is that Blended Learning allows teachers to differentiate and meet the needs of many students at one time.  There is much research and scholarly articles focusing on this.  One source tells us that Blended Learning allows educators to "meet the students where they are at." (Edutopia, 2012).  I agree with that as I have been able to create various assignments to meet objectives students still need to master.  This agrees with the findings in the article from Exceptiona+1 titled Differentiating Instruction with Technology which states, "The ability to differentiate instruction to target all learning styles is enhanced in an effective blended class as a conscious effort has been paid to identifying learning styles and meeting the needs of the learner."

As attendees arrived I asked them to sign in and provide their email address.  I plan to send out a survey to gain information on what I need to do to make my next presentation even better.  Although what they may say makes me nervous, I feel that this is critical information in meeting the needs of my future audience.

I learned many things through my experience.   They are:

• I learned that I have knowledge that is worth sharing and there are people who are interested in hearing what I have to say.
• Pacing is a challenge.
• Keeping the attention of the audience is challenging.
• It is important to be prepared.

and most importantly:

• I can successfully stand in front of the room and give a quality presentation.

I look forward to to presenting again next year!