309 - Instructional Ideas for Elementary EdTech Success! - with Debbie Tannenbaum

As instructional coaches, we sometimes work in specific grade level buildings. Other times we are serving the entire district, including all grade level bands. It can be a mystery in what edtech strategies we should implore in the elementary buildings. However, our littles are excited to learn and use technology, so we need to work with our teachers to get them using it!

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TannenbaumTech.com

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

Unknown: 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. There are two opportunities to attend coaches camp in the summer of 2023. You can join us virtually June 12 through 14th or 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: 0:39

Aloha, I'm Katie Ritter.

Justin Thomas: 0:41

And I'm Justin Thomas. And this is the restore recharge podcast a podcast by coaches for coaches who bring the tips and tricks to help you in your everyday work as an instructional coach or whatever they call it in your school.

Katie Ritter: 0:51

So hopefully you're going to leave this episode with us today feeling just a little bit less on your own coaching Island.

Justin Thomas: 0:55

Yes, and as instructional coaches we sometimes work with a specific grade level in our buildings. Other times we are serving the entire district or just including all grade level bands. But it can be a mystery sometimes in what edtech strategies that you should employ with your elementary buildings. However, our littles are just as excited to learn and use technology. So we need to work with our teachers, to get our littles to be able to use the technology. So today we're going to dive into a two part series is going to look at how we can best tackle strategies to get our littles up and running with technology. And our first guest for this first part is Debbie Tenenbaum. And Debbie is an educator with over 20 years of experience, Debbie also works each and every day to transform learning using technology. During her time in education, she has served both as a classroom teacher in various grades. And as an elementary technology coach. Outside of the classroom, Debbie promotes using technology tools to amplify student learning in our work as an instructional technology consultant, author, blogger and speaker, you can connect with Debbie and Tanenbaum tech.com. So welcome in Debbie,

Debbie Tannenbaum: 2:01

thank you so much for having me. Yeah, welcome,

Katie Ritter: 2:03

Debbie. And honor. Before we started recording, I want to just add to your bio for you just a little bit. You are a recent ISTE certified educator. So congratulations on that huge lift. And soon to be Oh, you nailed it. And soon to be a Virginia certified coach as part of the VCE cohort. So that's why we're so happy to have you here. So okay, let's dive in. So we got a little bit of your background there, Debbie. But if you could just provide us just a little bit more about your background, particularly as an instructional coach working with elementary grade levels, because I know I can definitely speak for a lot of the coaches on our team. You know, sometimes working with elementary teachers, they doubt what little kids can do with technology. And so it can be really tough to get in those classrooms. So really curious to hear more about your background and kind of your experience in that space.

Debbie Tannenbaum: 3:04

It's so funny, because as Justin was talking about instructional coaches, no matter what you're called, I giggled a little bit in the background, because we're called school based technology specialists which I keep pushing that is not the name that we should be called. Because you know, people think we fix copiers and stuff.

Katie Ritter: 3:20

If it hasn't, you can think

Debbie Tannenbaum: 3:22

it's amazing, or people ask me for batteries. But I've been really lucky the past five years to work in the elementary school setting as a tech coach, we're going to call it tech coach because that's what it really is. And I have to be honest, when I first started, I had mostly taught fourth and fifth grade. So my expectations of what our littles could do was probably not realistic. And I present a lot about working with our littles and having making sure they have agency and they understand how to use digital tools. And I remember when I first found out I was a tech coach, and they said, Oh, here's the master schedule, because in our district, you're on the master. There's one per school of a tech coach. And I looked and I saw that I had everybody K to five. And then I saw that my kindergarteners were, you know, Friday afternoon, and then my first graders were Thursday afternoon at the end of the day. And I started working with them. And I talked in my presentations a lot about how it was like playing whack a mole, I'd help one kid and another kid would pop up and I'd help another kid. And it was really, really frustrating to me. And I have to be honest, I tried to find some resources and I couldn't really find any and at one point I found a podcast where this woman was talking about how she started teaching her kids icons. Her name is Paulina, Asa Putana. And I reached out to her and looked at some of her stuff and that really changed everything for me. It really helped me to realize that although our kids know we think they're digital natives. And we think they know how to use technology and even my pre K kids can get on YouTube without a problem. They They don't really understand how to navigate that digital learning environment. Absolutely. And you know, I think Greg, babies, who I follow says it best, he says they may be digital natives. So we need to make them digital learners. Yeah. And I love that. I love it too, when he said that I was like, that's what I've been trying to say. And I couldn't find the words for so I make sure I give him credit for. But I really started digging deep into helping my kids navigate that environment. And I've been really working on that in the past five years. And, you know, it started off with what Paula had showed me. And I was making morning messages with icons on was like a Rebus type thing. And then as it went forward, I realized I didn't have time for that. And I started using more algorithms where you would say you first you do this. And next you do this. At one point, I even had a word wall of icons. Nowadays, everyone has a device, so I don't have a room. But I've really been trying to focus on making sure that kids understand our kids have a seven digit username, and then they have a password in kindergarten. And so it's a real challenge. And as I started doing those things, and teaching my kids those things, even my older students, my fifth and sixth graders who are benefiting, and as part of my ISTE certification, I realized that although as a classroom teacher, I did really well with rubrics, I didn't use rubrics at all as a tech coach because I didn't have to give grades anymore. Yeah, I started playing with rubrics, and I created something that I call an edu Rubicon where it has the icons on the left, and then it has the criteria for success on the right. And so as I've been working with that, that's really made a huge difference with my kids. Because now they can see, here's what I need to do. And here's why I need to do it. Here's how it connects with a curriculum. And so it's really been an interesting journey. And in addition to that journey, I'm in my third school as a tech coach, I got D stacked after your one because of numbers. And I decided to make a change this year to a new building. And so it's been interesting to see in a new place, as all of these things come together, how that's really affected, the students I work with and the teachers I work with, and you're right, it is sometimes really hard to get into those classrooms. When I started this fall, I had one teacher who was like an early, you know, the actor, innovator, and she led me into her classroom really early on, I think I was in her room in September. And in March, I was in 19 classrooms last month, I was in 17, this month, kind of crazy with spring break. But now I'm getting into classrooms, and because that work has really gone well. Now other teachers are seeing the value. Yeah, good snowball effect. It's that snowball effect. And you know, so many times, I'll talk to new coaches, and they'll be like, well, I want to get into classrooms. And I'm like, you have to start small innovation is really a three to five year process. And so I had been in my other school for three years. And by the time I left, I was pretty much getting into, I would say 90% of the classrooms. But now I'm in a new school. And I would say that there's maybe four classrooms I haven't gotten in this year. So for year one, I'm super happy with that. And that's great. And it's not about at this point, doing formal coaching cycles, it's about building relationships, showing that they can trust me, going in and modeling for them, talking to them being part of CTS, all of those things. And it's always funny, because so many of my teachers, when they think of using technology, they think it's really complicated. And it doesn't have to be so many times I'm like, you don't have to make this complicated. What are your kids struggling with? And we and my school that I work at right now one out of every four kids as a second language learner? What can we do to make sure that our students are not just writing responses on paper? Can we give them opportunities, to use voice to use video to do all of those types of things? Instead of just doing things more traditionally, and that one teacher who I talked about I met with her yesterday? And she said that she's shocked at the amount of engagement in her classroom since she started using more of these digital tools. And, you know, she said to me, she says, kids who if I was doing this traditionally would not engage at all, are so engaged now. And they're so excited about learning because of all of that. And I said to her, I said you couldn't have said anything better to me. And you know, I said and she's mostly using one tool that I use a lot Wixey and it says it doesn't have to be complicated. You can do so much with one really versatile tool. And when I go into our classroom next week, we're going to try a new tool and I guarantee the kids will see the connections them.

Katie Ritter: 9:53

Yeah, that's awesome. I have a couple of quick follow up questions for you on that. You said Hi, I'm Paulina, and you said that you listened to her podcast. What was the podcast name?

Debbie Tannenbaum: 10:04

It wasn't. It was on the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast by Vicki Davis.

Katie Ritter: 10:07

Oh, got it, but she was on it. She was a guest on it. Yeah. Okay, sorry about that. No, that's okay. And then say the name of the gentleman who you quoted again Greg Bagby, Bagby. Okay, and then okay, now like deeper follow up. Okay, mystics are fun. Yeah, logistics there. I just like to, you know, people I think sometimes I Love You know, when I hear good ideas, it's kind of like, you know, your popcorn around, so I want to make sure people get it. Yeah. So, okay, so now I have a question because I was a secondary person. And although I have coached everyone, k 12. I still there are some I'm always learning things about how I, how I could have helped my littles in elementary teachers better because I didn't have that background. Like one big aha moment. For me when I first went from just coaching secondary to coaching K 12. I was working with my partner, shout out Melissa Prohaska. But we were working side by side, and she had been Elementary. And I'm like, you know, I said something so ignorant, like, well, can't they just log in? And she's like, kidding. They don't even know how to read yet. How they gonna log in. They don't know their letters, all their letters, I'm like, and that just like blew my mind. And ever since then I'm like, Oh, my gosh, what a stupid thing I just said, you know, so I, you know, use you mentioned the login, which is real. And I know some other folks have helped me realize that even like, knowing the letter A doesn't necessarily mean you know what the capital letter A looks like versus lowercase letter A. So that throws kids off to who are pre readers. But when you're saying the icons, I thought that was so interesting. And I just want to dig into that just a little bit deeper to understand really what you meant by that. So by icons, is that more in the sense of thinking of those really young pre readers and writers who like word step by step wouldn't help them? Or is that the actual icons of where they're going to click the app? They're going to open? Like, what? Got me through that a little bit more. Okay. So

Debbie Tannenbaum: 12:09

like, it's really interesting. This year, we have iPads for our pre K and kindergarteners. And so next year, they're going to be expected to go on a computer for the first time. And so I made the decision with my, you know, talking to my administration of my teachers, that in the fourth quarter, which just started that I was now going to have my kindergarteners log on to laptops. So in the past, before iPads, I would have my students in kindergarten, login with their seven digit username and their password, and it was a hot mess. And I've done lots of things, my kids, I have copies of paper keyboards, I have them color, and I do all of that kind of stuff. Well, now, it's fourth quarter, and my kindergarteners are logging into computers. But now they know their letters and numbers. They know what capital letters look like, they know what lowercase letters look like, I was so funny. Because my teachers in kindergarten, when they would write their kids user names, they would always write them in all caps. And I would start using a caps lock. And they're like, No, our kids don't know what a capital A, we have to have with a letter on the keyboard that they're looking for. And so it was really interesting this week, as I got two of my kindergarten classes on laptops for the first time to see how, yes, it was still difficult, but it wasn't as difficult as it had been. Because now they actually know their letters and numbers. Now they might not know where they are on the keyboard because the keyboard doesn't make sense to them. And they had a keyboard, I don't know that

Katie Ritter: 13:41

it makes sense to me for a while, so

Justin Thomas: 13:45

it's all over the place.

Debbie Tannenbaum: 13:47

But with those kids, I mean, making sure they understood what the power button looks like. And then showing them on our computers, we have a user name icon. Well, I explicitly teach them teach that to the kids. And whenever we say username, we hold up seven fingers. So it's really clear, we say that numbers come first because our numbers are our username. And then I talked to them about put that high kind of your password. And we talked about what a password is. And I'm always using some sort of signs with them. Okay, also link that and get that body mind connection. And so when they logged on this week, you know, they actually had that now in the past, before they knew letters and numbers, sometimes it could take us up to four weeks to get them off. Now that they know their letters and numbers, we were able to get everybody on in a 30 minute period with two adults in the room. So it's funny because originally I was a little hesitant when we went to iPads. But honestly, I think it was a really good move because now our students are ready. And those first grade teachers, we argue their usernames or their student IDs they're the same for them, kindergarten all the way till they graduate. Well now In full transparency, their passwords are something that's common that everybody can remember. We're focusing in kindergarten on learning those user names. And then in first grade, they can start making those passwords, you know, more secure, these are kindergarteners. But it's really and so the next week and on our iPads that our kids can't use Schoology. Next week, we're going to learn how to go into Schoology. And so we're building those skills one step at a time, they already know how to use the programs we use, they know how to use flip, they know how to use Wixey. Yeah. And now we're going to transfer that onto a computer. And they were so excited, these were really old computers they were using, and you would have thought I had given them like a basket of gold.

Katie Ritter: 15:43

Well, I love that you said a really great tip that I had never even thought of I've seen like the color coded rows, and then you color code. They're like login letters, but I didn't even think to like actually make those all caps as well. So that was that was a good connection. I don't know, people like cut that piece. So and

Debbie Tannenbaum: 16:01

as far as the icon piece goes. So like they learned three icons, this week, they learned the power button, username and password. Next week, they're going to learn what the Schoology icon looks like. And they're going to learn what a link icon looks like. And so we're constantly building those skills up. Now, all of my students, they already know what flavor looks like, because they've used it on the iPad, they call it the big C Wixey. They call the rainbow hand they already know all of those from the iPad. So now all and within a program like a Wixey or a flip, they've learned those icons in there already. Yeah. So I'm just continually I always talked about I was originally going to be an elementary school French teacher, that technology is a language and you know if we can teach our students like what an image icon looks like, no matter where they go, they're going to figure it out. I was doing a third grade lesson on Desmos. And one of the kids I was was started talking in the middle of an iPad, what are you doing? And she's like, there's a microphone here. I can speak into it. And I didn't even notice it was there. She did. Yeah. And so really building those litoris that literacy. So it's always so funny, because we use this program Wixey all the time. And last year, one of my kindergarteners, I picked them up from the library, and they go Miss Tanenbaum mistana Mom, like what honey, and they're like we did Wixey, but it was with a pair. And they've made those connections between those two programs. And so, you know, continuing to just bill that is so important for our kids, because they don't have to be readers to use the technology as long as they understand the icons. And so I really try when I'm working with them to just not use a whole lot of words, but to use a lot of pictures. Because yes, some pictures change and things like flip, which has decided to change its icon about Oh, you don't have to tell us. Every time I make a presentation, I'm like, has it changed again? Yeah. But you know, it really helps our kids to be able to see those connections. And when they encounter something new that it's not like, well, I can't figure it out. Well, it's like, oh, well, I know this means this. So now I can figure it out. And I don't need as much necessarily as much help because I already have built that agency. I was spending a lot of time rescuing kids. Now I don't spend time rescuing kids, I spend time with kids raising their hands because they want me to see their work. And that's a fair conversation. Yeah, that's awesome.

Justin Thomas: 18:25

Yeah, that is amazing. And obviously, you've mentioned a couple of really good examples here. But is there anything else like any other really good projects or anything like that, that you've seen or helped with your tech with elementary students, so maybe like a couple of specific projects that you feel really good to share for our listeners.

Debbie Tannenbaum: 18:44

One of the things that I've mentioned Wixey a lot. We do a lot with Wixey, especially within the math classroom, because I love when I'm able to use that program. It has speech to text, it has text, it has images, it has a paying feature. It has audio and video

Katie Ritter: 19:00

and debate. Let me tell us what Wix he is just in case anyone isn't familiar with that app. So Wixey

Debbie Tannenbaum: 19:05

is a kid friendly creation product that is made by a company called Tech for learning. And it is probably my favorite program to use with my littles because it has two different versions, it actually has a primary version, and I only use the primary version with my pre K kids. And then it has a regular version, but it's very, very icon based. So you don't have to read anything on that screen. It also will read to kids that has text to speech. It really gives kids a lot of ways to share their thinking. So like when I'm our students are in first grade, for example, solving problems within 10 Well, then I'm able to say to them, okay, here's the problem, they can listen to it through their headphones, and then I can say to them pick one of these ways in our toolbox to solve that problem. And then I'll you'll have some kids who will make a video you'll have some kids MCs, he has a thing where you can clone images from kids who will use the cloning to show their their work, you will have some kids who will be like, I'm just going to use audio and you'll have some kids who will draw on the screen. But think about how that really honored our kids choice and boys. And it's a program our district pays for, that I share a lot about because I really feel like it does a really nice job of that it also allows us kids get older, even my kindergarteners this year. And last year, it has a team feature where you can really customize it so kids can learn how to collaborate together. So like my kindergarten and second grade classes this year, did team project so an example of that would be for my kindergarteners, you know, they would have to one of them would draw a picture of a community helper on and it's color coded. So one kid is the red kid and one kid is the blue kid. And then once they had drawn their pictures, they go on the next page, that's their color, and they say something they like about their partner's work. And it's nice, because you can you can see everything that kids are doing, you can, you know, personally invite them to the team. But then with the older kids, they can collaborate as well on this program. So it gives them a lot of versatility. My second graders, were making fractions, using fraction bars to make fraction designs and then you know, commenting on each other's work. And so I'm really trying to build those skills early. Because we don't know what our kids are going to need to do in the future. And but we do know that you're going to need to be able to communicate and collaborate and use critical thinking skills. So it's super important that they understand all of those things now.

Justin Thomas: 21:41

Yeah, and I think I mean, that's a really good one. Do you have any ideas on any common free tools, I know you mentioned flip before just in case, there's some teachers out there that, you know, they can't quite get the initiative pushed out there to get some of those program tools you got to pay for if they

Debbie Tannenbaum: 21:55

contact me, I can't get them a free year.

Katie Ritter: 21:59

Make sure we get that in the episode at the end.

Debbie Tannenbaum: 22:02

I know. I've also done a lot of work with Book Creator book readers can't do the collaboration piece for free. But I also really liked that program. Because it has all of those a lot of those features too. One of the things I've really become a big fan of this year is Desmos. Okay. Desmos is one of those things that we don't think about using in the elementary school says, Oh, you're blowing

Katie Ritter: 22:23

my mind right now.

Debbie Tannenbaum: 22:28

Desmos is isn't something we normally think of in elementary school. But there is a lot of stuff on Desmos that you can use, I actually Desmos has an ability ability, it's in beta for the kids to have things read to them. Desmos gives kids opportunities to speak into a microphone, they can draw, there's card sorts that you can do that are self checking, there's a lot in there, and I live in Virginia, the VDP, or Virginia Department of Education has actually aligned a lot of the activities to our standards of learning. And so what I've done is taken a lot of those and put them into collections. Desmos has the ability to make selections. And so and I know other states have started to do that as well. So when I present on Desmos, even if I'm presenting you know, in a different state, like I'm going to be presenting in Texas, in two months. I can say to them, well, most of our standards, even though they're different are the same Well, I know that you know you have a standard that's going to be like 1.2 in my state. Well, here's the activities that are here. And you know, I've done, you know, Desmos with students as young as first grade, you know, we were doing an activity where they had to show fractions and giving them that opportunity to do it in a different way was really meaningful. With my third graders, it has the ability to use graphs so that they can make fractions and experiment with fractions. And they can say, Okay, what's bigger three fourths or one, four, they can make a prediction. And then on the next screen, they can actually play with the sliders and see what it looks like. And then they can you know, say whether they were right or not. There's a lot of things there. It's a little harder to find than the stuff that's in the upper grades. Yeah. But they have you know,

Katie Ritter: 24:17

this I think even knowing what you're looking for is helpful. Yeah, so I feel like you just gave a lot of people good things to go look for.

Debbie Tannenbaum: 24:23

Like they have this thing called poly pad which are online manipulatives which are awesome, but my favorite part of Desmos is this thing called a polygraph and I'm actually going to do one in second grade this week. So a polygraph is like a guest who for math. Okay, and so there's 16 pictures and each picture has a different math term or picture or whatever so like the one I'm doing this week is 2d and 3d shapes for second grade. Well what the kids that what it does is a partners them up together and but they don't and you can let them know or not let them know who their partner is. And one of them picks one of the cards. So let's say they picked a cube their partner goes has to do questions. So is it a 2d, 2d shape? Well, if the partner says no, then they go on their page, and they cross off all the shapes that are that, you know, are 2d. And then they see, okay, maybe I have nine pictures left now. And then the person could go and say, you know, you know, is it doesn't have, you know, doesn't have vertices or corners or whatever. And then they keep just eliminating until they get to that tool.

Katie Ritter: 25:26

When you said polygraph, I pictured a bunch of little kids with like wires attached to their fingers, like Desmos reading, if they're lying, like who took the last cookie

Debbie Tannenbaum: 25:39

that I thought of too, but that's a really great free one. And the other one that's really great, that's free, that I love with my littles is, Pear Deck has a part called flashcard. Factory, and if you're familiar with that, but I love using flashcard factory to get my kids to collaborate, each kid, the kids log into the website, and you can put anything in there, it doesn't just have to be vocabulary. My, my first graders are doing something where they're going to be one, you know, there's a word problem, like, you know, there were five, you know, five cars, and now there are three more cars, how many cars are there at all? One kid is the detective, they're gonna write the equation with the text tools, and then the other kid is the artist, and they're gonna show how to solve that problem. Their parts come together and then falls down on the conveyor belt. Yeah, and the kids love it. My second graders think it is the it's a fun game. And I can go in there and do that activity anytime. And they are like, yeah, yeah. And they don't realize that they're doing the learning. But I like using that a lot for math and other things as well. And even my kindergarteners are starting to use it where they're like, Okay, let's do high frequency words, one of yous gonna draw a picture of that high frequency Word, and the other one's gonna find those keys on the keyboard.

Katie Ritter: 26:50

Yeah, that's awesome. I love those are really excellent ideas. So well, Debbie, it's obvious that you are really passionate about this, and just talking to you like your passion is contagious. But what excites you most about work? Like if you could pinpoint one thing? What is it that excites you most about working with elementary students? And more, I guess, more importantly, for our listeners, like how do you go about getting your teachers excited about that same thing, or finding their own things to get excited about so that they're willing to use technology with their elementary students,

Debbie Tannenbaum: 27:25

I just love watching the engagement I see in the students. So often, I'll go into a classroom and the teacher will be like, you know, kind of like a good luck situation like, you know, but sometimes I'll go into classrooms where they're mostly doing paper. And when I come in, they're like, well, it's easy for you, you're doing something that's fun. But I'm doing something that I don't necessarily view it as being as being fun, I view it as something that's being engaging, something that's allowing our students to learn in a different way, and to share their learning in a different way. Like I said, we have a lot of language learners in our school. So when I give them the opportunity to share in a way other than just writing on a worksheet, that's really powerful, or if they're building flashcards together, and they're talking about that, it gives them a lot of engagement. And so when it comes to teachers, I think that's super important is they need to see that I am part of the master schedule. But my favorite part of my job is when I go in, and I co teach because the kids, the teachers can see how excited the kids are when I come into the room to teach a class, like for the master schedule, but when they're in there, and they watch it happen. And then as the kids are working, I can show them behind the scenes, what has what I've made, and start working with them on those things. And then you know, slowly teachers start saying, Well, can we meet after school so we can go into this more. When that happens, then there's this by it. And like it was my second grade teachers this week, I was working with them and showing them stuff on that Wixey program. And they're like, there's all these things already made. I was like, my job is to make your job easier. My job is to help you to reach your kids in different ways. My job is not to make things hard for you. And so, you know, I find that usually if I can get one person on each team who's really into it, than the rest of the team will eventually follow. And making sure they understand that this isn't about you know, yes, I have no problem with teachers, you know, running to the restroom and things like that. But it's not about you grading papers. It's not about you running to the restroom, but it's about you learning with your kids. And that's such an important thing for kids to see. I mean, there's so much that we as tech coaches need to learn on an everyday basis. And my goal is I want to take all that stuff that we're learning and be able to make it easier for my teachers to digest. I mean, you know, as teachers start coming into me and asking me about AI and chatty PT while I'm trying to digest all of that so that I can be able to give them a consistent and clear message because there is so much changing.

Katie Ritter: 29:55

Yeah, absolutely. I like your suggestion of finding the peer influencers and they can meet you know, we can't do everything. So if you can find some other people, you know, might be able to spark that willingness to try some things out with their littles. That's great. So, okay, we are going to take a super quick break from our sponsors and we'll be back in just a minute

Justin Thomas: 30:15

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. Ed, you 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 badgers.com and begin earning your badges. 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 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 joining 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.

Katie Ritter: 31:18

Welcome back to the restart recharge Podcast. I'm Katie Ritter, and Justin Thomas here is your co host. And we have the pleasure of having Debbie Tannenbaum on the episode with us today talking all things technology in the elementary and primary classroom.

Justin Thomas: 31:33

And Debbie shared some really amazing ideas and programs that you can use some really cool projects that she has done. But now it's time to kind of concise that all up because you know how we like to finish the show here with our top three tips. So Debbie, what are your top three tips for working with elementary students?

Debbie Tannenbaum: 31:52

I think the first one would be that you don't have to do everything, find one program that is really versatile. And use it with your kids and get them really familiar with it. And be okay with learning with them. The second thing is make sure they understand those icons. I mean, I can't say enough how important that is for them to understand that what those pictures mean. And to be able to use those. I think that that's super important. And then the last thing is, is that sometimes technology isn't going to work, and that's okay. And when you're trying something new, having a coach in the room to be that second set of hands, is really invaluable. Coaches aren't evaluative, when you let a coach into your room, you're also showing to your students that we're all learning together. So, you know, don't be afraid to have someone in. I mean, I know. And when I started teaching, I was afraid. And I'm not anymore. We're all that we have hard work to do. We all have to work together.

Katie Ritter: 32:55

I love that. I love that last part we do all have hard work to do. And we need to lean on each other more and take advantage of the supports that we have. Because this is you know, we say coaches are on their own island. Sometimes it feels like everyone in education is on their own island. So I love that last little piece. So, Debbie, where can people find you? Before we wrap up the episode here you we want to make sure one if somebody wants to take you up on Wixey so that they can get a hold of you. But too, you just have so many ideas. We want to make sure that our listeners can connect with you online. I know we shared your website Tanenbaum tech.com. But you also have you know books so share it all with us. Where can people find you and your work?

Debbie Tannenbaum: 33:36

So pretty much everything is found through Tanenbaum tech. I do have a website and spell your last name. T A n n e n b AUM, like the Christmas tree. Oh, go? Let's Oh yeah. So that's I'm really active on Twitter. I have a Facebook group where I support educators as well. I'm starting to play a little bit more with Instagram. I tried tic tac, it wasn't quite my thing. But I bet I'm on LinkedIn. But I do I do a newsletter that I send out every week I blog every other week on my website. Right now I'm working on a blog series calling it called the ABCs of Transforming Learning. And so right now, we are on cue. So I started it back in September on a and we're on cue. So this week we're talking about question and analyzing how you communicate with your parents. So we started off at the beginning of the year with amplify student voices. In addition, my book I authored on my own I'm transformed techy notes to make learning sticky came out in May of 2021 on my birthday, which was super cool. And so that's available on Amazon and on my website and I've also gotten the chance to contribute to a few books amplifying instructional design, which came out in June of last year, I wrote a whole. I'm one of three authors for that book. And I wrote a chapter on engagement. And then I've also contributed to one of Michelle Denae posts books, if only dot dot dot new and I have another one coming out in the future with one of those 100 things I think parents shouldn't do. And so I'm continuing to work on all of that. But I really just love working with educators and and providing them value. And I feel like the elementary space is just not given enough attention. Yeah. But I also share a lot about math. And I'm a big proponent of using Project zeros thinking routines, which is a whole different subject. And I've just been trying to take my C certification and put all of those things together and really focus on how we can get the our students ready for the future, because so much is changing so fast, and we just need to make sure that we're giving them the tools they need.

Katie Ritter: 36:00

Yeah. Well, Debbie, thank you so so much for coming on the podcast, it's been a joy to hear about some of the work that you're doing and, and spread that with some of our other listeners, and thank you for your dedication, you know, to the field of education as well for so long your your students and teachers are lucky to have you.

Debbie Tannenbaum: 36:19

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me on. This was really fun. Good.

Justin Thomas: 36:24

Well, a reminder, this is the first of a two part mini series. So next week is in two weeks for the next episode. We're going to the second part of this mini series working with elementary students. I'm actually going to chat with Sarah kefir and Brittany priori to it's actually a coach and a teacher combination. And you know, Southwest Ohio, they're going to come talk a little bit about how they work together to come up with different learning opportunities for their littles.

Katie Ritter: 36:48

So be sure to subscribe to restart recharge wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss an episode. And follow us on all the social media at our our coach caste.

Justin Thomas: 36:57

And feel free to reach out to us and let us know if there's any topics that you want us to discuss on those social media platforms as well.

Katie Ritter: 37:02

And that brings us to the end where we're going to press the restart button recharging coaching

Justin Thomas: 37:07

batteries and leave feeling equipped and inspired to coach fearlessly with the restart recharge podcast

Katie Ritter: 37:13

at Tech coach collective.

Justin Thomas: 37:18

You really threw me through a loop. She got hit up got

Debbie Tannenbaum: 37:32

sorry about the dog.

Katie Ritter: 37:40

I said Well, Justin,

Justin Thomas: 37:42

we are recording

Katie Ritter: 37:44

this. This is tradition. I get paranoid every time I start an episode if I don't ask if we're recording