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Die in a hole

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The power of collaboration is REAL!!!

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High School Share

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Let's transform education together. Get answers to your questions to increase student and educator success.

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Classroom Management with Gamification

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HMH Classcraft pairs ELA and math content with research-based lesson plans resulting in reduced educator planning time and increased student engagement.

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Password: Balance

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Easy Teaching Tools - ideas to make teaching easier

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Dojo Resource folder

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A simple and secure assessment platform that provides a frictionless process to conduct one-on-one assessments (highly used at pre-K, TK, kindergarten, and first grade levels). Use the pre-loaded tests, or create your own assessments, to quickly gather student performance data and automatically generate multiple reports.

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* ClassDojo (school-wide)
Post with a pie chart
*ONLY rewarding positive points to students
*Incentives for Parents to help their kids earn additional points

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Quizlet Live
Quizizz
Kahoot
Gimkit

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Post notes around the school about teachers

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Instantly change the sharing permissions of a Google Docs/Sheets/Slides/Drawing to "Anyone with the link can view".

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Flip is a video discussion and sharing app, free from Microsoft.

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Flip (formerly Flipgrid) is a video discussion and video sharing app, free from Microsoft, built for classrooms and beyond. Learn more.

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Pick a partner and play rock paper scissor and cheer on other students

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1 Select or "Drag and drop" your PDFs into the PDF converter.

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PDF Converter + 46 Online PDF Tools - PDF Candy

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PDF Candy provides you with best free PDF converter and many other PDF tools online. Turn images, ebooks, and documents to PDF and vice versa safely.

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using iMovie to share on their class webpage

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Mini Celebrations to reward students throughout the day Example: The Golfer Clap

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The question bank provides a variety of question types and asks students to think about the mathematics, promoting deeper understanding. I love it! Thanks for all you do to continue to make Problem-Attic a great resource for teachers and students!

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Using screencastify to discuss and share topics/presentations with parents to help them navigate the curriculum

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Three things you really liked about a friend or classmate and 1 thing you want your friend to work on

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Amaze your students with smarter worksheets. Wizer.me is a platform where teachers build beautiful, engaging online worksheets!

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Non contractual
No equipment to buy

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Modernize workflows with Zoom's trusted collaboration tools: including video meetings, team chat, VoIP phone, webinars, whiteboard, contact center, and events.

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Share

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Discuss traits of a friend. Create a class motto once they identify three main traits of a good friend. "We CAUGHT you being a good friend"

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Gimkit is a game show for the classroom that requires knowledge, collaboration, and strategy to win. Get started for free!

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Bridges Out of Poverty

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Group Text

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Leader in Me Have students share their goals at the beginning of the day and then congratulate each other as they meet their goal (Ex: Brenda has a Math goal with multiplication.

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Your browser either doesn't support Javascript, or you've turned it off. To use Mentimeter, please make sure to turn Javascript on. How do I enable Javascript?

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Interact with your audience using real-time voting. No installations or downloads required and it's free!

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30 minutes or less sessions and observations. Scheduled with a google calendar that all teachers can view and add to! Teachers identify what they are using in their lesson with a google calendar event. Observing teachers fill out a google form (attached) to open teacher-to-teacher coaching.  Morning, during the day, and afternoon session would be lead by teachers to teach a "how to" on their favorite things.
(Wade Hampton, Logan Wright)

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fill out the form as a reflection to earn your hour of PD credit

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By TeachThought Staff

Which are the best education accounts on twitter to follow?

Well, that depends on how you define 'best.' Education is a constantly evolving organism, with individual humans and institutions making up the cells and organs that keep it running.

Whether you agree with what the following leaders and leading resources included, they still exert influence over the education industry. Give them a follow and use them to discover even more names and faces currently shaping schools across the world.

We're going to update this list in a couple of ways, mainly to add educators worth following. We also may remove or replace certain accounts. Sometimes teachers stop tweeting, superintendents retire, or PhDs move on. Also, new voices often emerge that deserve a seat at the table.

We may also increase the list to 100, and we'll be adding descriptions and other social media info for certain accounts so that you can 'find' them elsewhere, as well as an image with the names.

For now, here are-in our mind-50 of the best education accounts on twitter. Depending on our leanings one day-ed reform, tech, equity, etc.-this list could've been much different.

Note: While we tried to include the 'best follows' in education, we also wanted to create the 'best list'-that is, a single collection that you could go through and follow everyone from and end up with a stronger, more critically-leaning and ranging set of education leaders and voices.

In other words, let's say that for whatever reason, the majority of the 'best' accounts in education on twitter are, because of the nature of twitter, dominated by education technology evangelists.

Rather than allow #edtech to dominate the list, we chose to pass on some outstanding accounts in one 'twitter genre' to help ensure our list, as a whole, reflected critical thinking, innovation, vision, and learning future content because that's what TeachThought is all about.
50 Of The Best Education Accounts On Twitter TeachThought Terry Heick TeachThought Professional Development Drew Perkins George Couros Diane Ravitch Vicki Davis Dr. Anael Alston Alex Corbitt Dr. Baron Davis Todd Finley The Edvocate Christopher Emdin Audrey Watters Steven Anderson Sylvia Duckworth MindShiftKQED Jackie Gerstein Calvin Mackie Sylvia Tolisano Larry Ferlazzo Alice Keeler Tom D'Amico Kaseena Jackson Justin Tarte Scott McLeod Kevin Corbett Ken Robinson Robert Jackson Pedro Noguera Rachelle Poth Mark Barnes Robert Marzano Tom Vander Ark Nasima Riazat Ernest Morrell Elizabeth Green Ryan Schaaf David E Kirkland Eric Sheninger Shelly Sanchez image attribution Flickr user sylviaduckwirth; 50 Of The Best Education Accounts On Twitter

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50 Of The Best Education Accounts On Twitter

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By TeachThought Staff Which are the best education accounts on twitter to follow? Well, that depends on how you define 'best.' Education is a constantly evolving organism, with individual humans and institutions making up the cells and organs that keep it running.

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MOTIVATING!

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Encourage classmates-Students find what others are doing right or awesome things they saw classmates do that day or the day before (everyone MUST participate)

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Gimkit is a game show for the classroom that requires knowledge, collaboration, and strategy to win. Get started for free!

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Instagram isn't just for posting photos of food. Instagram can actually be a powerful learning and communication tool for educators, so I've written this guide for teachers. I'd like to show the kinds of things teachers can see on Instagram. I'd also like to tell you about the ins and outs of Instagram, starting with the basics and ending with crafting awesome posts.

See Sample Posts

Posts on Instagram consist of at least one photo or video, an optional caption, and perhaps some comments. There are informative and inspiration Instagram posts made by educators everyday. Check out the sampling below of the types of posts you can see on Instagram. Click an image to view the post on Instagram where you can read the caption and comments.

Learning Spaces
Educators take a lot of time to set up their learning spaces and are proud to show you their classrooms, libraries, maker spaces, etc.

Glanceable Graphics
Glanceable graphics are the kinds of posts I make on my Learning in Hand Instagram account. I post about tech tips and tools by designing my own graphics. I'm not the only one making these kinds of posts-it turns out Instagram is great for sharing educational technology information in a friendly way.

Spend some time browsing posts related to education and you'll see many other types of posts, including...

samples of student work

photos of humorous student answers

questions about curriculum and pedagogy

announcements of new blog posts

products for sale on TeachersPayTeachers.com (also known as TPT)

promotional materials for conferences

advertisements for products

photos of teachers' outfits

photo of teachers' meals

Explore Education Hashtags

Many Instagrammers add hashtags to their posts' captions or in the comments. You can search Instagram on the web or in the app to see posts that contain a specific hashtag. Be aware that anyone can add any hashtag to any public post, so you might see unexpected posts in searches. Let's take a look at a few of the popular hashtags for education.

#teachersofinstagram features anything posted by teachers: lessons, ideas, frustrations, observations, celebrations, fashion, and food.

#iteach also features posts by teachers. It tends to be slightly more focused on education than #teachersofinstagram. There's also hashtags for each grade level: #iteachprek, #iteachk, #iteach1st, #iteach2nd, #iteach3rd, #iteach4th, #iteach5th, #iteach6th, #iteachmiddleschool, #iteachhighschool, #iteachart, etc.

#ipaded is about using iPads in education. You can can find photos of iPads in action, advertisements for products, and app recommendations.

Instagram is an app for Android and iPhone. You can find it on Google Play and in the App Store. The iPhone version will run on an iPad. The web version of Instagram at instagram.com allows you to view posts and search for hashtags; however, you cannot post from the web. You've got to use the Android or iOS app to post.

You can be signed into multiple Instagram accounts on one device. I suggest creating an account that you'll use professionally, and keep it separate from your personal account. That's what I do: My personal account is mostly photos of my kids, and I use it to follow family and friends. I post about education and technology on my professional account (@learninginhand), and use that account to follow other educators and education-related accounts. If you end up using Instagram to communicate with students or parents, you might even create a third account. You can add up to 5 accounts inside the Instagram app.

The first time you open the Instagram app you'll be prompted to sign in or create an account. Instagram is owned by Facebook, but you do not need a Facebook account to sign up. You can use an email address.

If you already have a personal account and want to add another one to use professionally, go to your profile screen and click the Settings icon at the top right. Scroll to the bottom and click Add Account. Go through the steps of signing up. You may have to use a different email address from the one associated with your other Instagram account.

If you are signed in to multiple accounts, you can easily switch between them by going to your profile screen and tapping your username at the top. A menu appears and you can tap the account you want to switch to.

You have the option to make an account private. When you account is private, only people you approve can see your posts. Even if you include hashtags, only people you've approved will see those posts in a search if your account is set to private. My personal account is set to private, and my professional account is set to public.

Follow These Accounts

I follow about 500 accounts, and they are awesome. You can view who I follow and follow them too. In fact, you can click on any public account and see who they follow.

I've tried to put together a nice sampling of accounts I think teachers might be interested in. There are tons more out there-these are just some to get you started...

The quality of your Instagram experience depends on who you follow. If you notice that an account is continually posting items that are not relevant to you, you can unfollow. Unfollow an account by visiting the account's profile page and clicking the Following button. A message pops up with the option to Unfollow.

Know Your Instagram Home

Your Instagram Home screen is where you'll see the stream of posts made by the accounts you follow. Instagram explains that it displays posts "based on the likelihood you'll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting, and the timeliness of the post."

In addition to viewing posts, you can see any Stories by the accounts you follow along the top of the screen. Stories are temporary posts that expire after 24 hours.

Click the Your Instagram Home image below to download a PDF version.

Get Insights About Followers and Posts

You can view data about your followers and about yours posts if you convert your account into what Instagram calls a Business Profile. I've converted my @learninginhand account from a Personal Profile to a Business Profile. Click through the screenshots below to see the kinds of insights I see on my @learninginhand account. I can tell how many people viewed my posts, which posts are most popular, and what days and times my followers are active on Instagram. Insights like these can help teachers decide on the best time to post.

If you want to see Insights on your own Instagram account, you'll need to convert to a Business Profile. It's free, but takes a little setting up. First, you need to have created a Facebook Page. Then:

1. Go to your profile and tap the gear icon.

2. Tap Switch to Business Profile.

3. On the Connect Your Facebook Pagescreen, you'll see all of the Facebook Pages you're currently an admin on. Select the Page you'd like to associate with your Business Profile on Instagram.

4. On the Set Up Your Business Profile page, review your business's contact information, make any changes and tap Done.

Data for Instagram Insights begins after you've converted the account. You won't be able to view past insights from before you converted your account. To view Insights, click the four bars near the top right of your Profile screen in the Instagram app.

On average 5% of the people who view a @learninginhand post give it a Like. When a post gets a higher percentage, then I know it's one that really resonated with my followers.

Know Your Instagram Profile

Click your profile photo in the bottom right in the Instagram app to view your profile screen. Here you can view, edit, archive, or delete your posts. Your profile screen is also where you access settings, switch accounts, and view saved posts. Click the Your Instagram Profile image below to download a PDF version.

Craft an Instagram Post

You've probably noticed that there are a wide variety of posts on Instagram. Some are photos while others are graphics. Some have captions while others let the images speak for themselves. There are many approaches to crafting a post, and you should keep in mind...

A single post can have up to 10 photos and videos.

You can take a photo or video with the camera from inside Instagram, or you can upload from your Library.

Videos can be between 3 and 60 seconds long. If you select a video from your Library that is longer, Instagram will make you trim it before posting.

Square photos and videos look best, but posts can use widescreen photos and videos.

Instagram has built-in image and video filters. It's perfectly okay not to use them.

If you are creating a graphic for Instagram, keep in mind that most people will be viewing it on a small screen. Use minimal text in a large font.

Captions are optional. They are limited to 2,200 characters. Each comment is also limited to 2,200 characters.

Captions cannot be broken up into paragraphs. I break up information by putting it into a series of comments on my own post.

Instagram prevents users from copying text within the app.

Even if you enter a URL in a caption, it will not be hyperlinked.

If you need to mention a long or complicated URL in a post, use Bitly.com or TinyURL.com to copy a customized short link before pasting into your post. Make the short link easy to remember and type since it cannot be copied by your followers. I do not recommend the goo.gl shortener because the "simplified" links cannot be customized. Goo.gl's random string of characters are difficult to remember and type into a web browser.

Instagrammers often write "Link in profile" in their captions to direct their users to one and only hyperlink Instagram allows: the one in an account's profile. An Instagrammer can change this link at any time to go anywhere, and can use it to correspond to her most recent post.

I've seen Instagram accounts that link to webpages with an ongoing list of hyperlinks they have mentioned in their posts. This way current and past links mentioned are all just a couple clicks away.

You can edit a caption after posting, but you cannot change the photo or video.

You can delete or archive any of your posts at any time.

You can get your post to appear in Instagram search results by including hashtags. Hashtags begin with the # symbol followed by a keyword. The examples shared above include #teachersofinstagram, #iteach, and #edtech.

You can add hashtags anywhere in a post's caption or in its comments. Hashtags are hyperlinked to the Instagram search results for that hashtag. You might consider entering a hashtag into a search before including it in a post. You might be surprised by what you find since anyone can tag any post with any hashtag.

You can make as many posts as you'd like, however it's generally not cool to have more than a few posts in one day. People who follow you might be annoyed. If you have a lot to post, it's probably better to publish an Instagram Story.

If you are posting photos of others, it's a good idea to get permission. Your school probably has a release form that parents sign if you are posting photos of students.

You can delete a comment on your post by swiping left on the comment and clicking the red trash button.

On average 5% of the people who view a @learninginhand post give it a Like.

Anything you create with a photo or video editing app and save to your Library can be used in a post. For example, you can use an app to blur student faces. Pixlr (free for iOS and Android) has a Pixelate brush for blurring parts of a photo. Alternatively, you can use an app like Pic Collage to place stickers or emojis over student faces.
Below are some free apps that can help you create an awesome post. Check out my page about Infopics for a video and even more app suggestions.

Craft an Instagram Story

Another way to reach your followers on Instagram is through an Instagram Story. If you publish a story, your account's profile picture will appear in a circle above your followers' feeds. A Story can be single photo or video or a series of photos and videos. Stories are temporary and expire after 24 hours.

To add a Story, click the camera button at the top left of your Instagram Home screen. Media choices include:

Normal: Take a photo by tapping the white button. Record video by holding down the button. Release the button to stop recording.

Boomerang: Tap the button to capture a very short video that will be looped back and forth.

Hands-Free: Begin recording video by tapping the button. Tap again to stop recording.

From Your Library: This is not listed in the options, but you can swipe up to reveal photos and videos added to your device's Library in the last 24 hours.

After you have a photo or video, Instagram provides a few tools at the top of the screen. You can choose to mute audio. There are stickers and emojis you can overlay on your photos or videos. You can choose among different brushes and draw in a variety of colors and thicknesses. Additionally, there's a text tool you can use to type on the photos or videos in a variety of colors. After you are done adding embellishments to your photo or video, click the Add to Your Story button (the icon with the +) to publish it.
Here's more about Instagram Stories...

Photos and videos in an Instagram Story must be portrait (tall and narrow).

Photos are only displayed for a few seconds.

Videos are limited to 10 seconds (but you can add a series of multiple videos in your Story).

I like how @edutopia structures many of their Stories. They play several photos in a row as a slideshow. See the example.

There's no Like button for an Instagram Story.

A Story follows the privacy settings of your account. If your account is set to private, your Story is visible only to your followers.

There's no commenting on Instagram Stories.

Stories do have a Send Message option that will be delivered as a private direct message to the Story's author

Stories do not appear on the web version of Instagram. That is unless you use the Chrome IG Story extension. Read my post about it.

You can see who has viewed your Stories.

When watching your own story, swipe up to check out who has seen each photo and video.

Stories tend to be more whimsical than regular posts. That's probably because they delete after 24 hours.

Hold a finger on the screen to pause a Story.

Mention an Instagram account by entering the username preceded by the @ symbol in a text box. For example, @learninginhand.

If you mention another Instagram account in your Story's text, Instagram will make the text a clickable link that opens that account's profile. It will also notify the account about the mention.

To add an additional photo or video to your story, click the camera button at the top left of your Instagram Home screen.

You might notice some Instagram stories can be swiped up to open a web link. This is super cool, but most people cannot include a web link in a Story. You have to have at least 10,000 followers before Instagram turns on this feature for your account.

@hellojenjones and @teachingwithappitude are two accounts that regularly post Stories. @hellojenjones' are mostly about literacy and @teachingwithappitude's are mostly about teaching with iPads.

Embed Your Feed on Your Website

I like that I can make a new post on Instagram and it will automatically appear on my website. Check out my homepage, and you'll see that the images from my recent posts are displayed. Click an image and it opens to the post on Instagram. Instagram does not provide a way to embed your feed, so you'll have to use a third party service.

Luckily, my website's host, Squarespace, has a built-in embed feature, which is what I use on my homepage and sidebar. Your website platform might offer a way to embed your Instagram feed. If not, you can generate embed code to use on your site.

You can generate embed code at lightwidget.com. You can choose how many rows and columns you'd like your grid of posts to have before previewing and copying the embed code. That code needs to be pasted into the source or into a code block on your site. Lightwidget is free and does not display ads. It will refresh once a day. For a one time payment of $10, you can have your widget refresh every 40 minutes. Unfortunately, if your website uses https, the widget won't display unless you have paid to upgrade. You do need to make sure your I nstagram account is public, otherwise Lightwidget cannot display your posts.

Do a search for " Instagram widget" and you'll find lots of other options. SnapWidget.com is free and will generate embed code for Instagram. However, when visitors to your site click a post, they are taken to a page on SnapWidget.com instead of directly to the original post on Instagram. POWr also offers a free web widget that updates every 24 hours. A paid upgrade is required to display more than 6 posts at a time and to remove the POWr logo.

Instagram is huge and always evolving. After all, it is the third largest social media site (after Facebook and YouTube). I have a few last things to tell you about this super service.

Need assistance with Instagram? Search the help pages at facebook.com/help/instagram.

See something awesome on Instagram that you want to save for later? Click the Bookmark button on any post. View your saved posts by clicking the Bookmark icon on your Instagram Profile screen. Bookmarks can only be viewed from within the Instagram app. Alternatively, you can take a screenshot to save a post for later.

How about starting a class account and having a student be the Instagrammer of the Day? The student can send the teacher a photo with a caption to post on the class account. Check out @topdogkids for an example from third grade.

Since Instagram does not always show you every post from every account, you can turn on Post Notifications for an account. Do this by clicking the three dots at the top right on the account's profile page. Choose Turn on Post Notifications and you'll receive a pop up message each time the account adds a new post.

Leave a Comment

What else should teachers know about Instagram? Got any tips? Know of an Instagram account that educators should follow? Please add a comment below.

Step Up Your Graphics Game

Want your Instagram posts to really pop? Interested in improving your graphic design skills while using Google Drawings? Then consider registering for Classy Graphics with Google Drawings Fall 2017. The online class begins September 19 and goes through October 31, 2017. Each week I'll post an instructional video and resources that lead into an optional assignment. Participants post their assignments in Google Classroom and get feedback from classmates and from me. The Classy Graphics Google Classroom will be abuzz with discussions, feedback, and resources every week! Click for more information and to register.

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Instagram isn't just for posting photos of food. Instagram can actually be a powerful learning and communication tool for educators, so I've written this guide for teachers. I'd like to show the kinds of things teachers can see on Instagram.

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Classroom/Tech resources
Encouragement

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Pairing students and then separate by finding their PB or Jelly partner

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Developing new assessments to help with grading multiple choice and short answer questions

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Insert instructional content into any web page

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School districts often end up using five to ten different classroom communication apps across all their schools. Schools might be using one tool for msging, and a completely different tool for taking attendance or healthcheck forms. When a school or district uses too many communication apps, things get lost in the shuffle. Overloaded parents often miss important messages leading to further disengagement and frustration.

Bloomz is the unified parent teacher communication app that increases parental engagement by connecting everyone with one easy-to-use tool. Bloomz handles ALL district, school, teacher, parent, and student communication. Bloomz is designed to be the complete unified solution, bringing together teachers, parents and students.

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Parent Teacher Communication App with PBIS Behavior Management

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Bloomz makes it easy for teachers to securely share photos and classroom updates, reach parents through messaging, and coordinate events.

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Surround yourself with superheroes.  Be the superhero!  Be motivating and inspiring to others, let them know they are not alone. Share ideas.

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Using a deck of cards to group students throughout the day.

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* If the state has an assessment

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the wild card: 7 steps to an educator's creative breakthrough

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The Wild Card: 7 Steps to an Educator's Creative Breakthrough

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The Wild Card is your step-by-step guide to experiencing a creative breakthrough in your classroom with your students. "This book is a teacher wonderland of ideas, inspiration, and mind-blowing magic." --Ron Clark, New York Times bestselling author and cofounder, Ron Clark Academy. In t...

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Seesaw - A Platform For Student Engagement

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Professional Development: The phrase has a way of striking dread into the hearts of teachers. But not because teachers don't WANT to improve. Not because we believe we're done growing and learning. Far from it.

In fact, so many teachers bristle at the thought of PD because most of the time, it's executed so poorly. Although the typical one-size-fits-all format-where every teacher in the building is herded together to listen to an expert speak-has been widely denounced, it still persists as the default model. Sometimes, if the speaker happens to be engaging, some teachers will walk away with a small tidbit they can apply to their own work. For most teachers, though, it feels like a waste of precious time, time that could be spent developing skills that would make a real difference in their specific practice.

But things are starting to change. More and more schools are experimenting with personalized approaches to professional development; this guide from EdSurge takes a comprehensive look at all the different shapes this can take. And as new unconferences pop up every week all over the world, teachers are seeing just how easy it can be to learn from each other, without the need for any kind of outside expert.

And now, taking PD to an even simpler, more local, more affordable level, we have the Pineapple Chart.

What is a Pineapple Chart?

A Pineapple Chart is a system that allows teachers to invite one another into their classrooms for informal observation. The chart is set up in some location where teachers go on a daily basis: the teacher's lounge, the copy room, or wherever teacher mailboxes live in your school. On the chart, teachers "advertise" the interesting things they are doing in their classrooms, activities they think others might want to observe. The activities could be as complex as a science lab, a history simulation, or a Skype session with a school in another country. Or they could be as simple as a read-aloud or a lesson on badminton.

The chart represents one week of school. Along the top, five columns are labeled Monday through Friday. Along the side, rows assigned to various chunks of each school day. In a middle or high school, these would be class periods. In an elementary school, the rows could be divided by hours or half-hours.

When a teacher sees something on the chart she (or he) is interested in, she goes to that classroom at the designated time, sits down in an out-of-the-way spot, and watches. That's it. No note-taking is required, no post-observation conference, no write-up. Just a visit. She can even grade papers or catch up on email if she wants, paying closer attention when the moment calls for it, but getting work done in the meantime. She can stay for five minutes or a whole class period. The key word here is informal, and it's the best way for teachers to learn lots of skills and techniques just when they need them.

The reasons the visiting teacher might come in are endless: It could be that she wants to start using Google Cardboard, but would like to see another teacher do it first. Maybe she's struggling with classroom management and knows this teacher runs a tight ship. Or maybe she's there because she always wanted to learn more about World War I. Regardless of the initial reason, what she ends up learning is likely to be far more than she expected. During that Google Cardboard visit, she'll also notice a cool bulletin board in that teacher's classroom and decide to try something similar in her room. While watching the lesson on World War I, she'll pick up a questioning technique she ends up using in her own teaching. Every teacher in your building has their own unique blend of skills and talents, but the only way you'll ever learn about them is to see your colleagues in action.

The Origins of the Pineapple Chart

The pineapple has long been a symbol of hospitality; it's used in the chart in the spirit of welcoming one another into our school "homes."

But that's just the beginning. Here's how the Pineapple Chart came to be: In early 2015, Mark Barnes and I were compiling innovative teaching "hacks" for our book, Hacking Education: 10 Quick Fixes for Every School. I remembered my sister, who teaches science in Massachusetts, telling me about her attempts to start a "Pineapple Welcome" initiative at her school, where teachers would hang a picture of a pineapple outside their classroom doors, indicating that any other teacher who wanted to visit was welcome to stop by.

When I asked her how the whole pineapple thing went, she said, "Eh. Some people came in, but usually I would hang the pineapple and nothing would happen. I stopped doing it after a while."

This bothered me, because some of the most valuable skills I have picked up as a teacher came from informally observing my colleagues in their classrooms. I feel strongly that some of the best professional development available to teachers lives right inside the walls of our schools, and if we could just watch each other teach more, we would all grow exponentially.

Just hanging the pineapple on the door, I realized, had two shortcomings. One, it was only visible to teachers who happened to pass by that door on that day. And two, it didn't offer enough information: Just seeing a pineapple on the door tells the visitor nothing about what's going on inside. If a teacher is going to spend time visiting another teacher's classroom, he wants to know that the thing he's coming to observe is something he's actually interested in. A chart posted in a central location, with a bit of information about the day's activities, solves both problems.

We asked my sister to pilot this centralized system at her school, and the first Pineapple Chart was born. Since the publication of Hacking Education, the Pineapple Chart system has taken off in schools all across the world, and the results have been fantastic.

Two Schools Where Pineapple Charts Are Making an Impact

Gator Run Elementary, Weston, Florida

"The Pineapple Chart has been a game changer for the staff at Gator Run," says Intern Principal Cyndi Felton, who initiated Gator Run's first Pineapple Chart in January of 2016. "We have some of the very best PD available under our own roof. Now teachers have the opportunity to get into each other's classrooms and learn from one another."

Since the chart has been going, Felton has seen teachers trying new things more quickly. "Last year we noticed tools and strategies spreading throughout the building after Pineapple Chart visits. Kahoot, Nearpod, Plickers, in-class flipped lessons, SeeSaw, and performance scales in addition to unique procedures, classroom management and teaching strategies."

Maple Avenue Middle School, Littlestown, Pennsylvania

In January of 2016, when Assistant Principal Cortney Golden first launched the chart in her school, she worked hard to keep it full. "I was very aware that if we lost momentum, and the chart was blank, it would die. I sent staff-wide emails, group emails, personal emails, face to face requests, and even had my secretary appealing to teachers to sign up. Getting teachers to sign up was my first priority....then, once that became more automatic, we began to 'push' visiting."

Since then, informal observation and an open-door policy have become part of the school's culture. So much so that the word "pineappling" has become a verb:

"Collectively, we embrace pineappling now more than ever," says Golden. "As teachers desire to grow their craft, to foster 21st century skills, and to help students discover and pursue their passions, it becomes clear to all that teachers need each other. Pineappling gives teachers the permission they feel they need to collaborate, observe, ask, and reflect. It is a 'safe' and powerful professional development opportunity. Pineappling is free, fits within the school day, and has proven to be the BEST professional growth experience."

Tips for Making Pineapple Charts Work

Find creative ways to make the time.
The simplest way to squeeze these visits in is for teachers to do them during their planning time, or part of it. Remember, we're not talking about a whole class period necessarily; a 15-minute visit may be all that's needed to pick up a new strategy. In cases where teachers want to see something that doesn't coincide with planning time, the staff will need to be more creative:

A floating sub can be arranged for a day (or a few days) and teachers can "sign up for the sub" in order to visit another room.

Administrators (or other certified personnel) can step in to cover a class. This solution does double-duty, as it gives the principal some time to interact more closely with small groups of students. Instead of covering the teacher's regular material, the administrator could use this time for having discussions about school issues or just getting to know the students.

Teachers can team up to cover each other's classes. Imagine a scenario where teacher A agrees to cover teacher B's class while teacher B observes in teacher C's room. Then everyone switches roles two more times. A motivated school might even experiment with a second chart (beside the Pineapple Chart) where teachers post a need for coverage and other teachers sign up to cover for them.

Keep it voluntary.
Administrators, be warned! The quickest way to suck the life out of this initiative is to make it mandatory for all teachers. By keeping visits informal and strictly voluntary (for the host teacher AND the visitor), you'll ensure that the Pineapple Chart is always seen as a positive thing, a learning opportunity initiated by the teacher.

Skip the documentation.
An equally fast way to drain people's enthusiasm for visits is to force them to do some kind of write-up afterward. Please don't turn the chart into another reason to require teachers to document. If they know paperwork is expected of them, they will be far less likely to visit.

Start with the bold and the brave...
When you first launch the Chart, many teachers will be shy about posting lessons. Get things going by having your most extroverted teachers sign up first. If you get a group of 5-10 teachers willing to put themselves out there, this will eventually help others step forward as well.

...but set the bar low.
Make sure teachers know they don't have to be doing something 'impressive' in order to post a lesson to the chart. "The hardest part is getting teachers to understand it doesn't have to be an extravagant lesson to sign up," says Felton. "Their everyday strategies and standard procedures can be incredibly helpful to someone who has never seen or thought of it. You really never know what you might learn whether it's a 5- or a 25-minute visit."

Sell it.
Especially when you first get started, encourage those who do the observing to share the good things they saw by talking about it in faculty meetings, sharing a compliment on a teacher "brag board" or posting about it online. At Maple Avenue, Golden encouraged teachers to tweet about their experiences using the hashtag#MAMSLearning. "This helped keep the excitement high, and the pressure low," she says. "Although I still have to harass teachers every once and again (I call it "gently wooing") to showcase the teaching and learning in their classroom, it has become very much part of our culture."

Share Your Story

If your school has already started using a Pineapple Chart, tell us about it in the comments. I would love to hear about tweaks you've made to the system and how the system is impacting teacher relationships and student growth.

Learn More

The Pineapple Chart is just one of the 10 hacks Mark Barnes and I share in our 2015 book, Hacking Education: 10 Quick Fixes for Every School. Get your copy today and start hacking tomorrow! ♦

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How Pineapple Charts Revolutionize Professional Development

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As one-size-fits-all PD fades into obscurity, more personalized professional development models have emerged. The Pineapple Chart may be the greatest of them all.

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