September 2021 Agenda—Rockford, Illinois
Begin at 9:00am
Getting Connected
Digitally…Socially…Spiritually
- To WiFi: Password: crusaders11
- How to get to today’s agenda: If you can read this, you’re already there.
- To each other – Grab a breakfast item! Meet your fellow TEC21 participants!
- Shortly we will do an ice breaker activity to begin to get to know one another!
Devotion
Announcements
1. Water fountain? Restrooms?
- Go down the main hallway just outside the main office.
- Workshop Date Review:
Workshop #1 – Thursday, September 16Workshop #2 – Thursday, October 14Workshop #3 – Thursday, November 11CHRISTMAS BREAK (no workshop in December)Workshop #4 – Thursday, January 20Workshop #5- Thursday, February 24Workshop #6 – Thursday, March 24Workshop #7 – Thursday, April 28
2. What does the timeline of a typical workshop day look like?
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- Workshop Day Timeline
- 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM Connecting with Teachers
- Connecting with Wi-Fi & each other
- Ice Breaker with group (in September)
- Devotion
- Announcements
- Review–What have you done this past month?
- What new/reoccurring problems/needs are you seeing for yourself this year?
- 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM
- Topic/Lesson
- 11:00 AM – 11:30 PM
- Explore the list of Digital Tools and Resources
- 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
- LUNCH (group decision)
- 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM
- Further explore the list of Digital Tools and Resources
- Make it, take it, use it
- Go deeper into understanding (peer-to-peer coaching)
- One-on-one with teachers
- Involve and help time (guide by the side)
- Get connected with one another here and in other cohorts around the country and the world. There are many ways this can be done, but one easy means of doing this is through our TEC21 Educators Group on Facebook. You can post to the group any time to share or ask questions. You can even create a room to meet up with others to discuss a hot topic. Consider giving it a shot by starting or joining a discussion!
- Complete the REFLECTION at 1:50 PM
- 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM Connecting with Teachers
- Workshop Day Timeline
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3. This series of workshops will provide you the opportunity to grow in a fun, safe and supportive environment. How and what you decide to implement into your classroom is up to you–personalized learning at its best!
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- There are program-specific aspects–what we as Facilitators collectively deem as core components across the board.
- There are center-specific aspects–what individual Facilitators include which are practical and relevant to their teachers based on needs and interests.
- In the TEC21 Workshop Program, how are short- and long-term goals defined?
- SHORT-TERM – Some sort of technology integrating lesson or activity you want to do with your students THIS MONTH.
- LONG-TERM – A major change in the way you teach or manage your classroom. “I want to do less of THAT and more of THIS.” It could include a blog, a web site used for flipping your classroom, going paperless with Google Docs, using digital portfolios for student work, integrating project-based learning using a specific tool or tools. There are many possibilities. Think of something you’ve seen or heard about that makes you “spark” and think, “Yeah! I want to do more of THAT!”
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4. On our final workshop day, we will gather together for what we have dubbed “Celebration Day”. This particular session’s format is unique among the others in that each of you will share some of the ways in which you implemented your ideas or projects to enhance your teaching and student learning. Think of this as a mini-conference where each of you will have 10-15 minutes to share with the group how your TEC21 experience has impacted your classroom. It’ll be among friends so there’s no need to get worked up about it. Here’s an outline to guide you in your planning – “Celebration Day”. You can share your learning with the group in any way you choose, but we’ll have you start a Google Slide today just as an option. Then if you end up presenting in this way you can add to your slides throughout the school year and avoid the pressure of having to develop a presentation toward the end of the program! Again, remember this is a low-key, no pressure, fun day to share with each other our successes (and yes failures) as well as aspirations you might have for things you want to do the next school year! Below is a suggested outline to help you plan.
How to Obtain 3 Graduate-level Credits Through Your TEC21 Experience
On June 1, transcripts will be available upon request. If you ever have questions regarding how these three graduate-level credits could be applied to a master’s degree program now or in the coming years (they are good for 5 years), contact Anna Boriack, Director of Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction, Instructional Innovation Specialist. She will be happy to help you. Her email address is anna.boriack@cune.edu. Concordia University, Nebraska is a ministry partner of TEC21, so they may email you from time to time to share opportunities of how these credits could be applied toward graduate-level programs they offer.
Please note: The opportunity detailed above is optional. Additionally, all TEC21 participants will receive a certificate on the final workshop day stating 35 professional development hours have been completed through the TEC21 Workshop Program. How state board of education departments and the 35 LCMS districts recognize these 35 hours of professional development vary from state to state and district to district. (For example, see how the Kansas District of the LCMS Licensure Renewal has a distinct process in place for the teachers serving in this district.) So, be sure to contact your respective state’s board of education department or your LCMS district office if you have any questions on how to renew your certificate or license using your TEC21 experience!
Goals
We look forward in Workshop #1 to begin getting to know each other and taking a high-level look at the TEC21 ministry.
1. Discover TEC21’s vision and mission – what we do, how we do it and most importantly why we do it.
2. Boost your professional learning network by beginning to connect with one another and the TEC21 community of educators.
3. Gain an understanding of the TEC21 road map for the school year culminating at the end of the school year with “Celebration Day”.
4. Explore, discover and reimagine the plethora of Google applications and ways in which they can be used for teaching and student learning. We’ll learn best practices from each other by sharing how we use some of these resourceful tools in our own classrooms.
The TEC21 Ministry
Throughout this program, we will be discovering how impactful it is to be connecting with other educators outside of our own school buildings. In fact, we believe it is mission-critical in Lutheran education today for our faithful and dedicated teachers to be equipped, encouraged and supported by one another because teachers are each other’s BEST resources! To help us to extend the supportive relationships, we have established a web-presence on a number of different social media platforms. We invite you to connect with us on any of them so that we can extend the learning and support to you outside of our monthly sessions. We also hope that the relationships we will be building this year will continue to be a blessing to your teaching ministry for many years to come! Know that as a team of facilitators, we will always be here to support you! #LutheranSchoolsThrive
Twitter: Follow @TEC21_LuthEd and the many other educators who have utilize this powerful communication tool. Follow and use these hashtags #TEC21lcms & #LuthEd when tweeting!
Facebook Group: Engage with TEC21 Educators going all the way back to “Season 1” to ask questions and share ideas to support one another (We’ll be taking a much closer look at his one today as this is how we provide support to you outside of our face-to-face sessions!)
Facebook: Please help us get the word out to as many teachers as possible about the TEC21 Workshop Program by “Liking” us on the TEC21 Facebook Page!
Pinterest: Do you love Pinterest? Then you’ll love all the teaching ideas and resources that get pinned to TEC21’s collaborative board. Start pinning to the board with us by clicking HERE.
Instagram: Follow TEC_21 so you can enjoy the fun pics taken at our workshop centers from year to year.
Expand Your Professional Learning Network
Check your email to request to join the TEC21 Educators Group!
We’ve created this group for TEC21 Teachers and TEC21 Facilitators. Why should you join this group? Because building your professional learning network is vital in teaching today to connect, share, inspire, grow, and support one another. This Facebook group affords us the ability to extend our learning and support beyond our face-to-face workshop sessions. It also enables us to connect all of our TEC21 educators in each of our innovation centers with one another as well as with past TEC21 Teachers. It’s an excellent way for us to remain connected and to support one another for many years to come. Check your email for a link to join. Brent and Helena are online ready to approve your request to get you in!
Theory and Standards that Ground Tech Integration
All Things Google
- Celebration Day–Workshop 7–The time to start is today!
- Create a Google Slides presentation. Add it to the shared folder with the link in the left column
- Each month, add to your slide show (an example of what you implemented in your classroom as well as a student example)
- When Celebration Day is here in April, your presentation is complete and ready to share with our colleagues! 🙂
- Example 1 of celebration day presentation
- Example 2 of celebration day presentation
Create a Quiz or Survey using Google Forms: Create a quiz or a survey and share with at least one person in our workshop.
Create a Jamboard to connect with other educators and add to your toolkit of teaching ideas!
Top Digital Tools & Resources on Google Workspace
Rockford Center Resources
Lunch Hour at 11:30am/Back to Work at 12:30pm
Project Development
TEC21 Challenges
1. Digital: Explore further a tool or idea from today’s session. It can be student-centered, teacher-centered or both. Come ready to share your experience when we meet again in October!
2. Social: Consider following TEC21 on the social media platforms of your choice. Also, be sure to request to join the TEC21 Educators Group on Facebook. As a result, we will connect, share, inspire, grow, and support one another making our Lutheran schools thrive!
3. Spiritual: Again, with the words connect, share, inspire, grow, and support in mind, encourage a colleague and be a resource to them between now and October’s session.
Reflection
To open the reflection in its own tab, select HERE.
My Contact Info

Please feel free to reach out if you ever need any help with technology integration or you have questions about something we did this year! I am always happy to help.
Email: jastaehr@gmail.com
Phone: 308-258-1163 (call or text)
Dismiss at 2:00pm