April 5, 2022 • 43 mins
In this episode, Mike chats to our guest Cameron Ross, Digital Learning ICT Coach and Teacher based at St. Peters College, Cranbourne in Australia.
He shares his hands-on experiences as an educator, content creator and colleague. This episode is full of practical takeaways for leaders and teachers alike!
0:15 Meet our guest - Cameron Ross
4:52 Teachers are hoarders
6:23 The mindset of being the fountain of knowledge
7:42 The 1:9:90 Rule
8:40 Failure is okay - what is the worst that can happen?
9:42 Cam's role as an IT coach
14:05 Trends in teaching - how do you keep up?
15:45 The overwhelm of choice when it comes to tech in the classroom
17:26 GROWTH coaching and collaborative teaching teams
19:45 How to manage change fatigue in the new normal
23:35 The place of online professional learning networks (PLN) for PLD
31:00 Giving back via social media
34:29 Cam's top 3 edtech tools for the classroom
39:57 Tech tips for teacher empowerment
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:05):
You're listening to the outclassed podcast exploring
Excellence in Teaching tech andleadership.
Mike Reading (00:16):
Alright, everyone, welcome back to the outclassed
podcast. It's great to haveCameron Ross with us today, Cam
is been someone who's beenlistening to the podcast for a
while, see him on social mediaevery now and then tweeting
something or sharing one of thethoughts or takeaways, which, as
a content producer, is somethingthat I've always, always
appreciate when we hear backfrom the audience. But I didn't
(00:39):
ask him on because he's been alistener. What I asked Cameron
on to, to have a conversationtoday is one of the things that
I really want to do with thepodcast is just have a chat with
teachers at the coalface gettingthings done learning lessons,
applying the learning, and soon. And one of the things I've
noticed about Cameron is that hejust shows up everywhere. So
(01:01):
whenever I see a new initiativelaunch anywhere on Instagram or
on Twitter or on LinkedIn, itseems like you're there, you're
commenting, you're engaged. Andso I think one of the things I
appreciate about you is that youjust seem to be one of these
lifelong learners, which is, youknow, you structure Bhutan and
gone for it. And I think if Ithink all the way back to when I
(01:23):
started professionallypresenting and started using
technology better, one of thethings that I really wanted to
always maintain was the factthat this was classroom
teachers, talking about how we,how we play our craft,
essentially not some, IT guywants to talk about the
functions of a of a tool, buthow do we actually apply this to
(01:45):
the classroom? So, Kevin, greatto have you on.
Cameron Ross (01:49):
Thanks for having me. Yeah,
Mike Reading (01:51):
it seems like you're having some interesting
times right now you're at home,how families in isolation, and
so on. So we might need somebackground noise every now and
then. But the joys of workingfrom home and got kids at home
and wife at home as well. So begreat just to hear a little bit
about where you work, what yourrole is, how long you've been
there, and then we might just gofrom there.
Unknown (02:12):
Sure. Well, thanks for begin inviting me on the podcast
episode today. My My name isCameron Ross, and I am the
digital learning ICT coach atSt. Peter's College Cranbourne
in Melbourne, Victoria. Sosoutheast suburbs of Melbourne.
I've been there this my fifthyear. And previous to that I
(02:32):
worked at a school for six yearsdown on the Mornington
Peninsula. In Victoria. Look, asyou mentioned, I am a lifelong
learner. So it is my I guess mygoal every day is to reach out
to different people have a lookat what they're what they're
sharing, and then try to put itinto practice not only for
myself, but also to share withmy colleagues so they can build
(02:55):
up their skills in usingtechnology. And I guess the use
of technology isn't just, oh,here's a brand new shiny tool.
It is actually let's have a lookat it. Let's have some sort of
connection to the curriculum. Soit actually has meaning not only
for the staff member, but thestudent as well. You did mention
that? Yes, I am, in starting dayone of seven days worth of
(03:18):
isolation at home. So I've gotfour kids primary school age or
trying to do their own thing athome. So yeah, keep keeps me on
my toes. But I'm looking forwardto having discussion with you
today.
Mike Reading (03:31):
So can you tell me a little bit about like how you
got into teaching? You said thatyou did a you've got three
degrees in? You're working inthe sports management space,
like what was it like gettinginto teaching? And how did that
sort of set up your frameworkand your mindset, I guess?
Cameron Ross (03:48):
Yeah, look, I always had a passion for sports
management. But for me, teachingand leading was the key. And
I'll tell you a story, my firstday of teaching or still
remember to this day, this isover 10 years ago now. There
were five of us teaching thesame subject, you seven it your
(04:09):
digital technologies, as it'snow called. And coming from a
business background and highschool, I was always of the
opinion that everyone shared andeveryone collaborated. Well,
this first day, that blue thatit brought over water, everyone
was teaching different thingsand there was no sharing. So for
me, the last thing that fromthat meeting was any time I got
(04:32):
the opportunity to share andcollaborate, I would try my
hardest. So if anyone can takeinspiration from that, yeah, for
me reach out. I'm more thanalways willing to share and
collaborate where I can if Ican't find out for you.
Mike Reading (04:51):
Yeah, that's awesome. I had a very similar
experience when I went fromteaching science to history and
geography. And generallyspeaking, I think teachers are
hoarders They've got so muchmaterial, so much resources. But
again, how do you get someone toshare that resource with you,
and it's almost like you got togo reinvent the wheel, create
your own worksheets. This wasback in the day when we used to
(05:12):
create these lovely lookingworksheets and hand them out to
the students and had to have,you know, not just be text on a
page, but have some images. AndI remember thinking the same as
you back then like, surelythere's got to be an easier way
of doing this than writing outoverhead projectors. And, and I
wish we could just have a bankof resources that we could pull
from and learn from one another.
And then I was so surprised whenI went from science to that
(05:34):
history geography department. Noone was asking about like,
what's my experience? And what'sthe fresh eyes on it? Or
anything like that? In terms ofwhat could they learn from me
from being new to thedepartment? So yeah, I can
definitely relate to that storyin both directions. Being new
into it and wanting to learn butthen thinking, Man, I'm seeing
(05:55):
so much that you don't seebecause you're in the middle of
it. But no one was askingquestions. It was bizarre.
Cameron Ross (06:03):
And I guess, again, for me, it's all always
asking questions. And hopefully,from what you can see on on,
socials is I do ask questions.
If I don't know something. I'llask if I agree or don't agree,
it's not nothing personal. It'sjust me wanting to learn more
and more.
Mike Reading (06:22):
Yeah, yeah. And so how do you manage that? Because
sometimes teachers don't like toadmit that, that we don't know
what we're talking about, are wemeant to be the font of all
knowledge at the front of theroom? And we're meant to have
all the answers not all thequestions. So how do you battle
that mindset of I'm going tolook like an egg? If I asked
that question, or what willpeople think
Cameron Ross (06:41):
of me? I'm always upfront, and I have been from
day one of teaching, if I don'tknow something, and I'll let my
students know. And I'll say,Look, guys, I don't know the
answer right now. But you knowwhat, I'm going to go out and
find it. And I'll come back,we'll have a discussion next
time. Or if my students knowmore than what I do, which, at
times that happens, I'm notgoing to shy away from it, I'm
(07:04):
going to actually ask them tostand up or go to students who
may be struggling with a topicand say, look, here's your
expert. Let's have a discussion.
Let's work together to upskill.
Everyone. So for me that that'sthe key is being able to
acknowledge that you know what,in life, we don't know
everything. There are times thatwill fail. And I don't look at
(07:26):
as a negative. And for me,failure is the first intention
learning. And I'm always goingto say, right, yep, I've made a
mistake, or I don't knowsomething, and then we're going
to learn together from that.
Mike Reading (07:39):
Yeah, I think that's super important, because
I see a lot of people notwilling to ask those questions.
And again, I don't know if itjust comes back to that local
mentality. There's actually astatistic when they talk about
building community that 1% ofpeople post. So they'll ask a
question and all they'll start astimulus question. 9% will
(08:00):
reply. And then 90% will worknever engage. So they're never
asking questions, but they'renever providing answers or
asking for clarity or so it's aone 990 rule in terms of online
community building. And it'shard to find those, those one
percenters or the ninepercenters are out there. Having
that conversation. Yeah, quiteinteresting. So I think that
(08:24):
mindset of being willing just toput yourself out there, like
what's the worst that's gonnahappen? Like, honestly,
Cameron Ross (08:31):
upset, and that's what I share with my students.
My obviously, big failure, okay,there's some things we can go
through. But you ask a question,what's the worst thing that can
happen? And what I try and do inmy classrooms is provide that
safe environment where questionsare encouraged, no one's gonna
pick on you or laugh at you oranything like that. We're all in
(08:53):
a safe environment wherequestions that are able to be
asked, we're all learning, we'reall sponges, and we can then
share our own knowledge and ourown experiences, to then ensure
that whoever is asked thatquestion gets the right one. And
I know from being a person who'sin a conference, listen to it. A
presenter. If I asked you aquestion, I'm sure others in
(09:16):
that room will be wanting to askthe same question. So yeah.
Mike Reading (09:22):
Yeah, I think that's a great position to take,
especially in someone in yourposition who, where you could be
thinking, Man, if I don't knowall the answers, then what's the
point of me having this jobright now? So yeah, but I think
that humility makes a bigdifference in terms of the
people that you lead and thetype of answers you get, right.
Yeah, awesome. So talk to meabout your role as like an IT
(09:45):
coach. Like what percentage ofyour time is spent in the
classroom with your ownstudents, or are you just 100%
released into the school to workwith teachers?
Cameron Ross (09:54):
Now I am predominately a classroom
teacher. I'm teaching,predominately eating 11 and 12.
So for those outside ofVictoria, its senior students.
So around 1516 year olds up,might, then the rest of the time
is released to do the coachingside of things. The idea is
(10:15):
rather than me just going tothem and providing the solution,
it is actually having thediscussion with the staff member
and saying, Okay, what is it,that you're wanting to get out
of it? And then I'm supportingwith it? My knowledge, I guess.
Mike Reading (10:29):
Yeah. Right. So you're very much outcomes
focused by the sounds of things.
So what's what's a typical sortof a question that a teacher
will come and ask, is it verytech tool focused? Or is it more
like I'm trying to get thisoutcome in terms of the
curriculum, but I'm thinking,How do I do this in a different
kind of way?
Cameron Ross (10:48):
Or I like the idea of typical, because to me, in my
role, there is no such thing astypical some days it's help. I
can't get this projector towork, too. How can I, for
example, get Flipgrid into theclassroom? And what is Flipgrid?
And why do I need it? So again,it's a day by day proposition.
(11:11):
And that's, I guess, that's whyI love my role is because it
does change all the time. And itisn't. It isn't the same. So
coming back to the idea of rentproviding reason to use the tech
tool, I guess that's whatreally, I enjoy most of
especially that role is givingthis the staff member, something
(11:32):
to go away with. And I knowyou've mentioned that in a
previous episode, where it givesus the staff member something to
actually physical to take intothe room, try it out with their
students, and then give mefeedback on how it worked. And
then I can I guess, the depth,what I do and how I teach it. So
I can move on from there.
Mike Reading (11:53):
Yeah, right. So I mean, obviously, like I've said,
you're one of the I see youpopping up everywhere, you seem
to have lots and lots ofstimulus material, so to speak,
you're getting lots of ideascome in how what sort of, do you
have, like a filter that youuse? Do you have? How do you
decide what you're going to havea go at? And what you might just
leave to the side?
Cameron Ross (12:13):
Good question. I don't know if I've got a filter,
per se. But I guess I put myteacher hat on first. And so
what is it that I can use in myclassroom first, and then try to
relate it back to our school'scurriculum and our school focus,
and then go from there. Anddon't get me wrong, I tried a
(12:35):
lot of things. And more oftenthan not, I just go look, it's
probably in the too hard basketat this point in time. But it's
always there. And that's why Ilike to share a lot of things
because if I can't use it,someone else might. And that's
why I love learning from a rangeof different people around
around the world, whether it'syourselves UTB, in New Zealand,
(12:58):
or many colleagues in Australiareach out to people in in
Europe, US it's, and that's thebeauty of teaching, but also
with Twitter as well. I think Istarted back probably 10 years
ago, just get on there and justI guess lurked around for a
little bit, just have a look.
And then as you started gettingmore comfortable with the
(13:20):
environment and reaching outconnecting with people. Probably
about six or seven years ago, Ithink we connected somewhere
along the line, maybe teach takeplay I think it was. But again,
that was a eye opener for mebecause I was still relatively
new in the teaching game. Andbeing able to provide or have
(13:42):
someone give me the confidenceto ask questions, and then be
able to present on those topics,just opened my eyes to the world
that is digital technology. Andthen and that's how I guess
that's how I got my current jobis having that confidence behind
me to try something new? Andthen go from there.
Mike Reading (14:05):
Yeah. And then in terms of in terms of that, like
one of the things I wrestledwith quite a lot is, you know,
obviously I see a lot of newtrends coming new tools coming.
And I'm like, Man, how do youhow do you incorporate that into
a busy teaching practice whereyou're, you know, you've already
got what, what's your schoolusing a you a Google school
Microsoft school, I can'tremember or a bit of a
Cameron Ross (14:28):
bit of both half half in terms of Google and
Microsoft, but predominantly, weuse Google workspace. So a lot
of our collaboration is donewith Docs and Sheets and Slides
and forms. But I guess part ofmy role is to work with that and
then share my content knowledgeto staff and then I guess, in
(14:52):
turn when I'm teaching with mystudents, so for example, I'm
teaching you 11 and 12, what wecall data analytics, which is a
an it by subject. And with thatI provide my students with the
opportunity to not only look atGoogle Sheets, but also excel as
well. So it gives them thatopportunity to whatever they
(15:15):
feel most comfortable in to gofrom there. And that's why I
guess I do try to put my handsin both baskets and learn both
so I can provide the opportunityto learn different tools.
Mike Reading (15:27):
Yeah, right. So then, I mean, that becomes even
more complicated, right? Sowe've got Google, you've got
Microsoft. And then you've got,like, all these other amazing
tools, and, you know, thirdparty apps and platforms that
you see around about, and you'regetting all this inspiration. Do
you Do you ever worry thatsometimes we have like, we're so
(15:49):
overwhelmed with choice thatwe're not even using the
fundamentals yet. So it's one ofthe things I wrestle with is
like, sometimes we don't evenuse a Google doc to its full
capacity. But yet, we're sodistracted by all these new
shiny toys. How do you findyourself in that continuum of
wanting to find inspiration andnew ideas, but also, let's get
the most out of what we'realready got?
Cameron Ross (16:10):
Set? And I guess, yeah, that's my role. In a
nutshell. I have to guess, putmy blinkers on. For those people
who don't know what blinkers arejust focus on one one train of
thought. And, and making surethat as a teacher, I'm adhering
to the study design or, or thecurriculum that we're teaching
(16:31):
on? And then saying, How can Ilink those different tools in
there without blowing it all up?
And go, Oh, my goodness, I'm sofar behind, because I've tried
this, this, this and this. Andrather than saying, right, give
me one tool and go from there.
When I'm when I say that, in mycoaching role, I do say to my,
(16:53):
because we've gotten a number ofdifferent KLA heads at our
school. And one of the things Isay to them is, let's have a
discussion around one tool thatyou think might work in your,
your team. And that there mightbe each term or each semester,
let them have a play with it,let them put that into their
classroom, and then come back tome and say, right, yeah, that
(17:14):
really worked or not it just itdidn't hit the mark. And then
that's pretty good for me to goout and do some more research go
go out and look for more toolsthat might suit that. That team,
right? Yeah, yes. Yeah. That'swhere I'm
Mike Reading (17:29):
at. Yeah, yeah.
And in terms of like, coachingrole, do you have like a
coaching program that you run?
Like, is there a method ofcoaching, like grow coaching
model? Or? Yeah, you know,professional learning cycles or
anything? Do you have aparticular model that you use
with staff?
Cameron Ross (17:44):
Sure. So from a coaching point of view, we use
the growth coaching model. Butfrom a team based approach, we
use collaborative teachingteams, where each KLA have their
own teams, and we have leaderswho kind of sit above them, that
kind of help us work towards ourcommon goals, which are your
(18:06):
school, annual achievement,process and school improvement
plan and things like that. Yeah.
But from a growth coachingmindset, again, it's being able
to listen, and then adapt, andthen give them the confidence to
go out and try something new,and then come back, rather than
you just stepping in and doingit for them. Yeah, saying that,
(18:30):
though, there are times when itit's that mad, it's urgent. And
it's got to be donestraightaway. And that's where
I'll come in and help as well.
Mike Reading (18:40):
Right? And so what does that help look like? says
an emergency? Like, is it like,take over and demonstrate a tool
or is it
Cameron Ross (18:49):
it's a little bit of both. More often, though,
it's more IT support. So I go inand my computer's not working or
I can't connect to the projectoror we use Vivi as our tool of
choice in terms of projecting.
So the casing, it's just, Ican't get something to work. And
I'll just go in andtroubleshoot. In terms of tech
(19:12):
tools, I guess it's more around.
Occasionally I'll go in and workwith students in small groups,
where I work with the teacher orin sit in the back of the room
just to provide some feedback onhow they're using a tool. Again,
it's constantly changes and alldepends on specific need of a
(19:34):
teacher or a team.
Mike Reading (19:36):
Yeah, so it sounds like you're doing a bit of that
IT support side of things aswell as the the pedagogy
teaching, planning side ofthings as well. Definitely.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then so interms of that, in terms of like
a change, I'm just reallyinterested in that. You've got
all these options. You'relearning a lot. And then you're
passing that through todifferent teachers and saying,
(19:58):
Hey, try this. Let's see if thatworks. and not how do you manage
almost that overwhelm of change,like the almost the change
fatigue in his new idea and hisnew idea and so on, like, how do
you how do you personally managethat?
Cameron Ross (20:15):
Can I come back to personally for a second, I just
had a thought when you wereasking that question. Yeah. Only
recently, probably in the lastyear or so I've started to send
out a, what was a weekly email,then it pushed out to a
fortnightly, then it pushed outto a monthly. And the feedback I
kept getting was, we love whatyou're sending out. It's just
(20:38):
around tech tools and how we canuse them in the classroom. But
it's just too much just justease back on and going, Okay,
I'm going on, I'm not reallysending that much. But the
feedback was, it's just toomuch. Alright, so now I'm
sending it once a turn. Yeah.
And then the feedback we've got,just last week was we'd love
them. Can you say more? Soagain, it's all to do with the
(21:01):
current situation staff arefacing with. In Melbourne, we're
starting to get we are face toface again. Yeah, that people
are starting to get whatevernormal is. And they feel
uncomfortable in the classroom.
So they're trying to do morethings. Obviously, the last two
years being remote. That was alittle bit too much. So again,
(21:26):
it's for me, it's receivingfeedback, and then taking that
that on without being personal.
It's, it's all about sustainablegrowth of growth. Personally,
you are sorry, the question was,
Mike Reading (21:40):
yeah, how do you manage that whole? Yeah, change
fatigue? Because I see youinvolved in a lot of things as
you seem to be the kind ofperson who's just like, oh,
there's an opportunity to I'llput my hand up, I'll get
involved do that. Even littlethings. Like I'm just
remembering. When I think it wasBrett psilakis who started off
the walking Ed, we have peoplewould do a walk during lockdown
and put a podcast on and thentalk about what they're
(22:00):
listening. There's like, you'reone of the first people and I
was like, well, there he is,again, like, dive into that one
as well. So yeah.
Cameron Ross (22:08):
And look for me, I'll be honest, you change is
awful. It can be overwhelming,don't get me wrong, but I use.
Like, for example, walking, itwas a way for me to because
we're at times during hardlockdown, we're only allowed to
walk out walk from our house forwithin one hour day within a 5k
(22:31):
radius. So for me that wasgetting out getting the kids out
of the house and getting somesort of fresh air. So being able
to do that while listening to apodcast, and playing with the
kids. That was for me a way toto, I guess relax and just focus
on my mental mental health in away. But in terms of jumping in
(22:54):
again, it's just a way for me tostep away from teaching and just
actually, I guess reevaluatethings. Yeah, if that makes
sense.
Mike Reading (23:06):
Yeah. Well, I think you get that headspace
that when you're out and you'rewalking in, you're listening and
reflecting and yeah, yeah,works. I think that mental well
being is very important aroundthat. It's interesting, because
in those times differentcommunities started popping up
in a sense of like, GlobalConnections in a sense. And
people found, like thatconnection through community,
(23:28):
even though it wasn't like we'renot meeting face to face as
such. But yeah, it seemed totake on a bit of a different
meaning that then in that way,
Cameron Ross (23:35):
now definitely, look for me, the PL the online
tail. And as I mentionedearlier, it's just been an
amazing opportunity for me tolearn and, I guess connect with,
obviously, speaking with Brettmany times over the years, and
it's always had that mutualrespect. And I know the same
(23:56):
same with you, my, obviously,we've known each other for a
number years just occasionallyin face to face more often not
online. And anytime I can tosupport what you're doing, I'm
more than willing to do that.
And I guess in the in the end,it is that chance to step away
and just have downtime,obviously, being being a father
of six, and it's constantly onthe go. In a normal world we've
(24:19):
got it's literally every nightof the week, we've got kid
activities. And so for melistening to podcasts, sharing
things on Twitter, anddiscussing with other educators
is a way for me just to havethat time just to step away. And
yeah, so that's why you may seeme tweet quite a bit. It's a way
(24:41):
for me to remind myself of thethings I've learned while I'm
listening to podcasts.
Mike Reading (24:48):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great idea. So you're just
doing these little micro lessonsalong the way and, and that's as
much for you as it is foranybody else by the sounds of
things. Definitely. Yeah. Andthen how much? Like how many of
your staff do you think, uh,follow me on Twitter and because
like we did a podcast in thelast episode around
presentations and one of thehardest groups of people to lead
(25:11):
the groups that you have toserve. So the the the group of
teachers that are in front ofyou day in and day out, they you
know, bringing an outsider thinkthey're amazing because they're
an outsider, but you when youhave to talk to him, it's very,
very hard. So do you find manyfollowing you along on that
journey and picking up littlebits and pieces where you go? Or
is it more about more of thatwider audience for you?
Cameron Ross (25:34):
I would hope that my staff follow, but I don't
honestly believe it, though, atleast for me a wider audience
and being able to be connectedto as many like minded educators
as I can. I did present to ourstaff a number of years ago on
the power of PLN. And I've gotprobably half a dozen people
(25:58):
straightaway, as I'm talking,signing up to Twitter and
following me, and that waspretty much about it. So I guess
coming back to what youmentioned, around presentation,
it was awesome that you've, I'vebeen able to connect, but it's I
guess that follow up and beingable to support moving forward.
Mike Reading (26:18):
Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
So what about you personally,like, where do you go for your
inspiration? Sounds like you useTwitter a lot. But yeah, is that
your single source of truth, soto speak, is that the only
platform you're on? Are you sortof a little bit wider than that?
Look, I've
Cameron Ross (26:33):
tried to get onto as many platforms as possible,
just because it gives me a rangeof different learning options.
So I am on LinkedIn, as youmentioned earlier, I'm on
Twitter, I'm on Instagram, butwith Instagram, it's a little
bit of personal but alsoprofessional. So I don't use
(26:55):
that a lot from my I learnedfrom it, but I don't post a lot
professionally on my Insta page.
Yeah, so it's very much a wideranging area in terms of
learning. But from a passionatepoint of view, I love all
sports. So for me, it'swatching, it's playing when I
(27:16):
can. And that gives me thatpassion. Because I've got three
degrees in sport management. Sobefore as a teacher, that was
my, my goal was to get into somesort of sports administration.
And I did those degrees, eitherside of the 2000 Sydney
Olympics. So that was the bigthing. That's to get everyone
(27:38):
into sports administration, andthen all the funding was there.
And then the Olympics happened.
And then goodbye funding. Soagain, it I think it's given me
that the platform to then takeoff with teaching. So don't you
ride at the moment, it's justthere three pieces of paper,
I've got up on my wall. Butit's, it's more than that. It's
(28:01):
given me that that foundation touse that experience to share
with not only colleagues butalso my students as well. I
think I've had manyconversations over the years,
with students who may bestruggling with connecting with
school, and their passion issports, I've been able to have
that conversation and say,right, what is it? What is it?
(28:24):
What is it about sport that wecan link back to school? So
whether it's reading, so I'veprovided students with raw sport
books, so I've got here at home,and then given them that impetus
to go out and read now and havea conversation, or students who
are in the process of looking atuniversity courses. So I have a
(28:46):
discussion around that. I'vebeen I was in Australian Army
Reserves for a little bit. Sostudents who are going down that
path can have a conversation. Sofor me, again, it's using those
life experiences to provide thatopportunity to build rapport
relationships.
Mike Reading (29:07):
All right. So if you had to choose one platform
to give you some inspiration,which platform would you go to?
Cameron Ross (29:14):
I'd look I'd say Twitter, it's been my go to for
a number of years. Look, don'tget me wrong. I love LinkedIn
because it's more professionaloutlier. But for me, it's
Twitter.
Mike Reading (29:26):
And if you had to bury into Twitter in particular,
is there a particular groups ofpeople or hashtags you follow?
Like what's your what's yourprocess?
Cameron Ross (29:35):
Love? I'm a team leader of Ozzy yet, so I can't
not shout them out. HashtagAussie yet. We run every Sunday
night. Melbourne time (29:42):
30pm But yes, I had a look at lots so
obviously, hashtag outclassedcan't forget that one. But
Taylor, so teach parser don'tBurgess A follow Milla, ditch
book, it all depends on whereI'm at and what time I've got to
(30:07):
follow. Cozy, I'll miss some.
There was one chat that I wasfollowing recently, that's it's
just finished up was co chairedby the cool collaborative in the
US. And more often than not, itwas around 1010 30 In the
morning, our time, on aWednesday morning and more often
I was teaching but I was able togo back over and have a look at
(30:29):
the questions and answer where Icould, there's a really good eye
opener for me. Because it wasn'tjust tech base, which I do
enjoy. But it was more aroundthe pedagogy of learning. And
it's something that I'm startingto get more and more into. So I
can, I guess, connect both thetechnology side of things, and
knowing how my students learn,but also how I learned and being
(30:54):
able to share that with, withcolleagues as well.
Mike Reading (30:58):
Yeah, yeah. And I think you've, like you've
probably picked up on somethingthere. And it's maybe not
immediately obvious to you,because it's just what you do.
But I think there's a lot ofpeople that might use Twitter or
some social platform, and I lookthere and they they're just
absorbing, but they're notnecessarily giving back. And you
just said just there in youranswer, like you'd go back, read
(31:19):
the questions, even thoughyou're out of sync in terms of
that live chat happening. Butthen you'd answer where you
could. And I think it's in thatreciprocal nature of social
media, right, where we're socialbeings that we should be giving
as well as receiving, andanswering into that, because
that's when you start to getthat buying right from, from
those sorts of those sorts ofengagements.
Cameron Ross (31:42):
100%. And I think for me, I've gotten so much out
of following different peoplealong the years, that being able
to share back as as myexperience grows, is a really
key feature for me. Another areathat I like to help with is,
(32:05):
obviously with pre serviceteachers and new teachers coming
into the profession, being ableto help them and on it's not
just pointing them to Twitterand saying that's the the
almighty type of thing, butbeing able to give them some
context as to why I use it andthen saying, give it a go. And
then helping them navigatethrough their first couple of
(32:27):
years of being a teacher. And Ithink that's a really key area
is being able to not onlyreceive information, but also
give it
Mike Reading (32:36):
Yeah, yeah. And so in terms of managing like that
Twitter feed, or do you use aparticular tool to segregate all
the different chats in the feed?
Are you one of these guys whojust jumped in and worked your
way through?
Cameron Ross (32:48):
Again, depending on the situation, if I've got
enough time to sit down and setup my platform, my, my computer,
I'll set up TweetDeck and haveall the different hashtags open.
But more often than not, it'sjust I've got Twitter, pinned to
the top of my Chrome bar andopen it up, see what's there,
(33:10):
type in a hashtag, and away Igo. Again, it might sound
disorganized, or all over theplace. But that's, that's how I
work. So again, it's all aboutthe day and the time and when I
can get on.
Mike Reading (33:24):
Yeah. And have you taken the time to set up lists
in Twitter and things like thatas well.
Cameron Ross (33:29):
No, I haven't. And that's, I know, I get added to
lists. Also. Yeah, I don't know.
It's, I guess it's somethingthat I've always thought I can I
might look into it I just yetagain, I haven't had the time to
sit down and go, Okay, how does,how does the list work? And then
go from there? Yeah, I know,with Ozzy Ed, we're this month
focusing on giving Twitterspaces ago in terms of the audio
(33:52):
feature and having aconversation rather than just
the typing out of answers. And Iguess it's an area that's new to
me. So I'm still learning. Butlook feedback. So far. It's been
a good change for for us yet.
And I'm always open to newideas. So
Mike Reading (34:13):
yeah, yeah, that's awesome. That's cool. And then
so I guess bringing this allback in in terms of that
inspiration and connectionpiece. Like what are you seeing
recently that you've thought,well, that's a damn good idea,
or there's a bit of inspiration.
I want to try that out. Yeah,what's caught your mind or
caught your eye recently?
Cameron Ross (34:32):
Well, for me, it's Flipgrid. It's something that
I've been wanting to really diveinto with my classes. Because
for me, I know my kids lovegetting their phone out and
taking selfies and sending clipsand all this sort of stuff. But
when it comes to classroom andin the experience over the last
two years about in running zoom,I couldn't get anyone to turn
(34:55):
the camera. So being able to useFlipgrid in a meaningful Why in
the classroom, not only givesthem that opportunity to use
their phones in a meaningfulway, but also, what I found as
well is, I have a number ofstudents who may not feel
comfortable putting their handup in class and answering
questions in front of others.
And using Flipgrid, to me, givesthem that opportunity. So that's
(35:20):
one piece of tech that I can seebeing useful in my classes. Look
for me up being a Google schooland using Google workspace,
there are heaps of differentideas that I want to do. But
again, it comes down to thetime, but also whether it can be
meaningful using in my classes.
Mike Reading (35:44):
Yeah. Is there any tool or tip that you've seen in
your thought, then that's goingto be amazing, you've tried it,
and it's just been an absoluteflop or,
Cameron Ross (35:52):
Oh, I'm just trying to think of one. It's
Google Sheets is a key one.
Because our with our with my VCAclass, my 1112 class, we do a
lot of data analysis. And thereis one feature in there that I'd
love to continue trying is it'saround removing duplicates, and
being able to analyze thedownside, right, there's heaps
(36:14):
of gaps here, I want to be ableto remove that, and then go from
there. Another tool that Ireally enjoy using, and I got
onto it last year through LennyCurtis, who's a mutual friend of
ours, was his mode. And I lovethe idea of providing audio
feedback, on top of being ableto provide takes feedback are
(36:36):
found that providing that voice,especially during remote
learning, where it was just aface, and it was a typing,
feedback, having that ability tohear students, but also hear
teachers speak was key. So yeah,using mode in all mine, whether
it's docs, shapes, forms, evenprovides that opportunity to
(37:01):
give that relevant, relevantfeedback. It's also personal.
And I think that's a really keyarea in classroom management is
being able to provide thatongoing verbal feedback.
Mike Reading (37:16):
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think anything
that can bring in that audiointo that image just makes it
much more relatable, I think,you can beat the strings can
hear the tone in your voice.
They hopefully they can hear alittle bit behind, not just the
comment that's written andinterpreted the wrong way. And
you're right that any of that AIin sheets at the moment is just
(37:37):
amazing. We can get GoogleSheets to to have a look at your
data and do data clean upsuggestions for you. And that
always gets a big response whenwe doing business training.
Yeah,
Cameron Ross (37:49):
well, funnily enough, I actually just thought
of it as you spoke about AI inin sheet weave. In one of my
classes we've been, I've beentrying to teach my students how
to use formulas and functions.
So the basic stuff within inspreadsheets, but being able to
type a formula in and thenGoogle Sheets pops up saying Do
you want to do the rest of theyear? Sure, why not? So again,
(38:12):
it's focusing on efficiency andeffectiveness. And that's one of
the things I want to share withmy students is being able to
maximize the tool and not haveto spend a lot of time on doing
it. Yeah. So that that was aneye opener. For me. It's like,
brilliant, this is awesome.
(38:34):
Yeah. And the kids go, why is itawesome? It's like, Well, do you
want to spend five minutes doingsomething? Or do you want to
spend two seconds? And I can seehow the business world can see
that as a really beneficial toolas well?
Mike Reading (38:47):
Yeah, well, even that natural language, in the
Explorer tool inside GoogleSheets, where he just asked
normal questions of complexdata. And then when it gives you
the formula at the end, and it'sthis formula, that would take up
10 cells to write if you'regoing to type it out, and
probably 20 minutes of thinkingit through. Yeah, and you just
be able to ask, like naturallanguage queries. It's amazing
(39:10):
where where these sort of thingsstarting to head. And I think
because the students, they justgrow up in this world, right? It
doesn't even occur to them that15 years ago, that would have
taken me half an hour toactually type that formula out.
And you'd have to be an absoluteninja to even know what the
type. Yeah, it's pretty, prettyoutstanding these days. I think
they just take it for a littlebit of granted. It's just like,
(39:32):
I push a button and it works,right.
Cameron Ross (39:34):
And yeah, they expect everything to be like
that, because that's what theythey used to with having a phone
or having a tablet or anythinglike that. So being able to show
them the power of sheets, or anyany other tech tool. And then
then having that our aha moment,you know, is to me, that's what
(39:56):
it is being a teacher.
Mike Reading (39:57):
Yeah, yeah, I think from a teacher Point of
View Show them, teachers, littletips like that in terms of them
being able to track studentprogress, or all of a sudden,
that's got some value beyond,you know, okay, I'm using
technology and I'm doing anengaging lesson, it's great. And
I'm getting to the outcome,which I would have got to
anyway, if I hadn't abused thetool, so if we can find tools
(40:19):
that will reduce the amount oftime it takes to do the
administration task, orhopefully, even maybe reduce
some behavior management issues,because the students are a
little bit more engaged. Or ifwe can show them the value of
that, then teachers start to go,Okay, what else can we do with
this, you start to get thatsnowball effect.
Cameron Ross (40:38):
Yeah. And for me, coming back to what we were
talking about being a coach isme being able to provide the
skills to staff and then thatthose staff being sharing with
others, and then coming back tome, either. Ah, so it's just
that that flow on effect, Ithink that that's, for me, the
(40:59):
beneficial part of being a coachis seeing, seeing those staff
members who may be someone whomay have been, I guess, not a
negative mindset, but strugglewith seeing the benefit of it.
And then having thatopportunity. So I now use this
all the time. It's fantastic.
Yes, it's good. That's what itis for me.
Mike Reading (41:22):
Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, it's been really
good. chatting to you andhearing a little bit about what
you do, the role you take, andwhere you get that inspiration
and connection and communityfrom. And it's, I think one of
the biggest takeaways for me isjust being reminded that the
engagement is where it's at.
It's not just sitting there andsoaking it up. But it's
answering questions where youcan and sharing ideas and
(41:43):
resources that others can mightbe able to pick something up
and, and kind of work with itcan if people want to connect
with you as the best way forthem to get connected.
Cameron Ross (41:54):
Yeah, it's for me, it's on Twitter. My Twitter
handle is at Cameron Ross three.
But yeah, as I said earlier, I'mpart of the Ozzy ad group. So
just reach out on hashtag Ozzyyet. And yeah, I'm always
willing to share and collaborateand connect. And yeah, I guess
in the end, baseline is beingable to listen and hear some
(42:16):
troubles or issues that youmight be having and trying to
help. And if I don't help out,I'll put a question out there to
pln. And let's let'scollaborate. So yeah, add
Cameron Ross three is my Twitterhandle.
Mike Reading (42:32):
Awesome. Yeah, definitely go give Cameron and
follow and turn on notificationseven. So every time he tweets,
you get notified, and you're notmissing any of the action. And
check out some of those hashtagsand a few of the accounts that
camera mentioned during thesession today and see what you
can do in terms of your ownprofessional development. See if
(42:53):
you can start to learn a littlebit wider and definitely makes a
difference where you can findthose places of inspiration and
connection. And that justreally, I think really pastas
you for that long for that longhome. The long race and again, I
really appreciate the way youshow up on socials. Karen, while
you're always diving in givingsomething ago, willing to
(43:15):
answers has been great to haveyou on the call.
Cameron Ross (43:17):
Well, thanks, Mike. And thanks again for
inviting me on stream. It's beena blast.
Mike Reading (43:22):
Excellent. All right, we'll talk to you soon.
Unknown (43:25):
Thanks for listening.
For more episodes and show notesvisit UTB dot FYI forward slash
outclassed
You're listening to the outclassed podcast exploring
Excellence in Teaching tech andleadership.
Mike Reading (00:16):
Alright, everyone, welcome back to the outclassed
podcast. It's great to haveCameron Ross with us today, Cam
is been someone who's beenlistening to the podcast for a
while, see him on social mediaevery now and then tweeting
something or sharing one of thethoughts or takeaways, which, as
a content producer, is somethingthat I've always, always
appreciate when we hear backfrom the audience. But I didn't
(00:39):
ask him on because he's been alistener. What I asked Cameron
on to, to have a conversationtoday is one of the things that
I really want to do with thepodcast is just have a chat with
teachers at the coalface gettingthings done learning lessons,
applying the learning, and soon. And one of the things I've
noticed about Cameron is that hejust shows up everywhere. So
(01:01):
whenever I see a new initiativelaunch anywhere on Instagram or
on Twitter or on LinkedIn, itseems like you're there, you're
commenting, you're engaged. Andso I think one of the things I
appreciate about you is that youjust seem to be one of these
lifelong learners, which is, youknow, you structure Bhutan and
gone for it. And I think if Ithink all the way back to when I
(01:23):
started professionallypresenting and started using
technology better, one of thethings that I really wanted to
always maintain was the factthat this was classroom
teachers, talking about how we,how we play our craft,
essentially not some, IT guywants to talk about the
functions of a of a tool, buthow do we actually apply this to
(01:45):
the classroom? So, Kevin, greatto have you on.
Cameron Ross (01:49):
Thanks for having me. Yeah,
Mike Reading (01:51):
it seems like you're having some interesting
times right now you're at home,how families in isolation, and
so on. So we might need somebackground noise every now and
then. But the joys of workingfrom home and got kids at home
and wife at home as well. So begreat just to hear a little bit
about where you work, what yourrole is, how long you've been
there, and then we might just gofrom there.
Unknown (02:12):
Sure. Well, thanks for begin inviting me on the podcast
episode today. My My name isCameron Ross, and I am the
digital learning ICT coach atSt. Peter's College Cranbourne
in Melbourne, Victoria. Sosoutheast suburbs of Melbourne.
I've been there this my fifthyear. And previous to that I
(02:32):
worked at a school for six yearsdown on the Mornington
Peninsula. In Victoria. Look, asyou mentioned, I am a lifelong
learner. So it is my I guess mygoal every day is to reach out
to different people have a lookat what they're what they're
sharing, and then try to put itinto practice not only for
myself, but also to share withmy colleagues so they can build
(02:55):
up their skills in usingtechnology. And I guess the use
of technology isn't just, oh,here's a brand new shiny tool.
It is actually let's have a lookat it. Let's have some sort of
connection to the curriculum. Soit actually has meaning not only
for the staff member, but thestudent as well. You did mention
that? Yes, I am, in starting dayone of seven days worth of
(03:18):
isolation at home. So I've gotfour kids primary school age or
trying to do their own thing athome. So yeah, keep keeps me on
my toes. But I'm looking forwardto having discussion with you
today.
Mike Reading (03:31):
So can you tell me a little bit about like how you
got into teaching? You said thatyou did a you've got three
degrees in? You're working inthe sports management space,
like what was it like gettinginto teaching? And how did that
sort of set up your frameworkand your mindset, I guess?
Cameron Ross (03:48):
Yeah, look, I always had a passion for sports
management. But for me, teachingand leading was the key. And
I'll tell you a story, my firstday of teaching or still
remember to this day, this isover 10 years ago now. There
were five of us teaching thesame subject, you seven it your
(04:09):
digital technologies, as it'snow called. And coming from a
business background and highschool, I was always of the
opinion that everyone shared andeveryone collaborated. Well,
this first day, that blue thatit brought over water, everyone
was teaching different thingsand there was no sharing. So for
me, the last thing that fromthat meeting was any time I got
(04:32):
the opportunity to share andcollaborate, I would try my
hardest. So if anyone can takeinspiration from that, yeah, for
me reach out. I'm more thanalways willing to share and
collaborate where I can if Ican't find out for you.
Mike Reading (04:51):
Yeah, that's awesome. I had a very similar
experience when I went fromteaching science to history and
geography. And generallyspeaking, I think teachers are
hoarders They've got so muchmaterial, so much resources. But
again, how do you get someone toshare that resource with you,
and it's almost like you got togo reinvent the wheel, create
your own worksheets. This wasback in the day when we used to
(05:12):
create these lovely lookingworksheets and hand them out to
the students and had to have,you know, not just be text on a
page, but have some images. AndI remember thinking the same as
you back then like, surelythere's got to be an easier way
of doing this than writing outoverhead projectors. And, and I
wish we could just have a bankof resources that we could pull
from and learn from one another.
And then I was so surprised whenI went from science to that
(05:34):
history geography department. Noone was asking about like,
what's my experience? And what'sthe fresh eyes on it? Or
anything like that? In terms ofwhat could they learn from me
from being new to thedepartment? So yeah, I can
definitely relate to that storyin both directions. Being new
into it and wanting to learn butthen thinking, Man, I'm seeing
(05:55):
so much that you don't seebecause you're in the middle of
it. But no one was askingquestions. It was bizarre.
Cameron Ross (06:03):
And I guess, again, for me, it's all always
asking questions. And hopefully,from what you can see on on,
socials is I do ask questions.
If I don't know something. I'llask if I agree or don't agree,
it's not nothing personal. It'sjust me wanting to learn more
and more.
Mike Reading (06:22):
Yeah, yeah. And so how do you manage that? Because
sometimes teachers don't like toadmit that, that we don't know
what we're talking about, are wemeant to be the font of all
knowledge at the front of theroom? And we're meant to have
all the answers not all thequestions. So how do you battle
that mindset of I'm going tolook like an egg? If I asked
that question, or what willpeople think
Cameron Ross (06:41):
of me? I'm always upfront, and I have been from
day one of teaching, if I don'tknow something, and I'll let my
students know. And I'll say,Look, guys, I don't know the
answer right now. But you knowwhat, I'm going to go out and
find it. And I'll come back,we'll have a discussion next
time. Or if my students knowmore than what I do, which, at
times that happens, I'm notgoing to shy away from it, I'm
(07:04):
going to actually ask them tostand up or go to students who
may be struggling with a topicand say, look, here's your
expert. Let's have a discussion.
Let's work together to upskill.
Everyone. So for me that that'sthe key is being able to
acknowledge that you know what,in life, we don't know
everything. There are times thatwill fail. And I don't look at
(07:26):
as a negative. And for me,failure is the first intention
learning. And I'm always goingto say, right, yep, I've made a
mistake, or I don't knowsomething, and then we're going
to learn together from that.
Mike Reading (07:39):
Yeah, I think that's super important, because
I see a lot of people notwilling to ask those questions.
And again, I don't know if itjust comes back to that local
mentality. There's actually astatistic when they talk about
building community that 1% ofpeople post. So they'll ask a
question and all they'll start astimulus question. 9% will
(08:00):
reply. And then 90% will worknever engage. So they're never
asking questions, but they'renever providing answers or
asking for clarity or so it's aone 990 rule in terms of online
community building. And it'shard to find those, those one
percenters or the ninepercenters are out there. Having
that conversation. Yeah, quiteinteresting. So I think that
(08:24):
mindset of being willing just toput yourself out there, like
what's the worst that's gonnahappen? Like, honestly,
Cameron Ross (08:31):
upset, and that's what I share with my students.
My obviously, big failure, okay,there's some things we can go
through. But you ask a question,what's the worst thing that can
happen? And what I try and do inmy classrooms is provide that
safe environment where questionsare encouraged, no one's gonna
pick on you or laugh at you oranything like that. We're all in
(08:53):
a safe environment wherequestions that are able to be
asked, we're all learning, we'reall sponges, and we can then
share our own knowledge and ourown experiences, to then ensure
that whoever is asked thatquestion gets the right one. And
I know from being a person who'sin a conference, listen to it. A
presenter. If I asked you aquestion, I'm sure others in
(09:16):
that room will be wanting to askthe same question. So yeah.
Mike Reading (09:22):
Yeah, I think that's a great position to take,
especially in someone in yourposition who, where you could be
thinking, Man, if I don't knowall the answers, then what's the
point of me having this jobright now? So yeah, but I think
that humility makes a bigdifference in terms of the
people that you lead and thetype of answers you get, right.
Yeah, awesome. So talk to meabout your role as like an IT
(09:45):
coach. Like what percentage ofyour time is spent in the
classroom with your ownstudents, or are you just 100%
released into the school to workwith teachers?
Cameron Ross (09:54):
Now I am predominately a classroom
teacher. I'm teaching,predominately eating 11 and 12.
So for those outside ofVictoria, its senior students.
So around 1516 year olds up,might, then the rest of the time
is released to do the coachingside of things. The idea is
(10:15):
rather than me just going tothem and providing the solution,
it is actually having thediscussion with the staff member
and saying, Okay, what is it,that you're wanting to get out
of it? And then I'm supportingwith it? My knowledge, I guess.
Mike Reading (10:29):
Yeah. Right. So you're very much outcomes
focused by the sounds of things.
So what's what's a typical sortof a question that a teacher
will come and ask, is it verytech tool focused? Or is it more
like I'm trying to get thisoutcome in terms of the
curriculum, but I'm thinking,How do I do this in a different
kind of way?
Cameron Ross (10:48):
Or I like the idea of typical, because to me, in my
role, there is no such thing astypical some days it's help. I
can't get this projector towork, too. How can I, for
example, get Flipgrid into theclassroom? And what is Flipgrid?
And why do I need it? So again,it's a day by day proposition.
(11:11):
And that's, I guess, that's whyI love my role is because it
does change all the time. And itisn't. It isn't the same. So
coming back to the idea of rentproviding reason to use the tech
tool, I guess that's whatreally, I enjoy most of
especially that role is givingthis the staff member, something
(11:32):
to go away with. And I knowyou've mentioned that in a
previous episode, where it givesus the staff member something to
actually physical to take intothe room, try it out with their
students, and then give mefeedback on how it worked. And
then I can I guess, the depth,what I do and how I teach it. So
I can move on from there.
Mike Reading (11:53):
Yeah, right. So I mean, obviously, like I've said,
you're one of the I see youpopping up everywhere, you seem
to have lots and lots ofstimulus material, so to speak,
you're getting lots of ideascome in how what sort of, do you
have, like a filter that youuse? Do you have? How do you
decide what you're going to havea go at? And what you might just
leave to the side?
Cameron Ross (12:13):
Good question. I don't know if I've got a filter,
per se. But I guess I put myteacher hat on first. And so
what is it that I can use in myclassroom first, and then try to
relate it back to our school'scurriculum and our school focus,
and then go from there. Anddon't get me wrong, I tried a
(12:35):
lot of things. And more oftenthan not, I just go look, it's
probably in the too hard basketat this point in time. But it's
always there. And that's why Ilike to share a lot of things
because if I can't use it,someone else might. And that's
why I love learning from a rangeof different people around
around the world, whether it'syourselves UTB, in New Zealand,
(12:58):
or many colleagues in Australiareach out to people in in
Europe, US it's, and that's thebeauty of teaching, but also
with Twitter as well. I think Istarted back probably 10 years
ago, just get on there and justI guess lurked around for a
little bit, just have a look.
And then as you started gettingmore comfortable with the
(13:20):
environment and reaching outconnecting with people. Probably
about six or seven years ago, Ithink we connected somewhere
along the line, maybe teach takeplay I think it was. But again,
that was a eye opener for mebecause I was still relatively
new in the teaching game. Andbeing able to provide or have
(13:42):
someone give me the confidenceto ask questions, and then be
able to present on those topics,just opened my eyes to the world
that is digital technology. Andthen and that's how I guess
that's how I got my current jobis having that confidence behind
me to try something new? Andthen go from there.
Mike Reading (14:05):
Yeah. And then in terms of in terms of that, like
one of the things I wrestledwith quite a lot is, you know,
obviously I see a lot of newtrends coming new tools coming.
And I'm like, Man, how do youhow do you incorporate that into
a busy teaching practice whereyou're, you know, you've already
got what, what's your schoolusing a you a Google school
Microsoft school, I can'tremember or a bit of a
Cameron Ross (14:28):
bit of both half half in terms of Google and
Microsoft, but predominantly, weuse Google workspace. So a lot
of our collaboration is donewith Docs and Sheets and Slides
and forms. But I guess part ofmy role is to work with that and
then share my content knowledgeto staff and then I guess, in
(14:52):
turn when I'm teaching with mystudents, so for example, I'm
teaching you 11 and 12, what wecall data analytics, which is a
an it by subject. And with thatI provide my students with the
opportunity to not only look atGoogle Sheets, but also excel as
well. So it gives them thatopportunity to whatever they
(15:15):
feel most comfortable in to gofrom there. And that's why I
guess I do try to put my handsin both baskets and learn both
so I can provide the opportunityto learn different tools.
Mike Reading (15:27):
Yeah, right. So then, I mean, that becomes even
more complicated, right? Sowe've got Google, you've got
Microsoft. And then you've got,like, all these other amazing
tools, and, you know, thirdparty apps and platforms that
you see around about, and you'regetting all this inspiration. Do
you Do you ever worry thatsometimes we have like, we're so
(15:49):
overwhelmed with choice thatwe're not even using the
fundamentals yet. So it's one ofthe things I wrestle with is
like, sometimes we don't evenuse a Google doc to its full
capacity. But yet, we're sodistracted by all these new
shiny toys. How do you findyourself in that continuum of
wanting to find inspiration andnew ideas, but also, let's get
the most out of what we'realready got?
Cameron Ross (16:10):
Set? And I guess, yeah, that's my role. In a
nutshell. I have to guess, putmy blinkers on. For those people
who don't know what blinkers arejust focus on one one train of
thought. And, and making surethat as a teacher, I'm adhering
to the study design or, or thecurriculum that we're teaching
(16:31):
on? And then saying, How can Ilink those different tools in
there without blowing it all up?
And go, Oh, my goodness, I'm sofar behind, because I've tried
this, this, this and this. Andrather than saying, right, give
me one tool and go from there.
When I'm when I say that, in mycoaching role, I do say to my,
(16:53):
because we've gotten a number ofdifferent KLA heads at our
school. And one of the things Isay to them is, let's have a
discussion around one tool thatyou think might work in your,
your team. And that there mightbe each term or each semester,
let them have a play with it,let them put that into their
classroom, and then come back tome and say, right, yeah, that
(17:14):
really worked or not it just itdidn't hit the mark. And then
that's pretty good for me to goout and do some more research go
go out and look for more toolsthat might suit that. That team,
right? Yeah, yes. Yeah. That'swhere I'm
Mike Reading (17:29):
at. Yeah, yeah.
And in terms of like, coachingrole, do you have like a
coaching program that you run?
Like, is there a method ofcoaching, like grow coaching
model? Or? Yeah, you know,professional learning cycles or
anything? Do you have aparticular model that you use
with staff?
Cameron Ross (17:44):
Sure. So from a coaching point of view, we use
the growth coaching model. Butfrom a team based approach, we
use collaborative teachingteams, where each KLA have their
own teams, and we have leaderswho kind of sit above them, that
kind of help us work towards ourcommon goals, which are your
(18:06):
school, annual achievement,process and school improvement
plan and things like that. Yeah.
But from a growth coachingmindset, again, it's being able
to listen, and then adapt, andthen give them the confidence to
go out and try something new,and then come back, rather than
you just stepping in and doingit for them. Yeah, saying that,
(18:30):
though, there are times when itit's that mad, it's urgent. And
it's got to be donestraightaway. And that's where
I'll come in and help as well.
Mike Reading (18:40):
Right? And so what does that help look like? says
an emergency? Like, is it like,take over and demonstrate a tool
or is it
Cameron Ross (18:49):
it's a little bit of both. More often, though,
it's more IT support. So I go inand my computer's not working or
I can't connect to the projectoror we use Vivi as our tool of
choice in terms of projecting.
So the casing, it's just, Ican't get something to work. And
I'll just go in andtroubleshoot. In terms of tech
(19:12):
tools, I guess it's more around.
Occasionally I'll go in and workwith students in small groups,
where I work with the teacher orin sit in the back of the room
just to provide some feedback onhow they're using a tool. Again,
it's constantly changes and alldepends on specific need of a
(19:34):
teacher or a team.
Mike Reading (19:36):
Yeah, so it sounds like you're doing a bit of that
IT support side of things aswell as the the pedagogy
teaching, planning side ofthings as well. Definitely.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then so interms of that, in terms of like
a change, I'm just reallyinterested in that. You've got
all these options. You'relearning a lot. And then you're
passing that through todifferent teachers and saying,
(19:58):
Hey, try this. Let's see if thatworks. and not how do you manage
almost that overwhelm of change,like the almost the change
fatigue in his new idea and hisnew idea and so on, like, how do
you how do you personally managethat?
Cameron Ross (20:15):
Can I come back to personally for a second, I just
had a thought when you wereasking that question. Yeah. Only
recently, probably in the lastyear or so I've started to send
out a, what was a weekly email,then it pushed out to a
fortnightly, then it pushed outto a monthly. And the feedback I
kept getting was, we love whatyou're sending out. It's just
(20:38):
around tech tools and how we canuse them in the classroom. But
it's just too much just justease back on and going, Okay,
I'm going on, I'm not reallysending that much. But the
feedback was, it's just toomuch. Alright, so now I'm
sending it once a turn. Yeah.
And then the feedback we've got,just last week was we'd love
them. Can you say more? Soagain, it's all to do with the
(21:01):
current situation staff arefacing with. In Melbourne, we're
starting to get we are face toface again. Yeah, that people
are starting to get whatevernormal is. And they feel
uncomfortable in the classroom.
So they're trying to do morethings. Obviously, the last two
years being remote. That was alittle bit too much. So again,
(21:26):
it's for me, it's receivingfeedback, and then taking that
that on without being personal.
It's, it's all about sustainablegrowth of growth. Personally,
you are sorry, the question was,
Mike Reading (21:40):
yeah, how do you manage that whole? Yeah, change
fatigue? Because I see youinvolved in a lot of things as
you seem to be the kind ofperson who's just like, oh,
there's an opportunity to I'llput my hand up, I'll get
involved do that. Even littlethings. Like I'm just
remembering. When I think it wasBrett psilakis who started off
the walking Ed, we have peoplewould do a walk during lockdown
and put a podcast on and thentalk about what they're
(22:00):
listening. There's like, you'reone of the first people and I
was like, well, there he is,again, like, dive into that one
as well. So yeah.
Cameron Ross (22:08):
And look for me, I'll be honest, you change is
awful. It can be overwhelming,don't get me wrong, but I use.
Like, for example, walking, itwas a way for me to because
we're at times during hardlockdown, we're only allowed to
walk out walk from our house forwithin one hour day within a 5k
(22:31):
radius. So for me that wasgetting out getting the kids out
of the house and getting somesort of fresh air. So being able
to do that while listening to apodcast, and playing with the
kids. That was for me a way toto, I guess relax and just focus
on my mental mental health in away. But in terms of jumping in
(22:54):
again, it's just a way for me tostep away from teaching and just
actually, I guess reevaluatethings. Yeah, if that makes
sense.
Mike Reading (23:06):
Yeah. Well, I think you get that headspace
that when you're out and you'rewalking in, you're listening and
reflecting and yeah, yeah,works. I think that mental well
being is very important aroundthat. It's interesting, because
in those times differentcommunities started popping up
in a sense of like, GlobalConnections in a sense. And
people found, like thatconnection through community,
(23:28):
even though it wasn't like we'renot meeting face to face as
such. But yeah, it seemed totake on a bit of a different
meaning that then in that way,
Cameron Ross (23:35):
now definitely, look for me, the PL the online
tail. And as I mentionedearlier, it's just been an
amazing opportunity for me tolearn and, I guess connect with,
obviously, speaking with Brettmany times over the years, and
it's always had that mutualrespect. And I know the same
(23:56):
same with you, my, obviously,we've known each other for a
number years just occasionallyin face to face more often not
online. And anytime I can tosupport what you're doing, I'm
more than willing to do that.
And I guess in the in the end,it is that chance to step away
and just have downtime,obviously, being being a father
of six, and it's constantly onthe go. In a normal world we've
(24:19):
got it's literally every nightof the week, we've got kid
activities. And so for melistening to podcasts, sharing
things on Twitter, anddiscussing with other educators
is a way for me just to havethat time just to step away. And
yeah, so that's why you may seeme tweet quite a bit. It's a way
(24:41):
for me to remind myself of thethings I've learned while I'm
listening to podcasts.
Mike Reading (24:48):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great idea. So you're just
doing these little micro lessonsalong the way and, and that's as
much for you as it is foranybody else by the sounds of
things. Definitely. Yeah. Andthen how much? Like how many of
your staff do you think, uh,follow me on Twitter and because
like we did a podcast in thelast episode around
presentations and one of thehardest groups of people to lead
(25:11):
the groups that you have toserve. So the the the group of
teachers that are in front ofyou day in and day out, they you
know, bringing an outsider thinkthey're amazing because they're
an outsider, but you when youhave to talk to him, it's very,
very hard. So do you find manyfollowing you along on that
journey and picking up littlebits and pieces where you go? Or
is it more about more of thatwider audience for you?
Cameron Ross (25:34):
I would hope that my staff follow, but I don't
honestly believe it, though, atleast for me a wider audience
and being able to be connectedto as many like minded educators
as I can. I did present to ourstaff a number of years ago on
the power of PLN. And I've gotprobably half a dozen people
(25:58):
straightaway, as I'm talking,signing up to Twitter and
following me, and that waspretty much about it. So I guess
coming back to what youmentioned, around presentation,
it was awesome that you've, I'vebeen able to connect, but it's I
guess that follow up and beingable to support moving forward.
Mike Reading (26:18):
Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
So what about you personally,like, where do you go for your
inspiration? Sounds like you useTwitter a lot. But yeah, is that
your single source of truth, soto speak, is that the only
platform you're on? Are you sortof a little bit wider than that?
Look, I've
Cameron Ross (26:33):
tried to get onto as many platforms as possible,
just because it gives me a rangeof different learning options.
So I am on LinkedIn, as youmentioned earlier, I'm on
Twitter, I'm on Instagram, butwith Instagram, it's a little
bit of personal but alsoprofessional. So I don't use
(26:55):
that a lot from my I learnedfrom it, but I don't post a lot
professionally on my Insta page.
Yeah, so it's very much a wideranging area in terms of
learning. But from a passionatepoint of view, I love all
sports. So for me, it'swatching, it's playing when I
(27:16):
can. And that gives me thatpassion. Because I've got three
degrees in sport management. Sobefore as a teacher, that was
my, my goal was to get into somesort of sports administration.
And I did those degrees, eitherside of the 2000 Sydney
Olympics. So that was the bigthing. That's to get everyone
(27:38):
into sports administration, andthen all the funding was there.
And then the Olympics happened.
And then goodbye funding. Soagain, it I think it's given me
that the platform to then takeoff with teaching. So don't you
ride at the moment, it's justthere three pieces of paper,
I've got up on my wall. Butit's, it's more than that. It's
(28:01):
given me that that foundation touse that experience to share
with not only colleagues butalso my students as well. I
think I've had manyconversations over the years,
with students who may bestruggling with connecting with
school, and their passion issports, I've been able to have
that conversation and say,right, what is it? What is it?
(28:24):
What is it about sport that wecan link back to school? So
whether it's reading, so I'veprovided students with raw sport
books, so I've got here at home,and then given them that impetus
to go out and read now and havea conversation, or students who
are in the process of looking atuniversity courses. So I have a
(28:46):
discussion around that. I'vebeen I was in Australian Army
Reserves for a little bit. Sostudents who are going down that
path can have a conversation. Sofor me, again, it's using those
life experiences to provide thatopportunity to build rapport
relationships.
Mike Reading (29:07):
All right. So if you had to choose one platform
to give you some inspiration,which platform would you go to?
Cameron Ross (29:14):
I'd look I'd say Twitter, it's been my go to for
a number of years. Look, don'tget me wrong. I love LinkedIn
because it's more professionaloutlier. But for me, it's
Twitter.
Mike Reading (29:26):
And if you had to bury into Twitter in particular,
is there a particular groups ofpeople or hashtags you follow?
Like what's your what's yourprocess?
Cameron Ross (29:35):
Love? I'm a team leader of Ozzy yet, so I can't
not shout them out. HashtagAussie yet. We run every Sunday
night. Melbourne time (29:42):
30pm But yes, I had a look at lots so
obviously, hashtag outclassedcan't forget that one. But
Taylor, so teach parser don'tBurgess A follow Milla, ditch
book, it all depends on whereI'm at and what time I've got to
(30:07):
follow. Cozy, I'll miss some.
There was one chat that I wasfollowing recently, that's it's
just finished up was co chairedby the cool collaborative in the
US. And more often than not, itwas around 1010 30 In the
morning, our time, on aWednesday morning and more often
I was teaching but I was able togo back over and have a look at
(30:29):
the questions and answer where Icould, there's a really good eye
opener for me. Because it wasn'tjust tech base, which I do
enjoy. But it was more aroundthe pedagogy of learning. And
it's something that I'm startingto get more and more into. So I
can, I guess, connect both thetechnology side of things, and
knowing how my students learn,but also how I learned and being
(30:54):
able to share that with, withcolleagues as well.
Mike Reading (30:58):
Yeah, yeah. And I think you've, like you've
probably picked up on somethingthere. And it's maybe not
immediately obvious to you,because it's just what you do.
But I think there's a lot ofpeople that might use Twitter or
some social platform, and I lookthere and they they're just
absorbing, but they're notnecessarily giving back. And you
just said just there in youranswer, like you'd go back, read
(31:19):
the questions, even thoughyou're out of sync in terms of
that live chat happening. Butthen you'd answer where you
could. And I think it's in thatreciprocal nature of social
media, right, where we're socialbeings that we should be giving
as well as receiving, andanswering into that, because
that's when you start to getthat buying right from, from
those sorts of those sorts ofengagements.
Cameron Ross (31:42):
100%. And I think for me, I've gotten so much out
of following different peoplealong the years, that being able
to share back as as myexperience grows, is a really
key feature for me. Another areathat I like to help with is,
(32:05):
obviously with pre serviceteachers and new teachers coming
into the profession, being ableto help them and on it's not
just pointing them to Twitterand saying that's the the
almighty type of thing, butbeing able to give them some
context as to why I use it andthen saying, give it a go. And
then helping them navigatethrough their first couple of
(32:27):
years of being a teacher. And Ithink that's a really key area
is being able to not onlyreceive information, but also
give it
Mike Reading (32:36):
Yeah, yeah. And so in terms of managing like that
Twitter feed, or do you use aparticular tool to segregate all
the different chats in the feed?
Are you one of these guys whojust jumped in and worked your
way through?
Cameron Ross (32:48):
Again, depending on the situation, if I've got
enough time to sit down and setup my platform, my, my computer,
I'll set up TweetDeck and haveall the different hashtags open.
But more often than not, it'sjust I've got Twitter, pinned to
the top of my Chrome bar andopen it up, see what's there,
(33:10):
type in a hashtag, and away Igo. Again, it might sound
disorganized, or all over theplace. But that's, that's how I
work. So again, it's all aboutthe day and the time and when I
can get on.
Mike Reading (33:24):
Yeah. And have you taken the time to set up lists
in Twitter and things like thatas well.
Cameron Ross (33:29):
No, I haven't. And that's, I know, I get added to
lists. Also. Yeah, I don't know.
It's, I guess it's somethingthat I've always thought I can I
might look into it I just yetagain, I haven't had the time to
sit down and go, Okay, how does,how does the list work? And then
go from there? Yeah, I know,with Ozzy Ed, we're this month
focusing on giving Twitterspaces ago in terms of the audio
(33:52):
feature and having aconversation rather than just
the typing out of answers. And Iguess it's an area that's new to
me. So I'm still learning. Butlook feedback. So far. It's been
a good change for for us yet.
And I'm always open to newideas. So
Mike Reading (34:13):
yeah, yeah, that's awesome. That's cool. And then
so I guess bringing this allback in in terms of that
inspiration and connectionpiece. Like what are you seeing
recently that you've thought,well, that's a damn good idea,
or there's a bit of inspiration.
I want to try that out. Yeah,what's caught your mind or
caught your eye recently?
Cameron Ross (34:32):
Well, for me, it's Flipgrid. It's something that
I've been wanting to really diveinto with my classes. Because
for me, I know my kids lovegetting their phone out and
taking selfies and sending clipsand all this sort of stuff. But
when it comes to classroom andin the experience over the last
two years about in running zoom,I couldn't get anyone to turn
(34:55):
the camera. So being able to useFlipgrid in a meaningful Why in
the classroom, not only givesthem that opportunity to use
their phones in a meaningfulway, but also, what I found as
well is, I have a number ofstudents who may not feel
comfortable putting their handup in class and answering
questions in front of others.
And using Flipgrid, to me, givesthem that opportunity. So that's
(35:20):
one piece of tech that I can seebeing useful in my classes. Look
for me up being a Google schooland using Google workspace,
there are heaps of differentideas that I want to do. But
again, it comes down to thetime, but also whether it can be
meaningful using in my classes.
Mike Reading (35:44):
Yeah. Is there any tool or tip that you've seen in
your thought, then that's goingto be amazing, you've tried it,
and it's just been an absoluteflop or,
Cameron Ross (35:52):
Oh, I'm just trying to think of one. It's
Google Sheets is a key one.
Because our with our with my VCAclass, my 1112 class, we do a
lot of data analysis. And thereis one feature in there that I'd
love to continue trying is it'saround removing duplicates, and
being able to analyze thedownside, right, there's heaps
(36:14):
of gaps here, I want to be ableto remove that, and then go from
there. Another tool that Ireally enjoy using, and I got
onto it last year through LennyCurtis, who's a mutual friend of
ours, was his mode. And I lovethe idea of providing audio
feedback, on top of being ableto provide takes feedback are
(36:36):
found that providing that voice,especially during remote
learning, where it was just aface, and it was a typing,
feedback, having that ability tohear students, but also hear
teachers speak was key. So yeah,using mode in all mine, whether
it's docs, shapes, forms, evenprovides that opportunity to
(37:01):
give that relevant, relevantfeedback. It's also personal.
And I think that's a really keyarea in classroom management is
being able to provide thatongoing verbal feedback.
Mike Reading (37:16):
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think anything
that can bring in that audiointo that image just makes it
much more relatable, I think,you can beat the strings can
hear the tone in your voice.
They hopefully they can hear alittle bit behind, not just the
comment that's written andinterpreted the wrong way. And
you're right that any of that AIin sheets at the moment is just
(37:37):
amazing. We can get GoogleSheets to to have a look at your
data and do data clean upsuggestions for you. And that
always gets a big response whenwe doing business training.
Yeah,
Cameron Ross (37:49):
well, funnily enough, I actually just thought
of it as you spoke about AI inin sheet weave. In one of my
classes we've been, I've beentrying to teach my students how
to use formulas and functions.
So the basic stuff within inspreadsheets, but being able to
type a formula in and thenGoogle Sheets pops up saying Do
you want to do the rest of theyear? Sure, why not? So again,
(38:12):
it's focusing on efficiency andeffectiveness. And that's one of
the things I want to share withmy students is being able to
maximize the tool and not haveto spend a lot of time on doing
it. Yeah. So that that was aneye opener. For me. It's like,
brilliant, this is awesome.
(38:34):
Yeah. And the kids go, why is itawesome? It's like, Well, do you
want to spend five minutes doingsomething? Or do you want to
spend two seconds? And I can seehow the business world can see
that as a really beneficial toolas well?
Mike Reading (38:47):
Yeah, well, even that natural language, in the
Explorer tool inside GoogleSheets, where he just asked
normal questions of complexdata. And then when it gives you
the formula at the end, and it'sthis formula, that would take up
10 cells to write if you'regoing to type it out, and
probably 20 minutes of thinkingit through. Yeah, and you just
be able to ask, like naturallanguage queries. It's amazing
(39:10):
where where these sort of thingsstarting to head. And I think
because the students, they justgrow up in this world, right? It
doesn't even occur to them that15 years ago, that would have
taken me half an hour toactually type that formula out.
And you'd have to be an absoluteninja to even know what the
type. Yeah, it's pretty, prettyoutstanding these days. I think
they just take it for a littlebit of granted. It's just like,
(39:32):
I push a button and it works,right.
Cameron Ross (39:34):
And yeah, they expect everything to be like
that, because that's what theythey used to with having a phone
or having a tablet or anythinglike that. So being able to show
them the power of sheets, or anyany other tech tool. And then
then having that our aha moment,you know, is to me, that's what
(39:56):
it is being a teacher.
Mike Reading (39:57):
Yeah, yeah, I think from a teacher Point of
View Show them, teachers, littletips like that in terms of them
being able to track studentprogress, or all of a sudden,
that's got some value beyond,you know, okay, I'm using
technology and I'm doing anengaging lesson, it's great. And
I'm getting to the outcome,which I would have got to
anyway, if I hadn't abused thetool, so if we can find tools
(40:19):
that will reduce the amount oftime it takes to do the
administration task, orhopefully, even maybe reduce
some behavior management issues,because the students are a
little bit more engaged. Or ifwe can show them the value of
that, then teachers start to go,Okay, what else can we do with
this, you start to get thatsnowball effect.
Cameron Ross (40:38):
Yeah. And for me, coming back to what we were
talking about being a coach isme being able to provide the
skills to staff and then thatthose staff being sharing with
others, and then coming back tome, either. Ah, so it's just
that that flow on effect, Ithink that that's, for me, the
(40:59):
beneficial part of being a coachis seeing, seeing those staff
members who may be someone whomay have been, I guess, not a
negative mindset, but strugglewith seeing the benefit of it.
And then having thatopportunity. So I now use this
all the time. It's fantastic.
Yes, it's good. That's what itis for me.
Mike Reading (41:22):
Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, it's been really
good. chatting to you andhearing a little bit about what
you do, the role you take, andwhere you get that inspiration
and connection and communityfrom. And it's, I think one of
the biggest takeaways for me isjust being reminded that the
engagement is where it's at.
It's not just sitting there andsoaking it up. But it's
answering questions where youcan and sharing ideas and
(41:43):
resources that others can mightbe able to pick something up
and, and kind of work with itcan if people want to connect
with you as the best way forthem to get connected.
Cameron Ross (41:54):
Yeah, it's for me, it's on Twitter. My Twitter
handle is at Cameron Ross three.
But yeah, as I said earlier, I'mpart of the Ozzy ad group. So
just reach out on hashtag Ozzyyet. And yeah, I'm always
willing to share and collaborateand connect. And yeah, I guess
in the end, baseline is beingable to listen and hear some
(42:16):
troubles or issues that youmight be having and trying to
help. And if I don't help out,I'll put a question out there to
pln. And let's let'scollaborate. So yeah, add
Cameron Ross three is my Twitterhandle.
Mike Reading (42:32):
Awesome. Yeah, definitely go give Cameron and
follow and turn on notificationseven. So every time he tweets,
you get notified, and you're notmissing any of the action. And
check out some of those hashtagsand a few of the accounts that
camera mentioned during thesession today and see what you
can do in terms of your ownprofessional development. See if
(42:53):
you can start to learn a littlebit wider and definitely makes a
difference where you can findthose places of inspiration and
connection. And that justreally, I think really pastas
you for that long for that longhome. The long race and again, I
really appreciate the way youshow up on socials. Karen, while
you're always diving in givingsomething ago, willing to
(43:15):
answers has been great to haveyou on the call.
Cameron Ross (43:17):
Well, thanks, Mike. And thanks again for
inviting me on stream. It's beena blast.
Mike Reading (43:22):
Excellent. All right, we'll talk to you soon.
Unknown (43:25):
Thanks for listening.
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