Christmas Card link

So...I had visions of a full-blown letter, but this is more what I'm capable of right now! If you want more details, you'll just have to creep on our Facebook and Instagram accounts!

Shawn

Job change to Assistant Principal: I am at the same school (Abraham Lincoln Middle School in Selma, CA), but moved down the hall to become an assistant principal. I love my colleagues, and am growing a lot!
CUE/Lead 3.0/Fall CUE (Site Leader): I had a great year with my "tribe". I had the opportunity to attend several conferences that stretched me and grew my PLN (professional/personal learning network). In the spring, I was named the Site Leader of the Year for Central Valley CUE!

Shanah

More hours at the Well (Re:gen): Shanah continues to love her work at our church, The Well. She is the women's "shepherd" for the 12-Step-based recovery ministry (Re:generation) which is growing by leaps and bounds! It is so fun to see her in her element, totally serving out of her God-given strengths!
Swim: she also continues to make people shake their heads at her craziness by swimming at 5am 3 days a week!
Massage (Melissa): Shanah is still doing some massage, but the most gratifying client has to be Melissa. You can learn more about her on Facebook, so I'll just link that here.

Eden

Braces: Eden got braces this year. The transformation was amazing within DAYS! We'll see how long they have to stay on!
Band (flute): She is loving to play the flute in the advanced elementary band at her school. The growth over the past year is astounding
Robotics: At the recent FIRST Lego Robotics competition in her district, Eden's team tied for the second-highest score of the day.
5:16: Eden enjoys the craziness of her youth group, and absolutely loves her small group leader, Emily.

Emma

Girl Scouts: Emma has joined a local Girl Scouts troop. She's having a lot of fun with her friends!
Reading (Wonder): Emma is becoming a voracious reader, and is challenging me to read the book she finished recently (Wonder) before she'll allow the family to go watch the movie! 

All

Life Group: we've joined a small group on Wednesday nights (the same night that Eden has 5:16 and Emma has Girl Scouts). We're loving this small community of believers that are sharing life together. A highlight this year was spending time at Bass Lake with the group this summer. But prayer-request time every week is almost as good!

I'm baaaaaaaaack!

Well...I burned myself out. I'm not able to blog daily. I tried for a while, and I worked really hard at it. But it's just not me. So I disappeared. But now I'm back. And I'm not making any promises. Just a goal: I'd like to post at least once a week. Today, I'd like to finally process my thoughts from CUE17.

I think this year, I made the transition from attendee to networker. Attending individual sessions became less important for me this year than the connections I could make with people in my PLN. PLN, if you're not familiar with it, means "Personal/Professional Learning Network". In simple terms, it means the people that I connect with on a regular basis on Twitter. In my world, these are educational leaders from around the nation (and even world) that I interact with frequently. For me, my "tribes" include #connectedTL peeps, CUE Admin folks, #CVtechtalk people (Central Valley of California), #leadwild principals, etc.

#CUE17 took place in Palm Springs, California this March 15-18. I was blessed to be able to send myself along with 5 teachers from my school site to the conference. I was super-excited to share CUE with these folks, and I feel like it really ignited two of the five teachers. The other three varied in their experiences, but I'm glad they got to go, too. [post edited]

As for me, I barely spent time with them. I was there to learn a couple of new things (expanded below), but also to connect more deeply with leaders in the #EdTech world that would enable me to bring new knowledge and information back to my site and district in ways that will pay dividends over the next couple of years. For sure, my connections with Jon Corippo and other CUE Admin leaders will push me to continually grow in ways that will improve LIFE for me and my colleagues moving forward. There are ideas that are "common" in circles at CUE that are pretty uncommon in my neck of the woods in Selma. I'm hoping that as I continue to grow personally, that I'll be able to leverage that growth to improve my school site, my district, and even my region. And all of that growth is not about me...it's about doing what's best for kids. My love for technology is all about that...how can we improve processes and procedures (empowered by technology) to better ensure student learning and teacher success?

One of my highlights at CUE17 was a dinner on Thursday night. I reached out via Twitter to my fellow foodie Jon Corippo (he's the Director of Academic Innovation for CUE...founder of Minarets High School)  because I was seeing his pre-CUE posts about meals (at The Hat, at Sherman's Deli) that were making me jealous before my arrival. He replied about a "super secret" dinner on Friday night. He invited me to join him and a couple of other fellows (Dustin "they're out of prime rib" Ellis and Robert "Pork Chop" Hochberg) for a simply amazing dinner at L.G. Prime Steakhouse. I had an awesome whiskey-based cocktail while we waited quite a while to order. That may or may not have played a role in my inability to say "bone-in ribeye steak" properly when relaying to our waiter what I wanted. It came out as "bone-eye"...and a new nickname was born! The steak was simply amazing, so I wear the new name with pride.

Another highlight of the trip was picking up my amazing friend Cate Tolnai. Cate is one of the moderator of the #ConnectedTL tribe, and is a world-leader in the TOSA community. She started the #sketch50 movement, helps run CUE Karaoke, and is simply a great person. I love her energy and enthusiasm, so it was a kick when I got an Uber call from a Catherine on Friday afternoon. I had a session at the far-away Riviera Hotel, and so I was simply going to miss a session. I decided to see if I could make a quick buck during that time, so I turned on my Uber app. I got Catherine's call, and noted that she was at the Riviera Hotel. When I rolled up, she was super-jazzed to see me, too. We had a great ride.

The #CUEber hashtag was revived (it was used the year before about some golf cart ride)...and I actually got to pick her up AGAIN on Saturday morning!

The best session I attended:
I'm sorry to bury this note so deep in my post, but I have to tell you about the session I attended on a Friday afternoon. Zach Smith and Ali Halsey from Sanger were presenting about UDL (Universal Design for Learning). Full disclosure: Zach is a friend of mine from church, and that was at least 75% of the reason I attended his session. The other 25% had to do with the fact that I was sorely disappointed by the UDL presentation that had been made to our ALMS staff at the beginning of the school year, so I wanted to give it another chance. Also, I've been totally impressed with the work I had seen Zach do with Special Ed. students in Sanger (think: 3D printing of digestive systems...by SDC students!). So here's my weird note:

I had a spiritual experience during this session. I'm a believer, and sometimes I'm touched by something I can only describe as the Holy Spirit reaching into my life. While Zach was describing how UDL helps us to reach the traditionally marginalized students (both Special Ed. and "gifted"), I couldn't help but hear it as a gospel message of how to love ALL of the people in our lives. UDL helps us to serve the students I believe God has placed in our lives. I know that standard instructional practices do a less-than-ideal job of loving our students on both ends of the spectrum, and I saw how UDL can help us do better in that charge. I was moved to tears as I considered the implications: how powerful to work intentionally to make sure that EVERY STUDENT MATTERS!

The second-best session I attended was hosted by Catina Haugen. She helped me see some better ways that I can communicate well with all the stakeholders at my school and in my district. I had followed her for a while on Twitter and Facebook, but this was the first time I had seen her present in person. She did a great job, and I brought home a couple of ideas that we'll put in place for this summer and next year.

THE NEGATIVE:
I have to say that I came away from CUE17 kicking myself for four things in particular, all of which are strangely tied to George Couros. I had recently seen George present at the Tulare County Tech Rodeo, and fell in love with his message, presented clearly in the book The Innovator's Mindset. I chose to skip his keynote address (which is PHENOMENAL, but I saw a heads-up on Twitter that it was going to be a repeat of what I had heard).
1) while I don't regret missing the keynote, I do regret that I missed sitting next to Todd Schmidt for that session. He had saved me a seat, and I wish I had spent some more time with him. #opportunitymissed
2) at CUE Karaoke, I left early to drive for Uber. I missed the chance to perform, and I missed seeing George Couros (and Mike Lawrence) sing. #bummer
3) the next morning, I saw George in the hallway. The person I was standing with said "Great job, George!" referring to the Karaoke. In my jealousy, I made a sarcastic comment along the lines of "Yeah...it wasn't THAT good." I have no idea whether George heard me or not...but what could I possibly have gained from that interaction?
4) The final session, I went to see a person that I have followed on Twitter for quite a while. I have always enjoyed his contributions online, so I went to his "futuristic" session, even though that's not the type of leader I really am. I saw all my #edufriends posting from George's session at the same time, and had some MAJOR #fomo about missing it. Not just for George's content, but also for the missed connections with Amy Fadeji, etc.
I caught up with Voxer messages in several groups after the fact, and one of the pieces of advice for CUE was to "follow the dynamic speakers". I missed that chance with George. #mybad

In any event, I'm glad to be back in the blogging saddle. They won't always be this long, but upcoming topics include:
• Podcasts:
- (what do I listen to)
- (Teacher Tales: my FAVORITE new podcast)
- (Google Teacher Tribe: my second-favorite new podcast...and it's great!)
• #sketch50
• Twitter for my colleagues
• feedback for my presentation (I've reworked my #edtech conference presentation, and need some help)
• BOOKS:
- Lead Like a Pirate #LeadLAP (new study group starting now!)
- #KidsDeserveIt (I've been reading it, but need to post about it!)
- Innovator's Mindset (I can't believe this has been shoved down to third position! I can't wait to read it!)

Estoy agradecido poder hablar español

I'm a gringo. A güero. Whiter than white bread. Pero hablo español. Why? I'm not sure. But I'm thankful.

Being bilingual is a true gift.

I didn't learn it from my mom...her Spanish was limited to "Mantequilla, por favor (Butter, please)" at the dinner table. My dad may have known the origin stories (fake) of all our favorite treats, but he sure didn't speak Spanish.

I have an aunt on my mom's side (Lourdes) who was born in San Blas, Nayarit, México. So every Christmas season, we'd have tamales and sing posadas and drink ponche with her side of the family. I certainly loved those times, but I'm not sure what Spanish, if any, I really learned there.

I started studying Spanish in high school. Freshman year at Santana, Sra. Verrati (strange twist of fate: late in her career, she transferred to the school where I ended up teaching Spanish, and we shared an office space!). I took to Spanish right away. Turns out I have an ear for it. I have an ear for everything...I can pick out a tune on the piano after hearing it, I can whistle really well (I got THAT from my dad), I do accents, I accidentally parrot people I'm speaking with if they have an accent...I even learned phrases in Japanese from an exchange student, and in Chinese from some Taiwanese businessmen I drove around in college. All that to say, learning a language turned out to be pretty easy for me.

My second year, I had Sra. Nissenbaum. Third year was Sra. Jack, as was AP Spanish my senior year. My two biggest memories are: 1) playing the role of Sebastian in our Spanish version of Little Mermaid. I sang a rousing rendition of "Bajo el Mar"...it brought the house down every time!  And 2) I had a bet with a classmate that we would incorporate the word albaricoque (apricot) into the oral portion of the AP test no matter what. Well, I'm pretty sure that's the reason I got a 4 instead of a 5 (like it matters...AP tests are a scam and bad for kids; I dare you to get me started on that rant sometime).

When I went away to college, I knew one thing above all else: I was destined to be a teacher. At Baker University, I applied for the departmental scholarships in Spanish and History (my other love, evidenced in Context being my #1 Strengthsfinder theme). I won the Spanish scholarship, and that decided my future for me!

I always got a kick telling people that I left San Diego (right on the border with Tijuana) to go study Spanish in the middle-of-nowhere Kansas. At first blush, that sounds crazy. But the fact is, I ended up in really small classes (an environment in which I thrive). And in my upper-division courses, there were only TWO students! Angie Williams and I both received a top-notch education from our Cuban-born author/poet/singer/professor, Pablo La Rosa. He was great...the type of professor who would call me on a snow day to cancel class. The type of professor who moonlighted as a beer vendor at the Royals games. He was a lot of fun. And he helped me understand how lyrical a Romance language needed to be!

So then I ended up teaching Spanish. At my rival high school back in my hometown! I was there for 17 years. I dabbled in other things: I taught AVID, I was the yearbook advisor for 7 years...but teaching FIRST YEAR Spanish became my specialty. For one thing, all my colleagues hated teaching freshmen. Me...I loved it!

My primary mission as a first-year Spanish teacher was to help the students fall in love with Spanish. We sang songs, we played games, we grilled carne asada on the back patio...I knew that if I could get them to enjoy Spanish, they'd work of their own accord.

Late in my teaching career, I became an English Learners' Coordinator and started working on my admin credential. In both of those roles, I expanded my horizons as a community liaison, helping to meet the needs of Spanish-speaking parents as they engaged with the school. Little did I know what I was preparing myself for!

Today, I work at Abraham Lincoln Middle School in Selma, California (in the Central Valley south of Fresno). I am a Program Manager, so I continue to work with English Learners, but also with Title I programs. I use Spanish EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. With kids. With parents. With staff. As I translate materials (I'll tweet out our latest bilingual newsletter tomorrow!). As I help fix bad translations of existing materials (yikes!). As I banter with a mom who came to the office to sell her handmade tamales. As I hear from our parents about their dreams for their kids. In ELAC meetings. In SSC meetings. At football games.

And in my personal life, too. Helping strangers in Target who can't get their needs across. Surprising an occasional Uber rider who was struggling with their English. Getting the waiter to hook me up with an extra filet of the jalapeño-cream-covered tilapia because we connect. Understanding the meanings of weird words because the Latin root is similar to the Spanish, adding a layer to my grip on a Bible verse. Getting to enjoy awesome music (Julieta Venegas, for instance). And so on...

I didn't expect all of this to flow out of me tonight. But I am full of gratitude for the gift of language. I know I didn't earn it. I didn't work for it...it just came to me. And I'm so glad. Doy gracias a Dios por haberme bendecido. Mi vida es más rica por poder entender dos idiomas.

Gather the right stuff!

I don't have time to process this idea right now. But I was in a department chair meeting today where the chairs (and, by proxy, their teams of teachers) were given the task of collecting, compiling, and sharing data about how students are doing (academically) at our school.

It's not the fun, all-smiles stuff that all my favorite educational leaders are posting about on Twitter, but it's really important, right? 

It was a really hard conversation, full of starts and stops. Confrontations (presented gently). Pushback. Fears names. Assurances made. Trust leaned upon. Missteps and course corrections. Really important work that we can't shy away from.

But I came away wondering how to package it better. How to make the case clearly. And I kept coming back to the pieces of data we're asking them to collect.

We were focused (with good reason) on how the data could INFORM. But how can we use the data to inspire? Do we need OTHER data? Do we need DIFFERENT data? Do we need MORE data? And (I think this is really it), do we need to SEE the data differently?

Is that a shift of perspective for administration? For teachers? For students? I think the answer is yes to all of these. But what does that look like? I don't know tonight. And I probably won't know alone. I will seek help from those around me. Because (as Mr. Coleman always likes to remind us) "together we're smarter than a supercomputer!"

Google Forms (now with pictures!)

Every so often, Google pushes out an update to the GAFE suite of tools. And every time, there's a gem or two. This one was a no-brainer from day one, and it's something I'm glad they figured out.

Google Forms can now include images. In a section. In a question. In a possible answer. In an answer given.

Personally, I think Google Forms are one of the most under-appreciated Google Apps. And that's weird, because among ninja-level users...they're heavily utilized. But the average user simply doesn't understand the power in their hands.

I'll brainstorm a couple of ideas for each placement of an image. I'd love to see YOUR ideas in the comments...extra credit for a link to an example!

In a section

• A history teacher includes an image of a primary source, then asks 2 or 3 questions based on that source.
• An art teacher uses an image of a painting, then asks several questions about that piece of art. Update: this appeared on Twitter shortly after I posted this. #greatmindsthinkalike ?

In a question
The several questions to an image (in a section) works just fine sometimes, but there is some scrolling involved. Sometimes that's not optimal, so...

• An ELD teacher places an image, then gives EL students sentence starters and asks them to complete the thought.
• A science teacher includes images of different animals/plant/minerals, and asks students to name kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus or species (depending on what they're learning). Side note: I loved my high school biology class and the units on nomenclature. Weird stuff sticks, like brown kelp is Phaeophyta (my mnemonic device included the fact that Tammy Faye Bakker wore a lot of brown makeup).

In a possible answer

• A school administrator wants to get staff shirts, and presents his colleagues with three options. He has each staff member vote based on the the images (A, B, or C). I copied my real ballot here for you as an example.
• A first-grade teacher teaching about the different emotions makes the question an adjective, then the four answer options are faces from that iconic emotions poster.

In a given answer

• (overheard on Voxer #connectedTLtribe) Students are asked to provide evidence of having read a book or chapter, and that evidence is a photo of their favorite quote or passage. (Then they explain why they chose it.)
• A principal wants to compile a "getting to know you" spreadsheet of his teachers and classified staff, and asks them to submit a favorite photo of themself (for inclusion in the "staff of the week" portion of a newsletter).

I just made a lot of these up on the spot. I'm excited to challenge the teachers at my site to think of other ways to use this fantastic new feature of an already great tool. What are YOUR ideas?

Your Words Matter

I was convicted when I watched this video.

See, the educators in the video were just trying to run the school in a way that maximized learning for the students. They were well-meaning...they just forgot how important relationships are. How much word choice and tone communicate.

It's powerful, and it's motivating, so it's my first #MotivationMonday post of the 2016-2017 school year (yeah, I'm back!).

Romans 12:2

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. - Romans 12:2 (NLT)

Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Let God: He will do it. In fact, I am incapable of doing it. While I have surrendered this fact many time before, the problem I keep having is that I think I can do the changing.

Transform you: not whittle away a little bit. Completely change me.

By changing the way you think: not the way I act (that will come), but by changing the way I think. I have wrestled with this enough to know that my thinking must be changed. My toxic self-talk, my contempt for others, my abject selfishness...all this must change. But I can't do it...God must.

Lord, help me with this!

Triangle Drive In

I can't believe it took me this long to realize it. Had you put it together before?

#ConnectedTL Tribe

Another quickie: my #FollowFriday suggestions this week...anyone from the #ConnectedTL tribe!

There's a #ConnectedTL chat every Tuesday night at 7pm Pacific. Just punch in the #ConnectedTL hashtag, and check out anyone there. Some heavy posters (sorry for any obvious ones I miss!):
@EdTechMinded
@CateTolnai
@CreativeEdTech
@EdTechAri
@BeardsleyTeach
@Cogswell_Ben

Baker University Faculty

So...I missed a week. I'll write more about this on Monday, but the gist of it is: I'm going to cut myself some slack. The OLD me would have beaten myself up about this. Would have gone "back in time" and written the missing posts. But not now. I'm going to let it go.

What am I thankful for on this Thursday? My old college professors. I had quite a few, obviously, but these five stand out in my memory. I had a few professors at Grossmont College, but I'm not counting them. In large part because I remember none of them.


Tony Brown:
Dr. Brown was my first college professor at Baker University. I had him for an Intro to Psychology class at 8 in the morning. This was an honors class (why these exist in college, I'm not sure, but whatever). It's where I met my college girlfriend (she stood up one day in class and defended her viewpoint that as Christians we should espouse an external locus of control because of the role Christ should play in our lives). Dr. Brown had us over for pizza-fueled study sessions in his home. He showed off his Pez collection (rather impressive). He ran for office soon after my time there (I think as a Kansas state representative). Always thoughtful, always bright. And a solid, good guy.

Lowell Gish:
Dr. Gish was a professor of education. He told us in our first class that his goal in life was to weed out teaching candidates who had no business in the profession (like jocks who thought a kinesiology degree to be a PE coach was an easy life plan). He had a passion for education, and made sure we caught that fire. He retired during my junior year...a big loss. But I wanted to be like him: 70+ years old and alive with passion.

Susan Emel:
Dr. Emel taught communications. She convinced me to join the forensics (public speaking) team. She took us to Louisiana for a competition once...that was awesome. She taught me critical thinking and how to see multiple sides of an issue. Like...REALLY see them and value them. Don't get me wrong, she also taught us to tear apart the opposing argument...but to do that, you really have to have an understanding. I think I carry the value of that with me today.

John Buehler:
Dr. Buehler was the choir director. I loved singing in the university choir. I even got to sing with the advanced jazz choir. I could not read music...I faked my way through the whole experience. But it was great. He got so much out of us. Our Christmas Vespers performances were magical. It was awesome to see what a group of people could accomplish when they loved their leader and worked their butts off. And when I tried out for a solo vocal, he let me down in such a way that I knew I had no business trying, but he was glad I had given it a shot and still valued my contribution to the group. A delicate balance!

Pablo La Rosa:
Pablo was my Spanish professor. I loved him so much. Here I was in the tiny college in the middle of nowhere Kansas, and I had a Cuban teaching me Spanish. I loved how he treated Spanish like the love language that it can be. He taught us to care deeply for the sounds of the language. And when it was just me and ONE other student (Angie Williams) in our upper division courses...I can't tell you how much I learned with that one-on-one attention. And I loved that he lived in Kansas City, so he'd call us if the roads were icy to cancel class. No university notification needed! And he sold beer at Royals games. And he wrote a book (which I typed up for him, earning me a part of his acknowledgements page). And he sang to and with us while he accompanied on guitar. Yeah, he was pretty cool.

Some day in the future, I'll write a post about my college days in a more general sense. Stories about my friends, and my studies, etc. But today I'm thankful for my professors who encouraged and strengthened me in those formative years. I hope somewhere out there there's a former student thankful for me.

Leeana's Brazen Words

The fact is, I don't have it in me today. So I'm very glad that as I read Brazen last night, I typed these words into my phone. As I read them back, I'm not sure they communicate on an island. The context of the chapter really lends to my understanding, but maybe the quotations will still speak to you, as is. If not, don't judge Leeana...read the book. Need a copy? I'll lend you mine (when I'm done).

"The temptation, I believe, is to become convinced that our life is out there somewhere and we must go out and take hold of it...when, in fact, our life is right here waiting for us to notice it."

"The problem isn't desire. The problem is what we do with our desire when we feel like we're behind in satisfying it." 

"I'm beginning to realize I want security more than I want a Savior."

"We hold our current reality in one hand and hold our longings in the other hand, and we ask God to show us how we can honor both. This is the holiest of work because it requires us to let go of our compulsion to secure our own solutions."

HyperDocs

I know what you might be thinking. Because I thought the same thing. And somebody just said the same thing to me today when I told her I was going to do a post about HyperDocs:

"Isn't it just a shared doc with links?"

Well, yes. And no. But even if yes, that's the power in it!

I'm really writing this post a couple of months too early...I'm going to a HyperDocs all day session with Lisa Highfill this summer, so I'm sure I'll have more to say later. But for now, I'm just going to post a couple of links here:

http://karlymoura.blogspot.com/2016/04/hyperdocs-need-i-say-more.html

https://sites.google.com/site/highfill2013/hyperdocs-explained

https://sites.google.com/site/highfill2013/hyperdocs-explained/5-ways-to-package-hyperdocs

https://sites.google.com/site/highfill2013/hyperdocs-explained/show-what-you-know

And a couple of my very brief thoughts:

1) I think the biggest "hidden" potential in these is the ability to differentiate. Listen...I think we ask too much of our teachers. Really. It's CRAZY what we expect them to do! And when you tell me I have to differentiate my instruction after you've already told me to align it to the standards and integrate technology and be sure to address the needs of my ELs and my SpEds and my SEDs and my gifted kids...I'm fried. So when I find a tool like HyperDocs that can help me meet the needs of all my kids? I'm ecstatic! Yes, there's a lot of prep involved in making a good one. But just think of the payoff!
2) I really love Cate Tolnai's idea of hosting a HyperDoc IN a Google Drawing. Just a design thing, but I love how it looks! http://www.one-tab.com/page/g6mWgn1mQN6P73ckQwGniQ
3) Our ELA teams at the middle school are (finally) going 1-to-1 with Chromebooks next year, and I'm super-excited to see if HyperDocs will help them.

In any event, if you had never heard of HyperDocs, you're welcome. If you had, you're welcome for the reminder! =)

Twitter Chats #yesyoucan (sometimes)

It took a while for me to come around.

I even made fun of people who participated in (what I viewed as) too many.

But then I finally dove in, and it has been great!

Why participate in a Twitter Chat?
To find community
To make connections
To encounter the power of listening to other people's ideas

Mr. Coleman always says, "Together, we're smarter than a super computer!" He's saying that about the collective mindpower of the people in a room at any given time. Now imagine expanding that to some of the best and the brightest, but across a state, or even the nation!

There are some really good-thinking people out there, and it does me good to pay attention.

Now, I'm still not a freak. If I've got stuff going on, I'm just going to have to pass on a chat. Maybe I'll check the hashtag out later, but I'm not going to stress about it (or even apologize) when I have to miss one. And if I go driving for Uber on a Friday night, I'm not getting up for #satchatwc at 8am on a Saturday.

But if I'm up, why not check it out?

Here are the one's I've looked at so far. I know there are MILLIONS of others, but these have caught my interest: (all times are Pacific)
#connectedtl : mostly edtech coaches of some sort, Tuesday night 7pm. This is the group whose Voxer group I joined as a result, and THAT has been transformative
#satchatwc : only if I'm up, but good stuff, Saturday 8am
#caeddchat : California Ed Chat, Sunday 8pm
#tlap : haven't participated yet (I have a standing Monday night meeting), but I love #tlap and all its iterations, Monday, 6pm

Do you have a favorite I should really look into?

Potter and Clay

This image is what comes to mind for most people when they think of the Potter and the clay metaphor from Jeremiah 18: 1-11.

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.
Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.  At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it. So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.”’

But that's not how I read it today. Today I heard (and understood for the first time) that the clay belongs to the potter. If things get messed up, he can smash what he's doing and start again. We would never fault the potter for doing that. He did that at the flood. He does that sometimes with nations or people, and we want to say he's allowing evil or that he doesn't care.

In any event, I don't even know what I want to say about that. Just that I think I understood the passage better today. And I still want him to shape me. But maybe sometimes he does that by starting over...and that's the BEST thing for me if he's doing it.

The "$10 Burger" : 3 patties, cheese, hot dog, cheese sticks, bacon, potato chips, thousand island. #makemonty #t

A photo posted by Shawn Wisley (@mrwisley) on May 21, 2016 at 1:20pm PDT

Oh my gosh.

The "$10 Burger": 3 patties, cheese, hot dog, cheese sticks, bacon, potato chips, thousand island.

I did NOT finish, but it had to be tried. #SillySaturday

Mike Niehoff

https://twitter.com/mwniehoff

I love Mike. I've met him a couple of times in person...he's very personable, obviously super-bright, and funny. I like him a lot.

Mike is what one would call a visionary. He pushes me to think WAY outside my box. I like having friends like that.

I can't bring myself to "go there" every time with him, but I can nod my head in agreement MOST of the time (not so much on his political posts...but that's okay).

I'm sorry I can't dedicate more time to this post, but all I can encourage you to do is go creep on his Twitter feed and learn about the guy.

Then follow him. We're not supposed to agree 100% with everyone online. Grow a little. Grow your #edutusks!

Done with State Testing

Who feels so much better now that state testing is done, with a 99.39% student completion rate? #thisguy #t

A photo posted by Shawn Wisley (@mrwisley) on May 18, 2016 at 4:49pm PDT

No time for a real post here, so my #ThankfulThursday is simply dedicated to the fact that I'm done with CAASPP testing!

It's pretty ironic for a guy who is somewhat morally opposed to such testing to be in charge of it for my school. Oh well...I'll leave the world-changing to my #FollowFriday (see tomorrow's post).

Sharpen the Axe

I love this idea, but I know that I've got a LOT of room for growth with this. I find that I'm often trying to hack down a tree and sharpening my axe at the same time. Obviously, this doesn't work too well.

I think my people-pleasing tendencies contribute to my difficulty in putting this principle in play in  my own life. The panel of critics in my head tells me that people want action now. That they won't understand the axe-sharpening...so I need to "act" to appease them. What results is ineffective, frustrating, blustery effort. Were I to spend more time in preparation for the eventual action, I would be more efficient, more successful, and a lot less tired.

Now...I'm not killing myself on this. In fact, the very act of writing this blog is an axe-sharpening event. So is my time spent on Twitter. So is my book reading. So, often, are the conversations I have with colleagues and mentors as I seek to anticipate the best courses of action at work and in life.

Please also note that Mr. Lincoln has left two hours for intense work, too. This is not a get-out-of-work card. Preparation without action is dead. (Biblical echo intended.)

Steven Covey also listed this as the 7th of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Here are some links about his version of the idea.

https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit7.php

Texting from my computer

I found a new tool today. I can now text from my laptop!

It was born out of necessity. My phone dies quickly, so I often find myself needing to plug it in. Today, I was at a conference, and I had to plug my phone in far away from me. But I wanted to stay connected!

Enter mySMS.

Since I don't have an iPhone (yet), I can't just connect via iMessage. I had to find a solution to connect my Android phone number to my laptop. mySMS is a chrome app and extension that does exactly that.

The mySMS extension in the webstore

I am at my laptop most of the day, so this is a great thing...I can respond much quicker on my keyboard than on my phone...Now I just need to figure out how to quickly insert bitmojis!

Writing on Desks

A NJ teacher surprised her students with motivating messages on their desks before an exam pic.twitter.com/SHcUPBd74A

— Dory (@Dory) May 15, 2016

I don't have any excuses, really. I let testing get me down this year. I allowed it to show in my interactions with staff, and I let it show in a couple of interactions with kids.

Not my shining moment.

I see things like the tweet above online, and I think, "If I were still in the classroom..."

Hogwash. I can still do stuff like this. I can create (and encourage) schoolwide celebrations. I can portray the most positive message I can muster to the kids.

I don't need to say things like, "Just slug through it. Do your best." I can do MUCH better than that.

I have to be honest, it's really hard being the site-level coordinator of state testing when you barely believe in the concept of state testing at all. I want less standardized testing, and more individualized learning. It's hard to hold people accountable to that, but I'd rather do the hard work of figuring out how to make that work than give the tests we've got to our kids. It hurts my soul.

But I've got to be resilient. More than I was today. More than I was last week.

And you know what? I've got a chance on Wednesday to do it right with the kids I'll see then. I can also not be such a sourpuss to my colleagues. Sorry, guys.

I need to be more awesome. #kidsdeserveit