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

Ephesians 2: 4-5

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved." - Ephesians 2:4-5

(Just a quick share tonight.)

Mark Broadfoot

https://www.instagram.com/yourmomisafoodie/

Mark is the beverage director at Galaxy Taco. He's doing bleeding edge stuff with mezcal (tequila's smokey cousin). Speaking of cousins, Mark is mine!
http://www.galaxytaco.com/
If you ever go there, try the braised pork. TRUST ME.

Some press
http://sdcitybeat.com/article-13973-george%E2%80%99s-mark-broadfoot-knows-mezcal.html
http://sandiego.eater.com/2015/7/7/8906495/masa-mezcal-margaritas-behind-the-menu-at-galaxy-taco

Just for a laugh

Life has given me lemons

Lemons. I love them.

And if, by the title of the post, you thought I was going to write about the struggle to make good out of a difficult situation...I'm not.

I just love lemons. And someone (my wife's friend...I even forget whom) gave us a grocery sack full of lemons from their tree.

FREE!

I have posted previously about my love for sparkling water. Add lemon.


Even flat water tastes good with lemon. The Rum & Coke Zero I had last night was good. But better with lemon.

I made some cheesecake. #LemonZest

So life has given me lemons. And for that, I am thankful.