Education Dreamer

Thank You Greater Clark

2017-07-19T07:06:00.000-04:00

Thank you Greater Clark for allowing me to serve you, your students, your educators, your staff, your families, and your community for the past four and a half years. It has truly been one of the greatest joys of my life. However, July 21 2017, will be my last day. Before I get into what I'm doing next, let me first try to capture what this opportunity has meant to me and my family, and to say as many thank yous as I can come up with.

When I came to Greater Clark to serve as the director of technology I had no administrator experience. I had spent 9 years in the classroom as a secondary math teacher and 18 short months as an eLearning coach. I knew just barely more than nothing about running an IT department and how infrastructure needed to be set up and maintained. I just had a passion for leveraging technology for learning and transforming teaching. Greater Clark took a risk in hiring this 32 year old kid and my family was forever changed.

Over the past 4.5 years I have seen our district embrace change. I'm incredibly proud of the 1:1 initiative we rolled out with chromebooks my first 6 months on the job. I remember that almost everyone I spoke with was convinced we were going with iPads but I saw the potential in chromebooks to bring equity and access to 8,000 students. Where we could only afford iPads for about 3,000 students at most. At the time we rolled out the chromebooks we were somewhere in the top 10 in chromebook rollouts in the nation. Actually, this showed up in my TimeHop today. It was day one of our first ever chromebook rollout day. We rolled out 6,000+ chromebooks and saw 15,000 people (students and guardians) in 3 days.

I'm proud of the four amazing eLearning Coaches I worked with on countless projects. In no certain order, Katie, JT, Melissa, and Jessica are four of the most amazing educators I've ever had the privilege to work with. I remember just about everything from my interviews with Katie, JT, and Melissa. Jessica joined our team after JT was promoted into an assistant principal role. With each one of them it was within the first few minutes of their interviews that I knew I had to have them on the team. I can honestly say there was never a moment when I regretted having any of them on the team. There are too many stories to tell in this space. Just know I'm a better person because of these people.

I think about partnerships with different companies that helped us put in the right equipment in our classrooms, the ceilings, and in our data closets. Empower Learning, Matrix, and RTI, just to name a few. The progress we made in our WiFi and overall speed of our internet connection. Honestly, when I think about the age of the equipment when I first started to what we have now...

As all of you know, it's not about the equipment, it's about the people and Greater Clark has some tremendous people. I was telling somebody the other day that the things I'm most proud of, I had very little to do with. I just said asked questions, said yes, and tried to support the people closest to the students the best way that I could.

The teachers at Greater Clark are some of the most caring and passionate educators I know. I love seeing what they did with what we put in their hands. Seriously, most the ideas the eLearning Coaches and I presented were nothing compared to where classroom teachers took them. It didn't matter if you were walking into 5th grade classrooms at Wilson, ELA classrooms at River Valley, the Media Center at New Washington, or hanging with the Chrome Ninjas at JJ, you were going to see classrooms that empower students. Thank you teachers for letting me into your classrooms. Thank you for giving me the chance to serve you and your students. Thank you for sharing your genius with me.

I have worked as a classroom teacher and served in central office. However, I've never been a principal and for that I am thankful. I'm not sure how they do what they do and stay sane. I watched as our principals navigate supporting teachers, implementing initiatives we came up with at central office, work with their families, and run the business side of their schools. Not to mention the 2,325 weekly meetings they go to. Thank you principals for allowing me to work side-by-side with you. I learned so much from each of you about how to lead.

Now to my central office friends. It was an honor to serve as a district administrator with all of you. Balancing out the vision we had for the district with the needs of individual schools and situations is no joke. You try to do what's best for all while honoring what's best for each individual. You have people that are grateful for the work you do but also have to address the concerns of the many. Most of the time those upset have valid points but you always remind yourself that none of us are as important as all of us. Thank you for allowing me to grow in this position. For the grace you gave me when I messed up and for all of the support.

I can't go on without thanking the classified staff in our district. When most people think of school employees they think of teachers, counselors, and principals first and they might think of bus drivers, custodians, and cafeteria works. However, about half of our staff is made up of classified employees. They are the unsung heros of our schools. In many ways they are the ones that make all of this work. Thank you for all of your hard work. Even though it's not always talked about, I promise it doesn't go unnoticed.

In that group of classified employees is the team that I was honored to lead. Our IT team is just amazing and I will miss working with them on a daily basis. When asked about how we prioritize the massive work on our plate they all can tell you the same answer. Our number one goal is to make sure technology failure doesn't get in the way of learning. When looking at the needs in our buildings the ones that are currently impacting instruction are the ones that we take care of first. Thank you for showing me how much you care about our kids. Thank you for taking me in and helping me learn about infrastructure of a school. Thank you for never holding the fact that I am not qualified to do your jobs against me. Thank you for making leading look easy. It's easy to lead a group of people that always want to do what's best and that are all working together as a team.

Thank you for the eLearning Conferences (and all of you who presented and served at those conferences), the YouTube Videos, the Digital Citizenship Certification. Thank you for being there for my family when Ruth was sick. Thank you for all of the learning, the laughs, the challenges, the successes, and the failures. Thank you Greater Clark for the memories.

I'm sure I missed some things. How can you capture the greatest job you've ever had in a blog post?

Now I know what you're thinking, if you made it this far. If this job is so great then why are you leaving and where are you going? Simply put, it's the right time and this is the right opportunity.

I'm happy to announce that I am joining the team at Riverside Technologies Inc (RTI). We are a technology solutions company. I'm excited to partner with schools and businesses to provide the right technology solutions, provide great support, and professional development. I left the classroom because I was interested in the opportunity to lead teachers. I left my role as an eLearning Coach and became the Director of Technology because I wanted to lead a district. Now I'm leaving that role for this one because it will give me an opportunity to work with multiple school districts, to branch out into the private sector, and to grow as a leader.

I'll still be blogging, I'll still be working with schools, and I'll still be dreaming about how we can work together to unleash learning.

Maybe You're Looking At It Wrong

2017-05-09T06:00:00.000-04:00

I made a purchase the other day and I'm pretty excited about it. Before I tell you what it is, I must first tell you about the person who inspired me to buy it. Her name is Grace Hopper and if you've never heard of her, then you're not alone. Up until last week, I don't remember ever hearing about her either.

Allison McCann said this about her in her post, The Queen of Code:

"As a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, Hopper worked on the first computer, the Harvard Mark 1. And she headed the team that created the first compiler, which led to the creation of COBOL, a programming language that by the year 2000 accounted for 70 percent of all actively used code. Passing away in 1992, she left behind an inimitable legacy as a brilliant programmer and pioneering woman in male-dominated fields."

There is also a great mini-documentary directed by comedian of Community fame, Gillian Jacobs.

I was so impressed with her story and at one point the documentary it talks about a backwards clock she had in her office. The clock would really confuse people and they would ask her why she kept it in her office. She would say that there is absolutely no reason it has to go one way.

As soon as I heard that I knew I had to have one for my office. When I opened it up, it wasn't long before I was explaining its significance to a coworker in my office. This new reminder to me and those who see it that we don't have to do it just one way. What works for one doesn't work for all.

I was recently in a conversation about best practices and the direction of schools. Upon hearing somebody tear down another school because they "weren't following best practices". I asked the person if the data supported their claims about the state of that school. Her response was that they are doing great work but just imagine how much better they would be doing if they followed best practices.

It just made me scratch my head because how dare we be so arrogant and say that we have the answer to every school, every student, and every community. I'm reminded of something my friend Dan Spencer is fond of saying. (And I'll have to paraphrase because I can't remember the exact quote for the life of me.) There are no silver bullets in education but if we use a bunch of silver BBs then we can make a difference.

It's the idea that we can't find one idea and then apply that idea to every situation. I was recently talking to a district about their technology plan and where they want to be as a district over the next couple of years. I was telling them about the great work we have done in our district and how we've transformed our district and community during my tenure as Director of Technology. However, I'm not naive enough to think that whatever we have done in my district will yield the exact same results in another district. It's about taking what you know, adding to it the knowledge of the community/audience and finding the best fit.

I would rather strive to find the best fit than just blindly implement the best practices.

The 3 Rules of Improv That Will Change Your School Culture

2017-05-03T06:35:00.000-04:00

There are some meetings that you find yourself in and you're just counting down the minutes until it's all over. The presenter knows you don't really need to be there, you know you don't need to be there, and you probably couldn't recall anything the presenter said during the meeting. Then there are those meetings when you're like Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

"This means something. This is important."

Well, as I recently set in an Association of Talent Development meeting, I had such a moment. I was about 5 minutes into the meeting and I knew I was participating in an event that was going to add another tool in my toolbelt in terms of professional development.

The session was led by Kate Bringardner from The Speaker's Studio in Louisville, KY. They offer a variety of coaching and training options and this event was centered around improv. I thought we might end up like an episode of the Office, which was totally fine with me, but I learned way more than I honestly expected going into the night.

Kate and her co-presenter took us through a variety of improv exercises. They were fun, funny, and made you step out of your comfort zone. If I were to describe them you might say that those were some nice ice breakers. However, these were much more than just some games because they were centered around their 3 rules of improv. It was these 3 rules that I've been pondering on ever since that meeting and it's these 3 rules that I think many of our school districts lack.

1. Say Yes

The first rule of improv they dropped on us was to say "yes". Improv can make you uncomfortable because you don't really know what could happen next. Sounds a lot like a day in the life of a teacher. One thing they said over and over again at the beginning was, "the only way to lose is not play." See, saying yes isn't about being a "yes man" or a "yes woman". It's about playing the hand you're dealt the best to your ability. We learned really quickly that whatever you think might happen next was not going to happen next.

In our schools we need a "say yes" culture. We all need to say yes to the hand we are given and figure out how to make it work. It really reminded me of somebody I've worked with over the years. When I first met this person it always seemed they knew why what we were trying wouldn't work. It didn't matter the idea, they were going to shoot holes in it. One day we were having a conversation about it and I asked that person to shift their thinking. It's not that they wanted what we were doing to fail. They really were trying to help by finding the weaknesses in the plans. However, they were being shut out because they were being perceived as a negative person. Instead, I asked them to shift from thinking about how something might fail to thinking about how we can make it work.

That's what saying yes is all about. It's not about adopting bad policies to go along to get along. It's about finding a way to make things work.

2. Make Your Partner Look Good

I immediately thought of our good friend Amber Teamann. The first time we had her to our eLearning Conference she told a group of principals that her rule for her staff is that it's their job to make her look good and it's her job to make them look good. Simply put, you've got to have each other's backs.

There is hardly anything that fires me up in education quicker than this notion of competition inside of education. If all you are worried about is beating some high stakes test, out performing the neighboring school or school district, or being the best teacher in the hallway, then I'm sorry, but that's pretty small minded. Education is about the greater good and we must resist the societal pressure to turn it into a competition.

Some of our improv activities got out of hand real quick. We said some ridiculous things and whatever was said, you just had to go with because your partner was relying on you. There is something freeing when you take the focus off of your own performance and you put it on your teammate's performance.

3. Be Curious, Not Critical

Some of the other benefits of improv, and maybe they're ones people think of first, are it forces to think on your feet and it gets you comfortable with speaking your mind. These are two things that we all need more of in our individual classrooms, our school buildings, and our learning community as a whole.

As educators we've got to be able to think on our feet. There are hardly two days alike. Even the year that I only had one prep and I taught the same lesson five times a day, I never had two identical lessons. Improv is a great way to help hone that skill and to do it a fun and engaging way.

However, we've got to do more than to think quickly, but we've got to be able to speak up. Employers will tell you that they want you to speak your mind. At least most of them will tell you that. All of us as classroom teachers have encouraged our students to speak out when they have a question and don't understand something. We also know that more often than not, students (and adults) would rather sit in silence and be lost than to speak up and feel stupid or dismissed. We feel this way when we are entrenched in a critical culture and not a curious one.

Like I said earlier, our improv activities got out of hand in a hurry but they kept flowing as long we stayed curious and not critical. The same can be said of our schools. People don't speak their mind because they are afraid. They are either afraid of their ideas/thoughts/questions are wrong/bad/stupid

or they are afraid of how they will be received.

If we find ourselves in an improv situation and our partner(s) starts throwing out ideas that make no sense to us we will be faced with a choice. Our we going to be critical of that idea and shut down the conversation or our we going to be curious, make our partner look good, say yes, and figure out a way to make it work.

Final Thoughts

So I think I want to adapt this into a keynote or breakout session and add it to my menu. I think it would be a cool and fun session to do with a room full of educators. There are some pretty awesome large group improv activities you could start off with, then launch into the conversations around these 3 rules of improv, weave in some moments where you bring up some audience members for improv activities, and I think you'd have a fun, thought provoking keynote.

What do you think about these 3 rules? Which rule(s) do you think you have in your school and which rule(s) do you think are lacking in your classroom/building/district? Would you enjoy a keynote built around improv and would you find it impactful?

5 Lessons From A YouTube Expert

2017-04-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

Recently I had the tremendous pleasure of introducing our TV/Radio students at one of our high schools to Beyond The Trailer and its host Grace Randolph. A friend of mine introduced me to her channel and as somebody who enjoys movies, I was instantly hooked. Her show is informative, entertaining, smart, and engaging. She interacts well with her fans and it's no wonder she has over 600,000 subscribers to her channel.

It was through our interactions on twitter that I floated the idea to her about doing a video conference with the students from one of our TV/Radio classes we are fortunate to have in our district. I met with the students leading up to interview, showed them some of her clips, and put together some questions for Grace.

It was a very enjoyable 20-30 minute conversation that I'll post below. If you go to video on YouTube, you can skip to different questions in the description below the video. As I reflect on the conversation and the follow-up discussion I had with the students from that class, I can think of five lessons I took away from the interview. (In no certain order.) These are going to seem pretty obvious but from this perspective, they had a profound impact on the students and me.

1. It's a marathon and not a race.

I really hope you take the time to listen to Grace's perseverance as an artist. Multiple times she reminded the students that success is a marathon and not a race. In order to be successful we must be reminded that we can't get too down on ourselves when we come up short and we can't get too proud of our successes. Every day and every challenge deserves our top level of intensity and passion.

2. Find a career where you can say, "I have to go to work" with a smile on your face.

I loved to hear the excitement in Grace's voice as she talked about her career and the serious tone when she spoke about the business side of things. She spoke about how when you find a career you love, then you're always at work. It's something we've been talking a lot about in my district. This idea of balance and how technology has changed the way we work. It used to be that you were at work or you were off work. However, for most of us, we're never really off work. So, if you're always going to be at work, you better love what you do. Life is too short and there are too many great things going on to have to go to a job you hate every day.

3. Think through your decisions.

Towards the end of the interview she was asking the students what they were working on. She got talking about what to think about while viewing movies and TV shows. She said that every decision has a creative reason and a business reason. It really got me thinking about lesson plans, professional develop, and just learning in general. What are the creative reasoning behind our decisions we make in our schools? What are the business reasons behind the choices we make as learners? Man, a better blogger could write an entire blog just around those two questions.

4. Know your stuff.

One of my favorite moments in the post interview discussions with the students was when a student says he was shocked by how much she knew about the business because he just thought that people lucked into success on YouTube. Grace talked about her time at film school, what news she reads every day, and how she reads more than just stuff that directly addresses things on her channel. She is a learner, and it was apparent to both the students and me.

5. Be relevant.

Grace puts out content about every day. Her Morning Movie News is fantastic! She covers 3 of the top stories in the industry and answers a viewer's questions. She talked about being on a schedule and how it throws the entire day off if she doesn't get going early enough because the industry is pushing content every day and she has to stay relevant. It's a great lesson for all of us to learn. In our ever-changing world, we better stay relevant because the moment we decide to become complacent, we get left behind. This world isn't going to wait on us to catch up. We are either ahead of the curve or we are falling behind.

Once again, a big thanks to Grace Randolph. I highly recommend her channel and she's a great follow on Twitter.

Bonus ideas: Her content is great for relevant conversations with our students. Check out her Movie Math episodes to discuss in math how projections are made, the percentage that movies drop in their second/third weeks, and how much money movies cost vs how much they make. Talk about how Hollywood helps shape the conversations around social hot-button issues and why in the world Vin Diesel is so popular in China. Finally, she breaks down the 3 Act arcs of story-writing as well as anyone you'll ever meet.

Ok, sound off below. What did you think of the interview? What lessons did you take away from our conversation with Grace?

UPDATE: Thank you Matt Miller for the infographic!

If Its Not BLANK, Then They Won't Do It.

2017-03-22T16:51:00.000-04:00

"If it's not graded, then they (students) won't do it."

This is something that I heard somebody say the other day and it really just rubbed me the wrong way. It's this idea that we have to use grades as some sort of negotiating tool to force students to complete task in our classrooms. It's cousin to the idea that teachers won't go to PD if we don't pay them.

I believe that when we say that we have to use things like grades, mandates, authority, or pay in order to get somebody to complete a job, assignment, or task then we are admitting that what we are asking to be done isn't relevant, engaging, and probably not necessary. At the very least, we are saying that we don't want to take the time to explain why it needs to be done.

Here is the reality, it's not if it's not graded then they won't do it. Its if it's not relevant, interesting, necessary, fun, their choice, for the greater good, helpful, _______, then they won't do it. Nor should they have to. Come on folks, we are better than this. We don't have to use grades as leverage to force "engagement".

I left a blank for you. How would you fill in the blank?

UPDATE: Bill Ferriter wrote a great post about this conversation. You can read it here.

See original image here

Also - the conversation made me think of this gem from my friend Bill Ferriter.

Dream With Me (Keynotes, Presentations, and Workshops)

2017-03-22T01:50:00.002-04:00

Inquire About Booking Me

Keynotes:

Making the Shift

This keynote is all about embracing change. Change is an emotional event for everyone. It can bring equal levels of fear, excitement, and uncertainty. Through practical examples, research driven implementation tools, and relationships we tackle the challenges of doing what's best for our students.

3 Keys to Unlocking Potential

In this keynote I will address what I believe are the 3 keys to unlocking potential. Potential in our students, our educators, and our community. Lets unlock the untapped potential in every individual together.

What's Next in Learning

This keynote takes a fun and exciting look at the latest in learning. Join me as we learn how to dig through onslaught of educational buzzwords and the latest technologies to find the right fit for our students and community of learners.

Be the Light in Someone Else's Tunnel

Relationships trump everything. You can master standardized test, embed the best teaching practices, and have the most state-of-the-art facilities but if you don't have relationships, then it won't last. Lets be reminded that students aren't numbers, teachers aren't tools, and we all need a little more light in our lives.

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It's Just Citizenship

In this keynote we tear down the notion that somehow digital citizenship is something different than just being a good person. We'll look at building empathy, compassion, and respect in the classroom, the cafeteria, the community, and yes, even on social media. I will share examples and resources for parents and educators on how to help students become good citizens.

What Do They Want?

What are we preparing students for? What are colleges and business leaders looking for in their next student/employee? In this keynote I will share the latest research around college and career readiness. We will examine what technical and soft skills are important and how we can engage our universities and local businesses to ensure we are preparing our students for their future in our community.

Magnify Learning

Technology is not neutral and it has had a profound effect on our schools and community. This powerful and engaging keynote looks at how technology magnifies everything, for better or for worse. We will look at how we leverage technology for learning, use it to magnify our strengths, and overcome our weaknesses.

Presentations:

These are available in 1 hour breakouts and up to half-day workshops

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Transformational Leadership
From Innovation to Implementation
Why People Should Follow You
Sustaining Initiatives
When Innovations Fail
Identifying Tools for My Classroom
Implementing Chromebooks
How G Suite It Is
What Does A Successful 1:1 Look Like...in my classroom...in my school...in my district?
1:1 Classroom Management Tips & Tricks
Digital Citizenship and the Digital Native Myth
Loud Noises, Bear Attacks, and Other Things That Distract Learners
Stay Fresh: How to stay in touch with the classroom once you've left it
Engaging Your Community
Creating Voice and Choice for Your Students...Your Teachers...Your Leaders
Building a Initiative Campaign
Project Based Learning is the Main Course, Not the Dessert
From Data Informed to Data Driven
Creating Meaningful Faculty Meetings
Team Building and Ice Breakers
Buzzword Balderdash: Finding the real meaning behind what your principal/superintendent is asking you to do.

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Ideas Worth Wrestling With

2016-01-28T05:30:00.000-05:00

I'm really working hard on getting back in the habit of blogging. As last year came to a close, I just couldn't stand the fact that I wasn't writing as often as I had just a couple of years ago. If I'm being completely honest, I would admit that I had started to feel a little stagnate in my thinking. I needed to get my creative juices flowing again. I have a new logo, a new design, and now this is my fourth post this month.

It's not the redesign of the website that is getting me back into blogging, but it's a reminder about why I blog in the first place. I blog because I believe in the power of reflection, it forces me to wrestle with my own thinking, it makes me consider the viewpoint of my potential audience, and it simultaneously gives me a clearer view of the past, while shaping my view of the future.

Nobody has helped me come to this realization more than my good friend, Bill Ferriter. When I first started blogging several years ago I was very fortunate to have Bill come to the district that I was working in at the time. We got to hang out that night and I'll never forget some of the things he said to me that night. One of the most helpful things he said to me that night, and has repeated to me on several occasions since then is, "everything is a blog post".

When he told me that, I took it to heart. You can see it right here on this site. A couple of years ago, I had 50+ blog post. Then the following year I dropped to 21 blog post. The last two years I have written a combined 11 blog post for this website.

So what changed? I think I can point it to a couple of things.

I took a job as Director of Technology. It's not that the job took up more of my time and I didn't have time to blog but I became more self-conscience of the potential to say something wrong and offending somebody. I say self-conscience because I've never actually been called out on anything I've written or tweeted about. Maybe fearful of saying something wrong is a better way of saying it. However, in the end, I've probably done my district a disservice by not blogging more the past couple of years. There is such potential in the power of being an open, reflective, transparent leader.
I started writing for somebody other than myself. I said in my last post that it's more important to know who you aren't than it is to know who you are. Well, I'm not a "tip of the week" kind of writer. I've tried that and if you look back at the year when I wrote 50+ blog post, you will find a decent chunk of "how to" post.

All of that being said, the most important thing I've learned about blogging is this:

Blogging is for me. I know that sounds selfish but I need to blog for me. I need to be reflective so that I can grow and move forward. I need to wrestle with my ideas so I can find my footing around the issues I face. It's why I loved the post I recently read by George Couros. Check out how he started this blog post:

How awesome is that beginning?! It captures exactly why blogging is just as much, if not more, for the writer than the reader. Of course, I think we already knew this. I think back to how much I learned about math when I started teaching it because I had to reflect on my math background and teaching it forced me to wrestle with mathematical concepts.

So I am going to write when I need to reflect on my learning and my leading. I am going to blog when I need to wrestle with an idea and flesh it out so I can find out how I truly feel about it. Even when I wrote my last post; I wrote it, went to bed with it scheduled to publish the next morning, reread it when I got up, took it down because I didn't really think it matched my ideas on the topic, rewrote it, and republished it.

Am I still worried about somebody taking something I post on here the wrong way. Sure, perhaps a little bit, but I'll filter my thoughts as I write. The idea of writing for myself but acknowledging the fact that I have an audience, forces me to think more critically about what I'm writing. It puts the appropriate level of constraints on me to force me to be a more creative writer and sharer of ideas. John Spencer recently put together this brilliant video on the power of creative constraint.

For the first time in a long time, I feel very excited about my ability to keep up with my blog this year. My reviewed vision and passion for reflective and transparent leadership will help shape me as a blogger.

If I have an audience and my blog helps me form a relationship with folks currently outside my circle of learners, great! I'm sure these ramblings can help somebody. If my audience is just one person, me, then that's ok too because I know my writing helps me out, if nothing else.

If you have a moment, I'd love to hear from you. If you're a blogger, tell me why you blog and drop a link to your blog in the comment section.

Two Questions You Have To Be Able To Answer

2016-01-21T09:00:00.000-05:00

I have two questions to ask you that I think you need to be able to answer if you're going to unlock the leader inside of you and, ultimately, the leaders inside of others.

*spoiler alert* - You might be tempted to think that the first question is the most important question, but it's not.

First question: Do you know who you are?

We have to know who we are if we are going to lead. I don't care if it's leading a district, a classroom, an athletic team, an academic team, or a fantasy team.

You have to know what makes you tick. In the book, "Talk Like TED" by Carmine Gallo, he says you have to answer the question, "What makes your heart sing?" I don't think you can effectively lead if what you're doing isn't your passion.

I don't know about you, but the hardest task for me to get done are those task that don't directly tie into what I'm passionate about. However, when it comes to something I'm passionate about, I can just get lost in it.

Who doesn't want to follow somebody who can just get lost in what they are leading? There are things that I'm not passionate about, like grant writing, but I've worked with people who just love that challenge and I can't help but get sucked into their enthusiasm. I don't get why they're so excited by it, but I admire their passion.

Here is my advice, don't take on a job, role, or position that you're not passionate about. In the end, no matter the money, you won't be happy and you certainly won't be effective.

Ok, now for the more important question. As important as it is for you know who you are, this is more important.

Second question: Do you know who you are not?

More important than knowing who you are, is knowing who you are not. Too many of us end up spinning on our wheels and burn ourselves out by trying to be something or somebody we aren't. This is more than just knowing your weaknesses. You can't really be happy with you, are until you are ok with you are not.

Here is what I know about myself. I am a middle school teacher. It's who I am. It's part of my gifting. I am also an administrator. It just fits me. I'm not saying I'm perfect in these roles and I certainly have room to grow.

I once took a job as a high school teacher. Not because I wanted to teach high school, but because I wanted to live in that area. It almost crushed me and made me want to leave education all together. The problem is, I'm not a high school teacher. I remember being in college and applying for student teaching. I sat in a room being interviewed for the program and one of my professors asked me what middle school I might want to teach at next semester. I told her I wasn't going to go to a middle school, but that I was strictly going to be a high school teacher. She said, "I can't let you into student teaching then, because your are a middle school teacher if I've ever met one." Man, was she ever right about that, and I'm forever grateful for it. My last staff meeting as a high school teacher my principal was announcing that I had transferred to a middle school. My principal gave me a nice card and said to our staff of close to 100 teachers, "I think we all agree that Brett was meant to teach middle school." In other words, I was a really bad fit for high school. She was right.

I feel the same way about my job now that I did about teaching middle school. This is who I am and it's where I belong. I couldn't imagine doing anything else right now. Maybe one day I'll be a principal, or even work my way up to a Superintendent. I honestly don't know. There are days when I think I'd really like to try my hands at those things. All I know right now is that I've never been happier or more excited about the work I get to be a part of every

I admire people who recognize their place in the world and know where they belong and where they are better off leaving alone. I think of some of my very talented teacher friends, who would make great principals and district admins. Sometimes I know they get asked why they don't leave the classroom for an admin job. I know many of them know that even though they have the talent for the job, it's not their passion and it's not who they are.

Just because you have the skill set to do a certain job, it doesn't mean you should be doing that job.

In my lowest point of teaching, when I was looking at the possibility of leaving, I looked into what I could do with a degree in math. Let me tell you, there are some lucrative positions out there for a person with a degree in math. In the end, none of those options were the right fit, because that's not who I am.

I use these answers to shape what I lead, where I lead, how I lead, and who I lead. I try to look to for people to learn from who are both who I am, and who I am not. I learn different things from those people. I grow under those people and I work on strengthening my strengths and minimizing my faults.

I also make sure I have people working with me who aren't me. Sure, I could have a team full of Brett Clark clones. Maybe that would be easier and maybe we'd have less conflict. However, we'd also cover less ground, help less people and be less creative (because conflict is the birthplace of creativity).

Does this make sense? Do you know who you are and who you are not? We should strive to be part of team that is working toward a common goal, is full of people who are in positions that match their passions, and a team where each others' strengths are the other team members' weaknesses.

A New Logo and Website Design

2016-01-07T13:14:00.000-05:00

I want to say a big thank you to Matt Miller for the logo for Education Dreamer!

I'd love your feedback, good and bad, on the new design. Plus, when you get a chance, tweet out some love to Matt Miller (@dropstepdunk). If you need logo work, he's a great option!

You can send love to the other Matt Miller (@jmattmiller) too. Like I said, he's pretty awesome too.

3 Things I'm Looking Forward to in 2016

2016-01-07T13:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Anniversary!

As I sat down last night to write this post, I was thinking back over the past 3 years of my life. When I wake in the morning, and by the time this post goes live, it will be my anniversary of the my first day as the Director of Technology for Greater Clark County Schools. It's been an amazing 3 years, full of ups, downs, triumphs, and learning experiences.

Here are just a few things I've been blessed to be a part of:

I work under leadership that makes me feel empowered to pursue all possibilities.

We rolled out 8,000 Chromebooks to grades 3-12

Added 3 amazing eLearning Coaches to the district to help drive the conversation of learning environments. Because if we don't have those conversations, bullet point number 1 is pointless.

Hosted 3 eLearning Conferences, and working on number 4. Keep July 25 open. You won't want to miss it.

I believe we've had 18+ states and Canada represented at our conferences.

I've watched as those conferences went from being almost all outside presenters to now the high majority of sessions are lead by our own teachers, admins, and students.

Every day I watch as our schools' story is told through social media under the leadership of Erin Bojorquez and Daniel Parish. Seriously, check out what these two are doing on Twitter and YouTube.

More importantly, I've been in classrooms and watched teachers and students get engrossed in learning. I've seen them take virtual field trips, discover their passions, and learn how to maneuver in more connected and open environment. It hasn't been easy, and it hasn't always been pretty, but our learners have been up for the task.

Most importantly, my own kids love to go to school every day.

3 Things I'm Looking Forward to in 2016

1:1 Refresh

It's hard to believe that I've worked here for 3 years already. It's even harder to believe that we are already going to be refreshing our 8,000 devices. We've been evaluating the impact of the 1:1 on our learning environment, looking at devices, planning professional learning opportunities, and learning from our mistakes.

It's nice to look back over all that you've accomplished, learn from your shortcomings, and plan for the future. I look forward to sharing with you what we learn from our reflection process, and where we want to go from here.

Learning Spaces

I love looking at how classrooms are designed and how the design of the learning space sets the tone for the classroom. This past summer I was able to visit the Affton School District, where I got to see their collaboration room. Check out the Room 15 website and get inspired!

I worked with our Building Trades teacher at Jeffersonville High School and his students helped me build 8 mobile T-Walls to send out to our secondary schools. They are going out to schools very soon and I will be blogging more about this as well.

https://instagram.com/p/9JSH3Ow607/ - Room 15 Affton HS

The Unknown

It seems like every year I go into the year thinking I know how things are going to turn out. Then, every year I find out that for all of my planning and preparation, life happens, and things rarely go as planned. So, in 2016, I'm looking forward to the unknown. Who knows what I'll learn this year, or what experiences I'll have. I can't wait to have my mind blown by a project that a student and teacher complete. It's going to be exciting when a school comes up with something that is seemingly impossible and then pulls it off! My own wife and kids are going to continue to amaze me every week. I'm sure I'll even shock myself at what I'll accomplish in 2016.

So here we are...already a week into 2016...already 3 years into a job that 5 years ago I never would have even dreamed about. Here's to 2016, may it wreck all of our plans, and exceed all of our expectations.

I'd love to hear from you and what you are looking forward to in 2016!

Vision, Buy-In, and Sustainability

2015-09-24T06:00:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I had my second Leadership Southern Indiana: Discover event. You can read about my first event here.

This was out "History and Heritage Day". We heard from experts on the history of the area, visited local historical areas like the Town Clock Church to hear about the underground railroad, discussed the founding fathers of the region, and ended our day at a business that has been in business for over 120 years.

There are three things that stood out to me about the people I learned about during this visit. They had vision, buy-in from their followers, and sustainability.

Vision

For me, it all starts and ends with this. There is a phrase that we have using a lot around my school district lately. Clarity is the remedy for anxiety. I don't know who said it first, but I first heard it from Jason Roseberry. So he gets the credit today. I witness so many people who suffer from anxiety at their job. A lot of time I have found that a large portion of their anxiety comes from a lack of clarity. They're unclear about whom they take their issues to, or what they're allowed to do to solve a problem. They're unclear about what their role is and what their expectations are in their position. Or maybe they're unclear about the direction of a project or of the entire organization. In the end, wherever you find a lack of clarity, anxiety isn't far behind.

A clear vision that invokes a positive emotional response, with a call to action that people can get behind, is a remedy for anxiety. A clear vision of roles and responsibilities reduces anxiety. I think you'll be amazed at how many struggles can be reduced or eliminated just by having vision.

Check out this video I saw the other day at a 1:1 symposium with the 1:1 Institute. The video you're about to watch includes some metronomes, a board, and a couple of soda cans. The experiment is meant to try to get all of the metronomes in sync with each other. While you're watching it, look through the lens of leadership. If what happens in the video is a metaphor about leadership, vision, and the fulfillment, then what do each piece of the science experiment represent?

Did you catch it? To me, the board represents vision, the soda cans represent leadership, and the metronomes represent those who are tasked to fulfill the vision. The board (vision) provides stability, something to stand on, and is the key to getting everyone on the same page. The soda cans (leadership) supports the vision, and provides flexibility while everyone gets in sync with each other. The metronomes (the team) might start off out of sync, but when given time, flexibility, and a consistent vision, they get to where they need to be.

As I learned about the history of the area, I couldn't help but admire the vision the people who built this area had. They all saw something in perspective areas that perhaps many other people did not see.

Buy-In

It wasn't enough that the folks I learned about had vision, they had to get people to buy into and support their vision. I'm always amazed at the amazing commitment and sacrifice people will make to fulfill a vision they truly believe in.

I've written about this in the recent past and it quickly become one of my go-to presentation at conferences. I'll be honest, I look back over that post and I can identify exactly where I think I am in my role as a leader right now in my district and it's a little scary. I truly believe in the vision I have for our schools and while we have had some tremendous success over the past couple of years, I am always looking for ways to create more buy-in.

I really wish I could have talked to some of the people I learned about during this event. I would have loved to have picked their brain about the ups and downs of vision casting and vision fulfilling. It must be this sometimes awkward balance of resolve plus flexibility. Knowing when to push forward, when to slow down, and when to change all together.

Looking over that last paragraph and I think that maybe vision casting is the key to all of this. Can you tell me what your vision is? What's the vision of your company? What's the vision the project that you're leading or a part of? How often do you cast your vision?

It's something that we are working on in my school district. We are about to enter our fist refresh of our 1:1. Working with teachers, administrators, parents, students, and other community leaders I am working to make sure that we know exactly where we are at, where we are heading, and how we are going to get there. However, I'm learning more and more that when all of that work is done, the real work has just begun. I've got to keep casting that vision over and over again, getting more and more bites, and reeling in more and more people who will be willing to help us reach our goals.

Sustainability

A vision is about more than yourself. There is always going to be an "after you". A true visionary see far beyond the person they see in the mirror every day. The word that I kept coming back to during our event was legacy. I wondered how many of these local leaders and heroes ever thought about the legacy they were leaving behind. Did they ever think that people would be learning about them hundreds of years later? I imagine that they would probably be more happy to know that the thing that they started was still standing, still growing, and still having a positive effect on their community.

I am not out to create a legacy but I do wonder sometimes about what my legacy will be after this part of my journey is over. More than anything, I just want to see the work I'm a part of to leave a lasting impact on this community.

The only way to do that is to keep reinventing yourself. This is why a vision statement is really only meant to be for a 3-5 year period of time. I'm not going to lie, as I said above, we are moving towards our refresh of our 1:1, and I have already started to think about what what the next refresh could look like.

by Daniel Pietzsch on Flickr

In the end, I think that legacy stuff will take care of itself. For now, I'm just trying to find the right rhythm.

My House by Micah Clark

2015-09-15T22:06:00.000-04:00

My son Micah (12) wrote this the other day. It's his vignette for a creative writing assignment.

My House

I live in pretty large house with a basement bigger than my old house.

I remember a 2 hour drive to an unfamiliar place.

I remember a tour through big empty rooms and wanting the master bedroom

I remember putting on sunglasses and taking a picture on the back porch.

I remember helping moving the last things in the house on December 29th.

I remember waking up on December 30th and taking a picture on my DSi in my new room (not a master bedroom but still great for me).

It means a sign of a better future.

It means an improvement.

It’s not just a big place.

It's not just a place to crash.

It's my home and it has enough room for all of my memories.

Discovering, Developing, and Enhancing Leadership Skills

2015-09-01T05:32:00.000-04:00

A few months back I was given the opportunity to apply to be a part of a leadership program through a group called Leadership Southern Indiana. When I read that their mission was to "To actively engage leaders and develop ethical leadership that impacts our region," I was instantly hooked. I was excited at the opportunity to be a part of their program, "Discover". This is a 9 month program that "aims to help participants become informed, inspired, connected and capable leaders that Southern Indiana will need to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow." As a leader in my school district, an active minister at my church, and a passionate resident of Southern Indiana, I couldn't wait to get started.

This past week, on August 27 and 28, it all began at Wooded Glen Retreat and Conference Center.

August 27th

I honestly had no idea what to expect. My optimism was high but it was also realistic. While I had heard and read good things about the program, you never really know if something is going to be the right fit until you jump into the middle of it. I was not disappointed.

We stared off the day by getting to know each other. I love meeting new people, so this was great. Beyond just meeting new people, it was just cool meeting people who had very different careers. I am very used to hanging out with educators. This gave me the chance to spend time and learn with people who work in architecture, engineering, banking, finance, real estate, healthcare, photography, and more!

Our morning session was lead by Al Cornish, the Chief Learning Officer for Norton Healthcare. He was great! I would even say that he was "semi-fabulous"! (Sorry, you had to be there to get that joke.) We dove into the history of our area and created a human timeline. We discussed the positive aspects of Southern Indiana, and the challenges we all face in the region. As a person who has only lived in the area for less than 3 years, it was a great way to catch me up to speed and to build a foundation for all of us.

After lunch we were greeted by the very engaging and enthusiastic Dr. Todd Arwood. We spent the afternoon exploring our personal values. I have been in many sessions where we have looked at our personalities or learning styles, but never a session that helped us identify what our values are and how they drive every decision we make. It was enlightening to me as I thought about our values being the lens by which we view the world.

That night we got to hang out after dinner, play games, and talk around the fire. It was the perfect way to end that first day together.

Big Takeaways From Day 1:

I'm in the right place, at the right time. I couldn't be more excited about this journey.
I have a lot to learn from a great group of people. The different experiences and lens that we view the area with are important to my growth as a leader and the leadership of the region.
The values that were missing from my value pyramid said as much about me, if not more, than the values that were on my pyramid.

August 28th

I'll be 100% honest, the more I heard about what we were going to be doing, the less I was looking forward to this day. I honestly thought it might ruin the entire experience for me. On this day we were going to be broken up into teams, and put through different team building activities that could include scaling a wall that I'm still not sure is 10ft, 13ft, or 15ft because it changed height every time somebody described it. Several things about this just made me very nervous. 1) I don't like the outdoors. 2) I'm not very athletic. (Which is a huge understatement.) 3) I'm not a very competitive person. Now that doesn't mean I won't talk trash, just ask the folks who got play Euchre with me the night before. In the end, I really don't care if I win, I just like to have fun.

Thankfully, I was completely wrong about the day. I had such a great time and learned a lot about myself and leadership in the process. I don't think I could describe in enough details the different activities but know that they included things like placing 2x4s between stumps and then having to have each member of the team get across without falling off or else we all had to start over. We had an activity that made us walk wires, cross logs, walk a wire while holding onto rope-vines, and if anyone fell off, we all started over. Did I mention the activity that had me swinging on a rope and trying to land in a hula hoop?

It was really great working with my team. There were many times I wanted to quit, but the desire to not let my team down, and their encouraging cheers kept me going.

Big Takeaways from Day 2:

The first activity was a lot about balance and we maximized our team balance by holding onto each other and having a nice mix of people who had good balance and those of us who struggle with balance. I struggle with balance, literally and figuratively. It reminded me that I need to surround myself with the right people who will help keep me balanced.
The second activity involved a great deal of balance but for me it more about overcoming fear and fighting my natural instincts. This is the one activity that I really thought, "there is no way I'm completing this." It really pushed me out of my comfort zone but the more time I spent outside of my comfort zone, the more it became my comfort zone.
There was a part in the second activity where you are standing on this wire and there was a rope that you could use to help you get across but the rope was very lose. Every instinct in your body would tell you to pull back when you grab the rope. However, pushing forward created tension and that tension gave you the balance to move forward. It got me thinking about getting out in the middle of a project that you're leading and you hit one of those spots when moving forward looks very dangerous. You're tempted to either stand still or pull back, but neither of those are the correct choices. Sometimes you just need to push forward. Even though your mind is telling you that you're going to just fall on your face, you must ignore that fear and push forward. Yes, you have to stick your neck out there, and yes it might create some tension, but in the end, it's the only way you'll get through that phase.
The third activity was the most difficult. We had to swing on a rope and land in a hula-hoop. The thing that made this the most difficult, in my opinion, was the lack of control. Once you were on the rope you were at the mercy of the forces around you. Control is the one thing I think every leader attempts to have and it's scary when you feel like something you're leading is out of control. We were very fortunate to have an Eagle Scout in our group and he had some very nice equipment in his backpack that day. We tied extra rope onto the hanging rope to form a rope perpendicular to the hanging rope. This was so that once a person was on the hanging rope, the other teammates could just pull the person out to the hoops. It was really an attempt to increase control of the situation.
Finally, I learned that I actually do like competition. As long as I'm the competition. I would rather work with people, than against them any day of the week. However, I'm in constant competition against myself. I want to be better than I was last year, last month, last week, and even last night.

My Biggest Regret

I never attempted to conquer the wall. Looking back on it now, I wish I had attempted to make it over the wall with everyone else. Maybe it's ok to look at some projects and say, "that's not really a project that fits me and my skill set." A leader has to know when to step up and when to step out, but I wish i would have pushed myself one more time and tried it.

In the end, I had a great time and learned a lot. I am looking forward to being a part of this group now more than ever. We will have monthly activities that I hope to keep blogging about and reflecting on. I hope you'll continue on this journey with me.

Be the Light in Somebody's Tunnel

2015-05-27T00:14:00.001-04:00

I've gone back and forth about writing this post about what's gone on in my personal life since last November. So, if I am publishing this post, let me first tell you what the purpose of the post and the message I hope to get across in this post.

The purpose of this post is to remind all of us that no matter how dark or grim our circumstances may be, there are people who will be there to prop us up and get us through even the most unimaginable things.

Summary

Here is the "too long didn't read" version of this story. My wife began getting sick towards the end of last year. On January 29 the doctors at University of Louisville performed life-saving surgery. After spending a combined 11 weeks in the hospital and a physical rehab center, Ruth was finally able to come home. She still has a road of recovery ahead of her but she will recover. Every day is getting more and more normal. Today, May 27, we are celebrating 15 years of marriage!

The deciding factor for me on if I would write this post or not is when several people began saying to me these past couple weeks, "well, I bet it's nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel." Now this is a phrase that we have all heard our entire lives. However, I'm here to tell you today, that for me and my family, the light was not at the end of the tunnel but because of our strong support system of faith, family, friends, and co-workers, our tunnel was well lit the entire time.

The Beginning

I will do my best to keep this as short as possible. My wife has dealt with Crohn's disease since she was a teenager. She's had her ups and downs with it over the years but prior to the beginning of this story, she had gone over 2 years symptom free.

Toward the middle of October, 2014, she began to get sick. By the first of November she was having a colonoscopy and I thought she was going to get admitted to the hospital that day. The treating physician decided not to admit her and gave her some pretty aggressive medications for her to take a home. She continued to deteriorate throughout the month of November and the beginning of December. On December 11 I came home and she couldn't explain to me what day it was, what medicine she had taken, and was in need of immediate care. This was the beginning of her first hospital stay.

After a couple days in the hospital we found out the medicine she was prescribed played a large factor in her hospitalization. Her white blood count was 0.5 (10-15 is normal). Over 95% of her WBC had been wiped out. They stopped her medications, gave her blood and platelet transfusions, and numerous prescriptions while her WBC slowly climbed back up.

On December 23, Ruth came home from the hospital. Her WBC was much better but her Crohn's disease still raged on. By the time she was released from the hospital she had lost the ability to get out of bed or a chair on her own. She walked with a walker and we used a wheelchair as well. This was all due to how long she had been bedridden.

For the next month she did physical therapy at home 3 times a week, began another treatment for her Crohn's disease and I thought we had seen the worse of it. She was still weak and sick but I was hopeful and encouraged by the small progress she was making.

The week of EduCon she began to take a turn backward in her health. I was scheduled to speak and after discussing it with Ruth, decided to go ahead and go to EduCon. Her sister was staying with her and I knew she was in good care. Sunday morning at EduCon my sister-in-law called me and Ruth was going back to the hospital. She was having hallucinations and was once again in dire need of medical attention.

I changed my flight time, made it home as fast as I could, and went straight to the hospital. She was dehydrated, her blood sugar was low, and she continued to have hallucinations. Things began to move quickly that week. On Monday I noticed severe bruising on her thighs and abdomen. By Tuesday the bruising was from the top of her feet, up to her chest. Tuesday night with our boys in the room, she suddenly screamed out in pain. I rushed the boys out and got help. They gave her pain medicine, got her pain under control, and said the doctor would see her in the morning.

The next day we found out the pain was from a perforated colon and air was being released into her stomach wall, along with what passes through the colon. She was in need of surgery and would need to be transferred to the University of Louisville Hospital. Around midnight she was transferred and once again we would wait until the morning for doctors to come evaluate the situation.

The next day, 1/29/15, was the longest day of my life.

The colon team was the first team to come see Ruth. Didn't learn much more than we already knew but more doctors were on the way. The hematology team was next. Ruth had contracted C. Diff and Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC). The DIC is what was causing the bruising. Ruth's blood wasn't clotting anymore and was literally seeping out of her veins. It was then the doctor told us that Ruth was in a dangerous situation. Not really wrapping my mind around what he was saying, I asked him what he meant by that. He said, "She is in a life-threatening situation."

The problem was the combination of her perforated colon, C. Diff, and DIC was going to kill her and only way to get it under control was to remove the colon. The DIC was preventing her blood from clotting and that made surgery very dangerous but if they didn't do surgery, then she was surely going to pass away.

It was a little past noon. I began to alert family and friends of the situation. I told family that they might want to consider heading this way. The majority of our family lives 1-3 hours away.

We prayed, we cried, I held her hand and couldn't take my eyes off of my wife. Our Bishop and his wife came and prayed with us. Time moved slower than it ever has in my life. I didn't know when/if they could do surgery.

Around 4pm the surgeon came in and said they were prepping the operating room. Surgery would begin within the hour. A flurry of questions came to my mind and this conversation will be etched in my brain for a long time.

How often do you do this surgery? "I removed a colon almost every day that I work. I've already removed one today. I've been doing this for 10 year." How often do you see cases like Ruth's? "I might see somebody as sick as your wife 3-5 times a year. What about the DIC? What about the blood-loss issue? "That does make it difficult but I have a plan. She'll be hooked up to blood and we will do our best to put it back in her as fast as it's coming out. I do know that if we don't do surgery soon the infection will get worse and we'll lose any control we have left of the situation." How long will surgery last? "It should only take 2 hours." What are her chances of making it? Do I get a percentage? "I honestly don't know and it wouldn't be fair for me to put a number on it." What about... "I know you have questions and I want to answer them, but she needs surgery now and I have to go prep for it. You need to go fill out paper work."

And with that he turned and walked away. It wasn't rude, he had a confidence that was reassuring. I knew he understood the situation and he had the best possible plan to save her life. I did what I needed to do and began to fill out paperwork.

Within 30 minutes they were ready to take Ruth.

I can't put into words what it was like talking with her before they took her down. We expressed our love for each other, prayed, and shared a goodbye kiss. When they took her out, I didn't know if that was the last time I was every going to talk to my wife.

I went down stairs and waited.

My Bishop and a couple members of our church waited with me. Family was on their way. I talked excessively to pass the time. Halfway through we got a report that things were going as planned and she was doing great. Almost two hours on the nose after surgery started the surgeon came out to talk to us. I wanted a smile, a thumbs up, anything that told me that she was ok. What I got was, "lets step into here and talk." The consultation room couldn't have been more than 30 feet away or so but felt like a mile.

Once in the room, the surgeon quickly told us that Ruth was okay and the surgery went as well as could be expected. We'd be able to see her soon but they would keep her sedated throughout the night.

The next week showed me once again just how sick she was when she went in for surgery.

The next morning they took Ruth off of all sedation medication, but she didn't wake up. The weekend passed and she was still unresponsive. They'd try to wake her up and she might wiggle her toes when she was asked but she wouldn't give you a thumbs up or squeeze your hand. Spent hours just waiting and talking with her. Nothing changed.

On Tuesday she had a seizure with just a nurse and me in the room. They began to run more test on her and found out her liver was filtering her blood that it should've been. They decided to do dialysis to remove the toxins from her blood. The doctor would tell me later that at that point he just wasn't sure she would ever wake up.

My Bishop was one again by my side. The dialysis machine finished doing it's thing. My Bishop prayed with us and left. Not moments after he left, she squeezed my hand for the first time.

Another round of dialysis and prayer and she began to wake up.

The next few weeks are honestly a blur. Looking back on it now, it shocks me how little time actually passed because days felt like weeks and weeks felt like months. Her body took weeks to recover from the surgery. Her liver had been given the task of filtering all of the poison and medicine and it almost couldn't handle it.

The back half of her stay in the hospital consisted of monitoring her liver, waiting to see when it was going to bounce back from the surgery, and going through physical therapy. She had to relearn how to swallow food and drink. Speech therapist working with her on swallowing techniques and making her swallow dyed food and then looking at her throat with a camera to see how much went to where it was suppose to go.

Her muscles had developed atrophy during her stint in the hospital. It was literally like watching an infant develop. Learning how sit up on her own, trying to stand but not being able to, and working on gaining full motion of her feet and ankles.

Out of the hospital!

Finally, after five weeks in the hospital, she was released to a nursing home to complete her recovery. Here they taught her how to walk again. First it them holding her up while she learned how to put pressure on her legs again. Then she learned how to stand on her own while holding onto parallel bars. I remember the day she texted me and told me that she took her first steps on her own! She said she was just tired of standing and decided to give walking a try.

From there things seemed to move quickly. Well, at least it felt that way to me. Every day she was telling me how much further she walked, or how much stronger her legs felt. The boys and I spent as much time there as we could. It was always so cute as our youngest always wanted to lay in the bed with his mom.

Even though the time went by much faster and the progress was amazing, she still ended up spending six weeks at the nursing home.

Between her hospital and nursing home stay 11 weeks passed, we celebrated birthdays for two of our three kids, she lost close to 100 lbs, I think I gained about 30 lbs, and our lives were forever altered.

Time to go home

Then it was time to go home. Since coming home she just continues to make great progress. She's gone from traveling by wheelchair, to walker, to just a cane. She's gone from hardly being able to get up a single step, to being able to get up multiple steps, to being able to go down into our finished basement.

She still has a road ahead of her and may even have a followup surgery but every day gets more and more normal.

I wish I had more to say here. I wish I could adequately explain how much joy it is to have my wife home with us. I even smile just listening to her trying to get our boys to complete the simplest chores.

The truth is, I'm not a master of the English language, and I don't have the right words. Everything I have thought about typing just falls short. If I could sum up how I feel in one word, it would be the word complete. I feel whole, I feel happy, and I feel beyond blessed to have my wife of 15 years home with us.

The Light

As I said above, the purpose of this post is to remind all of us that no matter how dark or grim our circumstances may be, there are people who will be there to prop us up and get us through even the most unimaginable things.

People really did say to me at different times throughout this trial, "it must be nice see the light at the end of the tunnel." Now don't get me wrong, I know what they were saying, and it's true that as my life has gotten more and more normal, I have thought the same thing.

That being said, I can tell you that even though this was easily the darkest moment in my life, my tunnel was well lit the entire time. That's due to Jesus Christ, my amazing family, church, friends, colleagues, and total strangers.

I know I won't capture everything that people did, and please know that I appreciate everything people did for us and are continuing to do for us. So, if I don't mention you by name, please accept my apology.

Here is a short list of how my tunnel was lit throughout the journey.

Prayer - I can't even begin to tell you the number of people from around the globe who told me that Ruth, the boys, and I were in their thoughts and prayers.
Family - Even though our family lives 1-2 hours away, they were there at the hospital the day of her surgery as fast as they could get there. Ruth's sister and her family drove down from Wisconsin the next day and stayed for a week to help. My dad came and stayed with us. He of course picked the week we had a snow storm and my boys were out of school all week. I think about everyone on Ruth's side stayed with us at some point during all of this. Of course, all of the phone calls and text messages kept me going and my mind occupied during the darkest times.
Christmas - My church stepped up in a huge way in December. They decorated our house, took our kids' Christmas list, went shopping, and wrapped their presents. My kids wouldn't have had the great Christmas we had if it wasn't for my church family.
Speaking of my church...prayers, phone calls, visits, food, and childcare. Honestly, there were times when people asked me who had the boys, and I didn't know for sure because so many people from the church were stepping up to make sure they were taken care of when family wasn't in town.
Friends - I could mention a lot of people, and I will, but I have to give special thanks to Bill Ferriter. If you don't already know, the guy is a special kind of awesome. The day after I got back from Philly he called me and wanted to know what was going on. He offered to be my contact for all of education friends. I would keep him the loop and he'd make sure people knew what was going on. He gave people my address and the next thing I knew people were mailing me cards with words of encouragement. I can't tell you the number of tears I shed reading those cards. Everyone of them touched my heart. Bill even set up a GoFundMe that has helped lessen the blow of our medical bills. I can honestly tell you that I love Bill like family. He's like my big brother and I'm forever grateful for his friendship.
Tom Murray is right up there with Bill. This guy was relentless with his text messages to me. He just wanted me to know that he's thinking of us and praying for us. I wouldn't hardly go a couple of days without hearing from Tom.
Tom Whitby, Amber Teamann, John Spencer, Erin Klein, Philip Cummings, Paul Cancellieri, everyone in SportsVoxRadio land, and everyone else who I met on twitter or at conference that has reached out to us, I say thank you! I'm sorry I couldn't name everyone.
Chris Lehmann - When I was in EduCon, as I stated above, I had to change my flight and get home as quickly as possible. Well, I found Chris, told him what was happening and that I couldn't lead my conversation with Erin Klein. He sprung into action and grabbed three students. One of them put a note on the door to announce the change in schedule, one changed my flight for me, and one got me a cab. I got home quicker to my wife because of Chris and his amazing students!
Evansville - We lived in Evansville, IN for almost 8 years of our marriage. We had ladies from the church where Ruth and I were the youth pastors that came and cleaned our house from top to bottom. The pastor sent a basket full of snack and games. One of the highlights of the hospital stay was when a group of them surprised us at the hospital. Thank you Abundant Faith Family!
Colleagues - First of all, I have the best boss ever. Amy is somebody who will never seek the spotlight but she is just amazing. Her and my Superintendent gave me the freedom to care for my family and never one time put any pressure on me to return to work. I wouldn't have wanted to have gone through this under any other leadership I've worked for besides this one. Just amazing people, who love people, and are true leaders.
My team - We are leading a large 1:1 initiative and it's a hard job. My team didn't miss a beat! From our eLearning Coaches, to our managers, building level techs, and the best administrative assistant a guy could ask for! It's almost scary how well things went while I was out. Thank you team for carrying the load, providing support, and caring for my family!
Our Boys - Micah, Nathan, and Levi aren't perfect but they are amazing kids. They all stepped up and probably grew up a couple of years in just a short amount of time. I have never actually sat them down and explained to them just how close they were to losing their mom. I'm not sure if/when I ever will. Their hugs, kisses, and smiles are more precious to me than almost anything. Some of my most fondest memories of this trial will be the joy and excitement they expressed every time Ruth made some sort of accomplishment. "Oh mom! You're standing! Good job mom! You're walking without the walker! That's great mom!"

I'm sure I'm missing something. There's no way that this is it, but I think you get the point. This was the worse thing I've ever lived through. People have told me time and time again, "I don't know how you made it through all of this. I'm impressed with how well you've handled everything." Well, I hope this post serves as an answer.

Our tunnel was long but it wasn't dark. Yes, there were times when I was discouraged, scared, and frustrated but when I took a deep breath and looked at the whole picture, I knew we'd get through it. We all go through test and trials. We all get stuck in tunnels. We all know people who are in those places right now.

The biggest thing I've learned through all of this, is that you don't have to wait until the end to see the light. If we will be there for each other, then even in our darkest moments, the path will be well lit.

Be the Light in Somebody's Tunnel

More Than a Music Teacher

2015-01-17T06:46:00.002-05:00

I write this post with a heavy heart because I know no matter what I write in this post it will fail to adequately express how I feel. One of my all-time favorite people is battling cancer and is currently at home receiving hospice care. I am frantically typing these words in a hope that she will get to read them because I haven't expressed to her enough what an impact she had in my life.

With that being said, I dedicate this post to the amazing Mrs. Connie Meek.

Mrs. Meek taught choir at Crawfordsville High School. I first met her when my brother Jason was in high school and she was his teacher. I would go on to have Mrs. Meek as a teacher from the time I was in 8th grade choir, until the day I graduated high school. I had her for more classes than any other teacher in my educational career.

Now I love music. I love playing music and I love singing. However, there is no way I would have taken that many years of choir if I didn't have an amazing teacher. What made her so amazing? First of all, there is no doubt in my mind, or anyone's, that she loved teaching. I can not imagine all the hours she put into us as students between her full schedule of classes, musicals, Pride (which is a club about being drug free), and everything else that goes along with being a teacher. Most importantly, she loved us students. I can't tell you the number of times she pulled me aside when I was having problems and talked to me. She loved us and I loved her for it.

My mind is being flooded with memories. Even now I can see the smile on her at the end of a choir concert. The look of joy she would have because the way we sounded on day one of learning a song compared to where we were on concert day was always light years apart. It was never a look of pride in herself for taking this group of kids and making us sound wonderful. It was always, at least to me, a look that said, I'm so proud of you and look what you can accomplish when you work hard and believe. It's a look I've tried to express to my own students and children.

I remember all the times I got to sing the national anthem and even to this day I can't hear or sing it without going into my bass part. Well, I at least try to go into my bass part. Every time I hear somebody sing and the words say "don't you" but it sounds more like "don't chew" because they didn't enunciate properly, I think of her. Even though I'm not in any choir or part of any singing group, I will still find myself singing the warmups we did in choir. Every time I hear the Imperial Death March I don't just think of Star Wars. I also think, "uh oh, somebody just got caught chewing gum in choir." There are several songs we sang in choir that I will still break out into at random times. Peg Leg Pete, Every Time I Feel The Spirit, and Calendar Girls, just to name a few.

One of my favorite high school moments happened because of Mrs. Meek. I was not nearly as outgoing as I wanted to be in high school. If I'm being honest, I had a very low self-esteem. I never thought I was good enough. My senior year was a down year in the men section in concert choir. A few seniors opted out for whatever reason and I was the only male singer who had any concert choir experience. We had a bunch of freshmen and their ever-changing voices, plus a few upperclassmen who might have been in choir before but this was their first time in concert choir. I actually had a scheduling conflict because I was a calculus student and it was only offered at the same time as concert choir. I convinced my school to let me drive a few miles down the road to the next high school and take calculus there at the end of each day so I could still be in choir. It was a great year, with lots of great memories. At the end of the year we always had awards. Mrs. Meek was handing out the top award for the year. I couldn't believe it when she called my name. I wasn't the choir president, I didn't consider myself to be a popular kid, and I certainly wasn't the best singer in choir. She later told that she gave me the award because I stuck with her and worked so hard with all the guys all year long. I've never forgotten that feeling. It was a feeling that very few teachers ever made me have but it was one that I had frequently around Mrs. Meek. It was a feeling of pride in my ~~work~~ self. It was the feeling that if I could master this, what else could I master?

Hardly anything can match the feeling of somebody believing in you and how it causes you to believe in yourself. She never gave up on me. She never gave up on us. It's a feeling I tried my hardest to pass on to my students. It's a feeling I do everything I can to make sure my own children have.

These words are not enough. I read over them and I know I've fallen short. How do you put this much appreciation for an individual into words? I hope some of Mrs. Meek's former students read this and help me out here. I hope others share their thoughts.

Thank you Mrs. Meek! You did more than teach me how to sing. You taught me more than notes and lyrics. You taught me how to love what you're doing. You taught me how to love students as if they were your own kids. You taught me how to work hard and to never give up on something or someone you love. It has been almost 17 years since you were my teacher but I'm still learning from you today.

Thank you Mrs. Meek.

Four Ps to a Fantastic Following

2015-01-16T14:37:00.000-05:00

I originally posted this blog on my school district's technology website.

If nobody is following you, then you're not leading.

It's a phrase that anyone in leadership has heard over and over again. I was recently in a leadership class at my church being led by a person from Kineo Resources. During the session as he was discussing the four reasons people will follow you, I reflected on what I had learned that night I thought about how it applies to education. Whatever your role is in education, you are a leader. However, the true mark of leaders isn't how great their ideas are; it's the number of people they can get to follow, plan, improve, and execute those ideas. There are four levels of followers each leader has and each level of follow is a reflection of the relationship between the leader and the follower.

Position

Some people will just follow you because of your position. They do what you say because they are the student and you are the teacher, or they are the teacher and you are the administrator. It's a level of compliance based on the position you hold over them or because of your ability to "get them in trouble" if they don't listen to you. This is the lowest level of followers and the lowest level of relationship. If you constantly have to remind somebody that you're in charge, you're the adult, or you're the boss, and they're the student, they're the child, or they're the teacher, then you only have position followers. These followers might be compliant at best. They will do what you say when you're but might talk about you behind your back. This is also the entry level of following. We follow people because of their position and test the waters to see if we can build that relationship to the next level. When you realize you have a position level follower, it is your role as a leader to cultivate that relationship. The follower wants to see that you have a vision and a mission. They want to see that you have a plan and a purpose. Most of all, they want to see that there is a benefit to being your follower. If they can't see your vision and mission, they'll never buy into you. If they don't see a benefit of being a follower, then they'll never get to the next level of following.

Permission

Permission is the next level of following. This level says, I give you permission to lead me. Ultimately, position followers are not true followers at all. True followers are followers not out of obligation, but because they give you permission to lead them. They are followers out of choice. They have begun to buy into you as a leader, therefore they are buying into your vision and your mission. They haven't seen the results of following you yet, but they believe the results are coming. This is the student who came into your class not liking your subject, but because they like you they give it a shot. They don't think they'll be good at math but because they have begun to trust you, they follow your instructions. This is the teacher who has bought into the vision of the principal and the district. They haven't seen the results in the classroom yet, but they trust the instructional leaders and therefore are implementing the plan to the best of their ability. There is only one way to continue to move the followers up to the next level of following, and that is through results. If a leader's vision and mission fails to produce results, then those who followed you out of permission are going to revoke that permission. You see it all the time is sports. A new coach comes in, builds a relationship with his or her team, they implement the new system, maybe have some immediate success but then things go south. They start losing games and the new system doesn't appear to be working any longer. What happens? The coach loses the locker room, loses permission, and then loses his job. The same thing happens in our schools. At some point, your leadership has to begin to consistently produce results in order to move to that next level of followers.

Production

When those following you begin to see the good results, then they move to that next level, production. This level says, I followed you because of your position, you built trust in me and I have you permission to lead me. Now I see the good results of following you, so I will follow you further. This is a great place to be. I think back to my high school algebra teacher, Ms. Rupar. She was a tough lady. She certainly taught through fear to a certain degree and I'm not sure her methods would work today but they worked back then. I remember listening to her because she was my teacher and she could put you in line if you didn't pay attention. Then I remember as the semester went on that I developed a good relationship with her. I learned that we could connect and she was actually very easy to talk to once you got over your fear of her. So I gave her permission to lead me. No longer was I doing things because I didn't want to get in trouble but because I didn't want to let her down. Finally, I found out I was pretty good at this algebra stuff and I had her to thank for it. I was getting consistently good results, so I kept following her. I don't care what your position is, how many degrees you have, or how many years you've been doing this, if you can't produce results, people will stop following you. This is where a lot of leaders falter because they realize they're not getting the results they want, but they aren't willing to change. They are not willing to adapt to a new way of thinking. Their plans become more important to them than their vision and mission. But if you, as a leader, can grow, change, and adapt throughout the process and produce results, then you have a chance to grow into the type of leader who leads people to that final stage of following.

Personal Development

We will all follow somebody who makes us a better version of ourselves. This level says, I will follow you because I am becoming the leader I want to become because of you. We reproduce after our own kind. Dogs breed dogs. Cats breed cats. Corn seeds are planted and corn grows out of the ground. Leaders produce leaders. I said it at the top of this post, if nobody is following you, then you're not leading. I also say, if you're not producing new leaders, then you're not leading. People will obey somebody because of their position. They will give permission to somebody they trust. They will follow somebody whose plans and leadership produce results. They will flock to somebody who helps them develop personally to the leader they want to be. This is the principal who changes schools and half the staff at their previous schools puts in for transfers to his or her new school. This is the teacher that every student in the school wants to have, like my high school Latin teacher Mr. Boone. Mr. Boone taught 11th grade ELA and Latin. By the time he retire, he taught five classes of Latin a day. He was such a great teacher who instilled within you confidence, a love for learning, and a passion to follow your dreams. Every student signed up for Latin just to guarantee they had Mr. Boone as a teacher.

In the end we have to remember that there is more to life than producing good results. If you are just using people to get the results, you need them in spite of your results, you will lose your followers. We are in the people business. Our students need to know that we are interested in developing them as people and working with them so they will become the leaders they want to be. Our staffs need to know that we pour into them, not just to get results, but because they are worth pouring in to. It's all about relationship. Here, in just the start of second semester, let me challenge us to reflect on where we are as leaders. Are people following us just because of our position? Have people given us permission to lead them and are we honoring that permission by working with them to produce results? Are we doing more than producing by pouring into those who are following? Are we producing leaders?

He's a Bad Kid

2014-11-20T01:35:00.000-05:00

The best part of my mornings are getting to fix my three boys breakfast. Raising three boys you're just never sure what is going to happen while they are eating breakfast. My kids major in randomness. The other morning my youngest son started telling me about how he was missing a boy who was no longer in his kindergarten class. I told him that I was sorry that he missed him and asked him if they were his friends. He quickly responded, "No, he's not my friend. He's a bad kid. He gets on red every day."

I was taken back and honestly saddened by his comment about his classmate. You see, like many classrooms, my son starts his day on a certain color. If his behavior is defined as good behavior, then he gets to move up a color. If his behavior is defined as bad behavior, then he has to go down a color. Most days when I ask him how his day was he will reply, "I was on (fill in the color)." Here is what bothered me about this conversation at breakfast and what bothers me about frequent conversations after school.

He frequently defines the success or failure of his day strictly by what color he is on when the day ended.
He judged a fellow classmate as a "bad kid" based on what color he perceived that student regularly ended his day on.

Now let me say this as clearly as I can. This is not a complaint against his current teacher or school. My boys are having a great year. They have great teachers. They are all learning and happy. This post has been a long time coming. In fact, I spoke with my son's teacher today about it and got her permission to share the story about my son. Really made me even happier about her as a teacher. I love her openness and willingness to be a reflective educator.

I was recently quoted in a piece about Class Dojo in the New York Times. I was probably on the phone for over an hour with the reporter and it was a very pleasant conversation. The interview, a twitter conversation I got involved in, the subsequent NYT rebuttal from Class Dojo, a Skype session with somebody from Class Dojo, and then this conversation with my son all happened right on top of each other. All of this has my mind going and I had to blog about it. So here are some observations and things that I'm wondering about.

Do tools like class dojo and using colors to track behavior build a positive classroom culture?

Culture is everything! Read Anthony Muhammad's books and you'll see what I mean. Here is the thinking that I think public displays of rewards and punishments reinforces.

Class favorites and class pets. "Oh Mr. Clark always gives Johnny Dojo points. He's his favorite." A lot of students already struggle with this mindset. Let's not reinforce it with bad classroom management practices.
This kid is a bad kid. As you know, I've seen this in my own son. He couldn't tell me anything else about that student except for his name and that he was a bad student. He based that on what somebody else in authority label that student. Inadvertently or not, it doesn't matter.
Us vs Them. Is the way we handle classroom management bringing us closer together with our students or pushing us apart? Perception is reality. If our students view us as having it out for them or that "we never liked them", it doesn't matter how accurate or inaccurate it is, that's a hard mountain to climb.

What message are we sending our students?

One of my biggest complaints about Class Dojo is the imagery of little monsters being used to represent our students. I personally am not comfortable with it. I don't want my son to be depicted as a little monster. I don't want my students to be depicted as little monsters.

My second biggest complaint with Class Dojo is that it's designed to be displayed. Now I know that teachers don't have to display it. Just like I know that teachers don't have to use the negative marks and the sound effects. However, the fact that those features exist promotes the public displaying of what should remain private information.

Technology isn't neutral. You can take a piece of technology and use it differently than how it was designed but it was designed for a purpose. It's like the idea that guns aren't a part of the problem, just the people who misuse them. (My goodness, why am I putting this in here?) Give a group of kids a set of toy guns and see what game they'll play with them. Will they play "war" or will they play "peace". No kid says, "hey look at these toy guns we just got, lets go play peace with our friends." Yes, you can take almost any tool and use it in a beneficial way but that doesn't change how it was designed to be used.

In a recent conversation I made the suggestion of removing the public and negative features from Class Dojo. The idea was rebuffed because half of the users would probably leave the platform. Now in all fairness, the ideas were written down.

Ok, I'll get off of Class Dojo because I think they have good people working for them and they have been very open to conversations. You can use their product in a positive way. Plus, I'd rather this conversation be more about the overall idea of classroom management, than just a single platform.

Who owns the learning?

If we as educators are defining what is good and bad behavior for them then when are we giving our students the chance to define their behavior themselves? More than just letting our students be involved in the creation of classroom expectations. We've got to get our students reflecting on their own actions and making their own course corrections as needed.

Are we setting up our teachers and students for failure?

If you give out a reward or punishment for a certain behavior then you better be ready to give out that reward or punishment every single time that same event occurs again. That's an impossible task but the moment you stop, you've just sent a message to the student that the rules have changed. I do believe in the idea that we can punish by rewards.

Where do we go from here?

Ok, I've got to land this plane. Let me give you two easy suggestions on how I think we can all do a better job with classroom management.

Worry more about classroom engagement and less about classroom management. I've been saying for years that an active, engaging classroom and a mobile teacher are teachers' two best tools for classroom management. Be relevant, be engaging, be personable, and be empowering.
Keep discipline and rewards private. Especially discipline. If you see me pulled over on the side of the road, you can speculate all you want but you don't know why that cop pulled me over. Cops don't stop all of traffic just to deal with one violator. We shouldn't stop all learning just so we can deal with one student. If you're going to give rewards publicly then the rewards should be decided upon by the public for specific reasons to avoid the ideas of teachers having their favorites and popularity contest.

Finally, let me leave you with two other great blog post.

So How Do You Manage Your Classroom When You Don't Punish by Pernille Ripp

When Classroom Culture Conflicts With EdTech by Karen Lirenman and Erin Klein

What do you think? How do you handle classroom management? Am I completely off my rocker?

It Starts with Listening #ferguson

2014-08-15T09:44:00.001-04:00

I want to say thanks to my friend Chris Lehmann for pushing me to write this post. I don't often write about social issues, even though I have opinions, and I certainly have a voice. I guess it's just my own fear about how my voice will be received and probably about my own personal doubts that usually keep me from writing about social issues.

Another reason I think I shy away from social issues is because it's impossible for me to separate how I feel about social issues without including my religious views. I'm not ashamed about what I believe and I certainly make no apologies for my faith. I feel there is a time and place to share those views and I don't often bring those views to my blog.

However, last night after teaching my middle school class at my church and reading blog post from my friends on the topic of #ferguson, I found a point of intersection.

It's this idea that everything starts with our ability to hear. Of all of my senses, I think losing my hearing would be the worse to lose. I had this discussion with my class last night. Why do deaf people struggle with speaking? There's nothing wrong with their mouth or vocal chords. It's because they can't hear.

The same is true as you grow into adulthood. How can you truly speak on a situation if at first you don't listen? Check out this tweet from my good friend Bob Dillon.

A4: I want to grow in listening. The more I know unveils to me the less that I really know. #moedchat #ferguson
— Bob Dillon (@ideaguy42) August 15, 2014

I can't say for certain I know how this is all going to end. I do, however, have a suggestion with how this all should begin. It has to start with people learning how to listen.

When having these hard discussions with your students, start by listening to their hopes and fears. Start by listening to the voices from both sides of the situation before forming an opinion. Of course, I don't always get why there are even two sides to begin with but that's just me.

Move beyond speaking for just a moment. Think about how our ability to hear gives us direction. When the room is dark and you can't see your hand in front of your face, you stop and listen for a sound that tells you which way to turn. How can you truly know which way to turn and have direction if at first you don't listen? Play a little Marco Polo and you'll know that many times which way we turn starts with our ability to listen.

I finish with a personal story.

Most of my Saturdays I go to Beecher Terrace in Louisville, KY. It seems like each week there are violent crimes in that neighborhood. It breaks my heart as my wife, three children, and I walk through the apartment complex inviting people to church. It would be easy to spend all day there because the people who are there will talk your leg off. Probably because they aren't use to people actually listening to them and their needs.

It's not uncommon to have somebody thank me for being there. Sometimes it's just in word but I have been hugged a time or two. I've been warned by the guys on the corner when I walk up to them that I'm risking getting arrested if I'm seen with them but I stand there for a minute anyway. I just listen to what they have to say.

I'm not tooting my own horn here or bragging about my involvement because I fall short every week. I'm not making near the difference that I want to make. I'm not changing near enough lives and too many people are waking up to the same bleak reality the fell asleep to the night before.

If you don't think you have a neighborhood in your city like Beecher Terrace or you don't have kids in your schools that fear a situation like the one with Mike Brown will happen to them, then you are kidding yourself and you're not listening.

So I invite you to listen. Listen to your students, listen to your families, listen to the voices of great educators who wrote far more powerful pieces than this one.

Learning starts with listening. Change starts with listening. Hope starts with listening.

Thank you for taking the time to listening to me.

#ferguson

For more on this situation, please read the following post.

When Can We Talk About Race? by Jose Vilson
Conversations With My Son Regarding the Mike Brown Murder by Rafranz Davis
Just Start by Jenna Shaw
If this is the Goal of Education by John Spencer
What Do We Teach About Ferguson, MO? by Chris Lehman
What Do We Teach When Kids Are Dying? by Chris Lehmann
#Ferguson by Bill Ferriter
To Be A Better Teacher, A Better Person by Philip Cummings

Feedback Needed: Creating the Right Professional Development Plan

2014-07-11T15:05:00.001-04:00

DISCLAIMER: IF YOU ARE FROM MY DISTRICT, THESE ARE JUST THOUGHTS I'M GETTING FEEDBACK ON AND NOT SET IN STONE.

I repeat, this is just a plan that I'm looking at and seeking feedback on.

The 2014-2015 school year is approaching quickly. As I enter my second full year as a technology director I have been thinking a lot about vision, branding, and professional development. My boss challenged me to put together a strong professional development plan for this school year. I recently shared my proposed plan with her and my team.

I hope that you will take some time to:

look at the highlights of the plan.
provide feedback.
make suggestions.

I am not looking for a pat on the back or affirmation. I need to be challenged and pushed in my thinking. I just finished my third year out of the classroom and I want to make sure my thoughts are still relevant to the teachers and students I serve.

Data Driven Decision Making

First of all, you need to know that last year we sent out a massive survey called "GCCS Needs Assessment". It was a huge list of "I can" statements revolving around using the different technology tools available to our teachers. Our amazing principals also did walkthroughs all year long and every time they did a walkthrough they submitted a google form about what they saw. A big portion of my thought process was based on these two pieces of data, conversations I've had with teachers/admins/students, and other personal observations.

eLearning Coaches

I am very fortunate to work with 3 amazing eLearning Coaches. They all 3 work with 6/7 schools a piece. Yes, I know we need more...we're working on it. Here is how I see them being utilized going into year 2 of their position.

eLearning Coaches will base weekly PD on Needs Assessment, Goal Clarity Windows (Curriculum Maps), and the district weekly PD focus (pedagogy, literacy, balanced math, and College & Career Readiness).

eLearning Coaches will work with Director of Technology and building principals to develop a plan and times when coaches will work with staff through Period Zeros, team planning period, personal planning periods, and co-teaching opportunities

TEaCHing Tuesdays

Throughout my first full year we had great conversation about how technology should be invisible. It is not the focus of the work we do. What we do is about teaching and learning. I just believe in the power in leveraging technology in the pursuit of learning.

I am working with a couple of friends to come up with a graphic for "Teaching Tuesdays" where the letters for "tech" stand out in the work "teaching" to indicate that tech is integrated into teaching. They are not two separate things.

Teaching Tuesdays will occur most Tuesdays after normal school hours. (Actual time/location TBD)

Teaching Tuesdays will offer breakout sessions, both virtual and face to face.

Breakout sessions will center around integrating GAFE, MBC, web-based tools, ActivInspire and PowerSchool into teaching. Pedagogy will be a huge focus at these PD sessions.

One session will always be an open session where teachers can come and work on lesson plans with a coach.

Sessions will primarily be led by Director of Technology and eLearning coaches but could also be led by Teacher-Librarians, STCs (School Technology Contact), other certified staff members, and/or vendor-partners.

eLearning Website/Blog

eLearning Team will finish developing help websites with contact information and tutorials on the different tools we use in our district.
eLearning Team will provide a weekly blog post by a team member.
eLearning Team will promote and participate in Connected Educator month in October, Digital Learning Day/Month in February, and conduct a 15 Day eLearning Challenge.

20% Time

20% Time is the philosophy that gives employees the opportunity to work on a project of their choosing.

Each eLearning Coach would develop, document, and implement a 20% time project.

The project can be with a class, a school, or district wide.

Projects must be approved by Director of Technology and Executive Director for Educational Services.

eLearning Coaches will document his/her experience through a blog.

eLearning Coaches will be given a budget to work on their 20% time project.

eLearning Coaches will pick one day a week to work on their 20% time project.

Teacher-Librarians

One of the exciting I've got be a part of is the opportunity to work with passionate people and reimagine with them the work they do. After working with our media-center specialist, we decided their roles needed redefining. Two are biggest initiatives in our district are literacy and technology integration. Our media-centers should be the center of these initiatives. With some help from our current media-center specialist and the amazing Shannon Miller, we rewrote the job description and have started the process of transitioning to this rebranded position called Teacher-Librarian. This is the outline of my plan to work with them.

Throughout the school year the teacher-librarians will transition to the new job description.
The Director of Technology will meet monthly with Teacher-Librarians to assist in the transition to these new roles/responsibilities.
The Director of Technology and eLearning Coaches will provide PD opportunities and connect teacher-librarians to other teacher-librarians from around the country.

We're also interested in rebranding the media-centers themselves. I'm thinking about the name "learning-centers". What do y'all think?

Technology Strategic Plan

Now my district already has a strategic plan. I just want to beef up the technology piece of it and help create a better vision and brand.

Purpose: To build upon the current district strategic plan and create ownership across all stakeholders.
A Technology Strategic Plan Committee will be formed with a representative from each building, at least 5 parents, at least 5 students, eLearning Coaches, tech service members, at least 1 school board member, and administrators.
Committee will meet regularly throughout the year and develop a plan around these 5 pillars.

Academics
Infrastructure
Digital Citizenship
Professional Development
Financial/Budget

Feedback Needed

Ok, this is where you come in. What do you think? What do you like? What would you change? What would you add? What would you take away? Does this help all of my stakeholders (students, parents, teachers, admins, school board members and community)?

Thank you for taking the time to read all of this and for leaving comments!

Cause Over Competition

2014-03-18T14:29:00.001-04:00

Sometimes I enjoy learning about myself more than anyone or anything else. I know. That sounds pretty arrogant, but I'm continuously amazed at how much I still have to learn about myself.

For example, if you want me to shut down, it's easy--put me in a competition. It's just not in me to be competitive against other people. This is one of the many reasons I stopped playing sports at a young age; I make a much better fan than a player. I'll cheer for my team, and I'll analyze their actions and think of how they can improve. Of course, I'll do that for the opposing teams as well.

Not that long ago I was playing basketball, and I was guarding a friend who is a lot better than I am. (Hint: most people are.) It was my job to guard him, so I was going to do everything in my power to stop him. However, he was draining every shot that night. If I guarded him closely, he just drove past. If I gave him space, he just shot over me. The thing is, every time he hit a shot, I felt good for him. It didn't bother me that he was embarrassing me. I was honestly happy for the guy. I think I even gave him a high-five after a couple shots. It's not uncommon for a teammate to ask me if I know whose team I'm on because I'm happy either way, no matter who wins.

The last time I played organized sports is when I was in 7th grade. I played football. At the end of the year I was given the sportsmanship award. I will never forget about what my coach said about me.

"What I love about Brett is that even though he was a starter, he never complained one time when I took him out of a game. When I wanted to put him back in, he was easy to find because he was right next to me cheering on his teammates."

None of this is to brag. It's just who I am. I am only in competition with one person, myself. The only person I want to be better than is the person I was yesterday. It is what I loved most about Matthew McConaughey's speech when he won his Oscar. He said that the person he is chasing is himself 10 years from now.

This is what bothers me about the current state of education and what goes on in a lot of other areas as well. Everything is a competition. I constantly come across the mentality that if you don't give somebody a person to compete against, then they won't strive to compete at all. I push back against that mentality.

I want to give people a cause to fight for, more than a person to fight against.

When you are fighting for a cause, you always have something to compete for or against. People win enough championships, they eventually win enough awards, and they will walk away from competition. I don't know many people who walk away from causes.

This mentality drives so many of my decisions. This is why I tell my own kids they have my permission to not take their state exams seriously because I don't let them get pulled into this competition to have the highest test score. And we don't talk about grades in my house. I will sign a report card if I have to, but I will probably only skim it, if I read it at all. When my sons' state test scores come in the mail later this year, they will immediately find their way in the trash can without being opened. They don't get to compare grades or test scores with each other. I don't put my kids in competition. I just ask them that they be the best them they can be, and be better than they were yesterday.

One of the hardest times in my career was at the end of my first year of being an eLearning Coach. We had a team of 15 and my boss was given the task by his boss to rank us 1-15 because they were going to be cutting our team down by a number that not even my boss knew. Each one of us had to go in for an interview and just talk about the work we were doing. I thought long and hard about just bowing out and heading back to the classroom. I loved my classroom, and I miss it dearly every day. I will miss that role until the day I retire. My best years are ahead of me, but I fear my favorite years are behind me.

I hated what we were being asked to do, go in and fight to beat out others, because our team was not in competition with each other. We were collaborators! We were brothers and sisters! But here we were trying to fight to stay in our position. So why didn't I just back down? Because of the cause. I love education and want to make our schools the best they can be. It's something that is etched in my heart.

So I went into that interview with the mentality that I was going to refuse to place myself above anybody else on my team. For the majority of the interview I talked about what each person on the team brought to the table. I talked about the different gifts each of us had and how well they complemented each one of us. I honestly tried to give my boss every reason to keep other people on the team over me.

The day I got picked to stay on the team, and five of my teammates were cut, was one of the hardest days of my career. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to fight for my cause, but I was crushed that my colleagues, my friends, had an opportunity to think less of themselves.

That is what happens when you make things a competition. You always have a winner, and you always have a loser. You give somebody a reason to feel good about themselves, and you give somebody a reason to feel bad and defeated.

When you have a cause, you are taking a situation that is already struggling and you're trying to turn it around. Let me say it this way: you are taking a situation where people already feel like they are losing and you're helping them turn into winners. Nobody looses when you fight for a cause.

We need cause-driven leadership!

We need leaders who will have their people take on a cause and not a competition. I remember working in a school district where the mission statement was "Equity and Excellence for All Children". That's a cause I can get behind and I can fight to provide. The district I am in now is "Bridging Excellence and Opportunities". My current superintendent often talks about being the bridge between college and career readiness. Again, that's a cause I can get behind. It's not for me to decide where my students end up. I'm just going to be the best bridge I can be to help them get there. I'm not out to build a bigger and better bridge than other school districts. I cheering for those guys and gals. I'm pulling for each district around the state and beyond! We are all pulling the same direction. At least, we're suppose to be.

Not really sure how to wrap up this post. I could spend more time on cause-driven leadership and maybe I will soon. This post was more for me than anything. It's my 100th post on my blog. I'm a little bummed that it's taken me this long to click on "publish" 100 times, but here we are. I hope to get better at this, and I hope to write more often because I know I can. Me 10 years from now is blogging a lot more than I am today. Me 10 years from now has written a book and has his doctorate degree.

The causes that I am fighting for will still be there 10 years from now. I am not sure how much of dent I will make in them over the next 10 years, but I will make a bigger dent in them today than I did yesterday and it will be the best dent I can make. In the end, that's the only competition I need.

Just wondering...#INeLearn #edchat

2014-03-08T09:31:00.001-05:00

Blogging Challenge

2013-12-28T01:37:00.000-05:00

Ok, this blogging challenge/homework has been going around for a little while now and it got around to me thanks to my good friend, Shira Leibowitz. Here is her post!

HERE ARE THE RULES OF THE CHALLENGE:

Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
Share 11 random facts about yourself.
Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
List 11 bloggers. They should be bloggers you believe deserve a little recognition and a little blogging love!
Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer and let all the bloggers know they’ve been nominated. (You cannot nominate the blogger who nominated you.)

11 Random Facts

1) I hate the outdoors. I will only spend lengthy periods of periods outside for 2 reasons, a sporting event (watching, not playing) and if my kids ask me very nicely.

2) I was a teenager when I got married.

3) I play the bass guitar.

4) I currently have 52 tabs open in Chrome.

5) I used to want to teach high school language arts. Then I realized I wasn't very good at language arts and didn't have the patience or desire to grade 100s of essays/stories.

6) I had a college professor talk me into getting my middle school endorsement my senior year of college. It saved my career. I was made to teach middle school but it took somebody else pointing it out to me for me to see it.

7) My brother Kyle and I can carry on a conversation with nothing but movie quotes.

8) I almost left education 5 years ago.

9) I miss being in the classroom every week but I would miss what I do now the same if I ever went back to the classroom.

10) I desperately want to go skydiving one day.

11) The longest I have ever stayed in one position is the paper route I delivered for 6 years as a kid. I have not stayed in any of my professional positions for more than 3 years.

12) I have always wanted to speak at a school's Red Ribbon week. Preferably either at a school district I work or have worked in or at my alma mater because I think relationships are critical when having those discussions. Although, I'd love to speak anywhere students were willing to hear my story.

13) I'm an open book and could do this all day. I've deleted several things from this list.

My 11 questions from Shira
1. When you were young and people asked what you wanted to be when you grow up, what did you answer? A teacher. I never wanted to be anything else from the time I was in the 3rd grade.

2. What is one piece of advice you have to offer a first year teacher? Teaching is about relationships. If you don't have a healthy relationships with your students and colleagues, this job will be very hard for you.

3. What is one piece of advice you have to offer principals? You don't have to do this alone. You have teachers, students, parents, and a community that want to see your school success as much as you do. You set and cast the vision and let the team carry out the mission. Also, see the advice above for teachers.

4. How do you like to spend time off from work? Anything that involves family and church.

5. What is your most important professional priority in the coming month? Taking our 1:1 to the next level. We're a semester in and it's time to push our thinking a little harder.

6. What inspires you? Kids inspire me. They are so passionate, creative, resilient, and hopeful. It also breaks my heart when I see those things ripped away from our kids by a cruel world.

7. If you could learn anything new (time, effort, practicality, and difficulty aside) what would you want to learn? To draw comics. I'm terrible at art and would love to be able draw comics for my boys and to teach them to draw.

8. What makes you laugh? My boys, Micah, Nathan, and Levi! If you follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook, they've probably made you laugh too.

9. What is a goal you have for yourself in the coming year? To start writing a book. I have lots of ideas for books but have yet to sit down and really start one.

10. Who do you admire? My Bishop, J Todd Nichols. He's a very inspirational man. Also, Bill Ferriter. He's like a big brother to me and pushes me to be a better educator and leader.

11. What are you currently celebrating? I am celebrating the birth of my savior, Jesus Christ. It's something I celebrate all year long.

11 Bloggers + 1

Tim Wilhelmus
Jeff Tron
Brian Bennett
Michelle Green
Jason Bailey
Candice Dodson
Allie Holland
JD Ferries-Rowe
Marc Seigel (The only non-Hoosier on this list.)
My eThugs - JT Cox, Melissa Stewart, and Katie Hutchinson (Time to start blogging!)
You - seriously, if you're reading this and want to join in, why would I stop you?

My 11 questions for you.

1) What is the most rewarding professional experience you've ever had?
2) If you were made the emperor of education, what would be the first 3 things you would change?
3) What was the last book you read for fun? for work?
4) Who is your favorite director? (If you say Brett Ratner or Michael Bay, I may unfollow you.)
5) If you could be on any TV show, what show would you want to be on?
6) Paperback, hardback, or eBooks?
7) Who's your favorite celebrity to follow on twitter?
8) How close or far away are you right now from where you thought you would be at this point in your life when you were a kid?
9) What's the most embarrassing hair style you've ever had? Bonus points if you include a pic!
10) I always loved how baseball players have a song they walk up to when they bat. What song would you pick?
11) What's your favorite browser and how many tabs do you have open? (I'm really looking for affirmation that I'm not the only one with an addiction to tabs.)

Have fun!

One Semester into our Chromebook Initiative

2013-12-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

A year ago today I was preparing for Christmas, wrapping up my 7.5 year career in Evansville, saying my goodbyes to friends, colleagues, and former students, trying to sell my house on Craigslist without a realtor, and preparing for my new job as Director of Technology in a new school district.

A year later I am preparing for Christmas, reflecting on one year of employment at Greater Clark County Schools, I've settled into our new home, made new friends, stayed connected with the old friends and former students, and finished up our first semester 1:1 with Chromebooks in grades 3-12.

In no certain order, here are some things I've been thinking about after a year as a Director of Technology, and a semester into our Chromebook initiative.

People will do amazing things when you give them the time and the space to reach for greatness.
Focusing on the positive takes work. Focusing on the negative is easier and more natural.
If you can't write down on paper what you are doing and why you are doing it, then you don't know what you're doing.
Nothing is ever as bad as it seems.
Yes, you can hand out 6,000+ Chromebooks in 3 days.
Yes, you can roll out close to 9,000 Chromebooks total!
I can make it through a week on less than 30 hours of sleep for the entire week. #teamnosleep
If teachers and students don't see the connection between chromebooks and curriculum, they don't use them at all or only for minimal task like test taking.
If what I just wrote above occurs, that's my fault.
There is nothing more valuable than a teacher who will empower his or her students to change the world.
Nothing is more fun than watching a teacher light up when they come across something that will help them be a better teacher.
Nothing is more difficult than watching people struggle and fail. Even though you know the struggles and failures are only temporary.
I never get tired of stories that start with, "This kid never says anything but..."
I love hiring people and then watching them succeed!
You probably thought this blog post would be more about what actually happened and not these random thoughts written at 2:30 in the morning.
There is much work ahead.
I love my job!
I should have blogged more this past year.

Technology Issues vs Behavior Issues

2013-09-26T08:23:00.000-04:00

Just a little something I wrote on my wall this morning.

What to Expect When Expecting Technology #edtech #edchat

2013-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00

I am amazed at how much the process of going 1:1 has felt like my like first year teaching but not for the reason you're thinking. You see, aside from taking on 7th grade math students in Lafayette, IN that year, my wife and I also had our first son. There are amazing similarities between starting a family and bringing innovation into the classroom.

Preparation

There's a reason why What to Expect When Expecting has sold millions of copies! People want to learn from other people what it's like to have a baby. We would rather learn from the successes and failures of others to help us maximize our chances at success. This is why, if you are expecting to go 1:1, BYOD, or some hybrid of the two then you've got to do your homework.

Sharing the News

When you tell people you're pregnant, they always ask the same two questions. Are you having a boy or a girl? When are you due? In other words, what device(s) are you going with? When is your rollout? Unlike having a baby, these questions don't answer themselves. Your school has to figure out what device(s) you are going to adopt and/or if you’re going BYOD. Then you've got to decide what grade level(s) and when this will start.

Some of your closest friends/relatives might also be brave enough to ask you, "Why are you having a kid?" This is one question you will absolutely be asked that question if you are going 1:1 in any capacity. Why? Knowing the answer to this question is perhaps the most important part of your initiative.

Here is my answer to that question:

For us, leveling the playing field between those with access to technology and those without access by going 1:1 allows us to focus on what's really important, which is the learning that takes place on a daily basis in and out of our classrooms. I am trying to help our students learn how to learn to prepare them for their future. A big part of that in today's society is centered around technology. We are interested in providing our students opportunities to work with the tools and on skills they need in order to pursue their dreams. Having a technology rich classroom is one way we give our students what they need to be successful learners.

Preparing the House

No house is built "babyproof". Families spend time and money making sure the house is ready for the new arrival. They buy and install all the proper safety equipment, they pick out a stroller and a carseat. Likewise, one of the most overlooked and under-talked about parts in moving to a technology rich environment is the infrastructure of a building. This includes, but is not limited to, looking at the wifi in terms of coverage and density, filtering practices, staffing of the IT department, and how devices will be dealt with if/when they are broken.

The Cost of the Baby

Of course, there are so many other expenses to consider besides prepping the house. There are doctor bills, clothes, furniture, food, diapers, and more. There are other expenses that pop up here and there that add up before you know it. This is always more true when you’re having your first kid. When adding on mobile learning devices in your school, the school system must consider all of the cost, both short and long term. There is the cost of the device, if you’re providing one, insurance, bags, charging carts, extra chargers, professional development, and more.

Nothing truly prepares you for parenthood.

That’s the reality that every parent faces when you bring your first child home. No amount of reading, classes, or hours spent babysitting truly prepares you having your first kid. This is the lesson that I’ve learned more than anything else since going 1:1 in my school district. When that first kid comes home and the smallest thing doesn’t fit what you’ve read in a book or heard in a class, then panic almost always immediately overcomes you. Let your child get his/her first fever and all of the sudden you begin to run through a series of questions, “Do I call the doctor?” “Do we need to go to the emergency room?” “What would my mom do?” “Is this normal?”

The last question is really the one we are most concerned about. Is what I am experiencing normal? I have spent a great deal of my time helping our teachers, students, administrators, and families see that the things we are experiencing in this first month since going 1:1 is perfectly normal.

There is so much more I feel like I could say on the matter but this is a good start. But let me ask you, does this analogy make sense? How else is going 1:1/BYOD like having a baby? What’s your one piece of advice you’d give a school system looking at going 1:1/BYOD?