Reflections from an Elementary School Principal

Building my Writer's Habit with the Magic Spreadsheet

2013-04-27T06:12:00.001-07:00

Sounds like a crazy title, right? If you're not interested in writing, you may not be interested in reading this post, but my writing friends may benefit.

I've previously shared that I have a dream of publishing a professional book and that I've even done some fictional writing that I'd like to get published so I've added some writing podcasts to my Morning Professional Development (listening to my iPod while getting ready each morning). So far, the best podcast I've found is I Should Be Writing, by fictional author Mur Lafferty. In one of her podcasts she talked about how the Magic Spreadsheet gave her the motivation to write for 100 days. I was intrigued and wondered what could possibly be so magical about a spreadsheet? When I listened to how she and other writers use it, I knew it would totally be the magic I need.

I am the kind of person that likes to see progress in action. I like to mark a star on the calendar when I work out (ok, that was actually pre-ipod times for me), I liked seeing my weight chart go down in my fitness app when I was losing weight, I use the app Simple Goals to tally many of my daily goals, so the Magic Spreadsheet did look magical to me!

The idea of it is just a basic spreadsheet in which you enter the number of words that you write each day, with the goal of writing 250 words. I have found that 250 words is really quite easy...just a couple of paragraphs in about 15 minutes. Each day that you write 250 words or more, you get a point, but also an additional point for each consecutive day of writing. So, on the fist day you get 1 point, second day-2 points, fourth day-4 points and so on. Stop a day of writing and you break the chain having to start with 1 point the day you write again. The folks in Mur's writing network have actually gamified this so that they are entering their daily words into a public google spreadsheet and have all kinds of additional bonuses and can "level up" (like increasing their daily 250 word minimum to 400). I was a little overwhelmed seeing their spreadsheet (and couldn't even figure out how to join in), but could easily figure out how to download the individual spreadsheet and get started.

It has been a week and I have used the magic to write for 7 consecutive days with a total of 2,787 words. I was worried that it would be too soon for me to post this, but I have never written for 7 consecutive days so I think I'm in the clear. Within these seven days I had 1 day of the flu and 2 days that I was so dead tired that I didn't think I could write 250 words, but did, because I didn't want to start over with 1 point...and I'm just "competing" with myself! (Sidenote-This made me wonder if this could be something for students to develop a writers' habit? We may possibly be 1:1 with iPads next year, so Google Drive will need to add the word count feature to the iPads!)

Do you want to find the Magic Spreadsheet? Go HERE for the podcast. The link in the description takes you to their google doc, but the first person's comment in the post has a link to download the individual spreadsheet.

If you're a writer in my PLN and know how to turn this Magic Spreadsheet into a public google doc like Mur's writers did, please let me know, because I would love to do so (just couldn't figure it out!)

Changing Behaviors to Change Beliefs...A Personal Reflection

2013-04-20T06:19:00.000-07:00

I recently had to give up drinking coffee due to chronic pain issues. This was very hard for me to do, because I drank three cups of coffee a day (sometimes more). Coffee was a staple of my life that I relied on for waking up, getting my ideas going, a pick-me up during the day, my energy when the day's work was tiring, a stress reliever and just the comfort of a warm cup in my hand. When students at school draw pictures of me, they often include a coffee cup in my hand! If you, too, are a coffee drinker, then I'm sure you can imagine my reluctance to give it up.

It was not easy, but I did what I was told while dragging my feet, not believing this could possibly help my situation. I looked for decaffeinated teas to try to trick my brain by still having a hot cup in my hand, but it was so disgusting to me it was no substitute. On mornings after a late night I struggled to get moving, thinking, "maybe just one cup wouldn't be so bad" but then mentally slapped my hand at the thought. One day my self-control lacked and while on a drive to a meeting, my car was an auto-pilot and swung
through the McDonald's drive through to get my favorite mocha frappe as I always do without even realizing it until afterwards. I'm not one to waste money, so I drank it knowing it was a dumb idea, and later regretted it (both mentally and physically).

Why am I sharing this? Not to whine, complain or get empathy...I promise I'm done with that aspect of my story! I share this, because it made me think of teaching practices, beliefs, and change. It is often our beliefs

that drive our teaching practices and our experience leading to changes in our beliefs that changes our practices. But what about when a change is given to us and we don't want it? No matter what the change is, change is hard.

As I think about changes we have made in our building over the years, they haven't been easy. I recently had a conversation with a teacher in which he talked about how much he hates change and didn't want to teach with Daily5/Cafe, but now loves teaching reading and writing. He didn't want to teach with our new math program, Math Expressions, but now loves it. Why? Because he sees the incredible impact that both have had for student learning and enjoys teaching both subjects much more now.

If change can be good, then why do we resist change so much?

Most of us want to continue with what we already know, what we are comfortable with. It is easier that way. It is what we believe to be "right." I think some of my mornings could be much more enjoyable if I grabbed a cup of coffee, but then I remind myself of why I had to stop. As a teacher, it is easy to revert back to old teaching habits or drag your feet on a new initiative, because what you are used to doing is already habit, is easy, and is what you know. When we stick with the change and then see a positive change in student learning or student behaviors (or changes in whatever the initiative was meant to address), then we are convinced and become believers of the change. For many of us, we need to change our behaviors to see the results that will impact our beliefs.

How to Turn Your Great Ideas into a Great ASCD Book

2013-03-18T03:51:00.000-07:00

I have never shared this publicly on my blog, but I have a big dream of publishing a book. If you follow my twitter conversations on the Wednesday night #educoach chat, then you could probably guess what I'd like to write about (and have been working on for quite some time now with Shira Leibowitz and Kathy Perret).
This is why I chose to attend the #ASCD13 session on "How to turn your great ideas into a great ASCD book" led by ASCD editors Genny Ostertag and Stefani Roth and by authors Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey. This was the perfect session for a writer to attend and I especially enjoyed hearing Fisher and Frey's stories on writing (I LOVE learning about authors!)

If you'd like to write, but maybe not a whole book Eric Vandenheuvel attended the ASCD session on publishing an article. HERE are the notes he took in that session (Thank you Eric!)

Here are my notes from this session:

What do you want to write about most?

Do: choose a relevant topic that meets a need in the field that you have expertise/experience to share. ASCD gives priority to topics that include educating the whole child (their mission) and will look for this in a proposal.

What's your hook?

What really differentiates your content, what makes it special/different. What makes people think "that's a problem I have and I can solve it." Think of a spine supporting everything in it, provides a backbone for all the material. Make sure you have a fresh angle.

Don't: give a gimmick or try to hard (ex: abc's list or sending with a teddy bear)

Who is your audience? who is your writing for? What outcomes will they be looking for? You must connect with your readers and offer solutions to their problems. What keeps them up at night? Don't tell them it's for everyone. If you say everyone will love it, then you likely haven't thought of your audience.

Competition--do you research to know your competition. What has been done already and why was it done? If there's nothing on it, it may be a reason. Don't assume your idea is original. Google your title, google under publishers.

Starting April 15, ASCD will be accepting proposals in an online portal that will allow you to track your manuscript's progress. Proposal guidelines are at www.ascd.org/write When you send in your proposal don't skim on sample material. They'd rather see the whole manuscript than just one chapter. They are important for the review team. They need to get to know you on the page. More is better than less.

What do editors want? Top 5 qualities:

1. Original-What is original about your piece? Give fresh information. Don't state the obvious (no lit review).

2. Research based-evidence based, make sure it is scalable/sustainable. Don't labor over methodology. Good example: new Principal Evaluation book by James Stronge. Not every book has to be that research-based. Could just have one chapter that includes the research and then move on to be practical. Don't just say "We know from research" and not cite anything.

3. Practical- Provide guidance as specific as you can so people know, but don't be too academic. It needs to be readable.

4. Specific-Offer helpful ideas, show what they look like in real classrooms/schools, don't over-generalizes so much that readers can't specify to their situations. If you can't figure out to apply to your school while you're reading, you'll stop reading. A great example is How to Create and use Rubrics.

5. Conversational-ensure your text is engaging, succinct, easy to navigate, be accessible, be yourself. An editor can help you add research, but they can't make it super conversational and give you personality...you need to do that. Don't include a lot of jargon or over-complicated language. Don't try to impress people with crazy big words. Don't be over-personal "I'm so great, I'm the best..." Great example: How to Create a Culture of Achievement by Fisher and Frey.

DeClutter--make sure that other people can see themselves using it. Put forth the how-to.

Do talk to published authors! Dont' stalk them!! (They must not be on twitter...my authors on twitter don't mind the stalking and have become great resources!)

Frey and Fisher sharing their writing tips

Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey shared their writing experiences and tips:

If you get a contract from a publisher-whatever date you negotiate...HIT IT! When they say your manuscript will come in on 11/15, that means they have lined up editors and the rest of the team for that date. If you don't hit it, they will not want you for future books. Add 3 months to what you say you can do and then ask the editor for that date and then hit it. If something comes up, tell them immediately so they can try to change it. They do NOT like it if you miss a deadline.

Fisher said (about their published books), "None of these are our titles! The marketing department gets the title and the cover...none of them were in our minds. Let it go, don't make the exact title/cover your concern. The marketing department knows what they're doing. I don't even bother anymore...I just give a general "here's what the book is about" for the title."

Processes to write-everyone develops their own. Nancy writes in an office at Doug's house, because his house is bigger and she won't get distracted by knowing what laundry needs to be washed! They have 2 desks in one office to talk to each other to parcel out what they will each write about. Planning process-they cover the back of the office door with sticky notes to sort based on those sticky notes. Then they put on individual sticky notes a shorthand about the point/tool and then easily move/sort ideas into chapters. Gives a good visual for conversations.

Other publishers-know who they are and who best fits your ideas.

Write about what you know. Look closely at your context/experiences, this is what you are expert in. Listen to what people ask of you, pay attention to the patterns that emerge in those questions. That's the idea that you need-if they're seeking you out about something, it means they can't find it out somewhere else and it means you're an expert in.

Books are all about the same size. Do not write a thick book for ASCD. Aim for 50,000 words. If you're at 45,000 in chapter 3 you're writing too much. If you hit 60,000 it won't be thrown out, but you don't want it to be too long. People want short chapters to read. They're busy and want to read small chunks in one sitting. If it's too long, they'll stop.

When you send a proposal, do not send your first chapter--if you wrote it first, it won't be your best chapter. It's likely very general and probably won't show your conversational tone and practical examples. Write the meat first and THEN write the 1st chapter. Otherwise you end up saying everything you want to say in the first chapter!

Nancy keeps a writer's notebook to jot down good ideas. You don't want to lose your thoughts in busy lives. Keep track of super funny quotes too!! Keep those little stories that could possibly be used.

If you've been in education for a number of years, you have a book inside of you! It's just that some people take the time to sit down and do it. Your butt in a chair...that's how you write a book! Part of the writing process is like being a brick layer of words. There's a level of discipline to keeping yourself from being distracted. Schedule time to write. Treat it like a meeting. Schedule it just like a conference or something else that's important. Keep it as a promise to yourself. If you can't do that, how can you keep a promise to someone else.

Create a goal for each day, ex "today I will write this idea." "Today I want to finish___" and then stop. This will help you pace yourself better to finish the book. You will get fatigued and get frustrated if you try to write for 8 hours a day. Nancy writes notes about what they talked about so she can look back if they haven't written them yet. You will paralyze yourself if you keep going back to reread what you've already written. Leave yourself a note to know where to start tomorrow and get going again.

Doug said that staring at a blank page intimidates him so he opens a chapter from a previous book and writes notes on the top of the page and then copy/pastes it to where he's working...it's all a psychological thing for him! Nancy-puts down a quote or a scenario to get something on the page. She may not keep it, but it gets the flow going.

Their first book started as a conversation in the car. Her first chapter took 4 weeks to write---laboriously. Now she writes fast. It was hard for her emotionally to see the edits/revisions come back, because it's like your own child. She's learned to become detached from that. When you get your first book out, ask the publisher for a copy of the cover to frame on your wall...it feels good to look at it.

And have you ever wondered how ASCD chooses their member books? (The free one you get with your membership?) It must weigh less than 1 pound!

Freeman Hrabowski at #ASCD13

2013-03-17T19:48:00.001-07:00

I knew while hearing Freeman Hrabowski speak at #ASCD13 that his speech would be the one I include in my next Monday Musings post for my staff. He had such a powerful message that I had to share with them. Here is a cross-posting from my staff memo blog:
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This weekend I got to attend the national ASCD conference in Chicago. I was fortunate to have the chance to attend it with a Press Pass, which got me in for free, but I just had to tweet/blog a lot about that (definitely something I am good at!) I already have several posts up with more to come. If you're interested you can find them on my professional blog at principalj.blogspot.com

One of the great speakers I heard at this conference was Freeman Hrabowski, President of the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Hrabowski's story began as a young boy when he marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and he has continued his passion to change the story for children and minorities. He has led his University to change the story for minorities in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

Hrabowski spoke about matching high expectations along with the importance of building community among students, helping faculty retool teaching to start where students are and emphasizing collaboration among students, and building trust so that students are comfortable asking for help. The one skill he wants every student going to college with is the ability to ask good questions.

Some other "nuggets" of wisdom I quickly typed during his presentation include:

We must empower children to speak for themselves.
Excellence is never an accident, it is a result of sincere effort.
Choice, not chance determines your destiny.
Many students that would be the first generation to pursue college need to see others do it first. We need to share our stories with them of our struggles and how we got to where we are. We need to share stories of others so they can believe it is possible.
It is not cheating when people work together (talked about cooperative learning).
We want our children to be passionate about learning.
Even when a child loses parents, if there is a teacher who cares, that child will rise to the occasion.
Some of our students go through hell. Give them structure and let them know you care about them.

Hrabowksi ended with the powerful quote from Mahatma Gahndi:

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,

Your thoughts become your words,

Your words become your actions,

Your actions become your habits,

Your habits become your values,

Your values become your destiny.”

While our school population isn't as diverse as the schools he spoke of, I couldn't help but listen to him, thinking of many of our students' needs and the backgrounds they come from. Each of you play such an important role in the lives of our students; many of you providing the only structure, kindness, understanding and expectations that they have each day (several of you also providing clothes and snacks). Then you for all that you do for our students each and every day!

#ASCD13 Storified Twitter Feed

2013-03-17T19:07:00.002-07:00

Whether you were following the #ASCD13 twitterfeed from your couch at home, or there in person and following tweets from other sessions you also wanted to attend, there were many great tweets to learn from. Thankfully, Brad Currie "storified" the tweets each day so I decided to put them here in case I want to find them again. Over the past few years, I have found myself looking back at older blog posts that I wrote and use them for my learning and reflection so I thought this would be a great place to put the storified tweets from #ASCD13.

Here's the #ASCD13 recap for 3/16/13

Here's the #ASCD13 recap for 3/17/13

Connecting with great educators at #ASCD13

2013-03-17T05:36:00.003-07:00

This is the first of several posts I'll be writing to share about my awesome learning at the #ASCD13 conference in Chicago. Of all the conferences I have ever attended, ASCD was definitely the best for 2 reasons:
1. I met almost all of my favorite "Tweeps" from my Twitter PLN in real life, which allowed me to have awesome conversations all day long.
2. There is such a huge variety of learning sessions to attend (over 400) that include top notch educators from around the country (i.e. Will Richardson, Regie Routman, Doug Fisher, Nancy Frey, Eric Sheninger, Jay McTighe, Jane Pollock, Heidi Hayes Jacobs, the list go on...).
In fact my only complaint at #ASCD13 is that there are too many awesome sessions to choose from that I had some really difficult decisions to make each hour of the day!!

I have previously written numerous posts on the power of Twitter, like:
ASCD: Building a Professional Learning Network to Save you from Admin Island
Is Social Media Taking Away from Personalization and Relationships?
Using Twitter for 24/7 Professional Development

I felt sorry for some of the educators I saw at #ASCD13 that attended alone and sat by themselves in sessions and break times. I also drove there alone, however, was surrounded by educators that I connect with everyday on Twitter. I feel so connected to them that it was like connecting with old friends at my high school reunion and then continuing to have great conversations all day long no matter which session I attended. My day started out by having breakfast with Eric Sheninger in the Press room and the day continued to get better!

I was pleased to hear Twitter recommended as a powerful tool by almost every speaker of the day, as a source for great learning. My favorite tweets on this topic:

So now, I just have to share pictures of meeting my PLN in person. Can you guess the Tweep? (for those of you not on Twitter, Tweep is the term for a connected "friend" on Twitter).

#ASCD13 Post: Turn the Battleship on a Dime: Keys to Initiating Sustainable Change

2013-03-16T14:58:00.001-07:00

One of the great sessions I attended at #ASCD13 was on sustainable change led by the great Eric Sheninger, or else known as @NMHS_Principal. Eric was a phenomenal speaker and I took copious notes in his session (that includes many audience responses) as follows:

Why Change? We need to, because the world has changed, it is fundamentally different, we are in a globally connected world. How can we say we are preparing our kids to be successful to do what they want to do if we don't allow them to use the tools that eveyrone else uses to be successful?

Why doesn't change work?
It is done to people, no buy-in, don't support the rpocess, always changing from one thing to the next, we give up before the learning curve is experienced, overwelmed by number of things to change.

Why has it failed in your school?
It goes against tradition, people are not given a chance to fail or take risks

Why is change so hard? People are so comfortable bc they are not challenged to think differently. Status quo, if it isn't broke why fixt it, this too shall pass.

Why is change so hard?
Fear, void of leadership, no vision, lack of knowledge

Why is change so hard?
Instability, too many initiatives at once, resistance, one size fits all initiatives.

It's difficult to transition a school or district if it doesn't make sense.

It's important to identify the obstacles
1. This is too hard
Change is not easy. Requires work, risk-taking, learnign from mistakes, and committemtn, no fear of failure. "The price of change is measured by our will and courage, our persistence, in the face of difficulty." -Peter Block

2. I don't have time for this
-most common excuse
-in a profession focused on making a difference in the life of a child. "I don't find the time to learn and get better. I make the time to learn and get better."

3. Lack of Collaboration
We already know who on our staff don't want to collaborate. How do we get them to intrinsically want to change, becuase they might be better for kids. We can't go to a one-size fits all approach.

4. Directives and Mandates
"You can't force committemnt, what you can do....You nudge a little here, insprie a little there, and provide a role model. Your primary influence is the environment you create" -Peter Senge

5. Hierarchy in Schools
Result-inflexible, lack of freedom/autonomy to take risks, ideas are squashed

6. No Support
Time, resources, money, pd, etc.

7. Fear of change
How do we as colleagues, administrators help each other overcome fear and get others to want to change?

8. The Resistance (Naysayers and antagonists)

9. Poor professional development

10. Frivolous purchases
It is the beahviors/practices that make the purchases relevant and applicable.

"When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there." Zig Zigler

Change begins with us. "You must be the change you want to see in the world." ~Gandhi

If you are doing something because you got a grant, can it be sustained? If not, then why are you doing it?

Change often fails if there's not shared vision, or communication of the vision.

"Let the teachers decide what they need to get better." @NMHS_Principal

The Sustainable Changes that have been made at Eric's School:
grading (7 criteria to fail kids)
academies
teaching and learning web2.0
independet open courseware study
byod
professional growth period
AP culture
social media

Getting excited for the ASCD 2013 Conference!!!

2013-03-10T19:59:00.000-07:00

Image from ASCD Conference Page

ASCD is one of my go-to sources for ongoing personal PD through the monthly Educational Leadership and the numerous books published each year. For years I have wanted to attend the annual ASCD conference and this year I finally get to, because it is going to be in Chicago (just a 2 1/2 hour drive for me). While this conference has 3 days packed of amazing sessions to be offered, those that cannot attend can follow the twitter hashtag #ASCD13 or even attend virtually. I will only be able to go on Saturday, but will be following #ASCD13 on the other days.

If you're planning to attend, make sure to download the app MyASCD2013 for a handy schedule and planning tool. I found it super easy to browse the schedule by time or speaker and simply "star" sessions I was interested in to narrow down my choices (from 400) down to a handful in each time slot. Here's what it looks like so far:

Sorry, but the screenshot doesn't make it legible to read in the image.

The #ASCD13 conversation has already started on Twitter as we narrow down our choices:

To which my response is...

In addition to the great learning at #ASCD13 I am looking forward to meeting some of the folks in my Twitter PLN for the first time or reconnecting again. These folks include (but are not limited to): @KathyPerret @NMHS_Principal @Joe_Mazza @DrSpikeCook @tomwhitby and my #WIAmigos: @twhitford @leah_whit @ErinKohl @Joesanfelippofc You'll be able to find me in my #WIAmigos t-shirt

Writer's Block

2013-03-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

Here is another cross-post from my staff memo blog that will post tomorrow morning for my "Monday Musings."
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Writer's Block

While having a mental block of not feeling like I have anything worthy of sharing with you all in a Monday Musings post (because I've spent my weekend in a book entirely for pleasure, not thinking of anything school-related) it made me think about our students having writers block, not knowing what they should write about. This immediately led my thoughts to modeling writing for our students in an authentic way, which I learned from Regie Routman. (Unfortunately for the students I taught it was after I already moved into the principal role).

When I taught writing, I modeled the writing process for my students; however, I modeled how to write a piece that I had already previously planned out before. I had completely gone through the writing process on my own, wrote my piece and then recreated the process in front of them so there was no authentic modeling or thinking out loud of writers actually do as they are trying to think of what to write. How can our students learn to get through a writing struggle if it is never modeled for them? In the book Writing Essentials, Regie Routman says, "One of the most powerful ways for students to grow as writers is to watch you write--to observe you plan, think, compose, revise, and edit right in front of them, pretty much off the cuff. Very few of us just write down page after flowing page. Students need to see and hear our in-the-head thinking as we change our mind, 'mess up,' make adjustments, do everything 'real writers' do." (page. 45).

So, how can you help model for students that may have writers block? This comes from constantly modeling for them and sharing yourself as a writer with them. Start with a story...tell students a story that you want to write about. On page 25, Reige writes to pick a story that:

Is easy for students to relate to.

Is appropriate to share with students.

Is important to me.

Lets students know more about me.

Allows me to take some risks.

Tell students the story you have chosen. Routman writes, "saying the story outloud engages the students, lets me clarify my thinking, and reinforces the importance of conversation before writing." Then take that story and model writing it in front of your students. Write the story just as lively as you told it: include the details, descriptive words, or recreate the conversations you told.

As you model this process for students throughout the year, they will continue to make the connection between reading and writing...writing is a way to tell stories for others to read. They will learn how to use events from their lives or use what they are reading to inspire them to write.

Have you written in front of your students before without having planned it? If not...try it. Take the plunge and share your writing struggle with students.

(Please note-this post took me about 10 minutes...I opened it only having the idea of writing about writers block and helping our students. I did not take time to thoroughly plan it out, I just wrote as if I was talking about it. If I were doing in this in the classroom I would then tell students that I will need to go back to revise/edit later, but this was to just get my ideas out).

Sharing Authors' Personal Stories with our Students

2013-02-24T10:16:00.000-08:00

Anchor Chart image from Teaching and Tapas

My 7 yr-old son is a tough audience when it comes to books. He enjoys having me read novels to him, but he has yet to find the right books that he is completely interested in reading himself. I thought about what his favorite pastime is and decided to try to write a story with that hobby as the major part of the plot to interest him. I have never been a creative writer, but he absolutely loved what I wrote and asked me where the rest was! Before he went to bed on Saturday night, he gave me my homework: "You can NOT go to sleep until you write me 2 more chapters to read in the morning, ok Mom?!" I tweeted his homework assignment out to my PLN to share my humorous situation and got the following reply:

I was intrigued and started reading about the author, Rick Riordan, on his website . As I read through his page on "Advice for Writers," I realized how important it is for our students to learn more about the authors whose books they are reading. In one of his answers, Rick has a list of tips, including:

"Secondly, read a lot! Read everything you can get your hands on. You will learn the craft of writing by immersing yourself in the voices, styles, and structures of writers who have gone before you. Don't be afraid that you'll start sounding like a particular writer you admire. That just means you need to read MORE, not less.

Thirdly, write every day! Keep a journal. Jot down interesting stories you heard. Write descriptions of people you see. It doesn't really matter what you write, but you must keep up practice. Writing is like a sport -- you only get better if you practice. If you don't keep at it, the writing muscles atrophy."

What incredible advice from an author that many of our students (in upper grades) love to read! As I thought back to my classroom days, I recalled having "author studies," where we read several picture books from the same author, comparing/contrasting among them. I can't recall ever taking the time to share with students the authors' stories behind why they wrote each book or any other information they shared about what they do to write.

Do you take time to share any of this with your students? I'd love to hear about how it has impacted your students' writing. Here are some websites I found with resources on authors:

Meet the Authors movies/slideshows from http://www.teachingbooks.net/

Authors/Illustrators Guests Posts from http://www.teachingbooks.net

The Stacks list of authors from Scholastic

You can also google almost any author to find their homepage where they include far more information. Here's some that I know are popular authors to our students:

And an author that is new to me, but I'm sure our students will love after he visits our school this week, is... Michael Scotto

I have a secret...

2013-02-17T07:32:00.000-08:00

I am leading a session on use of specific apps on the iPad for teachers in my building tomorrow and I am NOT an expert on any of the apps I'm sharing. That's right. I'm showing how to use them, giving ideas of how they can be used and I don't know everything about each of them and I probably can't answer all the questions that may be asked of me.

But, I do know that if there are any questions I can't answer I can tweet them out and am 99.9% sure that someone in my Twitter PLN will have the answer for us. I have used Educreations in 4 classrooms, showing the teacher and the students all at once how to use it. Each time, a student (or the teacher) discovered something new or came up with a tip to help everyone. Every time I use it, I learn something new. Even if I did become an expert on any one of these apps, the developers are constantly listening to feedback from the users and updating the features, so I would have new features to learn about each time they are updated. I also know that as teachers begin using the apps in their classrooms they will come up with great new ways of using them for student learning and share them with others.

We do not have to be experts at the tools...we have to be experts at learning and show students what it is like in real life to not know the answer or not know how to do something. To be successful in life you need to know how to find it out. Or as Will Richardson says we have to be able to "learn, unlearn and relearn."

Why School?

2013-02-10T07:38:00.000-08:00

Image from Edtechworkshop

This weekend I downloaded the book Why School? by Will Richardson after seeing numerous educators on Twitter recommend it. It was a whopping $2.99, but one of the best reads (and a quick read) to challenge our thinking about school.

Here is a TEDTalk given by the author, Will Richardson, talking about how the internet resources available to us today are making learning different. Even if you don't watch the entire video (which is 14 minutes) please watch the first 1:28 minutes of it as he tells the story of his daughter learning to play Journey on the piano.

I cringed when he told about the piano teacher saying his daughter wasn't ready to play Journey yet. I then wondered if there are any times that we put similar limits on our students?

Why School? is a great summary of why schools must be different than they were when we went through school. Schools are no longer the place to go to receive information and then memorize it to regurgitate it on a worksheet or a test. That is the type of school that prepared children for factory work. We are now preparing students for jobs that do not even exist today. Richardson quotes psychologist Herbert Gerjuoy who predicts that "the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write. The illiterate will be those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." I had to think deeply about that quote, but really can connect to how true it is with changing technologies. Think about how many times you have had to change something you do technology-wise because the program has updated (Microsoft word is the perfect example) or had to completely stop using a program and learn a new one (ex: change of gradebook to a new student information system). At the rate web 2.0 tools are coming out, this learning, unlearning and relearning can happen daily!

In the video clip above (which was from 2011 so I'm sure the numbers have changed), Richardson says that by using their phones, a student could have access to 2 billion potential teachers...no, not certified teachers, but people who can teach them how to do something. Information and knowledge is everywhere, not just in the teacher's heads to impart to students. I just checked the web history on our home computer and found that we have learned the following in the past month from youtube/google:

For our students to be successful, they will need to know how to find accurate information, think about and solve real world problems, be able to create and share with others and collaborate with others...not just in the classroom but at a global level.

Here are some of the "nuggets" I highlighted in Why School?:

"Remaking assessment starts with this: Stop asking questions on tests that can be answered by a google search."

"Performance-based assessments, where students actually have to do something with what they know, tell us volumes more about their readiness for life than bubble sheets or contrived essays."

"We can raise the teaching profession by sharing what works, by taking the best of what we do and hanging it on the virtual wall. Many would argue that it is now the duty of teachers to do so."

"We have to stop delivering the curriculum to kids. We have to start discovering it with them."

Be a master learner..."in times of great change, learners will inherit the earth, while the learned will be beautifully equipped for a world that no longer exists." (quote from philosopher Eric Hoffer).

"There's no competitive advantage today in knowing more than the person next to you. The world doesn't care what you know. What the world cares about is what you can do with what you know."

Do real work for real audiences.

"Don't teach my child science; instead, teach my child how to learn science -or history or math or music."

Is there a basal series for Daily 5?

2013-02-03T09:08:00.002-08:00

Here is a cross-post from "Monday Musings" post on my staff blog this week...

Recently a principal from Twitter contacted me regarding Daily5/Cafe and asked if I could recommend a reading basal series that is conducive to Daily5/Cafe. Once I got over my immediate cringe at the word "basal" I asked why were they looking for a basal? This principal was worried about the amount of time required of teachers to plan to teach with Daily5/Cafe,because it is much easier for them to open up a basal and teach from it.

We had a great discussion on the impact I have seen in our building since implementing Daily5/Cafe and I just wanted to share with you some of my reflections on this, because it does all come back to the work that YOU all have done and continue to do each day...

Teaching from a basal is easy. Everything is in there ready to go for you, aside from possibly having to make additional copies of worksheets and decide what components will be used, because a basal series typically has too much planned for 1 week. Essentially, all you have to do is open it up each day, read the teacher notes and teach from it.

There is a great deal of research that supports the notion that this is NOT good for kids. Stephen Krashen says "we are denying students access to the one activity that has been proven over and over again to increase their language acquisition and competence as communicators: free, voluntary reading." (The Book Whisperer, page 51). A reading basal is "one size" and we know that one size does not fit all.

Since we dropped our basal series and implemented Daily5/Cafe, here's what I have seen change...

Students reading and writing. That's it. No more drill-and-kill worksheets with low level comprehension questions that have minimal transfer to actual reading.
Teachers continuing to read/learn to become experts at literacy and teaching struggling students to read and higher readers to comprehend/discuss higher level texts.
Classroom libraries continuing to grow so they are filled with high interest books that students want to read. These libraries are filled with a variety of genre that are often organized by the students which helps them to know what books are there and where to find them.
Students (and teachers) enjoying reading. I recall a teacher saying that reading used to be the worst part of the day, because it was SO boring. Now, that teacher says Daily 5 time is the best time of the day.
Students and teachers talking about and recommending books to each other.
Teachers sharing their "reading lives" with students, being a reading role model.
Teachers using what they know about student strengths, goals and interests to find books to "hook" students that haven't quite found the right book to get them to enjoy reading.
Teachers using mini-lessons with a variety of picture books or parts of novels to model the meta-cognition that happens while reading text, creating Anchor charts with student input to refer back to in future lessons and giving students time to practice applying newly learned skills with teacher feedback.
Teachers introducing new authors through read-alouds that lead students to expand their reading to new genres and authors.
Students giving mini book-talks/book recommendations to their peers to help others expand their reading choices.
Teachers conferring with students 1:1 for reading and writing, giving individual coaching sessions on what students are doing well and creating next step goals for what will help that student continue to become a better reader/writer. Using this conference to model for the student and give practice again to provide feedback to the student, continuing to check in with the student on this goal until it becomes mastered.

Image from Clark Chatter

Yes, this is all much more work than opening up the reading basal, but it is SO much better! You are not just teaching children to read, you are teaching them to enjoy reading, which we know leads to more reading and builds their background for all future learning.

Thank you for all that you do to lead our students to be readers and writers!

The #WIAmigos are at it again...

2013-02-02T06:15:00.000-08:00

Wisconsin is a state filled with farm land and small school districts across rural areas. Each district can feel like it's own island, but the educators on Twitter are working to connect those islands. Over time as many of us Wisconsin Educators have become closely connected we have coined ourselves the #WIAmigos. It is a great time to be an educator in Wisconsin!

During the past 4 years on Twitter, I have been fortunate to become connected with so many great educators and especially enjoying connecting with Wisconsin educators that I eventually get to meet in person at conferences. I have presented with my principal colleagues Curt Rees, Matt Renwick and Jay Posick numerous times at conferences to help spread the word. This week we were excited to have the following article published by ASCD:

Building a Professional Learning Network to Save You from Admin Island

Here's what else the #WIAmgios are "up to" when it comes to connected learning:

Curt, Matt and I will be presenting next week at #2013AWSA, the Elementary Administrators Conference. You can find handouts for our session here:

A Little Birdie Told Me: The Why's and How's of Twitter

You can find other Wisconsin Educators to follow (and add yourself to this list) at http://bit.ly/WIEducators
Wisconsin DPI is on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WisconsinDPI DPI has also started a Twitter account specifically for the Common Core State Standards: https://twitter.com/WisDPICCSS
The #WIAmigos have started a regular chat for Wisconsin Educators. You can join the conversation using the hashtag #wischat on Sunday nights at 8pm. A huge thank you to John Gunnell for moderating this chat.
A great day of awesome and FREE learning will take place on February 23 in Sun Prairie for #EdcampMadWi. You can find out more about this awesome edcamp HERE
How fun are we? We even have a t-shirt! Huge thank you to Tom Whitford for putting this together!

Pathways to the Common Core: Part 3

2013-01-20T19:49:00.002-08:00

Here is Part 3 on Pathways to the Common Core that I shared on my staff blog in my Monday Musings Post.
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Monday Musings - Pathways to the Common Core: Part 3

I've finally made it to the section on Writing in Pathways to the Common Core. I will be completely honest with you all and admit that when I taught in the classroom, writing was my least favorite subject to teach. Ironically, I've now grown to love writing and think if I were teach again it would probably be my 2nd favorite (right along with reading). This is only because I continue to write myself on a regular basis and enjoy it just as much as I do reading.

Prior to the CCSS, there really hasn't been much for writing standards, because NCLB put emphasis on phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. If you sit down and look at the writing standards in the common core, you will find that they are organized into three broad categories or types of writing:

opinion and argument
informative/explanatory texts
narratives

While we often put our focus on the writing process in our classrooms, the # of pages in the CCSS for writing actually devote 1/2 of the pages to the 3 types of writing. In addition, the standards call for a "distribution of writing experiences that gives students roughly equal amounts of time and instruction in argument, informative, and narrative writing" (p. 104-105). Just like the reading standards, the common core standards for writing have a "shared responsibility" for other subjects to incorporate writing into daily learning.

At Dodgeland, we have done a great job of shifting our literacy time to provide students with the time to read so they can become better readers. The common core standards also call for students to write often; "write routinely" to make writing a habit.

I was surprised to learn how specific the standards are on expectations for what students should produce in a sitting. For example, 4th graders are expected to produce a minimum of one typed page in a sitting, and fifth graders, a minimum of two typed pages in a sitting!

As I reflect on what I'm learning about the common core writing standards I wonder if our current instructional time allows for students to practice writing daily, not just for narratives (which I know we're probably best at in the elementary)? What does writing across the curriculum look like currently for our students throughout the day?

What should student writing look like at each grade level? You have all of the annotated examples at each grade level in your binder from Appendix C (also found online HERE), but I'm going to include a snapshot from each grade level. Please note that for some of them, the pieces are more than a page and this is just a snapshot.

Pathways to the Common Core: Part 2

2013-01-13T08:32:00.005-08:00

Here is Part 2 on Pathways to the Common Core that I shared on my staff blog in my Monday Musings Post.
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Monday Musings - Pathways to the Common Core: Part 2

Last week I shared my first reflection with you as I am reading Pathways to the Common Core. This week I'll share what I've learned about Reading Informational Texts. (I will warn you, since it is informational text, it is a "heavier" read than previous Monday Musing posts...at least it is for me!)

The common core standards have increased our expectations of how much informational text students read. They provide the following recommendation for reading

One important clarification here is that this does not mean that the CCSS call for dramatically more nonfiction reading within the ELA classrooms/literacy block. This literacy expectation should be shared responsibility across the content areas, meaning that 50% of a 4th grader's day (using the chart) would be reading informational text.

So, what is the CCSS expectations for reading informational text? The CCSS emphasizes synthesis, evaluation, and comparative textual analysis.

Got that?

I didn't. What exactly does that mean?

Let's look at each standard...

The first 3 anchor standards for reading informational texts are the foundation for the rest of the reading work students will do.

Standard 1: Read closely and make logical inferences
This means reading the informational text to determine what it says and NOT focusing on how you can make connections to it. This was a surprise to me, because I always taught my students to think of what they already know about the topic and make connections as they read. However, the CCSS don't concern themselves with what you know, think you know, or how you feel about the topic. You need to focus on what the text says explicitly.

Standard 2: Read to determine central ideas and themes
This standard asks readers to determine central ideas and summarize the text, linking key ideas and details. This is hard to do if you didn't do standard 1 very well and you may have to go back and reread. (I found I had to go back to standard 1 several times as I read this book!)
To get to standard 2 you can ask yourself the same question that you would if you were reading fiction, "What is this article starting to be about?" Then as ideas emerge, gather up some of the information in the text as evidence for those ideas.

Standard 3: Reading to analyze how individuals, events and ideas develop and interact
Here is where you need to notice the sequence of events, analyze relationships and connects and determine cause and effect. As readers, you should be able to analyse all of the individuals and events and be able to see how they are connected.

I'm sure you've read enough by now, so here's a short summary of the rest (you can borrow my book if you want to read more!):
Standards 4-6 get into the the craft or how the text is written.
Standards 7-9 require the reader to integrate knowledge/ideas by reading other texts on the same topic.
Standard 10 read/comprehend those informational texts at grade level

If you've read this far, then I'd ask that you reflect on informational reading in your classroom...Are your students spending 50% of their reading each day in informational text? Are you teaching your students to apply reading skills aligned to these common core standards as they read informational text? How do you support students that are reading below level to read and analyze informational text?

Pathways to the Common Core: Part 1

2013-01-13T07:17:00.003-08:00

Each week I share a "Monday Musings" post on my staff blog. I use this weekly post to share my own professional learning/reflections with staff. I am currently reading Pathways to the Common Core and plan to share what I'm learning in several parts with staff. Here is what I posted for them last week.
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Monday Musings - Pathways to the Common Core #1

I am currently reading the book Pathways to the Common Core, which I am finding to be an incredible resource to gain a better understanding of what the ELA Common Core Standards really mean. Wait, don't close this yet, I know you're sick of hearing about the common core, but at least save it to read later when you have time! If I could, I would buy this book for everyone to read, but there's probably not enough $ and I know that many of you would be worried about when you'd have time to read it. For now, I plan to share some of the "nuggets" from my reading in my next few Monday Musings posts to share my learning with you. By doing this, it is also helping me to process what I'm reading.

My first take-away from reading this book is that it is not enough for us to have our Common Core binders and remember there are 10 anchor standards in ELA or even to know the CCSS really well for our grade level. We need to really dig into what it means to apply each of the skills in the standards...How often do we we actually read complex text and apply the skills in the standards? You'd be amazed at what the common core expects! We also need to know the standards for the grade level above and below so that we can differentiate for the variety of readers we teach.

A great way to think about the ELA standards reading standards is to picture a ladder, with standards 1 and 10 as the crucial struts that form the two sides of the ladder. Standard 10 carries increasing levels of text complexity up the grade levels and into College and Career Readiness. Standard 1, the other side of the ladder, asks readers to "read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it." The remaining reading standards form the rungs of the ladder. The authors write that it is the rungs linking the 2 main standards that are important, because "although it is crucial for students to be able to handle increasingly complex texts, reading must never be mere word calling; accuracy without strong literal comprehension is not reading."

As I read the authors' section on implications for instruction, it affirmed all of the literacy work that we have been doing. The following steps for schools to put in place are things we are already doing with Daily 5/Cafe:

Assess your readers and match them to books that can be read with 95% accuracy, fluency and comprehension.
Make reading plans with students and help support them to reach those reading goals.
Provide students with an extensive collection of high-interest books and allow them choice.
Provide students with long blocks of time to read.
Provide students with explicit instruction in the skills of effective reading.

If you made it this far in reading...good for you and Thank you! Next week I'll share what I've learned about Reading Informational Texts. I am also considering using one of the reading activities (for teachers to get practice in the standards) in our next grade level meetings.

On another random note, I wrote a post on using Goodreads, which is one of my Reading Resolutions. You can find it HERE if you're interested in learning what Goodreads is.

Everything I love about Goodreads

2013-01-04T19:02:00.000-08:00

One of my Reading Resolutions for 2013 is to use Goodreads to track my books, maintain a to-read list and connect with others for reading. I used Goodreads years ago, but switched to Shelfari when I wanted to have a widget on my blog to show what I have been reading. Over this time, Goodreads came up with that widget I was missing and a lot of other really cool features that make it the best place for book nerds to go!

When I first started my account I was a bit overwhelmed. I didn't want to lose the books I had tracked in Shelfari. I was able to import my list, but 7 of them didn't transfer and I couldn't figure out which ones they were so I got over it and moved on. Then I was amazed by how many different shelves people create in their accounts and had to make a decision. Am I book nerdish enough to create a shelf for each genre? The Book Whisperer would (and does) so she can easily refer back to it to help students find books, but it's not ultimately my role each day as principal to do so. I decided to stick with the 3 main shelves you are given--read, currently reading, and to-read. I added 2 additional shelves: Professional ed books and Books I read with my sons. We'll see in 2013 if I change my mind and decide to add other shelves...you can do that whenever you want!

When it comes to reading I am notorious for having several books going at one time. Ok, not at one moment in time, but you know what I mean...a book at my home desk, a book at my office desk, a book on my kindle, then quickly purchase a book from amazon that someone tweeted out for a book study. Whenever I see a book title recommended by someone I respect greatly on twitter I go out and get it immediately and start reading. It's time to get control of myself and utilize the to-read function on Goodreads. I love how you can continue to add titles and then easily change the order they appear in.

A few other features I've already been enjoying about Goodreads...

*You can enter your goal # of books to read for 2013 and will keep track of your progress as you update your books read. I've added this as a widget on the right side of my blog. Here's what it looks like:

*When I am logged in I see the updates of any of my Goodreads friends. This lets me see whatever they have just added to their bookshelves or To-Read lists. I've already found myself adding books to my To-Read list thanks to my friends. Here's a small screenshot of what this looks like:

*I am just beginning to explore the Groups and Discussions feature. In discussions you can see what others have written on books and you can add to the discussion. You can also join a group that looks similar to any other type of message board that people subscribe to. I was invited to join the following group:

The only issue I have encountered with Goodreads is that when I first set up my account, I used the option to start an account using my Twitter account. Makes sense, since I planned to tweet about it anyways, right? Unfortunately, Goodreads hasn't fully figured this feature out yet, because I can't update all of my profile or change my password. When I try, I get this message:

It won't take my Twitter password and it only gives an option to confirm with Facebook...even though they let me use Twitter to start my account! Very confusing. You can also not login to the iPad app using Goodreads if you started your account through Twitter. I'm hoping it gets fixed soon, but I'm still using it now just going through the browser.

If you're wondering, "how on Earth do you have time for this?" I spent an hour or two (off and on) exploring Goodreads on New Year's Eve to find all this stuff. Now each day I just check in before bed to update my current reading progress and if I have time, see what other people's updates are.

There are so many great features to Goodreads that I'm still learning about. Please let me know if you have something to share and help me out!

My Reading Resolutions for 2013

2012-12-31T18:41:00.000-08:00

For 2011 I read 26 books and then almost doubled it this past year with a total of 51 books. Out of that 51, 30 were fiction and 21 were non-fiction. These titles included professional education books, novels for personal enjoyment, parenting books and chapter books I read to my 6 year-old. As I've previously written in THIS POST I have learned that the more fiction I read, the more I enjoy reading and the more I end up reading.

My Reading Resolutions for 2013 are:
1. Use Goodreads to track my reading. I've been convinced by Donalyn Miller to use Goodreads to track my books, keep a to-read list, and connect with others on books I'm reading. I spent time today exploring this site and can already feel a blog post coming on about how neat it is!
2. Have family "Read-to-Self" time with my kids. Read-to-Self is one of the components of Daily5 in our school that my son is familiar with. This will be a chunk of time (at least 15 minutes, because that's all he can handle right now) that he can read whatever he wants (not to me) while I also read myself. This will be a win-win for both of us! (I realize I did say kids plural--I'm hoping that the 2 year-old can be quiet that long looking at books or listening to books on the iPad).
3. Read 1 professional book a month I will probably end up reading more, but I want to focus on reading more fiction so I'm not so boring!
4. Read 280 books. I'm not as crazy as I sound, I swear! As I was exploring Goodreads today, my son thought it was cool and asked if we could keep track of the books I read to him (and his brother) on there too, so out of the 280 goal, I expect 225 to be for picture books and 55 to be for novels, professional books, and kids' chapter books.

Reading Resolutions - staff memo edition

2012-12-31T09:08:00.003-08:00

In my last post I shared my learning from a full day workshop with Donalyn Miller and what ideas we will be implementing in our school as a result of this learning. After grade level meetings and a full faculty meeting, here is a post on my staff memo that I shared with staff on Reading Resolutions. I try to share some of my staff memo posts here, because I often gain great ideas from reading what other principals post for their staff.

My next post here will be my personal Reading Resolutions.
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Some of you asked about Reading Resolutions after the staff meeting...here are the answers. If you don't want to think about it until closer to January, then save this to read later. :)

Image from BOTNS

In yesterday's staff meeting we talked about school-wide ideas to continue building a culture of readers. We already have great literacy practices, but now we want to go further to help out students develop the habits of lifelong readers/learners.

One of the ideas I asked all of you to do is start out January creating "Reading Resolutions" with your students. This would start with you creating your own Reading Resolutions. I haven't written mine yet (there are still 14 days to read for 2012), however, I did write a blog post in June in which I reflected on my reading half-way through the year: HERE is the post. In that post I noted how last year I read 20 non-fiction and only 6 fiction books and that I needed to read more fiction or I would become a really boring person! I do not at all expect anyone to write something as long as I did for a reading resolution, but I just wanted to share that with you.

HERE is a post that Donalyn Miller wrote last year on her Reading Resolutions.

HERE is a post with some actual reading resolutions from students. HERE is another one.

I don't want to tell each of you how to do this with your class, you have to do what works for you. I'm sure that several of you will also come up with some cutesy little form for students to fill out (and others can steal from them) and others (if it were me) might just use index cards or old-school paper. I would share with students my own personal reflections on my reading for the year and then show them an example of what format they should write their's in (showing your own resolutions).

Thank you for all your hard work and for sharing your reading lives with students!

An idea found on Pinterest--maybe usable for 5K students?

A Day with The Book Whisperer

2012-12-30T07:36:00.000-08:00

I recently was fortunate enough to spend the day in a workshop with Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer, on Creating Classrooms Where Readers Flourish. I read her book over a year ago and immediately shared it with my staff in this post and have continued to follow her on twitter, as well as the Nerdy Book Club blog and the monthly Twitter chat #Titletalk to gain book ideas. So, you can just imagine my excitement of finally getting to meet her in person, greet her with a hug and get my picture taken with her:

Now, beyond my excitement...

Her session was AMAZING! You can read my full notes HERE (warning, it's a lot!). I honestly wished I had a classroom to go back to and start implementing her ideas and inspiring my students to read, but I just had my office. I did share my notes with all of the teachers in my building, but I know it is an overwhelming a lot of information to read. I sat down and reread my notes, asking myself "what pieces can I share with all teachers in my building to continue to create a culture of readers in our building?" I was still struck by the following statistic Miller shared:

"56% of unenthusiastic readers did not have a teacher who shared a love of reading, while 64% of enthusiastic readers did have such a teacher." (Nathanson, Pruslow and Levitt, 2008)

While I typed pages of notes with great ideas, my 2 biggest take-aways were that:

The adults in the school need to model a passion for reading.
We need our students to develop the habits of readers.

What are ways that adults can model passion for reading? Aside from the teacher reading him/herself and sharing books with students constantly (just read The Book Whisperer!) some ideas I want to start are:

Continue to share my reading life with staff and students. Here's a post in which I reflected on my Reading Life.
Including what I am currently reading in my email signature--each time you send an email you're also sending out book recommendations.
Write reading resolutions...I am asking all staff to do this in January for themselves and for their students.
Everyone with a door (that would be everyone in the building) display book covers on their door of either books they've read throughout the year or what book they are currently reading. My door isn't visible to everyone, so I put mine up on the library door for all classes to see as they go to library. I also included a little blurb to explain why mine has 3 books of what I'm currently reading.
Create a basket of "light reading" books (I'm thinking magazines, joke books, etc.) in the hallway where kids line up for lunch with a basket to turn them in at the lunch room. Last year we let students bring their books to the lunch room, but had a few library books get wrecked.

When I discussed these ideas with teachers in grade level meetings, they came with additional great ideas that we want to to implement:

Leave a book, Take a book shelf in the hallway. (completely on the honor system)
Stop, Drop and Read during February. Wherever students go they will need to have a book with them, because I could go on the announcements at any time and say it's time to Stop, Drop and Read!

I would love to hear what other schools are doing to model a passion for reading and helping students develop the habits of readers!

(By the way...just realized this is my 100th post on this blog!)

Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works

2012-12-07T21:34:00.001-08:00

With the increasing rate of new tech devices and web 2.0 tools being developed each day, it is very easy for both teachers and students to get excited by something flashy and lose sight of the purpose. We often have to remind ourselves to start with our learning objectives and THEN decide what technology can enhance the learning process.

I recently finished reading the 2nd Edition of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works published by ASCD and found it to be a great resource to maintain this focus on the purpose. This book is a follow-up to Marzano's original book of Classroom Instruction that Works. In Marzano's original book we learned about 9 research based strategies that can have a direct impact on the learning in your classroom. In this technology resource book, the authors take Marzano's strategies and explain a variety of a ways that technology can be integrated into the classroom as a tool for these instructional strategies. This book is chock-full of ways to integrate technology for:

Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback
Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition
Cooperative Learning
Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers
Nonlinguistic Representations
Summarizing and Note Taking
Assigning Homework and Providing Practice
Identifying Similarities and Differences
Generating and Testing Hypotheses

In the beginning of this book there is a simple chart that identifies which tech tools in the book relate to each of the 9 instructional strategies. After seeing this, I was curious if the authors had done any similar work on iPad apps related to these strategies, so I simply asked one of the authors on Twitter and received a reply within hours (you've got to love how convenient Twitter can be!)...

You can find the Google Spreadsheet of iPad apps HERE

I am not one to typically read a book on technology (because I learn all about new technology from my Twitter PLN), but as I read through this book, I was constantly tabbing pages of ideas that I then shared with a variety of teachers in our district. For teachers that are not connected online, this book is a great resource to get started with learning ways to integrate technology into the classroom with purpose.

Will Richardson says it well in his forward to this book when he says "technology in all of its forms is no longer an add-on to the work that we as educators do. It is now a fundamental part of the way we live and learn and teach." This book is a great place to begin the work of integrating technology into learning.

Monday Musings

2012-12-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

Image from Sparkle and Shade

I've previously shared how I used my staff memo blog to share weekly updates with staff, as well as a method to model my own personal reflections with staff (you can find my previous post explaining it HERE). Earlier this year I gave staff a survey to see what they think of my Monday Memo and Friday Focus which led me to make a change. Basically, my 2 posts for the week have flip-flipped. My Friday Focus, which used to be my reflective post, is now the post that includes: "Great Things I Noticed This Week", "Events Next Week", "Nuts&Bolts Notes", and "Blogs, Pins & Tweets...Oh My!" This was in response to staff wanting to know what's coming for the next week before leaving for the weekend. My reflective post is now called my "Monday Musings." I have found this change much easier for me, because it is so much easier to reflect on the weekends to write that post.

Here is a cross-post of this week's "Monday Musings:"

I recently read the blog post What the Kardashians Taught me About Reading (No, For Real) written by Chris Lehman, co-author (with Lucy Calkins) of Pathways to the Common Core. To be honest, I love reading everything written by Chris, but I saw this tweeted several times and ignored it, because I couldn't care less about the Kardashians. I'm not sure what got me to finally read it, but when I did I read it several times through. Please take a few moments to read the article HERE which is actually on Donalyn Miller's blog at Edweek (the author of The Book Whisperer that I raved about last year).

OK, you read it now, right?
Here is what stood out to me, that I'm still thinking about...

Brand Yourself as a Reader, So Your Students Will Emulate

Lehmann writes about using the Kardashians as a metaphor for how we can see our instruction in a new light. He says, "we need to take a lesson from Ms. K and brand ourselves as readers just as carefully so our students have that vision to aspire to."

Are you known as a reader to your students? Do your colleagues know they can ask you for a book recommendation or share with you a book they just finished reading?

This has me wondering if you all think of me as a reader? I have certainly tried to by sharing my Shelfari account bookshelf on my blog and sharing my reflections of what I'm reading and learning about. Do students think of me as a reader? After reading this article (which I have actually read several times) I want to start my own little bulletin board in the media center to post a picture of what childrens' book I am currently reading to model for our students.

There were several other great ideas shared in the comments section of the blog post that made me wonder if any of you would be willing to share your ideas on this in the comments of this blog post? If you've never gone from the emailed post to the blog, go to johnsonmemo.blogspot.com and scroll to the bottom of the post and click where it says No Comments. This will open up a box for you to add your comment of ideas to share with the rest of us.

Too Little Time?

2012-12-01T07:09:00.002-08:00

I have listened to podcasts from BAM Radio Network for years now, so you can imagine my excitement when I was contacted by Rae Pica to join in on a podcast. I have joined in on other podcasts before, but I was still nervous for this one!

Over the years I have been learning new strategies to keep myself organized and efficient with my time, while struggling to meet the many demands of the principal role so the topic of "Too Little Time?" was well needed for me.

Click HERE to listen to the podcast

While I had the chance to share a few of my thoughts, I enjoyed learning from the other podcasters as well. Professor Zoe Chance shared the following research on time management: "when people perform very brief, random acts of kindness, helping others they can feel as though they have more time." Their studies found that repeatedly, people that help others, it contributes to the feeling of having more time. She went on to share that "feelings of awe and wonder" feel that they have more time and are more productive. When you have this feeling, you feel present in the moment.

I found these findings very interesting, because even though it takes time each day for me to contribute to my Professional Learning Network (PLN) on Twitter, it has always made me feel good to share with others, because it also requires me to reflect on the ideas I am sharing. Lisa Dabbs then pushed the idea of "unplugging" and finding balance, which is something that I am working on too!

So, how does an administrator get into that feeling of "awe and wonder" to be present in the moment? I've said before and I'll say it again, that you can learn a great deal from Getting Things Done and the productivity tips for administrators at Eduleadership. I have found the app Remember the Milk to be an extremely helpful tool for me to manage the never ending list of everything I have to get done. My desk used to be cluttered with post-it notes of everything I needed to do, but now everything goes into this app. If something pops into my head, I immediately put it in Remember the Milk so I can get it out of my head and focus on what task or conversation I have at hand. Remember the Milk allows me to schedule what day I am going to complete a task, prioritize the list, add notes to each, make it a recurring to-do, and create separate lists that I can use for projects.

I'd love to hear your favorite tips to keep yourself organized and efficient with your time so that you can find that state of "awe and wonder" and be in the moment.

2012 Edublog Nominations

2012-11-25T19:39:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again...nominations for the 2012 Edublog or "Eddies" awards. If you're new to social media and haven't heard of the Eddies, here's what they are all about (copied straight from the Edublog site):

The Edublog Awards is a community based incentive started in 2004 in response to community concerns relating to how schools, districts and educational institutions were blocking access of learner and teacher blog sites for educational purposes.

The purpose of the Edublog awards is promote and demonstrate the educational values of these social media.

There has always been hype on twitter around the idea of blogs not needing awards, which I fully agree with. However, I do always enjoy the Edublog nomination time of year, because the process requires people to create blog posts (or post on a public website) to nominate the blogs they think deserve the Eddie. Each year that I have read others' nominations, I have expanded the list of blogs that I follow, along with adding their authors to my PLN on twitter.

I hope you will check out the blogs of those I nominate and blogs that others nominate as well (that's the whole point). While I wish I could just upload my entire list of blogs I follow in my google reader, that's not how the process works! So, here are my nominations:

Administrator Blog: Reading by Example by @Howeprincipal. Matt is a literacy leader that always challenges my thinking and keeps me on my toes. Just when I think I have this job down, he comes up with something new for me to learn from!

Group Blog: Teachercast This group blog is organized by Jeff Bradbury (@teachercast) and is filled with posts from many great educators in my Twitter PLN.

Teacher Blog: Two Reflective Teachers by @MelanieSwider and @MelanieMeehan1. These ladies are constantly sharing their passion for literacy in blog posts that make it easy for teachers to learn from them and turn around and immediately implement great literacy strategies in their classroom.

EdTech Blog: EdTechSandyK is filled with tech resources. I find myself constantly learning from her posts/resources and sharing them with teachers.

New Blog: Principal Reflections by @epvandenheuvel During an #educoach chat we challenged Eric to give blogging a try and he jumped in full force. He's only posted a few times since he started just over a month ago, but he writes with sincerity and humor, which is necessary in the administrative role.

Influential Post: What the Kardashians Taught Me About Reading Instruction by @iChrisLehman, the author of Pathways to the Common Core and Energize Research Reading and Writing. Why is this influential? Because the title is so crazy that it took me several times of seeing it tweeted out before I finally read something. I could care less about the Kardashians, so I'm not going to read about them...but, you just have to read this post!

Video/Podcast: Again, I have to nominate the podcasts from Teachercast His podcasts have a great deal of variety ranging from hearing from teachers/administrators on various topics to app review podcasts. The resources he provides are endless!

Twitter Hashtag: I participate in quite a few twitter chats, but #satchat has become a new favorite of mine. This chat was started by @ScottRRocco and @bcurrie5 for school leaders. #satchat is on Saturday mornings at 6:30 am CST.

Lifetime Achievement: Eric Sheninger @NMHS_Principal is the administrator that has inspired many schools to open up social media for the professionals and students. I have used many of his resources to share with my school and colleagues.

Mobile App: With everything on my to-do list, I've learned to keep track of it all without losing my mind thanks to Remember the Milk!