There are three examples of figurative language in this sentence (see photo below) from page 15 of a new YA book called Zenn Disgram by Wendy Brant. There's a simile, hyperbole and alliteration.
I'm challenging PDSB readers to the Figurative Find Challenge.
Here are the rules:
1. Readers are trying to find ONE sentence with as many examples of figurative language as possible. Even if their sentence only has one example, they should enter anyway (the prize is drawn randomly).
2. They can ONLY look in books found in their school library circulation and published after 2009.
3. Once they find a sentence, they take a photo of the book cover and type the sentence over the top of the cover image.
4. Tweet the image and be sure to use the hash tag #FigFind2017
5. Be sure to include the school and teacher or TL's name in the tweet.
6. Challenge is open until Friday June 29th, 2017
7. Teachers can enter on behalf of their students or enter as a class.
8. I'll randomly select three entries and send them a literary reward for their class or, if an individual entry, for themselves. 9. Sorry but challenge is only open to Peel Didtrict School Board students and staff.

I worked with a principal who used to call the time after March the month of AprilMayJune, and this year, that really seems to be the case more than other years. It could be because I'm changing schools, and seem to have this pressing need to get more things done than ever before because I want to leave the library as organized as possible OR it could just be because I've been pursuing more PD than usual and it's eating up lots of my leisure hours. Regardless... I can't tell you what happened to April. 

Just recently, I read a post by George Couros, and it was perfect timing. I'd had a difficult conversation with someone on staff, which I'd been putting off because I suspected they would get defensive, rather than see it for what it was; an attempt to make better use of library resources. While I don't regret the conversation, since it needed to happen, I was starting to wonder whether I should have just let someone else initiate the conversation. And then I read this post georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/7360 and it made me straighten my shoulders and hold my head up. Enough said. 

 March 
It was a tough month with the very unanticipated need to euthanize my 7 year old German Shepherd, Zoey. On the Wednesday night before March break, she suddenly experienced a cardiac taponade, the result of a cancerous tumour bursting, filling the pericardial sac with fluid, and making it extremely difficult for heart to beat, and tough for her to breathe. The vet aspirated the fluid but subsequently discovered that she had cancer everywhere; spleen, liver, lungs and heart. There was no hope, so we went on Thursday to say goodbye to her. It was definitely one of the most difficult days I've experienced this year. 
During the break, I took a first aid course offered by Peel, and then returned to school and made sure I was familiar with our AED (Automatic External Defibrillation) unit. 
In terms of tech breakthroughs - there have been a few. I'm convinced that one of the teachers I work with is finally comfortable with Google Classroom, and is using it effectively. A second teacher that I work with is using it with my assistance to help provide formative feedback to students. 
Just the other day, I suggested to yet a third teacher that she try using Flipgrid to have her students record the first two sentences (the hook) of their speeches so that they could view each others. The free version of Flipgrid doesn't allow for written feedback, but there was nothing to stop students from recording their ideas on a Google doc and then sharing their feedback with their peers. The teacher seemed quite excited when she realized that, quite easily, she could set up a station in her classroom to allow students to regularly record responses to prompts. 
One of the grade 8 classes is almost finishing up the menu board activities that they were working on for Black History month. They had to complete on straight line of activities from a 3x3 menu of choices. I'm excited to see the results since each line involves something written, something oral, and some kind of "dramatic presentation".  They are using a variety of technology; Audacity and Beansprout to create a podcast, imovie to create a Heritage minute, Pic Collage to document their tableaus, Explain Everything or Adobe Spark to create a photo essay. I provided a series of rubrics to help them identify what was important to their final products from a "technical" standpoint, and their teacher co-constructed the criteria for the academic content criteria. Overall, a very satisfactory collaborative effort. 
Pink Sheets are coming out soon so I'm updating my information. I am looking to work in a place where I will feel like I can continue to grow.

Have re-introduced Plickers to both K.C and M.M. Thought that if I printed out a set for both of them, they might be more likely to use them. I really like the idea of using Plickers in conjunction with group work. Show the students the question, have them work in groups to answer it, and then, have each group attached to a card which they use to register their vote. I also like how great it is for just a quick exit ticket. I've made sure that the Plickers app is on the Teacher iPads so that a teacher does NOT need a personal device in order to use the Plickers program. They had seen it used with individuals, but not with groups.
Have also joined a Peel Twitter book chat (Grading Smarter Not Harder) which is pretty fast and furious. I'm a bit disappointed by this month's book because EVERYONE agrees with everything the author is saying. It's a lot more interesting and exciting when there is some dissension among participants. I do however, love the #PeelABC format. They send the book for free and you meet once a week, but only chat for 30 minutes.
Signed up for a Book Talk with Kristin Clark and managed to convince several others (LS. KC. and MT) into participating with me. Our first meeting was postponed due to icy weather, but we've been able to start digging into the book. It's called Bringing Math Students into the Formative Assessment Equation - Strategies for Middle Grades and it's using Learning Intentions and Success Criteria. I can always use practice in this area because often I'm not sure that I've worded my LI and success criteria correctly. The great reminder for me at our first meeting was that a Learning Intention or Learning Goal should NOT be identifying what a student is going to be doing. For example, "We are learning to make histograms" is not a good learning goal. It would be better if the goal was, "We are learning that data can be displayed in many different ways" or "We are learning about the advantages and disadvantages afforded by displaying data using histograms."

God grant me the serenity...

When you're part of a big organization, such as a school board, it's important to have patience when things don't happen as quickly as you might expect or desire.
Last week was a heat wave and I'm sure that didn't help my disposition but after four years, the air conditioning in the library is still not working, and I'm a little frustrated when the line I'm being told is that they are not turning on the ac because they want to save money.  Hmmm. Nope, not believing it. I think it's just plain broken and it still hasn't been fixed. Other than reporting it to my principal and custodian, it is beyond my control, but it sure is frustrating.

Still waiting for our iPads to uniformly be set up. Again, I'm not clear as to the hold up, and since I've reported it to those who are in a position to do something about it, all I can do now is wait... 

I think I need to work on my patience this year.

So, as I usually do, I've now taken a couple summer workshops.
Normally, I come out of them inspired to implement a few new things in my classroom.
Normally, I have no problem filling out the reflection sheets and talking about, "What are you going to try to implement" or "What are a few of the things you learned in this workshop."
Sadly, I didn't feel like I learned much from the technology sessions that I took. Now, it could be because I try to use technology a lot already or it could be because I wasn't looking for the newest app or the latest site - I was looking for innovative ways that the technology was being used to transform learning and improve thinking...and that's what was lacking.
I did, however, have a much more positive experience taking an OTF session on teaching geography and how to help make my students people who might change the world. The focus was on critical thinking and relied a lot on materials published by the Critical Thinking Consortium https://tc2.ca/
If you don't already know of the work they do I strongly suggest you check them out. Also, find out if your board is a "partner", because some of the material is then available to you which you otherwise might have to purchase. Check it out (but make sure you have LOTS of time!)  :-)

Usually on Monday night I start playing around with ideas I've bookmarked in order to decide what I want to share with staff for Tech Tuesday, and that's exactly what I find myself doing right now. I'm testing out something that is supposed to let me just show part of a You Tube video, but so far, I haven't been successful and the link I was given leads to showing the entire video. Now, I'm trying to embed it to see if that makes a difference although it shouldn't because the instructions said either the link or embed code would work.
Okay, it worked. I love love love this song and video. I wish our students could "be brave and let the words fall out." Imagine how great it could be if they felt free to tell us some of the things they'd like to tell us! I also love the dancers. They make me feel like dancing EVERY time I watch them. However, I'd probably wake my household if I started dancing right now, so I think I'll hold back, but only until the next time I watch this video. 

So, if you'd like to have some control over where you start and stop a video clip, this Google form allows you to put the URL in, and then dictate where it stops and starts. You can find it here, but make sure you are signed in to your Google account: http://tammyworcester.com/youtube-video-clipper/
Thanks Tammy Worcester. I've never seen you present, but I think I'd really like to!

A colleague attended a conference recently as did a few other people on staff. I'm quite certain that all participants got a lot out of their experience. But the exciting thing is that the one colleague decided to share her experience by forwarding an email with some examples and the prezi attached.
Being the info junkie that I am, I immediately watched the prezi, looked at all the attachments, and started thinking about the classes with whom I could try some of these literacy activities.
But it got me questioning...
Why isn't that the norm? Why don't colleagues who go to conferences and workshops, ask permission of the presenter, and then share widely and willingly? It's something I try to do, but I can't help but notice that it doesn't happen very often. I'd like to presume good intentions, so perhaps the reason is that the participant feels like they couldn't do the presentation justice. To which I'd say... isn't a little bit of sharing, even if it's not perfect, better than nothing?
Thanks for sharing Kelly.  :-)

Sometimes... actually most times, I'm mulling a LOT of ideas over in my head. They percolate usually for months and predictably they sometimes mash together in an AHA moment that seems to excite me more than the people to whom I end up babbling. The picture below was a mash catalyst recently so I thought I'd share those  thoughts here since it's the summation of my thinking lately.

I think, if I did a better job of flipping the iceberg, and making both colleagues and students aware of what goes into success, they'd start to understand what is needed to be successful.
Hidden in the bottom of that iceberg are Habits of Mind, the research on grit, the 10 000 hours of practice, Michael Jordan's failure, my favourite no (a great math warm up routine if you haven't seen it) and lots of other wisdom and research pointing to how to be successful. But I've realized that I don't do a good job flipping that iceberg and making those factors and character traits visible. When I asked a few people what the duck quote below meant, they said it meant "Don't let people see how hard you're working." While I agree with the "Stay calm" part, I realize that if the quote means hide your effort that is the opposite of what I need to do. In the past, when I worked really hard on something and eventually met with success because I'd put in crazy hours, and battled through failures, and restarted multiple times and given up other opportunities in order to pursue what I was working on, I'd just shrug my shoulders and smile and let people believe I was just lucky or naturally talented. I actually don't HAVE any natural talents - but I've got lots of mental calluses and blisters. My New Year's Resolution is to Flip the Iceberg; to let students and colleagues see my sweat, and to talk about the steps that lead to my success. Don't worry. I'm not going to turn into a whiney baby, but I am going to make my process a lot more transparent. My motto for 2016 is Flip the Iceberg.
​What do you do to flip the iceberg? How do you model your process? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks Sylvia Duckworth as always for the inspirational sketch and to whomever tweeted it out. 

When teachers ask me "How can I use the iPads with my class?" I cringe a little. I haven't yet done a good job of helping teachers to understand that technology should be used if it offers some advantage that wouldn't normally be available, but shouldn't be used just so they can say they used technology with their class.
The advantage might be a cost saving measure such as sketchnoting using Sketchbook because you don't have colored pencils for everyone and you know that the use of color is important when making visual notes.
The advantage might be the ease of storage and retrieval such as using Padlet instead of sticky notes on chart paper where the adhesive dries out and the sticky notes fall off by the next day.
The advantage might be simply saving time by using a Gizmo for a math lesson because by the time you distribute the actual manipulatives the class is half over.
Even when working at the substitution level of SAMR, which is where my three examples fall, I would hope that teachers seek a purpose deeper than novelty and using the tech for the sake of using technology.
I'll keep trying but in the meantime, please don't ask me how you can use the iPads. Tell me what expectations you're hoping to work on, and I'll help you plan ways to get there. In most cases, technology will be a natural partner in our journey because it offers an advantage that you can't get any other way.