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.

I LOVE Twitter. Mostly because it's like a waterfall of PD. I reach my hand into the waterfall, pull out the few droplets I can handle that day, use them sometimes immediately, and then, when I'm ready, reach in for more. I haven't contributed a lot to that endless supply of ideas and opinions and plans and products because most of the time, I just feel that what's already out there is so much better than anything I could do.
Case in point is this infographic on personalizing learning by Mia MacMeekin from http://anethicalisland.wordpress.com
I think it is a highly useful reminder of what you can do when trying to help a student personalize their learning.