Author: Alicia Ray

#DBCBookBlogs: Empower Our Girls

/ Alicia Ray / 1 Comment

Two weeks from today is the 10th anniversary of working in the very best job I ever accepted… motherhood! Bailey has a big DOUBLE-DIGIT birthday coming up and Sophie turned 6 years old a few months ago. I am the incredibly proud mama of two beautiful daughters who could not possibly be more different. My poor husband is surrounded by estrogen… even our shih-tzu is a girl!

Lynmara Colón and Adam Welcome (Kids Deserve It and Run Like a PIRATE, anyone? Um – wow!) have written an incredibly powerful, moving, and timely declaration! I firmly believe that anyone who elects to pick this book up and open to page 1 will be touched and feel compelled to follow in step with the authors’ call to action! Quite simply, they want to Empower Our Girls!

empower-our-girls

So… can we just take a quick second to check out that cover?!?! The cover in itself speaks volumes about what Lynn & Adam believe! Imagine what that little girl on the cover is feeling! I bet she feels as though she can conquer the world, run with the bulls, take up for herself, open her own business… she views herself as a superhero! Imagine what the world would look like if we taught all little girls (and boys) to view themselves as superheroes! In Lead Beyond Your Title by Nili Bartley, she discusses this idea of superheroes and determining the superpower that lies within each of us.

What I love more than anything is that Lynn & Adam aren’t pushing this idea of “entitlement”… this thought that the world owes us something. Nope, they are very clear that it takes hard work and determination. It takes goal setting and mentors who believe deeply in their success. It takes crushing obstacles that lie before us. It is our job, as educators – and truly just as human beings – to open the doors to opportunity for our students… ALL of them. Not just the boys. And not just the girls. We have to be aware of the message we may be unintentionally (or heaven forbid, intentionally) spreading about equality and equity.

Reading Lynmara’s story touched my heart. Seeing a father’s passion for expanding possibilities for his daughter, and all girls, through Adam’s words was enough to bring tears to my eyes. The stories from successful women throughout the pages was extraordinary! When I finished, I was so sad that it was over! I want a sequel… immediately. Get on it, y’all!

One thing that absolutely must be pointed out is the foreword from Shelley Burgess! Yes, you know Shelley… many people may know her as “Dave’s first mate,” or “Dave’s wife”, but y’all – Shelley Burgess is a force to be reckoned with! I have been privileged to have a few conversations with the educator, former Assistant Superintendent of Educational Leadership, co-founder, co-owner and Vice President of Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc, mother, co-author of P is for Pirate AND Lead Like a PIRATE, speaker, and powerhouse that is Shelley Burgess. Let me assure you that, while I feel certain she holds her role as “Dave’s wife” in highest regard, she moves mountains in her own name. In other words, she doesn’t need to rely on a man. (Besides have you ever seen Dave Burgess speak? Can you imagine being married to that for however-many-years? Bless her. She’s a good, good woman. HA! Sorry, Captain.) Anyhow, check out her foreword in a blog post from Dave right here! It sets the tone perfectly for Empower Our Girls and prepares us to be WOWed by Lynmara and Adam!

This is legitimately a book that I want my nearly 10 year old to read! I hope that I have shown her that she can do anything she puts her mind to! My mother opened her own business at age 54 and just held her first anniversary celebration! Business is booming in her boutique and she is the owner, operator, manager, seamstress, businesswoman, cashier, custodial staff, customer service, and everything else it takes to run a store all in one. I’m so proud of her! These are type of stories we need to hear more of; the stories where women share their successes and setbacks. Honest, raw, vulnerable stories that show that while we, as women, are deeply human in our emotions, we are insanely strong and equally as capable to run through obstacles that threaten to stop us. Our girls need to believe that anything is possible and we need to let them know the doors are open, even if we have to break them off the hinges first.

Implementation

Y’all… I’m awful about saying guys when speaking to a group of students. I’m done with that. It seems so inconsequential, but after reading Lynn & Adam’s stories, I realize that it could not be any more important. So not only will I be ensuring that my daughters realize that they don’t need to be rescued by anyone, and they don’t have to play with Barbies (Sophie plays with tractors and race cars anyhow), and that if Bailey wants to go to STEM Camp this summer, she can and will be just as good at it as anyone else there, but I will also pay more attention to the unintentional messages I’m sending out.

I’m also going to check our library immediately for female characters and female success stories! If I find a discrepancy, I will purchase books with strong female characters and biographies of women for my girls to read and aspire to be like.

Y’all… you need this book. Like… you need Empower Our Girls yesterday. Go! Get your copy & use the hashtag #EmpowerOurGirls to reflect and share your own story! Connect with Lynmara and Adam, and more than anything – encourage girls daily! Show them how much we believe in them. They deserve it!

#DBCBookBlogs: Teachingland

/ Alicia Ray / 1 Comment

Almost twelve years ago, I was one of many who discovered and fell in love with a world of vampires and werewolves as Twilight by Stephenie Meyer pulled me in with an epic love story. That led to watching shows like The Vampire Diaries and The Originals on the CW. It wasn’t long after that I started hearing about a show called iZombie on the same channel and after watching an episode or two, I realized I could easily be hooked on zombie stories, too. Other than that limited exposure, I had never watched a zombie film or series. (Yes, I’m one of few that never watched The Walking Dead.)

Of course I visualize the same stereotypical zombie walk, groans, and the inability of zombies to critically problem solve. I imagine a herd mentality where many come out at night to slowly feast on brains. Now, I may not have all the details down, but I feel as though I’m on the right track based on the 71st book published under the Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc label. Yes… there’s a zombie book! Teachingland by Amanda Fox and Mary Ellen Weeks uses a zombie theme to create “A Teacher’s Survival Guide to the Classroom Apocalypse” and it’s a winner!

Before sharing anything else, I’ve got to tell you about my favorite feature of this book! It’s unique to anything else ever published by DBC, Inc (or any other publishing company that I’m aware of). The cover of the book is a trigger image for augmented reality! In fact, this entire book is a living, breathing augmented reality scavenger hunt with content that will be switched out periodically! For real, y’all! Isn’t that incredible?! See the authors’ blog about this here! When you download Thyng app and use the app to scan the cover as the target, Amanda Fox comes up as an animated character and talks to you! Whaaat?! I’ve had students create augmented reality with the covers of books in the library, but I had never imagined something of this magnitude – an author pulling the reader into their book! Just check this out; it’s so cool!!! (And there’s more within the pages of the book, and even more to come!)

If that’s not enough reason to purchase your own copy of the book, let me give you a few others!

The parallels between a zombie apocalypse and a classroom apocalypse are pretty astounding! Don’t worry if you aren’t a zombie fan; there’s a glossary along with enough detail and front-loading to make sure the parallels aren’t lost on you. I’ve never seen any of the zombie series or movies they discuss (other than a couple episodes of iZombie) and I got their message loud and clear! It’s definitely a creative, outside-the-box book with excellent implications for our profession!

It appears that the main audience for this book is beginning teachers. That’s certainly not the only audience though! As a veteran teacher, I was able to pull many truths from the pages of Teachingland and I look forward to completing the Metaverse experiences and getting digital badges to show off what I’ve learned!

There are three parts to the book and my favorite is easily the middle section (like a good Oreo, the chocolate cookies are good, but the best part is the creamy center). In the Fighting the Plague center, readers are given oodles of resources! We get Zombie Zips (zombie themed challenges that fit in a ziplock back), complete with a student design process journal template, rubrics, and exit tickets! We are treated to an extensive list of edtech tools for various age groups and examples for use! There’s also an entire chapter on assessment and how to do it right! All of that in just ONE section! For real, friends – this is good stuff!

If you know anyone who has recently graduated from a teaching program, or anyone who wants to enter a teaching program… this book is the PERFECT gift for them! It’s also a perfect gift for yourself (just sayin’).

There are terrific “Tales from the Trenches” at the end of each chapter. I love when books bring in voices and stories from educators! In these stories, there is a common theme of educators reflecting on their early years in the classroom and what they’ve changed since then. I highlighted just as much from those stories as I did from the actual chapters!

Implementation

As always, I choose (at least) one thing to implement from each DBC book. There are several edtech tools shared that I’d like to try out. I’ve got to say that in itself is impressive! I’ve been on the front-end of edtech for quite a while; I presented Kahoot! at a conference in 2014 and our school has facilitated learning in virtual reality with the HTC Vive for 3 years! So to find tech tools that I’m interested in learning more about is to say that this book is forward thinking! While this is exciting, it’s not what I will implement because that feels too easy. (I will, however, be creating a HyperDoc of some kind that brings these tools, and others, together for the students and teachers I serve as a method of curation.)

My implementation is to be a betta! Yep… I’m going to be a fish. But hear me out… rather, hear Amanda & Mary Ellen out!

“Instead of being a goldfish, we encourage you to be a BETTA fish! BETTA fish fight to be the best they can be for their students and for themselves. They are colorful and one of a kind. They try new things, have a global PLN and are constantly learning and reinventing themselves as teachers. They live life in beta, realizing that they are the best version of themselves in that moment but that tomorrow will bring another day to learn as well as a newer, better version of themselves.”

Amanda Fox & Mary Ellen Weeks on the “Live Life in Permanent Beta” talk by Reid Hoffman on Stanford’s Podcast.

So yes… I plan to be a betta fish – continuing to better myself, doing all I can until I know better. And as Maya Angelou shares – once I know better, I will do better.

I greatly enjoyed reading Teachingland by Amanda Fox and Mary Ellen Weeks! I am super pumped to see all the augmented reality content continue to emerge and I will be checking back time and time again to see what’s new. (I’m hoping for an augmented reality cameo from Dave Burgess himself!)

Go quickly and order your copy of the book from the DBC, Inc website! While you wait, check out the free preview by scrolling to the bottom of the page, and then check out the Teachingland website here! There’s just so much to love about this book that you don’t want to miss out! Just be sure to read it in the daylight… I’m not sure if reading about zombies works the same way as saying Beetlejuice’s name…

Thankfully, Amanda & Mary Ellen have given us the R.E.M.E.D.Y. in their book! (Yes, another successful and well-thought acronym – BOOM! Love me some DBC, Inc books!) Go get your copy of Teachingland to learn more!

The Secret Behind My Smile

/ Alicia Ray / 2 Comments

Humble honey

If you’ve been with me for long, you know that I typically blog about books I’ve read and how I implement them in my role as an educator. However, this one is a bit different. I have a secret to share with you.

Smiles do not always equal happiness.

On a typical day, you can find me surrounded by kids, books, technology, and loving every minute. Most who know me personally would describe me as a very enthusiastic, energetic, fun-loving person. It’s rare to see me without a smile. I give those out freely and often.

The other side of that sometimes obnoxious positivity is a very real and constant struggle with depression and anxiety. A struggle that very few know about (until now, I guess). I’ve always been “on edge” and a bit of a “worry wart,” even as a child. I worry about ridiculous things that statistically would never happen. I don’t relax much; I find that I just can’t. After I was finally able to carry a child to term – our daughter, Bailey – I was diagnosed with postpartum depression. With the exception of short period of time, I have been on antidepressants since then.

She will be 10 years old next month.

There are times that I wonder if I could stop taking the meds. If I stopped, could I tell that the meds were even doing anything? Then, there are times like this weekend. Times that I’m not sure I would make it out if I stopped taking the medication. I’m still clawing my way out from this weekend.

I’ve heard it referred to as a spiraling depression. Something hits me wrong, then something else, and something else, and then it just kind of gets out of control. Before I know it, there’s some form of unintended self-destructive behavior. I’ve lashed out at those who don’t deserve it; I find fault with things I normally would enjoy; I sleep… a lot. I am much more short-tempered. I don’t feel like myself and don’t want to do things I enjoy (even things I enjoyed last week). Things that I’ve worked so hard to accomplish suddenly don’t result in satisfaction. Minor setbacks feel more like epic failures.

It’s like an implosion, collapsing in on myself.

The secret behind the smile is sometimes you won’t find that happiness is what put the smile there. The smile is just a facade, a protectant. It keeps people from asking what’s wrong. How can you answer that when you aren’t even sure? There is no “one thing” that’s wrong and no one can “fix” it. What’s wrong just leads to tears. Tears can be perceived as weakness.

I am not weak; I’m engaged in a battle every day.

The end of a school year can be tough on everyone, learners and educators alike. The bittersweet accomplishment of completing another year. Evidence of the passing of time. High-stakes assessments looming. For those like me, it can be a trigger. It can start a spiral. Instead of asking “what’s wrong,” just be supportive. When you see a smile, just smile back.

Give grace.

The number of people in the United States alone that battle depression and/or anxiety is staggering. So I don’t share this post for pity. I share it because there are others who are struggling right now; there has to be based on the statistics alone. Others who are smiling to keep from answering “what’s wrong”. They are smiling on the outside, but they may be spiraling on the inside. Be kind to others. We never know what the secret behind their smile is.