#DBC50Summer

#DBC50Summer 38/50: Google Apps for Littles

/ Alicia Ray / 4 Comments

Where in the world was this book when I was still in an elementary setting? Oh my word! The sheer amount of times I have heard in my career that our littlest learners can’t do something… it’s innumerable! Sad truth is, we aren’t giving them an opportunity to show us that they can do so many of the things our older students are doing. As a teacher, I will be recommending book 38 to every PreK-2nd grade teacher I come in contact with; as a parent, I will be using so many of these ideas for my own 5 year old! I actually just bought an additional copy to gift to her kindergarten teacher (shhhh)!

I’ve been trying to do #DBC50Summer in order of release date, and we are entering a period of Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc where books are released back-to-back-to-back! It’s interesting to note that Teach Like A Pirate was released in 2012 and the second book, Pure Genius wasn’t released until 2014. Beginning in 2015 and continuing through Summer of 2016, DBC was releasing a book a month on average. Then in 2017, DBC, Inc really started to take off, releasing twelve books in just over 8 months and 2 more to round out the calendar year. This year Dave and Shelley have published 22 books between January and the end of July! We were treated to three and four books a month this summer! It seemed like each week another one was coming out!

Because of that, the remaining books in #DBC50Summer were typically released within days of one another and I’ve done all I can to be sure the book numbers are correct. I reached out to DBC when I first began this process. Using the information from DBC, I did some research using author blogs, tweets, and sending direct messages to the authors asking if they remembered the official release date of their book(s). (I’m a fan of triangulating data… I blame my MLS classes, ha!) Definitively, book 39 (more on that in a minute) was released on February 19, 2018. Checking blogs and tweets, Google Apps for Littles by Christine Pinto and Alice Keeler was already out and doing amazing things on the Amazon best new release list, which would make it book 38!

Like all other books from DBC, Inc that have Alice Keeler’s name on the cover, this book is extraordinary! Each of the books about the Google line are in full color and are absolutely stunning! Check out this page from one of the #BookSnaps I tweeted today. Isn’t it gorgeous?

I love that Christine Pinto put pictures of her students and shared their work in this book! Seeing the excitement on their faces and photos of her organization really brought the book to life! The handprints with Google logos on the front of the book are a perfect addition and definitely make the cover memorable!

From the very beginning, I was captivated by this book! Even the foreword (written by Michelle Baldwin) was incredible! I have been guilty of logging into computers for my littlest students and then having them just leave the lab while I would run around and log every student off after they left. I love the authors’ idea of making a challenge for students to log on and off the Chromebook or Google Chrome account, putting a sticker on an incentive chart for each time it is done correctly. I’m telling you what’s the truth… there’s not a whole lot that the Littles (probably just go ahead and read that as middle schoolers, too) wouldn’t do for a sticker. Bonus cred if you get the smelly stickers. I’m just going to go ahead and say that smelly stickers saved my classroom management plan on multiple occasions. I especially love the “Meaningful Tech Integration” section of the Introduction in which Christine and Alice point out, “Replacing those activities [manipulatives, blocks, toys, etc] with computer tasks does not make learning better.” They go on to point out that allowing students, even the Littles, to use technology gives them an opportunity to learn, practice, collaborate, share, and connect.

The authors do an amazing job sharing the logistics of using Chromebooks, iPads (or other tablet), and/or Google Chrome on desktops in the PreK-2nd grade classroom. I love the log-in cards and color coding the keyboard and log-in cards to assist students in finding the letters and numbers to match.

One of the key themes in this book is having our students learn by exploration. Alice and Christine encourage us to allow students to click and explore as they learn about icons.

“Sometimes people struggle with technology because they are afraid to click on things. We do not want our kids to have to ask for permission to click on something or be afraid. Encourage them to explore and ask the kids what the icons do instead of telling them what they do…Let them explore, click, and learn!” ~Pinto & Keeler

As is true with many DBC books, there are links to template after template that allows you to take this back to your classroom tomorrow! I love the pixel art and appreciate the link in the book! My students love to create pixel art in Minecraft, but we only have 8 computers in our Minecraft Lab, so using Google Sheets with conditional formatting is an excellent way to incorporate this art form in class! I can totally see using this as a BreakoutEDU clue in the near future!

Searching for images with word families is definitely an activity I will do multiple times with Sophie, my daughter who just started kindergarten. She would love finding her own images on the internet. And the “explore” feature creating the best layout on the slide is just plain genius! I will definitely be using the color coded slides to assign slides to groups from this point forward! What a simple way to visually assign slides! There are so many things I can implement, even though I don’t teach the Littles anymore! Just as Teaching Math with Google Apps had a math focus, but could be used by any teacher because the information contained was just that good, Google Apps for Littles is focused on our youngest students, but certainly has relatable information for teachers of all grade levels! Don’t be fooled by those cute little handprints on the cover! Even if you’re a high school teacher, you will want get something out of this one!

I am the faculty sponsor for multiple clubs at my school. Makerspace Managers (which will also function as Innovation Engineers, thanks to Pure Genius by Don Wettrick), Game Club, Between the Lines Book Club, and now I will have students coming to the media center for an open invitation genius hour opportunity. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to manage that time without grading and formalizing the process. I want the students to want to be there and not feel as if it’s another assignment being dumped on them.  The Template Tab information from this book is exactly what i was looking for! Using this template, each student will have their own tab in one Google spreadsheet and they can reflect on their progress, communicate with me about wants and needs, and have a running journal of their genius hour journey to use if they choose to blog their story on the school’s new student-led blog (which is the implementation plan for Shift This by Joy Kirr and Ditch that Homework by Matt Miller and Alice Keeler.) I love when multiple implementation plans come together because it is making #DBC50Summer more cohesive and intentional. It’s also helping me think through the actual implementation and what will and may not work.

I also loved Kasey Bell‘s Magnetic Poetry Template! You can find more about magnetic poetry on Kasey’s blog at shakeuplearning.com/magneticpoetry (you’ll hear more about her very soon)! I look forward to sharing that with my middle school students next week, just as a fun activity. Then they can screenshot it using Alice’s extension and add it to a school-wide collaborative Google Slides. Now that revision history has been improved, I’m not as worried about a student deleting slides or adding anything inappropriate.

There are so many additional ideas for encouraging our Littles and providing them the same opportunities as our older students that can be found on Twitter! You can find these using the hashtag #GAfE4Littles! Christine has a beautiful website that can be found here. I would definitely recommend checking out the #InnovatingPlay and #SlowFlipChat sections of her site! (May also want to create a column in your Tweetdeck for those as well!) Remember the rabbit hole that is Alice’s website? It can be found here. The Google Teacher Tribe podcast (Kasey Bell and Matt Miller) interviewed Christine! You can listen to that here! Vicki (@coolcatteacher) Davis also hosted Christine on her 10-Minute Teacher podcast here. I would also highly recommend subscribing to both Christine’s and Alice’s YouTube channels!

If you’ve been following this journey for any length of time, you likely know what comes next. The flipgrid is available, thanks to the brilliant idea of my friend, Andrea Paulakovich! She kindly asked me if I’d like to co-pilot this global collaborative space available for all DBC books; of course I said yes! Please feel free to share your thoughts there and bring some friends along!

I am so excited to get to read book 39! It’s by two principals from my home state of North Carolina! In fact, they are located about an hour from my school! (Quick story) When I met Dave Burgess in April, we had a discussion about this book. In fact, it was through this conversation that I knew he (and his company) was legit. I mean, I had my doubts… I wondered if it was all a show. (I can be fairly cynical – we’ve covered this in another blog. I’m working on it.) You see, he brings a selection of books to his speaking engagements that he sells at a discounted price and will sign and personalize Teach Like A Pirate and/or P is for Pirate for you. What got me was that he could tell anyone who approached his table about each of the books he had published (not only the ones that he brought with him). He knew all 65 authors by name, and knew where they were from. The company is growing exponentially, but somehow he and Shelley have still managed to make it feel like a family. Book 39 caught my eye because of its beautiful cover; he let me know that the authors were from North Carolina and shared a story about the book with me. I knew then that I had to get it! So one of the five books I bought that day was The Limitless School by Abe Hege and Adam Dovico. I am pumped to finally be able to read book 39 after owning it for nearly 5 months! Hoping to blog about it tomorrow! Only twelve books left and 15 days until Fall begins! I can totally do this!

#DBC50Summer 37/50: The Principled Principal

/ Alicia Ray / 2 Comments

Honest is always the best policy, right? That’s what I’ve heard anyway. So Jeff, Anthony… don’t take this personally…

I had absolutely zero interest in reading this book.

There… I said it.

It didn’t “fit” with my educational goals. It wasn’t “in my wheelhouse” so to speak. I have never wanted to be an administrator. There’s not a bone in my body that ever wants the pressure and stress that is put on administrators of public schools. (I say public because that’s all I know and I’m not going to assume to know anything about other schools.) Naturally it would make sense that a book called The Principled Principal would be the last educational book I’d pick up. This is a perfect example of why I wanted to do my personal challenge of #DBC50Summer in order of release date. Otherwise… let’s be real (see what I did there, Tara?)… I would have missed out on this gem because I would have never read it. In fact, the only reason I actually read it rather than “fibbing” was because I wanted to the fidelity of #DBC50Summer to remain intact. I want to be able to say that I have actually READ each of these Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc books. So I cracked open The Principled Principal (book 37) by Jeff Zoul and Anthony McConnell and was blown away by what I read.

I value & respect my administrators very much; I have been blessed to work for exceptional principals and assistant principals. My first principal interviewed me THREE times before offering me the job. Made sense though – I was only 20 years old, fresh out of college with zero experience, and was not from the area. I wouldn’t have hired me. She was every breath of that school. I cannot say enough great things about her. When she retired, it didn’t matter who came in as principal because they didn’t stand a chance filling those shoes. Buddy the Elf could have become principal and served us hamburgers with syrup with all his contagious Christmas spirit and it still would have been a tough sell. I left that school midyear to begin my career as media coordinator. (You know that when a ‘singleton’ position opens up, you jump on it.) The principal that hired me for that job also took a huge risk with me. I had not yet finished my Master of Library Science and had (again) zero experience in the media center (nor with any grade level other than 5th grade – and 1st grade as my student teaching). She was moved to another school just 6 months after I started my job there. Then I began a phenomenal relationship with the new principal and we both were devastated when I was moved to middle school to pilot a new position for our district. She was happy for me, and I was excited for the challenge, but leaving her and our working relationship was heartbreaking. The principal I work for now is a forward thinker who is constantly pushing us to be our best for students. Best part (for me anyway)… she was an instructional coach. So she knows what my role is like and supports me at every opportunity & challenges me to see all points of view. I have worked for nine assistant principals in 13 years!

Being friends with many of these administrators, I see the toll that running a school can take. I see the exhaustion and sacrifice that is made by administrators on a daily basis. I can confidently stand (errr… sit) here today and tell you that I have absolutely ZERO intention to ever become a building level principal. Others are gifted with that calling, so have at it. I respect you and look forward to working with you to help students and teachers in the building succeed. I will be your confidant, your sounding board (we all need one), and you never have to worry about me wanting to take your job (HAHAHA)!

This book is powerful. I’m in a hurry to allow my principal to read it; not because she needs the principles for development, but because every page I read reminded me of her. I want her to see that what she’s doing is phenomenal and forward thinking. That she fits in perfectly with the 30 principals that share their story within these pages. I loved the 3-2-1 format at the end of each chapter. It reminded me of Teach 4, Lead 4, Learn 4 at the end of each chapter in Start. Right. Now. (co-authored by Todd Whitaker, Jeff Zoul, and Jimmy Casas). In 3-2-1, the authors share 3 stories from phenomenal principals (like North Carolina’s own Derek McCoy and Sean Gaillard – both friends of mine!), 2 resources to check out that further your learning from the chapter, and 1 culture crusher that relates to the principle covered in the chapter. I’m not going to spoil the fun of the 10 Principles – get your own copy to find out what they are!

Several (and I do mean a TON of) quotes stood out to me as I read.

The idea of “Have-To’s vs Must-Do’s”

“Prioritize innovation as a non-negotiable in our schools.”

“If we cannot truly understand where people are coming from and what is important to them, we cannot lead them.”

“You cannot control them, but you can control yourself.”

“You are the most important person you lead. We cannot successfully lead others until we successfully lead ourselves.”

“Students who are prepared for…learning expectations through daily…learning experiences designed by…educators who do not fret about standards can knock any assessment out of the park.” (Preach, Hallelujah, Yessir, and Amen)

There are so many other quotes I could add, but let’s look at topics.

I love the section where Jeff and Anthony talk about your school library being one of the places going out of date the most. Seems a bit ironic being that I work in a media center, doesn’t it? However, it’s totally true! Our media centers must either evolve or go the way of the dinosaur. I, for one, choose to evolve. The space in our school is student-owned, bright and cheerful, a space for collaboration, constantly filled with classes, and includes a tabletop game section, 8th grade puzzle (which has already become a tradition over the 3 years I have served there), minecraft lab (which will double as esports league computers coming soon), makerspace, virtual reality lab, flexible seating and tables on wheels, and I’ve recently transformed my office into a small group meeting space. Oh… and it has books. Lots of them. Notice that isn’t all it has though. It’s not a book warehouse, but a space for thinking, creating, collaborating, and brainstorming.

Jeff and Anthony also encourage us to brainstorm five words that reflect my core values. This reminded me of my P is for Pirate by Dave & Shelley Burgess implementation in which I chose 5 words to describe my classroom (media center).

My 5 core value words are empathy, responsibility, growth mindset, consistency, and drive.

Neither of those are my implementation for The Principled Principal. My implementation comes from the disaster of a day (read that as week, please) that I’ve had. It’s chromebook season at the STEM magnet middle school that I serve. Do you know what that means? I am distributing 400(ish) chromebooks in a week, revisiting expectations with every child, discarding old/broken chromebooks and replacing with new-to-them chromebooks, which means the spreadsheet needs to change. It’s 123 new chromebooks for 6th grade that need to be “bagged and tagged”, teaching those students how to use Google Drive, create a WikiProject in our LMS, and understand policies behind acceptable use. It’s matching appropriate chromebook models with new students and brief troubleshooting when students can’t log on to our server. Y’all… this is a stressful time. I don’t typically ask for help, nor do I accept help when it’s offered. It usually takes more time to explain my convoluted process than to just do it myself. I’m also a bit of a perfectionist, so I go behind the other person anyway and double-check. (I know, I know… I need to let it go. But I just can’t.) If I’m going to issue a chromebook to a student and something happen where we have to charge the family for something, I want to be able to 110% vouch for the condition of the chromebook when it was placed in the student’s hands.

You know the Snickers commercial tagline? “You’re not you when you’re hungry.” Well, I’m not me when it’s Chromebook season. I’m crabby, quick to argue, slow to listen, and generally just want to be left alone. Give me Pandora, my label-maker, my spreadsheet, and a scanner and let me do my thing. I have taken frustration out on more than one person this week. I have certainly not been a contributor to any resemblance of positive culture in the past 10 days. Today was the breaking point. As soon as the first 6th grade class came in for WikiProject training chatty and not listening to instructions, I lost my cool. It was ugly. It was only 9:15 this morning and I had already reached my boiling point.

Now I know better. I know to project directions on the board. I know to set expectations from the very beginning. I know that the quieter I talk the quieter they will get. But nope… I yelled the directions (very quickly, might I add). I proceeded to show them that I was in charge of this space, so there (humph). And I did this class after class after class today.

What in the world was I thinking? That’s not the way we operate in our media center. I don’t talk to students like that. I focus on building great relationships. By the time the 6th period class rolled around (I’m ashamed to say that it took me until 1:45) to get myself back together. As they entered, I was much more organized and my voice was calm. I praised students and we discussed common mistakes made throughout the day. I started off by letting them know I had been having a really rough day, being completely vulnerable in front of my students. I let them know up front that none of that was their fault, and that I was really working to get myself back together and find “happy Mrs. Ray” and invite her back to school.

Sixth period went so smooth. I enjoyed it, and I feel like the students enjoyed it. The feedback they were giving me with their attentiveness and enthusiasm matched my gut instincts. Now how much different would the rest of my day been if I’d just been vulnerable and let them know up front that I was stressed out from Chromebook roll-out. What if I asked for help when I felt overwhelmed? What if I allowed others to do something as minuscule as removing the new batteries from their plastic wrap? (My daughters ended up doing it when they got off the bus, and they loved it. Weird!)

My implementation for this book comes from a mix of two principles. The People Principle and the Harmony Principle. I need to be the one with a calming effect, not the one who stirs the pot of negativity by adding my complaints. I need to remember that as an instructional coach, others feed off of my attitude. I’m not saying that I will fake it, because I think they need to see me struggle, too. There’s a camaraderie that is built through these struggles, but I also need to work on my actions meeting my words in my high-stress times at work.

I was able to pull so much from this book that I was so hesitant to read. I am so thankful to have read it and certainly feel that if you are a school leader of any kind, not just “principal” you should grab a copy of this book for yourself! These principles are principles of exceptional leaders, not just exceptional principals. I really enjoyed The Principled Principal and look forward to sharing it with others.  You should also follow along with the conversation on twitter using the hashtag #10Principles, as well as check out the website here! There are book study resources on the website, as well as my favorite video seen below. (So much truth!) You can also check out the individual author websites/blogs for Anthony McConnell and Jeff Zoul.

For a preview of the book (whaaaat?!?! Right?! Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc has an updated website which allows you to preview every.single.DBC.book! For REAL! – I did it again, Tara!), click here & scroll down to the very bottom of the page. But beware, you’re going to want to buy your own copy because starting it is like opening a can of Pringles.

Finally… here are the very few tweets I managed to get out there. I’m trying to stay off social media as much as possible so I can get these last few books read and not be distracted. You will likely see less tweeting and #BookSnaps from here on out, simply because I’m running out of time. I have a deadline to meet (September 22 at 9:54 pm EST, but who’s counting). I refuse to let it go by without finishing #DBC50Summer!

Flipgrid is available here! Thanks Andrea for an incredible idea and so blessed to copilot with you!

Next up in #DBC50Summer is the final one (for now) from our favorite Google Guru (yes, I call you that all the time, Alice), Alice Keeler! She teamed up with the amazing Christine Pinto to share the message that even our youngest learners can use technology to showcase their learning! I love this, and so wish I’d had it when I was working at the elementary level! Check out Book 38 from the DBC, Inc powerhouse – Google Apps for Littles.

#DBC50Summer 36/50: Stories From Webb

/ Alicia Ray / 9 Comments

As I read book 36, I knew exactly what my implementation will be and I am terrified. Not just the butterflies and jittery anxiety, but hair-standing-on-end, sweating, dizzy, gut-clenching terrified. I’ve known what I wanted to do since I was a young girl. And now it’s time to share with the rest of you.

I don’t have an anecdote to share today, which is pretty dang ironic if you stop and think about it. I just have a plan; the implementation that has been weighing on me for a while. Reading each of the first 50 Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc books has been an amazing journey; one that has been filled with so much support, encouragement, motivation from my Professional Learning Network. Book 36, Stories from Webb by Todd Nesloney (co-author of Kids Deserve It) confirmed one of my deepest fears and my greatest hopes. Through reading this book, hearing the voices of Todd’s staff of Webb Elementary, tears running down my face or smiling from ear to ear, I am acutely aware of the effect of words on others. Words can inspire or tear down, portray compassion or apathy, impart wisdom or uncover ignorance. Writing has always been part of my life. I have never enjoyed it while doing it, but once the process was complete, I always looked back and was thankful I completed it.

As a young girl, I would sit in my bedroom and write stories, three or four chapters long. It was always realistic fiction, but I couldn’t get the characters out of my head until I wrote about them. As a middle schooler, we were required to keep a journal and choose from hundreds of prompts to write an entry each morning. I shared that journal with some of my family who loved it (although I truly believe they are a bit biased). If I’ve ever needed to express my thoughts on a deeper level, writing has always been easier than speaking. When I’m thinking through a problem, I scribble a pro/con list. Through #DBC50Summer, I have realized that while the books are tremendous, and I do mean fantastic, my growth has only been in part because of the words written by these amazing authors. The majority of my growth has come through the written reflections on my practice and how I can improve through an implementation plan. As an adult, I dream about characters and their stories for multiple nights, then they just vanish (likely because I’m not writing them down anymore). My mom has always told me that she envisions me writing children’s books. Looking back, it’s easy to see why she would think that.

Looking back is exactly what I have in mind. Hindsight. How many times have you wished you could go back in time for a do-over? It might only be 5 minutes, or even 20 years, that you’d like to erase, but the common theme is that we’d all like to have a redo in some moments of life. Reflection is such a major piece of education. Without reflecting on our practice, and on the stories of individual students, parents, colleagues, administrators, we become stagnant. I love that Todd’s school family shared their stories within the pages of Stories From Webb. It was so powerful to read and connect with each one.

I’ve alluded (several times) on Twitter to writing my own story.

Are you seeing a pattern? My implementation? I’m going to write that book. A dear friend of mine and I have been tossing around the idea of writing an educational book for a couple of years. I definitely want to do that, but it doesn’t feel like it’s my story. It’s more of a how-to with resources. In one of those “shower moments” one day (they’re legit, by the way – check out Tara Martin‘s #3minPD on this topic), I just knew I wanted to write my story about my epic fails and how I responded to them. Think of it as a “what not to do” manual of sorts. Then, with more experience and hindsight, share what I should have done and what I would do in the same situation now.

PS… it will be 20 chapters long… because you know. Hindsight is 20/20.

So now what? Todd has put the final nail in the coffin, so to speak. At the very end of his book in the acknowledgements section (yes, I read the forewords, dedications, and acknowledgements of every book), he wrote this to the readers:

I hope that you choose to be brave, love wildly, take risks, embrace the challenges, and most of all, remember that every moment is an opportunity to be better. It’s a scary thing, but just like my team and I did in this book, we need you to share your story! Write a blog, tweet it out, share it on Facebook, but get out there and share your brilliance with the world. We need your stories too.

~Todd Nesloney, Stories From Webb

I hear you, Todd. The stories of your staff have inspired me; your stories touched my heart. You make me believe that even thought it’s insanely scary, I should put my story on paper. I will share my story. Even if it’s never officially published, I’ll share parts of it on my blog. Possibly the next blog series? #HindsightEDU? We’ll see. For now, I need to finish #DBC50Summer, read and blog the amazingness of books 51-56 (and the newest one by Tisha Richmond, Making Learning Magical – cannot WAIT for Tisha’s book coming mid-September), then no more putting it off. I keep making excuses for myself. I know that when I add this to my implementation plans for #DBC50Summer, I remove the ability to make excuses.

For more stories from incredible educators around the world, jump into the #TellYourStory chat with Todd on Wednesdays at 8:30 pm EST. You can also follow along with others 24/7 using the same hashtag (As a note, #StoriesfromWebb as well as #KidsDeserveIt are also used to share stories)! Visit Todd’s website and grab a shirt while you’re at it! (Shirts are available the first week or so each month.) If you do nothing else, check out Todd’s amazing YouTube channel for episodes of #TellYourStory! Todd has hosted, as well as appeared as a guest on multiple podcasts. I’d suggest just doing a Google search for all of that awesomeness. This book is definitely worth picking up a copy! It’s one of those that you can randomly turn to any page of the book and be inspired and remember your why. It eliminates the feeling of loneliness that educators can sometimes feel as it reminds you there are others fighting the good fight, too! Go ahead and get your own copy; hurry!

As always, there is a flipgrid for global collaboration and reflection. Thanks to Andrea Paulakovich for allowing me to copilot this insanely awesome idea she had! So fortunate to have met her through #DBC50Summer!

Book 37 is The Principled Principal by Jeff Zoul (of Start. Right. Now.) and Anthony McConnell. This is one of the longer books. As I have zero interest in becoming an administrator, I’m interested to see how I might be able implement this one. I like a challenge, though. So… let’s get started.

Feel the need to share a little awesome sandwich with you (posterity and all, you know) – the time Todd came to #ncties15 and I got to meet him & chat with him & Jennifer LaGarde.