#DBC50Summer

#DBC50Summer 27/50: Unmapped Potential

/ Alicia Ray / 4 Comments

When I was a kid, I remember using one of those big state maps to get from place to place. You know the ones; they’re a pain to get folded back the right way. I remember being asked to create a path to get us from Point A to Point B. At the time, that was perceived as a skill that I needed to know once I got my license, just in case I got lost. I’m sure the thought never crossed my parents’ minds that we’d not only have a GPS available, but that I’d have multiple GPS options from which to choose.

I was on my way to South Carolina to hear Dave Burgess speak at a keynote the next day (for the second time; yes it’s that good) and hit some major traffic in Charlotte. Of course it was afternoon rush hour and there was about 25 miles of construction zone ahead of me. I had spent my day moving outdated technology out of storage to be picked up by our technology department, and I just wanted to get to my hotel and have a hot shower & relax. Naturally, when I came up on a sea of red brake lights, I was irritated. So I consulted my GPSs, yes – multiple. Initially, I was using the GPS in my car. I consulted Waze to see what the social network was saying and it appeared I’d be in traffic for quite a while. Waze asked if I wanted an alternate route. Why yes, Waze, yes I do… However, every alternate route I took led to more congestion. I could either get mad at the traffic or enjoy the ride. I wish I could tell you that I was above being mad at traffic, that I am mature enough to know that I can’t control it so I should just relax. Not happening. I’m big enough to admit it;  I got mad at the traffic. It was infuriating. I just wanted to get to the hotel! That’s all I was focused on!

Had I read Book 27 in the Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc line up, I might have just relaxed and enjoyed the opportunity to listen to the music I wanted to listen to (I have two daughters who enjoy owning the music selection). I may have still been angry and ready for my hot shower, but at least I would’ve appreciated the irony in my map taking me into even more congestion. Book 27 is all about modifying the map we’ve created in our heads to expose our unlimited potential. It’s called Unmapped Potential and it’s written by Julie Hasson & Missy Lennard. These phenomenal principals can be found on Twitter at @PPrincipals.

unmappeded

This book is so much more than a professional development book. It required me to do some real soul-searching and discover what my prejudices were… against myself and those I serve. A prejudice is a preconception. For the purpose of this blog, it is defined as a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. There are several truths that I had to grapple with while reading this book. I will share a few with you, and then I highly suggest you go purchase your own copy of the book (I’d get a physical copy because you’re going to want to complete the map-changing actions and questions at the end of each chapter).

I’ve been told by people I highly respect that I need to value myself more, that part of my problem with other’s seeing something special in me is that I feel unworthy of their attention for various reasons. And those people would be right. I struggle with self-worth, as many of us do. I constantly compare myself to others, which typically ends with me feeling inferior. Julie & Missy speak to that very thing in the book (see Tweet below). Someone else will always be smarter, more accomplished, prettier, have more money (obviously… I teach), funnier, and more desirable to be around than me. And whomever that person is will likely feel the same way about someone else. Self-confidence is hard because it’s a fine line to walk. Too much and it comes off as arrogance and too little comes off as self-pity. I continue to work on my self-worth, but it’s a struggle every. single. day. I still need some form of reassurance most days, but just a quick note or a small affirmation usually makes all the difference.

I am not flexible. Julie & Missy say that “effective teachers are irrefutably flexible”. Oops! I’ve always struggled with flexibility in my schedule. Those spur of the moment assemblies, changes in schedule because of TAs needing to provide coverage, a sick teacher which prevents me from having the planning I needed to make that phone call or grade that stack of assessments… that’s the kind of thing that put me over the edge. The principal who hired me had a little heart-to-heart with me at one point when she witnessed one of my “freak-out” moments over a schedule change. It must’ve made a strong impact because I still remember her exact words… “Alicia, if you can’t be more flexible than this, you went into the wrong profession.” Wow. In my teacher youth I was appalled that she would say something like that to me. Now, I appreciate her honesty. She was 100% correct! It’s something I’m working on, and I’m actually getting much better at handling sudden changes in my plans. I love how Julie & Missy say, “Filling your days with what is predictable leaves little room for what else is possible.”

My mom used to always tell me that it wasn’t what happened to me in life that defined me, but how I reacted to it. I have heard versions of this same statement over and over in my life, usually when I needed to hear it the most and wanted to hear it the least. The truth in that statement is so evident though. The version from Julie & Missy is shared in a tweet below. There is so much that I cannot control. My power lies in the things I can control and how I react to the things that I cannot control. I choose to be more easy-going and not waste my energy on those things over which I have no control. I will constantly be asking myself this year, “What are you going to do about it?” If my answer is nothing or there’s nothing I can do, then I refuse to waste my energy on it.

Another truth that stood out to me was a bit more personal. When Julie & Missy talk about labels and how we generalize students with a label, I couldn’t help but tear up. I struggle with labels. I will attempt to share why labels are such a difficult topic for me with two quick stories about my daughters:

Sophie, the youngest, will start Kindergarten in just a few weeks. We are so excited for this new adventure for her, but also we’re terrified for her, beyond the normal anxiety that comes with sending your child to kindergarten. When Sophie was about 2 1/2, I started to wonder if she was exhibiting signs of autism. After taking a few parent surveys about autistic behaviors and indicators and discussing her behaviors with a dear friend of mine that was in her residency for psychiatry, I decided to bring it up at her 3 year well-child exam with her doctor. After a lengthy discussion and his observations of her during that appointment (she was having a rough day), he referred her to a behavioral specialist. After several appointments, the psychiatrist described for my husband and me the differences in Developmental Scale Models (DSMs) and that with Sophie being so young, he’d like to give it a couple more years to see how she progressed. We were to continue with play therapy and speech therapy. He wasn’t comfortable diagnosing a 3 1/2 year old with autism (so thankful for this). I asked him what he would write if he were to diagnose her right then with all he’d seen. He told us that under the new DSM, she would be diagnosed as high-functioning autism (formerly known as Asperger Syndrome). My husband and I thanked him for his time and left. We adamantly did not want a label on Sophie. We don’t want others to have a preconceived opinion about our spunky, quirky, beautiful little girl. Through lots of work at home, Sophie is doing much better with her speech and is working to identify and control her emotions. If you met her briefly, you’d likely not see symptoms. Spending day after day with her, you’d definitely understand. We want her teachers to love her and appreciate her for her, not give her a pass because of a label, or write her off because of a label. Julie & Missy discuss this very thing in Unmapped Potential. Sophie has an infinite amount of potential and we want her to have every opportunity to share that potential with the world, without a label.

Bailey, our 9 year old, just finished third grade. She has an insanely high composite CogAT score and is an “out of the box” thinker. She strives for perfection, but is easily frustrated when she doesn’t understand a concept. She puts more pressure on herself than any child I’ve ever seen. Trust me, she doesn’t get any pressure from us. She doesn’t need it. Her first experience with the state’s standardized test (EOGs) came at the end of the school year. She panicked. She passed both the math and the reading with no problem, but did not score a high enough level to be considered for the AIG program (another label). It broke her heart. She cried and cried because she thought she’d let us and her teachers down. Another broken spirit because of a label that we place on children.

As Bobby Boucher’s Mama would say in The Waterboy… labels are the devil!

I appreciate everything this book had to offer. I will continue to grapple with my own mental map. It’s not an overnight process and will be in constant revision as I struggle to see myself as worthy of praise, finding the right amount of self-confidence, and breaking through barriers placed by previous (& current) experiences in my life. My implementation for this one may seem a little peculiar, but I’m going to go with it. In The Writing on the Classroom Wall, I committed to posting at least one big idea for students to see what I believe about education. I have a wall in the media center that is bare and desperately needs to be transformed into a focal point. I will share this journey (#DBC50Summer) with my students and share, in particular, this book when we are making goals for each individual student in regards to how many books each student will read in each quarter of school. I will share the story of mental maps and inquire about what barriers are placed in front of them in regard to their reading goal. Then, I will encourage them to break through those barriers. My reminder of these goals (because I believe that visuals & connections are the key to memory)… I will purchase a large United States road map – one of those that I used as a kid to plot my path from Point A to Point B – frame it and hang it on that blank wall as our new focal point. A visual reminder for every single student that we are constantly fighting negative self-talk and pessimism and we can fight back with positivity and optimism.

Check out Julie Hasson & Missy Lennard’s website, Purposeful Principals. There you can find a book study PDF to enhance your time with Unmapped Potential.  You can also follow along with the learning using the hashtag #UnmappedEd on Twitter. I highly recommend checking out their videos on YouTube here! Pay special attention to the Unmapped Potential Readers Q&A. Also check out the podcast with The Wired Educator with Julie Hasson.

As always, please feel free to share your reflections on the flipgrid. If a password is requested, it’s DBCSummer. A huge thank you to Andrea Paulakovich, the genius behind the fabulous idea of using the platform to provide a space for global collaboration on every DBC, Inc book that’s been published!

Book 28 is another book I’ve had on my shelf for several months and just keep missing out on reading. I’m thrilled to finally be able to read Shattering the Perfect Teacher Myth by Aaron Hogan! Check back soon for the next blog post!

Edited April 5, 2019 to add link to implementation! See how I implemented Unmapped Potential here!

#DBC50Summer 26/50: Shift This

/ Alicia Ray / 7 Comments

You know the saying “It’s all downhill from here”? I just spent the last little bit in an internet time warp looking up what that meant. It’s one of those rabbit holes. There is discussion online (apparently, a LOT of discussion online) about whether this is said in positive or negative connotation. I’ll spare you the details, but I choose to see it as a cyclist who has made it over the highest hill in a race, meaning things will get easier from here on. That’s what I thought would happen when I reached halfway in #DBC50Summer. I’d reached the top of the #DBC50Summer hill and could see the “end” (waaaaayy off in the distance). It’ll be easier now that I’m halfway, right?

Things. Are. Definitely. Not. Easier.

I am continuing to be stretched and challenged as an educator to truly know my educational beliefs as I read these books published by Dave & Shelley Burgess! I’m having to be more thoughtful about creating an implementation plan for these books that is realistic and attainable, while still making big waves. (Because, you know, Pirate ships do that – Pirate Pun, check!)

Book 26 was an empowering book! I’m currently ready to run through the halls yelling to the top of my lungs that I’m making changes and I want everyone on board. I’m ready to use my word from Lead Like A Pirate and be relentless in not accepting the status quo from teachers or students that I have the pleasure of serving. Shift This by Joy Kirr was so incredible that I have actually read it TWICE since last night. With that said, just go ahead and get your copy now! Seriously, it’s that good.

shiftthis

Here’s a little tidbit about me. I don’t like confrontation, in any form. I very much dislike arguments. I am a people pleaser (Yes, me too, Joy!) If someone confronts me face-to-face, I typically just bow out of the conversation with the quickest escape route I can find. If I do manage to find the guts to stand my ground, it usually ends with me stumbling over my words and tears. Mine. It’s embarrassing to be honest. If the confrontation is digital, I avoid that person like the plague until it blows over (or an appropriate amount of time has passed).

This book equips me with so many options for coaching teachers, and dealing with the dismissal and pushback that will likely happen (which in my eyes feels like confrontation – remember I take everything personally even though I shouldn’t). Finding a teacher’s comfort level in making changes in their classroom is so important. Allowing teachers to be in charge of their own changes makes change seem less intimidating. That leads to a higher success rate through sustaining said change. Thanks to Joy, I now have 4 scaffolded levels of change for topics that are very near and dear to my heart. These topics include:

  • Classroom Environment
  • Classwork
  • Homework
  • Grading
  • Social Media
  • Student-Directed Learning

Each of these includes small changes that feel “safe” while making a ginormous (yes, I’m choosing to use that word) impact on student empowerment and lifelong learning. I could easily see where I was in regards to the sliding scale of shifts on each topic and could find a shift I can make in the new year to make an even greater impact. I love that Joy repeatedly states that this was not an overnight large-scale change! She mentions frequently that the changes she has implemented in her classroom are from YEARS of small changes. I also respect that Joy speaks about the next step she is going to make as well! It shows that she’s not done growing and changing, and I appreciate that so much!

This book is like taking a snapshot into Joy’s classroom, seeing it from Point E to Point L, with the understanding that the story was already in play (Point A to Point D) and it continues to evolve now (Point M to Point “Retirement”). I’m sure even at this point, Joy is making small shifts for the her school year and that’s incredibly powerful to me!

I have got to meet this lady. We share so many educational philosophies and through my first reading of the book, I spent the majority of the time standing on her soap box with her, agreeing with every passionate sentence she wrote (sometimes even agreeing out loud). I would love to sit and discuss these beliefs about student empowerment, grading, homework, etc with Joy! There would be a lot of nodding. That’s for sure!

The second time I read the book, I read it through the eyes of an instructional coach. I could literally place every teacher I work with on the sliding scales included with each topic and can see what small change could be made in the coming school year. I want the teachers to be comfortable with the changes because, as Joy says, “Whatever you do has to work for you. If you are not comfortable with something, the students won’t get out of it what you hope for them.” Through discussion and reflection (both with students and within themselves), these changes can be tweaked to meet the needs of their classrooms.

Here are some quotes that I absolutely loved from the book!

 

 

 

One of the things I love most about the DBC, Inc books is that the resources shared within the book, and readily available after reading the book, are abundant. Joy’s book is no different. She includes links to all kinds of goodness via tinyurl.com in her book! I’m looking forward to diving into these links even more, as I know they will provide “a-ha” moments beyond what I read (which is already impressive).

As I mentioned, I can seriously make an implementation goal for every single section within the book. For example, in regards to grading… I have the luxury of not assigning grades to students as I am the media coordinator but I do provide feedback. Joy makes me want to shift this to have students select the work they’d like to turn in for feedback. That small shift gives students choice and allows me to see their best work. I appreciate that!

The implementation goal I choose to complete is related to social media. As I read the section of the book about social media shifts: lurking, then sharing I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Joy and I have very similar stories about our first experiences on social media. (I, too, came home from a conference and spent hours checking out the hashtag when I got home, Joy!) I have reached a point in social media where I’ve been thinking what’s next? as I already share my own content and blog and get new resources and have an amazingly supportive Professional Learning Network (PLN). Joy gives me the next step though, and it is so obvious for it to be the next step (couldn’t see the forest for the trees kind of obvious)… hand it over to the students. Give them the opportunity to blog and tweet out their own content! The best part about this… my principal and I just had a similar discussion this week in which we’ve decided to generate a social media team of students who will get the ball rolling with student-led blogging and social media. We’ll get to see the school from the eyes of our students, and we’re both so excited about what this will look like at the end of the year! The initial social media team will work out the kinks, set the parameters (with some guidance from the principal and I on policy and student safety) and teach other students how to write a blog and share on social media. This group of students will also fulfill one of the implementations from Your School Rocks, which was to create a school hashtag (we had one, but I didn’t put two and two together, so I’m sure the students hadn’t either… now the new one will be clearly stated and shared). We are allowing the students to use their voice by sharing their hashtag ideas for our school, then vote on their favorite to select one! It’s going to be awesome!

I am excited with and empowered by this book! You should visit Joy’s website which has incredible information, including the resources for the book, blogs about shift stories where teachers have shared their stories about their own small shifts leading to big changes, and podcasts with Joy including The Wired Educator. The community on Twitter uses the hashtag #ShiftThis (Be careful with that one, ha! Joy has a funny story about that!) and the chat will resume on August 21, 2018 at 8:00 pm EST! We will meet (almost) every Tuesday night after that. I have the privilege of moderating the chat on December 4, 2018 about Shifting Mindsets! True to Joy Kirr fashion, she is shifting how she moderates Twitter chats, so click here for more information about that small shift! I’m expecting it to lead to massive impacts!

As always, the flipgrid is wide open for global collaboration! Share a story about a small shift you’ve made and how it impacted your classroom. If you should need a password, use DBCSummer to access the grid. A massive thank you to Andrea Paulakovich, a superstar educator from Kansas, for sharing the genius idea to open a global collaboration space for every DBC book!

Book 27 is Unmapped Potential by Julie Hasson and Missy Lennard, the Purposeful Principals! I just purchased this book at the beginning of July, so I’m thrilled to read it for the first time! Look for the blog soon!

 

#DBC50Summer 25/50: Teaching Math with Google Apps

/ Alicia Ray / 5 Comments

I love the fact that book 24 and book 25 in the Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc line up came out back-to-back! These two books flow well together as they both discuss that the most important thing in math isn’t the answer itself, but is found in the process of finding the answer. When students ask, “when am I ever going to use this” the answer is now clear, no matter what concept being covered…the critical thinking skills developed in math will be used every. single. day.

Book 25 is the third book published by DBC for Alice Keeler. (The first two released were 50 Things and 50 Things Further, both co-authored with Dr. Libbi Miller.) Alice co-authored book 25 with the late Diana Herrington. Sadly, Diana passed away unexpectedly on May 17, 2017, just a few weeks after the release of their book. Diana’s love of teaching math and her passion for making math fun for students lives on in her words in the book. Teaching Math with Google Apps is book 25, and marks the halfway point in #DBC50Summer!

googlemath

Choosing from any of the Alice Keeler Google Apps books will result in a beautiful read. These pages are printed completely in color and organized in such a way that the content is easy to navigate and understand. Teaching Math with Google Apps can be used as a cover to cover professional development read, or as a quick reference guide (I’ll be using it as both)! In this book in particular, the sections of reading are color-coded in the top corners. I personally enjoy a good color-coding system, so this immediately spoke to my heart. I also love that Alice & Diana brought in some familiar faces to contribute! We get to hear from Shelley Burgess (co-author of P is for Pirate and co-author of Lead Like A Pirate), John Stevens (Table Talk Math and co-author of The Classroom Chef), and Denis Sheeran (Instant Relevance).

There are so many amazing tips, tools, activities, examples, and templates included in this book! The complete list of links is available when you purchase the book. That list of links alone is worth every penny! There are examples and templates for elementary through high school math classes, so there’s something for everyone here!

Some of my favorite activities within the book are Pixel Art using Google Sheets (I know, right? Genius stuff! It’s like a digital color by number), utilizing all that Google Forms has to offer through the implementation of self-graded quizzes that offer students immediate feedback, and using the Explore feature in Google Apps to make math relevant to students through maps, shopping, and can even be used to complete a scavenger hunt to find math “in the wild”.

Alice and Diana suggest using Discovery activities to learn collaboratively. Another idea they have is to put the beginning of the lesson in the middle. So think about this… typically students come into math class (or any class) and we quickly review (those who got it yesterday are now tuned out while those who didn’t get it yesterday are already frustrated), probably go over homework (waste of time – both the giving it and the going over it), and then start your lesson for the day 10-15 minutes later having wasted valuable class time. Diana challenges us to switch that up? What if we put our beginning in the middle? What if we didn’t go over homework (or give it for that matter) and we start with an extension from the day before? And… wait for it… they do this collaboratively so those that excelled yesterday have the opportunity to refine their knowledge by peer tutoring those who struggled yesterday. Their peers, those that struggled, get to hear the information from a different perspective and will likely have more understanding. Meanwhile, the teacher is monitoring and asking questions. After completing the extension activity and discussing it as a class, you transition into the day’s mini-lesson and allow students to discover the math using activities in Google Apps rather than telling them (Alice & Diana give the example that we typically TELL students the Pythagorean Theorem… why not ask the students what it is? They have Google! Google will tell them!) This shift in teaching and learning even sounds as though it would flow better. Makes much more sense to me anyhow. Great thinking, Diana!

Some of my favorite quotes from this one are listed below. (Y’all, Alice Keeler has a way with quotes, by the way. After meeting her in June, I can hear her saying some of these in my head now. I can hear the conviction behind some of these quotes and even if you aren’t really sure if you agree, you’ll find yourself nodding along, because the passion in her voice makes it so that it’s the gospel truth.)

“No matter the medium, design for student engagement.”

“Teach like YouTube and Google exist.” (one of my favorite favorites) Going hand-in-hand with that one, Alice says, “I have a rule: Do not tell students things they can look up.” [see Pythagorean Theorem statement above]

“Glitter, scissors, and glue should not be abandoned. Sometimes technology is not the best tool. While work can be created on paper…the work can still be submitted digitally…insert an image”

“The conversation becomes a risk-free learning zone – and that’s where the magic happens!”

“It is important for students to approach a problem with strategies rather than procedural steps. Strategies help them make connections when confronted with new situations.”

My implementation for this book is two-fold.  There is an activity (and template, woo hoo, get the book and you have access to the template, too) in the book where students take a selfie and upload into a collaborative Google Slides presentation and share a couple of things about themselves. I want to do this during my first media class with my 6th grade students. It introduces students to Google Classroom, Google Slides, and allows me to get to know the students’ names and faces as well. Secondly, at some point in time this year (and knowing how much Alice loves her spreadsheets, she would recommend sooner rather than later), I want to complete the Google Sheets activity included in the book where students will discover how to input data and manipulate Google Sheets. Using Google Sheets more will only help my students in the long run, so giving them a strong foundation with this template on the basics is a great place to start. I’m excited to see where this takes my students, and the staff! This book is specifically geared toward math teachers, but there’s so many activities here that can be adapted across the curriculum that I would truly recommend this book to anyone! The back of the book even has some Google tutorials for those moments when you’re reading and think, I have no idea what they mean by revision history. Detailed information with a beautiful screenshot is included here as well!

As usual with books co-authored by Alice Keeler, there is a vast world of information on her website. Go to alicekeeler.com and knock yourself out! Check out the hashtag #GoogleMath on Twitter for more. You can also subscribe to the Google Math Newsletter here! Don’t forget that if you want that link with ALL the resources, templates, examples, and other amazingness included in the book, you need to purchase a copy for yourself! You can do that here! Finally, you can always contribute to the flipgrid using the password DBCSummer (if it asks for one). Andrea Paulakovich had the brilliant idea to create a space for global collaboration around each DBC book, and I love it! Please share your thoughts there! We always include a prompt, but that prompt isn’t required. If you have something better in mind, share that! We just want to learn together in that digital space!

***One of Diana’s visions was to create a scholarship fund to encourage students to go into STEM fields. There is a gofundme page here or you can donate directly Fresno State in memory of Diana Herrington. These donations go toward an endowment at California State University Fresno for students who want to teach math! Diana’s passion for math lives on! Any donation is appreciated!***

Well, we’ve reached the halfway point! Next up is a book by one of the sweetest ladies I’ve ever “met” (well, met virtually…on Twitter, but I will meet her face-to-face one day, I hope)! If you want to know how to make small changes for a HUGE impact, check out book 26 in #DBC50Summer: Shift This by Joy Kirr!