#EDUpassions

#DBCBookBlogs: I Want to Be a Lot

/ Alicia Ray / Leave a comment

Like many kids, I went through multiple career choices before being serious about becoming a teacher in high school. I wanted to be a veterinarian (until I discovered I’m allergic to anything with fur), I wanted to be a marine biologist (until I realized I’m not a great swimmer & not a fan of the ocean), and for most of high school, I wanted to go into the United States Air Force.

I also dreamed of being a singer/songwriter! I used to travel as a teenager singing anywhere they’d let me. My mom took me to Nashville to record a 3-song demo CD when I was 16; the CD is hidden where no one can ever find it. I even traveled to perform on a stage in Ohio at 15 years old. I guess you could say that I wanted to be a lot! Ashley Savage, a 19 year old college student, also wants to be a lot and she gives us permission to dream big in her picture book, I Want to Be a Lot – the 77th book in the Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc line (and the 4th picture book)!

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Let me first just say that this book is stinking precious and everyone should buy a copy (or two or three) right now! Ashley’s book is BEYOND perfect for graduation gifts! It’s an epic baby gift! I would purchase several copies to give as teacher gifts for your own children’s teachers! It needs to be in every media center in the world! I’m not joking; it’s that precious! My daughters have asked me to read it to them countless times since we received it!

I love this book because it frees our students from having to make up their minds about what they “want to be when they grow up.” Ashley writes, “It’s okay to love a lot of things… The important thing to remember is that you don’t have to give up loving one to pursue the other.” As an adult, that’s liberating! I want to be an educator, a speaker, an educational consultant, and an author when I grow up… and I love that I don’t have to give up loving one to pursue the others! Maybe, just maybe, I can have my cake and eat it, too (as the saying goes).

As for my daughters, the Pre-Kindergarten they attended does a graduation ceremony and one of the questions the children are asked is, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Check out their answers below!

Bailey, 4 years old, PreK graduation (she’s now 10 years old)

Yes… you heard that right! She wanted to be a football player! And you know what? We watched professional football with her every Sunday, Monday night, and Thursday night, as well as college football most Saturdays. What’s precious about this is that she is the most meek, mild-mannered child you’ve ever met!

I asked her tonight what she loved and wanted to explore more and she said that she “loved to read, so maybe a librarian, or an author, or book reviewer”. She also “loved math, so maybe working in a bank, a cashier, or owning a business”. Finally, she “loved animals, so maybe a vet”. It warmed my heart that she didn’t feel that she had to choose one thing. Sometimes she’d get very worried when she didn’t know the answer to that question. Ashley’s book made her feel that it’s perfectly fine to be unsure and I’m so grateful for that.

Bailey’s favorite page of the book:

Sophie, 5 years old, PreK Graduation (she’s now 6 years old)

Ladies and gentlemen… she did say that she wanted to be a horse! As in a four-legged mammal that trots, gallops, and grazes… a h-o-r-s-e. Bless her! We didn’t quite indulge her the way we did Bailey with playing football for obvious reasons, but it certainly made us smile. For the record, she wanted to be a horse until around Christmas last year.

After reading Ashley’s book, she’s decided that she wants to be a photographer! She wants to “take pictures of wild animals in nature”. My sweet husband is determined to find his fancy Nikon DSLR camera before he takes the girls to the zoo in a couple of weeks so Sophie can take pictures of the animals she sees there. She was so excited about taking pictures that she was still smiling as she fell asleep. She may change her mind tomorrow about what she wants to be, but I’ve got to tell you – I’ve always seen her going into the arts somehow. When you meet her, you’ll completely understand! Photography sounds like the perfect fit for her. It’ll be hard to hold the camera with her horse hooves when she magically changes form, though. Bless.

Sophie’s favorite page of the book:

Implementation

The implementation for this one is easy-peasy! I’m buying this book for our middle school media center and using this as our kick-off for passion projects in the fall! The message that Ashley shares is so important for our students (and adults) to hear! You can follow multiple passions and be successful!

The little girl in the illustrations by Genesis Kohler reminds me so much of a student that I teach at school that I’m going to have to purchase a copy for her! Her mannerisms, hair, and indecisiveness are exactly like my student and I can’t wait to share this story with her when we return to school!

You’ve simply got to get a copy of I Want to Be a Lot by Ashley Savage! This fourth* picture book from DBC, Inc is adorable and, true to DBC form, has a wonderful message for both children and adults alike! I can’t wait to see what this 19 year old author Ashley does – and hopefully she won’t choose just one thing; she’s obviously got a TON of talent to share with the world!

*The first three picture books from DBC are Dolphins in Trees by Aaron Polansky, The Princes of Serendip by Allyson Apsey, and Zom-Be a Design Thinker by Amanda Fox!  The titles link to their #DBCBookBlogs posts, and you can find author info on those links.

#DBCBookBlogs: Don’t Ditch That Tech

/ Alicia Ray / 1 Comment

Quick! Go take this super-simple, fast survey about technology use in your classroom. Pay close attention to the scale provided; the agree & disagree alternate in questions! Before you click submit, be sure to add up your total points! You’ll need that in a moment.

There’s a new DITCH book out called Don’t Ditch That Tech and it’s the 74th book in the Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc line of super-awesome books by super-awesome folks! The two previous DITCH books are Ditch That Textbook and Ditch That Homework! In the book , Matt Miller, Nate Ridgway, and Angie Ridgway show readers how to differentiate instruction using technology, which is music to my instructional technologist ears. The best part?! They teach how to differentiate by… wait for it… DIFFERENTIATING! dontditchthattech

Back to that survey! Do you remember your total points? In the first chapter (which are interestingly given letters rather than numbers – it spells out DITCH IT!), Matt & the Ridgways identify “five roles that correspond to different levels of a continuum of technology integration and differentiation”. They are quick to remind us that these do not define us, but give us a starting point.

  • If you scored from 0-16, you are a Pilot.
  • If you scored from 17-22, you are a Museum Exhibitor.
  • If you scored from 23-28, you are a Restaurant Owner.
  • If you scored from 29-34, you are a Councilmember.
  • If you scored from 35-40, you are a Creative Art Coach.

This continuum moves from Pilot being mostly teacher-centered to Creative Art Coach being mostly student-centered. I found that I scored 34 points and am on the cusp of Councilmember and Creative Art Coach. When you read the book, you’ll find out much more detail about what each role means and how to move from one role to the next in the continuum.

The entire book is set up to be a guide based on your current role. You could read this book in a jiffy, multiple times by focusing on your current role only. Imagine if you’re a Pilot the first time you read Don’t Ditch That Tech and you focus only on the Pilot sections of the book. You choose a couple of things to implement (as the authors tell us again and again NOT to implement too much at once because it will overwhelm both teacher and student) and you implement them with success. Then, you take the survey again with these new tools in your tool belt to see that you have moved up the continuum. (YAY, you!) Now you’re reading as a Museum Exhibitor or Restaurant Owner. Get it? Isn’t that neat?! I love that this differentiation book is differentiated to meet the needs of the reader!

I’ll be perfectly honest, I knew that anything Matt Miller touches turns to gold (truth), but I wasn’t sure if there was anything in this book for me to really connect with. I wouldn’t dream of ever ditching the tech, so being told not to in the title made me go into this book with a coaching lens – as in, how can I use this with the educators I work with who are ditching tech daily. I was very pleasantly surprised that there were tech tools that I got to explore while reading as I’d never heard of them! Matt and the Ridgways also included some oldies but goodies like VoiceThread and Blabberize that I honestly had moved on from, but checked them out again. I’m impressed with their updates and look forward to possibly using them in the future.

There are so many things to love in this book as it is insanely practical! I truly appreciate all the examples using QR codes and shortened URLs!  There’s advice, notes, tips, and recommendations throughout the entire book that highlight various potential pitfalls when using tech. I love that the authors are being proactive about these possible issues and helping readers avoid those issues altogether!

Implementation

Last year I introduced Google Keep to my students and several jumped right on board with it! There were many however, that were overwhelmed with the post-it note look to the platform and thus felt unorganized. I’m excited to… yep… differentiate (!!!) next year! Now that they know about Google Keep and how to use it, those who want to continue to use it for due dates, upcoming events, etc can do so. For those who want to try something new or never really liked Keep, I’m excited to introduce Google Calendar to them. I’ll use our 1:1 school-provided Chromebooks, as well as helping those with cell phones set up their notifications on their Google Calendar. (Of course, some may choose to use their iPhone Calendar.)

I’m really excited about all Don’t Ditch That Tech has to offer and I love the focus on differentiation. I also love that there is so much emphasis on technology being more than a shiny tool, but using technology to strengthen student experience making each student feel like the class was created for them. Be sure to click here to purchase your copy of the book, and check out the free preview! I believe this is a book for everyone – whether you believe it’s blasphemy to ditch technology or you just wish the “tech lady” would stop pestering you with these “tech ideas” or if you’re somewhere in between!

For a little extra bonus, check out Matt’s blog about this latest DITCH book! Be sure to join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #DitchBook and follow Matt and Nate & Angie Ridgway! It is abundantly clear throughout the book that they are very open to answering questions and helping readers move through the continuum differentiating instruction for students using technology! You don’t want to miss out on this book!

What’s On Your Walls?

/ Alicia Ray / 2 Comments

What is on our walls says a lot about what we value. At home, we have pictures of our daughters, a wall decal that reads Family Est 2006, and several Bible verses.

During #DBC50Summer, I read Steve Wyborney‘s book The Writing on the Classroom Wall and decided that my implementation would be to share my own educational views on the walls of the media center (my classroom). See my blog post here. Throughout the year I have added inspirational quotes to the tops of bookcases, on the circulation desk, and even on the school announcements which run on televisions in the front lobby, media center, and cafeteria.

When reading Unmapped Potential by Julie Hasson and Missy Lennard, I knew I wanted to put a map of the United States on the wall to remind myself and the students that we can break through our own mental barriers to uncover the potential within ourselves. (See the blog post here.) I took this implementation a step further!

This is my third year at the middle school I serve. Every year the 8th grade students put together a puzzle, and when it is complete, I frame it and put it on the wall. The first year was a 1500-piece puzzle with mustangs (our school mascot) drinking water from a river. The second year was a 1000-piece puzzle with globes of various sizes and colors. I wanted this year’s puzzle to be very special as I’ve been with a third of the group since they were eight years old. My former position was at the elementary school that feeds into my current middle school. I moved to the middle school when they did, so we’ve spent six years together. (Yes, I will be an emotional wreck on the last day of school.)

I decided that rather than placing a road map on the wall, we would put together a puzzle of a world map. Therefore, the 1000-piece puzzle for this year’s 8th grade is a map of the world. It has been framed and is now mounted on the wall with inspirational quotes on canvases all around it! Our amazing art teacher painted the canvases and did some beautiful calligraphy to make the quotes stand out!

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I am so excited to see the map puzzle and the quotes around the media center so anyone who enters the media center knows what the space is about. They know what I believe about education without a question! Here’s a short slideshow with several of the quotes around the media center.

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