GeniusHour

#DBC50Summer 39/50: The Limitless School

/ Alicia Ray / 1 Comment

Fun fact: I’ve never been able to solve a Rubik’s Cube. Ever. I like to mess them up for others to solve though.

I have watched students take a randomized cube and get all the colors back together within a minute or two. There is clearly a pattern… one that I do not understand. Finally a student showed me a particular Rubik’s Cube Solver online & it changed my life. Okay, that may be an exaggeration. It is pretty cool though. On the site, you position the cube on a table in the same manner as the image on the screen. Then, simply fill in the colors on the digital cube to match what you see on the physical cube. Clicking solve will then show you step-by-step directions (with animation) to solve the Rubik’s Cube!

Reading Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc books this summer has been like that Rubik’s Cube Solution website. This is my 13th year in education, and I’ve never felt like I had it all together. I may have felt successful in one area similar to the way we can get one side with matching colors on a Rubik’s Cube. After feeling accomplished for about 2.2 seconds, I turn the cube over and realize what a hot mess the rest of the cube is still in. This summer of growth has shown me ways to bring many of my thoughts together. It has allowed me to become grounded in who I am, both personally and professionally. It has helped me find my voice through blogging. It is helping me define my passions and my short- and long-term goals. It’s like I put the colors on a screen and clicked solve. Each book I’ve read has been a shift in the cube that further aligns my thoughts, passions, and goals.

Book 39 is no exception. The Limitless School, written by Abe Hege and Adam Dovico, uses the metaphor of a Rubik’s Cube to highlight creative ways to solve (or continue to strengthen) your school’s culture puzzle.

…Oh… and Limitless… it’s an acronym. (Of course it is!)

I have really grown to enjoy reading the forewords of these books! Beth Houf, co-author of Lead Like A Pirate, nails it in the first two pages! She says, “Culture isn’t something you do to people; it is the bedrock of any school campus…Culture first, culture next, culture always.” This is one of my favorite parts of the book written by Beth & Shelley Burgess so I was thrilled to see it here.

Typically, I do not spoil the acronyms provided in the book, but this one needs to be shared. (You can preview the first chapters here!)

  • Leader

  • Impressions

  • Marriage

  • Integrity

  • Time

  • Limelight

  • Educate Yourself

  • Success

  • Set Goals

That’s impressive, right? Abe and Adam discuss how each of these topics play a huge role in creating and strengthening a positive school culture. Trusting others, and being trustworthy yourself, are key components, both for students and staff of a school. Integrity is what you’re doing when no one else is watching. Traditions are also discussed within the book. When I started the pilot position at the STEM magnet middle school I serve, I wanted to give students a reason to come to the media center. I wanted a way to display the community effort that our school needed to be successful. Because I’ve always been a fan of puzzles (and I lucked up and found a beautiful puzzle of wild horses on Amazon for insanely cheap), I put a 1,500-piece puzzle on a table in the media center. At first, no one touched it. I put together a few pieces here and there, and a few 8th graders started venturing into the media center in the mornings to put a piece or two in. Before we knew it, the edges were complete. By then, other teachers within the school saw the puzzle at faculty meetings. They said there was no way we’d finish the puzzle with all 1,500 pieces remaining. That students would steal pieces, or pieces would drop and be sucked up by those amazing school vacuum cleaners (They pick up everything! I’d love to bring one home with me one day and see what it can do on our carpets!) I felt kind of defeated because I wanted to see the good in the students and I wanted to believe they would take pride in this puzzle that showcased their school mascot.

It took nearly 4 months. The final piece went into the puzzle and the 8th graders who had worked so hard on it looked completely…lost. They had finished the puzzle, but rather than feeling a sense of accomplishment, I believe they dreaded taking it apart to put back in the box. We devised a plan and that puzzle is now a focal point in our media center – matted by a black science fair board cut to fit the space within a stunning oversized frame that I found at 60% off one day! As for the 1,500 pieces… every single piece was there. Not one went missing over the entire 4 months!

This has become a tradition in our school. We’ve even purchased sorting trays for the pieces and I have kept one large rectangle table specifically to be the “puzzle table”. When each 8th grade finishes their puzzle, they want it on the wall immediately. I’ve already purchased the frame for this one! The 8th grade puzzle is at least 1,000 pieces and I select the image that I believe represents the 8th grade class as a whole. We just finished our second week of school and already three different 8th graders have come to me asking when the puzzle is going to be put out for them to work on! I will unveil it to our 8th graders next week and students can begin the excitement of seeing it come together the following week! I can’t wait to share it with you, as well! (Hint: It’s part of a #DBC50Summer implementation… when I saw this one, I knew I had to make a little twist to the original plan & I am so thrilled to share when it is finished!)

The section of the book that really touched my heart was Educate Yourself. Yes, it’s about lifelong learning, but also about so much more! The rural area in which I live is very much at the heart of the Bible Belt. There’s a church on every corner, and on Sunday afternoon, if you aren’t in your “Sunday best” at “the Walmart” you get the side-eye, judge-y look from others still wearing theirs with pride (some of you know exactly what I’m talking about). I will choose not to get on my soap box right now about these things, but will just suffice to say that I do not believe it is my place to judge others and I do believe it is my duty as a Christian to love my neighbor (others). That’s everyone; not just those that belief the same way I do, those that look the same way I do, those with the same lifestyle I have. Everyone. And that’s exactly what I try to do on a daily basis. (And also, at my church, we wear jeans and t-shirts. It doesn’t make me any less of a Christian. Just saying.)

Last year I conducted a survey asking for students’ honest opinion about their experiences in middle school. I was blown away by their maturity and thoughtfulness in answering the questions honestly and respectfully. A few of my students noted that the LGBTQ community was bullied, that they wished homophobic terms would be reprimanded in the same way as racial slurs, and that they would like more representation in the books available in the media center. Here is one response from a student:

“Schools need to be aware of mental health, and awareness for bullying (homophobia, transphobia, racism, fascism, sexism, etc). Teachers need to stand up for their students when they are getting bullied. For example, if a teacher hears things like “that’s gay”, “fag***” and the n word (coming from someone who is not black) they should say something. People have been fighting for rights for years now, and I want to (and others too) to come to school and feel safe and be accepted for who you are no matter your race, religion, sexuality, or gender.” -8th grader

That’s powerful, y’all. To be sure I advocate for this voice and better the experience of my students, I need to educate myself. I need to seek out books they can read and identify with the characters. I need to allow my students to connect with like-minded peers. Anytime I attend an edcamp and I see a session on equality, equity, culture responsiveness, etc I do all I can to attend that session. It is, without fail, the most open and honest conversations I’ve ever been part of. I need to provide my students the opportunity to engage in those open and honest conversations that I learn and grow from. I need to provide those books with characters they relate to, and those like-minded peers. Each student should have a positive role model that reminds them of themselves.

I LOVE this video explaining privilege! We should all check ours!

That’s where my implementation comes into play, I believe. I want to provide positive diverse role models through book selection and research in the media center. It’s a small step, but it’s a step in the right direction. I’d rather take a multiple small steps forward than one large step too quickly and risk backward movement. I’ve mentioned an open genius hour as a #DBC50Summer implementation. (Read more here in the post about The Wild Card by Wade & Hope King) Through reading Pure Genius by Don Wettrick, I learned that modeling and structuring the first genius hour is important to the success of future genius hours. I could confine the genius hour topics to be about the qualities of a positive role model & selecting a role model with which the student can identify. These positive role models, selected by students, can then be shared via whatever platform/tool the student desires and discussed among those in attendance. Remember, it’s open to any and all, so there may be 50 or 2; I’m honestly not sure. I’m taking a risk here & building the plane as we fly it. Finally, students can determine if we have any books by or about that person, and if we need purchase some. We will find creative ways to fund these new books & offer a display of diverse positive role models when the books arrive, and make them available for circulation.

I knew this book wouldn’t steer me in the wrong direction! Abe and Adam are located only about an hour from me and I’d love to visit their schools! Watching their tweets is so inspiring and I love the energy in their schools that is evident through social media. (Side note: Abe started his journey as principal of an elementary school this year, so it’s been awesome watching him develop the culture in a new school using the same strategies outlined in his book!) You can follow along too by following Abe and Adam at @abehege and @adamdovico, respectively. Also see what others are doing with their limitless schools using the hashtag #LimitlessSchool. Adam’s website is here. Teach Me Teacher podcast interviewed Adam about The Limitless School. You can see that here in part 1 and part 2.

If you want to change the culture of your school, and want practical ways to make it happen and quantitative data to prove it’s working, you need to grab a copy of The Limitless School!

As always, feel free to add to (or start) the discussion on flipgrid! This global collaboration space for all DBC, Inc books was the brain-child of Andrea Paulakovich, who fell in love with the idea of #DBC50Summer early in the process and ran with it! I’m so thankful to be connected to her, and you should get connected, too!

Rereading book 40 tomorrow! This book was released less than 6 months ago and has taken education by storm! I mean, who doesn’t love a good protocol, right? Especially when they’re a bit silly! Can’t wait to share my favorite protocols from The EduProtocol Field Guide by Marlena Hebern and Jon Corippo in the next #DBC50Summer blog post! I think the implementation will be fairly obvious…

#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 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!