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#DBC50Summer 48/50: Sparks in the Dark Part Two?!

/ Alicia Ray / 1 Comment

Wait a minute, what? This is supposed to be book 49! What is going on here?

I’ll tell you what’s going on. I stinking read the rest of Sparks in the Dark this evening and I am so pumped up by Todd Nesloney and Travis Crowder! (Travis apparently is another hometown hero – had no idea he lived in NC until the end of the book; did I miss that somewhere? Home field advantage – I’ve got to come see you, Travis!)

I thoroughly enjoyed the first 7 chapters of this book and it was mostly about reading and integrating that into every content area and why reading is so important to our students. Well, then I read the last 6 chapters and I’ll be darned if I wasn’t inspired by their words on writing and now I’ve got to reflect and write an implementation plan for that.

Yes, you heard that right… This book is so doggone good that I’ve got to write two posts, reflecting and connecting to the text, then create another implementation plan – just based on (as Travis and Todd say) “illuminating the writing lives” in my students! Well-done, fellas; well-done!

As a child (I couldn’t have been more than 9 or 10) I sat at my old Windows computer (which required DOS prompts) and wrote chapters about realistic fiction. They were typically a knock-off of adventures in The Babysitter’s Club series by Ann Martin.

I kept a diary that I wrote in every night from the time I was in 1st or 2nd grade and distinctly remember writing a heartfelt post about the day my mom and dad officially split up and my dad walked out the door, when I was in 5th grade.

In 4th grade (Mrs. Byrd’s class), I wrote a lengthy answer to an essay question about changes in transportation in North Carolina on a social studies test. It is the first time I recall writing and enjoying writing at school. She was so impressed with the answer that it became an exemplar, which blew me away.

In 7th grade, we were required to write in a journal each week. Fridays were days for writing and we chose from 101 writing prompts and just wrote whatever we desired. Mine started out focused on the boy I had a [not-so-] secret crush on at the time. (I was 12, give me a break!) They evolved into more thought-provoking pieces of current events, as well as imaginative writing.

From there, school killed my love of writing. It became a chore.

When my ex-fiance and I broke off our engagement, I picked up writing again. I shared my “deepest, darkest secrets” in my journal (because calling it a diary felt so juvenile). I wrote my feelings, my apprehension about this new future, completely separated from the future I had imagined for years. When I met my husband for the first time, I wrote about him the night I got home. I wrote about the feeling that “this might be the one.” (Yes, I knew from the moment I met him, as did he… we were engaged in 6 weeks, married within the year, and through good, bad, and sometimes incredibly ugly we’re celebrating 12 years in December.)

Then social media kicked in. I found facebook (oddly enough) to be an outlet. It wasn’t as “deep-dark secret” as my journal had been, but it was a place to chronicle my life’s events. I would share my love for my job, day-to-day events, and yes, even what I ate at night (especially if it was Outback Steakhouse, one of my very favorites). I wrote about heartbreaks and shared with my family and closest friends – when we miscarried babies in not one… not two… but three different pregnancies, when I lost my Nanny (one of my biggest cheerleaders), and when my husband lost his job months after our youngest daughter was born.

Now… it’s blogging. This is my space. (See what I did there… y’all remember that? Whew – blast from the past!) It’s where I share my thoughts. Don Murray was so right when he says (as quoted in Sparks in the Dark), “You write to discover what you want to say.”

So my implementation plan is completely different from anything I’ve done to this point. I’m telling y’all… this book has grabbed my soul! It’s stirred something deep down. It’s awoken a passion that I didn’t realize I had; something completely different from what the math teacher in me would have ever admitted to having a passion for. Writing. It’s not about writing to a prompt. It’s not about answering the question of the day, or answering an essay question on a test. Like reading, it’s about choice. Choosing what you want to write about. It’s about getting your thoughts on paper (or screen, pick your poison). It’s about reflection. My best reflections have come through writing. Not verbal conversation with others. But through my own quiet time, after my family is asleep… when I sit in the middle section of our sectional wrapped up in a blanket with my heavily-stickered MacBook Pro in my lap. When I write. That’s when I discover what I want to say. Sometimes there are (what feels like) a bazillion typos. You may notice them. I do, too. I will eventually edit. But right now, it’s all so raw. I just want to get it out.

This implementation plan isn’t for me. It’s not even really for my students. It’s for you.

I challenge you to write. I challenge you to share your writing with others. Maybe it’s a journal (I don’t recommend sharing your deepest-darkest secrets with just anyone though… just sayin’). Maybe it’s a Google Doc. Maybe it’s a writing notebook. Maybe… just maybe it’s a blog. Whatever it is, write. Write to figure out what you believe. Figure out your passions. Figure out who you are. I’m 33 years old, and I am just discovering who Alicia Ray really is. Sometimes, she scares the crap out of me. Sometimes, I feel like she’s not enough. Sometimes, I love her. But she’s always me. And the best way to share her, this voice inside my head, is through writing. So, to you… go right now… Write. I’d love it if you’d give me a peek into your head. Please tag me when you share your post (if that’s the route you take)!

Go. Write. Now.

*Also, pick up a copy of Sparks in the Dark by Travis Crowder and Todd Nesloney. It will truly illuminate your own spark!

#DBC50Summer 47/50: Lead with Culture

/ Alicia Ray / 2 Comments

I keep waiting to come across a Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc book that I don’t like… one that doesn’t inspire me as much as others. I honestly keep thinking as I begin every “new” book (one I’ve not read yet), Will this be the one? The one that I have to make a tough decision if I blog truthfully or if I sugarcoat my interest level. I know I sound like a broken record because I have literally said to purchase every single one of these books. Book 47 continues the tradition of excellence, and even raises the bar a bit.

Jay Billy is a Pirate through and through. It is evident in his tweets and his passion is even more impressive through this book. He was given a mighty task. One that I actually thought no one could achieve… be the first Lead Like A Pirate guide book released by DBC, Inc. Pave the way for future guide books related to the content in the Teach Like A Pirate leadership equivalent. That is pressure. Real pressure. Lead with Culture is the perfect way to kick off a series of guide books.

First of all, I need to put Jay Billy in my pocket and carry him around with me. I love, love, love my administrator. I’m just going to put that out there before I say this next thing…. I would work for Jay Billy in a heartbeat. I’d even teach Kindergarten if that’s what it took. (That. Is. Huge. Those that really know me – go ahead and pick your jaw up off the floor.)

His energy, enthusiasm, passion… it can’t help but to create a positive culture. I imagine that rainbows erupt from the sky every morning to await arrival of students and teachers at his school. Unicorns prance in the fields nearby allowing students to run their fingers through their mane while staring into their souls. Fairies flutter by with pixie dust to sprinkle good cheer on everyone. Students move from class to class on puffy clouds of inspiration.

Okay, so maybe not that surreal, but pretty dang close. Jay leads us on a deep-dive of what really matters in our schools. He speaks to culture, joy, kindness, intention, honesty, passion, and more. Not only does he outline why it matters, but he shares how to improve those areas in your own school through examples of things he does in his school. This is why the implementation plan is so difficult here. I could pick something from every doggone chapter to implement and then sit back and watch what happens.

One of the things I love most is that Jay makes you feel as though you can be successful in changing the culture of any school. And it doesn’t have to come at the expense of accountability scores. Dave Burgess tweets this about those false dichotomies (having either this OR that).

The school I serve is fantastic. I love that we are working every day to shatter the “traditional” educational model. Our ELA teachers are taking students to the Science Institute to make stories come to life, history teachers are allowing students to experience Ancient Egypt through virtual reality escape rooms, math teachers encourage students to apply concepts of linear, quadratic, and exponential functions to build roller coasters in Minecraft (then ride them in virtual reality, experiencing them to scale), and science teachers weave hands-on labs with context clues to decipher content vocabulary. All the while, encore classes like art, chorus, band, physical education and health, Project Lead the Way 1 and 2, and computer science discoveries are incorporating content from core subject areas and giving students opportunities to explore passions and connect the arts to all they do. It’s an amazing, inspiring place to work.

Not everyone sees it that way. Our school has been the underdog in many struggles. We were “the second” middle school built within 6 miles in a rural community. To have two middle schools that close is uncommon. Two elementary schools feed into our STEM magnet middle school. One school is 74% free and reduced lunch, while the other qualifies for free lunch for every student in the school. Mix that in with a full-inclusion magnet population. Very different socio-economics, students brought in on a shuttle bus so a shorter school day due to transportation, six classes built into the schedule per day rather than the traditional four at our other middle schools, so each staff member teaches approximately 100-110 students per day. Just a few years ago, we were a school with a NC Report Card rating of “D” and until this year we had not met growth since 2012. It was the school that people raised their eyebrows when you mentioned you worked there… often accompanied by a “ooooh, and how’s that going?”

Culture has improved by leaps and bounds in the past two years. Our administration has created a culture of yes and she encourages us to think out of the box. She sets high expectations and supports us as we strive to reach those high expectations. If a teacher has a need, she moves things around to make it happen. We still have a long way to go.

As in many schools, when the loudest voice is negative, it overshadows all of the awesome that is going on. Sometimes, our loudest voices can be negative. We’re working to shift that and change the conversation. I want to seek out the positive voices this year, even if they are quiet as mice. As I read Jay’s book, I was overwhelmed with ideas and had no idea how to incorporate them all. Because they are ALL worth bringing into #DBC50Summer implementation!

My favorite part of this book is the space for reflection after each chapter. Jay gives us three action items that correlate to the topic he just covered. These are the Leadership Treasure Hunt (Find This), Navigating the Seas (Think about This), and Charting the Course (Take Action). So to incorporate as much of Jay’s wisdom as I possibly can, I am going on a treasure hunt!

When I was a young girl, my Nanny (what I called my dad’s mom and one of my very best friends and biggest cheerleaders) and Papa had a camper in the nearby mountains of North Carolina. We would spend several weekends there throughout the year until my Papa passed away when I was ten years old. As my Nanny and I took leisurely walks on the trails nearby, we would sing a classic children’s song…

We’re goin’ on a bear hunt
(We’re goin’ on a bear hunt)
We’re going to catch a big one,
(We’re going to catch a big one,)

I’m not afraid
(I’m not afraid)
What a beautiful day!
(What a beautiful day!)

I can just substitute treasure hunt for bear hunt, and I’ve got my implementation plan! Each of the Leadership Treasure Hunt items from Lead with Culture will be found through the 2018-2019 school year and recorded! Once I find these treasures, in true Lead Like A Pirate fashion, I will drop an Anchor of Appreciation as applicable. Here’s my BINGO card to keep me accountable for appreciating and implementing something from each chapter.

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Download your own copies here.

Lead with Culture by Jay Billy is another must-have from the DBC, Inc collection! Jay’s YouTube channel can be found here. You can find more information on his book here. Jay is active on Twitter and you can follow the community using the hashtag #CultureMatters and #LeadLAP. Jay is featured on multiple podcasts. Check them out with a quick Google search. Some great options are PodcastPD, Aspire, and DisruptEDtv. Join the #LeadLAP chat on Saturday mornings at 7:30 am PST/10:30 am EST by using the #LeadLAP hashtag! It’s a terrific community and Jay is a regular there! Definitely add your thoughts to the flipgrid! This space was created by the incredible Andrea Paulakovich as a global collaboration effort on all DBC, Inc books! I’m just fortunate enough to co-pilot the space! Also, you’re going to want to see Andrea’s in-depth #DBC50Summer post on Lead with Culture! She is so impressive! Check it out here! Be sure to get a copy of the book so you can spread the awesome that Jay offers through bettering your own school culture! Even if it’s an amazing space to work and you have your own field of unicorns and puffy clouds and fairies with pixie dust, Jay reminds us that “greatness is a moving target” – keep improving & strengthening that culture!

THREE MORE BOOKS TO GO! Three more days to do it in! I sure do hope I can do this! My biggest problem is that my blogs are posted incredibly late at night because that’s my quiet time. Everyone’s asleep and I’m able to think more clearly. I will have to interrupt this pattern in order to finish by 9:54 pm EST, which is the official beginning of Autumn! Book 48 is by an author we know and love for Kids Deserve It and Stories from Webb! Todd Nesloney is back and this time we get to meet Travis Crowder; these two educators co-authored Sparks in the Dark! This will kick my brain into high gear for literacy and encouraging a life-long love of reading and learning! I’m excited to get to it!

 

#DBC50Summer 46/50: The Path to Serendipity

/ Alicia Ray / 5 Comments

Finding value in happenstance, an unplanned or fortunate discovery… definitions of serendipity. Choosing to be happy in the face of all that’s happening around you and to you. It’s so easy to say, and oh, so hard to do. Truth is, we all struggle here. When your world feels like it’s falling apart, keeping a smile on your face and contributing to everyone else’s great day is insanely difficult. Misery loves company.

But here’s the real truth. Happiness, joy, positivity… they’re all contagious. Spread that. Tell misery where it can go and allow positive energy to radiate from you.

Want to know a little secret? Actually… two little secrets….

Secret 1: This book is the real reason behind #DBC50Summer. This is where the idea began to form, where the realization that creative alchemy could be the answer to many of my “problems,” where I knew blogging about my reflections, connections, and implementation was the key to my professional growth.

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A DM between Allyson & me on May 16, several days after I read her book for the first time. (Consider yourself tagged, Allyson, ha!)

Secret 2: This blog post was the first one written for #DBC50Summer. I had planned to skim the book, because I practically know it by heart now, and then publish the post I wrote back in late May. I have a slight problem with that though. I deleted the post tonight. I am at a different set of circumstances now. What I wrote then isn’t what I want to share now. So I started from scratch. Well, mostly.

Allyson Apsey told the most inspiring, gut-wrenching, authentic story I had read in the Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc line. She was genuine and vulnerable. (These qualities are why I’m also excited to extend the ideals behind #DBC50Summer past book 50 because book 51 is all about this concept! Stay tuned for that. No clue what it’ll be called – still working on that.)

Allyson became one of my best friends the night I read her book for the first time and I’ve never even spoken to her other than Twitter, much less met her. However, I feel like we’ve had dinner together multiple times, we’ve sat on my couch together sharing our heart, we had a sleepover one night while I reread a few chapters, and even tonight, we hung out in the car while my oldest daughter had softball practice. In reality, I was just reading her book, but The Path to Serendipity is that good.

Here comes your nightly bedtime story that will eventually come full circle and relate to book…

I don’t have a large storage of self-confidence. The stories in my head usually end up with me not being smart enough, eloquent enough, funny enough, pretty enough, likable enough, good enough to match up to anyone. Growing up I always found it easier to get along with guys. I didn’t feel like I was compared to the boys (So what if you can dunk the basketball? I can throw girls 10 feet in the air) like I was with the girls (She looks way cuter in that cheer uniform than I do as she flies through the air… y’all, I always caught her when she came down… well, 99% of the time).

Lately I’ve struggled more so than usual. One dear friend of mine in particular has gotten the short end of the stick lately. I’m constantly comparing myself to this friend thinking there’s no way I’ll ever measure up. They are pretty spectacular; one of those people that everyone wants to be around – insanely “popular” by all middle school clique standards. For me, feeling average, at best, is a good day. Periods of prolonged quietness leads me to believe my friend has finally wised up and realized that I’m not enough. Then the stories start to form in my head and by the time I know what’s going on, I’ve put up defense mechanisms, made some snide comment to protect myself, and feel guilty and apologize. It’s a vicious cycle. Don’t get me wrong, when I get out of my own way, the friendship is definitely a positive one. I just find myself apologizing more than ever lately because my self-confidence seems to have hit a record low. Funny how that happens, isn’t it? Tell me y’all know exactly what I’m talking about, right?

This new set of circumstances compelled me to delete the original post I made about this book. Now I’m taking a closer look at quotes from the book and Glasser’s Choice Theory that Allyson discusses in the book. Apparently my gas tank for belonging is super large and rather empty at the moment. From reading (and rereading) I know I need to provide myself an environment that gives opportunities to refuel this tank.

Relating these behaviors back to Choice Theory, perhaps my aforementioned friend has larger tanks for freedom and fun, which would depersonalize the behavior of silence. Maybe just being aware of the different sized tanks will help? (If that’s the case, consider yourself told, friend. My belonging tank is large, haha!) Allyson’s third and sixth stop tonight got me.

All you need to do is move inch by inch toward the person you want to become; that is enough. You are enough.

~Allyson Apsey

The only person who has control over our behavior is us…I cannot blame my behavior on how someone else is making me feel.

~Allyson Apsey

So yeah… I read that second quote tonight and immediately contacted my friend to apologize for my erratic behavior lately. I have to work to make myself feel better. My friend is not responsible for my actions and there are things I can do to make myself feel better, like listening to music, having my own dance party, organizing (yes, that’s a real coping mechanism for me). I can “peel the onion” as Allyson says to discover what’s really at the heart of my irritation and struggle in self-confidence.

Here’s where it comes full circle…

Keeping all of this in mind, realizing that I am 33 years old and I struggle with this, don’t I realize my middle school students and all of their pubescent hormonal teen brains are dealing with this times 100?!?! When they lash out at school, it’s not against me. They are showing that they need something. They need a tank filled – whether it’s belonging, fun, power, survival, or freedom. I need to create that environment for them.

One of our students who is already notorious for trouble (less than a month into school) saw me in the hall this morning and gave me the biggest hug. He is looking for a balance between belonging, freedom, and power. I am doing all I can to provide that for him. Rather than accusatory remarks, I ask questions. I give him extra trust and relay that I expect him to live up to that trust. I speak to him like he’s an equal. He respects that and responds to it positively.

My implementation plan for this book is a bit sneaky… hopefully those I work with will just skip right over this blog post (if they’re even reading them, HA – hey friends). I plan to use Glasser’s Choice Theory and the idea of depersonalizing behavior and choosing to be joyful in each day and weave it into digital learning professional development. How in the world can that be done, you ask? Well… I need content to share when showcasing a tool like PearDeck or EdPuzzle. Why not find a video or require a response while watching in EdPuzzle, or read a short article and respond on PearDeck? Boom – digital tool shared and Glasser’s Choice Theory continually popping up this year. Shhh… don’t tell them my diabolical plan! (Insert evil laugh here.)

I can’t begin to tell you how incredible this book is. It’s not just an educational book, it’s an everybody book. If you’re an adult, with life experience, you will relate to this book. (Pssst… that means you.) So go get yourself a copy. In fact, I’d go ahead and get one for a friend, partner, spouse, coworker, whomever so you’ve got a reading buddy. You’ll need to talk this one out.

I didn’t have a reading buddy. Instead, I tweeted. Like crazy. I read this one in one sitting and tweeted the entire time I read. Here’s a few of the highlights. (Oh, and spoiler… acronym alert! Naturally – it was published by Dave and Shelley Burgess, right?)

I also love this tweet from my #EduHero, Cristina Dajero! By the way, you should go follow her, right now.

Allyson is totally getting big hugs when I finally get to meet her!

So here’s your checklist of sorts for the night, friends.

  1. Go buy The Path to Serendipity.
  2. Go follow Allyson Apsey on Twitter.
  3. Put a column in TweetDeck for #Path2Serendipity
  4. Visit Allyson’s website here and sign up for her newsletter. More great stuff coming from her soon! You can also see her podcasts and interviews here.
  5. Subscribe to her YouTube channel and definitely check out her Book Talk on each stop! (These air live around 7:00 pm on Sunday evenings – watch her tweets for updates and notifications when she goes live)
  6. Finally, you must go read my friend Andrea Paulakovich‘s (creator of global collaborative space on flipgrid for every DBC, Inc book) #DBC50Summer post on The Path to Serendipity. It is beautiful!
  7. Did you do number 1 yet? Go… now.

Once you’ve read, cried (if you’ve not, you may have more in common with the Grinch than you first thought…just saying), and reflected, join us over in the flipgrid space (Andrea lets me co-pilot, oh em gee! She’s super-awesome!) and share your thoughts there.

Allyson, I cannot end this post without saying thank you. Thank you for exposing your heart, sharing your very personal story, and pulling me into every word you wrote. I appreciate you and am so thankful for your friendship! You rock, sweet lady! I’d work for you any day of the week!

Y’all… we’re getting so close. It’s like I can hear a mash-up of the Theme from Rocky and It’s the Final Countdown (which also aired in a Rocky movie) playing in the background. Book 47 is coming up and I’m so pumped to finally read it! This one was released just one day after the seeds of #DBC50Summer were planted, so I’ve waited to read it until now. I am so, so, so very excited to finally dig into Jay Billy‘s Lead with Culture – the first of the Lead Like A Pirate Guide Books! I’m guessing that with the level of incredible from Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf in their book, the guides have got to be amazing!