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#DBCBookBlogs: Make Learning Magical

/ Alicia Ray / 1 Comment

Several years ago, there was a night of games at a conference. This was the first time I ever spoke to Tisha Richmond. Fast forward to last April and I knew I’d met a new best friend.

She was playing Code Names with her class! That is one of my (and my students’) favorite games to play!

I had no idea who this Tisha Richmond lady was, but I already adored her. Who can resist another tabletop gamer AND her Twitter handle sounded way cool – @tishrich.

So when I found out she was releasing a book with THE Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc I was so excited (as evidenced by the sheer number of exclamation points in the above tweet, ha)!

The day it was available on Amazon, it was purchased, and on Sept 18, it arrived!

Finally – I get to share my thoughts about Make Learning Magical by Tisha Richmond, book 57 (and the most recent release) in the amazing line of Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc books.

MLMagical

Stop right now and go get your copy. Seriously. This was one of those books that I didn’t want to put down. It is a book from which I had SO much I wanted to do that I had to wait and get my sleep on before I could make a decision about my implementation plan (Spoiler alert: I still couldn’t make a decision).

There are so many practical ideas within Tisha’s book and every single one seems feasible in any classroom. Tisha was a culinary arts teacher who has now transitioned to a new role as her district’s tech integration specialist. She shares how she gamified her classroom and how she gave her students an authentic audience. In her class it wasn’t just about spending time in the kitchen, it was also about spending time with one another and students putting their own spin on culinary creations.

Her acronym (because, hello… it is a DBC book after all… we know how much we love those acronyms) It’s magical… no, really… it’s MAGICAL.

  • Memorable Beginnings

  • Authenticity and Agency

  • Gamified Experiences

  • Innovation

  • Creativity, Collaboration, and Curiosity

  • Authentic Audience

  • Legacy

See… MAGICAL.

Memorable Beginnings

Tisha advocates for leaving the syllabus, handbook, rules and procedures until AFTER getting to know our students. I love this! After all, I teach kids. I need to know those kids and they need to know me before any true learning connections can happen. Learning certainly isn’t magical if students don’t feel comfortable in their own environment.

From this section, I choose to implement the decor. She speaks to using all senses to engage students. These include using music to engage the ears, aromas to engage the nose, visually pleasing colors with the psychology of colors to engage the eyes. As I seek to be more magical in my lessons, I will consider what students are seeing, smelling, and hearing.

Authenticity and Agency

This entire section – the whole thing – spoke to me at the core. Having an attitude of gratitude, giving students voice, and sharing our failures are keys to a magical environment. I am implementing the #GratitudeSnaps co-created by Tisha and Tara Martin (author of Be REAL) and sharing one thing I am thankful for each day for the next three weeks.

Gamified Experiences

If you loved Michael Matera‘s eXPlore Like a Pirate, you will certainly love this part of the book! In fact, Michael wrote the foreword for Make Learning Magical! I personally love the mini-games that Tisha shares.

Last spring I was awarded a local mini-grant to purchase tabletop games for use in the classroom. I am so pumped to be using these games in connection to curriculum across grade levels. The game club that I have the pleasure of facilitating is every Friday afternoon and we are enjoying spending time together. I will be implementing these games into classrooms and blogging about them as the implementation for this section (and the main implementation of this book).

*Think of the other implementations as “side quests“.

Innovation

Tisha reminds us of George Couros‘s The Innovator’s Mindset in which George explores the idea of innovating inside our boxes. This means to use what we have and innovate with that.

It is in this section that Tisha shares her biggest mic drop moment (in my opinion). This is where I feel like she’s come off of the book’s pages and is talking to me face-to-face in my living room, and I bet you’ll feel the same way!

“I’ve had moments of irrational fear and doubt when I’ve strongly considered going back to comfortable and easy; however, the fire inside me is too strong. I know that I can never go back to comfortable and easy, because in the discomfort and challenge is where I’ve experienced such growth. In the fear, I’ve discovered things about myself I hadn’t realized and become even more certain of what I believe and hold dear to my heart.”

~Tisha Richmond, Make Learning Magical

Here I am getting goosebumps again just reading that part of Tisha’s heart in word form. This reminds me so much of Shawn Mendes’s song “It Isn’t In My Blood.” We hear this  phrase repeated time and time again – it’s like an anthem.

Sometimes I feel like giving up
But I just can’t
It isn’t in my blood

Creativity, Collaboration, and Curiosity

So much is covered in this section that is pure gold! From considering the introvert to giving more opportunities for making in the classroom, from creating buzz for lessons (think Teach Like A Pirate hooks) to sketchnoting and being a connected educator, there is so much in this one short section. Tisha is really bringing the heat, so to speak.

My implementation (which scares the socks off of me) is to be more intentional in sketchnoting. Being a connected educator has given me opportunities to learn from Carrie Baughcum, Sylvia Duckworth, Julie Woodard, Monica Spillman, and more. If you’re not following these rockstars, I’d suggest taking a moment to rectify the situation before moving forward.

Authentic Audience

Giving students an authentic audience is so important. It is well known that students will do bare minimum in most cases when their teachers are the sole audience. They will put in a little more work when their peers become part of the audience. But when we allow students to publish their work to the world, it gets real… really real.

My implementation is to pull in more audiences for the students and teachers I serve.

Legacy

When is the last time you ran into one of your own former teachers? As an educator, did you take the time to speak with your former teacher and share their impact? I hope so. I was in JROTC throughout my entire high school career. For a reason I will never understand, my Sergeant saw leadership potential in me and within just days promoted me to Colorguard Commander. At the first home football game of my freshman year, I carried the American Flag onto the field flanked by two riflemen and the state colors. I was shaking like a leaf, but I did my job. We marched on the field, we presented the colors, we ordered the colors, and we marched back off in perfect unison. Until that moment, I’d never experienced leadership to that degree. He deeply impacted me through that quick decision to give me a promotion and declare that I would command cadets that were much more experienced than I was.

Be sure to thank your former teachers, if at all possible, who impacted you in a positive way. My first year students are now in their early to mid twenties. I am blessed to watch them get married, start families, and begin their careers through social media. The thought of leaving my own legacy in children is both terrifying and empowering. We should never take it lightly.

Tisha’s book is further proof that the DBC, Inc line of educational books is only getting stronger and stronger. Who would have ever thought that 6 years ago at the release of Teach Like A Pirate, some edgy book with a pirate map on the cover self-published from a kitchen table, would have the legacy that it is leaving on education around the globe. It’s powerful, and truly – it’s mind-blowing.

To follow along with Make Learning Magical conversations, follow Tisha Richmond and add the hashtag #MLMagical to your tweetdeck columns. Go spend some time on Tisha’s website and blog found here. You will also see a section for recipes along the top (or click here). <Tisha, I need lessons, ma’am! Just saying… I struggle with boiling water, no lie.> Tisha has also done podcasts and videos! Check out this one with Jeff Utecht of Shifting Our Schools, this one with StoriesInEdu, or this Recap of #MasteryChat! As if all of that isn’t enough, Make Learning Magical comes with its own slice of magic… Ann Brucker of BreakoutEDU created an epic #BreakoutEDU game to partner with the book! Whaaat? I know, right?! So awesome! I want to do a book study, just so I can set the game up for others to play! This is an incredible partnership and I really hope to see more of this in the future!

The flipgrid is available for you to reflect, share your own thoughts and implementations from Make Learning Magical! A special thank you to Andrea Paulakovich for allowing me to co-pilot this incredible global collaboration spaces for all of the DBC books!

The next book to be released is yet to be seen publicly…. ooooh, wait a minute… just double-checked Twitter to see this post…

Allyson Apsey (author of The Path to Serendipity has released the Amazon link to her first picture book (and the second children’s book in the DBC, Inc line) titled The Princes of Serendip! This book will begin shipping soon! Go grab a copy of Make Learning Magical AND The Princes of Serendip now! Book 58 is coming soon!

#DBCBookBlogs: Dolphins in Trees

/ Alicia Ray / 4 Comments

Picture books aren’t just for young children. I enjoy using short stories and picture books to spark an idea, start an experience, and set the stage for incredible things to come. When I heard that Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc was releasing their first children’s book, I was elated!

In my opinion, Dolphins in Trees by Aaron Polansky was the perfect way to kick off this new endeavor for DBC. It is beautifully illustrated by THE Genesis Kohler – the same illustrator of P is for Pirate by Dave and Shelley Burgess. There is so much detail in every picture and the colors pop off the page.

My favorite picture books are those that transcend time. I love books like The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, and Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty. These are books I can use at any level, from PreK/Kindergarten to adult learners, these books have something for everyone. Aaron’s book falls in this category! As the subtitle says, it’s a “children’s book with implications for all of us”.

dolphins

I preordered this book and received a copy very quickly! I totally cracked open the packaging and read it immediately! Then I read it again. And again.

Then I read it to my daughters. They love Dizzy the Dolphin. And let’s be real, who can resist reading a book that rhymes? It’s a perfect read-aloud book! As a former elementary school media coordinator, my teacher mind immediately shifted into gear & started thinking of lesson ideas for this book! Below are just a few ideas! Use the flipgrid (copiloted by Andrea Paulakovich and me as a space for global collaboration on DBC, Inc books) to share your own ideas about how to integrate this book into a lesson with any age group!

  • Choose a character from the story and rewrite the story from their point-of-view.
  • Pretend you are one of the animals who did not help Mindful. What would you have done differently?
  • Tell about a time that you lost something. Did someone else help you find it? How did that make you feel?
  • Create a storyboard sequencing the events in the story.
  • Use Dolphins in Trees to kick off a week of Random Acts of Kindness.
  • Have a discussion about differences and how those make us unique.
  • Pretend you are a member of Mindful’s monkey family. Write a letter of thanks to Dizzy the Dolphin. Then write a letter to someone who has been helpful to you in real life.
  • Act out the story as a readers’ theatre.
  • The monkey’s name is Mindful; what does it mean to be mindful? Have a discussion sharing ways to maintain mindfulness in school.
  • Dizzy takes a risk by coming out of the water to help Mindful. What risks have you taken and what were the results? Did you fall from the tree, or did you use your echolocation to find what you were looking for?

As I was reading this one out of order during the #DBC50Summer, I knew I would need to think of a way to implement the book. The easiest, most obvious, implementation is to read this book with my middle school students during one of our media days and have a discussion about being mindful of others and helping, even when you think you have nothing to give. I had already been discussing with our 7th grade team a Kindness Challenge in which students would do Positive impACTs in their school, home, and community, snap photo evidence, reflect, and earn Positive impACT money to spend on books at a book tasting to take to their forever home. This book is the perfect way to kick off that event, right?!

However, if you’ve been with me for long, you may know that I rarely pick out the most obvious thing to implement. As I read the book for the bazillionth time (okay, maybe a slight exaggeration… but only slight), I noticed something I’d never paid attention to before. Mindful the Monkey is old. He needs help because he cannot do what he used to be able to do. I know, I know… that’s pretty clearly stated several times. But hear me out because this is close to my heart right now.

There is an enormous division between educators that breaks my heart. It is especially evident in my home state, thanks to politics. This division is not due to race, gender, religious beliefs, or sexuality. No… this is due to age.

When you think of a veteran teacher, what immediately comes to mind? What does their classroom look like? Now picture a beginning teacher. What do you see? What does their environment look like?

How different do those images appear to you? Typically when I do this activity at workshops, the veteran teacher is aged and stern looking. She is no-nonsense. She uses a dry erase board, worksheets, and textbooks to lead her students. She stands in front of the room of desks in rows and columns and lectures while students take notes. She refuses to change her methods. She counts down the days until retirement.

Flip to the beginning teacher. He is typically energetic, full of fresh ideas. He is bright-eyed and uses technology to engage his students. He groups students and facilitates discussion as he moves throughout the room. Students are empowered to lead their peers in discovery and there are smiles all around. He wakes up ready to change the world. If something doesn’t work in his classroom, he will try, try again! He has a growth mindset and inspires his students to take risks.

Pause.

That’s some messed up thinking right there! But aren’t those the stereotypes? Why do we equate veteran teachers to traditional teachers? Why do we assume they are unhappy? Why do we see worksheets and textbooks dancing in our heads?

Furthermore, why do we automatically assume that beginning teachers are using technology and are comfortable with taking risks? Why do we think beginning teachers have the capacity to grow and veteran teachers are stuck in their ways?

As an instructional coach, I’ve seen teachers who fit the stereotype to a “t” and teachers who shatter the stereotype into shards. I’m sure you can immediately think of educators who also destroy the stereotype! However, how often do you see veteran teachers voluntarily planning with beginning teachers? How often do beginning teachers go to veteran teachers rather than Pinterest for classroom management strategies? How often are veteran teachers comfortable with sharing their epic fails in the classroom, exposing vulnerability?

In my state, we are not allowed to unionize. Our salary is set by our state congress based on years of experience and formal education. After 15 years of experience, educators will not see another raise until year 25 unless they elect to go back to school to get a graduate degree or earn National Board Certification. Fact check me – I am not making this up! A teacher with 30 years of experience with a standard teaching license (no graduate degrees) will never gross more than $52,000 per year. With a masters degree (and only in a position that requires a masters degree – counselor, media coordinators, etc. Classroom teachers are no longer given a pay raise for advanced degrees), educators can only expect to gross $57,200 per year. The message this sends is that the public opinion (at least that of our politicians) of veteran teachers is at an all-time low. They are not respected; it’s as if our congress is saying their time impacting the lives of children should be over at 15 years. There certainly isn’t a monetary reason to stick with it! As a teacher with 13 years of experience, I consider myself to be neither a beginning teacher nor a veteran teacher. I am somewhere in the middle and I very clearly see the division happening all around me, locally, statewide, and nationally. And it. breaks. my. heart.

So bringing it back to Dolphins in Trees. Do we assume the worst as we work with a Mindful the Monkey? Do we stop to ask if we can help? Do we go to them with questions and seek their expertise gained from years of experience? If I’ve had one little kiddo who pushes my buttons and can’t figure out how to reach them, the experienced teacher has had five of those same kiddos through the years. Don’t you think they’ll have suggestions to try? What about working with Dizzy the Dolphin? Dizzy is motivated and seeking an opportunity to pay it forward. However, Dizzy was hoisted into a tree and came crashing down. Don’t you think that Mindful knew better than to try it? Mindful had life experience that said dolphins need ocean water. He tried to tell Dizzy it was a bad idea, but Dizzy wasn’t listening.

As we develop our amazing global PLN, remember our PLN that we see every day, face to face. Seek out their advice. Share resources with them. Value experience and meet in the middle to share ideas for the good of our students. It was only when Dizzy and Mindful discussed their problems that they were able to work together to find a solution. Let’s work on building those relationships between veteran teachers and beginning teachers. Both new teachers and those that have been in the game for a long time have value and deserve respect. My implementation is to check my own stereotypes of these groups and work to improve relationships among levels of experience.

The “tried and true” and the “shiny and new” can come together to create something amazing for students.

There are so many directions in which one could take this amazing picture book, Dolphins in Trees by Aaron Polansky! Grab your own copy (available in both paperback and hardcover – here’s to you media coordinators) and prepare to share with others! Aaron’s website is here and you can follow along with conversation using the hashtag #DolphinsinTrees. Aaron sat down with Vicki @CoolCatTeacher Davis for her 10-Minute Teacher Podcast and you can hear their conversation about the impact of a positive culture here. Just for fun, check out this video of Aaron – you may remember this epic version of a school closing announcement. Aaron has some incredible videos on YouTube as well – see them here and here, and subscribe to his channel here.

The best news is that this is not the end of children’s books from DBC, Inc! More. Are. Coming! I can’t wait to see what Dave and Shelley have in store for us next in this new market!

Coming up next… book 57! After this one, I have no idea what’s coming next. It’s not been released yet. I am completely in shock that I’ve reached the most recently released DBC, Inc book. This book’s official release date was just last month, September 12, and it immediately took off! I am so excited to finally get to read my copy of Make Learning Magical by Tisha Richmond!

 

#DBCBookBlogs: Talk To Me

/ Alicia Ray / Leave a comment

June 13, 2018 – I took an insane dive and “cannonballed in” (thanks, Tara) to beginning #DBC50Summer. I had no idea what it would look like, but just knew I wanted to get this crazy idea out there.

June 18, 2018 – I’m sitting in a hotel lobby enjoying a #tlap chat and see this tweet pop up in my notifications. I was blown away that someone had already picked up on the #DBC50Summer challenge and was eager to share what they learned from the Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc books as well. That someone was Andrea Paulakovich, who was then an instructional coach from Kansas, and is now Assistant Director of Learning Services.

June 19, 2018 – After exchanging links to our respective blogs, Andrea was ALL IN! It was her amazing idea to add in the use of Flipgrid only a few days after #DBC50Summer started.

The rest… as they say… is history. Andrea and I have chatted multiple times on Google Hangout and via FaceTime. This lady is amazing & her story is so powerful! I can’t wait to see what is in store for her because it’s going to be epic when it happens!

From this tweet, #tlapsisters was born, ha! Fast forward to August 26 – Andrea sent me a DM about co-writing a blog as we were both reading The Wild Card by Hope & Wade King. Knowing that I didn’t have the ability to add anything else to my plate, and I didn’t want to let her down, I suggested that we wait until #DBC50Summer was over and instead we co-author a post on book 54, Talk to Me by Kim Bearden.

talktome

We set a date to finish the book and Andrea created this incredible Google Doc with all of her notes and ideas for our blog post. (She takes the most detailed notes of anyone I’ve ever seen; further proof that she’s superwoman.) I hopped into the doc last night and I swear, magic happened. Writing side-by-side, literally, in the Doc was incredible. Seeing Andrea’s thoughts form on the page was inspiring and I highly recommend you go check out her other #DBCBookBlogs on her website! Andrea put her amazing artistic spin on our thoughts and created this magazine on yumpu.com (super cool tool, by the way).  You can see the final product below, or use this link if the embedded file is giving you trouble. (You can also look at the PDF of the magazine.)

https://www.yumpu.com/en/embed/view/Eb8kA7UH5gBI6ztc

Didn’t Andrea do a terrific job putting this all together?! I am constantly blown away by her! What a pleasure to co-author this blog with my friend! (Go see Andrea’s story behind Talk to Me on her website here!)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Talk to Me by Kim Bearden! I felt as though she reached through the pages and hugged me multiple times. She gives practical advice on effective communication, not just within education, but for every relationship. Her words about sharing appreciation and validation with others reminded me so much of Beth Houf and Shelley Burgess‘s Anchors of Appreciation in Lead Like A Pirate. I know that I appreciate others, but do others know that I appreciate them? My implementation plan is to show as often and outwardly as possible that I appreciate actions and people as those moments come along.

Follow along with the conversation using the hashtag #talktome and check out Kim’s website here. For more information on the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, GA, check out their website here. Finally, head over to the DBC, Inc website and preview the book for yourself! I know you will love it! After you’ve bought and read it (because you will), share your thoughts on the flipgrid co-piloted by Andrea and me. This collaborative space is available for anyone around the world to share their thoughts on all DBC books!

Book 55 in the DBC, Inc line is Run Like A Pirate by Adam Welcome (yes, that Adam… from Kids Deserve It – woo hoo). This book is going to get me to the core; I can already tell. I believe it’s going to be just the kick in the tail that I need to get me to stop talking about my dreams, and actually taking steps to make them come true. And I’m scared. to. death. I’ve heard it said that if your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough. So now, I’m going to read his book and do all I can to make my dreams a reality.