Adventures in Administration

I had to take a break from the weekly # edublogsclub challenge in order to attend to some family matters while also wrapping up the school year.  It got a little nuts. And though I have never been particularly good about blogging in the past, I found that for the past few months, the need to blog was always there.  They say that it takes 21 days to form a habit and while I was not posting EVERY week, I was posting consistently so it would appear that I have moved closer to forming a habit than I realized.  And not being able to blog for a while really solidified that fact for me. Thus, it seems appropriate that my first post back should be an opportunity to take stock of the experience thus far and identify some goals for the rest of the blogging year. Image credit: https://goo.gl/dWxAs6 What have I learned so far? Despite the fact that I have never had much confidence in my ability to blog, I have found that I no longer really care if I what I write is "good" o...

This post is part of the #EdublogsClub – a group of educators and edtech enthusiasts that blog around a common theme each week.  After a few weeks off, I wanted to jump back in but this week's topic-- student feedback-- has me struggling.  Feedback is so very important to all of us.  We all crave feedback because we want to know what resonated with people and where to improve.  Our students crave feedback because they need affirmation that they "did it right", whatever that means. And here is my struggle. I want our students to crave the learning process.  I want them to accept the challenge to always improve.  A "good job", or "wow! that's really interesting" is only part of the process. They should then continue from that point and be asking questions like: "What else can I do with this?" "Where can I go from here?" "What will my next step be?"  Instead, they are usually satisfied with the former and mov...

This week's (well, technically now that it is Tuesday, LAST week's prompt) for the #EdublogsClub challenge was to write about a free tool that you enjoy using. It has taken me all week to find time to really reflect on this because my absolute favorite, can't live without and can't work without (yes, they are two separate things--you'll see) tool is the Google Suite. I know several people have shared some of the obvious tools contained in the GSuite so I am going to put forth a few of the lesser known, under-appreciated tools found within the Google domain.  May I present for reflection Google Draw, Google Hangout, Google Calendar (and the cool Calendly site) and Google Keep. Up first, Google Draw . I love the flexibility of Draw for creating colorful flow charts, having students design word maps, collaborate on infographics, create Venn Diagrams, or just present information in a more playful, optically inviting way. If you haven't tried Google Draw, I encour...

This week's # EduBlogger Club prompt is all about pictures.  I love this prompt because I spend a lot of time finding images to match my posts. I find that the posts I personally enjoy reading are the ones that include good images.  I also know from lots of reading, attending conferences, time in classrooms, and leading PD, that images are much more powerful than words. So I have spent much of the past week noticing images and thinking about how I use images as well as how I can better use them in the future.  Image from one of our (previously NOT upgraded) classrooms I enjoy using images and have actively worked to improve my use of them over the last few years. For example, part of my job as an administrator is to justify projects to our Board.  We educators know that there is never enough money in the "pie" to go around so I take my job very seriously when it comes to lobbying for funds for our teachers. For some requests, images can definitely help strength...

Photo taken by author in Belmont, CA Well, week three of the #EdublogsClub challenge has us reflecting on leadership. That is the topic tat drove me to blog in the first place.  And with the recent change of power in the United States, a very apropos topic. Eleanor Roosevelt is a woman and leader that I have come to admire and respect.  As a history teacher, I always spent time in my classes asking students to look at events through the eyes of the people and through the eyes of those in charge.  Because there are always multiple ways to look at every situation, every turning point. We would discuss the "what ifs" of history--Would Martin Luther have been as successful if Gutenberg hadn't invented the Printing Press when he did? Would the North American colonies have won their independence form Great Britain if George Washington had not been born? How would WWII have ended if the Allies had not developed the atomic bomb first?  These big questions have as muc...

Well, with this new year comes the need to seek out some ways to support my desire to continue growing. As 2017 starts, I have many revamped goals--in other words, goals that I have set in the past but not been terribly good at completing.  That list includes blogging.  But this year, I have a new approach, and one that I think will allow for a greater level of success. I started my blog a few years ago as a result of attending a CUE Rockstar camp session led by the amazing Jen Kloczko .  Over the last few years, I have seen my efforts wax and wane.  So, when I stumbled across the #edublogsclub challenge, I saw an opportunity to reinvigorate myself and commit to blogging again.  I even roped in a colleague and friend ( @techbiobek ).  As with all goals, there is a greater chance of success when there is accountability. I have done blogging challenges before, such as the Connected Educator blogging challenge, and found them to be helpful and inspirin...

Photo Credit Note: this blog was originally published in April of 2016. I have updated it in February of 2017 as part of the #EduBloggersClub challenge. This week's # EduBloggersClub challenge is to write about #Challenges. Now, for the past week I have been living with challenges as my school has been in the final countdown to our accreditation visit. But I have chosen NOT to focus on the plethora of topics that could provide.  Instead, I have opted to update and re-post an older blog that I wrote about a challenge I consider critical to our field: the Leadership Challenge... How many times a week do people say to you  in a conversation "I'm so glad I don't have your  job!"?  I have heard this a lot.  I honestly don't know if I am hearing it more than in the past, but I am certainly noticing it more.  So I started asking people: "Why do you say that?" and typically the answer I get is something along the lines of "I don't want to ...