Sometimes God has to break you down to strip you of your pride and bring you to a place of humility. He has to cause upheaval in your life so that you come to Him for clarity and guidance. This happened to me recently and I am thankful for a perfect God with perfect plans for my life.

A few weeks ago, I experienced a breakdown. Professionally, I was put in my "place" so to speak. Not only by the actions and reactions of others, but by my own survey of my work. My perception was not reality and it hurt. I went home after work that evening and I took the time that I needed to grieve the good work that I thought I had done, and pray for guidance on where to rebuild. What to concentrate on. The word that kept coming to mind was FOCUS.

But what exactly did this mean? Wasn't I focused? No, I wasn't. 

When you are the "bridge" between the Technology Department and the Curriculum & Instruction (iCAT) Department and essentially report to two directors, you aren't focused. You are reactive. You work to wear the hats of both departments without really building your own niche. Sure, I have built some programs and done some great things, but not many of them have sustained. 

​When I was in my closet, and I kept hearing the word FOCUS, my eyes would wander to this scripture on my prayer wall:

So over the last few weeks, I have been making a careful exploration of who I am and the work I have been given professionally. I printed my job description and I try to line my work up with what the goals of my job are. Before I take on a task, I ask myself "is this Instructional Technology?" If the answer is no, I am working to let it go. I also gauge my purpose for tackling a new assignment or project. Over the Christmas break, I listened to the audiobook, Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist and she made a statement that deeply resonated with my Type A, people-pleaser personality. She says that, 

I have so many thoughts and emotions running through my mind this evening that I'm having trouble putting them into words. You know how it can be. Type. Delete. Type. Delete.

So in order to save my sanity and yours, I am going to keep it simple with a list of 3 things that I am grateful for today...

I met with my Superintendent this morning. As I was leaving, he said something that will stay with me for years. I can't remember the exact phrasing, but in essence he said that he knows I work my butt off every day. He knows that no one has to tell me what to do in my position. He sees me. 

WOW.

His words took a minute or maybe two, but they will drive me forward on days that are hard. I am grateful for this affirmation!

This afternoon, I met with my iCoach team at our local coffee shop. I'm not sure if it was the atmosphere, the 2 week break prior, or my awesome meeting agenda (insert sarcasm) but we had THE BEST planning meeting ever! They brainstormed some great things to share with our teachers this spring plus came up with some innovative new delivery options for the professional development sessions. I am truly excited to work with them and get started! 

​I am grateful for their collaboration and teamwork!

After the iCoach meeting, one of my ladies pulled me aside and gave me the MOST AWESOME gift. {more on the gift below} However, her words were the best gift I could have received. She hugged me tightly and with teary words expressed her thanks for what I had done for her this year. The thing is, I was shocked that anything that I had said or done meant that much. I have racked my brain for situations and moments where I would have been impactful, but I came up short. I guess just having a general love for people, being there, and being a friend means more that I even realized.

​I am grateful for the friendships that I have!

Backstory: One day this school year, Cindy Pierce and I are gabbing about my newfound love of all things Harry Potter when she pulls out her phone to show me the picture of a full-sized HP themed blanket that her daughter hand crocheted for her. Of course I throw a fit over it but don't really think about it again.

Fast forward to today: She reaches into the backset of her truck and grabs a Christmas sack. Before she even hands it to me, somehow I knew what was inside...

I'm still floored by her generosity and am enjoying the warmth and love it brings as I write this post. 

Feeling the love,
Heather

I have a selfish reason for joining The Innovator's Mindset MOOC. More than anything, I want the students in my district (including my own personal children) to be innovators. I want them to experience lessons that stretch them to create something new or make improvements on something already existing. Since I left the classroom, I struggle with the fact that I don't directly plan and execute lessons for students anymore. I don't have direct control over innovative and creative projects that directly impact students. While I yearn to have that kind of impact again, I know that my reach is much greater now. I have the ability to impact a district of teachers, which in turn can impact each and every student.

​The introduction of the book is full of ideas that resonated with me. However, this statement was one of the simpler and most captivating to me.

While I completely agree with this statement, I struggle with the "how." How can you ignite a renewed passion in a seasoned educator? How do you teach innovation to a first year teacher? You can't teach innovation in a one-time professional development session! After further reading, I see that it all comes down to culture. We must create a culture of innovation within our school district. Teachers have to feel that they have the creative freedom to do things a little differently. This brought me to my next question. How can we give the innovative "green light" to teachers? Two words...by example.

Taking risks in our own work shows vulnerability. If you have ever read Daring Greatly by Dr. Brene Brown, you know more than you thought you could ever know about being vulnerable. In today's world, vulnerability has a negative connotation. It implies weakness.  Dr. Brown's book sheds a different light. Her words speak to  the power and strength in being vulnerable. 

This is exactly the challenge that I have given our central office and campus administrators in our district book study over The New Pillars of Modern Education by Dr. Gayle Allen. Through the book study, I hope to push the innovation envelope with new and creative ways for our students to learn. I want our administrators to be vulnerable as we try to chart a new path for teaching and learning in our district. Will we succeed? The jury is still out as we are just digging into Chapter 1 this week, but I have high hopes.

In the meantime, I'm continuing the search for ways to bring innovative practices to my district and change the mindset about how we teach and learn. The Innovator's Mindset is a wonderful addition to my quest and I can't wait to read more. 

Keeping it Techy (and Innovative),
Heather

While I learned a lot from my courses and am happy to have my degree, I am excited to get back to learning for fun! Reading educational blogs, the Twitter feeds of my PLN, and curating my learning here on this blog are activities that I have been waiting to have time for again! 

It finally came. After a summer of watching training videos by my friend Kasey Bell, taking 6 tests (yes, I had to take Calendar TWICE), and completing the 3 trainer application elements, I received the email that I am now a Google for Education Certified Trainer! (and yes, I have been posting the wrong official title for months! Yikes!)

The process is very involved so I waited until summer to tackle it. Thankfully, I didn't have to take summer courses for my Education Administration degree, so my goal was to get all of the tests and projects completed during the summer months. I signed up for the Become a Google Certified Trainer course created by my Google guru, Kasey Bell, and started working through the courses. As I completed a course, I took a test. All was well until the Google Calendar test. I attempted it at 9:30 in the evening and I KNEW I was too tired... lesson learned! I was so happy when the tests were over, but I did learn a lot from Kasey's course! I sit through her trainings 8 times a year and STILL learn every time I'm her student! Thanks Kasey for your mad skills and servant heart!

The other half of the process was more about how I was currently training my teachers to use the Google tools. I built a Training Highlights resume (image above) to showcase my experience, education, professional associations, and trainings. This was fun because I was able to get creative with Google Drawings! The case study activity was more application based in that I had to give detailed information on a specific training session I conducted. I gave the school information, an outline of my training program, insights from the training, and shared the overall impact of the training. Since this document included information from the school district that I work in, I'm not going to share it here. However, I WILL share the Certified Trainer Application video that I made! (see below) I am pretty proud of it! I knew the style that I was going for, and without professional software, I think it turned out good! The video had to include a one minute introduction and a two minute training. I chose the add-on Autocrat as my training piece. It was HARD to cut it down to 2 minutes! I think the first recording was 9 minutes long! Finally, I had to record each short section so that I wouldn't have ANY "ums" or pauses. ​

“…in the age of information overload – it is no longer effective to ‘just tell people the facts’. As a leader you must use emotion to be successful in business." This is true in education as well. Administrators who can engage and inspire their teams have a definite advantage. Using the art of effective storytelling, school leaders can defeat this information overload to inspire the emotion and effort needed to adopt new school strategies, attract new students, or recruit innovative teachers.
            An engaging story is hard to forget in contrast to dry facts and stale data. Hooked: How Leaders Connect, Engage, and Inspire with Storytelling is full of real-world examples and techniques to teach the skill of great storytelling. Authors Gabrielle Dolan and Yamini Naidu explain what good storytelling is, why leaders need to learn it, how to create effective stories, and how to practice to perfect the craft. This book offers effective techniques and helpful guidance to school leaders who need to communicate more efficiently and influentially.

            The authors included many  tips and tricks about refining your stories and making them stick. The section on practice was the most potent to me. The included quote by Malcolm Gladwell said “practice isn’t the thing you do when you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” Practices does make perfect. This is something that I am missing in my professional life. I am very meticulous with researching the best information, providing the best examples, and having an engaging production. However, I often feel like my presentation is both hurried and all over the place. I definitely need to begin brainstorming stories for use when both delivering professional development and working one-on-one with teachers. Engaging and making information stick with teachers through stories would be the optimal way to make my presentations memorable. 
            The delivery techniques listed in the book are a wonderful resource for me to utilize the next time that I’m preparing for a presentation. As a leader in my district, I need to make sure that I am communicating efficiently and influentially with my teachers. Since I am the instructional technologist for my district, the information that I share with teachers can sometimes be difficult for them to grasp. The more that I prepare, pace myself, repeat, make eye contact, and share information through stories, the more successful that the teachers will be with retaining the information that I share. Dolan and Naidu say “every time you present, you need stories to help your audience connect with you and connect with your key messages." I now see the need for stories in my professional life. As Greg Power said, “the fine line between speaking and being heard is storytelling.”

Keeping it Techy,
Heather
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I just finished book 4 of 7 in my Executive Communications class. The Listening Leader by Richard M. Harris was a very interesting read that covered communication from a listening aspect. As someone who leads professional development on a regular basis and coaches teachers, The Listening Leader made me think about my own listening style. I “pride” myself in being a multi-tasker; someone who can work on a computer AND attend to a presentation at the same time. I used to wear the badge with honor. Reading this book made me truly think about the way that I listen and I have come to the realization that I am not a good listener. Harris said, “today, too many listeners are passively sitting by, forfeiting feedback and commitment to the speaker in favor of focus and self-interest." This is an area of my leadership life that I need to work on. Fortunately, I have some friends that are awesome listeners. Reading this book made me think of them and how they make me feel when I’m talking to them. I want to be that kind of listening leader for my teachers.

My favorite part of the book was the checklist for facilitating learning. This concise list of twelve steps was written to help you get others to listen when you talk. This is exactly what I need for my position! The step that struck me was step seven, which states that speakers must “create realistic moments for rehearsal and practice." This is one area that I lack professionally. Creating great slides and researching content come easy, but practicing delivery would be great for improving my confidence and delivery. Because of this book, I will take more time to practice my delivery before facilitating learning so I can help others be better listeners.

Keeping it Techy,
Heather

When I was in the Kindergarten classroom 5 years ago, I remember reading an article about the new Nearpod app. I was instantly amazed at its capabilities to control a classroom of iPads, even though I only had 5 of my own at the time. Since I was a campus instructional technologist for my school, I shared the app with my Technology Director and he shared it with a high school science teacher who had 1:1 iPads in his school. This was the beginning of Nearpod in my district. 

Since then, I have shared the app many times at various trainings and the "ooohs" and "ahhhs" from teachers speak of the draw that the program has. Over the years, the app has morphed from a separate teacher and student app to a common app. Plus, the iOS only capability has expanded to include all web based devices plus App Store, Google Play, and Chrome Web Store apps. This makes Nearpod even better for a BYOD or mixed-device classroom. 

The premise behind Nearpod is easy. The teacher can either create or download a Nearpod presentation that is then shared to the student device and controlled by the teacher. While the teacher is flipping through the screens of the presentation, the student's screen automatically advances as well. Most teachers love the "control" that this application provides. What makes it even better is that you can embed formative assessment question screens into the presentation! You have multiple choice, drag and drop in the blank, text, and draw features placed seamlessly within your lesson to check understanding. While the students are completing the work, you can view the progress of the student on your teacher device. How cool is that? Videos even work in the slides and play on each individual device. Make sure you have student headphones though! The videos are often just a few seconds off of each other and can make a hectic noise when they are all playing. 

Did I mention that all of this is FREE?!

To help draw teachers and "plus" the session, I provided dessert with the adorable Nutter Butter packages above. Thanks Mindi at Anna ISD for the awesome idea! Without good instructional technologist friends like her, I wouldn't know half of the tools or tricks that I do today!
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​The attendance at the Nearpod session was much stronger than my first Lunch & Learn. And after these two Tweets came through my feed today,  I am calling this a success! Thank you Mrs. Sonya Mathews and Mrs. Patricia Nelle for not only using the tools that I share, but for sharing your classroom with the world! 

​Keeping it Techy,
​Heather