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

​If you follow me on social media, you know that I am in the final stretch of my coursework for my Master's in Educational Administration. The class that I am taking right now is called Executive Communications and it is RIGHT up my alley! With PDAS going away and T-TESS coming, the PDAS class for my degree was dropped and this class replaced it. I am happy about that! Of the 7 (Yes, SEVEN) books that I have to read over the next 7 weeks, this book intrigued me the most. As immersed as I am in social media, I am always looking for ideas on how to use the various mediums more effectively in the educational setting.

Dr. Brian J. Dixon wrote Social Media for School Leaders: A Comprehensive Guide to Getting the Most Out of Facebook, Twitter, and Other Essential Web Tools from his experience as a high school principal. His field experience and use of the technology tools explained in the book makes this guide an essential piece to round out any school leader. Dixon hit the nail on the head when he said “the abundance of social technology has begun to shift the role of the school leader from the site administrator to community engagement specialist." School leaders are not just building managers or just instructional leaders; they are expected to navigate the waters of social media and web tools to connect with the school community. This navigation can get difficult when trying to translate the personal use, or no use, of social media to the educational area. Dixon says "school leaders…are familiar with social media in their own lives, but because of the complex issues surrounding the use of social media with students they need help effectively using social media in their school practice."

Turns out that 2016 is a year of change and growth in many areas of my life. To keep up with the times, I have decided to branch out with my own professional blog. While it will be educational "techy" in nature, I know that parts of me will seep through as well. My prayer is that this will be a place for you to learn about some of my favorite EdTech tools, hear the great things that the teachers in my district are doing with technology in the classroom, keep up with the events that I attend, and anything else that pertains to my learning journey. 

If you are reading this, please leave a comment below and tell me what you think so far! I am always looking to learn, grow, and improve! Plus, any blog topic ideas are welcome. I am here to serve!

Keeping it Techy,
Heather

My new Google obsession is Google Keep. Maybe it's because I yearn to be organized. Maybe it's because I have OCD tendencies. Maybe it's because I haven't found the best way to keep checklists and todo notes...until now. 

Google Keep is a simple note-taking application. You can create voice memos, checklists, and insert pictures. What sets Google Keep apart from other checklist tools (like Trello, which I also love) is that it links to the awesome world of Google. I can share notes with family members or team mates WITHOUT them having to create an account...because they already have one! My school district is a GAFE (Google Apps for Education) district so all of my peers AND students have accounts where I can share organizational notes. I even got Superintendent Cooper on board with Keep and he has notes for each administrator that he shares with them. Google Keep is our new "agenda" for team meetings. It is working well so far, and I'll "keep" you updated! (hehe!)

TCEA recently blogged about this note-taking platform and included some ideas for student use in the classroom. These are the ideas that they shared: 

• Students can quickly save what’s on their mind, write down homework, take brief notes, record their ideas, or take pictures of information.
• Students can color code homework notes by subject area; for example, all blue notes could indicate math homework.
• Students can set up reminders about their notes in order to get instant notifications about homework or projects.
• Students could listen to voice notes that you create in order to practice pronouncing words or study vocabulary.

You can check out the entire article on the TCEA Blog. 

Do you use Google Keep? How do you utilize this tool? I would love to hear from you!

Keeping it Techy,
​Heather

Thank you Splash of Ink blog for the Google Keep image above.