Do you need to clean out the garage?

This past June I was working on one of my summer projects – cleaning out the garage! I put my plan in to action and began the task of cleaning out, organizing, scrubbing, and making piles of items to either discard or donate.  This project was long overdue. To help cheer me on, members of my #PTcamp PLN encouraged and checked in on my from time to time.  The task took much longer to complete that expected as I took my fair share of “bird walks” and sometimes stepped away from “garage detail” to attend to other projects and summer professional development.

The garage is now ready for our vehicles, the trash cans, organized storage, and a few new items that can now “fit into” the garage. What a great sense of accomplishment. I can now breathe a sigh of relief as I check this project off of my list.

This summer project has many similarities to our professional careers as educators. Are there things that we need to clean out, re-organize, or get rid of? Is there something new that we need to add to our “garage”? Let’s take a look at these four facets of the Garage Cleaning Experience:

Clean out: Take the time to see what you need and what you do not need. Sometimes we need to clear out the “dinosaur” facets of our pedagogy. Do we need to hang on to the “old” just for comfort sake? It’s is important to authentically evaluate what you truly need for today’s school. You need to make room for new things that will help you as you move along this “journey”. So, what do you need to clean out of your educational space?

Re-Organize: Take the time or streamline your desk, classroom, office space. Making your work space more efficient will help you expedite each project, activity, or assignment. This act of restructuring your work world will give you a greater sense of clarity. Do you need to reorganize?

Get Rid of…: What things do you need to eliminate from your work space? What things are collecting dust? What needs to go to make room for the new? If you haven’t used it in the past six months…get rid of it! You need to remove things that are cluttering your “Plate”. So, what needs to go?

What to add? In looking at your professional development, what do you need to add to your repertoire? In looking at Social Media, I would put the Voxer app at the top of the list.  What PD do you need to add this year? What books need to be added to your list? Take the time to consider what you need to include this year?

So the next time you need to clean out the garage, stain the deck, or take on a home repair project, think of the parallel this project has with our world of education. I look forward to hearing how your garage cleaning projects fair this fall. Take care!

Where everybody knows your name…

It’s all in a name.  Think about it… How do you feel when some calls you by “name”? Be it a colleague, neighbor, or a salesperson. The fact that they know your name or can recall your name means something to you! Name recognition and name identity are both significantly important. Our name clearly defines who we are.

Dale Carnegie tells us that, “A person’s name is to him or her, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”  In addition, Howard and Kerin (2011) in their article the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology explain, “Using a person’s name acknowledged their identity, massages their Ego, and hence boosting their self-esteem”.

I often think of the famous theme song to the popular television show “Cheers”. The lyrics are so true. We want to be around those who know us, care about us, respect us, and who know our name.

Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.

Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

Wouldn't you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,

and they're always glad you came.

You wanna be where you can see,

our troubles are all the same

You wanna be where everybody knows

Your name.

source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/

In our schools we have the opportunity and “power” to positively impact not only our students, but colleagues, parents, and community members when we not only call them by their name (and when we “remember” their name). Personally, I make it my goal to learn the name of each student in my school.

As you begin the new school year, I challenge to learn the names of as many students and parents that you can. It will change your school!

Here’s my challenge:

Commit to learning eight to ten new student names a week

Commit to learning three to five new parent names a week

I would love to hear how this challenge impacts your school year!

Here’s a video clip to the Cheers intro Theme Song.  Enjoy!

I’m so glad we had this time together

Just six weeks ago I began a professional development journey that changed the trajectory of my educational career. I will forever look at my role as a lead learner in a different light.

In June Joe Mazza posted that he was inviting 100 educators, parents, and community members to join him in #PTcamp – a six week long book study focusing on parent engagement. Beyond the Bake Sale by Henderson and Mapp was the centerpiece of our study. We used several different Social Media tools as part of our book study.

This summer I learned that:

1.      “Bird Walks” are fine and dandy: Sometimes it is important to bring in a different perspective to a conversation. That you can talk “off topic” or introduce a new concept or strategy to discuss or analyze (and it is “ok”). Some of your best work will come from a diverted conversation, idea, or proposal. Allow the conversation to spin 180 degrees. Then check out this “new” perspective. You might just surprise yourself.

2.      That you can go “off grid”:  To step away from the daily work of being an educator. Then return refreshed, renewed, and ready to join in on the conversation, work, or initiative that is “at hand”. Take time to stop and smell the roses along this journey. There are times when you need to step away from your work. Allow yourself this time (and not feel guilty about it).

3.      Laughter is the best medicine: Learning to laugh with others, at yourself, and at life in general is good for the soul. Take time to step away from the hustle and bustle of your work and enjoy your family and friends. Don’t take life and your work so seriously. You can even create catchy jingle to entertain your friends.

4.      Bigger can mean better: Where two or more (or 100) are gathered you can quickly learn from this incredible talent pool. The PTcamp cohort provided me with a diverse array of individuals all focused on improving education, one person at a time. Working with a larger group allows for more ideas to be shared.  You can gather perspectives that offer insight from a different angle.

5.      There’s more to technology than just “technology”: We must look beyond the initial purpose of the 21^st century tools that we use each day. They can have an even greater impact on our lives that we first realized. Through Voxer, we were able to create professional bonds, friendships, and a cohort that will continue long after our camp ends today. This is just the beginning of our cohort’s mission.

6.      Parent Development is a must: It is our responsibility to meet parents “where they are” and help them along their journey as team members in the educational process. Think about it, education today is vastly different from 15, 10, or even 5 years ago. Parents need different types of PD. Find out the things they need, and begin the process of parent empowerment. You can also learn quite a bit as you get to know the parents of our students.

The Carol Burnett Show is famous for the “closing” or sign off song.  Here are the celebrated lyrics…

“I'm so glad we had this time together

Just to have a laugh or sing a song

Seems we just get started and before you know it

Comes the time we have to say, "So long."

The lyrics encapsulate my feelings for the depth of knowledge that I gained from my #PTcamp cohort. I want to dedicate this blog post and the multitude of things that I learned to this incredibly talented, knowledgeable, selfless group of dedicated ensemble of forward thinking educators.

I must thank the founders of ApprenNet.com and Voxer for proving these two tools/resources for our cohort to use during this six week voyage. Your two organizations allowed our PTcamp to grow exponentially.

Feel free to share your thoughts on what you've learned this summer!

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