my version of transparent, collaborative leadership...with a Teamann twist

How using Dropbox changed my life!

by 2 Comments

I know that sounds a lil’extreme, but seriously, it did.

 

Dropbox is a storing/sharing place in the cloud that allows you to keep up with all of your files,where ever you are, even across platforms. I love this blurb I came across:

“This program acts as a “magic pocket” which is always with you and contains whatever you place in it. Put a file into your Dropbox and it’s on all of your computers and mobile devices.”

Who doesn’t want a magic pocket?  The genius of this for me is that I use a number of different devices for a number of different things. I take pictures on my phone, I take notes on  my iPad, I do appraisals on my Mac, and then will write a blog post on my home PC that needs ALL of those things. Having a place that I can easily access ALL of my “stuff” is crucial for the efficacy of what I do throughout the day.

How to get started/going?

  1. Step one: Go to Dropbox and set up an account. I just use the free one because with as many times as I downloaded it, I got a couple free GB just for multiple downloads. Next, download and install the Dropbox app. Put files and folders that you need to access from various locations and devices into your new Dropbox folder. Then repeat these steps on your other Mac,  PCs, and iOS devices.  (Again for me, that was two ipads, a phone, two PC’s, and my macbook.
  2. The account that you create  automatically includes a Dropbox folder  and it shares files with any other devices that have Dropbox and are connected to your account. (PS: you don’t HAVE to download it, but it does make life easier. Anytime I’m working with a file I know I’m going to need later, I just toggle and save in my “Dropbox” folder so I can get to it later.
  3. dropbox1
  4. Now, anytime, you go to SAVE something, you have the ability to add it to your Dropbox. Easy peasy, I tell ya!
  5. Many of us store the files and folders for active projects on the desktop. Put them in Dropbox instead. On your phone and take a pic? Click the + sign on your app and choose what pics you want to add to your Dropbox. It will then be available from any of your devices. Working online? Fabulous! The “files” tab on the website will bring you to your Dropbox folder. This folder is exactly the same as the folder on your devices; any files that you’ve placed into your folder on your computers are accessible through this part of the web site.
  6. Want to share files? BIG Files that you couldn’t send via email without crashing the world wide web? Presentations for parents? Set up separate folders in Dropbox’s Public folder for different people, and then send the separate URLs to each. Or set up a different shared folder for each project, and then distribute that URL to all project participants.
  7. Want to share  amazing classroom pictures, but not make them “public public”? Copy photos to Dropbox, and share the URL with family and friends. (I’m going to use this for our family involvement activity next month!)
  8. Feeling adventuresome? 62 things you can do with Dropbox suggests this: Go to the Send to Dropbox Website (sendtodropbox.com), click on Connect To Dropbox, and provide your Dropbox credentials. You can now email files to Dropbox. That makes all sorts of scenarios possible. For example, create a document in Google Docs and then opt to share it. In the Share drop-down menu, select Email As Attachment and provide your Send to Dropbox email address; the Google Doc will appear in Dropbox’s Attachments folder.” (WHOA BABY!)

 

It’s a very intuitive tool to use and following through some of the getting started tasks easily explains it as well as earns you more “free” space, 🙂 Nothing to lose there!

More Dropbox links to help ya out:

Dropbox for Teachers

Using Dropbox

Everybody loves a good LiveBinder, 😉

 

File saveN,

AmDrop

 

Feeling defeated or tired already?

by Leave a Comment

I was listening to a webinar last week discussing the benefit of effective teachers in the classroom and was blown away by what was being shared. The average effect of one teacher on a single student is modest. All else the same, a student with one excellent teacher for one year between fourth and eighth grade would gain about $4,600 in lifetime income. The student with the excellent teacher would also be 0.5 percent more likely to attend college.

That’s not too shocking, right?

What about this? Replacing a poor teacher with an average one would raise a single classroom’s lifetime earnings by about $266,000. Multiply that by a career’s worth of classrooms.

Students with top teachers are less likely to become pregnant as teenagers, more likely to enroll in college, and more likely to earn more money as adults, the study found.

How can you ever doubt the importance of what you do, every single day?

The webinar really solidified for me that teachers are the most important part of a child’s education. Not a program, a strategy, or a test. Great teachers make a great difference; poor teachers hurt a child’s life chances. LIFE chances.

You. Matter.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7FHdHUzRnms

Remindingly,
Amber

be the unexpected!

by Leave a Comment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelrusinski/541435539/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelrusinski/541435539/

There are certain situations in life that are an automatic reaction. Red light, stop. Phone rings, answer it. Troy Aikman on TV, stop and watch. As an educator, I wish there was a way to turn off our “automatic” mode. One of the bigger moments in my back to school world as a teacher came the day we got our class lists. My very themed, very coordinated, name tags would finally be complete. I could wrap up that same coordinating bulletin board.  As an administrator, one of the biggest headaches came the day we handed out class lists. The ooo’s, the ahhh’s, the groans were inevitable. It absolutely made my heart sad to hear the “automatic” reaction to seeing certain names on their lists. Conversations amongst teachers about how they handled certain families, or overcame certain behavioral quirks…you know what I am talking about.

It’s not that I didn’t do the same thing…it’s now I just wish every kid could start every year without the baggage that they may be dragging along with them. I loved starting over every year, don’t you think our students do too?

Two things reaffirmed my thoughts on being in “auto” mode. I love to read over the summer and can actually get in about a book a day, especially if MT isn’t around. 😉 One of the young adult novels I read was “Living Dead Girl” by Elizabeth Scott. If you ever want a reality check of the horrible possibilities in this world, read this book. Over and over, this poor girl was “seen” and “not seen” all at the same time…based on how she looked and people’s automatic thoughts of her. There are students in our classes who are living a life we couldn’t imagine or handle, but we sometimes we get mad because they didn’t turn in homework or get their folder signed. I don’t know that I’ll be able to look at a student or family the same based on this book again for awhile, if ever. It was that powerful.

The second reaffirming moment came while listening to the EduAllStar podcast, featuring Jeremy McDonald, aka @mrmacnology. He told a story about a situation that happened in his fifth grade class with a student and what happened when he had an “automatic” reaction. I challenge you to watch this and NOT tear up. (It’s a powerful 5 minutes.)

The point of the story is that sometimes people, especially our students, need us to ignore that automatic reaction…and be the unexpected. Can you?

 

unexpectedly,

Amber