Amber — Page 66

A cautionary tale…reposted

September 20, 2013 by Amber 1 Comment

A conversation with some fabulous kinder team reminded of this post and I thought it would be approriate to re-share…

A word to the wise…

Parents are biased. Parents are sending you the absolute BEST that they have to offer at home. The child in your class that may test your patience like no other is the 20×30 poster hanging over their mantle. They are LOVED. ADORED. WANTED.

Yesterday when I picked up my TsT, she was “shadowing” the teacher. Meaning her lil’hand was in the teachers pocket and she had to stay there all day. No free play, no lunching with friends, no centers…basically no fun. Why? Because she wasn’t being sweet and gentle with her friends.

(Read: a hitter! my kid was the hitter!! argh)

My first reaction was to want to cry. (Like the 2 year old was doing as she was telling me how ” sowee” she was.)

Disclaimer: I MISS my kids when they are away from me. I think about them. I want to see them. I can’t WAIT to hug them.

Do you know how hard it was to “discipline” my girl once we were home? I made her stay in her room, gave her no dessert, and NO ipad fun game time with mom.

Guess who felt more punished?? ME! I didn’t know if that was the right thing to do! Were these things even effective? Should I be more concerned? Is there a youtube video I could watch on how to fix this issue??

Teachers….you have to HELP your parents. Explain behaviors. Explain when there is cause for concern, or if it’s developmentally appropriate. They look to YOU as the expert. Balancing being a mom and wanting to support what is happening at school but also loving your kids is HARD. We’re asking them to unbiasedly look at their child and behaviors that they weren’t a witness too, and take action on them.

How would you feel if ONLY negative things came home? Or if the only contact you had with your child’s school was a negative one?

You have the power to fix that. YOU can make every encounter positive & supportive. Even when there is negative information to convey…

a mom’s perspective,

Amber

Let your students ignite their passion…and kickstart your class!

September 16, 2013 by Amber Leave a Comment

Ignite talks are tag lined with “Enlighten us, but make it quick,”. Ignite is a presentation format where a presenter speaks while slides advance automatically to support them. An Ignite presentation is exactly 5 minutes, and contains exactly 20 slides. The slides advance automatically after each slide is displayed for 15 seconds. I think this would be an amazing thing for teachers to use in class with upper elementary students. With only 20 slides, a presenter must make important decisions about introduction, body, and conclusion. We teach summary skills on a regular basis, what better way to do this than have them prepare an ignite speech?

The students are forced to become experts. You allow them to have a note card or two but they are not allowed to simply read about their topic.

Erin Klein of the famous Kleinspiration site, gave an inspiring Ignite speech at ISTE this year. Check out her speech, she begins at 46:05.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsVYu1yi-JI

I think one of these would be a GREAT think tank idea!

Let me know if i can come work with you or your students to get an ignite inferno going!

AmFire

Why I love social media…or how Troy Aikman knew my name…

September 10, 2013 by Amber 5 Comments

I typically use this blog for professional purposes. Allow me to deviate just this once. (Although, I do have an educator tie in at the end! keep reading!)

Let’s travel back…back to 1989 when a certain UCLA quarterback played against the Arkansas Razorbacks in the 1989 Cotton Bowl classic which was played in Dallas. The hype all over town was that quarterback, a Mr. Troy Aikman, would be the next Dallas Cowboys quarterback. It became true in the first round and so my fascination began. Cowboys games became a MUST with season tickets on the 50 yard line, (opposite side) so I could watch every play. Posters and card collecting became my favorite hobby. I was the only 11 year old I knew with an airbrushed tee shirt of Troy’s face. (Sigh. That may not have been the best decision.) 11. I was 11 years old when this began. I remember a year in high school my mother sent me to the mall with BTS money for clothes and I came home with a humongous framed card set & autographed 8×11 from the sports store instead. I had NO problem wearing my old clothes that year, 🙂

It didn’t end in high school. Or college. In fact, my oldest, the beast? Her name is an anagram of “Troy A” (I know, I know.) and her initials? TD. Not a coincidence people!

I became synonymous for my adoration and I’ll admit it, obsession with the legendary #8. People would see something, hear something, watch somthing and would always let me know. I get to explain at every presentation I give that my twitter name is @8amber8 …me surrounded by Troy. (My poor husband!!) I have #8 jewelery in all shapes, sizes, and price ranges.

Not too long ago, I decided to ask all of my tweeps, a relatively small number of mostly educators to help me get Troy to wish me happy birthday on twitter. At that time, he’d not responded to a fan who’d asked for a shout out. Over and over…all day long…people tweeted him until that magic moment.

A moment so glorious I included it in my family Christmas card that year.

Fast forward to the next summer when the Roomstore had an “Ultimate Fan” contest. I entered and thanks to the plethora of FB and Tweeps who voted for me, I won week 3. (happiness.) A Hulk fan won the overall trip to met the Hulk & Troy…which was prolly safer for my marriage. Several people made the comment that Troy probably didn’t even get to watch the videos…which made me sad.

Well, THAT my friends, I am happy to tell ya, was FALSE!

Today, thanks to some AMAZING friends, who obviously know me quite well, I had the opportunity to be present while Troy announced the 2013-14 “Heathly Zone” schools. The program honors schools that have created an environment for students to engage in healthy behaviors and offers assistance to schools that are in the process of creating a healthy environment. We went in as a Garland group, and I managed to sidle up next to him for the big group shot. That ALONE would have made my day! (week, month, etc.)

But.

As we stepped away from the picture, I said “I just wanted to say hi, I’m @8amber8 from twitter, we’ve interacted a couple of times.” And he said, “I know who you are, didn’t you win the Ultimate Fan contest, with a video?” (At which point my heart stopped.) And I said, “Yes, yes I did.” “I remember, good video. Hulk had some intense fans….” And I just smiled and said, “Well, nice to meet you, thank you!” to which he replied “You too.” My amazing friend jumped in and we snagged a more up close pic…and my mind was blown.

YA’LL.

HE KNEW WHO I WAS. The man whose jersey I own in a ridiculous amount of colors and of whom I preach far and wide to EVERY child who will listen is an amazing role model….knew who I was.

Why?

Because of darned SOCIAL MEDIA.

If you weren’t a believer before…this better convince you of the power these tools have in our life.

If that lesson doesn’t seem “professional” enough for ya, let’s also not lose sight of the fact that for an insane amount of years, regardless of the taunting, teasing, or rough game name calling I have endured, I have held steadfast to my devotion and goal of beingthisclose to him, and I achieved that goal today. Quit telling 5th graders that they aren’t serious enough to set REAL goals! 😉

still on cloud 8,

Amber

#SAVMP- How do you encourage leadership?

September 6, 2013 by Amber Leave a Comment

Leaders are everywhere. They aren’t just the ones in charge. Take for example the office clerk in Georgia, who was able to prevent who knows how many injuries or even possibly deaths.

Antoinette Tuff said she convinced an armed Michael Brandon Hill, 20, to surrender after a brief gun battle inside the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur, Ga. The heroic bookkeeper said she stopped the gunman from going to a schoolyard filled with frightened children ‘because I knew that if he got outside, he was going to start shooting the kids.’

What if she had decided that it wasn’t her job to step up and step in? That she wasn’t a LEADER, that she was just a book keeper?

I firmly believe that we can ALL be leaders in education. It doesn’t take a title to step up, it takes a heart for kids, and a willingness to do what is best for them. @TechNinjaTodd wrote a great post for me on being a teacher leader and the ways that he has taken on some different leadership roles on his campus. Teachers, you can look for leaders in your classroom too. Have you talked to your students about what it means to be a leader? How impactful that would be for your campus…if we all realized what a difference we could make…

George Couros asked on our recent #SAVMP hangout about what campus admin can do tomorrow to help encourage leaders. I think you start by empowering your staff to recognize their strengths. Regardless of one’s love language, (cough cough) who doesn’t appreciate being recognized for their effort? I am big believer in supporting and promoting what you want to see more of…I did it in my classroom, I try to do it on our campus. That doesn’t mean isolating and leaving out anyone else…just highlighting what you think supports the campus vision.

I started with teachers who had a penchant for technology…asking them to help their peers, to help lead staff development, all the way up to where we had multiple teachers presenting at the local regional tech conference. (So proud!) I saw our teacher branch into tweeting with professionals, utilizing different creative collaboration tools, and actively seeking opportunities to grow. That fire was there, it just needed to be stoked.

Look for the sparks on your campus. Whether it be students in your class, teachers on your campus, or members of your PLN. It just takes a spark to start an inferno…a leadership inferno.

Fired up,

Amber