Technically Yours Teamann — Page 64 — my version of transparent, collaborative leadership…with a Teamann twist

How using Dropbox changed my life!

October 14, 2013 by Amber 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?

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.
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.
Now, anytime, you go to SAVE something, you have the ability to add it to your Dropbox. Easy peasy, I tell ya!
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.
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.
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!)
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!

How many questions do you ask a day?

October 12, 2013 by Amber 3 Comments

question_mark_blue Do you know the average wait time a teacher pauses for after asking a question in the classroom? On average, it is one second. Just one.

The ideal wait time is 8 seconds. That amount of time allows a student to think about their answer (aka metacognition). Not only is that going to allow your students to delve deeper into what their response is going to be, but it also allows YOU to craft a higher level of questioning.

If you’re asking 50 questions an hour, who is more exhausted? I dare say you because you’ve thought up all those questions! It’s definitely not your students who were able to answer them so quickly, you had to then ask another!

One of the ASCD books I’ve read recently was Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching by Robyn Jackson. I was able to meet Robyn this year and think she is a powerful advocate for whatshe believes in, focusing on your students growth, not your great “strategies. .

One of the most interesting and challenging ideas Jackson presents is that teachers should be able to explain why they are doing each activity and assessment they chose. She urges teachers to ask themselves, “Why am I doing what I’m doing?” If students ask you why they’re doing an activity, and you can’t give them an answer that makes sense, you might want to rethink the activity. Does it tie back in your LO’s?

Another interesting idea Jackson develops is Principle 3: ”Expect Your Students to Get There.” She discusses the point of view that I have heard all my life among colleagues: that some students can’t or won’t do the work because they’re lazy or don’t care or whatever, and there’s really nothing we can do to change that. Jackson, however, believes that expectations are really all about what we expect of ourselves—not of our students. I don’t know about you but that sounds like a challenge to me! 🙂

Be intentional with your questioning. Make them worth answering, worth thinking about, and worthy of your students exhaustion.

Questioningly,

Amber

Feeling defeated or tired already?

October 10, 2013 by Amber 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.

Remindingly,
Amber

Parents not on Twitter? No problem!

October 9, 2013 by Amber 3 Comments

One of the first things I hear from educators as a reason why they shouldn’t jump into the social media stream is because they don’t have families/staff on Twitter.

Social media can be very dividing. Justin Tarte and I were just discussing how there is still such a mentality of “block it & lock” it…as if we were to stick our heads in the sand, *maybe* these crazy tools will go away. I don’t think that is going to happen but I can tell you my rationale’s for moving forward with twitter as a communication tool between the home and our campus.

I LOVE that when I get onto twitter, facebook or instagram, I get updates on my daughter’s school. It is SO much easier for me to read an update on Facebook than it is for me to get home after a 12 hour day, get her purple folder out, get through her graded work, and find any announcements her campus has sent home.

Now, the flip side of that is that my anti technology hubs? ONLY gets info that is in that purple folder. He doesn’t visit the website and *gasp* has no online presence.

I’m not suggesting that schools stop sending paper items home, I’m merely pointing out the opportunity we have to reach even more parents.

When we send home information at the beginning of the year, we send home something asking if parents want to get school information through text messages. (Regular rates apply.) It walks them through sending a text, “Follow Watson_Wildcats” to 40404. Once they have done that, every tweet we send, that parent gets as a text. It doesn’t require a twitter account. You don’t have to have the “scary social media” talk.

98% of all text messages are opened, and 90% are opened within the first three minutes.

The point isn’t getting on Twitter, or blocking social media, or adding to your plate. The point is connecting with as many parents as you can in order to do what is best for our students.

Connectingly,

Amber

Connected administrators, get off your island!

October 1, 2013 by Amber 2 Comments

Today I had the opportunity to present to the Indiana Principal Leadership Institute with Jessica Johnson, aka @principalJ, on what it means to be a “connected administrator”.

We touched on using social media to connect with parents, staff, and stake holders. We discussed creating & curating a personal learning network to help build your “room” of like minded, in the trench, peers to help all of us be better at what we do. Jessica had a great slide in her presentation that said, “Sure, you don’t have to have a PLN to be a great educator, but why would you close the door to the chance of being even better?“, which sums up our “connected educator” month perfectly.

Each of us are wired differently. There’s no one size fits all when it comes to how we can grow and learn. I do believe, however, that there is, based on the innate make up of who you are, one pathway that will make it easier for you. Whether it’s reading blogs, listening to podcasts, or tweeting, there is a way for you to be connected. You just have to pick it! We’d never dream about going to a doctor who hadn’t grown in their craft since they graduated from college, why would want we want less for our students?

Our resources:

Amber’s prezi

Virdie Montgomery: AHMO pride at Wylie HS (Letterman clip) (You’re creating a brand for your campus…what does yours say? Wylie HS has a national presence, :))

Dr. Vinson’s blog (Connected leadership starts at the top!)

Flutter

Ski jump

Podcast handout

Social media leadership questions

[slideshare id=26712672&doc=twitterislandipli-130930170506-phpapp02]

Jessica’s slide show: Twitter Island

Meltdown principal

Get started on twitter checklist

Feedly handout

#IPLI List of twitters’

Connected Principals blog site