Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury is a fan favorite, partly because he’s a former-player-turned-coach, but also partly because he bears a striking resemblance to Ryan Gosling. He also holds the distinction of being the first coach in Big 12 history to start his career at 7-0. With an impressive track record of grooming athletes in his […]
What Principals can (and should!) learn from Kliff Kingsbury Read More »
Last week we met with grade level teams to discuss our most recent benchmark data. Resoundingly, there was an understanding that while students may know the concept or skill, what was most lacking, in grades 3-5, science, reading, and math…was vocabulary. More specifically, lack of vocabulary mastery. Each grade level mentioned it, and some discussed
Vocab Rehab, an ASCD arias…& a give away! Read More »
Data meetings are always fun and exciting. Teachers love when that lil’data appointment pops up in their email box. It’s a hard conversation to have because amazing teachers are already well aware of their students strengths and weaknesses. It’s still a reality in our classes. A necessary evil, if you will. My principal had a
Let’s talk data, shall we? (wait, come back!) Read More »
I will always remember the first conversation I had with a professional colleague about Twitter. I’d attended BLC and been swept away in a Twitter tidal wave by Liz Davis and Lisa Thumann. (This also, coincidentally enough, was where the @8amber8 moniker came from…who knew this tool would become my go to PD reference and
Are your thoughts tweet worthy? Read More »
The 2014 ASCD conference , Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, was held in Los Angeles this past weekend. With keynote speakers like Daniel Pink and Sir Ken Robinson, you knew going in that this conference was going to make you think…and it didn’t disappoint. My big take aways from this year: #5. Educators are persuaders. That
ASCD 2014 literally rocked my world! Read More »
One of the opportunities I’ve been able to take on this year with George Couros is the #SAVMP collaboration project. Each week we post weekly updates to work with administrators and their team of mentees to help develop leadership and embrace the challenges that comes with the responsibility of leading. This week we discussed teacher
Weekly Update: Teacher Leaders…are you cultivating? #SAVMP Read More »
As I sit at the airport waiting for my flight to sun shiney LA, I can’t help but smile at what a year it has been since the last time I apprehensively sat in an airport, waiting to go to ASCD. My opportunity came at the hand of George Couros. His urging that I attend
#ASCD14, here I come! Read More »
Sometimes it’s the little things that can make the biggest difference. February is a long month. It’s a solid month of instruction, leads up to Spring, and typically, both students and staff get a touch of the spring fever. We decided to have “Fab Fridays in February” and have a fun activity each week to
Time is a hot commodity for anyone, but especially for teachers at the beginning of the year. Knowing this when it came time for our staff development plans, the idea of book study made us yawn. How can you spice up a book study, engage your staff in a digital environment, and promote a digital
Have a book study via Twitter? Yes we did! Read More »
Busy is the new black. Ask anyone how they are doing and what do response do you get? “Stressed!” “Overwhelmed!” “Can’t keep up!” “Tired!” Can you imagine what would happen if you just answered that question with a “Inbox zero, task list completed, actually has time for an extra nap this week…”? It would stop
Are you busy, busy, busy? Read More »