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Voxer: an Edcamp on my phone

November 24, 2013 by adteaman 2 Comments

What do you get when you combine a free walkie talkie app, a New Yorker, some Wisconsins, a Missouri-an, and a Texan?

Day after day after day of professional advice, personal support, and a LOT of smiles.

Jessica Johnson introduced me to Voxer while planning our Indiana Leadership presentation. I have to admit, I didn’t quite get the point…why couldn’t we text? or email? or tweet?

Did I really need another techie tool?

Thank goodness she was persistent! Daily now I am in conversation with Jessica Johnson (principalj), Curt Rees (@curtrees) Tom Whitford,(@twhitford), Leah Whitford (@leah_whit), Jay Posick (@posickj ) Joe Sanfelippo (@Joesanfelippofc) Tony Sinansis (@TonySinanis) and Melinda Miller (@mmiller757).

From the crazy events that happen throughout our days to the how would you handle this moments, we have a group to add ideas,thoughts, and advice. Tony mentioned today that these convo’s have become mini edcamps on our phone and I completely agree. We throw out random questions or thoughts and get feedback from in a safe, non-judgmental, different perspective environment.

What have I gained from random, when we have time, less than a minute each (Curt’s rule) messages? Well, considering that this is a group of rock stars…a lot. All principals and a superintendent….I’m literally hanging with the cool kids!

“That’s me!” An activity in whole group settings where you ask questions and the participants all say, “Hey, that’s me!) A great way to show that we all have more in common than we think…
How to handle staff situations gone awry
Instructional writing programs, a debate on a package versus organic teaching/learning
Inspirational videos on demand
How to get out, take a break, reflect on difficult situations
Ways to support our teachers and provide communication tools to help them connect with parents
Social media management, handling multiple accounts for a campus and a personal one
That the FC crickets are THE team! (And I have the tee shirt to prove it!)
That seasoned, experienced administrators struggle, that we all have bad days, but that we do all LOVE our jobs!

I am SO thankful that I have this group daily to hear from, learn from, and laugh with. Considering that I’ve only “met” Jessica, it sure is ironic that I talk more with these “online” peers than I do some of my closest friends.

Thank you, Voxer fam, you are such a great addition to my PLN world!

beep beep,

Amber

Three ways to keep your head above water! & an Erin Condren Giveaway

November 17, 2013 by adteaman 29 Comments

Have you ever felt like things were moving too fast? Like things weren’t getting your full attention? Like you were overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start?

Three “strategies” I’ve employed this year to help me “manage” the workload have made a difference in keeping up with my whirlwind of a world.

The first mental saver has been placed email efficacy. My email in box is my todo list. If I have 30 emails in there, that means there are 30 items that require some kind of action, which will stress me out completely. I’ve doubled the amount of folders I have, because I am now sorting them into clearly named folders, as soon as I read them. It makes it so much easier for me to find things if I’ve filed them appropriately. I’ve added sub folders to help! As an example, within my 4th grade folder, I’ve got a field trip folder & a parent contact folder. No more “missing” or “where I’d put that” searching! I’ve also started making items that require a follow up within my inbox. Things I may have sent out but need to make sure we’re taken care of, I change to a different color using the “categories” feature within our email system. At a glance, my inbox is kept current and color coded so I can immediately evaluate what needs to be done.

The second mental saver was the adding an Erin Condren planner to my plate. Rather than try to articulate the greatness that is this planner, just watch this.

While it may seem contradictory to “add” something to help me simplify, this planner has made a huge difference. Our campus calendar can get so crammed, sometimes with activities that don’t involve me, so I needed a place where my responsibilities were clear & detailed. Even the items that did require effort on my part on the campus calendar didn’t have “all” the details I needed. This planner solved that problem.

post its Last but not least, prioritize a to-do list. I keep a stack of the longer lined post it pads on my desk at all times. As I’m asked to do something or have a project in place, I add it to a list I have going. Task completed? Cross it off. Decide there are multiple steps/tasks to a project? Create a new page. One of my mental stressors is that nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I have something that needs to be completed. Writing it down, identifying what needs to be done to get it completed, and keeping track of my progress takes the stress level way down. When my list gets ragged, I transfer it over to a fresh new page and seriously, it takes away my feelings of things being unmanageable.

Education is hard enough these days. Not letting our organization get out of control is an easy way to regroup, refocus, and recommit.

Here’s your chance to win a $50 Erin Condren gift card to get YOU on the path to be fabulously organized!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Keep calm & organize on,

Amber

How using Dropbox changed my life!

October 14, 2013 by adteaman 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!

Early bird gets the…reading skills!

August 20, 2013 by adteaman Leave a Comment

At the beginning of the year there is always a need for scaffolding basics, especially for younger students or students who may need a reminder of what reading is all about.

Teach your Monster to Read is a free game to practice the first steps of reading. It is built on the principles of synthetic phonics.

Teach Your Monster to Read is intended to be used by teachers and parents/guardians as a reading-related teaching tool for children between 3 and 8.

Teachers and parents may register on the site, and as a result become “Users”. Users may set up individual accounts for their Students, which allow the Students to access, and the User to track students’ performance. Accounts may only be established by Users, and not by Students themselves; Students must have Users’ permission to use the Game Service.

On the How It Works Page, you can find links to how the game has been conceived and used in schools.

Bright, fun, free, & fabulous! All good things!

Monsterishly,

Amberstein