#parents Archives

Educating vs scaring…which social media route do you take?

January 23, 2018 by Amber Leave a Comment

Having a beast that just turned 16 means I get to engage in all of the driver centered conversations. It’s “When can I, where can I, how can I” for #allthethings. I’m watching friend after friend post pictures of permits, of licenses, of cars. (Parent pressure, yeesh.) It’s not a decision that we’re rushing into lightly or one that we know we can just ignore.

We’ve decided that the fireman will be teaching her in late spring, which will trigger a natural timeline. She’ll start, she’ll practice, she’ll practice some more…and eventually she will test. At some point after that, she’ll get a car, which will accompany responsibilities and requirements. (No free rides in the Teamann household!)

There are SO many steps that we’re taking in order to ease her into this stage of her teenage life. The conversations are a constant, from pop quizzes to opportunities to have “Did you just see that?” conversations. It would be irrational to think that just talking about driving with her would mean she could immediately handle being out on the open road.

As an advocate for technology & for social media, I struggle when I see an “anti” approach by people in leadership positions. Someone posted a parent engagement idea last night in a group on Facebook that spoke to preparing families of middle school students to what “lies ahead” when it comes to social media. It involved a detective and a cyber forensics specialist that came in and showed all the different apps kids use, the dangers of them, the laws surrounding cyber harassment, and then gave them resources for how to monitor their children’s phone use. It was followed by comments centered around blocking, locking, and can I get the hand out’s that just made my heart so sad.

When I tried to rationalize why I immediately cringed, I thought back to the way that we teach our teenagers to drive. How along with the inherent dangers that are shared, or what the potential consequences of their actions could be…we also do a pretty good job of TEACHING them how to be safe. Why rules matter and are relevant. Why we stop at a stop sign even if no one else is there. How to be careful. How to yield, how to handle the fast lane. There are rules that are taught, that are practiced. Before we ever allow them to go out on their own, we have a pretty good idea of how they are doing with the responsibility we’re about to bestow upon them. We’ve been along for the ride up until then and do so even after they have that highly coveted license.

We don’t just NOT allow them to drive.

There’s more to driving than just all the things that can wrong.

There’s more to sharing with students and families about technology/social media than just all the things that can go wrong.

Allowing someone to drive without the supports and balances that we provide is dangerous.

Denying students the opportunity to be engaged on social media without supports and balances is also dangerous.

Click To Tweet

It’s a responsibility as a mom and as an administrator, I don’t take lightly.

How can you engage and educate, rather than engage and scare?

Involving Parents in your Academic Standard

December 5, 2017 by Amber Leave a Comment

We all know that it takes a partnership between home and school to foster the kind of connections and growth we strive for as educators. When you have those kinds of quality relationships, it opens the door for parents to support the academic standards as well as the socioemotional ones.

I meet with a group of parents each month and have for the past 2 1/2 years. This group serves as my parent focus group, ones who are willing to sit down and have face to face conversations with me. This has led to several academic conversations that give me an insight into what my parents are thinking, as well as engage in some thoughts I have or decisions that we’ve made as a campus.

One that has come up over and over again is the idea of homework. Knowing that I scheduled it as a “think tank” conversation this month. I’ve written recently about avoiding those education extremes, homework included, and wanted to share specific things that parents could do at home to support ALL students and their academic growth. I wanted something that they could use with our kinder Wolves to my 4th-grade Wolves.

Knowing how incredibly valuable time is, I wanted to focus on skills that would transcend any specific content area and would fit naturally with a parent just living life with their student. Knowing that if it’s easy and meaningful, it would have a greater chance of sticking. We’ve also spent a considerable amount of time in our PLC’s talking through ways we could engage our families with our guided reading initiative and I wanted to offer a way parents could do more with reading, than just, well…reading…so the backside has questions that any parent could ask to help push students past just working on fluency and go deeper with their comprehension.

The end result was this, a Homework Helper. It was well received by my parent focus group and I thought maybe you could use it as well!

Bonus! I crowdsourced and solicited ideas in ways to help build a stronger connection from school to home with literacy, and this padlet was born. Let me know if you use any of these ideas, or feel free to add some of your own!

Partnership helpN,

Amber

Meet the Teacher…more than a fly by! #thefirstyear

September 8, 2015 by Amber Leave a Comment

Meet the teacher is also a crazy hectic afternoon. You’ve beon in PD all week, your classroom is frantically ready, and you’re about to welcome in all of your new students.

*shivers*

This is typically your FIRST FIRST with these new babies! Especially in elementary school, this is such a big deal! We really wanted to make sure everyone felt welcomed, invited, and were excited to start off their year with us. Adding in a “few” new things can make a world of difference. Several of these ideas were shared by Matt Arend and Todd Nesolony, and given a lil’Teamann twist. I am so thankful for experienced, PLN friend who are supportive and sharing!

We had a photo booth right when families walked in the door, with a staff member to take pictures so they could get in. Our art teacher is amazing. She freshened up some props, added grade level sticks, and decorated a frame our fabulous 3rd grade teacher had previously used. End result? Family fun while creating a memory. My lil’bit is starting kinder and this picture may have actually make me cry.

Parents were asked to leave a “wolf wish” for their student for this year. We had post its and pens that coordinated with the wolf, so even when the notes were up, you still saw our Wolf. (again, awesome art teacher!!) These wishes? So inspiring.

Our end result was a fun night and hopefully, a start that made these Wolves ready for Monday!

Side note?

This office staff? Makes my heart so happy. Their willingness to jump in, tolistent to me, to get to know me…has just made this new school year SO much better. We have these crazy text streams that go on and on and on..and are full of hystercal gifs. I hope that you all have a staff like this to work with!

proud principal,
Amber

It’s not the snap shot you should remember, take time to watch the movie!

September 21, 2014 by Amber 3 Comments

Have you ever been guilty of making a judgement about someone? Maybe a coworker? Or a student? A parent who was defensive or absentee? Someone who did something you thought was “wrong”?

I saw this video that my favorite Canadian George Couros posted on FB this weekend and it really reminded me of how often we make generalized judgments about someone based on one interaction we’ve experienced with them.

We encourage students to make mistakes, the proof that they are putting themselves out there, trying new things. As a teacher, I know I made mistakes. I am so thankful that I had supportive, encouraging administrators who saw beyond those mistakes. They saw my heart, my passion, and that my intent was always with the best of intentions. They saw ALL of me, not just an error I made. That snapshot didn’t define me.

Each year as an assistant principal, I have grown, I have learned, and I have done the very best that I can. Have I made mistakes? Absolutely! There’s no manual that comes with this job. You are dependent on those around you to help guide, lift you up, and support your efforts. I hope that you are able to say the same. There’s toxicity in surrounding yourself with people who won’t look past a moment to see the bigger picture. In my role, I challenge myself daily to see the BIG picture, and how I can help empower our entire staff to see beyond where they are (or were!) to where they can be. Their movie isn’t finished yet.

As an educator, before you make decision on someone you know, work with, or work for…take a minute to question their intent. Do you KNOW that person or are you just basing your decision on a single snapshot of their career? What would the whole movie say?

tissue grabN,

Amber

Social media & strategy

August 11, 2014 by Amber 1 Comment

It’s easy to get excited at this time of year. There’s all the back to school supplies, new back to school outfits, and all those fresh new faces! This also is the time new initiatives are rolled out on campuses state wide. From district ideas to campus thoughts…everyone’s excited in August!

I participated in #ptcamp this summer, which was both overwhelming and energizing. There were so many great thoughts share…and as usual, social media was discussed quite a bot. Even if it wasn’t directly referred to as “social media”, the words twitter, facebook, and instagram were talked about. Just like any other new initiative if you’re deciding to get serious with your social media presence, albeit for your classroom or your campus, I challenge you to BE INTENTIONAL.

Regardless of your own personal stance on using social media, you can’t deny the ever increasing use of it in our students lives. To not take advantage of a tool that your students and families are already utilizing is missing a huge opportunity to truly CONNECT. (<—My word for 2014-2015!) If your opinion is that what you’ve been doing is fine, and that you have no need for MORE connections with your students & community, call me. 😉

Building relationships is what we do! Utilizing some form of SM to help facilitate those relationships makes sense. You don’t have to do them all, pick one, that you’re comfortable with, and then BE INTENTIONAL.

Decide what you’re going to share. How often you’re going to share. When you’re going to share. The challenge, just like with any other form of communication, is to maintain your presence to help ensure the validity of your communications. Don’t do all the heavy lifting of getting your parents invested and then in October forget to post anything. It will be next to impossible to get them to commit to something else in the future.

Need some data to help back up my social media “claims”?

72% of all internet users are now active on social media
18-29 year olds have an 89% usage
The 30-49 bracket sits at 72%
60 percent of 50 to 60 year olds are active on social media
In the 65 plus bracket, 43% are using social media
Time spent on Facebook per hour spent online by country. USA citizens get the top gong at 16% followed by the Aussies at 14 minutes and the Brits at 13 minutes.
71% of users access social media from a mobile device.

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/01/17/20-social-media-facts-and-statistics-you-should-know-in-2014/#VKwcE6rkAmqai71U.99