Sometimes the Answer is SO Obvious...

I have been using Evernote for probably two years now and cannot survive without it. It has literally become my filing system and my brain...for almost everything.  I often share ideas with interested teachers on how it could be used. Just today I was speaking with a colleague about how challenging it can be to keep up with documentation of communication with parents, staff, and outside agencies and how difficult it is to find those notes when you need them. I shared with her my notebook system (which is quite embarrassing, because of how messy it is) and she asked, "Why don't you just use Evernote since you always use it?"

Image from Appsmylife

This colleague does not even use Evernote, she's just heard me talk about it all the time...I felt like a fool when she shared this obvious solution with me!

Even though I had a system of tracking in the margin of my notebook, I realized I could easily use the checkbox feature in Evernote, along with different font to record any follow-up documentation. I started using it right away today, because even though it's summer break, I still had 6 voicemails to return and found it so easy. Again, such an easy solution that was just so obvious I couldn't even see it!

As I move into my summer work (catch-up, planning for next year, office cleaning, etc.) I will be on the lookout for other obvious things I can be using Evernote for to make my life simpler.

How to Support My Teachers with our 1:1 Initiative?

Image from teach.com post

In my last post I shared that we are going 1:1 with iPads in all of our preschool through 5th grade classrooms in our building. Now, my question is how can I lead/support my teachers to use them in meaningful ways to transform learning? We are fortunate to have an Instructional Media Specialist that is extremely helpful in supporting teachers to try a new tool. We also will be investing in training from Certified Apple Trainers. But what can I do?

This past year I did go into a few different classrooms with the iPad cart to "borrow a class of guinea pigs" to try out new apps that I had learned about from my Twitter PLN. I had read about how the app was used in the classroom and wanted to try it in the classroom, while also exposing the teacher to it. I have always felt it has been important for me to not just be in classrooms observing, but to teach and support teachers as well. My goal in this was to also model for teachers to take risks, try new things and reflect/share with colleagues on what worked/what didn't work.

In my Friday Focus post each week I have also included a section called "Blogs, Pins & Tweets...Oh My!" where I often include ideas on using the iPads.

Over the summer I hope to continue to learn and answer this question: What else can I do to encourage, support and lead teachers with the iPads? Here are some of my current ideas, but I hope some of my PLN (Professional Learning Network) will share ideas with me as well:

• Start a wikispace this summer to start adding resources/ideas to. I would also give teachers access so they can add to this as well. I just need to figure out how to organize the wiki (i.e. blogs, apps, grade level?)
• Continue to find app ideas for teachers to use themselves on their iPads. My iPad has become an extension of my arm in terms of how useful it is to me everyday. I'd like to continue to share how it can be a beneficial tool for them.  How can teachers that work with just a few students at a time on specific skills use theirs? For example, our reading interventionists that follows a very prescriptive intervention program will likely not be using the iPads with students, but I'm sure there are productivity apps they would personally benefit from.
• Always incorporate teacher iPads in our staff meetings somehow. I'd like to plan ahead and create a google doc for each month's staff meeting agenda, post it on my staff blog and have a part of the agenda be for a staff member to share an app or iPad use from their classroom.

Where will I keep finding my ideas to share with teachers?

• Continue to listen/learn from podcasts like: TeacherCast, Techlandia, Instructional Tech Talk, and Mobile Reach.  
• Start finding/joining in on Twitter chats like #1to1techat and #ipaded. I just recently learned about these and don't even know if they are scheduled chats or not. 

Please share if you have any ideas to help me!

We're Going 1:1 with iPads!!!

Image from Ergatron.com

Can you hear my excitement already? You read that right...we are going 1:1 with iPads in all of our preschool through 5th grade classrooms in our elementary school.

Since I have learned from so many other blogs about integrating technology I plan to share our learning here, but also hope to get input from others on questions that we have.

Here's what led up to this 1:1 decision:
We are a small district with preK-12 all in one building, which allows us to share technology even though we still function as separate schools in our three separated wings. Over the years we have continued to add technology: each building level has a computer lab and every classroom has a SMARTBoard. This past year we added several carts of devices: Lenovo laptops, netbook minis, Macbook Airs and iPads. This allowed classrooms the opportunity to try out different devices and explore with what device was preferred if we should go 1:1.

Our District Tech Team put in a lot of work this year exploring schools that have gone 1:1 to see what works, what didn't, etc. They surveyed all staff and all students K-12, using the results to determine that in our district, the best place to start implementing 1:1 would be in our elementary (we did find other districts that started with the high school). This team developed a 3 year plan that ends with our district being 1:1 in every grade. The tech team presented to the school board a couple of different times to build their understanding of this initiative, which led to a unanimous vote for the purchase of the iPads for the elementary next year. Right after this decision was made, we began sharing information on our website for our parents/community to see, which can be found HERE.

So, now that the decision was made, what's next? Well, our tech people have been working like mad to get this large iPad order ready, along with the admin team planning when to bring in the Apple certified trainers. With any new initiative, the support must be there so we have decided to budget for training from Apple. We also had a logistical meeting with the elementary teachers to discuss how apps will be loaded, how ipads will be stored, etc. Here are some of those logistical details:

• Each classroom will have an Ergatron charging case.
• Each iPad will have Otterbox cases
• iPads will initially be set up with apps by grade level as requested by the grade level team
• Teachers will have full access to make their teacher iPad their own (this year they had department ipads all with the same apple account so they couldn't individualize them)
• As additional apps are requested they will be added to what will basically be our school App Store, which will be created using Casper Software.
• Additional wifi access points are being put into every classroom so that we have enough bandwidth for all of the additional devices.
• Every classroom will have an Apple TV to be able to project from any iPad to the SMARTBoard.

I think that's it for logistics. My next post will be on how can I support my teachers to transform instruction with these new iPads?

If your school or classroom has gone 1:1 are there any logistical issues that you encountered that we should know about? Please share if you do!

Edited to add:
Someone on Twitter asked me if students will be taking the iPads home with them? We have decided that at least for the beginning of this 3 year initiative students will not be bringing them home. A major reason for this is that our K-12 students all ride the same buses home so we were concerned about middle/high school students knowing that our students had iPads in their backpacks and if this could potentially cause theft issues. 

Know you're in the good old days...

Here is cross-post of my final Monday Musings post from my staff blog for the school year...inspired by one of my favorite t.v. shows...

This year was the final season for one of my favorite t.v. shows, The Office. I'm sure you can all relate to having one (or more) shows that you have come to love, have watched every week for years and then feel a great sadness when it comes to a close.  You've grown to know each of the unique characters as if they were actually a part of your life and can even make connections to events in real life.  It sounds silly...I know, it's just a t.v. show.

 If you are not familiar with The Office, the character Andy Bernard in the image above had left the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company to pursue other ambitions and returned for the last episode as the crew said their farewells.  When he came back to all of his colleagues and friends he realized how good he had it before he left and said, "I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you leave them."

As I watched this final episode, I couldn't help but think of our Dodgeland Family.   Just as any year, we've taken on a lot this year. There were times where we may have felt stressed, overwhelmed, or thought that the grass might be greener somewhere else, but as I've shared before, "the grass is greener where you water it."

 The work that we do at Dodgeland every day makes it a truly amazing place for our students to learn and grow each day. It is a school that I am proud to be a part of and to send my own children to. I want to thank each of you for the hard work you have put in every day to help each of your students achieve their greatest potential this year. Use this last week together to enjoy your students and colleagues or as Andy Bernard says, "Know you're in the good old days before you leave them"

Building my Writer's Habit with the Magic Spreadsheet

Sounds like a crazy title, right? If you're not interested in writing, you may not be interested in reading this post, but my writing friends may benefit.

I've previously shared that I have a dream of publishing a professional book and that I've even done some fictional writing that I'd like to get published so I've added some writing podcasts to my Morning Professional Development (listening to my iPod while getting ready each morning).  So far, the best podcast I've found is I Should Be Writing, by fictional author Mur Lafferty. In one of her podcasts she talked about how the Magic Spreadsheet gave her the motivation to write for 100 days.  I was intrigued and wondered what could possibly be so magical about a spreadsheet?  When I listened to how she and other writers use it, I knew it would totally be the magic I need.

I am the kind of person that likes to see progress in action. I like to mark a star on the calendar when I work out (ok, that was actually pre-ipod times for me), I liked seeing my weight chart go down in my fitness app when I was losing weight, I use the app Simple Goals to tally many of my daily goals, so the Magic Spreadsheet did look magical to me!

The idea of it is just a basic spreadsheet in which you enter the number of words that you write each day, with the goal of writing 250 words.  I have found that 250 words is really quite easy...just a couple of paragraphs in about 15 minutes.  Each day that you write 250 words or more, you get a point, but also an additional point for each consecutive day of writing.  So, on the fist day you get 1 point, second day-2 points, fourth day-4 points and so on. Stop a day of writing and you break the chain having to start with 1 point the day you write again.  The folks in Mur's writing network have actually gamified this so that they are entering their daily words into a public google spreadsheet and have all kinds of additional bonuses and can "level up" (like increasing their daily 250 word minimum to 400).  I was a little overwhelmed seeing their spreadsheet (and couldn't even figure out how to join in), but could easily figure out how to download the individual spreadsheet and get started.

It has been a week and I have used the magic to write for 7 consecutive days with a total of 2,787 words.  I was worried that it would be too soon for me to post this, but I have never written for 7 consecutive days so I think I'm in the clear. Within these seven days I had 1 day of the flu  and 2 days that I was so dead tired that I didn't think I could write 250 words, but did, because I didn't want to start over with 1 point...and I'm just "competing" with myself!  (Sidenote-This made me wonder if this could be something for students to develop a writers' habit? We may possibly be 1:1 with iPads next year, so Google Drive will need to add the word count feature to the iPads!)

Do you want to find the Magic Spreadsheet?  Go HERE  for the podcast. The link in the description takes you to their google doc, but the first person's comment in the post has a link to download the individual spreadsheet.

If you're a writer in my PLN and know how to turn this Magic Spreadsheet into a public google doc like Mur's writers did, please let me know, because I would love to do so (just couldn't figure it out!)

Changing Behaviors to Change Beliefs...A Personal Reflection

I recently had to give up drinking coffee due to chronic pain issues.  This was very hard for me to do, because I drank three cups of coffee a day (sometimes more).  Coffee was a staple of my life that I relied on for waking up, getting my ideas going, a pick-me up during the day, my energy when the day's work was tiring, a stress reliever and just the comfort of a warm cup in my hand.  When students at school draw pictures of me, they often include a coffee cup in my hand!  If you, too, are a coffee drinker, then I'm sure you can imagine my reluctance to give it up.

It was not easy, but I did what I was told while dragging my feet, not believing this could possibly help my situation.  I looked for decaffeinated teas to try to trick my brain by still having a hot cup in my hand, but it was so disgusting to me it was no substitute.  On mornings after a late night I struggled to get moving, thinking, "maybe just one cup wouldn't be so bad" but then mentally slapped my hand at the thought.  One day my self-control lacked and while on a drive to a meeting, my car was an auto-pilot and swung
through the McDonald's drive through to get my favorite mocha frappe as I always do without even realizing it until afterwards.  I'm not one to waste money, so I drank it knowing it was a dumb idea, and later regretted it (both mentally and physically).

Why am I sharing this? Not to whine, complain or get empathy...I promise I'm done with that aspect of my story! I share this, because it made me think of teaching practices, beliefs, and change.  It is often our beliefs

that drive our teaching practices and our experience leading to changes in our beliefs that changes our practices.  But what about when a change is given to us and we don't want it?  No matter what the change is, change is hard.

As I think about changes we have made in our building over the years, they haven't been easy.  I recently had a conversation with a teacher in which he talked about how much he hates change and didn't want to teach with Daily5/Cafe, but now loves teaching reading and writing.  He didn't want to teach with our new math program, Math Expressions, but now loves it.  Why?  Because he sees the incredible impact that both have had for student learning and enjoys teaching both subjects much more now.

If change can be good, then why do we resist change so much?

Most of us want to continue with what we already know, what we are comfortable with. It is easier that way.    It is what we believe to be "right."  I think some of my mornings could be much more enjoyable if I grabbed a cup of coffee, but then I remind myself of why I had to stop.  As a teacher, it is easy to revert back to old teaching habits or drag your feet on a new initiative, because what you are used to doing is already habit, is easy, and is what you know.  When we stick with the change and then see a positive change in student learning or student behaviors (or changes in whatever the initiative was meant to address), then we are convinced and become believers of the change.  For many of us, we need to change our behaviors to see the results that will impact our beliefs.

How to Turn Your Great Ideas into a Great ASCD Book

I have never shared this publicly on my blog, but I have a big dream of publishing a book.  If you follow my twitter conversations on the Wednesday night #educoach chat, then you could probably guess what I'd like to write about (and have been working on for quite some time now with Shira Leibowitz and Kathy Perret).
This is why I chose to attend the #ASCD13 session on "How to turn your great ideas into a great ASCD book" led by ASCD editors Genny Ostertag and Stefani Roth and by authors Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey. This was the perfect session for a writer to attend and I especially enjoyed hearing Fisher and Frey's stories on writing (I LOVE learning about authors!)

If you'd like to write, but maybe not a whole book Eric Vandenheuvel attended the ASCD session on publishing an article. HERE are the notes he took in that session (Thank you Eric!)

Here are my notes from this session:

What do you want to write about most?

Do: choose a relevant topic that meets a need in the field that you have expertise/experience to share. ASCD gives priority to topics that include  educating the whole child (their mission) and will look for this in a proposal.

What's your hook?

What really differentiates your content, what makes it special/different. What makes people think "that's a problem I have and I can solve it." Think of a spine supporting everything in it, provides a backbone for all the material. Make sure you have a fresh angle. 

Don't: give a gimmick or try to hard (ex: abc's list or sending with a teddy bear)

Who is your audience? who is your writing for? What outcomes will they be looking for? You must connect with your readers and offer solutions to their problems.  What keeps them up at night? Don't tell them it's for everyone.  If you say everyone will love it, then you likely haven't thought of your audience.

Competition--do you research to know your competition. What has been done already and why was it done? If there's nothing on it, it may be a reason. Don't assume your idea is original. Google your title, google under publishers. 

Starting April 15, ASCD will be accepting proposals in an online portal that will allow you to track your manuscript's progress.   Proposal guidelines are at www.ascd.org/write When you send in your proposal don't skim on sample material. They'd rather see the whole manuscript than just one chapter. They are important for the review team. They need to get to know you on the page. More is better than less.  

What do editors want? Top 5 qualities:

1. Original-What is original about your piece? Give fresh information.  Don't state the obvious (no lit review). 

2.  Research based-evidence based, make sure it is scalable/sustainable. Don't labor over methodology. Good example: new Principal Evaluation book by James Stronge. Not every book has to be that research-based. Could just have one chapter that includes the research and then move on to be practical. Don't just say "We know from research" and not cite anything.  

3. Practical- Provide guidance as specific as you can so people know, but don't be too academic. It needs to be readable. 

4. Specific-Offer helpful ideas, show what they look like in real classrooms/schools, don't over-generalizes so much that readers can't specify to their situations. If you can't figure out to apply to your school while you're reading, you'll stop reading. A great example is How to Create and use Rubrics.

5. Conversational-ensure your text is engaging, succinct, easy to navigate, be accessible, be yourself. An editor can help you add research, but they can't make it super conversational and give you personality...you need to do that. Don't include a lot of jargon or over-complicated language. Don't try to impress people with crazy big words. Don't be over-personal "I'm so great, I'm the best..."  Great example: How to Create a Culture of Achievement by Fisher and Frey.

DeClutter--make sure that other people can see themselves using it. Put forth the how-to. 

Do talk to published authors! Dont' stalk them!! (They must not be on twitter...my authors on twitter don't mind the stalking and have become great resources!)

Frey and Fisher sharing their writing tips

Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey shared their writing experiences and tips:

If you get a contract from a publisher-whatever date you negotiate...HIT IT! When they say your manuscript will come in on 11/15, that means they have lined up editors and the rest of the team for that date.  If you don't hit it, they will not want you for future books.  Add 3 months to what you say you can do and then ask the editor for that date and then hit it. If something comes up, tell them immediately so they can try to change it. They do NOT like it if you miss a deadline.

Fisher said (about their published books), "None of these are our titles! The marketing department gets the title and the cover...none of them were in our minds. Let it go, don't make the exact title/cover your concern. The marketing department knows what they're doing.  I don't even bother anymore...I just give a general "here's what the book is about" for the title."

Processes to write-everyone develops their own. Nancy writes in an office at Doug's house, because  his house is bigger and she won't get distracted by knowing what laundry needs to be washed!  They have 2 desks in one office to talk to each other to parcel out what they will each write about.  Planning process-they cover the back of the office door with sticky notes to sort based on those sticky notes.  Then they  put on individual sticky notes a shorthand about the point/tool and then easily move/sort ideas into chapters.  Gives a good visual for conversations.  

Other publishers-know who they are and who best fits your ideas. 

 Write about what you know. Look closely at your context/experiences, this is what you are expert in. Listen to what people ask of you, pay attention to the patterns that emerge in those questions. That's the idea that you need-if they're seeking you out about something, it means they can't find it out somewhere else and it means you're an expert in. 

Books are all about the same size. Do not write a thick book for ASCD. Aim for 50,000 words. If you're at 45,000 in chapter 3 you're writing too much. If you hit 60,000 it won't be thrown out, but you don't want it to be too long.  People want short chapters to read. They're busy and want to read small chunks in one sitting. If it's too long, they'll stop. 

When you send a proposal, do not send your first chapter--if you wrote it first, it won't be your best chapter. It's likely very general and probably won't show your conversational tone and practical examples.  Write the meat first and THEN write the 1st chapter. Otherwise you end up saying everything you want to say in the first chapter!

Nancy keeps a writer's notebook to jot down good ideas.  You don't want to lose your thoughts in busy lives. Keep track of super funny quotes too!!  Keep those little stories that could possibly be used.  

If you've been in education for a number of years, you have a book inside of you!  It's just that some people take the time to sit down and do it. Your butt in a chair...that's how you write a book!  Part of the writing process is like being a brick layer of words.  There's a level of discipline to keeping yourself from being distracted.  Schedule time to write. Treat it like a meeting. Schedule it just like a conference or something else that's important. Keep it as a promise to yourself. If you can't do that, how can you keep a promise to someone else.  

 Create a goal for each day, ex "today I will write this idea."  "Today I want to finish___" and then stop.  This will help you pace yourself better to finish the book.  You will get fatigued and get frustrated if you try to write for 8 hours a day.  Nancy writes notes about what they talked about so she can look back if they haven't written them yet.  You will paralyze yourself if you keep going back to reread what you've already written. Leave yourself a note to know where to start tomorrow and get going again.  

Doug said that staring at a blank page intimidates him so he opens a chapter from a previous book and writes notes on the top of the page and then copy/pastes it to where he's working...it's all a psychological thing for him!  Nancy-puts down a quote or a scenario to get something on the page. She may not keep it, but it gets the flow going.

Their first book started as a conversation in the car.  Her first chapter took 4 weeks to write---laboriously.  Now she writes fast.  It was hard for her emotionally to see the edits/revisions come back, because it's like your own child.  She's learned to become detached from that.  When you get your first book out, ask the publisher for a copy of the cover to frame on your wall...it feels good to look at it. 

And have you ever wondered how ASCD chooses their member books? (The free one you get with your membership?) It must weigh less than 1 pound!