Busy - #100DayProject - Day 003

How do you respond when people ask you about work or even life? If you're anything like me you probably respond with the phrase, "Good, but I'm pretty busy." Why do we do that? Why do we think being "busy" is such a good thing?

The amazing John Spencer (@SpencerIdeas | SpencerIdeas.org) is one of my education heroes because he has a way of saying things so directly and yet, so profoundly that you just have to stop and think. He has recently started making some amazing "Sketchy Videos" that you can find on his YouTube channel that are amazing. They have just the right amount humor mixed with thought-provoking ideas that I keep going back for more. Just today (April 3rd), John released a new video called "Quit Wearing Busy Like A Badge of Honor" that has really shaken me to my core. If you haven't seen it yet, please take two minutes and watch it below.

I am legitimately a busy person, but after watching this powerful video it makes me start to reconsider the things I am doing. Do I really need to be at my school so much or can I rework my schedule to be home more? Do I really need to be so involved in all the different social media groups that I enjoy or can I cut back a little and be more present with those people I am physically around? Do I need to attend so many different conferences or can I get by on attending less but being more diligent to learn at the ones I attend? Do I need to be so busy or am I wearing Busy like a badge of honor? 

Once again, I've been moved and forced to think a little bit more thanks to John Spencer. If you aren't already following him online, please do yourself a favor and remedy that situation. Thanks John for helping me rethink what I decide to do with my time.

Family Time - #100DayProject - Day 002

My Dad's Garden

Here I am trying to start a new habit and I'm barely going to make it with my #100DayProject post for Day 2! Why am I so late getting this in? I took time today to just be with my family and not worry about school stuff or really much other stuff at all. I live in a beautiful area and love being outside and today was great. I went with two of my kids, my Dad, and my special needs Aunt to get some garden plants to help my Dad get his garden ready. And the best part of helping him get his garden ready is that we reap a lot of the benefits too because we live directly behind my parents and have access to the garden as well.

We visited our favorite local nursery, Sandia Greenhouse, and were able to get so many great varieties of tomatoes, peppers, squash and even a watermelon. My kids LOVE to eat sweet peppers and tomatoes, so it's nice to know we will be able to access some delicious and healthy treats throughout the spring and summer months.

Closer look at two of the garden beds.

I realize this post hasn't been about education or technology, but that's okay. I figure I'll make sure the posts Monday - Friday are more education and technology related so I don't have too many of you decide to leave, but the weekends may be more personal since I'm more than just an educator. We all need to remember to take some time away from the classroom and be a regular person every so often. That's a piece of advice I need to be sure and take a little more often as well.

Starting the #100DayProject - Day 001

Image Source: TheGreatDiscontent.com

I have some pretty amazing friends who help inspire me to do great things. They are often making major changes to their classrooms and/or schools and they push me to try new things even if I'm a little nervous or scared to do it. And sometimes they even use peer pressure to get me to join them in their crazy antics as well. This is what has recently happened and now you all get to see how the latest round of "inspiration" turns out.

I was tagged in the following tweet from my good friend Stacey Lindes (@iruntech | iruntech.me) "inviting" me to join her in a crazy idea about making something for 100 days!

Who wants to do this w me? Start date-4-1-16. https://t.co/BZHixdbF8v #100dayproject pic.twitter.com/cuiYkbBKhy

— Stacey Lindes (@iruntech) March 30, 2016

Maybe it was more like peer pressure-ing me into it, but either way it worked because starting today (this counts as Day 001) I will be posting something to this site daily until the very end, Day 100, on Saturday, July 9th!  Wow, I hope you're all ready for this because I'm kind of excited and nervous all at the same time. This is something that I have wanted to do for a while but yet have been nervous to commit to anything. Here goes nothing.

Image Source: TheGreatDiscontent.com

Where did the idea for the #100DayProject come from? You can read more about it on TheGreatDiscontent.com/100days, but the gist of it is to get people making something for 100 days and see what they come up with. The original #100DayProject ran from April 6, 2015 until July 14, 2015, but Stacey thought we should start it again now and see what happens. I have always wanted to commit to writing more on this site and I figured this challenge was a great way to get me going.

 

Image Source: TheGreatDiscontent.com

In order for me to actually do this successfully, I need to set some ground rules so I can have the positive outcome I'm hoping for. Not that I want to block myself into something too rigid and difficult, but I really want to set some boundaries for myself so I can be more successful in the long run. I don't want to fizzle out and quit part way through so I think the following rules will really help ME to achieve this goal!

Rules:

1. I will have at least 1 post per day on EdTechBabble.net tagged with #100DayProject. I may do more than one, but I have to post at least once per day.
2. In order to make that happen, you may see all sorts of different things posted here besides just education or technology topics, but that's where the "babble" part of the title comes into play. 
3. In order for it to be considered a "post" it has to have at least 1 paragraph of text that is my own writing, not just a quick picture or quote. I want to see if I can improve my writing by taking part in this challenge and this is a good way to keep me honest. You may see some link-posts where I am sending you to check out another great article from some other site, but I will still include at least a paragraph of my own commentary with the link. A great example of a link post is when I wrote about Making Space on iOS where I linked to an article that Bradley Chambers wrote about how to move things around to make more space on an iOS device. It was a great article and I still stand by the ideas he shared. 

I hope you all will consider joining in the crazy fun of making something for 100 days to see what you can come up with. And if you do, please be sure to tag it with #100DayProject so we can all see what great stuff you are making.

Headed to #BETT2016 and #DigCitSummitUK

I have some amazing news! I have been invited to speak at the Digital Citizenship Summit UK (#DigCitSummitUK) this month in England! Yes, you read that right, I'm headed to England! This is one of the coolest things to happen in my professional career to date.

I'm very excited because I have always wanted to visit England and this will help me achieve that goal. But I'm even more excited because I get to speak at the #DigCitSummitUK which will be an amazing event focused on an important topic, Digital Citizenship.

The #DigCitSummitUK will be taking place on Saturday, January 23rd at Bournemouth University in Bournemouth, England. If you will be in the UK that weekend for the BETT Show, you should consider getting a free ticket and coming to the event. You can get your free ticket for the #DigCitSummitUK here.

The organizers of the #DigCitSummitUK purposely planned the summit to coincide with the BETT Show happening from Wednesday, January 20 - Saturday, January 23 so educators could attend both events. With that excellent planning, I will be able to attend both events and am very excited to do so! Then, I was contacted by Jenna Kleine with Class Dojo and asked to present at their booth on how I use their app along with Kahoot! and GoNoodle (all three are sharing a booth at BETT).

I am incredibly honored and excited to do these presentations.

Giving Thanks for Writing via #EdSurge

My amazing Mom & beautiful daughter on the Dumbo ride at Disneyland January 2014.

I was recently invited by Mary Jo Madda from EdSurge to share some thoughts on who taught me to write in an article posted yesterday as part of their Thanksgiving Day celebrations. I was so happy to write about my amazing Mom Diana because she is the best. She is a former elementary teacher turned entrepreneur who has led a successful business with my father since 1978. I am very grateful for her pushing me to be better in all that I do and for helping me to always reach for my dreams.

I was one of many contributors to the article including some of my EdTech buddies like Rodney Turner, Kayla Delzer, Mary Jo Madda, Jin-Soo Huh, Kyle Pace, and many others! You should definitely go take a look and while there check out a number of the other great EdSurge stories. I love my affiliation with EdSurge and the friendships I have made because of it.

I'll let you head over to EdSurge.com for the full article, but wanted to share it here as well.

Thanks Mom for all the help and support. I Love You!

#SUECON2015 Conference

SUECON.org

I am so excited to be a part of the SUECON 2015 Conference as both a presenter and staff for the 3rd time. This amazing conference will be held at the beautiful Desert Hills High School! I will be presenting four different sessions, so if you are in the Southern Utah area, stop by today or tomorrow for some great educational sessions about how to be a better educator with or without technology, although I prefer with whenever possible! If you aren't able to attend this great conference in person, feel free to attend digitally through the hashtag #SUECON2015. There will be lots of information to learn, so follow along and join in the learning process. 

I will be presenting the following sessions and would love to see you there!

Friday, November 6th:

4:50pm: 6 Technology Tools Every Teacher Should Be Using - Room 125 (In the Green Hall)

• Slides (pdf) - Coming Soon!
• Handout - Coming Soon!
• Dropbox Video - http://bit.ly/15CoDmd
• LastPass Video - http://bit.ly/WKRVOY
• Whether you are a techie teacher or a techno-novice, there are a number of online tools available to help you increase your productivity and perfect your computer skills. This session will cover five main technology areas: storage solutions, password management, bookmarking, information gathering and information sharing. Each of the five areas include multiple options to help allow for both flexibility of choice and availability of assortment. The different areas contain multiple tools, including; online flash drives, applications to help you remember your different passwords, the ability to save your Internet bookmarks to multiple web browsers and computers, sharing your bookmarks with others, RSS feeds, blogs, wikis, Twitter, and URL shorteners. Each of the areas contain both free and paid versions of tools allowing everyone the opportunity to use the products regardless of funding and finances.

Saturday, November 7th:

9:50am: Bringing Fun to Formative Assessment - Room 201 (In the Pink Hall)

• Google Slides (View Only) - Coming Soon!
• The last thing many people think of when they hear the word “assessment” is fun, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Come learn how to more effectively assess your students in ways that help the assessment to still be fun and not just another boring test! We will discuss great tools like clickers (SRS devices), Plickers, Kahoot!, and maybe even a QR code or two!
• Come learn how you can help your next Formative Assessment be more fun and engaging for your students!

12:00pm: Solving the Case of the Mystery Skype Classroom - Room 201 (In the Pink Hall)

• Google Slides (View Only) - Coming Soon!
• Get ready to load up the Mystery Machine and put on your Sherlock detective hat because it's time to solve the case of the Mystery Skype Classroom! Do you want to find ways to help your students learn more about other states or counties here in Utah? How about connecting with different classrooms across the U.S. or world? How can you do all these things with a shrinking or non-existent field trip budget? Come find out and learn how Mystery Skype can help you make learning fun again! 

2:50pm: Everything You Need to Know About #UTedChat & Other Twitter Chats - Room 125 (In the Green Hall)

• Google Slides (View Only) - Coming Soon!
• Twitter has become a very popular tool for educators to use when trying to improve their teaching skills because it allows you to connect with other teachers all over the world. Getting involved with different Twitter chats is another way teachers can increase their knowledge and have fun learning. #UTedChat is a weekly Twitter chat that focuses on Utah teachers and helps us connect with one another so we can learn from teachers in our own state dealing with some of the same questions and issues we face. 
• As fun as and informative as these Twitter chats can be, they can also be downright difficult to figure out how to follow along AND add to the conversation. Come learn how to effectively participate in these chats by learning about different technology tools that can help this process along. We will cover a multitude of different tools that will make following along as well as contributing a snap!
• We will look at both free and paid versions of tools allowing everyone the opportunity to learn and grow with #UTedChat each week as well as the many other Twitter chats available! 

If you do come out, please feel free to come and say Hi! I would love to meet you. Happy learning!

UEA 2015 Convention

http://www.myuea.org/for_professional_educators/uea_convention.aspx

I am so excited to be a part of the UEA 2015 Convention as a presenter. I will be presenting two different sessions, so if you are in the Northern Utah area, stop by today or tomorrow for some great educational sessions about how to be a better educator with or without technology, although I prefer with whenever possible! If you aren't able to attend this great conference in person, feel free to attend digitally through the hashtag #UEA2015. There will be lots of information to learn, so follow along and join in the learning process. 

I will be presenting the following sessions and would love to see you there!

Thursday, October 15th:

8:00am: Solving the Case of the Mystery Skype Classroom - Room 200 C&D

• Google Slides (View Only) - http://bit.ly/Mystery-Skype
• Get ready to load up the Mystery Machine and put on your Sherlock detective hat because it's time to solve the case of the Mystery Skype Classroom! Do you want to find ways to help your students learn more about other states or counties here in Utah? How about connecting with different classrooms across the U.S. or world? How can you do all these things with a shrinking or non-existent field trip budget? Come find out and learn how Mystery Skype can help you make learning fun again! 

10:45am: 6 Technology Tools Every Teacher Should Be Using - Room 200 C&D

• Slides (pdf) - http://bit.ly/1VTRYrN
• Handout - http://bit.ly/1Ox6JN9
• Dropbox Video - http://bit.ly/15CoDmd
• LastPass Video - http://bit.ly/WKRVOY
• Whether you are a techie teacher or a techno-novice, there are a number of online tools available to help you increase your productivity and perfect your computer skills. This session will cover five main technology areas: storage solutions, password management, bookmarking, information gathering and information sharing. Each of the five areas include multiple options to help allow for both flexibility of choice and availability of assortment. The different areas contain multiple tools, including; online flash drives, applications to help you remember your different passwords, the ability to save your Internet bookmarks to multiple web browsers and computers, sharing your bookmarks with others, RSS feeds, blogs, wikis, Twitter, and URL shorteners. Each of the areas contain both free and paid versions of tools allowing everyone the opportunity to use the products regardless of funding and finances.

If you do come out, please feel free to come and say Hi! I would love to meet you. Happy learning!

Online Read Aloud Stories

Image Source: Storyline Online Facebook Page

I was just introduced (thanks so much Noel - @DrewEdu) to a great website where members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Foundation read aloud picture books and you watch them in a video. The site is called Storyline Online (Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube) and it is a free source for read alouds read by actors.

Storyline Online has 28 different books and the ones I have listened to have been very enjoyable. Each video has a run time so you can see how long it will take to read through it. They also have Free downloadable pdf Activity Guides to help you use the book in your class as well as links to buy each book with a small 8% being kept by the SAG Foundation. Take a look and see if one of these books would fit into something you are already doing, or make a plan based around one of these great read aloud stories, because it might be fun for the students to hear from another voice for a read aloud.

I have included the first read aloud video I watched because it is still one of my favorites. It is called  To Be a Drum (Goodreads Link | Amazon Link) and it is written by Evelyn Coleman (Website | Twitter) and read aloud by the great James Earl Jones (IMDb page). Yes, it is read by the voice of Darth Vader and Mufasa, along with many other incredible acting roles.

If you tried this site with your students, let me know how they enjoyed it. So far, mine have loved it and keep asking about when they get to watch another great read aloud by a famous person. Apparently they have forgotten that they already get to have a read aloud with a famous person almost daily, ME their teacher! Maybe we better watch another one today in class?

MLK Day 2015

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! The more I learn about this holiday the more thankful I am for it. It has become a Day of Service and a reminder to help those around you so we can all live in a better country.

From the website NationalService.gov:

On MLK Day, Americans across the country come together for a day of service, picking up the baton handed to us by past generations and carrying forward their efforts. As one people, we show that when ordinary citizens come together to participate in the democracy we love, justice will not be denied.  

So make the commitment to serve you community throughout the year - and make MLK Day a day on, not a day off.

For more information regarding MLK, Jr. Day, visit NationalService.gov and Serve.gov. 

Let's get out there and do some service today! 

House of #EdTech Podcast Guest

I LOVE podcasts, as I have previously discussed here, and consider them to be one of my favorite forms of entertainment as well as professional development, depending on the specific podcast and/or the content of the show. With that said, I have never been on an actual podcast even though I have always had a secret desire to start one myself (one day, but not yet). I have always wanted to guest on one but had never had the opportunity until recently. I was lucky enough to be a guest on the House Of #EdTech podcast episode 22, hosted by my buddy Chris Nesi of ChrisNesi.com. It was an absolute pleasure to talk to Chris and share some of my background in education and technology.

I would love for you take a few minutes and listen to this episode (as well as recommend the previous 21 episodes!) and then let me know what you think. House of #EdTech is a podcast I have been listening to since it started almost a year ago and feel that it has been a great help in my own teaching. If you don't listen regularly then you need to change that and start today. Chris releases new episodes every other week so you get two new episodes each month and I personally would love to see him have the time to go weekly, but understand the time commitment that would take. Maybe down the road we'll get a weekly show, but until then I LOVE seeing a new episode appear in my podcatcher of choice, InstaCast.