What's Your School Saying About PARCC?

Some schools are putting an unbelievable amount of pressure on their students to perform well on the new PARCC exams.  Others are not.  Here is a quick video I shared with our families today to let them know where we were coming from in terms of PARCC testing.  Some of our kids are dealing with enough in their young lives, the last thing they need is added pressure from their school.

Teach Like A PIRATE Day Presentation, OMLA 2015

Here is the Teach Like A PIRATE Day presentation I did at the Ohio Middle Level Association State Conference on 2/13/15.  This would be a great resource for any school or team thinking about doing their own TLAP Day.

For those who are unfamiliar with Teach Like A PIRATE, check out the 2nd video below for a quick explanation.

Let Them Pick Their Passion

The vision of our school is for students to Learn AND have fun.  Anyone who knows me knows it is an "and" not an "or."  As a staff we discussed this, and it is important to point out that this is our vision, not just my vision.  How the "and" looks varies by classroom, and this is something I have really embraced over the past month.

We have some teachers who have embraced Dave Burgess' Teach Like A PIRATE style and are creating engaging experiences in their classrooms.  I would want to be in these classes.  Others have been passionate about Project Based Learning, and I would want to be in these classes as well.  Others are embracing the work of Alan November and his idea of Who Owns The Learning? These students are creating their own instructional videos for the world to see. We have flipped classes, blended learning, station rotation models, you name it, someone is implementing it.  I want to be in those classes.

You may ask, is this good for kids and good for your school? Seem like a lot of different things going on. I say yes, and here is why.  Our kids are learning AND having fun.  Just as important, our teachers are using the methods in which THEY are passionate about to achieve this vision.  If they are passionate about it, they will work hard to make it better, and in the end, create a better learning environment for our kids.

I love walking around our building and stopping in the classes to see what is happening.  I usually do not want to leave.  Fortunately most of the students feel that way too.

Big Walnut Intermediate is a 5-6 building in Sunbury, Ohio.  The school has 530 students and 31 full-time teachers.

Ways Your School Can Use Social Media: Instagram

I am excited to be presenting at the Ohio Educational Technology Conference and the Ohio Middle Level State Conference in February about how your school can use social media to connect and communicate with your families.  Many, if not all of these methods would be considered pretty unconventional.  One of those ways is how we are using Instagram.

At Big Walnut Intermediate School, in Sunbury, Ohio, we have set up a school Instagram account and have been using it for about a year.  Now I know that statement right there scares many administrators, but in the year we have been using it, we have had ZERO negative interactions associated with it.

If you are unfamiliar with Instagram, think of it as Twitter with pictures or 15 second videos.  It is more along the philosophy of "A picture is worth a thousand words."  One of the ways we use it is probably what you would expect.  If I see something worth sharing, I snap a quick picture or video with my phone or tablet and put it on Instagram as a way to share the great things happening in our school.  The kids LOVE it.

The second way we use Instagram, and I got this idea from Eric Lowe, an assistant principal at Beaver Local Middle School in Lisbon, Ohio, is to share a positive message each morning (some examples are below).  The majority of the the people who follow our school's Instagram account are students.  The feedback I receive on Instagram is based on how many "likes" a photo or video receives.  The daily positive message receives MORE likes than any other photo or video I post on Instagram.  Even if these positive messages are only getting one or two kids off on the right foot in the morning, it is worth doing.  I believe it is impacting more than that.

Our kids and our staff work very hard, and that is no different than any other school in this world.  That work should be shared with as many people as possible.  Using social media allows us to do just that.  

Eric and I will be presenting on the various ways we use social media to tell our school's story.  Feel free to connect with us.

We Met The Pirate, Again.

Due to the generosity of a few Ohio educators, I was able to see Dave Burgess speak twice in the past year.  Last December, Brian Seymour (@seymoureducate) from the Pickerington Local School District in central Ohio invited me to their PD day in which Dave was the Keynote speaker.  Today, Kent Polen (@KentPolen), superintendent at Beaver Local School District  invited me to eastern Ohio to participate in their PD day in which Dave was working with their staff all day long.  Kent told me to fit as many teachers as I could in my car for the road trip.

As if I needed any more examples to highlight the value on connecting via Twitter.  I cannot thank these educators enough for their thoughtfulness.

Four of my teachers and I woke-up at 4 AM and made the three hour drive across the state to see the legend.  For me, Dave did not disappoint.  For my teachers, he was unbelievable to see in person.  His book is fantastic but you do not understand his passion until you see him live.  Those were my thoughts a year ago in Pickerington.  

Watching Dave present to a gym full of educators was unreal to see.  When I was a teacher, I will admit, we were not always the most receptive group ever to assemble.  However, once again, he had the audience engaged.  When you watch him, you do not get the sense that he his lecturing you or telling you how to do your job.  Rather, he is pumping you up so that you want to do a better job.

Our three hour car trip back home was just as productive.  We talked about some of the things he said and how we could apply them to make our school a place kids look forward to attending.  If you ever get the chance to see him speak, jump at the opportunity.   

Our School Has Embraced Social Media

I will admit, reading Eric Sheninger's post, A Wake Up Call For School Leaders, caused me to write this post.  In essence, he was stating that too many educational leaders are talking a good game when it comes to technology integration into their school, however there lacks substance once you actually look at what they are doing, and this needs to change if we truly want to see improvements in education.

By no means do I feel as though Eric was calling me out, nor is this post a chance for me to prove my school is actually walking the walk.  This is about seeing it in practice.  In education, we talk about making changes in instruction, and some people get it and go, while others struggle because they need to "see" what that shift actually looks like.  I am sure the same is true with educational leaders.  

Perhaps we are doing something different at BWI that will be an eye opener.  Maybe we are not.  If nothing else, you will be able to see the things we are doing in a 5th and 6th grade building, and maybe that will be enough to give you that nudge to take the first step for your school.

We use Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and a school blog to inform our families and communities about what is going on in our school.  Facebook has actually been great for two way communication.  We allow comments, which can be a scary thought.  However I would rather see those comments than have them happen behind my back.  

This is the second year we have produced a weekly video newsletter and it has been by far, the most impactful, positive thing we have done to tell our story.  Examples and links are below.

School Facebook
Big Walnut Intermediate Facebook Page

School Twitter
Big Walnut Intermediate Twitter Page

Video Newsletter
BWI Video Newsletter

School Blog
BWI 180 Days Of Awesome

We allow our 5th and 6th graders to bring their own devices, use our WiFi, and many of them even use my office in times of an emergency need to recharge.  Do the kids make mistakes and misuse the devices?  Occasionally.  We use those opportunities as learning experiences.

I used to be the principal that locked everything down.  I did not want to see the devices in our building, Social Media was taboo in schools, and I was on patrol.  Then the lightbulb clicked for me, and honestly, Eric Sheninger had a big influence on that.  Am I where I need to be as an educational leader in terms of technology?  Who knows.  What I do know is, we are telling our story, we are using multiple pathways to tell that story, and our school is better off for it.

Connected Educator Month Is Over...Now What?

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to present at our district's professional development day.  It was set up sort of like a trade show at a conference.  Teachers could stop by any "booth" and stay for as little or as long as they liked.  My booth was "Twitter, It's Not Just For Justin Bieber Anymore."  Those who know me know I am a huge proponent of using Twitter for educational purposes.  I originally thought Twitter was stupid because I did not understand it.  Many teachers feel this way.  My goal on this day was to convert a few of them by explaining the benefits.

One teacher stopped by my booth and said "I have a Twitter account, I tried to use it with my class, it was hugely unsuccessful.  Twitter is dumb, and nothing you are going to say to me will change my mind."  Game on.

I asked her how she was using Twitter and she explained that she was tweeting questions hoping her students would respond and they were not responding.  I told her I thought that was a pretty creative idea, but asked her if she ever thought about using Twitter as a research tool.  She had not.  I began showing her how she could connect with other educators in her content area and how she could learn lesson ideas they were sharing on Twitter.  I showed her that Twitter could be a tool for research and connecting.  

Four minutes had elapsed since she made her initial statement to me.  She was now hooked.

I used to be the anti-technology anti-social media principal.  The main reason was, I just did not understand it.  Once I did, it was like a new world had been opened to me.  I will never go back.  Our school has benefitted greatly from the connections my staff and I have made.  It was certainly a group effort.  Some examples are:

• School Twitter account
• School Instagram account
• School Facebook Page
• Teach Like A PIRATE Day
• Mystery Skype
• The Video Newsletter
• Genius Hour Club
• School blog

We learned about many of these from other educators and tweaked them to make them our own.  There is no sense in reinventing the wheel if someone already has and they are willing to share.  We simply modify it to make it the best wheel for our kids.  Our communication with families has never been better and I believe our kids have never loved coming to school more than they do now.

So to all of the new educators who joined Twitter in October, keep connecting, keep reaching out, and keep bringing great ideas to your school.  Your kids will be glad you did.