Using Instagram to Hook Your Students.

How can you use Instagram to build anticipation?  How about using the platform to hook students.  It can lead to kids running TO your classroom.

A team of teachers I previously worked with used Instagram in this way very effectively.  The lesson and activities were pretty engaging, but what took it to the next level was the anticipation they built with their students using Instagram.  You can see a photo below of how they hooked their students.  The teachers posted this on Instagram the day before the lesson.

Did you look at the comment section?  The first comment was from a current student who was curious about the activity.  The next two comments were from former students.  Not only are they still connected to those teachers, but they are helping to build excitement by their comments.

It was always fun to be in the halls on a day like this because kids were hustling TO class.  No one was late.  The kids were the ones bugging the teachers by saying "Let's go, let's go."



Ryan is the Director of Special Education in the West Muskingum Local School District and principal of West Muskingum Elementary School in Zanesville, Ohio.  He is also the co-author of the book Your School Rocks...So Tell People!

Luck of the Irish

Ryan Patrick McLane.  You could say my parents went all-in with our family's Irish heritage.

About a week and a half ago, my family and I were heading home to Ohio from a weekend trip to a NASCAR event in Chicago (my first one ever, from the pits, probably a future post) and stopped in South Bend, Indiana.  I am a huge Notre Dame fan.  My dad went there, as did my younger brother. I would like to say the reason I didn't attend school there was because it did not have an education program, but in reality, it had more to do with my SAT scores and unimpressive class rank. Anyways, I never held a grudge and always appreciated what the university stood for.

As we checked into our hotel a little after 10 PM, everyone was tired and ready to go to bed.  Everyone except for me.  I was like a kid on Christmas Eve.  I told my wife I was going to drive over to the campus and walk around.  I really wanted to see the Grotto at night.  I'd be back by 11:30 PM (although they would all be asleep, so it wouldn't matter).

I hit most of the typical spots, Touchdown Jesus, the stadium, the Golden Dome, and the Grotto.  It was really nice being there, at night, in the summer, on a non-football weekend.  Pretty quiet and peaceful. 

I walked back to my car, hopped in and started to drive away.  Thump, thump, thump.  I got out, looked around, and sure enough, my rear passenger tire was as flat as a pancake.  Now when I say car, I really mean van. I also know my limitations and changing a tire at 11:41 PM on a Saturday night in South Bend would meet those limitations.

My initial (and very brief) reaction about the whole situation was like "You've got to be kidding me." I mean who really wants to deal with a flat tire, let alone while coming back from a vacation?

I hopped back into the van, got out my wallet and phone and called AAA.  As I gave the nice lady my information I noticed my membership expired in exactly 19 minutes.

As a principal, I talk with kids and adults about having a positive attitude.  Our positive behavior program is based on the equation E + R = O.  The Event plus our Response will greatly influence the eventual Outcome.  Time to put my money where my mouth is.

I said to myself, "This could be worse."  Yes, I was stranded, but I was stranded in a parking lot on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. I was not on the side of a highway.  The weather was perfect.  My family was not stuck in this situation, as they were fast asleep in our hotel room.  And my AAA membership was still valid for a few more minutes.  I was also a block away from the Gug (athletic complex).  Again, there could be worse places to kill an hour.

Robert from the local towing company showed up at about 12:45 AM, changed my tire, and I was on my way.  Instead of being miserable and upset for an hour, I just smiled at how lucky I was.  Like we tell the kids, we are going to experience adversity in life, how are we going to handle it?  In the grand scheme of things, I cannot even consider this event adversity. Just a little inconvenience.




Ryan is the Director of Special Education in the West Muskingum Local School District and principal of West Muskingum Elementary School in Zanesville, Ohio.  He is also the co-author of the book Your School Rocks...So Tell People!

Take Your Time, You Won't Get A Pass.

More and more schools are using social media to share their stories with their community stakeholders.  When Eric Lowe and I wrote Your School Rocks, part of our purpose was propose a compelling argument for why schools should use social media, and ways they could do it.

As the number of schools that use these powerful tools increases, we want to make sure we continue to give you tips so that it can continue to be a positive experience and you can be as successful as possible.

Tweets from the U.S. Department of Education began to flood my timeline this morning, and I could only wonder what happened.  It did not take too long to notice not one, but two facepalm moments (DeBois and apologizes).

 

Whether you are sending a tweet, Facebook update, or posting on Instagram, if it is coming from your school or district account, spelling matters.  Do typos happen?  Absolutely.  Especially when you are using a smartphone.  However, it is important to make sure you catch them before you publish those posts or tweets because they are coming from your school and people will not give you a pass.

1. You have to proofread.  Yes it will take you a few more minutes, but it will save you from some major embarrassment.
2. Autocorrect is not always your friend.  This is probably where I catch most of my mistakes.  I am not suggesting you disable this feature, but be aware this can change some things you didn't want changed.
3. Don't hit send/post/tweet right away.  You will see or capture a moment in a classroom that is truly amazing and you will immediately want to share it with your community.  That's great, but just slow down before you hit the button.  This is where many errors occur.
4. If you make a mistake, own it.   Just don't misspell your apology.

Ryan is the principal of Big Walnut Intermediate School in Sunbury, Ohio and co-author of Your School Rocks...So Tell People!  Dave Burgess Consulting.

We've Gotten Ourselves Into This Mess, It's About Time We Get Ourselves Out

I've intentionally given myself a few days before I commented on Donald Trump's selection of a new Secretary of Education.  Many people, especially those associated with public schools, were very concerned when he met with Michelle Rhee before Thanksgiving to presumably discuss the position.  What many of us in education did not expect is that he would actually bypass Rhee, and select Betsy Devos, a staunch supporter of vouchers and school choice, and someone, if you were to question their experience as an educator, you would actually struggle to come up with what question to ask.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we as public schools got ourselves into this mess.  For years, we were the only show in town.  Play by our rules and if you didn't like it you could pay tuition somewhere else.  If not, too bad.  There was virtually no competition, thus no real reason to go out of our way to promote the positive things happening in our schools or to have acceptable customer service.  Then that all changed.  Charter schools, vouchers, and open enrollment brought a capitalistic mentality into education, a real life survival of the fittest. 

Here's the thing.  It's up to us to get ourselves out of this mess, and I hate to break it to you, but it is not going to be a quick fix.  I am not just talking about public schools either.  Charters schools have been branded by many as a waste of taxpayer money with little to show in terms of student growth.  I'm talking to you too.  Your school doesn't fit the stereotype of being a bad school?  THEN IT IS TIME TO CHANGE THE NARRATIVE. We need to change our actions as well as our stories.  We cannot neglect customer service in our schools.  It is actually an easy thing to correct.  We need to improve what we are doing instructionally.  Finally, we need to change the perception of our schools by sharing the positive stories.  Not bragging about our school.  Brag about the accomplishments of your students and staff.  It is time to share those stories.

Our President-elect, Donald Trump said the following when talking about school choice:

"Their parents will choose the finest school.  They will attend that school."

Is that your school?  Is your school the best choice available?  Many people aren't sure.  It's time to change the narrative and let them know.

Ryan McLane is a principal in Ohio and the co-author of Your School Rocks...So Tell People.

The Barge and Jet Ski of Education

Our district was fortunate enough to have Matt Miller, author of Ditch that Textbook, come and talk to and work with our teachers today.  Any time I attend a conference or PD day like this, it is my goal to come away with one thing.  If I can come away with one thing that is going to have a positive impact on kids, it made the day or training worth attending. 

Matt shared many things, some of which I did not know existed (Gone Google Story Builder).  Earlier in his address, he talked about how change in education was like a barge that needs to change direction.  Once a barge gets going, it is very difficult and very time consuming to change its course.  I would say that is a perfect analogy for education as a whole.

But it was something he closed his keynote address with that really stuck with me.  He said the best part of teaching is that your classroom is like a jet ski.  Just as a jet ski can turn on a dime, so can you, whether you are a teacher or a principal.

I fall into this trap all too often.  I see the many things that are wrong with education as a whole and become frustrated when the "barge" takes too long to change course.  I needed to be reminded of this:

Control what I can control.

As educators, we still have a great amount of control over what happens in our classroom.  If we want to personalize and engage students in an innovative way, we can begin working on that tomorrow.  As a building principal I cannot lose sight of this.  I have a great deal of control over what happens in our school regardless of how slow a state or federal agency is.  I have the ability to share the great and innovative things that our kids get to experience in our school thanks to our staff members who are willing to be innovative and to take risks.  We share photos and videos on Facebook, we do a weekly video newsletter, we engage and inspire our kids on Instagram, all in addition to engaging them with learning experiences in school.  It is easy to become frustrated with education as a whole but we need to remember that we still have a great deal of control, and we are much more like a jet ski, than we are the barge when it comes to education.  

Ryan McLane is a principal in Ohio and co-author of Your School Rocks...So Tell People.

Teach Like A PIRATE Day 2016...Yes You Read That Correctly

Teach Like a PIRATE Day is a day in which we put educational author Dave Burgess' question to the test -- if kids didn't have to be there, would you be teaching to an empty room?  Our kids come to school, attend homeroom for attendance, and when the bell rings, they run to any class that is of interest to them.  Yes, you read all of that correctly.

Our teachers create "experiences" based on their content areas and we compile them in a guidebook which we hand out to the kids a few days before the big day.  One student was walking to homeroom with his guidebook and he said to me, "Mr. McLane, this might be the only time a teacher has given me a piece of paper that I was told to bring back to school that I actually brought back to school."

We had a drone, singing, black light science, the Amazing Race in which kids ran around our campus solving math problems (find the circumference of this bicycle tire) and 25 other amazing experiences that the kids could choose from.  They didn't just choose, they were virtually running to the next class.  Yes, you read that correctly again.

I had a parent contact me last night, TLAP Day Eve, to tell me her high school daughter was jealous of her two younger brothers, because they got to experience TLAP Day and she didn't when she was in 6th grade.  I found out this morning that the high school was on a 2-hour delay schedule today and she had pleaded with her mom to allow her to come to school early, spending the first two hours at our building participating in the amazing activities and then go to the high school two hours later.  High school kid.  Chance to sleep in.  Last week of school.  Wanted to come to school early.  Yes you read that correctly.

In an era in which there are so many experts who have so many opinions on what is wrong with our schools and how they can be fixed, we constantly overlook the simplest of things.  Do the kids want to be there?  It is a simple thing to overlook, but a major mistake if we do.  At our school, we don't try to make school awesome once a year, we strive to do it 180 days a year.

Ryan McLane is the principal at Big Walnut Intermediate School in Sunbury, Ohio and co-author of the educational book, Your School Rocks...So Tell People.

Social Media...The Tool.

Over the past few months, I have had the opportunity to talk to college students, young educators, and those who have been in the game much longer than me.  I enjoy doing this because it always gives me an opportunity to learn something and I often self-reflect based on the questions I am asked.  And here is what really hit me lately.  It's not about Twitter, and Facebook, and Instagram.

Now you may be thinking, wait a second, you just wrote a book on using social media, is he jumping ship?  Not at all.  The point that may be getting missed, and perhaps I've done a poor job emphasizing this point, is the "why" of social media.

You see, we use all of those tools I mentioned in our school.  We use them on a regular basis.  But we do not use them because they are cool, or neat, or different.  We use them because they are effective ways to communicate with our students' families and our community.  Social media is the tool, and right now it has been the most effective and efficient tool in making sure the message and communication we are trying to establish, not only happens, but is mutually beneficial.

Back in the day, email and school websites were all the rage.  Gary Vaynerchuk, a social media expert, talks about how when email first came out, everyone opened every piece of email they ever received.  And they read it.  Things have changed.  Think about the number of unread emails in your inbox (mine is higher than I'd like to admit).  It is no longer the most effective method of communication.  I also hate to break this news to you, but your school website is not the first place people are going to when they are looking for information about an upcoming school event.

Here's my point.  If all of a sudden people went back to opening and reading every single piece of email, guess what I'd be using to communicate with our families?  You got it.  I don't love social media because it is social media.  I love it because it is the greatest vehicle we currently have to engage our communities.  Right now that is Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube (sorry Twitter).  And when that changes to something more efficient and impactful, I'll be moving right along and adapt.  But don't forget why you are doing this in the first place. You are trying to build relationships, keep your families informed, and have opportunities for two-way communication.  That's the point that can't get lost.

Ryan McLane is the principal at Big Walnut Intermediate School in Sunbury, Ohio and co-author of the educational book, Your School Rocks...So Tell People.