Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Leading Education: 10 Powerful Twitter Posts from 2015

Photo by Got Credit, CC BY 2.0

 Educators are a powerful force on Twitter. The learning and sharing is outstanding. Here's a look back at 10 powerful tweets from 2015. These thought leaders always challenge and inspire.

 1. Todd Whitaker flips boring professional development on its ear. When educators learn, it should also inspire more engagement and excitement about teaching and learning.



2. An earlier image described what kids should do with technology, but how does that apply to leaders? It's not about the tools, but how the tools support enduring goals of connecting, leading, and learning.



3. Beth creates and shares many beautiful and inspiring images. We should always be reminded of the power of our words on students. We should always aim to encourage and lift up.



4. This encouraging Tweet from Sylvia Duckworth honors the journey of each individual towards tech greatness. I really enjoy the creativity and visual brilliance of Sylvia's sketchnotes. Great ideas!



5. Every teacher can relate to this meme. If only our students could understand. We all enjoy Twitter humor to brighten the day.



6. 2015 was a big year for Google Classroom, and Alice Keeler is a guru on the subject. Her blog is packed with tips and tricks for getting the most out of Google in the classroom.



7. This post had a simple but profound message. What do students want to hear from teachers? Great advice for making interactions with students more meaningful. 



8. Tech and teaching rock star Vicki Davis shared this image. It's a great menu of options for students to reflect on learning.



9. This chart shared by Derek McCoy extends the classic KWL chart to take thinking deeper.



10. Warning: Shameless plug alert. Yes, I included one of my Tweets in this list. I'm not sure the origin of this brilliant and widely-shared image, but it captured my imagination. Adaptable learning IS the skill of the future.



Bonus: If you want to make some noise on Twitter, just tweet that school is closed. My daughter Emma would love to have that power.


Question: Which of these Tweets is your favorite? Or, do you have an awesome Tweet of your own to share? Leave a comment or share on Twitter and Facebook. 
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Monday, December 28, 2015

Leading Education: 10 Amazing Blog Posts From 2015












As the new year approaches, it's a great opportunity to reflect on the past year and to look forward to what lies ahead. So here is a collection of outstanding posts from 2015. It's an exciting time to be an educator. Innovation, creativity, and growth mindset continue to be important themes. These 10 posts are certain to give more clarity to your work as an educator as we head into the new year.

 1. MindshiftKQED - Sir Ken Robinson: Creativity Is In Everything, Especially Teaching. 

 Ken Robinson's newest book, Creative Schools, was published in April. This excellent post highlights a few of the main points from the book. Creativity is a process of having original ideas that have value. It's about fresh thinking. Creativity is not the opposite of discipline and control. It's not a linear process, but a passion for discovery and learning.  

 Sir Ken Robinson: Creativity Is In Everything, Especially Teaching

2. Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator - The Teacher Is Not The Most Important Factor When It Comes To Learning

 Conventional thinking is that the teacher has the greatest impact on student learning. Although teachers make an impact, Lisa Nielsen exposes the myths taking this thinking to far. She explains that the student is still the most important factor in learning, and if we would design learning with that in mind, we could make incredible progress in education. The questions below help to illustrate the point.

 If the answer to any of the below questions is "no," even a great teacher will find their job difficult.

  1. Does the students care about the topic?
  2. Does the student want to learn the topic?
  3. Is the teacher's style compatible with how the student learns best?
  4. Is the student developmentally ready to learn the topic?
  5. Is the student fluent in the language of the topic that is being taught?
  6. Does the student live with his or her parents?
  7. Does the student live above the poverty line?
  8. Is the student healthy?

Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: The Teacher Is Not The Most Important Factor When It Comes To Learning

3. TeachThought - 7 Strategies to Help Students Ask Great Questions

 This post was part two of the TeachThought feature on questioning as a strategy for learning. 

 7 Strategies To Help Students Ask Great Questions

4. A.J. Juliani - Technology Can Transform Education, But Not Without People

As 18,000 educators were descending on Philadelphia for ISTE 2015, A.J. Juliani published this fantastic piece. He writes about the connections with people that are possible now as a result of technology, and that is the most important thing. It's not about the tools available themselves, but how they allow us to connect, build, and grow. 

Technology can transform education, but not without people #ISTE2015 - A.J. JULIANI


5. Classroom Q & A with Larry Ferlazzo - Response: Classroom Strategies to Foster a Growth Mindset

 Growth mindset continued to be a major topic of discussion in 2015. Larry Ferlazzo published this piece with contributions from growth mindset guru Carol Dweck and a number of reader comments. Dweck gives three things you can do right away in the classroom to influence student mindsets. There is also a great video with a student reflecting and challenges and mistakes. 

Response: Classroom Strategies to Foster a Growth Mindset

6. Edutopia - The 8 Minutes That Matter Most

 English teacher Brian Sztabnik addresses the most important part of lesson planning, the endings and beginnings. It's so important to create suspense and capture your students interest to keep curiosity and learning at a high level, even beyond the class period. You'll want to try the four strategies for beginning a lesson and four strategies for ending. Great stuff! 

The 8 Minutes That Matter Most

7. Bethany Hill - The Time is NOW to Innovate!

 When is the right time to innovate? Right now of course! Innovation has been one of the hottest topics of 2015. And the Innovators Mindset by George Couros has fueled the discussion. In this blog post, Beth Hill reflects on how to start the discussion in your school. She reminds us we have to view innovation as a mindset. When we do, we can begin to innovate in every opportunity we have in our school.

 The Time is NOW to Innovate!

8. Aaron Hogan - 5 Ways To Spread Optimism in Times of Change

 It's not uncommon to encounter resistance to change, but how can we turn negative comments into opportunities for positive growth? Aaron Hogan details five ways to influence the person who is set on responding to every idea with "yeah but" phrases. Responding with optimism is essential for an effective leader.

 5 Ways To Spread Optimism in Times of Change - Leading, Learning, Questioning


9. David Geurin - What If Schools Were More Like Google and Starbucks

 Warning: Shameless plug alert! Yes, at the risk of self-promotion, I will include one of the top posts from my blog in 2015. But I must credit Eric Sheninger for his inspiration. After spending a day learning with him in Kansas City, I just needed to explore some of the ideas a little further. Can you imagine if we took lessons from some of the most forward thinking companies and applied them to education? Well, that's what I describe in this post.
@DavidGeurin Blog

10. We Are Teachers - The Emojis of Teaching

 Perhaps one of the most fun pieces of 2015, this post looks at how emojis can be used to describe the teacher experience, both the ups and the downs of the profession. Every educator will get a good laugh out of this post, and you'll be able to relate I promise.  

 WeAreTeachers: What These 34 Emojis Really Mean to Teachers


Question: What are some of your favorite blog posts from 2015? Share a link in the comment section or give a shout out to your favorite blogger on Twitter or Facebook.
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Saturday, December 26, 2015

Schools Should Never Confuse Excellence and Success


The problem with success is that it usually involves comparison to others. How do I measure up? Did I win? Was I the best? Was I the smartest? When individuals, teams, or schools are focused on success, anything less than first place is disappointing. Setbacks and failures can be devastating.    

 In contrast, excellence is a habit of mind. It's about being the best we can be. Excellence is giving your best effort, maximizing your talents and gifts, and reaching for your highest potential. When you seek excellence, you realize failures and successes are inevitable along the way. 

 Even when you seek success, you may still find failure. But when you seek excellence, success usually finds you.

 10 Thoughts on Success vs. Excellence

1. Positive culture and motivation are harmed when schools focus on success. We should take success and failure in stride and aim for excellence. Even when we fall short of the expectations of others, we can still demonstrate excellence daily.

 2. It's too bad that excellent things happening in a school might be overshadowed by test scores, or other measures, that weren't as successful compared to a neighboring school or district.

 3. Some of the best work happening in schools is overlooked. Quiet excellence needs to be recognized and celebrated too. 

4. Often the school or teacher that is celebrated for "success" enjoyed a distinct advantage from the start. They started at third base, but everyone thinks they hit a home run.

5. Schools seeking success play the testing game. They take actions that are not really best for student learning, hoping they might result in higher test scores. Test prep and teaching to the test are unfortunate examples of this.

6. When teachers compare themselves to others, it invites either despair or pride. The despairing teacher: "I can never be as well-liked by the students as so-and-so." The prideful teacher: "I am so glad I don't have classroom management problems like so-and-so." Excellence isn't about comparison.

7. Educators motivated by success are often seeking to elevate their own status, even climbing over the backs of others.. 

8. Educators motivated by excellence value others and are happy when others are successful. 

9. In Missouri, our state department of education has a goal, Top 10 by 20. The catchy slogan means Missouri will be one of the top 10 states for education in the nation by 2020. The idea of creating a statewide vision for improvement is a good one. But does this goal focus on success or excellence? Does this goal rely on comparison to others? 

 10. To be excellent, we must focus on the actions, attitudes, and commitments that lead to excellence. As Albert Einstein noted, "Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value." Creating value for self and others is excellence.

 Question: Are schools too focused on success over excellence? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below, or on Twitter or Facebook.

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