Inspiring #booklove-- Author Visit with Erin Dealey

On the Friday before our Thanksgiving break, we had a very special day- Erin Dealey, an amazing author from Placerville visited our school! This past summer, I had entered our school to win A Skype party with Erin, but we are located so close that Erin decided to make it a school visit! Here are some shots from the assembly!

Erin Dealey has written several books including Goldie Locks Has Chicken Pox and Little Bo Peep Won't Go To Sleep.

Most recently, she published Deck the Walls, a funny story about the kid's table at a holiday dinner. In the week before Erin's visit, I visited our classes to read Erin's newest book. Since I am no longer in the classroom, reading to students is one of my favorite things! Over 70 students purchased Deck the Walls and had it signed by the author! At the assembly, students from every grade level helped act out the book. We had a great time! Check out this video with some images from the day. 

My favorite part of the day wasn't the book, or even the assembly. It was Erin's message to our students that inspires each of them to love reading... and writing. How much do you LOVE this picture of our students waiting in the pickup line after school, reading Erin's book together? Hashtag for this day? #booklove for sure!

#nerdlution

image from Colby Sharp's blog

I wasn't part of the original conversation, but I want in! On Colby Sharp's blog post, he describes #nerdlution as:

Screenshot from @colbysharp blog

This blog post arrived at a perfect time. During this holiday break, I've been thinking a lot about needing to take more time to do things that are important to me. To read more. To exercise more. To write more. I love, love my new job but it's definitely been a challenge to find time to do these things-- I just need to make time. So, I'm super excited that round 1 of #nerdlution starts tomorrow! My #nerdlution is to read, write, and exercise every day for the next 50 days. I'm going to cut myself a little slack by not including an amount of time each day. Some days there is just more time. But I'm in! I also love the idea of having a Twitter community to share with. So if you'd like to join #nerdlution, just link up your blog past at Colby's blog and use the hashtag #nerdlution to share! This round of #nerdlution runs from December 2nd through January 20th. I can't wait to hear your #nerdlution! 

What would you like to make a habit?

Do something that scares you

I read somewhere once that you should do something that scares you once in awhile... So, with this in mind I set my alarm clock Saturday night for 5:50 am. My daughter, Hope had asked me to go for a hike in the morning to see the sunrise at the top of the mountain near my parent's house in Truckee. This sounded like a fabulous idea.. at first. Laying in bed, I thought more about this. At six in the morning it's DARK. And there are bears in Truckee! My parents have seen quite a few in their yard over the years. What was I thinking? Hiking? In the dark? With bears?

Maybe Hope would oversleep. No such luck- she walked in my room at 5:47... before my alarm even went off. I couldn't let her go alone, not when there might be bears! I put on two jackets, gloves, and my shoes. We grabbed a flashlight and headed out into the darkness. It was 18 degrees outside.

As we headed off the road onto the dirt trail, I took my hood off. I needed to be able to listen for bears! The stars provided more light than my dad's flashlight. From time to time, snow in scattered patches crunched under our feet. I kept moving forward in the darkness and up the hill as the sun began to peek over the mountain. Once, I spotted a dark shape off the trail. I held my breath, and was relieved to find that it was only a stump in the distance.

Light slowly replaced the darkness as we neared the top of the trail almost an hour later. Warm pinks and oranges painted the cold morning sky. We'd made it in the frozen darkness. All the way to the top-- without seeing a single bear. Rewarded with a beautiful sunrise on the first day of December.

Teach Like a Pirate- A Day with Dave Burgess

St. Mary's College

Sometimes I think that people  who know me get tired of hearing me talk about Twitter. I don't think people always believe me when I say I get TONS of ideas and inspiration from there. But it's true. Now, I've only been on Twitter a little over a year (after I heard Donalyn Miller say I MUST be on it!) and it is definitely my go-to place for book recommendations, to connect with authors, bloggers, teachers, and more. Last fall, it seemed like everyone on Twitter was talking about an amazing book they had just read. I first heard about Dave Burgess (@burgessdave) and Teach Like a Pirate on Twitter, and the hashtag #tlap was everywhere! I downloaded the book on my iPad and started reading. 

I read the whole book in one day. It is that amazing. 


As a reader, I don't really have a preference for "real books" (paper) over digital. It really depends how patient I'm feeling. In this case, I downloaded it because I wanted to read it right away. And I do actually think in this case, my reading experience was enhanced by reading on my iPad. As I was reading, I realized that Mary Bears, one of my high school classmates and former colleagues from Buckeye was mentioned in the book. Amazing! I decided to send a tweet to Dave about my connection and kept reading. He tweeted back. While I was reading, the tweet popped up at the top of my iPad. Amazing! How awesome is it to be able to interact with the author while you're reading? That had never happened to me before. I was so inspired by Dave's book that it gave me an idea for my next writing training: Write Like a Pirate. He even sent me a shirt and I wore it that day. Now I have NEVER led a training in a t-shirt. Ever. But I had to share the pirate spirit with those teachers-- about the book, about Dave, and about Twitter. 

So late this summer, I heard Dave Burgess was coming to St. Mary's College in Moraga. This past weekend, I finally got to meet Dave in person. Wow. And even though I already own his digital book, I bought one so he could sign it. I knew he would be amazing in person, and I wasn't disappointed. 

A card trick with Hope.

This really is about content!

Are you curious yet?

Usually, when I attend professional learning I take notes, and this was no exception. However, rereading them today, I noticed that they're pretty brief. I think it's because I wanted to remember what he said, and how it made me feel. But I also didn't want to miss anything. So, my notes read more like a list. I actually made a word cloud of my notes and here's what it looks like:

The biggest words are the words I wrote the the most.
What do you think he was talking about?

Here are my notes from the day. A little pirate booty! I hope you'll read the book!

P is for passion

An engaged student is not a behavior problem.

Real teaching and learning is sometimes messy.

Pirates are risk takers, mavericks sailing into uncharted waters with no guarantee of success.

We did not get into this profession for the content,

You don't have to have an “assignment” to learn.

Every day we have the opportunity to teach an “LCL” , a life changing lesson

If we could put someone on the moon in 1969, what can't we do?....

It's not about raising test scores, it's about raising human potential.

Incorporate your outside passion into the classroom. This is how you can be a fulfilled educator.

Put handles on material to make content easier for kids to pick up.

We forget stuff that was told to us 10 seconds before because we didn't engage in it. (Have you ever forgotten someone’s name almost immediately after someone told it to you?)  And we expect kids to remember information for a test that may come weeks later.

Work becomes a place of play when you combine your passions with it.

I is for immersion

When you are teaching, it's your whole world

Are you a swimmer  or a lifeguard?

Immerse, be magnetic, don't just supervise.

R is for rapport

Rapport and relationships ... Must build on the front end.

Tie your content to their interests rather than trying to get them interested in your content.

Play dough idea for day #1.

Good morning. However I say it you say it.

How will you open your show?

First impressions matter.

Creativity matters.

We need to know their names.

We want our toughest kids to say hey, this might be different. I can do this.

A is for ask and analyze

Ask the question first. No magic wand will fix lessons.

Pimp your lesson. Make kids want to get in your ride.

Six words. "It's easy for you. You're creative."

It's not supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be worth it.

It takes hard work. It takes failure. You can't be great in the classroom unless you are willing to fail.

Ask the question. Why didn't it work?

Write down your ideas.

Are you creating a threadbare cloth of boredom or patchwork quilt of engagement.

Call and response. 100% engagement

3-2-1 when I say one... Turn the propane on!

T is for transformation

Two questions:

1. If your students didn't have to be there would you be teaching to an empty room? Or would your students come anyways?
2. Do you have any lessons you could sell tickets for?

Set that bar for yourself. Be amazing. Reframe your student’s opinion about learning. Make them want to be part of learning for their whole life. Like finding treasure.

Do anything. Do you want to make school amazing?

Be Fact Woman. With a shield. Cape. “Is that your opinion?” shield.

The red scare. Ten man.

Bus. Speakeasy . Bar. Drinks. Police corruption. Create an experience.

E is for enthusiasm.

Bring it. Every time.

I have failed as a reader

I finally know how students feel. How I made them feel. Like failures. I have failed as a reader. How do I know?

Just look at my reading log. No, I don’t have a paper reading log, and my mom doesn’t need to sign anything. But I did create a reading goal this year on Goodreads. An ambitious one, actually-- I set out to read 365 books this year. Basically, a book each day. I knew it would be a stretch for me, and I was excited to have set a public reading goal.  Of course, I would count picture books. I read at least one of these each day to the 52 cute and busy kindergartners I supervise at lunch. Last year, I read several books a day to my first graders in my classroom. I belong to a book club and I also love to read professional books. I set the goal in January and was actually doing pretty well! And then, some time around May I got a new job and my life got crazy busy planning and preparing for this school year - my first year as a principal in an elementary school.

Crazy busy? Yep. Too busy to read? No way! I did have to change what I was reading when I found myself too tired to read books that required deep thinking or concentration, or books that took place in geographical settings with which I was unfamiliar. I started reading more Young Adult and Kid Lit books that were recommended by my reading community on Twitter. I was still reading, and the books were shorter. You would think this would help my reading goal. But take a look at my Goodreads challenge tracker. This is a screenshot from yesterday.

According to Goodreads, I’ve read 84 books-- 23% of my goal, significantly less than what I set out to read. According to Goodreads, I am 63% behind. There is no way I’m going to meet my goal. There is a little over a month left in 2013 and I just don’t think I’m going to read 281 books in that time. I have failed as a reader- just check my reading log.

Did I really fail? I don’t know. I know I read a lot of books this year. I would even say I read most every day. On any given day, if you asked me what I was reading, I could tell you, and I’d probably even tell you what I wanted to read next. I love reading! It’s true, my summer reading included some of my favorite reading-- Sunset Magazine, Sierra Heritage, and even Oprah’s magazine. I read every book club book except one-- The Penguin Guide to the Constitution-- because I just didn’t want to. What I didn’t do is record my reading on my log. The only log I have- my Goodreads log. I read a ton. So why do I feel like a failure?

Truthfully, I hadn’t really even looked at it too much until yesterday. But when I realized that it was November, I felt a sense of panic. I knew I had read a lot of books. Right away, I started logging books on to Goodreads that I knew I had read. I looked at the pile of books on my nightstand, and I even looked up my Amazon orders-- 44 in 2013! That doesn’t count the books I borrowed from friends, or the books I purchased excitedly at Powell’s or other used bookstores I visited this year. After logging about 10 books, I stopped.  What was I thinking? What was I doing?

I was doing the same thing students do every week in schools. Some don’t read much, I know, but many, just like me, read every day. And they forget to log it. These are the same kids that we complain have all of their books entered in the same color ink on their reading log they return each Friday because we know their parent filled it out in the school drop off line that morning.  Just like I was trying to do yesterday when I realized that I hadn’t logged enough books, all of the wonderful books I read this past year.

I’ve decided that next year, I will still be setting a reading goal, and I may even use Goodreads to track it. Or maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll blog about it. Maybe I’ll put pictures of the covers on my book door at school. Maybe I’ll just write the titles in one of my notebooks. Maybe I’ll talk to my friends about what I’ve read, or even recommend books to students. Maybe I’ll do all of it. But no matter what, I won’t feel bad about it if I don’t get one book written or logged anywhere. I’ll still be a reader and a book lover. No matter what my reading log says.

#FallCUE -- It’s kinda like Christmas

I absolutely love Christmas. All of it. Every year we head up to Truckee and cut down a tree and it is one of my favorite things we do each year. Last year, my husband and I went with my parents and for the first time no kids. I took my iPod touch with me and recorded the tree falling and the sounds of the birds in the forest, uploading it to YouTube as soon as I got home. I also love reading cooking magazines and getting ideas for the dishes my mom and I will cook together. I love the music, the cinnamon scented candles, and the lights. I love seeing my family and connecting with friends. It’s not about the presents. Really, just get me some lip gloss and a bottle of wine and I am a happy girl! I love Christmas because of the whole experience of it and how happy it makes me feel.

That’s why #fallcue is like Christmas. If you asked me to tell you the best thing about the conference, I couldn’t tell you. It’s all of it. It’s about arriving a day early and going out to dinner with friends and people you just met in Healdsburg at the Bear Republic Brewery. It’s about the jalepeno tower burger with cream cheese and the outdoor heater, and the amazing ahi tacos at Gott’s Roadside in St. Helena that went perfectly with the sweet potato chili cheese fries. It’s about the conversation over pretzels and the ‘80’s music on the way back to the hotel. It’s the anticipation of the first day of the conference and changing your mind every time you look at the session schedule because there is so much awesomeness to choose from.

image credit @ucdjoe 

Fall CUE is like Christmas because every session has the potential to be as magical as opening a gift on Christmas morning. Where a session on math iPad apps with @skolhatkar can give you the chills and move you. Where you feel like a kid exploring the world of Minecraft even though you’re not very good at building and keep accidentally digging holes. When you listen to Ramsay Musallam’s @ramusallam keynote and you can’t wait to watch it again because there were so many things in it that I want to remember and share. It’s adding a #hashtag in your conversation and laughing even though it’s silly by now. #overkill

Ramsay Musallam Keynote

My Minecraft screen. So cool.

Fall CUE is like Christmas because we get to connect with others, to laugh, and talk and be social. 

It’s tweets like this by Teresa @bcoeedtech that made my day. What she doesn’t know is that I get my energy from the room! As tired as I was by the end of day 2, I was also energized and inspired with everything I saw and learned and shared. When I go to a conference, I want to experience it all. I arrive early and stay late and don’t want to miss a thing. I am sad for those who left early Friday and missed an amazing keynote. It's true that you might get to the hotel earlier or miss the dinner rush, but you might also miss that thing that touches your soul. You might miss something that challenges your thinking or motivates you to try something you never thought you would.

Fall CUE is like Christmas because of the conversation. But it’s not just conversation over the dinner table. It’s the conversation that’s happening in the session about creating Maker Spaces. It’s about the backchannel conversation on Today’s Meet that allows 50 participants to talk and share and listen while learning at the same time. It’s the conversation on Twitter that lets me know what’s inspiring others who are not in the same room as me, and allows people like my friend Poppi to be inspired from home. It’s the conversation in collaborative notes so you can feel like you were in every session. And, yes, it’s about the hashtags- especially #fallcue which is still continuing the conversation even when the conference is over.

My approach to Fall CUE was very different than Christmas shopping, where you arrive with a list of things you are looking for. I wasn’t looking for anything specific, or to master anything. I know enough about Minecraft to know I have so much more to learn! My list was simple.

Be inspired. Connect with people. Have fun.

And I did! I can’t wait for Palm Springs in March! It’s just like Christmas-- I’m counting the days!

Sparkle on!

Celebrate!

Last week, I suffered a sparkle lapse. There, I said it. For the first time all year, I didn’t publish my staff blog. I think there was just a bit too much on my plate and I decided that I needed to be ok with skipping the week. Just this time. Maybe no one even noticed! My goal has been to blog each week, and I had been looking forward to this week- there was no way I was going to miss two in a row! In each week’s post, I have a “food for thought” section, where I try to share something fun, inspiring, or thought provoking. Sometimes it’s a video, a quote, or a story. Once in awhile it’s my own thoughts but I do love when I find something from one of my friends or colleagues to highlight in that spot. This week, I'm posting my food for thought here...

This morning, like many mornings, I was enjoying my coffee and checking out my email and Twitter. Bam! Inspiration hit me with my subscription to Katherine Sokolowski and her Read, Write, Reflect blog. It’s one of my favorites, and her posts always have me thinking. This week, her post is entitled “Let’s Celebrate!” and she shares about Ruth Ayres and her  blog challenge to share something to celebrate each week. Love! Check out Ruth's Celebrate Link UP where each week she invites you to share something you’d like to celebrate that week. I know that sometimes we can have a dark day, or a dark week- like last week when I lost my sparkle. But there is so much to celebrate! Here are some things that I’m celebrating this week- things that made my heart full and my spirit sparkle!

1. Market Day! Our amazing 2nd grade teachers brought project-based learning to life as their students collaborated to create a “shop” where they provided a good or service to our K-3 students who shopped til they dropped! Students earned market bucks throughout the week for good behavior. The second grade students worked in teams and did an awesome job of getting their products ready- including several nail salons, a Minecraft prop shop, tissue flowers, and sparkly clay pots. Check out the Animoto and a few commercials  below! This was an excellent example of a real-life, relevant assessment of learning to culminate their communities unit. I ended up with a beautiful flower, a glittery pot, a hair band and a journal. Awesome!

Minecraft Props

Rockin’ Tattoos

Nail Polish Stars

Market day Animoto

2. I am also celebrating our fearless new teachers who, with just two days GLAD training under their belts have been implementing strategies to increase student engagement! I dare you to say the word coniferous to a first grade student! They are sure to bust out with a motion and a super academic definition! Kindergarten students can tell you all about the Bald Eagle, and third graders can be heard chanting a rounding song, even at lunch! Our second graders are also immersed in their communities unit- with their own communities decorating our halls with rural and suburban examples. GLAD strategies are everywhere!
3. October is Connected Educators Month! This is also something to celebrate! Many people may think of technology when they think of connected educators- teachers Tweeting, Skyping, blogging and more. For sure, those are ways to connect. But for me, being a connected educator is so much more. I am inspired daily by educators that I connect with- at my school, online, through the Area 3 Writing Project, and people I have met in person. This past summer, I met Nancy Minicozzi , known as @coffeenancy on Twitter this summer at CUE Rockstar Tahoe. Even though she did not attend my book trailer session, she has created several awesome book trailers and shared one with me today using Voki, a tool I did not know about! Check it out here!
4. Finally, I’d like to celebrate that I work in a school that inspires teachers to be creative and innovative. As expected, teachers start with the grade level standards when designing curriculum. Then, teachers consider the students, their interests, and instructional needs and design something customized just for them. It is a TON of work, but the results are amazing when teachers aren’t bound by a scripted textbooks.
   
   

There’s so much more to celebrate! The beautiful fall weather, the Harvest Festival, and the Book Fair is coming to my school!

What are you celebrating this week? Click on Today’s Meet and share something you love!