Tech Talk at Mercy High School

I was fortunate enough to be able to spend last Friday with 4 of my teachers and a huge bunch of our colleagues at the Tech Talk Conference at Mercy High School.  I was also able to meet my Twitter "peeps" and Apple Distinguished Educators Karen Bosch (@KarlyB)  and Larry Baker (@labcbaker) which was fantastic.  Liz Kolb (@lkolb) gave an amazing keynote on asking students what they want to do - it is a question that could change the course of their educational lives.

I left the day-long conference very energized and excited about what we have in Michigan for Professional Development.  Besides these in-service programs, we also have #MichEd chat on Wednesday evenings on Twitter.  Be sure to connect with these educators and join us (even just to follow along) in the chat.  You won't be sorry!

More information on Mercy's conference can be found here:  http://techtalkmercy.weebly.com/index.html

You can also follow the #MHTalk conversation by searching the hashtag or clicking here.

iPad Classroom Management

iPad Classroom Management

I always love to find articles that show usefulness for teachers with iPads - this is a great list!  Be sure to check it out and share it with your staff.  There are some wonderful ideas on it as well as things I would have never thought of!

Happy Friday :)

Catching Up on Professional Reading

If you are anything like me, and I suspect you are, you see those who are consistently reading and commenting on articles and thinking "How in the WORLD do they have time for that!?"  It baffles me!  Let alone time to write the articles (my #PrincipalCast co-host @DrSpikeCook has been blogging once a day in 2014, and I cannot fathom how he has the time!)  It is dizzying.  Honestly.



 

 

I'm working hard on trying to keep up yet not give myself too hard of a time when I don't.  I am a first-year Principal.  I can't do it all.  I have to make priorities.  BUT I WANT TO DO IT ALL!  (Rant over.)

My biggest struggle is reading comprehension.  I admit it - I cannot focus when I'm reading.  I can, however, focus when I am being read to, as long as it is in short bits.  The best adaptive software I have found so far is right in my Mac!

I have recently started (or re-started) listening to the articles I want to read while I'm doing my morning work.  That's right, I listen to them.  If you haven't discovered this little gem, you're missing out!

 

Here is an article on how to do it: http://www.wikihow.com/Activate-Text-to-Speech-in-Mac-OSx 

It's as easy as selecting the text, right clicking, and selecting "Speech ---> Start Speaking"

You can also select the text, right click and select "Services ---> Send to iTunes as a Spoken Track" and it will save it as your own little podcast for later.

I save all of the articles on Twitter I want to read later into Instapaper, then I open it and just have my little Siri read it to me.  It has been a lifesaver, and I don't feel so out-of-touch on my little administrator island.

We discussed this topic in depth on our last #PrincipalCast episode.  You can find Episode 18 at PrincipalCast.net.

How do you keep up with Professional Reading?

 

Mizzou Football's Suggestions for Success

Mizzou Football's Suggestions for Success

As educators, we work to be sure our students are not only high achieving and working toward their goals, but making sure that they are productive members of society when the leave us.  Gary Pinkel, football coach at Missouri, has put together a list of steps for success for his players.  Some of the great ones are:

10. Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.

17. Be decisive even if it means you’ll sometimes be wrong.

My favorite:

21. Don’t do anything that wouldn’t make your mom proud.

It is a letter worth sharing, and I hope you'll share it with your students as well.