When I was a classroom teacher, I used to love to create games, incentives and interactive lessons using the Smart Notebook software because it gave me options to have students “Tap to Reveal” answers in different fun ways. Did you know this can be easily replicated in Google Slides??? Check it out – click on the balloon to reveal the answer: Continue reading
I truly cannot believe the school year is almost over! I personally love to take time to reflect at the end of each school year (here is the template I use to help me reflect on my year) and I believe we should provide opportunities for our students to reflect at the close of each year, as well. Continue reading
Several years ago, a group of elementary assistant principals that I was a part of got together to share ideas and learn from each other. One idea that stuck with me was shared by Katie Herrera at Pope Elementary. We were discussing how many of the behaviors we were trying to teach our students really boiled down to needing to improve their self-control. Continue reading
I believe that branding can have a HUGE impact on how parents and community members think and feel about what is going on in our schools and classrooms. Branding is why I pay $4 for a cup of coffee with a Starbucks logo on the side over $1 at a gas station. That brand has come to mean quality (and also yummy flavors) to me – and I believe it is worth it. Isn’t that how we want our communities to see what we are doing as educators? As quality. As worthwhile! Continue reading
I listen to podcasts to learn, be inspired, and get motivated almost every day. When I need to be inspired or get a fresh idea, I know I can pop in my earbuds and get what I need from other educators who are out there sharing through this media. Listening to podcasts is truly personalized professional development at it’s finest. Continue reading
You probably know about Chrome Extensions – those little apps that you can add to Google Chrome. You may not know that you can also customize Google Slides (and Docs, Sheets, and Forms for that matter) with similar little “apps” called Add-ons. Continue reading
Something I believe every good lesson includes is purposefully planned formative assessments. Whether looking over student work, having students turn and talk, taking a classroom poll, giving an exit ticket, or using another formative assessment strategy, the effectiveness really comes when the teacher takes what he or she learns from collecting that data and uses it to adjust instruction – helping to reteach and mitigate student misunderstandings. Here are three of my favorite Google Tools you can use to quickly and easily gather student data to drive your instruction during a lesson: Continue reading
I was working on preparing for a day-long professional development coming up on my campus. Throughout the year staff members have shared different professional development needs that they would like me to cover when possible. As I began to plan how to cover all of the different topics requested, I realized that not everyone is on the same level or has the same learning needs for each topic. While some teachers need the basics of how to set up a twitter account, others want to know how to effectively use hashtags, and still others are twitter experts. And that’s only the topic of twitter! How could I possibly meet everyone’s needs without having them sit through information they already know or don’t care about? Continue reading
Last year, my good friend and fellow principal Jennifer Vest ( @PrincipalVest ) told me about a kindness challenge she created for her staff to encourage them to share kindness with students, family, and each other. As a member of the #momsasprincipals PLN, I often listen and read through the amazing ideas shared by this group of leaders in our Voxer group. This week as I was scrolling through, the topic of conversation was motivating staff through the month of February – which is widely known as a morale slump. One colleague posted a calendar of fun treats and celebrations to help staff have a Fabulous February. Continue reading
This weekend I had the joy of being a part of edcamp Cy-Fair. If you’ve never attended an edcamp, it is a gathering of educators who come together with no agenda – to learn and grow from the knowledge each person in attendance holds. We brainstormed topics we wanted to discuss, created a schedule of what would be discussed in which rooms, and had real conversations with other hard-working educators. I loved hearing what others are doing in their schools and classrooms that work and brainstorming together ways to improve things that aren’t working. Here were my 4 biggest take-aways from edcamp Cy-Fair 2019: Continue reading
