Your Thought Life has Great Power!

Author James Allen states, "A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thought."

Thoughts matter. There is tons of research out there showing that if a teacher truly believes in her students they achieve at higher levels.

What do you believe about yourself?

What are some of your everyday goals for yourself? What are your dreams? What vision do you wish to see come to fruition in your school? Do you believe you can achieve them?

In 2 Corinthians 10:5, the Bible challenges readers to "take captive every thought."

When negative thoughts creep in, we must take them captive - stopping ourselves from continuing that line of thinking. Failure is inevitable - it is a part of life. The most successful people in the world have faced failure - it is what they've done with that failure, how they're responded to it, that has made them successful.

When you face a challenge or even a failure on the journey toward reaching your goals and dreams, don't allow yourself to mope and dwell on negative self-talk. Change your thought process to reflect on what what went wrong or what you can do better. Focus on your strengths and how you can grow in your areas of weakness. 

In his book, The Power of Positive Leadership, Jon Gordon tells the story of Dr. James Gills who completed a double triathlon (two triathlons back to back with only a 24-hours break) 6 different times - the last of which when he was 59 years old! When asked how he did it, his response is powerful:

"I've learned to talk to myself instead of listen to myself."

Dr. Gills goes on, "If I listen to myself, I hear all the reasons why I should give up. I hear that I'm too tired, too old, too weak to make it. But if I talk to myself, I can give myself the encouragement and words I need to hear to keep running and finish the race."

In our race toward achieving the vision we have for our schools, and the goals and dreams we have for ourselves, we cannot listen to the voices we hear telling us we are not good enough. Instead, we must talk to ourselves and encourage ourselves that we can do more than just "make it." We can choose to thrive each day, giving our kids our best.

So what can we say to ourselves? What quotes or saying give you strength and encouragement? Please share them in the comments or tweet them and tag @meredithakers 

Your thought life has great power! No one who constantly tells themselves they aren't good enough ever accomplished the goal! It is those that take captive negative thoughts and choose to focus on the positive that achieve. 

Start a Voxer Book Study!

If you haven't started using Voxer to connect with your PLN - download it today! Voxer is like having a digital walkie-talkie in your pocket - allowing you to communicate with your PLN and actually hear their voices without the need for everyone to be available at the same time. Think twitter with your voice! Check messages and reply when you are available.

I am a member of several different Voxer groups - one to connect with my school admin team, one for the #TXed twitter chat team, another for the Blended Learning team of teachers at my school, and yet another for the edcamp CyFair leadership team.

Recently, a colleague and I decided to start a book study together on Voxer so that we could discuss the book throughout the summer even when we couldn't get together. We decided to open it up to other members of our PLN by just asking a few people each that we thought might be interested and telling them to feel free to invite others to participate. During a recent twitter chat, several group members mentioned that they would be participating in a voxer book study over the summer to continue to grow professionally, so we shared the information and gained a few more participants!

Once everyone's books arrived, we assigned chapters per week. We did NOT come up with a group leader or facilitator or have someone come up with reflective questions for us to discuss. Instead, we utilized the following group norms.

Voxer Book Study Group Norms:

• Read the assigned chapters by Saturday of each week
• No reading ahead! Let's all stay at the same pace, keeping the information from each chapter fresh on our minds
• Share a thought, quote, or connection ANYTIME during the week
• Validate or connect to other group members comments

To keep our conversation rich and avoid sharing the same types of information each week, I shared a few prompt ideas I had with the group in the form of a participation guide:

So now you have all the tools you need to start a Voxer book study! Go download Voxer, choose a book you are interested in reading, invite a few members of your PLN, have them invite others, share an invitation on social media and feel free to use the graphics above to help you get started!
@meredithakers

#ConfChallenge - A Twitter Challenge to Complete while Attending a Conference!

For educators, summer brings a time of rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation, but it also brings a season of professional development, including attending conferences! I am looking forward to attending the RRR Conference next week in my district, Cy-Fair ISD, ISTE17 later this month, and presenting at CFISD's Digital Learning Conference in July.

When I think about the conferences that I have gotten the most out of, I think not only of the insights I gained from sessions I attended in person, but also the fun that I had with teammates, new connections I made with attendees, and learning that was shared with me while standing in line, eating lunch, or on twitter.

This year, I have the privilege of being a summer school principal, causing me to miss some of the RRR conference to prepare. I've been thinking about how I can still get the most out of the conference - learn from the sessions and share in the fun - without being there in person.

I also want my fellow conference-attendees to enjoy all aspects of the conference, share their learning, and benefit from others' shared learning as well. So... I came up with a challenge to *hopefully* get conference attendees to share their best notes, learning, and resources, and also meet new people by having a little fun!!! Are you game?

Instructions for meeting the #ConfChallenge:

• Save the picture above so that you can include it in your tweets and other conference members will know what in the world you are doing
• Tweet the #ConfChallenge picture and tag fellow attendees to extend the challenge
• Include #ConfChallenge and the hashtag of the conference you are attending (ex: #ISTE17) in each tweet meeting one of the challenges
• Tag people in your photos, notes, boomerangs, etc (presenters, fellow attendees) so they can see what you're posting and join in on the fun

Happy conference going!
@meredithakers

Comic Strip Templates for Google Drawings!

I attended #TXGoo17 this month and heard a great tip from @jmattmiller about utilizing Google Drawings to create comics! I loved this idea and immediately starting making one while sitting in his session as he was explaining the concept:

When I got home that afternoon, I immediately showed my 5 year old daughter and she loved the concept, too, creating her own - on her own (no help from momma) within minutes:

I shared the concept on twitter and got a HUGE response from other educators sharing their comics and their students’ comics.

Creating comic strips like the ones above is fast and easy with little explanation of what to do for students. 

Here’s the key steps you’ll need to make your own:

Brainstorm:

• Think of an idea for your comic
• Think of what still pictures you’ll want for each frame

Insert Images:

• Click on Insert, Image, Take a Snapshot 
• Get in position and take a picture by clicking the red “Take Snapshot” button 
• Hit the blue Select button to add it to your comic - then wait - it takes a minute
• Resize the image so you can fit 4 pictures (this is the eyeballing part that takes a while)

Add text bubbles:

• Click on Insert, Shapes, Callouts and choose the speech bubble you want 
• Draw it on the comic
• Double click to add text
• Move the bottom of the speech bubble so it points to the speaker’s mouth

I’ve made a few more since learning about this cool use of Google Drawings, but I tend to take lots of time trying to get all of the pictures lined up just so and making sure all the fonts are just right, and trying to make it look more like a real comic strip. I realized I needed a template where a lot of the hard work was already done for me! So I created two! One square, like the images above, and one long strip - like you would see in the newspaper.

The benefit here is that you can drop your images in quickly and the sizing and background is already set up for you (and/or your students). Additionally, if you like the comic-strip-y font I’ve selected, if you click on and select one of my example text bubbles before inserting your own, the new text bubble will AUTOMATICALLY take on the same attributes - white fill, thick black border, and comic-y font - instead of the default light blue background that all shapes take in Drawings.

Another Google Drawings tip to note is that you can send objects behind or in front of other objects by right clicking and choosing "order". This will help get your title on top with "Bring to Front" or move your image behind a text bubble with "Send to Backward". 

Ordering Images Tips:

• Bring to Front - brings the selected image in front of all other images
• Bring Forward - brings the selected image forward one image - useful for layering
• Send to Back - sends the selected image behind ALL other images
• Send Backward - sends the selected image back one image - useful for layering

You can download your completed comic strips as .pdf, .png, .jpg, or .svc files.

Click on the images of the templates above to make a copy for yourself or the links here:

Link to copy square comic strip template
Link to copy long comic strip template

Enjoy! Leave a comment! And share products you or your students create!
@meredithakers

End of Year Revamp Ideas

Teacher Revamp Ideas Doc

This time of year my brain often thinks ahead to how I want to do things differently next year. To be honest, maybe the truth is that at this time of year, I'm getting annoyed by things that aren't going as well as I think they should.

When I get back from summer, I often forget to change some of those things that I know I could be doing better until I am in the middle of it - and then I am so disappointed that I've made the same mistake again!

It's easy to take the perspective of "let's just make it through" these last few days, but really, then what will be better by this time next school year?

I came across this awesome post by Caitlin Tucker in which she gives an example of her End-of-Year Revamp list that she uses to reflect and jot down ideas for next school year. 

I loved this idea! Instead of being annoyed with procedures that aren't working or forgetting that new strategy I want to learn more about this summer, this template provides an easy place to capture reflections and set ourselves up for an improved year next year! 

I immediately downloaded a copy of Caitlin's template and started thinking of how I could tweak it for my teachers and for myself as an administrator. 

Here are the templates I came up with for teachers and administrators:

Admin Revamp Ideas Doc

I suggest you take a few moments to quickly reflect on each of the points in the Revamp Ideas document and then keep it open on your computer daily for the remainder of the school year. This way, any time you see something amazing in a teammate's classroom, get frustrated by a procedure that could go better, or just have a light bulb moment, you can jot that idea down quickly to reference as you get ready for next school year! 

Here's the link to Caitlin Tucker's post about her Revamp List where I got the idea. 

Feel free to make a copy using the links in this post and update/change/add to it to make it beneficial for you and your reflection process! 

Use these last days of school to think ahead toward making next school year even better! 

Top Twitter Abbreviations for Educators

handle - twitter username that starts with @

@  - the "at" symbol - at the beginning of a person's twitter handle

# - a hashtag - used to join chats, ongoing asynchronous conversations, or tag your tweet

Follow - click this button on person's page to have their tweets appear in your home stream

DM - Direct Message - like a text message or email within twitter; sends a message directly to a person which is only visible to the receiver; DMs can only be sent to those who follow you

Notifications - shows when others like or retweet your tweets

Mention - when someone has used your handle in a tweet; an area within Notifications lists all of  your mentions

Edcution shorthands often used:
P or Ps - Parents
T or Ts - Teachers
A or As - Administrators
S or Ss - Students

Great Hashtags to follow/use
#EdChat
#EdTech
#KidsDeserveIt
#CelebrateMonday - tweet positives and celebrations to start the week
#FF - Follow Friday - recommend other users to follow
#BlendedLearning
#BLinAction - Blended Learning in Action
#TLAP - Teach Like a Pirate
#PLearning - Personalized Learning
#PersonalizedLearning
#cultofpedagogy
#hyperdocs

Utilizing Standardized Testing to Build Relationships

As an elementary assistant principal, I often relieve teachers during standardized testing so they can take a quick potty break from actively monitoring the students. I find myself following the same routine in each classroom after relieving the teacher:

• looking carefully at each student for anything that seems off
• checking each students' cubby to make sure there is no paper
• watching the hands of each student to check for unallowable materials
• checking the name on the test booklet matches the name on the scan sheet...

It was as I was doing this last task in a classroom that I realized I could use this test time to build my relationships with students while still actively monitoring the test to exact state standards. Instead of only checking to makes sure all rules were being followed, I began to start with checking the names on the test booklets and playing a game with myself to recall each student's name as I continued walking in and amongst the desks.

I know a lot of names of a lot of my students, but with a school of over 1,000, I admit that I do not know every name - something I truly hate to admit because knowing someone's name can make their day. If someone who I think is important knows my name, it makes ME feel important. When I greet students by name, or congratulate them by name on a job well done, I see their faces light up with the realization that their AP thinks highly enough of them to remember who they are.

So I now look at active monitoring during standardized testing as an opportunity to stealthily build relationships. As I check that names match from booklet to scan sheet, I look at faces and memorize names so that after the test, in the hallway, on the way out the door to the bus, and in the morning the next day, I can greet more students by name so that they feel important and special and loved.

So, next time you are actively monitoring, checking that all rules are being followed, also check the name and face of each student. This will build your relationships with students upon your next interaction when you call them by name.