Positively thinking...BYOD

We are 3 weeks into our BYOD initiative.  Well, not exactly 3 weeks.  Officially, we are 10 days into BYOD at LMK, but who's really counting.  We have many things to be proud of such as getting every student in the school to log in successfully to Google and successfully managing over 2400 simultaneous connections to our network district wide.

Our IT staff has been adjusting access points by moving them when teachers notice areas of weak signal strength.  They have been resetting passwords and adding new Google accounts daily.  Teachers and building administrators have also been troubleshooting and answering questions each day.

As the Director of Technology, many questions come to me.  Recently, a series of interactions made me remember a story I used to tell my students when I taught 7th grade science and we would discuss the great electricity debates between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse in the late 19th century.  The story goes something like this.  Thomas Edison developed a method of producing direct current.  He used it to light his famous light bulbs.  While it was effective and safe, it was not practical since he could not deliver it over long distances.  This is where George Westinghouse came in.  Westinghouse created the method for creating and delivering alternating current.  Edison knew that this would end his dominance in the world of delivered electricity, so he made it his mission to degrade Westinghouse and prove that his alternating current was unsafe.  Edison found everything he could find that was wrong with alternating current and he publicized it.  He invented the first "electrocution" machines that used alternating current to kill animals such as dogs and horses in the public arena to discredit Westinghouse's alternating current.  These machines later became what we know to be the "electric chair".

Yes, it is true that alternating current is dangerous.  Yet, we cannot live in our world without it.  In almost everything we do in life, we can always find the negative.  We can always find what doesn't work, and what may even hurt us.  That's the easy part.  In the end, Edison failed to prove that the world didn't need alternating current.  The world only needed to see its true value.  Thinking positively about it proved its success, even with the many doubters and naysayers.

I know you must be thinking...what is the connection to BYOD?  It's easy to find what doesn't work, what is challenging and maybe even impossible.  BYOD and Google is a different way of doing things...maybe it's akin to alternating current over 100 years ago.  Only time will tell.


Link to previous BYOD and Going Google Posts:

http://educreatechnics.blogspot.com/2015/09/byod-day-1-of-many.html

http://educreatechnics.blogspot.com/2015/05/going-google-part-2.html

http://educreatechnics.blogspot.com/2015/01/being-creative-with-google.html

http://educreatechnics.blogspot.com/2015/03/google-classroom-part-1.html

Follow me @brian_seligman

BYOD - Day 1 of many

BYOD - Day 1:  Google Apps for EDU and connecting to the network

Today was the second day of school, but the first day of BYOD and Google Apps for Education.  We have been planning this for a full year and today was the day.  We beefed up the network, increased our bandwidth, installed new controllers, new access points, set up over 3000 Google accounts, and spent countless hours leading professional development for teachers and staff.  The moment of truth was upon us.

By 9 am, almost 1500 users had connected to the network.  The most connections ever in the history of our district...and it was only 9 am.  As I walked the Middle School hallways with our principal, we were amazed at what we were seeing.  In every class, almost every student had  device and was actively engaged in connecting to the network and logging into their Google accounts.  We saw devices of all kinds; Microsoft Surfaces, iPads and mini iPads, Macbooks, chromebooks, kindles and standard laptops.  We saw devices that had 7 in screens all the way up to some massive 15 in laptops.  In the entire building of 850 students, my guess was that over 800 brought their own device.

All wasn't so good.  Our network is like a fortress...connecting to our network is like hacking the military...oh wait, bad example.  Actually, our network is set up with a double layer of authentication.  This was a challenge for some devices and for some students.  We found out that some of the newest devices running windows 8 or 10 had the most trouble accessing the network, but kids and teachers persevered.  Mr. Fried, our tech savvy principal made the rounds with me troubleshooting in several classrooms.  In the end, I would estimate that a good 70% of our students successfully logged into the network today.

However, at the end of the day, I met with my IT staff and we made several adjustments.  We changed the login protocol to our network by reducing the double authentication to a single password.  This hopefully will simplify things for our students.  We also added 2 additional access points in strategic locations in the building where we knew we had some issues.  We also resolved the windows 8 and 10 issues by running a patch and and update on the wireless controller and all access points.

Our teachers persevered today.  They were patient and a calming influence even when they were out of their comfort zones and their elements.  Today was a good day.  I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Link to previous BYOD and Going Google Posts:

http://educreatechnics.blogspot.com/2015/05/going-google-part-2.html

http://educreatechnics.blogspot.com/2015/01/being-creative-with-google.html

http://educreatechnics.blogspot.com/2015/03/google-classroom-part-1.html

Follow me @brian_seligman

The power of the people...

Yesterday was an interesting day in the life of a school administrator.  We held a press conference at Harrison High School which was attended by Superintendents, teachers, school leaders, parents, school board members and community leaders from over 40 school districts in the region.  The press conference was held to announce that we were fighting back against the mandates of NY State and trying our best to change its course, hopefully for the better.

"It is time for New York State to get it right!" exclaimed Dr. Wool, Superintendent of the Harrison School district as he left the podium.  At that point we had 600 signatures to our petition.  600 signatures in roughly 5 hours.  Here is the amazing part...24 hours later, we have 4500 signatures....wait, we have 4550 signatures.  Each refresh of the page comes with more signatures.  It's taking on a life of its own on Social Media including Facebook and Twitter.  #GetItRightNY is our hashtag.  It is our hope.  It is what we demand.

In the next week, it is our hope that we can gain enough momentum that the NY State Senate will join the Assembly and pass legislation putting these changes on hold until we can make a better system.

If you care about education, please sign this petition.  Let's put pressure on our elected officials to do what is right.

#GetItRightNY

Link to Petition:  http://form.jotformpro.com/form/51403613544952

Link to Resources:  http://www.harrisoncsd.org/index.php/featured/571-getitrightny


Tweet

Going Google Part 2:

I recently wrote about "Going Google".  Here is a section of the post:

I know that change is difficult, and is usually avoided. I wrote about that in 3 separate posts:  the Pessimist, the distracted, and the procrastinator.  I know deep down that teachers will embrace going Google, once they realize its potential.  I decided that I would speak to some of those potentials here:

1.  Going Google allows teachers access to their work anytime, from any device.

2.  Use of the "Drive" and a smartphone as a scanner to display work on their smartboards. All they need to do is snap a picture of the document, and send it to their "Drive" and then display it on their smartboard.

3.  Collaboration has never been easier than with Google.  Sharing a Google doc with multiple colleagues as they work on a common assessment or curriculum plan is one click away.

4.   Auto Save.  No more "File Save as", "Ctrl-S" and certainly no more...."oh no! the computer crashed and I forgot to save".

5.  Google for Education gives them unlimited storage.  Wow...unlimited storage?  Yes, Unlimited storage.

6.  Google Classroom is a tremendous resource for teachers.  I just introduced it to our 4th grade teachers and posted a short blog on it here and here. 


However, there is a huge challenge to "Going Google".  Teachers will fear the unknown and the loss of something they know and use everyday.  We are all creatures of habit and fear change because it makes us uncomfortable.  Knowing and planning for the unknown can help ease this transition.


A teacher at the middle school asked to be introduced to Google Classroom once she heard about it from her colleagues.  Her request came and I set her students up.  Less than a week later she stopped me in the hallway to tell me how amazing it is.  She has already used Google Classroom as a means to assess understanding by setting up a Quiz and using Flubaroo to quickly grade the assignment.  She was also amazed that she can track her students' progress in real time as all the work is shared between her and her students.

I am confident that when teachers see the power of "Going Google", they will never miss the "good old days" of the past.

Follow me @brian_seligman

Technology Spotlight #1

I have decided to dedicate my next few blog posts to technology recommendations.

Evernote:
Evernote is an organizational tool that can be used in a variety of ways.  Here are the main ways I would recommend using it for the classroom teacher.

1.  Creating Portfolios for each student.  In Evernote, you can create a notebook for each child in your classroom.  In each notebook, you can record notes, running records, capture pictures of student work, record audio messages such as a student's reading fluency, and much, much more.  At the end of the year, the notebook could be shared with the next year's teacher or archived.

2.  Saving Digital copies of chart paper.  Elementary teachers use tons of chart paper.  They use them to take class notes, write goals, or use them to highlight tools and strategies students may refer to.  Most of the time, the chart paper gets rolled up and stored until there is no more room.  I would use Evernote to make a digital copy of the chart paper.  You can use add ons such as Skitch to edit the chart paper and make notes for the next time you may create a similar one.  Saving the image of the chart paper in Evernote, hwlps to organize your library of resources.  You can also tag the images for sorting and filtering.

3.  RTI notes.  In many schools, teachers participate in RTI meetings.  If you don't have RTI meetings, maybe you have Child Study Teams, Instructional support teams, or anything like that where teachers come together with support personnel and principals to discuss the progress, or lack of progress for students in your class.  Evernote can be used to keep notes and recommendations regarding interventions that can or could be used in the classroom.  You can track progress as well. 

4.  Make Checklists.  Evernote has a simple way of making lists...and my favorite kind of list - the checklist.  Thanks to the Evernote blog, you can find out how to make the checklists here:  https://blog.evernote.com/blog/2011/08/02/did-you-know-how-to-create-a-checklist-in-evernote/


I also recommend going to the Evernote Blog to read stories and find tips on how to best use the product.  https://blog.evernote.com/blog/category/tips-stories/

Evernote is free.  It is compatible with any smartphone, any laptop, and any desktop computer.  It will syn your notebooks and notes across all your devices.  Good luck and give it a try.



Follow me @brian_seligman 

Device Fluency

The other day, my three year old daughter begged me to play minecraft with her.  So, of course, I said yes.  Well, how could I say no to her?  As we walked around the house looking for unoccupied devices, we came across the macbook first.  "Daddy, let's play it here", she said.  As soon as we started, my older daughter rushed in and stopped us.  "I need to do my homework! Can't you find another device?" she yelled.  

Ok, there are others.  So we moved along and came across the iPad.  "Daddy, we can use the iPad."  As soon as we started to use the iPad, my other daughter rushed in and took the iPad away and said that she was already playing a game.  "Can't you find another device?"  

Ok, there are others still.  So we moved along again and found the xBox.  Finally, a device that nobody was using.  I guess with 4 kids in the house, it is expected.  So Jordan and I sat down to play minecraft on the XBox.  I looked at the controller and had no clue what to do.  How can I move up, how to I place a block, how do I "fly"?  Uh oh!  How can I play minecraft when I don't know which of the 9 buttons to press?

Without hesitation, Jordan showed me how to use the controller.  To her, the device wasn't a roadblock.  It was a means to play the game.  She didn't care if she played on the laptop, or on the iPad, or even on xBox.  All she wanted to do was play the game.  

This lesson came to me when introducing BYOD to our teachers.  The device is not relevant.  The skill and the context for which the device is being used is what is relevant.  So, when teachers expect students to write persuasive essays, while collaborating with a peer, they can accomplish this task on virtually any device.  Device fluency may not be the terminology I am getting at...maybe its device agnostic (denoting or relating to hardware or software that is compatible with many types of platforms or operating systems.)

Our children are growing up in a world where they need to be able to manage various platforms and hardware.  Our digital world relies on it.

Follow me @brian_seligman 

What educators really do...

Public debates, state budgets, APPR, union battles, and many others have really put public education in the news.  This blog post is not a political statement in any way, it is my thoughts on the amazing things that our teachers do each and every day.

For the past 20 years, I have been a classroom teacher, science department supervisor, Middle School Assistant Principal, and Director of Technology.  On an every day basis I see the great things that teachers do...here are just a few.

Teachers... make children think about the world they live in, make them question how and why, and most importantly our teachers provide opportunities for our children to learn each and every day.  Our teachers make our children smile, laugh, and chuckle.  They provide them with opportunities to socialize in a nurturing learning environment.  They teach the skills that they will need to be successful in life today, as well as prepare them for an unknown world they will live in.  Teachers not only teach the "written curriculum" that they have carefully and thoughtfully developed, they also teach much of the "unwritten curriculum", such as empathy, compassion, morals, digital citizenship, leadership, creativity, humanity, and much much more.

In our buildings today, we have many different kids of teachers...unique in every way.  We have teachers of music and the arts, teachers of dance and drama, teachers of physical education and health, teachers of computers, information literacy, library media, and digital literacy.  We have teachers of Languages other than English and teachers of English as a Second Language (or English as a New Language).  We have literacy coaches, instructional specialists, reading teachers,  common branch teachers, resource room teachers, special education teachers, school counselors, school psychologists, speech teachers, technology teachers, science teachers, mathematics teachers, English teachers, social studies teachers, business teachers, teachers of trades, and many, many more.

Our teachers give of themselves each and every day.  They share with their students their love of learning, their passion for discoveries, and their thirst for understanding.  They provide opportunities for all students to be challenged intellectually.  They help guide students towards their lifelong dreams.  They set them in motion, whether they are a five year old kindergartner, or an eighteen year old senior.  Teachers inspire the leaders of tomorrow.  They encourage all of our students to try their best, work hard, and do what it takes to be successful.  Unfortunately, our teachers also teach our students how to deal with disappointment, lack of success, fear, stress, anxiety, depression, and much, much more.

Teaching is not a 9-3 job, Monday to Friday, with weekends and summers off.  Teachers work outside of the school day to make sure that what they do during the school day can make a difference in the lives of all the children they serve.  They plan lessons and activities at night and on the weekend and take in-service courses all summer to improve their craft and be better at what they do.

I am probably preaching to the choir, since most of you reading this are teachers, but for those of you that are not, take a closer look at what our teachers do everyday for all the children in the world.  Where would we be without the great teachers we have today?  If you know a teacher, thank them for their service.  Pass this along to anyone who doesn't respect the work our teachers do...I know that I do!

Follow me @brian_seligman

What our children are learning...in a digital world

I often watch my children (ages 3, 6, 9, and 15) interact with technology in our home in utter amazement.  While sitting in my office, I happen to be be looking at the ISTE-student learning standards and made an astonishing connection.  First, here are the general skills associated with the standards:

1.  Creativity and innovation
2.  Communication and collaboration
3.  Research and information fluency
4.  Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making
5.  Digital citizenship
6.  Technology operations and concepts

The connection I made had to do with how many of these skills my children possess and how little they are "tested" to see how much progress they have made towards achieving mastery of those skills.  They don't need a test.  I know they have mastered these skills by observing their interactions, watching them create in the digital world, and seeing how easily they transfer their skills from one device to the next.  I see them grow each day.  I see them learn by doing, by creating, by asking questions and searching for solutions.  In my home, they are independent thinkers, but at the same time, without being told, they can switch to being collaborative thinkers as they help one another out in solving a wide array of problems.

My children are like many others.  They have access to a world that we didn't have 20 years ago, and they are better for it.  My hope is that when my 3 year old goes to kindergarten in 2 years that she is allowed to continue to learn in the ways that makes sense for her.  I hope that we create classrooms that tap into the limitless potentials of our youngest generation Z students.  I hope that our schools continue to evolve and that we ensure the success of our younger generations yet to be born.

Follow me @brian_seligman

but you're the Director of Technology

I am the Director of Technology for a suburban school district in Westchester County NY.   I meet with school administrators and teachers all day long discussing innovative uses of technology for their classrooms and schools.  There are 2 questions I get all the time.  Here they are with my answers:

1.  How do I do "x, y, or z"...?

I get this one all the time.  I get the question on how to use a form of technology by everyone I talk to.  As a former teacher, I have quickly learned that if I supply the answers to all the questions, I am doing them all a disservice.  I often point my colleagues in the right direction, maybe to Youtube or to Google to do some research.  I also very often just tell them, "I don't know."  "But you're the Director of Technology?", they exclaim!  Yes I am.  

2.  You're the Director of Technology and you are using paper and pen to take notes?

I often take notes at meetings with a small notebook.  While I do have a laptop, as well as a tablet, which I use all the time, I like to take notes in my notebook.  In the 8 years I have been in my current district, I have accumulated 18 notebooks.  They are numbered and dated so I can use my calendar of appointments to look for any notes from any meeting I attended.  While I could use Google Docs, take notes and share them, I find that writing helps me process what I am listening to and hearing.  This is more of a personal preference than a statement on the use of Technology.  For example, I also don't like to read books on my iPad.  I prefer the actual book.  Again, no statement here on the use of technology, I just have a preference.  

I will add a caveat to this response.  I don't use technology for certain parts of my job and certain aspects of my life, but I certainly know which tools I could use, and how to use them.  My choice to not use technology is a conscious one.  This is an important skill to have and to teach others...when to use technology, which technology to use, how to know when and which, and why.

Follow me @brian_seligman

Back to school...spring and visions for the future

A while back, I posted a link to an article written by Lolly Daskal for Inc.com.  You can see the original post and the link to the article here.  In the article, Lolly writes about the 13 personality traits to avoid.  I wrote about many of them on my blog.  You can read about them here:  the privileged, the pessimist, the distracted, the loafer, and the dreamer.  

Today, as I returned to work from a very relaxing and stress free week off, I decided to write about avoiding the visionless.  I don't want to be visionless, instead, I want to seek to have a vision, a vision for the future that our teachers will embrace and that serves our students well.

In Lolly Daskal's article, she explains, "the visionless doesn't have a clue what he wants to achieve; he just keeps trying things and hopes something will work. It makes for a hard road to success."

Tomorrow is the start of our work in creating the vision for how we will use technology in a BYOD environment.  Tomorrow a group of teachers and administrators will work together to dream a little.  We will come together to discuss what the future might look like, and how technology will ultimately play a vital role.  

In my last post, I wrote the questions that we will pose to the group tomorrow.  Here are my thoughts:

1.  What are your personal beliefs/vision for BYOD in your school in the next 5 years?  What do you want to see?  I want to see a school where we stop talking about how to integrate technology.  I want to see it used when and if it is necessary, like students use pens or calculators today.  I want to see all students have access to information, any time, and know how to make sense of it, how to question it and how to know whether or not the information is accurate or trustworthy.  I want to see students broaden their reach to connect to peers in other communities.  I want to see this happen without students being told that they should do this.

2.  What 21st century habits/skills do we want to continue to teach regardless of how technology changes in the next 5 years?  In my opinion, the most important "21st century" skills or habits that students will need to master are collaboration, critical thinking and being creative.  I see these as integral parts of the BYOD implementation, specifically with Google Docs and the Google Classroom.  

How would you answer these questions?  What would you want to see in a BYOD school?

Follow me @brian_seligman

BYOD vision planning Part 1

In the next few weeks, fellow administrators, both at the district and building level, along with teachers will come together to begin to think about where we want to be in the next 3-5 years when it comes to technology integration and a BYOD environment.

As Peter Senge has preached in his books, lectures and keynotes, shared visions must begin with our personal beliefs.  If our shared vision statements are built from our personal beliefs, we are more likely to follow them, aspire to them, rather than just comply with the mission.

Here is a short video on his idea:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaw_xAaxZPo


When the group of administrators and teachers begin to think what a school or classroom might look like in an ideal world in 3 years, we will pose the following questions:

• What are your personal beliefs/vision for BYOD in your school in the next 5 years?  What do you want to see?
• In a BYOD environment, students will be using technology to...
• Technology can be used by students to enhance learning by…
• What 21st century habits/skills do we want to continue to teach regardless of how technology changes in the next 5 years?  i.e. Collaboration, problem solving, etc.

How might you answer these questions?  What would you want to see if you were starting a BYOD school environment?  Please feel free to comment.  On April 7, we will hold our first meeting.  Stay tuned.  I will continue to blog following that meeting and share our story.  

Follow me @brian_seligman

My Top 5 Recent Posts

I began blogging at the end of 2014, a little over 3 months ago.  I started this blog to push my thinking, share my experiences and open a dialogue with whomever wanted to talk about education, creativity and technology.  The best advice I received when starting the blog was to blog for me.  So I did.  However, my "blog for me", as a selfish action on paper was only a  misrepresented selfless act.  While I said I was blogging for me, each of my posts had an audience in mind...of which, I was only a small part of.  The audiences I spoke to included my administrator colleagues, the many teachers I am lucky to work with and my Twitter PLN.  Was it really for me?  Maybe, but that could be the subject of a future post.

Here are my top 5 most read Blog Posts:

1.  Stimulating Creativity 

2.  Google Classroom Part 1 

3.  Containing your enthusiasm...

4.  Are you "the one"?

5.  How to get from "I Can't" to "I will try"


Follow me @brian_seligman

Google Classroom Part 1

Over a month ago, we began to integrate Google Classroom into a 4th grade persuasive essay unit.  I blogged about it a few times. Please see the end of this post for the titles and links to those blog posts.

Going Google happened at first by a chance encounter.  Instead of telling you the story myself, I wanted the teachers involved to tell it through their lens.  Here is their story:

Growing in age of technological advancements, the half-life of our devices seems to grow shorter with time. All too familiarly, we have experienced having an “outdated” version of a device, such as a cell phone, simply because a manufacturer was able to develop a new product before we necessarily needed one. Making the transition from a flip phone to a Smartphone is an experience where many of our retells include both troubles and triumphs. A similar pattern occurs as we introduce new technology into our 21st century classrooms. As we encounter these periods of transition, we ask ourselves: is the discomfort that comes along with change worth it?

Our experience, as educators:

At Harrison Central School District, we can confidently say that we are proud to be a part of an organization that embraces change and provides it’s teachers with ongoing opportunities to grow as educators. The idea of using Google Classroom with our students originally stemmed from a conversation about how to problem solve scheduling use of our school’s computer labs. Thanks to the support of both Brian Seligman, our Director of Technology, and Jeremy Barker, our school principal, we were able to use laptops to introduce Google Classroom to our fourth grade students as an online platform for revising, editing and publishing their opinion-based essays. Introducing this collaborative tool to students instantly sent waves of excitement, and increased engagement about writing, across three classrooms of fourth graders at Preston Elementary School.

Recently, Brian Seligman blogged about distinguishing the difference between fears and challenges. According to Maslow’s Four Stages of Learning, living in the first stage, unconscious incompetence, includes not having a certain skill and denying the usefulness of the skill (i.e. the adult who refuses to even go near a computer because they just “don’t need it”). Throughout the process of introducing the application to students, we worked to move from Maslow’s second stage of conscious incompetence to the third stage, conscious competence, by recognizing that we didn’t know everything about Google Classroom but understood the value of using this resource with our students. As a result, we collaborated to develop lessons for students and in turn, develop a greater understanding of this tool. Along with introducing this tool to our students came the challenges and discomfort that comes with change. Were there questions or glitches that we didn’t have quick answers to? Yes, many! Was it uncomfortable for us as educators? At times. Did we work to figure out the unknown? Yes. Were we supported while working through the stages of learning? Absolutely. Are we prepared to say we are at Maslow’s fourth and final stage of learning; unconscious competence? Absolutely not. We’re still working on it!

Our experience, with students:

When you have fourth grade students going home and sharing Google Classroom with their parents and a range of learners coming to school excited about Writer’s Workshop, you know that you have opened a new world of opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning. In developing lessons to support this work, we focused on aligning our work with Google with CCSS, other district initiatives around writing and our district’s core values: access, equity, rigor and adaptability.

In our sessions with our consultant, Diane Cunningham, we have been working to: create standards-based rubrics, increase opportunities for descriptive feedback, encourage growth of writing and develop authentic assessments. Throughout our persuasive writing unit, we took advantage of the “comments” feature in Google docs to provide students with rubric-based feedback in the early stages of the drafting process. We then used our feedback to students as a means of assessment FOR learning. Providing students with feedback in the early stages of the writing process allowed teachers to make meaningful use of the data to drive our small group instruction and individual writing conferences. As students worked to strengthen their writing based on teacher feedback, they moved to using rubric-based language to provide one another peer feedback about their work. The increased collaboration among teachers and students provided a more efficient and valuable opportunity for students to strengthen their writing.

Great start: what’s next?

Thinking ahead, we are continuing to explore further opportunities with Google docs and Classroom. We’d like to continue modeling examples of descriptive feedback and allow students to have additional opportunities to practice providing one another with feedback about future writing pieces. Additionally, we are working to integrate Google Classroom in the development of authentic assessments where students have clear purposes and audiences for their work. Throughout this experience as educators we lived through the motto, “if it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.” In other words, we will continue to sacrifice comfort for growth because the cost we pay as educators is well worth the new learning opportunities it provides for our students.

-Veronica D’Andrea

Recent Posts on Using Digital Tools Creatively:

1.  We are Going Google, Are you? 

1.  How to get from "I can't" to "I will try"

1. Changing a culture - Digital Age Culture

1. Being inspired by a willingness to try something new 

Follow me @brian_seligman

Containing your enthusiasm...

Like any waterfall, ideas can never be contained.  However, there is always danger in letting them go too fast.  The flowing of the water has the power to break through and erode rocks, creating new pathways for the water to flow.  Ideas can do the same.  Ideas can be so powerful that they change the course of history.  They can set in motion other ideas, but they can also scare away and deter many others.  There must be a balance between letting ideas through and holding them back.

In education, we are at a crossroads when it comes to integrating technology.  How much do we push new ideas through and how much should we hold them back and let them out slowly is a very touch question, for which I do not have an answer.  However, here are my quick suggestions/thoughts on the matter.

1.  Keep an open mind to all possibilities.
2.  Discuss ideas with colleagues.
3.  Think through the long term with respect to the most important "what if" scenarios.
4.  Don't give up, especially when there are roadblocks that look like they are preventing you from moving forward.

Having ideas and dreams are great, but they can often get squashed by logistics, technicalities, or leaders with short sightedness.  Don't let your ideas get squashed.  As Langston Hughes poetically wrote in 1951, "What happens to a dream deferred?  Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?  Or does it explode?"  Don't let your ideas or your dreams of a better tomorrow explode because they weren't acted on.


Follow me @brian_seligman

Stimulating Creativity

I came across this info-graphic in my Twitter PLN in the past, re-tweeted it a few times, have it hanging in my office and refer to it often.  Here is my top 5 takeaways from this list of 27 ways to stimulate creativity.

https://twitter.com/WizIQ/status/538444752933240832/photo/1

5.  Change the way you do things.  There are no routine tasks, only routine ways of doing things.
   
       Doing things the same way each and every day can be monotonous, tedious and can definitely limit creativity.  I drive to work each and every day, taking the same route.  There have been moments during my drive that I realized that I had no idea where I was, when my mind was on other things and my driving became automatic.  Our minds can often act in this automatic way at anytime, mostly when we perform tasks the same way...similar to the way our muscles master the art of rhythmic contractions to perform all tasks (known as muscle memory), our brains function is a similar way.  To avoid this "automaticity of events", change things up.   Take the scenic route to work, change the way you do your "routine" morning tasks such as reading the paper, checking e-mail, blogging, etc.  By changing things up, you will find that your brain will think of things that it had not thought of before, allowing for your creative juices to flow.    


4.  Try something that you have never done before.
   
       I am the worst at trying something new.  In my younger days, I could easily be coerced or manipulated by my peers to try new things.  I think I did it just so I could fit in.  However, in my adult life, I try to be safe and stick to what I know.  In order for me to try new things, I need to come out of my comfort zone and really push myself to change.  Don't get me wrong, I do try new things, but it certainly doesn't come naturally and I have to remind myself each day to try something new.  What will I try to do today?

3.  When you have an idea, make a note of it, and later check to see if it happened.
   
       I use various tech tools in my office and on my smartphone to keep track of my ideas.  I use google, twitter, blogger and Evernote for almost everything I can think of.  Thoughts come at all times...on my drive to and from work, I may use a voice recorder to record a thought or idea.  In my office, I have post its all over the place, a whiteboard with notes and I am never too far away from my droid, iPad or chromebook.  Since I use google drive to store everything, I have folders dedicated to ideas.  I have ideas for iPads, google innovation, BYOD, and many others.  While I keep my ideas and thoughts somewhat private, I do share them to my PLN through Twitter and my blogging.  It is a great way to put them out there for feedback and support.  It also pushes me to keep moving forward and continue to work towards my goals.

2.  Go for a walk.
   
       I should walk more.  What I notice is that when I go for walks, I always am able to clear my mind.  There was a movie, not a very good one (historically), but it was about the Samurai and an American civil war veteran living among them to learn their ways in the late 1800's.  There is a line in the movie that I think of often.  It happened when the American was training with the Samurai and it was an utter failure.  One of the younger Samurai said to him, "mind the sword, mind the people watch, mind enemy - -too many mind. No mind." Some have translated some of the Zen teachings as "mind like water" or "empty mind" where the mind is not preoccupied by any thought or emotion. It is empty in the sense that it is unbiased, free and adaptable.  This is when you can be most creative.


1.  Play.
   
       I have 4 children, 3 of which are young enough to still play.  I watch them play all the time.  Occasionally, they will ask me to play along.  I have a difficult time, while they ease right into creative play.  They can be silly, laughing and giggling while they pretend they are monsters, or anything else they can think of.  My 3 year old can do a great imitation of me.  She would sit on the couch and in a really low voice, say, "Stop making all that noise!"  The girls all laugh at that.  They dance and sing all the time.  They can sit around all day and play with their lego blocks, building something, then tearing it down, just to build something again.  They color, they paint and they make things with clay.  They will run around playing "house", "school" or even play, "mommy and baby".  What I do find, is that when I play with them, that is, when I let go of my need to be serious and my need to be an adult, I actually love playing games with them.  It brings me back to when I was a kid, when I didn't have the same responsibilities I have now.  I guess playing games allows my mind to let go of all the things it is worried about, like bills, or replacing the leaky roof.  Being silly once in a while is not so terrible. 

Follow me @brian_seligman

Are you "the one"?

I wrote a blog post last month on "believing in yourself".  However, this post is more about what happens when someone else believes in you.  Although I grew up lacking self confidence, there was always that one person who believed in me, and that made all the difference.

The first person that believed in me, much more than I believed in myself was and still is my mother.  No matter what I thought of myself, she always had the belief that I can do anything, that I could be whoever I wanted to be.  She still has that belief.

Growing up, other than my mother, there were a few people in my life who helped me become the person I am today.  Some were teachers, some were coaches and some, even friends or coworkers.  The point here is that there was always someone, that one person who had the faith, confidence and the belief that I could be successful.  I am even where I am today because a principal saw something in me that nobody ever saw and took a chance on me and made me an AP in his school.  The belief in something I could be opened a door that was had always been closed.   

As a teacher, I knew that I was where I ended up in part to those individuals that believed in me.  I made it my mission to always believe in my students.  I wanted them to know that I believed in them and that I knew they could be whatever they wanted to be.  As I think back to my days as a teacher, I know it was more than that.  I didn't just have this faith that my students would be successful, I knew that I had the power to influence their outcome.  Sometimes, influence came in the form of teaching and learning, sometimes, it came in the form of words of encouragement.  In the end, I hope I was that one...the one that believed in them, the one that helped them believe in themselves, the one that opened a door that had always been closed.

I hope to continue to pursue being a door opener and I hope for someone, maybe many, I was "the one", the one who believed in them when nobody else did.

Follow me @brian_seligman

Change...who me?

I previously blogged about the idea of change with respect to technology here:  See excerpt below:

According to the ISTE Standards for School Administrators: Standard # 2
Digital age learning culture
Educational Administrators create, promote, and sustain a dynamic, digital-age learning culture that provides a rigorous, relevant, and engaging education for all students.     

• Ensure instructional innovation focused on continuous improvement of digital-age learning 
• Model and promote the frequent and effective use of technology for learning
• Provide learner-centered environments equipped with technology and learning resources to meet the individual, diverse needs of all learners
• Ensure effective practice in the study of technology and its infusion across the curriculum 
• Promote and participate in local, national, and global learning communities that stimulate innovation, creativity, and digital age collaboration

While this standard is aimed at administrators, the same standards hold true for teachers.  Change is about culture as much as it is about an individual.  Culture within a school and district has an effect on the ability for its teachers and administrators to change.  A colleague of mine commented on the post, How to get from "I Can't" to "I will try" by asking me to question what is stopping someone from trying something new.  While most people may not easily admit, I think what is stopping them is fear.

We all have fears.  Some of us fear the unknown.  Others fear failure, loss, upsetting others, disappointment, and leaving their comfort zones.  With these fears comes anxiety and a lack of self confidence.  These can also cause us to avoid change like we avoid doing things that are difficult as we "procrastinate".   

What is the answer?  The answer is a challenge.  Challenge yourself to try new things without all the fears associated with it.  If you fail at it, try it again.  If you still fail at it, ask for help, or seek something else.  If you are a school administrator, embrace change, model it and support teachers who are willing to try new things without judgement. A culture needs to be in place that supports teachers and students willing to adapt what they currently do to make it better by changing.

We are a country that was built on the ability to adapt and change.  Inventions, scientific discoveries and the advancement of technology all came about because men and women had the ability and willingness to change.  They did and so can you.



Follow me @brian_seligman

Why I use Twitter

I recently wrote a blog post on why I blog, and you can read it here.  However, over the past few weeks, many teachers and administrators have asked me why I use Twitter.  I decided that it would make a great post, so here is my answer.

I have identified the 3 most effective uses of Twitter for me.  Actually, it is the 3 most effective uses of any technology for me, not just social media.  Those 3 uses are:

1.  To learn and be informed.
2.  To connect to other like minded educators around the world.
3.  Share my passion, my knowledge and my experiences with others.

Twitter is my daily PLN (Professional Learning Network).  It is also my Personal Learning Network, as it is specific to me and my needs.  I use Twitter on a daily basis to learn and stay current on all things "education".  I follow teachers and school/district administrators from all around the world.  I follow their posts that include best practices, resources that I can share and links to their blogs so I can stay current with what they are doing in their schools.  I also follow educational twitter accounts that showcase the use of technology such as @Edutopia and @edudemic.  In this day an age where Public Education is in the proverbial crosshairs, I follow all the unions such as UFT, NYSUT, and AFT, as well as many of their leaders.  I also follow  @BAMradio and @BadassTeachersA because I was a teacher and will always be a teacher at heart.  This helps keep me in the loop so that I can make the best possible decisions for my school district, its teachers and its students. Of course, I also follow our government, including education policy makers such as the chancellor and the Commissioner of Education, both at the state level and the federal level.  In addition, I have tailored my PLN so that I follow the leaders in educational technology both in and out of the Twitter world.  There are too many to list here, but feel free to look at who I am following on my profile @brian_seligman.  By reading what is "tweeted", I can learn something new each and everyday.  My recommendation for that is to start small and follow a few at first...then when you get more comfortable, follow more, use lists and search with hashtags.  

I also use my PLN to connect to other like minded educators around the world.  I connect to them through online twitter chats, Direct messages, and through their tweets and retweets.  Even though I have not met any of those educators that I am following and who are following me, I have made a connection.  I once thought of teaching as being on an isolated and deserted island.  However, with Twitter, it is still like an isolated island, but with electricity, wifi, a cell phone and a working computer.  Twitter allows you to ask questions to your PLN, respond to others and get feedback that will allow you to grow as a teacher and school administrator.  There are so many teachers and administrators that are going through the same thing as I am, so connecting to them on Twitter gives me the opportunity to learn, share and grow.

Twitter also gives me a platform to share with others.  It is the main reason I became a teacher.  I love to share information, knowledge, and experiences with others.  Tweeting and Blogging gives me the tools to give away and share what I hold so dear.  When I was a teacher, I would read a short letter to my students on the last day of school.  My last line was always that I was thankful for the opportunity to give them something of myself each and every day.  My hope is that through my current work (Director of Technology and CIO), my twitter account, and my blog, I can still give something that will help other teachers, administrators and of course help students.

Thanks to +Alice Keeler Here is a great resource with 15 Tips for using Twitter.

Follow me @brian_seligman

The Best thing I do...in my work

As part of the #EduStory, I am writing about "What is the best thing you do in your classroom/school/district/job? from @MsVictoriaOlson".

This is a very good question, but to be fair, I need to explain my job first.  I have a terrific job.  I am the CIO (Chief Information Officer), Director of Technology, and a district level administrator involved in many projects across the district, some pertaining to technology, some pertaining to instruction.  Each and every day is unique.  Some days, I work with teachers implementing new technology such as iPads, or Google Classroom, while on other days, I work with building administrators as they decipher and decode data from standardized assessments such as NWEA's MAP assessments

I recently blogged about the way to get from "I can't" to "I will try" and also here, as I experienced a group of teachers willing to try something new to solve a problem they were facing.  In that case, we used Google Classroom as a way to solve their publishing issues.  I went to their school several times last week to check on their progress.  The first day I went, each teacher spent time to show students how to log into their Google accounts, then to join their classrooms.  I enjoyed being there as the "tech support".  

I returned a couple of days later to see how much of their persuasive essays were completed and to see how things were going.  

I also look at this #Edustory a little bit differently than it is presented in the question.  I don't just do things at work.  I "get to" do things.  There is an important distinction in the mindset of how you think about the things that you do on a regular basis.  Here was a recent blog post on that distinction.

This became the best thing I get to do by far.  Before I became a school and district administrator, I was a classroom teacher.  Each and every day, I would be reminded of the amazing things that I got to do, most notably, share my passion for science with my students so that they left my class each day with a piece of me.  As a school and district administrator, those moments of satisfaction, knowing that you have made a difference in someone's life become more distant and less likely.  Working with the teachers and students on the Google Classroom, allowed me to walk away knowing that I was making a difference.

I know that each teacher now has a new skill and tool to use with their students.  I also know that the students can be engaged in their writing like never before.  It was a pleasure seeing them engaged in writing and so excited to use a tool like Google.  I left that building with a big smile.  I will return again this week to see how they have progressed.  This coming week, each student will share his/her writing with a partner.  They will then share comments, feedback and suggestions to each other.  I cannot wait to talk to them about this process.  

Next up...working with 7th grade teachers using Google Classroom in the same way.  I hope they will embrace it the same way...fingers crossed.


Follow me @brian_seligman