Teaching Learning Leading K-12

Episode 60: Vicki Davis-The Cool Cat Teacher

Vicki is a teacher and an IT Director in a small school system in Camilla, Georgia, but she is connected through her writing, speaking, podcast, and social media content throughout the world! 

This is her 13th year teaching.

She writes regularly for the website Edutopia and Vicki can frequently be found as a national keynote speaker presenting on a multitude of topics.

She is a published author and has her own podcast on the BAM Radio Network called Every Classroom Matters

I subscribe to her podcast on iTunes and look forward to every episode.

  

Her books are Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds: Move to Global Collaboration One Step At A Time and Reinventing Writing: The 9 Tools that are Changing Writing, Teaching, and Learning Forever

She has an amazing blog, http://www.coolcatteacher.com/, where she expresses her thoughts about many different areas associated with teaching from technology to classroom management and many topics in between. She also connects the readers to many resources for helping with better teaching and school leading.

She also is very active on social media, especially Twitter, where her handle is @coolcatteacher

https://www.pinterest.com/coolcatteacher/

https://www.facebook.com/coolcatteacher

https://www.youtube.com/coolcatteacher

Vicki is engaging and overflowing with incredible ideas for making the classroom experience unforgettable.

After talking with Vicki, I couldn't stop talking to my team members about her inspiring words! 

I think that you will get just as energized.

Enjoy!

Length:

40:45

Episode 59: Amanda Miliner, 2015 Georgia Teacher of the Year

Amanda is an elementary teacher in Houston County, Georgia who was recognized as the 2015 Georgia Teacher of the Year. In 2006 she was Miss Georgia and competed for the title of Miss America.

This last year she spent time in schools model teaching, presenting, co-teaching and talking with various organizations across the state. She also traveled to Washington, DC where she met the President, twice.

She sees herself as a self-made person. She knows how important education is. She likes to explain to kids that she came from a single parent home but that she has not let that interfere with her life journey. She is a first generation college graduate in her family and now she is working on her doctorate.  She emphasizes to kids that she wanted something better for herself.

Amanda has a no excuses mentality in the classroom. She expects the kids to work hard and not ask for handouts.

She comments that she didn’t start out wanting to be a teacher, but explains how the desire to teach rose to the top.

Listen closely as she talks about the teacher who hooked her into wanting to be a teacher because she had a classroom that was like an educational theme park!

We talk about what her ideal classroom would look like as well as what her favorite resources are.

She describes herself as being orange not blue and how that impacts her teaching and her interactions with the kids.

She will challenge you to think about how you see and work with the kids.

Catch up with Amanda on Twitter @gatoty2015

Amanda mentioned these resources:

Kidblog

iMovie

Length: 30:36

Episode 58: iPrincipal update with Mark Wilson

This is my third of an on-going conversation with Dr. Mark Wilson about his book in the works called iPrincipal. 

Check out our earlier talks at Episode 48 (The Introduction), and Episode 53 (Intentional). 

Also, you can find out more about Mark and his focus on leadership at Episode 8 as well as his website. 

The iPrincipal...today's fully prepared and highly effective principal is inspirational.

While the iPrincipal is expected to be an instructional leader (to be discussed in another episode), to lead effective schools, principals also need to be inspirational leaders.

Inspirational Principals excel in:

1. Seeing Connections

2. Sharing Ideas Clearly

3. Seeking Opportunities

I think that you will find Mark's thoughts engaging and thought provoking.

Enjoy!

Length: 18:00

Episode 57: Team Building Tips with Steve

This month I am introducing a new addition to the Teaching Learning Leading K12 library:

Team Building Tips with Steve.

These episodes will be monthly and run between 5 and 10 minutes.

I will be talking about ways to get your team to be a team.

Each episode will feature a resource that you can use to help you focus on the growth and health of your team.

On today’s show I ask the question “Is your team a team?”

So is it?

Here is a list of the resources that I mention:

The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork by John Maxwell

This is Your Life with Michael Hyatt (A Podcast)

Episode 163 of Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn (A podcast) where the host interviews Michael about Team Building and Leadership

Also, Don’t forget to stop by my blog article called Principals: 5 Things to do Before Next School Year

Additionally, I did a few full podcast episodes about Team Building. Check out Episode 35: The Law of the Inner Circle and Team Building

Episode 31: Trust-The Key to Team Building

I hope that you enjoy this new segment and will follow the links to the awesome resources that can help you become more team oriented.

Best wishes!

Have fun!

Go Team!

  

Length 6:30

Episode 56: Snipping Tool with David Rogers

Snipping Tool is a software app that allows you to take a snapshot of your desktop screen, a window on your desktop or the contents of your entire desktop.

Snipping tool  is a free utility application that comes with standard installations of Windows 7 and Windows 8. In Windows 7 click: Start > All Programs > Accessories > Snipping Tool.

(With Windows 8, press the Win Key and type Snipping Tool)

 

What is so great about Snipping Tool? Many people have a need for taking a “snapshot” of any number of things on their computer. Especially if you are creating a “howto” document.

Windows Snipping Tool has the following options:

• Free Form snip

• Rectangular snip (default)

• Window snip

• Full-Screen snip

If you are going to use snipping tool a lot, I suggest you pin it to the Windows Taskbar, that way it is always available and a one click execute.

When you get ready to take a screenshot, just click on Snipping Tool. The snipping tool window will pop up and your cursor will become an active selection cursor depending on which mode you are in. You then select or choose the portion of the screen you would like to capture.

Once you have snipped all or a portion of your screen (or Window), the Snipping Tool Window opens. In the snipping tool window, you have a pen, a highlighter  and an eraser to use to edit the image. The pen is a free form drawing tool as is the highlighter. These tools, although simple, allow you to circle, underline, highlight & markup the file as you see fit. You do not have a lot of editing features. Snipping Tool is a simple tool, but it is very effective.

After you have edited the file, you have the option of saving it. The file can be saved in three popular graphic file formats:

• PNG (Portable Network Graphic)

• GIF (Graphic Interchange Format)

• JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

Or as a single HTML file (MHT file to be opened in a web browser) (This is not an easily edited format. Used mostly for archive purposes).

After you save the file, it is ready to be used as is any graphic file.

Review:

• Snipping Tool is a free, quick and easy tool for Microsoft OS users to create graphic images of anything on their desktop.

• It comes as a standard installed utility in Windows 7 and later OSs.

• It is found in the Accessories menu under the Start Menu.

• It saves “snips” in three popular graphic file formats (& MHT format).

• It has a pen and highlighter for basic editing (highlighting).

Target audience: Anyone that creates “howto” documents, technical documents or reference material.

Follow David on his Technology Blog

Length: 10:29