I am conducting a Book Study with our Instructional Technology Teachers using this book.
When I began my career as Instructional Technology Coordinator, the school district I was at was not active on Twitter and just beginning to work in PLC's. One of my goals was to so the importance of creating a PLN and sharing the districts story on Twitter. One of the ways that I accomplished this was through getting Administration to see the value of creating PLN. To do this, this book was shared to all Administration. As it is said in the book, “Being a connected educator is not a formal title…we define connected educators simply as ones who are activity and constantly seeking new opportunities and resources to grow as professionals” (Whitaker, Zoul, Casas, 2015, page xxiii) I am proud to say, at this point, all Administration of the district is on Twitter sharing the story of the district while connecting with other educators. You can follow the district hashtag at #rsd122cares.
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I was always looking for new ways to engage my students. When I found Teach Like a Pirate I was hooked. Dave Burgess shares different ways to hook students into being engaged in the lessons. There were many hooks described in the book. However, one of my favorites was the Mystery Bag. No matter if I was teaching KDG or 7th grade students, The Mystery Bag always worked. I would put an item, related to the lesson, in a bag while the students participated in the lesson. As the students participated in the lesson, they would be thinking about could be in the bag. Once they had ideas we would play 20 questions. If the item was guessed, I would share what was in the bag. If the students didn't guess what was in the bag, we would continue the questioning the next day.
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“Becoming is better than being.” — Carol S. Dweck
The education system is dramatically changing. I feel it is important for the educators within the system need to have a Growth Mindset instead of a Fixed Mindset. Dweck does a wonderful job sharing ideas how to train your brain to create a love for learning and being resilient. One of the big ideas is that by creating a Growth Mindset, it allows one to love what they are doing. In a Fixed Mindset, one loves the score, In a Growth Mindset, one loves the learning process. |