Today I was featured on coachradio.tv
Great advice from Justin Lukasavige:
1. Build a calendar for blogging
2. Share your video message in 2 minutes or less
3. Build a following through consistency
4. Check out needatopic.com
Thank you Justin for your ideas!
Your byline is the few words that show up just under your name when you are being interviewed on CNN.
Wait? What? You’ve never been interviewed on CNN?
Chicken or egg it seems. Perhaps you’ve not been on CNN because your byline is unclear.
“But I’m just a teacher,” you say. Or a mechanic. Or a manager at Home Depot.
In our connected world, content is key. What you contribute matters. Everyone has a personal brand.
If the photocopier breaking is going to ruin the lesson, then the teacher is probably waiting until the last minute. There are situations, however, when copies do need to be made. This is a situation in which a document camera would be useful for displaying the questions in front of the whole class. Another way to deal with this situation is to break students into groups, choose one as a representative to come up and write down the question or type it out on their laptops. Then, rotate the questions around to each group. This empowers the students to collaborate on the activity, rather than just having them complete a worksheet on their own.
Low-tech solutions
If it is just a simple worksheet, the simplest solution is to read the questions off to the students and do the traditional low tech kind of assignment, with students writing their answers on notebook paper. If it is a primary source or an interesting article that was going to be the meat of the lesson, then it gets to be a bit more difficult. Some might try to do a large group reading. Putting students on the spot like this can make things difficult, especially if the reading is a pivotal part of the lesson. The students may be distracted by the fluidity of their classmates’ reading. Another route would be to split them into small groups, with one group reading together while the others work on other activities that are a part of the lesson.
The key is to be flexible. Photocopiers break. The Internet goes down. The sub doesn’t show up. But the truly great teacher is flexible and uses these mishaps as opportunities for learning.
Although there are countless strategies for effective classroom management, I have found that simplicity is the key.
Complicated systems don’t work.
complicated systems don't work
The key is to keep it simple. Choose three techniques that work for you and your class.
For example: stay on task, respect your surroundings, and ask first.
These simple sayings allow me to effectively communicate my classroom management plan to the entire class in very few words. Remember what it is like to be a high school student moving from class to class all day long. They have six different teachers with six different personalities and six different systems for getting attention, going to the restroom, asking a question. It can get confusing. The teacher who has Continue Reading…
Begin with the audience in mind
Creating a school website that engages your audience is about more than just posting information about your school. You need to use your site to continuously participate in a conversation with your school community.
Mentorship Academy Website Screenshot
Here is a step by step plan to follow:
1. Landing page
The first place your audience will visit is the landing page. This single page is a lot simpler than a traditional website, without any drop down menus or complex site navigation. Landing pages are also called “squeeze” pages, because users can only squeeze through one specific click to move on to the full site. Our landing page (mentorshipbr.org) serves as a great introduction to our school, and includes Continue Reading…
Routines and systems
These disruptions can take many shapes: students leaving for appointments, school-wide assemblies, a note being delivered, or an administrator walking in. Each of these disruptions may be minimized through a classroom system.
Students leaving class: Have a sign-in pad where students document where they are going, when they left, and when they returned. Continue Reading…
Here are six specific steps schools can take to educate students and parents to utilize social media safely and effectively:
1. Start small
Start with one technology, perhaps student portfolios.It can be tempting to dive into the deep end of social media but this would be foolish.
2. Get trained
When adopting new technology, ensure that students and teachers have adequate train- ing. Knowing a tool well will help ensure the focus stays on learning.
3. Teach parents
Empower your parents by hosting an Inter- net Safety seminar. An effective speaker will teach parents about the dangers online and answer questions they have.
4. Hire a great faculty
Hire a competent and student-centered director of technology. It is important that your technology staff be both experts in the technology but also love working with students. The purpose of technology at school is not to catch students breaking rules, but to educate them to use technology wisely in a safe environment. Since there is no 100% failproof system, a student-centered staff will take the time to train teachers, talk to kids, and collaborate with parents when things go awry.
5. Utilize group policing
When inappropriate content is posted, and it will be posted, the community of users is empowered to flag the content. On Ning, for example, all of our teachers are administrators and students have the opportunity to flag inap- propriate content, reporting it to an administrator.
6. Build a culture of collaboration.
Students need to feel that they can report what is happening online, par- ticularly when a situation has gotten out of control. With students feeling such a personal connection to their computer, it can feel like a violation to report to the school administration. Find ways to build a culture of trust.
There are many benefits to a social media strategy for your school.
Engaged Families – Want an advocate for your school who knows your faculty, staff and mission better than anyone else? Engaged families are the way to go. Once your families have a connection with your school and feel like a “valued” customer, you will have an advocate for life who will promote your school and aid in your grass-roots marketing.
Larger Events – Creates greater parent and community awareness for your events. Start advertising your events, and we guarantee turnout and participation will increase.
Authentic Feedback – Social Media gives you the opportunity to not only monitor what is being said about your organization, but also gives you the opportunity to participate.
Fundraising – Social Media helps your school connect with potential donors. Your Web site, Facebook and Twitter page say a lot about you and who you are as an organization. This is a great opportunity to give potential donors and thought leaders a glimpse into your organization.
Community Buy-in – Not only does Social Media give community members the opportunity to engage and be a part of the conversation, but it also allows you to build relationships with them. Creating more advocates and lovers of your organization.
Student recruitment/enrollment – Creates ownership and excitement among the students who attend the school when they see their work displayed on your Social Media pages. It also allows you to begin the recruitent process early on.
