Want to get "Buffer"?

A colleague of mine, that is also pretty active on Twitter, recently introduced me to a website called Buffer.  It allows you to decide how often to send out tweets and schedule those tweets ahead of time. When he first explained it to me I admit I was a little lost as to why I would need something like this website in my life.  Then I tried it.

I now know "all the whys" that this website should be in my life!

1) It allows me to plan out and schedule my tweets ahead of time.
    I was always curious how fellow Twitter teachers always had the time to post something every 30       minutes or every hour or whatever their time frame.  I still don't know how some of them do it, but     I know what I do!

2) I want to start building a bigger presence on Twitter.
    I can't build a presence on Twitter if I'm not on Twitter.  I want what I say and do to have an      
    impact.  Again, I cannot do this, if I'm not on Twitter.  So simple solution, Buffer does all the work     for me and tweets out what I have schedule.

3) Of course, as a teacher, I immediately start thinking of the possibilities this could have for a    
    classroom.  
    Teachers know their assignments and tests well in advance.  You can schedule reminder tweets and     focus on in the moment tweets as they come up.  What about PD for teachers?  Schedule tips and
    reminders of what was covered to keep the material fresh in everyone's minds.  Do your parents
    follow you?  Tweet school events, classroom homework, blog posts, etc. to keep parents informed
    of what's going on in your classroom.  Should Admin use it?  DEFINTINELY!  It would be a
    fantastic way to send out positive notes to your staff as a whole.  In addition to reminders of  
    meetings or upcoming events.

Ok so those may not be "all the whys" but it's a pretty good start.  I definitely highly recommend using this website.  You do have to create an account (I created my account through my Twitter account so it was one less account to keep track of) but it's free unless you decide to "Upgrade to Awesome".

One Tab

I cannot stand where I have a messy and cluttered desktop.  I can't find anything and I can't see my picture of Disneyland's 50th Anniversary Castle by Thomas Kinkade, both are equally important to me.  That being said, I try very hard to keep my desktop very organized.

I also cannot stand to have a million bajillion tabs open either.  Unfortuately, I am VERY guilty of this.  I leave a tab open because I won't remember it if I close it.  I leave a tab open because I work on it daily.  I leave a tab open because I know I will have to refer to it in a meeting today, tomorrow, or next week.  I'd rather have a million bajillion tabs open than a million bajillion bookmarks, cause at least I know I can close the tabs.  The bookmarks...I'm too lazy and they will stay there for eternity.

Knowing that I have a problem with tabs (the first step is acknowledging it right) I decided to do something about it today.  This summer I went to a Google Summit in Charleston, SC.  One of the presenters, Chris Craft, talked about Chrome Extensions.  So I busted out my black and white composition notebook (yup I like to take notes old school) and looked up what he had suggested. There it was, beautifully printed "One Tab: put multi tabs in one page ---> multiple links to share w/ students".

So I downloaded One Tab.  And in 5 minutes, I had downloaded, figured it out, and my life is now changed!  I hear the angels singing above my head as I do a little happy dance in my seat.

Once you download One Tab, you click on it and it absorbs all the tabs for that page and closes it.  I organized my tabs on each page - work, social, articles to read, etc. - so I did this for approximately 5 open windows.  Holding my breath (because at this point EVERYTHING IS GONE!!!) I opened a new empty window and clicked on the One Tab icon on my extension bar (or whatever that area is called) and it showed me a list with all my windows and all the tabs that were open under each window.  I could restore or delete any of them!

Those angels singing became a frickin' choir!!!

Learning in November

Have you ever seen Alan November present?

Let me tell you...well, to me anyway, it's awe-inspiring.  I was lucky enough to be able to see Alan at ISTE 2014.  Then as an incredible perk to my current job, we brought him in to speak to faculty and staff one day and then to the high school teachers the next day.  I spent 2 full days with him.  

Let me share some take aways.  

1) While he represents "ed-tech", you almost forget that he's ed-tech.  He speaks to such a global shift in education and learning.  It's not a tool, it's a thought process.  Design assignments, create learning environments in a digital world - not a paper world.  *mind blown*

2) Almost everything is beneficial to someone that is not in the world of education.  The "site:" command for Google search for example.  The majority of people are googling just with some random words and retrieving thousands and hundreds of thousands of results.  With a few commands, you could have much more precise and much fewer results.  

3) Talk to him 1:1 if you can.  When you talk to him, he asks questions, he wants to know about you and your experiences.  He is enthusiastic and appreciative of what you share.  When you talk to Alan, you feel like he really wants to know about you and what you are doing in education.  

4) Despite being overwhelmed, you leave feeling like you can see his vision.  You have no idea how you will possibly achieve said vision, but you know it's possible.  Even if it's only with one tiny first step.  

Thanks Alan.  I'm again, renewed, inspired, and refreshed.  

Take a Vacation

So I recently returned (yesterday) from a vacation.

"What does that have to do with anything?  Oh great!  Is she going to start showing a ton of family pictures?  I don't know you, I don't care."

So all this is flying through my head.  And while my vacation is more personal than I am going to share, I have a different point to make.  Being a teacher, I often find that when I'm on vacation, I'm not really on vacation.  How many of you are in that boat?  Constantly checking emails...grading papers...creating lessons, etc.

I started my vacation the first couple of days doing much of my job "from home".  I then decided to put my phone/laptop away and really focus on my vacation.  My job is across the country from my parents and "home".  The move was insanely difficult for me because my mom and I are so close.  I realized that if I spent all the time that I had set aside with her, the rest of my family, and my friends working...I would only resent my job, be angry with myself, and miss them that much more when I did return home.

That being said, your vacation is a break for you.  You need that time to recover, you need that time to decompress, and you need that time to enjoy what/who you love.  And you need to give that 100% of your attention.

Cross That Bridge

Recently, I asked a colleague of mine if he was going to submit a proposal to present at an event.  He said he planned on it.  (Neither one of us did because we ran out of time.)  I looked at him as he was replying and he had a very "nonchalant" look on his face.  The idea of submitting - not even presenting - TERRIFIED me! He didn't seem to care at all.  I cared a lot, so I asked him about it.

I'm a 30 something and I'm still afraid of rejection and judgement.  I'm still nervous to put myself out there.  Despite the fact that I aspire to be someone that others can look to for #edtech advice, guidance, conversations.  If, as a professional, I'm still not 100% comfortable...gosh, what about the kids?!

How can we get them to take that first step?  How can we get them to cross that bridge?