I recently listened to a great talk by Michael Fullan on Choosing The Right Drivers, and this may have been my favorite quote:
“If you are strong on the vision but weak in the strategy the wrong drivers will fill the vacuum.” Michael Fullan
Parents Learn About The Best Apps For Your Kids
15
Apr
I have recently been doing some writing for a great new site: ApppoLearning. Appolearning is geared toward helping parents find the best educational apps for their kids. What I like most about this site the the rubric that experts use to score apps, giving parents a consistent way to view the very best educational apps, sorted by a 100 point referenced score.
There are many sites that review educational apps but none take the solid approach that Appolearning does.
Check it our today!
Leaders Need To Learn To Be Good Writers – 5 Helpful Resources
24
Feb
I never valued writing until I began to really write. As a school leader, blogger, and podcaster I have had to hone my writing skills, and I will be the first to admit that they are still sub-par at best. One of the things that I have learned to do in order to improve my craft is to study the habits of great writers and to mimic great writing through intentional practice. Below are five resources that have helped me write better and practice better writing. As the old saying goes: “good, better, best, never let it rest. Till your good is your better, and your better is your best.”
1. Learn to mimic writing with this great book: How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One
2. Listen to great writers talk about writing: CSPAN Book Talk Playlist – Writers on Writing
3. Listen to poetry and writing history every day on The Writer’s Almanac
4. Avoid common grammar mistakes: Improve Your Writing by Avoiding These Twenty Common Grammar Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes
5. Follow some of these principles for writing clearly and coherently: Principles for Writing Clearly and Coherently
photo by:
Unhindered by Talent
A Great Interview Of Atul Gawande On The Harvard EdCast
28
Jan
I am a big fan of the Harvard EdCast, and have been a listener for along time. Recently they had Atul Gawande on talking education! Need I say more? Check out the interview, you won’t be disappointed!
Harvard EdCast: Doctor/Professor
photo by:
Center for American Progress
Aspergers, Acceptance, And Presidents
04
Dec
I am an avid reader and recently I came across an article that I think anyone who works with students in special education needs to read. And any parent out there should take the time to read this. I will say the piece is long, but it is worth every minute of your time.
photo by:
John Althouse Cohen
Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy Notes
18
Nov
Henryville IN – lesson…not putting kids in large spaces like a gym for any type of severe weather- Michael Dorn…director of Safe Havens International
- “I Focused too much on one type of risk”…example from MDS police chief days
- You focus too much on one thing you don’t do other things well
- http://www.safehavensinternational.org/
- Prevention – keeping bad things from happening
- Mitigation – minimizing the effect of a crisis
- Lines….why are teachers in the front?
- Double rows in fire drill
- Teaching them to fast walk for fire drills
- 30% quicker ( Las Vegas school study)
- Connection between test scores and safety)
- Murals reduce violence, increase safety
- Clark county Nevada – school safety
- Mapping of incidents
- Increased supervision
- Space management!
- Parent does not respond to going back to the office….call a lockdown
- Employees start fire drill
- Bruce Siddle – sharpening the warriors edge
- 115 bpm fine motor skills deteriorate
- 145 complex motor skills deteriorate
- 175 bpm cognitive processing deteriorates and perceptual
- http://www.lwcbooks.com/articles/anatomy.html
- Gary Klein – sources of power
- Georgia grenade example
- Three dimensional planning
- Custodian need guidance (Klein)
- Scenario with weapon on bus or angry parent on bus
- Evansville video – 2 min protocol video
- Lockdown, chemical, etc
- Unauthorized media interviews
- Hancock county training video
- Creating a culture of preparedness
- Vest for crisis management team…identifies you in times of a crisis
- Vest for crisis areas…triage
- Food service one of the most neglected pieces of crisis management
- Batteries charged on walkers for night events
- Best known safety device is a careful person (picture)
- How clean are your bathrooms
- Site surveys with several people, lots of different perspectives
- Clean=safe
- See something, say something….teach students to find dangerous things
- Teacher names…outside doors are dangerous
- Acquire vendors to teach you to do assessments yourself
- South Africa pay based on attendance rate
- Supervise closely, you are sending messages
- Drills and Excersices
- Free courses on FEMA
- Drills and Excersices, along with planng and training helps you not get into careless problems
- Stay calm
- Controlled breathing…combat breathing
- Training
- Drills
- Mental simulation
- Need to supervise closely
- Progressive Exercise Program
- Plans and procedures test equipment not people
- Room clear protocol
- Tabletop Excersice
- 10 min at staff meeting
- Functional exercises
- Full-scale exercises
- People participating, can be identified
- Excersices should help meet goals
- Taking defibulator out?
- Press mic to throat on stereo blocks out background noise and they still can hear you…practice
- Practice different protocol lockdown
- Health situation …can’t get through call 911
- Complete online training by April 8th
Dr. Bernard James – Schools Safety and the Law
- http://schoolsafetylawblog.com/
- Bjames@pepperdine.edu
- Wisconsin 6th graders outlaw cyber bullying
- What does it take to maintain a safe and effective learning environment when the symptoms of GE illness are right before our eyes.
- No legal barrier on restraints
- Portal to portal state
- Courts agree hat the import text – spillover from Facebook etc…increases authority — geography case test
- Use of Role Model theory
- Interagency agreement with Carmel Police
- Indiana Law 31-39-9-1
- “May” share information, but can say no
- SRO questioning in Indiana
- Miranda does not apply when:
- The SRO is asked by the administrator to be present at the questioning
- The SRO does to provide the questions, ask any questions, or in any other way conduct
- Our SRO and fifth amendment does not apply when you follow the rule of this case
- State v. C.d. 947 N.E. 2d 1018(Ind CT. App. 2011)
- Miranda does not apply when:
- Can search contents of cell phone via law…policies may dictate this
Kenneth Trump—School Security Blog
- Deal with small problems while they are small problems
- The fourth R on schools is Relationships
- Managing bullying: a framework
1. Supervision and security
- Dr. Ronald Pitner – supervision
- Schools can cut down on violence if they identify the specific hotspots within the school where students feel violence is likely to occur
- What are the hotspots in our school
2. School discipline and classroom management
- Firm, fair, and consistent
3. Criminal and civil law
4. School climate strategies
- Respect, trust, diversity, belonging/connectedness, pride and ownership
5. Mental health support for Cullen and langman
6. Effective communications
- Plan with partners to avoid confusion and conflicting messages
- Duncanville ISD
- Good example of social media
- http://www.duncanvilleisd.org/
Please move the deer crossings…,YouTube http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CI8UPHMzZm8
- Understanding the adults
- Fast food society
- Tunnel vision
- No room for others
- Understand, anticipate, structure encounters, and train for the irate
- Dealing win info at the speed of light
- We have had a 3D policy deny, defend, and distract
- School officials fail to build positive relationships
- Publicize our training
- Parent expectations
- Acknowledge the incident, not deny it
- Explain how and why it happened
- Demonstrate an understanding of the concerns of hose impacted
- Identify steps taken to helpthosewho are injured or aggrieved
How You Read To Your Preschooler Matters
05
Jun
I ran across this recent story by NPR. In the story they highlight the fact that helping kids identify where letters and words are over just reading to them has a significant impact because you are teaching the child to find and follow words on the page, not just listen. My summary does not do the story any bit of justice so just listen already!
photo by:
surlygirl
