When Novelty Fades Resolve Remains

New shiny things are exciting, but take effort to maintain.  The same is true for the excitement we experience from hearing a new message or seeing the latest and greatest gadget.  It is also true for kids.  Any coach will tell you that energy and morale are high on the first few days of practice and over time, those who experience the dissipation of novelty fail to continue with the same zeal.  We have all seen it in the classroom when school starts.  Students are eager to be there, they are organized, have work completed, etc.  Then by the third quarter their work has changed into the 'average' of what they can produce.

So how do we maintain the energy and production that comes with the novelty of new experiences?  One of the ways I did this last year was through the 'This Year I Will #TYIW initiative.  Spurred on by the initiative of Adam Bellow, I along with several of my peers created a #TYIW artifact that was posted outside my door and their doors.  It listed my goals for the year and was personalized for the world to see. It kept me accountable to accomplish my goals and follow through with what I said I would do.

This year to take it a step further, I am planning on hosting a #TYIW PARTY!!!!  A party? Yes, a party...where guests are invited to spend the evening conversing, sharing quality time together, enjoying the last few days of summer, but most importantly, sharing their goals.  The exit ticket, for the party will be get up in front of the group and share out what their goals are for the year.  It is my hope that they will also spend some time and creating their 'artifact' to hang outside their room.

To take the first step, here is a look at my goals for the #TYIW.  I hope you will challenge yourself to create you own.  I would love to hear your thoughts on these goals as well.

Building a culture of sharing

One of my professional goals as you know is to begin sharing more.  This morning, I attended a roundtable discussion on the connected educator paneled by 10 of the greatest minds and authors in educational leadership today.  The session was filled with ROCK STARS and they rotated through our smaller groups to share with us and allow us to glean from them their 'pearls of wisdom'.  It was awesome session...almost perfect...I say almost for a reason.

Two of the presenters who rotated through were Pernille Ripp and Peter Dewitt.  While speaking of ways to build a culture of sharing in schools, I posed a question to Pernille via twitter.  I also tagged another blogging hero of mine, Tom Whitby.  The response I got made me do the Homer Simpson style 'Doh'...

Initially, I was looking for a quick answer.  This response, though caused me to pull together all the tidbits of knowledge that I have gleaned from a myriad of sessions here at ISTE.  Well, played Pernille, well played.  So here goes a few of the ideas I have to foster a culture of sharing at our school this coming year.  

Call out the elephant in the room:

Admit that sharing is hard and scary, and even more scary in front of your peers that you respect.  Start there are then move on. 

Modeling

Model sharing and living your passion for those around you.  Starr Sackstein (@mssackstein) may have said it best 'None of us start as experts'  Couple this with quote attributed to Angela Maiers (@AngelaMaiers) 'The smartest person in the room, is the room' 

Shout out sessions in traditional and virtual meetings

Take the time to stand and recognize the genius and skill of those around you and encourage them to be recognized and share with the group in that moment the great things they are doing.

Create a brand and write your own story

I don't remember where I heard this one from or who I am stealing it from, but 'Tweetable Moments'.  I hope to make it a habit to find tweetable moments everyday.  I hope to inspire my peers to do the same share out 1 tweet a day with our school hashtag and use the already existing hardware in our commons area to showcase the awesomeness that is taking place in our school everyday.

Speed Geeking

This idea is one that a colleague of mine, Patty Wolfe (@wolfep).  Speed geeking, or organizing a regularly scheduled time for our staff to share 3 minutes of genius with other staff members in a rotating speed dating style session.  I see some potential for this to fit into our weekly breakfast club meetings we have on Fridays.

Walkthrough Wednesdays

This idea is inspired by Tony Vincent (@tonyvincent) while he was walking through the poster sessions at ISTE.  I am hoping to use the Periscope app to record videos of students every Wednesday as they are answering the question 'What is the greatest experience you have had this week in school'.  I then plan to upload these to YouTube and curate these experiences over the course of the year and give teachers some 'lift' as they hear the joy kids are experiencing in their classrooms.

 Start a Blogging Clan

This is an idea I had a little over a year ago.  One of the obstacles most people find when blogging, is not having a dedicated time to get it done.  Life happens, right?  This idea is to create a blogging clan that meets regularly to blog, and help others who are wanting to start blogging.  I know we have several people who want to blog but just need the input of activation energy!

 Mini Ignite Sessions

This is an idea that I am going to bring to our administration for the kickoff to our school year.  Have our fellow teachers get up and share 5 minutes of passion with the rest of the staff.  It is time to drop the self consciousness and self defeating talk.  We wouldn't tolerate it from our students, so why do we tolerate it from ourselves.  Lets share our talents and passion with the world.  You never know the impact you will have.

So, this was my list of ideas.  The challenge I give to you if have read this far:  What ideas do you have to build a culture of sharing?

Sharing Your Genius - It's not a choice, it's an obligation

For quite some time, I have had these thoughts:

'As educators, we have a moral obligation to share our genius.'

'As educators, we need to share our genius with others more often'

'As educators, we need to have the courage to share our passion in front of our peers' 

So, this post is serving two masters for me: I have set the professional goal to do more than think outside the box, it is time I have the courage to model what I preach to others.  A second goal I have set is to share my 'genius' with others through blogging.

You see, for me, this process of blogging is where I work through inner dialog.  It is where I hash out the inner workings of ideas.  It is where reflect on my JOB to get better at my PASSION of being an educator and leader.  Over the past couple of years, I have written probably somewhere around 100 blog posts and then later deleted them because I didn't have the courage to post these outside the box ideas for others.

To accomplish these two goals,  I am setting the goal of having a meaningful blog post once a week.  I am going to be action oriented when I return to work in the fall.  My role in our school has grown into one where I am the person who calls it like I see it and isn't afraid to cast away tradition in the hopes finding a better way to do it.  Luckily, I have a boss who relies on me to 'rock his boat'.  Now it is time, I take another step and be willing to model the leadership thoughts, educational actions and new ideas that I generally take to others.  So, stay tuned for more.

The real impetus behind sharing this post came from a 'Honey-Slap' moment as Adam Bellow (@AdamBellow) calls it.  I was lured into an experience for the honey and slapped with the reality of truth.  That honey-slap moment for me was sitting in the #HackKeynote by Adam and Dean Shareski (@shareski).  The one and only Tony Vincent (@tonyvincent) sat down behind and me and it was go time baby!  Those who know me best, know the giddy excitement I experience from meeting my EDUCATION heros, so this was like nirvana for me.

This was my nirvana moment as I was surrounded by rock stars Adam Bellow, Tony Vincent, and Dean Shareski...not to mention fellow #CozadMakers Patty Wolfe & Karen Berreckman

And then it dawned on me...The people that I idolize are ordinary people who are doing extraordinary things...and they make others more extraordinary by sharing their genius.  The slap was this - We have a moral obligation to share our talents and live our passion for the world around us'.  There is no doubt that these guys are rock stars and uber talented, but the reality is that they have made a conscious choice to share their genius with us.  Their sharing has made me better and I owe it to others to share that with them.

I wonder how the culture of school would change if, we as educators and leaders, had the courage to share our genius with our peers and not be self conscious in showing our passion to our fellow educators.  When others are showing their passion it is contagious.  It is a contagion that lifts your spirits.  I can assure you that this year I am moving forward in my work as an educator to share my genius and just maybe I will be able to elevate those around me.

Lastly, I must give credit to a few of the people who have inspired me to be more awesome.  Thanks Adam Bellow for imploring all of us to make education better.  Thank you to Angela Maiers for encouraging other to share their genius.  Thanks Pernille Ripp for modeling blogging and authentic sharing.  Thank you Tony Vincent for being such a confident down to earth rock star.  And lastly, thank you to my fellow educators and friend for inspiring me to grow.