International Dot Day #withSchoolAI #EdChat

As a high school teacher, I had not idea what Dot Day was and that it was a big deal is schools all over the world. When I taught Middle School, I started to hear more about Dot Day from students and it sounded like a really fun story and activity. Once I finally sat down and read the book by Peter H. Reynolds, I was blown away. It was the type of story I needed to read when I was starting school and feeling like everyone was better than me at everything. As an undiagnosed neurodivergent learner throughout K12, it was hard not to feel "less than" when compared to my peers. I never thought I would be able to "make my mark" in any meaningful way. A simple story can really change the narrative for a young student if we make the time. 

Working at SchoolAI, I get the chance to spend time building amazing Spaces to support the awesome work educators are already doing in their classroom. With International Dot Day approaching next week, I was wondering if there was a way to create a Space to support this important day in school. After some fun exploring different prompts, I put together a Space that will allow the students to watch a reading of the story and be prompted by SchoolAI's Dot about ways they have made their mark even when things were tough. Then, they get to create their own Dot using the Doodleboard PowerUp. Here is a screenshot of my Doodleboard. 

I hope you have a chance to use the Space with your students who are looking for a way to explore Dot Day and make their mark. These types of Spaces are perfect for launching and sharing with families at home so they can explore with their children. 

If you want to find more Spaces that are created in the SchoolAI Community, join the Champions Program and you will get weekly updates on all of the amazing things educators are doing to make school awesome. 

Back to School #withSchoolAI #EdTech

It is Back to School time and we have some amazing things in store in the SchoolAI Community! 

First, have you joined the Champions Community?

Once you join the Champions Community, you will have access to all of the awesome resources that are being shared on the Community page. 

We have a Facebook Group and a WhatsApp Channel to help everyone stay connected. This is also where you will find all of the Champions resources to help you complete the Seasonal Challenges. We are currently in Season 1 and people are working hard to complete the Challenges. Here is the best part, it is not about competing against others. Everyone can complete challenges, earn points, and get swag! The ultimate award is a trip to the ISTE+ASCD conference in Orlando in the Summer of 2026 AND a day at Magic Kingdom! 

We have just launched our first Mini-Season that can have folks earn even more points and Ultra-Mythic entries by sharing SchoolAI on socials. Check out the Champions Community for more info. 

I'm excited about all of the amazing things goin on in the SchoolAI community and I hope you will join us for some great opportunities to learn and grow together. 

Hugs and High Fives, 

Nick

Unsolicited Back to School Advice #EdChat

Unsolicited Back to School Advice

Created with DALL-E

It is that time of year again where teachers all over the country are getting ready to head back to their classrooms. Some are heading to their very first classroom. It can be a scary time for new and veteran teachers. There might be new admin in place, a new curriculum, might be rolling out, or a host of other things that can up the anxiety level. With all of that in mind, I thought I would share some unsolicited advice that might help any teacher get through the back to school butterflies. 

1. Focus on what you can control

The most important thing when it comes to back to school jitters is focusing on what you can control. You cannot control the new admin, or the new procedures in place for dealing with tardy students, or the broken stall in the bathroom from last year that is still not fixed despite multiple work orders having been submitted. You can control the way your classroom looks, the welcoming environment that students feel when they walk through the doorway. You can control the bulletin boards, and flexible seating. You can control how you greet the students at the door for each class. There are so many things you cannot control that can drive anxiety levels, up, but, there are so many thinks you do control in your classroom that help create an amazing learning experience for your students. Focusing on those will help kick the year off in the right direction. 

2. Note important school dates on your calendar

Hopefully your school releases a calendar that has all of the important dates marked. These should be school breaks, PD days, testing dates, etc. Mark these down in your calendar or plan-book (Do people still use teacher planners?) so you are not surprised later on when a lesson needs to be cut short or interrupted by a week of testing. This is also nice if you plan to take some of your personal days and you need to plan around school events. Make sure to check your school policy on using personal/sick days. If you are in a school that has a use them or lose them policy, keep that in mind throughout the year. Mental health is important and you need to make sure you use your days to support physical AND mental health issues. If you can help yourself, how will you be able to help others? Mark all of the important dates in your calendar so you will not be shocked later in the year. 

3. If your new, find out who does what and write it down

Being new to a building is tough for lots of reasons. You are hit over the head with the new teacher training and you can easily be overwhelmed with all of the new information being tossed your way. If you are not give a list of names with phone numbers, emails, and jobs, it is important to create your own. You should create a quick cheat sheet that has the name, numbers, and emails of the people in charge of various parts of the school. Administrators, office assistants, maintenance, school counselor, school nurse, etc. Anybody that you might need to call quickly or email. Most importantly, ask a veteran teacher how to get certain things done. Sometimes there are proper channels of getting things done and there are ways to get things done quickly. You only learn these things through experience, so connect with those who have it so you can learn it. I learned that one of the office assistants loved pumpernickel bagels. Whenever I got bagels for class or for the department, I would get one for her and drop it off at her desk. My forms were always processed quickly when dropped off throughout the year. Sometimes a little grease can get the wheels moving. I learned that from a veteran teacher after a couple of years. 

4. If you are a returning veteran teacher, keep an eye out for the newbies

There are going to be some bright eyed teachers stepping into the building for the first time with lots of crazy ideas of what teaching is going to look like for them. It is important to adopt these younglings and help guide them through the process so they do not burn out and you are forced to start the hiring process all over again. Provide them with the wisdom you wish you received as a new teacher or did receive thanks to an awesome veteran teacher. You might be thinking, "Am I a veteran teacher" and the answer is probably yes. It seems to have happened over night, but you are a veteran teacher now. I usually say if you can make it past the 5 year mark, you finally understand that you don't know everything and can start to learn and share with those around you. Find those teachers that need the support and help them be successful. 

5. Focus on growth

The last thing I want to share is the value of embracing the mistakes you are going to make. They are going to happen and you need to be ok with that. More specifically, learn from the mistakes and look to be better next time. Connect with a veteran teacher and talk about the mistake. Focus on growth this year. Whether you are new or a returning vet, by focusing on growth, you can be better. That is what we want for our students, so we should model that for ourselves. Every single teacher is on their own personal journey that makes them who they are in the classroom and as a person. If everyone is focused on growth and helping those around us with their growth, we can all be better in ways that make the entire school better for everyone. 

I know you did not ask for this advice and there are plenty of other things I could share with you, but I wanted to keep this short and sweet and let you explore the different ways to manage the back to school butterflies. Teaching can be tough, but it has an amazing community that is ready to support any teacher looking for help. Never be afraid to say, "I don't know" as long as it is followed up with, "but let's find out". You've got this, so go an make the 2024/2025 school year the best one yet.  

Learning Fun With @WoWeeWorld Robots

I've been luck to be able to play with a couple of cool robots the past couple of weeks from WowWee. They are the Coder MiP and the Codji. While I thought they were cool, the most important opinion was that of my awesome son Leo. He loved them and I will do my best to explain why he thought they were so cool. I will start with the Coder MiP. 

Coder MiP

This little robot packs quite the programming and hardware punch. You might not think that by just looking at it, but it really does. The Coder MiP has the following features that are worth noting.

Beaconsense - This allows the robot to know its surroundings and the situations it is in. 

Gesturesense - It can sense movement in front of its eyes. 

Sound Detection - Coder MiP can be activated by the clap of your hands if you want. 

Gyroscope and Accelerometer - It stands up right on its wheels and can be given directions on how fast to go. 

I was not sure how the Coder MiP was going to balance itself on those two wheels, but once it was connected to my iPad via Bluetooth, it stood straight up without an issues. 

Coding the Coder MiP might sound like a hassle or a tough task, but it is a simple block coding system that is similar to Scratch. Leo, having had used Scratch in the past, simply starting moving the blocks around on the screen to get Coder MiP to do what he wanted. There is also a free drive mode, but Leo really preferred to code the robot to see what he could make it do. Here is a video of Leo using the Coder MiP. 

He had so much fun trying to figure out all of the different things he could make the Coder MiP do. There are plenty of different sounds that the Coder MiP can be instructed to perform and the movements allow for 360 turns and pauses between actions. It is a very simple system for young students interested in robotics. Leo learned about the cause and effect relationship of actions placed in code. Having it try to do a spin before coming to a complete stop caused it to fall over. Adding the pause button would allow it to make the turn the way he wanted. It was fun watching him figure it out on his own. 

The Coder MiP comes with a ramp and a serving dish which can be fun as kids learn to program and complete tasks using the Coder MiP and these extra tools.

The Coder MiP charges using a micro USB and you can get a little over an hour with constant use after a full charge. The app shows you the battery level and is free to download.

Codji

If you think that your students or children are not ready to dive into block coding, then Codji is a great place to start. Codji works on using emoticons (Emojis) to send instructions and elicit reactions from the robot. The app has many different features that Leo very much enjoyed plating with during the day. 

In the picture above, Leo is guiding Codji through a street. This is level one and Leo just needed to move him over two spaces. Leo had to count the spaces and select the right arrow twice to move the robot on the screen. As the levels increase, the paths become more difficult and require adding turns and movement in other directions. Leo liked trying to solve the maze each time. 

Here is a screen shot of the driver mode. You can take Codji out for a spin and have emojis show up on his screen/face. Leo loved to use the Devil emoji and have another emjoi stick his tongue out at me. 

This part of the app required Leo to watch Codji's face for an image and repeat the sequence on the app. This was easy at first, but it does get difficult the further along you play. It was a nice challenge for Leo to think about the Sequence of things and how to remember them.

The Codji runs on three AAA batteries and works best on a flat hard surface. Our carpet was ok, but the traction on hard floors is much better.

I think both of these robots from WowWee make a fun addition to any home or classroom looking to introduce students to a very simplified version of robotics. These are they types of toys that can really spark an interest in students and have them excited to follow a more in-depth path to robotics down the line.


WowWee did send these robots to me for the purpose of a review, but that does not make them any less awesome to me or to Leo.

Stay on Target #EdChat #StarWarsEdu

I was watching Star Wars: A New Hope this weekend and something stood out to me at the end of the movie that had me thinking about technology integration and education.  Watch the clip of Luke blowing up the Death Star.

I love this scene because Luke decided to trust his training and use the Force. He shuts off the computer and goes for it. I think this has a nice connection to educators in the classroom. 

We all have had extensive training in various areas of education, but there is this pressure to use more technology to reach our students. Now, there are great things that technology can do to support student learning in ways that are not possible without them. The technology can get us there with the students, but it has to come down to the training to really get the students learning. For Luke, the technology got him to the Death Star, but he needed his training with the Force to complete the mission. 

Do not let technology make all of the decisions for you this school year. They are just tools to help support your training and innovative ideas. When it comes to completing our mission, educating all students, we need to use our instincts. If we do this, we can blow up a million Death Stars. 

Some might think the connection is flimsy and very nerdy, but the idea is still important. No matter what is going to be thrown at us this school year, we need to trust our instincts, believe in our training, and sometimes, hope a Han Solo flies out of nowhere and saves our butt when things are at their worst. :-)

Have a great school year and, as always, 

5 Things Students Should Know About Teachers Starting The School Year

I started lesson planning for the start of the school year yesterday. When I start lesson planning, I go into full teacher mode and start thinking about everything I need accomplish from September through June. I was also struck by all of these things and how most students have no idea what teachers are thinking when the school year starts. So, I thought I would write about the 5 Things Students Should Know About Teachers Starting The School Year.

1. We get anxious at the start of school.

I do not mean that we are looking forward to it, I mean we are driven my that awful feeling in our gut that stems from (sometimes) irrational fears. We worry if the students are going to like us or if the lesson plans from last year will work again. We stress about knowing the names of the students and how badly we will pronounce them. Are there going to be new rules that we have to follow? Will I remember them? What happens if I don't? Am I up for evaluation? Is my teaching certificate up to date? Do I have enough PD hours? Are the contract negotiations going well? We get anxious over all of these things and more and it can make getting out of bed tough, but we do it. We do it because, despite all of those things, we love what we do.

2. We believe all of you can be great.

No matter what your skill level, we know that all of you are going to be great in something and we want to help you find that one thing. It could be Science, poetry, photography, drums, or any other thing we can't think of, but you love it with all of your heart and we will help you with it. Some students make it harder on us to be helpful, but we are up to the challenge and will work with all of you so you can move closer to your full potential.

3. We care more about you than your grade.

It's something that all teachers think about. We want to know that all of our students or doing well. Not just at an academic level, but at an emotional and social level. We want school to be a fun and safe place for all students and we worry about the students who do not feel that way about school. Grade are important in one aspect of school, but your overall wellbeing is most important. We love all of our students in a way that only teachers truly understand. You are our kids once you enter the classroom and will be our kids forever after.

4. We are not kidding when we say, "Come and talk to me if you need anything".

We do not say it because we are told to say it (we're not), we say it because we mean it. We want you to know that we are here for you if you need anything at all. It might seem weird to talk to your teacher about personal stuff, but sometimes, we are the best ones to help. It is cliche, but we were teens once upon a time. Man of the issues you are dealing with have happened to all of us. Teachers deal with depression, anxiety, divorce, substance abuse, and other issues in their personal lives because we are people just like you. Please reach out when you need it.

5. We are going to fail you.

I do not mean you will get a failing grade on the essay. I mean that we are going to let you down in some fashion. It is inevitable. We will not do it on purpose, but we will make a mistake, say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, because we are human. It breaks our heart knowing that we are going to fail some of you, but we promise to keep trying and make everything as perfect as possible for every student in the classroom. We can only promise to learn from our failures and come back better, smarter, and stronger the next time around. We will always forgive your failures and we hope you will forgive ours.

There are many more things that run through a teacher's head before school starts, but these are just a few that I think of every year that I want students to know. Feel free to add any thoughts you would like students to know in the comment section below.

Have an awesome school year everyone!

Hugs and High Fives,

Nick

Check out @TeamKano for #BackToSchool

Enter in Nerdy2016 and you can get 10% off!

I've had the best time playing with the Kano Computer Kit. I will just start right away by telling you that you need to order a kit right away if you are interested in getting your students or own children learning to code and assemble their own computer. The new Computer Kit comes with a Raspberry Pi 3! Ok, let's get to the basics.

Kano Computer Kits come with a Raspberry Pi which is the computer that runs the OS. The OS comes on a microSD card that comes preloaded with the Kano OS. Here are some pictures of unboxing and putting the Kano Computer Kit together. Below are a ton of pictures that I wanted to share because this really is something that is important to see as well as read about.

The Computer Kit has a nice package

Keyboard dongle is plugged in and ready to go

Power ready to light up the Kano

Assembled and ready to go!

Once everything is assembled, you are ready to connect your Kano to an HD monitor. This can be a TV or another HD capable monitor you have access to at home or school. I connected mine to a large SMART board. Once I plugged in everything, here was the first message. 

Fun little picture

Made a mistake and they helped me fix it

 Once I set my user name and I followed the initial steps, I was then taken to some screens to help me get going. The tutorial setup was very easy to do and was wonderfully paced.

Working the keyboard

Killing bugs!

Setting up the desktop was sooooo simple

Karate Avatar

 Once the desktop is all set and you have created your avatar, you set up your online profile so you can access the great community that Kano has set up for users to share content and try new things others have created.

Once you have set up the account, Kano walks you through the different apps that can be found pre-installed on the OS.

Once you have done all of this, you will earn your first badge! I was so excited to earn my first badge. I'm not going to lie. I might have done a fist pump. 

First badge

 The first app i jumped into was the Snake app. I wanted to make my own Snake app and the game walked me through all of the code I needed to make it run. It was very simple to type out and establish in the system. I then was able to play the games I created.

 When I was done, I shared my creation to the Kano Community.

As I continued to play with Snake and try out the new levels, I earned a badge!

I continued to earn more badges as I played different games and learned different things about coding and creating on a computer. 

Eventually, I leveled up to 2 and was very excited about this accomplishment. The more I played, the more I leveled up. It was a bit addicting. I spent my entire off period and lunch playing with the different games. I was hooked. 

The more levels I earned, the more content I earned for my avatar. 

I know I have shared many many photos, but I've done that to show you how beautiful the UI is on the Computer Kit. It is wonderfully designed and easy to use. The cartoon graphics are well rendered and look great on the HD screen. The UI is so important if you are going to get adults and children hooked on using a device. These are key and Kano has done an amazing job with it.

I played pong, did a text based Python script game, I played with Scratch for the first time and made the Cat dance around the screen, and I did all of this with a huge smile on my face. The true test was to give it to my son and see what he thought.

Leo is playing with the Computer Kit and the Screen Kit. He was hooked right away. He LOVES Scratch. He wants to play it all the time. Leo is 5 and he was moving around the Kano UI easily. He figured out how to do things on Scratch without any support. While Scratch is a different program not created by Kano, the Computer Kit allowed Leo to have easy access to the program. The keyboard was the perfect size for him to click the keys and use the trackpad. He was able to draw a submarine and make it bounce on the screen without asking a single question. Dropping the pieces together was simple for him and Kano allowed him the easy access to a great tool. That is what makes Kano stand out for me. 

The Kano Computer Kit retails for $149.99 and it is worth every penny. The kit that will have the Pi 3 will not need for you to connect a wifi dongle. That will make it a little nicer for the set up. 

Leo continues to play with the Kano Computer Kit and asks me about playing the "Cat Game" (Scratch) all the time. He also loves to play Pong once in a while. He is slowly learning the different aspects of the Computer Kit and he is doing it with little guidance from me. These are such important skills for him to learn. He will be a coding expert if he keeps this up. 

I look forward to seeing the Kano OS grow, expand, and mature with its users over time. Kano will only improve on its stellar UI and offer new applications that will be easily downloadable and added to the desktop. Kahoot just announced that they have connected with Kano. Check out the story here. 

You need to hurry up and reserve your Kano Computer Kit before it is too late. 

Tips for New Teachers #EdChat #BackToSchool

The start of the new school year is upon us and it has me thinking about the past 15 years of teaching. I was thinking about all of the things I need to get ready for at the start of school and then I started to think about how many of those have nothing to do with curriculum. These were things I learned from colleagues or on my own over the years. I thought I would share some of these nuggets of information with Internet in the hopes that it will make the start of the school year a bit easier.

These are not in any order of importance, just the order they came to my brain.

1. Get to know the support staff as soon as you can. The secretaries, custodial team, special education support staff, ESL support staff, the cafeteria team, and any others in the building working to support students outside of the traditional classroom environment. You will need to rely on these great people at different times during the year and it is so important to know them by name and have a strong working relationship with them.

2. Find out where the closest bathroom is for staff and students. This might seems a bit silly, but when you only have a very limited window to use the bathroom, you need to judge how much time it will take for you to get there and back before the next class starts. For students, this allows you to know about how long it will take for them to get to the bathroom and back in a reasonable amount of time. Sometimes students will want to stretch their legs and take the long way around. If they do this often, have a private conversation about this and see if there are other issues going on there.

3. Never ever discipline a student in front of other students. This is hard because it requires checking emotions at times, but it is so important to make sure these exchanges are in private. I'm still guilty of this once in a while, but I have gotten better over the years. If you need to address an issue with a student, just calmly ask them to see you after class. This prevents a blow up and the student acting out to save face in front of peers.

4. Do not spend the first day of class going over all of the rules. Most of these rules are the same as every class, so they will already have a sense of how class is supposed to work. Instead, spend the first day getting to know your students and letting them get to know a little about you. Play some icebreaker games and just have a relaxed environment. Save the syllabus for day two.

5. Greet the students at the door. No matter what you have going on, get to the door and say hi to each student. This should happen almost every day, but there is always something that will get in the way. Greet them on the way in and try to be at the door when it is time to go. These little acts will go a long way with students, especially those that feel like they do not matter in school.

6. Make time for lunch with your staff. This is one of the biggest things I missed my first year. I felt like I had to work, work, work, to stay afloat my first year, I missed building relationships with my peers. Hanging around adults after teaching teens or children half the day is a great breath of fresh air. It is also a wonderful time to pick their brain and ask for any tips or tricks they might have. If you do not connect at lunch, you will find that there is little time do so the rest of the day.

7. Become best friends with your school librarian. They are one of the most important humans in the building. They are usually in charge of the computer labs, the Makerspace, and other odds and ends. They can help you set up assignments and provide support for projects. The librarian needs to be a person you can quickly email if you are in a research jam with your students. Bring them coffee, bagels, donuts, and the like to make sure they are always happy and ready to help.

8. Let the students choose their seats. This is one that will get some push back from people and I they have great points, but I love letting the kids sit where they want. The rule I have is that they choose first and, if needed, I will choose second. There will always be a couple of kids that need to be relocated after a few weeks, but the class is much nicer when they can sit by friends. It might be tough to get to know all of their names because they are not sitting by last name, but it is worth it in the long run.

9. It's ok to take your kids outside of the classroom. I was always so afraid to leave my room and go to the hallway or outside for a class period. Nobody every said I could not, but nobody ever said I could. Once I build up the confidence, I took my kids around the building to explore and see different things. Sometimes, I just wanted a change of scenery. Leave a note on the door and head out with the class. The students will love the change of pace.

10. Make sure you check all websites you want to use at school before using them with students. There is nothing worse than getting to school and finding out a website is blocked. Test them at school and find out the process to get something unblocked as soon as you can. Sometimes the block is an accident and other times it is because nobody has ever used that site and it is labeled something funny that gets it blocked. I've learned this the hard way, so please test at school.

11. Find out who the All-Star Sub is in the building. Every building or district has a few subs that everyone knows is the best. They can be trusted to do everything on your sub plans. Ask a few people and they will give you the name(s). Keep there info saved in your phone so you can reach out if you need a sub last minute or months in advance. Having a good sub can save you stress while you are out.

12. Find out where you get your supplies for the classroom. Supplies might be limited, but they are there. Sometimes we just buy what we see when we are out, but school has them in a closet somewhere. Also, save receipts for stuff that you buy because you might be able to get paid back!

13. Use your mentor. Most schools will assign a new teacher to a mentor and you need to go to them when you are stuck or have questions. Over the school year, you will find that you will gravitate to another teacher other than your mentor as you learn the personalities of the rest of the staff. This is ok and I think it is good to have a mentor outside of your department as well. They can give a different perspective on how things are in the school.

14. Learn to say no. You will be asked to chaperone every dance, attend every sporting event, be the advisor for many clubs, and you have to know when to say no. It is ok to do extra things and be part of the school. That is important and you should do them as long as it does not take away from needed rest and relaxation that allows you to focus on your craft. I coached and advised during my early years and it was a great way to connect to students outside of the classroom, but there has to be a limit. Saying no does not make you a bad teacher, it can make you a stronger one.

15. Lastly, embrace who you are an translate that into your classroom. Odds are, you were hired because of who you are and what you know. Students will care about who you are in the classroom and can spot a phony a mile away. Be genuine with your students and they will be genuine with you. It took me years to embrace my inner nerd. Once I did, my classes became even better.

These were a bunch of tips that may or may not apply to you. Feel free to share with friends or add any tips you might have in the comment section.

Have a great school year and reach out if you need anything!

Setting The Tone #edchat #T2T

I was sitting in the backyard planning out the first couple of weeks of the school year. There is always so much to think about. Which stories do I want to start the year exploring? How soon do I want my students writing their first essay? How quickly will I have to change all of my plans based on the makeup of my class? I sat staring at my Moleskine trying to decide how I wanted to start my first day of school. The traditional items popped into my head:

Go over the class syllabus.
Talk about my background as a teacher.
Discuss all the classroom procedures.
Assign seats?

I kept thinking about these common aspects to start the class and they did not sit well for me. The first day should be a reflection of the entire year. My classroom does not look like any of those traditional starting day items. I'm about projects, students sharing, laughing, being silly, and exploring learning for everyone. The tone that is set on the first day of school should mirror the class you want. If I want my students to have more ownership of the classroom, I should turn over some of the first day to them. If I want them to explore learning, I should let them explore. If I want a collaborative environment, I should let kids collaborate. This made me very excited to engage my students in a different way.

I then thought teachers coming back to the classroom to start the year. Are they going to sit in meetings and be told the rules of the school year? Is it going to be power point after power point of information that could probably be shared in an email?

Setting the tone for students is important and setting the tone for teachers is equally important. If we want students to get up and move around to learn and be excited about class, we need to do the same for teachers. We need to start the year off with some excitement and get things going in a positive way. Let the test scores and data sit for a day or two. Jump into something fun and exciting that lets teachers explore and connect with one another. Setting the tone for teachers will help set the tone for students.

This year, I will have my students build marshmallow towers. I've done this before and the students got a big kick out of it. They laughed, explored possible construction options, researched, and came together on the first day of class. It was a shared experience that they all joked about throughout the year. I look to put this in place again. Not time for the syllabus or classroom rules on the first day. Just letting my kids take over and build a tower with marshmallows. Once I've set the tone, everything else will fall into place.

School is right around the corner!

How are you going to set the tone to start your school year?

Hugs and High Fives,

Nick

Welcome Back Butterflies

The school year is starting today for many teachers and students around the country. After 13 years, I still get the butterflies. I used to think I was nervous about my lessons or the impending grading of assignments, but I think the butterflies are a bit different.

I think I have the butterflies because I'm excited about the untold possibilities in the coming year. With 20 Time starting its second year in my class, I'm excited to see what my students will undertake. I'm also excited to start trying some of the fun things I learned from my friends over the summer and I can't wait to see how my dedication to learning spaces is going to influence my daily routine. There are so many possibilities, that it is hard to concentrate! 

Another thing I will be doing is creating a short video on my #NerdyCast to reflect on the week. I have one up already and I look forward to adding more as I really try and dive into my practices this year in an attempt to look deeper into what I'm doing and not doing. I'll still be doing longer podcasts with Tim, we just need to flesh out the schedule.

For everyone starting today, I hope you have an amazing day and I look forward to learning and sharing this school year. 

My Back To School Advice For New and Veteran Teachers #NTChat #EdChat

It is that time of year again and it is crazy to think that some educators are already back to school and some are very close. There is always a bit of craziness that takes over as teachers get ready for the start of the school year. During this time of preparation, some very important things can be forgotten. I want to take a few moments and remind everyone in the education world to do a few things this school year that will make the school year a little bit better.

Reflect:

This is a big one for me and one of the most often forgotten parts of teaching during the school year. It easily forgotten because it takes up time and educators are constantly under a time crunch. Time needs to be carved out each day or every other day to reflect on what has happened in the classroom and with the lessons created. The only way to truly grow in the profession is to honestly reflect on what happens each day. Don't just point out the things that do not work, look for the things that were awesome. Keep these reflections written down somewhere. They can be in a single Google Doc that is for personal use or it could be on a blog for the world to see. If writing is not a great medium, try a video blog and save all of the reflections in a private YouTube channel. Reflections allow all educators to take the time to truly review their work and make the changes necessary to be better.

Me Time:

Always budget for "Me Time". All educators are busy with their job, extracurriculars, family, and many other commitments, but there needs to be time set aside just for you. This time could be an hour or two over the weekend, 30 minutes alone with your coffee before school starts, or 90 minutes gaming at the end of the night. No matter what it is, this time is important for any person in a high stress job because it allows them clear their head. This time will make a better educator in the long run and a better person when hanging out with friends and family.

Listen:

Sometimes, the first few days of the school year are so busy, we forget to listen to our students. We hear them, but sometimes we are not listening. The first few days are crucial for the teacher/student relationship. These students need to decide if they are are going to trust their teacher for the whole year. They need to know if you are the person they can go to if they are stressed. If the students see a crazed person that is just going through the motions playing catch up, they will not be invested in the class or their teacher. Slow down and give the student the most important thing a teacher can give most kids, your time. One of my favorite practices is something I call "The First Five". The first five minutes of every class (give or take a minute here and there) is where I go around the room and engage students in conversation about all things not class related. I get to know them and their lives and just listen to them go on about what is important to them. These few minutes create a lasting relationship in class and it lets the students know that I care about them beyond their classroom abilities. It is never a bad thing to just sit and listen to your students.

Ask for help:

Whether you are a veteran teacher or a new teacher, there is a fear of asking questions. The idea that you might not know the answer to something or that you might need help is scary because people might think you are not a good teacher or administrator. Asking for help is something all of us have to do from time to time and it is nothing to be ashamed of doing. Asking for help is something that should be done more often and modeled for students whenever possible. We are living in a world where collaboration is vital an getting feedback from others is so easy. We need to be comfortable in not knowing everything and asking for help when we need it. The more people ask for help, the more others will do the same and we can all start to work as a community on solving similar problems. We are all in this together, so let's starting asking for help and helping those who need it.

These are four things that teachers can work on as they start the school year. In my experience, these four things can really make a positive impact on how the school year will turn out. Feel free to leave any other advice in the comments that you think can help all of us start the school year in the right direction.

- @TheNerdyTeacher