Happy Weekend!
If you are like me, you are using this long weekend to take a breath, unwind and relax. And maybe get caught up on some To-dos. Midway through my second cup of coffee this morning, I realized that today would be a good day to go back through some of the things I found or shared on social media last week. Between Twitter and Facebook, there is a lot of good stuff floating around the interwebs. So often I retweet or share with the intention of going back and digging deeper…and then life gets in the way and I don’t. But today – I will. Here are my favorite finds from the past week.
- The Costs of Workplace Rudeness, The Wall Street Journal – We have all done it. Snapped at a colleague because we were stressed out or overwhelmed. This essay from WSJ makes you stop and think about what your rudeness might be doing to your work environment. Rudeness can be contagious but so can kindness. Goo to stop and reflect once in a while to make sure you are following your own “no jerk” policies and modeling good behavior.
- Cool Cat Teacher, Vicki Davis has a wonderful 10-minute Teacher Podcast. In episode #140 she talks with Aaron Maurer (@coffeechugbooks) about five ways to amp up STEAM learning. Best take away – “Hold on to your crayons.”
- Jeffery Bradbury from TeacherCast shared a wonderful blog post from January, Should You Hire a Tech Coach…or a Tech Conductor? Loved the idea that a good district tech coach is like a conductor. I do not come from a music education background but as a former band member, I found his thoughts on leadership and teamwork in ed tech inspiring. Not only gets me excited about working with teachers but almost makes me want to pick up my oboe again…almost.
- As a self-diagnosed selfie addict, I love the idea of using selfies in the classroom and exploring self-portraiture as an art form. Ed tech guru, Shelly Sanchez (@ShellTerrell) has a FREE Epic Selfie Adventure Template that you can download. I need to give this a try. See, my selfies are for education!
- If you are not following Richard Bryne (@rmbyrne) then you are really missing out. He shares a ridiculous (as in awesome) number of ed tech resources. This week he had several augmented and virtual reality tools to share. Here are a couple This Is Augmented Reality, This Is Virtual Reality and Membit – Augmented Reality Photo Maps. Follow him on Twitter or read his blog. He shares great stuff.
- Creativity has been on my mind a lot this week. I’ve been feeling a bit uncreative and uninspired so I’ve been looking for ways to regain my creative mojo. Here are a few posts that I found helpful. George Couros (@gcouros) tweeted an article (5 Weird Signs You’re Creative) that reminded me that I’m not weird, I’m creative. And Fast Company is going to help me rediscover my creativity with this 14 Day Creative Bootcamp. Challenge #1 was to take five minutes and write about myself. Sounds easy but I can’t say where I’m from, what I do, or the roles I play. OK, not sure what’s left but I’ll give it a try. Set the timer for 5 min…and go! Wow – that was hard. Give it a try. Here’s a peek at who I am.
I like to think that I am a creative person who tries to have fun. Sometimes I get overly enthusiastic and can be a bit overwhelming to others. Other times I just want to sleep. I want to explore new places and new ideas – even if it is from my couch with a cup of coffee. I’m still trying to figure out who I am and where I want to go but also like to remember where I’ve been. I am energized by the people who surround me but also like to be alone to think and sleep. I still have lots of questions.
That’s a quick snapshot of a few of my favorite finds from the week of August 28th. Want to see more? Follow me on Twitter (@kbrynteson)or Facebook. What were your favorite finds last week? Share them in the comments.