Aspire to Inspire

Aspire to Inspire. That's the dream isn't? As educators, we sign a contract every spring and commit to a yearlong journey of inspiring others to be a better version of themselves on a daily basis. We aspire in inspire. 

We aspire to inspire the math student to grapple with a math problem until she can not just get the right answer, but explain how and why she took the steps that she did.

We aspire to inspire the student learning a new language to start a conversation with his peers.

We aspire to inspire the quiet child to try share her thoughts with the class. 

We aspire to inspire the student who is failing a class to make sure that school attendance is a priority. 

We aspire to inspire the student who tends to make poor behavioral choices to stop and think before reacting to a situation.

We aspire to inspire a colleague to try a new teaching strategy or a new technology device in order to keep his instructional delivery relevant for the class. 

As we wind down the first half of the school year, you may feel drained from all the inspiring you do on a daily, sometimes, hourly or moment-by-moment basis. 

Photo by: @BethanyLigon (Dec 2015)

Take time for yourself during your time away from school this Christmas season. Sleep in, read a book, go for a walk, hug a child or get your face licked by a puppy. Take time to savor your favorite holiday sweet and watch a cheesy movie that makes you laugh. 

Make sure that you are rejuvenated because your yearly journey is only halfway through and when you return to classes in January, you have a lot of inspiring to do.

Thanks for all you do! It doesn't go unnoticed.

Offering my BEST to you,
Bethany.

Say What?!? I'm a Finalist?!?

Edublogs has an annual recognition for bloggers in the educational fields. It's to highlight teachers and students who are adventurous enough to post their ideas and learning experiences to the world. Classroom blogging provides students with a worldwide audience that is authentic and tangible. This is the time of year that Edublogs opens its polls for participants to vote on their favorites.

So yesterday morning I went to the site to vote because our district's junior high, Cactus Canyon, has an award winning blog, the Cougar News Blog and I wanted to show my support.  

Out of curiosity, I clicked on the various categories to see if I could recognize any other blogs and to my surprise, I found that my blog had been nominated. 

Photo by @BethanyLigon (March 2015)
Modified by @BethanyLigon (December 2015)

Maybe I'm alone in this, maybe I'm not the only one, but when I started this blog, I had no idea if people would read what I had to say. But I knew that I wanted, maybe needed, a space to share out my ideas. And so every post I have written and will write in the future is composed simply because I want to connect with others. Whether or not we agree is besides the point. I want to challenge you in your thinking just as much as I want to be challenged by your thinking. 

If what you read on this blog resonates with you, you can voice your vote by CLICKING HERE. You can vote once a day from the same IP address until December 16, 2015. 

Thanks so much! 
Offering my BEST to you,
Bethany.

P.S. Thanks to @MeaghanDavis19 for her nomination of this blog. She's a dynamic individual who has amazing thoughts. You can check out her blog: We Make the Weather.

• How has blogging affected you professionally? Or personally?
• Has anything that you've read on this blog specifically made you think a little bit differently? How so?

Directions for posting a comment:

1) Choose "Comment As" first. If you don't have a Google/Blogger account, you can choose Name/URL and type in your name, then place the web site that best describes you in the URL (i.e. www.ajusd.org). Or, you can choose "Anonymous".

2) You may need to press "Post Comment" more than one time.

It is always wise to copy your comment before pressing "Post Comment" just in case something happens. 

3) Type in the word verification.

4) If you did everything correctly, it will state, "Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval." If you do not get that message, please try again. 

5) Many thanks to Tracy Watanabe for these directions to post. 

And thank you for commenting!

Using Google Slides for Scientific Argumentation

As part of my learning today, I read two blog posts that have inspired me to think of using Google Slides for Scientific Argumentation.

The first blog post is from www.erintegration.com - Making digital books with Google Slides. This seems like such a simple way to integrate tech into daily instruction. Students can easily combine text and images to tell a story. 

Students also tell stories in science. They make not necessarily think that they are storytellers, but when they report their findings, make claims with evidence, and defend their ideas through scientific argumentation, that is exactly what they are doing - it just happens to be using observations and data rather than imagination. So why not use Google Slides to tell their scientific investigation story?

Here is what a template that students might use to tell their story.



What makes scientific argumentation so powerful is the dialog between students because they have the opportunity to question and critique each other's work. Continuing to use Google Slides, I see this playing out in several ways. 

Way #1 - Student groups can give a presentation to the class. This is a more traditional instructional strategy, that certainly has its benefits, but has a high risk of only a small percentage of students being involved in the conversation. 

Way #2 - @alicekeeler has often shared the positive attributes of using Google Slides for class discussions. Using this technique, there would be ONE slide show for the entire class. Each student group would get a set of slides to share their work. I might differentiate the groups by using different colored backgrounds so viewers would know when one groups' work starts and ends. Once all work is compiled, students can make observations and ask questions on other groups' work using the commenting feature. 

Way #3 - Once students are comfortable with the scientific argumentation process of reviewing each others' work and providing constructive comments and questions, they may be ready to jigsaw the discussions. Students from each lab group will become a representative in another group. Each representative will be responsible for communicating claims, evidence, and reasoning; therefore, each representative will certainly need to be able to defend their groups' position. Here is a blog post of how this might be employed into your classroom. 

Whichever WAY you choose to use Google Slides for Scientific Argumentation, I'm convinced students will realize that their work is a story for an audience of their peers and not just some meaningless data sitting stagnant in their science notebooks - or worse, a packet to be completed, turned in & graded, and returned only to be buried in the bottom of their backpacks and never thought of again.

Offering by BEST to you!
-Bethany

• Have you used Google slides as a way for scientific argumentation? What suggestions can you offer?
• How have you used collaborative slides in your instruction in other ways? What worked, what didn't work?
• How else have you employed scientific argumentation in your science class? How would you recommend starting off to someone who wants to make that leap with their students?

Directions for posting a comment:

1) Choose "Comment As" first. If you don't have a Google/Blogger account, you can choose Name/URL and type in your name, then place the web site that best describes you in the URL (i.e. www.ajusd.org). Or, you can choose "Anonymous".

2) You may need to press "Post Comment" more than one time.

It is always wise to copy your comment before pressing "Post Comment" just in case something happens. 

3) Type in the word verification.

4) If you did everything correctly, it will state, "Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval." If you do not get that message, please try again. 

5) Many thanks to Tracy Watanabe for these directions to post. 

And thank you for commenting!

Collaborative Coaching Murmerations

Six years ago, our school district introduced a Peer Coaching program (based off the work of @lfoltos). At the time, the district was beginning a systematic approach to becoming a 1-to-1 learning community. Having teachers trained in the art of coaching collaboratively in an effort to integrate technology into daily instruction was, and still is, crucial.

I was in the first batch of teachers who were trained to be a Peer Collaboration Coach. Through the years, as teachers have become more and more comfortable with using technology and working collaboratively with one another, the effort that was once required, is second nature to many. 

We've had some leadership changes in the last year and now I'm the one working with our Technology Director (@jcastelhano) to facilitate the wonderful group of educators who are designated as Collaboration Coaches. And for the very first time, we had the opportunity to get all 40 of us in the same room. Teachers of Kindergartners to high school chemistry all met to share the best of what we know about collaborating with our peers.

I had three major goals for our time together:

• to recall the roles that a coach plays with his/her peers
• to connect with coaches from other sites
• to gather resources to use as a coach

To make this happen, I decided that it would be fun to have a Speed Dating session for coaches to share their ideas. I found my idea HERE. I provided the teachers with discussion prompts to get the dialog flowing. 

• What resources have you utilized while coaching or collaborating with others?
• What does successful collaboration look like? How does it make you feel?
• Tell of a successful coaching experience. To what do you attribute the success?
• What are the two most important skills needed to coach or collaborate successfully?
• Are you looking to collaborate with someone on something? Describe your dream project.

I'm sure that teachers would have appreciated more than the three minutes I allotted for a conversation before they had to move on to their next "date". It was pretty exciting to hear these teachers share their thinking. 

Photo by @BethanyLigon (2015)

Photo by @jcastelhano (2015)

Once the Speed Dating session had ended, I encouraged the group to send an email or two to the teachers who had an impact on their thinking - I referred to this a "second date". I look forward to seeing the fruit of these conversations in the near future.

Photo by @jcastelhano (2015)

To close our time together I chose to show THIS VIDEO of starlings creating beautiful formations. According to THIS ARTICLE, starlings' movements are usually in response to predators or other stimuli in the immediate environment. The birds communicate most closely with the seven birds around them, but can respond to other individuals across the flock. And contrary to popular belief, there isn't a single leader in the group. 

To me, this is what collaboration coaching is all about. We aren't experts - we realize that we have various strengths and weaknesses and we are dependent upon one another. This is why it is so important that we are in very close communication with one another, assisting the whole group to respond to needs in our school environment. The conversations that we have where we reflect and plan and strategize are like the starlings' mezmerizing murmerations - we shift and adapt and hopefully at the end of the day, make learning a beautiful experience to be a part of.  

Offering my BEST to you,
Bethany


Directions for posting a comment:

1) Choose "Comment As" first. If you don't have a Google/Blogger account, you can choose Name/URL and type in your name, then place the web site that best describes you in the URL (i.e. www.ajusd.org). Or, you can choose "Anonymous".

2) You may need to press "Post Comment" more than one time.

It is always wise to copy your comment before pressing "Post Comment" just in case something happens. 

3) Type in the word verification.

4) If you did everything correctly, it will state, "Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval." If you do not get that message, please try again. 

5) Many thanks to Tracy Watanabe for these directions to post. 

And thank you for commenting!

Everyone Needs a Coach

I have this quote pinned up in my work space where I see it as I boot up my laptop every morning. It reminds me that there isn't anyone that I come into contact with, from a brand new classroom teacher, to a veteran principal, and even myself, who doesn't need another person walking alongside them as we journey down our professional paths. 

Being new to the coaching world, I have made a few observations of what makes an effective coach.

1 - They are available. Effective coaches refuse to over schedule their calendar because they understand the time it takes to prepare for the individuals or teams that they are working with. Just like a classroom teacher requires time to prep for a class full of students, an instructional or technology coach schedules time in their weekly calendar to plan a session so that it will meet the needs of their client. 

2 - They are "just in time". It seems to me that the best coaches are prepared to provide skills training at appropriate times because they have done their research and know just when and how to introduce something new. A teacher doesn't begin with providing instruction on the structure and function of DNA before teaching her students about the structure and function of cells. Likewise, a coach will take the time to determine what the teacher's needs are and be prepared to scaffold skills when the teacher has shown the readiness to take on something different and new. 

3 -  They are provoking. Like the quote above states, everyone needs a coach - so even the veteran teachers could benefit from time spent with a coach. While there are teachers who are open to new ideas and seek a coach out on their own, some need to be pushed with some gentle, yet provoking questioning in order to keep their instructional strategies relevant.

4 - They are trustworthy. Teachers who work with a coach may feel vulnerable and they need to believe that their coach has their best interest at heart and will remain confidential regarding conversations that take place. I can't think of anything that would ruin a coach's reputation faster than losing the trust of those with whom she/he works. 

It is my hope that as I continue this school year in this new role as a coach that my reputation is built upon these qualities as a solid foundation. 

Offering my BEST to you,
Bethany

What are your thoughts about the qualities I have shared here? Are there others that you would suggest?


This post is part of the #educoach Blog Challenge.  


Directions for posting a comment:

1) Choose "Comment As" first. If you don't have a Google/Blogger account, you can choose Name/URL and type in your name, then place the web site that best describes you in the URL (i.e. www.ajusd.org). Or, you can choose "Anonymous".

2) You may need to press "Post Comment" more than one time.

It is always wise to copy your comment before pressing "Post Comment" just in case something happens. 

3) Type in the word verification.

4) If you did everything correctly, it will state, "Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval." If you do not get that message, please try again. 

5) Many thanks to Tracy Watanabe for these directions to post. 

And thank you for commenting!

Effective Instruction

In my reading this week, I came across a list of what Eric Banilow and his team of researchers identified as Effective Science Instruction qualities. As I reviewed my own practice in lesson development and as well the practice of my peers in different content areas, I couldn't help but think that these qualities are not limited to only science, but to math, English, social sciences, and the fine arts. No matter what is being taught, whether it is in a formal classroom or out on a field for football practice, if a lesson is missing any of these elements, the learner will most likely miss out on a key component of the main concept. 

Over the next few blog posts, I plan on diving into each of these areas a bit more to discover what it means for both the learner and the teacher. Won't you please join me on the journey?

Offering my BEST to you,
Bethany

What do you think - are there elements that you believe are missing from this cluster?
Do believe that one of these is more important than the other? Why?

Directions for posting a comment:

1) Choose "Comment As" first. If you don't have a Google/Blogger account, you can choose Name/URL and type in your name, then place the web site that best describes you in the URL (i.e. www.ajusd.org). Or, you can choose "Anonymous".

2) You may need to press "Post Comment" more than one time.

It is always wise to copy your comment before pressing "Post Comment" just in case something happens. 

3) Type in the word verification.

4) If you did everything correctly, it will state, "Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval." If you do not get that message, please try again. 

5) Many thanks to Tracy Watanabe for these directions to post. 

And thank you for commenting!

Online Safety

This week I spent a majority of my time reviewing how our school district communicates about Digital Citizenship with our teachers and families. In my research I came across many sources that had tips for keeping kids safe online. The one source that kept ideas short and simple was Safety Net Kids from the UK. 

I used this as an opportunity to play with making my very first infographic. (Thanks Piktochart!) Here's what I came up with. 

Offering my BEST to you, 
Bethany

How do you have conversations with the young people in your life about staying safe while using online sources? 
Is there anything that you would add to this Top 10 list? 

Directions for posting a comment:

1) Choose "Comment As" first. If you don't have a Google/Blogger account, you can choose Name/URL and type in your name, then place the web site that best describes you in the URL (i.e. www.ajusd.org). Or, you can choose "Anonymous".

2) You may need to press "Post Comment" more than one time.

It is always wise to copy your comment before pressing "Post Comment" just in case something happens. 

3) Type in the word verification.

4) If you did everything correctly, it will state, "Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval." If you do not get that message, please try again. 

5) Many thanks to Tracy Watanabe for these directions to post. 


And thank you for commenting!

The Big Push

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to participate in a professional development training with teachers who have been teaching for a very, very long time. They are professional in all that they do. Most in the group teach high school juniors and seniors. And most have been using the same instructional strategies that they were using ten to fifteen years ago. And now, their principal is saying things have got to change. 

The level of anxiety and stress that wore on these teachers' faces brought back my own memories when this same principal challenge my instructional practices and told me that my methods needed to adapt to meet the needs of today's learners. 

I felt like I was being shoved into the deep end of a pool and holding on to dear life. 

She's flirting with the deep end by Mayr

So many questions ran through my mind...Where do I start with integrating technology? Will I have to change every lesson that I ever created? How will I find the time to learn to do what my principal wants me to do and still grade papers? What if the technology I planned to use, flops and fails? What will I do then? Why do I have to change? Isn't what I'm doing already good enough? 

While those are valid questions, I was missing the bigger picture. My questions were very self-focused. The push for change altered my focus from the students to my own professional survival. 

If it hadn't been for the support of my colleagues who were also being pushed into the deep end, and the confidence of my principal that I could indeed become a 21st Century teacher, I'm not sure I would have ever let go of the metaphoric pool ledge. 

That was six years ago and now I'm the district's technology integration specialist. I now have the privilege of supporting these teachers who are reluctant to adapting their teaching methods. I'm sure that the lessons that I learned over the years will prove to be applicable as I work with my colleagues. 

One day at a time.
One lesson at a time.
One change at a time. 

Offering my BEST to you,
Bethany

What were the circumstances of the last big professional growth you experienced? What/who helped you to survive and thrive?

Directions for posting a comment:

1) Choose "Comment As" first. If you don't have a Google/Blogger account, you can choose Name/URL and type in your name, then place the web site that best describes you in the URL (i.e. www.ajusd.org). Or, you can choose "Anonymous".

2) You may need to press "Post Comment" more than one time.

It is always wise to copy your comment before pressing "Post Comment" just in case something happens. 

3) Type in the word verification.

4) If you did everything correctly, it will state, "Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval." If you do not get that message, please try again. 

5) Many thanks to Tracy Watanabe for these directions to post. 


And thank you for commenting!

The Power of Connectedness

One of the principals (@ccastelhano) in our district recently asked her staff to choose a word that describes an "A" school. As you can imagine, the staff selected some powerful words: Committed; Dedicated; Persistent; Focused; Zealous; Relational; Consistent. And all who contributed to the conversation had excellent thoughts behind their chosen word. 

I recently finished reading "What Connected Educators Do Differently" by authors: Todd Whitaker (@ToddWhitaker); Dr. Jeffrey Zoul (@Jeff_Zoul); and Jimmy Casas (@casas_jimmy).

So it's little surprise that the word I chose was Connected. As I read through the book I became more convinced that connected teachers are more effective than non-connected teachers.

That being said, connected doesn't necessarily mean cyberlly (not sure if that's a word) or digitally - although that increases the magnitude exponentially. Teachers who are connected to one another, to their students, to the students' families, and to others who have influence are going to have a big impact on the performance of a school. 

I came up with this graphic to visualize my thinking. And upon first glance, you may wonder why I chose to put myself in the outside and largest circle rather than the inside circle like many relationship circles that you may see out there. My rationale is this, I have to be connected with myself first and foremost. If I am not self-connected, then I don't know what my vision and mission will be. I won't know where my comfort zone is and push out of it. I won't know when I've overextended myself and need to reevaluate my commitments. If I don't have my act together, then any other connection I attempt to make will certainly unravel. 

I chose to put local teachers in the second circle because I have experienced firsthand the the glory and the agony of defeat when a team of teachers collaborates or not. Our students are no dummies, they know when adults are in-sync. They can tell what they can get away with and with whom. I have had the privilege of working with the same group of ladies for the past three years. Not only that, we had the luxury of having our students for both their 7th and 8th grades. We knew those boys and girls and they certainly knew us. And the result of having those connections made us strong, both in our relationships and academics.

I've already blurred the lines between my circles, but I firmly believe that the connections that were forged with my fellow teachers, first, made the relationships with the students and their parents that much stronger. Making ourselves available for communication with parents only secured their believes in our abilities to not only teach their child, but to care for them too. When you have the trust of a parent, the school year goes smoothly. And we know, either from personal experience or know someone who knows what it's like to try to work with a parent that has no trust in what we're doing. 

Finally, I put "others" in my smallest circle. And I don't mean to minimize the affect that "others" can have on our professional growth. In fact, the authors of the book would suggest that "others" (in the form of Personal or Professional Learning Networks) can be our go-to people, when we need encouragement or an idea or a swift kick in the pants. And I agree with that 100%. However, when working with students, I believe that having a strong connection with our peers that are visible on campus makes more of a statement as to what our expectations are for the students and what we are willing to do to get them meeting those expectations.

Finally, imagine if each individual teacher's circle of influence or connectedness began to merge another teacher's set of circles? The effect would only compound. This is what I want for myself, for the peers that I work with on a daily basis, for my students and their families, and for those who are becoming part of my PLN. I am grateful for those who have already influenced me for it has made me the educator that I am today.

Offering my BEST to you!

Bethany

What are your thoughts on being a connected educator? 

What have you learned about being a connected educator - for better or worse? 

How might you encourage a peer educator to become more connected?

Directions for posting a comment:

1) Choose "Comment As" first. If you don't have a Google/Blogger account, you can choose Name/URL and type in your name, then place the web site that best describes you in the URL (i.e. www.ajusd.org). Or, you can choose "Anonymous".

2) You may need to press "Post Comment" more than one time.

It is always wise to copy your comment before pressing "Post Comment" just in case something happens. 

3) Type in the word verification.

4) If you did everything correctly, it will state, "Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval." If you do not get that message, please try again. 

5) Many thanks to Tracy Watanabe for these directions to post. 

And thank you for commenting!

What's In A Name?

I've struggled all summer about what title to give a new blog that I wanted to start. You see, I'm in a new position within my school district, and I knew that having a blog would be a great way for me to reach out to fellow educators about my experiences. But it seemed that all of the fancy and cute blog names were already taken.

Then, as I was driving to work this morning, with the radio off, it came to me, BLigon's Best.

First of all, I'm not sure why I ever drive with the radio on, because very rarely do I have inspired ideas while driving with the music playing. My best ideas come in a quiet vehicle or while I'm brushing my teeth. But that's probably way more information than you wanted to know about me, especially if this is the first time that we're meeting.

Secondly, BLigon is how I am sometimes referred to at work. Like many work spaces, we use the first name initial along with our last name. Several co-workers just call me Mrs. BLigon (pronounced: blig-in; short "i", not long, am I making this too complicated?).

Finally, the Best part of this blog's name is NOT that it's THE best, but simply, my best. It could be the best part of the day; my best idea; or even the best of what not to do.

I'm excited to see where this blogging journey takes me. I've attempted several times before and just never stuck with it, maybe this time it will.

Offering my BEST to you!
Bethany

What are your best tips and tricks for blogging?
What's one thing that you could suggest to me about maintaining a blog?

Directions for posting a comment:

1) Choose "Comment As" first. If you don't have a Google/Blogger account, you can choose Name/URL and type in your name, then place the web site that best describes you in the URL (i.e. www.ajusd.org). Or, you can choose "Anonymous".

2) You may need to press "Post Comment" more than one time.

It is always wise to copy your comment before pressing "Post Comment" just in case something happens. 

3) Type in the word verification.

4) If you did everything correctly, it will state, "Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval." If you do not get that message, please try again. 

5) Many thanks to Tracy Watanabe for these directions to post. 


And thank you for commenting!