When it's preaching to the choir... #ConnectedEducator #GrowthMindset

Always appeased by a good metaphor, I found myself giving a lot of "yes, sirs" and "I agrees" when reading the first couple chapters of What Connected Educators do Differently by @ToddWhitaker @JeffreyZoul and @JimmyCasas over the past day or two. These authors were certainly preaching to the choir. Especially as an educator in a rural school, connecting is essential. In many schools in South Dakota, you ARE the English department or you ARE the Science department, so if you are unconnected you will be on an island. Having a Personal/ Professional Learning Network of like-minded educational professionals around the world is the lifeboat to bring efficacy to the ever-changing world of education.

Although I have yet to read Carol Dweck's book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success in its entirety, I found myself referencing this thought process throughout the first chapter and preface of the Connected Educators book. Much of Dweck's argument supports the idea of continual improvement and this book gives us a way by which to find that improvement. In an age of MOOCs, Khan Academy and EdX, there is no reason that we cannot find a way to build our knowledge base and become the best version of ourselves. The thing is... we have to be open enough to realize that we do not have all the answers and it's okay to seek other perspectives.

On page xxiii Whitaker, Zoul, and Casas list the mindset competencies of a connected educator, "Our view is that serving as a connected educator is a mindset more than anything else; a connected educator tents to adopt and live out a mindset that believes: ... improve effectiveness [to] enhance student learning... must collaborate... seek to grow professionally through continuous improvement... live as active participants in ongoing discussions." All of these excerpts make sense and are imperative to creating a classroom that is more reflective of the practices of the "real world" as opposed to our old models of education.

As a school district leader, it will be more important than ever to not only support teachers in being connected educators, but also to facilitate their connections by drafting policies that foster connections if teachers choose to use them. We have to be informed enough to assist in the education of our decision makers (school boards, legislators, DOE) as well as our parents and community members that may wonder why we are changing our current practices. That being said, I do not want to require staff members to "Tweet" or "Instagram" or "Periscope" rather, encourage and pave the way for the ability to connect.

What else can Principals do to promote this type of "Connected Educator" and "Growth Mindset" in our schools among staff and students? Well, just this. Firing up that old blog and trying to connect with others. Continuing to connect via Twitter, participating in EdCamps, and reading professionally. Hopefully, other principals are lucky enough to find another principal to chat about their reading as well. Which is exactly what I am off to do now... because, as much as a Twitter chat can help broaden horizons, the perspective of a professional peer in a face to face conversation is also important as well.

Five Out of the Way Google Tools

I make no secret about how cool I think Google is for educators. So, I have a few Google extras to share today!

1) The Google Art Project has been around for a few years and only started with 6 institutions putting their artwork online. Today, 151 institutions from over 40 countries have their work online. Some have their work in Google's Street View that actually makes you feel like you are walking through the museum. If you are looking to target some of the multicultural or multiple medium interpretations standards, Google Art Project is the place for you! There is also an education section that allows you to make quizzes and evaluate art just like the pros! 

2) Google Trends Search allows you to check what the trend of a particular topic has been in search. You can find out what the world or specific countries are searching right now like Hugo Chavez dead. (Click on hyperlinks to take you to the pages.) Or take something like the Superbowl that is annual and you can see the popularity rise every year. This could be very useful for research and also quick looks at popularity of certain topics. 

3) Google Type will make your words into a fun, image print like the Google Search page is everyday! Check this out... Deuel Google Typed This could be fun for students to use and grab a snapshot of for a project. 

4) Panaramio  is a collaborative, worldwide collection of photos with geolocation tags around the world in using either the Google Earth plug in or Satellite view of maps of the world. Are you looking for images of Hayti? (I'm sure you are...) Then, type in Hayti and this what you get: Flooding Pictures somebody uploaded. Or you can be much more interesting and check out the "Bone Church" in Kutna Hora .

5) Finally, StoryBuilder by looks like a Google Doc that will let you create a conversation to play back.  Just go to "Create Story" and create your account to save your conversations. It limits you to only 12 interactions, but it is a fun way to start a lesson or keep kids' attention for a short period of time. Very fun and it has sound effects like the keyboard too.

Hope you have a great week!