Blog Archives
Join Kid President’s Cabinet (video)
Click the picture to view a short video featuring kids from three different states.
What if kids were empowered to change the world? Let’s make it happen! Your classroom can join Kid President’s “Unofficial” Cabinet. Classrooms across the country will be discussing citizenship together on Thursday, March 10th at 9:30am CST using the #StuConnect hashtag on Twitter.
This short (3 minute) video was created by kids from Minnesota, New York, and New Jersey. Their collaborative project sets the stage for the conversation that will occur on the #StuConnect hashtag. Our focus will be on learning about positive character, digital citizenship, and making a difference for others. All classrooms are welcome to participate (K-12 and beyond)!
If your classroom would like to preview the questions that we will be sharing on March 10th please see below. The chat will start at 9:30am CST and last 20-30 minutes. We will spend about five minutes discussing each question. Feel free to reach out to the #StuConnect moderators if you need help facilitating this Twitter-based conversation with your students.
#StuConnect Twitter Chat Topic: Citizenship*
Q1: If you were on Kid President’s cabinet, what citizenship project would you recommend? How could you involve others? #StuConnect
Q2: What are some ways that students, teachers, and leaders display positive character and citizenship? #StuConnect
Q3: How do you demonstrate digital citizenship? #StuConnect
Q4: How does your classroom show citizenship outside the walls of your school? #StuConnect
*On the day of our Twitter chat, you can reply to each question by starting your classroom Tweets with the letter “A” and number of the corresponding question. This will help others understand that you are answering a particular question. Be sure to add the #StuConnect hashtag to all of your responses. Example: “A4 We show citizenship by….. #stuconnect”
3 Questions I Hope my Children’s Teachers are Asking
I often reflect upon how to empower students to learn at a high level while navigating the digitally-connected landscape we find ourselves in. I ask questions and strive to serve our students better today than I did yesterday.
In addition to being a principal I’m also dad to three pretty spectacular kids. My wife and I pray our children grow up to be loving people with humble hearts and curious minds. We also understand that their world is different than ours was, so we think about other important things too. My hope is that my children’s teachers are reflecting on some of the same questions I ask myself.
3 Questions I Hope my Children’s Teachers Are Asking
- How might I model digital leadership for my students?
- How might I help my students express their ideas in powerfully creative and appropriate ways using social media?
- How might I leverage the transformative power of technology to fuel collaborative conversations between students about their learning?
For the past couple years I’ve collaborated with Tony Sinanis and John Fritzky (principals in New York and New Jersey) to create cross-state collaborative podcasts. The podcasts feature our students sharing their favorite books, vision for education, and other creative endeavors led by kids.
This year we are adding an interactive Twitter-based chat to the collaboration. We’d like to invite you to join us as we strive to model how to leverage technology as a tool to connect, inspire, and amplify student voice.
The four chat dates for the 2015-2016 school year are below, and we’re planning to share out a student-created podcast prior to each chat. Please join us and include your classroom or school in the conversation. We’ll be using the hashtag #StuConnect on Twitter starting at 9:30am CST on the dates below.
#StuConnect Chat Dates
October 8, 2015
December 1, 2015
January 15, 2016
March 10, 2016
What’s Your One Book?
We teamed up with the kids from Cantiague Elementary in New York and Byram Intermediate School in New Jersey to share our favorite books. Our kids created their collaborative podcast to inspire the most awesome summer of reading EVER. They packed nearly 30 book recommendations into this action-packed five minute podcast. Checkout what K-8 students are reading across the country!
We hope you will share what you plan to read this summer too. You can start by answering the same question our students responded to, “What’s your one book?” Post a picture of your book to the hashtag #StuConnect on Twitter. Let’s celebrate with our students and join them in their reading awesomeness!
*Special thanks to my friends Mr. John Fritzky and Dr. Tony Sinanis who helped amplify student voice and create this cross-state podcast.
ConnectED BINGO
February is “I Love to Read” month and we’re inviting classrooms everywhere to join us in playing ConnectED BINGO. We collaborated with authors and educators across North America to create an epic reading opportunity! The goal is to foster a genuine love of reading through social interaction and great literature. We are striving to facilitate student-centered connections between authors, educators, and classrooms.
Click the blue link above to print a PDF of the game board. Some activities should be completed with guidance from a teacher or parent. Cultivating good character through digital citizenship is a shared responsibility. Students will be best served if the adults in their lives take an active role in modeling and discussing responsible use of social media, sharing, and online interactions. We hope you have a BLAST reading and connecting.
EduBlog Award Finalist: Voting Closes 12/18/13
Click the pic above to vote!
Exciting news…this past week I learned that my principal’s blog called “Adjusting Course” was named a finalist for “Best Administrator Blog” as part of the annual Edublog Awards.
You can vote for my blog “Adjusting Course” by clicking on the link below. Then click the tiny up arrow near “Adjusting Course” to add a vote. (Voting is being done via Listly, so you will be directed to register which takes 30 seconds.)
I think this is kind of cool, and also know a couple other administrators that were nominated. You can vote for more than one finalist, so be sure to check out the blogs that Jimmy Casas and Tony Sinanis write…I am inspired by them on a regular basis and encourage you to support them too.
Thanks for your support!
Adjusting Course 