If You Don’t Have Time to Read/Watch This….Do it Twice!

A recent message with the subject line: “If you don’t have time to read this…read it twice.”…it goes on, “Stop. Breathe. Now, think about how you’re managing your time.”

I know that many of you, given your teaching schedules, have to be a little more creative with scheduling make time beyond Tuesday/Wednesday mornings, but strongly consider what this looks like for students too.

Act: Define exactly when and where you will reserve this time for you, and perhaps your students and then put it in your calendar.

Unplug Back by Popular Demand

Illustration: Tabitha Brown

Taking time away from screens is actually restorative for your brain. Your grateful students need you wonderful brains fully recharged upon return, so please consider unplugging during the upcoming holiday. Need more convincing? …5 Reasons To Unplug From Technology After Work (or during Winter break:)

Here are a few ways to unplug:

Set an out of office reply
Use the digital basket method to keep mobile phones from eroding your face to face time with friends and family by:

Designating one place such as a basket to place all devices
Agreeing on a set time your group will be device free
*If you and your crew need more than just a simple, “this is screen free time,” try applying a “sin” tax by placing a jar by the basket. Pull out your device, put money in:)

Designate one person to capture holiday moments and then connect and collaborate to share them with others instead of snapping and posting in isolation.

How’s Your Class Management w/ Phones Going?

By now all of us have clear routines related to phone use in our classes, whether it be a phone tower, box or basket all of these methods go a long way towards appropriately navigating the distractions phones present. Below is a conversation that takes this one step further with Sherry Turkle related to the psychology behind such distractions…check it out!

https://www.wnyc.org/widgets/ondemand_player/wnyc/#file=/audio/json/538202/&share=1

Unplug-Recharge…back by popular demand

Illustration: Tabitha Brown

1) Set an out of office reply:

*remember to schedule the start and end date

2. Use the digital basket method:
If you feel as a family that devices seem to creep out, try the digital basket method. Here is how:

Designate one place such as a basket to place all devices
Agree on a set time they will be away
*If you and your crew need more than just a simple, “this is screen free time,” try putting applying a “sin” tax by placing a jar by the basket. Pull out your device, put money in:)

3. Designate one person to capture holiday moments and then connect and collaborate to share them with others instead of snapping and posting in isolation.

Are You Duplicating Work Online?

IFTTT.com is a web solution that according to their website “puts the internet work for you.”

If you have ever wanted to automate or combine certain web tools this might be a site worth checking out.

Failure Festival Preview

Nice to know

On Monday, February 17th we will kick off our PD days with a Failure Festival. Below are a few pieces of information to help shape your thinking before the event. More details will be provided in the Friday Focus.

Edward D. Hess‘s article in Forbes, Creating An Innovation Culture: Accepting Failure is Necessary.
Educational philosopher and author of the Courage to Teach Parker Palmer‘s video

What is a Failure Festival?

An event where individuals share a problem that failed in a safe, supportive and learning focused environment.

How to participate:

Presenting a failure is optional, being an open minded respectful listener is not:)
If you do want to take advantage of this opportunity. Be ready to present the following in a storytelling fashion:

What was the project?
What were you trying to do?
What was the fail/where did it go wrong?
What would you do differently next time (or never again!)?
What lessons can be learned?

FAIL_slam format:
Presentations should be no longer than 10 minutes to maximize learning and promote actionable lessons that can be embedded into future work. Each group will have a moderator.

Learn more about celebrating failure:

Admitting failure from Engineers Without Borders
Bringing Innovation to School by Suzie Boss (book in the Library e collection)
Making Friends With Failure by Ainissa Ramirez

Nice to Know: Short and Sweet

Today’s issue of Tech Tuesday is short and sweet.

1-to1 Classroom Mgmt (an oldie but a goodie)

1 to 1 Classroom Management from Steve Katz

A resource that might be of help during service time is the list of sites that help kids do good from Common Sense Media
Need time? If you would like RescueTime Pro please e-mail ewargo@zis.ch for further details

Navigating the Digital Side of Life

As the semester quickly comes to an end it’s time to reflect on all the Upper School experiences that have enhanced our level of digital citizenship. Thanks for your attention and efforts towards improving your digital knowledge and skills!