Interviewing Tips (Aspiring Leaders Webinar)

Last week some of the Aspiring Leaders mentors (Dr. Asia Armstrong, Theresa Stager and Karen Wood) shared their best tips for interviewing on a must see webinar (will be posted soon on www.dreambigmentorship.com/webinars)

Their tips are definitely worth sharing to all job seekers though! Check out these tips to ace your next interview!

Ready, Set, Blog!

I’ve recently been asked by a few people for some blogging tips. Although I haven’t been the best blogger lately, this may be the kickstart that I need to get my blogging mojo back!

Pick your Blogging Site

A couple of user friendly blogging sites are Blogger, Weebly, EduBlogs and Wordpress. All are free (basic editions) and Blogger is found through Google. I personally use Blogger for blogging, but use Wordpress for my personal website. I find both to be easy to use. The preference is yours, but don’t spend too much time trying to pick a platform.

Naming your Blog

Try to think of a name that will last you throughout career advancements. Don’t generalize- “The techy teacher” is great, but what if you move out of teaching into administration or even another area? Also, don’t be “cutesy” - see your blog as an extension of your resume and personal portfolio. Make it relevant and professional.

Brainstorm Topics

It is a great idea to keep of list of topics that interest you going to spark a future blog post. Jennifer Hogan recently shared 50 blog topics on her blog (see link below). Anything goes! I am part of a voxer group and we have been talking about how we enjoy reading about great things happening in classrooms, celebrating people/students, etc. Use your blog to educate, encourage and celebrate!

Write Freely

Your blog should be your thoughts and feelings. Granted, if you post on social media, keep in mind your audience has grown, and it’s no longer your personal journal. Reflect openly, but be professional.

Create a Graphic

Canva is a great app and website that allows you to create FREE pictures to use. You can create your own, or use their samples and edit. Make your graphic, download it to your computer, and then upload it to Twitter. Canva not only allows you to create pictures for blogs, but a plethora of other materials as well (newsletters, handouts, slides). It's definitely a great resource to check out. Some graphics can be attached with a fee, but you definitely can create TONS fee free!

Share with your PLN

The world is ready! Share!!! Copy your link and paste it into your Twitter post. If you have a long link, you can cut it down to a manageable size using bitly (a URL shortener). Add a picture (Your Canva graphic or another picture) and then tag up to ten people from your PLN! Repeat and share with more people!

Here are some great resources to check out:

Cybrary Man’s Blog Page
Jennifer Hogan’s Compelled Educator’s Blog
Craig Vroom’s Fueling Education Blog
Jon Wennstrom’s Spark of Learning Blog
52 Education Blogs to Follow
EdWeek Blogs

Please share your blogs with me! I am excited to learn with you!

Super Bowl: Super Schools

I admit, I don’t know much about tomorrow’s Super Bowl. The few facts that I know is that there will be fab new commercials, my boy Justin is performing at halftime, and I need to stay awake long enough because the cliffhanger to This Is Us is on right after the big game.

Half time - ✔

After game - ✔

I do know know enough about football though...I am a Buckeye after all :) and all the hard work it takes to have a winning team is a lot like having effective, positive schools.

Get your Team Together

Any winning team needs to have a great group of people on the same mission - success. Success in schools doesn’t necessary mean winning sports events or extra - curricular trophies. It’s not having the highest test scores either. It’s about having people with a vision and mindset that ALL students can and will succeed. It’s bringing the cheerleaders, the players, and the coaches together and finding out what works best for the students in the school. You need an All Star Team for All Star results!

Read the Playbook

Good athletes read their playbooks, not once, but often. They stay current. As educators, we need to do the same. Friends, “what’s always worked” doesn’t always work. Our populations are changing and learning needs are diverse! We need to be reading works from our peers (blogs are great for this) and staying current with trends. There are so many journals available now that are so specific to what we each do, there is truly no excuse to not stay current.

Analyze the Scores

Coaches and players alike scrutinize over their team and individual scores and data. They take that and use that to improve. We do the same as educators. But are we each truly investing the time to really think about what our student/school data shows us and using it to make improvements? Most are. How do we get all our coaches, cheerleaders and players to do the same though?

Watch Old Videos

Players and coaches watch videos of games to improve. Unlikely that we would do this as often in the school, but we do need to reflect. We need to reflect weekly (if not daily) on our practices and consider what works, what doesn’t, and what we can change to better the education for our students. Sharing this through Teacher Based Teams and with your Personal Learning Network enhances growth for not only you, but for others as well.

Celebrate

Teams celebrate in big ways. Gatorade thrown, parties, end of season ceremonies. Do we do this enough in education though? I think we could do more. No, I don’t want Gatorade dumped on me when a student raises their reading score by a whopping 24 points, but I’m bringing the parent and student in and celebrating him! In a recent webinar I hosted, Principal Mark French said he celebrates his staff with a treat trolley. We need to celebrate the greatness in our schools.

Regardless of who wins tomorrow (I’ll be there for JT and a hopeful Prince tribute!) we’ll be back at school on Monday (after a tear filled This Is Us I’m sure).

How will you celebrate your MVPs?