Category: Uncategorized

My Obligatory Post On My Most Clicked Posts From 2014

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I believe that it is written somewhere in the “Blogger Rulebook” that if you are a blogger you are obligated to highlight your most viewed posts from the year.  It is an interesting reflective exercise to see what caught the attention of others.  While I blog about things that strike me as interesting, it is reassuring to see that others sometimes agree.

Best to all for a great 2015! Blog on!

#1 A Great Social Etiquette Lesson from Jimmy Fallon – May 1, 2014

This one was all about the video and the fact that people act differently when dealing with someone face-to-face. Check it out for yourself below…

#2 The Positive Power of Edcamp Hits the US Department of Education –June 7, 2014

One of my highlights this past year was having the opportunity to attend the Edcamp hosted in Washington D.C. at the United State Department of Education. Thanks to Kristen Swanson and the rest of the people that made this great event possible!

#3 How Staying Uncomfortable is the Key To Success – April 23, 2014

This post was based on the work of Amy Edmondson and her article The Competitive Imperative of Learning.  It centered around the following question that we struggle with in schools constantly – How can we continue to move forward?

#4 A Rant on Reading Online vs. Reading on Paper  – April 21, 2014

A pet peeve of mine is the fact that so many people want to cite statistics that show people are less effective when they read online. The reality for me is that we are still very early on in this transition and we should be encouraging people to try different workflows and seeing what works best for them.

#5 How I Try To Keep Up With BPS  – November 25, 2014

A quick overview of the different digital tools I use to try to keep up with all of the happenings in our school district.

 #6 It’s Time to end the Device Debate  – August 11, 2014

Let’s face it, there is no perfect device. The best device is the one that works best for the individual. If something works well for you, then you should use it. Of course, we always have to be on the lookout for tweaks to our workflow that can make us more productive.

My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (December 28, 2014)

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (December 21, 2014)

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Is It The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year?

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English: Screenshot of Jimmy Stewart and Donna...
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The energy level in our schools is certainly at its peak as we enter the holiday season and and near our December vacation. While so many of our students are excited about the impending festivities of the holiday season, there are a number of students who do not see this as “the most wonderful time of the year.”  There are numerous reasons for students to feel a bit down about this time of year…

I was reminded of this while reading Patricia Polacco’s Welcome Comfort, a sweet story about a foster child who never had positive feelings about Christmas until he met a special member of his school’s staff. While we cannot replicate the wonder of Comfort’s experience in the story, we are fortunate to have the opportunity to provide support for our students when they need it most.

With this in mind,  please look out for those students who are acting up or melting down during “the most wonderful time of the year.” The fact of the matter is that for many of these students school is the most stable environment they have in their lives and the thought of being away for a “vacation” is not a vacation at all.

BPS Evaluation Update – Uploading Evidence to TeachBoost

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We are coming close to the midpoint (February 1) in the Educator Evaluation cycle for educators on a 1-year plan (all Non-PTS educators). This means that Non-PTS staff will be receiving their Formative Assessment Reports from their evaluators by February 1. At least two weeks (January 16) prior to this deadline, educators should provide their evaluators with evidence of the following:
  • evidence of family outreach and engagement
  • fulfillment of professional responsibility and growth
  • progress on attaining professional practice and student learning goals.

I have shared two workflow options for moving evidence of meeting the standards of the Massachusetts Model System for Educator Evaluation and one for uploading evidence of attaining professional practice and learning goals.  

Option 1 is a simpler workflow and also may be preferable since any changes that are made to the Google Drive document will be updated automatically if changes are made later after the initial upload to TeachBoost.


Option 2 is the workflow that should be utilized if you are uploading a file from your computer’s desktop or hard drive.

Evidence for goals upload is also a pretty simple workflow that allows you to grab evidence from Google Drive or from your computer. 

It is recommended that you continue to use Google Drive for organizing your evidence. Remember that you can save all file types to your drive and that your BPS account provides you unlimited storage.

Option 1 – Upload Evidence by sharing a link from Google Drive


Option 2 – Download from Drive first (and/or Upload from Laptop)

Evidence for goals upload

My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (December 14, 2014)

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (December 7, 2014)

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (November 30, 2014)

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Changing The Game In Youth Sports – A MUST WATCH

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One of my favorite things to do is coach youth sports and I have been fortunate enough to coach all three of my kids at various points. Having recently started up the grade 3-4 basketball season with my youngest, the video below is a great reminder for me and all parents who have kids in youth sports.
In this TEDx Talk from John O’Sullivan, parents and other loved ones of youth athletes receive the best advice to support their children before, during, and after their games. Just use the following five words:
“I love watching you play.”

  John

Here are a few of my main takeaways from the video:

  • 40 million children play youth sports but 70% quit by the time they’re 13-years old.
  • Adults act like these sports are the world series or the NBA finals.
  • After the game kids want to relax or unwind – parents want to talk about it.
  • If you are going to stay on a team then you need to play year round.
  • Kids aren’t becoming better they’re becoming bitter.
  • We would never let our teachers treat our kids like this. 
  • We would never let them treat us like this at our events. Imagine if kids did treat us like this at our events. Check out the great PSA below from Hockey Canada that actually shows what this ridiculous behavior would look like if the role of parent and child were reversed.
  • Michigan state study asked 30,00 kids why they play and the number one answer was because it’s fun. 
  • Study also asked why kids quit and the number one answer was because they were sick of being criticized and yelled at. 
  • One of the worst parts of youth sports for kids is the ride home with their parents.

I highly recommend following John on twitter and following his great blog Changingthegameproject.com His book Changing the Game: The Parent’s Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes, and Giving Youth Sports Back to our Kids is available on Amazon.