Yesterday, while going through instagram I came across a posting about this image that caught my attention. The posting was an observation about Franklin eating alone on his side of the table. As many times as I’ve seen this image, I’ve never noticed anything wrong until that moment. My dad, a historical aficionado, never noticed it either. This image was a hot topic during our family thanksgiving as it sparked a conversation about history that our kids needed to know. Their grandparents could not go to school with white kids. Playing together just did not happen. Our kids love going to restaurants and their grandparents were not allowed to enter the front door. This is something that we rarely talk about but it’s important because it’s our history and our kids need to know those stories. This image, as sweet as it is, was a gateway to that. Of course, I posted it to facebook with the caption " I have never noticed anything wrong with this picture until now…" There were several interactions from others who never noticed it either or who wanted to talk about everything else in the picture but the segregation of a children’s dinner. I found this interesting for many reasons with most of them being that we tend to avoid conversations when they are uncomfortable because as much as this image is history, it is still very much a reality for many of us in various forms. In an interview (below), Schultz spoke about the introduction of Franklin and how someone in the south wrote him and asked that he not show the kids in school together. Considering the time when the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special aired, I can only imagine the uproar that would have happened had Franklin been animated to have dinner alongside his friends. I imagine that had Schultz done that…this classic may not have seen the light of day. It’s still interesting to me that in this day and age, we never even noticed it.

I have a teenage son who absolutely loves sports. He plays basketball and every videogame that he owns is related to some athletic activity. When he would get into light trouble in school, the phrase "boys will be boys" was thrown around as if it were normal. I can’t think of any other boys in our family who are not into sports except my nephew. He wants nothing of it. As a matter of fact, if you’ve ever seen the episode of Big Bang Theory when Leonard had to fake his love of football while hanging with Penny and her friends….THAT is my nephew. Don’t get me wrong, he likes recreational sports that involve him alone doing things like bouncing a ball or running…but team competitions are a NO. When we attend football games, he spends his time looking at the craftiness of the mascots. This is who he is at this moment in his life and it’s critical that he knows that he is wonderful in his own choices. Yesterday, we gave him a sewing machine. He asked for it because he believes that it will help him create puppets a bit faster. I posted it to facebook and immediately deleted the posting (as well as the idiot) because of these comments… Why would you give a boy a sewing machine? Is he gay? Is he making dresses too? That’s just doing too much. I’ve never been as angry at one person in my entire life. Many parents have sworn off "pink and princess" for girls yet we haven’t quite figured out where to draw the line with boys. Newsflash… Not all boys love sports Not all boys play with cars Not all boys enjoy wrestling in mud Not all boys crave train sets Not all boys live and die by Superman and Batman Not all boys live and die by society’s definition of what they should be Kids are kids and to them, life is about doing what makes them happy at the moment. Adults are the ones that create and impose the rules. What if we just let kids be kids? I can only imagine what life could be like if certain adults didn’t screw kids up! (Sorry, a bit fired up right now) If my nephew wants to make puppets in any gender using whatever tools that he believes are necessary…so be it! For crying out loud…He is 8!!!! Dear Craft store that only carried pink scissors…Really??? (KthnxBye is a total shoutout to the amazing Tim Childers)

Often times, as educators, people forget that we are human. We are superheroes, after-all. Our lives are not always the picture of perfection. For the first four years of my career, I walked into school wearing my "life is amazing" mask. The kids that I taught were such a source of strength that to this day, I feel that I owe them more for giving me more of a reason to smile. As strong as I am now, that was not always the case. Four years ago today, I owned my strength and my life. My Story… It’s been four years since my "independence day". I’ll never forget it because of the significance of the date…12-3. I woke up that morning and told myself to suck it up because taking my life back would be as simple as 1-2-3. It was not. As necessary as it was, it was the single most difficult day of my life. For 11 long years, work/school was my refuge. It was the one place that I could go without receiving calls and messages on the hour telling me to come home. It was the one place where no one reminded me daily of how much "my life meant nothing" or that "I would never be anything". It was the one place that the abuse couldn’t come. I was in control. I used to tell myself that it wasn’t abuse. He was just using words, right? Those thoughts worked until words became physical. The emotional scars of 11 long years were deep. I lived in it and saw no way out. I joke around that technology saved me because it was an extremely hard knock upside the head with a cell phone that said…"Get out NOW!" The irony of that moment is certainly not lost. I always felt guilty for selling kids on the idea of "never letting someone make you feel less than you are" when I could not find the strength to heed to my own advice. It wasn’t a lie but it wasn’t my truth. Four years ago today, that changed. I left the home that we built that morning without a dime in my pocket. I had my children, the clothes on our backs, a job and my car. That’s all that I needed. For 11 years, I relinquished control of my life to another and in doing so, I created a "living hell" that somehow became my normal. I had no friends and was banned from seeing my own family. I had no access to the money that I worked so hard to make. He controlled that. I’ve never "heard" tears of happiness like the ones that my mother shed that morning when I told her that I was ready to leave. She prayed for that moment and I’m glad that she did. To this day, I can’t remember the day that I got married nor the exact date of my divorce. I will never forget the day of my independence. This morning my heart smiles just a tad bit brighter.  

I get excited sometimes when I learn about new tech tools. I actually spend the time playing with them to figure them out a bit. Then the reality sets in… I ask questions of myself which determine if this tool is necessary for my own use. I think about it from the lens of a teacher and student. What’s the purpose? Why would I choose this tool over "my reliables"? Does using this tool make task completion any simpler or does it add necessary functionality that I do not have access to now? What are the sharing options and how? (Publishing is important!) If the "new tool" doesn’t make sense, I don’t use it. I’ll keep it in mind but if it doesn’t make the "purpose" cut, it’s doomed. My Reliables  I think that having reliable tools that aid various tasks are important. The normalcy helps with productivity because I don’t have to think about the medium of presenting content. I get to focus more on the content itself. 1. Haiku Deck (http://www.haikudeck.com/) If you have ever sat through 119 kids reading paragraphs of wikipedia during a presentation, you would appreciate Haiku Deck too! As a presenter, I love utilizing the library of images within Haiku Deck and adding short phrases to help steer the conversation. The "story telling" itself comes from me. For our Chromebook Kickoff, I used Haiku Deck on Chromebook to create my presentation. When I opened my ipad, the new updates allowed me to sync to my ipad. LOVE that. There are so many other things that I can do with Haiku Deck using its export feature. Another post will follow with more on this one! Check out the Haiku Deck that I created to steer the conversation for Chromebook Implementation Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad 2. Canva (https://www.canva.com/) Canva is a web based design tool that includes templates which allow users to create pretty much anything that involves design. I have adobe indesign but I love canva because when I need to make a quick thinglink resource for my campuses, I can do it using canva’s templates and graphics quickly. This most certainly enables me to focus on my content versus design. When I want to share and collaborate with a colleague, I can share the link and enable editing. Canva is still in beta but the sign up process happens pretty quick. 3. Thinglink (http://www.thinglink.com/) I think that I will probably use thinglink in some capacity for everything that I share with my campuses. I start in canva to create the image and then use thinglink to add hotspots with text, video, images and sometimes voice. For the thinglink below, I took screenshots using my Chromebook. I added a border and edited each chrome store icon using picmonkey (another reliable) Avoiding the Flood Go back to the questions that I posted above. Always have a purpose for use and if there is no purpose other than new…stick to your reliables. It helps with productivity and also allows you to focus on the content…which is wayyy cooler than adding a new confusing tool. New does not always mean better. Sometimes, it’s just NEW.  

The other day I was talking to a student that I tutor about measurement. He was having trouble visualizing a yard outside of the flat grassy area in front of his house…his words. I knew that the student was an athlete so I immediately started inquiring about yard lines on a football field. We then took out a ruler…a real one (not a formula chart with a printed one) and began talking about inches and feet. We drew one yard by moving the ruler 3 times. The student then started talking about the number of rulers that would fit between two yard lines on a football field…specifically the 30 and 35 yard line. He drew a picture. As he drew, he looked at the ruler several times. He looked at the lines that we measured. He came up with a way to think about the problem. Below is the problem that started this discussion. Below that is his picture. To be clear…I have several problems with this problem. Technically, this is from a 5th grade unit on algebraic reasoning. Should he have been able to reason through this problem? He was stuck on the variable, f. He was stuck on the word furlong. When he originally completed the problem, he seemed to be stuck on the entire problem. Our discussion and actions were about experience. What do you do when you don’t know what to do? Added to his arsenal…. Draw Pictures Connect it to something else Rethink about the problem Last night during our session, he excitedly told me how they worked on feet and yards in class. He understood it. That was win…    

Yesterday while playing around in the twitter developer area, I came across twitter cards. I’ve seen summary cards appear in postings from major news outlets but I never knew that I could also produce them through my own self-hosted blog. Look at the two postings on the left. The post on the left is utilizing a twitter summary card which gives readers a snippet into what the post is about. It’s a great way for potential readers to determine whether or not they want to read your blog. The Benefits Twitter cards turn links to your blog into media experiences. With a little coding, or in my case…a wordpress plugin, every tweet containing a link to your content will also come equipped with a twitter card that is visible to all followers of the person initiating the tweet. What this means is that YOU control how users view your content via twitter. In addition, the right content can draw more audience interaction and/or increase your network.   Types of Cards For a blog such as this, twitter recommends the summary card. However, there are others like player cards which enable you to embed videos or slideshows into your blog tweets. The summary card came with instant approval but the player card can take up to a few weeks before twitter will provide a green light. Wondering what a player card is? It’s the tweet below with the vine video attached. I imagine that this is what twitter took away from instagram. They literally had their "player card" revoked. Love that @oneilchsprincip used vine to tell his kids about "no school" https://t.co/qkSdnWBUCM — Rafranz Davis (@RafranzDavis) December 7, 2013   The Summary Card Setup (WordPress Self-hosted) If you are running a wordpress self-hosted blog, the summary card setup is as simple as installing a plugin. I’m using a plugin called "twitter cards meta" which automatically adds the meta tags to your blog header. The steps are as follows… 1. Go to the WordPress Dashboard "Add New Plugin" section. 2. Search For "Twitter Cards Meta". 3. Install, then Activate it. Once activated, click settings and then choose "Twitter Cards Meta". Check out the thinglink below for more!

Over the past few months, I’ve shared many of the creations that my nephew has made including his most recent venture into puppetry. Today, I wanted to take a moment to break down some specific examples of how his passions are fueling his learning. I will admit that I did not get the true meanings of "Genius Hour" or "Passion Projects" until they started happening under my own nose. The growth that I’ve witnessed in him has been remarkable. I have to wonder what could be possible for other kids if we allowed more of their passions to fuel their educational journeys. Research and Digital Citizenship Research happens often When we are driven by passion, learning happens out of desire. I’ve watched the kid conduct research using his ipad through every free moment that he could garner. He actually rushed through his school work to get to his "passion work". As amazing as it would be if they were one and the same, that is not the case. Research happens through google, youtube and even through product reviews. He looks at what others think and determines if the product or skill is worth his time. In the spirit of Austin Kleon’s, Steal Like an Artist, Braeden kept a database of learning through his ipad. He saved images, videos, and screen shots of websites which have inspired all of his creations. To be clear, he did this out of his own natural patterns. What we have to work on is creating a cloud based system of saving as these captures take a great deal of memory. We’re looking at the Educlipper App for that as capturing could happen while in the app versus outside.     Core Learning Beyond Standards Braeden’s puppet Uvula at the top Forgive me for sleeping in science, but I had never heard of the word "uvula" until Braeden’s puppet. Disney and youtube taught him this. His research taught him about its scientific function. In the past few weeks, I’ve heard him talk about proportion in ways that he won’t even see for a few grade levels. He’s dilating patterns in order to make his puppets four times as big as the patterns that he sees on youtube. Learning is applied because of a need. Who needs worksheets when you have moments such as this? Writing for him was a bit of a struggle. He created a show and wants to be sporadic. At the same time, the "perfectionist" in him demands to re-record take after take after take. The time that it has taken to capture the moment that he envisioned demanded that he learned to write. Becoming a Story Teller Google drive on chromebbok is the tool of choice for script writing Braeden’s puppets were created with the intention of creating a show. He developed characters and practiced several voices before settling on the few that he has. He learned how to "set a scene" and write incorporating a beginning, middle and end. There is no state test looming that required this. With google docs, he shares his script with me. The first time, I worked with him in order to teach him how to use it. The second time that he did it was a lone effort. An interesting thing happened as he watched his shows back to back. He noticed an inconsistency in the story and took notes to address it in the future. We call that reflection.   Failure is Instructional Behind the scenes creating the Lenny show Not every puppet turned into a masterpiece. Some of them ended up scrapped and eventually becoming parts of other puppets. For example, Lenny the Lizard was created with an arm sleeve. The arm sleeve was a failed puppet from before. Braeden says that mistakes are times for learning. He thinks that failure helps him because it shows us our mistakes. Learning from a place of passion can take us to places that we have yet to imagine. If you asked me months ago if these moments were possible, I would not have had an answer. Seeing is believing but experience is powerful. Current grade level: 3rd   Lenny the Lizard Episode 2

The other day, I read a post by Karl Lindgren-Streicher about his imperfect classroom. As I read his honest reflection, I connected to it on the basis of the inconsistent truths that teachers often get while scrolling through social ramblings of edu. If you live on twitter long enough, you might leave thinking that… 1. Great classrooms have access to 1:1 devices Not all classrooms have access to devices for every student. As a matter of fact, some of the biggest contributors to social media actually operate 1-3 ipad classrooms. Great classrooms are classrooms where kids feel connected, are engaged and learning. Sometimes technology is involved and sometimes it isn’t. You may not have access to very many devices and contrary to popular belief, not all kids have a cell phone (more on that later). Instead of beating yourself up for what your classroom lacks, create learning moments that matter using the resources that you have. 2. Smartboards are the death of edu Let me be clear. I’m not talking about new purchases of boards which I find laughable when people quote prices as much as $8,000 each. Who does that? (I paid well under $2000 each for a board, projector and installation.) Yes, you can record a lesson, share files and write on an ipad; but walking around with an ipad teaching is no different than standing at a smartboard if you are the one doing all of the work. With that said, the problem does not lie with with the device but with the lackluster training and support. That applies to the shiny ones in our hands as well as those on our walls. 3. Get on twitter and be reborn! This one drives me nuts and I used to preach it too! The fact is that building a network takes time. Change is not a guarantee of joining twitter but a result of owning the need to think differently and being exposed to the resources to do so. I didn’t "change" when I joined twitter. I changed when I started reading books, blogs, chatting and having real conversations with people who challenged my thinking. It’s not an overnight process. Change is NOT an instant sign-up away. However, if one sticks to the process of sharing and collaborating…great things can happen. 4. Technology engages EVERY learner! Technology doesn’t engage learners. Caring teachers, interesting content and tasks engage learners. You can have the most amazing technology on the planet and kids will see right through it if the purpose isn’t relevant. Students are the best "BS" catchers around and believe me they know when what they do is "busy work" compared to student driven tasks. I absolutely LOVE using technology for student learning but I do it with the end in mind and my students at the forefront. As the great Dr. Rita Pierson said, "Kids don’t learn from people that they don’t like." (That includes those that have things that plug in!) 5. Every new idea works for everyone else. Seasoned ideas work a lot better than unseasoned ideas. Guess what…every teacher has epic fails during instruction. It’s what you do as a result of that failure that matters. I’ve personally tried many things that did not work and at the end of the day, as long as I focused on the original intent…all worked according to plan. I admitted my mistakes, reflected and adjusted. Some people paint a picture of perfection. You need to know that there is no such thing as perfection for even the "best" of educators. These, like most of my postings, are my own random thoughts and beliefs. What I hope is that by reading this, some teacher somewhere will stop beating his/herself up for their "perceptions" of lackluster progression. Stop that! Use what you have. Work towards getting what you need and move your students with the greatest of intentions. Reflect…Reflect…Reflect  

Today, I’m in a bit of a struggle and it’s been brewing for quite some time. Typically, I do my mid-year reflection over the Christmas break but recent attitudes have proven that now is the time. Proceed with caution…brutal honesty awaits. 1. You’re not on a campus. Get over it and find your way. This is my first year NOT on a single campus and I’ve struggled with it. I feel like I’m most creative around students and not having a direct classroom is still odd. Yes, my job is to support teachers but at the same time I know that effectiveness comes from connectedness to the realities of the classroom. I never wanted to be so far removed from kids that what I teach becomes more theoretical than practical. There are quite a few moves that I can make to place myself closer to the classroom…starting with getting my rear end on more campuses regardless of the "red tape" in getting there. This…I can fix! 2. The only thing that is holding you back is your ego. #thatisall I train teachers for a living. There is no reason on earth that I should not be submitting proposals to share at conferences. I got caught up in the "beat down" of completing the proposal instead of focusing on the intended outcome…professional learning. Everyone has a "submission" of sorts to complete. It’s time to get on my "A" game and start a folder to contain them. I have expertise in certain areas and I need to share it. 3.  Where has all the math gone? Going straight "tech-head" sometimes feels like selling my math soul to the devil! I used to write real lessons and now I barely look at math materials. Thankfully, I started tutoring and all of a sudden, I feel alive again! I miss my math classroom. My challenge will be to find the balance between my area of expertise (math edu) and my chosen career path (edtech). As a classroom teacher, I had the best of both worlds. It’s time that I channeled that into what I do now. 4. Be more positive! Stop being annoyed by other people….You just might annoy them too! I am the first to admit that I can be too negative at times. I’m working on it but I struggle! I wasn’t this way when I was in the classroom however that is no excuse. The world does not have to agree with me and I’m wrong…a lot. It’s time that I started being more giving and less critical.  This one is one that I must PUSH with PURPOSE! 5. Stay more connected to conversations that matter to you…(race, gender, poverty) Sometimes I find myself holding back. I’ll write something and then not post because I didn’t want to be seen as the "angry black woman". I should’ve posted about the edcamp conversation with a peer about the lack of teachers of color at events. I should’ve continued the conversations with another black edtech about the lack of teachers of color in edtech conversations. Then again, maybe not "self-promoting" is more of a cultural issue and if so…why? What can we do to change it? How can we change it if no one is willing to speak up? Moving Forward I’ve done some "ok" things this year but I can do better and I will. The first step to change is acknowledging the necessity to do so. The second step is owning it.

Earlier tonight a simple text from a friend reminded me of one of the most important lessons that I learned as a classroom teacher. It’s such an important lesson that I embedded it within all that I did in and out of the classroom. "Never Lower Your Expectations" I hold myself to a high standard and I also hold those that are close to me to the same. Yet tonight, I found myself settling for less and thankfully, I’m surrounded by the right people who know me well enough to "shake some sense" back into my head when I need it. Life is full of highs and lows but the minute that we accept less than deserved, we start receiving even less. At the same token, the moment that we start giving less than we are capable is the moment that our own standards become questionable again and again. Having high expectations is more than a "teacher journey concerning students". It is, by far, one of the most important lessons that students can learn for themselves. I had high expectations for myself as a teacher and for my students. At the same token, they had high expectations for me as their teacher and during the course of the year, they learned to have high expectations of themselves. Having high expectations boils down to taking pride in all that you do and having enough pride in yourself to expect it in return. In my classroom, when students asked if their work was correct, I always responded with the question…"Does it meet your standards?" By asking this question, I was in essence asking if their work exceeded their own personal expectations.  We talked often about establishing their own standards of work. We came up with a few self-evaluative questions… Did I respond to the given question? Do I still have questions? Can I teach it to a friend? Is my finished product an accurate representation of my ideas? Am I proud enough to share it with the world? This was not an instantaneous process but one that gradually took form as relationships were built. My students knew that I cared deeply for who they were as growing young adults. No matter what, I NEVER lowered my expectations of them. Eventually, their actions were much of the same. I used to have a sign in my classroom that read, "Never settle for less than your best." It was the only signage in my room and we all knew that those were more than just fonts on a pretty page. For us, it was a way of life. Tonight, I needed that reminder.