THE

Best & Next

IN EDUCATION

Issue 1.2! January 2014

Editors Note
! Its been a wild few weeks. We continue to get such great feedback from all of our readers, and hope to keep pushing this magazine forward as a resource you both want and can use!! ! A.J. Juliani This issue takes a look at what all of us can do to help move education forward. I remember my first day of student teaching. I didnt really know what I was doing, but I wanted to make an impact. Many of us got into education to make a difference and make an impact. But with new technology, new standards, and new content it is difficult to sometimes stay as positive and optimistic as when we first began our careers.! ! Throughout my career I have tried my best to stay on top of where education is headed and what are the emerging next practices. As a teacher I needed to learn tried-and-true strategies that have been researched and work, but also how to be flexible as change is usually coming. My hope is that this magazine will be a conversation starter, because we need to work together to keep improving the experience our students have in our schools.! ! Thanks again for reading, and we always want your feedback! ! A.J. Juliani! ! P.S.- Share your thoughts about the magazine on social media use the hashtag #bestnext

WHATS INSIDE?
!

Featured Book, Apps, and Tools Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess App Reviews Web Tools! ! The Best Posts From Around the Web Who Is Your +1? Doing What You Love Featured Story: How We Respond Is Our Choice! ! Whats Next? Ed-Tech Roundup Research Roundup! ! Incorporating Literacy into Math Class (CCSS) Another Thank You From Our Team

TEACH LIKE A PIRATE

by Dave Burgess This book offers inspiration, practical techniques, and innovative ideas that will help you to increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator. You'll learn how to: Tap into and dramatically increase your passion as a teacher Develop outrageously engaging lessons that draw students in like a magnet Establish rapport and a sense of camaraderie in your classroom Transform your class into a life-changing experience for your students ame again. Visit Daves Blog or Connect on Twitter Get the Book on Amazon Learn more about this book on his blog, and read the amazing reviews it has already received!!

APP REVIEW
Best: Aurasma Since launching in 2011, Aurasma has quickly risen to become the worlds leading augmented reality platform with over 20,000 partners operating in over 100 countries. Their vision is to enable an augmented world, where every image, object and place has its own Aura. You can download the free Aurasma app on the App Store and Google Play. The fellas over at TwoGuysAndSomeiPads have put together an amazing collection of resources on how to use Aurasma in the classroom.!

Next: Tangible Play Tangible Play is a new AI & Computer Vision startup bringing the next big transformation to play by merging traditional physical play with modern digital play. At its core, it is a software startup but physical aspects of the product make the work even more exciting. The game launched with two titles, a word guessing game and a puzzle game called Tangram. Learn more about the App and its founders on their website.

WEB TOOLS
Best: Sophia Sophia makes it easier than ever to flip your classroom with their free teacher tools for blended learning. Transform your classroom into an active learning environment with our groups, quizzes, and tutorials features. And track student progress every step of the way with our data and analytics. Learn about all the awesome things Sophia is doing in education and how thousands of teachers are using it in their classrooms.!

Next: Class Flow With ClassFlow, teachers can build and access interactive lessons from any web browser, share lessons with other peers and collaborate using the latest mobile and student response technology.!Not only will ClassFlow help teachers save time at the planning and setup stages of lesson development, but it can also facilitate a more connected classroom.! Class Flow may be a new product, but it has the backing of a number of teachers who are already loving what is has to offer their students.

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THE BEST POSTS FROM THE WEB

In each issue we present four articles that have resonated with teachers online. These articles focus on how we can (as individuals) help each other to get better.

K-12 View

World's Worst Wizard, the audience was three kids. I wanted them to see the drawings and hear the story and fall in love with the world that Christy and I had created. I wrote it for them.! ! Was I doing what I loved the whole time? Not really. I hate editing and revising. I don't particularly enjoy writing action sequences. I don't like admitting when a part of the story sucks and needs to be redone. If I was "loving what I do" or "writing for myself" I'd be taking a totally different route.! ! Right now, I'm working on a tiny story. It's not the kind of story I would want to read. It has pirates and wizards and pixies. However, I'm already getting excited about how my kids will react to it. I think the fact that I have them in mind will help the book become more interesting.! ! So, it has me thinking about teaching. I hear the

DOING WHAT YOU LOVE

by John Spencer! ! "I write for myself" is a common phrase I hear among authors and bloggers. It sounds noble, somehow uncorrupted by the petty, external need for gratification. "I write for myself" makes it sound like it's all about personal growth. It's often accompanied by the quote, "Love what you do and do what you love."! ! I don't buy it.! ! I write for an audience. In the case of Wendell the

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phrase "do what you love" and often it fits into the same mindset of "I write for myself." I know this is a bit of a stretch, but here's my thinking:! ! I don't teach because it's a blast day in and day out. I don't teach for myself. I don't teach, because I am "doing what I love." !If I did, we would do lecture and discussion and I probably would't have much group work. We'd start with whatever I was interested in and run with that. Kids would hate it, but I'd be doing what I love.! ! I think the advice to "do what you love" and "write for yourself" sound noble, but their actually pretty steeped in self-absorption. Kids don't need teachers who are "doing what they love." ! ! They need teachers who will do things that they don't love, because they are motivated by love for their students.

! ! ! ! ! John Spencer is a sixth grade ELL teacher in Arizona. He blogs at Education Rethink and is the author of six books, most recently: Wendell the Worlds Worst Wizard. Learn more about John here or connect with him on Twitter.

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K-12 View

For me, my biggest takeaway was a conversation I had with Stephanie Ried. Stephanie and I were actually

WHO IS YOUR +1?

by Kristen Swanson! ! On Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend the inaugural Edcamp Sacramento. Hosted by a fabulous team at St. Francis High School, it was the perfect blend of conversation, relationship building, and strategy sharing.! ! One of the things I enjoyed most about Edcamp Sacramento was it's intimate size and focus on authentic conversations. Every session I attended was about learning and sharing. There were NO presentations. Nicely done, folks!! ! ! !

chatting about running (no surprise there, folks) and she started sharing how she improves her speed. Stephanie runs with others and looks for someone who is just a little bit faster than her. She calls the person her "+1" and works really hard to hang with them on long trail runs.! I think we all need "+1s" in all areas of life. We need "+1s" to drive our professional development, improve our parenting, and refine the ways we communicate with others. This week, I'm going to find a "+1" and improve my skills by working hard to "keep up."! Consider how differentiated this strategy is. Everyone is in charge of their own "+1" and the person they select is just beyond!their current state of competency. I think this is a great learning strategy for kids and adults alike. So, who's your "+1?"!

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! Each issue we offer some bonus post for extra reading. Be sure to check out the posts below and use the hashtag #bestnext if you are talking about them on social media!! ! Bonus Posts: Check out the following posts that also impacted teachers around the world these past two weeks. How to Rock the Boat (and create real change in your school) by Kevin Dougherty Can You Teach Grit? by Vicki Davis Teaching for Justice: 10 Ways To Unravel Systemic Oppression by Elena Aguilar 50 Reasons Its Time For Smartphone in Every Classroom via Terry Heick 10 Commandments of Innovative Teaching by A.J. Juliani!

! Kristen Swanson is the Senior Ed Tech Leader at BrightBytes. She is also an author of three books, and a founder of the EdCamp Movement. You can learn more about Kristen on her blog or connect with her on Twitter.

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Feature Story

HOW WE RESPOND IS OUR CHOICE

All of 10,000 Over us can dig educators deep down havefar joined the enough to The find the 30 Goals time when Challenge matters something since January a great 2010. deal Join to us. them What this matters year as to we you? prepare to make a difference in 2014 by Jimmy and beyond. Casas by Shelly Sanchez Terrell

! A couple of weeks ago I was working late one night clearing up a pile of paperwork on my desk that had sneaked up on me over a period of just three days. !As often happens to me when I am organizing my desk, I got sidetracked. I came across a stack of paperwork for early graduate students that needed to be signed and as I began to examine each student record closely, my mind wandered off a bit. Instead of rejoicing in the fact that these students had met the criteria for early graduation, my mind wandered to those students who over the course of the last couple of years and had given up and quit school. ! ! I quickly began to pull up their pictures on our student information system so I could look at their faces again. In doing so, it became personal to me. As their principal, I couldn't help but feel I had not done enough. After an hour or so of doing this, I sent out the following tweet. ! ! ! ! !

There is not a single one of us who has not at one time or another hid behind the standard line, I dont have time to.. !The hard truth is we determine what we have time for and what we dont have time for. All of us can dig deep down far enough to find the time when something matters a great deal to us. In this

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case, our efforts netted five students returning to school beginning January 6th.! Like the starfish story, we may not have reached all of them, but I am hoping it will make a difference with these students and they in turn impact our lives and inspire us to continue to reach out to those who have given up.! ! In our line of work, every day brings on new challenges. I was reminded again this past week when dealing with a student who wanted to quit school.! Here I was coming off the high of five students wanting to return to school and now I was in danger of losing one right back to the streets of lost hope.! I had recently read a quote by Thomas Paine so I decided to share it with this particular student who was conflicted The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph, I told him.! I wanted him to see past his current internal conflict and help him believe that from this turmoil would evolve perhaps an experience from which to grow from in order to serve a greater ! ! ! ! !

purpose.! In the end, I explained to him that he had the power to determine which chapter he wanted to write to help him define his story. In other words, how he responded could help define his triumph.! Challenges like the ones I describe above are all too common in schools today.! Perhaps just as challenging is how we can help school personnel remain positive on a daily basis. We must start by recognizing that it is not our successes nor our failures which defines who we are, but rather it is the choices we make in how we respond which defines us. !

Therefore, I challenge you today to CHOOSE to! 1. !Bring your best to work every day, whatever your best may be that day. Be grateful that you get the opportunity to make a positive impact on a child every day!!

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2. Give two minutes of your time to one student and one staff member every day. Be intentional with your time and then follow up with a quick word or note. The small things can make all the difference.! ! 3. Be empathetic. !Taking the time to understand, ! share, and be sensitive to another persons feelings is critical in building a culture of trust.! Every student and staff member will face some sort of challenge at one time or another.! ! 4. Value the mistakes of others. Risk takers are born ! here. If you yourself make a mistake, own it, apologize, and work to make sure it doesnt happen again.! ! 5. Model forgiveness if you want to be an effective leader, be willing to sincerely accept an apology and ! move on. Believe that most peoples intentions are good.! ! !

6. Understand you will not always see immediate results when working with kids. Be patient and think long term. Many are just testing a system which has failed them many times over long before you came into the picture.! 7. Have high standards for all kids every day. Do not make excuses for kids based on race, socioeconomic class, environment or poor parenting, etc. Believe in all kids all of the time (it also helps if you love them all of the time too!)! 8. Acknowledge inappropriate behavior of kids. By not doing so we are sending a message that they are not worth it or we have given up. If we hesitate to correct poor behavior based on their response to us, we have become part of the problem.! 9. Not be negative. Constant complaining and being negative about kids, staff, work environment, etc. !

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without offering a solution says more about us than it does about those who we are complaining about. !Bring positive energy every day.! ! 10. ! For me personally, the same things that keep me up at night are the same things that get me up in the morning charged and ready to go to work. Every day is a great day because I choose to make it a great day.!! We are not going to be able to control everything that happens to us on a daily basis, but we can control how we let it affect us.! It is our duty to bring a positive voice to school every day.! It is our practical measure of our own excellence.! ! If we are doing the work worth doing, then how we respond begins and ends with us.! ! ! ! ! ! Jimmy Casas is the award winning Principal of Bettendorf High School in Iowa. He is a founder of #IAedchat, and spends time speaking to teachers and leaders around the country. You can find Jimmy on his personal blog and on Twitter. Take time to smile/laugh and encourage others to have fun. When it is no longer fun to go to work, it is

time to do something else.!

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Next Practices

WHATS NEXT?
It can be overwhelming to stay on top of the latest ed-tech trends and educational research. Weve broken it down into two easy sections so you know whats next in education.

Whats Next?

GREAT SITES FOR EDTECH INFO

ED-TECH ROUNDUP
! Think of this list as your way to get caught up on the big things happening in educational technology. Want more? Look to the left!! ! Kaplan EdTech Accelerator is now accepting applications for its 2014 class--and the ten startups selected will get a bonus (via Edsurge).! ! Edudemic reports on the 2013 Online Learning Survey and what we can expect in 2014.! ! Will Richardson, Bruce Dixon and Audrey Watters have a new magazine launching, Education Modern Learners. We cant wait to check it out.! ! Udemy, the online teaching and learning marketplace, has recently reported they have served over 200 million students.! ! Have an ed-tech story for us to share? Email team@bestnext.org

Free Tech 4 Teachers: One of the largest and best curated ed-tech sites on the web. This is a must read.

Cool Cat Teacher: Vicki Davis blog connects the best ideas for teachers and students with a ton of tech tips and advice.

TwoGuysAndSomeIpads: These two guys are an authority on using iPads and tablets in the classroom. Especially with augmented reality!

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RESEARCH ROUNDUP GREAT SITES FOR

Get caught up on the latest educational research

EDUCATION RESEARCH

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Screen Time Study Find Education Drop Off - The NYT reports that 8- to 10-year-olds spend about half the time on educational content that 2- to 4-year-olds do.! !

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! ! ! ! Do Disadvantaged Students Get Less Effective Teaching? Key Findings From Recent Institute Of Education Sciences Studies ! ! NCEE has released a new evaluation brief that summarizes findings from three IES studies that measure disadvantaged students' access to effective teaching based on "value-added," a measure that estimates a teachers contribution to students' learning gains. ! ! Have an article to share? Send it to team@bestnext.org

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CCSS PIECE

Incorporate Writing and Visual Literacy into Mathematics Class

by Anthony Gabriele

! ! What is Literacy? Contrary to the once commonly held belief that teaching reading and writing is solely the responsibility of elementary teachers and secondary ! English teachers, educators and researchers across the country now assert that teaching students the skills necessary to make sense of a variety of texts and write for a variety of purposes is a task to which all teachers must commit themselvesLiteracy is far more than merely learning to read. -Adolescent Literacy: A Position Statement. !International Reading Association, 2009! ! So it seems as though the new standards have caught up the research on literacy. !One of the major benefits of the Common Core is the overall ability to focus on students making their own meaning through textrendering/close reading, considering different purposes and audiences for their reading, ! writing, speaking, and listening, and helping to understand an look at literacy as making meaning in a !

variety of different types of texts (visual, multi-media, physical, etc.). ! With almost all of the content area literacy work I have been involved in over the past several years, the same question around yeah, I get itbut how does this relate to Math? was constantly asked. !Since the last formal math class I had almost 20 years ago was AP Calculus (the 5 I earned on the exam placed me out of any math requirements in college...thank YOU Dr. Goldberg), I still cannot give a definitive answer to that question. !However, from working as an instructional coach and colleague with some great math teachers who loved to think outside the box for ways to engage more and more of their students into math class, I can offer up 1 simple strategy that fits nicely into the Before part of the Before-During-After lesson planning format. Keeping in mind the purpose of the Before activity can be any combination of trying to make connections to engage students in the lesson,

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access background/prior knowledge, set-up that lesson/units content, and/or preview upcoming material for the lesson, the following B-D-A uses photographs, a visual literacy analysis strategy (adapted from ELA & SS originally), and writing in the content areas. !This lesson also incorporates a few of the Common Core Literacy standards related to Key Ideas and Details-Text Analysis (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.1), Integration of Knowledge and Ideas-Diverse Media (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.7), and Range of Writing (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.10).! ! Watch the CCSS Lesson: 7 Minute BDA Lesson Video! ! One of the Norms we look to practice and preach in the district in which I currently work is defined autonomy. !The idea behind this is that once an idea or strategy is shared with a group, we each have the ability to modify and adjust that to our unique situation. !It is the same in the classroom. !How this strategy can be tweaked and adapted to your specific grade level, content, learning objectives, and group of students totally depends on you, the educator. !That is, after all, how this particular lesson came about from its origins in ELA/SS class, and then eventually made its way into Science and then Math class. !

! Anthony Gabriele is a former English teacher and current Curriculum Supervisor at Garnet Valley School District. He also works as a facilitator for the Penn Literacy Network, and co-founded Collaborative Educational Solutions. You can learn more about him on his blog and on Twitter.

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You Made It!

THANK YOU
Thanks for reading! If youd like to drop us a line about the magazine please send all email to team@bestnext.org. Please share the magazine wide and far! If you enjoyed this magazine and want to help keep it running, send a quick $2 donation to the team. Thanks for the support!

! RESOURCES! All of our pictures were found on Compfight & listed as Creative Commons Commercial License.! ! Photo Credit: nic519 via Compfight cc! ! Photo Credit: Neal. via Compfight cc! ! Photo Credit: Susan NYC via Compfight cc! ! Photo Credit: Patrick Feller via Compfight cc! ! Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video via Compfight cc! ! Photo Credit: shonk via Compfight cc! ! Photo Credit: jonathan mcintosh via Compfight cc! ! Photo Credit: Unhindered by Talent via Compfight cc! ! Photo Credit: tribehut via Compfight cc

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