Focus and Let the Celebrating Begin

Celebrate with Ruth this week!

This week I am celebrating learning, focusing and meeting goals.   I'm celebrating accomplishment.  I'm celebrating being Google Certified Level 1!

My journey began awhile back.  I considered going for the Google Trainer Certification but then had to scale back because personal life took priority over professional life.  So last summer, I restarted with going for Level 1 since I joined up with a district team of teachers who were part of the Keys to Successful Technology Integration.  At that time, I worked on completing the first 8 units...personal life took priority again as I was dealing with my dad's hospitalization, my mom's dementia and then my dad passing away.

Finally over break, I revisited the Google Training Center.  I love the first quote you see on that page:

"Learning Never Stops"

It's really true for me-learning never stops.  I worked on completing the last five units for Level 1 Certification and then signed up to take the exam.  It truly took almost the whole three hours to complete and consisted of two parts.  One part contains the twenty multiple choice questions-not just a,b, c, d-like but hard multiple correct selections as well as drag and drop sorts.  The other part is eleven multi-step scenarios where actual use of Google's tools are put in place.

As I readied to submit my exam for grading, I sucked in a huge breath and hit submit.  I prayed to God at that moment that all of the hard work and energy I put into completing the task would pay off.

tick-tock
tick-tock
tick-tock

Seconds and then minutes passed as I waited for the email to announce whether I'd passed.

Ding!

You've got mail...

I opened the email and SURPRISE!

The notice that I passed!  YAY!

Now, on to Level 2.

Some advice for others who decide to go for it...

Studying helped.
Going through the quizzes at the end of each unit helped.
Reading the scenarios and working them out on my own helped.
Using Google Tools regularly helps (our district is a Google Apps for Education district).

Celebrate with me!  So happy to have met this goal.  I think this experience helped me find my One Little Word for the year...Focus.  However, that is another post for here in the cafe.

Celebrating a Writing Superhero!

#celebratelu this week too, join in over at Ruth's blog

I'm now afforded new amounts of time.  So, I am joyfully writing on a Saturday!

At this blog, I intend to share new learning and leading.  My celebration relates to Ruth and the superhero's response to questions regarding how to reach struggling writers who just don't care.  I'm learning...

Another coach posed the question, "How do we reach students who just don't care?"

I immediately thought of seeking help from Ruth-she's one of my writing Super Heroes!  Cue the trumpets!

I really had no idea that Ruth has just launched her new book, Enticing Hard to Reach Writers.

Thankfully, Ruth quickly responded and offered recommendations from a few of the chapters to help us as we work diligently to reach and teach all writers.

From Chapter 5-think about how behaviors mask needs!  You'll need markers, a jar and masking tape for this one.

From Chapter 1-the importance of understanding how brains work (neuroplasticity-The brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.)

From pages 79-80 a chart which outlines moves to make with hard to reach writers.  As I perused the list, I zeroed in on ways to simplify conferring (Chapter 18) for students who are having a difficult time talking about their writing or writing process, "Increase students' energy for writing by asking open-ended questions while conferring"  and  "Name strengths students have as writers."  Consideration for this advice assumes writing and conferring happen daily-a must.

I hope you'll consider reading this book...

So I must thank my writing superhero and celebrate her help.

What a Writing Superhero looks like.
By Natalie

I appreciate Ruth's tenacity and capacity to see this work through to publishing in the name of helping so many more teachers of writers and writers themselves to grow through life's challenges and CELEBRATE!

By the way, Ruth didn't ask me do write this, I just knew I had to!

Celebrating Colleagues

Thank you to Ruth Ayres for hosting the weekly celebrate link up!

In the midst of the school year ending, there's always so much to do.  I have had three big projects to put together over the last few weeks and now they are almost nearing completion...what I love about this opportunity is that it allows me to collaborate with colleagues who are part of my professional growth puzzle.  I ran across this description as I received the book A Mindset for Learning by Kristine Mraz and Christine Hertz on Thursday.  I immediately started reading it and found connections and smiles within just the first few pages.

In the dedication, Kristine Mraz wrote this quote:  "There are people you meet who fit with you like a puzzle piece and you realize together you are more than you were alone."

I immediately identified with this quote and pictured my close colleagues who inspire me and nudge me to grow professionally nearly every day.  So this week, I'm celebrating being connected with these co-workers and thank them for helping me to better my actions within the teaching profession.