Tuesday, October 13, 2015

My Current Course of Study

I've been doing quite a bit of professional learning lately, but haven't taken time to pull my reflections together in a blog post.  Over the last few weeks, I've read books, participated in book clubs (online and face-to-face), and started a MOOC-Ed.  I'll use this post to give you a snapshot of each effort, so you may check them out for yourself, and if life allows, I'll circle back around to share more thoughts on them in future posts.

Lost at School
I'm reading this book with several colleagues and discussing it in a weekly group at school. I referenced the author, Dr. Ross Greene, in this post over the summer, and was delighted when one of our coaches suggested reading it. We've definitely had to grapple with keeping the response to behavior challenges focused on problem solving, rather than consequences. Spoiler alert: Consequences don't work.

Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work
This book was offered to me through a professional organization in my state.  I read the book on my own, and attended a one-day "Leadership Roundtable" to reflect on it with other principals. The Heath brothers use lots of easy-to-understand anecdotes to expose the biases and flawed thinking that undermines effective decision-making.  I've already been able to apply some of the principles of their WRAP model to some of my recent decisions, and it has heightened my awareness of pitfalls to avoid.

Pure Genius
I participated in my first Twitter book study with the Plano ISD Book Club. I loved it!  Don Wettrick's book is a great resource for anyone seeking to incorporate genius hour into a classroom or school. The Twitter chat is a great format for keeping a busy person on track with reading and reflecting on a text. The accountability of the group kept me reading, and condensing my thoughts into 140 characters really helped me focus my ideas and responses.  The conversation between colleagues was rich, and and added bonus was that Don participated.

Learning Differences MOOC-Ed
When I attended EdCamp QC, a colleague referenced this course as very helpful to her in strategizing to meet the needs of students who struggled with behavior or academics.  Since I wasn't quite busy enough running a school and reading the books above, I signed up. This is third week, and I'm still completing the work from the second week, but I have already encountered some valuable resources I intend to share with teachers, like this video.

What do you think I should study next?