Education Blog
I shall embrace, not fight Twitter
Okay. Mea culpa time. You should totally follow me on Twitter.
I’ve been fighting Twitter for a few months now. My brother is a social networking, web strategy, big thinking guru sort of dude. His company does this sort of big picture thinking for companies and they’re really good at it.
For months, Andrew has been saying, “Nate. You need to Twitter.”
And my response has been, “Andrew. No I don’t.”
But recently Andrew and I traveled together to Virginia. (Did we go to see Phish for three days? Perhaps we did, so what’s it to ya?)
It was on that trip that I finally “got” Twitter. The amount of timely, direct, and fluid information throughout those three days that happened because of Twitter was astounding. Upon my return, I started to poke around Twitter a little more.
I figured I’d find little more than “eating burrito for breakfast. yum!” or “stuck in traffic.
Read More >>We should all be more like Hollywood
He’s known by many names. “The dude with the mullet at Home Depot” is one. That “super nice guy who helps everyone at Home Depot” also suffices. But the name he goes by is “Hollywood.”
Hollywood works at the Home Depot by my house. He’s beloved. His mustache and gray haired mullet make him instantly recognizable. In fact, some months ago there was even an on-line lovefest about him behind his back (scroll down about half way and you’ll find it).
So last night I ran to Home Depot to pick up a washer, some gutter extensions, and a toilet repair kit. While I’m standing there choosing which toilet repair kit to get, Hollywood comes over to lend a hand. I’ve never met him, but he’s helped me plenty of times over the years.
Read More >>Speaking, Debating, Tweeting
Hi, “Teacher’s Lounge” readers, or as I like to call you, “Nate’s peeps”. Nate is on vacation, but he is so kindly letting me guest blog while he is away. My name is Erika and I am the Survey Services Coordinator here at Search Institute. Nate said I did NOT have to write about surveys, so I’m not going to. If, by chance, you genuinely are interested in surveys, my friend Survey Girl just started a little column you can check out.
A couple weeks ago, four co-workers and I attended a fantastic little play here in Minneapolis called Speech & Debate. It’s a funny, four-person play by Stephen Karam that was inspired by a recent scandal where a virulently anti-gay male politician was revealed to be conducting sexually suggestive online “chats” with a teenage boy. The play centers on three outcast teenagers who come together when they learn that one of their teachers has a similar secret.
Read More >>Are you yourself at work?
Last week I had a chance to work with a large group of school administrators in Virginia. We had three hours to spend together and covered a wide range of topics. We mainly focused on creative thinking around common workplace issues.
Toward the end of our time together, however, we spent our time talking about the stress and tension that comes with being in administration, focusing especially on the possible disconnect that can happen between who you are as a person and what is demanded of you in your present professional role. The slide below served as one of the vehicles for our discussion:
As reflected in this slide, each one of us has come into our present work and present role with a host of expectations about who we want to affect and how we want to perform. Regardless of your particular role, you bring to your work a desire to be effective at your work and positively influential on others.
Read More >>Better Audience: Teachers or Students?
I’m not saying, I’m just saying…
Here’s an interesting article from Teacher Magazine titled PD Pet Peeves: Teachers Misbehaving.
In it, the writer discusses what a difficult (and rude) audience teachers can sometimes be. But there is also a discussion about the general utility of professional development speakers. It’s pretty interesting.
This time tomorrow I’ll be doing a three-hour professional development session in Hampton, Virginia. I’m SURE I won’t see any of this type of behavior in MY session!
How about you? What’s the general “behavior” of your colleagues during PD days? I’m curious to know.
Read More >>
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As a former teacher, I’ve seen first-hand the issues that educators face every day. I hope that by writing this blog, I can share some insights (as well as a sense of humor) on teacher job satisfaction and school climate, and spark conversation about how to improve our schools.
—Nathan Eklund, M.Ed
Senior Education Consultant
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