Lighting up the world with EduGoodness!

Making a real difference in education

If one of your resolutions for 2015 is to make a real difference in education, make Bam! Radio a part of your action plan.

bam-radioWhether you are an educator, a parent, an administrator, or supporter, you will find great podcasts on the Bam! Radio Network that get right to the point of important discussions with experts out there in the trenches fighting the good fight.

Stretch your mind and your understanding. Ignite conversations in your educational community. Make a difference.

Here are a few to check out to get you started:

No More To Do Lists!

I am a list maker. Year-round I have my paper lists, Google Keep, various notebooks, Google Docs, and Evernote notes. This time of year I have lots of company as many I know are constructing lists resolutions for the new year.

Anyone who still uses Apple Stickies (or post-it notes stuck all over their computer) should really look at Keep. I think you would really like it.

Lists help me remember all the things I must do, need to do, and want to do. As I mark items off my lists, new items take their place. The order of priority often shifts (Keep makes this easy) and it used to depress me that the lists never got shorter. There needed to be an end, right? I’ve decided the answer to that question is “NO!” Not just because I have difficulty saying no and, in turn, frequently over-extend myself but because these lists are the action plan of my life.

action-blocks-logoThis year lists will certainly be a part my workflow but I am going to approach them more as action plans – little blueprints to guide my journey through the year. My personal action plan as I attempt to maintain good physical and mental health and connect more deeply with family and friends. My graduate school action plan as I work toward finalizing my dissertation proposal. My work action plan as I help our new school district continue Google Apps for Ed implementation and look toward the birth of a new middle school / high school. My PLE action plan as I continue to build to and interact with my PLN, explore topics of interest (like coding, design thinking, learning spaces, informal PD, and more), and step out of my comfort zone to present at more conferences. My GCT action plan as I work toward completing my Google Certified Teacher Innovation Plan.

I challenge you to think of your to do lists and lists of resolutions as your action plans for the coming year. Let them guide you into making things happen!

 

Site Design

As I continue to tweak this new website, here are some elements of the design I am settling upon.

I am using a self-hosted WordPress installation on HostGator (this is an affiliate link).

The theme is my own theme using Headway as the base. I find this framework easy to work with even though I am comfortable digging into the CSS manually.

Here are the colors and fonts you will spot here and there:

site design

Google Color Palette

When assembling training materials for Google workshops, it is important to use the correct shades of blue, red, yellow, and green, not to mention the grays. The image below was made in Google Draw and includes the HEX and RGB codes for the official Google color palette as provided in the presentation template for Google Education Trainers.

Google-color-palette

 

Want the Google Draw file? Grab a copy here.

Why Prezi makes you dizzy and how to fix it

This post takes a helpful look at how to approach panning when using Prezi. Getting users (including myself) to make decisions about panning should go beyond just making cool movements. Every decision should play a part in the final goal of presenting the information in a way that a lasting impact is made on the audience.

Remove Birthdays from Google Calendar

I like wishing people “Happy Birthday” but I follow lots of folks and so their birthdays can clog up my Google Calendar. If you are in the same boat, here is how to get those birthdays off of your Google Calendar.

No Such Thing as a New Idea

“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.” – Mark Twain

Time to Shift

I came across this quote while doing some research for my dissertation proposal.

“In the 21st century, what it means to ‘be a teacher’ is shifting alongside the technological landscape, which requires a shift in teacher education and professional development approaches.” – Elizabeth C. Homan

Quote by Liz Homan

Back To Top