Week 3

Happy National Just Because Day

August 28 - School Pictures
August 30 - Boy Scout Sign ups @ 6:00
August 31 - Collaboration Day

September 3 - No School
September 5 - PLC Team Meetings

September 11 - SPED Training during prep
September 12 - PLC Team Meetings

September 18-21 - Mid Quarter Grades
September 18 - 6th grade staff meeting
September 19 - 5th grade staff meeting
September 19 - PLC Team Meetings
September 20 - 4th grade staff meeting
September 20 - Air Evac Sign Ups
September 21 - Staff Tailgate Party @ Fellowship Christian Church

September 24 - Collaboration Day

Picture day is coming. Do you know the procedures? If you are new and you aren't sure how picture day works, ask someone. Be prepared:)

As most of you know, I am a huge fan professional development and increasing your personal knowledge base. I love Twitter, I send out articles, I follow blogs, and I read books (and sometimes force others to as well). I would like to introduce you to another medium that I am currently exploring: podcasts.

Podcasts are an easy way to get PD from some quality people. If you follow people on Twitter, then chances are some of them have a podcast. Here are a few that I recommend.


Ditch that Textbook has a tremendous amount of ideas for teachers. Matt Miller is one of those people you should follow. He has a book. He has a blog. He is on Twitter. And he has a podcast. Matt frequently has guests on his podcast and recently he had Dr. Lance McLard a friend of mine out of Jackson on his show. The best part about Matt's podcast is that they are normally around 5-7 minutes long.


Adam Welcome is a speaker, author, and educational guru. If you aren't following him on Twitter, you should. Adam also typically has guests on his podcast. He recently released podcast #100 with Dave Burgess of Teach Like a Pirate fame.


John Spencer has a podcast. John also has a great youtube channel. John is a proponent of creative thinking and soliciting that from students.

Kasey Bell has a podcast that she frequently does with Matt Miller. Of course, Kasey is a tech guru and knows all things about Google.

This last podcast was started by some friends of mine in St. Joseph, Missouri. They are just getting started, but they have lots of good ideas.

Jennifer Gonzales has a podcast. There is a Ted Talk podcast. Just Google search it and there is probably a podcast about it.

Starting a podcast is a pretty easy thing to do. Joe Sanfelippo spoke at a conference I attended this summer and he was able to set one up and broadcast us at the conference in a matter of minutes. I could also see applications in the classroom if you wanted your students to start podcasting. If you think you want to take a stab at podcasting, let me know. I would be glad to help.

So, our experience with KidAccount has not been stellar lately. The 411, in case someone asks you, is that KidAccount changed to Clever.ly to help with logins and transferring information. Clever.ly is not jiving with Sis and is creating a plethora of problems for us at pick up.

We are starting fresh on Monday. KidAccount worked all weekend to get our data cleaned up and working. So, we will once again be back in the rooms and using the scanners outside. Hopefully, we will have minimal problems and we will be back up and running like we were last year.

I do want to thank everyone who has chipped in and helped out with dismissal, especially those of you who have taken daily cussings from irate parents. We appreciate you.

Friday is collaboration day. We will start in the cafeteria at 8:00. Breakfast will be served around 7:30. An agenda is on it's way.


A little background on metacognition.