Aim to Be Awesome, Not Perfect

One of my bosses, Ryan Smith, recently blogged about the clarity of a personal user manual . As I thought more and more about his post, I thought about how it might help me in my role as an ITS. Something like this might be useful, considering a large part of being successful at my job requires building and maintaining positive relationships with my staff. So here is my personal user manual: I'm a pretty positive person and I tend to smile a lot. Sometimes I worry that others will think my smile is fake or looks fake because I do it so much. But I promise it’s not… I can’t really fake a smile. One of my biggest strengths is that I am willing to say yes to new projects and innovative ideas. One of my biggest weaknesses is that I have a hard time saying no. So if I say no to an idea/project, it is not because I don't want to be involved, it is because I feel that I cannot give it the time that it deserves. I hate looking incompetent. I prefer to be "in th...

I have been thinking about the reading I want to do this summer. I found a couple lists, one by Matt Miller, and another by Education Closet , that definitely had some good suggestions. Here is what I want to read: Ditch That Textbook: Free Your Teaching and Revolutionize Your Classroom - I am planning a PD that pulls some of the ideas, so I should probably actually read the book, not just the blog. The EduProtocol Field Guide: 16 Student-Centered Lesson Frames for Infinite Learning PossibilitiesDitch That Textbook: Free Your Teaching and Revolutionize Your Classroom - the title, especially referencing student centered lesson frames, intrigues me. Preparing Educators for Arts Integration: Placing Creativity at the Center of Learning  - my campus is an AVID campus and we are moving towards an AI/AVID campus, so I want to learn more about arts integration. Social LEADia - bought it at the beginning of the school year and NEED to read it. My recommendations for others:...