How Being Busy Makes You Unproductive

I came across this post on Linked in yesterday and it really hit home. This is the same discussion that I've had with a couple of friends over the last week and another friend posted a short rant on Facebook that was essentially about the same thing. All of these people are teachers. Teachers are very busy. Mostly because they choose to be, but that choice is often driven by pressure. Another friend (also a teacher) commented on the Facebook rant that she had a principal tell her that good teachers work beyond contract hours.

This isn't necessarily true. Good teachers come in many shapes and sizes, literally and figuratively. I've known some very busy people who weren't especially good at their jobs, in some cases because they were so busy. Personally, I find myself falling into that trap more often than I'd like. I feel pressured by the disappointment and even frustration that a response like, "I can't do that right now" solicits. Teachers in general want to help students. They want to be the person who makes a difference, or at least they don't want to be the person that caused a child to plunge headlong into a downward spiral of apathy and malaise.

Teachers, I have news for you. Unless you are belittling, bullying, or berating children, or outright ignoring your responsibilities as an educator it is quite unlikely that you will be the cause of a child's abasement. While it is admirable that many teachers are able to connect with students on a level that inspires those children, that is not the only mark of a great educator. Some teachers connect with a few students, others with many. Some teachers impart knowledge in a way that leads to life-long learning, and others are able to get children through subjects that are not of any interest to those children. Still others are able to spark interest in new ways. One thing almost every teacher I know has in common, they want their students to learn, and to enjoy learning. They don't come to school every day with the goal of making children miserable, or of ruining lives, or even of giving up because they have a tough job.

Educators need to stop allowing others to set the bar so high that they are asked to sacrifice their own lives, their own families, their time with their own children, and their personal goals and leisure "for the children". They also need to stop putting that same pressure on themselves. Yes we all do it because we want children to be successful, but some of that responsibility needs to lie with the children, their parents, and their communities. Educators did not sign up to be foster parents (some may have, but they filled out different forms). More importantly, by setting this expectation, we are making educators worse at the job we actually hired them for.

That is where this post really struck a nerve for me. Education is about teaching children the things they need to know to be successful in the world. Yes, sometimes that includes things that aren't reading, writing, and arithmetic. Things like manners, note-taking, paying attention, and prioritizing. Often that takes modeling. We are modeling for our children a lifestyle where we push ourselves beyond the point of diminishing returns. We can only be so busy before we burn out or at least become less productive. We are also sending the message that for those who aren't interested in doing their own work, they can always count on someone else to get the work done.

Bradbury also points out that some researchers found we use "busyness" to hide from laziness and fear of failure. Just another excuse we are modeling for our children when we could instead be modeling good time management skills, professionalism, and the ability to prioritize. The point is, we need to stop being so busy. Get the job done, and do it well, but be judicious with your time. Don't allow the pressure of "being great" to force you into being so busy that your health and even productivity suffer. Remember, could actually be more productive if you weren't so busy.

"How Being Busy Makes You Unproductive" on @LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-being-busy-makes-you-less-productive-dr-travis-bradberry

In King George we use Calendarwiz for our publicly shared calendar. It is a pretty good calendar application, but one drawback is that if you want to see school events you need to go to a separate location to look at school events unless you want to enter them all by hand into your calendar. If your calendar is capable of supporting iCal links you actually add the calendar so that it will update itself. The updating only occurs once every 24 hours, so the updates aren't instantaneous, but they do happen.

Calendarwiz doesn't make the process especially easy, but I've written some instructions on how to make it happen. I have several of these calendars working with my Google Calendar and they work flawlessly. It's handy to be able to look at school events in my calendar without switching back and forth.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QS3hAjliLNh7RC4pInyaCRDmtVtb_2_5tJNsfb0Nfpc/view

Video: When to choose iPads vs. Chromebooks

This is a short video from a collaboration between Lesson Planet and eSchool News that compares iPads to Chromebooks. If you are considering purchasing a device, this has some good information. http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/10/12/video-ipad-chromebook-239/

Using Gmail to Handle "mailto" Links in Google Chrome Browser

So I was completely vexed by why "mailto" links didn't work in my Chrome browser. Turns out it is actually pretty simple, but unless you're someone who just clicks on stuff to see what it does, you probably won't ever figure it out. Here is a short video that explains how to turn on this feature. As a bonus, you can use the same process to make Chrome use Google Calendars to handle "webcal" links.

https://youtu.be/R_iUyNWLApE

How Secure is Your Password

Way back when no one worried about password security. Just having a password was enough. As long as your lock needed a key, it was enough. Over the last few decades that has changed, a little bit at a time. Gone are the days of using birthdays, spouses nicknames, and favorite pets as passwords. Sure you can still do it, but it is a little like trying to lock the front door of your house with an antique mortise lock. Just about anyone can figure out how to pick it in just a few minutes. This brings me to a story I came across a few weeks back.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3034256/Eighth-grader-charged-felony-changing-annoying-teacher-s-computer-background-picture-two-men-kissing.html
It was published back in April, so you may have seen it already. If not, you've probably heard of a similar story. While I am not a person who thinks that victims should ever be blamed for crimes committed against them, I also think that we all have a responsibility to lock our doors securely. For example, if you leave a key under the mat at the front door of your house, all day, every day, and every time you walk up to the door, you use that key to open the door and then place it back under the mat, you should expect that at some point, someone else is going to "borrow" your key to gain access to your home. Truly, if this is what you are doing, why bother even having a key? That really isn't any different from writing your password on a sticky note and tucking it under your keyboard.

About 7 years ago, I made a transition from a high school teacher to a technology coach. I was a prolific user of technology in the classroom, but I wasn't always good at security. Many of my early passwords were only five or six characters, all lower case. Any math teacher will tell you that every time you add a character, or variety to your password you increase the number of permutations, meaning it will be more difficult to guess your password. Moreover, many password cracking tools are available free of charge. These tools are the lock and key equivalent of giving a hacker the opportunity to attempt using thousands of keys in the lock in a matter of seconds. Another important point is that you should not use the same password for multiple services. Sometimes it makes sense to reuse a password, but if you use one over and over again, if one is ever compromised, say by a leak or a hacker, then all of your accounts will be vulnerable. It isn't a bad idea to create passwords that are so difficult you may not be able to learn them overnight. Keeping a list of your passwords with that list of credit card numbers and contact info, which you probably don't actually have, in case your wallet is ever lost or stolen isn't a bad idea. If you don't like that idea, you can keep an electronic database. To make this easier, here are a few tools that can help you keep track of your passwords. Some of them will even let you store credit card numbers and contact information in case your wallet is ever lost or stolen...

Here is a good review that describes a few popular password managers, which could help you to create and maintain more secure, robust passwords. http://lifehacker.com/5529133/five-best-password-managers

Google Docs Voice Typing

Google Docs supports voice typing! Yep, you can type by speaking in Google Docs. I definitely recommend using a headset microphone for this, and if you have a classroom full of students they might have trouble with getting an accurate transcription, but it is still pretty cool and very useful for a variety of applications. Here is Google's support link with some instructions on using voice typing to get you started. https://support.google.com/docs/answer/4492226

Podcast: Ideas for Classroom and PD Technology

I really like Vicki Davis, aka Cool Cat Teacher. A few years back I had the opportunity to listen to her speak at a conference, and immediately started following her on Twitter. She is a wonderfully dynamic person with some great thoughts on education and what it means to be a classroom teacher. In this podcast she talks to Jennifer Gonzalez about several different technology tools that teachers can use in class and for professional development. http://www.coolcatteacher.com/classroom-technology/