It's not always about the Open Bar

Tali Horowitz invited a bunch of DOE nerds as her guests to the Common Sense Media Awards Dinner. The awards were for everyone who works hard to provide a safe environment for children to use technology. It was a lovely evening; we hobnobbed with big donors, caught up with friends, and had a nice evening out. What really inspired me was the message of the evening. We are playing defense for the small people who are defenseless against the giant we know as the Internet.
Marie Belle Vargas was the educator of the year. Working in the South Bronx, her students are among the most disadvantaged in our city. She comes early to school and stays late to give them internet access to complete their work. She provides support to parents to help them in all things online. She works tirelessly for her school and it was humbling to learn how much she truly personifies a dedicated teacher. She's an advocate for her children, her parents and her school. I am proud to call her a colleague. She turned around and instead of taking the accolades, thanked Tali for all the support and encouragement she provides the DOE teachers on a day-to-day basis. I'm proud to know both these women.
I came away from the night with a full belly, and a full heart. I work with amazing people and we are trying to do good. That's a great place to be. Thanks for having us, Common Sense.

Me and Educational Creator Award Winner Bill Nye discuss quantum physics.

Crushed It! How to Host a Twitter Chat

I was asked by Tali Horowitz of Common Sense Media to co-moderate a Twitter chat, but I had never done that before. I’ve been on Twitter for about a year and a half and have participated in other chats, so I thought “Why not?” It turned out to be a lot of fun; if you ever have the opportunity, please do so. Since I want everyone to experience this nerd-thrill, I’ve documented how I approached this project. After it was all over, the stats say we were viewed over a million times. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that but while I work on that, here’s my tips and tricks for hosting a Killer Twitter Chat.

Before I go into what I did, you should really read Lisa Neilsen’s take on this subject. Since I’m the President of her fan club, I feel it’s my duty to recognize her genius before I chime in. http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2014/05/how-to-host-q-and-twitter-chat.html If you’re too lazy to click this link (really?) I’m going to repeat a lot of what she wrote.

Before the Chat

• Promote the chat, then promote it again. The success of your chat depends on how many people are contributing. We all have busy lives; make it worth their while.
• Tag your tribe in the tweets so they start dialogues. That’s what they’re there for.
• Choose a theme that is specific to the audience, but easy for people to engage in the discussion.
• Create a document that has the questions you plan on asking and share that document on Twitter beforehand. It gives people a heads up on what you will discuss. Choose open-ended questions, but not too elaborate. Remember they only have 140 characters to respond.
• Create the graphics that will be used. I created graphics for each question, and I made some random graphics with quotes that were relevant to our discussion. Lisa says that’s how we raised the bar for Twitter Chats throughout the world. (I might be exaggerating there.)
• A long hashtag for your chat will limit everyone’s responses. Keep it short and easy to type. I made mine a keyboard shortcut just to be more efficient while I was responding.

During the Chat

• Don’t type in too much shorthand. It could be hard to understand you and deciphering the message will take too much time if the tweets are flying fast and furious.
• Alert participants that the next question is coming, so they can wrap up the previous discussions.
• Tweet the questions with a graphic too. Using graphics is huge. Twitter is mostly words, so a visual will really stand out. The great thing about visuals is that you can tag up to 10 people in the graphic. Tagging people in the graphics doesn’t take up your 140 characters, and you can really engage the participants in this way.
• Drop the random graphics in sporadically as the conversations get deeper. I designed them to have a consistent look, but still be different from the actual questions.
• Add comments to participant’s tweets to start multiple conversations going.
• “Like” other people’s tweets, and retweet the significant thoughts, it makes you sound smart.

After the Chat

• Catch up on conversations you missed; just because the hour is over doesn’t mean you have to stop the discussion. I’ve had discussions go on for days.
• Follow the people that contributed, it’s the least you can do.
• Thank the contributors, and let them know when the next chat will be.

I loved being the moderator. It was an hour-long adrenaline rush for a geek like me. I tell regular people about it, and they give me a half smile and nod, trying to act like they care. It doesn’t matter to me though. I care, and it matters to my nerd tribe. Connecting with fellow educators online in real time to make all of us better at what we do is something unheard of 10 years ago. We sometimes take for granted how cool technology is, and what we can do with it. This is the world wide web at it’s best, and not only can we take advantage of that, we can model it for our students. They’re the people we do this all for.

If you'd like to see the actual Twitter Chat, head over here #NYCSchoolsTechChat

Book Club Girl

My book club has been together since 1998. We were all moms with little kids at home, and once a month on a Monday night was a big deal to get out and talk to adults for a few hours. The challenge was to stay awake for the meeting. Now we discuss how those same kids are doing in college, but we still have a hard time staying awake.
Late last year, Harper Collins had a contest to become a sponsored book club for a year and I entered our book club. I had completely forgotten about it until I got an email telling me we won. We get to pick a book from a bunch of choices every month and they send us the free copies. Once this year, an author will Skype or call into our meeting to discuss their book! We got our first shipment of books today, and I am thrilled. They have sent us a copy of a book that hasn't been released yet, it's our job to start a word of mouth campaign for these books which seems like an honor. Mostly we are relieved to not have to figure out what we should read every month, the pressure is off to find a great book because it's already been done for us.

We have been through a lot together: a bunch of babies, a handful of divorces, a few re-marriages and our first grand-baby. We even survived Hurricane Sandy, when many of us had to relocate for months while our houses were repaired. What is wonderful about our book club is that for a few hours every month we have a glass of wine, maybe some cheesecake, and discuss how a book has touched our lives. These are the things that make for a lovely life. Thank you to my friends and to the authors who enrich our lives. We are forever grateful.

Running into a really old friend.

I graduated from the School of Visual Arts a long time ago with a degree in Fine Arts. It sounds impressive, but my brothers tell everyone I went to Crayon College. I loved the experience, and it has enriched my life. It set me on a path that took many turns for me to wind up where I am now; a computer teacher. It took a lot of turns.
One assignment I remember from school was to go the the Metropolitan Museum of Art and study a specific statue called Marble statue of a kouros (youth). You would walk right past it, as it is not very distinguishable from the thousands of other pieces of art in the same room. It is life-sized, but not very detailed. It's simple and straightforward. I had to write 10 pages on it. I just wrote two sentences about it and that's all you really need to know about it, so you can imagine how much elaboration had to go into 10 pages. That was the exercise; to really look and study it extensively. I sat in front of it for hours and then wrote about it for even more. I felt I really knew him. I handed in my paper and forgot about him.
I've been to the museum over the years, but I completely forgot about the statue until I bumped into him recently. (I didn't actually bump into him, you get into a lot of trouble for stuff like that.) I was shocked. He hasn't aged a day, and I've aged over 30 years since I last saw him. I stood there looking at him from the eyes of a grown woman, remembered the young lady who first studied him. Time really felt solid to me in that moment. I could sense the breadth of my life, and how insignificant my 30 years feels to a statue that's thousands of years old.
I thought about what was ahead of me back then; and all I've lived since. How I am just a blip on his timeline. Centuries will pass, and he will still be there. Nations will rise and crumble, and he will still be there. 
Art is powerful; it speaks to us in many ways. Mostly though, it reminds us to look outside ourselves. To see the small part we play, and to play it well.
It was good to catch up with him.

Reflection is not just for mirrors anymore.

Where were you last year? Where are you now? Where do you want to be in a year?
Three questions that can stop you in your tracks.

In September, I present to the students my goals for the year. I look at them periodically throughout the year to see if I'm on track. More times than not, I'm nowhere near them. The rosy glow of September is deceiving; so my original plans don't take into consideration the set backs along the way. While it's a humbling exercise, it's one I feel most important in my role as an educator. I model for my students my successes and failures, and the most important part: my persistence. I'm going to keep working at this. I'm going to try again. They need to see failures and how to handle them. Failures are not life-long failures, just places to get it better right now. It's where real growth can happen. While it's hard to be honest with yourself, it's vital. Besides, if you're not honest with yourself, who else will be?

4 Apps that helped me lose 40 pounds.

On the one year anniversary of joining the gym, I wanted to celebrate my accomplishment and take a look back at the journey so far. I realize my phone has been the most important tool to my success.
Full disclosure: it wasn't just the apps that helped me lose weight, there was some sweat involved. (Actually lots of sweat. There's no pill to make this happen; if there was Oprah would have invented it. She had to lose weight the hard way and so do we.)
The following four apps did help me follow a plan and achieve my goals. Like everything worth doing, it's what you put in that determines what you get out. So here's my list.

1. MyFitness Pal-Where my journey started. I just started recording what I ate, and that's a rude awakening. Once you're aware of what you're eating, you stop eating like an idiot. That would be the name of my diet book, "Stop Eating Like an Idiot and Go to the Gym." Actually, that would be the whole book, because that's all it is. Seriously. So I began with just a few simple changes, and the first few pounds started coming off. It's deceiving at first because they're the pounds that are the easiest to lose, the stubborn ones hang on.
2. Fitbit-I did get a Fitbit, so I guess that isn't a free app, but there are ones that do it for free, like StepLog and Stepwise. I instantly became conscious of how much I was moving throughout the day, and while it didn't provoke me to run a marathon, it did goad me into taking the stairs more often. Some more pounds left the building. Here's where outside support and motivation came in. I noticed all the people around me wearing Fitbits, so I friended them and now I can compare my steps to theirs. If your friends are too active, buy some of your lazy friends a Fitbit. You need to be better than someone. All's fair in love and weight loss.
3. Fitlist-I finally got serious when I joined the gym, but nothing happened. Turns out, anyone can JOIN a gym, the secret is you have to GO to the gym. A lot. Laura the trainer walked me around and showed me what to do and how to do it. That made all the difference in the world. I would have never gone near those scary machines unless she showed me what to do. Here's where the real pounds left town. Fitlist is where I recorded what I did each day, and I can look on the calendar and see how often I went to the gym. This accountability is what I need; you may need some other type of motivation. In a good week I'm there 6 times, a bad week is 3. 

   

   July was a good month for me.
   It's amazing what having off every day will do for your exercise schedule.  

   

   I guess I really got into vacation mode in August, because I clearly was phoning it in.

4. LFConnect-This app syncs with the treadmills and other machines at the gym to record the amount of calories I burned off. For me, I need to get credit somewhere for the work or it doesn't count. This app did it for me. I just take a picture of the QR code on the screen after I'm done, and it enters all the information on my phone! I can set a goal of burning 2000 calories in a week, and the app will let me know how close I am to my goal. Little goals and big ones are important to the process, so here's just another way to reward myself with a gold star. I clearly am very needy, but I know that and work with it.

I'm not saying that these are the only apps to use, but these are the apps that worked best for me. Some people need a support team, some need schedules. It really doesn't matter, just find what works best for you and use it.

This is the first year I can remember where I haven't had "lose weight" on my resolution list. I feel better, people tell me I look good, and I got to buy all new clothes that fit. While I'm sorry it took me so long to get here, I'm very happy now and I don't ever plan on going back.

Karma

While I was in school, my car was hit and left to whimper quietly to itself until I came out that afternoon to see him tilting strangely to one side. I was parked on a corner and someone didn't take the turn slowly enough on an icy road so they sent my car up onto the sidewalk instead.
I have insurance so the only inconvenience was some time, a deductible, and getting used to driving the rental car for a few weeks. I'm lucky: I wasn't in the car, no one got hurt, and my brother works in the auto industry so he helped me with the specifics.
What bothers me is someone did some real damage and just drove away. How do they do that? Do they worry about karma? Are they not worried about "what goes around comes around?" Maybe they were a new driver and panicked? Maybe they were rushing to a job they would lose if they were late? Maybe someone needed help and the situation was desperate. I'll never know. What I do know is someone got away with it and I ended up paying.
I also wonder what I would have done. If no one was around, would I have driven away? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't, but in the momentary panic after a car accident, who knows? I just know someone is out there driving around with no repercussions from their actions, and that stinks.
Go get 'em, karma.