TCAPSLoop Podcast

It's episode 91 of the EdTechLoop podcast and we are joined by the new boss, not quite the same as the old boss, Evan O'Branovic. Danelle and I grilled the poor guy on almost every current issue involving educational technology during this marathon pod. Evan shares some great insights and a "yes we can," mindset to the pod and District. This is a packed show, enjoy!

 

EdTechLoop on Youtube!

Transcript: 

Larry Burden  0:00  

good parenting skills. This guy,

 

Danelle Brostrom  0:03  

Come join us, in this small, sweaty office we call a studio

 

Evan O'Branovic  0:14  

so great 

 

Larry Burden  0:15  

It's back here really, It's safe.

 

Larry Burden  0:18  

I have no idea what I'm talking about now.

 

Larry Burden  0:23  

It's Episode 91 of the EdTech Loop podcast. My name is Larry Burden and she's worryingly started every morning for the last month standing atop her desk declaring Oh Captain, my captain. It's Danielle Brostrom. She doesn't get the reference again. And we are joined by the new boss, not quite the same as the old boss. It's Evan O'Bran...O'Branovic

 

Evan O'Branovic  0:46  

Obranovic

 

Larry Burden  0:46  

Obranovic, I got it right. Yeah. 

 

Evan O'Branovic  0:48  

Nailed it. 

 

Moment of Zen  0:49  

Thank you, Karen. He's here to deepen our understanding around what's new and educational technology. Though not nearly as deep as this week's Moment of Zen. The pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects it to change, the leader adjust the sails.

 

Larry Burden  1:08  

Though it may have been left unrefrigerated too long, and was surely about to turn, we finally have someone to cook this week's meat of the show. Meet the director.

 

Larry Burden  1:19  

Welcome to the district.

 

Evan O'Branovic  1:20  

Thank you. 

 

Larry Burden  1:21  

Before we get started, I'd like to take a moment and on behalf of the district make a blanket apology for Thomas, just in general, just in general. Besides that, what do you think so far. 

 

Evan O'Branovic  1:33  

I have been extremely impressed so far, coming in from a much smaller district. So, just the pure size and scope and sequence of everything that happens here is quite incredible. 

 

Larry Burden  1:46  

Overwhelming or more like well I can't wait to get my hands on all these... 

 

Evan O'Branovic  1:50  

Oh, both, yeah.

 

Larry Burden  1:51  

Cool toys.

 

Evan O'Branovic  1:52  

We've had plenty of overwhelming moments coming home, looking at my wife like, we're not in Aspen anymore. And then, but it's an extremely exciting opportunity as well so I think that's been kind of what saves those overwhelming moments is feeling like wow there's a lot that I can dig my hands into and the staff around me is incredible so it's been very exciting in that aspect. 

 

Larry Burden  2:14  

What brought you to Traverse City.

 

Evan O'Branovic  2:15  

Well, I grew up downstate. So I'm from Michigan, the mitten, you know, originally and went to Michigan State, go green, 

 

Larry Burden  2:25  

Go blue, 

 

Evan O'Branovic  2:25  

yeah, I know I found that division up here, which is always good. And then I graduated with my degree in elementary education, decided that Michigan was not the place for me and took off out west. Never been to Colorado before but decided that was my time and ended up landing kind of your dream gig in Aspen, Colorado teaching fourth grade. So I did that for six years, convinced my now wife, then girlfriend to come out with me. She's a teacher as well. And then I got my Masters in educational technology, was pursued by my old Tech Director to become a Tech Integrator, found that extremely exciting, rewarding kind of where I wanted to be. And then was always kind of on the lookout for grandiose opportunities to come back to the home state. And so, when I saw this come up, it was something that I had to at least throw my hat in the ring for. And surprisingly, they picked me, which was very exciting and, and then just kind of made the call ho

We've heeded the wise writing of "Ditch your Textbook's" Matt Miller, and hope to help you make your next PD not stink. We've all been there. You're partially through a session or keynote and are trying to decide if it's worth your time to sit through the rest. This episode will share some tips to make you a better presenter and help keep your colleagues engaged so they won't decide they have better things to do than listen to you.

 

Useful Links:

http://ditchthattextbook.com/2019/09/25/27-tips-to-deliver-powerful-professional-development/

Jennifer Gonzalez covered this topic in the Cult of Pedagogy podcast as well…

Gamestorming: https://gamestorming.com/

METS at miGoogle 

 

The Un-redacted Transcript 

Danelle Brostrom  0:00  

That's not what is says on your business card

 

Larry Burden  0:11  

It is not an inspiring car.

 

Danelle Brostrom  0:13  

It gets great gas mileage,

 

Larry Burden  0:15  

striving for mediocrity.

 

Larry Burden  0:18  

Drives like a peach, hon.

 

Larry Burden  0:23  

It's episode 90 of the EdTechLoop podcast, My name is Larry Burden, and she's decided to ditch my suggested pod topic, it's Danelle Brostrom. You can't find true wisdom from a textbook, but you can find it in this week's moment of Zen. 

 

Moment of Zen  0:39  

When you see a good person, Think of becoming like her or him. When you see someone not so good. Reflect on your own weak points. 

 

Larry Burden  0:49  

In an effort to develop a more professional palette, we've consulted the experts on how to better prepare, This, this week's meat of the show, making PD better professional development better. We've all been there. We have been into that session, and that keynote. Depends on your level of politeness. Do you sit through the whole session? Or do you get up and... 

 

Danelle Brostrom  1:12  

I sit through the session. 

 

Larry Burden  1:14  

I respect, see now I can go in and I'll have like a camera or something trying to get some shots are record it. And I have to go to the next session because I you know, I have to try to get a swath of information out of this, so.

 

Danelle Brostrom  1:28  

Yeah, but sometimes you can't choose. Sometimes you're stuck in that bad PD because that's the PD you have to take. And then you're stuck.

 

Larry Burden  1:35  

There is that yeah, 

 

Danelle Brostrom  1:36  

yeah,

 

Larry Burden  1:36  

The initial pod topic that I was going to talk about,

 

Danelle Brostrom  1:39  

that I ditched,

 

Larry Burden  1:41  

Which I thought was going to be a winner, because we're going to talk about your favorite subject, Liz Kolb. She had a keynote this year at WiredTC. And I was actually going to talk about her keynote and the fact that she did not...she wasted no time. She basically came up there. And it was it was a different, a different vibe than most keynotes that I've been to because she was basically like, I'm a professional, you're a professional, you're here to get some information from me, I am giving you that information. Let's do this. Let's act like professionals. And I was looking through some of the resources that you had brought up. And I'm like, Yeah, like that.

 

Danelle Brostrom  2:22  

Yeah, yeah, she was amazing. And, you know, the reason I ditched your topic, Larry, Matt Miller had a great post the other day on Twitter. And he's the writer of, "Ditch that Textbook." And he talked a lot about PD, and how sometimes it can be awful. And we've all sat through it. So he gave a ton of ideas on ways to make PD better, and then throw it out to the group. And it just kind of got me thinking that we do need to talk about this since the beginning of the year, and we're all a little rusty. So it's a good time to bring this back. And I'm guilty of this too, you know, you I've gone in and I've had so much information to present and very little time to do it. So I went wide instead of deep with a few topics. And I just, I bored them to death as I read from the slideshow, because I, I got nervo

We know the elementary school media center is a safe, magical place for many kiddos to explore "Mirrors and Windows." We also know transitioning to Middle School can be pretty overwhelming at the start of the school year. We attempt to draw a Media Center Map for that new Middle School student who just forgot their locker combination, couldn’t find their 2nd hour class and is having a bad hair day (and now surprisingly cares)?

Useful Links

TCAPS Online Catalog

Research in Context

East Middle School Library Media Center Website  

 

Show Transcript

Melissa Baumann  0:11  

What do I need to know about a podcast?

 

Larry Burden  0:13  

If there's something that we don't want I go through and edit it.

 

Larry Burden  0:16  

Usually it's editing me.

 

Larry Burden  0:20  

It is episode eight of BiblioTech podcast, my name is Larry Burden and she's more than ready to delve into the awkward preteen phase, it's Stephie Luyt with our special guest, the better Baumann, Melissa Baumann, 

 

Melissa Baumann  0:32  

Appreciate that. Thank you. 

 

Larry Burden  0:33  

We know the elementary school Media Center is a safe magical place for many kiddos to explore mirrors and windows. We also know transitioning to middle school can be pretty overwhelming at the start of the school year. Can we draw a middle school map for our new middle school students who just forgot their locker combinations, couldn't find their second hour class and are having a bad hair day, and now surprisingly, actually care. So, you know, I was thinking about this and I was going way way back into my days in middle school which, you know, it's kind of hazy, and there's kind of a sepia tone. And I remember going from that elementary school library which is so safe and so comforting and you know is the place to go into middle school and already panicked about everything and then there's a huge space, and where do I start, where do I go. What does that look like for for a sixth grade student? Maybe this isn't the direction you're going but that was the first thing that I thought about. 

 

Melissa Baumann  1:27  

Well, one thing that I'm doing this year is focusing on the sixth grade students so that they feel more comfortable so I've spent the last couple weeks having orientation for the sixth grade classes I just finished up at West Middle School, all the students came down with their teacher we went over the policies and procedures and then I had a scavenger hunt that was created for them, and they worked with a partner to explore the different spaces of the library, to examine how the collection, collection is arranged. And then we'll follow it up with the online resources, during their second visits to the library which will happen in two weeks. So I hope that they feel more comfortable already. 

 

Stephie Luyt  2:04  

And those, you know the move from our elementary spaces, yes smaller space, let fewer kids but our middle school libraries are just as welcoming and just as friendly and working on those same things mirrors and windows and once our kiddos get acclimated with the schedule and find feel comfortable with their classes and all that the library is just another wonderful place with lots of amazing resources both middle schools. So we're excited to have our sixth graders up in the middle schools and really excited to have Melissa in the middle schools. Melissa is new with us last year into the middle school but if you want to just tell us a little bit about what worlds you came from. 

 

Melissa Baumann  2:42  

Sure, I am definitely very familiar with middle school. I spent seven years in Chicago teaching at the middle school level, then I took some time off and then when I came back, and was hired by TCAPS I was doing a little bit of elementary Spanish, and then made my way back to middle school, because that's where I feel happiest. So I spent seven years teaching Spanish at West Middle School and then when the position in the library opened up I was

I'm a parent, you're a parent, we're also in the educational community and have the opportunity to see both sides of parental communication in education. In an effort to avoid a bunch of random notes shoved in the bottom of the students backpack, we want to talk about some ways that we can use technology to make communication better, easier on both ends, that makes sense, and create a partnership in education between the school and the parent.

 

Transcript:

Danelle Brostrom  0:01  

Show Notes, shmoe notes.

 

Larry Burden  0:10  

It is an agent of chaos.

 

Larry Burden  0:12  

I've met agents of chaos.

 

Danelle Brostrom  0:12  

My child is an agent of chaos.

 

Larry Burden  0:25  

It's episode 89 of the EdTechLoop podcast. My name is Larry Burden and she's no longer using semaphore and signal towers, it's Danielle Brostrom. I have unearthed my past elementary school newsletters stuffed in the bottom of various backpacks for this week's moment of Zen. 

 

Moment of Zen  0:40  

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. 

 

Larry Burden  0:47  

We've taken the lid off the hibachi to let the sweet aroma entice our listeners to take a nibble at this week's meat of the show, engaging parents. I'm a parent, you're a parent, we're also in the educational community, we kind of see both sides. What have you noticed? Maybe on the, on the parental side first, as far as using tech to engage our, our partners in education.

 

Danelle Brostrom  1:14  

Yeah, I would like to totally avoid that scenario that you talked about where there's a bunch of random notes shoved in the bottom of the backpack, because that is for real. That is real life, I find those notes the bottom of a backpack and in the bottom of a locker and smashed in the corners of the car. So I really like to avoid that. So I definitely want to talk about some ways that we can use technology to make communication better, easier on both ends and stuff that makes sense. I feel like this is a podcast we do at the beginning of every year. And it's different every time which is good. I think we're evolving. So I'm excited to talk about this today, Larry.

 

Larry Burden  1:49  

You brought this up earlier, I did a little research, which is rare

 

Danelle Brostrom  1:51  

I know.

 

Larry Burden  1:53  

Thankfully, I came up with somebody else who had done even more research and has continued the research, Jessica Meachem, found her on Twitter. And she has a spreadsheet of almost every possible application that you could use to communicate with your parents, and has a list of all the attributes, What were your first reactions?

 

Danelle Brostrom  2:20  

Well, the first thing that I noticed is that I love that she's broken it down by security and privacy issues, because that's a big thing for me. And then she also talks about like the price, The communication that's possible. And, this is a good place for teachers to start. And they can kind of see what works out for them. And we do have a lot of teachers that are using these external services like Remind and Bloomz and Class Tag, there's, there's a lot of them that she's detailed there. My suggestion is to just be careful with these. And here's why. I think about the parents that have four different kids at four different schools. And then The teachers are using four different services. And I think that if you look at it from the perspective of your customer, who is our families, It can be a full time job to keep up with all those messages from school and and the different services and some give you notifications. Like I know were on Bloomz right now and we get notified if anyone comments, which is super annoying at sign up for parent teacher conferences time, because I find out that Johnny's mom signed up and then I find out that Jill's mom signed up and you're like, take the notifications off, but now I'm nervous, I'm gonna miss something from school. So just, I, I love a lot of these

Episode 88 of the EdTechLoop Weekly Podcast! After having our fill of caprese salads and grilled vegetarian kebabs it's finally time to whip up some #GoogleEdu marinade and slather it on this week's meat of the show, “We gave your kid a device...now what?”

Additional Links:

Parenting in the Digital Age Presentation

Parents - you can set limits and take the device away

Filter that home network

Screentime Rules From A Teacher

Guide to Parental Controls

 

Episode 88 Transcription:

Stephie Luyt  0:00  

Hey, they still have dot matrix printers over there.

 

David Noller  0:05  

Yes, they still have modems

 

Larry Burden  0:15  

Should I be recording, hold on.

 

Stephie Luyt  0:15  

You didn't save the day for them. 

 

David Noller  0:16  

I had a legitimate moral dilemma. 

 

Larry Burden  0:19  

I am recording by the way and you need to settle down.

 

Larry Burden  0:28  

it's Episode 88 of the EDtechLoop podcast My name is Larry Burden and ignoring the fire marshals maximum occupancy warnings. It's Danielle Brostrom, Stephie Luyt, and the TechNollerGist, David Noller. We've packed up the beach towels and the sunscreen in favor of backpacks, Chromebooks, and this week's moment of Zen. 

 

Moment of Zen  0:47  

What is art? It is when you have paper, and you don't know why it's paper. 

 

Larry Burden  0:54  

Thank you from one of the students from my wife's toddler classroom for that one. 

 

David Noller  1:00  

It's when you have paper, 

 

Larry Burden  1:01  

and you don't know why, 

 

David Noller  1:03  

and you don't know why 

 

Larry Burden  1:03  

it's paper 

 

David Noller  1:04  

it's paper. Yeah, I gotta go.

 

David Noller  1:09  

That, I want to think about that more than anything else right now.

 

Larry Burden  1:12  

 I know, she said that this morning and I was like, yeah I need that.

 

Larry Burden  1:19  

We've lost the TechNollergist, after having our fill of caprese salads and grilled vegetarian kebabs it's finally time to whip up some Google Edu marinate and slather it on this week's meat of the show, we gave our kid a device...Now what. I love this topic and I think it's the perfect way to start the first pod of the year. Because really, we tend to focus on all these different things we can do with the device, the goals that we're trying to reach with the device. Let's, Let's start at the beginning, we've given them. This tool. Now, let's start looking at those transitional properties of what do you do with it to get to the goal. So what do you do, what do you supposed to do with the tool to reach your goal. 

 

Danelle Brostrom  2:01  

And I think this is where it becomes kind of becomes a thing because in our district we do give kids a device in sixth grade, and they get to take it home, and it's, it's, it's theirs to manage and the parents job to manage and I think that this is a great podcast for parents because we do need to give them some advice on what they can do to help manage this new media that's going to be in their home.

 

Larry Burden  2:26  

On Twitter. We had two comments, two comments that came through when I asked this question, and I thought they framed it in the two in two ways that maybe we should look at the first comment from and I'm gonna get his name wrong and he's all over Twitter, he's great follow Anthony Locricchio, maybe, I don't know, I apologize, his comment, it's a learning tool, and it's yours, so treated as if it's the last one in the world. I think that's a great way to look at it because it is it's a it's a tool it's one of the things we're trying to focus on this year. But, B, it is access to everything, and how important is that, as an educational tool if they know how, if they have the foundational skills to use it appropriately. The other one was from Danielle Brostrom, practice balance every day, shut the device down once in a while, and look your friends in the eye. I think that's great and really it comes down to thinking about those two, two comments. First o

The school year is about to begin and the EdTech Loop crew is about ready to get back into the studio. Though I considered attempting to convince Danelle to record a new podcast over the Labour Day weekend, I instead recognized that I value our friendship and decided one more Best Of Episode is a more promising and healthy option. So pop in the earbuds, lay back on the beach towel and soak up the sun one more time before the school bell rings and join our “Digital Parenting,” conversation and as always thanks for listening and inspiring! 

 

Danelle Brostrom  3:27  

So I turned my phone off so that way it didn't brrrrr in the middle

 

instead of playing video games and just sit on the couch and veg.

 

Why are you always recording

 

Larry Burden  3:35  

That will be the intro to the pod...and done. Oops.

 

It is Episode 38 of the TCAPSLoopweekly podcast. My name is Larry Burden and she's convinced Al Bundy was actually a highly enlightened Cyborg. It's Daniel Brostrom. 

 

Danelle Brostrom  4:08  

I know the reference this week, Larry.

 

Larry Burden  4:12  

Oddly, I had to go farther back.

 

Carl Sagan was actually farther back, but still I had to go pretty far back. So well. How you doing? 

 

Danelle Brostrom  4:22  

Okay. It was great 

 

Larry Burden  4:23  

doing the Olympics watching.

 

Danelle Brostrom  4:25  

Um, a little. We like curling.

 

Larry Burden  4:26  

Who doens't like curling.

 

There was a tweet that I ran into on curling or how you watch how somebody watches curling, they had some explicit language, but it was pretty funny. It starts out the first minute, you're like, this is kind of boring. The 10th minute you're going you're like, ooh, he could have curled that stone a little bit better, maybe. The third one was like this highly like after like an hour and a half. You've got like this highly considered opinion on, you know, the tactics of curling. And by the end, you're just completely emotionally invested in it and screaming at the TV "Sweep!, Sweep!"

 

Danelle Brostrom  5:04  

accurate. 

 

Larry Burden  5:04  

It's pretty funny. curling is your sport, anything else?

 

Danelle Brostrom  5:08  

No, just curling.

 

Larry Burden  5:13  

high levels of athleticism, and curling. I did the opening ceremonies and I haven't really I haven't, I haven't, dove, dove in. Once you dive into the... with what I've learned is once you dive into the Olympics, you're you're into all the sports. But I haven't I haven't gone there yet, which is a bummer. We watched one curling match. Okay, that was that was quite, that was enough. 

 

Danelle Brostrom  5:36  

Close enough enough. 

 

Larry Burden  5:37  

I have a feeling sooner or later the figure skating is going to take over my household because I have a lot of girls,

 

Danelle Brostrom  5:43  

I do like the figure skating too. That is pretty cool.

 

Larry Burden  5:45  

Moving on, it's time, to get into the downward dog position, Your lotus position. clear your mind. It's our moment of Zen.

 

Don't try to waste a lifetime by trying to banish all danger. Just spend a moment now and then to banish fear.

 

Relatively apt, As we dig into the meat of the show, Parenting in the digital age. And I wanted to start by asking this question, we hit this topic, you have your email, do we want to do this? Again? We've kind of done this. I don't think we can do this enough. 

 

Danelle Brostrom  6:26  

I know. 

 

Larry Burden  6:26  

I really don't i don't think it's going away. I don't think it's gone away. So, why do we keep coming back to this?

 

Danelle Brostrom  6:32  

Well, it's really hard to parent, a digital kid, when you've never been a digital kid. You know, I when I grew up, 

 

Larry Burden  6:39  

The Wii doesn't count?

 

Danelle Brostrom  6:40  

No, the Wii doesn't help. When I grew up. We I mean, we didn't have computers. I mean, we had computers, but nothing, nothing like we do today, until I got into college. And then we were able to use things like the internet

Again we jump into the Way Back machine and pay a visit with a slightly younger and more vivacious TechNollerGist who has thoughts on incorporating Design Thinking into the classroom. If you find the pod useful or at least mildly interesting, please subscribe and give us a rating on your app of choice and as always thanks for listening and inspiring! 

 

Larry Burden  0:19  

 So much good content. So much good content.

 

David Noller  0:24  

I was  starting to worry about a few are getting my good side but I'm not sure I have one anymore.

 

Larry Burden  0:35  

It's episode 5 of the TechNollerGist 

 

David Noller  0:39  

I keep thinking you're hanging on numbers like this is only the fifth one 

 

Larry Burden  0:43  

This is only the official fifth one, I checked. I was looking through the records and it was number five. 

 

David Noller  0:48  

All right, 

 

Larry Burden  0:48  

Unless my records are bad, which is very likely because like, math, not strong. 

 

David Noller  0:52  

That's not. I'm sure it's right. 

 

Larry Burden  0:54  

By the way, I am your humble host Larry Burden, and I'm joined by the man who's gamed the system. It's the TechNollerGist. 

 

David Noller  0:59  

That's right, gaming the system. I like that, I like it.

 

Larry Burden  1:02  

David Noller, the TechNollerGist, the topic should you choose to accept it? Is design thinking? 

 

David Noller  1:08  

Do we not have a moment of Zen 

 

Larry Burden  1:09  

We, the moment of zen is that other that we don't talk about that other podcast?

 

David Noller  1:15  

I'll give you one, the guy who directed.

 

Larry Burden  1:17  

The TechNollerGist Tidbit, 

 

David Noller  1:19  

TechNollerGist Tidbit. The guy who directed The Red Balloon that famous French short film also invented the board game Risk. 

 

Larry Burden  1:27  

I didn't know that.

 

David Noller  1:33  

So the idea of design, the design cycle in education. I started getting introduced. I started getting interested in this a couple years ago. And every time I saw the design cycle, I always felt like it feels like it's another lockstep and I know it wasn't supposed to. But every time I saw a model, it was start here, then do this, then do this, then repeat. And I understood the purpose of it that you introduce an idea, you create a hypothesis, you build something to test that hypothesis, you determine if there's any, anything you need to change in order for it to be more successful, you adjust it and you do it again. But it still felt like a pattern. It still felt like a...

 

Larry Burden  2:19  

like something that was designed?

 

David Noller  2:20  

like an unwieldy process. 

 

Larry Burden  2:22  

Okay, okay, 

 

David Noller  2:23  

Maybe it's my, my sort of, my approach to design in the first place, which is to sort of jump in and swim around for a while, and then take a look around and see where you are. And if there's sharks, then you obviously have to swim away. But, but if there's no sharks, you can keep going.

 

Larry Burden  2:39  

Isn't that though, a system? 

 

David Noller  2:41  

it isn't a way 

 

Larry Burden  2:43  

you said that. And I'm like, that kind of mirrors the system that you just mentioned. 

 

David Noller  2:49  

And it does. And because you know, I'm kind of a visual person, When I would see those design cycles with a starting point, and then it would loop around and start again, It looks a little bit like a rat race, or a mouse wheel, I guess, is the thing. And I never want to get stuck on that mouse wheel. And we, we saw something when we went to the METS fall rally, which was the Michigan Educational Technology Specialists fall rally. And we did the design project. But the, the, the, the cycle, the design cycle came from Ford's model I Project, 

 

Larry Burden  3:28  

Okay. 

 

David Noller  3:29  

And It's another look at how to do innovation. It's another look at how to do a design cycle. And what I liked about it was that there there are the, what they c

It’s another Time Travel episode of the EdTechLoop Podcast as we dive back in the Feed with Marty McFly’s DeLorean to Episode 36 Failing to Fail with Danelle Brostrom where we stop trying to be perfect, but endeavour to be useful. And if you find the pod useful, take a moment and subscribe and give us a rating on your app of choice and as always thanks for listening and inspiring! 

 

Danelle 0:26

We’re recording Right?

 

Danelle 0:32

think the word that I want to say.

 

Larry 0:36

I'm so confident I will not fail that I’m doing everything in sharpie.

 

Larry 0:51

It’s Episode 36 of the TCAPSLoop weekly podcast. My name is Larry Burden, and failing to be nominated for the Best ed tech podcast Grammy again this year. It's

 

Danelle 1:04

Danielle Brostrom 

 

Larry 1:05

see I like that, like that. You held it in.

 

Larry 1:08

I'm happy to be back in our usual day. 

 

Danelle

I know it's Tuesday

 

Larry

Tuesday is podcast day. 

 

Danelle

All right. Nice. 

 

Larry

Feeling into it, very into today. So um, how's it going? 

 

Danelle

It's going great. 

 

Larry

Anything new, anything exciting happening in your life? anything anything exciting?

 

Danelle 1:24

Well, today, we are starting the Launchpad, which is Traverse Heights maker space. So we're going to get some kids in there who have earned it and kind of see what they gravitate towards. My favorite part about maker spaces is getting in there and getting started. And then having the kids come in and say things like, why don't you have more Legos? Or, you really can use more duct tape? And then we go, oh, yeah, we need to get those things for the maker space. So I'm excited to get in, get kids in there, and hear their thoughts about what we're missing and what we need so we can get moving and grooving with some maker space stuff.

 

Larry 1:56

Get their minds goin’. 

 

Danelle

Yeah, exactly. 

 

Larry

So You know, our topic today is, is the failure of not failing. 

 

Danelle

Yeah. 

 

Larry

And I just want to come clean on something. So this month, I had been attempting to not do caffeine, or coffee. I, I failed this weekend. 

 

Danelle

That's Okay. 

 

Larry

And it was fabulous. It was absolutely fabulous. 

Moving on from that moment of Zen, it is that time. So get into your lotus position, clear your mind.

 

Larry 2:28

We are supposed to learn from our mistakes. But how can we learn If We are not allowed to make them?

 

Danelle 2:36

Perfect moment of zen for today, Larry.

 

Larry 2:41

So let's get our knives our forks and cut into the meat of the show. Failing. Why is it so important?

 

Danelle 2:50

This is such a hard topic. I hate failure. I hate failure. I, I was the kid that would write my homework in pen and get to the end and make a mistake. And instead of getting white out or scribbling it or just continuing I would get a brand new piece of paper and re copy the entire thing again. It really and I I struggle with this. And I think educators as a whole, we struggle with this because the stakes are so big. You know, the kids in your class, they have one shot at second grade, they have one shot at sixth grade. You have all of these pressures on you from you know, you don't want to let down your administrator. You don't want to let down those parents, you don't want to let down the community. You you've got all this state requirements and state testing and evaluations and just, there's so much on you that it's so scary to step outside the box. And it's so scary to take that that inch of a step because oh my gosh, what if I fail? What iF I mess things up? What if this is not the right move? And I don't know if other professions have this. But man, it is so scary for educators.

 

Larry 4:10

I think it's true in every profession, I think, you know, we've been talking about, or at least in education, community, failure, and allowing our students to fail and learning from our mistakes has been a topic that we've been kind of pushing, I guess, in education for a while now. I

It was Podcast moving day last week and the EdTechLoop Pod is happy to now be hosted by Podbean! However all the archived shows did not make it through the move so over the next few weeks before the school year begins I plan to post some of our most popular past episodes starting with the very first BiblioTech podcast featuring local writer and illustrator Brianne Farley. Please excuse the poor audio quality, we hadn’t dialed the studio or editing in yet but the interview is too good to not have on the feed. And as always, thanks for listening and inspiring.

Please forgive the first attempt to transcribe the podcast. As always, we will strive to improve.

0:00 - Stephie

This is Brianne Farley, and she is an author and illustrator, and a local Traverse City Area Public Schools, alumni, we're gonna chat today.

 

0:37 - Stephie

What’s your background, your educational background and career, what your career path has been. And if you want to look, you know, in when I say educational background. Back in elementary school, the experiences you had an elementary school how those have carried along with you and how you ended up in the career that you're in. Okay.

 

1:02 - Brianne 

All right. Well, I started. Well when I moved up here to Traverse City when I was seven, and I started Old Mission, and we live actually right, my parents live right behind Old Mission.

 

Yeah okay and that's like the world's best playground. I think when I did when I first did a visit at Old Mission with my book that's like, all I talked to the kids about was, I was like, tell me about your playground. Is it the coolest is the pond still haunted. and they're like, No, and I was like, It’s still haunted.

 

1:37 - Brianne

And so I went to Old Mission and then, and then I went to the talented and gifted program at Central. And then, yeah and I went to East, Central High School, and 

 

Stephie

When did you graduate?

 

Brianne

I graduated in ‘02. Yeah, I was the first class after the split. Okay, yeah. 

 

Stephie

So one year after split. 

 

Brianne

yeah yeah one year to split, and.

 

2:06 - Brianne 

And then I went to McAllister college actually on the recommendation of my principal, Mr. Townsend, 

 

Stephie

Mr Townsend Yeah, yeah, 

 

Brianne

Funny enough, he’s been my principal since elementary school. Interesting. He kept moving up as I graduated and so yeah he’s been my principal forever and then you say, also go to college here. 

 

Stephie

And then he and he promoted your book for you.

 

2:35 - Brianne 

Yeah. Yeah, he's my publicist.

 

2:40 - Stephie

he's a great person 

 

Brianne

he is great. He's so great. Um, and then after McAllister, I 

 

Stephie

What was your focus there. 

 

Brianne

Oh I went there for English. I like knew that I wanted to be an editor. And so I went for English and I really loved, art, but I thought that for some reason I had this idea that if I made art my career I would hate it, like, like you said, like the pressure of having to make something that makes me not like it anymore. So I really loved reading I loved books as a total bookworm growing up and, and so I knew I wanted to be an editor and then I went off to New York after a year of college, and did an editorial internship and totally hated it. Yeah. I really hated it. And 

 

Stephie

What do you think it was. Did you find it too technical or too, was it, work was mundane?

 

Brianne

I was at a very small publishing house. And so I think that having a little bit of a different view of what editing was then what I saw at this house and which actually is probably not very accurate it's like how other houses edit but, um, yeah it was like it was a little too mundane it was I thought that I was going to be like in the trenches with the writers like helping them like what if you used this other word here and, and that's not what it was at this house.

 

4:13 - Stephie

Did you have much contact with authors. 

 

Brianne

No, no, no. Yeah, it ended up being this very I mean it w

It’s Episode 88 of the not so newly branded EDtech Loop Podcast! We’re getting back to the podcast a little earlier this year with a few "Best Of," compilations from last years shows and maybe some commentary concerning this years WIREDTC Conference. Can't wait to get back in the studio to discuss what's new in Ed Tech!