Celeste Payne
I am Assistant Dean of Students and a high school biology teacher at Westtown School, a Quaker boarding school. My interests include diversity, innovation, leadership, and technology in education.
9 Ways to Get Things Done When Everything Is Going Wrong. Ever have one of those days where nothing goes right?
From the first thing you do, everything seems to go sideways. How Science Supercharges Creativity. When a creative idea takes root, it’s a highly empowering (Eureka!)
Experience. And if you’re in an industry that’s known for being powered by creative ideas--advertising, marketing and media for instance--it can be the life and death of your success. But in today’s content-driven industries, being creative on its own isn’t a sufficient skill anymore. Creative teams have always had to be artistic. They’ve had to rely on their instincts and think about what types of words, colors or imagery illicit certain types of responses. STEM Equity & Diversity: A Sisyphean Task. As a first year teacher a parent accused me of favoring girls over boys in my earth science course.
In my defense, I explained I was working with boys and girls equally (50/50) and that perhaps this was the first time her son had experienced equity. STEM equity continues to elude educators. Often assessed in terms of undergraduate degrees awarded to women and traditionally underrepresented populations -- STEM equity (outside the life, medical and social sciences) remains a source of concern and frustration for many. Over twenty years of extensive research, by authors such as Seymour, Tobias and Carnevale articulates the nations' shortsightedness in addressing the challenge resulting in an inability to engage and retain women and minorities in many STEM undergraduate programs.
If years of research have illuminated the problem, why do we continue to lack equity in STEM education? Design Thinking. Leadership, not Process, is the Keystone of Innovation. To think differently, act differently.
For most, easier said than done. I’ve stressed this over and over again. And will keep on stressing it because I know we’ll never get over it. Simply put, there are those that seek new thoughts before taking action. And, there are those that will only take action until those new thoughts are sketched out in a methodology. So, everyone seeks new thoughts about innovation thinking. Again, that means not just thinking differently, but also acting differently. Last week I wrote about how there is a lot of focus on innovation methodologies, but not so much on the leadership part. This is because methodologies spread easily. Mindset precedes methodology The sad thing is that when a company is considering hiring service providers that provide innovation capability their criteria is based on specialization on a specific methodology. Wishful thinking, I know. Epic Fail - 5 Ways to Build a Culture of Failure.
No one likes to fail.
Failure feels like losing. But failure is more generous than we might think. Failure gives experience to those who try and offers wisdom to those who will try next. Failure fuels our quest for something better. Interview Tips. Thank You Notes: Still Way More Important Than You Think. You just finished your job interview.
What are your next steps? By now, you likely know by now you should send a thank you note, but if you’re like most… you won’t. The post-interview thank you note is still far more important than most realize. 5 Reasons a Virtual Version of Your Resume is Required. It is increasingly difficult to stand out in that stack of resumes piling up on a recruiter’s desk.
You are initially just a piece of paper; they don’t know you, other than what’s written on your resume. Thankfully, however, virtual resumes help you evolve from mere resume… to a really great candidate who must be interviewed. Get Uncomfortable… and Get Your Career Going. Are you happy in your career?
Or just going through the motions? Are you pushing yourself to do more, and be more? Or are you too comfortable being… comfortable? Making a change in your career involves work, and not everyone likes to do work. Whether it’s a new job, a new career, or a new way of dealing with a problem at work, challenging situations do not change without your active participation. LinkedIn Marketing. Free Technology for Teachers. How To Use iPads For Personal Professional Development.
This post is adapted from a talk that I gave at the iPad Summit in Atlanta.
The Boston iPad Summit 2013 is now accepting proposals and offers discounts for early bird registration! The Use of Social Media in School. How To Improve Your Social Media Skills In 30 Minutes A Day. Getting the most out of social media takes time and effort, right?
Only if you let it. In fact, there’s a popular visual going around that was originally made for marketers but could just as easily be useful to teachers, students, and school administrators. Summer Learning Series-Twitter Chats For Learning. This is the fourth post in my Summer Learning Series. These are short posts with tools, tips and resources for you to try something new this summer or something you can take to the classroom in the Fall. First was Collaborative Learning With Edmodo and then we followed up with Learning With Hashtags. 3 Reasons Educators Need to Use Multiple Twitter Accounts. 22 Ways To Use Twitter For Learning Based On Bloom's Taxonomy. Last year we created a “twitter spectrum,” an image that clarified different ways that twitter could be used in the classroom in (hopefully) authentic ways.
TeachBytes has followed that up with an excellent graphic of their own that uses a pure Bloom’s Taxonomy approach. The specific ideas range from “remix trending tweets with video and music” to creating concept maps showing the relationship between tweets. How To Effectively Use The Top 4 Social Networks. Have you ever wondered why you need to be a member of the top 4 social networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and the whole host of other social networking sites that your friend invite you to be a part of? Maybe you should only join Facebook. Or maybe Google+ would be the better option. Doesn’t everyone end up connected in all of the same places anyway? Well, the short version of the answer is no. 12 Powerful PDF Tools For Teachers And Administrators. PDF documents are now being used almost everywhere. Long ago, when they have just been introduced, it was difficult for us to use these documents as there were no options for any kind of change.
All we could do was just read or view the documents. There were no PDF tools for teachers, admins, and students. A Printable Guide To Creative Commons. Something you probably see a lot of these days as you browse the internet is Creative Commons licensing. You’ll see many graphics that say something like ‘shared under a Creative Commons license’, or you’ll see a little rectangular graphic with some signs in them. Since we live in an age where most of our information comes from the internet in some way or another, its useful to know when and how it is ok to use something that you’ve found. We’ve already taken a look at some fair use guidelines (which comes along with a brief mention of Creative Commons licensing), but we thought that this handy infographic below gave a great, easy to read and understand version of the different types of CC licenses available.
Keep reading to learn more. Learning Management Systems: My Three Favorites. Summer Learning Series-TED Talks For Learning. How (And Why) To Flip Your Classroom. It’s no secret that interacting with students on an individual level can drastically improve the learning process. 27 Presentation Tips For Students And Teachers. TED.
Pearltrees videos. Leadership Basics: What to Do When You Don't Have All the Answers. Kindness and Leadership. Today I’m thrilled to share a guest post written by Jon Mertz of Thin Difference. Jon is passionate about dispelling the myth of a generation gap and uniting leaders across generations to share experiences and learn from one another. In reading Susan Mazza’s Leading Made Simple Report, there are certain “rubber ball” ideas, meaning they keep bouncing around in my thoughts.