Mr Hammerlund

A few weeks ago I got a DM with the following question: Have you ever experienced [imposter syndrome]? And do you have any favorite quotes, lessons, words of advice that got you through hard times? I am always trying to get better and pass on inspiration. I expected this to be a conversation, so I wrote a short reply. I just finished a two-year stint as a tech coach where I felt imposter syndrome everyday. My advice would be to put your head down and do the work. That’s how you will show you belong there. I just finished a two-year stint as a K-12 Tech Coach. Prior to that, I had seven years of experience in a small international school before that. I was a kind of Jack-of-all-trades, and one of my hats was helping teachers -- especially elementary teachers -- integrate technology into their curriculum. Having been there for so long, I was a fixture and was confident I could help where needed. Then I saw an opening for a K-12 Tech Coach for Kaohsiung American School in ...

In a review of the book, The Launch Cycle , Matt Miller describes several different ways people approach creativity then poses the question:  Which one do you most relate to? the artist, who loves to make things from scratch the geek, who is fascinated by systems and structures the architect, who crafts things from the systematic side the engineer, who focuses on fixing problems the hacker, who tears things down to build something better the point guard, who makes a difference and creates opportunities   (He missed this one)  The astronaut is the teacher who is always exploring new ideas  If I had to choose two, I would definitely say that I am either the engineer or the point guard. Honing in on one though is more difficult. I am confident in the two I chose if for no other reason than I came back to this assignment after six months and my choices are the same as before. What does it mean to have a bigger definition of creativity? Teachers should be on ...

[This was from 2017] For the past few weeks, I have been volunteering off and on at a public junior high school here in Japan. さんさ踊りの練習 A post shared by Thomas Hammerlund (@thomashammerlund) on Jul 4, 2017 at 9:59pm PDT JHS students practice for the Sansa Odori. A summer festival dance. I used to work in an elementary school here as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher), but I wasn't and assistant. I had to develop the curriculum for the school and teach all the classes alone. The elementary school was a brand new school with two classes per grade 1-6. It was in a swanky suburb out by Tokyo Disneyland. I remember one of the student's father was a pro baseball player. I took that job when I began studying for my master's degree in education. I had to see if I really wanted to do this before I jumped in, right? [And that's where the post ends. I am going to leave this post as is.]

Recently a teacher asked me to look into different options for publishing ebooks. Publishing digitally to an audience covers the 4 C's of 21st Century learning,  Critical Thinking,  Collaboration,  Creativity, and  Communication. This project also covers a fifth C, choice.  Critical Thinking Collaboration Creativity Communication Choice My mind immediately came to the conclusion of an actual ebook, one with pages that turn. For that, I had the following ideas: "Book" Options PDF - Saving as a PDF is the Swiss Army Knife of publishing since they can be opened on any device. Students could write their story in Google Docs and download their doc as a PDF. Issuu  - Issuu allows you to make an animated version of your PDF where you can turn the pages. Students would do the above and upload the PDF to Issuu. Then embed the Issuu PDF in their blog. iAuthor -  Apple has a good tool with iAuthor. It is a little challenging and ...

Google Slides is the most flexible G Suite tool in the box. Here is the basic outline. Day 1 Share a template. I create one and set the permissions to "view" as a way to teach students how to make a copy. Create title Choose a background image Day 2 Add small pictures Add other graphics Day 3 Tweak colors Add facts Day 4 Share infographic with a partner and edit, then share with the class. Below is the infographic I made before it was accidentally changed. I am keeping it here just for legacy purposes.

Since I discovered it, I have spread the news about Book Creator to whoever will listen. So when I saw that Book Creator was looking for ambassadors, I thought I might as well have a title for what I am doing anyway. Then late this spring the Book Creator team sent out an email asking for help with the chat series they were going to have over the summer. Thinking I would have nothing to do, I signed up for the chat on June 29th. But as the chat drew closer, things my schedule started getting tighter. I am staying with my in-laws this summer and in addition to the work to do around the house, I am volunteering at a local school and looking for a place to live for next year across the country. I am glad I went through with it but there are a few things to watch out for when hosting a Twitter Chat. time differences - do you know the exact time the chat will happen? international collaboration - how engaged are you? do you have a plan? chat timing - what el...