Welcome to unzombify.com, the latest in the SOLE experience

Welcome to unzombify.com. As a recently retired teacher with over 30 years teaching experience I fell in love with SOLE when reading about it. What amazed me the most was the enjoyment, learning, and camaraderie that developed because the students were working together on assignments. As an academically weaker student said, "I love SOLE because now I feel like an equal with the smarter kids." SOLE is the great equalizer

I have used SOLE to teach most subjects, using the big questions posed in the curriculum to delve deeper into topics. I mixed this with true SOLE, as found in Sugata Mitra’s Handbook, where students researched their own topics of interest.

Now that I have retired from public education I wish to continue to build upon SOLE experiences by giving students anywhere in the world an opportunity to work together to research topics of their interest. Please join me to help build my SOLE organization

Please visit the website and then take one of our surveys to help us make the SOLE experience a rich one for everyone.

Parent Survey

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/s_p

Teacher Survey

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/sole_t

Student Survey

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/s_s

Coming soon, Unzombify, the new SOLE experience.

Championing kids

Today I had a teacher come to me to talk about her class. She mentioned that one of the girls wanted me time because she didn't get it at home. The teacher wanted to give her me time but was spending all her day chasing down the 4 behaviour problems in her class as well as dealing with all of the low students. I suggested to her that she send the girl to me in the library. I would listen and talk to her while saying good things to make her feel good about herself. The teacher liked the idea.

When the child came over we had a good discussion about what things she is good at and when she left she was feeling very happy.

I am glad I was able to help the teacher. I am very happy to get to know the student. When we talk tomorrow I will spend more time building her up. Everyone needs a champion. Today I was hers.

When we champion kids we give them the ability to see themselves through different eyes. What a great feeling that is to see them light up knowing someone cares about them.

Branding part 2

Here is another I like.

7 Tips for Creating & Managing

Your Personal Brand

by Predrag Lesic | Mar 3, 2015 | Personal Branding | 0 comments

http://careerenlightenment.com/7-tips-creating-managing-personal-brand

Know yourself.

Your experiences (whether personal or professional) help to shape

and mold you into the person that you are today. They are also apart

of your larger story and should be reflected in your personal brand.

2. Identify Your Brand.

Whether you like it or not, your personal brand is one of the first things

a potential employer notices when considering you for a job position.

It’s more than the 5-7 bullets highlighted on your resume – it’s your

character, the way you dress, how you carry yourself and so much

more.

This brand should showcase your interests and personality, while

speaking to your skills, perspectives and strengths. It should also

contain a specific message and speak to your suitability for a

particular position, company or industry.

How do you want your potential employer and others to perceive

you? Take the time to self-reflect and determine what exactly it is that

you want to be known for personally and professionally.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your personal brand.

4. Make Sure the Social Media Stars Align.

When you’re building a personal brand, remember that all publicity is

not good publicity.

And with social media platforms emerging as the sole resource for

sharing your online identity with the world, you may have less control

than you think – yup, those old college Facebook photos are just one

Google search away from your potential employer.

Read the fine print before creating any social media account as

elusive privacy settings or open controls may fail to give you complete

authority of your online persona and personal brand.

If you have several social media accounts already in place, control

your personal brand by updating your bio and privacy settings. It’s

also vital that you watch what you say at all times – if you don’t want

your potential employer reading it, it’s probably not worth sharing.

5. Practice What You Preach.

Think your personal branding journey is complete once you’ve created

a website and updated your social profiles? Think again.

Practice what you preach by becoming your personal brand. Do you

claim to be the next Beyoncé of PR? Then you better join several PR

organizations, be able to blurt out the top 10 most successful PR

campaigns of 2014 and have a few noteworthy industry internships

under your belt.

6. Create Opportunities for Yourself.

As much as you’d probably like your personal brands to do the work

for you, it’s simply just the beginning of this journey. Create

opportunities by networking and attending relevant events in your

industry. Your dream job may be one resume submission away, but

you’ll still have to utilize your contacts (along with your personal

brand) to go get it.

7. Continue to Update Your Personal

Brand.

Once you land that dream job, continue to mold and evolve your

personal brand to fit your changing skill sets, interests, experiences,

and goals as they grow over time. Keep in mind that this brand should

remain fluid and relevant to your industry as its sole purpose is to help

with the advancement of your career.

Personal Branding

http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2013/08/12/the-ultimate-5-step-playbook-to-managing-your-

personal-brand/#2715e4857a0b22a4b55f5df7

Branding

I found this article about branding. I thought it was interesting because kids (and many adults!) don't think about the perceptions they are giving to others about themselves. When I look at pictures posted on line I often wonder, "What were they thinking?"

As I work to put together a presentation for kids I am keeping these ideas in mind.


5 Keys to Building Your Personal Brand

Megan Dalla-Camina

Posted: 05/20/2014 12:37 pm EDT Updated: 07/20/2014 5:59 am EDT

I talk about personal branding a lot and I have a whole chapter in my book dedicated to it,

because it matters. As we know, many of us think that if we just keep our head down and do

the work, that all else will take care of itself regarding our careers. But as many of us also

know, that's often just not true.

One of the key aspects of our career that really matters is your personal brand -- which is

essentially how you choose to present yourself. Everyone has one. Many people don't know

what their personal brand says about them; and few do something positive to build it,

enhance it, and leverage it to support their career success. I am still surprised by how many

people think they don't even have one.

So what does your brand say about you? What do you want it to say? Building a successful

personal brand starts with knowing yourself. Here are my top five tips for creating your

personal brand and enhancing it so you can achieve your dream level of success (whatever

that looks like for you).

1. Be authentic

Many branding experts will tell you how to shape and craft your personal image to within an

inch or your life. Think about politicians who are melded and moulded until they are exactly

what they believe their constituents want them to be. This may work in politics (a point no

doubt we could argue on) but I have rarely seen this work as a sustainable career strategy --

or certainly not for anyone who actually wants to be happy at work.

You need to develop your personal brand in light of who you actually are. Look at your

strengths, your likes, where you shine, how you like to dress etc. When you strip away the

mask, who are you really, and how can you show up in a way that allows your true authentic

self to show through? That is the essence of your personal brand, and the only essence that

you want to build on. Fake it till you make it is not something you want to project when we

are talking about your brand.

2. Make sure you can 'be you' where you work

Once you have worked out who you really are and therefore what your personal brand

should be, the next step is how you bring your full and authentic self to work everyday in a

way you can flourish. If you feel confined, constrained and like you just don't fit with how

you are expected to show up in your work, then here is a hint -- you may be in the wrong

job. So have a think about your passion, purpose and reason for being, and see where it

leads you. You may need to make a change to truly thrive at work.

3. Be known for something

To really shine, you need be clear on who you are, what you want, and you need to harness

and build your skills and knowledge. The key is to not only build them, but to become

known for them, in a way that differentiates you from everyone else. It's not just enough

that you know what you know -- others have to know that you know it. This is how you

become a thought leader or an expert. And remember to be specific. If you think you can be

known for everything, you run the risk of being known for nothing at all. Get clarity, build

your deep expertise, and then you can become known for it.

4. Get your behavior in check

Many of the things that are critical to building your brand are not about knowledge, they

aren't about how you look, and they aren't about how firm your handshake is (but yes, firm

is always best). A huge chunk of being well regarded is actually about behaviors. I cannot

stress this strongly enough. What you are known for is as much about how you do what you

do, as it is about what you actually do. So think about things like being kind, being

respectful, showing up on time, listening to others and not being a gossip. Behaviors matter

-- big time. So focus on mastering yours.

5. Build and own your personal brand online

How you show up online is just as important (or maybe even more important these days)

than how you show up in person. It can literally make or break you, in terms of others'

perception and your reputation. If you haven't done a Google search on yourself recently,

then you need to do one. Knowing what is out there on the web when people are looking for

you, whether it is a future employer, a new manager or a client, is critical to managing your

brand. Think about your social media presence, your personal website or blog, how and

where you comment online, then look at what you are saying and how people are

responding.

You have a personal brand whether you like it or not. Think about how you show up, how

others perceive you, what you know and who knows it, and what your online profile says

about you. With all that in mind, you will have gone a long way in building a brand that

works for you.

For more career guidance visit

A New Post

It has been a while since I have written here. At the end of last year my Principal asked me to become the teacher librarian at my school. At first I said no. Not because I am not qualified or because I couldn't do the job but because he was removing the current teacher librarian from the position. I felt it was a wrong move. The teacher librarian was good at what she did. The principal explained that he saw the library becoming more technical and research based and felt she did not meet that criteria. I still said no and suggested that he keep her. He replied with she was no longer going to be in the library even if I refused. I thought about it for a minute and decided in that case it would be a good fit.

So far it has been crazy. They renovated the library over the summer. When all the books came back into the library I decided to do a good weed. So good that over 3000 books were deleted from the system. I rearranged and reorganized. There is still a ways to go but I am moving forward.

SOLE is still with me. I still teach my social studies and science class using SOLE and Individual research. Presentations are still happening. I get to work with a wider variety of kids. One class of gifted kids far surpassed my expectations with their research and presentations. 

Anyway, I have decided to return to my blog. Thanks for following me. 

Bill

How Adults Talk To Children.

Below are some observations I have made about how adults talk to children. We can all do better. We need to work to improve it. Some people will be thinking , "I already do these things." That may well be true but even as I work to apply these concepts daily I discover little things that I do are not helpful. Be careful and be aware is a good motto.

Talk to children as you would talk to adults. They are a person the same as you. When you talk to an adult as an equal they see that you are treating them with respect and as a result they learn to trust you. They gain confidence from the interaction and experience growth. Does this mean you stop being the adult? No. Children will still need the guidance and support but when treated as equals they don’t have to long to be older. They already are.

When a situation arises with a child that bothers you stop and think: How would I deal with this if it was an adult? Choose your words carefully. Anger is often misused in these situations. Instead we need to look at the situation and assess the damage. The child most likely feels guilty about it. Talk to them respectfully will restore their confidence and help them to see that what they did was wrong but they are capable of fixing it. If objects are broken, they can be replaced. Breaking a child is far more damaging than anything you own.

Communicate acceptance of the child and their ideas. Children like to ask questions. Through these questions they gain an understanding of the world. This is the perfect place to open communication and build your relationship. Develop and refine their questions and then have them find an answer. Discuss the answer. You will build their confidence at the same time as you build your relationship.

Talk with children not at them. As adults we have a tendency to talk down to them. We have a tendency to talk from an authority position, not as an equal. When we talk with them we are building self esteem and creating great learning moments for them. When we talk at them they tend to not listen and shut dot down. This leads to further disconnect.

Poor communication skills are the greatest disservice we do to children. When we do not take the time to communicate with them effectively they instinctively turn off what we have to say because it isn’t of value to them. This leads to the constant conflict and bickering that often permeates the world around teenagers. They become uncomfortable and wary because they are unsure of their world, how to react and demonstrate appropriate behaviour. If we are working to build communication in a positive way they respond more favourably.

We need to demonstrate a positive world to our kids. It is the first step towards building a better world. All kids need to be in this better place.