Use Wakelet: Capture-Curate-Share Your School’s Culture In Action #CUENV #WeAreCue

Over the course of four days, I’ve traveled over 2,000 miles across the country. Giving multiple presentations to k-12 educators and leaders across the country was a fast pace, but provided deeper learning. The interactive presentations were about school leaders and teachers using a digital tool like Wakelet to Capture-Curate-Share their school’s focus agenda in action. In my CUE Nevada sessions with Clark County School District Leaders, I asked each leader to state their school’s single focus area. Over the course of doing this, the lead focus area by most schools was Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS), as a method for building a strong student-centered culture. It’s awesome to see school leaders being so Student-Centered!

We discussed how to use Wakelet as a tool to curate PBIS is action. The challenge would be for each staff member (Principal, Teacher, Aide, Custodial, Kitchen, Volunteer, etc) to take one candid picture or video per day of a student meeting or exceeding the school’s PBIS Goals. This sparked some interest from the school leaders because there has to be at least one great thing students are achieving during the school day, that a staff member can digitally capture. It’s one thing for me to talk about it, below is a video of me modeling the simplicity (I Do, We Do, You Do).

Some teachers might be slightly apprehesive and see this as one more thing to do. I explained that curating your school experience, as Personalized PD, can be leveraged to satisfy multiple school or district initiatives; therefore, streamlining and building capacity of the school’s Mission-Vision. As a result of curating the school’s focus goal in action, teachers can submit their curated Wakelet items for the following benefits:

• Earn Graduate Credit toward licensure renewal and salary scale advancement.
• Submit Wakelet items as Goals/Evidence for the teacher evaluation process.
• Gather artifacts for authentic Community Engagement.
• Demonstration of Student Voice.
• Portfolio Title 1, SIG Goals, and the authentic School Culture.
• Organized and align building-wide Best Practices.

Using Harvard Medical School’s “How to achieve a positive attitude” template, here are some examples of what schools can Capture-Curate-Share via Wakelet:

1. Students savoring pleasure of being at school and with peers.
2. Students demonstrating gratitude toward each other or for an awesome event in their lives.
3. Students being mindful about others and their individual circumstances.
4. Students functioning with a sense of purpose and understanding their personal mission at the school.
5. Students might experience setbacks, but empathizing the positives in each situation and life event.

Clark County Leaders Modeling

It’s important for leaders to model the innovative practices. Dr. Jesse Welsh, Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum and Professional Development Division Clark County School District modeled the efficient use of work flow tools. After his presentation, Dr. Welsh was award the Championship Belt and recognized for his excellence in developing the district’s leadership skills and building capacity. The great thing about this, Dr. Welsh had no clue this was going to happen. Adding value to the culture of the organization is a small thing that makes a big difference.