School Sparks with Dr. Desi Cameron

Set your intention by focusing on your core values and remind yourself why you chose to get in this profession in the first place!

This is part of the 5W series to start your day off right. When things happen in your day, your week, and scheduling in think time & breaks is critical for a thriving work week.

As part of setting your morning intention, consider where you spend your time, where you meet people, and ensure you give yourself a change of scenery throughout the day!

It’s important to set your intention for the start of a day and to think about the 5Ws. This episode focuses on the what.

Three people to connect with intentionally in the day. 1. someone to coach/grow/support 2. someone to thank/appreciate 3. Someone to make amends with, re-align, and come together on communication moving forward!

A short tip, but a good one. Sometimes the thing that holds us back, the most is ourselves. You can never really get yourself ready to start something, there will always be excuses, we just need to do it. And it doesn’t have to be perfect.

We all need to take a moment to pause in our lives, in the classroom, and in our leadership. Decide what is a true emergency and what requires more thought. Zoom out to see the full picture. Think before you act!

In this podcast, I point you to another podcast hosted by CollabED, founded by Mike Williams on the East Coast! He’s doing great work and started a cool company to provide resources for teachers for free! Here’s the link to my guest podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/built-by-educators-a-collabed-podcast/id1882904335?i=1000765442063

In this podcast, I share four tips to keep in mind as you enter the teaching profession! You’ve got this! You’re not alone!

In this episode, I encourage teachers staff and students to move beyond their own self limiting beliefs, and sharing their knowledge with others in the world.

In this episode, I share thoughts on removing access to personal devices at school, unless modifications and accommodations are needed, and to focus on developing students’ minds and hearts: critical thinking and social skills.

In this episode, I talk about ways to celebrate professional milestones as a way of recognizing people’s hard work, commitment, and contributions to a school. Research shows that celebrating professional milestones helps improve retention and builds a sense of belonging.

Birthdays are a great way to recognize students, families/guardians, staff, teachers, board members, donors, etc! I share different ideas of what I’ve seen work well! How can you ensure birthdays are being celebrated in a special and thoughtful way and ensure everyone is included? What other ideas do you have to celebrate birthdays?

In this episode, I talk about how important it is to write a thank you note especially in the job search process. Thank you notes are always appreciated. They will not determine whether or not you receive a job but it says a lot about you and your character. You will stand out as many people do not write thank you notes.

In this episode, I share tips to keep in mind as you design and set up a space (whether it’s a classroom, office, or other area of your school): purpose, energy, comfort/flexibility, openness & flow!

In this episode, I share 4 tips on how to best prepare for a teaching demo lesson! Whether you’re new to teaching or are applying for a teaching role at another school, the tips still apply!

In this episode, I share ways to implement “do now” activities in classrooms and in meetings to help provide routine, set the tone, and prime the learning.

For teachers and staff who utilize rubrics in their classes or evaluations: In this episode, I share some tips of how to approach rubric creation, from focusing on why you are using a rubric in the first place to questioning the use of 0s in rubrics.

In this episode, I share how to focus on building positive connections with others, especially with those who may drive us crazy or hit a nerve!

In this episode, I share four tips to include in the content of your presentation and four tips on delivery for your presentation. Regardless of the length of your presentation or who your audience is, these tips matter!

In this episode, I share three things to get you started to focus on building inclusive language at your school. This is a start and not a definitive list! Hope it’s helpful!

Ground rules set the expectation of how to show up and engage in a meeting. They can echo the why, the how, and improve engagement.

For leaders: Leadership is hard and often isolating. In this episode, I share 3 things that make leaders feel alone and 3 things you can do about it!

This is for teachers and leaders: I share 4 guidelines for attention getters that work!

In this episode, I share 5 things administrators most want from teachers: 1. Do your job really well in the classroom, 2. Speak well of and support the school, 3. Contribute to the life of the school beyond the classroom (showing up matters!), 4. Seek to learn and grow, 5. Collaborate with administrators - ask questions and share your ideas.