Living On The Edge Of Chaos

I am so excited and proud to share with the world this podcast. I was pumped when I introduced everyone to Dennibro a few weeks back to help showcase the power of students and sharing the stories of students who have the courage to chart their own path. This episode is amazing and not because I am involved. It is amazing because this student continues to inspire me as I follow her journey. Today I share with the world the AWESOMESAUCE Frankie Ballard who is a high school student currently on work on her third book. What is amazing is that I never directly taught Frankie in my class, but she has been part of my blogging world when it first began and we connected that way as a Teacher - Student. Through my book reviews and various other things I would share on the blog and things I would offer in school it felt like she was in my class at some point. I still have my NANOWRIMO coffee mug that I sip my coffee from weekly. I had a chance to catch up with her to have her share some insights into the mindset of a yo

As I continue to push forward with the job of instructional coach at a school that has morphed into a PBL building I am looking for new ways to help out educators. One of the things I did to help my staff is give a short little survey asking two questions: What is something that you would like help with for this year? What is something that you would like help with to plan and prepare for next year? I received some really thoughtful replies from the staff. One of the ideas that came up several times was the need for teachers to see and hear from other teachers in our building about their projects, how they put it together, resources, etc. I know that to get a variety of staff together is very hard to do with our schedule. I opened up my podcast equipment and asked for volunteers to come in and record an episode. Stephanie Cleveland, 8th grade language arts teacher, was kind enough to give up a prep period to record an episode. Stephanie discusses her Fear Factor project. I hope you find the episode helpful. S

I am so excited and proud to share with the world this podcast. I have wanted to add more student voice to the Living on the Edge of Chaos podcast series. I cannot be more proud to introduce to you Dennis Davis or as he is known on YouTube Dennibro.  I have had the honor to work/teach Dennis for the last five years as part of our ELP program and as of the last few years as a member of our robotics team. The goal of this podcast series is to bring more exposure to the students who are doing amazing things outside of the classroom. These might be the students that go unnoticed at school. They might not get straight A's. They might not have perfect handwriting. They might not fill in every blank on a worksheet. But what they do have is a skill set. What they do have is a mind that can take them places. I view them as entrepreneurs who have the world at their fingertips. As this continues I would love to chat and interview students from all over the world. If you have a student in mind I would love to have the ch

This is the first episode in a new podcast series operated by Coffeechug where we will be interviewing and sharing out information related to bald eagles and in particular two eagles, Liberty and Justice. Eagle Eye To The World – This is one of my favorite projects as it is my first big global project that I helped to create and operate. It is like my own little baby. We follow the journey of two bald eagles, Liberty and Justice, as they live life along the Mississippi River, lay eggs, and work to keep them alive. We have a lot going on and you can stay updated with the Eagle Blog. This is the first episode using new audio equipment in the Coffeechug Cafe. In this first episode we chat with John Riches who is the man behind the cameras at ALCOA. We welcome feedback and questions. Enjoy! Don't forget to check out the site - http://www.alcoa.com/locations/usa_davenport/en/info_page/eaglecam.asp

This is audio pulled from a video I made using my Google Glass where I talk about the importance of teachers and educators have the confidence and self esteem to share out their excellence. You can watch the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoP2u1Xf5O0

Welcome to the second season of Living on the Edge of Chaos. I am kicking off this season talking about goals, systems, and resolutions. It is that time of year where everyone is jumping on board to create plans and goals to accomplish great things in 2014. However, many people fail at these goals within a month or two. This podcast is discussing what exactly is effective at attaining goals and systems. As I post this podcast I am developing a system to accomplish great things in 2014. I am trying to stay away from "goals" in the sense that they are end all, be all. Listen to the podcast and let me know what you have found to be successful. Additionally, if you would like to be on the podcast and talk about this topic please let me know as I will be creating a follow up podcast on this topic. As always, I welcome all ideas and feedback. Show Notes Michael Hyatt Best Year Ever Program - http://bestyearever.me/register/ - I have not paid for this system, but I have used his other work and it was great

  Todd Henry is the author of two great books - The Accidental Creative and his latest release Die Empty. You can check out his website http://www.accidentalcreative.com/ where you can find his podcasts and all social media links.  I read Accidental Creative a few months back and absolutely fell in love with this book and his work. http://coffeeforthebrain.blogspot.com/search?q=todd+henry I then pre ordered Die Empty and absorbed that book even more so. I liked it even more than Accidental Creative. The basis of the book is to help people, companies, businesses, and organizations do their most important work. As I read this book I could relate almost all of it to education and to the many ideas that I am striving for within my own job in education. I sent Todd an email about chatting with me on this podcast and I jumped for joy when he said yes.  Here is the link to his latest book, Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Everyday Show Notes Follow this podcast on iTunes and please feedback and ratings.If you would

Holy Cow! Did I just type in the title that I chatted with the write and author Clive Thompson? The writer for New York Times, my favorite article in every issues of Wired magazine, and author of my favorite read of the year Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds For The Better       Yes, I did just name drop that. Clive took time out of his busy schedule to chat with me for about 45 minutes today to talk about how the new literacies and emerging technologies are shaping our world with a lens on education.   I feel quite honored to be able to present this podcast.   It was a chat that left me tweeting   Just had a great conversation with @pomeranian99 for upcoming podcast. He melted my brain and has opened my eye to new thought. — Aaron Maurer (@coffeechugbooks) November 26, 2013   Go ahead and give it a listen, leave me some feedback on iTunes and let me know what you thought of the conversation. I did have some audio recording feedback so my last question where I ask Clive to speak abo

This episode is one of my favorite things I have done this year in education. As I challenge myself in the things I do, this is the next step. I challenged myself to work on interviewing educators who are full of passion and living on the edge of chaos. I started big and went with Lisa Van Gemert. If you don't follow or know of her, then you are seriously missing out and need to listen or watch this podcast and learn from one of the best presenters I have ever witnessed.   Show Notes Follow this podcast on iTunes and please feedback and ratings.   MY BLOG http://coffeeforthebrain.blogspot.com/ ABOUT ME http://coffeeforthebrain.blogspot.com/p/coffee-for-brain-book-swap.html TWITTER https://twitter.com/coffeechugbooks GOOGLE + https://plus.google.com/u/0/113960577497815089175/posts If you would like to watch the Google Hangout you can watch it on YouTube Follow this podcast on iTunes and please feedback and ratings. - See more at: http://coffeeforthebrain.blogspot.com/#sthash.mPdLp5At.dpuf MY BLOG http://coffee

  Follow this podcast on iTunes and please feedback and ratings. MY BLOG http://coffeeforthebrain.blogspot.com/ ABOUT ME http://coffeeforthebrain.blogspot.com/p/coffee-for-brain-book-swap.html TWITTER https://twitter.com/coffeechugbooks GOOGLE + https://plus.google.com/u/0/113960577497815089175/posts  Show Notes   This show will focus on the following 5 questions based on my prior podcast on Passion https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/coffeechug-cafe-episode-1/id438001112?i=162564070&mt=2   Questions/thoughts I have been thinking about:   1.  How can I balance a passion with reality?  Seems like when I have a passion, it can turn in to an obsession where I am thinking about the topic and wanting to work on various tasks related to the topic all of the time, which can then take away from time I need to be spending with my family and the mundane chores (dishes, laundry, etc.) that need to be done.  I've been trying to think of ways to balance the two.   2.  If I  am in one of the "valleys" where I

Head to my website for all links - www.coffeeforthebrain.blogspot.com Awesome to have your here! Here is episode three to the Coffeechug Cafe Podcast: Living on the Edge of Chaos This episode I will be sharing out some amazing ideas generated from Teacher Tinker Time this week where we took a look at Augmented Reality in education. I would love to hear from you so please leave any feedback, reviews, questions, etc. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @coffeechugbooks Please subscribe and leave a review on iTunes(I will be very happy for any help you can provide!): https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/coffeechug-concepts-podcast/id438001112?mt=2 - See more at: http://coffeeforthebrain.blogspot.com/2013/11/coffeechugcafe-podcast-series-living-on_9.html#sthash.mj3sjKkq.dpuf Listen to the episode On Friday I set up several tables that looked like the following Augmented Reality Teacher Tinker Time is ready to go! #AR #coffeechugcafe #augmentreality #Framatic I sent out the following email to all staff to come down t

All hyperlinks can be found on my blog http://coffeeforthebrain.blogspot.com/ Here is the second episode to the Coffeechug Cafe Podcast: Living on the Edge of Chaos This episode I will be sharing out my new AMAZING theme song and how I am creating and developing Tinker Time for Teachers in my building. I would love to hear from you so please leave any feedback, reviews, questions, etc. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @coffeechugbooks Theme Song: All credit goes to https://twitter.com/BigRonCrowley https://twitter.com/schink10 Books I Am Reading This Week David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day Lexicon Tinker Time Blog Posts Tinker Time For Teachers: Where Is It? Tinker Time Is Happening In My School Tinker Time for Teachers #1 Reflection If you want to listen to Living on the Edge of Chaos Podcast #1

I am back to the podcasting world. This episode is the first of my new podcasting series titled, "Living on the Edge of Chaos" This particular run of podcast episodes will focus on the cutting edge ideas that are not yet mainstream, but will hopefully one day be something that all educators implement into their teaching. This podcast series is my personal edge of chaos goal by creating a weekly show. I give much support and thanks to Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) for helping me get back into the game of podcasting to help share out my ideas beyond just this blog. As always, I would love for you to leave any feedback or comments on iTunes, this blog, or Twitter (@coffeechugbooks) Here is the episode The song intro was created by the iTunes app Figure - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/figure/id511269223?mt=8

I do apologize for my voice during this podcast. I had a bit of a head cold as of late. I hope to be back to normal soon. In order to go global in your classroom and develop a real world audience, you have to first understand WHY you need to go global and bring in a real world audience. I believe there are four key reasons WHY you need to connect with the world and bring down your classroom walls before you learn HOW to accomplish this goal. 1. Power of One 2. Idea Generated Jobs 3. Real World Skills 4. It is our reality This podcast will address why these four reasons are so important for understanding why we need to expand our classroom boundaries to a global perspective. I will be creating a future podcast about HOW to do this and share my experience and journey from starting very small to where I am today. There is not enough time in one podcast to do both. Listener Questions Brett Murrey @Sciology asked two great questions How do you increase your audience to reach more people in a global classroom? How

This is not a pristine podcast, but it is real and raw. I don't have a theme song(anyone want to make one?) and the tools I have are quite simple: Audacity and my Mac mic. But the message I deliver is a strong one. A message about Passion Driven Classroom and this is one that has fueled my fire for several months now. I will be speaking on this topic at the WCGTC(World Council for the Gifted and Talented Conference) in August. I have been doing extensive research and also working on some key ideas. As I continue to work the outline of my speech I wanted to do a practice run speaking on passion as well as get started with my new Coffeechug Cafe Podcast series that I have been wanting to create. I figured I could kill two birds with one stone. I would greatly appreciate it if you would give my podcast a listen and give me feedback. I want to enhance this podcast as I go along. I also want feedback on the content. As I work through my presentation and you listen to this podcast I would love to know: 1. Did my pa

Students want and have a real audience for their voices to be heard 2. Trivia Question

Good things in good people Good things happen when you are bored Jealous of not being a kid in this multimedia age

Coffee For The Brain/Flickr Photo Challenge 2. Dark Eden Book Promotion Materials 3. Positive Thinking

Coffee For The Brain/Flickr Photo Challenges 2. Dark Eden Book Promotion Materials 3. Positive Thinking

This is my first attempt at something new for the blog. This is a quick little audio I recorded on my iPhone using the Voice Memo. This is quick, rough, missing intro music and such, but maybe something I will continue to work if interest ensues. This episode discusses my thoughts on an Oprah episode I watched today(as non nerdy as that sounds)