Be Googley

I never finished or posted this back in late October. So ... now. Trying desperately to get some creative juices flowing again. The struggle is real. Two posts in a day. Seriously. Is it 2014 again?


I  spent some time in a Google office in Austin. Mind blown. I spent the whole time texting my little brother (undergrad in computer science) and sort of wondering if I wished I was 20 years younger.


This is an interesting blog post. Go read it then come back.

I like this philosophy. Granted it's one view and who knows if it was really true. It SEEMED like it from the people we met that day. But who knows. Anyway. It actually sounds like a lot of educators that I know. Some of these sound similar to the "Seven Habits." When those are being actually LIVED and not just talked about (cause that is just eyeroll inducing and so irritating) they can make a difference. And how often do educators go the extra mile. Try new things. Try to do the RIGHT and BEST thing. Keep the child in mind. Be nice. Help new teachers. Help old teachers.

Don't get frustrated when the roof of your classroom leaks every time it rains. Even when it happens for over two years. Or when you don't get to go to a conference but someone else in your district does. Or you do get to go but you have to pay for it yourself and their campus does. Cause frustrated is not googley. Human but less than googley.

I actually thought about doing a library "theme" of being googley. Primary colors. Basic font. Tech icons. These precepts. I still really like my Star Wars, though. And part of me says the kids do, too.



Some of these are IG repeats. Some are not. None are great but I was busy taking it in! Plus not getting actual Googlers in frame cause that's against the rules. Tech poaching and all.


I used to have some old disks I was going to turn into like a pen holder. And there was a cool Etsy shop that made little notebooks with disks as covers that I always meant to order from. Procrastination at it's finest. "They 3D printed the save icon."


This leafy green color is one of my favorites. The lamp is super cool. This was like a little mini conference room that Googlers could use to hold virtual meetings.


Their breakroom. Do you ever wonder why school breakrooms are so boring and blah? SO boring and blah. Ours does not look like this. And we would not be allowed to paint it to look like this.


Collaborative spaces. Now as an introvert I don't like to use the word just to use the word. Big groups are exhausting. But hey ... I do like to have more than one brain to pick. I'm always asking others for ideas or on our district FB group. Or rambling here on this blog. And I try to share if I have an idea. Ideas which seem fewer and farther between anymore.


This pretty room was empty. Was it because we were walking by? How crazy to have such a pretty room and no one using it. They were all like "most of this was gotten from thrift stores." In my head I was like "Well I wonder if you have the same hoops to jump through if you don't want to have to foot the bill yourself as we do?" Not a fan of the figure out the magic vendor system. Takes asking at least three different people and filling out at least two different forms. I never get it right the first time.


Even there at Google they had a place where people could bring their gear and get help with stuff that wasn't working. No need to put in help desk tickets that might or might not be answered ...well, sometimes they are actually answered within a day or two. Other times it's weeks. You just never know.


Imagine having all these nice spare parts and dongles easy to get at. Again. Nothing you'll ever find at a school. Wouldn't it be awesome if it was?


Usually not one for the glitter but pretty.


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Finally Saturday

And a Rainy Saturday it is.

I just got back from a Pilates mat class. And I tried a Reformer session on Thursday. Can't say I loved it but I didn't hate it like I hated the different coach yelling at me kickboxing class that made me stop going to my last gym so there's that. Fitness. It's a necessary evil. :P







THIS is my nemesis. I keep thinking "If I had the kids for longer than 15-30 minutes" or "If I had more help" or "If they could come more often then 4 mornings a week every three weeks we'd get in a better routine" or "If I wasn't also trying to get morning announcements ready and check in books and get cards cleared for all the morning classes" (I know I'm preaching to the choir here) this would get better. There's no magic pill here ... the Little Bits labeling suggestion drives me insane because I haven't found that to help/work at all. But I do really like the other ones and haven't tried them. And to be fair she works with older kids so maybe the Little Bits ... maybe I am expecting too much and shouldn't have tried with as young as I did. I don't know. They make cool stuff. But they make utter chaos and I'm left with mess and Little Bits are not like Legos where they can just use any piece. It matters so they do need to be kept tidy. (Pin keeps not working so I linked to it at the top)







Random non-library related share.







"Do you have any books about Hippo Crates?"



Need to let it go, I know. Or just laugh and not be irritated about it. But seriously. Assign Hippocrates and not make sure the kiddo has a clue how to say it? And NOT assign Sylvia Mendez or any of the other suggestions I sent that we DID have books for?





If I were so inclined ... maybe with book covers on the hearts?







Read this earlier about educational blogging. Well and I read the original post (but didn't sign up to participate). I hope eventually I'll get some good ideas going again. ;)