Teaching Python Episode 71 Live Stream
Sean Tibor: [00:00:00] Welcome to teaching Python. This is episode 71, and it's all about summer professional development. This week. My name is Sean Tibor. I'm a coder that teaches 
Kelly Paredes: [00:00:08] and my name's Kelly Schuster Perez. And I'm a teacher that 
Sean Tibor: [00:00:11] coats well, Kelly, this week, we're going by the, the lovely and talented John Mictlan, uh, joining us from the central Europe time zone.
Where are you physically located today? John I'm in 
John Mikton: [00:00:22] the 
Sean Tibor: [00:00:22] city of Luxembourg. Ah, very nice. Very nice 
John Mikton: [00:00:26] on the border with Germany, France and Belgium. 
Sean Tibor: [00:00:29] It's a, it's a crowded neighborhood, right? 
John Mikton: [00:00:32] It's a small country. We have a population of 500,000 people and the city has only 90,000 people, but during the week it goes up to 250,000.
Because, uh, there's a big community of commuters from France, Germany and Belgium, because the salaries in Luxembourg are significantly higher and there's a big FinTech industry. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:00:53] Yeah. I was gonna say, um, I know my really good friends in the UK, um, are in FinTech and they are from Ghent and his parents live in Luxembourg and I was always like, your parents are coming over for the weekend and he's like, yeah, it's like there.
And it's so incredible. It's so close. So I I'd never got to visit Luxembourg, but maybe next time I go to Europe, we'll hit by 
John Mikton: [00:01:18] Luxembourg is I'd like to say it's the best kept secret in Europe. 
Sean Tibor: [00:01:22] Oh, wow. Wait, we'll have to, it's always been on my list to stop in there the next time I'm in Europe. So maybe I'll, I'll drop it and we can have coffee or something like you 
John Mikton: [00:01:29] can do the whole country in an hour.
So it's quite. 
Sean Tibor: [00:01:34] Very nice. Very nice. Well, why don't we get started before we get into our main topic, let's start with the winds of the week. So something good that's happened inside or outside of the classroom. And I think because Kelly and I are both officially out of the classroom, we'll have to dig a little bit deeper than usual, but John will make you go first because that's our fun thing to do with guests.
Yeah. 
John Mikton: [00:01:52] So, uh, we just, our three weeks before the end of our school year, and we do this fifth, sixth grade transition. So the we're a pre-K through 12 school and there are two buildings. There's what we call a lower school, which is grade pre-K to five. And then our upper school grades six through 12 and, uh, on June 11th is known as a grading day.
So the teachers get a day to work from home or at school, but there are no kids. And, uh, the grade fives come and have the whole. High school and middle school to themselves. And of course the excitement and just the stairs and everything. And we do a scavenger hunt using, uh, Google sites and the iPads.
And they basically have to go to different parts of our area. That's known as ISL connects. That's our kind of tech deck. And it was just great to see how, you know, the kids straight away. I pads, Google drive, QR codes running up and down the stairs and just the joy and just utter enthusiasm was so contagious, you know, and then, you know, as they go up and the exams hit and that whole different narrative begins, it's just nice to get that fresh look.
And that was definitely a win. The kids loved it, and we love facilitating it with our librarians and our digital learning coaches. So that was a winner. I, I just, 
Kelly Paredes: [00:03:13] I love that. I, um, I, because John and I we've, I've known John, I don't think John's know me as well, but I've known John for about 10 years. And he also knows my former, uh, ed tech director, Sean Sweeney.
And Sean brought that into a, another, Sean, Sean Sean's are everywhere. Um, Sean brought that into our school in Lima, something similar. And I just think that's just an amazing opportunity for students and they do get so excited, especially those fifth six, and just get to that scavenger hunt. And, and I think she even brought it for us to do with our teachers too.
So that was like a really cool opportunity for learning. Yeah, 
John Mikton: [00:03:53] and QR codes are just so easy and it's just, you know, you don't need much. Everybody has a smartphone and most smart phones cameras, you get the QR code. So it's very low impact in the sense of technological setup and rarely does it go bad apart from that QR code.
Knock on 
Sean Tibor: [00:04:11] that, that breakthrough really happened when, um, Android and apple started adding the QR code functionality right into their camera, because I remember trying to get people to scan a QR code and. Your steps are okay, so you have to go to the app store and you have to download a QR scanner app, and then you have to put it on your phone.
And then, you know, you have to trust that it's not going to, you know, re you know, steal all your personal information. And like, now you just say, open your camera app, hold it up to the QR code. And that like, little bit of friction that they've removed from the process has made all the difference in the way.
Kelly Paredes: [00:04:42] Yeah. Except for, you know, funny story. My dad's like these darn restaurants in the no menu. I just want a paper menu. I'm like, dad just use your phone. He's like, my phone's an old iPhone. It doesn't work. So he's trying to scan it with his phone and he never gets the menus to pop up. So we've got to get him a new phone.
Sean Tibor: [00:05:03] Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of amazing. Um, you know, there's definitely some possibility for the digital divide there too. Right. Where people who can't afford a newer phone, they're running on the same one they've had for four or five years. You know, are, are being excluded in subtle ways because they can't scan something as simple as a QR code.
And maybe don't have the time to go figure out what app they can get, or even if they can get an app for a phone that that's that old. So it's, it's a really interesting thing that you can see the, the digital divide right in front of 
John Mikton: [00:05:31] us. Now, I think it's so underestimated, especially within many countries, uh, where the old, you know, the age has kind of more on the high end that is quite serious for a lot of, uh, adults.
Is that kind of disenfranchisement with the digital, uh, tools and then suddenly not being able to have certain services and example, as Kelly, you said, you're dead in the restaurant and there is that feeling of helplessness and frustration. And I think that's something that we, you know, as the frictionless that you talked about, Sean, that's something I hope companies are really aware of.
What can we do to help my 86 year old mother, uh, you know, get onto WhatsApp seamlessly? Yep, 
Kelly Paredes: [00:06:11] absolutely. So showing, oh my God. So I was really nervous about what Wednesday I was going to have, because, you know, I was going to talk about how we're building out our outdoor kitchen and I'm using YouTube to learn how to pour concrete and set up that whole deal.
But then this morning I had an absolute fantastic when, you know, you know, that moment, Sean, when I've I know something, it was kind of like that moment when I had the functions. And then when you were teaching functions, I was like, and I had like, this face Palm kind of excitement had the same thing happened this morning.
When I was, uh, on JetBrains academy, I've been taking their course. There's like, I don't know how many more, let me see how many more topics do I have, like another, another a hundred and something hours of Codella due on this. Um, course, but it was learning about modules. And, um, I was learning about the different imports of modules and everything, and I know how to use it.
And I know how to teach them, I thought, but I came across the actual, um, really in-depth explanation of what's the difference between importing a module, making your own module, um, importing a specific function within a module. And then the whole, um, Asterik when I teach the kids, you know, this means import everything well, it's actually called a wildcard import because you don't know what you're importing.
So, and John, if this, for Python, you have like this, this file that comes in to your program. And it, I always tell the students in sixth grade, I'm like some really, really smart people, um, made all these great functions. So we don't have to write all this code and you just literally have to write one or two words.
And then when I was reading this. Wow. You know, my mind was blown and it was so exciting. And I just, I, those endorphins, those things that I, you know, that we all get when we code that kind of keeps me motivated and I got another 150 something hours with JetBrains and they just write grants, they just write great explanation.
So I'm really excited about it. So it was a really good. 
Sean Tibor: [00:08:28] You know, it's interesting. I'm sure Barbara Oakley would have a lot to talk about like the psychology or the physiology of your brain that causes that to happen. But it definitely feels like, and I think this is something that people underestimated a lot is that they feel like the, that last puzzle piece that clicks into place is the satisfying moment.
Cause that's when you get all that endorphin rush, the dopamine had all of those things when it just like slides into place and you're like, oh, I get it. But we can't underestimate all of the work that goes into like setting all that up, all the other puzzle pieces that have to fit into place and all the other things that need to go in to create the environment or that moment for that puzzle piece to walk in, in your brain to have that like huge rush of understanding that occurs.
And, you know, I think it's hard for, for students to, to grasp that as well, because the work of setting up that environment is work and it's hard and you have to think through it and you have to struggle through it. Yeah. And you are pushing yourself to persevere and be persistent with that knowledge acquisition and the, the differences.
I think for, for us, at least, you know, on the call, we've been doing this for so long that we know that there's going to be that point when the puzzle piece clicks into place, we know that it's going to happen. We just don't know exactly when, and that's the delightful part. They don't know that it's going to happen, right.
Because they might be working with only a, uh, you know, a few weeks worth of experience instead of years or decades of experience in an area 
John Mikton: [00:09:57] important. The way you're saying is getting kids to understand the intrinsic value of getting that into morphine. You know, how do you scaffold that in the learning experiences?
I'd love 
Kelly Paredes: [00:10:06] that. Yeah, it was, it's one of those things. Like I was, I go into like this, um, Twitter stream of excitement, because one, I want to, I want to recall that I want to remember that and that's like my metacognitive, um, dump zone. So I can always go back and look at all my tweets, but it's just, uh, those things that keep us going.
It's those aha moments in those clicks that, that we like to share with each other and with our students. So that was it's really cool. And I was lucky I got it this morning. Your turn. 
Sean Tibor: [00:10:40] All right. Well, um, I think my big one is something I've been working for for a while and it was last week. Um, so we last year at the beginning of the year, due to COVID and a lot of other reasons we transitioned from having shared iPads in all of our lower school classrooms to having one-to-one student, student devices.
So every student had their own assigned iPad, and we went through just a tremendous amount of work last year to make that transition. We had to order more devices, repurpose devices, take iPads from the band room and like scrub them down and put a kid's name on it. And here's your device and everything.
Um, and as we got to the end of this year, we had to think about, well, what's our new process because we're still going to have these student devices. But we also want to make sure that the beginning of school day one, when that student comes in, they have their device back. It has all of their pictures and content and stuff like that on it.
But it's updated with all the new apps that they need for their new grade level, all the software updates, it's got a new case on it. So it's, you know, able to hold up for the rest of the year and which, when you're doing that for your own iPad, maybe it's 15, 20 minutes worth of work to do that, to change the apps around and things and everything.
But we're talking about six to 700 iPads that need to be cleaned, updated, um, re cased all of those things. And we also need to basically take an inventory and know who we have and who we don't and everything. So it's this long process and we estimated it would take us at least two weeks to do all of this work.
And thankfully we have a lot of, um, good management software that lets us manage batches of devices all at once. But some of this you just have to do, right? Like you can't, you know, automate, like cleaning the iPad, you know, like it has to be cleaned. Someone has to physically pick it up. And so what we did, um, was over the last couple of weeks, we've been putting a lot of time into planning this process, knowing that it was coming, knowing that we were going to have all the devices, we plan the whole thing out.
Step-by-step here's what needs to be done for every device. And then also I wrote a small Python gooey app that will, that runs on your computer and hooks up to a barcode scanner. So instead of having to update the inventory for every device, by typing it in or saying, here's the physical condition of it, we made it, uh, two scans.
So you scan the barcode on the back of the device and then you scan a special QR code that indicates, yeah, everything's fine on it. It passes inspection or this one's got a cracked screen or it's got some damage to her or whatever. And so we, um, We went through that process last week with the, I think we went over 200 iPads yesterday that we thought were going to take us five days and we did it in three.
So we shaved 40% off of our original estimate, um, by doing it this way. And it just really kind of went to careful planning and preparation leads to a really smooth outcome. Um, I've got a little bit of work to do to follow up on some of the more troublesome devices and we have some new devices coming in next week, but I'm really, really pleased with how well it worked, um, to, to go through this process.
And I think we're going to use it as a model for some of the other processes that we have across the school. 
John Mikton: [00:13:52] Nice. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:13:53] And that was a huge win because John, you didn't have to deal with him and his lack of sleep when he was writing this program and is his lack of sleep. When I was giving him some feedback going, well, you know, you should just maybe try this.
He was like, I went to bed at two o'clock last night and I'm like, well, when you get some sleep, maybe you should improve this. Or, you know, nothing like a, a person with good feedback. 
Sean Tibor: [00:14:17] This is one of my charming personality traits is that I get into a problem or something that I'm trying to figure out.
And especially if I'm learning new stuff, as I'm doing. Like, I just don't want to let it go. I keep going until it's midnight or one o'clock, you know, to my detriment as well. So this was something that I really appreciated Kelly telling me about it was like, Hey, you know, you probably should one get some sleep and to like, take a step back from it and probably come up with something better.
Kelly Paredes: [00:14:44] That's so awesome. And everybody at our school is probably just overwhelmed with just having to use a, you know, a little scanner PP and it types everything in and to this great spreadsheet. So, yeah, that's cute. Okay. 
Sean Tibor: [00:14:58] Yeah. So yeah. Now my next job is I'm going to go through all the analytics and look at failure rates on all the devices and everything.
And we can use that to make some good decisions about how we spend our money with devices. Should we be getting AppleCare warranties for a screen replacement? Just how many, how many of these devices get damaged on a regular basis? Are there parts of your, all your grade levels or classrooms that are failing more often than another?
So now the, now the really fun part begins with all the data science. Do 
Kelly Paredes: [00:15:25] you use iPads at your school? John 
John Mikton: [00:15:28] do for our pre-K through grade two. Uh, but we don't have a one-to-one. They decided not to do a one-to-one. What we noticed is a lot of our kids coming in have had maybe too much device time, especially the three-year-olds and four-year-olds coming in and we're trying to gain some balance with that.
And then we go, one-to-one a grade three all the way up to grade three. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:15:54] Very cool. Yeah, we get to cover. 
Sean Tibor: [00:15:57] Go ahead. I was going to say one of the things that I noticed that was really interesting was that the devices that were in the best shape and were in the best condition coming back, we're actually our pre-K and kindergarten devices.
Um, I think for that same reason there there's, um, they're useful in specific settings and for specific purposes, but we don't, we try to be very mindful about how much we're using and what we're 
John Mikton: [00:16:17] using them for. Yeah. We just, uh, are the EYA team of just notice motor skills. A real issue, socialization, uh, tempers, you know, if you take the device away, there's quite a lot of emotion.
And I mean, every parent under earth that gets in a car on a holiday knows what that feels like when you remove the device or on an airplane, it's quite traumatic. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:16:42] I, we often get that question. Um, my kids get, and they laugh at me sort of because they're, they, people don't understand how I'm such a tech person, but my kids get about maybe one maximum two hours a day on any type of device, TV, um, iPad.
And I, yeah. The, the change that you get from taking those things away, just kicking them outside of build something, play basketball, or do some sports. It's it's huge. 
John Mikton: [00:17:13] So I think that's one of the misconceptions with children and adolescents. A lot of teachers say, oh, they're digital natives. They know nothing.
I think they're digital consumers are very good at consumption and maybe high level consumption where there's a, uh, quite a flexibility with the features and shortcuts, but they actually don't know how it works and they don't understand the ethics and values attached to that narrative. So I think often we are too quick to call them digital natives and we should really call them super digital consumers.
That's something they do very well. 
Sean Tibor: [00:17:49] Absolutely. A hundred percent. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:17:51] So you wanted to share your fail? I didn't have a fail. Did I mean, I'm going to ignore that. I didn't have a fail. I don't, I don't nothing, nothing worth sharing. I think, um, Sean or John, we normally share like fails of the week. If you have any fail that you want to share anything that you, 
John Mikton: [00:18:07] if there's not a failure, not learning.
Right? Absolutely. So one thing that we're exploring as we have a new student information system and online grade books, of course are a key component. And one thing again, that has just been amplified is that face-to-face communication is so important. And so often you'll have entities talking to each other and then there's kind of.
Email communication to bring the different satellites together in a common understanding. And I was in a room and I was like, this is not working. So I went and got the other person and within 30 seconds, everything was solved, but we were definitely going down a road where there was a lot of lost in translation.
So I do appreciate, you know, the, the Trello's and all those things. And, you know, uh, the slacks, I think there's a lot of value, but there is something about just being face-to-face eye contact said, okay, are we all on the same page? Do you understand this? Let me repeat this, maybe paraphrase. So that was our fail is we, uh, forgot how important that was.
And we went down a rabbit hole, but we got out of it just in time. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:19:10] Yeah. That seems to be what I went through this week. I had working from home and trying to email and my email wasn't coming across and I was like, can you just call me? Can you please just call me because this is not working out. And yeah, you miss that.
It's. Your email, you have to be really careful when you're writing the emails and you're communicating in written expression. And sometimes it just doesn't come across as clear as that phone call or that face-to-face conversation a hundred percent. I think that's why we like this live stream every week.
Sean Tibor: [00:19:42] Yeah. You know, it's interesting. One of the classes that I think back to probably more frequently than anything else from my, um, universities was organizational communications, um, and will a lot of the work that we did was looking at communication, matrices of different, um, you know, different pros, cons benefits, strengths of different communications mediums.
And I happened to hit it at just the right time, which was, um, right at the point where computers were power or powerful enough that we could have video streaming. Right. So this is like the late nineties, early two thousands. And in research settings, you could just about get like a postage stamp size.
Video chat going. And so there was a lot of really interesting research being done about that and about how, um, kind of this head and shoulders, um, view that we have, although it's better and richer than maybe a telephone call is still not as good and probably not as good in a live setting. Right. So the wives and you'd get the body language, the richness, the stereoscopic view of what's going on, the ability to, to read more body language than just the head and shoulders.
And so they were, you know, cautioning us to be, be aware of this, right. That yes, video conferencing and video calls can be very effective versus a lot of other mediums, but compared to face-to-face interactions and everything there, it just doesn't measure up as well. Um, you know, and then, and then they also made the point.
The, um, the benefit of written communication cannot be underestimated as well. It's a different nature, different sort of thing. You definitely need to have that, but it's great. Better for documentation, careful, thoughtful wording, that sort of thing, rather than seeking agreement or negotiation, which I thought was a really a good way to put it.
And I've thought about that many times over the years since I took that, it's been 20 something years since I took that class 
John Mikton: [00:21:39] with your point. What's so interesting is you see, see people and they jump in midstream and they haven't read underneath, and then they give their, and then it suddenly gets very chaotic.
And then you're just a lot of repetition and then emotion. And instead, if you just found, uh, you know, the 15 minutes to get in a room, I I, every morning I prefer walking. If I get two or three emails from the same person, I just go and walk. Even if I have to go five times to find it. It it, that that time is not wasted because when we do sit down within a minute, I think we can come to some consensus or at least some common understanding to move forward.
So, yeah. I so agree with what you're saying, Sean. 
Sean Tibor: [00:22:20] Yep. Yep. So for me, my fail this week has been, uh, power problems and I wish I could say it was like organizational power dynamics or anything. There's not literally electrical power problems I have had. Um, my house is, uh, is an older house and it has this small meter box.
Um, and I have now I think killed two electrical meters because the, um, the connection in the meter box is bad. And in order to get it replaced, I have to get a permit cold. I have to get someone to come out and electrician is qualified FPL. My, uh, utility company has to shut the power off to the house to do all of this work.
And, um, they thought they had it temporarily fixed until I could get the permitting process done. Um, but, uh, as of last night it's not fixed and my hour was failing. Um, but only on half the house. So half the house, the power was fine. The other half, the power didn't work and all my big appliances like air conditioning, which is kind of important in Florida in June is not working.
So
Kelly Paredes: [00:23:25] the question is, is your server. Up still because I see, you know, what I think it's you that blew your own power. So John, his entire house is IOT down to his talking connected washing machine, which I laughed at when he bought that, uh, six months ago. And, uh, I keep blesses hard on his wife because his work wife makes fun of him all the time.
Sean Tibor: [00:23:52] When it works. It's great. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:23:57] Excellent. Well, I'm going to skip my fail. Like I said, because I am so excited, like so excited to get talking about, uh, the learning opportunities. So I don't know, Sean, you want to introduce, or, uh, the topic and then I can introduce John and John. 
Sean Tibor: [00:24:12] Sure, sure. That sounds great. Um, you know, at least here in the U S and in the Northern hemisphere, we have this wonderful thing of, of summer vacation.
And I mean, I know when I was growing up, I had a lot of, uh, teachers that would do things like one, one commercial fishing for eight weeks and made almost as much money, commercial fishing in eight weeks as he did the rest of the year. Um, but I'm not sure how much professional development he did, you know, and, and that's where I think for Kelly and I, we value this time of summer vacation.
It's like a mini sabbatical that we get to have, to be able to reflect, regroup, sharpen our saws and be prepared and ready for the next year. And one of the things that we tend to do a lot is bounce ideas off of each other, like, oh, have you seen this course? Or what projects are you working on over the summer?
Or what do you think we should do next? Or what does next year look like? So we ask questions of each other and also share a lot with them. And as we were starting to go through that process a few months ago, Kelly said, Hey, you know, who would be really great at this? John Micklin would be amazing. We have to get them on the podcast would be such a wonderful resource for everyone to learn about, um, you know, a whole variety of topics over the summer and put quite a few things that are valuable and worth the time on their list of, of things to warm this summer.
So I hope that's enough of a set up, but that's the way Kelly and I view it is summer is an opportunity to reflect and regroup and refresh ourselves for the coming school year. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:25:42] Yeah. And I met, like I said, I met John. Um, he was my teacher at the principal. Is it principal chaining center or courses? Oh, center censor.
I always get that wrong PTC. Um, and it's such an amazing program. I think I took my first two classes in oh nine. Um, In England, we, uh, we had, it was south of London. It was that huge, like mansion hotel. Um, I 
John Mikton: [00:26:09] was a bit, the first used to ride horses. Now that's how old it was. It was a bit like a Harry Potter.
I think 
Kelly Paredes: [00:26:16] it was. So it was so much fun. It was a little bit overwhelming because I remember my principal saying to me, you need to go take this course. You'll make a great principal. And I laughed at him. Um, but I was like, yeah, anything I'd love to take these courses. And I, I did the PTC. I think I took the seven of them, the seven to get the certificate and funny story.
Um, we have to do these skits at the end and our skit was, uh, the bridge of perilous, uh, doom by Monty Python. Little did I know I'd be studying Python and learning it, cause that was why Python was named. But, um, I took the course with John and I don't remember if it was in oh nine or 11. It was in between 11, because that's when you started.
I started in 10. Okay. So 11 and, um, you and, uh, Kevin. It was. Yeah, no, but Chad was, Chad was 11, but there was two, two teachers. I remember it was you and Kevin. Yes. My two favorite courses there. Um, Kevin's was on curriculum, go with, imagine that. And John's, Azan ed tech and using technology in the classroom.
And I just loved that course. And John started that Facebook, um, group for us. And I have been learning vicariously through him and all the other educators around the world since then. So that's John, 
John Mikton: [00:27:42] can you tell us Sean, uh, started the Facebook group that year and then after a while she was like, I can't deal with it.
And I said, sure, I'll help you out. And then it's kind of grown to be, we have about 3,500 educators now that participate. So it's lovely to see everybody, you know, it's the sharing and the generosity and people jumping in when somebody has a question. And even if they're not sure about the answer, they're like, oh, maybe you could try it this way.
And I think that's, what's so rich about those kinds of 
Kelly Paredes: [00:28:12] groups. And those are the 3000 educators that you taught probably, right? No, 
John Mikton: [00:28:18] I calculated about 450 printers, I suppose, over my 10 years, uh, at the PTC. So there are about 40 people in each class, so I might do one a year. So yeah, and this year we're doing it online, which is we had to pivot everything online.
So that's been really interesting as, you know, reframing and restructuring and rethinking differently because it's just a whole different concept. And I think that's the thing that so often people struggled this year is that pivot to online and trying to take their classroom face to face bags of tricks and strategies.
And. You know, it didn't really work online. And I think that was a huge learning curve for everybody. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:28:56] Yeah. And if, if, even if you're not a international education case, uh, educator, I think the PTC courses are amazing. They, even if you're not going to be a principal, like I did not want to become an administrator, um, yet, but I think the learning and the opportunity to, to share and learn from others was huge.
So there you go, start it off our first, uh, opportunity for summer learning. Is that the PTC? 
John Mikton: [00:29:22] Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's what, you know, often, you know, I think what's interesting about this year is maybe it's an unusual year. A lot of people are mentally tired and wellbeing has taken a real toll and I'll be interesting to see how many educators.
Consider doing things that are maybe not directly to their craft, but more reenergizing, maybe even just being disconnected a bit and re uh, getting that new, uh, blood in or whatever you want to call it. But I definitely get a sense from my colleagues. Everybody really feels they've been, uh, very busy and that pivot to digital learning, you know, there was a high learning curve, a lot of new tools.
So I think, you know, it's, it's about the summer. How do I leverage what I did this year? Or how do I give myself a break to be really prepared for next year? And there'll be interesting to see where people go with their choices, but I definitely think everybody needs a few days despite, and just not do anything because I think everybody's a little tired.
You know, the search capacity took a toll. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:30:27] Yeah. That was a one of our first things we did separately. Go ahead. 
Sean Tibor: [00:30:32] Yeah. Well, I was gonna say, I think that, um, one of the things that I always find when I'm feeling overwhelmed digitally is to do something that's very manual, like manipulative with my hands, whether it's building something, making something, fixing a problem, doing something where I engage a different part of my brain than what I've been overusing for so long.
It gives me a chance to. Um, recover, I guess in that, that part that has been overused. And at the same time, not just sit in front of the TV, which doesn't recharge me. Right. It's the solving other problems. It's finding other things and being very hands-on 
John Mikton: [00:31:06] with them. And I think Sean, your point about using motor skills in something different is so important because that also helps with the creative process.
When you get back onto your digital device and maybe are creating a lesson or coding something, I think that's so important is that, you know, we so often forget, you know, there's always this thing, oh, I'm in the shower. And I sang a song and boom, my butt there, that's very underrated, you know, just going for a walk, maybe something comes up and you kind of unpack and meditate and go through some things.
And I think that so often is underestimated and I love the way you say, you know, something hands on, you know, plant a tomato or, you know, fix, fix a gutter or whatever it might be. And I think that change. And cognitive, uh, approach really, I think is a great way to help that process. That. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:31:59] We learned it was a diffuse diffuse mode with, uh, Barbara Oakley and the, and the, um, opportunity for that brain to reorganize your thoughts and reorganize your learning is when you're, when you're switched off and you're doing something completely different.
Yeah, 
Sean Tibor: [00:32:17] for me, it was, it was, uh, kind of ironic, uh, was, it was actually just cleaning the iPads, that repetitive motion of popping iPads out of their case. And what I tended to do is break each part of the process down into one step. So. Uh, take the, you know, 30 I-pads out of their cases, right. And that repetitive motion of, you know, popping it out and, and setting it down, popping it out, setting it down over and over and over again, allowed my brain to go into this kind of like FreeWheel sort of mode, right.
Where it's just kind of coasting along and I'm, I'm doing this repetitive motion over and over again. And I started to think about other things my mind started to wander and drift in the best possible way. And I'm still being productive. I'm still getting things done. And I'm not trying to push myself into a specific train of thought or specific area of thought.
Um, as I'm doing this 
John Mikton: [00:33:05] work, it's almost a kind of mindfulness in the sense that you're, it's so repetitive. You're no more thinking about it. And then that releases you to do other things. So maybe that's a new type of mindfulness
Sean Tibor: [00:33:20] or knitting. I mean, I think hitting is the classic example of people have discovered this for hundreds of years knit amazing. 
John Mikton: [00:33:29] Yeah. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:33:29] Yeah. Yeah. I went camping last week and I was trying to climb up to the top of the mountains in the blue Ridge Parkway, holding my phone up, going, I know there's a signal somewhere.
I was, I had to force myself away from my phone, but, uh, we digress. Um, you want to start this in like a top 10, top 20, um, kind of manner, Sean? 
Sean Tibor: [00:33:54] Sure. Um, so the first thing that's on my list. I'm going to continue the theme of. Um, of iPads is I have a number of webinars that are backlogged for me, um, from the jam, uh, group, the company that makes our iPad management software.
They have a ton of different, um, webinars that are out there about existing features on iPads, things that are specific to management, some things that are specific to education. And then of course the other thing that always happens every summer is that apple releases their new iPad, uh, software updates.
So I'm going to be spending some time learning about what's coming next and what new features we'll have and be able to leverage. So a lot of, a lot of my professional development is going to be kind of maintaining the knowledge base of managing these iPads and hopefully coming up with some new tricks to, uh, continue to optimize and make things run smoothly.
Kelly Paredes: [00:34:47] Very cool. I um, well, my first one is the conference I'm starting tomorrow. Which is huge and they are as online. That's the best thing about having these virtual conferences? You can join up sometimes to like the last minute and as the learning ideas conference and funny story, as I was looking over this, this is a conference for REITs researchers, practitioners from everyone from around the world.
And it's about using technology to improve education and education in the workplace. And as I'm looking through this keynote, I'm super excited about the keynote. I have to read this, uh, this, uh, keynote per thing. Um, and hold on, hold on. One of the keynotes is the director of innovation for the department of defense.
And this is a person that has deployed over 80 games and simulations into the DAS curriculum about focusing on how people learn and how position learning opportunities as I'm reading this. That name is super familiar and I'm just like Googling and looking on LinkedIn, I went to school with her. I've known her all my life.
I went to CA uh, confirmation in church and she texted me last night. She's like, is this Kelly from Sebastian? I'm like, yes. Oh my gosh. I've been looking forward to this keynote speak, uh, you know, talk from you. So I'm really excited about this conference. This is going to be incredible. They've got agile, um, learning, they've got AI.
Um, it's all about a lot of the research that people have done in their workplace and in, um, their schools and the higher education and just. Everything you can imagine. Wearable enhance the learning trends, um, museums as catalyst for digital learning, artificial intelligent, reaching the end of the rainbow.
I mean, it's just, it's, it's going to be five days of intense, uh, uh, talks and conferences, which I might have to hopefully get on video afterwards. So cause you can't catch it all 
John Mikton: [00:36:47] and those are great provocations, you know, that's, what's so rich, is this the, you know, you're like, oh my God. And then that provocation kind of kicks off a series of reflections and like, oh, what about if I did that?
It sounds 
Kelly Paredes: [00:36:59] fantastic. Yeah, we'll share that. Um, I'll share that in our notes. So, but it's learning, learning conference, learning ideas conference. So you can. So you have your first one, John. 
John Mikton: [00:37:12] Yeah. Well, it's kind of, you know, when you, I teach in the summers and, uh, I do this online, uh, this course called the PTC technology leadership.
So for me, the beginning of the summer is really my PD because I go and reread all the articles. I put new articles, I'm looking at new trends. So by having to teach, really forces me to go out there and start a hunt and Peck and say, what are the things that are provocative? What are the things that enhance, or maybe even tweak what we've always done?
And I try to redo it every year. And so this year it's been a lot of podcasts because I've found that podcasts are a great way. When I work out, when I'm commuting, I just get a lot of ideas. And then based on that, I write notes or things like that. So a lot of these next few weeks before the course starts is me just rereading articles, looking for it.
Articles. I've been spending a lot of time with knowledge works. They have a whole new leadership, uh, synopsis coming out. And, uh, so that's kind of my professional development is having to teach it to other people, forces me to make sure what I'm delivering is authentic, purposeful, meaningful, and that it's current.
And so, and in this day and age, nothing stays current more than a nanosecond. So it's always a very invigorating to have to keep digging back and rechecking things. So that's what I'm doing right now is a lot of podcasts, articles and webinars, and just kind of curating them for the course. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:38:40] Very cool.
Yeah. I'm uh, that's why I feel about Python. I'm constantly trying to relearn it for teaching so I can remember what I'm going to teach and, uh, for the 12th time, 
Sean Tibor: [00:38:52] Okay. Well, I think that's a really good point. I mean, it kind of leads into my next one too, is that, I mean, I feel, uh, very goal-driven when it comes to my professional development, like I have to have some sort of bigger goal out there, whether it's to teach it to someone else or some sort of deliverable that needs to happen.
And, and for my next one, it's really about are our classrooms set up and thinking about the way that we design it, we lay it out. We went through, as you can imagine, a pretty big change in our classroom, uh, style and philosophy due to COVID because our priority went from creating a innovative space to learning, for learning, to creating a, a safe space for kids to be in the same physical location together without being, uh, without spreading.
Yeah. So, um, one of the things that we're anticipating thankfully, Uh, our numbers here in Florida are coming down. Uh, I think we're back to the point where we were back in March of 2020 finally. Um, thanks to a lot of good vaccine work. And so we're anticipating that we're either going to have some sort of physical distancing and, and separation in the classroom, or we'll hopefully be able to get back to relatively few restrictions on what we have in place in the classroom.
And so this presents a really nice opportunity to rethink the way that we lay out our classroom. And I think Kelly and I rethink our classroom every, at least a couple of times a year, a couple of times a day. Uh, we're constantly moving things around and adjusting based on, on the needs of the moment, but also the needs of the class.
And as we evolve and change our teaching styles. So, um, what I'm working on this summer is looking at, um, innovation spaces, uh, again, and taking another look at them, uh, through the lens of education and a post COVID sort of, uh, teaching. And what I'm really trying to look at is this think with Google, um, like a section of innovation spaces where they do case studies on three different spaces, whether it's creative agencies or tech spaces or wherever, um, to be able to bring back more of that innovative, safe space for our students, to be able to have their ideas take off and be inspired.
So, um, for us, a lot of that has involved making the, the thinking, visible, making the projects, visible, making the opportunities visible on the shelf. Things are out in front of students instead of behind boxes and walls and cabinets. Um, and so one of the things that, the ideas that I have that I want it to try to.
Is along the same lines of the QR code that you mentioned, John, for your scavenger hunt. I want to create a, a bridge between the physical and digital world in our classroom. That's driven by QR code. So if a student sees a robot on the shelf and has a QR code on it that they can scan, that takes them to say even a Wiki page about that particular robot with its features, its capabilities.
And then the, I think the real breakthrough is making it so that the students have the opportunities to update and contribute that with you. So as they find more information, as they create more, they can add to that and it gets richer over time. Um, I think if it's on just Kelly or myself to provide all the information, it won't be as good as if the students can say, Hey, here's a really great video about this.
Or I wrote this code and here's a link to my code online that you can see as well. So definitely some, some training there and probably some good opportunities for digital services. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:42:21] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we have that huge. We just, uh, changed up our room before we left, because it was driving me crazy with all everything.
And we put this wall of it's our, um, our exploration of robotics and we do a lot of purchasing of Kickstarter robotics. So we usually, we have a lot of one-offs and sometimes they're junk and sometimes they're remarkable, but too expensive. And so we just have all this stuff, but then the kids are like, Ooh, what's that?
And I'm like, yeah, go figure it out because I, I, I stopped. I stopped doing it. So it'd be great to have that student, um, driven kind of Wiki. Be cool. All right. 
John Mikton: [00:43:02] I like this thing, Sean, that you're talking about, about bridging the digital with the physical, because that's something that I'm kind of focusing next year is with a, uh, I have, uh, four digital learning coaches and seven librarians that I work with on the pedagogic side.
Then I have an it support team. And, but one thing that I'm really want to focus on is on coaching conversations. And it's about how can we say less and have greater impact. And one of my questions are what ifs is that a lot? In our current situation, many teachers pivoted to digital tools as they never had before.
So screencasting AR is kind of the common one that everybody suddenly, everybody had to screencast. And then virtual meetings, uh, three-way conferences with parents, uh, the team meetings, group meetings, you know, uh, when we were online meetings and what I'm I'm the, the creative tension on facing is how do you take those rich things and balance them with the physical?
Because I know there'll be a big rush to go back to the physical. And I think many schools you hear amongst, uh, pedagogues and education philosophers saying that, you know, let's not go back to where we come from. Let's take this as an opportunity of moving forward and in my role, uh, and the digital learning coaches, librarians, what can we do to frame those conversations where there is that.
Capacity by the teachers to say, you know what, I'm going to take that screencasting and use it for this, but I'm not going to use it for that. So that's, I think one of the challenges I see in my role and for my PD and one of the books that I've really been digging into is the coaching habit say less than ask more and the change you, the way you lead forever.
It's a mug, Michael Bungay stainer it's really geared towards businesses, but it's set up in such a way. Two or three sentences that you can use the stems. And, uh, that's, you know, kind of where I'm going to be focusing with the team is what can we do in those conversations to engage, to get an intrinsic motivation by the teacher to say, wow, I have all these tools that I never used, that I used an online now I'm face-to-face how do I balance both as you were describing with your QR code and the kid going up to see what that is.
So that will be interesting. I think that marriage between the two is so much more important now and how do we not lose the game? I 
Kelly Paredes: [00:45:30] love that. I just, um, you have to keep us posted on that. I think we can definitely come back on a podcast with that. Sean and I constantly are looking across the plexiglass going during our meetings going, no, we're not going back to normal stop saying that you don't need to print out the 500 worksheets.
You, you, you got rid of them for a year and a half. Let's let's go forward. You know, we have that momentum, I think tech coaches and computer science, um, people who are in the fields that we are, are constantly wanting to keep pushing that, that, that educational paradigm of where can we go to, to move, you know, will Richardson style, move it forward, disrupt that education.
And, and I think that's one of a, a huge, huge conversations that everyone should be having this summer, for sure. 
Sean Tibor: [00:46:23] Yeah. And I think the key part of that is I think there's a lot of really, um, you know, really good insights that we can apply from the business world. I mean, I don't want to be that guy. That's like, oh, you know, education is a business, but they're, if you apply the business model to it, there are some interesting things that come out.
Um, one of the, one of the CEOs that I worked for, not that I knew him personally, because it was a giant company, but, um, the CEO said the only thing that the customer sees is execution, right. They don't see all of our planning. They don't see all of our meetings. They don't see all this stuff that happens behind the scenes.
What they see is how we execute, how we deliver to them and what's happening with the, um, with the education world. And one of things that was striking to me, being an outsider, coming in as a teacher is how much time is consumed on all the things that the students never see in the parents never see. And the ways that they, um, don't experience that.
And if you think about it, What we really deliver as teachers, as educators and administrators, is that learning experience for the student and everything that we're doing, that doesn't contribute positively to that, or doesn't make that learning experience more impactful, more effective, more rich and meaningful for them is, is wasted effort.
So why wouldn't we take another look at this whole environment that we have, that's been, you know, this opportunity has been created by COVID to say, can we take these tools that we've now come up to speed on a really fast and apply them in such a way that that learning experience gets better. And we can do that more efficiently by reducing the amount of behind the scenes.
That happens. Like why do we all need to walk over to a classroom to get together? If all we're doing is sharing information, right. If we're just disseminating information, that doesn't seem like a good use of time, but if it's our, if we're having a conversation, we're having a discussion we're coming to consensus, then yes, it's, what's all walk over there and let's be in a room together and achieve that consensus together.
So it's going to be about applying the right tools for the job, applying the right mediums, all of those things. And we're going to navigate that together over the next couple of years, as we, you know, re-emerge from this, uh, from this quarantine and this, uh, strange situation of the pandemic. Yup.
Kelly Paredes: [00:48:37] Absolutely. You want? Okay. I'll share. Should I share my second? Do you want to add to that, 
John Mikton: [00:48:43] John? No, I just so agree with what you're saying. Shawn, is this idea of why do we sit in a faculty meeting and look at a PowerPoint that can be sent by it as a PDF or make a screencast of it? I'll watch it in the evening, you know, and those didactic conversations, those rich conversations, you know, I think that's what we, we get Bo I call it organizational shrapnel.
It's all that stuff that flies around and wounds you. And you're like, really? I'm just wanting to focus on the learning here in the student voice. So I, yeah, I absolutely that echoed so strongly with what I believe to. Excellent. 
Kelly Paredes: [00:49:20] So my second speaking of downtime and everything, uh, that going back to it, um, I took this course.
I don't know if anyone, if you've taken it, it's called the science of wellbeing. I love Coursera and I love Coursera free courses. Um, Laurie Santos does this. She's a. Doctorate doctor from Yale. Um, and it's such a fun course. It talks about what really makes us happy. Um, what, what gratitude, what meditation and how do we savor the moments?
Things like, um, like the learning opportunities where I get these ahas, like really savor those. So then the times when I'm banging my head and wanting to throw the laptop out the window, cause I can't solve a problem. I think back to the times when I do or the things that really make me happy and it kind of keeps you going.
And that's one of the courses I took last year, um, after last summer that, uh, after the COVID because, um, I was just really, I had to find something and I think people, if you're still struggling, this is just a really nice, easy course, a lot of things to think about, of what really makes us happy and, and thankful for things.
So that was good. 
John Mikton: [00:50:36] I think what you were saying about being present is so important. I'm in an improv troupe and the key to improvised station is three things. One is being in the moment, only in that moment, the other one is complete acceptance. So whatever people throw at you, you go with it. And the third is trust that you trust.
You just have to trust yourself and go with it. And I, I think what you were setting, uh, Kelly and that wellness is that so often we don't live in the present, you know, worrying about the future or worrying about the past. I think often just brings anxiety and uncertainty. Uh, one the past is the regrets, you know, oh, I should have done it.
And the future is like, oh my God, what if for I I'm not, you know, so I think there's some value in just finding moments for the present, as you were saying in that course. And I definitely echo that being in the present is hard, very hard, but once you're there and you can find that, I think it really is hard.
And 
Sean Tibor: [00:51:34] I think people have a hard time differentiating between worrying about the future and planning for it. Like the, the only difference between the two is planning is something you can do about the future. Worrying is, is vague and unspecified. There's nothing you can do about the future if you're just worrying about it.
But planning is, is making actions and steps in the present that set you up for the future. And I think that it's, it's kind of amazing how many people miss that, right? They just don't see the difference between the two or they have trouble being reflective enough to recognize the difference and recognize the state that they're in to be able to differentiate and distinguish between the two.
John Mikton: [00:52:10] And I think what you're saying, Sean is if you're planning, it's not uncertain because you actually have some concrete steps, you don't know how it's gonna work out, but you kind of have made some plans and there their structures, when you worry, you're dealing with uncertainty. And one thing that we know uncertainty, we don't do well with, and we need to have certainty.
So we construct a fear or a hesitation to kind of calm us down, but. Backfire as well. What you're saying is if you're organized and purposeful, I think that gives a much more positive energy to looking ahead. 
Sean Tibor: [00:52:46] I agree. I agree. Um, all right, so John, do you have another one you want to share? I've got one here.
That's actually kind of a bundle of things that I'm going to share about coding. So, 
John Mikton: [00:52:56] okay. On coding, I, you know, the one, my connection with coding is, and I'm part of an organization called Lux tech school. And we, uh, it's a nonprofit and we take kids 11 to 18 that have no coding experience and we teach them how to make apps.
And we have a, uh, hackathon, July 3rd. Independence day in the United States and they are going to create an app to help senior citizens navigate the financial world. And so that is kind of my experience of coding, but what I have really been impressed by is how much is out there for novices complete novices.
And so often, uh, unintimidated United see teaching Python and I'm like, oh my God, what am I getting into here? I know nothing about Python, but I do understand the value of learning and that you can learn from scratch. And, you know, if it's broken down and scaffolded and put in bite size and there is some, you know, you can kind of make that intrinsic motivation.
That's what I've learned from tech school, not being a coder, but really helping them with their presentations and kind of group dynamics. And we're on the organizational side is that. There is so much out there that demystifies is this thing called coding, because I think it's kind of, it's often seen as a scary entity.
And so that's kind of my reaction to your long list of coding, Katie that you're going to share. Yeah. Yeah. 
Sean Tibor: [00:54:27] I, you know, it's interesting. Um, I have a friend of mine. Who's a chief marketing officer for a pretty big company. And, uh, I, I, her kids go to friends of our kids and I mentioned to them, but I have some, some stuff I want to give them this summer because they tend to be pretty tech, savvy and smart and clever, and they like to figure these things out.
So I said, I'll, you know, I'll do a little crash course for you over the summer. And she said, but please include me. Like I want to learn this stuff too. And I think it's such a wonderful attitude to have, because we tend to think of, of coding as being something. Is, um, you know, for app developers, I'm gonna make a website.
I want to make something really big, right. And I'm gonna make a product that I'm going to sell. But one of the things that can be really valuable is using code in, um, to make things run smoother, to make them run faster, to do analytics work. I mean, Python is kind of the new Excel now. Like there is more that you can do with code and data analysis, then that used to be done in Excel.
And now it scales so much better. Right? So if you have a large amount of data to work with code is the best way to do it. Um, and it was interesting to me, I think it was three or four years ago. The Nobel prize in economics was awarded to a person for, um, their work. I believe it was on like, um, like some sort of market instability or market forces work that they were doing.
And the judge, one of the gentlemen who was, who received the award was in his, uh, early sixties. And in order to win the Nobel prize, his work relied on Python code that he used to do all the analytics work and process the data. He learned it in his mid fifties. So he, he went off and, and learn how to do it because it would help him with his passions and the things he was interested in.
And he turned that into, um, into a Nobel prize. Now I'm assuming that a Nobel prize winning economic, uh, economist is probably pretty, uh, capable of figuring things out and learning, but, but I think it's a good Testament to, you know, we can always learn to code. We can always find ways to make it useful to our lives.
And, um, that's one of the things that I'm, I'm pushing for more and more is finding ways to make it more relevant for our students beyond just, you know, making an app or making a product. It could be just make one little part of your life a little bit better, a little bit smoother, or do something that you couldn't do before then do it right.
Um, so I have a couple coding resources to share some things that I'm personally working on. So it, you know, after three years of coding in Python, I feel like I'm, I'm pretty competent in terms of, uh, being able to solve problems and get things done. And there's always room to grow. But what I w what I'm focusing on this summer is my fluency in Python.
So it's not so much about my ability to express myself. It's about how fluent that expression comes out and the way that I. Um, do something in code that is elegant, easy to understand and effective in a way that both helps me do my own projects more effectively, but also it allows me to teach more effectively.
So it gives me the ability to explain to students better what's happening or why it's happening. It helps me create, provide better examples or a variety of examples to show students. And it also helps me keep up with some of those kids that are just phenomenally talented, moving at their own pace. I feel like I need the move a few steps ahead of them.
So I have a couple of resources that I'm, um, looking at. Uh, first of all, I'm looking at the, um, courses from the talk Python team. So they have a wonderful set of video courses and Michael Kennedy from that, um, from that program has done a really great job of creating clear and easy to understand video courses with screencasts.
And I'm learning a lot about how he teaches from that too. So, um, for my own purposes, it's, it's pretty useful. Um, so I'm going to be looking at some courses there around advanced, um, you know, API APIs and, uh, asynchronous and things like that. Um, so some advanced topics, I'm also reading a book called fluent Python, uh, which is really, really great about how to, um, you know, express things and do things in, in a better way.
Right. And it explains why it's better. It's not just like, oh, this is better and you should all do it this way. It explains here's the thought process here is why it works better. In these cases. Here are some situations where it wouldn't work as well. And so in addition to the warning, I'm also, um, kind of getting better at that explanation of, of options for our students.
And then finally, I, I ju I just got a preview copy of this, and I'm really excited to tear into it because I think it's a really cool, um, Really cool concept. And I first heard about this on another podcast, but, uh, Sherry S can I, uh,  uh, as Canus, uh, has reached out to me and she has her new book out called a day in code Python, and it's a, uh, she sent me the PDF version of it.
It's really cute. Like, let me see if I can just, I don't know if I'll get in trouble with Sherry, but let me share my screen here one sec and just show you this PDF. Cause it's, it's really cool. Um, 
Kelly Paredes: [00:59:34] she wrote one in, uh, for Java or JavaScript as well. Um, yeah, it's pretty cute. It's a really cute book. I saw 
it 
Sean Tibor: [00:59:42] too.
Uh, well let me do my screenshot. Oh, well, um, but the idea is that it's like a storybook and so you go through the story. A day coding and it's, it helps you learn about Python, but it also gives you really great examples of how people are using Python. So it's like a, um, practical examples. Hands-on examples, very accessible for younger students and people who are just beginning.
And I really like how this was set up, um, because you know, so often we like to dive right into the. And so thinking about like, why are we actually coding this? Or what do people who write code for a living do with our code? And this is, um, this is a really clever and interesting way of sharing that. So I'm, I'll post a link to it on the show 
Kelly Paredes: [01:00:32] notes.
Yeah, it sounds it's, it's not out in hard copy yet, or it's on Amazon. John, you might like that. It's two kids at the beach and they want to solve some problems about, uh, you know, what to eat. What's a video game to play and she walks through from the very start of basic Python, um, with problem set ups.
It's a really cute idea. Um, the graphics are definitely, um, focused for younger. And I was telling you before the show about some fourth or fifth graders who are coding, I could definitely see this happening. The language does get, um, uh, more, um, Higher up than a fourth grader maybe, but I think my son could read it.
So, but it's really cute. I saw that book, so it was awesome. It was good. Fine. I had a wealth of knowledge there. Sean. I got, I got lost. 
Sean Tibor: [01:01:21] Yeah. I, I had to pack it all into one thing. This is all about my coding professional development 
Kelly Paredes: [01:01:26] as well. We forgot to say on that thing. I, you know, I have to have to say that the jet brain brains academy, uh, when we talked with PI charm, uh, they, they talked about the academy and I got into it.
I found the post and read it. It was in June where you had a 30 day challenge. You get, uh, some free, free access to the academy. Um, and I started doing that. My trial ended and I was on a really cool, um, study plan. So I went back and I went to one of the beta study plans right now I'm doing a web scrapers and using the natural language processing.
What I like about the jet brains of cats. Is, it goes through the basics and you can test out. And so far I've tested out of about 29 topics, but I went back and read the theory. Like I knew how to import modules, but going back and reading the theory, um, helped me learn those little aha moments this morning.
And it's great. You can do a problem a day in they're simple problems based on the stuff that you've tested out and I'm starting to get into. Um, I mean, I've done declaring arguments, uh, for loops dictionary methods. I did dictionary comprehensions today. When you're talking about, um, readable code, everyone are on the jet brains.
It says that dictionary comprehensions can be useful. And, um, they kind of John, they, what they do is they smush about. 10 lines of code. And so one for me, comprehensions are really difficult as a, as a newbie to try to figure out what's going on, but you see them a lot more. So kind of being able to say to students, this is a comprehensiveness comprehension or a dictionary comprehension.
It's it looks this way if you're thinking it out sequentially in your head, but you can also write it this way, what Sean does sounds like I wrote, I solved the problem in two lines of code. And I said, I'm like, I saw him in 12 lines of code. So, um, it's pretty, that's the one of my focuses. And then I found this and I applied for it.
We'll cross our fingers and see if AWS wants me. But AWS is offering, um, scholarship right now to the team debt with you Udacity. Um, it's an AWS machine learning scholarship program. It's a three and a half month course. Where you're going to learn the fundamentals of advanced machine learning with computer vision, reinforcement, learning generative.
AI is going to teach you how to learn, build, and train things that are like, I can hang with Sean when he's talking about, I kind of, uh, can understand when the students come and talk to him about it, but it's one of those topics that it's like mind blowing a AI and machine learning. And I don't understand how this code really works, but I can copy it and read it.
So I'm hoping that maybe they'll pick me for the scholarship. It's uh, it's pretty cool. I registered, but it's out there. You have a opportunity to register until July, June something. And it starts, I think, at a June at the end of June or beginning of July. So we'll see. So those are my two Python, I think.
Let me see if I have anything else from Python. No, that's it. That's my only Python things I'm doing 
Sean Tibor: [01:04:59] well. I know we've, uh, we've con kinda got a little bit longer than expected and that's a, a good thing in this case because we've shared a lot of really great stuff. And John, I really appreciate the, the resources that you've shared with us, because I know I've got several of them that I'm going to go get on right away.
Um, but I want to see if you had any final thoughts, anything else to share or guidance for people, advice, um, in your coaching role, uh, for someone who's trying to think about, about summer development and what they should be thinking about or how they should be thinking about summer development as they go forward.
John Mikton: [01:05:33] I think what's really important is to understand what kind of learner you are, and also be a realistic about time. If you're a parent, you have children you're going on holiday and is to not to get over ambitious. Because the intentions often are like, I'm going to do all these and you go and buy all these books.
I think it's just understanding what can you actually fit in. And then also almost creating your own playlist. In other words, you might do a couple of podcasts. You might check out a, a YouTube channel. You might do a Coursera course. Maybe you'll watch an old webinar from somebody and almost making yourself like a little menu, you know, even every week saying, okay, this week I'm going to pick three things.
Less is more, you know, maybe that one podcast, that's all you listen that week, but then you try to unpack it or maybe listen to it a couple times. I think it's really about how do you choreograph your own professional development and be realistic about, you know, what is your learning capacity, maybe unique two weeks with no learning and just maybe there is a value in doing a Netflix binge for the day, you know, uh, I mean, th th you don't want to do it every day, but there is something about being able to disconnect that way.
So that's something that I always talk to people about is making sure you understand what kind of learner you are being realistic about your time off. You know, whatever the time, it always seems longer. And then also make sure that you pace yourself, you know, maybe before your kids get up, you get, uh, you, you do something or do it at times that it doesn't impact where you're not stressed out when somebody else is coming into your space as you're trying to learn.
So I think it's almost like creating a playlist, a little package and even be explicit, put it in your calendar, you know, make a reminder. Today's the podcast day, I'm going to get up an hour early and I'm going for a walk and I'm going to listen to the podcast. So then maybe I'll write three or four questions for the week.
So I think really understanding who you are as a learner and then taking advantage of your calendar, your reminders, even a Google doc or whatever it might be, and just, you know, have those kind of little taps on the shoulders during the week to remind you. And if you don't. It's not, it's not the end of the world.
You know, there's another podcast next week that you can do. So I think it's about this idea of balance and being purposeful and meaningful, and it has to be authentic. You know, it's something that you feel is going to benefit and this listening to both of you, you know, it's so rich to hear how you're engaging with the different aspects of coding, because, you know, next year there's only going to be added value.
And I think that's what learning is about what is the added value, not only to your students, but to yourself as an educator and your colleagues and what new thing can you bring to the table. That's going to enrich in those conversations. So that would be kind of my advice. There's so much, we're so fortunate, you know, there where everybody's now recorded everything.
So, uh, every webinar, every zoom conversation is on YouTube. So there's very little, you can't get. And that's something that I hope will continue. So I think it's about being your own producer road manager, roadie all in one and just, you know, make a Google doc with some calendar invites or reminders, just to make sure you get provoked and tapped on the shoulder.
So you can turn off that Netflix and do something else. So that's kind of my idea, that kind of self curation places. 
Kelly Paredes: [01:08:53] I love that. And I'm going to like hashtag these two things that you said, your choreograph offer of your, of your own learning and make sure that it's always added valid to you and your students.
So I love those two things that you said, and I wrote them down as you're speaking, and I'm just like, oh, I'm hashtagging that that's great 
advice, 
Sean Tibor: [01:09:13] John. I I have, uh, I, I, I really resonated with the, you know, being realistic about your expectations too. So one of the things that I notice about myself is that when I have too many things to do, I tend to bounce between everything, right.
And then, um, you know, do I'm a little bit here on there and it nothing really meaningful occurs. So what I also implement for myself as the rule of one meaningful thing per day, right? Accomplish one meaningful thing per day, um, you know, whether that's publishing the podcast or, you know, updating some piece of software that I've been working on for a while, but really focusing on that follow through and finishing one meaningful thing per day helps to keep my momentum.
Um, and then the other thing I was going to add too, and I've done this, uh, more recently now that things are starting to open back up again, but it's okay to go old school in a digital world, right. Go to the library and browse the aisles and find, find a book, you know, like those things with covers and paper, and they're not connected, you know, the, they don't, they don't go down when the power goes out, right.
Go grab a book off the shelf and find something that you're interested in and spend half an hour or an hour in the library, just reading and, and finding some quiet time, um, and go old school on it because it will help with reducing distractions and eliminating the noise and producing more safe. Um, I 
John Mikton: [01:10:38] think that's the one thing about reading on devices, you know, be it the iPad, the computer, it's the notifications and just, you know, understanding that those always get in the way.
And even when I read my newspaper on the phone, I'm terrible, you know, off to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, whatever it might be. And I so agree with you is just that the books have no notifications. So that's good. You can be focused on 
Kelly Paredes: [01:11:00] it. Yeah. I have a new product that Sean, just speaking of the no notifications, I had the remarkable too, a little bit costly, but we are trialing now.
Sean put all the books on there. It's it's just black and it's gray. There's no internet connection. I can write on it. Um, because I'm a, I'm a book person. I'm a, I'm a paper person. I have everything written down, but the remarkable two, it's a, it's a pretty cool product. Okay. Yeah. So it's a 
Sean Tibor: [01:11:29] really, really big Kindle with, uh, a pen that you can write on it.
And I think AGA AGA Kerrigan, one of our, um, one of our followers on Twitter was talking about how you can actually extract all of your handwritten notes and highlights from it in, and then it summarizes it into the excerpt of the book that you were reading with your notes next to it, which is like, mind-blowingly cool.
That 
John Mikton: [01:11:53] is amazing. Okay. Purchase. There 
Kelly Paredes: [01:11:56] we go. It is a, is an awesome purchase. And if you don't go with the beautiful cover and the overly expensive stylist, it's only about only, only about 300 us dollars and it's, um, no it's called remarkable too, because it's remarkable. 
John Mikton: [01:12:12] Remarkable. Okay. I'm not going to write down eight, two.
I'm going to get a piece of paper. Okay. 
Kelly Paredes: [01:12:19] We ha I have so many more things to share. So I guess we'll just have to put a whole bunch of things out there and let everybody else choreograph their own learning, um, for whatever fits their needs. And I think Sean's going to be doing a huge a write-up on this one.
Yeah. 
Sean Tibor: [01:12:36] I think we're going to have a lot to share, but if as people have more to share, if they have more, um, more thoughts for us, um, resources that you found, please share those with us on Twitter. Um, John, where's the best place for people to find you online? 
John Mikton: [01:12:51] J Mictlan and there's a Facebook group. It's a horrendous title, but I'm sure you'll put it in the show notes and LinkedIn, those are places that I'm really active, but definitely on Twitter at J McNaughton.
And, uh, just, yeah, looking forward to a lot of more conversations with her. 
Sean Tibor: [01:13:08] Well, you can find the Kelly at Kelly Paret on Twitter. I'm at SM Tiber, and you can always tweak to the show at teaching Python. Um, our website is teaching python.fm. We have, um, a contact form there that you can share with us.
We've gotten some really great comments and thoughts from everyone online, um, over the last few months about, um, things that they're working on for the summer and things that they're learning about. Um, we have, um, we've, it was someone even reached out to us on Instagram for the first time, uh, the other day, talking about, uh, learning resources for the summer.
So we are available. If you can find us we're listening and we will respond to you, uh, as soon as possible. Uh, I think that's it for announcements this week. Uh, wanted to just say. Thank you, John, for joining us. It was really wonderful. We'll definitely have to have you back to talk about, uh, other topics and professional development, learning pedagogy.
Um, pretty much anything you want to chat with us about. We'll do it. So 
John Mikton: [01:14:07] Kelly, anything, thank you so much for inviting me. And it's just been a great conversation and, uh, really look forward to, uh, hearing, uh, the audiences reactions and also resources that they are going to of course share. 
Kelly Paredes: [01:14:21] Gotcha. Yes. And John, do you want to plug your, your podcast?
Cause I know you guys just started up a podcast just 
John Mikton: [01:14:26] recently. The international schools podcast is Dan Taylor from apps, events, apps events is one of the Google professional development providers and myself, and it's really focused on international schools. Uh, and we are actually going to interview on Monday, Dr.
Arnie Bieber. That is, uh, moving on, moving back to New York after 35 years on the road. And he did some pretty amazing things with his school. They're very likely considered the most innovative international school. And we're going to kind of find out how he overcame all the challenges and why might people be hesitant to be innovative?
And, uh, so international schools. Excellent. 
Kelly Paredes: [01:15:05] Excellent. I have nothing else to share. Um, I actually, that's not true. I've tons of things to share, but you know, I don't want to keep everybody here on a Sunday morning. Um, we got to go build a, uh, outdoor kitchen. 
Sean Tibor: [01:15:19] Well then we'll, we'll wrap it up here. So for teaching Python, this is Sean, 
and 
Kelly Paredes: [01:15:22] this is Kelly signing off.