Becoming a Teacher-Author Entrepreneur Step 12 - Staying Current on Lesson Delivery Systems

Google Classroom - check. NewsELA - check. Flocabulary - check. ReadWorks - check. ProjectELL - check. Google Docs/Slides/Forms - check. Escape rooms - kinda check? Digital Escape Rooms - let me get the non-digital down first! BoomLearning and BOOM! Cards - what the heck is THAT?

And this isn't even because of remote/distance learning...

The Need to Keep Pace with Changing Delivery Systems

You may have read my musing in the post Observations of an Old Fogie about how the more things change in education, the more they really don't. We need to teach the same skills that have always been taught, along with skills never even imagined for school students 50 years ago. And while the skills are the same, and the methods of teaching are similar but refined by our advanced knowledge of learning modalities, the delivery systems of education are a far cry from what they were. Sure, we still have text books. Sure, they are available in traditional hard cover and newer "consumable" paperback, but also ENTIRELY digital. And the student is an auditory learner, possibly with dyslexia? No problem, there is literally an app for that.

Don't get me wrong, I love the ability to have all of the options we have available now, especially for differentiation, and for those with different challenges. But, it gets overwhelming. And, let's admit it, some of them are just fads. I remember when small groups first started being used in secondary schools. Then they went away. Then they came back. Then they went away. Then someone claimed it was a "new method to differentiate" and it came back - as the greatest thing in education since the last time it was used. In my classroom, it will always be in fashion, and not a fad that I have to wait to see return like my bell-bottoms and corduroys...

However, the fact remains that we have to keep pace with the different changes in delivery systems that we use to reach our student-scholars. If we don't, we risk failing them. But it isn't just the systems like Google Classroom or NewsELA or Flocabulary, but also the real physical and/or virtual design forms that our lessons take on.

What's It Mean for the Teacher-Author Entrepreneur?

We have to keep up with what works at grabbing - and keeping - the attention of our students. And as teacher-author entrepreneurs, not just our students, but the students in the classrooms located in the other hemispheres of our world. And that means we need to understand, and take advantage of, all of the various fads that come about and have some viability. Why? Because when Flocabulary started, everyone thought that the fad of putting lessons to rap music and lyrics would never last. Man, I wish I owned stock when NearPod purchased Flocab last year! Of course, they also said plastics would never work...

BOOM! Card Deck Available on
AmpedUpLearning.com

A case in point. For the last month or so, Gregg Williams from Amped Up Learning (AUL) has been pushing me to start creating BOOM! Card Decks. My response was, "Boom cards? What the heck are those?" Then Sarah Renish, teacher-author extraordinaire (and owner of Ratelis Science on AUL, TpT, and BoomLearning) offered to guest blog about...BOOM! Cards. Sarah is also a contributing member of Amped Up Learning, and I am a little in awe of her material. So, I decided I might as well check out this new fad. Imagine how I felt when the video Sarah shared with me to help me get started was done by a lady who has been SELLING BOOM! Cards for more than 3 YEARS! And I had never heard of them. In fact, it is only recently that they seem to be appearing on non-BoomLearning sites. As far as I know so far, only two sites are "offically" offering BOOM! Decks; Amped Up and TpT.

And also on TeachersPayTeachers

So, on Sunday I created my first two Decks of BOOM! Cards to cover figurative language, and I tweaked them and uploaded them on Monday, May 11th. By the time I sat down to write this post, Suzanne and I had made more money on BOOM! Card Deck sales in the first 24 hours than we had on our entire inventory over all storefronts so far in the month of May! I have mentioned, have I not, that there are times when I need to be pushed? Well, consider me pushed when it comes to BOOM! Cards, and thank you Gregg and Sarah for the gentle nudges over this particular cliff.

It also turns out that because we are creating BOOM! Decks on BOOMLearning, Suzanne and I now have a 4th storefront for ELA in Middle School, although this one is strictly for Boom!Cards. But, we have already reached new customers who were not buying through another platform, and in our bio we can "push out" to our other stores. And I love how interactive these cards are, and how well they can be used for remote/distance learning!

Final Thoughts

Just a couple final things to wrap up this post. First, check out the competition, both in the classroom next door (I know, not really competing there, but...) and on the sales platform/site you are using. If other people are selling a product, or a new product style keeps popping up in your new offers feed, you may want to look into it! Also, if other entrepreneurial partners are suggesting it...act! Our sales weren't bad since Covid, but had I started on the BOOM! Cards when Gregg first mentioned them, they would have been a lot better!

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