BOOK REVIEW: To The Edge: Successes and Failures Through Risk-Taking

FULL DISCLAIMER

Kyle Anderson is one of my very

best friends and I have some MASSIVE BIAS!  

Background
I have known Kyle for over 20 years when we first met at Northern Michigan University.
We hit it off right away and became fast friends. We were both into hunting, fishing, football, and having fun! We ended up as roommates for a short time toward the end of our college years, and I have always valued his friendship and that of his family.

Since college, Kyle and I always make a point to hang out whenever the chance arises. Sometimes he is back in Michigan visiting family, and one time my son and I flew out to Nevada to surprise him by standing on his doorstep at 1:30 a.m. while his wonderful wife, Mary, was trying to wake him up without freaking him out!

Kyle and I in Las Vegas 2018

I had the absolute honor of serving as Kyle's best man when he married Mary. I was not the best man, but the stand-in. Cody, Kyle's Brother, was committed to Army training and was not able to make it back for his brother's wedding. The last time I saw Cody was in Kuwait in 2006. We were both heading north into Iraq, me in a few days, him in a week or so. We both made it through deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and talked on the phone maybe half a dozen times before he passed away. I had a real hard time reading Chapter 7, as I know Kyle struggled writing it.

When Kyle told me he was getting ready to publish his first book, I was VERY excited for him!
I couldn't wait for my personalized copy in the mail, so I bought it on Amazon before it was even officially out.

Although I am a slow reader, I made it a point to read his book right away.
If you want to be a better reader: Read.
That also led me to rejuvenate my blog.
If you want to be a better writer: Write.

The Basics
Title: To The Edge: Successes & Failures Through Risk-Taking
Author: Kyle Anderson
Forward: Jayme Rawson
Chapters: 10
Pages: 127 not including notes, acknowledgments, and publisher notes
Publishing Company: EDUMatch Publishing

Overview
Kyle walks you through his life as a student, teacher, administration, friend, husband, and father with a focus on decision making. Some of the decisions had a high-risk/high-reward criteria such as moving to the Nevada desert with his fiance and without a job. Others seemed to be low/risk-low reward, yet proved to be some of the best decisions of his life.

The Good Stuff
The average person can read about Kyle's story, his decisions, and the risks he chose to take or not take, and see themselves in that scenario. We undoubtedly do not have the same decisions placed in front of us, but we definitely have similar ones. We have all experienced the joy, heartache, and anxiety that comes with making important decisions. Kyle has a way of putting us in his, "choose your own adventure" book of life.

The average teacher can read about Kyle's career progression and look back at different opportunist that presented themselves and reflect on why they chose to take or not take those opportunities. The beauty of Kyle's career is the ups and downs. The "easy" route is not often the most rewarding. The "easy" route would make for a boring story. Kyle analyses his decisions on the page and reflects on the outcome in such a way that he makes it "safe" to make a decision, good or bad.

I recommend this book for a few reasons:

1) Kyle is a real person with a  real story that everyone can relate to. If you are an "Average Joe" you will relate to Kyle immediately and will quickly see your decisions with a fresh perspective.

2) His struggles are laid out in the open for everyone to read. Genuine problems are analyzed with respect to the real consequences they will have on him and his family.

3)  This book reads not only as Kyle's journey through life, but also as a guide of how we too can learn how to take risks, celebrate successes, and accept failures with grace, understanding, and lessons learned.

4) Kyle is one of my very best friends and I could not be more proud of him!

TO THE EDGE: SUCCESSES & FAILURES

THROUGH RISK-TAKING

https://www.totheedgeedu.com/
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Kyle on Twitter: @AndersonEdTech

#ToTheEdgeEDU

#MACUL17

I had tried to go to the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) for several years now, and this year was my year!  I finally got to go!  It was held in beautiful Detroit over a 2 day period last week.

View from my 68th Floor Room

First off, Detroit is about a 8 hour drive.  I drove with three other teachers from Kingsford.  That was a great experience and I was able to strengthen some friendships on the ride.
Nick and I were on the 68th floor of the hotel and we had an amazing view of the waterfront of Detroit, and Windsor (Canada).

Sir Ken Robinson

The first day of MACUL started with a keynote address from Sir Ken Robinson. He posted an interesting view on creativity in learning and energized the crowd for our journey through learning for the weekend.

I was able to sit in two conferences with a 3rd grade teacher named Mark Schlaudt (Follow him on Twitter) from Rockford, MI.  He has a great way of integrating STEM education into his students reading. "How Would you Catch a Giant Squid?"  That single question lead his students through research (What does a Giant Squid even eat?), design, prototype development, and production. His students started with zero knowledge about the Giant Squid, and ended with more understanding than Mark ever intended.

Mark also did a great presentation on creating dashboards on Google Docs in order to have a one stop shop for teachers, students, and parents to see how their student is doing and any trends in their performance.  I spoke with Mark afterward about using Google Classroom and how to possibly implement some of those concepts into my Freshman Football team.

I also saw a present ion by Mindy Lynch on blogging and how she uses it as a communication tool.  It works well for her in her position as the Ravenna Middle School Principal and Athletic Director.

Pizza Box STEM

I was also able to meet an amazing educator from Calumet, Mr. Chris Woods (He has a great Twitter Feed). He did a great presentation on how to find STEM in every day life and how to put int in front of students every day so that everyone becomes STEM minded. IT was great!

MACUL will be having it's UP event here in Kingsford on May 5th.  I am going to present.  I'm a little nervous, but I'm going to take the leap and present on Twitter.  My session will be called, "Twitter for non-Tweeters."  I will talk about how Twitter is a fast and easy way to share pictures, and ideas. It is also a fantastic tool for reaching out to other professionals.