Why subscribe?
Some recent testimonials:
“I have been extremely pleased with your resources …”
“I love the newsletter...I use parts of it for my weekly "S'more" newsletter to my staff. They love the videos and I always choose a quote to share as well. I love the PD presentations … Keep up the great work!”
“I really liked getting the weekly emails. As a fairly new administrator, this has been a gift.”
“This is a great resource, it has saved me hours of looking for resources.”
Many of you are loyal fans of my “Weekly Inspo Vids” emails. So many of you have responded with the kindest of words and sincerest gratitude. I’m humbled by the warm reception and excited to meet further needs.
With all that said, I’m trying to accomplish something special this year.
Up the ante on the free stuff (more below)
Attempt to offer unparalleled value to those willing to pay a modest monthly or annual amount
The reasons for going “paid” are not all about the money, though I do have bills to pay like anyone else. Rather, my two companies (Cogent Solutions and Peer Driven PD) have produced a lot of content over the last three years. A subscription model allows me to distribute some of this content more regularly and on heavily discounted terms.
So, let’s talk about what you’ll receive if you subscribe for free and how that differs from a paid subscription.
Free subscriber benefits
What’s do I get as a free subscriber?
Weekly - Inspo Vids
Use in staff newsletters, encouraging emails, etc.
This is where I started and will always, always be free. We plan to film more of our own videos to make them more relevant. As you may guess, after about 80 videos, it gets harder and harder to find consistently good videos. We’re gonna keep at it!
Weekly - Would you rather?
Use with students, staff, social media … whatever!
Last year, I talked with a teacher about zero-prep team building in her classroom. (You can view the video here). She explained how her students love playing “Would you rather?” And it’s something you can do with little to no preparation.
So, we’ll be playing a weekly game of “Would you rather?” You’ll be able to see the results each week in real-time. The hope is that you can share it with your own staff in your newsletter. You can use them with students or simply compare your teacher results with our admin results. Should be fun either way.
Weekly - Weekly Quote
Use in staff newsletters, bulletin boards, write them on your foreheads … you name it!
I used to send out inspirational quotes for each day of the week to paid subscribers. That was a bit of a stretch. To be honest, the quality was diluted due to the volume. I’ll focus on a weekly quote that you can send to your teachers - which will be sent to both paid and free subscribers. By way of an example, here’s one of my all-time favorites.
A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
William Shedd
Archive
Use as an unlimited supply of helpful resources! Growing all the time!
Of course, I’m going to continue to offer the oh-so-popular video archive, but we’ve simplified things a bit. We’ve created a new Everything Archive that links to the video archive, monthly PD archive, “What you rather?" archive, and everything else we’ve got going on. And it’ll continue to expand as we offer resources.
No need to track all those links. Now you have one home base that is open to all. Boom!
Paid subscriber benefits
What do I get as a paid subscriber?
Here’s where things get fun. Paid subscribers will get some valuable extras at predictable intervals because we’re all planners after all.
Two Full Professional Development Modules - Valued at over $900
Immediately upon upgrading to a paid subscription, I’ll send you one of our complete Professional Development PowerPoint Modules from www.heycogent.com, valued at over $400 each. They’re professionally designed, professionally copy-edited, and contain dozens of scholarly references. Oh, yeah - they’re also 100% editable, which means you can add your school logo, edit slides for your needs, and take all the credit!
Classroom Management: Building Classroom Structure - available immediately upon upgraded subscription
Classroom Management: Building Resilient Relationships - available immediately upon upgraded subscription
Monthly - Faculty Meeting Prep
On the first of each month, paid subscribers will receive a faculty meeting prep email. It will include the following:
A 5-10 minute video on topics like classroom management, growth mindset, adult social-emotional learning, pursuing excellence, etc. (See example above from September ‘23)
A professionally-designed, fully-editable PowerPoint file with pre-loaded discussion questions (See example above from September ‘23)
Links to additional tools, like suggested discussion protocols, group note-taking templates, etc
Weekly - Emailable PD
Use in staff newsletters, emailable PD messages, etc.
This is probably the biggest change. I’ve heard from folks that my PD is great, but that even more bite-sized, practical PD is of the most use. In fact, many of you asked for instructional content and strategies you can share with teachers on a weekly basis (see some of the comments at the end of our survey results for the inspiration of this change - we listen to you!)
That’s why, each week, I’ll send you a 1-3 page JPEG and PDF version (you can use whichever one works best for your newsletter) that outlines a tip or tactic. This year, I’ll focus exclusively on classroom management. You can view an example below from an upcoming January email (PDF available here). You can also view my topic calendar here.
I can’t stress how huge this is. To produce this kind of content on a weekly basis, I’m pulling from years’ worth of work. You’ll notice that the content is pulled from our CM modules below … which took hundreds of hours to develop and would cost you nearly $1,000 at full price. This is a huge value for the price of the subscription. This is what I hope makes becoming a paid subscriber a clear, easy decision.
Weekly - Trivia Questions
When was the first mobile phone released? When was the first YouTube video uploaded? All of these questions will be answered and more each week. Many schools have used this fun idea to boost the engagement of staff and students. I’ve seen them used in weekly emails to teachers to increase timely readership. (Ex: “The first teacher to email me the correct response will get a hand-delivered caffeinated beverage of your choice.”). You can also use them in morning announcements with students on a Monday and reveal the answer a few days later, making students more inclined to tune in when the speaker crackles in the morning.
Weekly - Fun with AI
What can I say? I’ve been playing with AI quite a bit lately. Some of the results are pretty impressive. Many of the applications can increase your productivity exponentially - something administrators desperately need. Other applications are just fun. I’ll send you a weekly AI-generated photo related to some funny aspects of school life. Keep it for yourself or share it with your staff. Here are a couple of examples:
Weekly - Help with AI
As I mentioned, there are tons of new AI tools out there that can increase your productivity as an administrator. Each week, I’ll highlight one AI tool that could make your life easier. As an example, in last week’s Summer Edition, I discussed Perplexity AI. It makes research easier with footnoted results.
This is just one of a quickly-growing pool of resources that I’ll discuss regularly. Stay tuned!
