Internet Resources for Social Studies Teachers

Why I Skype

On Friday, November 16th, my class of 7th graders in St. Louis MO, had the privilege to Skype with Miss Greta's (@gret) class of 5th graders in Buenos Aries, Argentina. The students conversed using a question and answer format. The questions were shared between myself and Greta before, to help the students on both sides of the equator feel more comfortable. Judging by the reactions from my kids and the blogs written by Greta's kids, the event was well received by both groups of students. My students learned so much from the VERY well spoken English learning students. The differences in seasons and culture were met with the same wonder and awe as the similarities in taste in music and difficulty in learning our native languages. (My favorite moment was when students 5400 miles apart did the dance, "Gangham Style" together - priceless!) Some of the students in in Miss Greta's class went home and blogged about the experience, unprompted! Their comments were so genuine and honest. One comment in particular summed up why I Skype and is why I want these sessions for my students more and more. A great student in Miss Greta's class made the comment in her blog, "It was very interesting and fantastic.It was the first time that I could speak English with someone who speaks English all the time!!!" That comment right there is a exhibit A in the case of whether or not to use technology in the classroom! Through the use of Skype, we were able to shrink the world and expand the classroom a little bit for both classes! And that is why I Skype! Read more of the blogging responses here - www.kidblog.org/ouradventures and here - www.kidblog.org/asls2014 Thaks Greta!

Project W Reflections

A Reflection on The Bible - Wordled 7th Grade Version

I use wordle (www.wordle.net) in my classroom a lot!   My 7^th graders and I were using it one day in class and one student blurted out - “We should Wordle the Bible!”  That’s how it all started.  We got to talking, planning and all of sudden we had a 5 month project on our hands.    After much discussion and brainstorming about the content and form we settled on a wordle for each book of the Bible with an accompanying devotion.  We decided that each devotion would have a summary of the book, some key memory verses for the book, a personal reflection on the wordle itself, an explanation of where Christ can be found in the book, some reflection questions and a prayer. 

The 23 seventh graders each worked on at least two books of the Bible.  They researched the books using websites like www.biblegateway.com .  Next I created a Google doc with a template for the students  with all the necessary parts.  We also invited guest authors: our two pastors and school principal.  Our original thought process was to have guest authors from Lutheran schools around the country.  However, since we also decided to turn this into a school auction project, we thought it best to keep it all Abiding Savior authors.  Each student used www.biblegateway.com and copy and pasted the NIV version of their books into a Google doc and then into wordle. 

After each student did their research, we started to write.  This process was similar to a normal English class writing process.  They wrote and edited their devotions.  Once they had their rough draft written and edited, I sat down with each student and went through their devotion with them.  I was able to help them articulate some thoughts, guide them when they were struggling and polish the writing.   From there we put all their writing into a Microsoft Word document, because I find formatting with text and pictures easier than Google Docs.  Once it was edited, we turned it in to a PDF and used www.issuu.com to create an online magazine.  Wordling the entire Bible and separate testaments was not too hard because we already had all the text in the individual docs, so we copied and pasted it into a word document and then into wordle. 

The process was a long one, but I am very happy with the many positive outcomes.  My 7^th graders really took pride in their piece and the project as a whole.  They learned many things about their book in the research/writing process, in editing others’ writing and in our use of it as a devotional book in class.  Hopefully the online version gets some readership and others faith lives can be strengthened a little.   

The Online version of Project W can be seen at: http://issuu.com/sakerson/docs/project_w_web_edition/1

Student reflections on Project W can be seen at www.kidblog.org/mra7.

What I Learned at METC 12

What follows is a stream of consciousness about my time at METC 12.  It was a great conference that I am so thankful I got to attend. 


Monday – Pre-conference workshop – This was about doing one-take videos in the classroom. Video use is a definite weak spot for me. (My 6th and 7th graders will attest to that) What did I learn? Keep it simple. I don't need to do a lot of fancy editing. Just get the students making videos. They enjoy it, so do it! I also learned that they can be used in any subject. There was a great lower grades math example used by @amymcordova


Tuesday – Keynote – too much great stuff to process. Search the hashtag #metc12 for all the great quotes, video clips and ideas given. 

1st Sectional  - 21st century literarcy

We teach the iGen students, who are multitakers; love virtual worlds. We must teach students to be CRITICAL CONSUMERS of information they are looking for. What causes red flags? Teach Fact checking; Author bias; ownership, is it fresh?

How will I ethically use the info?

Good questions to ask myself came out of this sectional.  I need to get better with intentionally teaching these skills. 

Websites I learned about and/or want to try
(Students - google these and you'll find the websites.) 

Creaza    Audacity   Scratch    Mentimeter    tikatok 

Apps to try. (Some free some not)

civic quotes                overdrive = library                        360panorama                       Screen chomp
Mind push                  Bluster                                          showme                               mysterybookmaker
toontastic                   story lines                                      Skitch                                  story buddy
comic life                   popplet                                         evernote peek                       jot not
up next                      rover - flash sites                           study blue                             zite
pigeon                       kno                                               idea flight                              tech junkie
flixlab                       yelp                                                mixel                                    chorepad
kloutscore                tango                                             comic life                              join me
100 cmaeras            vocal zap                                        ignition                                doodle
splash top               dragon go!                                      remoter vnc

FIND NEW APPS
appitic.com -
iear.org

Ideas to use in the Classroom
infographics
paper slides
DEVICES!

Standards based grading -

Students who learn more - should their "grade be higher?" This sectional made me really begin to question the standard ABCDF grading scale. I want to do more research about this topic, but it really seems to offer a better look at the question - DID A CHILD LEARN?

Growth mindset - a student can grow they do not have a fixed amount of knowledge.

After heraing this sectional I want to explore standards based graded more.  I would love to start this style of grading in my classroom.  It is a complete philosophical shift.  I am convinced that it is worth exploring and I may already  be convinced that this is a more accurate picture of student achievement. 


FLIP THE CLASSROOM - WILL try this during this school year. Video tape the lecture/lesson - then class time is all practice/activities.  Makes complete sense. When do the students need me?  During the practice.  Give them "homework" of watching the lecture and gaining exposure to the new material, and then do all practice and activities in class where I can be there for help and more guided practice.

Speaking Loudly

As I sat in a presentation being given my 6th grade teacher, Mrs. K, about China, I could not fight the urge to blog about the experience. Mrs. K was using an actual slide projector. (One of my students asked while she was setting it up, “What is that thing?”) Every year she comes and talks about her trip to China, shows some great slides, shares some great stories and provides a great first-hand knowledge based learning experience for my students.


This year my students and I tried to incorporate technology into this presentation. We used todaysmeet.com to back channel during her presentation. (I cleared it with her first.) The students did an amazing job of following along, asking questions, making comments, reflecting, connecting to their own experiences. I sat in the back and tried to answer some questions, shared additional websites and pictures for them to look at during the presentation. They started to answer each other’s questions and engage in conversations about the presentation. All without interrupting the speaker!

This is why I teach! It was so fun for me to watch, react and learn right with the students. They gained a voice when they are normally supposed to be quiet. They got the live presentation plus additional, relevant information instantly. Another benefit was that I was able to invite parents to “watch” the conversation. This provides a connection between school and home and allows parents to be involved in their child’s education.

Technology opens up the world to our students. It shrinks the world for students and allows them to experience things we as teachers could not provide without it.

Paperless Grandparents

This past Friday we had our annual Grandparents Day. Usually for me it is filled with word game, some curriculum material and LOTS of paper. Not this year! I decided our grandparents were going paperless. So, how to fill the time? What am I going to do without all the papers I have used so much through the years. Well. . . . .

6th Grade - Google earth – showed them where were going in 6th Ancient History – took a walk around the pyramids and then amazed them with the Titanic wreckage. We also looked at the student’s blog site (http://www.kidblog.org/) and they showed off some of their Glogs. (http://www.edu.glogster.com/)

7th Grade - Google Forms – had the students help Grandparents contribute to a Google form about 9-11, (which helped us get more responses for our project (http://livebinders.com/play/present?id=186481) Another question on the form was what was another “always remember where you were moment”? We then took those responses and put them in a Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/)  It was neat to see the responses in this way. (Kennedy was the biggest word)

8th Grade – PBS Website/Google Forms – used PBS site about colonial America (our next unit - ) We took the “would you survive in a colony” quiz and then filled out a Google form about what they learned about colonial life. I also had the students list 10 words about their grandparents. Then we “wordled” those responses. The colonial answers will serve as our lead in to our colonial unit this coming week.

In the end I needed/wanted more time. Technology once again served as an awesome tool! It helped to bridge generational gaps and made usually stressful day a very enjoyable one.

2011-2012

These are the celebrations reported by ASLS staff. They were then put into a word cloud using TAGXEDO It was a GREAT YEAR!

Recommended Reading

THANKS to everyone who contributed to this list. I put out on Twitter what books would be recommended for a staff to read. Here is the list I received.

"I Read it but I don't Get it" by Chris Tovani.
"The Essential 55" by Ron Clark
"Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement" Robert J. Marzano
"Outliers: The Story of Success" Malcolm Gladwell
"Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics - The Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner.
"A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age"
Daniel H. Pink
"5 Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni
"7 Habits of a Highly Effective Person" By Stephen Covey
"Re-Imagine" by Tom Peters
"Intervention for Young Children with Autism" by Maurice et al
"The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life" Rosamund Stone Zander, Benjamin Zander

Twitter - Expanding our Classrom - Shrinking the World

(This was also a guest post on freetech4teachers.com, which if you are a teacher and have not checked out yet, you are really missing out!)

While I was principal for 3 years I dealt with a lot bullying/behavior issues related to social media. Finally, I swore it off as a hassle that led to many discipline issues. I swore up and down that I would never use a social media site like Twitter. Now I am back in the classroom full time and cannot imagine my life or career without Twitter.

Twitter recently led to an experience for my 6th graders that I could never planned or make happen on my own. While studying ancient Greece and their gods, I assigned my students a research project on a god. While they were giving their presentations on it, I posted a few tweets about how well they were doing. A teacher in Pennsylvania (@brdcmpbll) happened to see the tweets and it led to an awesome interaction between our two classes.

Mr. Campbell saw that we were studying Greece and asked our class to help his class. His senior Western Civilization class had prepared Greek god reports and we were going to be judges. Through the use of Skype we sat in on some of their presentations. During the presentations, our students used the backchannel Todaysmeet.com. My 6th graders were excited to see other students’ work, talk with students in another state and oh by the way, learned a little more about Greek gods in the process. One of my students actually got to perform the song she wrote about Athena for her presentation to the class in Pennsylvania.

The collaboration due to Twitter did not stop with viewing those presentations. Our class viewed the rest of their presentations using a Google 3X3 grid. Later, the students in Pennsylvania made study guides for my 6th graders using Studyblue, Studystack and Quizlet. All of these sites helped my students learn our material better and made it more fun for the students to learn.

Twitter helped make all this connection and collaboration happen. It broke down the walls of our classroom and allowed students in classrooms across the country to interact and learn from each other. My students were still buzzing about the experience days later, more so than they ever would have been had I just taught a lesson only in our classroom.

Twitter shrinks the world. My students and I follow world events on Twitter, almost as they happen. Greece riots reported by someone watching out their window, earthquake updates in New Zealand, and of course the guy who blogged the U.S. raid on Osama’s compound without even knowing are all examples of events we have “watched” unfold through Twitter. We talk to with classrooms around the world. We participate in classroom competitions and gain authentic audiences for projects of our own. For a recent project the students had to create Prezis on an earthquake. I wanted the students to practice the skill of persuasive writing/presenting and try to win “Worst Earthquake of the Century.” One of my 6th graders was concerned that in the voting phase, everyone would vote for their friends. Great point! Through the use of twitter, my students will have a non-biased audience for their presentations. This provided more motivation for them to prepare great presentations.

Twitter increases our school’s communication as well. I have created a middle school Twitter account (@aslsms) that the students are allowed to tweet from during the school day. The students update it periodically. I also put updates out there for the parents to read. We have gained a few followers through the year; parents and others. Parents are also just checking the Twitter page to see what is going on daily. Also, some students have even gotten their own Twitter accounts and I have communicated with them via Twitter.

Twitter brings the world into our classroom in so many ways. It breaks down the walls of our classroom and allows our students to experience the rest of the world in new and better ways. Twitter provides opportunities for connection, communication and collaboration to help make the students’ learning experiences better. Twitter has made me a better teacher. Twitter has expanded our classroom and shrunk the world in exciting ways for my students.

Please check out some of my students’ work at www.aslsmra.blogspot.com. This is a collection of some of the digital work of our students from this school year. Most, (if not all) of these ideas or websites I learned about on Twitter – yet another benefit!

Two big thank you’s – one to @kevcreutz for getting me to sign up for Twitter. Also, to @brdcmpbll for collaborating on the Greek god project.

Scott Akerson – 7th Grade homeroom – Abiding Savior Lutheran School – St. Louis MO – Twitter handle @mra47 – www.mra47.blogspot.com

How Exciting are YOUR plans?

Have you ever planned a week of teaching and then walked away, come back and said to yourself, “How boring!” I have had lessons recently that I am just not enthused about teaching. This had led to me to think how my students must feel during those kinds of lessons. If I am excited about it, how can they be? Sometimes we need to fake it yes. There is material that needs covering that just isn’t exciting by itself. But doesn’t that fall on teachers to make EVERY lesson exciting? Is it a teacher’s job to make every lesson the best, coolest lesson and material ever? Isn’t that how tech can help? I am pretty sure that the students pick up on when I am not “into” a lesson. How can I expect them to get anything out of it if I am not excited to teach the material or how I am teaching the material? After planning a week or a unit, step back, look at it, if you can’t wait to teach it, you’re already a step ahead of getting your students motivated to learn it. If you look at something and sigh, find a different way to teach it!

Reflections from METC

Dear Who Ever Will Listen,


I recently went to the METC conference. I learned some things. I have some thoughts. I want to share.  But first some awesome quotes:

“The only thing technology changes is what is possible.” @rushtonh

“Are you not getting through the curriculum because of the way you are teaching the curriculum?” @rushtonh

“Kids are digital natives. They came out of the womb with a password.” @rushtonh

“L2L2L – Learn to Love to Learn!” @kevinhoneycutt

“Whoa, did they teach you a teleportation app?” A 6th grader at my school when he saw me on Wednesday morning before I left for METC

To METC presenters, organizers – awesome conference – the amount of collaboration, learning, fun that took place cannot be measured. It energized and refreshed my passion for teaching with technology. It validated all the thoughts I have about teaching with technology. You taught me so much and encouraged me even more.

To colleagues at METC – Awesome to meet some of you! Awesome to reconnect with some of you! It was great to feel like that what I am doing in my classroom lines up with what some of the best tech teachers are doing too.

To my students – THANK YOU – You were so eager to hear about what I learned about. You were so excited to get going on some of the projects. Thank you for begging for Google Earth, or Blabberize, or Froguts on the Smart board or more Edheads. Thank you for being willing to try new things with me.

To my co-workers back at school – I get it. All your frustrations/headaches from me trying to be encouraging and introduce you to so much new technology, I understand better now. At METC there were so many NEW apps, projects, ideas, “techie” things that I know are great, I would love to try, but I don’t know where to start! Which project? When I am going to find time to try to learn that new app? Small bites, we can’t do it all at once. So overwhelming, yet exciting at the same time.

To my administrator (@aslsprincipal) – thank you for letting me go to METC; thank you for letting me try things, thank you for getting on Twitter, thank you for leading the way and being a champion for tech integration with me.

3 Days without Twitter = TORTURE

On Sunday, January 2nd, I was thinking about how to convince other teachers both at my school and elsewhere to join Twitter. I decided to go on a week-long “Twitter-strike.” I would not get on Twitter, not respond to any of the texts that come to my phone from Twitter, basically have no contact with the Twitter world until Sunday, January 9th. I kept a notepad and pen handy during the school day and I wrote down all the things that I missed out on, all the times I could have asked for help/ideas, all the times I could have helped another educator, everything I would have used Twitter for.

Well it is January 6th, so you can see how I did. I couldn’t take it anymore. Below is a list of some, (the real list was just too long), of the missed opportunities in just 3 days with no Twitter. What finally broke me was when a student asked, “Can I tweet about what we’re doing?” My Twitter strike was now prohibiting my students from using it and that was unacceptable.

My goal is simple: to let teachers know the power of Twitter who don’t already. There could also be some ways to use Twitter on this list that teachers on Twitter hadn’t thought of. There are so many other ways that Twitter makes teachers better that I haven’t even experienced yet. I am officially a Twitter-holic (thanks @kevcreutz for that) and want to share that joy with everybody!

Epilogue – since the creation of the first draft of this blog, my principal had approached me about doing a “Tweetorial” for our staff. See, my Twitter strike couldn’t have lasted, my boss wouldn’t let it!

Blessings on your 2011 – I pray it is Twitter filled and student centered!

WHAT I MISSED OUT ON:

1. Asking for China resources/ideas/people to Skype with in China for my 6th history unit on China

2. Helping an awesome teacher, @karacornejo, with her questions about outdoor ed and another question. (Sorry I didn’t reply Kara, still need stuff?)

3. Finding pastors for my Pastor to follow now that he is on Twitter. (Go @revdmc2!)

4. Asking for updates and sharing those updates with my students as they come in, about the Australia floods.

5. Welcoming our librarian and helping her connect with other librarians. (welcome @BevBrown61)

6. Showing my students the Ayers Rock photo that came from the astronaut that tweets pictures from space, during our unit on Australia

7. BRAGGING on my awesome 7th graders during school day about their Australia Google presentations they created and were showing. They really did an amazing job. Bragging about my shyest student getting up and talking because it was safer with technology. (COOL MOMENT OF THE WEEK!)

8. Telling again how I did my best teaching this week from the back of the room while the students led a lesson.

9. Updating parents about the everyday goings on in our classrooms.

10. Sharing, via twitpic, our technology-challenged chapel service, where we used a bull-horn because the sound system and projector were not working.

11. Telling others about my blog about Project X and the final stats from it.

12. Getting the tweets my principal was putting out.

13. Pursuing #stuchat

14. Participating in #edchat

15. Thanking people for RTing my blog (THANKS @gret and @blog4edu)

16. Searching for Ipad Apps

17. Thanking people for following me

18. Asking for help broadcasting my 8th graders Presidential presentations for parents.

19. And again – MY STUDENTS WANTED TO TWEET!!!!

20. COUNTLESS other activities, ideas, professional conversations

Project X - Complete!

After 25 days, over 2400 pictures taken, and countless hours Project X comes to a close.  It was really an awesome project.  I cannot put in words how awed I was by how many people helped spread the word.  It showed me what a small world we really do live on.  We had over 3100 hits to the website, from 6 continents, 43 countries and all 50 United States.  You can see a summary of the hits here - PROJECT X ANALYTICS.  It truly shows the power of social media (Twitter and FB) as well as just regular old email and "word of keyboard." 

I would change some things if we were to do it again.  We needed to be more organized and uniform in our picture taking.  It would have been nice to be about a week ahead of the calendar as well, but as it was we were scrambling the day before and sometimes the day of to get it finished.   However, I liked the Weebly website and would definitely use it again. 

The 8th graders were very diligent in this project.  Yesterday was our first day back at school and as we summed up and discussed the project.  Some of their comments cracked me up - "Are you going to do something like this next year?"  "What could you do to top this?"  "Let's do a Lenten calendar!"  (At this point I said let's move on to Science.)  Their enthusiasm is contagious and appreciated though. 

We received a lot of positive feedback.  Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment on the blog, send an email, or tweet a response.  The 8th graders and I really appreciated it.  (My favorite was when we were told "Mele Kalikimaka" from Hawaii!!)  At the bottom is a Wordle of some of the comments.

God's blessings to all in 2011 - I wonder what Project Y will be this year . . . . . .  Follow along on Twitter at @mra47 and @aslsms

Project X - Behind the Pics

When the 8th graders agreed to do this project with me, I had no idea what we were getting into. I had some ideas as to how it would go, but I still needed help. The 8th graders talked through some of the particulars such as how to get the pictures, how to organize them, and how to break up the days among themselves. The 8th graders were excited from the get go.

Many people have asked how we do it. It is really quite simple. We first looked at our registration forms to see which students’ parents had not signed off to have their child’s picture on a website. Next, I talked with my principal to get her permission for the project, so there is one person who knew what Project X was from the beginning. The 8th graders then took over and starting taking pictures. We brought in as many digital cameras as possible and began by just taking students pictures in the direction we need. After a little while it dawned on us that we should get each child looking North, South, East, West, as well as the in-between positions. The 8th graders decided that they wanted to be all the days of the week.

From there we went to work creating the calendar pages. We used a publisher page with a 7X6 table in it. Each student was assigned 2 calendar days and 2 devotions to write. The students then inserted a child’s picture into each box, with the staff members being the actual date. Some numbers had to be altered, for example we needed Student A holding a 5 instead of a 9. So we created “number surgery.”

The website was next. I played around with Weebly.com and decided it would meet our needs. So each publisher page was created, then saved as a JPEG image and then inserted into the Weebly web page. That picture is linked to the devotion page. No magic tricks, nothing fancy or too technical, just a bunch of clicks.

This project has taught me some things. I have learned that students can take a spark of an idea and turn it into something amazing! The 8th graders had great ideas for this project. I planted a seed, they made it grow. I was shown again that you never know what is going to happen. The students wanted to track hits to the site, so using Google Analytics we are now tracking it and that led to our goal of reaching all 50 states and 50 countries. I’ve learned that projects like this never stop growing. Once people saw the first few days, I was given the idea of the past days link. I’ve also learned that as excited as they were, the8th graders have gotten tired of tweaking the calendar. They need encouragement too.

I’ve also RE-learned that teaching is the best job in the world! Now on to some other big project!

What's your Star?

My family is Christmas crazy. As my wife and I put our Christmas decorations up this weekend I got to thinking about the stars on top of the tree. The Christmas tree topper is the part of the tree that is in a position of prominence, and many times gets noticed first. It automatically attracts your attention. In our house we have one star, an angel, a cross, a light-up moose head, Luke Skywalker, a name ornament, Drew Brees, a Veggies Tales ornament as tree toppers and one tree has nothing on top. (Yes, we have that many trees.)

Having lots of time to think while putting up all those trees, I got to thinking about my “teacher star.” What is the one thing I work hardest at and gets noticed first?  What is my attention grabber? What should it be? There are so many options. I do not believe there is one right answer. I want to explore some options and would love to hear from you what your star is.

Is it about me and becoming the best teacher I can? By working hard at becoming the best teacher I can be the students I serve get help in many areas. I network, I learn new techniques, and I attain more tricks in my bag. The ultimate goal of all of these is to help more students. One student may thrive in doing a project on Glogster, while another may still need the comfort of “the poster.” The more I know as a teacher the more opportunities for growth I can provide for my students. Becoming a better teacher involves so much growth in so many areas, that it can’t help but benefit the students.

Maybe I should focus on being the best lesson planner and have that be my star. Students need opportunities to thrive, but they also need to be engaged when it is learning time. If I have one presentation style I am probably not providing learning opportunities for more than half of the class. Teachers who vary lesson presentation, let students teach sometimes, bring in experts, and present in a wide variety of ways, help their students so much more and prepare them for the eclectic nature of LIFE.

Assessment! That’s it. I should become the best teacher at using assessment to help students. I will use every test, every assignment as a tool for personal growth for each student. They will reflect, they will re-learn, they will grow!

Is it classroom climate? Maybe I'll strive to be the teacher who is know for having the best run classroom.  Students who are happy learn better, I’ve heard that before. If I become the master of classroom management won’t that allow for all my students to learn at their own pace and in their own way?

So finally I think maybe my star should be I want to ‘produce’ the best students I can. This seemed like the obvious answer at first, but then when I tried to wrap my thoughts around what exactly it means, it was too big a concept. By helping students become the best they can be, I need to be incorporating the strategies listed above and so many more.

So in the end, I think of it this way – what do I want students to say about me when they are gone? (Having moved on to the next grade level or next stage of their life) “He helped me learn.” “He challenged me.” “He believed in me.” “He taught me to think to think for myself.” Those are the kind of statements I want on my “star.” (On a 5 point star I get one more too!)
What do you want your star to be? Comments welcome, appreciated and used to help me with my star.

JUST THE FACTS

JUST THE FACTS - in the last two months or so many facts have been running around in my head.  Today I let them loose. 


The fact that all principals don’t require teachers to be on twitter surprises me. The list of reasons is endless:

• Amount of resources available

• Teachers helping teachers

• Teachers connecting classrooms around the world

• Teachers encouraging other teachers to be better

• Bringing the world into the class

• Showing the students how small the world can be

• Showing the students that there are other ways of doing things beside the one they have grown up with all their lives.

• FREE Professional development

Since joining Twitter in June of 2010 (BIG thanks to @kevcreutz) I have completely transformed my teaching. I never used to reflect. Reading other teacher’s reflections opens my mind to so many ideas to think about. I have never tried so many new things in my classroom. I have never been so challenged to make the learning experience each student has every day the best one possible. I have never viewed teaching as a gift more than I do now. (great quote from @gret)

The fact that I still use worksheets bums me out. I have a personal goal to do an entire unit paperless in SOMETHING this year. Difficulties are time in developing that unit, getting the lab time every time I have that class and parent reservation about not having “tangible” work during a unit. I will overcome them. I would love feedback/comments on how other teachers are doing making this work. Mobile devices, understanding staff, awesome students are factors that will help me make that happen.

The fact that I still have to fill out a professional development hours sheet puzzles me. After attending two online courses in the last 2 weeks that were far above any workshop I have attended in a while I got to thinking about this. Who do I need to talk to get ‘credit’ for attending these workshops? I get a feeling of what it must be like to be a student and having to do every assignment for a grade. After I attended those online presentations by @shellterrell and @davedodgson I walked away with ideas that were both thought provoking for long term change and applicable the next time I set foot in a classroom. (Shout out to both of them for great presentations!) These were done on my time, did not pull me out of the classroom and were great. (They did distract me from grading papers ) But now I will have to get a sub and find workshops that the state will count toward my professional development and prove to them that I am growing as a teacher.

The fact that the biggest project I am going to do with my 8th graders this will have no grade associated with it really makes me smile. Since October they have taken over 1400 pictures for this project, took an oath of secrecy, logged a ton of hours in the computer lab and done a great job! They are excited about “Project X” and they cannot wait to unveil it and NEVER have they asked “is this for a grade.” One small step of no grading, one giant leap toward educational change. PS – unveiling will happen December 1st! Only 13 short days away!

The fact that I have to now grade the science tests the 8th graders took while I wrote this bums me out too.

Thanks for reading - comments welcomed and appreciated!

Reasons to Stay a Teacher

I have been at my new school 3 weeks today.  This was a switch in schools after 11 1/2 years at my previous school.  On the advice of a college professor I started a folder my first year of teaching titled "Reasons to stay a Teacher."  She said it is going to get hard, there are going to be "days."  However, she said to always remember why I wanted to be a teacher.  So I started this folder and had many entries from my first school and those students.   

For the past 3 years I have been serving as a principal/teacher.  During that time I forgot what it was like to truly be a "just" a teacher.  I lost what it meant to lesson plan for all day, to be in the classroom all day, to be with the students all day long.  I wanted to get back to that and through an awesome series of events I got to do that this school year.  As an added bonus I get to be the tech coordinator at this new school. 

Well in the first 3 weeks at my new school, I have already had 3 potential entries into my "Reasons to Stay a Teacher" folder.  (It is now digital :) First my new class of 7th graders gave me a great lesson that made the history teacher in me cry.  I had introduced them to wordle and they really seemed to enjoy it.  They asked me to wordle something like the Declaration of Independence, so I did.  It was an awesome history lesson in 1 min.  My whole lesson that I use on the D.o.I. was summed up and taught BETTER in that one minute as we explored the world creation.  They said, "Whoa, look at how big the word people is, that must be important."  We then looked at the words laws, government and how they stood out from the rest.  It was an awesome moment. 

Another entry was a book review that a student in 7th grade, Allison wrote for a local library.  While I have only known Allison for a few weeks, I was so impressed by her review.  Her and her classmates love for reading has really been cool to see.  They have books on order, they ask for e-readers because they read so many books, just so neat to see.  As a teacher it is so refreshing to see kids excited to read! 

After introducing Glogster to the classes I teach, so many of them have made personal ones.  I have one student who has created over 15 personal glogs!  One was even about our school. 

It is so invigorating to have students excited to learn and eager to embrace the exciting technology available to them.  In 3 weeks time I have been reminded why I teach.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to teach.  It is the greatest "job" in the world.  What an awesome opportunity/responsibility we have!  I hope that any teachers that read this have a moment that reminds them why they became a teacher soon!  And thanks to my students for the moments you have already provided this year.  Can't wait to go to work tomorrow!

Taking Good Advice - From Students

For school night in miniature I asked the middle school students at school to give the teachers and parents advice on how to make this a great year for them.  I used wallwisher to have them post advice and then showed that website to the parents tonight.

Here's my 7th grade students's wall:



Some of the advice really got me thinking about policies and practices in our classroom.  Is homework meaningful? Am I giving the students enough time in class?  Do I vary the presentation style enough?

This activity really has me thinking.  Teachers do so much planning to try to make it a good year for the students.  The plans, the tests, the field trips, everything teachers do to try to make it a good year for the students.  Do we ever ask them?  What do they think we should do this year?  What ideas do they have for how the class should run?  This activity allowed them to tell me what would make a good year.  I shared this with the students, hoping to develop a sense of ownership in our classroom, which will lead to pride in the classroom.  This represents a little bit of me letting go of control of "my" classroom.  What a powerful idea to turn the room we work in everyday into OUR classroom instead of "my" classroom.  Letting go of control is happening more and more in our classroom and it has really led to a lot of great things happening.

Comments on this or anything else on the wall?  Thanks.

Irony - Tech Style

On Thursday, in my new classroom, there will be a Smart Board installed over, wait for it, a CHALKBOARD.  As I planned out where the board would go and all the peripherals I couldn't help but chuckle at the irony.  It's like going from a unicycle to a Jaguar.

That technology along with all the technology now available online has empowered teachers like never before.  Gone are the "not in the budget" or "I don't have time" excuses.  We have great tools, great resources, great coaches and now we have great power, all within budget!

I am reminded of a great line from Spider Man - "With great power, comes great responsibility."  Our students today are growing up in a world unknown to me 11 years ago when I started teaching.  We as teachers today have the responsibility to the students we are blessed with each day to guide them in this digital world.  They will leave our classrooms needing more and a different kind of knowledge than we could have possibly imagined just a few years ago.

More irony surfaces when I think about the fact that all this power, and the responsibility that comes with it, is best used when we give up some control in the classroom.  Letting the students run the classroom in this manner can be frightening.  But showing them a new skill and empowering them to demonstrate and teach it will serve them best.

I am very excited to reinvent myself as a teacher, one 2.0 skill at a time.  What a great time to be a teacher!  In a time when things are down and out in many areas of the world, (oil spills, nuclear threats, and joblessness oh my!), it is an absolutely great time to be a teacher! hmmm, more irony!

NOW WHAT?!?!?!

Over the summer I have become enamored with Twitter. The ideas, the connections, the resources, the professional content, all GREAT. I have found so many new Web 2.0 tools, new ideas, new websites, new new new! But now what? How do I know how to integrate what where with who?

As I sat down with that blank lesson plan book,(silly content and standards), my mind tried to recapture ALL the great things that I had learned over the summer.   “OK science, now where was that one site? Oh wait, go to diigo, oh there it is. Now how can I integrate that . . . . ?” It is very overwhelming.
Take a step back and think. I don’t need to put it all in at once, I know that. BUT, what if I miss an opportunity? What is I forget to use it? There is SO much, how I do I keep it all straight? \

I have come up with a goal to integrate one new idea, tool, etc per unit per subject. I hope this is not as overwhelming. It would be nice to be able to totally revamp my lessons, integrate tech 100% (see @teachpaperless), but for me that is not going to happen in the school year 2010.

So I ask myself if being content with that goal is OK. I have come to the point where I think yes, because the alternative is to try to do too much and then get frustrated and go back to *GASP* textbook lesson plans.

Blessings on your school year preps!