Talk, Don't Block

"How do you make sure that all of your students are using your class set of computers appropriately? I don't know that I could trust my students to do that!" 

The short answer?  We constantly have conversations about appropriate use.

This was not always the case. In my former position, I was in a district that made it difficult to have these important conversations in a real context. I taught digital citizenship lessons, discussing appropriate use of technology, but it didn't have as much meaning as it could have. 

Technologies like the chat feature in Google Apps, Thinglink, YouTube, they were all blocked. I get it. It's easy. If students are blocked from using technology that they can potentially use inappropriately, then there will be no instances of students using the technology inappropriately. AT SCHOOL.

The reality is that students are using these same technologies at home, outside of the school environment. When will students learn how to appropriately use these tools? From parents, is the hope. But when we, educators, are charged with teaching children the skills needed to live in our ever changing society, we can't hope someone else is doing the teaching.

When technologies are opened for students, within the parameters of laws, students and teachers can learn appropriate use through the actual use of the technologies. In my first 10 weeks of school in my new position, where the very same technologies are open, my students and I have had such rich conversation about appropriate use.

When students downloaded current Top 40 music from YouTube for a class project, it gave me the perfect opportunity to discuss copyright and ethical use of media. We discussed how we could purchase the same music in iTunes, but if we wanted to use it in published projects we would have to get permission. We also talked about why a song you would have to purchase, is on YouTube for free. And, just because there is a website that helps you convert YouTube URLs into downloadable files, doesn't necessarily mean it is legal.  Do you realize the learning that happened for my students because it was within a real context?

Currently, I have students who are using the chat feature in Google Apps to chat with students in other classes. This can be considered off task behavior of both students. Some may say to turn that feature off, but I love using that feature when working with students in their Google Apps. The answer? Talk about how when they are chatting with students from other classes, it is an inappropriate use of the tool. Explain why they should use it appropriately. This sets the expectation and solidifies the learning, which is how I have handled this situation.

We need to talk, not block. Give students real contexts for learning appropriate use of technology.

Give Students a Voice...Literally

I am so thrilled to be in a new teaching position, at a new school, in a new district, with a new philosophy. It has afforded me the autonomy to design learning experiences for my students that empower them to tell their stories. I have also had the pleasure of designing these experiences with my new colleagues.

Imagine 3 teachers (me - the tech teacher, the language arts teacher and the art teacher) sitting around a table waiting for a staff meeting to start in early August.
     "So in October I usually do an immigration writing project that coincides with the Dias de los Muertos art unit in the art class," says Cary, the language arts teacher, "but I want to change my project up this year to teach my kids how to write a biographical narrative using an interview as the planning piece. Would you be willing---"
      "Could we podcast the narratives!" I almost scream out excitedly.
      "That would be totally cool," Cary agrees.

Four weeks ago my 7th graders began their podcast project that coincided with creating Dias de los Muertos skull art, alters, etc. and writing biographical narratives and poems about family members in language arts. Students chose which family member they wanted to podcast about and created a list of interview questions in language arts. At the same time we started a genre study on podcasting in my technology class. We listened to podcasts from Storycorp and Radiolab and analyzed them for audience, purpose, content, context, and structure using this form. We especially paid close attention to structure because we needed ideas for how to structure our own podcasts. We also used these KWHLAQ charts (idea from Silvia Tolisano) to keep track of our learning. Next we explored Garageband for a few days to learn how to import audio tracks, create original music, and edit tracks. We then launched into putting together our podcasts about our family members, following these instructions.

I am so excited to share some of my students' work. Through the course of designing a learning experience that encompassed multiple disciplines and the learning of new tech tools, students were given a voice to share their stories. It is through their storytelling that you learn about who they are and where they come from. These podcasts will now be shared via QR codes within the Dias de los Muertos Art Exhibit in our multipurpose room in a few weeks. 

This project made me laugh, cry, and allowed me to get some perspective on my students and their families. Not only did my students learn some valuable academic lessons, I learned about my students. I call that a win-win!

Literally giving my students a voice in this project allowed them to learn on so many levels, gave their families a role in the learning, and gave the opportunity to create a keep sake to cherish for a very long time. 

Increase Reading. Plain. Simple.

Sound familiar?

This year I vowed to never hear this again. Wanna know what I did? I first reminded myself that, as a teacher of English, my bottom line for learning was that, by the end of the year, my students would actually like to read, write, communicate their ideas, and be inspired to do all of it.

The major change I made was this:

Use engaging mentor texts as the starting point for everything I taught.

Plain.

Simple.

I didn't use fancy curriculum; I didn't spend hours designing elaborate learning activities (ok, sometimes I did). If we worked on reading skills, then I used mentors (from novels to blog posts) that I knew my students would be interested in. If we worked on writing skills, then I used excerpts from interesting texts that would model strategies for our writing. When choosing what I would use to kick off a lesson, I made sure to use a variety of text types, choose texts that would appeal to both genders, and that they were accessible to all reading levels. I also focused on allowing students to read whatever they wanted, de-emphasizing Accelerated Reader (that's for another post), and only doing one whole class novel. One mentor that really generated interest was one used before we started writing our own book reviews. I used a book review published on the Nerdy Book Club website for A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd. We were looking at how to write a book review, but the review was so good my students wanted to read the book.

          "Bbrrinnggg," my classroom phone rings. "Hey Sue (the librarian), what can I do for ya?" I ask.
          "What are you doing in your room?" Sue remarks with a giggle.
          "Um, learning. Why? Is there a problem?"I say sarcastically.
          "Whatever you're doing is costing the library a ton of money?" Sue responds with a great laugh.
          "Oh......AWESOME!" I shout out, disrupting my class.

Can you imagine getting a call like that from your librarian? This is when I first realized that my use of mentor texts was affecting my students desire to read.

What I quickly saw was JOY, CURIOSITY, RISK-TAKING, and COLLABORATION happening all the time. Even though we were not reading the whole selection often, I peeked the curiosity of so many students that they wanted to read the whole selection. Students who had never wanted to read started reading. My students started requesting, well actually demanding, that books (where the excerpts came from) be purchased for our school library. We started having great conversations about reading, and students began to see the connection to their own writing. The best evidence showcasing the power of my one change was when several students, on several different occasions, told me that they had never liked to read or write before my class. Before their confessions I really didn't think I had done that much for my students, but their honesty got me reflecting on what was different for them. 

I made their learning authentic. I showed them what real writers do. I gave them choices of great literature to read. I made class interesting, with one change. 

I love when my thinking and the ideas from several different professional reads come together to inform my decisions in my classroom. Reading Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller last summer coupled with reading 1o Things Writers Need to Know by Jeff Anderson the summer before helped me make this one change.

Think about one change you can make for your students this coming year that could make learning meaningful. It can be plain and simple.

5 Ways You Know You've Experienced #CUEROCKSTAR

Learning Defined in 100 Words

Learning is essential. Learning is a right. Learning makes you who you are.

We all learn whether we know it or not, whether right or wrong, whether it's liked or not.

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines learning as the acquisition of knowledge through experience, study, or being taught.

Experience is listed first. Perhaps school should provide more learning through experience.

If learning is essential and a right. If it makes you who you are. And, we want everyone to learn in the right ways and like it, perhaps learning should be collaborative, set in real-world contexts, and available to all.

This is part of the #youredustory blog challenge. It's not too late to join.

It's About More Than the Academics

A student comes in and wants to share the book they just finished, or a great joke they've recently heard.

Or

In the middle of class, the lesson spurs a student to connect the learning to something they did over the weekend.

Or

Students ask to come in at lunch because they want a quiet place to eat, hang out, and complete homework.

What do you do? 

I want students to connect with me, tell me their stories, and see my room as a safe place to be. Some of my favorite parts of my day are these interactions. This is probably one of the best things I do in my classroom, in my students' opinion and mine. 

Learning and the school day is so much more than academics. A sense of belonging and self worth is needed for students to even be ready to learn. I encourage both of these by allowing students to be kids, humans if you will, rather than always being the student. My favorite time is lunch because there are always 5-10 students in my room, working, socializing, or just hanging out. Our conversations cover so many topics and we learn so much about each other. This in turn helps students make a connection to school that will ultimately help them be a successful learner. And, even though I have 45 minute class periods and we are always pressed for time, there will always be time for a student to share a connection. Yes, I have to be careful that we stay on topic and not take too much time away from our learning tasks, but the pay off for letting students share is worth it.

It's about letting kids be kids. Show them that your care goes far beyond how they perform in your class. 

This is part of the #youredustory blog challenge. It's not too late to join.

Is A the New Average? or How will I change the world?

"You're not going to believe what my dentist asked me yesterday when I went for my checkup!"

I wasn't expecting too much out of the ordinary, after all, my colleague and I talk often and about everything. 

"He asked if the kids were getting smarter because most of his young clients tell him they are getting all As." My colleague then told me she sarcastically replied to her dentist, "Don't you know that A is the new average?"

We happened to be walking to our classrooms while having this conversation, and I promptly halted at the words, "A is the new average". It is very apparent that we have this issue on our campus, several factors involved: inflated grades, parent expectations, etc. But what shocked me was that for the first time the greater community was beginning to see the problem, meaning it is a huge problem.

I'm not going to get into why we have this problem or what should be done to combat it because I have learned that I can only affect what I can control, with the hope that by sharing what I do will slowly help to bring about change. So as part of my #youredustory blog challenge, I want to talk about how I will make the world a better place by staying true to my practice in my classroom.

Staying true to my practice means taking the emphasis, as much as I can, away from letter grades. It is so ingrained, with every activity or assignment garnering questions like, "How many points is this worth?" or "Is this worth a large part of my grade?". My response is always, "Do you plan on doing less than your best?". My students look at me like I've busted them somehow. Well, I have.

I've busted them for playing the game of school. My students have been conditioned to complete to do, not, complete to learn. Staying true to my practice means providing engaging learning opportunities that give my students purpose and authenticity. By no means have I mastered this, but I'm getting better. Our latest writing activity was writing book reviews that were published in our library. Only 1 student out of 166 asked the aforementioned questions. I'm making strides.

Staying true to my practice also means focusing on process, not product. Experience tells me that if I help my students focus on process, then naturally the final products will be their best work. I like to also help students realize that when you work, you use all the resources that are available. Halfway through the year and I am beginning to see students pull out resources, ask to use them, and begging for more time because they haven't gotten to use them yet.

Making the world a better place means helping my students realize their potential in spite of a grade system that has their focus in other places. The more I can empower a student to become a learner through the practices I use as a teacher, then little by little I have the potential to change the world through these empowered learners. 

To change the world, it is not likely that I will do anything on a grand scale. To change the world, I will make decisions on a small scale that will increases the chances of my students changing the world on a larger scale.

This is part of the #youredustory blog challenge. It's not too late to join.

My #oneword 2015

Last December I started blogging after a bit of #edupressure and did pretty well posting up until August. I guess the start of a new school year got the best of me and now it's time to get back in the swing.

As I think about my #oneword for this year, I must first reflect on last year's, JOY. My plan was to have a Joy Jar to keep track of my joyful moments, but alas the jar stayed empty. "Oh No!" you must be thinking, but rest assured it didn't stay empty due to the lack of joyful moments. It stayed empty because I had to focus so hard on paying attention to my joyful moments that I never could remember to take the time to actually document them and put them in the jar. I struggled, had high highs and low lows, but was determined to find my joy. You know how they say that sometimes you have to hit bottom before you can get back to the top? Well that's what happened around April.

I had interviewed for a teaching position at another school in another district and didn't get it. Being the reflective person I am, I solicited feedback about my interview. Fortunately, the administrator who had interviewed me was honest. I had come off as rather negative in the interview and the committee didn't feel I would be a good fit. As it was hard to hear this, it was exactly what I needed to hear and the feedback made me hit my bottom. Who wants to seen a Negative Nelly? Certainly not me! From that point on I worked hard to find my joy. At the start of this current school year I made sure that I steered clear of negativity at my school and have worked hard to let what I can't control roll off my back. During Thanksgiving and Winter Break I was sure to focus on family and friends, rather than work, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Several friends and even my own mother commented that I seemed more content than they have seen me in a while.

Though I didn't completely follow my plan, I absolutely found more joy in 2014. As I continue to find more joy, this year's #oneword will be BALANCE.

Image Credit

Now that I have a handle on finding joy, I need to find the balance between my work and my personal life. I will have to be purposeful with decisions and be sure that I am providing myself with enough time to enjoy my family and friends, while also providing enough time to enjoy teaching. After all, if I am feeling balanced, my classroom will be balanced. This will allow me to have the right frame of mind to foster good relationships with my students and provide quality instruction. A balanced mind = a balanced life.

This is part of the #youredustory blog challenge. It's not too late to join.