I Want To Be Subversive

What do you want your students to be able to do, not by the end of the year, but in 2026?

I love this woman. I want to be this teacher.

Summer Reading Club

Just read a real good book* I could swear I saw one of our students reading, or at least carrying, the other day -- The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z by Kate Messner -- but when I asked about it this morning, she denied everything. Maybe I got the girl wrong, there were several of them at the same table, all Filipinas with straight black hair, but I don't think so.  And it's not like I walked up to the Pink Ladies and mentioning the word "book" wiped out all her street cred in front of the cool kids, these are all good students and most are in a book club. I do know I got the title slightly wrong, I couldn't quite remember the "brilliant" or the "Gianna" parts, but it's not like I accused her of reading Mein Kampf....

Which got me wondering if I could set up a Book Club Blog** to get some 4th-6th grade students reading, discussing, and sharing books they read. I might not even be at that school next year, or might only be the PE Teacher again, but it might be a way to keep some reading going over the summer. And if I did get a classroom next year we could keep it going and use it for digital citizenship and internet writing lessons.  Even at a different school it would be a way to connect students/readers from around the county.  Hmmm...



* as opposed to a fake good book?
** obviously a catchy, cool name is needed. Any ideas?

Blogs = 8 Track Players?

I've spent the morning going through the Twitter feeds and re-tweeting* (which of course posts straight to FB) all the incredible thoughts and ideas by Educators and Technology folk, then popped over here to post a few links and it felt... dusty? slow? something my mother would use?

Aside from a rant now and then that exceeds 140 characters, is blogging still worthwhile?

*"Twitter feeds and re-tweeting" Innovative, useful, engaging? Yes. Still silly to say? Yes, and always will be.

Finding a ton of great ideas here:

http://missnoor.visibli.com/share/SrZfJq

and here:

http://missnoor28.blogspot.com/

Facebook: The Evil Empire?

Parents, please tell me Why in the holy name of Steve Jobs when I asked my classroom of 10 and 11 year old 5th graders how many were on Facebook 20 little hands shot up?!? Accompanied by big grins and shouts of "and Youtube!" or "Tumblr too!" -- I'm all in favor of the iGeneration being digital from the womb, but aren't there age milestones they're supposed to hit before being immersed in the potentially confusing, sometimes sordid world of social media?

"Do we ban pencils because one wrote on a restroom wall? Why do we do that with Social Media in the classroom?"  --   @JulieDRamsey   juliedramsay.blogspot.com

So now the District wants to ban all teacher/student connections on Facebook. Which I agree with on the underage side, there's no reason Elementary students need to have to have anything to do with FB. But if my students' parents were big FB users I definitely would set up a class site in order to pass along info and connect all the parents.  For my middle school students and my sports teams, I think FB is an instant and effective tool when used to connect teachers/coaches and students.  I know they all have phones these days, but am I really supposed to sit down and call them all when one post keeps everybody up to date?

Yes, there are creeps in the world. Horribly bad people. If I caught any of these rat bastards preying on my students there would be a very public demonstration of my fury. Do I trust my sons' teachers and coaches? Absolutely: I've met them, talked to them, watched them. I have also discussed the real world with my children.  Do I trust every coach, teacher, scout leader? Hell no, and neither should you. I joked about not meeting a single parent for the first seven weeks of being a brand new, mid-year teacher, and I still have met less than half my students' parents, but it wouldn't be funny if I was a lousy teacher, or worse. Stop by, peek in, look around! I was visited often by fellow teachers and the Principal dropped in randomly, and although I was nervous and self-conscious, I support and encourage the practice.

Back to Facebook.  I have seen the crap teenagers post.  I have two teenagers at home that have posted crap and been called on the carpet for it, not only be me but by aunts and an uncle and friends that knew better and were able to give him a virtual "love tap" and remind him of the rules for proper behavior. But c'mon, they are teenagers and they are going to be rude, obnoxious, inappropriate, and laugh at stuff we do not find funny. They are going to be mean and hurt others. They do not share our values and our interests because we are adults and they are still children. ("Children" by the way, that know so much more about the world than you did at the same age. They've known stuff for years you just found out about last month. They know stuff that would curl your parents' toes and put your grandmother 6 feet under.)


Which is why we need to help them, to watch them, to protect them. We need to save them from themselves, from the other children who also need saving, and from the life-damaging pain of the predators. We need to read their posts and texts just like we read their diary and the notes found in their pockets on laundry day.  We need to view their pictures and videos just like we view the movies, tv shows, and video games.  We must watch what goes into their eyes and ears exactly like we watch what goes into their mouths and bellies.  And most importantly we need to teach them discernment, wisdom, good judgement, ideally through the greatest teaching method ever invented: setting an example.

But that's a rant for another day.

Voki Bear!

  ok, so maybe I've played around with these a bit longer than I should have, but I thought it would be a fun way to get my students creative and active on their blogs. Supposedly you can use your own voice and have the avatar speak instructions or lesson clarification.

Press play, and tell me what you think of my new accent!

Voki, as in voki.com       readthewords.com

Mr. Nauton's Wildcats

Don't shut me down, Blogger, but I went over to edublogs for the classroom website, just seemed a little more appropriate and less apt to get me in trouble when the students start clicking "Next Blog"...

Any suggestions, besides change the darn ugly colors? Do students get anything out blogging? I'm thinking publishing, editing, commenting, internet safety, as well as a place I can post links of interest for them.

Learning is Messy

Great blog, this guy seems like just what I want to be when I grow up. His students are skyping, blogging, publishing, etc. Watch the Digital Learning post video -- very inspiring!

Learning is Messy
 

Education needs a soundtrack

Books with soundtracks -- love this idea. Historical novels with period music, character/mood/motivation expressed and enhanced with appropriate background music? Think of the possibilities for informational text: new terms and concepts can be introduced with a video, historical events accompanied by primary source images, etc, etc.

This is exactly what I think of when I envision not only text books in the future, but My Classroom tomorrow!  At the very least I want Google search constantly hooked up so no student ever has to say "what is that?" and not get immediate visual and/or aural support to the text explanation. And my ipod will be constantly present -- Civil War studies needs fifes and drums, Civil Rights Era needs Sam Cooke, Earth Science neeeeeds cool video of oozing lava and exploding volcanoes!

Teacher Discounts

save a little sumpin' for yourself... check out BradsDeals.com

Tech4Learning

Check out Tech4Learning

They have it all covered -- blog, FB, apps, even cool usable images like this dude:

 

 

The Mouse Squad

Excellent idea, most middle schoolers probably have more experience and expertise than the entire  staff combined, plus the available time.  The next generation Auto Shop?


12 Year Old Tech Support

Technology Should Make Ya Move!

As I sit here on my ever-widening rear end night after night, searching and reading and collecting Education issues, I am serving as a reminder of how I do not want my children or students to use the computer and internet: It, the computer-centered world, cannot be the be-all, end-all solution to anything, especially not Education.  A computer cannot be the means for engaging, teaching, researching, producing, and assessing (not to mention entertaining) students.  Yet I see in a lot of the work and ideas that herald computer technology as the only future for Education, and concurrently the only way to communicate with any person under 16 years old, the common thread of isolation, of a student linked electronically and wirelessly to teachers, classmates, and the means to receive, practice, and demonstrate understanding of knowledge.

I'm not merely railing against the video game generation that never sees a ball or bike touch real dirt, that's an old argument, nor am I hating on the texting/FB-ing addicts whose thumbs and phones are never separated.  But what I see online and out on the campuses seems to fall into two schools of thought regarding technology:

1. "We're a Technology school, we let 'em use computers!"  These schools/teachers are so hip and with it their students can use Word, then Google up some pictures to really snazz up the book report!  The advanced students that finish class work first, or the RSP students that "don't do" a certain subject, can play cool math games... What's the difference between my son sitting for 2 hours in front of the screen playing Zoo Tycoon and sitting for 2 hours playing Shoot the Geometric Shape?*
2. "We need to relate/connect/catch up -- we Twitter and Facebook and Text our students!"  The emphasis here is playing their game, communicating on the students' terms.  Assignments are available online, questions and answers relayed wirelessly,  entire semesters of work produced electronically.  Is my son demonstrating a mastery of the subject matter or of his ability to collect and merge the correct pieces? 

No Luddites here, I am all for the 21st century and beyond -- I just want there to be balance, a synchronicity between Wikipedia and the dog-eared paperback Thesaurus, between the video camera and real live actors.  Technology assignments should always try to incorporate movement, should have elements of other media involved.  For example: video science reports with real world demonstrations and on location interviews; text message or twitter scavenger hunts that involve reading maps, interviewing classmates, collecting measurable data; history research reports that result in physical demonstrations of knowledge, such as speeches, songs, or re-enactments. Many of these and other ideas can be found at Edutopia's Digital Science and Math Lessons .


* no, I do not let my sons sit for 2 hours playing anything.

Wiki your classroom!

Awesome ideas for getting students to create and collaborate online, thanks to the Web 2.0 Class blog...

From the classes I've taught in the past 2 years I can see where options like these need to exist, at the very least, for those students who finish early, understand quickly, need a challenge, etc. etc.... #1 question I'm asked by students? Easy: Can I use the computer?*  I flat-out say no 99% of the time because I know they are only going to play games or sneak onto a music/mail/whatever site they aren't supposed to.  But what if they could run their own wiki?  Do meaningful research? Create or compose? The possibilities are, of course, endless...

I'm still working on my Year in Review (actually, I'm still working -- 3 more weeks of school), attempting to process all I've experienced and learned during this 1st year of full time (sort of) subbing.  And I definitely still don't feel like a teacher, nor feel I am in any position experience/knowledge/skill -wise to make sweeping judgments and claim to have the answers for what ails Education. (you know a "but" is coming, don't you?) But...

I do wonder why 1) some classrooms are so loud, distracted, unruly, disrupted, talkative? Is it just the way kids are?  Is it because they have a sub? Is it a teacher or parent or school culture problem?

2) why is there so much wasted/lost time during the school day? Does it really take that long to get started, to switch subject materials, to understand directions?  How much of question #2 is in direct correlation to #1?

Hmmm...


*provided of course the classroom does have working computers.  Love the district that chose to spend the $$$ on a large screen TV (aka "dust catcher"or "movie screen") instead of enough computers to be worthwhile...

Wonder Walls and Imitosis

Should be working on cover letters, but instead fighting the urge to pick up my Father's Day gift by visiting cool Education sites and stealing collecting, graciously and gratefully, ideas such as the Wonder Wall .  Also found some awesome music by Andrew Bird* here on this cool video of a teacher's empty but always busy classroom, and virtual post-it notes.

The "Wonder Wall" is similar to something I had thought of before, and it comes more from being a father than a teacher: children are capable of asking over 1 million questions in a single day! Multiply that by a room full of 2nd graders and you can see how easy it is to drown in question marks... I plan on having a wall dedicated to questions students ask, with room for the answers.  Maybe we don't get to the answer right away, I can't let them get me started on Why is the moon so bright? when the curriculum calls for 3-digit addition, but by the end of the year we should have answered them all.  I think I'll have volunteer student "experts" assigned in September so if a stegosaurus question does come up and Jimmy has read every dinosaur book in the Library he can give a mini presentation and answer the question.
Someday...


* and I thought I'd learned a new word, the video's soundtrack is titled "Imitosis" -- but can't find it in the dictionary?

Blog plus Facebook plus Twitter plus ...?

Is there a way to connect them all so a blog post feeds into a FB group page? Or visa versa? Playing around with it instead of while working on resumes...

Math Teacher Shadow Video

He's not the best actor, but this is still very cool!  A Math teacher has issues with his own shadow...

Oops, just noticed some of the other videos listed are NSFW!

Here's his Halloween video on YouTube, which is probably a safer site to visit.

What a great way to get students interested in using video/computer technology  to express understanding...

iPods and Education

iPods and Education

My 1st VideoCast

...And just like my first bicycle ride, my first kiss, my first drive on the freeway with a stick-shift, it's an extremely wobbly, lurching, spastic mess... and there's no real video in it, you have to move your eyes back and forth real quick to give the illusion of video.

WolframAlpha

One of the 1st things I'm going to look up after posting this? What the heck is a "wolfram alpha" ?!?

What it is, thanks to Ms. Michetti at connect. create. question. is the next level of search engine/encyclopedia, a possibly overwhelming fount of information, the answer to my constant exhortation to sons and students of "look it up!" It is WolframAlpha .

There is a cool "Overview Video" that shows a ton of examples, some way over my head, but it looks amazing with the potential to really engage students in exploring and discerning information, rather than simply copying text from Wikipedia. I'm going to try some real world, relevant to 2nd-6th grade topics and see what happens...

the 10 minutes later update... Well, found out I have 113th ranked name for US births; lots of info on "Boston Red Sox", "Transformers", "Grizzly Bear" and today's date (sunset scheduled for 8:01) but not so much for "Tony Hawk", "Kings of Leon", or even "American Revolution"... definitely like the Scrabble/crossword puzzle cheating assisting potential: put in a word with missing letters, it supplies the possibilities.

Let me know what you think. How can this be used in the classroom?