The Best Laid Plans ... Get Set Aside for a Better Lesson

I had an extremely great lesson today! Maybe I should say I taught a really successful lesson today. No, that would imply that I don’t have successful lessons very often… what I mean is… today was one of those days when an unplanned lesson took shape. We went off the lesson plans, and the lesson turned out so much better than could be expected. I was “shooting from the hip” and it was working. I felt like I really got through to the kids and that they made a connection from their own lives to literature, and they understood “why they needed to read this old book.”

We have been reading Johnny Tremain and the kids were so distracted that they only wanted to talk about the “bailout” situation and the economy. (Now this in itself sounds a little strange to say that high school students wanted to talk about the economy, but they did.) As I tried to get them back on track when the subject veered off course and was descending into a presidential debate, I realized I could make a connection to Johnny Tremain.

We were at the point of reading the chapter when it was time to “pay the fiddler’s bill.” The Bostonians were going to pay the price for the Boston Tea Party, but everyone (whigs and tories) was being punished, not just the vandals. The government was going to punish everyone. The families that lived in Boston were going to have a financial nightmare, just like the families of America who are having the same issues right now. As they asked questions, I kept referring back to the Fiddler’s Bill and to the Great Depressions and making correlations to the current economic bailout efforts. So we created a quick table to do the comparison in. The kids got on the Internet, they opened their history books, they grabbed the newspaper, and they looked for statistics. They looked for names and dates from three periods in history. And then… THEY FOUND A PATTERN! Why do American‘s keep making the same mistakes?

Math: “How will use this in real life?”

How many times have math teachers been asked “how will we use this in our real lives”? I would bet that the answer is “a lot”! I know that even I have asked that question when I was a young person. I have asked that question when I am helping students during study hall. And I have definitely asked that question when help my own children at home at night and I don’t know the answer. But in the last few days, I think many people are using math in many creative ways. I am sure that you are well aware of the economic crisis – and it is a very serious matter so please don’t think that I am taking it lightly – but the best part of this crisis (and possibly the only good part) is the fact that people are doing a lot math lately.

I got to thinking about the concept of budgeting. I was taught at a young age, and the idea was solidified in my high school accounting class, that if you don’t’ have the money coming in, then you can’t spend it! If you don’t have the collateral, then you can’t get a loan, because when you can’t pay, they take things away from you. Not just what you bought that you can’t pay for, but other things to make up for the loaned out money… If an individual were to overspend, they would bounce checks, they would eventually be cut off from their credit cards, their belongings would be repossessed, their paychecks garnished, and they could end up claiming bankruptcy. This all makes sense to me, that is how I lead my financial life. I have to; I have children who depend on me to keep our lifestyle going…

What were these businesses thinking? Could they have been thinking about the customers (or should I say families) that they were working with? How many families are in jeopardy now thanks to this situation? Then, I heard a morning radio DJ – David Fudge out of North Platte Mix 97.1 – put it into a new perspective… “If every person in the United States were to help solve this problem by donating money from their own bank accounts to reach the $700 billion dollar amount, each PERSON (no matter their age) would have to give about $2293.17!” (Using the most current census to do these calculations.)

Later, as I walked by a class yesterday only to hear them talking about weights, measures, and conversions. (Gerry Swingle's classroom.) Not such a surprising thing to hear in a school. However, as I was working I could hear the students laughing, gasping and even sighing about the mathematical calculations they were making. The students were engaged and motivated to figure out the right answers. They were wondering how this economic crisis would affect their lives – and they found out. Here is what they were calculating:
• Mass of a one dollar bill = one gram
• If you have $700 billion one dollar bills = 700,000,000,000 grams
• To convert this weight to kilograms 700,000,000,000 grams x 1kg/1000 g = 700,000,000 kg
• To convert from kilograms to pounds (the American way) = 700,000,000 kg x 2.20 lbs/kg = 1,540,000,000 lbs.
• To convert from pounds to tons = 1,540,000,000 x 1 ton/2000 lbs = 770,000 tons
• The legal limit of weight on a semi truck traveling through the state of Nebraska is 40 tons. To convert from tons to number of semis needed to move that money = 770,000 t x 1 semi/40 tons = 19,250 semi loads
• Which means every family in Arnold pays 100 loads of money parked in front of their houses

If every person paid $2293.17 to help with this debt…
It’s an interesting thought… but here is the kicker: If every person would have to pay $2293.17 to help with this debt… Puts things in a little different perspective doesn’t it?

But, rest assured, if the government doesn't bail out the banking system, the national debt can be carried across Nebraska in 270,000 semi trucks - not counting the $700 billion mentioned earlier.

Maybe we should thank those businesses and banks for the impromptu math lessons that are occurring in thousands of households and classrooms across this country. Now, aren’t you glad you paid attention in math class?

“Faith, trust and pixie dust” while teaching with technology

I am sure many of you are familiar with the story of Peter Pan. Right now, my youngest child loves this one and we read it on regular basis. (Here is the best part… we have been reading it. She didn’t even know that there was a movie! Which makes her English teacher mom very happy!) As we were reading it last night, I must have been quite distracted because each time I read a line, I was thinking about school. I was thinking about my own “Peter Pans and Captain Hooks” in our school. Peter Pan was “forever young” and I as I read to my daughter, I kept thinking about the fact that our students are so “ready to believe” that they can do anything – and they can … when it comes to technology. But the Captain Hooks and the pirates in their lives tend to slow them down.

Sometimes those with their “hooks in them” don’t allow students to reach their potential as quickly. Now this is usually for a variety of reasons, some of them being good reasons, but often it is because it is difficult to let to go and let them “learn to fly” on their own instincts.” Students will teach themselves to fly when it comes to technology. Most adults realize that kids can figure it out on their own. Students don’t really need anyone to show them how to use a computer. They don’t really need someone show them how use a piece of software. They don’t really need someone to teach them to play a computer game, or even to find web sites they want to look at, because they have “faith, trust and pixie dust.” As adults, and especially as teachers, it is difficult for us to let go of the being the one that “knows.” We are used to having kids ask us questions and then we give them answer. It is hard on the ego to admit that we don’t know.

On the other hand, adults could argue that we have to monitor the situation. We need to watch and guide our students so they are kept safe and that they aren’t going into anything inappropriate. I agree. I think that is the entire key – MONITOR. Read that sentence again, and it says nothing about knowing every nuance of the hardware or software. It subtly says to help students use the equipment. As teachers and parents, the kids might know more about what the whistles and buttons do, but we have the life experiences to guide their knowledge acquisition. We can teach the parts of computer literacy that kids most likely overlook. This is when the Peter Pans turn into “the Lost Boys.” This is when “Tinker Bell’s light starts to dim.”

We as teachers need to learn to teach the CONTENT of our subject areas, and let the students teach themselves THE TOOL. We need to teach them how to search effectively for credible, believable, non-biased information. We need to teach them how to use the computer to their future jobs, not just entertain themselves. We need to teach them how to keep themselves safe from life-changing mistakes. This might be protecting themselves from ruining potential scholarship and job opportunities when using social networking web sites. We need to teach students the difference between “using your resources” and copyright infringement. We need to teach them that what is in print isn’t always correct. We need to teach them there is always a second perspective with any subject and that we should read them all before making decisions. And, obviously, we need to teach them to protect themselves from online predators, identity theft, and fraud. We need them to be able to “defeat the pirates” and get on with their learning lives. We need to do all of this without destroying their “sense of wonder and adventure.”

The word of the moment describing technology integration into our classrooms: seamless

The editor of Edutopia magazine, James Daly, wrote “the young folks entering kindergarten.. are a fascinating group. Born at the dawn of the 22nd century. It’s hard to imagine what the world will belike in 2013, let alone 2073… when they are ready to retire, if they retire.” (UpFront: Tomorrowland Today, Aug/Sept 2008) Now I am sure after reading previous posts you know I have a kindergartener, so this really caught my attention. But the more I let it brew around in my mind as I was folding laundry and watching reruns of Dirty, Sexy Money on the SOAP channel, (I know… I’ll bet you are surprised I don’t have a maid!) I began to think about how different my kindergartener will be technologically in just the few years. This thought led me to think about how different laptop students are from students in schools who don’t have access to computers 24-7. (These differences are easy for me to see since I have an older son in a school without laptops, and I teach in a laptop district.)

One of the main questions I am asked when we host Apple Learning Institutes at our school is: “how have your students changed since the beginning of the first year of your laptop initiative?” I also remember asking this of the districts before our initiative started. The answer is simple. Our students are problem solvers. They don’t have any trouble figuring out how to do things on their computers. At first, maybe the first 2 months, the students expected to be taught how to use their laptops. But it didn’t take long for them to figure out that we weren’t going to teach them, we wanted them to teach each other, to discover and problem solve on their own.

It wasn’t long before our students were leaning across the aisle pointing at each other’s screens. They were showing each other how to do things, how to set their computer settings. They were troubleshooting their assignments by showing how to change the “Ken Burns effect,” how to add custom animation to PowerPoints, how to google for what they really want, how to add comments in word and track changes, etc. Not long after the teachers noticed the students helping other students, the teachers started asking the students for help! A huge step forward in a facilitator style classroom.

Though this continues everyday, the way assignments and lesson plans are crafted has changed. The teachers are now giving assignments explaining only what they want to see as content, leaving up to the students the “media” format in which they will demonstrate their knowledge. (Once in a while, teachers will get specific and say “I want a keynote or PowerPoint.” Once in a while they will say “I want an essay, blog, or wikispace.” But most of the time, the teachers give a range of methods to demonstrate what they have learned. Each student can then choose the most appropriate media for their project. (Examples: Students have found that if they need music to play in the background of the entire project then iMovie might be a better choice than a PowerPoint. They have found that if they want their voice to be a focal point they might use GarageBand so they can turn the volume up and down and time it with the visuals. All of these skills will be so helpful in their future jobs and college courses.)

But the fact that our students have laptops and have had them for over two and a half years now, is never so obvious as when new students enroll in the district. It is a sad but true statement, but we as teachers have started to take for granted that student know how to use their computers and software that is installed on it. We simply expect that they can do the assignments without much pre-teaching. We take for granted that students know how to bookmark web sites that they will use daily. We take for granted that students know how to log in and use email. We think they can connect to the server and submit assignments to the drop boxes. We assume that they can throw an iMovie, iPhoto book, quick web page from templates, or a PowerPoint together.

Wow! That is a lot to take for granted in such a short time. Should we be thrilled that we are at that point? Should be we be sad that we are taking it granted? I think in some sick way we should be happen for this phenomenon. I don’t think many schools around us have reached this point. I don’t think a lot of schools can say that the technology has become as commonplace as using pencils and paper, or markers and construction paper to make posters. The word of the moment to describe this integration of technology into our classrooms: seamless.

Everyone Has Something to Teach

What do you do?
I teach.
Oh really, what do you teach?
I teach kids…
Not your typical answer, but it should be. As teachers we tend to tell the subject we teach when asked this simple question. We tend to say that we teach English, or Math, or Science, or 1st grade, but we really should say we teach kids. (Well, some of us teach young adults, college students, adults who return to college later in life, and some of us teach adults who work in the school system.) I am proud to say that I teach. I have always wanted to teach. My mother told me recently she can remember me “playing teacher” since I was started kindergarten. She even hung a lined chalkboard on the wall in my room so I could pretend to teach all my stuffed animals and dolls after school and on the weekends. There was even a time in my life when I wanted to break away from the idea of becoming a teacher. I went through a phase when I thought money would be more important than doing something I really had a passion for. Believe me, when my family found out I had switched from being a marketing major to majoring in English education, they were not surprised I had followed the family “journey” into education. (My grandmother, grandfather, great aunt, and several others were former teachers.)
I am sure that everyone has heard about the unfortunate passing of Randy Pausch, the author ot the “Last Lecture.” He was indeed a teacher, and he was a good one. His lasting impact on the world was a classroom lecture, and by sound of his National Best Seller statistics, he has touched many lives. As a teacher, I can only dream of touching that many lives. I can hope for fraction of those numbers, and I will settle with touching just few in a really meaningful way.

But recently I feel like I have been educated by some the best teachers that may or may not have planned to be teachers. The first being my own students. Sounds strange doesn’t it? A teacher who is saying that students are teaching her something; but it gets better! A technology coordinator who is being taught by her students about technology! Shouldn’t I be the expert in our building? No! I have preached for several years to our teaching staff that they don’t have to be the technology expert in their classroom. They don’t have to know how to make a movie to make the assignment; the student will learn to make the movie on their own. The content is the teacher’s responsibility! It is a hard thing to let go of being the main source of information in a classroom, and many teachers struggle with this concept. I find myself struggling at times. I also have found that it gets easier and easier to allow a student to show me how to do something, especially with software. I don’t have enough time to learn every new nuance of a piece of software, but the students do.

Speaking of preaching… another teacher who has really touched my life, happened to be a minister. I am sure that no one will know this minister. (Her name was Onamae Waddell.) She was not famous, she never wrote a book, and she never preached on television. But she married my husband and I 16 years ago, and she left a lasting impression on us. She said some very profound things, and left us thinking about a lot of things, and those things have stayed with us all these years. Recently she passed away from cancer, and it was obvious how many lives she touched; how much she must have taught people; and how much she had to say in her own lectures. I am not trying to tie the church and state together, I am merely trying to say that teachers come in many forms. They come in the form of children, and ministers. They might be paras, or administrators, secretaries or bookkeepers, counselors or librarians, lunch ladies or janitors. We can’t afford to take anyone for granted, they might have one of the more important messages we need to hear. They might be our best teachers.

Conferences and Change... But is change necessary?

For the last several weeks the idea of Parent-Teacher Conferences has floated around in my head. On the first day of teacher inservices in August, our principal put a charge out to the faculty. He wanted us to think about how we could make conferences more efficient and effective. He had a few ideas of his own, but was asking each of us to ponder the question, “How could we change conferences. What do you like, what do you dislike, and what could we do make them more effective?”

The first phase of this process was to really look at what I liked. For example. I feel that conferences were very successful. The middle school and high school teachers all had a table in the gym. We each had a table tent with our names on them, and our progress reports to hand out. We brought our snacks to set up in the kitchen to share with the other teachers when you get a five minute break between parents. Some even brought their own comfortable desk chairs with them. I had really good turn out and enjoyed meeting with the parents of my students. In our small town, I knew most of the parents, but it was also great to meet the new parents too. It was low stress and I didn’t even haave any uncomfortable conferences. Most of my parents came and knew what they might hear from me thanks to Powerschool.

I also accomplished more than just meeting with the parents of my students. I also arranged my junior class “food chairman” for the prom in March, which was quite the trick to get the mom to agree, but she seemed excited about it by the time she left. I also feel like it was successful because I did get to connect with other parents and get them the passwords for their parent accounts to check on student grades and attendance. I guess what I am really saying is that conferences are a great public relations tool.

The argument that tends to surface about conferences revolves around: a.) we don’t get to see the parents we really need to see, b.) we aren’t busy the entire time, c) attendance for conferences goes down in the spring because the parents already have met us, and the technology contacts kick in after the first conferences. The question remains, what else can be done? What are other schools doing? With a quick surface check, we have found that some schools allow their teachers to be in their classrooms so they can be working while waiting for parents – similar what is done in elementary settings.

But is this the best way to spend our time? Are there alternatives? With the advent of technology do we really need devote one full day for conferences, or would our time be better spent to spend a few minutes each day contacting parents using email, the telephone, the grades learning management system, or some other form? We do so much of this already could we just step it up by contacting all parents, not just a few? Could we make sure we talk to each parent, and not just the troublesome students, or the parents we know a little more personally? Or is this too impersonal as a main method of communication. What would we be giving up in regard to seeing someone face to face and making that personal connection? Can we be as effective without at least a mental picture of the parent we are talking to over the phone, or via email? I don’t know what the answer is… I have a different answer on each different day, after I talk to a different person, with a differing opinion.

Another proposed alternative, which has some interesting potential, is to set up a meeting of the parent with each of their child’s teachers at once. (I know what some of you might be think, and yes, I feel like it would be similar to and IEP – individualized education plan – but is that so bad?) This could be a scheduling nightmare for some to set up, but in our small school it could work… with a little work…

So I guess this post is getting nowhere. The same as my Google search (“parent-teacher conferences” + alternatives) really didn’t show me much. I mostly found out how schools think teachers should conduct conferences. (Help tips, pitfalls, suggestions, item lists of what to hand out, etc.) I realize that discussion is new. When this discussion started at our school I was not completely surprised to find an article about conferences in the NSEA fall magazine. So I will leave it up to you to share. What does your school do? What do school across the world do? What works for you and what doesn’t? What alternatives have you heard of? Is there anything really new and interesting going on with this subject? Do you have any web sites I can go to to read more about this? I am open to any ideas…

Time Just Slips Away, and I Want to Control It

Time. It is something we are all constantly measuring. We measure in terms of dates, general periods of time, months, holidays, seasons, and so much more. The one thing I think we can all agree with it is that there is never enough… never enough time. Sometimes that “never enough” is a good thing, and some times it is bad.

I have three kids, a husband, a full time job, my husband’s business, and community activities, so time is precious. With a child in junior high sports and activities in another town, I spend quite a bit of time running him back and forth 30 miles for events. With a 5th grader we have other activities in another town and a budding social life. With a kindergartener who is unable to stay by herself, things get complicated making sure she is entertained, taken care of, and not left out. It seems like everyday has something scheduled. Some kind of practice, meeting, pickup, or activity, and with that kind of schedule, something has to give. Ladies I am sure you can agree with me that usually it the housekeeping, or the laundry, or the dishes, or the homemade cooking. We aren’t home long enough to do any of the above, and when we are home, I am so tired that sleep is the only option in the less than 8 hours we are in the house. But … most people can say the same about their jobs.

I feel like “school time” just got started. I feel like I have been running a marathon with my hair on fire since the middle of August, and just in the last few days I feel like I am still running and the finish line is still nowhere in sight. Maybe because in past years I have always felt really settled in my school routine and my classes by now. Right now it is Parent-Teacher Conference time. I can usually measure time by my birthday, which is really close to conferences, and realize I can at least take my birthday weekend off without feeling more stress by Monday morning for not grading papers, not doing lesson plans, not catching up on email, not updating grades, not updating servers, and not going through my repairs list to see what should be a priority for early Monday morning.

However, here I am on Sunday night, and none of the above is done. I know I will be fine, and the students will be fine, and the lesson plans will work themselves out. I will do a little double time for the next few days, but the weekend off was worth it. I read a good book (actually I finished the entire Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer), I played dominos with my 5 year old, I went out to dinner with my family. I sang with my husband’s band at a fundraiser for a good cause, I watched the mud drags (which wasn’t my favorite activity) and I even helped mow and trim my mother-in-law’s yard because the weather was beautiful. Maybe the best remedy for the stress is a little time off. I am hoping to feel refreshed, revitalized and ready for the week to come. The myth of teachers only working 8-4 and having summers off isn’t so accurate. Just ask my family!

Save the Music - At Home

I have to laugh, my husband’s band, South Loup Sunrise, had a “gig” last night and it went great – for them. Me on the other hand, it was my first time singing in public with them, and I choked. Not too bad, but still – a choke! I did fine on one song, but they had to sing the chorus a second time in (in a row) to cover the fact that I didn’t start the next stanza. Oh well, I don’t think the audience noticed – unless they saw the panicked expression on my face when I realized! Now you have to keep in mind that this band is not young. They are not an up and coming band. They are a resurrected band from their youth. They are not looking for a recording contract. They don’t write their own music. They sing covers. They don’t charge much, in fact, they probably spend more on their equipment and this “side job” than they earn.

However it is important to know that they LOVE what they do. They like to sing, they like to play their guitars, and learn new songs. They like hanging out with each other and they like helping others have a good time. Will they ever record an album? Probably not. Will they ever become famous? Not beyond our community. Will they look back on this time and tell stories in the care home when they are extremely old? Yes. Does our community enjoy, support, and encourage them? Absolutely. (Unless you include our own children in this mix, they think it’s slightly embarrassing that their DAD has a garageband… that’s something normally for teenagers to annoy their parents, not the other way around!)

I am sure by now you are wondering why this is something I am blogging about on a “school-related” web site… well, it got me to thinking about music programs. I, personally, have never been in a music class. I never learned to play an instrument. I never enrolled in a choir class. I love to sing with the radio, in the shower, and just about anywhere else, but I have never been formally trained and that is my loss. And I am sure I am not the only adult who looks back on their life and wishes they had taken time to learn those things. I guess that is why it is so important for us as teachers to encourage students to participate in the music programs offered in our schools.

I know many districts are cutting music programs because of the strict budget cuts. (I guess that is why the television channel VH1 has a massive campaign called “Save the Music.) Luckily our district supports our music programs and the students of Arnold still have the opportunity to sing and play instruments. If there were no music programs in the schools, who would be our future musicians? Who would sing at our funerals, weddings, community gatherings, and other special events? Who would entertain their community later in their lives like South Loup Sunrise? (Not a shameless plug… sorry, they are really farmers, ranchers, water well diggers, and mechanics during the day.) But my question is this: How do we convince students that someday they will wish they could play and instrument? How do we explain to students the importance of staying with the band or the choir because it is valuable to creating a “whole, well-rounded” person? What do you do to encourage students? (I guess this is my own personal “save the music” campaign.)

Blogs, Wikis, Forums... What are those?

No, I haven't been on vacation, but I have taken a little break. But its not what you think. I have been busy experimenting and trying to keep up with my own life.

• I have recently become obsessed with reading a series of books (which I mentioned in a previous post).
• I have been playing catch up as the technology coordinator in my district.
• I have been trying to really concentrate on teaching my online class for the college and getting that going. (Which by the way is a lot of work, but it has been a really great challenge using a new learning management system - LMS.)
• I have been playing with using wikis and forums in my classroom.
  

All of these things have taken up a little of my time, which added up to... I have not been blogging. So here I am sitting in the middle of a lightening and heavy rain storm, wide awake in the middle of the night since my little girls (ages 10 and 5) keep waking me up, thinking about email, blogs, wikis and forums.

I know that just two posts back I asked if you read-write web, so this is a continuation of that same conversation, but I evidently still have something to say... so you can choose if you read on or not.

I started the summer and this school year so excited about blogs, which I am sure you remember from a post a couple of weeks ago. That enthusiasm has not waned. My journalism class is starting to really get the hang of it, and I am really proud of the blog work some of them are doing. (Normal is So Last Summer, and Sixteen, Spice, and Everything Nice, and I have many more that I will highlight later.) They are now looking for feedback, which I should be doing right now, but I am doing this instead, I guess I will be up a little later yet... the thunder and lightening has not stopped yet anyway but the the 5 year old is now snoring lightly next to me.

These students now want to know how to improve. They want to make their audiences happy, they have taken ownership. They are starting to find their own voices, and they are loving the freedom of the blog. There is so much more to it though. They loved picking their own topic, and talking about things that mattered to them. They liked the idea of no strict timeframes and deadlines like our print version of the newspaper and its mailing and printing deadlines. They could write anywhere, anytime, when the mood, inspiration, or motivation occurred to them. Some are writing the minimum amount of blog entries. Some are writing more. Some are writing more, but not posting them - they are saved for themselves for later, but not "live" on the internet. So needless to say the blogging, atleast for my journalism students is going pretty well. Even some of my struggling students have found a place they can be successful and enjoy school for just a bit.

Now my latest interest, due to a request from the high school English teacher, has been focusing on forums. You might call them discussion boards. I know a lot of schools have full blown learning management systems like blackboard or myElearning, but our district has not taken that step yet. We are still investigating this possibility and using free alternatives as of now. The English teacher's dilemna is this: she likes the idea of a blog

• She likes that students move away from answering a series of questions that have one correct answer, and moving to asking more essential questions that have opinion, synthesis.
  
• She likes having a place to collect ideas not only from the reading, but from other real experiences and tying all of that together with research, facts and media.
• She also likes the idea of others that are studying the same thing being able to read each other's ideas and opinions; and then being able to make comments and add to those ideas through comments.

What she doesn't like is the disjointed format it comes in. She doesn't like that if a blog participant reads and has a comment before someone else that they cannot make a comment that is directly tied in a nice neat little structure to that comment or answer.

• What she does like is the structure, the "outline," or architecture of a discussion board or forum. (She is taking classes online for her master's degree and loves the organized "threading" system of a discussion board.)
• She likes being able to post a question or prompt and then each of the students can "reply" to that post and it holds together.
• She likes that she post another question and the replies to that post are separated from the other question. They don't mix together. This seems more organized and less overwhelming to keep up with to keep like ideas together.
• She likes that the user can tell which posts they have read, and which they haven't in each "thread" so they aren't wasting a lot of time rereading anything unless they choose to.
• She likes that those like ideas are all together as a reference. If they are discussing symbolism, all of the different symbols recognized and posted about are all in one place for quick look up and reference and comment.
  

However, this posed a problem... where do we find a free discussion board system. Our district is tight on funds, so off to Google I went is search of a solution for her. Did I find a forum that was as high quality as the one she is using for her masters class, or similar to the one I am using in my online class? No. But I found one that will suit our needs. I am really liking CollegeBrain. They have a free system which actually offers more than what we need. It has the forums we are looking for, but it also has a gradebook, a file management system to disperse documents and other files, and it has a lot more. The best part... it's FREE! I set up an account for me as the teacher, recieved an email back on how to log in, had the course set up, and the first discussion board thread set up in less than 30 minutes, and that included fiddling around with a lot of settings. I did realize some limitations:

• I could not see how you could have two teachers listed as the email contact for one course. (She and I wanted to be able to see each other's forum. We could share a login but then only one teacher is listed.)
• I could not see how to insert a live hyperlink. (You can type in a URL but you would have to copy and paste the address into a web browser manually instead of just clicking.)
• I could not see how to insert a picture or graphic with a post. (But this might be to keep the file sizes down since it is a free service.)
• I could not see how to edit a thread post after it was created if you had a typo or change, but that might be there...
  

This might not be the best free discussion board out there, but this is the one I found. Does anyone know of any others that would work for schools like us that offer more?

Persistence

Recently, I found in my school mailbox an article written by Janice Gilmore titled “Teachers have ripple effect.” I am not sure about the background of the author, but I naturally read it from the perspective of being a teacher. Her article was definitely pro-teacher and reminded the readers that what they do has lasting impact on children. We touch lives, but then didn’t we all know that? Sometimes it is just nice to hear it from someone else.

However, more than just the “pat on the back” stood out for me in this author’s words. She said, “If a child does not take the opportunity to learn, he is taking a big chance on his future.” Everyday we go to work hoping to touch a student’s life. We want to make a difference even if it a small one, that we may not know about for years after the student has left the building. We all know that if a student doesn’t take an opportunity to learn, what will happen, but how to do we change that student’s mind and try get them to grasp the opportunity and really learn when they don’t want to? There is no magic cure. There is no formula for turning a student around. It will be a different process for every teacher who attempts to change a student’s attitude about learning.

The only thing will be universal for all of us is PERSISTENCE. “When teachers feel they aren’t getting good results from their students, they should not despair.” We just have to keep trying even when things might look hopeless. We have to keep trying even after that student has given up. We have to keep trying even when other teacher, administrators, or parents have given up. We have to keep trying even after that student has left our classroom or even the school as we casually run into them in town. “A child who is valued and encouraged can build the confidence that makes him a better person in life.”

My First Comment!

It has finally happened, thanks to Josh, "The Vid Kid." Someone has finally admitted they have read my blog! On second thought, maybe other people are reading my blog and not just making comments or getting involved. - Hopefully Mom you will learn how to comment - I promise not to call you out and say that you are my mom :) -

I thought it would be more exciting. I thought I would have some thing inciteful to respond to. But in reality, after I read Josh's post saying thanks for teaching us Wordle, I realized that I never even mentioned Wordle in my blog. I just used a wordle on one of my posts. So I may as well take this opportunity to say thanks to the creators of wordle for their great FREE tool. I love that I can copy and paste one of my blogs, or an essay, or a paragraph, or whatever piece of writing I choose, into the wordle web site and then have it make a great visual representation of my words. What a great way to show student which words they are using the most (or too much), and show which words they are using the least because they are the smallest in the visual representation.

• The thing I like the best is the idea that I can ask a student to put their scholarship essay into it and then see visually the words they used the most and what the focus of their essay is about. If the wrong words come up the largest, the student can make adjustments.
  
• I also like the fact that you can teach a great lesson on word choice for creative writing and see what comes up. If they are simple words that are large, then maybe the writer can make some different choices.
• Another idea is to create a word association collage for a creative writing assignment.
• I liked that I could tell that I use the word "just" in my blogs too much... maybe that is a colloquialism.
• I like that I could tell from a "ranting and raving" blog post that even though I was upset, I was still focused on the most important thing - the students and teaching.
  
• What a great tool for analyzing your writing. Do you suppose that is what the creators had in mind?
  

Of course it doesn't hurt that you can change the layout, the font, the color schemes, and the background to make it more appealing and then save it for use later. Give it a try. As you can see from this picture, I "wordled" this post...

Do You Read/Write Web?

In Will Richardson’s “Back to School” blog post he told of a moment talking with a superintendent about the read/write web and its use in the classroom. The teachers seemed less than receptive and had many excuses why it would be difficult to implement. The superintendent was talking about his own teachers as he began, “The problem,” the superintendent said to me [Richardson], “is that they don’t think they have a voice. They’ve been conditioned to wait for us to lead, to tell them what they can or can’t do. Somehow, we need to change that.”

I have to say that I am proud of our teachers and their efforts to begin with this process. They were receptive to a completely online technology handbook instead of handouts at the inservice. (Which is updated regularly.) They were eager to begin blogs with their own students at many grade levels – 3rd grade, economics, psychology, American History, Animal Farm, etc. Others are creating their own teacher web pages to disseminate information to the students and parents in their classes. They are using wikis to help take notes and study for classes, and so much more.

I am so proud of our teachers and students. They should be congratulated for their efforts, their hard work, their enthusiasm, and their dedication to their jobs and most importantly, to their students. However, some people are going to think that these are just small steps, and that we actually have a long way to go. Maybe you are right, but at least we are moving forward. At least we are giving our students opportunities to add our “global knowledge base.” The real question is this… will this lead to further expansion of use in our classrooms? Will this start a new project? Will it inspire another teacher to do something similar, yet different? Let’s hope so.

Distance Learning Problems and Pleasures

Another one of my many jobs at school involves teaching in the Distance Learning room. Yes, we still have a room. We have a room filled with 8 flat screen tvs, 3 codecs, 2 cameras, and 8 microphones. I know what some of you must be thinking… why haven’t they broken up the equipment and used it to make at least 3 mobile distance systems? The answer to that question is this… I don’t really know. This is how we have always done it, and it works for us. The room is not over-booked, yet, and when it starts getting tough to “book the room,” then we will make changes. I am in favor of this change, and I can see in the near future using the distance equipment to solve many of our budgetary issues…

But, I digress. I didn’t begin to write this blog about effective use of distance learning equipment, I wanted to write about my frustration with teaching over this system. Yes, I have taught over the D.L. before. Yes, I have taught completely online courses. Yes, I am teaching this course as a hybrid of live classes and using the learning management system. But none of that really matters when I am so frustrated. Does it matter that I wanted to teach this class this way? Does it matter that I was really excited this summer to teach this class? Does it matter that I took a class and read about 10 books about teaching online before I began this class this fall? Not today it doesn’t matter! Today the only thing that matters is that I am frustrated. I guess I am frustrated by more than one day, though.

The problem is probably the same in many districts, and the problem has many facets. They begin with the fact that each of my 4 schools has different rules about email, and in fact, most have it blocked for their students (not my district). The problem is then compounded by the fact that each district has different times that they register students into classes, and they have different deadlines for drop and add-and thus for filling out registration papers for the College credit courses. On top of that, I can also say that I had to wait for all the students to get their textbooks. Wow, now that I realize what is happening, I realize that is what all college professors must go through for the first week; but they are lucky. At least their students can leave early and come back the next day to try again. You don’t have to hold them in class the entire period and try to keep them under control and busy.

Now, I know this sounds like a lot of complaining, but there is more. We also have the trouble with students being purposefully disruptive (banging books, talking too loud, and other petty behaviors.). We also have technical difficulties (microphones, sound equipment, etc. in the DL room, lack of email, lack of passwords, the server being down, the wireless not working in the room, etc.) whether they are real or not. And by now you are probably wondering, why would anyone want to subject themselves to this? Why would teachers offer to teach classes like this? I asked myself that same question all the way home from work (which is about 33 miles one way). Could my list of pleasures outnumber the number of problems? Or if it couldn’t outnumber, could the quantity versus quality argument win out?

Are all the problems worth it? Yes, on most days. I love meeting new people. New students, new administrators, new tech people, new monitors, etc. I love the network of people that you create as you work with so many schools. I love the challenge of working in a new medium. (Creating a blog, using email with students, grading assignments without printing paper, using a learning management system, and yes, teaching over the DL.) I love the theory of how distance learning will help our small schools with their budgetary concerns. (Sharing teachers and their salaries, sharing programs and entire departments, offering a wider variety of courses to meet individual students needs and interests.) I don’t even mind thinking that understanding how to teach in this medium could help me later in my career because I might have a skill others don’t. Job security is something we all strive for right? But it is the one world concept that intrigues me the most. I love the idea that I could be sitting in a small town in Nebraska and could be teaching a student on another continent and I could be learning from those students also. What a great concept!

So now that I have vented, and consoled myself a bit…Therapy through typing… I think I am prepared to face my class again tomorrow and start fresh. To point out the things the students need to know and understand that will frustrate others. To point out that each student is equally important and therefore when one, or a couple of people, dominate the class with bad behavior, then it ruins the class for the rest. Things have to change for the better of the large group. All of the students are there to learn, and a few can’t really be allowed to slow that process. I need to strive to find the pleasure in teaching again. Maybe I should make them read this…

I Read a Book That Could Cause a Ripple

Yes folks, the rumor is true. I read a book for pleasure over the weekend. I read a book that was not one recommended by my students, not one that I had to read for a class, not one that I am going to teach in the near future, not one that I am planning to teach in the distant future either. I read a book for the mere pleasure of it. I read it in the span of 3 short days when I probably could have been more productive and work on more important things (like lesson plans, grading papers, planning my next unit my journalism class, or posting files and documents to the online course I am teaching).

But the real question here is… did I get more from reading the book, than I could have from working? The answer is probably not a simple one. I should have worked. I will be behind tomorrow, I will still have to do all of those things I listed above, and I will have a million other things to do on top of those too. But if you were sitting in my shoes, you would feel as good as I do, and think, “all that wasted time was well worth it… I feel great! I want to pass this book on to the next person and scream from the roof tops, read this and then come talk to me about it!” So here I am “shouting from the rooftops instead of doing my list. (Again, this could be seen as a loss in productivity, but I have blown this much time, what is a few more minutes?)

Here is the real kicker, so to speak. I have just finished reading a book that will inevitably ruffle some feathers. I might ruffle the feathers of the same people who said Harry Potter is horrible. (Even thought the series is simply an example of good defeating evil over and over.) It might upset the same people who said that the book The DaVinci Code is turning people away from religion. (Even though it is a fabulous example of allusion, research, and creativity coming together to make FICTION.) It will most likely end up on the list that is “celebrated” each October during the Censorship month. It might even make the Top 100 Censored books for this year, or last year, or next year, or of the century. (I can say wholeheartedly that I would really disagree with censorship happening here.)

I can hear them saying that the main characters shouldn’t have defied their parents’ wishes. They shouldn’t speed in their cars. They shouldn’t hang out with dangerous people. They shouldn’t skip classes. They shouldn’t eat things they aren’t supposed to. They shouldn’t come from broken homes or eavesdrop on conversations. But does this list sound that bad when we are talking about teenagers? I can hear the critics saying it is setting a bad example for teens everywhere. But have they thought about the fact that the author is young herself. She is very successful and has written more books (which by the way I am dying to read now that I have finished one), and that anything that gets students to read any book is a good thing. I devoured this book and so would kids. (Oops, maybe I did end up reading this book for a school purpose without realizing it!)

It could be argued that the book is strangely “Romeo and Juliet-esque.” It could be argued that the author does an excellent job with the theories of good and evil, and the concept of conflict (man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. himself). The book is written with only one grammatical error. (There is a pronoun-antecedent agreement issue at one point which the publisher must not have caught. Or it could be said it is a typo when they called a male character a “her” instead of a “he.”)

Now do I have your attention? Do you wish you knew what book I read? Have I dangled the carrot long enough to make you want to read the book? Does it really matter what book it is? Shouldn’t we want to make every student think about books and then want to read more like this blog entry? Or do I need to share just a little bit more? If I told a boy that this book has a love story in it, the boy might not want to read it. If I told a girl that the book is about vampires, the girl might not want to read it even if she knew the word vampire didn’t appear until 125 pages into the book. How do you describe a truly unique book with an engaging story, captivating characters I didn’t think I would like since I am not into monster or science fiction stories? How do you convince someone that you will not be convinced that vampires are real, but the story can still pull you in and make you believe until you close the cover and come back to reality?

I know that I will recommend the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer to anyone who will listen. I will loan out my copy. I will pass it around until it is dog-eared and needing to be replaced. I will realize that not everyone will love it as much as I do, and I also realize that some will want to censor it, but that is what makes it a literary endeavor. At least we can discuss the differences of opinion and learn from each other. The discussion, the argument, “playing the devil’s advocate” is often the best part of literature. I love to talk about books. I don’t like to read in isolation. I want to share it with others and that is what I am hoping my students, my children, my family, my friends, and my colleagues would want to do with great books also, even if we have differing thoughts. Enjoy the book if you choose to read it.