Blog Brothers

Gigabit Challenge Finale

2012-01-16T15:43:00.004-06:00

On Wednesday, January 18th, we will be blogging live from the Gigabit Challenge Finale in Kansas City, MO. Last Spring, Google announced the recipient of it's high-speed fiber internet project - Kansas City (both KS and MO). I was especially excited because I live and teach in Kansas City, KS. As part of the deal, the schools would be receiving the service free.

After the initial buzz, I found myself wondering how my classroom would benefit from the speed. Would innovation be more possible with my 5th graders because of the service? Would the internet service attract ideas that could be tested in my classroom? Would it do anything?

At the finale, I will learn about the range of possibilities. I will seek to filter these business plans through my education filter. I hope to be able to dream clearer after Wednesday. I am excited to learn more from the event - check out the speaker line up! If you would like to join in the fun you can check out this blog again on that day, watch the event live here, follow the hashtag #GBfiber and @gigabitchallengekc, or follow either myself or my co-blogger on Twitter:

Jon - @jonathanferrell
Britt - @brpumphrey

I'm curious to find out what I learn.

#EdCampKC

2011-11-05T07:12:00.000-05:00

We are at #EdCampKC today in Lee's Summit, Missouri today. Looking forward to learning with everyone who comes!

What is EdCampKC?

ShowMe App for the iPad

2011-07-30T15:22:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I came across this *free* app and I have been excited about its potential use in the classroom. Below I have embedded a ShowMe recording that shares a few of the ideas that have been bouncing around in my head. Share your ideas for other ways to use this app with students. Enjoy!

Learning to Present to Adults

2011-07-27T10:27:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend we had the opportunity to present at the Podstock conference in Wichita, KS. We chose to discuss why and how we have our students blog in our classrooms. Blogging has been around for a while now so this was nothing revolutionary. But, it is a simple starting point for teachers who want their students to be more engaged in their writing and it is great practice for interacting appropriately online.

This was just our second time to lead a presentation at a conference so we have a lot to learn about the art of effectively communicating to a group of adults.

What we know so far ...

Discussion rules. Questions are difficult to frame well, but very important.
Blended discussion (verbal and using a Google Doc) appears to be a great method to involve all participants.
Allow the group to learn from each other. Provide a backchannel opportunity to foster interaction among participants. Don’t pretend that we have all the knowledge.
Keep it simple. Avoid the theoretical and the education jargon and just talk about what works in the classroom.
Be a learner before being a teacher.

What we need to learn more about ...

How this format will work with other topics. We have the student blogging presentation down at this point. But, will this format work well for other tools?
Working with larger groups of adults. Both of our presentations have been between 20-40 adults.
Differentiating technology.

Reflecting on this experience I (Jon) am struck by what I have learned can be applied to the classroom. Far too often I will get in a rut of gushing out information at my students. This year I will strive to involve my students more the learning process. I would like to have a Google Doc serve as a discussion platform and backchannel throughout the day in my classroom.

Reflecting on this experience I (Britt) find myself mulling over all of the professional development I have been a part of at the building and district level. I wonder if this more interactive approach would enhance those times. There is a significant difference between the voluntary mid-summer conference and the mandatory, district inservice in February - but I am not sure the mid-summer conference holds the advantage. I believe teachers would thrive in the interactive learning environment, and make strong connections to their own rooms (as Jon did). I mostly wonder if the average professional development session involves enough learning to inspire the kind of discussion we got to be a part of?

Blogging with Students - Podstock 2011

2011-07-21T16:21:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow we are leading a session on blogging with students at the Podstock 2011 conference in Wichita, KS. The plan is to facilitate discussion around blogging with students and spend time creating a class in kidblog while exploring the platform.

Follow the conference on Twitter using #podstock2011.

We will be using a live document to aid and document our discussion. Here is the link to the doc. It is a semi-organic document that will be filled with ideas and information during the session. Feel free to join in even if you can’t make it! The doc will be most useful to reference after the session is over.

Here is the proposal for the presentation just in case you are going to be at the conference tomorrow and are wanting to know more about what exactly we will be doing. We look forward to seeing you!

Our plan for this session is to provide teachers with an engaging conversation about student blogging with additional hands-on time to create and setup blogs for their students. Both presenters blog with their students. After experiencing the benefits of blogging with our students we are eager to share this valuable tool with other educators. We have experience using Kidblog, Blogger, and Edublogs with our students. During this presentation we will demonstrate setting up student blogs with Kidblog due to the extreme easy of use.
The session focus will be on sharing ideas about blogging best practices. This conversation will be held verbally while also utilizing a backchannel discussion using Google Docs to aid in engagement and comprehension.

The session focus will be on sharing ideas about blogging best practices. This conversation will be held verbally while also utilizing a backchannel discussion using Google Docs to aid in engagement and comprehension.

Changing Subjects

2011-07-20T08:34:00.001-05:00

In August I will begin my fifth year of teaching sixth grade. I love my job. I enjoying spending each day with energetic, quirky, and lovable students. It is a privilege to be able to lead my class as we explore and learn about life together.

The previous four years I have taught math, reading, writing, and social studies. This year I will keep the core subjects and switch out social studies for science.

While I am intrigued by science I would be remiss not to mention my sadness at losing my social studies classes. In sixth grade we explore the ancient civilizations and it is a blast. I will miss uncovering the ancient mysteries and retelling awesome stories of those who came before us.

Transitioning to science this summer has been an exciting and humbling process. Exciting because of the new challenges and interesting content. Humbling because it has highlighted what I don’t know. I have a basic understanding of these topics and could pass a test. Yet, to teach something well one must possess a far deeper understanding and fluency with the topic.

Luckily, I am in a profession that affords me the opportunity to spend the summer learning and exploring. So, I have devoted time this summer to deepening my understanding of science. So far I have found some great science blogs, read a handful of science books, watched a couple of documentaries, and sought the wisdom of those with experience teaching science. I am beginning to get to that deeper level but I still have so much to learn.

I hope to model this attitude of not knowing everything and seeking knowledge with my class in the fall.

I would love to hear your advice - what is your one nugget of wisdom for a beginning science teacher?

Best Environment for Educators

2011-07-19T12:59:00.001-05:00

This question is posed to US public school teachers: "How do we create the best environment for our educators to lead their classrooms and help their students perform better?"

Vicki Davis of the Cool Cat Teacher blog posed this question and a subsequent survey yesterday. This post will be my response to that question, a question I think all teachers should answer. I will use the questions I give my students when we are setting goals to answer the question.

Jonathan Ferrell shared this link yesterday on Twitter. In the article, which is an interview with Jonathan Kozol (don't stop reading just because they misspelled Kozol's name in the title!), Kozol says he learned from Paulo Friere to "not to think I always know the answer". I need that printed on my forehead. It is an important caution as I or you attempt to answer the above question.

Here are the questions I ask my students when they are setting goals. The answer to the question at the top of this post is really a goal, that is why I am choosing to use these questions to structure my answer.

1. Where are you?

I teach 5th grade in a large, urban district.

My school is predominantly hispanic, and 98% free and reduced lunch (or low socioeconomic) with the majority of those students on the free lunch side of things.

I have taught for 4 years.

My first year was in a small-town district, made up of majority white students.

I am planning to start my masters in administration this fall, so this question is very important for me as I think about eventually leading a school.

I am currently team teaching. We have two teachers and two classes, all day in all subjects.

We get 4 plan times each week, one of them is a common plan time with the other 5th grade teachers.

Our district has progressively decided to adopt components of the common core standards as well as ACT standards as well as the current state standards and we are tested every 4 1/2 weeks around these.

Our school struggles to meet the federal requirements for AYP on the state test and it seems to be an annual struggle to avoid potential restructuring consequences of low scores.

Our district has early release every Wednesday. Students go home and teachers are in professional development.

I could go on, but the list covers enough for this post.

2. Where do you want to be? (providing the best environment for educators to lead their classrooms and help their students perform better)

TIME: Structure the plan times to be more collaborative. Teachers should be planning and developing units together as well as assessing and reflecting together.
TIME: Instead of top-down professional development, the time should be spent having teachers critically reflect on their teaching practices as well as jointly analyzing the curriculum and pacing.
TESTING: The current model of excessive testing leads to a flood of data. To best help teachers, the tests should be boiled down to the most important ones and there should be support in analyzing the data so that it can inform classroom instruction. As it is, tests are a statistical mess that bore students and scare teachers. To the point to where our "best" students are best at factual memorization and regurgitation and not necessarily at learning, being creative, or being inquisitive.
MEANINGFUL REVIEWS: Bogged down administration and closed-door teaching practices means that teacher reviews are generally a triangulation of test scores, a 15-min observation, and a personal lean (do I like you or not). Even then, the observation is usually focused on a correct lesson plan format, whether or not the standards are posted, and did the teacher manage the student's behavior well. For the students' sake, this needs a change.

Allow for peer evaluations. How about the principal cover a class while that teacher goes to observe another teacher. They could be looking for something (were students engaged) or they could be learning from a teacher who is awesome at teaching a certain skill. The teachers could then spend 10 minutes talking about the observation.
Instead of 15-minute reviews, once or twice a year. Principals should be given/should take the time to be in classrooms every week. It would be natural for that to lead to discussions around how to improve the environment.
At professional development, teachers should bring videos of their teaching. Not their best lesson, but rather of them teaching something their students just aren't getting. Constructively and critically, teachers should provide feedback and ideas for that lesson. For me? I would like to bring a clip of me conferring with a student during reading. I need to get better at this!
Instead of asking, "are the standards posted", the question should be, "is the lesson focused and do the students know what they are supposed to be learning." As I believe that is the spirit behind the movement to post standards.

SUPPORT: Everyone agrees that schools should be 100% about students. Attacking teachers does not help students learn. So support them. If a teacher is not improving even with support, then help them find a job where they can be successful. Supporting teachers does not mean to blindly tell them they are awesome and doing great.

3. How will you get there?

This year I will seek out teachers who are strong where I am weak. I will ask my principal to let me observe them with students.
I will work to minimize the excessive testing by providing good instruction for my students and not relaying my worry for the results to their 5th-grade shoulders. I will not spend hours every week doing test prep. Though common, it is not best practice.
I will continue to take time, on my own, to be reflective around my classroom data. No, I am not paid extra for this. Even if there was merit pay, I wouldn't be paid more. I wouldn't receive much for taking a student from four grade levels behind to two grade levels behind, according to the test I am still a failure. The point is that it helps my students.

Ultimately, I will work to get better at what I can control and not get held back by the systematic or environmental things I cannot control.

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy being reflective today!

Setting Goals

2011-07-18T11:25:00.000-05:00

1. Where are you?

2. Where do you want to be?

3. How will you get there?

These are the questions I want students to think about. I start out by asking them these questions with reading. Using the Fountas and Pinnell test, each student knows their reading level. From that data, they think through each of the above questions. We revisit their goals often. In math we discuss their strengths and weaknesses and then the students write out their answers to the questions.

This year I will have students set goals for their behavior. These goals will come after we have developed the classroom expectations and discussed ways to make our room the best room in which ALL can learn. I want each student to understand their responsibility to the class.

After a week into the school year, every student will have these three goals in place and documented. Setting the goals is not enough, students need to understand why we are setting goals and understand what their next steps should be to reach the objective.

Here are the two visuals I provide for students to help them understand setting goals.

1. We go outside to play soccer. I divide them to teams and give them a ball and tell them to play. When the students - automatically - set up the two goals, I stop them. I make them play without goals. They have fun for a while, but soon they become bored. Especially my more competitive students. This is a great teachable moment to talk about setting goals, identifying what is in the way of reaching your goals, and why knowing where/what the goal is is so important.

Of course school can be boring if there are no goals set. I guarantee that my students will have a subpar teacher at some point during their educational career. If they have a goal set, the boredom of the classroom can be viewed as an opponent to be overcome. Whereas if they have no goals set - imagine how bad that class will be! They are just running around, kicking a ball back and forth and they don't even like the people on the field with them.

2. I bring in a weightlifting bar with 250 lbs on it. I have a student try to lift it. They can't. I ask them to imagine that I ask them to come in every morning until the last day of the year and try to lift it.

Then I ask, "on the last day of school, will you be able to lift it?".

"What if you come in every day and sit in that chair and stare at me every day, will you be able to lift it on the last day of school?"

"What if you come in every day and lift this 1 lb weight, will that help?"

I turn to the class, "how do you get stronger?". We talk about the questions above. How does that apply to weightlifting?

This analogy is great for reading, for setting realistic goals, and for developing real steps to reach them. Choosing good fit books - not too easy or too hard - is important to help you grow as a reader. Reading every day is extremely important.

After these two lessons, we are ready to revisit our goals. Do you need to rewrite your goal? What steps do you plan to take to reach your goal?

By the way. Just three days ago I committed to a challenge to try something new for 30 days. I decided to blog for 30 days straight. It is 11:35 PM on day 3.

Whew! Barely kept this goal alive. Goals are hard to keep, but worth it.

Enjoy learning today.

Planning for a Blog Hour

2011-07-16T13:58:00.000-05:00

Like most teachers, I have been taking several hours this summer to dream about next year. At the end of this last school year we were told that due to budget cuts, one of our plan times would be cut next year, leaving us with four plan times each week. The fifth-grade team at my school has decided to take this time each week and have a designated "blog hour" with our class.

Over the last two years I have used student blogs mostly for publishing work and for some free writing. The task of typing was laborious and frustrating for many of my students, so many didn't have time to finish during the school day and only a handful of my students have internet access at home. I often encouraged them to go to the public library, but this solution didn't work for all students all of the time.

I found myself in an annoying cycle; my students were not great at typing > we would type to practice and publish our work > because they weren't good at typing, we would run out of time > they would be frustrated at the lack of time and not want to type > many didn't improve their typing abilities > blogging was difficult > by the end of the year my students were still not great at typing or blogging.

Here's the new plan for the upcoming school year:

Each of the five 5th-grade classes will have a designated, weekly blogging hour.
In the first couple of weeks, we will spend time learning about blogging and typing whatever comes to mind. The objective will be to practice typing.
After students are comfortable with the kidblog.org interface and typing, we will work on publishing stories for a wide audience. We will practice things like commenting and sharing as well as some basics like conventions, paragraphing, and formatting.
A couple of months into it, with our confidence built, we will open our class blog up to the world. I will use #comments4kids on Twitter and Skype for Education to connect us with other students and teachers.
We will use the blog hour to read what others are writing as well as publish our own stories or research.

The goal is that the added time this year will allow us to develop the necessary skills and confidence before I simply ask them to type their stories in a 45-minute block.

The "blog hour" will not replace our writing instruction, but rather serve to supplement and enhance it. I want my students to leave being able to type and knowing how to share with wider audiences.

Any feedback from a more experienced teacher would be appreciated! As always, my Twitter name is @brpumphrey or you can leave a comment here. Thanks!

Thank you to Silvia Tolisano for her Langwitches blog, as I plan to reference her .pdf on blogging with students often throughout this process. Thanks!

Writing for 30 days

2011-07-15T09:42:00.000-05:00

Encouraged by Richard Byrne through his Free Tech 4 Teachers blog - who was inspired by Matt Cutts of Google through his Ted talk - I am going to attempt to write for 15-20 minutes a day for the next 30 days. I am accepting Matt Cutts' try something new for 30 days challenge because I want to become a better writer, a better blogger, and a better teacher.

Blogging is a great platform for all three of those goals.

Like I tell my students, the best way to become a better reader or writer? Read and write. If I write everyday, I will become a better writer. Hopefully, I can receive some critical feedback from others to help my writing become enjoyable to read.

I want to become a better blogger. The bloggers I respect open themselves up for criticism and share ideas. I have spent a few years receiving from others - which isn't really sharing, it's just taking. Blogging about my classroom and my teaching will help me give as well as receive.

I want to become a better teacher. I have only taught for four years and I have a lot to learn. One thing I have learned is that when my classroom has it's door open and I am being reflective, that's when I grow. Blogging opens up my classroom to the world and writing about my teaching will force me to be reflective.

Day one.

So this is my blog post number one of the 30-day challenge. I don't think I will publish a post every day, but I will write every day. Join me in sharing! Document your comments on this blog or talk with me on Twitter at @brpumphrey.

Enjoy breathing today!

Layering Apps

2011-06-03T23:57:00.000-05:00

The day before school started this past August I received a set of 1:1 iPods. Most of the year I tried to find apps to fit the set of standards we were working on and using them to distribute text and quizzes. I knew I was not using the full potential of the mobile technology, but I couldn't find the time to figure out how to nor the instructional time to use trial and error.

I've become more comfortable. I've made the time. Here is one simple way I have found that requires students to create, to share, and to be critical. I linked my class to a common dropbox account and had them set up folders on it. We had just wrapped up a poetry unit and every student had a few final products. I told them to choose their best one and figure out a way to publish it to dropbox so that others could look at it for ideas.

Here are a few of the apps the students chose to use prior to submitting an image to dropbox:

Comic Life

Students used Comic Life to create a dialogue base for presenting their poetry. Some students just created a comic strip and then submitted it, but others spurred them on by opening their comic strip in brushes and making it look better. One student took it to brushes and then to LifeCards so that she could add more description to her poem - awesome.

DoodleBuddy

Students used DoodleBuddy for a couple of purposes. It is many of the students' go-to app for artistic creation because of its simplicity. Like brushes you can open up saved images for editing, but it is not as precise. Mostly, students chose DoodleBuddy to create a simple image or two and then opened those images up in LifeCards.

Brushes
Students used Brushes to do precise editing on images they had created in LifeCards or DoodleBuddy. A few students became 'Brushes evangelists' because of the ability to layer pictures. They walked around showing students what they had figured out and they started to get into the intricacies of the app. Brushes works great to edit out unwanted parts of a screen shot, this turned out to be its hottest use for this lesson

.

LifeCards

Students used LifeCards if they wanted to add substantial text to their submission. They would create an image in DoodleBuddy or Brushes or GlowDoodle and then insert that picture into LifeCards and write 2-3 paragraphs to go with it. The image creation apps often permit small text boxes, but some student's poems were very long and they needed the ability to write more text clearly.

Google Earth

Some students used Google Earth just because they thought it was cool. Others used it because they had a poem about the city or the ocean and they wanted an image of that setting - I didn't expect this to come into play.

Google Maps

In the same way as students used Google Earth, students used Maps to capture an image of their house, the school, the city, or whatever it was that matched their topic. I only had a few use this app to find an image for their work but it was fun to have an actual picture of the park or restaurant instead of only a simple picture from DoodleBuddy or GlowDoodle.

GlowDoodle

GlowDoodle was good for students to create a simple image to stood out. For students that wrote poems using onomatopoeia they found this app useful for supplementing their poetry. How else do you accurately show "woof" or "bang" with an image?

The assignment to layer apps, or to use multiple apps to reach an end product, was fun to watch blossom. It is one of the things about teaching that I love the most - giving students freedom and discovering that they are capable of doing some amazing thinking.

Ultimately, if I can not envision an end product to something I am assigning, I don't assign it.

Likewise, if I can only envision one end product to an assignment where students are publishing their thoughts/knowledge, I don't assign it.

Thanks for reading. What other apps are well designed for layering and creative use?

Skyping with an Egyptologist

2011-03-18T22:05:00.000-05:00

The sixth grade social studies curriculum is awesome. We get to study ancient history. It is my favorite subject to teach. The people, places, ideas, and cultures we get to learn about are fascinating. The highlight of the year, in my opinion, is our study of ancient Egypt. Who isn’t intrigued by Egypt? Pyramids, pharaohs, hieroglyphics, the Nile, and mummies. It is the perfect recipe for making history exciting for a sixth grade student.

This year in class we were able to add another layer of learning to our study of Egypt. Last week my students had the immense honor of being able to have a Skype conversation with Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney. Dr. Cooney is an Assistant Professor of Egyptian Art and Architecture at UCLA.

She was absolutely wonderful with my class. They had a ball asking her all kinds of questions about ancient and modern Egypt. The questions ranged from inquiring of her opinion on the mystery of King Tut’s death to the controversy surrounding former President Mubarak. Her insights were invaluable and she did a remarkable job of breaking down her answers so my students could understand.

As I stood in the back of the class soaking it all in I was amazed by the potential Skype brings to the classroom. With a simple webcam, a free program, and a willingness to ask I was able to connect my students to an expert from across the country. Using Skype my students were able to talk with a real-life Egyptologist! I am blown away by how cool that is.

My mind has been churning ever since about other ideas for using Skype in the classroom. I hope to continue to use this tool to connect my students with people far smarter than myself. We currently have plans to interview experts from the other civilizations we study. I would also like to find more classrooms for my students to connect with and share what we are learning. If you have ideas for how you use or would like to use Skype in the classroom let us know in the comments or on Twitter @jonathanferrell.

MACE 2011 Manhattan Kansas

2011-03-03T11:14:00.000-06:00

We are presenting and learning at the MACE 2011 conference today. We will be posting our reflections soon.

Follow the conference at #mace11 and our presentation's live doc

QR Codes in 6th Grade

2011-03-02T20:08:00.003-06:00

QR Code - Scan it with your phone!

What is a QR code?
A QR code is a barcode that can be scanned by a cell phone camera (CSI Explains QR Codes). Once scanned this barcode acts as a link to a website, image, or audio file. QR codes are easy for users to create, print, and share with other people. Once a code is made, anyone with a capable device can scan it and instantly be connected to a particular website. These codes are becoming increasingly more popular as advertisements and ways for businesses to connect with their audience.

Introduction to Students
After learning about QR codes I was intrigued by the potential for use in the classroom. The technology is nothing revolutionary but seemed like a method for connecting the analog world to the digital world.

I introduced QR codes to my students, let them create their own codes, and practice scanning them with their phones. They were also intrigued by the new technology.

PT Conferences
My first foray into actually using QR codes came at our recent parent teacher conferences. Each semester I create a basic one page document about each of my students. This document lists the student’s strengths, areas in need of improvement, and general classroom news. This time around I inserted a QR code into each document. This code linked the parent to their student’s blog. I encouraged them to use the code to visit the blog and leave a comment on the most recent post.

Vocabulary Posters
Last week during class we were creating vocabulary posters for the words we were learning. I thought it would be fun to link these paper posters to the digital world through QR codes. My students created the posters and then attached printed QR codes to add an interactive element. These QR codes linked to various websites that helped the audience gain a better understanding of how to use the word.

Making a QR Code
Using a URL shortener service such as http://goo.gl/ or http://bit.ly/ making a code is simple. Just enter the web address for the site you want to link to and click the shorten button. Once the shortened URL is created simply add “.qr” to the address to see the QR code.

Once you have the image of the QR code, the possibilities are endless.

Visit Tom Barrett’s 40 Interesting Ways to Use QR Codes in the Classroom for additional ideas.

I don’t think QR codes will change the world or really even revolutionize learning. But, they are a neat tool for making paper more interactive.

Plus - they are pretty cool.

What kind of ideas do you have for using QR codes in the classroom?

EdcampKC Reflection

2010-11-27T11:24:00.000-06:00

The following post was written jointly by Britt (5th grade teacher) and Jon (6th grade teacher).

What is an Edcamp?
The current state of professional development in education is stale and lifeless. Teachers dread the ordeal and enter with their brains set to autopilot. Interest is remarkably low and differentiation is rare. Edcamps are different. Using the Edcamp model teachers can take control of their professional learning. For a brief explanation of the Edcamp model please take a moment and read this post from Edutopia - Introduction to Edcamp: A New Conference Model Built on Collaboration.

What did we learn?
The most immediate lesson learned at EdcampKC is that there is a better way to do professional development. Because of that better way, we learned things that are pertinent to our needs.

For me - Britt Pumphrey, teaching 5th grade - I learned about some new ways to have my students record their voices. I plan to use audioboo.fm to have students record their thinking. I love simple voice recording tools because it is the best way I have found to do formative assessments to see what each student has learned.

My - Jonathan Ferrell, teaching 6th grade - biggest take away was what I learned during the student blogging session. During that presentation teachers shared how they used blogs to enhanced student learning. I was able to glean ideas for my own classroom and make connections with other teachers who are blogging. As a result my students have been able to connect with a classroom in Iowa and share their learning experiences with a broader audience.

Could this work at the district level to breathe life into PD?
Sitting in the Maximizing Your PLN session facilitated by @kevcreutz I learned that professional development can be beneficial even when it’s not something I have a significant need to learn about. There were some key elements that are often missing in common professional development. For one, the use of Google Docs with the presence of smart phones and laptops allowed EVERYONE to be involved. Second, the integration of the Google Doc that had guiding questions for discussion with live, face-to-face discussion made the time more lively and personal. Third, the use of a Twitter hashtag allows for a global backchannel where people from everywhere can join in on the topic.

So how can these things help out professional development at a normal school in the Kansas City area?

A backchannel should be standard. Whether it’s Titan Pad, Google Docs, Wallwisher, Todaysmeet, or Twitter a backchannel is an easy way to document the progress of profession development as well as involve everyone. The backchannel discussion drives engagement through the roof and provides a richer learning experience.
Topics should be pertinent, timely, and hashed out with discussion that is guided by facilitating questions.
Teachers must be involved in the planning and preparation. When teachers merely show up and are told where to go and what to do their buy-in is minimal. But, when teachers are active participants and there is a measure of choice as to the topics engagement will increase and learning will take place.

A special thanks to Kyle Pace (@kylepace) for orchestrating EdcampKC. We appreciated being able to join in the event and learn from everyone who attended.

Also, this is the Google Doc where we took notes during the unconference.

The Fun Theory

2010-11-25T09:51:00.000-06:00

Maybe you have seen these videos, maybe not. I couldn't help but think about the classroom while I watched all four videos at Volkswagon's site. Watch this one;

How have you applied this theory, consciously or otherwise, in the classroom?

How have you applied this theory, consciously or otherwise, in the classroom?

Thanks for sharing.

Class on the News Again

2010-11-19T13:47:00.002-06:00

Fortunately this time I was able to avoid the camera. I am loving how much this has meant for my students.

On the News

2010-11-12T19:49:00.000-06:00

Check out my 5th grade class on our local news. Monday morning NBC is coming!

From EdCampKC

2010-11-06T15:34:00.000-05:00

Check out our G-Doc summary of our day at Ed Camp KC.

Edmodo in the 6th Grade Classroom

2010-10-19T21:16:00.002-05:00

Edmodo is a free social learning tool designed for education. This website provides a platform for teachers to easily post notes, share links, and host conversations among their students. In my sixth grade classroom we have been using Edmodo extensively throughout the first two months of school.

The students have enjoyed using Edmodo because they can easily interact with each other on the site. I have enjoyed using the tool because my students are engaged with and discussing what we are learning in class. Edmodo provides a private and secure place for these conversations.

The initial learning curve for Edmodo is very low. My students were able to pick up how to use the site and were customizing it to their liking in only a few minutes.

We have used Edmodo a couple of different ways so far this year:

Hosting classroom discussions. I will post an initial question and my students will dive into the laptops and hammer out their thoughts. As a student posts a reply it instantly updates on the site. This type of conversation has been effective at eliciting responses from all students.
Quick classroom polls. We study five different ancient civilizations in sixth grade and after introducing each civilization the students voted in a poll on Edmodo about which one they were most interested in learning more about.
Home to school connection. When students use their out of school time to learn more about the topics we are exploring in class they can use Edmodo to share what they have learned with the other students.

Edmodo is an enjoyable and effective educational tool that enhances learning in my classroom. To learn more about Edmodo I would encourage you to follow them on Twitter and subscribe to their blog.

ICDL and Kidblog

2010-08-24T19:50:00.000-05:00

ICDL
This week I came across the International Children's Digital Library (ICDL) while looking for ebooks for our iPod Touches. We used it this week when we were working with some students on the different ways to read a book. You can, of course, read the words. But it is also important to remember that you can read the pictures. Using this site, each student told the story by only looking at the pictures (the text was in Farsi) and then we compared it to the English. It was a quick activity that helped the students with inferential thinking as well as developing strategies for reading books.

Other uses for ICDL could include having students actually write the story by only looking at the pictures. Students could also record their reading as well as their thinking using Audacity or any other recording application as they read one of the many online books. The site is also a good general resource for multicultural books for any level of classroom.

Kidblog.org
I am excited about Kid Blog for a lot of reasons. After just one week in school, I am most excited about the fact that I can moderate student comments and posts from an iPod touch while they are working. I am going to use some posts to simply have students record their learning from an activity or week at school by having them leave comments and then respond to each other. The fact that I can moderate their comments immediately - and before any other students see the comments - is what is so intriguing. It is also nice that students don't have to have email addresses and I can manage the private vs. public visibility of each blog. Also, as I was circulating from student to student, I was able to check in on the progress of every student by accessing their drafts. As they were typing their blogs, Kid Blog was automatically saving their drafts for moderation, this allowed me to keep up on the general progress of the class as well as the progress of the student across the room.

I also could have written about team teaching, iPod touches, Doodle Buddy or Brushes (iPod apps), the Daily 5 for literacy, or about my aching feet and back and my tired eyes. Maybe next time.

Summer Fades

2010-08-09T06:31:00.000-05:00

I love summer. The opportunity to have two months to relax, play, and learn is priceless. When I leave school in May my brain and body are exhausted. After a summer of spending time with family, reading books, and playing disc golf I am completely refreshed.

Tuesday afternoon I made the trek down to school to spend some time working in my classroom. It turns out that the sixth grade student orientation was also taking place that afternoon. The opportunity afforded me the chance meet a handful of my students for the upcoming year and start to get to know them. The buzz of excited sixth graders filled the hallways. It was great to be back.

The beginning of a school year reminds me of walking into a bookstore. When I enter a bookstore I am overwhelmed by the potential all around me. Row after row of books filled with knowledge from a vast array of subjects just waiting for me to learn from them. It is overwhelming and awesome. As we embark on a new school year I have a similar feeling. Each student that walks through the door is a unique little human filled with untold potential. I am overwhelmed with the responsibility of leading them well and preparing them for the future. It is an awesome privilege to be entrusted with their well being and given a chance to build a relationship with them.

Summer was great but its time is winding down. I am eager for the school year to begin.

2010-2011

2010-08-03T08:46:00.000-05:00

It has reached the point in summer when I read my teacher friends' statuses on Facebook and wonder if I also should be waking up at midnight because I'm nervous about the coming school year. For me, things are less daunting, the school year is more exciting. This will be only my fourth year teaching, so maybe I'm naive. But I spent my first couple of summers treading in anxiety and I didn't find it helpful. That being said, the recurring dream about showing up to school on the first day and only having enough planned for the first hour or so has come back again.

Like I said, I am excited about this school year. I am excited about my growing professional network via twitter, various blogs, and facebook. I am excited about some added technologies in my classroom - which will make me even more dependent on this new network of educators. I feel like I started by teaching on an island and the bridge to the mainland is nearing completion. Here are the main things I am looking forward to this year, the things I will reflect on here and I will seek your feedback around here and on twitter:

.Developing proficient student bloggers. I have spent a significant amount of my summer personal development researching the available platforms, applications, and variations of student blogging. I hope this tool will help me toward my goal of growing reflective and collaborative learners.

..Team teaching. I am teaming up with another teacher and we're combining our classes for the entire year. 50 students, 2 teachers, so many possibilities. This one scares and excites me. The majority of my professional goals for this year are contingent on the success of this opportunity.

...Literacy block. The new administration at our school has set apart a 3 hour literacy block within our day. This means we're combining reading, writing, and social studies into one fluid block of time. This extra time will allow me to implement some built in choices as well as various structures that research says will help motivate my students. I hope this time will allow my classroom to develop intrinsically motivated learners.

....iPod Touches. A week ago I learned that I will have access to a 1:1 set of iPods. My research has shifted from student blogging to the uses of the Touches. Fortunately, those two tools overlap. This one does not make me anxious at all, but I do want to minimize the trial and error period that comes with new tools.

.....Connecting with other classes. I plan to use wikis, Google Documents, Edmodo, and student blogs, to facilitate collaboration with other classes. This goal will test my professional network and help me meet my goal of having global learners.

Finally

These are my main goals for the 2010-2011 school year. A lot of my reflections on this blog will be centered around my attempts to reach them. One more week until students are in front of me.

What I Am Reading - Drive by Dan Pink

2010-08-02T21:44:00.000-05:00

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Why I Read It

The ability to lead and encourage a classroom well is a daunting task. As I enter my fourth year in the classroom, I am struck by how much I still have to learn. I picked up this book with the mindset that it would provide ideas for motivating my students to become independent learners. Last school year I noticed that extrinsic rewards had some accompanying baggage and I wanted to learn more about the science behind motivation.

What He Says

Daniel Pink's overarching idea is that the current method of motivating people (rewards and punishments) runs counter what research says works best. He says that extrinsic rewards can actually do the opposite of what we intend. Promised incentives for doing something well can stifle the creative process and sap the intrinsic desire to do well. Pink says that basic rewards do have a positive effect with basic systematic processes. But, when creativity and thinking are involved, the motivators cause the subject to narrow their focus and vision. Thus, Pink says that we must alter the current motivational landscape. Instead of using "if-then" rewards we must cultivate the natural intrinsic desire to do well. Autonomy, mastery, and purpose are the three elements that Pink proposes must be nurtured.

How I Plan To Use It

I have often used simple rewards (Jolly Ranchers, new pencils, or extra recess) in the classroom as motivators to improve student performance. Reading this book has caused me to reevaluate these methods. Not only am I potentially stiffling the creative process, I am also creating reward focused students. Instead of cultivating the natural drive we all have to learn and create these rewards discourage them. In the upcoming school year I plan to use fewer tangible rewards and instead look to empower my students through autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Autonomy

"Autonomy is the desire to be self directed," according to Pink. I plan to foster motivation in my students by giving them more control in the classroom. When choosing writing assignments, selecting books for projects, or making presentations to display their learning, I would like to let my students have a measure of control in what they do. I know that personally I enjoy learning tremendously more when my choices are the driving force behind the learning. Whenever possible I would like my students to take ownership of their learning and explore topics they are passionate about.

Mastery

Pink says that mastery is, "the urge to get better at stuff." Throughout a school year there are countless opportunities to get better at stuff. My plan for fostering mastery is to make learning new concepts and honing important skills a positive experience. By encouraging learning as a fun and exciting adventure, I hope to nurture an environment where each of my students strives to "get better at stuff" each day.

Purpose

This year I will encourage my students to challenge me on the purpose of the activities we do in the classroom. The question, "Why do we need to know this?" will be an essential focus of our classroom. I hope to nurture an environment where my students know why we are doing something and want to partner alongside me toward that goal.

Pink has compiled an assortment of resources to implement the ideas outlined in the book. Not only does he explain why cultivating intrinsically motivated students is better he equips his readers to do just that. While primarily a business book, this is a great read that is practical for educators wanting to learn how to better motivate their students.

Animated Summary of Drive

TED Talk - Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation

Moving Forward

2010-07-30T22:18:00.027-05:00

The following post was written jointly by Britt (5th grade teacher) and Jon (6th grade teacher). This post is in response to Scott McLeod’s Leadership Day 2010 challenge. #leadershipday10

What does it mean to move forward?
Last year I opened up a few lunch periods per week to have kids come into the classroom and learn chess. Every week they would sit across from their opponents, wait for the first move, and get to hear me say, “Think ahead and never, ever make a move without a purpose.” Today I ask the same of current school administrators. If my 5th graders make a move and say, “I have a good reason! It is the same move I made last game,” but they ignore their opponents, they will lose. Unfortunately, much of the leadership in education approaches the more complex task of leading a school or district in a similar way.

In order to be a good leader, one has to be a visionary. To have a vision for the future requires a knowledge of the past, an awareness of the current, and an educated understanding of what’s next. So what does it mean to move forward? Once the vision is realized, forward movement is in the direction of that goal and everything else is unacceptable. So how can educational leadership fulfill their vision of raising tomorrow’s leaders who are prepared to learn and grow in tomorrow’s world?

Be a learner - read blogs!
School leaders must be knowledgeable about what is happening in the world. To effectively prepare students for the future, one must have a firm grasp on what is happening right now. Blogs written by fellow administrators, professors, teachers, and education technology experts are a good place to start learning. Subscribing to these blogs via Google Reader is a first step in learning about how technology is changing the way our students learn. There is always something new to learn and Google Reader collects this information and packages it into easy-to-digest segments that even the busiest administrator can handle. To learn more watch this explanation of Google Reader created by the folks at Common Craft.

Try - use some of these tools.

Leading by example is an effective method in winning over a reluctant staff. To gain credibility with these new tools it is important to know and understand them yourself. Here are a handful of basic tools that will open up a whole new world of learning to your school.

Collaboration with Google Docs

Google Docs is similar to Microsoft Office but adds a powerful element of collaboration. When working with Google Docs, files are saved to the internet instead of a local hard drive. This allows for easy file sharing and the ability for multiple users to edit the same document at the same time.

Sharing knowledge with wikis

A wiki is a website that can be edited by multiple users and shared with the world. Wikis allow users to work together to share information and ideas. My sixth grade students and I have used this tool to create study guides, publish projects, and form a central resource for what we are learning in the classroom. We use PBworks in my classroom, but there are many options available.

Write about what you’re learning with a blog

Student blogging has been a positive experience in my classroom. Students have a renewed passion for writing when they realize their work will be published online. As an administrator it would serve as a powerful encouragement to your staff and students to write about what you are learning. There are many blogging platforms available; I would suggest starting with Blogger or KidBlog.

Communicate with Twitter

While Twitter is definitely the hip and cool tech tool of the moment it does have some redeeming value as well. The ability it provides to connect with hundreds of educators is a powerful force when harnessed correctly. Richard Byrne at Free Tech for Teachers has compiled a great list of resources about finding fellow educators on Twitter.

Empower - find staff that is willing to try.

Not everyone is going to smile when the administration lays out goals around technology. If a school staff isn’t entirely ready to adopt major changes around instruction, then start with the few that are ready. At my school, the principal has provided me with laptops, a projector, and a class set of Ipod Touches. When I took the job two years ago I had three student computers and an overhead projector. The leadership at that time told me there was not money for technology. That administrative team left and the new one had a different mentality. She is a perfect model for the busy principal who, though she isn’t fluent with technology herself, is willing and able to provide her staff with the tools needed to prepare the students for the future.

Ask around and find out the best use of meager funds to start bringing in useful technology. Use teachers who are excited about those tools and let them use them with students. Have those teachers teach other teachers about integrating technology. Once the grassroots have sprouted, water the yard with more tools, school accounts on some of the tools listed above, use more electronic communication, and then watch the growth. Send some teachers to local or regional educational technology conferences and let them share the things they learned with everyone else. These are a few of the ways I have seen my own school, an elementary school with more than 35 classroom teachers, go from drowning in paper to integrating useful technology and talking about going paperless - in just one year.

Conclusion

The challenge to the modern educational administrator is to become educated about the world their students live in, to nurture connections with others in their field, and then determine their vision for their school. As with my 5th graders staring at the chess boards, the leaders in schools need to survey the opposition - what will these students face when they move to the next stage of life? - and then make the right move to best prepare those students. Using the simple tools suggested above, that next move and each one after that will be fresh and visionary.

Two Teachers in Kansas City

2010-07-03T08:25:00.003-05:00

Here are the goals we hope to achieve by publishing this blog.

To refine our teaching by reflecting on what works and what doesn’t.

We plan to use this space to reflect on and share what we are doing in the classroom.
We hope to be honest about our successes and failures.
We will seek and welcome feedback from educators from around the world.

To share resources and ideas with fellow educators.

We have both been the beneficiaries of others who have taken the time and effort to share what they have learned online. It is our hope to be able to share resources and ideas that we stumble upon with others.
We want to focus our blogs around real classroom experiences, hopefully connecting the theoretical and the practical in a way that is helpful to any educator.

To join in the conversation and connect with educators around the world.

Being young educators we both have much to learn. We hope this blog is a vehicle to connect and build relationships with educators across the globe.

Hello World.

2010-06-30T14:42:00.001-05:00

Hello World!