Swirling Thoughts

I've been thinking about my how I am going to run my book reviews for the fall. Since we will have Communicator, our one stop shop for class wiki and blog, I am going to use that for our our book reviews. I'm leaning towards having kids post one review per month. There will be certain criteria they will need to include, which I will teach. They will need to tell the story of the book without giving away the ending. They'll also need to include the elements they liked, and who they'd recommend it for.

What I really want to get into is a Mock Newbery or Young Reader's Choice competition. It has the potential to be fun. If I have multiple kids reading the same books, then the dialogue should be really robust. I also plan to have kids doing their novel study books online- at least partially. I'll have a question for each book (possibly generic, possibly specific) that the kids need to respond to. They'll then participate in responding to their peers through commenting. My guess is that I'll do this every other week- one week in person, and another online. The other great part of that is how I'll be able to have kids for different rotation groups (since I see 3) talking to each other about the same book.

I've got a few other ideas, but they are really in the infant stages currently... way more than those above. Since I'm reading so much, everything is related to how I will change my reading instruction. I'm excited!

Inspire Me!

The big picture, pie in the sky, head in the clouds stuff is where I often live. The mechanics, or nuts and bolts, are not my specialty. As a teacher I think we swing on the pendulum between both of these. Often you swing between questions like "what is your vision for your kids?" and "how will you teach this lesson in writing?"

Today I sat through a writing training. I was immersed in the nuts and bolts of a particular set of writing materials. I was incredibly happy to hear the presenter say that the materials were another set of tools for our respective writing toolkits, as the standards are the curriculum we teach. To me, it couldn't be put any better. You need to use a variety of resources to reach your kids, and ensure that they are able to meet and exceed the state standards in different content areas.

As I said earlier, I'm a big picture person. I like inspiration, and need to consume it (see it, read it, hear it, etc) on a regular basis. Below are a few videos that I've been replaying in my head (or on screen) the past few days. When working in the classroom I put them up on the projector and had them in the background. I've returned to them quite a few times. Enjoy!

First is a big picture, where is education now video from TedxDenverEd by Keith Kruger called Mastering the Moment.


Next is a video I've posted before, featuring Brian Crosby speaking about his classroom and his integration of technology to meet the needs of his kids (again, TedxDenverEd)



Finally, I think watching Dan Meyer from the blog dy/dan is another source of inspiration. I believe the ways that he rethinks math instruction, and embeds multimedia, can be applied across content areas. (TedxNYEd)

Greater Tech Usage

Ever since my time as a pre-service teacher, I was dreaming of integrating a variety of technological pieces into my instruction. As I moved forward, I used a little bit in my student teaching and continued to dream of a technologically literate classroom. Last year, my first year of teaching, I used tech on a regular basis. From the class wiki, to having kids highlight passages on the Activeboard, to having students create presentations in powerpoint, we were all over technology.

Now was it what I had been dreaming about? I suppose I could answer in two different ways. Relative to where I was in teaching, I felt fairly good about how I was able to integrate technology into my daily instruction without making it feel forced. Relative to others I am inspired by, I was itching to add more and make them integrate with more fluidity than before.

This coming year I have a few new wrinkles planned...

• A class blog: with the 70-80 kids I'll see, the goal will be to divide them into 3 groups and have an A, B, and C. One week, A will be blogging in response to a question, quote, statement. That same week group B will be responsible for commenting on the work on 1-2 of their peers (I'll tweak it based on ease of use, efficiency), and group C will be off. We'll rotate each week. This will likely be connected with social studies and/or our novel study, giving everyone something to connect to.
• Wiki Group Work: my past class of kiddos was great at creating powerpoints. While I sometimes struggled with the content they created (writing style, conventions), their technology knowledge was fantastic. Instead of 20 powerpoints on the Boston Tea Party that just get sent to me (they presented too, but it was really an audience of 1... me) we will create using the wiki. We'll be using some rubrics to assess our cooperation, our contributions, and the content. Plus we'll take out some of the flash that became uber-distracting with the powerpoints.
• Podcasting: I had hoped for a podcast this past year, but it just didn't happen. What I am considering doing is having a monthly podcast from each rotation group, with 3 students per rotation working on it. Essentially it will be "Social Studies in October...etc" They can cover concepts/content they liked, books they read, or something I haven't envisioned. They'll need to create an outline/script, and then use Audacity to record it (3-10 minutes). We may also podcast some of the other audio projects we're working on.

There are probably 1,000 other things that I could do to integrate more technology into my classroom. But those are the big 3 I am going to be focused on. Secretly I am hoping that wikis become the technology focus this coming year for my district (we have a yearly district focus with training around it). But, I'm also hoping it is something entirely new that I can wrap my head around.

Worth Watching

As my wife and I start the process of getting set for the school year, slowly but surely, I am trying to go through my google reader for inspiration. One post which I saved was from Brian Crosby of Learning is Messy. When I had started the teacher certification program, and just getting started with web 2.0 tools, I started following a few different blogs. This was one which I followed fairly regularly, but was intimidated by because of how impactful the teaching was. It was as close to problem based learning as it gets, and the experience was moving to me.

Fast forward to last year and I tried to implement some of those same tools. We used our class wiki on a regular basis. It was an effective tool that students could use to write about events in US history, as well as revise some of the work of their peers. Beyond that they were able to search for other usable sites that would add depth to the information they already learned by embedding links and pictures. But I shied away from blogging in year one, if for no other reason than uncertainty around how it would work with 60 kids (and no true plan for how to ensure it would be connected to the standards).

Below you'll find a link to the TEDxDenverEd presentation by Brian Crosby. It further reinvigorates me as I prep for the upcoming school year.

Audience

During this school year, I had kids writing a lot. One of the pieces of writing that my kids had to do on a near weekly basis was summarizing a news article for current events. A key mistake that my kids made was assuming their audience (whole group, or myself) had read the article. For example, when the BP Oil Spill started we had quite a few articles summarized for current events. My kids might lead off with: "An oil spill happened and it is hurting wildlife in the water." I'd often reply, "Where was this? Was it in Elliot Bay? Did this happen last night?" My tone would often be one of surprise, showing how the missed information was a big deal (I might run out the door and be more responsive if it was so close).

You need to know your audience, and can't always assume they'll fill in the gaps. You need to know who is reading, what they likely know, and how to draw them in on your writing. Where is this going? A Philadelphia high school private school teacher was fired because of her blogging back in April. I had heard little about it until seeing a post come through my Google Reader. The student's parents claimed that the teacher had effectively bullied a student through posting about a presentation's political views, and lack of tone (per the assignment). I spent a good 30 minutes trying to find the original post, as well as reading some of her other stuff.

Without seeing the original post, it is difficult to make a complete judgement. But there are a few things that came to mind when reading about this situation. First, you need to know who is reading your blog. If you were asked to blog by your school, you know that they will likely be reading it. Being that it is a private school (and high school), it is likely that a student or parent is reading your work too. Even veiled comments about students can be trouble. Negative comments can easily be taken down a path you don't want to go (and which she found out). Second, kids' work is often a reflection of your practice. If you want them to do something different, then you need to provide instruction that moves them in that direction. If you really were upset about a student missing the lesson on "conciliatory tone," then it would be helpful to write about ways to fix it (or how you'll teach them to get there). Similarly, I can't simply be upset students are forgetting to include integral pieces of information. Instead I need to think about my plan to get them to include that information, and improve their work. The issue becomes my own issue, and not the student's.

Lastly, don't forget that the blogosphere isn't an isolated place. What you write creates a digital fingerprint, a paper trail, of you. You're intent needs to be clear, otherwise you run the risk of your words being misconstrued. Whether you like it or not, the digital you (your postings) are a representation of you (from blogs to twitter to facebook etc). Whether I like the author or agree with her isn't the point (don't know her, and haven't read enough written by her). But I do know that I'll re-read my work to be sure it is clear, and can't be confused as disparaging a student.

Quality Assessments

I wrote earlier about my reliance on the reading-writing connection. That connection has been one of my main ways of assessing comprehension. I want to ensure authentic assessments, and fewer photocopied sheets that relate to readings out of context. Those readings aren't entirely bad, as they certainly save time and they are focused in on particular skills. But I'd like to see where student thinking is, and see how they are processing information. Hence why I have relied on writing.

What I stumbled across this morning was a post on the Tempered Radical. His post was in regards to a classroom blog, and some of the in's and out's using that mode of technology. Among the many things I've been thinking about, a classroom blog has been one of them. In fact I've been considering it since September, so this was a nice post (series of posts actually) related to how to best make use of blogs.

Ideally I'd like to get one up and running. I'd assign different kids to write each week, and others to comment. We'd have a focus question or prompt related to the social studies content, and they'd be given some time in class to write (as well as time at home to finish). I've stopped short, largely because I've chosen to focus in on the instruction, and I haven't wanted to jump through the hoops of getting parent permission quite yet. But I think that time is coming near.

Why so near? Because I am going to get social studies podcasts up and running. I've got two working microphones, and a handful of student computers. My goal is similar to that of student blogging, in that students will be discussing what they've learned. They'd work on a script or have some focus questions to answer prior to their recording. I believe I need to get approval for students to record and publish (for the sake of uploading to the public at-large). If I am going to do that, I will get permission for both. Save paper, have clear instructional goals laid out. We'll see. I think both could be highly effective tools that aren't entirely reading/writing based.