Putting the Learning on Them

My math students have been working on creating blogs over the last several weeks. With the help of our computer teacher, we now have all 6th-8th graders with blogger accounts. I have used the last month giving the students weekly activities to work on and post. Currently, the posts are only visible by a couple of administrators. I am hoping to be able to gradually open these up school wide and then fully public. After about a month of having my students working on these, here are some thoughts/reactions:

1. I have learned that many of my students are extremely creative. A little embarrassing to finally see that after working with a kid for over two years.
2. I have had students ask if they could post activities from other classes. I love the fact many of them are using their own time to create a cool blog.
3. Giving feedback is critical on my part. I am constantly reading blogs and giving them feedback on what I see and what I do not see.
4. Trying to keep the feedback away from saying good job, good work, good points. Trying to make it specific as to what I see and do not see.
5. As interesting as the topics are, I still have some that do not complete the activity. Even when given the choice of topics, some choose to not complete it.
6. Teaching digital literacy is constant. It adds more to my plate, but is necessary in today's world.
7. I am hoping the students will use these blogs as digital portfolios when they go to apply to high school. I have relayed that to them.
8. The topics for the blogs have math connections. I try to get them to connect something from another subject with a topic in math that we have covered.
9. I will not tell them what specific connection they should use. They must discover/find them by themselves. If they ask, I try to push them towards things they are interested in.

Overall, I am pleased with the progress of the blogs. I am hopeful that this will branch out to include more viewers for the students. I am interested to see how the work improves when they know more people may view it. Right now, I am the only one that can see the work.

Thank you for giving the space and time to work through my thoughts. I expect these blogs to be helpful to my students as digital portfolios. I am learning what the difference between these two are.

Any suggestions on how I can have my students make the step from "just creating blogs" to creating digital portfolios?

Hitting the Restart Button

I have to get something off my chest. I was not excited about returning this fall. I was not looking forward to starting my 21st year of teaching. I was not looking forward to getting back to the grind of working with students. Pushing them to be better each day. I was really dragging.

Why? Honestly, because I really thought I was getting a new job. I had interviewed twice for Administrative jobs that I was really excited about getting. Both opportunities provided me with the chance for a final round interview with the Superintendent and other members of the Admin Team. I was so close to landing these jobs, I could taste it.

When I received the phone call with the news I did not get them, I was crushed. Actually, crushed does not truly describe how I felt. I really thought I had an excellent shot at both opportunities. Well, whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

What helped to pull me out of my funk? About a week ago I started sending "Good Notes Home" to a few students each day. The emails I sent were nothing spectacular, just a brief note describing the things I saw in class: asking good questions, helping other classmates, doing solid work, etc. I wanted to share with parents a brief snippet of what was going on with their child in my class. We do not see them until late November when we have Conferences.

The feedback I have received from parents has been awesome. They really like the fact that I am taking the time to share the "good stuff" going on in our room. I am not focusing the note on the grade they are receiving. I am focusing on the good habits that I see.

How has this little practice helped me? Actually, it has given me the shot in the arm I desperately needed. Also, it has forced me to look for the good things certain students are doing during the day. It has made my observations intentional so I can share these notes with parents later.

I highly recommend starting this activity. It does not take a lot of time during the day (less than 10 minutes), so there really is no excuse. Usually when teachers reach out to parents it is to share a problem. I still may have to make those calls one day, but I will have started the relationship on a positive note prior to that exchange.

Many thanks to George Couros (@gcouros) and Eric Sheninger (@E_Sheninger) for blogging about the importance of getting rid of the excuses and sitting down to write.

What have you done recently to hit the "restart button"? Please share.

Me, An Innovator?

I just finished "The Innovator's Mindset" by George Couros (@gcouros). I am not going to treat this post as a review of the book, maybe that will be at a later date. For now, I really want to focus on one of the discussion questions George posed at the end of the last chapter: "What is one thing that you are going to try immediately to help move closer to a new vision for learning?"

I really like this question for several reasons: One, it asks what is the ONE thing that you can try. This is perfect for me because I have a bad habit of trying too many new things in my class that I never feel like I come close to "mastering" any of them. The second reason I love this question is the word immediately. Again, I usually spend too much time thinking about ways to change my class. I will weigh the pros and cons before deciding on whether it is a go. The bad part of this? By the time I make a decision, I feel like a "new, better version" of something comes along that I want to try.

The focus of this post is on the last word in the above question: learning. I love the word because it does not specify whose learning we are talking about. As I usually view things, I saw it as the learning going on my classroom. The learning going on for everyone in the class. Including myself. What change am I willing to make to help improve the learning for both my students and myself?

Well, this week we began having all 6th through 8th grade students create their own blog through Google Blogger. I am seeing these blogs being used for the students as a place to display their learning and thinking. I am hoping they use if for more than just math. I want them to use this space to display the cool things they try: making videos, podcasts, powerpoints, or just plain writing. The students seemed genuinely excited about setting them up.

I am hoping our students use these platforms as a digital portfolio when they begin to decide where they want to go to high school. I hope they use these portfolios as a symbol of the work and dedication they put into their learning while at our school.

I will be learning more about upgrading my blog right along with them. I am working hard at creating a blog that really reflects my educational beliefs. This is a work in progress, since I really saw a blog as some place to write. George's book really opened up my eyes to the different ways I can use my blog. I am hoping to add these new elements over the next couple of months.

Thank you, George, for creating something that will resonate with a lot of educators. I hope we help to accelerate the learning as we share how impactful this book was to us, and ultimately, our students.

Pushing Boundaries

There comes a point in your career when you begin to feel that something needs to change. You begin to slightly resent the mundane things in your routine. You try to challenge yourself to push past this, but you find it hard to let go of that feeling. Why am I not excited about going back? Why am not really looking forward to the school year starting? I was really struggling with these questions as the summer drew to a close.

It was then that I realized I needed to push myself out of my comfort level. I needed to do this to get the excitement back. I needed to do this for my students. If I could force myself to make this change, I would be a better teacher for my students.

Sometime late in the summer, I made the decision to implement a rather innovative (for me) idea. I am asking my students to create something to demonstrate their learning each marking period. I no longer want them to be consumers of knowledge in my class. I want them to be able to take the information and create something new as a result. In doing this, I am hoping to unleash the creativity in my students. By doing this, I am hopeful that my students look at innovative ways to demonstrate their understanding of concepts.

I am really concentrating on this one addition this year. I have a bad habit of getting so caught up in the latest fad, app, or program that I end up trying too many things. Forcing myself to focus on this one activity each marking period will help simplify things a bit. Do I expect this to be easy? Absolutely not. Will there be bumps in the road? Yes. But for me, focusing on this one change was enough to get the juices flowing again. I hope it does the same for my students.

Creating a Voice

I have finally done it. I am actually sitting down and forcing myself to write. I am very good at delaying this part of my reflection process. I am constantly thinking about ways to improve my craft. How to deliver a better lesson. How to have my students more engaged. How to put the learning back on them. I absolutely drag my heels when it comes to this part, but I am here. I am trying to work through a change I would like to implement for this school year.

I have spent the summer reading things from Mark Barnes (@markbarnes19) and his #hacklearning community, George Couros' (@gcouros) book: "The Innovator's Mindset", Drew Frank's (@ugafrank) #blogamonth community, and Jonathon Wennstrom's (@jon_wennstrom) #compelledtribe community. Needless to say, my head is always spinning from these great leaders and the information they share and create.

The last word here is what I would like to focus on for this year: creating. I am looking to implement a quarterly activity where I am asking my students to create something to show their learning for the marking period. I am envisioning a self-evaluation process for the marking period. This would give them a constant essential question to ponder: How can I relate (insert learning topic here) to my world? What connections can I make between what I am learning and what I am passionate about?

This is a very early concept that I am still rattling around in my brain, but I am hoping to work through some of it before the start of the school year. I am expecting my students to have a majority of their own voice in the process. I will be available to guide them in their thinking and learning processes.

Some early "hurdles"...
1. We will need to create a list of ways students can show they are learning. See this "list" as an ever evolving Google Doc we can share in Google Classroom.
2. Providing time for students who do not have access at home. This can be solved with lunch time help in my classroom.
3. Reaching out to colleagues to help with technology questions. Or, sitting down with the student myself so we both learn along the way.
4. Guiding students to help them answer their own often used question: "Why do I have to know this?"
5. Managing my time so I can provide quality feedback to students when needed.
6. Not really sure how this is going to end up. I really do not know what kind of final product I am getting.

I really want to have my students creating more in my math classes. I am always looking for ways to not be the hardest working person in the room. I think this will be a nice addition to our classroom this year. Stay tuned for updates on this process...

After reading the list above, am I missing anything? Please share...

Aren't You Happy Where You Are?

It was the end of a regular school day in the beginning of June. I was coming home from work to a list of things that had to be done before getting the carpool moving for soccer practice. Dinner had to be made. Lunches packed. Homework (for all of us) had to be done. Typical busy home life, right?

My son then asked me how my day was. He is typically interested in how things went for me. He is just not asking to be polite. He is genuinely interested in how things go for the members of our family. It is one of the many things about him that I love.

I told him I had a job interview that afternoon. I was applying for a math coach in a neighboring school district. He stopped his homework long enough to ask me: "Aren't you happy where you are?"

Of course, at the time, I had no idea how to answer his question other than to reply weakly: "Yes, I am happy where I am." Over the last couple of weeks, I have had his question bounce around in my head. I am perfectly happy where I am teaching. I have been there over 15 years. I am very familiar with the procedures and policies. I have a solid rapport with the community and staff.

So, here are the reasons I should have given him a couple of weeks ago:
1. Interviewing allows me stay current on educational topics.
2. It helps me network face to face.
3. It forces me to update my resume. I think too many educators do not take the time to see how much they do in their school community. We generally do not take a lot of time to think of ourselves. But, interviewing forces you to take time to see how impactful you have been over the years.
4. It keeps me from being okay with being comfortable. Interviewing is nerve wracking. It pushes me out of my comfort zone.
5. I constantly ask my students and kids to challenge themselves. Do not settle for just being "okay". Getting myself out there really forces me to step up my game. I need to constantly walk the walk, right?

Actually, I am glad I was not prepared to answer my son with this great list a couple of weeks ago. There is no way he would have listened the whole way through. His caring for my day would have been overrun by his desire to finish his math homework.

If you have not recently forced yourself to get out and interview, I encourage you to do so. What are some other things I missed from my list? How does interviewing help us as educators?

Every square is a rectangle

It is Geometry time in my class. We have spent the last few weeks talking about different shapes, their characteristics, calculating their areas and perimeters, and performing transformations on them. We have discussed at length why the statement "every square is a rectangle, but not all rectangles are squares." We followed that same discussion with other shapes as well. Seemed to help aid the discussion about different quadrilaterals.

This last week I also stumbled across this post from Starr Sackstein titled: Teachers vs. Educators. In this post, Starr discusses a Ted Talk she witnessed from a high school student about the difference between a teacher and an educator. Starr really had me thinking of the difference between these groups of people...

I think we can safely say that all Educators are Teachers, but not all Teachers are Educators. Every Educator does the following:
1. Works hard to present lessons daily.
2. Provides information to their students daily.
3. Challenges their students at their appropriate levels.
4. Completes all paperwork in an orderly manner.

What then is it that Educators do that not all teachers do? After some thought, here is my list:
1. Educators create a culture of learning in their room.
2. Educators connect with their students.
3. Educators hold discussions with their students outside of class.
4. Educators stay up late/wake up early worrying about their students.
5. Educators can not imagine doing anything else.

The last point I have spent a lot time hanging onto is the idea of Educators leaving a legacy after teaching for a long period of time. They touch an endless amount of lives whether they realize it or not. Educators create a legacy without realizing what they are creating. They do not realize what is going on because they are so focused on constantly improving themselves. It is through this improvement that a culture is created in their classroom.

I have a long list of educators that I have worked with over the years. I did not realize they were educators at the time until I began to change what I was doing to be more like them. Teachers come and go, but an Educator leaves something behind. Something that you can not necessarily put your finger on, but it is there. We do not know what it is, but we want to emulate them. We tuck things into our "mental folder" to use later in our own classrooms.

So, I guess my final question is: Are you a rectangle or a square? Also, if you have anything to add to the above lists, please do so.