Sharing the Data

I looked through my year end test scores from last year and almost cried. But I didn't. Everyone in our state did poorly. Not a surprise from a new, tougher, different kind of test. I realized it was the first time the test was given and that was a benchmark for the student and for me to start from and build upon. Time to get to work.
Test had been, and always will be, the thorn in teachers sides... if we let it. It can become the knowledge that helps us progress as teachers. It can also be the knowledge that helps students take ownership of their own learning.
So, I handed the scores to my fifth graders and we dug into what they mean and how it affects them as a person. We talked about progress. We talked about explaining the scores to their parents. We talked about setting goals so their parents would understand the full plan of what we are doing. We talked about how to show exactly what they know and not less. We discussed all this information as to make them more accountable for their work.
I feel sharing all the data we have with students will give them a better picture of who they are and how to go about using the education we are providing for them. So I share. Everything.
We are getting ready for parent conferences in a couple weeks. We have talked about the students taking on he role as conference leader to show and explain what we are doing and how they are doing as a student. Not just in my class, but as a student overall. I hope to give students more power over their education. Controlling the conference will students the chance to talk with their parents about how they are doing. More communication. More ownership. Using data to build strengths and work on weaknesses. The more they know, the more they can control their own outcome.

What Would Your Keynote Be?

I was asked to be a Keynote Speaker at a local Flipped Conference in a couple weeks. I have to say I am pretty excited. I don't mind being in front of people. I really like talking with teachers to get their ideas and learning from them.
I started thinking about what I wanted my keynote to be about. I had a few ideas. Then I went to the Schoology NEXT Conference and Jennie Magiera was one of the keynote speakers. Her question at the end was, "What would your keynote be?" That got me thinking more about what I wanted to say. What was the one thing that I want other teachers to think about before school starts?
In the flipped classroom there are great questions about face to face learning and being a student in my classroom. Those that use the flipped idea have thought about those ideas. I think about Brian Bennett and Ramsey Musallam and their ideas about moving further in the classroom. These have taken me to losing control in the classroom. Giving the students the ownership of the learning. Giving up control is hard fora teacher. At least it is for me. I have been changing the balance of control toward the students for a few years now and it has helped with discipline in my class and more student engagement.
So my question for you, the reader, is what would your keynote be? What would you teach other teachers if you had the opportunity to present? And why do we not take the time to prepare something to teach to teachers so we can become an expert on the one thing we think is important in our classroom? So, what would your keynote be?

Learning Management System Questions

I have been looking into different Learning Management Systems (LMS) for a while now.  I started with Edmodo and loved the ease of use with it, but have started using Schoology because of the many options it gives me. It has some amazing tools for discussions, assignments, assessments, and collaboration. One of the new bonuses it will have soon is the ability to video conference with a student.  I can see that being used during class with an absent student, or with another teacher to teach a lesson.  My district has bought into the Enterprise version and that gave me even more options. Because we are using Schoology, a few teachers in our school attended the Schoology #NEXT14 conference in Denver in June.  They put on quite the shindig for their first conference.  The keynote speakers were amazing, the break out sessions were great and very helpful for a guy that has use it a little for a few PD classes.  The conference gave me some great ideas on how to use it, but then came the questions I had to ask.

• How is this going to make me a better teacher?
• How is this going to give my students the opportunity to learn more?
• Is this going to make my job easier or harder?
• Will it become a place to just upload packets or will it have something more to it?
• How can I use this tool to truly differentiate the learning in my class without making it a “To Do List” of assignments?

I have to ask myself these questions because I am a bit tired of the “magic bullet” app or program every other week. I do not mind working a little harder to provide new and better opportunities for my students to learn. I do not want a paperless program that I scan pages of work into and upload them for students to complete and hand back to me. I want less paper, but not because students can copy it into their annotation app and send it back. I want something more. I have district mandated programs that give me plenty of worksheets if I choose to use them, but what can I put in my LMS that will help the students go deeper in their learning? How can I set up my lessons for students to think about how it all fits together and then solve the problem without being able to Google it or use Wolfram Alpha to show the process?

So here I sit with my computer and the District mandated programs to work out my lessons and fit them into Schoology. In the end it all comes down to the teacher and the lessons. The LMS will be a great tool to distribute the opportunities and activities for students to work from, but the difference between myself and the computer teaching is the opportunities I provide for my students to learn. Schoology will be the program  I will use for my class because of the many options it has. Even with a Learning Management System, I will still need to provide the learning.

Reflecting on the Year

It is time to close out another year. As I look back I see some great things we did with our iPads this year. I see that we need to work on building our thoughts about how we are going to use them in the classroom. I saw some great things in writing, reading, and language.

Using Google Docs to produce writing and build language skills was great. Reading on our McGraw-Hill app was good. I wish it was a little easier to download books. I also wish it was faster downloading the books. We used iBooks to read texts that we created. There are many texts I want to build in iBooks Author to publish for students to use.

I like to fact that we can upload pictures, files, movies, and other items, into Google Drive. Having that 30GB for each student has been fabulous to keep whatever students need access to. They can access the files anywhere.

We underused the Explain Everything App this year. I want to use it more as a white board to show work in math and for putting together assessments of what students learned. In language I want students to use it more for fluency. This year we had the students take pictures of a book page and read it while they recorded themselves. EE kept the time so they could go back through to mark what words they missed. It also gives them the ability to listen to themselves again and hear themselves as they read.

McGraw-Hill has an app for our Math program that works ok. It is not as friendly as I wish, but I hope they will make it easier for students to use. It is a bit finicky to use at times.

Next year we will be adding Schoology to our list if apps for students. Incorporating a student management program will be interesting. We have tried to make assignments as student independent as possible. It had not worked as well as we thought this year, but we learned what we shouldn't do. More management as a teacher is needed. I have always hated grading papers, but have enjoyed reading student stories, discussing ideas, and interacting with them during math. I hope Schoology will help students be able to pick assignments and projects easier. Management should be easier next year. We are heading to the @schoology conference in Denver this summer. I am expecting to learn how to set up the individual lessons for each student and how to manage them. I want it to be easy, but I also know that it will take work on my part. I want it to be easy for students to access and use.

Reflection is a major part of teaching. We should reflect as often as possible. I love taking a few minutes every summer and reading my blog to see what mistakes I have made over the years and what I learned. Revisiting them keeps all the ideas I forgot to remember, fresh in my mind.

Teacher Appreciation

It is teacher appreciation week and I want to take a moment to send some love to a couple teachers I appreciate. There are many, but a couple come to mind that have helped me through my teaching career.

When I was in school I had a wonderful example of what a teacher should be. Dan Frieberg was my choir teacher in high school. He showed us love through the help he gave us in class. He took time to help me as my friends and I would put together bands and quartets. He would give us suggestions and provide us with songs we could sing. He would then take time after school to listen as we played songs and told him our ideas. I remember Norman and I going to his house after we had graduated to play him a couple songs we wrote. He was always the listener and offered needed constructive criticism with love. He was amazing. Thank you Dan for listening to some punk kids with dreams.

During my first year of teaching I met a teacher that had only been teaching for a few years and had some amazing ideas for teaching social studies. He would dress his students up in Civil War uniforms and have them march around the school as they went to library or to lunch. As they learned about the Civil War through a little reenacting and role play, they learned parts and performed a short play about the Civil War. As we became better friends we started putting ideas together and bouncing ideas off each other. We moved to a new school together and began doing plays together. He would work on his Civil War play and I would work on a Shakespeare play. We wrote together, designed together and had a lot fun teaching together. Mark Powell taught me that nothing is impossible. I would come up with crazy ideas and he would always be game to try anything. We put together many activities that made school fun for the students and for us. Mark taught me that teaching was supposed to be fun and that no matter what we had to teach, there was always a way to make it enjoyable. Thank you Mark for guiding me through so many years of fun.

Another example to me is a teacher that left our school for a year and has decided to come back to us. Tina Shenfeld is a Special Education teacher. She showed me how a passionate teacher should work. Where there is a need for a student, the teacher needs to fill the need. Sometimes that means starting school and hour and a half early or staying two hours late. Tina had some great ideas about how to teach students and would do anything she could to get the most and the best out of the students. All students. Not just her kids, but all students. She taught me that All students can learn. I believes that before Tina, but she really taught me that every student that will be a productive member of society can learn. If they have a bad attitude, they can learn. If they have no desire to learn, they can learn. Every student can learn. She also taught me that all students deserve to have my best every day. That is a hard concept to actually out into practice. She always gave her best and expected it of everyone else. That sometimes ended I a conflict with another teacher, but it was about what is best for a student. Thank you Tina for teaching me that students deserve my best.

The greatest example I had as a teacher was my father. My dad was a band teacher. He worked hard to help and build all those musicians he taught. As I think about him and teaching I think about his passion as a teacher and musician. He has played in many bands over the years. He still plays in a jazz band each week. His passion for music and teaching has had reaching effects for me as I have taught. I try to keep the passion in my teaching as he did. Thank you dad for being an inspiration to me.

There are so many others that have inspired me and made me a better teacher. I am a product of those around me. Thank you for those I teach with now. Thank you for all those I have taught with. Thank you for being teachers. The world is better because of you.

Orchestras and Teachers

For a discussion in my College Class this week we watched a video from Ted by Itay Talgam. It is called "Lead like the great conductors". As I watched it, it struck a chord (no pun intended) about school. If you have not watched or listened to Ted talks, go there and watch one. Watch many.
So, one thought I loved in the video was the idea of enabling those around us to do what they need to. Giving teachers the autonomy to play their instruments, or teach their lessons, and as they do so in harmony, through a school vision, they can make beautiful music together. Working together as a faculty to accomplish one goal and not compete against each other will help our school succeed and improve.
Another thought I had was that musicians weren't even looking at the conductor and yet they were playing in rhythm together. They were working together and following the music and each other to play their part. They could feel the song. As teachers we practice our lessons, we learn new strategies, and we collaborate together. We depend on each other. We work together. The conductor was the person that started and set the beat for the orchestra. The administrator provides the support and get the teachers on their way and provides the resources throughout the year to keep the music going.
Itay Talgam also mentions that the musicians should be used as partners and not instruments. They need to be able to develop. In a school setting the teachers and stakeholders need to be partners in the school. Teachers and parents do not need to be told what to do. There are times when there are requirements that need to be met or a curriculum that needs to be taught, but in the workings of the school, everyone needs to be involved in the education of students. Doing what is best for the students. Doing what is best for the music. Itay Talgam also talks about the leaders in the orchestra leading the group so they can get the feeling of the music.
I love that he talks about how the conductor enjoys the process of the music and the orchestra. We need to enjoy school and teachers. I am not sure I can explain what I mean here. We need to enjoy the work that happens in our schools, enjoy the collaboration, enjoy the harmony that can be created in a school. Enjoy the movement.
In the talk Itay says, "Don't look at the trombones, it will only encourage them." I would say, "Don't look at the negative people, it will only encourage them!" Giving the negative comments in a school room to breathe by passing them on only encourages negative people and those that can be swayed. Positive words and encouragement is harder to spread, but needs to be done. We need to be more like an orchestra and feel the music as it is playing. We can't stop the song in the middle, but we can do our part to make the song work.

Building Your Learning Network

I have been using Twitter for a few years now. It has been a great way to learn and build my idea bank for school. The greatest thing about twitter is being able to talk with people that I am inspired by. It used to be that I could read the ideas in magazines like Edutopia. Now I use Flipboard to read my favorite blogs and sites. I can also read through tweets and meet during a hashtag chat to get ideas and share my thoughts. Education has become a worldwide collaboration thoughts, ideas, and practices.
It is time to build our personal learning networks and learn. We can also share our I ideas with others. We all have something to say. We just have to practice writing it down for others to read instead of just talking about it in the all before school. Share it. Tweet it. Blog it. Get it out there for others to comment on. We can make our ideas better by having others take it and move it to the next level. Collaboration is amazing. It help us all improve. Be a part of the worldwide collaboration happening right now. Here are a few ideas that might help you get started.
Twitter
1. Sign up for a twitter account.
2. Follow a couple people you know on twitter.
3. Read tweets a couple times a week.
4. As you read, follow those people you enjoy most.
5. Retweet great posts.
6. Comment on great posts.
Blog
1. Sign up for a blog(Edublogs, Wordpress, Blogger, etc.)
2. Attach it to your twitter account
3. Write a post about something. Anything.
4. Write every month, if possible.
5. Read other blogs.
6. As you get more comfortable, write more.
This is how I got started. I am in no way a great blogger or tweeter. But I am a great learner and I am learning a lot from others. Building my PLN has made me a better teacher. It will you also.

Blogging I Will Go

I attended UCET this last weekend. I learned more than I had at other conferences over the years. i enjoyed the keynote speakers Dean Shareski(@shareski) and George Corous (@gcouros). Dean talked about how we need to have joy in our teaching. That message needs to get out with the new state testing starting this year. I don;t think it will be that bad. It is just new. New always causes ripples in the comfort level of anyone. Dean also talked about creativity and how we need to expand it in our classrooms. Loved his ideas and thoughts. Thank you Dean.
My biggest ah-ha moment came in the breakout session with George. Blogging with teachers and students. I found this to be mind-opening. I have blogged for a few years about what I have been doing in my class to help me remember what I have done and to reflect on those ideas. Then George had to come and break it wide open. Blogging to help organize what I am doing in my classroom that pertains to the teaching standards I am being held to. Really? Keeping track of all the standards I am evaluated on but the administrator does not see because they only come to my room a couple times a year for an evaluation? Wow. Why would I want to do that? Well I would like to do that because I want to make sure I am doing what I can to give the best teaching to my students. I need to make sure I am keeping in line with the high standards set for me like I expect the students to keep in line with those I set for them.
I find this intriguing. So intriguing that I am starting this blog on edublogs to get my "write" on and stop with just the remembering and reflecting. I want to start keeping track of my thoughts and actions on this blog to show to the world what I am doing. This is not a place for me to brag. Well it kinda is. This is my portfolio. My scrapbook. My resume. My teaching life. This should be a place where I can put down the things I love doing in my class. The things I love thinking about. This will be an opportunity for me to provide my principal with enough information to see what i really do in my class between the times she evaluates me (Even thought she ends up coming around quite often to see what we are doing and enjoy the students).
Thank you George. This will be a great ride. It will also be a great opportunity for me to see what I actually do and make adjustments and changes in my classroom to provide the best education I can for my students. They deserve it.

Trying to Provide Options

We have looked through a few student learning management systems and have decided upon Schoology. We have some high hopes for some opportunities to let students head out on their own and move ahead while having the opportunity for teachers to work one on one with students that need a little extra practice and guidance. 

We will have activities lined out for students to do in the order they want while being able to test when they think they have the concept down. If they do, they can work on a genius project or tutor those in need of help.

We will still teach whole ass lessons with the option of having students teach a few lessons. 

This is going to be an opportunity of learning for all of us as we try to give students more options. I am hoping that we can give students more options than this in the future.

IBeacon in the Classroom?

I have been reading a lot about Apple' iBeacon. I know it will be the next invasion of privacy issue we will need to address, but then I thought about what it could do for us in education. My school is 1:1 iPad 3-5 grades. I imagine that if their iPads can be recognized when they come in the classroom I can assign a topic or an agenda of things to do that day for each individual student. We rotate students into different classes and I see that this can give them topics and assignments as soon as they come into their classroom. I can see the opportunity for individual questions depending on how I differentiate and the activity. I can see the opportunity to use it in the classroom. I also see it as an incentive for students to remember their iPads. Our iPads to home for home learning (after a short presentation and signing a permission form).

I know I can do many of these things with other means, but having the information come right when they enter the classroom, no matter what classroom, is exciting. If students come to a classroom  museum, a presentation can share information, help, and give suggestions on what to do. How fun would it be to have different pictures or presentations come up depending where students are in the school? What about when a parent comes into the school. Information, directions to get to the right room for a class production or school activity. 

These are a few things I see that can be used with this new technology. I wonder how long before we can set up beacons using this technology?

A Few Articles
4 Uses for iBeacon - Wired.com
iBeacons Gaming- Macrumors.com
First Look: Using iBeacon Location Awareness - Appleinsider.com

Why Do I Teach?

I was reading though some tweets from my PLN last week and I came upon one by Karl Lindgren-Streicher(@LS_Karl). He was quoting Jamie Casap (@jcasap) writing, "he doesn't ask kids what they want to be, he asks students what problem they want solve." I brought that question up to my students. They wrote about what problem they would solve. It was great to listen to some of the problems they want to solve.
A couple days later, I started to think about what problem I want to solve as a teacher. Why did I become a teacher? What do I want to do with my life? When I started in college I thought that all students can learn. When I started teaching I had other ideas, but after a few years I learned from the students that all students can learn. They can progress. Every student can progress. That is when I decided I wanted to change how students felt when they came into the classroom. I wanted more for them. I wanted to give students opportunities they might not get elsewhere. Over time I changed my teacher to try to accommodate different learning styles. When I learned about flipping the classroom, it gave me one more thing to give students to help them progress. Thinking about this question gave me the opportunity to reflect on why I do what I do. What problem did you want to solve when you started teaching?

Increasing iPad Usage in the Classroom

We are now a 1:1 iPad grade level. What an opportunity for our students to use iPads in school. Some students also have the opportunity to take them home for home learning, if their parents want that option. We have increased the use of iPads in each subject as we find ways to use them. And that brings me to the issue with 1:1 technology in the classroom.
We decided not to use the iPad as a GamePad for students. We want them to create, collaborate, and consume information with the iPad in as many subjects as possible. That is not an easy task. We looked for apps that made learning better and not as a way to keep students busy. They get the games at home, we need them to see technology as a way to learn and produce. I will say that we do have a few games on the iPads they can use on those days we would pull out board games anyway (rainy days, 100˚+ days, etc.). We try to get learning games that students like to play. There are some questions we needed to ask as we decided what to do, how to do it, and which apps we will use.

• How do we make an activity/assignment better by using the iPad?
• We did not want to make an activity harder or more time consuming for the teachers or the students.
• Is the iPad the best tool to use in the activity/assignment?
• Just because we have the iPad does not mean it is the best tool for the job. Sometimes a whiteboard is the better choice.
• What is the learning outcome of the activity/assignment?
• It is still about the learning.
• Which app is best for the activity/assignment and will the app make it better?

There are activities that we changed because of the iPad. There are many we kept the same. We started writing a few books using iBooks Author for the students. We take some of the articles/assignments we use and put them into books for students to read. In iBooks students can look up words, highlight important information, and bookmark pages. That has kept our paper use down.

Our use of Google Drive is huge.  We wrote a ebook to help students as they start to use Google Drive. We started with writing stories, and now it has become our student portfolio. They share their stories with their teacher and other students for comments to help make the stories better. They also create a folder and share it with their teacher. Students can upload pictures of assignments, activities, objects for their portfolio. We use the spreadsheet for students to monitor their improvement. They keep track of their assessment scores to see their improvement and for writing goals on a document. The teachers created a shared folder for dropping pages in for students, short videos for students to watch, and a place for students to download books or files.

Another app we started using is Explain Everything. We use it as a white board to record how students are doing their work. We could use free app Educreations or Doceri for the same thing, but there is more to EE. We have students take a picture of a story we posted on the iPad Photo Stream and import it to EE. Students read and record the story then upload it as a movie to their Google Drive portfolio. This gives us a fluency assessment that they can review later to hear improvement in their reading. They can mark up the story to show words they missed, how many words they read in one minute, and listen to how they read. Spelling sorts are our activity of choice. So we started using EE for sorting. They can cut out the words right in EE and save a stack of words to sort. Students sort the words and then write it into their composition book. We post the words on Google Drive in the shared folder for students to take a picture of. We have just started to crack the surface of what we can do in this app.

We have come up with some great uses of the iPads to help with organization and implementation of assignments and activities. We are always looking for more ideas. If you have any ideas or suggestions of what else we can do, let me know.