Who are you for yourself?

I want to write this post but I also don't. I also thought about changing the publish date and burying it years ago. But maybe putting it out there will help someone.

My last post was about Intentional Rest and I firmly believe in that. 

That said, I need to move beyond that. The Intentional Rest is a break from all the things that you are for other people. Remember the Disciples healing and curing? Other people. In my last post, looking back, everything I listed was about being something for someone else. 

It has nothing to do with who I am for me. 

Most of the titles that have that describe me for other people are pretty amazing and I enjoy them. I wouldn't change being a husband or a dad. I love being a teacher. I wouldn't change those but, again, they don't have much to do with who I am for me. 

(I know that some people see teaching as a calling and that is who they are above all else. Good for you. I'm excited that you have that passion. For me, as much as I love teaching, it's not a calling. It's a rewarding profession that pays me and I get to help other people. It's not who I am.)

So, let's think. Who am I for me? 

Photographer, writer, traveler, napper...

Wow, that list is way shorter and took way longer to come up with. 

This is definitely something that I need to work on for myself. 

I would bet a dollar that I'm not the only one. Especially for my teacher friends. I see you. You're pinning things on Pinterest that would be great for your classroom. You're hitting up the Dollar Store for classroom supplies. You're reading books that you might want to add to your classroom library. Or you're looking at garage sales for flexible seating (this one, yes, I'm guilty, and the garage is already full). 

Is it selfish to be something for yourself? Maybe. But it is also healthy. I'm not going to neglect who I am for other people to solely do things for myself. That wouldn't be good. There's a balance in there somewhere that leads to excellent mental health for me.

With that in mind, here's what I'm doing in July to improve who I am for myself.

• Keeping my camera (iPhone) ready when I'm out and about and looking for a quality photo. It's already paid off with these two photos.
• Keeping the bigger camera in the car so it's not forgotten if I go places that have a high probability of great photo opportunities.
• Walking more.
• Writing at least 30 blog posts this month. I'm up to 22 so far.
• Entering the MN State Fair photography contest. (Check)
• Entering the MN State Fair cookie contest (actually for next month, I guess baking is something I am for myself too.)

In the Intentional Rest post, I mentioned scrolling Tik Tok for 3 hours. I don't do that but I did come across this video that was the inspiration for this post (embedded below). I haven't had the waterworks this person talks about but I do see the need to make a space for me to work on who I am for myself.  I'm also a huge proponent of therapy. There is no shame or judgment. Take care of yourself!!!

TikTok: the_holisic_mystic

@the_holistic_mystic

#stitch with @desi_seabird it’s never too late to start being a person #therapy

♬ Night Trouble - Petit Biscuit

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Intentional Rest

"Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." - Mark 6:34

I'm not sure how to tag this post. It could be "Education." It might fit, strangely, into "Beer." Maybe a new tag called "Religion." Or it just might fit into a more all encompassing tag on this blog called "Life" or "Being All The Things."

This verse is part of a larger text from Mark that was preached in the church I go to.  Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56

It resonated with me. The Disciples were everything to the people that came to see them. Literally life and death. They healed and cured. Life. But it was exhausting. They didn't rest. There was always someone else who needed something. Always. Even when Jesus told them to rest and took them away to do just that, people found them and had expectations. 

This happens to us. Everyone. The Jones's? The rat race?  Sound familiar?

I feel this. 

Husband, brother, dad, son, friend, dinner making, driver, shopper, advice giver, parent (different than "dad"), care taker/giver, house fixer, money earner, cleaner, solver, teacher, colleague, committee member, church council member. 

See how quickly all those titles add up? Stop. think about your own for minute. I'm sure I missed a few of my own.

So, when Pastor Jeff talked about Intentional Rest (sure, I'll capitalize those), I gained focus. It's not easy to be all the things to all the people. I'll take this a step further and agrue that teachers have more on their plates because they are responsible for little humans for a third of their day. That's a huge responsibility. One that I don't take lightly. (Also one that I don't often complain about because there are rewards).

But what do you for this intentional rest? I told the lady at CSL plasma the other day that it's nice being a teacher because I sorta get to retire every June. It's a short retirement but it's well earned and so restful. Hmm, maybe donating plasma is a forced relaxation time for a couple hours every week too...

So, Intentional Rest.

Yes please. Once school is out. We load up and camp for a week. Then we spend a week at a resort with some friends. It's two weeks of reading books in a hammock, playing in the pool, watching people fish while crusing a lake in a boat, and sharing the meal creations with people beyond just me. 

It's amazing. The minute we roll into a the camp ground that first afternoon, everything melts away. I don't need to a responsible teacher. I don't need to be the church council member. So many more. I just get to be. 

Intentional Rest. 

Do it. Take it. Rest. Don't feel guilty. Be alone. Read a book. Spend 3 hours scrolling Tik Tok. Find a hammock. Find a trail. Sleep. Binge. Have a beer. 

No matter who you are, you need a rest. You have to be intentional about it. 

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Google Certified Educator!!! Or Taking Risks

I've had some issues with having loads of ideas. Some good, some really bad. Really bad. The biggest issue is that the ideas stay in my head or in my notebook and they never get acted on. There is a definite aspect of failure, even with ideas that I think are pretty darn good.

Well, I decided to start acting on some ideas.

The first one was Google Educator Certification. This one is timely because I'll be searching for and interviewing for a new position this spring for the next school year.

I've looked at the training materials. I've studied. I've talked with teacher friends. But I've never moved beyond that. In fact, I spent $10 to register for the exam and then never took it. Yep, wasted money.

Well, I registered again. Then I took the test.  After a three-day wait, there was an email. I passed!!!

Then, I explored the Level 2 Certification. I decided to go for it. I spent the money and immediately registered knowing I only had 8 days to take the test.

I texted my friend @wwolfe105 and she sent me a checklist from a friend that might be covered. I also spend a couple hours with the Google training.

Then I took the test.

Then I waited.

Then I couldn't wait any longer. I logged into the certification site and it listed my exam as passed!!! A couple days later, I got the official email.

I'm so excited!!! I'm a Google Level 2 Certified Educator. I'm glad that I finally took the plunge and just did it.

Now, on to Google Certified Trainer certification...

Or my next idea from the notebook...

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Teacher Cars, Introversion, and Extroversion

It's pretty amazing to watch introverts and extroverts teach.  More interesting is watching these same teachers without students.  

And I think a teacher's car is the best way to see this play out.  Watch the parking lot when teachers leave. There are teachers who are on their phone talking to someone before they close the door with them in the car. These teachers crave sharing their day with someone. They talk, they listen, the chat, they have conversation.  

Then there are the introverts. The ones that turn on the radio and watch the scenery go by. They listen to NPR or play some music. They watch the trees go by. They might be thinking about the day or they might be planning a nap on the couch. Or replaying a conversation with a student. Or planning their next lesson. Or what to make for dinner. 

Notice that an introvert's mind isn't empty, It's just working differently than extrovert's.

I totally fall into the second scenario. Some days, it's NPR, some days it KFAN, some days it's blasting 90s hip-hop. 

My brain would explode if I tried to talk to someone after teaching all day. It's an exhausting thing and having to tell someone about might just kill me. 

But, is the teacher you see in their car at the end of the day, the same one that see in the classroom during the school day?  How many teachers try to be someone they aren't to try and fit into what a teacher should be?

I've given up on that. I can't be an extrovert teacher. I struggle with whole group, direct instruction. I've set up my classroom and teaching to allow me to move around and work with small groups, individuals, or partners. The direct instruction happens with screencasts, mini-audio podcasts, or written directions. Once students have that part, then we start working. 

The drawback is that it seems to take longer.  However, I also feel like students are going deeper because I'm able to give them academic feedback multiple times during an activity. 

Don't be what you think you should be in the classroom. Learn who you are. Explore your personality. Be true to yourself in your classroom. Explain this to your students. Help them understand you and, in turn, themselves.  

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A Tale of 3 PD Sessions

 It was the best of times, it was ... Wait. You know what is shocking? Two of the sessions really were the best of times.

Tuesday was a district-wide PD day. Most staff members were at their schools. I don't know what happened in those sessions. I only know that it was all data related.

Session #1
I attended the Media Specialist PD at the district office. This session started with whole group introductions. I'm not usually a fan of these because generally everyone already knows each other. This group doesn't get together very often and I had never been with this group, so it was beneficial for me. 

Everyone gave one thing that had gone really well for them this year as an introduction.  I came away from the introductions with 4 really cool ideas that I hope use soon and will write about.

After introductions, we broke into grade level groups and chatted. Simple chat about what teachers were doing in their classrooms with technology. I shared some of what I was doing and showed my website, lesson plans, and projects. Then I listened to 3 other teachers talk about their classrooms and their projects.

Time to simply chat with other teachers, listen to their ideas, and get feedback on your ideas is by far the most beneficial PD that I can attend.

Session #2
My second session was with the 5th grade team that I work with around AVID strategies. Our team requested an hour and half to backwards plan from the next set of assessments and how to incorporate Costa's Levels of Questions. The team included 3 fifth grade teachers, a reading resource teacher, 2 special education teachers, and me (AVID coordinator). The teachers figured out 5 areas that they need to focus on. From there, we found or created resources for each area. Lastly, they created a pre/post assessment for students to self-assess with.

We did all this in a Google Doc that we were all collaborating on at the same time. I wish that I could have video taped the whole session because it could be a commercial for Google Docs.  The main doc had 5 or 6 links to other docs and a couple links to outside sources. In my eyes, it is a super powerful document.

There are a couple of things that stand in my head from this session. First, the power of a focused team is pretty amazing. Second, teachers need a person that can provide technology integration training on a regular basis. I, being the most knowledgeable at Google Docs, taught this group how to share documents, how to make links in a document, and how to set some simple permissions.

The concept of teaching teachers technology might help shape my decision on a position for next year.

Session #3
Sitting, listening, being talked at.

My afternoon was spent listening to PDPLC groups their cycle 2 data. The only good thing about this was that each group presented their own data. 

The second part of this session was listening to a PowerPoint about bullying. Sitting, reading slides to me, and listening. No discussion, no classroom teacher feedback.

The third part was how to teach to the test. We were told strategies to increase success on standardized tests. Teaching to the test. I just can't stand this.

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Teaching in Computer Lab

I'm a technology teacher in an elementary school. I have 11 sections of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. I'm enjoying the technology but there is something about teaching in a computer lab.

I don't like teaching in a computer lab. 

Why? I'm not sure I can pin my finger on it yet. Here's somethings that I think might be reasons:

Computers aren't seen as educational by the students.
I get the feeling that students, especially elementary students only have experience with computers as game machines. They are experts at navigating all kinds of games and learning what they need to do to advance in the games. I'm doing my best to turn the computers in design machines through the activities we do. They don't have this experience. They get easily flustered when something doesn't go their way and they don't know how to get around the issue. 

The computer lab isn't a classroom.
The lab is different. It doesn't look like a classroom. The computers are in rows and around the walls. It's not what they are used to in their typical classroom and I'm not their normal teacher.  They don't get to sit in groups or have a familiar desk. They can't move around because the desktop computers are stationary.

Digital expectations are different than regular expectations.
I don't teach in the traditional sense. It's never me standing in front of the class and leading them through a lesson. I haven't even done small group learning (labs aren't designed for this). 

​They need to log in, get to our website, read short announcements, and then watch a short instructional video. Then it's them creating something. Students are not used to being responsible for the learning. There are many students who wait for me to come to their computer and then ask what to do. I don't tell them. They all know how to open multiple tabs, how to reply a video, and how click through things. It's a mindset shift when they walk into the computer lab.

Temptations are everywhere.
Okay, not everywhere. They are all on the computer screen. It takes just a few seconds to open a tab, type in Ninjago, and start playing a game. It's just so easy to be off task.

I've never done this before.
I'm a middle school teacher who, for the first time, is working with elementary kids.  It's also my first year teaching in a computer lab. It's also my first time just teaching technology. Usually, the technology is woven into other aspects. In many ways, I'm simply a first year teacher. It's slightly maddening to back at square one. It's also maddening that middle school techniques don't always translate to elementary. I'm learning though. 

So, what now?
Should technology class be outside of a computer lab? Should technology class even exist? Should a technology teacher simply be assisting the classroom teachers with integrating technology? Should technology class really be more of a maker space?

So many questions to wrestle with. What are you thoughts?

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Argh...The Struggle of Wordle & The Love of Tagxedo

 Wordle.  The word cloud generator that I love to hate. Okay, I don't hate Wordle in any way. It is easy to use in all respects. I just can't get the program to work at school on the Macs running Chrome or Safari.  

I had my lesson all ready for 3rd graders. We we sitting on the carpet looking at the screen, waiting for Wordle to show up. It didn't. I switched from Chrome to Safari. No dice.  Sadness and 3rd graders, who already struggle with attention, are starting to wander from me.

If you have had every lesson you've ever taught go perfectly, congrats, you have no idea how this feels. To the 99.9% of us that have had this feeling, you get it.

I completely switched to Tagxedo in the middle of the lesson. Tagxedo simply worked. After 3 minutes of quick instruction, the 3rd graders were off and running.

They made word clouds with their names and things that describe them.  Over the past two days, every students in every class has created a custom word cloud with words about themselves.  Well, okay, not the kid who was sleeping. He didn't get anything done. Did I let him sleep? Yep. We are just back from winter break and I have no idea how much sleep he got over the two weeks. That's what he needed.

Everyone else thought of words to describe themselves, practiced their typing skills, used design skills (layout, font, colors), and publishing skills to create and save their Tagxedo. Now, if I can just get them access to the color printer...

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Classroom Fundraising

I had a great conversation this morning about my most recent Donor's Choose project. I've written about this project before, but the conversation this morning got my thinking more about the "why" of having to fundraise.

So far this year, I have raised $7,647 for things for my classroom. The Donor's Choose project was the biggest and earned 30 new Chromebooks for my middle school AVID students. I also wrote a grant for 8 Sphero 2.0 robots for my elementary technology kids. With that, I was able to track down iPad Minis that weren't being used to use with the Spheros.

But why?

Why does Donor's Choose exist? Why do teachers have to write grants? 

How come I can't just ask for the things that are needed? How come teachers are used to dealing with what they have or came with their classrom? How come teachers spend their own money on supplies? How come kids have to go without?

I have good friend that is the business world. Their office is bright and colorful. They have a tremendous view from their windows. They all have brand new desktop computers and laptops to take home. They have individual space (in an open format) and private spaces for quiet work. They have state of the art conference rooms.  The lighting doesn't give me a headache and their chairs are great for sitting more than 10 minutes. They have loads of space to spread out, to collaborate, to share, to use space however they want.  There's a cabinet where they can get post-it notes and pens whenever they want. They have carpet is clean and colorful.

My friend has never had to fill out a form to request pens or dry erase markers. He was given a new laptop just for working there (not a 2 year old one that someone else had). He's never been limited on the number of copies he can make or had to ask to make color copies.

Why is education different? Why do my students have to deal with 50 year old tables and chairs. Why is the tile in my classroom dingy? Why doe the lights glare and give me a headache? Why is it up to the teacher make things better?

I'm really not complaining. I've done the best I can to make my classroom(s) the best I can. I could more. I'm just wondering why the standard is so low for education.

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DonorsChoose Funded in 3 days! What?

First and foremost, it sucks that DonorsChoose.org exists at all.  Why do teachers have to spend their own money or beg others to give them money for things they use in their classrooms?

Whew, okay, that's out of my system.  I love that DonorsChoose.org does exist.  I'm currently 4 for 4 on writing and funding projects.  The first project was to buy divider tabs for my new AVID students. The second project was an awesome deal on Samsung Chromebooks.  My third project was headphones for an independent work station in my classroom.  The most recent project was to replace the Chromebooks that are three years old and starting to show their age.

I've linked each project so that you get sense of what a completed project looks like. 

I've done two huge projects and two smaller projects. All of them completed, some quicker than others.  

What's the secret to funding a project?

I'm not an expert but here's what I did:

• Have students help me write the project.
• Have concrete needs and materials.
• Give specific reasons why you need what you are asking for and how students are going to use the materials.
• Take advantage for matching funds.
  • ​My most recent project started with 50% off because it was a student-led project and most of the donations were matched using a special code. (Yes, this project was almost 75% off the regular price!!!)​
• If you are able, donate to yourself.  You get a tax deduction and it shows that you are invested in the project with your own money.
• Use all sources of funding you can thing of:
  • One project had a $500 donation from a foundation that I reached out to. I took time to work through the organization but it was worth it.
  • The most recent project was 2/3 funded by a local "Help Northside Schools" Facebook page.  I posted once per day for two days on that page.  Simply amazing to have community involvement.
  • If you are on Twitter, post the project.
  • If you are on Facebook, post the project on your personal page.
  • If you are on email, blast a one time only message to all your friends and family.
• Once people start donating, make sure you make a personal connection through DonorsChoose.org, a Facebook comment reply, an email, or an @ message on Twitter.
• Be sincere and honest.
• When it's funded, post a heartfelt message on DonorsChoose.org.
• After you get the materials, take lots of creative, fun, and inspiring pictures with your students and the materials.
• Have students write sincere thank you letters (you might need to practice this skill).

While asking for donations for things that should just be handed out by your school shouldn't be the norm, it is.  DonorsChoose.org and other fundraising sites are key to adding to your classroom and making education better for your student.

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AVID & Moodle

 I've been trying for a while now to figure out an online way to organize the lessons for my AVID classes.  I've used Blogger for posting lesson plans.  I've tried Haiku Learning for a brief spell (I think it might be the best option but it hasn't been easy to get it to play nice with other systems my school is using).  I've tried Weebly for posting lessons.  All worked but none perfectly.  Each had things that I loved and things that hated.

The lessor of all the evils is Moodle.  It's not perfect but it works the best in my situation and with all the other pieces that our school uses.  

I thought I would give a short overview of how the AVID Moodle is set up (it's closed and a public part isn't an option).

The top part of the Moodle is for Announcements.  Right now, there is an announcement about our upcoming field trip.

The first section is set up for "AVID Basics."  I'll be adding a few short documentary style videos outlining how binders should look, how to take Cornell Notes, and what the perfect tutorial looks like.

Next, there is one section for each grade level.  I thought about doing different Moodles for each grade but that seemed way to overwhelming.  Each section has the following in it:

• Warm-ups - set up as a forum
• Writing - set up as a label like the other WICOR pieces.
• Inquiry
• Collaboration
• Organization
• Reading

In each part, I add the assignments that fit in each area.  Right now, there are two inquiry assignments, two reading assignments, and three organization assignments.  The Warm-ups are turned on and off daily so that students only have access to the current one.  

I've been told that my district is moving to another system in sometime in January.  I'm not sure what it is or how it will mesh with Moodle.  For now, Moodle is my best option but I'm not completely sold on it.

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Chromebooks v. Macbooks

 *Disclaimer: The Macbooks referenced in this post are at least 3 years old but the issues existed from the beginning.

My classroom (not my students) is 1:1 with Samsung 550 Chromebooks. They walk into the classroom, open up a Chromebook and get started.

I collaborate in a 1:1 Macbook classroom.  The teacher just moved from a different building and the laptops are finally ready for use in the new school.  Thats 6 weeks sitting around collecting dust waiting fora tech or having the tech work on them.  On the flip side, I just moved from a new school too and the Chromebooks took 2 hours for me and 1 helper to reset all 30 of them and be ready for the first day of school.  

In my classroom, the Chromebooks start up in under 10 seconds.  Within 30 seconds, students are logged into their accounts and into a browser.  When the get to Google Drive, it automatically is in their account.  getting the classroom up and running and ready for the lesson is less than a minute.  WIth a warm-up activity on the board, they have 6ish minutes to be write and publish on their blog and be ready for learning.  I don't need to run around helping students log in.

In the Macbook classroom, half the computers didn't even power on.  I think it was a battery issue but I'm not positive.  This might also be a function of them just being old.  The ones that did power one, took at least 3 minutes to get to a point where someone could log in.  After typing in their information, it took another couple minutes to get to a point where they could start working on something.  Safari and Google Drive were faster than Word opening.

This log in issue has existed from day 1.  It is not the wireless because the Chromebooks don't have the same issue.  I've been told that it isn't the server either.  That leaves the actual laptop as the issue.  

So, lets boil it down to two points: speed of logging in and price.  The Chromebooks log in and are ready in less than a minute.  The price of Samsung 550 is half the price of a Macbook.  Other Chromebooks can be had for 1/4 the price of the Macbook.

Thanks for reading!

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AVID & Cumulative Writing Folders (Collins Writing)

 In AVID, we use the Collins Writing Program for our formal writings.  Part of the program is using a Cumulative Writing Folder to track Type 3 and Type 4 writing.  It also helps to monitor the FCAs that are used in class.  I really enjoy teaching with Collins and the FCAs make it easy to give feedback on the assignments.

What I don't like is little boxes.  I've written about lesson planning in the past and how the little boxes in the Teacher Planning Boxes don't work for me.  I can't squeeze everything into those boxes.  I feel the same way for the students trying to fill in the little boxes in the Cumulative Writing Folder. Students with big writing feel the failure of the boxes.  Students with small writing try to add too much. They write in pencil and we keep the folders for a while.  The pencil starts to fade.

In my AVID classes, we use Google Docs for our Cumulative Writing Folders.  I recreated the folder as a table in a document.  The table has a title box, a box for FCAs, and a reflection box.  The title is a link to the Google Doc where we did the actual writing (shared with a link).  They copy the FCAs from the assignment page to the writing folder.  I give them a couple of reflective questions to add to the folder too.  They can type without worrying about space.

You can find my Cumulative Writing Folder template in Google Drive by searching public templates for "Cumulative Writing Folder."

The writing folder is linked on the students Weebly page. I maintain a list of Weebly pages for the classes so that I have access to their work (password protected).

The benefits are that I don't have to carry notebooks to and from school.  Students don't have to worry about a paper folder.  It is permanent and they can come back to it years later.  This is better than having a stack of folders that they don't care about right now but might in a couple of years.  When I need to share student work, I just give someone a link and they can access it all.  In addition to all that, no one has to pay to purchase the folders.

How are you managing digital writing in your classroom?

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AVID & Socrative

One tool that I love in my AVID classroom is Socrative.  At the beginning of the school year, my AVID classes spend a good deal of time working on Costa's Levels of Thinking/Questioning. We take some notes, we do some activities, and then we check for understanding.

I love Socrative because I can start a quiz and let it run.  Students can work at their own pace and check their notes.  I have created two quizzes for Costa's Levels of Thinking/Questioning. 

One is a short quiz with just three questions that we take right after we take notes about the levels.  Feel free to steal this quiz buy using the code on Socrative: soc-2220484.

After that, we spend more time digging deeper into the levels of questions.  We take level 1 questions and turn them into Level 2 and Level 3.  We take Level 3 and turn them into Level 1.
We write our own questions.  We look at other peoples questions and figure out the level.

Then we take another quiz.  This quiz has 27 questions and students pick the level of the question. We aren't worried about the answers, just the levels.  That quiz can be found on Socrative using the code 
soc-2038208.

Today, the 6th grade AVID students scored 100%, all of them, on the first quiz.  The 7th and 8th graders are working toward mastery on the second quiz.  Almost all of them are 75% or better on mastery.  Several students have taken the quiz more than once.  They've taken it, studied, and retaken.  I'm willing to let them take the second quiz as many times as it takes as long as they study in between.

The quizzes are just one aspect of Socrative and there is so much more that you can do.

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IncompetentTeaching to the Test

 This was the first handout for my PLC this morning:

Professional Learning Community. How to teach to the test.  Literally.  

I envision PLCs making me a better teacher.  

This doesn't make me a better teacher. This makes students better at taking tests.  This is not what education is about.  This is, sadly, what schools are about.  

I almost went home this morning. Today it got real.  Today, it slapped me in the face.  What are we doing in schools?  We aren't educating.  We are giving "tricks" to be successful on a test. 

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How do I overcome this in my classroom? Tonight I brainstorm!  Wanna help?  Leave comments.

(For background, I teach 6th, 7th, and 8th grade AVID.)

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