test

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Test

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State of Being Verbs

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Verbs

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Innovation Day- Plan One For Next Year!

I have been teaching for 20 years.  Let me show you my best day as a teacher.  It came this year, and I can't wait for next year!

After reading about Josh Stumpenhorst work, I was truly inspired.  His Innovation Day got me thinking.  I loved the idea of students being self directed for an entire day, learning about topics of importance to them.  I had to do it.  I needed huge buy in to pull it off with 130 students.  To be honest, last year I pitched the idea, you could hear crickets chirping in our school improvement team meeting.  I knew I wasn't doing justice in the explanation.  So this year, I put on a full court press on my sixth grade team.  They are a wonderful group of passionate educators.  I came prepared this time.  I pulled out all the stops. I played video of Daniel Pink and his work on motivation.  I showed examples from other schools.  I gave examples of Fed-Ex Days, Identity Day, Google 80/20, and the importance of creativity in school.  The clincher... I told them to trust me... I would do all the preparation and take all the blame if it was an epic fail. 

As soon as my colleagues agreed to proceed, I circulated a timeline of events, a parent letter (there was no backing out now), student planning sheets and more.  Truly, I think the vision still only resided in my head due to my inadequate attempts to communicate my idea.  I wanted this day to turn school as we know it upside down, and I needed my fellow teachers to be optimistic.  I even enlisted the help of Kid President to motivate the students.

I had several obstacles to overcome as I am sure most would.  First, we do not have wi-fi throughout our building. Second, we do not allow students to bring their own devices.  Third, we do not have enough devices for 130 students all in one day.  Fourth, I didn't want 'grading' to enter into the equation. 

I worked with our tech guy.  I promise to return every cable, hub, extension cord, and any other miscellaneous contraptions we would need.  I promised my principal that each and every student would be engaged for a full day of learning if he would allow them to bring their own laptops (it didn't hurt that we had already invited all the parents to not only join us for our Innovation Showcase but to help out during the day as well). 

Knowing that with the few Ipads we had, the two computer labs, and some of our sixth graders bringing their laptops we would still be short computers, I contacted our Michigan Works! organization to see how we might partner up.  To my surprise, they offered to bring out their mobile tech lab for free. The lab was a bus with 12 computer stations, air conditioning, and a Smartboard.  They assured me they would hook up to or school internet and they would be up and running in minutes.  Really, I had no idea how you 'hook up' a bus to the school internet, but with a 100' cable and an open window, we had the bus running in minutes.  It was amazing!

Both teachers and students were a bit skeptical when I told them that the products wouldn't be graded at all.  Adults thought that the kids wouldn't do anything (I prayed they would).  Kids thought I was nuts.  They asked how they would be graded. I explained that there would be no grades.  Inevitably a perplexed student in each class would ask, "Then why are we doing it?"  How sad that learning must be reduced to a grade.  My response each time was, "It is going to be so awesome why wouldn't want to?"

 I wanted all parents to be able to help in some way.  Knowing that most parents can't give up a day of work or afford to get sitters for small children, I offered them many options:  assist at anytime during the day, attend the Showcase at the end of the day, provide supplies for a student in need, or deliver healthy snacks during the day.  Our parents were amazing.  They were down on the floor assisting children.  Food was delivered every hour of the day, and we had a hallway full of supplies.  It was magical.

The following day, I asked students to reflect on how the day was for them.  I was blown away.  Kids who wouldn't write all year were writing pages of reflective and insightful responses.  Some reoccurring themes:

•  ... It was one of the most fun days in 6th grade. We should do more hands on activities.
• ... I learned more on Innovation day that on a regular school day.  
• ... The best part of the day was my family coming to see my hard work.
• ... I liked being able to teach the adults on this day.
• ... I wish we had more than one day on our topics.
• ... I liked listening to what other kids learned.
• ... It was a HUGE HIT and super fun!
• ... I liked having the freedom to move around, get something to eat, and help others.
• ... This should totally happen next year because we got to learn at our own pace and use our imaginations!
• ... The best part was being able to learn without waiting on the teachers to teach.

Some of their suggestions for change:

• Innovation Day should last longer
• All middle school students should participate
• We need more time to visit other students' projects

Innovation Day was truly the highlight of our school year.  It was a day full of learning, passion, collaborating, and sharing.  Wouldn't it be great if we could say that about every day at school! I want to work in that school.

I would love to hear about how other schools do similar things. 

First Post- True Confessions

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I have been planning on starting a blog for two years. Planning…  To be honest I am intimidated.  What if I don’t have anything to say?  Or worse, what if what I say, no one cares to read.  Believe me, I have lots of excuses such as I don’t have time.  To make matters worse, I read the blogs of others and am blown away by their insight, dedication, and sheer knowledge of all things academic.  How can I possibly contribute?  I have never been a quitter so hundreds of times I would start again.  And then, the same thing would happen.  I would pick it apart.  I would critique it.  I would revise it.  I would read another post more eloquently written than mine.  Ultimately, I would scrap it.  And yet, for some reason I couldn’t understand, I continued to want to blog through all of this anguish.  I am embarrassed to say that I have even paid for a domain name for my ‘future blog’ for, well, a long time.         

Today I happened across this short video, Obvious to You, Amazing to Others.  

It got me thinking.  It was talking to me.  Maybe, just maybe, I might have something useful to say. Maybe what is obvious to me isn’t obvious to everyone else.  Already I am internalizing how my students feel sitting in front of a piece of paper with nothing more than a black stare.  How frustrating it must be for them when I casually say, “Just write something.”  I understand the pressure to produce something in hopes of the approval of another.  Not easy.  I can relate. That’s when it hit me.  I don’t need to blog for others; I need to blog for me.  It doesn’t really matter if the posts are perfect.  In fact, it doesn’t matter if they are read by others.  Ok, I would love it if someone found value in them.  But for now, an audience is too much pressure.  My perfectionistic tendencies kick in and render me immobile.  My self-doubt overwhelms me.

So this time, I will really write.  I will be ok with a few grammatical errors.  I will overlook the odd mistake.  I will write for me. Forgive me if what I say is obvious.

Summer Tech Tips!

My friend, Amanda, and I have been trying to encourage our colleagues to catch the 'Tech Bug'.  Together we e-mail our weekly, 'Tuesday Tech Tips'.  We try to mix up ideas for class and ideas just for fun.  We both believe that experimenting with technology is easier when done with a topic you are passionate about.  Below is our end of the school year tips for summer.
 
Teachers- Need some fun apps for summer on your phone or Ipad?  Here are our top ten.  In no particular order. Some are educational, and some are just for fun!

1.       Sand Timer- A cool timer (that doesn’t make a hideous sound like Smart Notebook).  You can place phone under your document camera at school, or a time-out timer at home.  It is less intimidating that watching numbers tick away when you are taking a test.

2.       My Script Calculator- You write on the screen and watch it magically turn to typing while it solves equations.  You have to see it!    Click the link to see the magic.

 

3.       Shazam- do you ever wish you know what the name of a song was?  Shazam will tell you within seconds.  It is even pretty good at tv shows and streaming lyrics.  Great for games of ‘Name that Tune.’

4.       SnapChat- This app can be really fun.  Snap a picture and send it to a friend.  You set the timer on how long they can view the Snap (talking seconds).  Wake your children up with a SnapChat this summer… or remind them to clean their room!

5.       Decibel 10^th- Are your children ever too loud?  You can use your phone to measure the decibel level with Decibel 10^th.  Science connection on that roadtrip.

6.       Kindle- Kindle isn’t just for Kindle! You can have your books on your phone or any tablet.  They will also sync between devices.

7.       Getting in shape this summer? Amanda likes My Fitness Pal- it tracks calories burned as well as calorie intake.  Think of it like your food diary. You can connect with others to help motivate and hold each other accountable.  Endomondo is a fitness tracker for tracking calories burned.  It can calculate distance, time, calories, average speed and keep a GPS map of where you’ve been.  They even sync together!

8.       4 pics 1 word- bored waiting for an appointment? Play this game.  It is slightly addictive.  It also gets progressively harder. The game will give you four pictures and you have to guess the word that connects all four pictures.

9.       Ruzzle- play boggle with friends or random strangers.  Highly addictive (especially late at night).  Connie Hayes is very good.  You should challenge her!

10.   Pandora- a free app that let’s you personalize your ‘radio playlist’.  Suggestions: Jill - Prince, Tricia -Hunter Hayes, and Amanda – Dolly Parton, Dani -Adele, and Krissy - Mumford and Sons.

Ok, so, it was technically 11 apps.  What are some of your favorites?  This summer we are going to be playing with VIDEO!  We are going to be using Vine, Magisto, and 1SE.  We will let you know our thoughts and suggestions.

Have a great summer.  Hope you won’t mind if we send you a few Tech Tip Tuesdays (there will be a 1 in 7 chance that they will be published on Tuesday).

Amanda and Jill

How do you share your love for all things techie with your staff?