Rejuvenate

It has been well over two months since I have found the time and moment to sit down and type up a blog post.  Today we will take just a brief moment to review some of the basic tenets of what I have posted thus far and then try to take a new detour.

I have for most of the year encouraged everyone reading this blog to find time for themselves.  Teaching is and can be a daunting job that, by the very nature of the folks doing the job, can be ALL CONSUMING.  I can remember my time in the classroom and not seeing the sun for weeks just because I knew what I needed to do to make sure I was putting forth my best everyday.  Now as an administrator, I find myself on that same path, weeks and the only time I have seen the sun is on bus duty or the weekend.  Of course, I am stressed.  Of course, I am tired.  And of course, I am frustrated.  I am frustrated with myself.  I need to work out better ways to get the job done.  I need to get home and spend time with my family.  I need to find solutions to situations that rise up over the course of the day and still allow me to find time for what I need to do.  These are thoughts that go through my head.  Then I start to wonder if I am being too selfish.  When I signed on for this job, I knew that it would take a great deal of time.  Being a teacher and involved in education means giving a bit in order to receive so much more.

Yes, loyal readers, I am not going to tell you that it is wrong to be frustrated, tired, or even angry.  Those are all emotions that you are allowed to feel as a person.  However, I am going to recommend that instead of having those feelings dominate your day to day; try to look at a different perspective.  When I drive home at the end of EACH day, I take the 60-90 minutes in the car to reflect on the day that just happened.  I think of all the bad and negative first.  Then I think about what I could have done differently to make it better.  Then I realize that I had the solutions for most of the drama that got to me during the school day and I start to recognize that I have the knowledge in me but I couldn't call it up at the right moment.  Then I start to think about all the positives that happened over the course of the day.  By the time I get within 10 minutes of home, I am only focusing on the positive things that will end my day: spending time with my family, taking a moment to read a book, getting into bed to start the next day new and refreshed.

So I guess to sum up this post and steer things in a new direction: we need to refocus and rejuvenate.  I am sure I don't need to tell you this but...don't do work over the holiday break.  Take time for you and your family and friends.  Get out of town.  Shake away the negative and the bad and wake up the day before you are to return not with a feeling of dread but of hope for a new change.  What will you do to make a difference in 2015?  How will you change?  Keep your eyes posted for some ideas for how I plan to make a difference.

Happy Holidays and have a great New Year.

Back in Action

Howdy loyal reader(s)!  I am back in action after a two weeks of not putting up a single post.  While I might not have been successful at posting for 30 days straight, I choose to look at that as a lesson learned instead of a failure.  Creating new content on a daily basis is difficult and there are not too many guides or curricula for blogging.  This was a challenge to get back in touch with my teaching roots.  Since becoming an administrator daily planning has been replaced with more large scale and long term planning for the building and students.  While I still have a daily agenda, the process of creating lessons to explain concepts to students was starting to fade from my memory.  The 30 day challenge was my method of bringing myself back in touch with that.  This sounds so bourgeoisie.  I guess it should.  I was loosing touch with the concepts and work that makes the school tick.  The daily grind so to speak.  However, the absence from the blog was due to refocusing on that exact issue.

During the absence, I spent time analyzing data and working with the administrative team to identify root cause and revise our School Progress Plan.  That took the place of the day to day planning for awhile.  It also revitalized my visions, goals, and plans for the school.  I am very excited to get back in the saddle when it comes to teaching, learning and blogging.

And while I am not one to be overly superstitious, I do believe in signs and this was one that hit me right over the head yesterday.  Thank you to www.techsavvyed.net for helping me refocus and be revitalized.

See you again, very soon.  Enjoy your weekend.

Day 25- A much needed break

I have not posted for some time now.  There is a great reason.  Work.  Work is the reason that I am able to post; therefore, when work calls posting must stop.  After the first day of neglecting the blog, I felt bad.  Then came day two and the guilt started.  You need to post, you need to get the information out to people.  The world is a better place with you posting.  The reality is everything is fine.  So if you upset from missing a few days of random musings then I will apologize right now.  But I am willing to bet that you didn't miss me much. 

Daily posting is very time consuming.  While I have found a voice and theme for this blog, I am still working on a level of consistency.  I want this to have the greatest impact possible for the folks that read.  It would not be fair to any reader to put up mindless pieces of prose that have no meaning.  Therefore in a commitment to quality, I will do a better job of putting together quality post that will be worthwhile in reading.

In the meantime, enjoy post season baseball, spend some moments with your families in the beautiful autumn, and keep teaching to the best of your abilities.

Day 22 and 23- Rearranging the furniture and Chat questions

I broke my streak again for posting every day.  However, this time I felt a bit guilty about not posting anything.  And I think that is where the 30 day challenge comes into play.  One must make blogging a habit in order to it to be successful and 30 days is a great amount of time to make something a habit. Through my recent reading it seems that 21 days is what is actually needed to form a habit.  I will see through to 30 then take a slight hiatus to reorganize.

The week has been devoted to lesson planning.  The final step in planning lessons is to create a way to make it easier as it goes along.  For me, my favorite part of teaching was creating new ways for my students to learn the same thing each year.  I would be lying if I said that I recreated each lesson each year.  To me that seemed foolish.  Starting from fresh, while valiant, is very time consuming and tiring.  Plus, if we "throw the baby out with the bath water" each time, we can never narrow down what worked in each lesson and what did not work.  That is what this all boils down to.  Sharpening your lesson planning skills with laser like focus.

I would recommend a few tips:

1. For the first few years of your career be as detailed oriented in your lessons.  At the end of each lesson/period taught AND and the end of the day, take time to reflect on what was successful and what you would do differently.
2. Plan ahead.  Make a unit plan.  Then a monthly plan.  Then a weekly plan.  Then a daily plan.  Start big and then break it down.  Even the tallest mountains will one day be a rolling hill.  It takes time, persistence, and patience to get this right.  Keep plugging away.  It is not easy but as you finish up a few years, you will see your work pay off.
3. Keep assessing.  Assess your students and keep a few responses from lessons to see if you need to make adjustments.  I used to keep one to three assessments from each lesson: a correct response, a somewhat right response, and a different planet response.  I wanted to see where I went right and where I went wrong.
4. If you feel yourself getting comfortable and that you don't need to plan: STOP.  Reassess the situation and challenge yourself in a different way.  One example: If you shoot for 75-80% proficiency on assessments, create a lesson that will have 100% of students on the right track.  Create the challenge.
5. You need to be your toughest critic.  Please do not allow another person to come into your room to tell you things you should already know.  Mentors, administration, and peer observations are great; but, you need to make sure that you have a strong understand of what was and was not successful in your class.

#WMMS CHAT

TOPIC: Lesson Planning

Reminder questions may change and please use #wmmschat in your response. 

We follow Q&A format.

Welcome to #wmmschat, please introduce yourself and state how comfortable you are with planning daily lessons.

Q1) How do you start planning your lessons?  Where do you begin? #wmmschat

Q2) What component of a lesson plan is most important to you?  Why? #wmmschat

Q3) How do you include Ss and their responses in your lesson plan? #wmmschat

Q4) IYO (in your opinion), are lesson plan templates necessary for good instruction? Explain. #wmmschat

Q5) How do you remain flexible to your Ss and their needs during instruction? #wmmschat

Day 21- Designing the Details

I am almost done with the 30 day challenge and hopefully I am starting to make some sense to everyone.  For this string of posts, I have followed a model of lesson planning and I am reaching the last two days of promised posts.  I am hoping that this was about a subtle as a brick through a window.  I developed a plan, set about a framework, and I am now filling in the details.  So four days in a row, soon to be a week, I modeled how to plan out a lesson.

Now to preface the rest of this post with something very important, I am not a doctor nor do I pretend to be one on TV.  While I might not be the smartest guy in the room (all the time) I do spend a great deal of time reading and observing.  So what follows are just some ideas and suggestions for how to fill in that template that was discussed yesterday.

Objective: Folks might disagree with me on this one, but in my experiences having an objective is a great way to summarize a lesson.  It is a brief statment that students can refer to or the teacher can ask them to refer to in order to keep kids on track.  It is also a very easy way to wrap up a lesson.  

Drill/Warm-Up/Do Now: An activity to get kids involved immediately in the lesson.  It can be a question, discussion, or any other activity that immediately grabs the kids and gets them thinking about the lesson.  I used them as the jump off point for almost every lesson.  A great idea is to create a discrepant event that challenges the typical way of thinking.  

Engagement Activity: I look at this as a continuation of the drill.  Keep the ball rolling with what you just had the students doing.  Make it as interesting as possible.  It can be as simple as continuing a discussion about the drill or as difficult as you want it to be.

Now where there is discrepancy and arguments.  For the next portion, the meat of the lesson, people make millions...and MILLIONS of dimes off of this discussion.  I don't care how you do this but include some of the following in some type of order:

Teacher Alone, Teacher with Student, Student with Teacher, Student Alone

Exploration activity, Explanation Activity, Extension Activity, Elaboration Activity

Together with You, Together Together, and All by Yourself.

Stop, Collaborate, and Listen

Each of the above is a way to get the the content to the students.  Except for the last one, that one is Vanilla Ice; but, it could be the new way to teach.  The point is to get the students working.  I don't care how you get the involved and working just get them doing something.  Try to provide some time for them to work together, work with you, and work alone.  But really that is up to you, far be it from me to tell you exactly how to do this as that is the BEST part of the job.  This is what makes teaching an ART and SCIENCE.  

After the students have been involved with doing work, it is important to SUMMARIZE.  Personally, I think the best way to do this is to have the students tell you what they did and how they did it.  Ask them if the met the objective and elaborate on how they did or did not.  Again, not a doctor, but I would think that this allow the information to go to a different part of the brain; you know short term versus long term.

Finally, it is important to assess the students.  Now please note that while I put this at the end, it is only because their needs to be an assessment at the end of EVERY lesson.  If one starts with the end in mind, this will be the goal for the lesson.  This will be the proof that the students met the objective.  I caution you that if this is the only time you assess during your lesson, you will be sorely disappointed in the results.  It is imperative that you assess throughout the lesson in order to adjust how you provide instruction and identify students that need more assistance in order to get them to the end point.  That is teaching.  Doing it all...every day...is teaching at your best.  

Keep up the great work that you do every day.  #wwmschat questions will be posted soon, thinking about swtiching something up for next week, but need to run it by the team.  

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment.

Day 20- Building the Frame

So yesterday and the day prior, my posts were spotty due to poor internet performance.  Today's post shall be much better but hopefully brief.  By better I mean some more resources, by brief I mean short.

As I mentioned yesterday, lesson planning is important.  It allows you as a teacher to create a map of where you want to head with your students.  We can't all just "wing it."  Some teachers can do this a few times over a year and get by; but, if you are really into teaching and learning, it is recommended to be well planned for the kids.

Once you have an idea, how do you put it onto paper.  There are several different models to follow: gradual release, 5-E, lecture and copy, etc.  You know the drill.  Every one has a different model that they prefer to use.  Personally, I don't care what model you use as long as you are writing something down in an understandable format.  Sticky notes could be used, if one places them in a specific order to show how the lesson will flow.  They won't work if you just jot them down and put them on the back of a worksheet.

I have worked at several schools that have asked teachers to use a certain template.  I like that idea.  Being asked to use a template provides a challenge.  Take what you know and show it in a different way so if someone wants to read it they can understand your thinking for the lesson.  I used to grumble, "I am a science teacher and I need to use the 5-E model...blah, blah, blah."  Then I realized that the template I was asked to use could be made into a 5-E model by moving some parts around.  When I asked if I could do that, my principal gave me the go ahead and it worked.  I never looked back.

Planning lessons is important for multiple reasons.  First and foremost, it is fair to the kids that depend on you to give them the knowledge they so yearn for each and every day.  Two: it will help you, the teacher, think things through so when something goes wrong with the lesson you have a way to think through to fix it.  Three: it will keep you the teacher happy.  As you progress from year to year, you will have an encyclopedia of work that you have accumulated and you can easily pull from and change in order to meet your students' needs.  You can then start your own blog and share that information with educators around the globe. :)

For some related articles and resources, I created a Symbaloo webmix.  If you have not tried this tool yet, I recommend you check it out.  It is a great way to organize websites in such a manner that it is easy to access.  It is easy to update and share websites.  We are using it in our school to provide professional development, so why not use it here in the same way.  Think flipping your classroom.

Check it out here:
Lesson Planning Tips and Resources

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment.

Day 19- Begin with end in mind

For the second day in a row, I am having difficulty utilizing the internet with my laptop.  It is frustrating.  My other device is currently updating its operating system so I am once again posting from my phone. Again...awesome.  While this is a hiccup at least there is some access. More on that next week.

Today's lesson tip is to begin with the end in mind.  Think about what you want your students to achieve and then work backwards from there.  A teacher can start with the unit assessment, look at state standards, or even create a project.  But in order to get where you want to go it is important to start with a destination.  If not, how will know you got where you wanted.  Mind blown?  Try typing that. ;)

So once you have your destination start planing the best route to get there.  Sometimes the route can be long and have plenty of interesting stops.  Other times the route needs to be short and to the point.  That is the beauty of planing the lesson.  You get to pick the route depending on your students.

Finally, follow the route to reach your destination.  Then start planning for your next adventure.  I am not sure if this is analogy or allegory, but I hope it is easy to understand. Watch your passengers to see if you need to go faster or slower and once you get there... see if they actually came with you and plan form the next stop or figure out short cut to get back to where you need them.

I will find some proof this week. Enjoy your night. BTW: #wmmschat tomorrow

Day 18- Plan the Lesson, Teach the Plan, and then adjust...

As we continue down this road together, I would like to take a moment to thank you for still reading...if you are.  I have repeatedly talked about the purpose of this blog and how I will continue to grow and change this blog.  The next step, as I mentioned, is to dial in on how this blog needs to be run.  The idea behind this blog is not just to cover topics related to education but to also demystify the process of blogging for everyone.  So forgive the rambling at the beginning of most of these posts but I figured explaining the process might in some crazy way help you the reader at some point down the road.

Anyway, I digress.

The focus of this week shall be on lesson planning.  While the twitter chat this week will be about student engagement, what better way to keep the conversation going then by talking about a major factor to that...the lesson plan.

(FYI: Glad I had a plan for this week as my interwebs is throwing fits and I could not get the links posted.  Always have a plan in order to work through any problems.)

Planning a lesson is so much more than opening a guide and jotting down some words in a blue spiral book.  It is more than creating a neat powerpoint or flipchart.  It is bigger than that.  I often look at lesson planning as the most difficult part of the job.  Planning a lesson is taking your thoughts and ideas and putting them onto paper in order to convery those thoughts to a whole bunch of other little people.  It is the idea; the art and science of teaching on paper in a well thought out manner.  Your vision for each day written out.

So this week we will discuss the idea, the concepts, the way to start, the way to end, and most importantly how you like to plan.  One might view it similarly to building a house. :)

Monday- Introduction (Plan the lesson, teach the plan)

Tuesday- Begin with the End in Mind (Using Assessment, guides, and curriculum to plan)

Wednesday- Twitter Chat.  Building the Frame (Types of Lesson Plans)

Thursday- Designing the Details (Filling in Your Template)

Friday- Rearranging your Furniture. (Making adjustment without having to start from scratch.)

Day 17- Student Engagement

As I posted earlier this week, we are nearing a time in the school year when students and teachers start to get a bit more comfortable with each other.  Some folks might say that we are in the waning phases of the "honeymoon" period.  Others might say this is when students have a tendency to "show themselves."  I look at it as students and teachers getting comfortable with each other.  The excitement and prestige of the the beginning of the year is wearing off and it is now time for us, as teachers, to keep the feeling, the rush, the excitement from the beginning of the year going for as long as we can.  We should keep figuring out ways to keep students engaged and motivated for as long as possible.  Let's keep the ride going for as long as we can.  Keep the wave of excitement and eagerness flowing until we need to reinvent what we are doing again.  So with this idea in mind, we will turn our focus to a few very easily researched articles on engagement and motivation.


The first few articles are from Edutopia blogs.  Funded by the George Lucas Foundation, I get to hear a lot about them on NPR and local radio stations.  The first article is just a resource list to several other articles.  I haven't read them all, but I will.  The articles are organized by how you can use them which is located at the top of the article underneath the headline banner.  Their second article is yet another list of links to more articles.

The next article is from the Marzano Center for Learning Science.  If you don't follow them on Twitter, you might want to.  Great ideas and great resources.  The article gives teachers five VERY EASY ways to keep your kids interested.  I like the idea of mild controversy and competition.  Every once in awhile we do need to keep kids on their toes.

So to you I query: Are motivation and engagement separate or linked together much like the "DNA" of keeping kids interested?  My thoughts are not important but alas, I will provide you with THREE resources for student motivation.

Te@chthought is a great site to provide teachers with ideas and help answer some questions one might have.  This article provides a list of "21 Simple Ideas to Improve Student Motivation."

The next two articles come from Mindshift KQED blogs. One provides some more simple methods for how to motivate students while the second gives a bit of deeper exploration to the idea of motivation.

When it is all said and done, how you want to keep kids engaged and motivated is up to you as a teacher.  You get to make choices.  If you want to keep the positive vibes going then read the articles above and get some ideas to keep it flowing.  If you would like to slow things down for now and then pick back up later in the year, read the articles then.  Or better still, find your own resources and feel free to share them here.  If you don't want the read the articles, well, I can't force you.  I can just say best of luck and I hope it all works out in the end.  I just wish that I had this many resources at my finger tips when I first started in this gig.

And now for something completely different...almost.

#WMMSCHAT

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

4-5 PM EAST COAST
(questions subject to change)

Welcome to #wmmschat, please introduce yourself and tell me how you keep yourself motivated.

Q1) With the school year coming into full swing, what changes are you noticing in your students level of enthusiasm?

Q2) What is the difference, if any, between student engagement and motivation?

Q3) What are some signs that your students are not engaged in your lesson?

Q4) What are some signs that your students are fully engaged? (What does the engaged class look and sound like?)

Q5) Agree or not and explain: To increase engagement, I must increase the challenge of my lesson?

Q6)  What is one simple task, you do to get student's quickly engaged in the lesson?

Q7)  How are you going to sustain interest in your class for this year?  What are going to change?

Enjoy the weekend.  No post tomorrow.  Go Orioles!!!

Day 16- Time Management

In addition to posting information about our weekly Twitter chat here, we will also discuss time management.  Please understand that this is a skill that I still work on daily.  Even as I write this post, I realize that I should be doing something else.  But this is a post that needs to be discussed.  For teachers new to the profession and those that are looking for some insight, please continue to read.

In working with new teachers, I often tell them that the first year of teaching needs to be focused on management.  Manage the class, manage the lessons, manage your time.  First year teachers often focus on the first two but neglect the third.  Which is why we have a second year of teaching, during which time it is important to take everything you did the first year and make it better and make it easier for oneself so that it will be better for the students.  Then by the third year, a new teacher should take the first two years and find and keep the best strategies that worked for them while striving to make their lessons even more engaging for their students.

This graphic is from Stephen Covey via the USGS.  But I have also seen this graphic attributed to Dwight Eisenhower.  It is one tool that a person can use to help plan their day and plan their time.  I just started using it this year because I have always used another tool...the TO DO list.

For years, I have kept either a steno pad, a bound composition/notebook, or my planning book to jot down things to do and keep track of what I have done.  I have notes and to do lists going back for the past six years at least.  Every once in awhile, I will take a look and see what I got done and what I didn't accomplish and then try to figure out how I can do better.  I always take time at the end of the day to reflect on my day and how I can improve.  Most time it is on the car ride home, sometimes I just jot things down, and now this blog has received a few posts because of that.  This was advice given to me a principal.  It stuck and now it is a habit.

So back to you, the audience, what do you need to do in order to ensure that you are using your time wisely?  What do you currently do that might help others be more successful with time?  Is there something you see someone else doing that you would recommend?  Please share your thoughts here in the comments or send a tweet to my handle.

So below is the Storify version of our school's weekly Twitter chat.  I am going to use it a bit more to keep track and to share with others.  I hope more folks start to join in.  Today it will be a link, next time I might post the whole thing on here.

#WMMSCHAT 09/16/14

Keep your eyes posted for questions for next week's Twitter Chat topics could be one of two choices:

Lesson Planning or Sustaining Student Motivation.

Thanks for reading.  Enjoy your day.  And make it a great tomorrow.

Day 15- No post for a reason.

I did not post yesterday and instead will post twice today.  There was a good reason: I was tired.  For teachers new to the profession or new to a school just be aware that this is the time of the year for one to start feeling sick.  I am not a doctor nor do I play one on TV or on the interwebs; so don't listen.  However, since this blog has offered other recommendations for teachers such as taking time for yourself and enjoying your weekend it is recommended that one gets plenty of rest, eats rights, maybe take a vitamin, and drink plenty of fluids.  My mom, who is also not a doctor, would recommend chicken broth and ginger ale too.

That is all.  Enjoy your day.  And make it a great day tomorrow.

Day 14- Dialing in

With the school year getting underway, it is now the time of the year when the sheen starts to wear off and the students tend to get a bit more comfortable.  This year, as in years past, we have asked teachers to spend the time up to this point focusing on: developing relationships, going over routines, and introducing students to our school expectations.  Up to this point, we have asked teachers to just make students feel comfortable.  That's it.  Just get kids used to being in our school and learning how to be a middle school kid.  But as I introduced at the beginning of the post, the year is changing and now we have to reinforce the work we have put in so far, teach content, and then review everything we did again and again.

So some ideas to help with this:

1) Focus on the lesson and continue to mix in the expectations.

2) Create lessons that serve a dual purpose: review your expectations and teaches content.

3) If you haven't yet, start making positive phone calls home.  It will pay off later in the year.

4) Take one day to have students reflect on what they have learned so far with a writing assignment or a discussion.

5) Create a lesson that challenges the students at a different level.  Maybe it allows more freedom, maybe it has more difficult work, or maybe you provide less direct instruction and have the kids read, follow directions, and work collaboratively.  Sounds silly but it does work.

So what ideas do you have to keep students focused on learning and engaged in school?

See you next time.

Day 13ish

So I did not post yesterday...intentionally.  In an effort to have an impact, I am going to post daily for 30 days but make sure I give quality work.  You deserve that. Plus it is now the weekend, so I am breaking my rule again.

Enjoy your time with family and friends.

Day 12- Balancing Act

Yesterday, I presented everyone with what I would say was a mid to moderately researched and quoted post.  The truth is that it took time.  Time is of the essence, it is precious, time is money, time can be wasted, and time is on our side.  It wasn't last night for this guy.  I had plenty else that I could have done during the time frame of working that post.  To be truthful, if this is to have an impact (one of my goals) then I will need to work on developing those posts.  I doubt I will be able to work them everyday.

So that brings me to my title.  After everything we do over the course of the day, how do we balance it all?  There is an answer that I believe is out there.  It is at the heart of all decent instruction...PLANNING.  With our Twitter chats, I have the first month planned out.  Just like I used to have my units and daily lessons.  So it needs to be the same with this and I think that will be the best way to make sure that I am meeting my goals.  FYI, lesson planing will be an upcoming Twitter chat and several blog posts.

But if you have any advice please feel free to comment and offer something constructive.

Thanks.

Day 11- Putting a plan together

After spending a great deal of time vacillating over the goals and content of this blog, I have come to the final conclusion: (TRUMPET SOUNDS) this shall be an extension of my current use of my Twitter account which is for teacher, students, and families to continue to grow.

Each week we run a Twitter chat at my school.  This chat #wmmschat has become a great way for us to have discussions about topics that impact our school.  Past chats have included topics ranging from our district's role out of one-to-one devices to just finding out what people did over the summer.  We follow a simple Q&A model and have a decent turn out from our faculty but would love to include more folks.  This week our topic will be about blended learning.

Being new to moderating Twitter chats, I would mostly "shoot from the hip" when it came to questions.  Typically, the topics were ideas and concepts I felt I had a good enough understanding of in order to develop six or seven questions to ask everyone.  If I didn't feel comfortable about a topic, I would go to a similar chat somewhere and then ask permission to use questions from that chat as a catalyst for our chat.  I did this once and immediately felt guilty.  We are now delving into territories that I know but I am not an expert.  So begins my first week of in-depth research to better provide development for teachers.  In an attempt to be as forthright and honest as possible, for this week's questions I will link to the source for that question to provide some background for those who like to read ahead.

#WMMSCHAT

Topic: Blended Learning

(might have a guest moderator)

We will continue to follow the Q&A Format (reminder questions may change order or phrasing slightly)

Take a moment to introduce yourself: who you are, what you do, and rate your current level of comfort with blended learning.

Remember to use #wmmschat in your response.

Q1) In your own words and in 140 or less, define blended learning?

Q2) Blended Learning has several different models to follow, based on what you know which one stands out as one for you to use? Why?

Q3) Is our current model/idea of a classroom outdated? What needs to change?

Q4) What from our current model/idea of teaching must we keep as we move to a blended learning model?

Q5) What outcomes do you hope to see for your students in your school?

Q6) What challenges are you predicting to run into as we move to a blended model? Be solutions oriented.

Q7) What are you most excited for as we make this transition to blended learning?

So that is all for tonight.  Please take some time to do your own research into blended learning and maybe we can continue to ask questions to help us get better.

Day 10- One Third of the Challenge Done

In a recent post, I lamented about finding a voice for this blog.  Ironically, the same day I sent an infographic via Twitter about teachers finding a voice for their tweets.  With this idea in mind, I think I am starting to focus the light that has been shed upon my blogging experience.  The focus of this experiment needs to be about those things which I am most passionate about when it comes to education: teaching, leadership, STEM, and professional development.  While the sub title might give a hint, I think that I will need to continue to narrow the beam over the course of the next 30 days.  I mean really, right now, I am just expressing and randomly writing ideas.  Which means I am worried about repeating myself and rambling.  So I shall change subjects...

This past summer I had the chance to go to ISTE14 in Atlanta.  It was quite an experience.  In fact my first two blog post drafts were about ISTE.  I never had the gumption to publish them.  However, while I was there I saw all the great stuff that was going on and how proud everyone was of their work.  It led me to believe that each teacher needs an outlet to share their accomplishments.  In an interesting way, one person I met there, happened to post to her blog today about letting the world see what you do.  Please take time to read that post here.  Maybe someday I will get a chance to interview Ms. Swanson for this blog.

Another person, a teacher, that has a great blog to get information out there is Larry Ferlazzo.  This blog is focused on websites and tech tools but also so much more.  Very interesting work that I find inspiring.  I try to take sometime to read it at least once a week to see what I can learn.

While these are just two examples of work, please keep in mind that for everyone there is probably 10 more.  For every teacher there has to be a niche a person you can follow and get great tips...case in point. 

So find your niche find a person to follow and read at least one blog post beyond this one.  To help you check out this list of the top 100 teaching blogs.

Challenge Your Growth.

Day 9- The internet is awesome

So today's post comes from a mobile phone. How awesome is that? I downloaded an app and boom here is a post. Today I saw an article, that I will post later, that mentioned the internet is 21 years old. Twenty-one is an important age for some. It affords a bit more responsibility to some but is typically when young adults are viewed as full fledged adults.  The internet is old.

Just think back 21 years, the very first chat rooms and bulletin boards went live. It took several minutes to download anything. Files, speeches, articles, let alone a song or even a whole movie.  A whole movie using dial up...to those of you we actually had use a phone line and sometimes phone.  (Look up WarGames, Joshua, WOPR, etc.) This all meant being patient and having to wait. We learned that technology took time but we could have a lot of fun and it was a great and useful tool.

So fast forward to today.  I posted this from my phone. Yeah. Ummm...think about that one. Today students have a need for instance access.  If we were to show them an old dial up or even listen to the noise it made to get a small and slow data stream they would say, "really?"

So how will you, as a teacher, make sure that your student are using every bit of information available to them today?

Think about it...mobile phone post.

Day 8- Feeling Great

It feels fantastic to be actually taking time each day to reflect on the day and be able to share some brief insight into the day of an educator.

Today is the day that we need to take a few moments and set some goals for this blog.  I was reading other blogs and realized that folks do neat stuff.  I want to do neat stuff too.  So now we need to set goals of neat stuff.

GOALS:
1) Find a voice for this blog.  Currently this blog is just random thoughts that pop in to my head and a place for reflection and growth.  It needs to have a voice and a focus in order for it to have an impact.

2) Conduct a blog interview with at least one person.  How great would it be to speak to someone about what they do and then share it with everyone else out there.

3) Find one person to be a guest blogger and invite them to post.

4) Make connections to other blogs and articles in order to spread the word and assist others in getting noticed for all the hard work they do.

5) Continue the journalistic excellence demonstrated by those that have come before me...wait, what did I just type.  I guess what I am trying to say is be true to the idea that this blog is a form of media; therefore, it would be prudent to research and understand tricks of the trade in order to be taken seriously by anyone out there.

6) Have fun.  If one is not having fun with what they are doing, then why would one keep doing that.

7-10) You tell me what other goals should the blog have.

Enjoy the weekend folks.

Day 6 and 7- Two Posts in Half the Time

Just in case anyone was wondering the why behind my blogging experience, I have some more insight into that.  I believe that I mentioned that this aspect of social media and sharing experiences is one that I have always found intriguing.  This is also one form of media that I find provides great resources to teachers from teachers and others in the field of education.  So as I started reading blogs, I noticed that they provided a lot of resources...from other blogs.

The purpose of this experience is because it is something that I said I was going to do.  However, I needed to get that final push into the ring.  So I waited for the first day of school and started the thirty day blogging challenge.  I found the information here from Edutopia and it has some other great resources too.  But through reading the posts it hit me: for a blog to become useful one must be consistent and post on a regular basis.  Thirty days of daily posting seems like enough time to get into a routine and start a habit.  Since I missed a day yesterday and I don't feel like starting all over at day one, like my workout routine makes me do if I miss a day, I figured I could bring these two days together.  Hence twice the post in half the time. Enough about me...unless you want to challenge yourself to do something new.

#WMMSCHAT

Topic: Using Technology In the Classroom 

(might have a guest moderator)

We will continue to follow the Q&A Format (reminder questions may change order or phrasing slightly)

Take a moment to introduce yourself: who you are, what you do, and one piece of tech you LOVE to use in class.

Remember to use #wmmschat in your response

Q1: Explain why the piece of tech from intro is so great to use in class?
Q2: What is one type of tech or tool that you are hesitant to use? Why?
Q3: What is one tech/tool that you have heard of and would like to use? Why?
Q4: Tech has changed so much in last 6 yrs, name a tool that you have used and would like to see at WMMS?
Q5: What purposes should tech/tools serve in class?
Q6: How are you currently using technology in your class?
Q7: How can we make the transition from tech integration to #blendedlearning?

Day 5- Twitter Chats and Your Professional Development

Today we are having our first Twitter chat with our school for this year.  This was something we created to extend the reach of our ability to communicate with students, families, and teachers.  I view Twitter as a great tool for learning and having discussions.  In the "micro-blogging" format, one must be concise and creative in order to get a point across to people reading the post.  Plus...it is fun.

Twitter is being taken over by teachers. I am sure there are plenty of articles that can give you reasons; but, if you really want to know why then you need to sign up.  I will give you my list of reasons, but I am just one person:

1) It is fun.  Twitter is a blast.
2) It is easy.  I signed up about a year ago.  I then started following one person and then started following who they followed, then followed some more people.  It was that easy.
3) You can tweak Twitter to meet your needs.  I use it only for work.  With that in mind, I follow other educators and chat with folks about topics that I want to learn more about or fine tune my understanding.  If something doesn't meet that criteria then I move on or away from it.
4) It is also easy to share articles and information.  At a school I worked at, we would email articles and start and email thread discussion of the topic.  With Twitter we can have a chat or I can send the article and just ask for responses.

In my opinion, words I try to avoid using, I would say that Twitter is one of the BEST ways to tailor PD to meet your needs.  Think about it.  For years, I would listen to teachers complain (I was guilty of it too), "Why do we all have to sit through this?"  Now by signing up for a FREE online tool, a teacher can create their own little PROFESSIONAL LEARNING NETWORK (PLN) to meet their needs at their level.
How awesome is that?

I am just saying, this is a great tool for teachers to use.

Day 4- Taking a moment for work but only a moment

Yesterday, I posted about the need for one to take a break from work on the weekends.  As an educator it is important that we take a moment for ourselves and our families in order to focus on what is important to us beyond the school day.  I have hobbies, I have stuff to do, and I like to do things with other people.  If I worked all the time those things wouldn't be able to occur.  

For me, time to refresh is important.  (Click the link.) It should be for you as well.  I know that there are people that just can't turn it off.  It has to be all work all the time.  If you are one of those folks, check this out. 

So for one moment, one brief moment, take a deep breath and walk away from what you are doing.  Are you still reading?  Get up walk away and come back.

Did you know what to do with your time?  Did you do nothing?  Did you do something for yourself?  I hope you did.  Try to take a longer break later today and hopefully this weekend.  You will thank yourself.

#wmmschat 

Questions this week: (questions subject to change/alter)

Topic: How to make this the best year ever?

Warm-up: Introduce yourself and title, don't forget #wmmschat in your response?

Q1: What is one thing you did last year that you will not do this year?

Q2: What is some things that you want to try this year?

Q3: What are your goals for the year/what do you plan to accomplish by the end of the year?

Q3a: How will you meet them?

Q4: How do you plan to set the tone in your classroom this year?

Q5: Is there a better way to do what you have always done? Elaborate.

Q6: How will you make this the BEST YEAR EVER?

Day Three- Finding time for you and Enter Technology

So today is the third day of my challenge for blogging.  Since a long weekend is coming up with Labor Day, I figured I would get this post in before leaving for the day.  I haven't quite decided if I should post on the weekend or not but we all need sometime away from the job.  Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Speaking of time away, at my school we run a weekly Twitter chat that pertains to concerns, issues, and activities that we have going on in our building.  The chat also expands out to the greater community by talking about middle level education, helping first year teachers, and discussing salient points that pertain to initiatives in our district.  With that being said the chat is back.  Please join the discussion each week at #wmmschat

This week our discussion will be about: making this the best year ever.  Please check back here to preview the questions.  I hope I can get them posted in time.

Have a happy and safe Labor Day.

Day Two- Lockers, Buses, and Schedules (oh my)

So today was the second day at school and we distributed lockers and combinations.  I started thinking how lockers can be a great analogy for class.  See with a locker one needs to follow a prescribed sequence (combination) in order to meet the end result (open locker).  If one makes a mistake with the combination then one must start from the beginning.  This is FRUSTRATING.  Students will blame the locker, say it is broken, that it doesn't work, and even say they got the wrong combination.  Some students won't say a word and just stare at the locker or run around the hall looking for something else to replace their time.  Some will quietly persevere in this task despite having made multiple mistakes.  They won't quit until they opened up that locker.  They will lower their shoulders and hang their heads but they will keep trying.  Other students will try it once and immediately ask for help; yet, others will wait patiently for the teacher to come to them before trying to do it.

So think for a minute:
How does this sound like a classroom?
How will you help each type of student open their locker this year?

First Day of School 2014-2015

Today was our first day of school for the 2014-2015 school year.  

This year I made a resolution to make an ATTEMPT at blogging.  The purpose of this blog will to be to share information with teachers, families, and students.  Primarily the goal is to extend my learning into this medium and to also assist teachers with growing professionally.  

I have consistently said to my faculty that I would not ask them to do something I have not done myself.  Since we are moving to a new and higher level of tech focus this year and some teachers are thinking about how to start this process, I figured that I would give it a shot to offer advice on how to proceed.

This blog will start off as a way to post the questions for our weekly twitter chat.  This week our topic will be: Starting off the school year and how was your summer?

With that being said...let the adventure begin.