I just had a wonderful conversation with my students.  They started it. It started with a student having his phone out.  Kids know if texting in class, I have to take their phone. I have no problem taking up phones for texting because they are disrupting other classes and the texts are usually mean.  But this kid was finished with the assignment and was looking up something online for another class. I let it slide, why deny a kid the power of the internet?! Had to explain myself to the class, they all agreed that it was fair!

Next question was a student asking me if anyone turned in the form that said that their parents would not allow them to do the blog assignment.  I told him no and his comment was “Good, what kind of parent says, ‘No my kid can’t learn, can’t use the internet that is full of information, and can’t share with the world.'” The sentence caught me off guard all I could say was “Dude, I love you!” I then started explaining to them how social media was a new thing. This lead to them discussing how parents do not like facebook, twitter, blogs, etc.  I had to explain how they are not used to this open society we have created.

We talked about fear of internet, fear of telling to much. They did not think that posting everything that happens to them on FB was a big deal but it is to their parents.  I asked them to tell me why they felt the need to post statuses on internet. They all had pretty much the same answer – to get a comment from others.

Wow so true. Part of these kids lives is to share with the world what they are doing or how they are feeling AND to comment to others about their lives. They asked me if that was why I twitter, facebook, and blog. Yeah I guess it is.  Its all about sharing.

That is their culture. Interacting with the world is second nature to them.  Collaborating with others. Listening to others. Communicating with others.

If that is their culture, why are they being told NOT to do this? Why are they (and me!) criticized for using this medium?

We need to embrace that social media is everywhere. The world is not “changing” it has changed. It is time to accept it, it is to learn from it, it is time to encourage learning in this world!

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My first day of 2nd grade. I walked in and recognized a few faces. I could sense the people I knew were nervous. Some had even been crying. What did I do? The typical Amanda reaction, I went over to them, started talking to them and of course cracking jokes. My teacher then groaned and told my mom, “well look here, we have ourselves one of those ‘social butterflies.'” From then on I was labeled.  My teacher never took into account I had a genius IQ or had been reading sentences since I was two. From then on I was “that kid.” I spent most of the school year outside the room or at the front of the room in “isolation.”  I could go on for days about how this affected my education experience for the rest of my elementary/MS years, but  that is not my point.

My point is that humor and relationships with others is a big part of who I am. If you had asked me when I was a child what I wanted to be when I grew up I had an answer “The President, if I lose the election, a comedian.” Yes those are some messed up ideals but it makes since, “help the country or make them laugh”

Lately I have been frustrated with my addition to our PLN. I feel as though I do not contribute much. Like I’m once again I the ditzy blonde in the back of the room passing notes.  I don’t want to be the “class clown.” I learn so much for everyone (if I don’t I have unfollowed by now!). As a mom of 2 (who’s husband traveled about 150 days last yr), a coach, and teacher my PLN is my source of research.  I do not have a chance to search for articles or read books as much as I like. But I do have time to read blogs or read what is being recommended.

I also feel with many a relationship. Like a support group!  When I’m having a bad day I can say so without fear of losing my job. I love that you then turn around and make me smile. I like making you guys laugh at me when your days are not going well. You have to admit, the mental image of me standing on a table with a mouse running around my room made you crack a smile!!! I LOVE how you guys DM about a job interview or surgery you are having. That is important to me.

Since I started writing this post I was told pretty much to go away from Twitter. Parents were going to twitter.com/amandacdykes and reading my tweets for something to talk about.  Something negative to talk about. I was tweeting about school. That was a problem to them. What they aren’t realizing is that I am tweeting to teachers, teachers who also are going through the same things I am going through. (by the way They were not following me, they were going out of their way to find it)

I love reading what other teachers are doing throughout the day. It is a connection that is great to have.

This job is not my dream job to be honest. I like it, but more than anything I want to be a technology intergration specialist, so reading tweets from people with that job teaches me SO MUCH about that job.  I also learn a lot about teaching practices going on all over the world, and I try them out in my classroom.  I am challenged to think.  No where else am I challenged to do so. My school does not provide professional development, no you all are it.  What I get on my own is what I get. Thank you for that!

It is awesome to know there are other educators out there who have the same passion for changing our education system. Its funny how often we all disagree but still work together for a common goal. You do not see that often.

My twitter time is now gone from 8-3. I know I can protect myself if I tweet other times, but it will not be as often for a while. I still “lurk” and read tweets, but I have to keep my mouth shut. Not something I can do easily!! You may be getting DMs from me about what ever you just twittered, sorry in advance.

I think of so many of you a friends. I cannot wait to meet so many of you at #ISTE10! I’m usually not into conferences, I hate crowds (unless I’m the center of attention lol)! Well I hate crowds where I do not know people. I do not feel that way about you all, I feel like there will be plenty I know!

Jimmy Buffett says “If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.” Those are words I live by! Thank you for making me laugh!

I love you all!

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Over a month ago during Spring Break I started the book Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.  Loved the book, but due to parenthood, teaching, and coaching I have not picked it up in a few weeks.  Today I was laying out by the pool and picked it back up.

I came to a page that was talking about change needs to happen before crisis happens. Hmmm. What is a considered crisis? What if crisis is gradual?

For the past 5 years I have had a passion for technology integration.  Not for just using technology in the classroom, but using it without it being something separate from the everyday learning in the classroom.  I have taught for 7 years now. My first three years were at a very small rural private school. I saw that school go from having one computer in an office to a full computer lab during that time.  (Computers donated to the school because a guy in Washington accidentally clicked the wrong link on google.) I then moved to public school.  Schools who have the money for the resources that could change learning. The first year I was at a school who had a tech rep with the same passions I have. She left during that year and I left at the end. Since then I have yet to see anyone push for teachers to even try to integrate technology. No passion, no caring. There are teachers who do this, but I can see their frustration of no labs, wifi not working, etc. It is heartbreaking. My thesis for my Ed S was to see if a website that held weekly contest would increase technology usage or at least get someone to think about using it.  This worked to an extent. It opened up a dialouge that was not there before. Some teachers had never thought about using a things like digital cameras in the classroom. Others were eager to share what they were already doing.  But why change? Why do anything different than what you have been doing that works?

Without leadership pushing for change, why would people change? Without someone teaching them how to change, why would we assume they know where to start? Yes I think as educators, the life-long learner mindset should be the standard.  But where do these teachers go to learn? Someone has to tell them about PLNs and blogs. They need to meet in PLCs to share ideas. But if no one shares, they can just stay doing what they have always done. We can cross our fingers and hope they take a day out of school to go to a PD. I wish I could meet with these teachers and tell them about it. Oh how I wish. But I have mandatory responsibilites and only a 1/2 of a prep period.

I hope we do not have to sit and wait for a crisis to occur for change to be made.  I hope the crisis has not already begun and we are too behind to see that. We need to make a “switch” before children suffer because of the crisis. Paul “Bear” Bryant had an ant plan he said this about it: “I told them my system was based on the “ant plan,” that I’d gotten the idea watching a colony of ants in Africa during the war. A whole bunch of ants working toward a common goal.” Through the PLN I see these ants.  I want to see the ants on a smaller scale. In schools. With leaders.

What the heck is a crisis? Kids still sitting in rows, reading texts and answering questions at end of chapter? Is the crisis gradual? Well no changes in the last few years could have a gradual result.  If you are not moving forward, you are either standing still or going backwards.

This is just me thinking aloud. I guess stating my frustration. I am just ready to see the switch…

So what is a blog? Who came up with that name? Just think, 7 years ago when I graduated college, if someone had mentioned a blog, I probably would have giggled at the word.

Well the word blog came from shortening the word “web-log.” Yeah I know you don’t care, but I have a reason for tell you this (stay with me, you know I ramble). Weblogs were set up as online journaling tools.  Now blogs (like this one) are more than online diaries.  People use them to share ideas, communicate with others, even get/tell news stories.  Blogs have changed the way the world communicates.

OK I can go on and on about blogs, but that is not my point here. My point is, I’m going back to basics with my students.  We are going to use a blog for the reason it was design, weblogging.

My students are going to pretend they have been drafted into WWII and journal their experiences.  They will use the blogs as journals.  The assignment .  I’m excited to see what my 6th graders can do!

We will be using kidblog.org, which is extremely easy to use. Not one of my students have ever used a blog before, so the ease of use will be nice.  I do not want the “blogging” to be the focus of the activity. Learning blogs is not my primary goal. Using KidBlog will help keep the focus on the activity.

Sometimes its good to go back to basics.

Link to blogs: kidblog.org/mrsdykesclass/ (*note they are not due until 5/5, be looking for update on their progress then*)

Ok here we go again. Another blog post about poop.  Sorry in advance.

Yesterday I tweeted “How does my class discussion always end up with them talking about poop? I was teaching humidity/dew point. Now its on houses built of poop.” I got a few comments about it, even people sending me links about poop houses (my term not theirs) or laughing at the comment.

BUT I have figured out why my class always ends with gross stuff, whether it be poop, passing gas, dead things, and other gross stuff. I teach 6th graders. Not only are they 6th graders, but 74% of my students are boys.  Have you ever been around a 6th grade boy? They are gross. Sometimes they even smell.  These gross things are constantly on their mind. (They have other things on their minds too, and sometimes that comes out, but I quickly/nervously change the subject!)

What is being taught has to have some kind of connection with students or it goes away. My kids know if something pops in their head about what we are talking  about they have the freedom to share.  This is great, they are making connections to things that (no mater how weird this is) are important to them.

As a teacher, taking those moments where information and it relating to what your students already know is a must.  For them it is making what you taught and what they know meaningful.  The book Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement by Robert J. Marzano talks about how this all creates a network in students minds that makes recall at a later time less difficult.

Yeah I know poop may be a little extreme, and is not acceptable in all situations.  But learning and building that background of knowledge is always acceptable.

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I spent my Saturday this past weekend a IWB workshop. I wanted to become more familiar with software.  I also wanted to see how teachers used their boards to teach their curriculum. (See previous posts about my obsession with this.)

While there I decided to take a break from hearing about the software and go to a class on wikis, blogs, and Skype. My students are starting holocuast blogs next week so I was interested in hearing how they mangaged them.

Well the word blog never came up. They focused mostly on Skype. That was fine, most teachers in the class had never Skyped so it was nice to sit back and watch them learn. They Skyped a guy from England that worked at the space center there. He asked two questions during the chat, the questions did not bother me but the answers did.

He asked if anyone in the room knew about the elections going on in England. Well I was the only one who did. That was typical I was a political science major so I read about stuff like that. Next he made a comment about smoke and asked if we knew about the volcano in Iceland. The presenter looked at camera and asked “What volcano?” and then others in the class started asking the same!

“WHAT VOLCANO?!” really? This is something any one who teaches science should have discussed last Friday with their students! This is real life teachable moment! Even as I type this post a friend from England (not a teacher) sent me a gchat telling me how he is stuck on a boat in France and first thing he asked was if I talked to my students about it Friday.

It is our responsiblity as teachers to be aware of current events. Kids already are asking “Why do we have to learn this?” If we know what is going on in the world we can connect lessons or past-lessons to it. No, you do not have to the details of the PM election in Great Britain, but a volcano is something kids of all ages understand.

Be aware. It is part of the job.

Side note: Sat my daughter down Friday and showed her news clip of video and she started singing “I don’t know where I’m gonna go when the volcano blow!” Love it!

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I wrote a post w few weeks ago about getting an IWB and my obsession to make it “interactive”, not an expensive screen.  Part of the PD, I had to come up with 2 ways to use it and/or it’s software and actually do it. SO I decided to share with you all my ways.

1. I used the screen capture tool to show my students how to change privacy settings and delete friends on social networking sites.  The sites are blocked and I could not show them how to do these things at school! Hard to just tell someone how to use a website!

2. While I will be out this week (going to PD that goes with the grant for the IWB -no comment) I am putting together a presentation using the flipchart program for sub to run for the kids.  It will have a video on holocaust and a slide before and after explaining the video then their assignment. (YES I know you can do that in ppt, thanks, but I HATE ppt and I have to use this program! lol)

3. I am putting together a weather presentation video for the students. It will look like what is on the green screen during a weather report. The students will write the script, have to understand what each part means, and “do” the report.  They will use the IWB to present this.

Still not using the actual board as something other than screen, but I am using the software that came with it.  I guess that is a start.

Still obsessing…

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Oh golly geez (yeah I really say that). Had a meeting yesterday with teachers from one of our feeder pattern schools (the elementary schools my students attend before coming to us). The purpose was to discuss procedures and find ways to transition the students better. One thing we talked about was the kids not caring about classwork/homework. The teachers told us the kids knew if they did not do it it would not mess up their grade too much. Um what?! What they proceeded to tell us has kept me up all night. BUT it answered A LOT of questions.

They told us that classwork/homework/projects are only worth up to 20% of grade for each subject. The other 80% is on assessment/tests. Yep tests. Assessments on reading levels/math levels etc. How on Earth could you teach if you had to give this many test?!

This explains so much. My class grades are only 20% based on tests/assessments while the other 80% is on projects, classwork, participation in discussion, etc. It takes me the first 9 weeks just to get the students to do this 80%. They could care less about finishing work. I usually do not even grade for correctness, I mostly focus on whether or not they follow the learning process. Getting them to do this is like pulling teeth. Eventually they have an “Ah-Ha” moment and begin to participate in class. Classwork has never amounted to much for them, but now it is what determines most of their grade.

Another issue I usually have is the parents and students freaking out about tests.  They are very demanding my study guides go home a week before tests. The kids also panic when they score low on a test. They automatically think they will fail.

I could not imagine spending so much time on activities in class and they could for only 1% or less for a grade.  Why can’t observation of learning  not be the most important. What is point of allowing students to discover/think/solve if only facts and processes count. What is more important, a student knowing multiplication facts or a student who can discover the formula for a graph or pattern?

I find this so messed up. It is not the teacher’s fault. Their “coaches” have required grades to weigh in this manner. BUT this information does help me to know where my students are coming from. This is why everything taught is questioned “Will this be on test?” or “Will this count?” Next year I know where to start. I have an understanding of where they are coming from and will start off immediately reminding students how important my class really is.

There are too many ways to assess student learning beyond tests. Memorizing facts should not be the only way.

I start teaching World War II next week. Love love love WWII history. My college American history professor was alive during the war and hearing his stories and seeing his excitment just sucked me in. No matter my enjoyment of the subject, when I teach a unit I have never taught before I get nervous. I worry and stress that I will not teach all I need to.

I like to do PBL (problem based learning) in my classroom. It is difficult because the wifi rarely works in here (7 netbooks, sit on the self with no internet to connect to) so I have to become little more creative than I want. But that’s OK.  Sometimes we find empty room where there is wifi and go there. Nothing like laying all over the floor somewhere for awesome learning!!

So this past week/weekend I have had trouble getting started. So started reminding myself what PBL actually was and how to use it correctly.  I remember the 1st 2 PBL projects I had to do as a student.  (Must have learned something from them since these classes took place 9 years ago!)

The first was for a intro to education class I had to take before being accepted into the Education program at my college. The class focused more on issues in education than pedagogy.  The state of Alabama had just gone through a vote for lottery where the money was used education. The lottery did not pass. So our problem was to come up with a way to get money for education in our state. Of course every group jumped on it and went straight for lottery being the answer. In my group neither one of us agreed with the way lottery money would be spent so we went in a new path. I remember worrying if I would make a bad grade for going against the grain. Finally I asked the professor about my “answer” and what she told me was my PBL “ah-ha” moment. She said, “There isn’t a right answer. This is about the learning.” As a teacher that is SOOOOO hard. Not looking for a right answer but looking for learning.  This has stuck with me all these years.

The second time I was involved in a PBL project was during this same semester (can you tell my school was BIG PBL supporter). This was for a PE/Fitness class that was for education students. We had to come up with a plan to change the anorexia/bulimia climate in our school. [side note, a LARGE percentage of the female student body has issues with this – my freshman year the girls dorms plumbing broke because stomach acid had corroded the pipes – crazy I know!] If our “answer” was not finding a certain nutrition/workout program it was wrong.

Even thought the same amount of research and presentation time was put into these two projects, they were totally different. One I felt strongly about the “answer,” it was something I believed in. The other after being told twice my “answer” was wrong and to change it I was frustrated and annoyed. I just wanted my “A” and to move on.

When giving PBL projects to our students they need to feel that their answer (if it has correct research to back it up) is accepted. That it is OK to go against the grain. Don’t we want students to “think outside the box” and to stand up for what they believe in? The goal of PBL needs to be mostly the “L” – learning. Learning how to think, how to “find,” as well as the content.  It doesn’t need to be “find the answer.” They do that enough, it that was the most effective, assign them worksheets or answers in back of chapter. (That was sarcasm, please don’t do that!)

Now back to World War II. Not 100% sure what my lessons/projects are going to be. I’m still working on collecting sites, info, etc. BUT I do know what I will be looking for in student work. LEARNING! My kids LOVE role play, they respond well to projects where they pretend they lived in the time period we are studying. May go that path.  Not sure. I’ll share whatever I come up with!

Sometimes I need a reminder. This post is really me reminding myself. Maybe someone else needed one too!

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If I answer “I don’t know…” I pretty much have conceded. If you hear a long whinyish (lol spell check hated that word!) southern drawl “I don’t know” come from me it either means I give up or it has stressed me to my limits but I’m still on the case. Right now I’m in that stage – the stressed to my limits but still working on it.

Interactive white boards. Man, these things are “cool.” They are expensive. My last instructor in my EdS program was a Tech/Curriculum guy from New Jersey. I was only one in there from Alabama (class was in Georgia, where school systems are not doing so hot) and I wish you could have seen his face when I told him we only had one in my entire school, and it was mostly used for ACCESS distant learning. I could just read his mind “You hick.” He even brought a video on how to make one from a wii remote the next class. IWB are just cool, if you like to play with technology, you want one.

I spent yesterday in a PD on how to use them. Did I get to use one? No. But I’m not going to dwell on how PD should and shouldn’t be taught. *stepping down off soapbox before I even start* But we did spend time learning how to use the activstudio program. Love the flipcharts, great for kids. Mostly learned how to use it as a teacher. How to use it for instruction. That is somewhat where I have problems with the IWB. Bryan Phillips told me yesterday that he didn’t like them because it put a teacher on a leash. That really got me thinking. I then realized the lady teaching the class NEVER moved from the front and center.

During my class we do have “lecture/discussion” time. I teach American History and Earth science. When I do have those days I make sure I do not talk the entire time. I like to mix up the mediums taking place. I show pictures from internet, videos, and give them passages to read. Most of my “lecture” information does not come from me – I assume that would be boring. So when I got the grant to receive the IWB I was glad that I would have the access to flipcharts to organize the media I normally use. You guys know my hatred of PPT, so organizing this beyond have 100 tabs opened can be difficult (sometimes I embed wiki). But that is a lot of money to spend on something that I only would use a few days a week. To me it it does “unleash” because I’m usually having to go back and forth to the laptop to open the media.

BUT (yes you know I was gonna throw that in here) education is changing. Pedagogy is going from teacher lecture to student centered learning. I do a lot of PBL in my class. Especially in history. I like for kids to look at their feelings about a situation more than learning just facts. I also like kids to think “discovery” when learning science (very hard to do with Earth science by the way, most think a rock is a rock). This cannot happen when I am just standing there “showing” stuff.

Sooooo how am I going to do this? How am I going to use that PBL pedagogy with this pretty pricey piece of equipment? How? Iiii Donnn’t knoooooow.