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On Christmas Eve, my 2 year-old son and I were driving home to meet my husband, when our Honda CR-V was hit by another car.  It was pretty bad.  But it could have been much worse, for which we are very thankful.

While much of the gratitude that I initially felt is slowly being replaced by the growls of frustrations involved with getting on with life, I have, nevertheless, reflected on the actual accident, and realize that even at the time of the crash, there was a teachable moment.

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Yesterday I was proud to judge a number of our group website entries for our History Day competition.  Three of our history teachers use History Day as a project-based learning opportunity for all of their students.  These students have their projects judged in their different categories by going through the process of oral presentation in front of a panel of teachers and administrators.  From this group is selected those who will represent our school at the next level of the competition.

It was fascinating seeing my own students through a different lens.  Groups of students came in front of my panel, some in suits, and some in the tuxes they perform in for orchestra, to present their websites.  The theme this year was “Actions and Legacies: Individuals in History.”  We saw websites about everything from Rockefeller to Ho Chi Minh.

The students for the most part used either Google or Synthesite to develop their free websites, which in regards to a competition is a little bit of a concern in that many competitors use more elaborate, paid-for sites that look far sexier.  But our kids did what they could with what they could and the sites, for the most part, look good.  And considering that they probably taught themselves how to create the site, the students should be commended.

We evaluated everyone’s site based on the visuals and the content.  In general, there were notes that we gave that were universal.  For one thing, the use of visuals to highlight specific points was an important concept the students needed to understand.  Without multi-media, for instance, a website might just as well be an essay.  It’s the visuals, the links, and the multimedia aspect of them that make them websites.  Timelines, for instance, that combine both primary sources and links, are a great opportunity for visual impact.

In regards to content, there seemed to be an overarching lack of commentary.  For middle schoolers, writing personal response can be hard.  But what we’re trying to emphasize is that just delivering the facts is not an analysis.  And if we’re looking to teach high-level thinking, there must be present that next step of information delivery - the evaluation.

Many of the students delivered the facts, but added no judgment.  They were missing the higher levels of Bloom’s.  They neglected the commentary.

When teaching history, it is vital that a teacher not just teach the facts, but give guidance in pulling back the lens and evaluating the bigger pictures.  How did this figure fit into history and amongst their contemporaries?  What is the impact that they made on those who followed them?  What is your opinion of their contributions given your expertise in their accomplishments?

Commentary comes in many different ways, but including it is the difference between information regurgitation and true, deep comprehension.

So I will be presenting again at CUE this year.  My session, “Podcasting with 70 Middle Schoolers - RU Crazy?!”  has received some great comments in the past and as I’ve tweaked the class, I’ve updated my presentation as well.   This time I will be presenting it twice, once on Thursday and again on Saturday.  I wanted to share some of the past comments here in honor of the upcoming 2009 conference in Palm Springs, to toot my own horn, and to encourage you to stop by and say hi.

“Charming, excellent, quick paced, funny, irreverent, spot on - everything you want in a presenter.  PLUS, content is so accessible.  Great job.  Provided what is often missing @ CUE - practical, hands on, how-to of what tech looks like in day-to-day classroom.”

“This was the best presentation of the conference.  Thorough, articulate, motivating.”

“Very useful information!  Enthusiastic and informative presentation.  Thanks for sharing your expertise in an easy to understand format.  Great!”

“Great, fascinating, well-organized, excellent presentation!  Nice job!”

“Very practical and real world.”

“Excellent presentation!  One of the best I’ve been to!  Creative way of incorporating multiple strategies to achieve student success.  Great teacher presentation!”

“Good use of visuals, good energy in presentation.  Excellent presentation and materials.”

CUE is a “brain spa” for three days.  In that time, you can go (as I did) from tech-tentative to a tech enthusiast.

I am once again a proud presenter, but more importantly, I can’t wait to learn from my colleagues and audience as well.

Hope to see you all there.

Kids killin’ kids for TV viewing pleasure? Great tween reading fun!

I just finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins . It took me awhile to get a hold of it because the minute I brought it into my classroom library, there was a line a bazillion students long ahead of me. I had to pull strings and use my clout as the teacher in order to bully my way to the front of the line. (more…)

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I have two sessions that I will be presenting at CUE in March this year.  I thought I’d share a little of what I sent to them to give you a little preview of what I’m going to be talking about.  CUE is a brain spa of three days where you get a chance to be inspired.  I am always honored to be amongst those presenting, because it was at CUE in 2005 that this Language Arts teacher was first bitten by ed tech. CUE gives tech-tentative teachers access to ideas, lessons, knowledge, and bravery.

I’m presenting the following sessions:

“Podcasting with 50 Middle Schoolers - RU Crazy?!” - I’ve done this session in the past to great success, so I won’t go on too long about it.  But I will say that this session will cover beyond the question of ”What is Podcasting.”  It will take it to the application level.  It covers how to create a Standards-based podcasting class, across multiple curriculum strands, for a diversity of learners in order to reach and inspire an entire community.  Podcasting can be not only educational for those students involved, but can also be educational and unifying to an entire district community.  Bulldog Radio demands high-level thinking and problem solving from its students, with the goal of communicating with families of many different backgrounds and learning levels.  

You also come away with great strategies on student-created rubrics, project-based learning, and student management and organization in both the classroom the computer lab.

“Collaboration-Blocked by a Firewall Near You” - We know about the success of collaboration and peer-feedback in the K-12 classroom.  We talk about the need to bring our students into the 21^st century by teaching them Internet literacy and responsibility.  But what happens when what we know we should be teaching is blocked by firewalls and a fear-filled district Internet policy?

In the session, I will teach educators how to get around this issue using XWiki Workspaces, a Free and Open Source program that allows a classroom to become its own World Wide Web.  Using XWiki Workspaces, a teacher can easily set up a student blog, wiki, photo album, etc…that can only be read and commented on in the secure environment of a school site, classroom, or lab.

While there are some programs available out there (i.e. Echalk) that provide teachers with similar abilities, these options come at a cost: a high district price tag and dependency on tech coordinators and web builders.  Using XWiki Workspaces, a single teacher without tech experience and without educational red tape can use a single computer, desktop, laptop, Mac or PC to act as the server for their projects.

The key is that the program runs behind the school’s firewall.   That is why it is not blocked by it.  Also this guarantees that there is no access to the sites you create outside of that firewall.  Therefore, a district with fears of posting student work online doesn’t have to worry about the work being compromised or preyed upon.

We know that student online transparency important, but the fear that dictates district firewalls block student collaboration. We need to find a way around such fear.  With XWiki Workspaces a teacher can address the literacy and responsibilities that need to be taught while still following district policy. 

Down the line, of course, by showing a district how successful online collaboration can be, a teacher may open the doors to greater online transparency.  Sometimes it just takes showing the more nervous administrators the benefits before they buy-in to the future.

Hope to see you all in Palm Springs in March.

Man walked on the moon.  JFK assassination.  Shuttle explosion.  9/11.  Obama elected president.  Where were you when history was made last night?

Clearly, not all of these rank quite as high as the memories from last night, but there are those events in life that stand out for us as events of united memory.

Tapping into those united memories in the classroom and making students feel like they were present for history will help their own unity and comprehension.  Think Aloud about this moment.  Even if their families voted for McCain, remind them that they should feel pride for being present during the making of history, whether it be is the unprecedented voter turn-out, the possibility of a female vice-president who may even run in 2012 to become president, or the reality of an African-American president.  It happened here, now, during their lifetime.

Remind them too that there are children once again in the White House.  This is an opportunity to discuss Point of View, Tone/Mood, and Figurative Language.  Have them write from the Point of View of the Lincoln Bedroom.  Maybe it’s going to be Malia’s?  What history has it seen?  Write from the Point of View of Sasha seeing The East Wing for the first time.  There are so many possibilities.  So much hope.

Where were you last night?

You know when you enjoy a book so much you begin to slow down towards the end just to make the sweetness last?  Well, Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book is one of those.  NG writes with a rhythm in his words that seduces you.  Coupled with an amazingly simple and brilliant plot, his latest foray into young adult horror will leave you holding your breath through the entire story until that final page allows for your exhale.  

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So you know when you get your group of kids on the first day, there are those who immediately set off your alarms?  Well, that definitely happened to me on my first day.

I have a student who clearly needs help.  His peers are weary of him already and his confrontational style seems not as intentional as inherent.  The startling comments and “seething anger”, as his last year’s teacher put it only three weeks into the school year, seem uncontrollable.  This same teacher recorded that he asked of her windows were bullet proof.  I wasn’t, of course, given this information up front.  I had to seek it out. 

His first quickwrite of this year centered on cussing out his last teachers and cranking them nightly on the phone.  His pride in his violent video games is apparent.  

Like children with Asperger’s (of which he is not been tested to date), he seems unaware of cues or the goings on around him: calling out with inappropriate comments, walking in front of me while I talk to the class, handing me items while I’m in the middle of instruction.  Annoying, yes, but harmless.  

He also will not make eye contact (could be cultural, but this seems different than others of his ethnicity and nationality) and walks robotically, stiffly, without movement in his shoulders.  Strangely enough, and I’m clearly not a diagnostician (though I play one on TV), the few students in my career who have had symptoms like this seem to also come with apparent sinus problems.  His eyes are puffy with nasal issues, he is sniffy, and I can’t help but wonder if there is a connection.

So I approached the counselors who know me as a real student advocate and as a teacher with a somewhat effective antenna.  I don’t send kids to the office.  I handle my own discipline issues, which are few.  So when I come in, they listen.  The afternoon after the first day of school I walked in and said, “So, what’s up with X?”  They pretty much flopped the file onto the desk, a file the size of our Language of Literature book.

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I learned a version of this activity from Erick Gordon this summer at the UCI institute.  Basically, it’s a get-to-know activity where the students get to learn a little about me and then learn a little about each other.  It also becomes a very easy springboard for teaching Narrative and Memoir.

First I shared a list of 11 statements about myself.  Embedded in the list is one fib.  The kids read the statements out loud and then I have kids volunteer guesses as to which is the fib.  They also have to justify why they feel it’s the fib.

With each one they chose that is an actual fact, I do a quick one-minute oral narrative about that fact that makes them wanting more.  When they hit the fib, well, then I do a little soapbox number.

Here was my list:

1. My father is the 1969 World Champion Jeopardy player.

 2. I was kicked out of Brownies in 4^th grade.

 3. When I was a child, I was a model on The Price is Right.

 4. When I was 14 I went to Greece and dropped my coolest pair of sunglasses into a well of frogs.

 5. My dad created Capt. Jack Sparrow.

 6. When I studied at Oxford University in England, I ended up having an emergency appendectomy.

 7. My husband and I met in 2^nd grade.

 8. I am a certified OpenWater II scuba diver who goes diving with her mom.

 9. When I was in school, I was a straight A student.

 10. I once worked at a guest ranch, working in the stables, leading the kiddie rides across the Arizona desert.

 11. One weekend, I was so bored that I went skydiving just to do something new.

Can you guess the fib?  Answer: # 9.  Yes, it’s true. I was NOT a straight A student.  In fact, I didn’t find a joy in learning or in school until the occasional high school class or college class when I could actual point to classes I was actually interested in.  

In other words, I not only didn’t have a passion in or for school, but I also remember what I didn’t like or understand.  As a teacher, my recollections add to my ability to reach out to a diversity of learners.  As a teacher, my willingness to share myself, my strengths, and my foibles adds to my ability to reach them as well.

Share yourself, your experiences, and the themes of your life.  You are the supplemental material.  Share yourself and your students will learn more.

Hope your first day went as well as my own.