I won the San Gabriel Valley CUE (Computer Using Educators) Outstanding Teacher Award. Hazzah!

I’m not sure CUE realizes, however, that my enthusiasm for Ed Tech outweighs my knowledge.  My daily calls with questions to the computer teacher can attest to that.

I discovered technology late in my life.  I have grown up a theater geek, but in the past few years, I have added technology to my list of passions.  I used to be a very tech-tentative ELA teacher, but in 2005 I attended the CUE conference in Palm Springs, and I realized that the writing was on the educational wall.(...)
Read the rest of San Gabriel Valley CUE Teacher of the Year! (487 words)

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Post tags: CUE, Ed Tech, education policy, EETT, integration, SGVCUE, UCI, Writers Project

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But why is it that only the worst of the worst appears in the news, as if this level of inappropriateness was a common disease facing education today?

I was corresponding with Teacher Leader Network all-around-awesome-guy John Norton, and we stumbled on an interesting point which relates to this issue of highly publicized educational indecency.  And it kinda got me thinking.

Sure, I’m frustrated by the ease in which the news reports the horrible, inbred cousins of education.  Sure I tire of the publicity behind those YouTube worthy rants, those rare abuses in schools made seemingly frequent, as if they were a chronic problem along with the achievement gap and childhood obesity.

But I feel that we as teachers in the trenches have a duty to battle this poor publicity.

Teachers of yore were quite isolated, closing their door and teaching in their solitary rooms.  Some still do, but the job has changed.  Collaboration has become a key to our survival.  Teaching with transparency and an open-door policy has become necessity, evidence of our ability.  Some of why this is necessary is because test scores and observations have become the go-to way to evaluate a teacher (but that’s for another post).  Another reason is that our challenges and our horrors have become far more public than our glories.

Whose fault is that?  I blame us.(...)
Read the rest of A teacher’s duty? (593 words)

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Post tags: collaboration, Ed Tech, education, education policy, publicity, technology, Title I, TLN, tween, UCI, Writers Project, writing

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OK, guys.  So I got it from the horse’s mouth at CUE.  According to the ISTE Director of Governmental Affairs, No Child Left Behind is not going away.  

In the weeks leading up to the election, the Obama administration talked the talk, proving that Educational Technology was on their radar, but if you’ve been listening, the silence on Ed Tech has since become deafening.  (...)
Read the rest of How to be an Ed Tech Advocate (515 words)

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Post tags: achievement gap, blog, budget, CUE, Ed Tech, education policy, EETT, equity, ETAN, fundraising, internet literacy, k-12, k12, learning, lobbyist, middle school, NCLB, obama, online, school accountability, school funding, technology, Title I, tween, UCI, writing

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-Tweenteacher

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Post tags: assessments, data, education policy, ELA, test prep, Title I, tween, UCI, Writers Project

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Science Daily is reporting that there has been a shift in how students are thinking as a result of their use of technology.  They believe it possibly lowers critical thinking skills and analysis.  Additionally, they wonder just how much schools should be catering to this change.

The important thing to remember is that when we talk about differentiation, we have to include all forms of teaching, from traditional pencil and paper to the use of technology.  But if we were to ignore the evolution that is occurring, that of the transition our brains our making as a result of society’s onslaught of daily technology, we would not be doing our job.

(...)
Read the rest of Is EdTech changing how students think or is it addressing the changes in student thinking? (437 words)

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Post tags: achievement gap, ASCD Brief, assessments, blog, collaboration, critical thinking, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, Ed Tech, education, education policy, internet literacy, k-12, k12, Language Arts, life long learners, metacognition, sesame street, teaching, technology, Title I, TLN, tween, UCI, Writers Project, writing

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Here’s a great metacognitive lesson that integrates poetry.  Or is it a poetry lesson that is metacognitive?  (Shrug)  I believe that good writing and great structure can be taught through mimicking great authors.  Using this philosophy as my guide, my 8th graders mimicked the poetic style of Jay Leeming in “Man Writes Poem,”  a piece first introduced to me at the UCI Writing Project this summer.(...)
Read the rest of Metacognitive Poetry: Writing About Thinking While Writing Lesson (215 words)

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Post tags: assessments, blog, collaboration, common language, critical thinking, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, Ed Tech, education, education policy, ELA, Language Arts, Title I, tween, UCI, Writers Project, writing

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Many of us use these terms interchangably, yet there are differences.  After our meeting last night, the crowd nodded knowingly.  I joined them in a brief nod or two as well.  I must admit, however, that I faked it.

I have posed the question to my wonderful colleagues at The Teacher Leaders Network and have gotten some great answers, but a blog’s purpose is not only for readers to comment but to also advise; so here I am, asking for your take on this great debate:

What’s the difference between skills and strategies?

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Post tags: achievement gap, blog, common language, curriculum development, Ed Tech, education, education policy, ELA, Language Arts, technology, TLN, tween, UCI, Writers Project

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OK, so as I write this I’m watching Sesame Street with my 2 year old.  This big-feathered muppet just announced that the Word on the Street is, get this…Struggle.  I kid you not.  I guess times are tough even on Sesame Street.  (...)
Read the rest of Sesame Street: Word on the Street (214 words)

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Post tags: 100% accountability, 2008, blog, character, Character Education, Childrens Television, education, education policy, ELA, k-12, k12, madoff, middle school, school accountability, school funding, sesame street, teaching, TLN, tween, UCI, Writers Project

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We can no longer afford to spend time on classes whose most valuable contribution is that they are traditional.  How can we be debating the necessity of more time devoted to greater wide-spread technology use and internet literacy, and still be spending time teaching the antiquated subject of cursive?

We see headlines about music programs cut, PE programs cut, standards struggling to be met with the time allotted, and yet, there’s still a debate about teaching cursive?

Look, my husband took cursive for five years and I still can’t read his notes on the fridge.  On the other hand, when we lived in separate cities, we wooed through yahoo.

If Evelyn Waugh were alive today, he would not be picking up a pen to “correspond.”  He would get a Twitter account.

Practicing cursive does not a good writer make.  But it does take time from other forms of necessary learning. 

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Post tags: blog, Curriculum, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, k-12, k12, middle school, Title I, TLN

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“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.

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Post tags: CUE, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, ELD, k-12, k12, middle school, podcasting, technology, Title I, TLN, tween

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Post tags: audit, blog, budget, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, firing, internet literacy, learning, middle school, textbooks, Title I

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So we’re at my department meeting yesterday, and my head announces that due to budget cuts, we won’t be administering the CAT6 this year.  There was this pause in the room that suggested suppressed sarcasm. (...)
Read the rest of Budget Cuts trim away the CAT6 – somehow we’ll survive (204 words)

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Post tags: budget, education, education policy, learning, Title I

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The Illinois News-Gazette recently reported an increase in second career teachers.  But, really, aren’t we all second-career teachers?  I mean, unless we bopped from high school to a BA to an education program and landed directly into the teaching field, surely we “were” something else in our lives before teaching…and surely this past civilian life contributed to who we are now in the classroom.(...)
Read the rest of Second-Career Teachers…Aren’t we All? (1,343 words)

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Post tags: alternative credetials, blog, differentiation, education policy, employment, k-12, k12, Language Arts, life long learners, middle school, second-career, writing

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Dear Fellow Edubloggers,

Many of you have been blogging far longer than I have.  I have many of you on my Google Reader and I admire your wit, your writing, and would now love your advice.

Last week, I posted a review of the Stephanie Meyer Twilight series.  If you’ve read the review, you’ll see I was (to say the least) not a fan.  The point of my post was to encourage parents and teachers to read what the kids are reading so that they can be a part of their dialogue.  And, while I clearly didn’t like the book, I really like talking to people about all the new tween and teen literature out there and their opinions of them.  (Hence, the crowds of kids in my room at lunch, each there to check out new books in my awesome classroom library, or just simply there to hang out and talk lit.) 

Anyway, my posted review clearly hit a cord.  Generally I try to respond to everyone who comments on my website (pretty easy when you could count your daily hits on one hand), but the response to this review has been a little intimidating and, frankly, freaky.  (...)
Read the rest of What’s my role in this debate? (268 words)

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Post tags: blog, book review, carnival of education, Character Education, classroom library, description, dialogue, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, k-12, k12, life long learners, teaching, Title I

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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 if 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 has 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.(...)
Read the rest of Should a free education be unconditional? (363 words)

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Post tags: 100% accountability, 2008, achievement gap, aspergers, blog, collaboration, Curriculum, differentiation, Ed Tech, education, education policy, ELA, employment, free, fundraising, Joanne Jacobs, k-12, k12, learning, metacognition, performance pay, special ed, teaching, technology, test, Title I

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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.

Then I had the kids develop 4 truths and a fib.  They partnered up and tried to guess each other’s fibs, giving little verbal narratives about each truth.  Afterwards, their partners had to circle the story they would like to hear more about.  We did a real quick review of sensory details and I modeled creating a bulleted list of details from one of the truths.  The one I modeled was # 11.  So here’s what I wrote:

*a free-fall out of a plane feels like you’re lying on a table.  That’s how much pressure there is on your body.

*the plan ride up was so loud, we couldn’t hear each other yell our words across the aisle.

*When you jump, the only real idea of speed you have is the fact that the plane is getting smaller so quickly.  When you level out, your hands flap, but the horizon stays the same for a long time.  Otherwise, it’s almost like a loud hovering.

*when you pull the cord to let out the parachute, you get an intense wedgie.

*my feet fell asleep which drifting down to the ground

*my mouth was open during free-fall so when I landed, my teeth felt like they were wearing socks.  They were that grimy.

Then the kids created their own bulleted list of sensory details.  It began a potential narrative, should they chose to return to this concrete description brainstorm.

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.

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, blog, computers, Curriculum, curriculum design, Ed Tech, education, education policy, ELA, Golden Lines, integration, interviewing, k-12, k12, learning, life long learners, middle school, new teachers, technology, writing

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The Carnival of Education is in town and tweenteacher has joined the parade.  Interesting host and post.

Enjoy!

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Post tags: carnival of education, Ed Tech, education policy, interactive whiteboards, middle school

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Kelly Gallagher, educator and author of Teaching Adolescent Writers, came and spoke to the UCI Writing Project on Friday and his focus of the presentation was a Golden Line: The Goal in Education is “Everybody Improves.”  

Duh, you say, isn’t improvement always the goal of education?  Actually, no. When you consider AYP scores, for instance, the goal is to hit a benchmark, not the level of improvement you made to hit it.  (...)
Read the rest of Kelly Gallagher’s Golden Line (723 words)

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Post tags: 2008, blog, collaboration, critical thinking, CST, CUE, Ed Tech, education, education policy, ELA, integration, internet literacy, Joanne Jacobs, k-12, k12, Language Arts, life long learners, merit pay, metacognition, middle school, peer teaching, performance pay, PI, professional development, research, school accountability, technology, Think Aloud, Title I, UCI, Writers Project

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© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, assessments, blog, collaboration, computers, credential, critical thinking, CUE, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, digital immigrants, digital natives, Ed Tech, education, education policy, ELA, equity, integration, internet literacy, jobs, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, matthew needleman, middle school, professional development, research, technology, test, test prep, Think Aloud, Title I, UCI, writing

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