So, CATE (the California Association of Teachers of English) just came to an end.  The hotel was lovely.  All ran smoothly.  We were greeted with smiles aplenty, and everything ran on time.  Sheridan Blau, Kelly Gallagher, Carol Booth Olson, Taylor Mali, Jim Burke.  They all presented there.

But despite it all, CATE is clearly a conference (along with others) that is struggling for breath amidst budget cuts.(...)
Read the rest of The Death of Teacher Conferences or I Can’t Believe I Miss My Canvas Bag (479 words)

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Post tags: achievement gap, blog, cate, collaboration, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, fundraising, podcasting, professional development, technology, test, test prep, TLN, Writers Project

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A couple of colleagues brought some concerns to my attention and I thought I’d put it out here for some input.  (...)
Read the rest of “I Statements” in Expository Writing (194 words)

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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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I was reading this great article from Slate Magazine about the cheese that is Billy Joel.  And I thought back to many a car trip singing his “Themes from an Italian Restaurant.”  I also remembered just how many times I’d fast-forwarded through some of his more heavy-handed, political-themed songs set to rapid rhyme scheme.

I’ll even one-up Slate’s insolent trashing of the Piano Man. I’ll go so far as to say I’m not an Elton John fan. 

Don’t freak.  I’m allowed.  Remember, this is my website.

But this got me thinking about opinions, criticism, persuasion, and choice, and their place in the classroom.  

In a collaborative classroom, students are not only given choice, they are given the ability to disagree with grace, with each other, and even with (dare I say) the teacher.

I’m still getting crazy responses to my Breaking Dawn Book review.  I can’t tell you how many comments I’ve deleted with X-rated words or threats.  It’s not that I’m looking over my shoulder, but if the majority of these comments are from tweens, there’s clearly a lesson not being taught to these kids.  How does one disagree appropriately?  Yes, I slammed the book.  But the theme of the post is to Discuss over Censor.  They just couldn’t see it through our disagreement.   

Students should be allowed to choose in a classroom.  It’s a true form of differentiation.  Choice could be given on reading texts, assessments, projects, partnerships, etc…But with choice, also comes opinion, hand-in-hand.  And with opinion comes disagreement.  

This shouldn’t be scary; it should be embraced.  Choice is empowering for a student.  But a teacher must teach how to disagree appropriately, how to criticize appropriately, and how to move on from there.  

It is a new form of pre-teaching.  There are skills involved in teaching Reaching a Consensus.  There are skills involved in Criticism Etiquette.  These are worthwhile – arguably more so than the skills involved in How to Bubble Accurately.  

These are lessons that would not only be reflected in blog comments, but in how our students, as adults, would make choices, form opinions, and have disagreements in the world.

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Post tags: collaboration, commentary, critical thinking, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, How To, k-12, k12, life long learners, metacognition, technology, Title I, TLN, websites, 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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“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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I thought I’d share a little of what I’m doing in the classroom with XWikiWorkspaces.  So, going off the frustrating fact that my district is blog-o-phobic, I was wracking my brain in how to teach internet literacy while still catering to the fact that I can’t blog beyond the boundaries of the district firewall.  (...)
Read the rest of XWikiWorkspaces (370 words)

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Post tags: collaboration, Curriculum, Ed Tech, education, ELA, Language Arts, technology

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Where were you when?  It’s a question I asked my readers and my classes the day after the election, and you know what answer I heard the most often?  Ironforge.(...)
Read the rest of Obama and World of Warcraft (312 words)

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Post tags: 2008, blog, digital immigrants, digital natives, Ed Tech, ELA, k-12, k12, middle school, technology, tween, world of warcraft, wow

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Anyway, had I not stuck with it, I would never had heard a wincing grammatical error by the Pashma Lakshmi of the dance floor, Carrie Ann Inaba. 

The scenario: Susan Lucci, in yet another stunningly stiff and impassionate contribution to the ballroom, is told by the judges that her paso doble is wonderful.  Everyone’s looking to help Susan “break out of her shell” so they all congratulate her for what, I don’t know, and at the end of it, Carrie Ann demands that Lucci turn around to the camera, own her success, and announce to the millions sitting at home, “I did GOOD!”

In my world, there’s a pause and Tom Bergeron (cool guy, funny, smart, I used to watch him on Fox’s Breakfast Show co-starring with Bob the puppet) whispers, “Well…I did well.”  Maybe, it’s even cued by the producers in his earpiece.  But no...

…in Susan Lucci’s grandiose vapidity, she turns to the camera, glazed smile of pride on her face, and declares to the world, “I did GOOD!”

Carrie Ann Inaba gave Susan Lucci an 8, but I give Carrie Ann a 0.  And I don’t think Susan Lucci did very well, either. 

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Post tags: Curriculum, ELA, internet literacy, Language Arts, learning, technology, writing

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I’m not sure what one can say about this latest story.  AP reports that a number of students at a St Louis middle school are facing suspension for a spirit day gone awry.  But how “Hug a Friend Day” de-evolved into “Hit a Jew Day” is beyond me.  (...)
Read the rest of “Hit a Jew” Day. Um, er… (785 words)

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Post tags: character, Character Education, critical thinking, diversity, Ed Tech, integration, life long learners, new teachers, reform, school accountability, student safe, technology, Title I, tolerence, writing

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Post tags: 2008, blog, Ed Tech, education, ELA, interactive whiteboards, internet literacy, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, new teachers, powerpoint, professional development, technology, 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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