Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Week 6: WebQuest

For this week's assignment, I viewed a WebQuest called The Secret Magazine of Afghanistan. This particular WebQuest is stated to be for a 5th grade social studies and language arts classroom.  However, I know that it would be perfect for my 7th grade language arts students with a little tweaking.

The reason I chose this Quest is because my students are studying the Middle East in their social studies classes, and this would be a great way to tie in a cross-curricular learning project.  The WebQuest is very basic in its development, but the majority of my students only access the Internet at school. So, I think it would be perfect for them because there isn't a lot of "extra" stuff to cause distractions.

It opens with the Top page that details the designer, and has a picture of Afghan children posing for the camera.  Next, there is a link to take students to the Introduction of the Quest.  This section outlines the prompt. Parvana's mother is secretly publishing a magazine and she needs your help. The Task says that your group is to submit an article for the magazine that will deal with children and education in Afghanistan. It specifies that you are to include factual information.

Next, is Process. This section is the longest, and it includes specific requirements for the group to follow. It's broken into steps to help students check off what they have completed.  Each group of four students (chosen by the teacher) will have a specific job: journalist, editor, illustrator, or publisher.  Students will draw a Venn Diagram to demonstrate comparisons between Afghan kids and kids in the United States.  There are four sections that need to be investigated, and links are provided for each of them. They are: schools and education, family life, growing up in Afghanistan, and fun and entertainment.  There is a section that provides links to photos, Rights of the Child (laws and regulations), and the CIA Factbook.  Students are to compile their information into an article for publication in Parvana's mother's magazine.  Everyone will break into their own roles to complete the next part.

The Evaluation section provides a rubric explaining the specific requirements of the assignment.  The Conclusion section explains that the students have become experts about children and education in Afghanistan.

There is page entitled Teacher Page, but it doesn't have any valid information (the links have been removed). It has links for standards, connections, learners, resources, process, and conclusion.  The only link that works is the Student Page link, which takes you back to the actual Quest.  The final page is the Credits page, which provides sources and references.

I would use this WebQuest in my own classroom, even with my 7th grade students.  I know that it might be a bit basic for my higher-level learners, but I think that the students struggling to master the concepts would benefit from doing this activity.

One of the things I would change or adapt would be the Teacher Page.  I would make sure it was up to date simply because I know that other teachers would benefit from having this information.  Plus, parents who help their students complete the WebQuest at home would like seeing that the activity is standards based.

Overall, I think it's a great resource, and a fun activity to do with students to increase their cultural awareness.  This would be great to use for a program review!


The next portion of my assignment this week was to create a WebQuest to use in my own classroom.  This was a struggle for me; I'm not going to lie. I wanted to do something that we would be able to use in the classroom this year, so I looked forward to the next unit I'm planning: poetry.

It's important to note that I hate poetry. I'm pretty sure that it's some sort of blasphemy for a language arts teacher to say that she hates poetry. But, I do. However, I LOVE music. So, this Quest was an easy way for me to teach poetry in a way that the students would love. Also, it makes it more fun for me to teach it!

To begin, I went to Quest Garden and signed up for a free trial. This trial will last 30 days. Truthfully, I don't anticipate that I will continue membership in this, as I don't see myself using WebQuests very often in my classroom.

The website was easy enough to navigate, though I don't feel that I know enough about how to tweak it and make it look good. It seems very basic as far as the layout and images go.

The Quest has a lot of elements that I typically do as a lesson during this unit, so I am not sure what should have been tweaked first to make it more effective in the context of a WebQuest. I am open to any suggestions that you have to make it better!

One thing that I think really works for my Quest is the video clip of Eminem's interview with Anderson Cooper. Students LOVE watching this clip.

In case you want to view it, here is the link to my WebQuest: It's only going to be up until January 14th, so if you try to access this after that point, it won't be available. Sorry!
http://questgarden.com/166/01/1/131215090649/

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Week 4


The first time I remember seeing PowerPoint used in the classroom was in a college marketing class. The professor was a former high school teacher, and was hands-down the BEST teacher I had during my entire undergraduate career; here’s to you, Mr. Dennis Smith! Mesmerized, I diligently took notes as the special effects twinkled and spun onto the screen. I couldn’t wait to get my own classroom! Then, slowly, one by one, my other teachers began utilizing it in their classrooms.  It became more about the presentation than the content. I remember the muffled groans that came from the students in the classroom while I was completing student teaching. Right before my eyes, PowerPoint became something that they dreaded; it was overkill. It had been used and abused for far too long. No longer did they view the special effects as innovative and fun; they were considered to be cheesy and lame. See, that’s the thing about being a teacher in a technology driven world: we’re performers. We’re expected to have a show worthy of an awards ceremony. Thanks to constant bombardment of technology, our students need us to pull a rabbit out of a hat with each concept we teach. And, particularly within the middle school classroom, your students have to view your presentation as cool or they won’t have that buy-in feeling that we need.

The first website I reviewed was the PowerPoint article from Teach-nology entitled, “What’s all the Hype?” I think it did a great job of explaining my feelings about PowerPoint: it’s a great tool to use, but you have to be careful not to overdo it. The website provides a brief history on how PowerPoint came to be used within the educational setting, a list of reasons to use it in your classroom (spellcheck!), and some helpful links on how to get started using it (just in case you’re one of the three people who have been hiding under a rock for the past decade and have no experience with it). This resource could very easily be used in a school setting. Not only does it have tutorials, but also it provides links to what the writers view as the best teacher’s websites, tips for classroom management, and lesson plans. I would definitely recommend this resource to other educators as it has so many helpful links beyond the provided basic information about PowerPoint. I can see this being beneficial for anyone in the educational world.

Next, I viewed the article from the Professional Speakers Guild, “Using Computer Presentation Programs Effectively.” I agree with everything from this article, and I think it is a great read. I would definitely recommend it to other teachers. In fact, I shared it with my student observer from WKU, and she is going to pass it along to her teachers as well. I think it summarizes the general thoughts of PowerPoint very well. Students (and adults) are tired of it when it is used as the presentation. There are five tips given by this website. They are: 1. Add, don’t detract. 2. Don’t distract. 3. Know your stuff. 4. Know your medium. 5. Stay home. I LOVED the comment about staying home. I have tried to drill this into my students’ heads when they are preparing for speeches. You can’t put your entire lesson on the slides, or you are essentially rendering yourself useless.

I also viewed Comic Life and iSpeech.  We’re going to start with iSpeech, which is a speech recognition and text-to-speak program. I instantly thought of hundreds of uses for this program within the classroom. We have a very low population of ELL/ESL students, but for them, this would be amazing! It would also be a great tool to use for students who are learning phonics (there are different dialects that you can select) or those students taking a foreign language; I know that I could have really used this when I was taking Spanish! I think it is a very easy website to use. You simply type in the text that you want to be said, select the voice you want used, and it reads your text aloud. Comic Life is something that I can’t wait to utilize in my classroom. I actually added it to my Christmas wish list! At only $19.99 for the latest version of this program, it’s a great bargain! If you haven’t heard of it, you need to check it out immediately! Basically, students write their own comic books by uploading photos and adding text. As Superman’s mom (seriously, my kid wears a cape every single day of the week. Every shirt he owns has the “S” logo on it and a detachable red cape), I can’t wait to get my hands on this program! One of the things that it said under the educational tab is that educators need to pass on digital writing to their students. Comic Life is compared to a “word processor” of the digital graphic writing world, which I think is very true. How students write and what mediums they use in their writing should look very different than how we were taught to write and what mediums we used in our writing. One of the things I liked most about this program was that it had tons of examples and ideas for any content. Comic Life can take the most boring content (misplaced modifiers, anyone?) and make it student friendly and exciting. There are so many ways to utilize this for differentiation, and I can’t even imagine how excited our curriculum coordinator would be to see a program review including Comic Life! I think this product would be great for any teacher, in any classroom, in any school!

Voice Thread is going to change the educational world! It works like a cloud application, similar to DropBox. It turns a virtual classroom into a learning experience similar to that of a live classroom. You simply upload each of the medium used within your lesson to your Voice Thread, and then students can access them (even if they don’t have access to the specific program like PowerPoint) in one spot. It works kind of like a YouTube video. The students can then log in to their MyVoice page and interact via comments, videos, audio, etc. Students can interact with one another even if they aren’t online at the same time via Voice Thread. I keep going back to my dreams of having a flipped classroom. I think this would be a wonderful tool to utilize in that context. I would recommend this to any teacher. It could be very helpful for independent learning and students who are absent or struggling with content. Lower-level students could really benefit from having access to this site as well. The only drawback I see is that students who don’t have access to the Internet at home wouldn’t be able to use it, but teachers could provide those students with in-class time to access it. At $80 a year for 50 student accounts, it is a little expensive, but I could see that the benefits would easily outweigh the cost. I could also see this being utilized at the district level for professional development and staff training. I would recommend this to any teacher. I think, like Comic Life, it could be beneficial for any student.

Scribblar is an online interactive whiteboard. It has many price points ranging from free to $39 a month. If you have a Skype account, you can interact with people through that account. It is truly collaborative in that students can interact with one another in live time. This means that a student in China can virtually connect with students in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It works very much like ActivInspire, only there is a chat window and audio feed. The example video shows an online learning space with a teacher in Sydney. The students are discussing genotypes. The teachers collaborate with one another in a co-teaching environment.  In that example, the students all have access to the whiteboard from their laptops, and they can control the pen as well. I think it is very similar to our whiteboards used in class; they are recorded so that those who are absent or need to review the content can access it at a later date. The only difference is that the students can write on the board (think 5h grade long division blackboard races!), which changes the dynamic from teacher led to student led. I think this is a great resource to use in the classroom. I can see that this is where technology is heading. I can see schools utilizing this to outsource certain subjects. For example, if the school is very weak in math, it would be very easy to gain access to an outstanding teacher’s classroom. Instead of just watching videos of his/her lectures on YouTube, Scribblar would make it easy for students to become active participants in his/her classroom! Possibly, teachers could become more like college professors in that one teacher teaches all of the 7th grade students in the district via online programs like Scribblar. It would really pave the way for those “best practices” teachers to excel and dominate the profession! Storybird is another great resource. Students utilize the gorgeous images as a springboard for their writing. It takes the concept of creative writing to a whole new level, and enables virtual sharing and creates an online community of feedback and praise for student success.  It’s free, and it is very easy to use. I can see it being used in any grade from about 3rd up to college level. I would definitely recommend it to language arts and history teachers. I can see this taking the place of the vlog in the online diary/journal world. This is another great way to incorporate art and complete the requirements for a program review. I can’t wait to utilize Storybird in my own classroom! 

The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives website reminds me of Cool Math Games, only it is actually related to math and learning (Cool Math seems to just be a place to play "fun" games without actually learning anything). I spent much more time than I care to admit playing a few of the algebra games for middle school. I will be sharing this with the math teachers in my building, as I am sure they can utilize it in their classrooms. I think it's a great way to incorporate technology into instruction. I can see it being used for the students who are early finishers or master a concept before you are ready to move on with the whole group. It's also great for adults; there is a very basic loan calculator. I used it to see how much extra I will be able to "snowball" into my student loan payment once my son is in kindergarten next year (there should be a disclaimer about the price of daycare during pre-marriage classes). It's a free website, and students can access it from home. There's even a language arts connections with a probability game relating to Hamlet. They really do think of everything, don't they?

I also reviewed TED.com. TED, or Technology, Entertainment, Design, is a non-profit aimed at providing access to an unlimited variety of topics. There are videos on virtually every subject you can possibly think of, and it is a great way to gather information about a particular topic or interest. We were told to explore something of which we were interested.  I am always looking for ways to inspire my students, so I clicked on the TED Under 20 link, which features young innovators. Instantly, I saw a video about pancreatic cancer. My father-in-law was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer in 2010. It was just over 3 weeks later that he lost his life due to this silent killer. To see Jack Andraka, a 15-year-old teenager speak in front of thousands of people with such poise and knowledge was inspiring. His sensor is very promising in changing the world cancer, but it doesn't stop there. Other diseases can be detected by utilizing the same method just by adjusting the proteins used (I'm a language arts teacher, so this is all completely over my head!). I was so inspired to see his video, and to think about how my students would react to someone so close to their own age. Next, I viewed a live performance by Johnny, Robbie, and Tommy Mizzone, three brothers from New Jersey (the state that brought us Snooki) who each play the banjo, fiddle, and guitar (respectively) in a way that rivals Flatt and Scruggs. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents as a child, and I have a HUGE passion for bluegrass music. There's always one student who shares that love, and together, we secure the "least cool" award. Ha! Anyway, if you're one of the very few people who love bluegrass music, you should listen to the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys. Even if it's not your cup of tea, they are sure to inspire the music lovers of your class. Next, I watched a video found under TED-Ed, entitled, "The Five Major World Religions." It's an 11 minute video that provides a brief overview of  the most popular faiths of the world: Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. There are several activities that can be used to incorporate higher-level thinking after viewing this video. I like to think of it as Brain Pop for middle/high school students. There are links to "Think" where you answer multiple choice and short answer questions, "Dig Deeper" where you can go more in-depth on each of the religions, and "Discuss" where you can take part in online discussions pertaining to the topic. There are several similar lessons under the TED-Ed relating to varying contents, many with great accompanying lessons just like the video I reviewed. I also watched a video with Sir Ken Robinson. He is one of my favorite public speakers ever. I always say that he is on my dinner party list; the game where you imagine that you are having a dinner party and can invite any 10 people in the history of the world and they HAVE to come. Well, he is ALWAYS on my list. So is Vince Vaughn, but we will discuss that another day. I was unaware of TED, but now that I know about it, I will definitely be using it in my classroom. I think that this website is a great resource for anyone in education. I could see TED being used in the flipped classroom model by sending students to watch the videos at home and discuss their content together. 

One of our assignments for this week was to create a PowerPoint lesson to utilize within the classroom. I have made so many of them, that I typically just recycle and tweak what I have to meet the needs of each group of students (why reinvent the wheel?).  One of my favorites is on character traits. It talks about dynamic and static characters, round and flat characters, protagonists, antagonists, as well as specific traits and how writers might demonstrate those traits. I embedded images of popular TV and book characters to demonstrate each of the concepts. It isn't anything high-tech; the only "sound" on it is a few short audio clips of popular music from the movies (like Claire de Lune for Twilight, and the sound of an arrow leaving a bow for Katniss Everdeen). It's something that the students love because I took the time to find characters they love. There is even an image of Snooki and JWoww (which always opens the door for a "Life Lesson with Mrs. Gray" on the importance of wearing pants in public). The part I am the most proud about is that I incorporated things that they love. I could have just as easily had them get out their textbooks and look at characters from the stories in there, but I wanted to relate it to their lives. When I do it next year, I will have to update my characters (currently, I don't have anyone from The Walking Dead). I think my students love it. It's actually one of their favorite lessons. It never fails that the students in the first few classes tell their friends about it, so by 5th period, they enter the room asking, "Are we going to get to learn about Sheldon Cooper today?" I think it's a great example of how we have to be entertainers. 

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Week 3: Technology Explorations 7-10

Assistive Technologies

There are many types of assistive technologies that help students with disabilities thrive in the classroom setting.  The Georgia Department of Education Project for Assistive Technology website has a long and detailed list of devices used to enhance student learning within the classroom setting.  The list includes items such as slant boards, highlighter tape, dry erase boards, colored overlays, etc. While I think it is common practice to utilize many of these in a typical classroom, it is a great resource to see them on paper. If ever there is a situation where a student is struggling, this would be a great place to search for products to aid in comprehension. I would recommend it to other teachers (of any age group) because it is a very helpful resource. I think it's very user friendly, and a great way to help students succeed.

Zoho is a website that specializes in increasing productivity through the use of online applications. It offers a note page, online calendar, and email server similar to that of Outlook, but at a Google price (free).   I can see how this would be most beneficial to upper primary and beyond because it is a little more advanced. I think it is a great resource to use in the classroom. Students can utilize the note taking page (which is still in Beta testing) and will be able to access it anywhere. The great thing about that concept is that if a student types it on this site, he or she will have access outside of school. I always have one or two students who leave their notebooks in their lockers overnight and are unprepared for an exam the following day. By utilizing this site, they could access it from any computer anywhere (assuming they have access to computers).

4Teachers and Dimio

Dimio is a great resource to use, particularly in the ESL setting. I have several colleagues who utilize this website. It's a great way to translate instructions and key concepts so that your students can understand. I would think that this is a beneficial tool for any age group or content. Also, the auditory learners (even non ESL students) would learn from this website. I think it is fairly easy to navigate, and it's entirely free, so that's always a perk!

4Teachers is another great website. I have used it many times in the past 3 years. I utilize RubiStar the most. It's a simple template for creating customized rubrics. I have used Classroom Architect before to design floor plans, but my room this year is oddly shaped, so there are only so many things I can do with it. Assign-A-Day looks like a great resource for online planning. Teachers can utilize it for their own planning, or they can input classroom assignments and send the link to parents and students. I am very intrigued to try NoteStar, which looks like something my visual learners would enjoy. I think that most of these resources would be beneficial for any age group or content area as they appear to be tools to aid with instruction rather than provide content for instruction. I will definitely be recommending this site to my peers!

FullMeasure
PowerTalk is a free program that automatically speaks PowerPoint presentations. It is a good resource to help visually impaired  students or students with dyslexia or other visual delays. It waits for the text to appear and any special effects to play so you don't have to redo your presentation or take away any effects that help strengthen it. I would definitely recommend this to any teacher who uses PowerPoints in their classrooms. It seems very easy to use, and the website has a lot of tips and reviews from users. There have been over 1000 downloads of the product, so it is used in the real world (and is not just in the testing phase).

Read the Words
Read the Words is similar to PowerTalk, only it is much more advanced. There is a tiered pricing structure ranging from free (30 second file length and up to 8 saved readings) to $100 a year (unlimited file length and up to 100 saved readings). Unlike PowerTalk, it can be utilized in virtually any online document. I think the targeted audience of this is similar to that of PowerTalk, only there are many more options. The website also includes public recordings and podcasts, so you can access other recordings that might be usable in your own classroom.

WebQuest
WebQuests are like online scavenger hunts with hidden learning opportunities (they have to be hidden or they might cause the students to stop having fun!). You can search the bank of public webquests or create your own. I did a quick search for elements of fiction and found a great one that I will be incorporating into my classroom next year. This is a great way for students to complete independent study projects. Higher-level achievers could create their own (following a rubric created from RubiStar), while intermediate or lower levels could complete assigned quests. It's a great way to do tiered lessons. I would recommend this website to everyone who teaches, regardless of content. It is a great way to incorporate the technology standards in a meaningful way that enhances the lesson. They are free and can be as in-depth as you want. The sky is the limit!


Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Week 2

I just realized that I never actually "published" my second technology review. As I tell my students constantly; technology is great, so long as I can figure out how to work it correctly! Ha! Anyway, here are my reviews on our second week of class.

Spreadsheets and Databases

I teach 7th grade language arts, and I have struggled with finding ways to incorporate Excel spreadsheets and databases into my classroom.  I use Excel to track student progress, but I use it in a very generic form; I could print off a blank spreadsheet from Infinite Campus and be just as effective. As far as finding student uses for it, I was unable to think of anything.  So, I turned to my trusty BFF, Google. I found ideas for students to use Excel for time-management (similar to an electronic agenda), but I came up empty otherwise.  

Then, I found a goldmine resource: Internet 4 Classroom, a website all about utilizing the Internet within your instruction.  If you haven't checked it out, be sure to take the time. It's one of those rare gems that I am certain will make it into my weekly rotation of resources! There is a step-by-step overview of the process of creating a review "game" in Excel. Teachers would embed the link for the spreadsheet in their website/blog.  Students would open it and use drag-and-drop to review concepts. The example given in the original post was to practice vocabulary words (similar to a word wall). Story Sequencing is one of the ideas that I am excited to try in my own classroom.  I have been reviewing plot mapping this past week, and it would have been so helpful to have this resource! 


Podcasts and Wikis

I have been a huge fan of podcasts for years. As a self-proclaimed nerd, I love the fact that I can listen to my favorite talk radio programs at anytime via a podcast. I had never thought of using podcasts in the classroom until this year, though. In my mind, particularly in my school, podcasts would be a great addition to the classroom. Many students have iPods or phones, but they do not have internet at home. They could download the podcasts before leaving the school and then listen to them at their convenience. This would be a great way to incorporate a flipped classroom. They could also be used for students who are absent from class or need to review a specific lesson, similar to the recorded Blackboard sessions.

My school curriculum coordinator adores wikis. Truthfully, I find them to be kind of eeeh. But, I think that's due to my lack of exploration; I haven't taken the time to learn the ins and outs so to speak. Until now. Basically, a wiki is similar to Dropbox (speaking of adoration) except you don't have to have an account to access it. I also think they're a lot like a high-tech encyclopedia in that they can contain as much information about a particular subject as possible. My district uses a wiki to provide teachers with curriculum mapping tools, helpful websites, and important dates. My school uses it for the same purposes, only they also include a sign-up spot for the computer labs and mobile iPad carts. I like the idea of utilizing wikis in the classroom. I think they would be a great project for differentiation. Students could create one specifically pertaining to an assigned topic.  I viewed a wiki created by Mrs. Toland. It served as her class website, and students could visit it to access important information for the class. There weren't any student submissions (it was teacher-managed or at least written through the perspective of the teacher). It was from last year, so I'm not sure that it is updated regularly. It didn't appear to be used to support problem solving/higher-order thinking; it was primarily a classroom website with assignment due dates and a few homework help links. If I were maintaining this wiki, I would change the dates to reflect the current year and add a tip generator that would provide content specific tips or quiz type questions. I would also allow students to submit assignments for peer-review during the writing process.

Concept Mapping

Of all of the things we investigated this week, concept mapping is the one I am most excited to use in my classroom. Apparently, I have been hiding under a rock because everyone except me seemed to know about them. I have already started collaborating with our art teacher to use concept maps on our next unit! My students use Animoto for projects (we just did book talks last week, and several of them created an Animoto), so they are already familiar with the digital version of concept mapping (I love Animotos, I just didn't know that they were considered to be concept maps until this week!). I really like that the students can present the same material in a way that visually appeals to their brains. I am a visual learner, so I always make lists and webs. I had never seen them taken to the next level until this week; I can't wait to demonstrate it for my students, especially my special education kids; they will LOVE getting to draw on their notes!

I'll be back next week with more great technology resources! Have a great week!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Week 1

Welcome back!

It's hard to believe that we're already a week into our class!

I have struggled with implementing new things into my classroom this week; we've been up to our eyeballs in narrative text, and I've been trying to wrap up "The Treasure of Lemon Brown" and take a quick summative assessment over the story while prepping for our book talks--they begin tomorrow morning, and I swear I am more nervous about them than any of my students are!

I explored many technological resources this week. I'm going to share my opinions here.

The first website I researched was PBWorks (http://pbworks.com/education). This would be such a great way to incorporate differentiation in the classroom. I have been dying to try the flipped classroom model, and I think that having access to this site would be a tremendous help in achieving that goal! I am a little unsure as to whether or not this is similar to a Wiki; we have access to a school Wiki that I can use. If this is the same thing, it wouldn't be beneficial to spend that much money for the licenses. I think that it would provide the same challenges as any other technological reliant program; my kids just don't have the access outside of school. I could use it in my class (and would love to do so!), but it would be very limited in that I would have to use it during school hours for most students.

Next, I explored TumbleBooks. While I really liked the website (and concept of providing access to the books), I don't see it being something that I could use in my classroom. There are several chapter books that would be wonderful for my lower-level readers. However, the site isn't free (it's rather costly), and the majority of my students don't have access to technology outside of school. I want to foster a love of reading, so I need them to have access to books that they can read while on the bus and at home. I would love to have access to TumbleBooks for my own kids; I know that they would love it!

I also looked at Podcasts and Audioboo. I love the idea of incorporating podcasts into the classroom. I actually plan to incorporate a Podcast into my differentiation plan for the next unit. I think it would be a great way to allow my higher-level learners to "teach" skills to some of the struggling students.  They could use the school technology to listen to the Podcasts while the remainder of the class worked on the next assignment level. Because the Podcasts would be able to be downloaded, students who have iPods but don't have Internet could download them before leaving school. It might be a way to incorporate a "flipped classroom model" into my classroom.

That's it for this week. Be sure to check back next week for more reviews!

Syllabus

Greetings!

My name is Mrs. Gray, and I occupy Room 321. This is my third year teaching, and I can't imagine doing anything else.

I have blogged for YEARS. Seriously, I was blogging loooong before it was the cool thing to do; doing things before they're the cool thing to do? Yup...story of my life! It's how I roll.

No?

Okay.

Anyway, I was Serious Shopaholic in my former life.

My former life before kids.

My former life where I was able to spend money on myself.

J.Crew, Banana Republic, and Anthro filled my closets.

Then, I realized that I was a professional college student with aspirations of being deep in the trenches of the educational system.

Seventh grade.

No?

Hmm...

It must be me, then; I am quite an odd bird.

I once read a conversation about middle school. It went like this:

Person A: How do you teach middle school kids? Don't they drive you insane?
Person B: Nope. I love them.
Person A: Really? How?
Person B: Well, you either love them right now, or you learn to give them 15 minutes.
Person A: 15 minutes?
Person B: Yea. That's approximately how long it takes for them to shift gears and pull a 180. So, if you hate their guts, give it 15 minutes, and you'll love them!

It's so true, too.

All kidding aside, I do LOVE my students.  Previously, I taught 7th and 8th grade.
This year, I only have 7th. Do I miss teaching 8th grade? Sure. But, only because I was fortunate enough to be at a school where I taught both grades, so I could see their growth. Also, I knew that they knew the stuff they claimed they didn't (only a teacher will understand that) because I had taught it to them. I could randomly pull out a paper from their file and say, "Look, Student! Here's your John Handcock on the top of this page. And here's the 93% you scored on this assignment." Do I miss On-Demand? Sometimes. But not enough to ever volunteer to teach 8th grade again!

There's something so special about 7th graders. They are independent enough that, for the most part, you can leave them alone for lots of "self-discovery" and "independent learning." But, they are still sweet and innocent enough that they WANT to impress you. They WANT you to like them.

They also want you to take an interest in their lives. They need you to find a way to present the curriculum to them so that they are emotionally invested in it.

Remember the days when we spent an entire hour taking notes from an overhead? Those days should be long gone; kids should be engaged. Students should leave just as exhausted, if not more so, than their teachers each day. Teachers should stand at the front of the classroom only when giving directions; the rest of the time, the teachers should be circulating the room as students investigate, develop, explore, and create.

That's sort of the point of this blog. I'm taking an educational technology class for my masters degree, and I have to document my discoveries. Beyond that, I am hoping that this blog will jump-start my creativity and encourage more writing. So, this post will serve as a "Syllabus" of sorts for my blog.

You can expect to find links and reviews of technology that should/could be used in the classroom.

You will also find stories from my own teaching experience as I strive to become a tech-savvy teacher.  They won't always be pretty, but they will always be real.

Join me as I share with you my journey to become the best teacher I can be, all while in Room Three Twenty One.