Quest: Shift #1

Summer is my time to shift into longer leisurely mornings, more time on the dock to read or look at the clouds reflection in our pond, travel to places we've never visited and even back to some of our favorite locations.  But I am constantly on a quest to reflect and think about what shifts I am going to make in my classroom.  I think it's almost impossible to turn off my teacher brain in the summer.  Even in Key West, I was snapping photos that I will use this year in word work and science.  The clock is ticking two weeks left of my summer and we have one more excursion which I think will be the most fun. Spending next week taking our daughter back to Charleston and helping her set up her new classroom and "watch" her move to a new place will be a highlight of our summer.  I have to visualize where she is when we start again our daily phone calls after school.  It's never easy to say goodbye, but we are always connected.

FIRST SHIFT:  Student Ownership toward Independence
I've always thought I did pretty well with this concept. I typically allow long enough wait time. Students have constant choice in their writing and JR books.  Last year, I allowed for almost totally free open seating. I believed I had this idea under control.  However, through several opportunities this summer, I realized there are other opportunities for me to shift ownership.

• Starting the fist day of school, I'm not making name tags, and I am not assigning seats. Students are going to choose where they want their home base to be for the year. This will not be where they are required to sit but where their supplies will live. The extra supplies will live in large gallon Ziploc baggies in a tub so if they need something they can go shopping in the storage cabinets.
• I am going to have them create their own name tag which will be my first opportunity to learn about them.  I have crated my own with icons around it that tell a little bit about me.  My name tag will include books, flowers, map, stick figure 4 person family, OSU football, and a dictionary.  Nothing elaborate which will not only model for them but also send a message that we are all unique but similar.  I imagine playing the game if you have ---- then move to the north side of the room. 
• Sending the message that we are all learners the first day of school will be an important message.  Sharing what we learned over the summer will introduce inquiry and curiosity. I envision a sentence strip with a new fact.  Same idea how are they similar & different. Could we compare or contrast our new learning.  

The first day/week is going to look very different for me. It won't be similar to the other 27 first days of school.  I'm excited about these shifts and there are more to come and I will be posting them.  Happy Sunday! 

Who Owns the Learning? Ch. 5-6 #CyberPD

As I read Chapter 5 and 6, I felt more comfortable as an educator. There were not any views that were shaking me up and I was excited to reinforce so many ideas that I have been thinking about this summer.  On pg. 68 “..the world from one particular viewpoint.” Solidified my decision that I will be starting a class blog for Room 228 this year.  As I reflect on the chapters and the bigger picture of the book, I realize that I need to “break down the walls” to begin to help my students explore empathy. We have explored empathy through conversation mainly around our read aloud and other picture books, but I had not considered exploration through the Internet. In the introduction as Alan interviewed top executives, he found this trait to be one of the most important ones that they are looking for in hiring their employees. I believe it is never too early to begin to open the walls and explore different locations through skype, blog about our class activities, which allow for global comments and continue to grow professionally by continuing to grow through PLN including twitter and #5thchat.

Throughout the book, Alan suggests "that teachers have a hard time giving up control and not bringing all the answers to the table" p. 69.  I personally don’t feel that way about the integration of technology. My struggle is with integrating it so that it is part of the learning and not an add on like whip cream and cherries on a sundae.  I am shifting in my thinking primarily because of a conversation at our district’s tech house last week. Like I mentioned in earlier posts, I was focusing on being restricted by the number of digital tools in my class along with getting hung up on the best app.  After the conversations which went something like “don’t focus on the tool or the app, focus on the learning outcome and if it is Internet based any device will be able to access it.” Those words shifted my entire summer thinking on July 11 along with reading this book, I am positive that I will have more to write about this topic because I only have about a month to make some huge decisions. But one has already been made Room 228 will be blogging next year and breaking down the walls. Thanks to conversations with Mary Lee, Karen and Cathy.

Thanks to Laura for hosting this week on her blog: Ruminate and Invigorate along with Cathy (Reflect and Refine)  and Jill (My Primary Passion). Together the three of you really encouraged me to stretch my thinking and connecting with other colleagues is amazing. I am looking forward to the twitter chat #CyberPD.

Who Owns the Learning? Ch. 3-4 #CyberPD

Chapter 3 stopped me in my tracks. I paused and reflected when I read "...they're motivated to do better. But when you blow the walls off (the classroom), then learning happens anytime, anywhere."  I realized on page 43 that I have been coasting this past school year on my own digital knowledge and not allowing my students to become the learners as referenced in Chapter 1. The role of students include: problem solvers, creators, and collaborators as part of our digital classroom. But I can change.

My technology journey started three years ago with a class grant of iPods which are now obsolete because they can not be updated, and I used them as an excuse this past school year.  My students still used them but weren't able to complete the digital projects that I had planned. Enter in my complacency, I continued to learn about "blowing the walls" open through twitter and extensively through #5thchat. Yes we did skype with Kate Messner and completed a few skypes with other classrooms, but not to the level that I could have done. I am working on grants to obtain some iPads and right now I have two for sure and hopefully two more if next week's presentation goes well.  On a side note, I am living the life of a teacher who wishes she had more iPads, but after reading this chapter 3 I need to jump in with what I have and start busting the walls open in Room 228.

I was skeptical as I started to read; however, I was intrigued with the idea of students as scribes by the end of the chapter. I was hesitant to have one student (scribe) notes for the entire class and then post them on a class blog.  Two things happened as I thought about this: first the pressure to have excellent notes at the end of class would be a great challenge as well as motivator and posting them knocks down the walls for a larger audience than 23 people.  I like that idea especially since I live in a world of pull outs as well as students who might be sick/vacations etc. I can see the benefits from all angles.  

Positive benefits include:
*student scribes use their own voice-not a teacher voice
*builds community because all students will have a chance to scribe
*if the scribe is confused, then that is where teaching can begin NOT at the beginning of the lesson (LOVE this for saving time)
*class blogs allow for global conversations LOVE "a star and a wish" in comment section
*goal is lifelong learners: enables students to expand the learning experience. 
E cubed to bad I don't know the shortcut for that. Something else to learn.

Finally I will be thinking about this chapter long after this posts because I know with any change in technology to start small. I have not had an ongoing class blog, so that will be a huge change and perhaps we will start with scribes in only one subject area.

As always #cyberPD would not exist without our amazing hosts including Cathy, Jill for hosting this week at her blog: My Primary Passion and Laura will host next week at her blog: Ruminate and Invigorate