Don't Grow Tired of Doing Good

This year, my school district decided to fully implement a Bring Your Own Device policy on all secondary school campuses.  Last year, I piloted BYOD, or BYOT as some people call it, and I saw a lot of success in the work that my students were creating.  I found that they were engaged in a whole new way when they were able to bring their own technology and work together to create a product or participate in technology enhanced discussion.  Because of my experiences last school year, I was thrilled to know that our whole campus would be implementing the policy this year.

But here's the thing.  Technology fails sometimes; kids fail sometimes, too, in drawing the line in what is acceptable school technology use and what is not.  This past week, both types of failures happened at my school.  Technology failed at a time when we least needed it to do so--during literacy and math quarterly standardized testing.  As a measure to prepare for PARCC testing, our district decided to administer all quarterly testing for math and literacy fully online.  That meant no back-up paper copies.  That meant that when the portal failed (like it did on Tuesday and Wednesday) and when the school's network connectivity went down (like it did on Thursday and Friday) kids were frustrated and teachers were frustrated and everyone went home tired and begging for a paper test.

Back up to before any of that even occurred...on Monday I received a note in my box that three of my students had been suspended from technology for two weeks for taking photos of other students on their devices without the permission of these students in health class.  Not cool.  It specifically states in our acceptable use policy and in our BYOD agreements AND in the digital citizenship session our students are required to attend when school starts that they are not to take students' photograph without their express permission.  These students got caught up in the fact that they had their phones with them, they were bored, and, hey, when kids aren't in school, what are they doing?  Taking pictures of each other, sending snapchats, and posting on Instagram.  That's their real life.

BYOD problems occur at other campuses as well.  I realize that our problems this past week are not unique.  It's just part of the implementation curve.  But this is my concern.  Many times, when problems occur in succession, it becomes easy to want to give up on the change.  I think giving up on this particular change has huge implications for our students.  Our students have been taught, almost since birth, that a cell phone or a tablet is a great "toy." It plays movie to keep them occupied; it has games on it that will keep their faces staring at the screen for hours; it takes pictures and movies.  It's a world of entertainment at their fingertips.  Before they had their own devices, they had their parents' devices.  What our students need to learn through BYOD is that their devices are not just toys.  They're instructional tools and life tools.  Those phones don't just hold games and movies. They hold a wealth of information.

In addition, so many of our students lack any type of digital etiquette.  Let's face it.  So many of the adults we see everyday lack any type of digital etiquette.  They place calls or check Facebook in the checkout line at the grocery store.  They text during meetings.  They send snapchat selfies in their cars at stoplights.  This is the world we live in, and I am just as guilty as the next guy who is choosing an Instagram filter at the dinner table instead of enjoying face to face conversation with the other people there.  Our students have to learn when those entertainment choices are and are not appropriate.  It has always been our obligation as teachers to educate our students for the world they live in now AND the world they'll live in as grownups.  I think the world we live in now could use some soon-to-be adults who know how to use technology for good, necessary reasons, not just to be their daily boredom-killer.

So, as my devotional challenged me on this gorgeous Sunday morning, I will not grow tired of doing good.  I will not grow tired, in a moment of frustration and exhaustion, of teaching my students to be better digital citizens.  As idealistic as it may sound, I do completely believe that my job is not just to teach English, it's to create smarter, more involved, more respectful future-adults. Even when it's frustrating.  Even when there are failures along the way.  Here's to a new week, and a new opportunity to turn failures in to teachable moments and do some good.

Spreading Happiness

It's been an exciting two weeks at the middle school, not to mention that last week was birthday week.  I realize that most people probably view my obsession with birthday celebration as a little over the top, but it sure is fun.  So as long as I can keep it up, the tradition of week-long birthday fun will continue. This year was a much more subdued, less hectic version of birthday week, but it was still awesome.  The fun wound down last night with Girls Night painting at one of those BYOB painting places.  It was such a wonderful reminder that I am blessed with some seriously wonderful friends.

At school, lots has been going on, too.  We finished our study of The Diary of Anne Frank, and now we're writing our first research paper.  Last week, thanks to our school's awesome library media specialist, our seventh graders were able to Skype with a Holocaust survivor as part of their preliminary research for their paper.  Talk about a primary source!  Mr. Finkel was captured by the Nazis in Poland when he was eight years old and wasn't released until he was thirteen.  His story of survival is amazing, inspiring, and incredibly heartbreaking.  His goal in speaking with students is to ensure that future generations continue to fight against racial injustices.  He was so sweet as he answered the students' questions and interacted with them during the Skype, and I feel like they learned a lot.  I feel like I learned a lot, too.  It was so eye-opening to hear about the atrocities of the Holocaust from a firsthand perspective.

This week, our school got another awesome opportunity when we became the first school in Arkansas to partner with the American Heart Association and Teaching Gardens to build a Teaching Garden.  Our school is receiving the supplies to build and maintain a self-sustaining garden that will supply fresh produce to our cafeteria.  It is such an awesome opportunity for our students to learn where food comes from and how to cultivate and cook fresh, natural ingredients.

Needless to say, all of these awesome opportunities have enhanced our students' educational experience in the past two weeks.  It's been so fun to watch their reactions to these events!  Some of them are so excited and involved while others seem to be totally clueless to the awesomeness of these opportunities.  It's been a good reminder to me that our job everyday is to help kids "plug in."  Excitement and happiness is contagious. Even when I have a bad day, or I'm tired, or I'm not in the best mood, it's still my job to spread excitement and happiness to my students because their day might be going even worse than mine.  It's been easy to be excited with all the fun things that have been going on lately, but as we really dig in to writing a research paper, the struggle to make class "fun" really begins.  Here's to spreading some happiness to my students as they send me death glares while writing their first research paper.  It's going to be a great week!

Remaining Cool and Unruffled

Constitution Day was this week.  In honor of the writing of this document, I'd like to do a little writing of my own, based on a quote from one of the architects of our great nation.  This quote also happens to speak directly to the the kind of advice I needed someone to give me this week.

“Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.”        ― Thomas Jefferson

What a smart guy.  If only I could follow this advice every day and never find myself frustrated by a particular group of seventh graders whose chattiness at the end of the day borders on disrespect... If only I could remain calm, cool, and collected every time the copier breaks (again) or a child asks me a question I literally. just. answered.  By Thursday, all of the patience and peace that was accumulated over the previous weekend has typically worn down to a more emotional response to said roadblocks in the day. I feel like no matter what your profession, this pattern can be seen. When the pace of work is more frenetic, when the people with whom we are interacting make what we feel like are unfair demands  that make our lives harder, then it also gets a lot tougher to "remain always cool and unruffled."

Yesterday, during the last class of the day.  I did not manage to stay cool and unruffled.  My class could not stop talking.  This class is made up of a group of kids who, for the most part, have been friends since elementary school.  I felt like I set a strong precedent for behavior during the first two weeks of school, but we've been in a downhill descent for the last week and a half.  Yesterday, they won.  I busted out my "real teacher voice" and told them exactly who was in charge.  This particular approach, one I like to call "yelling," is obviously the least effective of the classroom management tools in my toolbox, but I was frustrated.  By allowing myself to get emotional, I gave them the advantage, and they took it.  Now, they didn't do this on purpose.  This is a sweet, well-meaning, smart group of seventh graders.  But putting all their redeeming qualities aside, they are still 12-year-olds who are trying to sit still and focus for the final hour of an eight hour stretch of sitting still and focusing.  It's a tough life.

Anyway, the bell rang at the end of the day yesterday, and I knew I needed a new approach to make this work.  Preferably, I needed a "calm and unruffled" approach.  I looked at the seating chart to see who I could switch around.  Nothing.  When a class of twenty-eight children are almost all buddies, and you have thirty chairs, there's not a whole lot that shuffling the seating chart can really do.  But then I realized (lightbulb moment!) that they didn't know that. All they knew was that I allowed them to pick their seats during the first week of school, and they were really enjoying their personal seating choices.

So here's what I did today.  The bell rang, and I said in a calm and unruffled voice," The first time I ask you to stop talking today, I will change the seating chart. The second time I ask you to stop talking, the whole class will have lunch detention Monday.  The third time I ask you to stop talking, I will start giving individual, after school detentions.  Now please get out your bellringers, so we can go over the directions."  The rest of that fifty minutes was glorious!  Not a single child spoke one word without raising his or her hand.  Thomas Jefferson turned out to be right.

My goal for the coming week is to maintain the upper hand by remaining calm and unruffled.  I have to remind myself that things outside my sphere of influence just have to be faced.  Complaining about them isn't going to change them or make them go away.  I'm going to focus this week on finding some inner peace and keeping it, even when it's tough.  Even in the presence of the chaos that is seventh grade.

Turning an Epic Fail into a Win: An EdTech Story

Ok, so today could have been terrible.  I mean absolutely awful.  I had planned to do a Bring Your Own Device lesson today, since I'm in the process of making my classroom a more "EdTech friendly" environment.  I even enlisted the help of my colleague from UCA, Dr. Michael Mills, who is always ready with an awesome creative lesson idea.  Once again he succeeded in amazing me with a fantastic, high level thinking activity, requiring students to analyze multiple primary and secondary sources and evaluate their relevance to a particular research question.

The BYOD/technology piece here is that each source is accessible to students through a QR code.  Now, I love a good QR code.  It bypasses the need to have a large number of students logged on to the wifi network, which can cause a pretty solid traffic jam sometimes, creating a situation where nobody can get on the Internet.  QR codes also eliminate the need for students to type in lengthy website addresses, should they be accessing the Internet.  All things considered, I think QR codes are GREAT. When they work.  When they work, they're just fantastic.  However, today they did not work.

In our efforts to bypass our need for the Internet, our QR codes connected to text turned out so complex that the QR scanner apps on the devices couldn't read them.  And thus, we have come to the center of my love/hate relationship with technology.  I adore technology.  In fact, I probably have an addiction to several social networks.  I don't know how I would survive without my iPhone, and (true confession) I've never taught without a SmartBoard.  But when technology fails, it's not just a minor hiccup.  It's an epic fail.  In the moment when Dr. Mills and I realized that the QR codes weren't going to work, we could have panicked.  We could have said, forget it kids, we'll just read Diary of Anne Frank today, so you don't have homework.  Most people would have found that perfectly acceptable.  But not us.  I refuse to lose to a computer.

So we did what every good teacher does.  We decided to monitor and adjust.  In first and second period, we struggled through the process of frantically downloading new QR scanners and trying to increase the size of the codes to see if they scanned more easily.  This helped, sort of.  Some codes would scan, and some wouldn't.  We pulled up some of the sources on the SmartBoard and worked through part of the activity as a class.  Amazingly (and thankfully) my first two classes of the day were incredibly well behaved and perceptive to the fact that we were doing our very best to make things work.  They did the best they could with what they had, and they instinctively worked cooperatively with others around them to try their best to get the work done.  I was so thrilled I could have cried tears of joy.  That first week foundation that was laid and creating our classroom vision statements really seemed to come into play today.  My kids were living out their commitment to create an awesome learning environment, and I didn't even have to ask them to do it.  It was a proud, although still stressful, moment.

By third period, we solved the problem.  Rather than having students scan codes to access the sources, we put the text on the handout and had students cut the the sources out into twelve squares.  They then had to sort their sources into three groups: images, primary sources, and secondary sources.

After sorting their sources, students used their devices to identify the people in each of the images.  Since we've been reading Anne Frank, they knew exactly who Anne was.  I mean, she's on the front of their book!  But they were a little unsure about some of the other images.  Since we couldn't use the QR codes, this was a great way to still integrate technology into the lesson.  It ended up being a really meaningful mini-lesson in identifying appropriate search terms, which is both a Common Core technology standard and a pretty important life skill these days.

The last step was to sift through the evidence with a partner and determine which pieces of evidence were relevant to the question.  We gave students twelve pieces of evidence, and they only needed eight of them to answer their two questions, four pieces of evidence for each of our two questions.  This meant that students had to sift out the four unnecessary sources, and then determine which sources applied to each question.  

Once they evaluated the evidence and selected the correct pieces, they could answer each question, and glue their evidence to their paper.  By seventh period, we finally hit our rhythm with this lesson, and even had time to spare!  Students used that time to reflect on their process during the lesson.

Overall, I learned two things today.  First, I learned that a strong classroom management foundation is essential in implementing a BYOD program in any classroom.  A mutual trust and respect must be built in order for students to be successful in the process of learning how to use their devices for instructional and educational purposes and not just as playthings. Second, if you think you have to be flexible when a traditional lesson tanks, you just multiply that by 100, and that's how flexible you'll need to be if a technology-based lesson tanks.  I'm pretty Type A, so it can be hard for me to switch gears quickly in a lot of situations.  But like I said earlier, I also hate to lose, and I'm definitely not losing to an iPad.  With any lesson, it's important to have a Plan B, but I was reminded today just how necessary it is to take what you're given, no matter how frustrating it is, and turn it into a win for the students.  

Before I call it a night, I have to thank Dr. Mills and our school's media specialist for jumping in and fixing the problem with me.  I don't think I would have survived the adventure of today without an awesome co-teacher to keep my sense of humor intact and help me monitor and adjust.  It made for an awesome lesson and an even better story :)    

Tabletop Twitter

Today was an AWESOME day, thanks to my coworker Amy.  Because she introduced me to my new favorite lesson -- Tabletop Twitter.  I had SO much fun doing this with my students today!  I think the best part about this lesson is that it's completely student directed.  I set it up with about five minutes of instructions at most, and then every single class totally engaged in teaching each other (YAY!!) and analyzing passages from The Diary of Anne Frank.  Watching my students truly engage in cooperative learning and monitor their own on-task behaviors was like a little slice of heaven.  And I think I even tricked them into thinking they were just "having fun." ;)

Ok, so here's how it works...our team of teachers picked five passages from the reading homework.  Each passage was 2-3 paragraphs.  Then, each passage was put on plain butcher paper.  When students came in, they were split into five groups.  Each group starts at their own piece of butcher paper.  Everyone has two silent minutes to reread their passage.  When the timer goes off, each group has two minutes to talk, come to a consensus, and "tweet" their response to the reading on their piece of butcher paper.  We focused on inferring emotions and developing empathy with Anne Frank.  Students are also allowed to "hashtag" their responses.  Here's the tricky part...no "retweets" are allowed.  That means that students have to come up with new ideas each time they come to a new passage.  By the time a group reaches their fifth passage, this gets tricky, and students really have to read between the lines.

Here are some pictures from our lesson today...

 

     

   

Any day that I get through six class periods, and every single class says they want to do this lesson again, it's a HUGE victory!  So thanks to Amy, I had an absolutely awesome day in my classroom.  I can't wait to do this activity again this year with new content.  It will be fun to see what kids are able to do with it, now that they've done it once.

Looking forward to more #TabletopTwitter as the year goes on! #success

A Few Thoughts on TESS...

The children are off to a great start!  We jumped right in to our first book study with The Diary of Anne Frank this week.  It was quite a change of pace from our bright and cheery first week of school fun last week to discussing the Holocaust this week.  I was really impressed with the amount of prior knowledge that this group of students brought to our discussion!  Thanks, sixth grade teachers!!  Each class period added something different to our conversation, and it was so fun to see how each class seemed to focus on different key facts and ideas.

As this year began, I was hopeful that I would find all this new "free time."  With no more grad school to take up my evenings, I just knew I was going to be able to insert all these new, fun things into my post-school hours... So far, those post-work hours have been filled with more work; mostly, I feel like I have TESS to thank for my new work duties.  TESS is the new teacher evaluation system in Arkansas. I know that programs like this have been in existence in other states for many years, but I also know that for many teachers in Arkansas, it's totally rocked their world.

For me, I just feel like I'm in college again.  The standards by which we'll be assessed are almost exactly the same as those that I lived by in my student teaching.  Today, I picked up my "evaluation timeline" for this year, and died a little inside.  So. Much. Paperwork.  However, I also feel like, even though I find myself occasionally annoyed and trying to decide which days I want to stay late at work to build my portfolio, TESS is making me a better, more reflective teacher already.  I feel like I always make an attempt to use this writing space as a reflective tool for myself, even if it hasn't exactly been consistent.  This year, I've spent at least five minutes at the end of each day writing "reflection notes" on each day's lesson.  It's helped me focus on which kids are succeeding and struggling and which lessons are working or aren't.  Most of all, it's given me a better opportunity to connect one day to the next.  I feel like my process of teaching is becoming more cyclical and connected, and I'm liking the way that works for me and for my students.

There's a great quote that says, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” I'd say this is definitely true of my personal life and my classroom life.  I've learned so much about being a teacher (and a grownup) in the past three years.  Every day is a new lesson for me, just like it is for my students, and I'm looking forward to all the new wisdom from the middle that I'll gain this year.

Creating a Vision

The first two days of school are in the books, and they were great!  Before I started my first year of teaching, a then-coworker told me I wouldn't quite feel comfortable in the classroom until the third year. At the time, I thought that was a pretty negative statement, but after the first two days of Year Three, I'm thinking maybe there was some truth to what she said.  I was really nervous, like more nervous than I probably should have been, leading up to the start of this new year.  But once the first bell rang, I felt the most calm and collected I've ever felt on the first day.

On top of feeling more confident and relaxed, it helped that I have a great group of students this year!  I am so excited about learning with them and seeing where this year takes us.  Which leads me into my very favorite thing about this new year...writing classroom vision statements.

This year, one of the teachers on my team suggested that we have each class write a vision statement about where they want this year to go. I was nervous about this at first.  You can never tell whether 7th graders are going to be mature enough to handle something like this on Day One, or if they'll make it a game.  I was SO impressed today when it all came together.  Every class fully participated in a democratic way.  They encouraged each other and improved on each other's ideas respectfully.  By the end of the day, I had decided that this lesson is probably one of my favorite lessons that I have ever facilitated (that's right.  I facilitated.  The kids wrote these by themselves!)  Here they are... I think you'll see why I am so excited!

1st Period’s Class Vision Statement
School is important because it helps you become successful.  Therefore, our class should be hard-working and respectful every day, so we can learn vocabulary and writing skills in 7th grade English.  In order to learn and be successful, students in 1st period will listen, do their best, and be prepared.  As your teacher, Ms. Herring will be detailed and specific and make sure you understand to help you have an awesome year!

2nd Period’s Class Vision Statement
School is important because it teaches you the life skills you need to go to college or get a job.  Therefore, our class should be focused and prepared every day, so we can learn vocabulary and writing, reading, and grammar skills in 7th grade English.  In order to learn and be successful, students in 2nd period will listen, work hard, and be respectful.  As your teacher, Ms. Herring will make sure you understand when you struggle and be detailed and specific to help you have an awesome year!

3rd Period’s Class Vision Statement
School is important because it gives you life skills and helps you become successful.  Therefore, our class should be awesome by being focused and prepared, so we can learn reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary skills in 7th grade English.  In order to learn and be successful, students in 3rd period will listen, work hard, and be respectful.  As your teacher, Ms. Herring will be detailed and specific and help you when you struggle, while being nice, in order to help you have an awesome year!

6th Period’s Class Vision Statement
School is important because it gives you life skills and helps you go to college and get a job.  Therefore, our class should be respectful and hard-working every day, so we can learn reading, writing, and grammar skills in 7th grade English.  In order to learn and be successful, students in 6th period will pay attention, work hard, and be prepared.  As your teacher, Ms. Herring will be nice and help you understand when you struggle, so you have an awesome year!

7th Period’s Class Vision Statement
School is important because it teaches you life skills and helps you become successful.  Therefore, our class should be awesome by being focused and prepared every day, so we can learn reading, writing, and grammar skills in 7th grade English.  In order to learn and be successful, students in 7th period will listen, do their best, and be respectful. As your teacher, Ms. Herring will be detailed and specific, help you understand when you struggle, and be nice, so you have an awesome year!

8th Period’s Class Vision Statement
School is important because it helps you go to college so you will have a bright future.  Therefore, our class should be focused and hard-working every day, so we can learn reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary skills in 7th grade English.  In order to learn and be successful, students in 8th period will listen, work hard, be prepared, and be respectful.  As your teacher, Ms. Herring will be nice, detailed, and specific, will help you when you struggle, and will make sure you understand, so you have an awesome year!

These are all now printed, laminated, and posted proudly at the front of my classroom, so we can refer to them throughout the year and make sure we're on track with our vision.  What I love so much about these is that they're all similar in some ways, but they're also different.  You can see what each class values, what makes it unique as a group of students.  My favorite moment today was during third period when a student said, "I am going to love this class!  I've never felt like I had a say in class before.  It's like I have ownership."  Oh. my. gosh.  Seriously?!  Isn't that what all teachers are working toward?  Student ownership is key.  They've got to buy in and be engaged if anything great is going to happen.  I think today as a great first step in that direction.