When I Grow Up

by *¦·ωιςкэđ·¦* on Flickr

Have you ever asked your students or your own children the age old question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I must have heard and asked it a thousand times in my lifetime, yet I find that I haven’t really asked it recently of any students. In fact, the only person I’ve asked that of lately is myself. When I analyze this a little further, I have broken it into two essential reasons and elements.

First, I don’t really ask my students about what they want to be in the future anymore.  How can I? Who can begin to predict what the future will hold for them as far as the job market? The possibilities are truly unimaginable. So, I often wonder how I can approach the task of helping to prepare my students for their futures. I have to develop them as versatile and creative thinkers and problem solvers. I also have to offer them chances to explore a large variety of topics and interests. When offering my students the chance to learn about their passions, I can afford them the ability to make these interests into a living. So, why ask kids what they want to be when they grow up? The opportunities of my adulthood, like world connections and interest based learning, belong to our youngest generations. I want to help students be who they want to be today.

When considering the question of “what do you want to be when you grow up?”, I find that I am asking myself that frequently. Now, in case you are wondering, I have been teaching grades three through six for over twelve years. I have pursued additional certifications for teaching and my National Board Certification. I am constantly learning and pursuing knowledge, yet I have not sought a Masters’ Degree. Why not? Well, at thirty-three, I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. People are always telling me what they think I am good at, what I should do. Go into administration. Work full time in professional development. Work with curriculum and supervision. As I sit here typing this, I am coming to the realization that I can’t recall anyone recommending that I just stay in the classroom. I think that may be a whole new blog post though. So, how do I decide what to be when I grow up? Do I even have to decide? There’s no doubt that, in five or ten more years, there will be positions in education that I can’t even imagine. What I do now, for now, is that I love teaching adults and children. I love learning. I love  making myself a better person and educator. And, I find myself more and more resentful of the fact that I need a particular degree for an accredited university to deem me “prepared” to take another step in my career. Again, the idea of assigning value to formal versus informal learning is yet another blog post. Do I need to “grow up” to take another step? Do I want to? That’s a question that will not be answered today, for sure!

Reflecting on Reflection

I just realized that it has been over a month since my last blog post, and that is pretty disturbing for me. Don’t get me wrong, I am not egotistical enough to be fearful that my millions of loyal readers are thirsting for the wisdom that I impart. Instead, when I’m not blogging, I worry that I’m not spending enough time reflecting. An old adage says “If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it really make a sound?” I wonder if the parallel is true for reflection. If you reflect on your work, but no one hears about it, is it truly reflective?

As teachers, we must constantly assess and reflect. Every choice of my day is based on the information gathering that I do as a teacher. Today we were working on rounding numbers to the nearest ten. When my students couldn’t tell me that 19 is between 10 and 20, my lesson plan for the day went out the window. I couldn’t press on with my intended plan when the prior knowledge that was required was not present. I reflected, adjusted and progressed. In education today, we love acronyms. So, did I rap?

My lack of blogging does not mean that I have not reflected, but without putting these reflections into a tangible context, can I maximize their potential for growth? When I blog to reflect, I get the benefit of feedback from peers and friends, other experts who could probably share a thousand ways of teaching rounding that would benefit my students. When I publish my thought process, ideas, frustrations and triumphs that blossom through reflection, I can actually better myself as a reflective teacher. The act of putting these precise reflections into cohesive words and sentences offers a deeper chance for me to explore my ideas with precision and purpose.

In a year where constant reflection and assessment are going to be more critical than ever, I am pledging to make this process more open, honest and published.

PHOTO: Pool Reflections by Will Montague

Locals & Tourists

Natives and immigrants are terms often used to describe users of technology, yet I’ve been hashing out a different analogy in my head over the last few days that I thought I’d share.

Mila at the Beach by Boudewijn Berend

I grew up as a beach girl, and my dad had a bumper sticker on his pick-uptruck that read “Welcome to Wrightsville Beach. Now go home.” It was kind of a running joke about the differences between perceived “rights” of locals versus “privileges” of tourists in our small coastal town.

Locals approached the beach very differently than the tourists. We had our favorite spots and were protective of them. We knew the others that shared that spot and treated them as friends, though we often wouldn’t have been able to pick them our in another environment. The beach was “our” beach and never just “mine” so it was treated as a space that required constant monitoring, cleaning and maintenance. Finally, locals always have a reverent respect for the ocean. We were not fearful of the most powerful force on Earth, but we did have an idea about its magnitude, power and influence. Contrarily, tourtists seemed to pop in and out of different parts of the beach, seeing them as all the same and all for their use. Respect for the beach and the ocean did not always occur, often leaving behind a trail of negative interactions. Many tourists, especially those who had never been near the ocean, were either terrified of the ocean or had no fear of it at all. Neither of these attitudes were respectful or safe when it came to approaching the Atlantic Ocean.

But, what does this have to do with digital living and learning?

The ideas of tourists and locals pertains to the use of the web. Some people are born as locals. They play in the ocean in their diapers and learn to co-exist with it as a place of refuge and inspiration. Others start out as tourists, but they see the beauty and unique lifestyle as appealing and rewarding. After a period of prolonged visits, they take the plunge and become locals themselves. I think of this in terns of digital use. Children today are locals, but there are many earlier generations who have transitioned to being citizens of this new world and feel like they have finally found “home.” The main difference I see from my personal life experience is that I’ve never seen a bumper sticker, real or virtual, that discouraged new people from visiting or moving in. So, for you reluctant swimmers, come on in. The water’s fine.

Leadership Day 2010

For the third straight year, Scott McLeod is organizing Leadership Day 2010, where bloggers with a passion for education can address leaders. You can find an aggregated collection of these posts from his site, Dangerously Irrelevant. Last year, I posted a list of things that administrators could do to get started off on the right foot to encourage growth  within their buildings. This year, I want to stick with the idea of a list, but I want to focus on the top five things an administrator can look for from his/her teachers.

Teachers today can use the NETS standards from ISTE to be sure they are offering their students the best possible introduction to 21st century skills. Administrators need to know how to assess these standards in practice. Below, I have highlighted the five overarching standards and offered some practical tips on what they might look like in practice. If administrators will look for these things from their teachers, they will find them in themselves as well.

1. Student Learning & Creativity

• offer choices for students to process and share their learning
• let students use real-world problem and solution models to practice and apply learning of new concepts and re-think previously learned ones
• have students reflect on their own learning and the processes by which they learn in order to discover more about their own metacognition
• balance learning and sharing between virtual and face to face environments
• emphasize the process of acquiring knowledge as much as the final product

2. Digital Age Learning Experiences & Assessments

• assessments for students incorporate the teacher’s understanding of NETS for students
• proficiency with a variety of digital tools and resources should be encouraged for all students
• variation in digital tools relates to specific content objectives
• students are able to weigh in on the assessment of their learning and sharing based on their own reflective practices
• diversity of learning styles, individual needs and preferences is addressed through virtual and face to face learning opportunities
• formative and summative assessments are used regularly and with the goal of increasing learning

3. Digital Age Work & Learning

• helping students use the same ideas and process them differently
• offer students and parents multiple ways to digitally connect to you and one another
• Help students and parents collaborate and find ways to enhance their own learning
• provide opportunities for students to learn how to collect, analyze, and  information in a way that teaches them to be good consumers of information

4. Digital Citizenship & Responsibility

• model safe digital citizenship
• provide direct instruction for students about issues facing children and teens regarding digital safety
• offer learning opportunities for parents
• make sure that all students are offered access for digital tools
• engage in digital connections with peoples of all cultures, model global citizenship

5. Professional Growth & Leadership

• provide evidence of personal involvement in a global learning community/PLN (personal learning network)
• exhibit leadership by facilitating opportunities for digital collaboration within network of professionals
• design personal learning experiences that address an individual’s needs and wants
• maintain a reflective component to teaching and learning

Custom Search

We are going to start trying to highlight a quick and easy tech tip each Tuesday here on the NC DEN blog. Today, let’s check out Google Custom Search

.Have you ever asked your students to find information, but when they tried to “google it” they got bogged down in information? Have searched about Vikings ever led you to spend too much time explaining to your students that Leif Erickson was not a football player? If so, Google Custom Search is for you!

With Google Custom Search, you have the power to help narrow your students’ searching to include the websites that are most relevant to your learning objectives. It doesn’t find the information for your students, rather it just lets you decide where they are looking.

When you get to the Custom Search site, just name your search, give it a description and copy/paste the websites you feel are most relevant.

When you are done adding your preferred sites and information, just click NEXT. Once you pick a color scheme, it will give you an embed code to add to your website.

Now, you are almost done! Once, you paste it in, your students will be able to safely search your customized sites.

Pretty cool huh?! How could you use Google Custom Search in your classroom?

Dear Sirs & Madams;

Dear Policymaking Man,

My esteemed colleague, Bill Ferriter, recently wrote you a powerful letter. I hope you’ve had a chance to read it. Twice. Maybe even a dozen times. He talked about the devastating toll that high-stakes testing, merit pay and other half-baked policies are making on our teachers and their families. I could add to these sentiments a hundred times over as an elementary teacher. I won’t bother you with those details today. Instead, I want to piggy back on Bill’s comments and tell you a little bit how these things affect our kids.

Have ever seen the toughest kid in class break down into hysterical sobs in the middle of a state reading test and have to be removed from the room since it is not acceptable to disrupt others?

Have you ever had to console a child who did not meet that “level of proficiency” on one day and one test? Nevermind the fact that she was up all night babysitting her younger sister because her mom was called into work.

Have you ever convinced a child that she should get up off her knees and put away her Bible that she was praying over feverishly trying to allay her own fears of failure?

Have you seen a child with test anxiety?

Have you ever seen a child without test anxiety?

Have you seen a child get off track with their bubbling of answers and fail a test and realize it too late, knowing that their fate rested on it?

Have you watched kids labor over two straight hours of intense reading and math work, knowing that this is their chance to prove that they’ve had a successful year?

Have you ever actually seen one of these tests? I don’t know a psychometrician worth his/her weight in paperclips and floppy disks who would call them valid.

By the way, Mr. Policymaker, I teach 4th graders, kids who are 9 and 10 years old. And you are telling me these policies are what’s best for our children? I’m not as eloquent as Bill, but I just thought you should know what this testing is really doing to and for our children.

Sincerely,

Stressed and Saddened in NC

Who Am I Reading?

I recently got tagged in a blog post by Deven Black (@spedteacher) one of the many people I rely on for my continuing teacher education.

Tagging sometimes seems like the blog equivalent of literary logrolling in which authors conspire to praise each other’s books, but I really do read and recommend the blogs I am about to tag.

If you are tagged, follow these rules:

1) Insert the picture above into your blog with a link back to the blog that nominated you
2) List 10 blogs you feel others should read (I cheated and only did 7)
3) Tell the bloggers you have nominated that you have tagged them.

Here, in no particular order, are the ten blogs that have made a difference in my teaching and/or my thinking.

Education on the Plate by Deven Black

Deven’s blog is a favorite of mine because it reflects his honest passions for so many facets of his life. You can always read his posts and feel what he is writing about in a profound way, whether he’s talking about education reform, his students or his myriad of other experiences.

Technology Figuring Out How the Pieces Fit by Melissa Edwards

Melissa is fast becoming not just a colleague, but also a special friend. As a technology facilitator in central North Carolina, Melissa is an expert at sharing, learning, and caring. Follow her blog for excellent and practical ideas for using technology to enhance learning and teaching.

Keeping Up with the Joneses by Lindsay Jones

This one is one of my non-education blogs. Lindsay and her husband, Jeremy, are close friends of my husband and I and are both exceptional teachers. Yet, this blog is Lindsay’s for keeping up with her family. Last August, Lindsay and Jeremy’s 3 month old son Ayden passed away suddenly. Lindsay has poignantly chronicled this harsh journey through her blog and it has touched many lives very deeply. Warning, don’t go too far in the archives without a kleenex.

Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne

If you need a review by a teacher on something new in technology, go here. If you need an idea, go here.  Enough said.

TED Blog

I find myself enjoying TED talks more and more lately. While I originally focused on the education related talks, it wasn’t long before I realized that they are all education related. The passion that the TED speakers share in their talks is what I can only hope for with my students and my own children.

The Tempered Radical by Bill Ferriter

Bill is an inspiring and honest educator. His blog , The Tempered Radical, shares amazing resources, offers challenging thoughts, and asks hard questions.

Mrs. Buckmaster’s Class by Ana Buckmaster‘s students

Ana does an amazing job with her 4th and 5th grade students each year. She models reflective learning, responsible digital citizenship and building curricular connections through technology. Her students never cease to amaze me, and neither does Ana.

In Defense of Learning (part three)

In Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, he gives several “rules” to follow for eating in a manner that is most healthy. One of them struck me as odd. He said “Eat Food.” Pollan even admits that this rule has a strange ring to it, but he goes on to explain that he means that we should eat foods that others from ages past would still recognize as food. He champions the benefits of eating foods that are natural, organic, not chemically enhanced or artificially colored. I immediately made this connection to learning.

When providing education for our children, should we “Just Teach” or “Just Learn”? These are two very different concepts in my mind. To “Just Teach”, the adults seem to be in charge. It’s hard to imagine that I would want others from generations from past would to recognize what is going on in my classroom as “teaching.” Yet, if I focus on the rule of “Just Learn” it creates an entirely different idea for me. If we encourage our children to learn, they have ownership over their process. They are seeing, hearing, acting, doing and feeling. It reminds me less of traditional classroom learning and is more like an apprentice-like approach to skill develop. Blacksmiths would never have had their apprentices sit at a desk and read about melting and molding iron. They would have scoffed at the idea of trying to train anyone this way. I would want this blacksmith to recognize what my students are doing as learning, moving concepts beyond theory into practice. I would hope that my students are building their foundational knowledge based on understanding, experiencing, and absorbing information that is concrete and real.

So, my rule, a la Pollan, would be “Just Learn.” What would your rule of education be?

In Defense of Learning (part 2)

As I started discussing earlier in the week, Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food held some amazing insights for me into the world of food and many of the debates in education. I pulled out the envelope I used to scribble down ideas while making my cross-state trek on Interstate 40. One point that Pollan makes early in his book is that a food’s total value is far greater than the sum of its parts. This idea seems to hold true for education and learning as well, as evidenced in recently efforts at reform.

In educational circles we talk about reform and best practices and methodology for instruction that will alter the current educational system for the better. Yet, despite efforts to affect change, little real movement seems to be occurring. There are several camps of thought and theory to which you can subscribe, all proposing that their ideas are the only way to meet the educational goals of our students. But how can this be? How can everyone have the right answer, yet no one does?

Pollan attests that it is nature’s combination of ingredients, enzymes and perfect timing that gives Earth’s most nutritional foods their inherent benefit. As scientists have tried to isolate individual nutrients and chemical compounds for use in increasing the nutritional value of other foods, they have found that the maximum health benefit is never reached.  In other words, the individual components of the food need one another to work harmoniously to reach the best result.

Keeping this analogy, there is no “fix” for the way things are currently operating in education. We are already trying to pit too many independent ingredients against one another and trying to pretend that they will “play nice” and create a desired results. Instead, the combinations of testing, accountability, technology, direct instruction, inquiry and other bits of educational buzz are mixing together to form almost toxic stew that is virtually counterproductive.  Instead of a secret strategy to solve the issues of education, we must look for a blue ribbon winning recipe that leads to a combination greater than the sum of the individual contributing parts. So what might that include? In my not-so-gourmet opinion, I sense a combination of technology, co-learning and passion-based discovery. The most important ingredient, and the that must be the most prevalent, will need to be the student.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ephotion/ / CC BY 2.0

In Defense of Learning (part one)

As I crossed the state this weekend for a wonderful DEN Day of Discovery at the Biltmore House, I decided to listen to the audio version of In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. While this book focused on the Western diet and how nutritionists have broken down and attempted to apply scientific processes to the foods we eat, I found a tremendous number of parallels to education and the reform that I believe is needed today in education. Driving on I-40 for over 300 miles gave me plenty of time to think, process and digest thisinformation, along with jotting down all kinds of messy notes on an envelope I found in my car. Over the next few weeks, I hope to put some of these thoughts into a series of blog posts.

I am going to start with Pollan’s idea about how much an individual’s metabolism should contribute to their selection and consumption of food. It immediately reminded me of the idea of learning. We all have varied rates that we metabolize information, and being aware of these rates will make a significant difference in understanding our tendencies as learners. Some children can take in a rapid-fire of information, and remember it all. These learners remind me of the people who could eat a diet of Twinkies and Dr Pepper and never put on a pound. They can take it in and move on to the next thing without any pause for indigestion. Other students have to choose carefully from the buffet, but they are free to eat most anything in moderation, especially if they make a little extra effort. These are the same people who can graze the buffet, take an extra run in the morning, maybe take a Tums or 2, and be alright. In learning, they take things a bit slower. Sometimes it requires some extra review and effort, but (for the most part) they get it. Lastly, we have those people who are perpetually dieting and exercising, yet they struggle to stay in a healthy weight range. To me, these are the kids who try and try and do the right things, yet it’s always a struggle to keep their heads above water.

If learning is a form of metabolism, I have to think that a prescriptive diet of appropriate combinations of learning strategies and individualized instruction can maximize the rate of learning absorption. It isn’t the addition or removal of one particular ingredient of the learning process, but rather the idea of changing routines and habits with the intention of increasing the learner’s health.  We must also consider those learners who metabolize information at the rate that some do Oatmeal Cream Pies. How can we keep them satisfied? And if we aren’t filling them with the right food, what kind of junk are they finding?

This book raised a lot of non-food related thoughts for me, but I appreciate the challenge. Here’s hoping that my thoughts will evolve for me as I process them with you.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolyncoles/ / CC BY 2.0