An Awakening Failure

I have a confession to make...

I failed the second semester of my junior year of high school. 

I had chosen Ralph Waldo Emerson as a topic for my junior research paper, which was the majority of the semester's grade. I painstakingly created 25 note cards documenting my research and wrote my rough and final drafts. But when it cam time to turn in my paper, I had lost my note cards. And since I have been a procrastinator since birth, I didn't complete the assignment until the night before it was due. This meant that I didn't have time to re-make those note cards and received an F on my research paper and an F for the semester.


To this day I have no idea what I learned from that experience. As I am scouring my action research paper for APA errors, I am having flashbacks to that time of failure in my life. I still wonder why it wasn't enough she had already given me the points for completing the note cards on time earlier in the semester. I don't know if I ever told my parents the real reason I failed that assignment. I don't even remember if I had enough guts to ask for extended time to create a new set. I wonder now as I did then, what the educational value failing a student for losing a stack of cards was. I still enjoy Emerson's work and remember some of what I had learned from the research. But what I remember most is crying while digging through my closet, locker and car looking for those cards because I knew that without them I would fail. 


So I guess I did learn from that experience, although it wasn't what my teacher had intended. I still lose paper almost as soon as I put it down (so thank goodness I can take notes on my laptop.) And I still have no idea how to properly document my resources in MLA or APA. What I learned was that was one thing that I never wanted to do to my students, even though at the time I didn't know I was going to be an educator. All I knew was that I never wanted to another person to feel the way I had because of something I had done. 


Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Glogster EDU - Newly Improved

This summer Glogster launched Glogster EDU, which was totally awesome because the EDU version is completely safe and filtered so teachers don’t have to worry about students viewing inappropriate content. For those that don’t know what Glogster EDU is, it’s basically an virtual poster creator. But it is so much more! Users can upload or link to images, video and that help convey their messages. Text and titles can be added and be linked to external website. There are also a number of graphics that can be added to “spice up” your virtual poster.
Well now Glogster has done it again! They’ve added a whole slew of education themed graphics that will enable both students and teachers to more easily and quickly create Glogs for their classrooms. Graphics such as school supplies, chemical symbols, math symbols, and safety signs have been added to improve the usability in an educational setting. The best part about Glogster is that you don’t have to worry about account creation for students. As an educator you create an account and can add up to 200 students to your account. Then you simply give your students their usernames and passwords and send them to the computer. The teacher has the ability to see all students’ glog, even unfinished glogs, and can make sure those glogs are set to private. The teacher can also retrieve an embed code for the student glogs and embed them into the class blog, wiki, or website.
Since all glogs can be set as private, it’s okay to use DE content on your glogs - as long as you’re not posting those glogs on public facing websites that is. As a teacher you can create an informative poster about cells or create a whole project sending your students all over the web from your glog. Or students can create a glog demonstrating their knowledge about the Civil War or even a presentation of their science project, all without using a single glue stick or printing out a single sheet of paper. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and get your kids glogging today!

2 1/2 Months Later...

It's been about two-and-a-half months now that I have going to a local middle school once a week to provide professional development sessions on integrating technology into their specific curricular areas and the district's new lesson structure model. This experience has definitely been eye-opening! As a whole, the staff was pretty comfortable with using technology for themselves but were not very comfortable allowing students to use technology, which is the intended goal for the massive amount of money spent on classroom technology. I am glad to report that both teacher comfort allowing students to use technology and actual student use of technology went up in this very short time frame! A few things to note:

1. While more teachers were allowing students to use technology in class, the number of classrooms using technology did not go up. In other words, the same amount of classrooms had technology use occurring, but more of if was student use rather than teacher use.
2. I feel a large part of this success is due to the fact that the instructional coaches jumped right in with both feet on integrating technology into ALL professional development.
3. While survey results would lead one to believe that student engagement went down, I don't believe that is actually the case. During the course of this semester, the definition "actively engaged" was clarified to the staff members. I believe this is why the results showed a drop in students that were actively engaged, as all conversations with staff members indicate that students were more engaged in the learning. 

Teacher Survey Results

View more presentations from Erin Misegadis.


Overall I think that the work done this semester was beneficial to all involved and I hope that the coaches will be able to continue to support technology integration into their professional development sessions and that the students will benefit from this experience.

What's the "Right Answer"?

This morning I read a post on David Freeburg's blog Epic Epoch about differentiating and his thoughts about whether the process or the product was the most important component of the learning experience. This of course got me thinking about our students today. One of the comments left was that his students are more concerned about getting the "right answer" than they are learning from the process. But how did they get that way? Are we born that way? Or have years of education where you must have the correct answers on the test in order to pass made students that way? I've even been in professional development sessions where teachers have asked "You've shown us a lot of ways to teach this concept. Which is the best way?" That to me leads me to think that the problem is not with students, but that the problem is with the system.

If you give a group of primary aged students some "crafts" supplies and tell them to build a model of a house, they'll dive right in and start building. They won't even think about how their teacher thinks it should look nor will they worry about "right way" to build it. They'll simply dump the supplies out and start working to build a house. But, if you give those same supplies to a secondary level student and tell them to build a model of a house, it is almost guaranteed that they'll start asking questions. "How many points is this worth?" "How big does it have to be?" "Is there an example I can look at so I can get it right?" 
What happens between those early elementary years and middle school that students are becoming disconnected from the fun of learning? Even further, what will happen to those same students when a grade is no longer attached to a product? As educators we need to recognize the fact that learning is much more than "getting the right answer." It is about learning to learn. If we as educators do not start to focus on the process, students won't either and we'll have no one to blame but ourselves when our students fail. We've got to acknowledge that we are the ones that need to implement change, and only when that happens will our students' enthusiasm for learning grow. Only then will our students truly become life-long learners. 

Image courtesy of Flickr and jason03yingling.

Please Step Away from the Textbook!

Textbooks are a staple in most classrooms and can be a great resource for teachers. The problem I find (not that I am even close to the first person to realize this) is that a large number of teachers use their textbook and accompanying teacher's guide as the ONLY resource for teaching. This is prominent from kindergarten all the way to post-secondary education. The problem with this is that teaching from the textbook shuts the door in the faces of students and locks them into their classrooms. Our world holds so many resources for educators - all we have to do is open our eyes and minds and look for them. 

Students today are collaborative, communicate with their peers on a highly frequent basis, create, explore, adapt, and design - except when they are in school. Often times when students enter school they are asked to “power down” their phones, computers, and themselves. On their own, students use technology to explore their world and communicate with others. But in their classrooms, many times the option to use those tools is not available to them. In a large portion of these classrooms, the reason isn’t a lack of access, but rather teachers simply aren’t allowing the students to use the tools available to them.  This lack of use is usually born out of one thing - fear. A fear that the technology may not work properly, a fear that things may not "go as planned," a fear that the students might abuse the technology, and probably mostly a fear of not being the expert in front of students. While it is okay to be afraid, it is not acceptable to allow that fear to prevent you from creating a more appropriate learning environment for students. Even if nothing works they way you plan and the students end up having to show you how to use the tools, the learning that will occur in that time will be completely worth it. The experience may even allow you to see strengths in your students that you may have never before seen.

If you are reading this post you are probably not tied to your textbook, but I'm willing to bet that you know someone that is. So why not offer up a few ideas to that person that will help them expand a learning environment beyond their classroom walls, or at least beyond the covers of the textbook? Introduce someone to the power of the internet for not only creating more engaging learning environment, but also as a way to extend their own learning network. If you're just starting to explore your options outside of your textbook, seek out another person to either explore with you or someone who could act as a mentor and guide in your journey. Trust me, whether you enter the partnership as a guide or "student" you will find yourself learning from the experience and eager to do more learning and exploring.

A couple of days ago someone on Twitter posted a link to David Warlick's article If you can't use technology get out of teaching! which inspired this post, so thanks to my PLN in Twitter (and David Warlick of course.)

Image courtesy of  joewhk and Flickr.

Exciting New Opportunity

Well I'm very excited about a new project that I've been able to undertake this semester. I have the privilege to be able work with a local middle school's instructional coaches to not only embed technology use into their weekly professional development sessions, but also to add technology integration ideas into their actually delivery to the teachers. Meaning for every topic and concept they're covering in PD this semester, I'm going to add ways to embed technology into specific curricular areas. I'm very excited about this because this school already has a good amount of technology in the classrooms, but the teachers still aren't using the tools to their potential - some aren't even using them at all. In my experiences, there is a large portion of the educator population that will embed technology and 21st century skills into their instruction if they are simply taught the skills to do so. Most technology PD is simply teaching participants how to use the tool. I firmly believe that if you follow that instruction will curriculum specific ways to integrate the tools and skills teachers are much more likely to do so.

I have also offered to the entire staff to personally come into their classrooms and help them plan technology rich instructional units, help them deliver the lessons, or even to teach a lesson their classroom. I really feel that most educators would are willing to integrate more technology into their instruction, thereby greatly enriching their students' learning environments, but they are simply not equipped with the skills to do so or afraid that "things might not go right." It is my hope that by giving them the skills and impressing upon them the importance of allowing the students to lead the way (even if things to always go according to plan) that their students' engagement and achievement will increase. When this happens the job of being the teacher becomes less "work" and more of a learning experience for everyone involved.

Image courtesy of tinaylin and Flickr

What Are We Blocking?

Our district, like most, has an Internet filter and guidelines for what gets filtered. And, like most educators that work in districts with filters, I hit that filter a minimum of once a day, most days it much more than that if I'm reading and researching. There are a number of sites that I use as an educator and technology specialist professionally that are blocked within our district, Twitter being the most frustrating block for me (although I do find access to it through a couple of widgets). I use Twitter as a professional in a number of ways, from learning from others, to share my learning, as well as the occasional "Help, I'm looking for _____ resources." And my Twitter network never fails to deliver when I need it. The latest frustration is with image sharing sites. We've got a large number of teachers starting to implement blogging into their classrooms and are wanting to use a template from the Internet. The problem is that the images for those templates are hosted on image sharing sites that are blocked in the district, which means the templates can't be properly viewed within the district. The worst part is that teachers and students have the same filtering levels, so teachers don't even have the ability to evaluate a website for classroom appropriateness if it does happen to be blocked for the students.

I understand the concept for blocking, that we're keeping students from viewing inappropriate content and materials. But I am often left wondering what we're really teaching students (and teachers) when we block so much of the Internet. How can we fully teach Internet safety if we block so much of its content? How can we convince teachers that we trust their judgement to select appropriate resources and content for their classrooms if they have to rely on someone else to evaluate whether or not a site should be blocked? How can we teach our students to collaborate in our global society if we block so many of the social networking and media sites that exist today? These are questions that are often spinning around in my head.

I read about others using social networking, media, and bookmarking sites all the time in their classrooms and district, but as we not only filter but do not supply our students with email addresses OR allow them to use their personal emails, we are not able to use a large number of these tools as they are intended. As I'm not in a position to actually make the decisions as to what types of access students have, I often find myself spinning my wheels when I hit that filter searching for a tool to use in the classroom. Some day surely we will be able to give our students safe access to all of the tools that are available out there, and surely if we all keep trying and promoting the incredible advantages to the massive number of tools that are available to us on the Internet. Considering our students (and teachers) are using a large number of social networking and media sites at while they are at home, we won't have to spend much time teaching the tools. We'll actually be able to teach our students (and teachers) how to use these tools appropriately and how to harness their power in the classroom in order to become responsible citizens in today's global society.

Image thanks to Flickr and epmd.

Blurring the Lines

I am an Instructional Technology Specialist (ITS). It is my job to help teachers to integrate technology into their instruction in order to improve the learning experience for students. When I grappled with the decision of whether or not to leave the classroom I finally decided that I can impact the learning of far more students in this role and took the leap, and I truly love my job. I get the opportunity to lead PD sessions, co-teach lessons with other teachers, and offer one-on-one sessions all in the hopes that more students will be impacted by an improved and more appropriate learning environment.

All that being said, the line between "ITS" and "Help Desk" are often blurred. During my training sessions I hand out my card to anyone who wants it and offer my continued support for helping participants integrate technology into their instruction. But because I hand out my card so readily, I also get a number of calls from people wanting me to fix their computer or hardware. This is where the lines start to blur. Because I am fluent a number of software and internet applications, I have by default learned to trouble-shoot computers and a number of different types of hardware. So the teacher in me want to teach others how to trouble-shoot themselves so they don't have to make more pleas for help, but the ITS in me wants to tell people that it isn't my job to fix their computer and that they need to call their building's tech or the Help Desk. Of course I usually end up teaching them to fix it and then I end up getting more calls and emails for hardware issues.

Another reason the lines are blurred is because I manage the accounts, usernames, and a variety of other "technical support" types of functions for a variety of applications in the district. For example, because I am the website administrator/trainer for our district, I also inherited the job of managing the web server. This further leads people to call me to help them when they need both instructional and technical help with technology. And again, the teacher in me usually wins out and I end up teaching more people how to trouble-shoot and fix their hardware issues.

The reason I let my inner teacher come out in these instances is that I want the issues to be taken care of quickly so that the teachers can get back to teaching and the students can be more positively impacted.The fact is if they have to wait until their building tech can come check on their problem, the learning utilizing that tool will be put on hold and students will be negatively impacted. I also feel that the more teachers know how to do on their own for technical support, the more I will get to do on the instructional side of technology integration. I feel that if I just teach this teacher to be a little more confident in his/her abilities his/her comfort level with technology will increase and the integration will happen more readily. The problem is that there are just so many teachers out there and I get stuck in this vicious cycle that just seems to keep going around and around. The solution for now seems to be keep plowing forward and try to help as many people as possible.

Image courtesy of Flickr and Philou.cn.

Glass Half-empty or Half-full?

In my job I run into a large number of nay-sayers, negative Nancys (or Neds), glass-half-empties, or whatever it is you call a person that always sees the flaws and defects in something first. You know them. When you show them how to use a blog as an online journal for their classroom, the first thing they say is "my kids can't use the internet at home" or "no way I can get into the lab enough to make it worth the work." As soon as you show them an internet-based alternative to the "Inspiration" software they don't have in their new school, they're pointing out how this tool only saves as an image so you can't edit it later. When you show them how to create student usernames and passwords for their wiki or content management system, they're upset because they already know their students won't be able to remember the password. You know them.
And as much as I try, this can at times be a drain on me, both emotionally and physically. Just this week I was at a school helping teachers learn to use their new SMART boards and the complaints came in mountains. The vast number of pre-made lessons available on our website weren't exactly how they wanted and they don't have the time to learn a new tool. "Does the board really have to be re-oriented every time I move the projector?" "I've had that table there for three years and now I have to move it because someone put this board in my room. That table won't work anywhere else in my room." And this is only about a SMART board. I don't even want to get into the conversations that happened when teachers found out that our contract with Blackboard isn't going to be extended and that they'd have to learn a new tool if they wanted to keep their content online.
I have come to realize that it is part of my job to keep smiling and holding hands so that teachers don't lose faith, so that teachers will keep trying new ideas, and so that classrooms can take yet another step to being student-centered learning environments. This is the most difficult and important part of my job and it wasn't even in the job description when I applied. So after a couple of years, I've stumbled across some concepts that seem to help me do this, the most important part of my job.
To begin, I always try to let "Nancy" know that her opinion is valid. Even if I think it is an imagined hurdle or fear, in that person's mind it is real and therefore I need to listen and validate it. I also need to make sure I stay positive while I'm listening and responding so that "Nancy" will see that there really is a light at the end of that tunnel. It also helps to be a quick thinker and problem solver so that when a teacher comes across a hurdle, I/we can quickly come up with a solution for getting over that hurdle. The next part is something that I personally have to work really hard at doing, and that is checking back frequently to make sure the solution is still working. I have found this one to be important because so many times if there is one bump in the new road for that teacher, that bump will keep him/her from traveling that road at all. But I have found that if I check back with individuals, it seems to keep the motivation up and that they will eventually feel comfortable enough that they can contact me without waiting for my emails. Finally, I have to be continually looking for new ideas and ways for teaching "old" concepts. This is because technology is changing so rapidly and new hurdles and bumps show up in the road every day. This one is probably one of the best parts of my job, as it means I get to spend time surfing the net and learning from my PLN which always leaves me inspired to do more.

And just in case you're wondering, here's a few suggestions for the problems presented above. For blogging nay-sayers: suggest that maybe at first try using the blog as an extra-credit opportunity for journals to see how many students truly don't have access to internet at home. For those upset that free mind-mapping tools don't often allow for changes and updates, point out some of the great online image editing tools that will allow for later "additions" so that teachers can demonstrate to students how the learning process is continually changing and growing. And for the teacher that's worried her students won't remember passwords, well this is one I still don't have a fantastic response for so if you have one - help me out and leave it in the comments section.

Image courtesy of Flickr and livcheng.

Personal Paradigm Shift

I've been reading a number of blog posts lately about the term "Web 2.0" being a completely useless term and I must admit that I have felt this way for quite some time. The term does nothing to describe its meaning to those that don't understand it, is already getting quite "old" to those of us that do, and is meaningless to today's students because the web has always been interactive to them. With all that being said, I find myself using the term "web 2.0" anyway, mostly out of laziness. I have a wiki site that I often use as a resource for training, and it has a (web 2.0) page called "Internet Resources," but I don't feel this really explains the nature of these tools either. I'm looking for a term that says "interactive, dynamic, user-friendly, engaging, free internet websites" but is catchy and fun.
My struggle with the term is not only that it doesn't describe or indicate in any way the power or application of the tools, but it also seems automatically throw up a barrier between the "tech literate" and the "not so literate" folks. This is a problem for me because it will automatically prevent people from listening if they don't understand the terminology being used. I've always felt that when people use a lot of technical jargon in their presentations and explanations that all they really want to do is prove to the audience how smart they are. After I've completed a class or PD session, if the exit surveys indicate that "Erin was really patient when participants needed additional help or explanations" or that "Erin was able to break down the concepts into easy to understand terms," then I feel that I've done my job. If the survey reflects thoughts such as "I am completely overwhelmed and don't know how to use anything from this session," then I have not done my job and that I have probably hindered the progress of those participants, rather than furthered it.
I suppose that the fact still remains that no matter how frustrated I am with the term, it is here to stay - at least for a while. The only solace I can find is that as the internet and its tools continue to evolve, surely the nomenclature will do the same and we won't have to live with the term "forever."

Image courtesy of Flickr and Leo Reynolds

Student's View of Her Future

A fellow teacher and friend sent this video to me via her blog Teaching Tomorrow a couple of weeks ago and it is so amazing that I had to share it with you all. The video was part of the U@50 Challenge sponsored by AARP. This wasn't their winning video, but it is a definite winner in my book. You can view this video and her others at http://www.youtube.com/user/metroamv. This particular video required a vast amount of thought, foresight, and reflection to be created and was inspired by an Argentinian Political Advertisement called "The Truth" by RECREAR.

Real Heroes

Events of late have left me thinking and reflecting about heroes and their roles in our lives. When I was growing up my mother was my hero. She is a strong, intelligent, motivated woman that is always there for her family. She was also a full-time nurse in an intensive care unit, highly admired by her co-workers and supervisors, and even won bedside nurse of the year. (I say was because she completed her master's degree a few years ago an is now a nurse anesthetist.) With all of these fantastic atributes, how could she not be my hero, right?
When I was classroom teacher, we always did an activity at the beginning of the year in which, among other things, I asked my students who their heroes were and what they wanted to be when they grow up. An overwhelming number of students would say that their hero was some kind of sports figure and that they wanted to be a professional athlete. Now, I'm not one to crush a child's dreams and aspirations, so I always tried to work at the angle that the students needed to be successful in school in order to get a scholarship into a D1 school and get drafted/selected for their desired professional sport. But this is also when I started really thinking about how professional athletes size-up as role models and heroes.
Don't get me wrong, there are a number of pros out there that lead admirable lives. In fact, I used to work with an amazing teacher that had been a professional soccer player and now as a coach requires his students have passing grades to continue to play. But by and large, the athletes that make it into the news are also those that are being arrested or are in some other kind of trouble. It is this that I find troubling for children, not only my own but for all children. I feel like that if children see professional athletes making massive amounts of money and getting deals from Nike at the same time that those athletes are in the news about DUIs and being arrested on gun/drug charges it sends a terrible message to children. It says that breaking the law and immorality are excusable if you happen to know how to throw or catch a ball really well. It says that people will look the other way if do bad things to yourself and your family if you are also talented enough to help a professional sports team win championships. The same issues arise when we look to t.v. and movie stars as role models.
So, what can we do as educators and parents? Try to be the best possible role models ourselves. Let our children know that we are human and are flawed but show that we learn from our mistakes, that we are life-long learners and continue to grow every day. We need to continue to support our children and encourage them in their education and outside interests. We need to let them be OUR heroes, as they are already our future.

Image courtesy of Flickr and father09.

Seven Free Teacher Tools

Just a quick post today. I got the following on Twitter today (via twitter.com/cathriving) and thought it was worth sharing.

#1 Top 15 service learning tools and resources are here:
http://www.educationreporting.com/#service

#2 Service, stewardship, and strategies updated weekly with hundreds of resources for classes or groups are here:
http://www.educationreporting.com/greenschool.xml

#3 Encourage student participation use Project Based Learning; there's the best over 25 top web resources here: http://www.educationreporting.com/#project

#4 Technology resources, over 100 top notch ideas and tools to fortify lessons and activities: http://www.educationreporting.com/#technology

#5 Use the finest: get peer and expert wisdom by choosing from over 100 blogs and wikis at http://www.educationreporting.com

#6 Rock your instruction and save time; use these highly rated curriculum resources for all content areas at http://www.educationreporting.com/curriculum.php

#7 Nail pedagogy and hone teacher skills; quality collection of excellent resources to use as a refresher or help design innovative lessons. http://www.educationreporting.com/globaled.php#ped

Tearing Down the Walls

I've been working this week with some secondary instructional coaches and teachers on learning to integrate technology into their coaching and instruction. We've been discussing using technology for research, creating content and presentations, problem solving, creating and completing assignments, and for communicating and collaboration.
In these conversations I have heard something that I hear all the time. There are so many educators that think that technology is great for research, creating and completing lessons, presenting materials, and reinforcing instruction, but when it comes to collaboration there is a wall thrown in the path. The objection is that texting, blogging, emailing, social networks, and other such types of tools aren't really collaboration because the participants aren't interacting face-to-face, hearing each others' voices, and reading each others' body language. And I hate to sound like I am biased, but it is usually the "veteran" teachers making these objections.
It is at this point I start my retort, and it usually goes something like this: "While it might be true that kids aren't interacting face-to-face, that doesn't mean they aren't collaborating. Texting, emailing, tweeting, and using Facebook is just a small part of what collaboration has become in today's society. Sure, we still want our children to be able to communicate with people face-to-face and be able to pick up on those little nuances of inter-personal communication, but we have to move beyond that. I personally send 800 - 1,000 text messages a month, use social networking tools daily, and send more email messages than I care to even know as a way to collaborate and communicate with others professionally. The nice part about these types of communication tools is that it allows us to get down to business when I finally do meet face-to-face with my fellow collaborators. We have already done the document exchanges, we've already taken care of the agenda and assigned roles, so when we actually meet we're getting so much more done. The world outside school is going to move forward with these types of tools, so we can either follow suit or be left in the dust - as we so often are in education."
Today when I gave this speech I had the most wonderful response. One coach spoke up to the group and said (paraphrasing here) "Guys, this is where our kids are. These are the things our kids are doing and the tools they're using. Nothing we do can change that, so we've got to meet them where they are and move forward. It doesn't matter how long we debate the use of these technologies in education, the rest of the world is using them and we've got to keep up so that we remain relevant in the eyes of our students."
I seriously wanted to shout "Amen!" when she said this. It is all about being relevant. If our students don't think that our teaching is relevant, they aren't going to learn. If they have to continue to "unplug" when they walk into classrooms, they will soon "tune out" altogether and that will be the real tragedy. Educators as a whole have got to "get with it" and keep up with the times, or in the end it's going to be our children that lose in the battle of life - not us.

Reflect Upon "New" Learning

Last month finished up another semester of my master's degree program. The classes all ended with the obligatory final project and final exam. Each of these teachers posed the same basic question on the final exam: "How has your new learning this semester influenced the way you will create lessons and teach in the future?" This of course got me thinking, but not necessarily about what the teacher intended.
I started thinking about the insane number of teachers, including myself, that have asked this question of their students in some way or another. I know that as teachers we are hoping to teach new concepts and that we are enlightening our students at all times, but there are times when that just doesn't happen. So then when the question is asked of students "What did you learn?" we as teachers are assuming that we have indeed enlightened and inspired our students in some way, and that this is a justified question. But what happens if we really haven't imparted any new wisdom upon our students, or they simply haven't obtained any new information or skills? What happens if a student answers "I haven't learned anything new." How do we as teachers react? I would be willing to bet a number of teachers would raise their eyebrows at said student's answer and award zero points to the student for that question and then move on with teaching.
But what would have happened if in my master's level course I had answered that nothing I learned from the instructor was new to me? What if I had said the class I had just paid $700 for really had not taught me much of anything that will influence the way I teach? Because, this in fact for one of my courses, was the case. Not to say I didn't learn and grow as a result of this class, but almost all of my learning and growth came from interactions with my fellow students and the ideas that they brought to the class. I wish that could tell you that I had the nerve to say exactly that in response to this question, but I did not. So for me, for now, this question will remain unanswered and I am left to wonder "What if?"
At least I can now reflect upon this question for my own teaching and whether or not this is an appropriate question to ask of my students. Maybe a more appropriate question would be "Have you learned new information or skills that will change the way you go about business?" or "If you have learned new skills or ideas, what are they?" And then follow up with the question of "If you haven't learned new skills or information, what could be added to this class (or lesson) that would help you?"

Image courtesy of Flickr and The Library of Congress

No Tech Interventions

So I sat this morning through four hours of training on the intervention program that was piloted in a few of our middle schools this year and will be at all of our middle schools next year. I started the session with all other instructional support personnel beginning a KWL chart for this program. The presenter, who is a representative of the intervention program company, comes to our table and starts talking to us. Everyone else at the table had met with the rep before so she immediately asks at which school that I teach. I of course say something along the lines of I don't have a school, that I am an instructional technology specialist for the secondary level. That woman ran away from me so fast I could almost see the smoke coming off of her shoes!
Before she really got into the presentation she moved us all away from power outlets and told us there would be no need for computers, that paper would be provided if we wanted to take notes. So we all "powered down" for the next 3 1/2 hours (you read right). I sat and listened to the presentation and followed as best I could, although I kept thinking about how I was either going to lose the piece of paper on which I was taking notes or that I wouldn't be able to read my handwriting later.
The program itself is not bad. Students take an assessment at the beginning of the year. This particular program places them in an "on or above" grade level class, 1 - 2 years below grade level, and then 3 - 4 years below. All classes follow a five-part lesson structure, which is all well and good, and "tiers 1 and 2" pretty much follow the same curriculum - "tier 2" having more support structures in place. The "tier 3" students follow the same scope and sequence as the district, but has a very regimented class structure within which the teacher has no real freedom.
The presenter then walks us through a typical lesson within the structure. Not a mention of any technology. Not only is there no mention of technology, but when the question was asked if they could receive the materials electronically so teachers could use them with SMART boards, clickers, or other such equipment, they were shot down. There is apparently no need to "distract the students" with such items when they can't even read or do math. (I'm not making this stuff up here.)
I never really recovered after that point, although it did shed some more light on the "no computers during training" from earlier.
So now I'm left to think "Are our kids really going to have to power down across the district in the coming years?" and "Aren't we taking a huge step backward?" I know that there are many teachers out there don't implement technology simply out of fear-be it fear of the technology not working or the fear of not being an "expert of all things" in their own classrooms. But are we really benefiting children and learning if we continue to validate those fears? Why is it acceptable to push students out of their comfort zones in school but not teachers? One would think that in order to promote life-long learning in children, one would need to be a willing life-long learner - wouldn't they?

Image courtesy of rotkappchen143 and Flickr.

"Blast" from the Past

I was sitting in my living room a bit earlier this evening when the doorbell rang. When I get to the door I see that it is "Juan." (Student's name has been changed.) Juan was that kiddo that did absolutely everything under possible to purposely get under the teachers' skin. He was a gang banger (or really close to it anyway), attended class only intermittently, had more missing assignments than completed ones, and had one heck of a mouth. To say he caused me stress would be an incredible understatement. To say he failed my class would only hit the tip of the iceberg. And to say there were days that drove me crazy, well that one is accurate. Juan was definitely on a path straight to nowhere good. In fact, more people knew him by his street name than his real one - even the teachers. Juan was one of those kids that really tested me as a teacher and a human being.

But, he was smart - REALLY smart. When he was in class and awake, he knew all the answers before anyone else. When he participated in labs, he always figured out the solution before anyone else in his group. And when I asked for feedback on the lessons he really gave sound and constructive advise - when he wasn't cussing at someone. I knew that the window for "keeping him" was closing rapidly - and I taught 6th grade. So, I made sure he stayed in the classroom even when he was trying everything he knew to get kicked out. I knew that he was listening, even if he didn't want to and wouldn't admit to it. And I just really felt that if I made him stay in my room, he might just inch a little bit closer to the right path. The next year certainly didn't see much improvement for Juan's behavior or academics, and I lost track of him after that but I was quite sure he was one that had gotten away from us.

So imagine my surprise when he arrives at my door, selling coupon books for the varsity soccer team for his high school. A team on which he is playing. That meant he was still in school AND passing classes! We talked for a bit about school and how his life is going. I bought that silly coupon book, of course. He introduced me to his soccer buddy, saying I was always in his business but my class was still pretty cool. And then he says "And oh yeah, I want you to know that I'm getting a B in Biology even though my teacher is boring."

I don't often get to see my students after they have left me. Usually they become way too cool to talk to their sixth grade science teacher, and once they go to high school I loose track even more. But I am so incredibly grateful that Juan showed up at my door today. Seeing such a drastic turn-around definitely energizes me to keep going. I don't want to leave anyone with the impression that I think this child was put back on track by me. That decision was clearly his own. But, I would like to think that I played some role, no matter how small, in his decision to do so. Juan left two hours ago and I'm still smiling.

Image courtesy of Ridkydavid and Flikr.

From Teaching Students to Teaching Teachers

In my job I spend the majority of my time teaching adults how to integrate technology into their daily instruction. I love my job! That being said I have spent a lot of time lately thinking about the preparations that I do teaching adults compared to when I go into a classroom full of students and how different the two groups really are.

When I was in the classroom, I had learning outcomes, planned the activities (knowing full and well that some wouldn't get done and some would be modified for each class), and we would move forward. There would be weeks that all would go relatively close to how I had planned, and weeks that I would scrap it all ten minutes into the first lesson of the week. Either way, the students were always up for it. If I said to them, "Hey guys, I don't think what I had planned is going to work. How about we try something else?" They would follow me into the supply room and help me carry out all the new supplies for the day and we would all learn together - and we all loved it that way.

The first session I did on my own in this job was a total disaster. I tried to do a hands-on educaching session with middle school teachers. I basically went in, told them what geocaching and educaching is, showed them how to use the GPS units, and sent them on their way. It was a total disaster! I had complaints that there weren't enough hand-outs, complaints that I didn't explain enough about how GPS works, complaints that we didn't find enough caches together, and even more complaints that I can't even remember. On top of all that, someone complained to my boss and he told me he was already thinking that he had may have made the wrong choice in chosing me for the job. Needless to say, I was totally devastated. From then I went into planning overdrive for the next six months. Every time I had a training session, I spent hours planning, anticipating participant questions, creating hand-outs and "quick start" guides, and basically structuring every minute of the session. After six months I still had complaints that I didn't have enough hand-outs, or the right hand-outs, or didn't do enough step-by-step instruction. After a while, I realized that I wasn't enjoying teaching anymore. Not only that, but I was only teaching people how to use the tools. I wasn't modeling the kind of integration that I wanted others to do. In other words, I wasn't doing my job.

So I had to do some major self-reflection to get moving down the right path again. I knew that I was a good classroom teacher and I knew that I had things to share with teachers. I just had to figure out where the disconnect was. I realized that the reason my teachers weren't responding the way my students had was because they were of different generations. I had never really taken time to internalize the major differences between the education styles of "Generation Y" and previous generations. Teachers wanted step-by-step because that was the way they had been taught when they were in school. The only way to get teachers to move away from that model is to push them out of it, but support needs to be provided.

With this new "revalation" (which many, many, many before me had already experienced) I re-invented myself as an instructional technology specialist. I still spend large amounts of time planning training sessions, but my sessions are now almost exclusively hands-on and learner centered. I still make hand-outs, but they are more along the lines of a guided notes outline than the whole printed slide-shows from before. Additional support pages and references are posted to the web and participants are pointed to them if they feel the need to print them. I've also started implementing multiple types of resources and differentiation into sessions in order to catch all learning styles and allow learners to go where their needs take them.

In all, I think that I have become more effective and affective in my position and that I am still postively impacting students. I have come to really love my job and the continual learning and growing that comes with it. I find myself actually grateful for all those complaints in that first session. If it weren't for those complaints, who knows how long I would have wandered down that winding, inefficient, and ineffective path.

Image courtesy of Pablo Barra and Flickr

Alone with Your Thoughts

So I spend almost every day alone with my thoughts when I am running. In my run yesterday I was thinking about how much time kids (our students) spend time alone with their own thoughts today. Now I love my iPod when I'm running, but I also know I get "my best thinking" done when I forget that iPod on my run. This led me to think, I wonder what a student's thoughts would be like if they were unplugged from their iPods, cell phones, Myspace/Facebook pages, and were asked to just think for five minutes.

Admittedly, my brain wandered a bit from there but it came back eventually and I started thinking it would be interesting to have students put those thoughts into the "create" screen (www.wordle.net/create) on Wordle and to see what those word clouds would look like.

So with that in mind, I did this for myself. This is the random string of thought I had in about five minutes time:

"Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedez~Benz? I wonder where the tilde got it's name? I got a picture of a photograph. NFL~draft~day who will the Cheifs pick? dogs are barking all night wonder how much money NFL makes from draft~day stories dogs are still barking hope Blogger gets FTP access fixed too many people in my district rely on Blogger to have it down this long husband thinks that my free write will be scary I got a picture of a photograph so much noise going on even though I'm upstairs in my room wonder if INetU will up the importance of our networking ticket and open those IP~addresses for us? how do you spell that? hope it's right this is going to be such a bizzare mess when it's done I need to go running wonder if I can get in a 5K~run before it rains did I tell INetU to open up those ports for the IP~addresses need to stretch really well before running because my calves are sore"

I did have some other songs running through my head but I found it difficult to type my thoughts and the song lyrics at the same time. I also learned in this process that Wordle leaves out single letter words (I, a) so if a person uses "I" to start each sentence you wouldn't really know it by looking at their Wordle. Below is the Wordle from my random string of thoughts:

Coaches Make Better Teachers?

For the last several years I have been blessed with the opportunity to be a coach in addition to my role as a teacher. I started as a track coach for the urban school where I was teaching at the time. This was such an exciting time for me and it allowed me to connect with my students in a completely different way than I had been able to in the science classroom. I quickly realized though that I was going to have to enlist the help of others in order to get my athletes to where I wanted them to be. Since I am not quite 5'2", I am not any kind of authority in jumping events - at all. So of course I had to start researching the best way to coach long and high jumpers. I was lucky enough to have another coach that was pretty good with hurdlers, so I was able to have him coach my girls that were brave enough to try to tackle the hurdles. Then I had to make sure my distance runners and sprinters were getting the right kind of conditioning. Not to mention making sure the relay teams got some time to work on handing off the baton. Each day it was necessary to plan out practice making sure each group of girls was getting a good workout that would prepare them for their events in the next meet. It was a lot of stress and work, and there were definitely times where at the end of a meet we realized that I had not been an effective coach in one area or another. So we (the assistant coach, myself, and the girls) would re-evaluate the situation and look for a new approach. Most importantly, my girls knew that I would never expect them to do something that I myself wasn't willing to do - or at least try. So at each practice I would spend time stretching, running, "jumping" and participating in the training in some way. Sometimes I did well, and other times I fell on my rear (mostly when I was trying the jumping events.) The important part was that my girls saw me fall down and get back up time and time again. They knew that it was ok to not win every time, but that you always have to get back up and try it again.

When the season was over I realized that when I was coaching track was the first time I had really ever differentiated my instruction. This gave me the inspiration and drive to take that strategy into my classroom. I spent the summer teaching 3-7 graders the basics to chemistry and the entire class was hands-on activities, differentiated for the different grade and ability levels. It was so much fun for me and the students and it reinforced the idea that differentiating instruction is the most powerful thing you can do for students. So the next school year it was on! My students, much like my athletes, got to have an active part in how the learning environment was structured and what types of activities we would do in class. Again, I always made sure my students saw me actively communicating, collaborating, and participating with them in their learning. We learned together the best methods for carrying out an experiment. There were definitely times when my students saw me "be wrong" or "fail" in our experiments. Much like in coaching, I would simply talk about what went wrong with the students and we would try again with a new approach. Every time we would "get back up on the horse" and give it another go. Another component that I found to be valuable to my students is letting them see me NOT be the expert with all the answers. Much like when I was coaching, the teaching was a constant learning experience for me and my students, and we were all able to learn and grow together. If we didn't know the answer, it was just another opportunity to expand on our problem-solving skills and find the answer together. This was another opportunity to do what I had learned in coaching, which is to model the drive and desire for learning that I wanted my students to have themselves.

Most importantly in all of these roles, I always make sure my students (or athletes) see me having fun and know that they are what makes it fun. I can't always guarantee that ALL of my kids enjoyed having me as a coach or a teacher, but I do feel that being a coach is still the biggest thing that influenced my teaching. That first year after I started teaching, I was able to make the most amazing connections with my students and I truly believe it was because I implemented my coaching techniques into my classroom.

Web 2.0 Tools for the Classroom

Last weekend my department hosted our first "TechFest" and I had the pleasure of leading the Web 2.0 Tools for the Classroom session. This is my presentation slide show. I am proud to say that all reviews of my session said it was "Awesome." Hope maybe you learn something - I know I did while making it!

TechFest Web 2.0 Presentation

View more presentations from emisegadis.

CommonCraft - They're Geniuses!

Just a quick post to try to get the word out about an amazing website: http://www.commoncraft.com/. These guys are amazing! Lee and Sachi LeFever create these videos that take complicated ideas and make them really simple. If you've never seen a CommonCraft video, you need to try them out. You can use the videos to educate yourself, to teach others (if you're a non-profit organization) or in your business (by purchasing the videos from CommonCraft.) Check them out today!

New Favorite Web 2.0 tool: Glogster

I had the pleasure of attending the MACE (Mid-American Association for Computers in Education) conference last week in Manhattan, KS. I learned so much! I learned about a number of fantastic Web 2.0 tools. Some of these are: http://www.search-cube.com/: a search engine that builds a visual cube of your search results; http://www.polleverywhere.com/: a site that allows you to build online polls that participants send their responses via text messages; http://www.mywebspiration.com/ which is an online version of Inspiration (although rumor has it that this one will be going to a paid subscription once it goes out of beta.) But my favorite is Glogster. Basically glogster is a single page site (although you can build multiple glogs on one account) that is sort of like a cork board. You can add images, videos, text, links, graphics to portray your message.
So how can you use a Glogster in your classroom? Why not build a glog for next week's lesson(s) about fractions? You can put a quick video about fractions, a couple of links to websites for practice, an image or two that show how to reduce fractions, and then the assignment that they will turn in to you. Or maybe you're covering the water cycle and you want to put a link to an interactive site about the water cycle, a video about acid rain, a graphic that details the parts of the water cycle, and then the directions to the hands-on exploration you'll be doing in class. Below is my glog from my Web 2.0 session from the MACE conference. You can view the glog on Glogster at http://erinmisegadis.glogster.com/MACE-glog/.

What is Ed Tech...really

So I am obtaining my master's degree and the first assignment for this semester was to create a graphic organizer about educational technology. We were to simply demonstrate what we felt is encompasses in educational technology, what it draws from, and where it feeds in to. Several of my classmates had some wonderful graphics and representations, but mine is below. It really was such a simple task, but really got me thinking: What is it that I do? Where does it come from and where is it going? What does my job encompasss, and what will it encompass in the future? This was supposed to be the "easy first assignment," but I found it to be the most difficult. (Click the image to see a larger view.)

Online Design

One of the things that I do in my job is teach educators about using websites, blogs, and wikis in their classroom. It is really fun to help teachers and students learn to make a web presence for themselves, but often times design is a problem. The problems can be many, and don't kid yourself if you think it's only students making the following mistakes.

First, you want to make sure there isn't too much "action" happening on the screen at one time. There's nothing wrong with a scrolling banner, or a flash animation, but having more than one of these elements going at once is just too much.

Next, is color which can often be overwhelming. There are a lot of online color scheme tutorials and creators that can help you choose great colors. Usually the problems occur simply because the designer doesn't really understand the concept of contrast: bright on dark and dark on bright. A great site to help you to understand how color can work for your purpose is http://poynterextra.org/cp/index.html.

Here are a few examples I've used as what NOT to do when creating a web presence:

World's Worst Website

Haven Works


These are some great sites for color design:

Color Scheme Generator

4096 Color Wheel

Wordle for Writing

The Web 2.0 tool sweeping through my district is Wordle. (http://www.wordle.net/create) Basically, you can either type into the box provided or paste text into the box. Then when you click "Go," your word cloud is created. The more often a word is used, the bigger it appears in your Wordle. One way to use it in your classroom would be to have students paste in their journal entries, writing prompts, or other writings, and they will be able to visually understand which words they are using the most in their writing. (Many of your students may find they use the word "like" way too much in their writing.) You can change the font style and color, layout, and style of your Wordle. Then, you can add it to the Wordle gallery if you like. To save the Wordle to your computer, simply do a "Print Screen" and paste it into a document.

Here's a few tips for Wordle:

• It is a good idea to send directly to the "Create" page, as not all content in the gallery may be appropriate for the classroom.
• You need to "Copy" the text in the box before clicking "Go," as you can't go back and edit your text.
• Post your students' Wordles in your classroom blog so the world can see your students' accomplishments!

Why blog?

With blogs being such a new concept for education, many teachers find themselves wondering "Why should I implement blogging in my instruction?" or "How will blogging benefit me and my students?" Below are a few ideas for implementing blogging in your classroom:

• Reflective writing for all subject areas.This could be reflection over readings in class, assignments, group projects, or anything else pertaining to your curriculum
• Review of content skills
• Have students post one thing they know about the civil war, or reducing fractions, or photosynthesis, or persuasive writing.
• Online journals - You know, instead of hauling around all of those spiral notebooks!