Tech toc: Time to Incorporate New Tech

Teaching multimedia to teens is like teaching swimming to a trout... for some kids. They have more camera/multimedia firepower in their pockets than I had in my entire neighborhood when I was their age. Texting, emailing, Skype-ing, are old hat. Some kids are AUTHORING blogs and vlogs. Some kids have their own YouTube channels. Some kids shoot, edit, and broadcast from the hip, or rather, the phone on their hip.

Then, there are the Other Kids... These kids WATCH the blogs, vlogs, YouTube Channels, but they don't author the media. They don't author much of anything because they don't have the  parents who are tech savvy, tech skills, OR access to equipment TO author. These are my people! I know how to get them up and running. I've got notes, prezis, mini-projects, and all kids of resources to get them up & running.

It's the tech savvy kids I stay up at night thinking about. What's the next level for them? These kids are already invested in favorite software and preferred platforms... and their resources are better than the resources I have in my classroom! Hence my big tech experiment: Use your own.

BYO Tech Student Rules Get your parent's permission Be responsible for your own tech Remember to bring it to class or get a zero for the day Pass my pretest Use responsibly as a good digital citizen Put all final work on your school student account to be graded

If a student has a tablet, phone, or laptop that they prefer to use, they can use it.

This is a big risk for me because I can't possibly know all the software out there, or all the devices that are out there. What if something goes wrong and I can't help them?

Just in case Murphy, of Murphy's Law, is listening, I will not tell you it's working out well. I will not tell you that my advanced kids are more engaged. I will not tell you that they've been very responsible, perhaps even uber responsible.

I will just say that every day I cross my fingers and pray that the tic toc on my lucky clock has not run out of time.

Setting Goals in September

Second year in the same district, a first in my new career! I'm so happy I could sing.... If I weren't so busy. As part of my second year teacher professional development, I've been invited to take the 30-Day Blogging Challenge adapted from teachthought.com. Here goes Day 1,  blogging my personal school year's goals:

1. Flip my lessons in Multimedia
2. Diversify my projects and set up guidelines for independent projects for advanced learners
3. Incorporate more "real world" connections and activities in the active engagement part of my planning. Are there contests my students could enter? Are there school events my students could "cover" to create websites, newscasts, portraits, podcasts?
4. Connect with other teachers at school
5. Improve my website
6. Avoid spilling my coffee... Again.

Don't Spill Your Coffee

Anticipate. Research. Plan. August inches up a roller coaster track. September slams, g-force downward pull--learn names, establish class culture, differentiate, assess--catapult to December. Each day a test: did the lesson educate & ignite learning? February. Clack! Screech! Coaster squeals hairpin turn: the observation. Feedback throws you back. May. On track. Improvise, revise, get wise. Do it all again. Don't spill your coffee!

My First Summer Off…

Since the last time I blogged was Spring of last year, you can tell this past year was a hum-dinger. I've just completed my first full year of teaching! 7th Grade English Language Arts in the Northeast of Philadelphia.

It was: wonderful, terrifying, difficult, amazing, mind-spinningly busy, loud, teeth-clenchingly frustrating, ever-changing, transcendent… and so on. The planets must have been aligned perfectly for Pisces because I had terrific luck! The district hired me, but when I went to my assigned school I found that the school had hired another teacher. Because this is Philadelphia, the administration of the school didn't bat an eye. The other teacher and I were pulled aside and told, "keep a low profile, maybe no one will notice and we'll be able to keep you both." Only in Philadelphia!

This is how it came to be that I spent my first year co-teaching with a wonderful and experienced veteran teacher of the district. She gave me feedback, suggestions, showed me how to navigate the challenges of our district, school, and classroom.

Being the era of budget reductions, my first year ended with a lay-off. 1300 teachers with 1 year in the district were shown the door in June, me included. It's the end of July now, and I'm just catching my breath. September looms uncertain for all except one thing: teachers go on maternity leave, retire, have illnesses, and many other occasions that cause schools to need long-term subs. If I can't find a full-time teaching position, it's back to Aesop and the sub registry for me!

My First Observation

While most teachers dread observation, I actually… invited it. Since this is my first fulltime teaching position, I had some questions about my teaching style and classroom management. I thought the observations of a veteran educator would be the best way to have my questions answered, so I called my department head and requested. A couple weeks later, the date was set.

I'd be observed the following day at 2:50. YIKES! No "prep" time… Though my plans were already set, I felt seriously caught off guard. The night before the observation I was out late picking up my Mother from the airport, and I had bronchitis. My colleagues told me to cancel, but I worried canceling might look bad, so I took the "Show must go on" attitude and pressed on.

By the time 2:50 rolled around, I had very little voice left. The incoming class had 28 1st graders, 8 with special needs, and 2 support staff. I squeaked & wheezed through the lesson, roamed the room assisting students, and actually had one brief shining "teachable moment." I could have kissed the support staff for all their help, my lesson would have definitely flopped without them.

My department head frowned and wrote furiously as class went on—I thought I was sunk. As the students filed out, he smiled. "Not bad… surprised you pulled it off with that voice. Couple things to work on…" If I were a betting woman, I'd have made money guessing what those "couple things" were: Class management and time management.

He gave me a couple suggestions which I used the following day to great success. We all know it's important to have a signal for students to quiet down, but he said it's also important for THE TEACHER to respect that signal. I'd ding my little bell, the students would quiet down some, and I'd talk over them hoping they'd get what I said. His advise was to ding the bell & wait for them to be silent before speaking—to remind them, "What should you do when that bell rings?"—and not do any instruction until they are silent and looking at me. What a difference that made with my 2nd graders the following day!!!!!

The lesson in all this? Well, be not afraid of the observation new teachers! Welcome it! Their advice might make the little bit of difference you need to take it from a good class, to a terrific class!

My First Teaching Job

I've devoted hours laboring over the postings on PAReap.net and NJHire.com. I've scanned the papers. I actively watch for long term subbing opportunities in the substitute registry… Nothing! I figure I might be out of luck this school year finding a job to fulfill my internship requirements, when WHAMMO! I get that magical call:
"Are you interested in a long term sub. assignment starting tomorrow?"
Am I interested??!! How's this, I can start today if you like! But just when I feel like my ship has come in, I realize the hitch: wrong subject, wrong age group, and wrong state to satisfy PA's internship requirements. I'm going for secondary English, this opportunity is in elementary art in NJ.

You know the old adage: Don't switch horses mid-stream—well, I'm riding two horses in two different streams! On one side of the Delaware River, I'm (intern) certified for Secondary ELA; certified K-12 Art and ELA on the other side. (Does this make me really certifiable? Probably so.)

A, long-term elem. art sub. job IS experience, and though it won't count in PA, I can't say no! Besides, I've got 3 years to fulfill that internship and the clock's only JUST started ticking.

Stay tuned and I'll share the exciting adventures of teaching elementary art in Governor Christie's state.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

The cohort experience is… well, intense! Though the courses are bachelor's level, the hours I put into my assignments harkened back to my grad. school days… When I was working toward my MFA, it was not unusual to go to the studio just before dawn and leave under cover of dark hours later. Back then it was exciting! All that creativity! All that adrenaline! …aaalllllll that coffeeeee.

For the Fabric of Man Knowledge is the measurable, accurate, sharp needle. Experience the long silken thread. But it's Creativity that threads the eye and gets the sewing done.

Driving to school in an old beater, hoping the Philly cops didn't boot your ride while'st you were in the studio, chatting with that cute guy in Book Arts—ah, the good old days! It was gritty and real and really… young. Now I get my own kids off to school, then go to campus in my minivan. And the cute guys still turn to check me out!—They're squinting to see if I'm their Mom, and if so, did I remember to bring the clean laundry? Or maybe a pot roast?

I still get that same charge—that electric feeling of really learning and growing—but someone's got to do the laundry, someone's got to keep up the house, and tend to its various occupants, 2-legged & 4. Those all-nighter's are the same intense creative sessions, but who's that dumpy woman in the mirror in the morning?! Bags under her eyes and grey hair sprouting here & there.

I'm at the end of my program—soon I'll get my certification and, more importantly, a teaching job! Was it worth allllll the hours? Yes, I've learned volumes! Drive, you've got to come with. Subject matter expertise & interest, you must provide. DelVal will give you the tools of the teacher trade—strategies for keeping order in class, strategies for engaging young minds, and strategies for shaping instruction into an opportunity for learning & creating for students. I know what I have learned is only the tip of the teaching iceberg, but I have enough to get started and more importantly I have enough to put me in a productive direction to improve myself as a teacher. It is important to know what you know, but my friend, it is ESSENTIAL to know there is so much more to learn, and to embrace that sweet promise. Just do it!