I've begun my poetry unit for my seventh grade Language Arts class, and is customary in my class for the past few years, I've begun reading aloud Poetry Matters: Writing from the Inside Out by Ralph Fletcher. And, I must confess - to you the public but never with my husband - that I am love all over again!
I bumped into Ralph's work quite simply by mistake. I presented at a Reading Conference several years back, and in the vendor hall, I found a collection of books geared toward students at the middle level. They looked interesting, they were about writing, and they looked like an easy read for my students. I was excited and during my summer break I cracked the spines on these books (Poetry Matters: Writing from the Inside Out, A Writer's Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within, Live Writing: Breathing Life Into Your Words, and How Writers Work: Finding a Process That Works for You.). I was hooked. I couldn't wait to call my English colleague and tell her about this amazing man I'd met.
To my surprise, she told me all about her encounter with Ralph Fletcher too through the National Writing Project Action Project. I thought, "This man must be good if we both have discovered him and we're both in awe!" And I was right.
Right away I started the year by reading aloud, chapter by chapter A Writer's Notebook to my students. We explored each of the writer's notebook entries and once they had a good handle on them, when I gave them an opportunity to write whatever they wished (several times a week), if they couldn't think of anything I encouraged them to open this tool box of ideas. And many of them did. Their favorite strategy? Lists! Lists of boyfriends, girlfriends, songs, movies, and quite literally this list goes on and on. They also like to write about fierce wonderings. I think some kids would naturally write about these things but for those kids who really are stuck about what to write, this was the perfect solution for them.
I love reading Ralph's stories to the students. They sit patiently as I read the chapter aloud to them (and yes, at seventh grade they still enjoy this!) and they are captivated by the sweet way Ralph uses his words to captivate his audience and get them right in the ol' ticker.
Recently I picked up his book called How to Write Your Life Story. I can't wait to get a few moments when I can finish this and find a way to incorporate it into my teaching next year. If you haven't had the opportunity to meet Ralph yet, I encourage you to do this right away. It will revolutionize the way you teach writing. What a Writer Needs is a must for every English teacher. It will also change how your students view writing. I can't promise everyone will be terrific writers, but I can promise you that there will no longer be fear associated with it.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Twitter saved my career
Wow! What a powerful statement. Really? Twitter did? You might ask, "How so?"
Well, I'm a brand new bird in the land of Twitter. Hesitant to begin, I stayed away from it for many reasons. My first reason for staying away was lack of knowledge. Ignorance. Secondly, my district along with many teaching communities recommended that as educators that we stay away from all social networking sites. The fear is "you might do something stupid and lose your job".
That is a very interesting oxymoron. You are probably wondering how I can state that Twitter saved my job when one of the reasons for staying away from it was the fear of losing my job. Yeah. You're right. Very interesting opposing statements, but it's true.
My flight path to Twitter was really quite a quick one. I didn't realize just how close the destination was when you truly fly the path of "as a crow flies." Taking the road to the world of social networking was much longer simply because roads take us around very concrete things. You must twist and wind down the road and avoid obstacles. Obstacles such as ignorance.
When I found out that my 65 year old FATHER had a Facebook account, I was in awe. If my FATHER could have a Facebook account, why couldn't I? A better question was why shouldn't I? Is fear really a big enough reason?
Look. I'm a responsible adult. I was a responsible college student. In fact, I was a responsible child and teenager as well. I truly had nothing to hide. Besides that, I am a responsible and conscientious professional - even in my private life. So, it was with that thought process I moved to the world of Facebook despite the opinion of my union and my district.
I'm still teaching. And I'm still doing a darn good job. Now Facebook has not revolutionized my teaching. It's simply a personal and social tool I'm using to keep connected to all of those people who have flown across my path in life.
Just about a month ago, though, I discovered the tree tops of Twitter. I peaked into this world when a teacher from the Edmodo PLN (I believe this means = Professional Learning Network) shared a youtube video on why educators should Tweet. My spirits were lifted and my teaching was raised to newer heights. I had no idea it was a really good tool for building my PLN and my career.
In this short time, I have educated myself on a number of topics including social networking in the classroom, using technology in education, making global connections, and how to improve myself as an educator. I think the latter is the best thing that has happened since flying through these trees.
I am now sharing with my colleagues about topics of which they are not familiar that they find intriguing. Additionally, I'm becoming more reflective about what I teach and how I teach it. I'm also connecting more with my students. After teaching for nearing 14 years, I've become a little out of touch with the students I teach. I no longer listen to their music, I'm not very familiar with the shows they watch, and I certainly didn't understand the world they were living in - even the virtual worlds they had come accustomed to.
Recently I even participated - for the very first time in my career - in a video conference (in my living room) with the English Teaching Guru, Jim Burke. I'd done research on Jim while doing my action research project for the National Writing Project Fellowship. I knew he was good, and that he was very knowledgeable, but in this situation, I was able to SEE him and HEAR his knowledge. I also got to tap into the knowledge. Earth shattering stuff? Perhaps not, but it was certainly "classroom shattering".
I guess when you get to this point in your teaching career - fourteen years in - you've come to the second wave of a seven-year-itch, and I was feeling a little stale - perhaps even stagnant. But Twitter has opened my professional world up to a plethora of possibilities and has set me on a flight path to discovery. I'm not sure where I might land. One can hope that I end up in a land of opportunity - an untouched rain forest. For now, though, I'm hopeful I can take flight with my students and lead them to a discovery of their own educational experiences - all because I took the daring leap off the branch as a fledgling and spread my wings into the vast blue skies of a better tomorrow.
Well, I'm a brand new bird in the land of Twitter. Hesitant to begin, I stayed away from it for many reasons. My first reason for staying away was lack of knowledge. Ignorance. Secondly, my district along with many teaching communities recommended that as educators that we stay away from all social networking sites. The fear is "you might do something stupid and lose your job".
That is a very interesting oxymoron. You are probably wondering how I can state that Twitter saved my job when one of the reasons for staying away from it was the fear of losing my job. Yeah. You're right. Very interesting opposing statements, but it's true.
My flight path to Twitter was really quite a quick one. I didn't realize just how close the destination was when you truly fly the path of "as a crow flies." Taking the road to the world of social networking was much longer simply because roads take us around very concrete things. You must twist and wind down the road and avoid obstacles. Obstacles such as ignorance.
When I found out that my 65 year old FATHER had a Facebook account, I was in awe. If my FATHER could have a Facebook account, why couldn't I? A better question was why shouldn't I? Is fear really a big enough reason?
Look. I'm a responsible adult. I was a responsible college student. In fact, I was a responsible child and teenager as well. I truly had nothing to hide. Besides that, I am a responsible and conscientious professional - even in my private life. So, it was with that thought process I moved to the world of Facebook despite the opinion of my union and my district.
I'm still teaching. And I'm still doing a darn good job. Now Facebook has not revolutionized my teaching. It's simply a personal and social tool I'm using to keep connected to all of those people who have flown across my path in life.
Just about a month ago, though, I discovered the tree tops of Twitter. I peaked into this world when a teacher from the Edmodo PLN (I believe this means = Professional Learning Network) shared a youtube video on why educators should Tweet. My spirits were lifted and my teaching was raised to newer heights. I had no idea it was a really good tool for building my PLN and my career.
In this short time, I have educated myself on a number of topics including social networking in the classroom, using technology in education, making global connections, and how to improve myself as an educator. I think the latter is the best thing that has happened since flying through these trees.
I am now sharing with my colleagues about topics of which they are not familiar that they find intriguing. Additionally, I'm becoming more reflective about what I teach and how I teach it. I'm also connecting more with my students. After teaching for nearing 14 years, I've become a little out of touch with the students I teach. I no longer listen to their music, I'm not very familiar with the shows they watch, and I certainly didn't understand the world they were living in - even the virtual worlds they had come accustomed to.
Recently I even participated - for the very first time in my career - in a video conference (in my living room) with the English Teaching Guru, Jim Burke. I'd done research on Jim while doing my action research project for the National Writing Project Fellowship. I knew he was good, and that he was very knowledgeable, but in this situation, I was able to SEE him and HEAR his knowledge. I also got to tap into the knowledge. Earth shattering stuff? Perhaps not, but it was certainly "classroom shattering".
I guess when you get to this point in your teaching career - fourteen years in - you've come to the second wave of a seven-year-itch, and I was feeling a little stale - perhaps even stagnant. But Twitter has opened my professional world up to a plethora of possibilities and has set me on a flight path to discovery. I'm not sure where I might land. One can hope that I end up in a land of opportunity - an untouched rain forest. For now, though, I'm hopeful I can take flight with my students and lead them to a discovery of their own educational experiences - all because I took the daring leap off the branch as a fledgling and spread my wings into the vast blue skies of a better tomorrow.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
My classroom is on fire!
I've been teaching Geography for about ten years now. Each year I look for ways to make it exciting and engaging for my students. The various activities and projects I've put together have been labored over with lots of love. I tweak what I do each year, so that I'm keeping up-to-date with the world and also with student learning.
This year, however, I've discovered the world of Edmodo which has turned my Geography class upside down! Having been asked to be on our district's technology steering committee, I was given the opportunity to attend our state technology conference (PETE&C) in February. I was introduced to many different types of technologies, but the one that offered my students the most potential (I thought) was Edmodo.
Within the last week I've made a connection with a teacher from Singapore through one of the Edmodo communities. She was looking for a classroom to do a collaborative project with. I was ecstatic! I had been looking for opportunities like this one but hadn't found any that were following through. We quickly set up a group (Global Classroom), got students to start introductions, and in just under a week our students have begun conversations that appear as if they've known each other forever. It is electrifying.
I can't help but think about the potential this opportunity has in teaching my students about the Geography of the world that is impossible for me to teach. The mere few paragraphs our Geography text book provides on Singapore is a pitiful look at what they could be learning. Instead, they are running head-long into the digital social networking world that just brought the edges of the earth so close together they can just hop into Singapore and start experiencing life as a teenager there.
I can't even begin to fathom what we all will learn from this experience, but I'm thankful for the opportunity for us to learn about a region of the world we would otherwise only hear and read about. Instead, we are experiencing it first-hand. My classroom is on fire, and I'm not willing to put out the flames!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
What's going to work? Teamwork!
I'm haunted by the song everyone knows as The Wonder Pets theme song. "What's going to work? Teamwork! What's going to work? Teamwork!" The Wonder Pets time and time again get the job done of saving baby animals in trouble, but they can only do it if they work together. There are plenty-an-episode where one of them decides to do things on their own - to take the glory and run with it. They quickly find out, though, when they take matters into their own hands and don't collaborate with their peers, that they can get themselves in deep. And before they know it, they become the animal in trouble.
The same can be said about teaching. The Wonder Teachers can only get the job done of saving students in trouble, but only if they work together. We often think of teaching as a solo job. What you do inside your room is no one else's business, you shut the door, do your thing and hope for the best. I think traditionally, that was what educators did, but is that good enough? Do students really benefit fully when teachers have that mentality? I don't think so.
In pretty much every other job out there, teamwork is required to get to the common goal. The same needs to be true in teaching too. It is no longer good enough to do what you need to do and not worry about what anyone else is doing. So what does teamwork in teaching look like? Well, I'm sure it can take on many different forms, but for me, it looks like this:
Walking into the front doors of the school building in the morning I shake the "home" stuff off my shoulders, stomp the life "junk" off my feet and round the corner to my co-worker's classroom. As I walk into the room I am greeted by a number of other teachers from our team who are gathering there to chat, put lunches in the refrigerator, grab a cup of coffee (or tea in my case), and have a few giggles before the students flood the hallways. Friendships are not the only thing that makes a good team. Committed teachers who have the same goal in mind - to give our students the best possible education so they'll be successful citizens - communicate with each other with the personal "stuff" as well as the educational goals of the team. Throughout the day, we pop quickly into one another's doors between classes to run something by each other for ideas, pass along emails with great teaching tools, and share friendly conversations with students. Each day is committed to having a common planning period where the team gathers and discusses upcoming events, field trips, assemblies, state testing schedules, and the like, but it doesn't end there. We also discuss students. We talk about those who are not doing so well and find commonalities and make a plan on how to help this student succeed in every class. We hold team meetings with parents so we can all get on the same page and help that student. Furthermore, we discuss units of study. How can we connect the subjects? What can we do to make sure students see the application of what they are learning with the real world?
Not one of these decisions is made on our own. When we try to fill our own agendas and not think about the 'whole student', we risk the chance of finding ourselves "in deep" and becoming the animal in trouble. The Wonder Pets just might have caught on to something. What's going to work? Teamwork. It's the only way to go.
The same can be said about teaching. The Wonder Teachers can only get the job done of saving students in trouble, but only if they work together. We often think of teaching as a solo job. What you do inside your room is no one else's business, you shut the door, do your thing and hope for the best. I think traditionally, that was what educators did, but is that good enough? Do students really benefit fully when teachers have that mentality? I don't think so.
In pretty much every other job out there, teamwork is required to get to the common goal. The same needs to be true in teaching too. It is no longer good enough to do what you need to do and not worry about what anyone else is doing. So what does teamwork in teaching look like? Well, I'm sure it can take on many different forms, but for me, it looks like this:
Walking into the front doors of the school building in the morning I shake the "home" stuff off my shoulders, stomp the life "junk" off my feet and round the corner to my co-worker's classroom. As I walk into the room I am greeted by a number of other teachers from our team who are gathering there to chat, put lunches in the refrigerator, grab a cup of coffee (or tea in my case), and have a few giggles before the students flood the hallways. Friendships are not the only thing that makes a good team. Committed teachers who have the same goal in mind - to give our students the best possible education so they'll be successful citizens - communicate with each other with the personal "stuff" as well as the educational goals of the team. Throughout the day, we pop quickly into one another's doors between classes to run something by each other for ideas, pass along emails with great teaching tools, and share friendly conversations with students. Each day is committed to having a common planning period where the team gathers and discusses upcoming events, field trips, assemblies, state testing schedules, and the like, but it doesn't end there. We also discuss students. We talk about those who are not doing so well and find commonalities and make a plan on how to help this student succeed in every class. We hold team meetings with parents so we can all get on the same page and help that student. Furthermore, we discuss units of study. How can we connect the subjects? What can we do to make sure students see the application of what they are learning with the real world?
Not one of these decisions is made on our own. When we try to fill our own agendas and not think about the 'whole student', we risk the chance of finding ourselves "in deep" and becoming the animal in trouble. The Wonder Pets just might have caught on to something. What's going to work? Teamwork. It's the only way to go.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
One Step at a Time
I teach Language Arts and I always teach my students to choose a title for their work when they are done writing. Yet, for some reason, the title for this post came to me first. Yesterday I wrote that I was overwhelmed by the possibilities. I'm still overwhelmed, but I've come to the conclusion that I need to step back, evaluate what I'm doing, choose one thing to focus on, and then take it one step at a time. If I don't, this whole thing could be one chaotic mess, and I wouldn't get anywhere and my students would suffer because of my lack of focus.
So, with that out in the open, I'm beginning to take my deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Nice and slow. Heart beat is settling. Nerves are calming. My mind is clearing.
I started my Edmodo classrooms a little over a month ago. They seem to be going well. Two of my courses seem to be up and running smoothly with this new instruction. Homework is posted on it every night and students now have the option of doing homework in their Writer's Notebook or on Edmodo. My system for grading these seems to be going well too. I still go around the room to check homework while they do their bellringers, but if a student tells me it is on Edmodo, I simply place a little E in the gradebook, and as soon as I make my rounds I quickly confirm. It doesn't take any more than a minute.
My Language Arts class turned in their Works Cited pages for their research completely on Edmodo last week. I'm in the process of grading them and almost done. This took much less time than it does on hard copies. I'm surprised by this. I pull up the document they attached and a copy of the rubric and fill in the rubric as I read their paper. and then I reply to their post and attach the graded rubric. No papers to lose, less trees to kill, and the time in grading this is considerably reduced.
The next test is the completed Research paper due this Friday. I had to modify the rubric I typically use to make it fit the completely digital submission, but I think it will end with the same results as the Works Cited page. None of the kids are complaining. I'm really pleasantly surprised. One of my students is out sick this week. I sent her folder home with all of her research, and she's working on hers from home. Great thing about it is she can still turn it in on time. This is great; I wish I would have found this great tool sooner.
The neat thing has been watching the students totally skip the learning curve on this program. There wasn't one. They are doing more for me with their work and better; yet, they are replying to posts over the weekend when they aren't required, and their posts are all education related. It is getting them to think critically.
The most exciting part of this Edmodo adventure is that one of my former students is a Fulbright Scholar teaching in Montenegro. Our classes have had the opportunity to Skype twice. I've talked him into having his class join mine on Edmodo. He got signed on today and hopefully his students will join us over the next week. I can see this being a very exciting and rich experience both for myself and my students. I think about how deeply we can go into some of the topics we've already discussed with them. We'll be able to truly get to know them on a level that the traditional classroom does not allow. I'm hoping they will be able to forge a friendship with students from another country and truly gain an appreciation for our differences and will embrace them. I want my students to understand that we can be different as night and day, disagree about topics regarding world events, and yet still forge friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime.
Lifetime? Really? Do you think so? I really do. With the technology that we have available to us today, and with the face of social networking merging into home lives and pouring into the educational setting, I think they can...and some probably will.
My vision for this Edmodo experience is far bigger than I could have imagined for my students in just a traditional classroom setting. I'm changing the world through tomorrow's leaders. Building friendships across the world and building understanding of differences and embracing them will only bring about enlightenment for my students, and hopefully make them tolerant and supportive world citizens of tomorrow.
I do have the chance to change the world...one step at a time.
So, with that out in the open, I'm beginning to take my deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Nice and slow. Heart beat is settling. Nerves are calming. My mind is clearing.
I started my Edmodo classrooms a little over a month ago. They seem to be going well. Two of my courses seem to be up and running smoothly with this new instruction. Homework is posted on it every night and students now have the option of doing homework in their Writer's Notebook or on Edmodo. My system for grading these seems to be going well too. I still go around the room to check homework while they do their bellringers, but if a student tells me it is on Edmodo, I simply place a little E in the gradebook, and as soon as I make my rounds I quickly confirm. It doesn't take any more than a minute.
My Language Arts class turned in their Works Cited pages for their research completely on Edmodo last week. I'm in the process of grading them and almost done. This took much less time than it does on hard copies. I'm surprised by this. I pull up the document they attached and a copy of the rubric and fill in the rubric as I read their paper. and then I reply to their post and attach the graded rubric. No papers to lose, less trees to kill, and the time in grading this is considerably reduced.
The next test is the completed Research paper due this Friday. I had to modify the rubric I typically use to make it fit the completely digital submission, but I think it will end with the same results as the Works Cited page. None of the kids are complaining. I'm really pleasantly surprised. One of my students is out sick this week. I sent her folder home with all of her research, and she's working on hers from home. Great thing about it is she can still turn it in on time. This is great; I wish I would have found this great tool sooner.
The neat thing has been watching the students totally skip the learning curve on this program. There wasn't one. They are doing more for me with their work and better; yet, they are replying to posts over the weekend when they aren't required, and their posts are all education related. It is getting them to think critically.
The most exciting part of this Edmodo adventure is that one of my former students is a Fulbright Scholar teaching in Montenegro. Our classes have had the opportunity to Skype twice. I've talked him into having his class join mine on Edmodo. He got signed on today and hopefully his students will join us over the next week. I can see this being a very exciting and rich experience both for myself and my students. I think about how deeply we can go into some of the topics we've already discussed with them. We'll be able to truly get to know them on a level that the traditional classroom does not allow. I'm hoping they will be able to forge a friendship with students from another country and truly gain an appreciation for our differences and will embrace them. I want my students to understand that we can be different as night and day, disagree about topics regarding world events, and yet still forge friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime.
Lifetime? Really? Do you think so? I really do. With the technology that we have available to us today, and with the face of social networking merging into home lives and pouring into the educational setting, I think they can...and some probably will.
My vision for this Edmodo experience is far bigger than I could have imagined for my students in just a traditional classroom setting. I'm changing the world through tomorrow's leaders. Building friendships across the world and building understanding of differences and embracing them will only bring about enlightenment for my students, and hopefully make them tolerant and supportive world citizens of tomorrow.
I do have the chance to change the world...one step at a time.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Where to begin?
A lot has happened in my classroom since early February. It was then that I attended the PETE&C conference in Hershey, PA. I was inundated with ways to use technology in the classroom. My brain was filled with lots of useful tools that would enhance learning in my classroom, but when I returned to my classroom I was overwhelmed with the possibilities and left questioning, "Where do I begin?"
So my first task was to update my wiki, which was "plain Jane", and to spruce it up a bit. I wanted to be sure that some of the favorite sites I just found were recorded there so I wouldn't lose them and could easily share them with my colleagues. My second task was to check out this new tool, Edmodo.
Wow! I had no idea how Edmodo would change my classroom. Edmodo, for those who might not know, is a social networking site for Educators and students. It is meant to be part of the classroom experience. In a short amount of time I have created a number of groups in my Edmodo account and recently presented how to use Edmodo with our Technology Steering Committee. I'm very excited about what it has to offer for my courses as well as how it is actually engaging some of the most difficult students in my classroom.
Last week I entered the world of Twitter (@morralm). I love this world already. I'm learning so much from other educators I never dreamed could be at my access so quickly. I want to move forward in Twitter but I'm finding that my ignorance about it has me lagging behind just a bit. Yet, I'm hoping to find some video tutorials that will help me understand how to fully take advantage of this great teaching tool.
I'm so excited about where these teaching experiences are taking me...and my students. I'm hoping that this blogging experience will help other teachers, but will more importantly help enlighten me as a teacher and help me to reflect on what is going on in my classroom.
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