Under-trained and unqualified: Teacher as Therapist

Today has been one of those days, and it's only third hour.

It started with one student we'll call Sara.  Sara's best friend died this summer in a tragic car crash, with her in the car.  She's been having a rough time dealing with it, but has been doing as well as a senior can do.  She's writing letters to him in a journal, she's talking about the "good times" with friends and family.  Yesterday, though, she experienced the anger stage (if you are unfamiliar with the Kübler-Ross stages of Death and Dying, they are here).  She is a self-proclaimed positive person and is not quick to anger...and yet, there she was.  How do I know this, you ask?  Because I am a teacher, so therefore I am also a psychological counselor.

The next hour, a student comes in crying. We'll call her Rose.  Rose is upset because she was just diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and she is scared of what that means. She has been told she needs psychotherapy - which makes her feel like she's crazy (think: psycho).  So is she really crazy? Is she the only one? She looks up to me for an answer.

I am under-trained and unqualified to be a therapist.  And yet, here I am. I assume that you are here with me, too.  And the funny thing is that I am more trained than the average teacher, as I have a degree in psychology.  All teachers are therapists. We get one or two classes in adolescent (or child) psych, and then we are expected to solve ALL OF THE PROBLEMS.  This is not practical. It is not fair. But it is.  And as with anything, it is what it is, but it will be what you make it.

So, what can you do?

Well, I'm no expert, but based on my studies of psychology and my ten years of experience as a teacher, here's what I know:

1. Listen
Sometimes, a student just wants to be heard. They don't want advice, they just want to know that you care.  This is the easiest - and at the same time, the most difficult - thing that you can do for a student.  My students know that my door is always open. They are welcome to talk any time.

2. Give advice only when asked. And even then, very carefully.
Sometimes a student does want advice. Be careful here. It's one thing if they ask you about a college, but it's another if they ask you about depression. Have the numbers on hand for the depression hotline (1-800-273-TALK). Have them make promises to you (Promise me you'll be in class tomorrow - I have something really important to tell you.), and then talk to a school counselor/psychologist.

3. Follow the student's lead:
If the student wants to cry, let them. Cry with them if you are like me. :)  If they want to just sit quietly, let them.  I know that different teachers have different policies on hugging a student - and for good reason.  Personally, I am never where other people can't see me, and I only hug a student if they hug first.  I would probably not hug a boy unless it was a special circumstance (death of a parent, graduation, etc), but that's just me.  You know what you are comfortable with and what you aren't.

4. Direct them to the appropriate people, if necessary.
If they need to talk to a counselor, direct them there.  Children have access to free psychotherapy in most states - so direct them to a therapist if necessary.  Have them call the hotline.  Whatever they need - make sure you have a directory of numbers somewhere accessible.

5. BE THERE
This is probably the most important.  Make sure your students know that you are there for them whenever.  My students know that they can talk to me any time during the school day, and that I answer email rapidly after school.   I am available all the time to them.  Beyond that, though, be wholly present when the student is talking to you. I view it as an incredible privilege every time a student confides in me.  I know which teachers I would have shared things with when I was in high school and how highly I thought of them. If a student chooses you, it's because you mean a great deal to that student.  It is an honor to hear whatever it is that they have to say.  So, don't sigh loudly. Don't check your email. Don't look at your phone. Don't check out. Be wholly present with that student.  Make sure that they know that for the amount of time that they are with you, that they are the most important person in the world to you.  Keep in mind that you may be the ONLY adult that they believe feels that way about them.

So...what did I miss?  What is necessary to counsel students?

The Power of the Network....or yelling into the void?

When I first joined Twitter, it was a fledgling enterprise.  I joined in May of 2007, just a little over a year after the launch of the site.  It was just starting to get recognition in the ed tech community.

And it was a powerful thing.

I would do presentations and ask for a shout out from my Twitter Network, and boy would they come through for me!  They would immediately start saying "hi" from wherever they were located.  It amazed the educators for whom I was presenting and really showed the usefulness of such a device.

More than that, though, if I had a question, I knew that I could go to my network and have an answer - or a collection of answers - in a matter of minutes.

Things have changed since then.  Now there are hashtags and lists.  People that used to follow me are now followed by thousands.  I think it's amazing how fast it has grown. I can't wait to see what the next big thing will be.

However.

There's almost too much information out there now. I know that I can't keep up with all of the tweets. I certainly don't read them all. Who could?  And thus is the problem.  Today, I was asked to make a dream list of things I would want in my classroom. If money was no object, what technology would I get?  Now, I've worked in education long enough that I have made many of those lists and never seen anything.  But, with what little hope I have left, I am determined to make a comprehensive list just in case I can get even one thing.

But what to get?  1:1 technology, obviously. An interactive whiteboard would be nice. Good headsets so that I don't hear the kids recording and listening to their dialogues.  But what else?

So I turned to my network. My trust PLN will certainly help me, right?

Not one response. I even posted it a few times, just in case it was getting lost in the shuffle.  Nothing.

It reminds me of a song from a marginalized band from the 90's, Burlap to Cashmere:

Whoa....is there anybody out there?

Does anybody care?

Are the people really there?

Whoa....is there anybody seeking?

Does anybody see?

Or are they deaf and dumb like me?

Is there anyone out there anymore?  When the Twitterverse was young, people used it as a means for a brief conversation. A way to get quick answers or to end up in discussions.  But now....do we just use it as a platform to tell other people what we think?

I've been doing a lot of soul searching since my mom passed, and I've come to realize that I do far too much talking. I'm working on being a better listener - both as a teacher and as a person.  I absolutely still voice my opinion, but I try to listen to others before saying anything.  And I am learning so much.

The power of the network was one of the most awe-inspiring things I've ever seen. But now?  I wonder if it isn't just down to a few select people who are "special" enough to be heard.

So I urge you - retweet things (use the hashtag #celebratewisdom), engage in conversations. We are not alone. We are not in this alone. We are not competing for attention. Everyone - no matter how few followers they have - should feel like they are a part of the conversation and that people are there for them to answer questions, too. Imagine on how much wisdom we could be missing out on. Our PLNs don't seem to be what they used to.  How can we get them back?

Flop in the Classroom: Using Google Classroom to Flip a Lesson

As I said in a previous post, I flipped my AP Psych class last year, to tremendous success (94% pass rate on the AP test, anyone?).  Not to toot my own horn, but...you know...TOOOOT.  :)

I decided to try to do more flipped assignments and units in my intro to psych class.  I had great plans to start this day one - and then my mom passed away.  The best laid plans, right?  So last week, I was beginning to get my feet under me again, and I decided to do a split lesson. They had me for the first half of the hour, and the second half of the hour they were required to go online for the rest of the lesson. They didn't have to finish the lesson that hour, but they had only until midnight that night to submit it.  This is very rapid for an online assignment for me, as I often will try to give 2-3 nights to work on something online, since they may not have access at home.  This time, instead of using my Google site to submit the assignment, I tried it on Google Classroom.

Talk about a flop.

I imported students the night before. Super easy. Kind of a pain, but it's a one-time thing, so no big deal.  I put the assignment up.  Awesome.  Honestly, I was so excited to give out this assignment. It looked awesome.

Only 17 of my 28 students that hour could figure out how to submit the assignment.  One submitted it as a separate post in the stream. (There is currently no way to turn off the students' ability to post in the stream, by the way.)  Two submitted it (cut and pasted) in the comments of the assignment itself (also no way to turn off comments).  One handed me a paper copy. One emailed it to me.  Several didn't bother doing it for one reason or another.  What a mess!

I thought it would be intuitive.  Read the assignment, then hit the big blue "turn it in" button.  It is NOT intuitive to all students.  Do take the time to go over how to submit an assignment.  For this, you will need to have a student log in so that you can project what they see.  As of right now, teachers can't see what it looks like from the student perspective. I hope this will change soon.

Grading-wise, I love it.  All of the papers in one place.  didn't get 1700 emails (slight exaggeration) as the students shared their assignments with me.  I could even grade it right there and submit with comments to the student, so the student is alerted to when I have graded it.  Of course, then I have to submit grades into my grading program...but that's a different issue.

I think that Google Classroom will be good. I think it will be the go-to for most teachers. I'm really excited about it. I'm just also reminded what "beta" means - and that it will not be as easy for others as it is for me.

So this one didn't work out.  Should I just give up?  Of course not.  I will be trying again. And again. Until I get it right. By covering basics out of class, I have time for the application piece.  Google already knows facts. The kids need to know what to do with them - and flipping the classroom allows me time to do that.  So I will keep on keeping on.

What about you?  What happened to you when you tried to flip the classroom? What about your thoughts on Google Classroom?

On flipping the classroom, flipping out, and flipping in general.

So much has changed in the last few years...where to begin...

On a personal level, I have divorced and remarried since I last posted here. I have 2 more children than I did. I have taught at 5 schools simultaneously at which I taught 5 different preps. I finally teach an AP class.  My mother has passed away, and my father is now a permanent, daily fixture in my family.  So much change. So much stress.

And yet.

I am throwing myself into my work and am remembering how much I really love what I do. I love having students appreciate what we do for them. I love to watch them learn. I love to see former students who excitedly tell me what they're going into - and how what I did, in some small way, encouraged them to do it.  I love making a difference.

I, like other teachers, am being asked to do more with less.  I am teaching 2-3 classes simultaneously for the bulk of my day.  I can't do what I used to and expect to be successful. I am remaking my classroom.  Last year, I flipped my AP psych class to grand results.  Of the 17 students that took the AP exam in May, 16 of them passed the exam.  Of those 16, 8 received 3's, 4 received 4's, and 4 received 5's.  It was a grand success.  While I am tweaking my AP program, I will leave it as a flipped class.

Now it's time to revamp intro.  I want my intro to psych class to be fun and innovative.  I'm coming up short on activity ideas, however.  I want to make it different from AP.

So...what do you do?  How did you flip your classroom?  What classroom activities have been successful for you?

It's good to be back.

Overly flattered, incredibly humbled

I have to admit, I was not expecting the email today. I had long given up the idea of blogging here. It's not that I don't still try to do cutting edge tech stuff in my classroom. It was that I got busy, life got complicated, and I didn't want to put my energies here anymore. Besides...no one was reading, right?

This is where I was wrong. I received an email that informed me that I am on a list of the 2010 Midwest Teacher Blogs to follow. I can't believe it - I haven't posted in over two years! Then I went to my blog and started reading it....and there are comments from this year.

I am SO sorry to those of you who have asked me questions. It might take me a bit, but I will get to answering all of them. I will post more. And finally, I will try more ideas in my classroom and post them here.

So on that note, anyone have anything they would like me to talk about? Anything you want me to try? I'm up for about anything.

Oh - and thanks for reading. I am humbled by your faith in me.

What will you do different next year?

Over the past week or so, I have had a lot of time to think about how I use technology in my classroom. I am helping to create the Computer and Technology Literacy curriculum that our 7th graders will use in our district, and in so doing, have had to look at what I use in my own classroom.

My findings? I do use more than the average teacher, but I don't do nearly as much as I would like. I think for next year, I am going to try to do even more. How you ask? Just by a little creative thinking.

Here are some of my ideas for next year:

• I am teaching a tools class - a fundamental skill-building class. I plan on using online time management applications to help them track their projects and such.
• I also plan to show them how to keep an online portfolio, as well as online storage tools, so that "I saved it at home" is never an excuse.
• For my French students - we do weekly dialogues, or speaking tests. Instead of having them perform them live, what if they had five minutes in class in which to record it? No notes - just them and a computer? I think that could be powerful - and easier for me to grade, too!
• For my psych students - I did a wiki with them, but I think a weekly blog entry might be great for them to really think through what we are doing in class - not to mention make sure they are paying attention.
• Again for psych - what if we did a cell phone poll in class? Totally anonymous, and totally fun!

I'm sure there are more, but that's what I've thought of so far. What about you? Do you have any great plans for next year?

Technorati Tags:

Summer, Education, Technology

UNpurposely disconnected and Theoretical Rationale, pt.I

Bless me, readers, for I have sinned: it has been a month since my last posting. Oy. I've been tagged in a Meme that I haven't gotten to yet - but I will, I promise! I could give a number of excuses, but the moral of the story is that I am trying to finish my Masters' project (one more chapter to go - W00T!), and simply have not had a chance to be online much. Well, not for anything "fun" anyway.

I thought I'd share a bit of my work for you - if you are interested. And if you aren't? Umm...tough? Stop reading? No - please don't. Feedback would be nice. :)

Anyway, this is my Theoretical Rationale behind a Read/Write French Curriculum. This is part one of three (or four, depending on how long this is). If you use it, please quote it. It is copyrighted through the University but attributing it to this blog is alright with me.

Please comment on this - and let me know what you think! Here it is:

One cannot deny that in the past century, more change has taken place than in any other. While this change was heavily technological, these changes affected most everything else; from commerce to healthcare to recreation, technology has drastically and forever changed the way the world interacts.

Interestingly enough, the theoretical rationale behind the creation of a technology-embedded French curriculum comes from a journalist, not an educator. Friedman, the author of this interesting work, talks about three eras of what he calls Globalization. The first era, Globalization 1.0, began when Columbus set sail in 1492 and continued through 1800. Friedman writes “…in Globalization 1.0, the key agent of change…was how much brawn – how much muscle, how much horsepower, wind power, or, later, steam power – your country had and how creatively you could deploy it” (Friedman, 2007, p.9 ). Globalization 1.0 united the world in a competitive way that, until 1492, really had not been seen before.

Similarly, Globalization 2.0 also changed the way the world interacted. Globalization 2.0 spanned the years from 1800 through 2000 (not including the years of the Great Depression or the World Wars). Friedman says “[t]his era shrank the world from a size medium to a size small. In Globalization 2.0, the key agent of change…was multinational companies” (Friedman, 2007, p.9). These years, which also included the beginning of the dot-com era where cross-world communication became possible in minutes rather than weeks, began to allow for cross-global collaboration in the workplace.

Work Cited:
Friedman, T (2007). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York, NY: Picador.

Technorati Tags:
(dis)connectivity, Beyond Podcasting, education, Flat World

The Power of the Network, Part II

Last Tuesday, I asked those who read this blog to comment on my post and tell me where they were from. I also told my Twitter network about the blog post. Before the end of the school day, I had 9 comments from various places. It is now up to 14. Not too shabby for a quick shout-out blog post.

Here is what this tells me. Slightly over a year ago, I decided that I ought to have a blog for my presentations, so that people had a site to go to when they had questions. This blog was created for the people in those sessions - all of whom were in Michigan. Of the 14 comments, how many were from Michigan? Two. How many of those Michiganders had been in my session? Zero. That's not to say that my original readers aren't still around, but it is intriguing to me how the readership of this blog has expanded.

Secondly, it tells me that my personal network of people has substantially grown. Several of the comments mentioned that they followed my blog in a reader, but others mentioned that they found me through Twitter. Very few teachers my age have networks outside of their own schools. It is definitely an advantage for me - and for the other teachers in my school, as I bring back everything that I learn!

Third, it is a humbling reality check. What we post - whether or not we think it has any impact - is being read by someone, somewhere. I've been thinking a lot about this lately. My psychology classes just completed an "online text" on a wiki. At first glance, I was so proud of them! In many ways, I still am, but they don't seem to understand that their audience is a global one. Four groups (that's 8 kids) blatantly plagiarized some/all of their wiki. How can we prove to students that people really are reading what they post - and that it could include the original author of the material? I'm still hashing out how I want to handle this with the next batch of kids - stay tuned for that.

As I begin my Masters project, I am keenly aware that at no other point in time have we ever had such power in our networks. Equally, I am aware of the discrepancy between the learning styles needed for the mass collaboration era versus the industrial revolution-style training that is occuring in our schools. As we are helping our students prepare for their future, are we showing them the "Flat World" that Friedman spoke of - where knowledge is the new global currency? Or does it look more like this:

To all who commented on Part I: Thank you. To all who read this: continue the dialogue.

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Image Citations:

twitter_mosaic, "Moulin Rouge Mosaic." Twitter Mosaic. 14 Jan 2008. 25 Jan 2008 http://www.twittermosaic.com/.

Clark, William A.. "The Human Network (part one) - "Gagged." Flickr. 26 Apr 2007. 25 Jan 2008 http://www.flickr.com/photos/spacesuitcatalyst/473939792/in/set-72157594509690807/.

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Technorati Tags:

Network, Beyond Podcasting, Blogging, Education, Flat World

Survey 2008

It is time for the Education Blogosphere Survey. Take a minute and do this survey - it really doesn't take very long, and I think that the data that we will obtain from it will speak volumes! Oh, and if you haven't commented on my last post, please do so - new "explanation/results" post coming soon!

Deadline (for the survey)= January 26, 11:00pm, (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada)

Technorati Tags:

EduBlogosphere, survey, blogs, blogging, education, McLeod

Realizing the Vision II: Tools for Differentiation

I want to take a moment to plug a conference that my district is putting on next month. It is called Realizing the Vision II: Tools for Differentiation - or RV II. While the conference is only open to staff in our district (I think), I am working with another teacher to create ways for others to hear/see some of the PD that will go on here.

The conference will be held in Michigan on November 19-20. Will Richardson and Annette Lamb will be keynoting the event. MACUL will be bringing in presenters, and we have some local folk who will be presenting, too (myself included). It should be a very worthwhile experience.

So why am I telling you this if we are only opening the conference to our district? Because there are several different ways to follow the conference if you are not an FHPS staff member.

1.) Twitter. Follow the "official" conference feed here.
2.) Hitchikr. Follow the "official" conference hitchikr site here.
3.) Coming soon: the "official" conference web site here.

We hope you can Realize the Vision with our district!


Technorati Tags:
Technology, Education, Realizing the Vision

Your world - delivered - literally.

Personally, this week has been pretty hard for me. My father is dealing with some health issues, which means that I am dealing with some parenting-your-parents issues. To take my mind off of everything, I, of course, turned to the EduBlogoSphere for comfort and distraction.

And boy, did I find it.

UStream is the most amazing thing I've seen since the iPod Touch (which, is pretty long in tech-terms). It is a TV station that you can produce. I'm thinking of starting a show on technology with puppets. I don't know why, but it sounds amusing, doesn't it?

Anywho, I was twittering along one day, and got involved with UStream and Skype simultaneously, and found myself interviewing people that lived thousands of miles away from me, while chatting with people from all over. It was incredible.

Then I hear about Operator11 which is apparently the same thing. How crazy is this in terms of education? I could teach a class from the comfort of my Michigan home, and be teaching people literally all over the world.

Then I read a post by a self-assigned technospud about how discouraging some of us techies can be to newbie-tech teachers. She mentioned "baby steps" (Yay - What About Bob!). I completely agree. Sometimes I get so excited by what's new, that I forget that to many blogging is still "new". Every dream that we have starts with small baby steps until it can be realized.

My dream is to have technology embedded into everything that I teach. It is my job to take those baby steps and that - no matter how many grants I get turned down for, no matter how many obstacles I may encounter - I have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. So - what's your dream?

Technorati Tags:
Beyond Podcasting, Education, Random, UStream, Operator11

To be or not to be....relevant

For those of you who may not know, I am an avid presenter. I absolutely love getting up in front of other educators and showing them another method to reach their students. This year, however, I have missed several major proposal deadlines - some because I am a procrastinator, and some because I'm not terribly sure what to say.

Many people who attend my presentations tell me that they really needed something a bit more basic. I think that we who are in these EdTech rings tend to think that we need to speak on the "new" stuff because the "old" stuff - like podcasting, blogging, etc - is known already.

I'm speaking at a conference in my own district this year, and I plan to present on three topics - podcasting (duh), blogging 101 and how to do PD on your own time with an aggregator. None of this is earth-shattering - all of these are "old" technologies, and yet I know that I will have people who have never heard of these things.

So my question is - how can we really be relevant? I didn't submit to present at NECC this year (though I really, REALLY wanted to) because I honestly don't know how I could present something relevant. To some, Blogging 101 might be about the perfect pace. To others, that is completely old hat.

David Warlick asked yesterday what questions should be asked of school board members. I would ask - how can teachers be relevant to students without the use of modern technologies? In their lives, students will be more apt to use something like the iPod Touch than a desktop computer, and yet how many schools do you know with an iPod Touch for every student? How can professional development be relevant to teachers' needs without addressing technology and meeting the teachers where they are? How can we prepare students for a future that we can't even imagine if we aren't being (you guessed it) relevant?

In this era of budget cuts and deficits, is it even possible to be relevant?

Technorati Tags:
Education, Random, sbe_comments

WiZiQ and the Reluctant Teen

I don't know how I want to start this post. Please understand that I am fully for the integration of technology in our classrooms. In fact, I don't see it so much as an option as a necessity. That being said, let me start you at the beginning.

It all started with Jeff Utecht's wonderful post on WiZiQ. For those of you who don't know, WiZiQ is sort of like a webcasting portal with recording features and so on - that is entirely free. How cool is that? I LOVE Web 2.0. Anyway, I got to thinking how cool it would be to use this in the classroom.

And then I thought of my students.

Last week, I used Alan Levine's Negative Reinforcement University as a test for my psychology classes. If I had a teacher who had done that in school - well, it would have rocked my world. Instead, I heard a lot of complaints. Yes, some of the students did really enjoy it - and they all really learned from it - but many of them didn't like the extra "work" it took to get out of the dungeon.

Which brings me to my point. How do we integrate technology - or embed it, as Jeff Utecht writes - if our students are reluctant at best to accept this? And who can blame them? For the last twelve years, we have taught students to read on paper and write on paper. And now, all of a sudden, we want them to what? Play games to test their abilities? Listen to class discussions online as opposed to in a classroom setting? This must be a very foreign concept indeed.

How can we help our reluctant students move beyond pen and paper and into the realm of the Read-Write Web? We talk a lot about supporting teachers in this, but what about the students?

This sounds overly pessimistic - and I don't want to be. I'm actually pretty excited about WiZiQ, and am trying to figure out a way to use it in my classroom. But, in case you're still bummed, let me end on a happy note. (Make sure you are not in a quiet location when you open that last link.)

Technorati Tags:
WiZiQ, Education, Random

Busy-ness, Sleep Deprivation, and Other September-Themed Musings

Okay, so it's been a month since my last post. And that was a re-post of a funny email I received. Wow. I can't believe it has been a month. It really seems like yesterday - and yet, like it was three years ago.

We started school the last week of August (added the kiddos after Labor Day), and since then I feel so disconnected! Twitter - which was unblocked last year - has, up until now, been blocked at my school. (Our school has changed procedures, so I filled out a form to get Twitter un-blocked. There was a problem with the paperwork, but I think we have it figured out. I'm hoping to be online on Monday.) I had no idea how often I used Twitter to stay connected - and to get quick answers to tech issues!

I also added a new prep - psychology. I absolutely LOVE teaching it! I spend a lot of time each day trying to make the class as interesting and fun as possible, thus my Bloglines account is at 1744 new feeds. Wait - make that 1746.

And another new thing this year? I used to get asked about tech stuff around the school by members of my department and close friends. This year? Many more people. I've had to actually hide during my prep hour so that I can get work done. I'm really surprised that I can't figure out good hiding places (within range of the wi-fi) in a school of nearly 1000 kids.

If this sounds like complaining, it really isn't. It's awesome! The last school year was amazing - I was able to present at some great conferences, and I've learned so much. I'm really tired (okay, that was a little whiny) but at the end of the day, I feel like I'm really doing well. I've already done some techie things in my psych class. We did a PhotoStory, and then instead of a test, I took them to Alan Levine's Negative Reinforcement University, or NRU. They loved it!

I'm super flattered that people in my building are asking for my help and advice about tech stuff. The truth is, I usually don't know the answer to their question initially. (Shhhh....don't tell) But I do find them the answer, no matter how long it takes me to figure it out.

So, I apologize for the delay between postings. Just in case it takes me a little longer before I can write again, please let me leave you with some links:

My newly improved website. Same general look, but quite a different set-up.

Pavlov's Dog. This is only good if you teach Pavlov, but hey, it's still pretty fun. :)

Guided Tour. This is the guided tour for the iPod Touch. *drool*

Education 2050. If you've never read this before, now's as good a time as any.

And now, off to the Senior Lock-In. Man, I love my job!

Technorati Tags:
Back to School, Education, Random

Ready...get set....SCHOOL!

We are less than two weeks from when teachers must report back to the classroom - and three from when students will grace our presence. So - the question that apparently EVERYONE I KNOW wants me to answer is:

Are you ready to go back?

My answer - for a number of reasons - is no. Don't get me wrong - I love, love, LOVE my job, and think that it's crazy to get paid to do what I love - how cool is that? But there are a few things:

1.) I'll admit it: I'm a bit lazy. It's beautiful outside and the thought of going inside - well - not appealing to me, frankly. I'll get over that, I swear. Someday.

2.) I have a new class to teach this year, and I want to integrate technology more than ever. The book is lame at best. I have too many ideas, and haven't figured out yet which ones I need to implement. Some of my (many) ideas:
- classroom wiki
- online textbook (I found a great one here)
- blogging
- podcasting/vodcasting projects

3.) I have been to some great conferences this year and this summer, and have read some great blogs. Bottom line? I have WAY too many ideas, and not enough time to implement them well. I really want to try out SL with my juniors and seniors in psyc, but I know that I won't have enough time to create projects with it this semester. And I really want to do a French class wiki that students could access in lieu of dragging home their textbook.

I guess that's really what this is about. I need more time. With all of the progress we have made with technology and such, I am left with the age-old teacher problem of not enough hours in a day.

Some things never change. :)

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Random, Education, Back to School

Why Bother?

Here is a powerpoint that I will be showing on Tuesday and Wednesday at MAHETC. It will be my anticipatory set (if you will) of both my podcasting and blogging sessions. I think I did a nice job, but I'd love some feedback if you have time. Thanks!

I think all you have to do is click on this powerpoint and it will open the presentation (including music) into your browser. Please let me know if you have any problems.

Technorati Tags:
MAHETC2007, Random, iPods, education

Plans for Summer, Part II

Okay, so I'm procrastinating again, so I am blogging (as per usual). I was re-reading some of my old blogs, one of which was this list of what I had planned for this summer, as of June 11 (while I was still grading and in school). Now that it is the 20th of July, and the new school year is rapidly approaching, I thought I would look at this list again, and see how much I have accomplished. Join me, won't you?

1. Sleep. I don't do enough of that during the school year. Hmm...this is a nice goal. I wish that I could say that I have done more of this, but if anything, I am sleeping less. But, one can always dream, right?
2. Family. Enough said. Yes, I have done a lot with family this summer. Both my husband and son have had surgery, so we are having a lot of family time. I mean, a LOT.
3. Tennis. I am helping with some camps this year, so I thought I'd throw that in here. Yes, I am doing a lot with tennis. Planning for the two seasons that I coach, and coaching the kids in camp. Camps end in 11 days, so I am currently playing/coaching at least 4 days a week. Yay!
4. Laptops and Lattes (or possibly other beverages that start with "L"). I'm very excited about this one. A colleague of mine came up with the idea, and I love it. We are going to get together on Wednesdays and discuss ways of integrating techology into our classrooms. We are going to discuss Web 2.0 stuff, Moodle, podcasting, Gizmoz, and much, much more. I am SO excited about it! What a great idea - and what a great thing that would have been, too! Yes, I know that we still have a lot of time left, but I don't know whether this is really going to happen or not. We'll see. There is still plenty of time left for this.
5. MAHETC. That would be the Mid-Atlantic Handheld and Emerging Technologies Conference in Salisbury, Maryland. I will be one of the many presenters there, along with the likes of Tony Vincent. It is going to be so great! I fly out for MAHETC on Tuesday, and I am nowhere near ready, but I'm excited nonetheless. I couldn't get to NECC, so I'm hoping this is a good second. I am geeked to do this - I have not yet presented outside of the state of Michigan, so this will be great!
6. (Real) Mobile Technology. As I am preparing my mobile classroom, I am trying to come up with ideas on how I can still integrate technology without having the classroom as my crutch. Right now, I have closets filled with stuff I've purchased - microphones, headphones, wires, etc, but I also haven't used it as much as I should. Now I need to reorganize myself and create more opportunities for technology while not having them in my closet for emergency I-have-five-minutes-left-let's-do-a-podcast integration. :) Ah, yes. I'm still trying to decide how best to organize myself, and I still don't know where I will be classroom-wise, so we'll see. I think that I need to re-organize no matter if I am in one room or 50 - technology needs to be planned in, not punted.
7. Psychology. Now that I am switching gears, I would like to re-vamp the old curriculum and do more online-type stuff. Any suggestions for good online resources for psych? Let me know. Yes, I am working on this, slowly but surely. I am revamping, but it is taking longer than I thought.
8. Presentations. I am drafting a new version of "Beyond Podcasting", which I am going to do at MAHETC. I am also creating a few new ones, such as "Classroom 2.0", "My Top-Ten Web 2.0: The Stuff I Can't Live Without", "Blogging 101" (unveiling at MAHETC), "Get a (Second) Life", and "Emerging Technologies: Why This Stuff Isn't Going To Go Away". Most of my presentations are about an hour long, but I can adapt them into workshops as well. Again, if you'd like to have me speak at your school/district/conference, please email me here. Yes, still working on this as well. I am redrafting BP and writing Blogging 101, which HAVE to be done by the end of this weekend (no pressure) for MAHETC. I was supposed to submit for a conference this fall, but I haven't done so yet. Let's hope I still have time!
9. Second Life. Yes, I dink around on there, but I really am doing a great amount of PD on there as well. I have met quite a few people that I consider to be good friends, and we have some great discussions on there. And yes, I want to come up with ways to use SL in my curriculum. HAHAHAHA! Yeah, not so much. Now that I have a laptop, though, I'll probably dink around a bit more. We'll see...
10. Reading. I read a lot of blogs, and I read a lot of magazines, but not a lot of books/e-books. While one of my projects for sure is to read the last Harry Potter (shut up - you know you want to read it, too), I want to read more about emerging technologies in the classroom. Please email me if you have any great suggestions. Yeah...not so much. I've read a Stephen King short story, and I've re-read the 6th Harry Potter book, in anticipation of the new one releasing tomorrow(WOOT!), but nothing tech related...yet...

So, yeah. I guess my top-ten list of what I wanted to accomplish was overly ambitious. I plan on doing a lot of research before MAHETC this week, but otherwise with two boys who are still healing, I am pretty much family-bound for awhile. I will post when I find out cool things, and my postings will probably increase around MAHETC as well. So, thanks for reading. Please comment if you can think of anything that you'd like me to talk/think/explain/write about here. And, as always, I would love to come to your school/district/meeting/book club (???) or whatever to talk about teaching. I LIVE for this!

Happy Procrastinating! (I mean, summer!)

Technorati Tags:

Summer, Random, MAHETC2007, Education

Hello, my name is Susan, and I'm a Wi-fi-holic.

Hi, Susan.

It's been twenty-four hours since my last connection. I am staying with my parents in the northern regions of Michigan, and going through withdrawal. You see, despite their cable internet connection that is, at times, faster than my own (Comcastic my hinie), it will not allow me to connect my new Palm (did I mention my new Palm? I have a new Palm!) to the internet. Which means that I cannot have the internet at my fingertips anywhere but their computer.

Which is driving me crazy.

When did this happen? I knew I was addicted to e-mail, (tell me you aren't, and I'll buy you a beverage of choice at the next conference we attend together if you can prove it) but I had no idea I was addicted to wi-fi. I literally am finding myself daydreaming about using my Palm to search the internet for what I need (shut up - I told you I was a geek).

So here's my point; if I feel this way after twenty-four hours, what are we doing to our students? Many of them have phones that allow them instant access to information. Some have laptops, some have Palms themselves. When we take these away in the classroom, how many of our students feel the same way I do? And if that's true, then how can they possibly be expected to pay attention to a "normal" lesson? I can hardly take my mind off of my Wi-Fi-less-ness, and I've only been offline for twenty-four hours (and have access to a computer).

I am DEFINATELY changing the way I teach next year. What about you?

All I know is it is going to be a LONG week up North.

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Random, Education, Beyond Podcasting

Gizmoz - one of THE coolest things in a long time...

Thanks to Jane Nicholls for the heads-up on this cool new application.

First, watch this video clip:

Express Yourself with Gizmoz Video Clips

Okay, now let's talk about this for a minute!
1.) Yes, that really is my son (sort of). It was cropped from a picture I took of him when he was around 16 months old.
2.) Take a picture of each of your students. Make sure they aren't smiling (it's easier to animate when they aren't). Each day, your warm-up exercise (vocab activity, homework assignment, etc) is announced by a new student.
3.) You can VOIP and Skype with this too, thus putting a face (sort of) with a name.

I'm sure there are more, but I can't think right now.

So, what do you think? Do you like it? What uses can you see for it? Let me know!

I'm off to make another Gizmo head...I mean, grade. Yes, that's right. Grade final papers. ;)

Technorati Tags:
Beyond Podcasting, Education, Education of the Future, Random

Grant Idea

Hey podcasters!

I don't normally post grant ideas because - as an avid grant writer/searcher/hope-er/pray-er - I'm too busy trying to write them and get all the money for myself. But at the end of the day, it is about the kids. Not necessarily my kids (although I really could use a set of iPods). :)

I know I normally talk about BEYOND podcasting - meaning the screen on the iPod allows for interactive learning - not as much passive learning. However, this grant would give you a good place to start.

If you are just starting out, and don't have recorders/players to make your podcasts, this grand supplies the hardware, software, and a how-to book. A well-formed project would allow for other ways to create interactive learning. In other words, you could have the students do a radio broadcast, or you could have the students do a treasure hunt, using the other students' recordings as the clues.

So what are you waiting for? Click here to write your own grant and get started!

Technorati Tags:
Beyond Podcasting, Podcasting, Education