My Friend, My Mentor.

There is always something special about the first...of anything. Yesterday I was tagged in my first class photo as a teacher, twenty some years ago at St. Anne’s Primary School. I barely recognized myself in the photo but boy, I recognized and could name every kid on the photo, because they were my first students, and as such, they were, and will always remain, special. Being tagged allowed me to connect with some of those students after all this time and the last twenty four hours have been simply wonderful, chatting, catching up and learning that now, their children attend St. Anne’s. As I prepare for my twenty fourth first day of school as a teacher, I have been consumed with thoughts of my first one, all those years ago.

I thought I had hit the jackpot when I got hired at St. Anne’s, a small, single form entry elementary school in a leafy suburb of Liverpool. I couldn't wait to get into the building and start setting up my classroom. I was greeted by the principal, a formidable force of nature: a spinster, a forty year veteran dedicated educator who commanded respect and frankly, scared the life out of me. As we walked she described upcoming renovation plans and we stopped in a space that was basically a corridor connecting the infant department to the junior department. She explained that this was to be my “classroom” and left me alone to ponder how on earth I was to create a safe, secure learning environment from this strange, desolate place.

And then I met Diane, who very quickly became my first friend, mentor and savior at St. Anne’s. Diane recognized the fact that I was reeling and immediately offered her help and advice. Together we scavenged tables, chairs, bookshelves and resources from around the building. She spent hours with me dragging furniture into one position after another as we tried to craft a classroom. Over the next few days she helped me cover the walls with welcoming displays, stock the shelves with engaging books and transform the space into a “room” that ultimately became the place where I began to learn my chosen profession.

During that first year Diane was my go to person whenever I needed anything and she never let me down. When I needed another pair of hands she volunteered hers, when I needed a sympathetic ear she listened, when I floundered she reassured me, and when I despaired she made me laugh. Oh, she made me laugh. I believe she was one of the most important factors in getting me through that first year intact and over the course of the next ten years I spent there, her role in my life, both professionally and personally only grew in significance. Two years in, my colleagues, despite my objections, decided I was ready to host my first whole school assembly and tried to trick me into being left alone with all of the children. When I caught wind of their scheme in panic I ran to Diane and she locked me in a cupboard to keep me safe! Some of my fondest memories of St. Anne’s stem from weekends we spent away with the kids at an outdoor activity camp. These treasured weekends were only possible because Diane offered to be a chaperone and together with kids we canoed, zip lined, rock climbed, sang our hearts out, built character and made indelible memories.

Diane was the school custodian. She taught me one of the most important lessons I have ever learned, that the education of our children is a community affair. She loved that school and those kids and they loved her. She made sure that every square inch of that school was spotless for them every day, she took pride in her work, and she demonstrated unwavering perseverance, kindness and dedication. She submerged herself in every aspect of school life and was just as much an integral part of educating the students as I was. Indeed, she educated me. She was also one of very few people who ever spoke to our formidable principal candidly and I was in awe of her. She was my hero!

Today I learned that Diane passed away last week.The timing of connecting with my first students yesterday and hearing this sad news about my first friend and mentor today simply must be significant. My advice to first year teachers as they embark on this incredible journey is to know that preparing goes beyond your classroom. Make a determined effort to get out of the room, explore every hallway, office and corridor. Introduce yourself to every member of your learning community and start to build connections with the people who are going to guide and help you through your first year. Be open, ask for help and it will come, you are not alone. Most importantly embrace every second of this, your first year. Learn from mistakes, laugh often and care deeply, because twenty years from now a kid is going to contact you and let you know that you were their favorite teacher ever!

Caught Between Innovation and Legislation

As I start thinking about the 2013-2014 school year I find myself caught between two powerful forces in education: innovation and legislation.

My passion is providing my students with authentic, rich learning experiences. I have seen how captivating project based learning can be and how technology integration enhances the level of student engagement. I have seen my students grow exponentially when I focus on teaching key 21st Century skills like collaboration, communication, critical and creative thinking. Deeper learning takes place when I team teach with colleagues from different disciplines and when I provide time for my students to follow their curiosity, they go to places on their own learning journeys that I could never have imagined. This kind of teaching is organic and exciting and often messy. Failure and frustration litter the path but are critical components of wisdom acquisition. I find myself wondering how I will combine this style of teaching with the adoption of Common Core Standards and whether or not they are even compatible.

Like many educators, schools and districts I am still grappling with the new standards, trying to figure out how they will impact pedagogy and methodology. The new standards come with great promise of a focus on developing critical thinking skills and collaborative, reflective learning, but with any standardized testing there always lurks the fear that we are fostering standardized students. I am sure that there will be much professional development time devoted to the roll-out of this latest reform wave, aimed at helping teachers serve their students well. But is it possible to teach to a set of mandated, static standards while still fostering a dynamic culture of learning? I guess that’s up to me.

Ultimately, I will do what the only thing I really know how to do. I will focus on learning about my students, their needs, their passions, their learning styles and try to accommodate them as best I can. Despite innovate teaching practices and “new” standards, after 23 years of teaching my charge remains the same: foster meaningful relationships with my students, nurture them, let them know they matter, empower them and try to ensure that every child has a rock star experience every day in my classroom.

Windows 8 and Skylanders

All my 7 year old son wanted for his birthday was the Skylanders portal for his Xbox. He could barely contain himself in the car on the way home from the store. As we pulled onto the driveway I hung back to answer a call and by the time I entered the house the floor was littered with wrappings and paper, leads and wires and various pieces of equipment. Sighing, I settled into to wait for the inevitable call for help but it never came!

Fascinated, I watched him from a distance while he transferred his limited digital knowledge, failing, persevering and eventually getting the game up and running within twenty minutes. I knew that his motivation to play the game was a powerful driving force, but what I discovered while watching him, was that for him, the “playing” began the moment he opened the box.

My latest “toy” was a Windows 8 tablet that I was asked to pilot at school. Just like my son, I was highly motivated to learn how it worked, but my whole approach was so different. The tablet sat in its box untouched for days while I sent out a request to friends for any useful resources they knew about, and then settled down late at night to watch online tutorials and read up on my new device. When I eventually opened the box the tablet didn’t seem quite so intimidating and I felt confident enough to begin playing. I have to wonder why I didn’t rip open the box like Jack and immerse myself in independently figuring it out.

My best guess would be time. The thought of sitting and “playing” with it seemed like an inefficient use of time to me so I prepared myself in order to avoid unnecessary frustration. After reading the following post by Laurie Barnoski I would assume that many teachers are reluctant to adopt new technologies for the same reason:

I recently emailed a former colleague, a highly respected math teacher, to ask her to list the programs she was supposed to consider implementing in her classroom. Here goes: standards-based grading and instruction; common-core standards; common grading; end-of-course assessment, or EOC; conversation, help, activity, movement, participation, and success, or CHAMPS; creating independence through student-owned strategies, or CRISS; love and logic; pyramid to intervention; response to intervention; learning targets; data walks; teacher-principal evaluation project, or TPEP; school improvement plans, or SIP; academic collaboration time, or ACT; positive behavioral intervention and supports, or PBIS; and a new whisper in the halls, Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and PARCC.

There are so many demands placed upon a teacher’s time that we really are in danger of losing the capacity to play and by extension, our sense of joy in the discovery. My own love for learning is what helped me to make the decision to become a professional educator, hoping that I could instill the same passion in my students. I can’t imagine it happening, but if I were to lose that joy, how can I possibly inspire students to learn?

Initiatives like those employed by Eric Sheninger will undoubtedly help his teachers to maintain their desire to learn. By adopting the 80/20 principle teachers at New Milford High School will now be able to follow their work related passions. "We really want teachers to be innovative and creative," Sheninger said. "For us to make that possible, we need to empower them to really pursue those areas that they're motivated by." When teachers are so empowered, wouldn't it seem natural to empower their students in a similar way?

As for me, I am thankful that yet again, my own child has been able to teach me an invaluable lesson. As we settle down in front of the Xbox together to enable him to begin my first lesson on Skylanders, I am grateful to have a teacher who has reminded me of the power of play.

What a Journey !

I wrote a thank you note in the dark this morning at 4 a.m. and left it on the bedside table of my friend who had happily let me crash in her hotel room last night before heading home from ISTE. I managed to sneak out without waking her and headed downstairs to catch the shuttle I had ordered for the airport. I didn't fret too much when it didn't show up and instead got in a taxi, confident that few people would be at the airport at 5 a.m. Boy, was I wrong!

The check in line took me thirty minutes to negotiate and the security lines were the length of the terminal. I joined the shortest one and tried to calm the disconcerting idea that I might miss my plane. After forty more minutes I could finally see the screening equipment but was mortified when the guy I had been chatting to noted his disgust at how slowly our line was moving for first class. I apologized for getting in the wrong line and started to head to the back of the terminal when the guy stopped me and assured me it was okay. It would have been very easy for him to be irate with me but he chose not to and truly I was thankful for that.

I was the last person to get on the plane and when I got to my aisle seat it was taken by a mother with a baby and toddler. She explained that her son’s seat was the middle seat two rows away and asked if I minded swapping. Being a firm believer in Karma, I took the middle seat and in thanks the stewardess offered me a much needed coffee. I was feeling pretty good about myself until the lady next to me explained that she too had given up her first class seat for a serviceman. I was still processing how awesome that was when the pilot announced that we had a computer issue that they were working on, estimating a twenty minute delay. 

An hour later we were still sitting there when my generous neighbor asked the stewardess for a glass of wine, explaining that she was becoming increasingly nervous about the flight. When it came, she split it with me and the guy to my left who was also a teacher returning from ISTE. I wouldn't normally drink wine at 8 a.m. but the three of us raised a toast and clashed our plastic glasses in celebration. We were far from celebrating take off, that was still two hours ahead of us, we were celebrating the fact that we were in good spirits, in spite of adversity, and enjoying each other’s company.

What should have been a three hour journey became a six hour journey and I can honestly say it was a pleasure. I don’t recall hearing one person complain angrily, moan bitterly or pout childishly; even the children on board were fantastic. Everybody just played the cards they had been dealt and made the most of the situation. I myself thoroughly enjoyed the company of my travelling companions and engaged in some great conversations. It reminded me that the choices we make on our journey, be it from one place to another, or indeed through life, can have a significant impact on those around us.

We are frequently travelling at such speed that we collide into the people around us and the collisions can have positive or negative consequences depending on the choices that we make. If I had been met with an angry response from the guy in the first class line I doubt I would have given up my seat so willingly. I would not have met my two new friends and I wouldn't have been inspired by their generosity and thoughtfulness. If we spent more time looking up, instead of down at our phones , looking out for, and embracing collisions with others there would be a lot less dents in the world and a whole lot more opportunities for connecting in meaningful ways.

Being on the Expo floor at ISTE for the last few days I collided with a lot of people and I’ll be spending the next few days wondering if I made dents or opportunities. I am fortunate to be surrounded by many amazing people and I have the potential to increase the number exponentially if I just take more heed during my journey. Right now, opportunity knocks, and I’m going to collide with my family to make up for time lost.

Sailing Into Summer

Wow! I'm amazed at how long it's been since I've written a post. That is truly a sign of how hectic the last few weeks have been. The pace at school becomes frenetic as I try to wrap up curriculum, conduct field trips, organize end of year celebrations, not to mention end of year testing .My own two children have had several concerts, recitals, sporting commitments and all in all I feel like I've been tossed and tumbled around on a ship in a storm, clinging on for dear life, praying for calmer waters.

Now that summer is finally here I feel like the storm has subsided and I can begin to process and think thoughts that are my own again and blogging has always helped me with that. Picking up where I left off though has been more difficult than I expected. I feel rusty, struggling to find my voice, my words and stringing them together into something that makes sense is taking longer than it should. It's a good reminder for me that over the next few months our children are going to become academically rusty if we don't keep practicing the skills they have worked so hard to acquire during the last school year.

I can see squalls on the horizon when I tell my kids what I have in store for them. My son considers himself somewhat of a math ninja so keeping math skills sharp will be easy. I am going to have to get creative with reading and writing however and somehow figure out how to incorporate Lego and Skylanders. My daughter will write song lyrics all summer and she will pout about math but we will go head to head about reading, which breaks my heart since I am an avid reader. I'm hoping that I have piqued her interest enough by withholding the Hunger Games trilogy and that she will happily sit and devour them on her tablet. We can live in hope right?

I'm looking forward to launching into my own learning journey this summer too. I want to consciously go beyond my comfort zone for my own personal growth, but I'm not sure how yet. I’ll let the notion percolate and see what opportunities arise. I love that about summer, having the flexibility to change tack and go where the wind takes us. I attended and presented at The Learning Conference 2013 this week and it’s always fun to meet and engage in conversations with new people. I am very excited about attending ISTE for the first time next week and sharing some super aspects of Windows 8. I’m hoping that I will be able to absorb much too and get inspiration for next year. An added bonus will be catching up with some of my Partners in Learning network friends. These people serve as my compass and always steer me in the right direction.

Congratulations all my educator friends for completing another school year and making a difference in the lives of your students. Relax, recuperate and regenerate this summer and may the wind fill your sails!

ART EDUCATION’S VITAL MISSION IN THE 21st CENTURY

Professional development days often provide opportunities to talk with colleagues we never normally get the time to sit and talk to at length. Last Friday I was fortunate to be able to spend the morning with Gerald Melton, the school art teacher with nearly fifty years of experience under his belt. The conversation began with a celebration of the resurgence of the importance of the arts , highlighted by the STEM to STEAM movement but moved on to Gerry’s observation of a declining skill among a certain population of students that may have a significant impact on the workforce of the future. I am thrilled to introduce Gerry as my first guest blogger and invite you to join our conversation:

With the current proliferation of personal digital devices, boys are becoming increasingly lacking in development of their fine motor skills outside the school art class. During the last half of my 46 years of teaching art to children of all ages, mainly elementary and middle school, I have noticed a marked decline in boys’ choosing activities outside of school which require the practice of fine motor development, or, manual dexterity. Boys, of course, will continue running, biking, and playing on their own and participating in organized sports. However, quiet time activities are tending to be spent more with home computers and hand held electronic devices for entertainment than with tactile, constructive activities.

A major change in boys’ dwindling choices of tactile project pastimes is the disappearing hobby of model building. In the past, building plastic and wooden model planes, cars, ships, etc. was practiced at some time in the life of the majority of boys, along with assembling and painting other kinds of kits like soldiers, or board game pieces. Scratch- building with scraps of wood and junk with a few hand tools have also long been a part of growing up.

Hobby shops have almost disappeared along with their plastic models - a ubiquitous product once regularly found in drugstores, hardware stores, and even grocery stores. In my art room I have a list of free choice activities for students to do at lunchtime or between assignments.   Along with free painting, scrap work, and other crafts, the direction to “Bring and construct a plastic model…” results in the question, “What’s that?”  Only one boy has assembled a plastic model kit in my art room during the last twelve years.

The closest things to the traditional hobby shop are large stores like Lobby Hobby, Michael’s and Jo-ann’s. The clientele is mostly female because areas of male interests cover a relatively small niche in these stores which sell fabric, scrapbooking, flower arranging supplies, and such.

Girls, thankfully, continue to be interested in and practice fine motor skills with personal activities like hair braiding, nail painting, and makeup application, as well as with hobbies like drawing, painting, beading, and decorating almost any surface.

With so much emphasis on attaining academic excellence on standardized tests and the growing use of electronic media in most subjects, opportunities for students to develop fine motor, eye-hand coordination by manipulating craft materials outside the art room are  becoming fewer as teachers of other subjects are pressed for time.    Additionally, lack of art supply money and/ or the avoidance of messes made are other factors.

Will it become just a girl thing to practice small motor skills tasks in their formative years so that the majority of American students who exit high school with capable manual dexterity in the future will be predominately females? If so, then surgery, electrical work, and baiting a hook will be mostly “girlie” activities.   Will Nano engineers and Nano technicians become job categories for females only?   How about female dentists only?

something to think about.

gerald melton,

art teacher.

Auras in the Classroom

My students have been creating a game to address some areas of school culture that give them cause for concern. Code Cobra challenges students to become top agents by completing missions that are designed to help students develop a greater understanding and appreciation for each other, the environment and education.

I am really impressed with the level of commitment shown by my core team of designers and I’m really excited about their product. Always their own greatest critics they wanted a bit more pizazz for their game, something that would get other students really excited. That’s when we discovered Aurasma, which overlays video onto any image. My students have plans to take photos all over the building then hide missions in them using the Aurasma application. This will add a whole new level of mystery to the game and hopefully ensure a higher level of engagement from the wider school population. 

But I am discovering that this app has so many more possibilities. In science class my students made their own body system books with third and fourth graders as their target audience. In the event that some students may struggle with the reading or the language, we used Aurasma to overlay them with movies explaining how each of the body systems work.

The display boards in my classroom can now spring to life as students can add commentaries to their own work, I can add directions or explanations to enhance informational displays and we can engage a wider audience by adding auras to hallway pin boards and exhibits. I am planning to utilize this app at different centers in my classroom for group work. I can overlay any page or worksheet with specific instructions, making the students more independent and enabling me to work more closely with individuals or teams.

To get a better idea of how Aurasma works I invite you to open an account and follow me at pr05bps. Hover over the image below and you should be able to enjoy a movie of my students sharing their favorite inspirational Dr. Seuss quotes.

How would you add auras to your classroom?