Reflecting on Time

I only have 11 days until I return to school and begin work on the 2014-15 school year.  The past few weeks have given me some time to reflect on my lessons learned as a first year assistant principal.  I learned a lot.  My take-away at the moment is to remember to slow down.  Last year passed very quickly and seemed to be an insurmountable laundry list of tasks checked off of an endless to-do list.  

By March, I had realized that I needed to "let the mud settle."  Just like when filling a pool or pond, the water is muddy and murky and needs some time to let the debris settle to the bottom.  Once that happens, everything becomes much clearer.  Just like with murky water, incidents involving people need and deserve time to become clear.  I believe I will be able to make better decisions next year if I remember to stop, let the mud settle, and give the time and patience situations deserve.

Let the Mud Settle

I tend to see a problem and want to fix it. If my little girl is crying, I want to find out what's wrong and fix it.  If there is a problem with the house, I'm going to get some tools out and attempt to fix it. Again, I'm a fixer. 

In my role as an assistant principal this year, I have learned that I need to slow down and let the mud settle.  Instead of thinking through a problem systematically and coming to a quick resolution, I've learned that is not always the best course of action to take.  Sometimes, taking time and being patient, problems resolve themselves or resolve into a lesser issue.  Taking a little more time with an issue, allows it to become clearer.  The real problem becomes more evident.  More importantly, when I slow down, others have an opportunity to work through their problem.

It is a balancing act.

Project-Based Learning Journey: PBL and 21st Century Fluency Project

Project-Based Learning Journey: PBL and 21st Century Fluency Project: Well I know it has been a while since I have posted, but I have been busy learning from the Buck Institute and Lee Crockett.  Both of these ...

iPaddiction: Creation Apps Used On The iPad

iPaddiction: Creation Apps Used On The iPad: My technology integration specialist asked me to provide a list of creative apps that we have used in our classroom.  All the apps are in o...

Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org: Blending Rigor & Relevance with SAMR and P21

Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org: Blending Rigor & Relevance with SAMR and P21: For fun, I asked myself, what would a revised Rigor & Relevance chart look like if we included Dr. Ruben Puentedura's SAMR Model a...

Alpha Company, Bravo Company, Charlie Company...

The story passed down to me goes something like this....  my great-grandfather was somewhere near Ronssoy, France in September 1918.  All the men in his squad were killed. He ran into 4 Germans manning a heavy machine gun, killed them with his pistol, and took control of machine gun.  He jammed it so it was continuing to fire.

Medal of Honor Citation

Photograph of Frank Gaffney from Niagara County Historical Society

Hoping to find a safe place, my great-grandfather dove into a foxhole.  Immediately, 80 German soldiers were pointing their pistols at him.  He jumped up and yelled, “Alpha Company, Bravo Company, Charlie Company, Delta Company.” The German soldiers laid down their pistols and Frank Gaffney marched all 80 of them back to camp.  Single-handedly.  Or so the story goes.

As a teacher, I found myself periodically (a time or two) in a metaphoric classroom foxhole.  Instead of 80 pistols drawn upon me, I found 30 sets of piercing eyes penetrating my tired and exhausted soul.  

To help prevent ever falling into the foxhole in the first place, know your students’ readiness, knowledge, and interest of the content BEFORE you ever begin instruction.  Whichever form of pre-assessment you choose, use the information you obtain to target your instruction.  By doing so, you will have a much greater chance of connecting your students to the content and they are much more likely to be engaged in the learning process.

When the occasion does occur in which you find yourself in the classroom trenches, instead of succumbing to the inevitable D-Day (Day of Defeat), jump up and seize the moment.  We have to respond quickly to the verbal and, most importantly, nonverbal feedback from our students and respond.  If what we are doing is not working, adjust and then, readjust if needed. If you are not sure what the problem is, ask your students.  They will tell you.

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves, it's about them - not us.  We may feel like soldiers in the trenches, but our students are not our enemy -- they are our Allie.

My first post using WordPress...

I'm experimenting with the world of blogging.  Today I started a wordpress blog, errinjenings.wordpress.com

Please check it out.  The topic is my experience today conducting a PLC with teachers on differentiation using the app Nearpod.  Let me know what you think of wordpress and the post.

One Second of Every Minute of One Class Period

Yesterday I tried something new.  A new way for me to look at instruction.  I took a one second video every minute during one class period.  I had no idea how this would turn out and it was not something I planned on doing.  I just got the idea and went with it.

I set my timer on my iPad so I could make sure I took a video every minute.  I started just by sitting in a desk, but then I moved around the room to get different perspectives (which I would recommend).  When class was over, I downloaded my video clips to iPhoto and then imported them into iMovie.

I reduced each clip to exactly one second.  I did not add any transitions or additional sound/audio.  I wanted this to be about the classroom.  Again, not knowing what this would look like....

The 52 second movie of this one 52 minute class period was spot on.  The instructional methodology, philosophy, tone, and reality was almost clarified and articulated in a manner that could not be achieved in a 52 minute long video of the entire class period.  Please do not misunderstand - there is a a valuable need to be a reflective practitioner and view an entire class from start to finish; however, sometimes more is less.

This may be a common practice where you are, but if not, try it!  I'll be doing many more of these 52 second videos to help improve instruction for all learners...

Presenting with iPads

Using Nearpod, an app I downloaded on my iPad, I just finished creating and uploading my first interactive presentation.  Now, don't get me wrong - I've presented presentations with my iPad using Prezi and pdf's of Power Points, but never with embedded formative assessment.

I have uploaded my presentation on my iPad and it looks ready to go.  I also downloaded the app on the iPads that my colleagues will be using.  The only real difficulty I have encountered is having to charge the batteries on those iPads....

I am excited about using this tool and am looking forward to more engagement and participation!

Hill Country Middle School iPad Site Visit

Just getting started! Looking forward to a great morning - learning about student use of iPads in the classroom.

TEA Assessment Conference Presentations

I have learned several new things from the presentations posted from the TEA Assessment Conference.  Please take some time and review your subject area's document at: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index3.aspx?id=3310&menu_id=793

My PLC on Engagement

Yesterday several teachers voluntarily chose to attend a “PLC” I was conducting on student engagement.  I had a pretty good presentation, but jazzed it up a bit by converting it to a prezi and embedding a short animoto video.  

Each teacher who came (whether during their conference period or after school) impressed me.  They were working through the topic, asking tough questions, and offering up great ideas.

I left school smiling.  I was smiling all evening.  I was smiling because once again I tasted that almost forgotten feeling I used to get when I was in the classroom after an amazing day of instruction – the feeling that my students got it, that they were engaged.  Student engagement – whether you are working with children or adults is very powerful.  Very powerful to both the student and the teacher!

Stationery card

Bubbles Of Snowflakes Christmas Card

Visit Shutterfly.com for Christmas cards this holiday.

View the entire collection of cards.

Trench Warfare

A colleague of mine had a meeting during his first period class – on trench warfare day!  Knowing that this was one of my favorite lessons to teach (I know all the lessons were my favorite, but this one was especially great).  I hesitated a brief moment to take up the offer to teach a period, because I knew how much it would make me miss the classroom.  However, I had to jump on the opportunity – it was trench warfare after all.

The premise of the experiential lesson from History Alive (http://www.teachtci.com/) is that students, while sitting in “trenches,” experience what life was like for a private fighting in the trenches during World War I.  While students listen to excerpts read from All Quiet on the Western Front, they are shown images of the various scenes on a projector.  Throughout the activity, students respond to journal prompts provided by the teacher.  After the emotionally charged lesson, class concludes with a paper fight. 

Immediately prior to the infamous paper fight, I share the story of my great-grandfather, Frank Gaffney, a Congressional Medal of Honor award recipient.  The text of his citation is available at: http://militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/recipient.php?recipientid=916

Other sites about Frank Gaffney:

1.     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gaffney_%28Medal_of_Honor%29

2.     http://www.iantn.com/frank_gaffney.htm

3.     http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7862335

4.     http://www.homeofheroes.com/photos/6_ww1/gaffney_frank.html

5.     http://www.homeofheroes.com/photos/6_ww1/gaffney_frank_newspaper.jpg

6.     http://www.niagara2008.com/history126.html

7.     http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/us-m1911-medal-of-honor/

The beauty of this lesson does not come from the images and emotions of war; it is the level of student engagement.  They feel fear, exhaustion, and boredom (in a safe environment). They metaphorically taste the hunger of stale bread and rancid canned meat ravaged by fierce rats.  For a brief moment they can imagine what life was like in the trenches of World War I.  They make a connection to a soldier who experienced it firsthand.  Most importantly, they begin to make connections between World War I and current military engagements.

My challenge to you: find or create a lesson that allows students to fully engage and experience a topic.  I promise you they will not forget it!

Czech Wedding March

I was at a beautiful wedding on Saturday.  As the sun was setting on the Central Texas landscape, the wedding party requested the participation of every guest in a Czech wedding march.  Being more of an observer (and mother of a young child), I initially hesitated; however, my love of culture and dance prevailed!  I had so much fun - and speaking for the many other guests, they did too.  While hopping, ‘polka-ing,’ and hand-holding, I wished I had my own video camera to capture the moment from my perspective.

As I reflected on the wonderful moment in time, my thoughts went back to the recent technology conference I attended.  I wanted to use technology to capture a cultural event that needs to be passed down and shared.  I wanted to use technology to enhance an experience – a connection between the present and past – to be cherished or saved for the future.

The question becomes:  are we just using instructional technology to teach our students to be 21^st century learners or are we using technology to make connections between the past, present, and future.  I hope it’s the ladder.

For those of you that are curious about the Czech wedding march, please view the following video:

http://youtu.be/rVvOuOl-jE8

Tech Forum 2012

A day later....

I am still as inspired, encouraged, and motivated as I was while experiencing the conference.  Yesterday exceeded all criteria on my typically self-created critical convention/workshop rubric ( really, I have one.  I value my time and expect to leave a workshop learning knowledge and skills that will assist in making me a better educator).

If you don't use Evernote, I highly encourage you to try it out.  I took notes on my iPad while at the conference - and opened them up this morning on my computer (no importing/exporting needed).  Instead of posting my notes, I pasted them into wordle.net.

Remember:

1. We need to grow in our profession.
2. To grow in our profession, we need to have engaging conversations with colleagues in the field with the knowledge and skills we need or are ready to acquire.  
3. To have these engaging conversations, we need to take the time to attend professional development (on- or off-line).
4. When we are growing professionally, we are also growing personally.

Try something new today!

How to save time in writing a lesson plan?

This week, a colleague asked me how she could save time entering her lesson plan in our system.  Her concern had nothing to do with the time it takes one to properly plan for a class – it was solely about the time it takes to write it up.  I thought about this question for two days and nights (specifically early morning)….

My possible suggestions:

1.     Stop recreating the wheel and search the web.  There are amazing lessons on the web shared by outstanding teachers from around the world.  Even if a lesson isn’t perfect for your intended audience or content, a lesson from the web can be a great starting point.  Furthermore, the system we use for entering lesson plans has a “Search for More Resources Online” button to assist in finding lessons directly tied to a learning standard.

2.     Don’t plan to far in advance, but follow your pacing guide/scope and sequence.  If you write out your detailed lesson plans for the entire year, you may end up spending a lot of extra time editing, erasing, and re-doing to meet the needs of your students.  Plan in smaller increments of time (my recommendation is 1-3 weeks) as long as you are making the appropriate adjustments to stay on track so that your students will be successful on mastering the necessary learning objectives.

3.     Don’t be fearful of skeletons.  Continuing with the suggestion not to plan too far in advance, one may find having skeleton plans helpful (the bare bones).  Write out 3 weeks (give or take) worth of skeleton plans when you have a quiet place and are relaxed.  Then, the week (or weekend) prior put the meat and muscle to the lessons.  By doing this, you can use your time to make a week’s worth of lesson plans meet the specific needs and interests of your students instead of trying to figure it all out at one time.

4.     Share the load.  If you work on a campus with colleagues who are on the same page as you in terms of instructional strategies and methodology and are comfortable collaborating – work together.  However, sometimes we find it is not that easy.  Take the opportunity to join an online forum or listserv.  Collaboration no longer has to happen within the confines of a building.  When you attend content-specific professional development, take an opportunity to network with other teachers from around the region.  Some of the best lessons I have used came from teachers from other school districts.

5.     Rely on a ring of strategies.  I’ve created a generic “ring of instructional strategies” to help teachers (at the two campuses I work with) remember some of the best practice strategies to use.  Create one (or modify the one I gave you) so that you can quickly flip through a plethora of strategies so you don’t find yourself staring at your lesson plan with no idea what you want your students to know or be able to do.  Once you have your “ring of strategies,” flag or highlight the ones you like to use to help keep track of what is a “go-to” strategy and ones you haven’t tried.

6.     A good lesson plan can become an emergency sub plan.  We all know how time consuming it can be to prepare for a sub – especially when it is last minute. 

7.     Appreciate that the time you spend this year, will save you time next year (unless your learning standards or course changes).  I don’t want to sound condescending or trivial in any way; however, if you are lucky enough to teach the same course with the same learning standards next year, you will be able to use your plans again.  So, know that the reward will come next year for the exhausting work you do now.

Here is a list of some websites on the topic:

1.     http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2010/12/educators-can-save-time-when-they-stop.html

2.     http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/mistakes.html

3.     http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teaching/lesson_plan/

4.     http://www.teacherease.com/TELessonPlan.aspx

Back to School: Do Right!

Last week I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work with amazing teachers new to our district.  Their enthusiasm, vision, and energy inspire me.  New-to-district teacher range from zero to twenty years of experience, but each one brings a wealth of ideas to the table -- some have new ideas fresh out of their college or student teaching experiences, while others have ideas that they have wanted to try, but needed a school open to the suggestion.

My favorite story from last week was a new-to-district teacher with a few years experience sharing his classroom management style.  He shared his inspiration from Lou Holtz and how it related to something he read by Zig Ziglar.  The teacher borrowed the term, "Do Right."  He said if you "do right," all other things fall into place.  I agree.

Further borrowing the theme, I challenge all teachers to "do right."  And, if you are in question of what is right, talk with someone - a colleague, administration, me....

Engaging Lessons in a Time of Review

If high-stakes testing is not going on, we will be soon reviewing for semester exams.  With all of this going on (or winding down), how do you keep students engaged in the learning process?  I have seen some great things today that were doing just that!  I saw children doing hands-on creation of original products.  I saw music being used to help students learn geographic names and locations.  I saw students using technology to develop graphs from data they gathered.  I saw students amazingly excited to look at local pond water through a microscope (their enthusiasm warmed my heart).
From my observations, for lessons to be engaging to students, activities must be relevant, creative, and meaningful.  These simple guidelines can be provided to end of year reviews.  Using a well-defined rubric, have students develop a game for a specific topic.  For example:

1. Place students in small groups.
2. Each group chooses a specific topic (which may be defined by you or the class as a whole).
3. Provide each group with well-defined instructions and a rubric.  The groups may be given the choice to complete the game on a poster board (like a board game), use technology (for example, a PowerPoint version of Jeopardy), or create something (with approval) that is beyond what any educator could even imagine.  I would recommend 2-3 days for the completion of the review game -- AND always make your expectations clear in a detailed rubric.
1. Considerations:
1.  How many students (players) should be able to play a game?
2. How much time should a given game take to play?
4. After the games have been developed, you could set the games up in a learning station format.  Groups would be given a set of time (for example, 10 minutes) at each game.  At the end of the activity, students would have reviewed all of the content.
5. Don't forget to have students reflect on their products and the learning process!

I encourage you try something new to keep your students engaged.  Share what works for you!

Good luck ~

Student Friendly Learning Objectives

Walking around classrooms this week, I once again recognized the importance of student friendly learning objectives. More importantly, the teachers that I visited with that had really good learning objectives written on their boards recognized the importance of their objectives and improving student learning.

According to Marzano (2001), using student friendly learning objectives through teacher talk, writing it on the board, on student work, and when a student can state it in their own words can improve student learning by 27%.

Students need to know what they are expected to know, how they will do it, and whether or not they are successful.   Furthermore, this is exactly what a teacher should have determined prior to instruction through lesson planning. We just need to let our students know - there's no mystery (except when it is intentional).