Making Connections With Your LSC (Local School Community)

My school had a lot of teacher turn-over this year. Our junior high alone lost four of seven of their teachers with three new teachers taking positions and me moving up from fifth grade to take over the media lab. As you may understand there is a lot of stress involved for us. I have spent a lot of time the last few days talking to the new teachers and trying to get them to feel more comfortable around the school. I also want them to be able to know they have someone they can contact in our hallway if they need help or have a problem.

Obviously many of us spend a lot of time working on developing our professional learning communities, but at this time of year it seems important to develop our LSC (local school community). Is this as important to you as developing your on-line communities?

In the past we have had beginning of year social events for the teachers to go to and meet each other. We had one that worked pretty well last year, but the turn-over was not as large as this year. What kinds of things do you have at your school to welcome new teachers (besides the state mandated stuff)? How do you personally meet and great new teachers that you will be working with?

By the way, with my change in position I will have more opportunities to facilitate interactions between students in my grade 3-8 building and other schools. If you are part of my PLC be prepared, I may be soon looking to collaborate!

Something That Matters.

I found this written at a wall on the campus of Louisiana Tech. I suspect it was written by a student, not one of the professors (although I might be wrong). Why would someone feel the need to write this graffiti on the wall? What is holding them back?

On Saturday I was on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma. I saw over one hundred houses that had a market value of a million dollars or more. Is the drive for money the reason that keeps students from doing something that matters? If so, how do we convince students to follow their hearts, not their checkbooks?

The Hadley Harrington Strange Award

Dr. John Strange is a professor of professional studies at the University of South Alabama. Dr. Strange does a fantastic job with his students in his education classes by teaching them how to utilize different types of technology tools and resources that they can use as they continue to become a teachers. Dr. Strange has created two awards, named in memory of his parents, The Hadley Harrington Award& The Ruth Jessee Strange Award. The Ruth Jessee Strange Award was given to a fellow colleague Bill Chamberlain.

I was contacted by Dr. Strange on Sunday. John sent me an e-mail stating that I, along with Jarrod Lamshed, have been awarded The Hadley Harrington Strange Award. I was really taken back by the whole experience. I have never received an award prior to this point, and because this award was based on my educational practices, it really made me proud to accept this award. So, thank you so much Dr. Strange it truly is an honor and I am looking forward to using this money to help better the educational experience in my own classroom.

Mr. McClung
mcclungsblog.blogspot.com

_______________________________________

Like Joe, I found out this week that I am a recipient of The Hadley Harrington Strange Award for 2009. It's a very humbling experience, and I'm very proud to share the award with Joe McClung. Joe is a fantastic teacher, and although he is on the opposite side of the globe to me, here in Australia, I feel that I have a strong sense of his teaching through his class blog.

I am currently in my 4th year of teaching and find that reflection and collaboration is an essential part of my growth as a teacher. I thank Dr John Strange for the support he shows my class and I, through his comments on our blog. With so many current teachers afraid of using technology, it is fantastic to see Dr Strange incorporating this into University/College teacher training. This money will further support our online programs and I look forward to being able to share this in the near future.

Jarrod Lamshed

http://web.me.com/jarrod.lamshed

Why I Want to Be More Accessible to My Students

When I wrote my Teacher Manifesto I wrote this promise:

I promise to be more available to my students. I will give them my phone numbers, email address, and Twitter name. I will encourage them to communicate with me outside of school. I will be available to help them with their education when they need help, not just during our class period.

I received lots of comments about this particular promise, and I want to explain why I included this promise.

My students live in what America considers poverty. We have in our school 90% of the students on free or reduced lunch. There are a huge number of students that live in single parent or single parent with extended family homes. These single parents are by a very large majority women. The male role models in many of my students lives are in prison, on drugs, or have other socially unacceptable problems. I may be the closest positive male role-model my students ever have.

While this information may explain why I might feel compelled to be more available to my students, it is not the reason.

I believe that one of the most important things I strive teach my students is to love to learn and to continue to learn throughout their lives. I have learned much more outside of the classroom walls. I continue to learn, most of which takes place at night, on weekends, and over summer break. This is what I want to model to my students. How can I do this if I don't allow my students to see what I do when I am not in the classroom?

I have been reminded often to model to my students the behaviors I want them to see from them. I'm stepping up to the challenge.

What Is Your Killer App?

Alex here is curious, he wants to know what are the most important applications to use in school. Is it blogs, wiki's, or Nings? Maybe you prefer Glogster, Kerpoof, or Edmodo? Tell me what program you can't live without.

A Teacher's Manifesto

I'm tired. I'm tired of waiting for a vision of education to be passed on to me. I'm tired of thinking about the purpose of education and the purpose of schools. I'm tired of reading about how our schools are outdated, outmoded, and worthless.

I don't command the ear of millions of people. I don't get to set policy for our nation, state, or even local government. The only place I can effect the education of students is in my classroom. I know that when it comes to the education of my students, I can make a difference. Because of this, I make these promises:

I promise to spend more time talking and listening to my students. I will get to know all of them better than I have in the past. I will talk to them about their past and their future. I will show them they are important by creating a relationship with them.

I promise to teach students, not content or tools. I will do my best to meet their needs with their learning. I will adapt my classroom to them, not expect them to adapt to my classroom. I will make the tools and content I teach relevant to my students so that they see a reason to learn, not just because it is on the test.
I promise to be more available to my students. I will give them my phone numbers, email address, and Twitter name. I will encourage them to communicate with outside of school. I will be available to help them with their education when they need help, not just during our class period.

I promise that I will be an advocate for my students. I will speak for them when others talk negatively about them. I will listen to their side. I will try to discipline them out of love and respect, not from anger or annoyance. I will treat them as if they were my own children, because they deserve it.

I believe that when teachers focus on students and nothing else, education will change for the better.

Update

Thankfully, I have had great feedback from the network. There is real value in the conversation between us. Thanks to @Will @dragonsinger57 and others for pointing out the need for this addition. Here is an update to the manifesto.

I promise to model learning in my classroom with my students. It is important that our students see us not as the "great repositories of knowledge", but as individuals that continue to learn as we go. Not only should we model how to learn, but that we continue to need to learn.

What Do Professional Educators Do When School Is Out?

Photo by Envios

I know what I do over the summer months when school is out, but what is it you do? How much time do you spend decompressing and how much time do you spend preparing for the next school term?Do you go to workshops or learn online?

Students Making Decisions for The Biome Project

Here is a post I wrote for my class blog, Mr. C's Class Blog. I am also posting it here because I wanted to share what my class has become. In the past I spent lots of time teaching content. I had my students do questions in their textbooks and lots of worksheets. Through my connections online with great teachers I evolved. I am a better teacher because of these connections. My students have a better opportunity to succeed because of these connections. In a few short years I have become less of a teacher and more of a facilitator for learning. My students are taking a responsible role in their own education.

My students are working on their biome projects now. Throughout this project they had to make choices based on what works best for them. Here are some vids of my students talking about what choices they made.

Here is Seth explaining what strategy he used to gather his information for the project.

Here Rosa talks about what strategy she used to gather her information for the project.

Here is Megan explaining what biomes she chose and which project she will do.

Here is Nathan explaining what biomes he chose and which project he will do.

Here is Parker explaining why he likes to be given choices with his work.

When Is It the Right Time to Focus on Vocabulary?

I am doing an action research project with my students the last two weeks of school. What I want to learn is when is the best time for students to spend time with vocabulary from a textbook.

I would think that learning the vocabulary words first would be more helpful when it comes to understanding the text. I also think their is a possibility that going over the words at the end may make the students' short term memory work better for the test. I also want you to note that this assessment, like most textbook assessments, is heavily weighted with vocabulary questions.

Here is my procedure: I have three different fifth grade science classes so I split them into three groups. The first group is a control group where I will teach two sections in our science book without a special focus on vocabulary, just the normal worksheet provided in the student materials. The second group will begin the short unit doing two of the vocabulary skills outlined in Allowing Students to Differentiate with Vocabulary Strategies. The third group will end the unit with doing two of those vocabulary skills.

Ultimately, this small sample won't completely answer the question, but it may give me some insight into this. Would you teach a unit's vocabulary at the end if research shows the students would score better on the test that way? Or would you teach the vocabulary at the beginning?

Our Thoughts on International Blogging Collaborations

@jkmcclung and I sat down Friday after school to make a video for @jlamshed about blogging internationally and its impact in our classrooms. Forgive us for rambling....

Allowing Students to Differentiate with Vocabulary Strategies

As I become a more professional teacher, I become a more directed learner. Having read Marzano's Classroom Instruction that Works several years ago as part of a book study conducted in my building, I was particularly interested in the chapter on non-linguistic representations. Basically non-linguistic representations mean visual, but not verbal representations. For several years I have included doing as many of these in my classroom as I can. I even incorporated webbing into one of the note taking methods I teach my students.

Last year I was given A Handbook for Classroom Instruction that Works also by Marzano that our school used again for a book study. Last semester I was reading through parts of the book that hadn't been covered by the book study when I came upon a section on vocabulary. In that section there was a five step process that was recommended for teaching vocabulary. Basically, it asks the teacher to give an everyday definition of the word and then draw a graphic representation (picture aka non-linguistic representation) of what the word means to the teacher. The student is then directed to write the word's definition using their own words and draw their graphic representation. I required my students to not draw the same picture I drew.

A few months ago I noticed our reading class was getting stale. In fact, we were all bored. I decided I needed to do something different so I decided that I would add some extra work to the week. I gave my students an extra assignment tied to the story and added both skills and vocabulary options. Here is an example of a weekly reading cycle my students completed. Notice the vocabulary assignments.

Because I have been emphasizing students choosing what works best for them, I decided to allow them to choose two strategies they thought would be best for them. (We had extensive discussions about learning styles and what works well for the students before I implemented this.) Below are the choices I gave my students to use. I even allow them to use something not on the list if they ask me about it first. Every strategy here is used by at least one of my students!

• Create graphic representations of each vocabulary word
• Write definitions of each vocabulary word
• Create a flash card with definitions for each vocabulary word
• Use in graphic organizer as outlined in Skills section
• Create a word web with synonyms of the vocabulary words
  
• Create a word web with antonyms of the vocabulary words
  

Here is Gavin explaining what he does to learn the vocabulary words in reading.

Here is Megan explaining what she does to learn her vocabulary words for reading.

Here is Zac explaining what he does to learn his vocabulary words for reading.

Here is Slendy explaining how she learns her vocabulary words for reading.

This is an example of how students are becoming responsible for their learning. They are trying to choose the best strategies for them. Obviously, this is what we as educators should strive for, students that understand how they learn best using tools that best fit their learning.

I am sure you also noticed that two of the four students admitted they had not transferred these skills to other content areas. This is a big concern of mine, and I hope to address this very issue school wide next year. While the short term goal was to increase vocabulary in reading, the long term goal is to teach my students to become reflective learners.

Are Our Students' Day Too Structured?

I know that students need structure. My question is do they have too much structure? Their days are completely scheduled out. Unless they are fortunate enough to have a few minutes for recess, they are watched and expected to sit, be quiet, and work. I can say that as a teacher I could not work under these conditions. Why do we expect our students to?

When do your students have time relax a little? Do you rely on recess, art, or PE for your students to have "down time", or do you keep your classroom more relaxed where students can work comfortably?

Give Your Students Opportunities to Make a Difference

Most of the students in my school come from a very stressed economic background. They don't have a lot of extra money to spend. Most don't have computers, let alone internet access. Not asking for sympathy, just telling you their background.

As you know if you read this post, my students participate in an activity called "Tie Tuesday" where they wear ties at school. I bought a bunch of ties at yard sales so my students could have them to wear.

Last week I had my students leave a post on the Daraja Academy Blog. Many of my students didn't understand why the academy was a big deal. We have free (compulsory) education in the United States. They couldn't understand why I thought the Daraja Academy was so important to Africa. They didn't get it.

After I explained how hard it was for kids to go to school in Kenya and many other African countries, they began to see the point of the academy. A light bulb went off and I realized this may be a "teachable moment". I told the students that the school ran off donations from people and I thought we might be able to help out. I asked them if they would be willing to "rent" the ties on Tie Tuesdays for a quarter and we could send the money to the academy. They unanimously agreed that it was a great idea.

This Tuesday the students started bringing me their quarters to rent the ties. Some students rented ties for their friends and a few even donated extra money. After the ties were all rented out I counted the money and they had given $10.45. Now this is not an extraordinarily large amount of money, but the students and I were both pleased. The class voted to wait until next week to send the money, after they had another chance to donate.

The money my students donate will probably not make a big contribution to the academy, but it just might make a difference with my students' attitude towards our school and their own opportunities. Their willingness to give has already made a big difference with the amount of respect I have for them.

What are you doing in your class to teach your students about giving?

Daraja Academy is the first free all-girls secondary school in all of East Africa.

Adding Streaming Video to Your Blog

After reading Miles Webb's, @NZWaikato, post on adding video to your blog, I decided to take up his challenge about how to stream video. First let me say this can be a very controversial subject. It seems that many educators, teachers and administration, are hesitant to open up their classrooms to public scrutiny. This is not a decision to enter into lightly. If you are interested in my story, here is a link to a post I wrote about it.

The first thing I need to address is the purpose of streaming the video. I stream video in my class so that others can see what we are doing. With a back channel, I can use the video to have a conversation with others outside my classroom. I also stream video to share specific things we are doing in class. I also use the streamed video to record events that I can post to my blogs.

Step 1, secure permission of your administration and, if necessary, parents. Our districts policies require parents to "opt-out" of being included in media. Since this includes year book, pictures for newspapers, news stories, etc. this has not been a problem. Since our district implemented the policy we only had one parent ask for their student to not participate.

Step 2, Get a camera. It is possible to use a cheap web cam without sound to an expensive camcorder that has video and audio out. I use a cheap no-name webcam in my Digital Media Center, a nice Creative webcam that is audio capable in my classroom, and an old Sony Steady Shot camcorder for video and Blue Snowball microphone for church.

If you just want to stream video without audio, don't spend a lot of money on a webcam. The video quality will be fine. If you want to record your video with or without audio using your computer you will want to invest in a high end web cam or an inexpensive camcorder. I use my camcorder with video out through the firewire port and import it into my bottom end Mac book. This gives me great video. I don't like the adio quality as well so I purchased a Blue Snowball to import the audio and it has made a noticeable difference.

Something to consider when choosing a web cam or camcorder is what will you use it for. Camcorders have the most flexibility but they cost the most. Webcams are usually inexpensive, but they have to be tethered to the computer. A seperate microphone can not only improve audio quality, but it also gives you a good tool to record audio. Here is a link to audio my students created in my class.

Step 3, choose your streaming site. I use Ustream.com to stream my video. It has several options I like including an optional chat. Here is a link to a post where I explain how I used Ustream to stream and record a presentation in my classroom with the chat enabled. There is also Stickam, and Mogulus. I periodically go back to these to see if they have improved enough or added new functions that may cause me to switch.

Step 4, start streaming. I can stream video and audio and record it with Ustream. I can place the streaming video on a blog, wiki, or a static page like Google sites using embeddable code. I can also do the same with the recorded video. This gives you lots of options.

Finally, here are some things you may want to consider streaming live: athletic events, musical events, teacher trainings, a class lesson, student presentations, science experiments, a student creating art, visitor presentations, awards assemblies, or, if you are crazy like me, everything.

If you are interested in streaming, but needs more information, don't hesitate to ask.

Little Things Add Up to Make School More Enjoyable

This may be a small post compared to the others on this blog. It isn't about broad changes in thinking,, or learning, or teaching. What it does address is class and school climate.

When Joe came in with his Tie Tuesday idea, I didn't think much about it. I had worn ties every day my first year of teaching, and I am so over that now. I thought it would be something that happened for a week or two and then it would die out. I was wrong.

Joe's next ideas was Jersey Friday. The days the staff can dress "down" we would have the students wear jerseys. Since I have many sports jerseys, I was happy to participate. I still thought it wouldn't last.

The fifth and sixth grades have been enjoying both days. They seem to enjoy being part of something special, even though it isn't anything big. Of course I was wrong.

Looking back over the last few months I can see that our classes climate has changed a little for the better because of two seemingly insignificant things. If we can get lucky and make a positive change, can't we do better with some thought and effort?

Welcome to the First #Comments4Kids Wednesday!

My classes spent the last two days commenting on blog posts. This is why we did it.

#Comments4Kids was started because several people thought that more attention needed to be spent on content created by students. They need feedback to improve and get better. They need others to notice what they create. I decided my class needed to go out and do commenting because they want others to comment on their content.

This post can also be found at Mr. C's Class Blog

Why I Stream Video

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Forgive me if the video is down. I try to keep it running 24/7, but computers are not always so kind.

Ever since I started streaming video of my classroom at Mr C's Class Blog using Ustream, people have asked me why. It really started as a lark. I was in another teacher's room helping her with a tech problem when I saw a internet cam sitting in her drawer. I asked her what she was using it for and she told me that she had it because of a satellite class that was supposed to be held in her room, but had been cancelled. I asked her if I could borrow it and she told me I could have it. I skipped back to me room wondering how I could use my new toy.

After I got it up and running, which took considerable effort because I didn't have any software to install so I had to find some streaming software to use, I showed my class that I could stream video. At the time it was simply something new and interesting to share with my class.

After hearing about two streaming services on a Leo Laporte podcast I decided to check them out. I looked at Ustream.tv and Stickam.com. I thought they both looked really complicated, but finally chose Ustream because it seemed a little easier to figure out. (I think it still is easier, although Stickam has some compelling tools that you can use too.)

After messing around with Ustream I discovered I could record video. Now I can see a reason to use the webcam, I can record stuff we do in class for the blog. I really like the idea of digital records for my students. Unfortunately, I discovered a big problem. The web cam did not have a built in microphone. So, I can record video, but I can't record audio. Once again I ran into a roadblock.

A few weeks passed and I put making video's out of my mind. Soon I received a digital camera that could take video (lousy video) that I could use so I now had no reason to use the web cam.

I don't really know what really made me think of doing the live stream all the time, It may have had something to do with watching videos of Steve Spangler doing science experiments. Surely watching Chris Pirillo taking skype calls on his net show was part of it. I know some of the seeds were planted when I read Friedman's The World is Flat and I realized my students needed to think more globally.

Finally, a real reason to stream from my classroom started to form. I wanted to share my classroom with people outside of my school. I wanted my students to show what they were doing to anyone that wanted to see. I wanted a connection to form between my students and the world.

The obvious audience for the stream would be my students' parents. Unfortunately, most of my them don't have access to computers on the internet. My video stream to this day is still more likely to be seen by someone outside of the United States than by a parent of one of my students. That is the reality I face.

What does streaming mean for my class? It is a constant reminder that our world does not end at our city limits. It is the means by which my students come to realize our world is literally an internet connection away. It is my way of showing my students they can be more than what my town can offer.

This was originally posted at Reflections on Teaching in 2.0

Post Script: I wrote this post over a year ago, and some things have changed. I have two web cams running, one in my classroom and one in the fifth grade computer lab. Mr. McClung, @jkmcclung, the sixth grade science teacher in my building is running a web cam in his classroom too. I am even contemplating adding streaming audio next year!

Blog Check: The Practical Principals

I recently discovered The Practical Principals podcast. The podcast is a conversation between two administrators: Melinda Miller, @mmiller7571, and Scott Elias, @ScottElias. Mrs. Miller is an elementary principale in Missouri and posts on The Principal Blog. Mr. Elias is an administrator in Colorado and posts on Scott J. Elias.

I found the podcast through Twitter and decided to listen to a few of the shows. As a teacher that never intends to become an administrator, I have listened with fascination about the role of the administrator. Just like students have no grasp of the job a teacher does, I realized I had no idea what an administrator does.

Two of my favorite podcasts are #10 Your Hired, which gave me great insight into hiring practices, and #12 Welcome Aboard, which deals with starting school with new teachers. Frankly, I am fascinated by both of these processes.

Both Mrs. Miller and Mr. Elias are fun to listen to. They have a rapport that makes listening enjoyable. They are both very knowledgeable and, more importantly, they work to better themselves as administrators. I would love to have either one (or both) in my building.

To sum up, if you would like to understand the principal's role in school, and enjoy listening to podcasts I recommend The Practical Principals. They have become part of my PLN.

#Comments4Kids Wednesdays

This post was supposed to be a rant on my perceived lack of support by the twitter education community in regards to student blogging. Not that they are against student blogging, that isn't the problem. The problem is many don't want to take time to comment on students' blogs.

As an adult, I love to get comments on my posts. It is important to me to know that what I say matters to others. I covet comments! Students aren't any different. They want to know someone cares about what they have to say too. Yes, they do get feedback from their teachers, but is that enough?

I tell my students all the time that blogs give them an audience they don't have with writing on paper and pencil. They have an audience that is theoretically as large as the world population. Do you think they want to put their ideas out for everyone to see? That is such a scary idea! How do you think they feel when they finally do it, but no one notices?

The idea came during a Twitter conversation with Carey Pohanka, @capohanka, a middle school teacher from Fredericksburg, VA. I had tried twice to get some fellow tweeters to post comments on her blog (see above), and she let me know that a couple (wonderful) teachers left some comments. Then she wrote this:

Then I get a message from Derek Smith ,@lovinteachin, a fifth grade teacher from Colorado Springs that said:
That was how #Comments4Kids started. Each Wednesday we ask for those of you that twitter to identify and tweet one blog post by a student that deserves to be commented on. It could be a student that posts something really awesome, or a student in your class that needs encouragement. Simply tag it as #Comments4Kids. Don't forget to do your part as well. If you see a link with that tag, click on it and leave a quick comment. Your time and effort will have a huge impact on the student that wrote the post.

Here is the link to follow the #Comments4Kids blog recommendations.

UPDATE

@jlamshed started a wiki for us to add our links. It can be found at: http://comments4kids.wikispaces.com/

Students We Love (and the Teachers Who Hate Them)

"How did make it through the year with _________?" is not an usual question to be asked by a teacher. What happens when the student identified happens to be a personal favorite? How does a student that is funny, charming, intelligent, honest, and caring become public school enemy number 1?

There are teachers, we all know some, that do not like children. Instead of treating them with respect and love, they treat them with contempt and disdain. When they aren't barking at the students about some perceived mistake or infraction, they are complaining to others about how bad their students are.

I have observed students being berated and belittled over little things by teachers who then complain about the lack of respect the students show them. How dare they backtalk or glare at them! Who do they think they are! Never mind the simple fact that the same teachers would blow their stack if another adult treated them the same way they are treating the students.

I am not writing about students that have behavior changes due to family problems, drugs, or other outside motivations. I know these students haven't changed that much because they still treat me and other teachers they had in the past with respect.

What should we do when we know teachers that take our former wonderful students and turn them into something much less? What is our responsibility to the students? What is our responsibility to those teachers?


This post, slightly modified was originally posted on Reflections on Teaching in 2.0 Although I posted this last September, the questions are as relevant today.