Sweet Sixteen

     

     As John Cougar Mellencamp once said, "Hold on to sixteen, as long as you can".  (Yes, I am a hopeless 80's girl.)   Right now I am drinking celebrating being (almost) done with my 16th CCU tech class from the wonderful TT4T people in my district.  (insert round of applause)

      I was one of the few who didn't get a master's degree until later in my teaching career, so I was already at "that level" on the pay scale....getting my degree didn't move me across.  :(  So, still "bottomed out" with my fabulous K-12 Reading masters obtained in May 2012, I set out to move across to +18 by the end of this summer.  Well, I must have let my ambitions get the best of me, because at the end of this week, I will have accumulated +36 hours! 

     As I said, sixteen of these hours were earned by honing my technology skills with the help of Ann Feldmann and Brent Catlett, gurus of all things tech.   I have learned SO MUCH from these classes.  I have Google Formed, Google Doc'ed, Pinned, Tweeted, Apped, Blogged, made movies, made podcasts, Flipped, and every other "tech verb" ending in -ed.  I have learned that much of what I used personally could be very useful professionally, too.  I mean, come on....how many of you knew Pinterest had great educational value?!  And that gazillions of educators are Tweeting tips, websites, articles, and lessons at all hours of the day?  (I still think originally thought that when Catlett would say "Let's Tweet that to #tt4t!", he was a little off his rocker.)  And, I'm proud to say that I can almost totally keep up with my 12-year-old computer/tech genius son with all things electronic.  Thanks Ann and Brent!  I wouldn't be where I am today without you.  (a little graduation speech there)

     If any other Bellevue teachers out there are reading this and have contemplated taking an online CCU class, DO IT!  At twenty-five bucks a class, it is the best investment in your tech-future you will ever make.  And, I will read your new blog!  I will stalk follow you on Twitter! I will re-pin your great ideas from Pinterest!  And, you will become a better teacher.  If all else fails, you will at least know what a Tweet is.
      Or, you may end up taking sixteen classes, and being pretty proud of it.
    

Equine Envy

My niece got a horse the other day.  I've never been so jealous of an eight-year-old in my whole life.

Let's Start at the Beginning

I grew up on a farm.  I loved everything about  it....the sounds, the open fields, riding in the combine with my Dad, driving tractor for baling hay....even the smells of the cows and pigs.  I was the epitome of "farm girl".  I showed swine in 4-H at the county and state fairs (beat that, city girls).  But the one thing I always wanted was a horse.  I begged my dad to get me one.  The answer was always the same:  "You know who will end up taking care of it!"  I would, Dad!  But he never seemed to believe or be swayed by my heartfelt pleas.

Hints, Clues, and Everything Equine

I plotted to show my pessimistic father that I was indeed serious about this request and quite capable of caring for such a majestic animal.  I was never a "girly girl", but I ramped up the tomboy act a notch.  I latch hooked an entire rug that had a horse's head on it.  (OK, maybe that was more Martha

Stewart-ish than tomboy in retrospect.)  Instead of my usual Barbies (OK, I was a tiny bit girly girl), I asked for Johnny West's wife, Jane, and her horse.  She came with all the Western goodies a girl could ask for...boots, ropes, a cowgirl hat, and the best saddle ever!  None of this subtle coercion, or the not-so-subtle begging, did any good.  I never did get a horse to call my own.

Fast Forward

During the next 33 years, most of which I have lived NOT on a farm, I would go on numerous trail rides, ride with friends who had horses, and tried to ride wherever we happened to be vacationing.  Trail riding with my 11-year-old son in the Teton Mountain Range would top my list of "greatest things ever".  I cry my eyes out at movies like War Horse and Secretariat.  (Don't know whatever happened to that latch hook rug, though.)  So, imagine my surprise when I get a text from my brother, saying something like this:  Lauren got a new pet.  It's not staying at our house, but you'll have fun with it when you are here.  Hmmmm....interesting.  A kitten?  A puppy?  A liger?  A cow, perhaps?  Then comes the picture that turns me a vicious shade of green.  REALLY???? My childhood dream, staring me in the face...with her big 'ol brown eyes and beautiful bay coat.  I never thought it was possible to be jealous of an eight-year-old, but there it was. 

I have forgiven my dad for never getting me a horse (well, MOSTLY forgiven, anyway).  My niece says I am allowed to ride her horse if I let her have my old barbies.  All but Jane, little girl....all but Jane.

Projector + iPad + Apple TV = Success!

      I was going to start out by saying that my Dongle is my favorite piece of technology equipment in my classroom, but then I thought maybe it was inappropriate. My seventh graders sure do chuckle, however, whenever I say it! Seriously, my black "tank" projector cart hooked up to my iPad, WITH my Apple TV of course, is my go-to tech gadget of choice when teaching. I absolutely love that I can walk around the classroom instead of being tied down, like when my computer is hooked up to my projector.

      I have found so many nifty apps to use in my English/reading classroom! For example, I can quickly take a picture of any worksheet, such as a Daily Oral Language sheet, and pop it into Skitch. From there I can project it immediately and also do the corrections on the iPad with my stylus for the entire class to see!

      While teaching the novel Crispin, I bought the book on my Kindle, used the Kindle app, took a screen shot of the pages for Chapter 1, again popped it into Skitch, and we annotated the text right up on the screen! (Can you tell Skitch is one of my favorite apps?!) I LOVE my iPad and my Apple TV...the perfect marriage for classroom fun and success!

 Image from pcmag.com

Reflection

     Looking back on the previous school year is almost painful for me. It was, let's just say, a very rough year. A majority of the students didn't seem to want to learn, and, after a while, I lost some of my desire to teach, too. However, in retrospect, I did have a few lessons that went extremely well.
     One that stands out was a debate I had my 7th grade English classes do. The topic: school uniforms. For those of you who do not teach middle school, those kiddos LOVE to voice their opinions. My challenge was to get them to see that "voicing their opinion" and "backing up that opinion with facts" are two very different things! I did not let them choose what position to take...I assigned them "FOR" or "AGAINST". This led into another great discussion of becoming an excellent debater. You do not even have to believe in the position you are "fighting for"....you just have to present the best argument.
       Something clicked with my usually unruly group. They put a lot of work into researching and preparing for the debate, and when the day came, to my surprise, they did a fantastic job. Classic interrupters sat quietly, taking notes for rebuttal. My usual loudmouth students used "inside" voices and calmly presented their facts. I sat in amazement as the "roughest group" I've had in seventeen years presented one of the best debates I've seen (well, for 12-year-olds, anyway!). I did look up much of the research for them, as it was fourth quarter, and access to a computer lab was nonexistent. I discussed the issue, the ground rules, and the format of debate for one class period, gave them two class periods to prepare and practice, and another two class periods for the actual debate. I was so incredibly pleased by the outcome that I am going to plan a debate for next year!