Woe or Whoa?

Well, the first week and a half of school is over and I am tired...mighty powerful tired.  But I am going to try to put some thoughts on the page that are a reflection of the last week and a half. ( We started on a Wednesday and then had Labor day...go figure).

• On the day before school starts, we have a staff event called "Convocation".  This is a combination event that starts with coffee ( I usually skip that) introductions (new staff and the members of the board of education) and a kind of pep talk for the new year.  I always  enjoy the Superintendent's message.  So far, no woe but here goes....I happened to sit near some teachers who had already printed off their class lists.  They all taught in the same department but different classes/levels.  They spent  some of the down time reviewing each others lists and  talking about their history with students.  "Oh (s)he is smart but he doesn't do his work"; "(S)he  doesn't' really do anything."  In my brain I was like "OMG! Really?"  These kids are going to walk into a room where someone has already decided who they are.  I like to think of each day as a new day...and sometimes that can mean each period is a new period.  Whoah! Let students prove who they are....

• I had to change classrooms.  I have to admit, the  previous classroom was palatial.  I had more space than  anyone could imagine and we used it all.  I'm in a room about 2/3 the size...maybe even 1/2 the size.  It is now the  mini version of the palatial room. And when you put 24 bodies in the room during 9th period (26 if you count me and the paraprofessional)....it is packed....like sardines.  In the old room I had  12 desk top computers for student use and a printer.  The new room came with 4.  The IT guys (who I  appreciate very, very much) were able to  move  6 computers from the palace to the   mini palace.  The printer finally got moved yesterday.  Call this one "Was a woe! Not a woe anymore!"

• Yeah...lets talk about moving. Last spring  I spent about  2 days packing.  This summer I came in and unpacked in half a day.   (This is my  3rd move in 5 years...I'm getting really good at downsizing) Today, I finally got all of the cabinets labeled.   Another "Not a woe anymore!"

• This week was our Open House.  It went from 6:30 pm until 8:53 (don't ask).  Yeah, lets just call it 9:00.  Needless to say...home by 9:30 (my usual bedtime) and what a day.  Our school is in the middle of the city.   Parking  is a premium and when you invite the parents of 1400+ students...well lets just say I don't leave the building.  I find some work to do and snack on something  to hold me over.  This one gets a "whoa" and a "woe".  I'm tired...mighty powerful tired.  TGIW...Thank God its the Weekend! (No Woe!)

You’ve Come a Long Way Baby!

 Yeah, I stole that title from my ex favorite cigarette brand but when you think about technology, what a journey it has been. 

I recently finished reading a book by Erma Bombeck, “A Marriage Made in Heaven or Too Tired for an Affair”.  This great read was a treasure found at Half Priced Books, and details her journey from engaged, to married raising kids, to the first moments of empty nesters.  

I took great delight in the chapter on technology.  In a section of the book labeled 1979, with a chapter title “Technology’s Coming! Technology’s Coming!” Erma and her husband have purchased their first VCR.  They are going out to dinner on a Friday night and want to record “Dallas” (what everyone watched on Friday nights).  You know that joke about not knowing how to set the time on the VCR…well, they spent so much time trying to figure it all out, that when Dallas came on they thought they were recording;  as it turned out, they were just watching it and went to dinner when it was over.    I had a similar   story with my parents.  They bought a VCR so that they would have a clock in the family room.  They had no idea what to do with the machine otherwise until I introduced them to a little “mom and pop” video store next to one of their favorite pizza shops.  Then the fun started.

I was the coolest kid in my dorm cuz I had an electric typewriter. 

I remember my father setting up his first computer in the basement.  You had to   enter prompts after the C:\ and I had a list of steps to follow to get to the word processing program.  I told my father: “This computer thing is never gonna last.” I guess I missed that one!

I remember graduating from college and getting my first job.  I began to save money so I could buy a stereo with a CD player.  It was one of those all in one deals; turn table, dual cassette deck, am/fm radio and cd player.  I had seen the writing on the wall and knew that CD’s were the up and coming technology.  I was sooo ahead of the curve!

After 2 years in the work world, I returned to school and boy that computer thing was really important as I began to write papers for my Master’s Degree in Education.    I love the sound of a good dot matrix printer! I still have documents in my portfolio with lesson plans printed with those little dots.

After another 2 years, I landed my first full time teaching job.  I had 2 old (at least I perceived them to be old) Apple IIe computers in my classroom.  I had 5 ¼ inch floppy discs with math games and Oregon Trail.  The lighting of the screen was green.  Green on black, no other color; it was one step above the Light Bright game. (Google it if you don’t remember or should I say aren’t old enough to know).  

I don’t know how I quite discovered the computer labs in our building but one day, I stumbled into one and started to play around.  We had a Mac Lab and a PC lab.  The Mac lab was smaller and less used so it was perfect for me to bring my classes in.  I became proficient at all aspects of ClarisWorks.  I had my students using the draw program to create their own notes about geometric figures.  I had them use the draw program to also design their own t-shirt iron-ons that I took home and printed on my good color printer.  I used the ClarisWorks data base program to manage paperwork and communications with the teachers of student I worked with.  I was one of the first teachers to use the email program (I think it was called White Pine) and I emailed my cousin in England (studying abroad from Case Western Reserve).  It looked like a DOS program. 

As technology was developing, I became rather proficient at the Microsoft world as well.  I used to tell people I was bi-platformal as I could operate in both the Mac Lab and PC lab.  Eventually, I caught the attention of one of the   Media Specialist in our building and she recruited me to teach teachers technology classes in the Microsoft Office world.   I managed my way through Word and PowerPoint pretty well.  I have learned a lot about Excel especially from my husband who is “certified” and I think I am one of the few people who absolutely loves Access. 

I love technology!  I am not about technology for technology’s sake but it is such an expansion of the universe.  I mean really, this morning I was sitting in church and I was reading a book.  (I read while my husband and the band rehearse).  The author referenced some guy and his reflection on God.  Not knowing who this guy was, I pulled out my IPhone 4 and googled him.  I read about this person who I had never heard of before.  He had a pretty lengthy Wikipedia page.    It was that instantaneous answer that in another decade I probably would have been too busy to seek out.  I love being able to pull out my phone and map my way to somewhere. 

Most of all, I love having an app that collects all the blogs  I like to read and being able to share them with people who may also find them valuable.   I was in a presentation one day and the speaker referenced something that I have never forgotten.  I believe the reference was made about Chris Anderson’s view of innovation (He’s the “curator “of the TED TALKS). In an article he wrote for Wired Magazine he talks about the kinds of people involved in innovation.  Excerpted from Wired article (TED Curator Chris Anderson on Crowd Accelerated Innovation BY CHRIS ANDERSON  12.27.10):  

[Anderson talks about these people]:

• The trend-spotter, who finds a promising innovation early.
•  The evangelist, who passionately makes the case for idea X or person Y.
• The superspreader, who broadcasts innovations to a larger group.
• The skeptic, who keeps the conversation honest.
• General participants, who show up, comment honestly, and learn.

 I AM A SUPERSPREADER.   I learn something and try to   match it up to people who can use it. 

Where will technology take me tomorrow?...A long way baby!

Back to school….

So the #1 question with the beginning of August is:  “Are you ready to go back to school?”  

Everyone asks.  Most expect me to say no. 

As of July 31….I am ready.  

Don’t get me wrong…I love summer vacation. I get all kinds of projects done around our house and yard. This year,  I had the most amazing summer.  My husband and I traveled to Utah for a vacation. Two days of the vacation were a conference called Nerdtacular and the rest was touristy stuff.  The conference was fun and entertaining.  We met podcast personalities that we regularly listen to.  The rest of the week-long vacation was spent sightseeing and hiking.    It was our first time in Utah and we cannot wait to go back. This was early July. The second fun event of my summer vacation was the arrival of my parents who live in Florida.  Fifteen years ago, they decided to become permanent residents of the “Sunshine State”.  I love my parents dearly and when they come to town, we try to pack into  10 days all the things we would do together if they lived here….shopping, dinners, movies, visiting relatives and friends….The  10 days they usually stay are NEVER  enough.  It gets harder and harder, as they get older, to have them so far away. They are in generally good health but…well…just saying.

So today, they departed to go back and yeah, I’m ready to go back to school.  The school anxiety has started.  The prime indicator is dreams.  I have dreams of being in school and that kind of ends summer vacation.  The next thing is checking.  I am constantly checking for dates.  I was supposed to have a meeting this week.  I fully knew it was supposed to be on the 6th, but last night I could not go to sleep without double checking school email to confirm it. As it turns out, the meeting has been canceled.  I have signed up for a 2 day seminar later this month and I know I will not only be double checking on that meeting's dates and times but also checking on the  first day of school….The “checking” makes me crazy because I know the dates  but I worry at the same time so I keep checking…..

Yeah…I’m ready….I laugh because I usually perceive that parents are always ready to send their kids back to school almost the week after  summer vacation starts.  More and more however, I find parents complaining that school starts too early…that school should not start until after Labor Day….and in general, many parents seem to enjoy having their kids home.  So, while parents might not be ready for school to start…I am and when the kids get there...I'll be really ready!

Into our Skin

Last night, my husband and I attended our 30th high school reunion.  Yeah, 30…the big 3-0.  I can’t believe it.  I have been to all three reunions ( 10, 20 and now the  30).   It’s kind of funny because I don’t really feel like I have a lot (if any) ties to the people I graduated with.  In fact,  there are only  2 people I am tied to from that time period: My best friend, who graduated  a year behind me and I have known her since we played soccer in 6th grade.  And , my husband, who I hooked up with at the  20 year reunion, started hanging out with, eventually dating seriously  and   married  2 years after.   Otherwise,   I see these people every ten years, make promises to keep in contact and then re-acquaint myself at the next class of ’84 gathering.  It’s kind of funny because for those 4 years, those people in that school were "the be all, end all" of existence.  As a teacher in a high school, I still kind of live in that world but  I always tell my students that life changes after high school and the people  you surround yourself with  in high school may not always be the people  you surround yourself with in life.  Of course they don’t believe me and maybe for them it is not true but…..

So some highlights of the evening:

• I was kind of an odd duck in high school because  the first 8 years of my  academic career were spent   in a  Catholic school(Saint Barnabas)and then I transferred to the local public school.  Besides being a victim of the blue plaid uniform fashion blindness,   I was kind of a wall flower in high school.  However, of the approximate 50 or so classmates who were in attendance, at least 10 of them were my Barnabas comrades.    Several of whom were the class officers who have been the masterful planners of the  reunions.  It was cool to  see so many of my peers as stand out members of our class.
• My husband and I were a trivia question.  The main planner of the reunion, one of my Barnabas peers, kind of takes  credit for  us getting together…if she had never planned the reunion, we  would have never met ( I think that I show she sees it) so she is very happy about us being together and made us a  trivia question.
• A guy came up to my husband very excited to see him at the reunion.  My husband had no clue who he was by face or name.  I asked this gentleman to  give a story about them, hoping that it would jar a memory for my husband.  He told a very comical story that involved another student and a fight.  The “fight” never happened but my husband and this excited guy got in trouble anyways and had to stand by the pole during recess (punishment?).  The  third student  walked over to my  husband and his  co-conspirator and taunted them.  The co-conspirator  punched the taunter and  my husband and  the co-conspirator ended up in the principal’s office. The principal, familiar with the antics of the taunter, kind of dismissed the boys as the tauter deserved what he got.  My husband still had no recollection of the story.  Now, however, I can tease him about ending up in  the principal’s office.
• The reunion was in a restaurant/bar.  The reunion had  half of the restaurant with a back party room where they had food set up.  In the other half of the restaurant were the non-reunion  patrons and a band.  The band was very good.  We stepped over to enjoy an 80s era song that they were playing and were standing on the edge of what was an aisle way dance floor.  There were 2 women dancing.  One of these women danced her way over and started dancing with my husband.  After 2-3 minutes of dancing with him, she leaned over and said “Are you two married?”  He replied “Yes.”  She practically ran away.  I told him “You've still got it baby!"

The faces may change…

There were a number of people there who  just look exactly the same as they did in high school.  Even if I don’t know their names, I could see them  and  know that I had seen them before.  It seems I am one of those people because  that’s what they say to me.  “You have not changed at all (except in hair color).  There were some who were totally different and I could not believe it was them.  The coolest thing though was  whether we looked “exactly the same” or totally different, we all seemed to have grown "into our skin".  We all seemed so comfortable with who we were and  what we had become.   I always try to help my students understand that  while high school is everything to them, it is like a minute of your life.  The beauty of life is  who you become and how you  embrace the person that you are. I learned this most from my husband who said one of my most attractive qualities that he   liked about me was that when he met me, I was “totally comfortable in my skin”.

To blog or not to blog....

If you are reading this, you’re probably like…”oh here she goes again with a resolution to blog again”.  

My husband and I recently attended an event called Nerdtacular.  We were drawn to this event by podcasters we (he mainly) listen to via our smart devices.  The Nerdtacular conference featured different live shows that these podcasters create.  Many of the attenders were podcasters themselves.  I never really realized how widespread podcasting is.  It’s like you pick a topic and find some friends to talk about that topic and then you upload it to a place where people can download it and listen to it at their leisure.  While most of the “conference “was entertaining, there was a breakout session on podcasting.  We, (my husband and I) attended this breakout session.  I was mainly interested in it as I see it as a valuable classroom tool and for the life of me, I cannot figure out why more teachers are not using it. What better way to let student review your lecture than to re-listen to it at their own pace? When the breakout session was finished, we were both really jazzed about podcasting.  However, we don’t know what to talk about and that soon fizzled our excitement.  We then discussed our blogs which I am not faithful to but my husband is a pretty avid blogger. http://nocturnecsh.blogspot.com/

  

One of the major avenues to improve teaching is reflection.  If you reflect on your practice, you can look at ways to improve what you do.  So, I suggested to my husband that we set aside time during our week to blog.  We usually have a date night on Fridays but sometimes that moves to another night because of different events.  We decided to make our date night Saturday and use Fridays for “reflection” and writing.  I have to say, he first proposed using Monday nights but I thought it would be too difficult to reflect on the first day of the week and I suggested Fridays.   So this is my first “Friday” Reflection.

I think as far as the podcasting goes, I will use the medium once school starts.  There are some on line applications that allow teachers to capture notes and post them on line for students to review.  While this is not a “podcast” in the truest sense, I gained enough knowledge from the podcasting breakout session to know I have the equipment and as the presenters kind of said “just start doing it”.

Now the blogging.  I am going to try to pick out one really good thing that happened over the week and one not so good thing and reflect on why the good thing was good and how I can improve the not so good thing.    

We will see what we will see.  Until next reflection Friday!

Irony

I find it ironic that there is a belief that standardized testing will improve student learning while there is a supposed issue that businesses cannot find "qualified" employees. Haven't we been doing standardized testing for at least the last 20 years? The employment pool would come from these students.....seems to me that the standardized testing may have had the opposite effect?

Just wondering?

One Week of School Completed

The first few weeks of school are so telling.  I am starting my  20th year of teaching...I don't think I am old enough to be an "old teacher" but  20 years says a lot.

I have spent  5 days with all of my classes.  They have told me a lot about themselves whether they know it or not.

I have found the  "leave me alone...I don't need any help" students.
I have found the "I need help with everything I do" students.
I have found the "You need to  watch everything I do or you'll be in trouble" students.
And I still have a contingent of  students that I do not have pegged yet but every year some of them just scream their needs during the  first days.

I also seem to have the most focused group of 9th graders I have seen in a long time.  They have been working like mad all week on their first assignments.  They also seem to have very engaged parents who have written me  notes and emails about  how they like what I am doing.

I feel a good year starting!