Growing Pains

Week three into the school year has brought cooler weather and... walls! It's amazing what you take for granted when everything is "normal."

(Without walls all the way up, I was speaking louder than I normally do, and I'm pretty loud and rambunctious!) 

Anyway, my next-door neighbor and I no longer have to talk over one another in our instruction -- a sound barrier (read: finished wall) has been installed! Don't get me wrong -- I bet that open-concept classrooms could work as intended if you had multiple teachers, grade levels, and professional development geared toward that model...but that's not what we're dealing with at Pikesville High School. 

(Walls - yay!! Also, some cool shifts of PPFs on the board). 

Now onto instruction. I've learned a lot about history through sports in these first three weeks, and I thought I would dread the class because of all the extra work going into learning new content and structuring an 80-minute lesson around it. Well, the kids are pumped about learning and sharing opinions about their views on political, social, and economic history through a medium that is comfortable for them: sports.  So far, we've covered most of a unit on Olympics and History, including the history surrounding Berlin, Mexico City, Munich, and Lake Placid.  Well, one of my colleagues approached me on Wednesday to ask if we could do a joint observation lesson with my "sports" class, and I'm all for it. In fact, three of us will be merging physical education, business education, and history into an 80-minute observation lesson with my kids -- talk about transdisciplinary planning, implementation, and learning!  Since we're in the early stages of brainstorming, I don't have many more details than that, but I am inspired to blog about it and document it so that other teachers might see the value in transdisciplnary approaches to instruction. I'm also very fortunate that I have an administration that is supportive of this approach and encouraging us to take on this challenge. 

So, look for more on that in a couple of weeks!  Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.

The New School Year

I survived the first week! To be honest, I was not ready. With the construction, moving, and non-instructional meetings, I had almost 0 time to prepare lessons. Thank goodness I spent some of my time this summer getting my EPI (Economics & Public Issues) course mapped out and planned. 

I am really excited about my students -- they got me through this week -- and I'm really hoping to get a lot of learning and joy out of a new course -- History through Sports. I'll be spending a lot of outside time learning myself -- I don't know much about the topics I'm teaching in this course, which makes me nervous. 😳

We started with the Ancient Olympics, and we went outside to our track stadium (I'm a track coach, so this helped me feel comfortable from the get-go) to try to get a feel of ancient Olympia. Of course, it's not exactly the same thing, but having the students measure out the Stadion (the only event actually held in the first 13 Olympics), measuring out current world records for disc and long jump, and reciting poetry like the ancient games did actually get them learning! They were super pumped and excited, and I'm hoping to carry that through the semester. We regrouped after each group'a activity and shared out findings. 

(photo courtesy of my awesome department chairman, William Lancaster @phs_lancaster )

I'm interested to see how I can incorporate more kinesthetic learning throughout the course as well! 

Let me know if you have suggestions! I would love your feedback!

Happy School Year to all!

-Jen

Field Trips and A Teaching Goal

Another week down, and more fun planned for my students! Here's what I'm working on this weekend and the coming weeks:

Transdisciplinary Field Experience:

This is the third year that I will be collaborating with other 11th grade US History and American Literature teachers to take about 100 11th graders to the Smithsonian for a Transdisciplinary Field Experience - a big field trip.  We met as a team yesterday to start the process of constructing the different experiences the students can choose from (they will get about 7 options) and they will follow a set agenda for the day. Options now include Espionage&The Cold War, Journalism and Headlines fromUS History, War in American History, The Native American&African American Experience, Atrocities and Oppression-Focus on the Holocaust and the Jewish-American Experience. These are currently a work in progress. Each option has an agenda and students are to keep a field journal and record artifacts to bring back to the school house for a project. Their options for the project usually center around a Prezi, creating a unique document based question using their artifacts, a persuasive essay, or some other multimedia presentation. I'm open to suggestions from anyone! My goal with a field trip is to bring information and learning back into the classroom and create new media and new student-generated material. The students have really enjoyed the trip in past years, and I love following our # on Instagram and Twitter to see student excitement. I'll be making up the # shortly before the trip in March. 

Smithsonian Night:

Last week my husband & I went to the annual Free Teachers' Night offered by the Smithsonian - we came back with so many awesome resources that I combined into one document arranged by content (I added a couple that aren't Smithsonian-related links, but I found on Twitter last week). https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArQC0FTQVLgjdHkwSEU2MUFnRExxak13enE1YjRQa3c&usp=docslist_api

I also sent this to my staff development teacher in the hopes we'll be able to create more staff-suggested content. 

(We were at the Natural History Museum for Teachers' Night)

University Research Project:

I'm also in the planning stages of taking my students to two local universities in order to learn how to authentically research a topic on American History (and those skills will transfer to all contents). I struggle with student research skills - it's my responsibility to teach them how to research correctly and validate scholarly sources (not just Google), but electronics are at their fingertips and they have the ability to find any content anywhere (I'm acutely aware of this as I type this blog post from my phone). I have introduced them to our public school's online databases for research, and in the past I stressed the importance of having a public library card to access their databases. I need more guidance in this realm. I know how to research correctly, and most of that came through self-learning as I was part of the first generation to use the internet for research purposes in college. Not having it modeled for me is leaving me a little lost - again, suggestions are welcome. Anyway, I am in the process of planning this trip - I would ultimately love to have my students be published historians before they leave my classroom! This will be a long term goal of mine. 

*The answer is probably to Google how to teach research skills and I'll be able to cull through suggestions until I find an appropriate suggestion. 

Ok - happy Saturday, and happy learning!

Edscape, Edcamp BMore, and Other Stuff

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged, mostly because I am rarely in front of a computer anymore, save for putting grades into Edline. So, when I saw Blogger had an app, I realized it was time to bite the bullet and get back into it. I'm always on my phone for almost all interactions, so it just feels right!

What I've been up to: 

I attended Edscape October 19th in New Jersey at New Milford High School. Eric Sheninger (@NMHS_Principal) hosts a fantastic conference with great break-out sessions, including a short tutorial to iBooks Author (which I was desperate for - I have been dreading sitting through hours of video to watch how to use it). The highlight for me though was listening to George Couros (@gcouros) speak - it made it so evident how desperate I have been to have true inspirational leaders in my educational experience. Eric and George spoke during the #satchat session about the challenges of giving autonomy to teachers who might not have the buy-in to the changes they implement in their school - listening to their answers and reading their blogs/tweets...well, I want to be that inspiring to my students and colleagues. 

A few weeks later, Edcamp BMore was on tap. I joined the Edcamp BMore (Baltimore) Planning Committee (@edcampbaltimore) this summer - it was AWESOME to be with such a great group of women who are passionate about teacher growth. I learned so much from Shannon (@montysays), Chris (@ccshriver), Margaret (@teachingdaisy), Jenna (@teachbaltshaw), and Molly (@historyfriend), particularly how exciting it is to plan an event that ultimately runs itself due to participant-driven break-out sessions. 

We planned a lot and for many months in advance, but nothing is better than watching what all the educators who attend bring to the "unconference."  One of my favorite moments was the session on building relationships to foster school change facilitated by an assistant principal at Edgewood High School, Brad Spence (@therealbspence) https://docs.google.com/a/gfs.org/document/d/1e3kZRpXgpv2Osu8JmlEv2LZWTk0xQoq9yeOyzzkJEK4/edit?pli=1

I was so excited about the info I learned here that I immediately shared it with our Advisory Planning Staff at Pikesville High School. We've been struggling to know the best way to build relationships between staff and students, and among the student population as well. The videos Brad showed that his school put together were so inspiring and really energized our Advisory Leaders. We hope we will get permission to implement them in our school. 

Other Fun Facts: 

The last few weeks I've been absorbed with the PHS Boys Soccer Team - they're in the MD 1A State Championship Game this Thursday, so many of my students are pumped for that. I love my students and hope that they know it - they're awesome and each individually unique. I have had the privilege of teaching some of them for the third year of their high school experiences - it's been a true blessing to be able to see them mature before my eyes. 

Ok - blogging is back!! Let's hope I can stick with it!

Happy Fall!!

Who's Leading the Way?

I just read a very insightful blog post by George Couros (@gcouros) on the power that school systems have to kill innovation...and how that might have devastating long-term consequences for our students.  I have to share it and add that, if teachers aren't allowed to lead the way in the edtech revolution, then who will? While some systems are blessed with administrators who are open to technology integration, not all are--and teachers heavily outweigh administrators.  Aren't grassroots movements sometimes the most successful?

The shutdown mentioned in the article sounds quite frustrating and counter-productive, but teachers need to keep our heads up and continue to find innovative ways to reach our students and parents with tools they use and social media sites they frequent--in order to teach them how to use these tools and sites responsibly.

Edcamp BMore - The Baltimore Edcamp Experience

     Yesterday I attended Edcamp Baltimore--Edcamp Bmore--Be More! Since it was my first true Edcamp experience, I was very excited to watch it all unfold (I went to Edscape last month in New Milford, NJ, which was amazing and had preplanned sessions, but I had never attended an Edcamp "unconference" before).  I met some incredible local educators that I hope to stay connected to, and I also met some of my PLN face-to-face, which is always very exciting.  The organizers of Edcamp Baltimore were nervous about whether the schedule would fill up with volunteers, but after just a few minutes, you could tell that would not be a problem - here's what their schedule ended up looking like after the planning phase.  I was excited and nervous to "lead" a session, but the unconference model helps alleviate that pressure because the session ends up being a conversation among educators asking questions, offering suggestions, and problem solving.  The energy at edcamps is truly contagious and invigorating, and it should be a model for our professional development days in school. 

     I took a lot away from the experience--I learned what it means to be a teacherprenuer (thanks to Andrew Coy, @andrewcoy, for the great discussion and opening my eyes to this concept).  It was fascinating to hear about events where teachers and techies meet up on a weekend and try to problem-solve and create apps or tools for the classroom.  I'm interested in trying out an EdTech meet-up soon in the Maryland region--maybe I'll create something really cool!  My big drive lately has been to create my own open-source AP US History text for my classroom, especially with the new College Board curriculum design rolling out next year.  Along with the teacherprenuer discussion, I was also able to participate in a discussion about how to take the Edcamp/unconference experience back to my school and help implement it in our school.  We discussed the possibility of resistance from staff and colleagues and some ways to counter that resistance, and we also heard successful implementation models from Reed Gillespie, @rggillespie, and Phil Griffins, @philgriffins, both administrators in schools in Virginia.  It was nice to see the example described from the top down, which I think can make the transistion easier.  Hopefully, I can help convince some of my colleagues to see the benefit of an unconference model--it is more valuable, participants have a buy-in because some of them are leading disucssions, and the energy that comes from the collaboration can help us refocus potential negative energy and morale issues in order to re-invigorate our teaching.  I think Mr. Gillespie said it best in his reflection on his edcamp-modeled professional development day--"Teachers were actively engaged, asking questions and taking notes as opposed to the traditional PD where teachers are grading papers, reading books, playing on their cell phones, crocheting, etc."

    Thanks so much to the Edcamp Baltimore Co-Founders Shannon Montague, @montysays, and Chris Shriver, @ccshriver - it was a wonderful experience, and I can't wait to participate again next year!
    
     Here's the wiki for Edcamps in the US--check it out!

Edscape Conference October 13, 2012

Yesterday was probably the most invigorating and exhausting day of professional development I have ever experienced.  After following people on Twitter since this summer who have been promoting the Edscape Conference in New Milford, New Jersey, I knew I had to sign up and see some of my favorite Tweeters in person because they have inspired me to make changes in my classroom - including Eric Sheninger (@NMHS_Principal), Tom Whitby (@tomwhitby), Vicky Davis (@coolcatteacher), Jerry Blumengarten (@cybraryman1).  They didn't let me down - I learned so much in such a short amount of time that it will take months for me to really process it all, but I will get there.

Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) was the keynote speaker for Edscape, and her hour-long talk felt like five minutes.  It was so powerful to hear her personal stories and the reminder that the only person I can change in education is ME - I can't change the standardized tests, the politicians that make education policy, or the access rules that the local informational technology office makes for my school district.  The only thing I can change is me.  This was such a powerful reminder, especially as I get into the fall/winter slump of cold weather and shorter days - the bane of my teaching existence. 

All of the tools and ideas I took away from yesterday's conference are a bit much for one blog post, but I will mention a couple.  Vicki's talk showed how she has her students converse with classrooms throughout the world and work with them on global projects - a flattened classroom as she calls it.  I would like to get my classroom to be a flattened classroom - to have my students interact with others throughout the county, the state, the nation, and the world.  One of the session presentations I went to was about Skyping and Google Hangouts presented by Bill Krakower (@wkrakower) - here's his blog post on his latest "Mystery Location Call" which is one way to flatten a classroom.  In his presentation, he demonstrated how to conduct a mystery location call in Goodle Hangouts by chatting with Jerry Blumengarten and Paula Naugle (@plnaugle).  I need to brainstorm on how to amp it up for a high school classroom, but I love the idea of Skyping or having a Google Hangout with an expert in history, or maybe even skyping a national park tour. 

I also learned about some tools that got me very excited about organizing all of my edtech/history content in one location.  There are LiveBinders (which I personally find to be a little unweildy and prefer using ones that are already made) and Evernote (which I love and use everyday to organize my lecture notes, historical research websites, and edtech tools), but I learned about Symbaloo, an organizational tool that puts tiles/buttons that link to my favorite websites that I can organize however I want - I can have a symbaloo for EdTech tools, one for the Revolutionary War era, one for the Jacksonian era, one for current events in history news, etc.  And the great thing about organizing things this way is I can create a public link to one of my symbaloos and link it to my class website - that way my students can use them for research and class projects.  I was so giddy in the presentation by Bruce Reicher (@breicher) yesterday that I almost screamed!!  Here's his public link to a symbaloo that explains how to use Symbaloo and Pinterest.

I don't know how far I'm going to get this year in incorporating all of the things I've learned from Twitter as well as Edscape, but I am going to try my best...because I can only change ME.  So far, I have my students blogging on a weekly or bimonthly basis (depending on the class) and using Twitter for extra credit outside of the classroom.  I'm taking baby steps, but I'm going to do my best because my kids deserve the best.