Ready for the First Day! 8 Things I Hope to Remember..

A view of our new furniture!

1. 

Another view of the classroom.

Tomorrow is the first day of school and I am excited, nervous, and happy, but most of all, feeling that "butterfly-stomach" anticipation of a new beginning with my incoming 4th graders.

As  I try not to let my mind rest on, "Oh my gosh, what did I forget to do," I am taking this opportunity to remind myself of my intentions for tomorrow.

1. First, and foremost, I want my students to feel the warmth of the classroom environment. I want them to sense the welcome, to know that the space belongs to them.
2. I want to be calm and present with each student as I learn his/her name. 
3. Even though the beginning of school comes packed with discussions about classroom expectations, I want to allow room for spontaneity and playfulness as we go about our day.
4. Daily reflection will become a part of our routines, with exit ticket type survey questions as a way for me to check in on the class and determine if any individual needs more attention from me. 
5. Making mistakes, celebrating them, and learning from them will become commonplace as I model my own silly mistakes on the first few days. 
6. Developing a class culture that promotes authenticity and risk-taking in learning will take time. I need to allow time for a daily class meeting to build rapport and trust, encourage collaboration, and help students refine their voices.
7. Students will be more anxious than I am! I need to validate the range of feelings that returning to school can evoke.
8. Parents will want to know what is going on in class. I intend to blog about our learning more often this year and share the great insights of our students.

What is first and foremost in  your mind as you begin the school year? 

My Interview with a Hero: Author Lynda Mullaly Hunt Talks about One for the Murphy's

Photo from LyndaMullalyHunt.com

(note: this post was cross-posted on The Nerdy Book Club Blog but contains a few variations, namely the interview posted in segments) 

You may know that I have a variety of interests related to my work with children and families. One of my passions is celebrating the strength and resilience of those who overcome difficult situations. It's no surprise, then, that I fell in love with the book One for the Murphys and the character of Carley. I had the chance of a lifetime when Lynda Mullaly Hunt agreed to talk with me on Skype last week! 

Here's my story:


It's not every day you read a book that reaches inside, grabs your heart, and takes it on a journey through laughter, tears, and hopeful moments of reflection. One for the Murphy's inspired me to think back on my time as a foster care social worker and classroom teacher and consider the incredible strengths and resilience of children I've met, and the families who became "their heroes." Carley's honest voice also touched the child inside of me who had a difficult time fitting in, validating my own trials and tribulations of growing up.

After I finished One for the Murphy's, I tweeted to Lynda Mullaly Hunt, expressing my gratitude for this marvelous book. She kindly replied to my expression of being "authorstruck!"

After more conversation with Lynda on Twitter, and recalling a prior unrelated request from Colby Sharp to guest post on the Nerdy Book Club Blog, I had a brainstorm: What if I asked Lynda to do an interview on Skype? I mustered up my nerve and sent her a DM (direct message) on Twitter. In the blink of an eye it seemed, she responded, yes! 

Since friends recommended that I split up the interview into segments, something I didn't realize was easy to do with Tubechop , I reposted here with the interview broken up into topics for easier viewing.

Introduction: Meeting Lynda!

How Carley called to Linda as a 12 year old girl.

What Linda thinks of foster parents.

Getting Personal: Lynda's own experience of strength and resilience that added so much to her authentic voice 

Fictional characters who inspired Lynda as a kid  

 
Carley's counting and coping techniques 






  Lynda the lyricist and the power of music  

How will Carley cope? 





Getting to know Toni, loving the Red Sox, and fitting in

 

Will we hear from Carley again? 





 
Lynda's message to Carley

As you can tell from the smile pasted on my face during the interview, I had an incredible time talking with Lynda. She is truly a hero in her willingness to share such a powerful and hopeful story.

Thank you Lynda, for sharing your time, and for letting me delve into the heart and soul of your fabulous book.

Developing Resilience in the Classroom

Thanks to this article Promoting Resilience - Why it matters   I was able to find this poster highlighting ways to build resilience in school and record this screencast with my ideas. 

ISTE12 Reflections: Lessons Shared Through Pictures

For my second ISTE12 post, I thought it would be fun to try a new tool: jux, a picture, slideshow site, so here it is:

ISTE12: Reaching New Levels of Learning Together 


How will you try something new and "take the stairs' to becoming a better educator?

ISTE12: Reflections from Tuesday 6/26

Sorry for the delayed post. I don't like writing on the run, and it takes me awhile to complete my thoughts. SO: with that, I share with you my first reflective post about ISTE12, written on Tuesday evening:

So here I am on Tuesday night, back earlyish from EdTech Karaoke night, one of the biggest parties of #ISTE12. Why did I leave when others were still outside clamoring to get in? Perhaps it was just that: people were crowding, clamoring, and ready to party, while I was perfectly satisfied with the rich conversations I'd been having with so many wonderful educators I have met through Twitter.  It was time to go back to the hotel, let the spinning wheels settle, and recharge my introvert self. 

I wanted to take a few moments, though, to share some of my top 10 highlights so far from my time at ISTE12.

1) Everyone says it, and I can't deny it: having face to face conversations with people you already have a shared history with through daily tweets, is one of the most interesting and rewarding experiences ever. I have probably met over 100 people that I chat with regularly, and talking face to face and sharing our stories has been priceless.  As I told Jackie Gerstein, it's like starting on page 100 of a book when you meet someone face to face after talking regularly online!

Ok, ok, so it's not the best picture of me, but it captures an important time, getting to know my Twitter hero and now good friend, Jackie, (@jackiegerstein) who I met just briefly last year at ISTE11.

Hanging out with the fabulous @joannjacobs68 was a highlight for sure!

I love the look of pure joy as Marialice (@mbfxc), Lisa (@teachingwthsoul) and Susan (@s_bearden) chat.

At SocialEdcon, with @joannjacobs68, @jackiegerstein,@janwells,@plnaugle

 Highlight #2:

2) Co-facilitating a session with Jackie Gerstein, one of my Twitter heroes, at SocialEDCon the unconference on Saturday, 6/23, before the official conference began on Sunday. Although I was a bit nervous about submitting an idea for a discussion, (but thanks to Jackie Gerstein who strongly encouraged me, I did!)  I was thrilled when 30 or so people pulled up chairs into the circle where we shared ideas about how we can use technology to actually facilitate social and emotional learning skills.  You can read more about this on this site where we added resources and invited others to share. You can also read the tweets on this Storify by Jackie Gerstein.  Keep your eyes open for an upcoming Edutopia blog post where I wrote about this powerful session! 

One of the best parts of this session was that no one left! People were looking at each other, actively listening to the powerful stories. An #eduwin for sure! Thanks Lisa Dabbs for tweeting this picture!





3) The parties were great! Yes, even me, former shy girl, said that! Although I did not stay out very late at any of them, I had a great time at the Edubros party, the Edtech startup party, the Google party, and finally, Edtech Karaoke.  I loved getting the chance to say hi to people I had missed during the day. 

I finally got to meet Julie Hembree! (@mrs_hembree) at Karaoke!

George Couros and the real-deal Erin Klein who I got to see often at the conference :-)

Julie, JoAnn, Sandy, Jan, and Paula

At the Google party with @Janwells, @teachingwthsoul, @plnaugle and @edutopiabetty

4) Hanging out with inspiring prolific teacher bloggers like Erin Klein of Kleinspiration, and young entrepreneurs like the co-founder of Kidblogs, Matt Hardy, who was a teacher and brought his expertise into building a platform made for teachers was inspirational. I can't believe I didn't get a picture with Matt!  Also, I got to see my buddies from Remind101, ClassDojo, and Educreations. Wow! They even hosted one of the best social gatherings at #ISTE12 with their start-up party. 

Sam( aka Sammypinksocks)  from @classdojo with Diane Main (@Dowbiggin)

Angela Watson, Lisa Dabbs, and Erin Klein deep in conversation.

    

5) Getting a #temt walk in with the fabulous Jerry, @cybraryman1 and the crew below, kayaking with Jackie Gerstein, and finally Zumba with Jackie and Betty Ray from Edutopia at a Zumbathon fundraiser Jackie set up. I can't even tell you how important and wonderful it was to "move it" after sitting in sessions. 

Erin Klein, Eric Simons, Randy Dabbs, Lisa Dabbs, Joann Jacobs, Sara Hunter, Jerry Blumengarten and me!

Woohoo! There's @edutopiabetty, @jackiegerstein and I with the fabulous Jackie Camborde.

Thank you, Jackie, for talking me into this beautiful morning of kayaking fun!

6) Doing a spontaneous  #eduwin podcast with Dennis Grice. I love interviewing and being interviewed, but it was even better unplanned because I didn't have time to get nervous. You can listen here.

7) Blinging my badge. Thanks to Kevin Honeycutt and his wonderful crew, there was a fun booth in the exhibit hall where you could add fun and decorative items to your badge. I even won a free t-shirt after tweeting my badge! 

8) Taking spontaneous opportunities to go to lunch with new friends. On Sunday, just before the Keynote, I met Zoe Brannigan-Pipe and Lisa Neale and before I knew it Lisa Dabbs, Jackie Gerstein and I were heading off to eat a late lunch with them.  What a treat to share time with wonderful people! 

9) Walking into sessions and knowing someone there! I walked into Evernote this morning and there was Karen McMillan, @Mcteach, about to sit by Linda Yollis, @Lindayollis, who I had been waiting to meet. What a privilege to sit with them and Lisa Dabbs, @teachingwthsoul for the session. 

Karen, Lisa, Me, Linda

10) Getting over my shy side and reaching out. I spent a bit of time in the Newbie Lounge welcoming new ISTE peeps as well as time in the Social Butterfly lounge talking about chats with my friend and awesome mentor to new teachers, Lisa Dabbs, @teachingwthsoul.  I also agreed to be on a panel for an unplugged session on Weds. with Paula Naugle, JoAnn Jacobs and Jan Wells. 

As I post this, days later, I know there are many other highlights from ISTE12 to share. What were yours? 

Not Advice.. Previews to #ISTE12

So just after I posted this screencast, I realized that I forgot an important Sunday evening event, which you can read all about here! Don't miss it! https://edubros2012.eventbrite.com/?nomo=1

Our Fantastic Toontastic Session with Andy Russell!

On Wednesday, we had the wonderful opportunity to meet and learn from Andy Russell, one of the co-founders of Toontastic. Not only did Andy want to meet and talk with our students about their experiences using Toontastic, but he also wanted to impart a very important message to 4th graders: It's never too early to develop your ideas and turn them into something special. Andy emphasized that you don't have to wait until you go to college to develop and refine your big ideas. He shared that 70% of the process of developing an app or any piece of software can be mapped out using paper prototyping. Andy even showed us the early paper prototypes of Toontastic and how he used them to test his ideas with users.

The first Toontastic stage

So cool to see the first paper prototypes of Toontastic! 

 

Now to add the screen frame to test how it all fits.

Andy also took ideas from the group to create a brainstorm of a game, which he then showed us how to mock-up using Keynote.  The students were highly engaged and very inspired about how they could take their own ideas and test them out with a prototype.

Taking our ideas for our chicken-wolf game!

Using Keynote to make our first game mock-up

After the talk, Andy, and his partner, researcher and cognitive psychologist Alicia Chang, observed the students using the app. It will be interesting for them to study how our kids' Toontastic storytelling changed over the course of 3 test sessions.

Yesterday, we wrote thank you emails to Andy and Alicia, and from those emails, I can tell that our kids had a wonderful, inspiring experience!