I am here to share ideas to reach all learners, building on student strengths and successes to empower active, independent learners. By utilizing strategies to excite, inspire and engage students, we can make a difference.
Meeting Pernille and seeing Erin again were highlights of the weekend!
Fun on the Red Carpet!
It's taken me a week to get my thoughts together, and I thank Pernille Ripp, Angela Maiers, and Tony Sinanis who all wrote fabulous posts earlier this week. For those I am leaving out, I apologize! I know there must be more of you out there whose posts I read. I am still a bit exhausted from the whirlwind trip last weekend from SF to DC!
Much like our students sometimes find the written word a challenge, I found myself struggling to get my thoughts down, so I decided to share with AudioBoo. Don't worry, it's less than 5 minutes! Thanks for listening, and feel free to add to the conversation in the comments.
Although I'm not a huge fan of awards in general, I do think it's critical that educators have the opportunity to share what is good in our vital profession. For the tireless hours that we dedicate to ensuring that students are successful, we deserve to be acknowledged for our excellence and commitment. As I write these words, I salute all of my fellow educators.
As a finalist for the Elementary School Teacher award, I must prepare my 2 sentence acceptance speech, though I expect that one of my incredible peers will win. I am so grateful and humbled to be nominated that I honestly do not care which of the five of us takes home the beautiful statuette. I will share the theater with so many esteemed colleagues, those who I have been fortunate enough to know through my network on Twitter. Hugging old friends and meeting new ones will be a big part of the weekend, not to mention dressing up in a beautiful gown, and savoring the inspiring moments. There is so much negative press, so much pressure on us to transform education, but this is our turn to bask in the spotlight (no matter how uncomfortable it might be for those of us who enjoy anonymity).
You can watch the exciting action live this year, so I hope you will join us in celebrating the fine work happening in schools across the globe.
Please join me in offering heartfelt thanks to the team at the Bammy Awards for helping us spread the good word of our dedication and service each and every day.
Watch the live broadcast and see us all walking the red carpet!
Some of you may know that last spring, I was the Educator in Residence for ImagineK12, an edtech incubator in Palo Alto, CA. ( And actually, I loved it so much that I am back again this Fall with 2 other incredible teachers!) My role was to share my teacher perspective and opinions, talking about the biggest issues and problems tech could help to solve. One of the teams I met with often, and who solved one of my biggest problems, was Voice Comments, aka 121writing, now called Kaizena!
In our early sessions, I shared with Max and Edward that providing students with timely, personalized quality feedback on their writing was a huge challenge. My handwriting seemed to get more scraggly with the more essays I graded and I often felt like I was not doing my students justice. They were very open to working on solving this problem, and after much hard work and iteration, developed a fantastic product that allows my students to feel like I am, in their words, "sitting right next to them" as they listen to my feedback.
Now let's get to the nitty gritty: Here are 5 things I love about Kaizena
Kaizena allows teachers to highlight, annotate, record voice comments, and attach resources, links to lessons, videos, tutorials, etc so that students can actually learn the skills related to the errors they make! Wait..you mean actionable feedback?
Kaizena allows students to respond with their own voice comments, so that there is a discussion with a feedback loop. Before this brand new feature was in place, I would have students email me answers to questions like: What did you hear that reflected something you did well? What do you need to improve on? What is confusing? What will you do for your next writing piece to improve? Now they can respond right after my comments to get clarification.
Kaizena differentiates. Students can hear feedback, see feedback, listen at their own pace, and listen again if they missed something. My students loved the ability to pause, go back, and refer back to the recording later when they wrote their next essay.
Kaizena integrates with Google Drive. Enough said!
Kaizena listens to teachers. Not only did Max and Edward listen intently during our sessions, but they also reached out to hundreds, maybe even thousands, of teachers, observed students using their tool, and worked very very diligently to be sure that they were solving the actual problem teachers have.
If you'd like more information on how other teachers are using Kaizena, check out this post from my friend Karl.
Disclaimer: I was not asked to write this post, nor do I have any material gain from promoting this company. I simply believe in the product and want to share how it helps give quality feedback!
I'd love to know how you give clear, quality, actionable writing feedback to your students! Please share in the comments.
I'm going to give a warning here, that I might just be on my soapbox, spouting out questions, and appearing to expect easy answers. I don't believe in easy answers, but I do believe that we need to question the practices and status quo that keep us stuck, that keep us from bringing our learners into a state of flourishing. It's not enough to boast that we have, "raised test scores," but it's vital to know that our children are going forth with the skills, self-awareness, and confidence to make a difference in the world.
So.. I leave you with these questions that recur in my mind as I ponder what kind of school I would want for my own children ( now grown).
If we know that early experience, attachment, and social learning are so important, then why do we pay those who educate young learners
such little pay? We can’t expect those in early childhood education to take
lots of classes and continue their learning when we pay them barely enough to live on.
If we know that movement is key to stimulating the brain and
that most children are not getting the exercise they need, then why is school
so determined to keep kids in their chairs all day? There are creative ways to get kids moving and some wonderful traditions and rituals that can bring a community together. At the fabulous school, Anastasis Academy, in Colorado started by my talented Twitter friend Kelly Tenkely and her wonderful team, students and staff walk a mile together each morning to begin their day. (yep, on the right foot ;) Couldn't resist that one!
If we know that kids need safe places in the community to
hang out, be with friends, and stay out of trouble by pursuing passions and interests, then why do so many
buildings go underutilized? Schools are closed during weekends and summer, but could they be community centers
where families, kids gather to continue learning, innovate, support each other?
If we know that teachers are not coming out of teacher preparation/ pre-service
programs with the skills and understanding to deal with the complex issues that
students face, then why aren’t we changing these programs to
include classes that address child development, working with families, and learning theory? ( Ok, so perhaps I am going by my limited experience of many of the teachers I have met who also claim that they were not prepared for the multitude of issues we face daily in the classroom)
I'd love to hear examples of how we are doing things differently. We MUST be making progress in some of these areas across the nation, right?
When I was a new teacher, and even when I had taught for years but had moved to a different school, I struggled with what to write in an introduction to parents. Should I get personal, or should I avoid any "touchy-feely" stuff to maintain my professionalism? I don't think there are easy answers!
I found it helpful to read other teachers' introductions, and for that reason, I share the, "About Me" from my teaching blog here. I would have simply linked to the page, but my school last year kept teacher blogs private within the school community.
Hope this is helpful!
I am so excited to be in Grade 4 at **** School for my third year. We are going to have a wonderful year, exploring, discovering connections with ourselves, each other, and the global community.
Although it's difficult to capture all I would like to share with you in such a brief post, there are a few things that I would love for you to know and remember in our year together as teammates:
I am here to listen, ask clarifying questions, answer your questions, and work with you in helping your child discover ways that he/she learns best.
I believe that celebrating the strengths and unique qualities of students allows them to flourish and to build resilience so that they thrive through the toughest of challenges. You can read more on my personal blog, Allkidscanflourish.blogspot.com if you'd like to know more about my philosophy.
I care deeply about the students in my class. I do my best to get to know them, but I don't know them as you do. Please let me know when there is something happening that may impact your child's learning. I want to be proactive in supporting your child.
I will challenge your child and work diligently to empower him/her to become an independent, responsible learner. I ask that you also encourage your child to step into a "discomfort zone" in order to grow. When students find success in taking on these new challenges, they often gain an extraordinary feeling of confidence. `
I consider teaching to be an art and a science. In order to engage students in active learning, I must always be designing and redesigning the curriculum to meet the needs of the unique students in my class.
I am a proud mom of 2 incredible children: Stefanie, age 24, who is attending graduate school in North Carolina and Nick, age 25, who graduated from MIT last year and works as a mechanical engineer in New Hampshire. Being a mother has profoundly impacted me in my journey to make learning in the classroom relevant and challenging for all children. My experience with my own kids has reinforced my understanding of the uniqueness of each learner.
I'd love to know what you include in your introduction to parents! Please share in the comments.
It's that time of year, when teachers around the country are looking over their class lists, preparing for their first days of school, and often experiencing intense reactions, positive and negative, to the names on their rosters.
Let's face it. Kids have reputations, with their peers, neighbors, siblings, and with school staff. Unfortunately, even when I taught kindergarten, there were kids already known for their "challenging behaviors." From a 30 minute assessment period, as well as comments from their preschool teachers, some kids were already stamped with a big red mark on their placement cards.
Why do I write, "challenging behaviors" and not "difficult kids?"
My answer is simple: Children are not simply the sum of the behaviors they bring into the classroom. Although we all know this, we don't always seem to remember this when those behaviors threaten to take our class down. We can feel like hostages, victims, and punching bags at times as we try every trick in our book to make headway.
I've been there, trust me. And I'm not saying there are easy answers. No sticker chart, stoplight system, or gummy bear is going to disrupt a pattern of behavior perhaps inadvertently maintained by many others who came before me. There are so many complicating factors and reasons why kids act the way they do!
I'm not saying, "Oh yes, I love them all," in that sweet sappy voice that makes you want to slap me. I do believe, though, that it's our job to find something to connect to, something we can find redeeming, so that we can begin to build a relationship with the student.
We recently talked about this very topic in the Taboo series on BAM radio. When the tough questions came my way, I found myself sounding a bit too idealistic and later a little frustrated that I hadn't spoken up more.
Because of that, I recorded my thoughts afterward on AudioBoo.
I know that I haven't given any easy answers. I wish there were some. But I do believe that talking about this topic is a first step. There are some tactics I employ to find ways to connect to students who are deemed as, "tough." I'll save those for the next post!
So, what do you think? How do you handle the issue of liking students?
I had a moment today that screamed, "Snap out of it!" to me. As I sat, waiting to donate blood at the Red Cross office (about 30 minutes from my home), I grew impatient. I had arrived at 1:40 p.m. for my 1:45 p.m. appointment and grew impatient as the clock ticked on..2:05, I turned and looked at the apologetic young receptionist, and smiled as she looked back at me and then at the clock nervously. I got the sense that she expected me to walk up and complain. She looked relieved as I smiled and turned to watch the tv.
I sighed and continued to watch Bobby Flay and his Muffeletta Throwdown on the cooking show in front of me.
"Chill out," I told myself. It's not like you're going to be late for something else or something more important.
As the clock neared 2:30, 45 minutes after my scheduled time, I wrote a snarky tweet about my wait, wondering why I had even bothered to make an appointment. Just about as soon as I hit send, I regretted it.
"What is wrong with me?" I asked myself. Is there anything more important than what I was about to do? I could have "real" problems and be the person who needs that blood. A calm came over me as I realized how absolutely fortunate I was to be at that moment in time, healthy enough to share the gift of blood with someone who might need it. And yes, I did go back and delete my snarky tweet.
I changed my sulky attitude and bantered with the woman who took my history and the gentleman who drew my blood, talking with him about his daughter just about to start kindergarten. I spent an extra couple minutes past my recovery time to chat with the older gentleman who made tea for me in the "after donation" waiting area.
Why do I share this story? Perhaps to remind myself, and maybe others, that there are always times to "snap out of it" and realize that our worst moments could be someone else's best ones.
Life is good. There's always something to be grateful for.
