The Road Less Traveled

I think it’s really funny that my last post about being an ADHD reader was spotlighted by two ADHD blogs.  I guess it was a pretty impressive work of writing.  I wrote it last night after a very tiring two days.

Wednesday I did yoga for thirty minutes with an instructor who comes in and teaches it to my students.  Then, at 12:20, we left for a nature hike with Mr. Smith, my Science teacher colleague.  That was an awesome hike, down behind the school and up a steep hill until we came up next to the road.  I’m sure our group of thirty or so students looked pretty comical emerging from the woods near the road.

Then, yesterday, I took the students outside at 11:50 to play whiffle ball and played all afternoon until 2:55.  After that, I drove to my writing workshop and did a presentation on using digital video with students.  Finally, I drove to dance class and practiced the dance for my routine four times, after which I flopped onto a tumbling mat and felt every muscle in my legs pulsating.

This next statement might shock you:  When I was sitting in my bed last night, watching CSI, a ticker scrolled across the screen announcing that an 8 year old boy was lost somewhere in Kanawha State Forest.  The ticker was calling for anyone who wanted to volunteer to join the search.  My heart skipped and I jumped up off of the bed.  All of my exhaustion slipped away and I started to pull on my jeans.

“I want to go,” I told my wife.

“My God, he’s only eight,” she said.

“I know.”  Both of us were thinking the same thing.  Eight.  Only one year older than our daughter.  “I want to go.”

“Honey, by the time you got there, they would probably have a hundred people searching.  And how well do you know the woods at Kanawha State Forest?”

I thought about it.  “Not very well.”  So, worried that I might get lost myself, I did not go.  I wanted to, really bad, but honestly they would probably have to call another search party to help me out of the woods, also.

Until later — “There’s no turning back now that you opened up to your mind.”

Another clever video.  This one is really similar to The Connected Classroom, with some slightly more catchy background music.

Download Video: Posted by bionicteaching at TeacherTube.com.

This is a very similar video to Did You Know 2.0 but is more focused for teachers.  Before watching this video, I had my room set up in rows because I was taught in college that it was the best set up for maintaining classroom management.  After, though, my desks are arranged in clusters of five.

Download Video: Posted by khokanson at TeacherTube.com.

I think I may start a series of videos on education and technology to post on this blog for anyone who has not seen them yet.  I’m not as frightened of the 21st century as many others are but I am also a fast learner when it comes to technology.  I think, though, one of the reasons so many people are worried is because now we have no choice but to learn and grow.

In The World is Flat:  A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Friedman interviewed Nandan Nilekani, CEO for Infosyst Technologies Limited.  Nadan said, “The playing field is being leveled” and that America is going to be challenged but “… the challenge would be good for America because we are always at our best when we are being challenged” (Friedman, 7).

I love a challenge.  I don’t always rise to the occasion, but I do believe that people are at their best when being challenged.  That is an important thing to understand as a teacher.  Increase expectations, challenge students, and you will see the best in them.  They may not all meet the expectations, but they will be amazed by how hard they worked to try.

Until later– “There’s no turning back now that you opened up to your mind.”

I found this video on teachertube.com (a school accepted video site for teachers).  It is a brief history of the United States of America set to the tune of “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

Download Video: Posted by mrallsop at TeacherTube.com.

I love finding amazing things like this.  This is funny, informative, catchy.  I love the South Park inspired Civil Rights Movement animations at the beginning.

For my next post, I’ll put up a video that a lot of you may have already seen:  “Did You Know 2.0″  It is essential viewing for anyone who wants to know what is up with our world right now and what all the big fuss is about for 21st century learning.

Things have been going strong for the past few days.  I know I haven’t posted since last week (April Fool’s Day, I think) but it has been a crazy week.

April 26th, I will be participating in my first dance recital, and I am terrified.  That’s a hard thing for me to say since I am usually pretty comfortable on a stage.  But dancing is not my area.  At first, I was told by the instructor that she doesn’t need me to dance so much as just be a good showman and “play my part” during the closing number. 

That closing number is “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray.  And my “part…?”  Link.  That’s right… the hunky lady-killer, played by Zac Efron.  I get to dance a little dance (any dance from me is a little dance) with the dancer who is supposed to be Tracy, mouth the words to the song, and that’s it.  Oh, then, I stay on stage and bring on another dancer who is supposed to be Penny while I again mouth the words for Seaweed’s part and dance another little dance.  Then, I’m off stage and that’s it.  But wait… I come on stage again, flip a girl over my back (hopefully without killing her or breaking my back), and then off stage again.

No pressure.  The instructor just told us Saturday that this has to be the best finale anyone has ever seen.  But no pressure.

So that’s pretty much it right now.  I love this experience because it reminds me how stressful it can be to learn something new, to go out of your comfort zone long enough to try something new or help someone else.  This creates quite a bit of empathy with my students in understanding how they feel when I present them with a new idea or teach them a new skill and they have to learn it through practice.

Wish me luck with the recital.  I’ll post on it the night after it is over.

Until later — “There’s no turning back now that you opened up to your mind.”

A nice cup of tea can cure a lot of ills. It’s been a stressful week already, and it’s only Wednesday. Once again, I rushed out of the house this morning and forgot to take the trash to the curb. I usually judge my days based on how many things I forget in the morning. That was number one. By eight a.m., that number had risen to three. So naturally, I didn’t have a very positive outlook for the rest of the day.

Boy was I wrong. I met one of the Harlem Globetrotters today and proved to my students that I can almost make a half court shot. He gave a very inspirational message that reinforced what I have been trying to teach many of them, that it’s not what you do for yourself that matters but what you do for others.

Then, with enthusiasm I hadn’t felt for some time, I talked to my students about our new board work idea in which we use the acronym JAMS to get started right at the beginning of class. This idea was met with a little resistance, worried I was suddenly becoming another strict teacher who would never let them speak (apparently a luxury they don’t often get in their classes). “I promise you,” I said, “that only the first five to ten minutes of class is going to change. Everything else will be as usual. You’ll get to write and share your writing with each other, as always.” They all seemed happy to oblige and I am looking forward to watching them rise to the expectations.

Night school went great, as well. I have encouraged them to start student accounts on edublogs and many of them have taken off on their own and already posted several entries. I am so proud of them that I could burst.

So now, here I sit with my proud cup of white tea (which my wife swears is better than green, more antioxidants or something) relaxed after a great day with my students, and I’m feeling like I am one of the luckiest people in the world.

Until later– “There’s no turning back now that you opened up to your mind.”

Last week, I handed out the edublogs manual to my night school English class.  This is a class of 30+ students who have failed a semester or more of English and need to make up the credit.  Simply put, it is mostly a group of intelligent and talented students who just either hate English (especially reading and writing) or don’t care for school work.

I was not surprised, however, when a good number of them expressed interest in signing up for blogs.  I plan to use them as a place for students to post their writing, comment about what they are currently reading, and just write whatever is on their mind.

We’ll see how this goes.  I already have two students who have responded to my entries.  Now I have the great pleasure of responding to theirs.

Until later — There’s no turning back now that you opened up to your mind.

I can’t believe I didn’t post about this before (or at least I don’t think I did).  The CWVWP has generously given me a digital video camera in lieu of a $100 stipend.  It is called a Flip and has a built in USB port that allows me to upload videos to my computer almost instantly.  I have already used the camera to record video writing prompts for my students as well as record my students reading some of their writing.  I’ll figure out a way to upload a few of my video prompts and post them on here for you.

Oh, and I also realized that I haven’t followed through on a few of my promises about pics of Aryanna and Bianca on their day out with daddy.  So enjoy:

Lately, I’ve been playing the observer.  Those who know me understand this is no simple task.  I am usually the one talking, but recently I have been working on my listening skills.  I listen, and later on I pull out my little notebook and write down interesting phrases I remember hearing that day.

Here are a few of my favorites:

“I think you should pick me because my favorite number is five.”

“We both did it, but he’s the only one who got in trouble and that makes me mad.”

“Here’s a question for ya?  Do you see the same sun set every evening or do you see a different sunset every evening?”

“I feel like I’m stuck in a balloon and all the air is being sucked out of it.”

Said about the movie Halloween:  “I loved it.  It was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.”

Aren’t those great?  I love the randomness of the first one, the sense of justice in the second, the optimistic outlook of the third, the profundity of the fourth, and the hilarious contradiction of the last.

I think I’ve found a new way to spice up my writing.  Barry Lane says, “Good dialogue reveals character” (Reviser’s Toolbox, pg. 110).  All of these little snippets say something about the person who spoke them, about their personality or their condition.

 I love this sort of in-depth character study.  I’m going to assign this to my students, ask them to listen to conversations and write down statements that really intrigue them or just make them laugh (I loved it.  It was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.)

Until later– “There’s no turning back now that you opened up to your mind.”

I only have a few minutes, so I’ll make this quick.

Right now I am sitting in a computer lab, getting ready to be trained for edline, a program that allows teachers to upload grades and lesson plans for parents to use.  I am hoping this eliminates a lot of the problems I have had in the past.

As always, I am trying to get a few steps ahead of everyone else.  I was ready to type in my activation code for edline when the instructor says, “Please do not log on to edline yet.”  Ooops.

 Got to go.  I’ll post more later.