“So easy to forget all of the positive things when you have a bad day.”

As I have written about in the past I love Twitter.  Like any type of social media Twitter can be both good and bad.  I have read things on Twitter that have inspired me to do more and learn more about a variety of topics.  However, I have also seen the negative aspect of Twitter.  From vulgarity to profanity to cyber bullying, Twitter, like all social media, has a downside.  

Recently I read something on Twitter that reminded me why I like Twitter so much.  I had had a pretty bad day and was feeling pretty down.  I had heard that our school had received some bad news from the state department of education, my basketball team had lost a game we should have won, and to top it off I got a ding in my car when I ran into a light pole. It wasn’t a good day.  As I was waiting for my coffee to brew the next morning, after not sleeping too well the night before, I checked out some tweets on my phone.  One of the tweets I came across really caught my attention, “so easy to forget all of the positive things when you have a bad day.”   

Isn’t that the truth?  When things aren’t going well or we have a bad day it is easy to focus on all of the negative things going on.  When we are having one of those days it is important to remember all of the positive things we have going on in our lives.  For me I know that God has blessed me with so many wonderful things in my life that I should be thankful for, and I can’t let a bad day make me forget them.  I have a beautiful and caring wife that I love very much and thank God  every day for bringing her into my life.  I have two terrific step-children that I love and that amaze me every day with their talents and wonderful personalities.  I have the best extended family a person could ever ask for filled with parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, and cousins that are great.  I work in a great community and at a great school.  I get to teach some great students with wonderful colleagues.  I get to coach a great group of girls, with coaches that I respect and are great friends.  There are so many positive things going on in my life that I need to not let myself forget these things just because I had one bad day.   

Tips For Dealing With Difficult Parents

Anyone who has been in education or coaching for very long has had to deal with a difficult parent.  When it comes to dealing with their own child many parents will lose perspective.  I have had many conversations over the years with parents of students when they tell me that there is no way that their child would lie, cheat, or pick on someone else.  As a basketball coach I have had to listen to upset parents tell me that their child should be playing more or shooting more.   It can be difficult telling a parent that their child has made a mistake or isn’t performing as well as the parent thinks they are, However parents need to hear these stories so that they can help their child grow and learn.  

In those instances where I have had to deal with a difficult parent I have found the following things to be very important:

1. Listen – Most parents that have a complaint feel like they are protecting and standing up for their child.  It is important to honor that commitment to their child and listen to what they have to say.  By simply listening to their complaint we are giving them a chance to vent, and in many instances an opportunity to calm down as well
2. Be Honest – It can be very uncomfortable being challenged by a parent.  That uncomfortable feeling can sometimes lead us to telling them what they want to hear so we can get the conversation over.  Parents need to hear the truth about their child, both good and bad.  The truth should be delivered in a tactful way that focuses on both negative and positive.  However, the parents need to hear the truth about the struggles their child might be having.
3. Be Polite – When a difficult parent begins to attack you for something they perceive you have done to hurt their child it can be very tempting to lose your cool and say something you shouldn’t.  In these situations it is important to remember that you are the professional and leader, and that losing your cool isn’t going to help the situation. Being polite to the parent and using good manners will help you honor the parents concerns and keep an already difficult situation from getting worse.
4. Be Kind – By showing kindness to a difficult parent you are showing them that you care about them and their child.  It can be hard to treat someone well when they are attacking you.  However by showing kindness we can show the parent that we aren’t the bad guy they may perceive us to be.

There are many different keys to dealing with difficult parents.  These four tips aren’t the only ideas on how to deal with a difficult parent. However, I have found these four to be very helpful to me over the years.  We don’t have to compromise what we believe in, or kowtow to their wishes if they think we are wrong.  We do need to handle every situation as a professional and a leader by being honest, polite, kind, and listening to their concerns.  

How I am using Google Drawings in Class

In a previous post I mentioned the Ditch That Textbook professional development training I attended. The training was outstanding and I left with several great ideas that I have since tried implementing in the classroom.  One of the ideas I have tried to use in the last couple of weeks is to use Google Drawings with students.  

In geography this past week we began studying Ancient Rome.  As part of our study of Ancient Rome I had the students use Google Drawings to create an Ancient Rome Fact Sheet.  I provided the students with a link to a website that had many great facts about Ancient Rome.  The students were then to take the information from the website and create a fact sheet about Ancient Rome to share with the class.  The students were to use words, summaries, bullets, diagrams, maps, charts, graphs, drawings, and any other visual way to show what they learned about Ancient Rome.

The students enjoyed presenting what they learned about Ancient Rome in this way. In essence we were creating a poster, but using Google Drawings to do it. Some of the best posters saw students not only using pictures, but incorporating links, various colors and text boxes, and captions for their images.

In the future I plan to keep using Google Drawings as a way for students to visually share what they know and to create various projects.  There were many ideas great ideas shared during the Ditch That Textbook professional development, and using Google Drawings with students was one of the best.    

Biome Research Project

Last week in our science class we began our study of the six major biomes in the world.  In the past I have had students work with each other to study one of the biomes in a small group.  Each group would research different aspects of their biome and then the group would work together to create a poster to share what they learned about their biome.  This year since we are a 1:1 school with each student having their own Chromebook I wanted to try to take this assignment to the next level in terms of technology and collaboration.

Each group was still responsible for finding the same information for their project as in the past:

• The name of their biome
• A labeled map showing the location of their biome
• Any landforms in their biome
• A description of the climate in their biome
• At least ten animals that live in their biome
• At least ten plants that live in their biome

However, instead of having the groups create a poster using poster board I decided to have them create a Screencast of their group presenting a Google Presentation that they had created.  Each group decided how to divide up the work of doing the research and then they shared a Google Slide presentation and each student created their own slides within the presentation.  Once they were finished with the presentation they went to a quiet place in the school and recorded their screencast using the Screencastify extension.   Once the students turned in their screencasts I shared them with the rest of the class so we could view each group's screencast video.

The students really enjoyed this project and came up with some creative ways to share what they learned about their biome.  I could see us doing this again in the future with other projects.  I also plan to have students demonstrate their understanding of a topic, such as how to work a math problem, by creating a screencast and sharing it with me.  

What Makes Good Professional Development

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a professional development session by Matt Miller, a High School Spanish teacher from West Central Indiana.  Matt is the author of the Ditch That Textbook blog and is obviously a great teacher.  The tips that he shared on how teachers can use digital tools in the classroom were both practical and helpful to teachers looking to integrate technology in the classroom. I would highly recommend reading Matt’s blog Ditch That Textbook and following him on Twitter, @jmattmiller.  

In the days following the Professional Development with Matt I have spent a lot of time sharing the things I learned with my fellow teachers.  In addition I have spent a great deal of time thinking about what makes a good professional development session and have come up with these three keys to strong teacher professional development.  

Relevant - The Professional Development must be relevant to those attending the session.  I have attended several Professional Development sessions on topics that were not relevant to what I was doing in my classroom.  During those sessions I was disengaged and took very little of value with me back to the classroom.  One of the things that made Matt’s session so worthwhile was that the tips he shared were things I could take back to my classroom and use right away.

Challenging - I feel that good Professional Development should challenge us to do more in our classrooms.  Teachers should be always be  looking for ways to better reach students.  Professional Development that challenges us to do more and get out of our comfort zone to better reach our students, will help us grow as teachers.

Inspiring - When I have left an outstanding Professional Development session I always feel inspired to be a better teacher.  There are times I get stuck in the mess of the day to day grind of teaching and school.  Inspiring Professional Development leaves me wanting to learn more, be a better teacher, and get back to the classroom and use what I have learned to help my students learn and grow.  

I know that not all Professional Development will be great and worthwhile.  However, I have found that the longer I teach the more picky I am about what Professional Development sessions I choose to attend.  I find myself searching for those opportunities that I find relevant, that will challenge my thinking as an educator, and will leave me inspired to be a better teacher for my students.  

Drive by Daniel Pink

I recently finished reading Drive by Daniel Pink, a book that really challenged my thinking about motivation and the learning that goes on in my classroom.  There is a great deal of information and research that Pink lays out in the book that really got me thinking.  The book revolves around the idea that we need to upgrade how we think about what motivates workers and students. This upgrade has three essential elements: Autonomy - the desire to direct our own lives; Mastery - the urge to make progress and get better at something; and Purpose - the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

After reading the book and learning about these three elements I began to rethink how I am doing things in my classroom.  Are the students I teach really engaged and motivated to learn, or are they just doing the tasks I put in front of them because I ask them to?  I think the answer is the latter and that has caused me to begin to think of ways I can get my students more engaged and motivated to learn.

The first step I feel needs to revolve around the element of autonomy.  Very rarely do I allow for choice in my classroom, and when I do it is usually from the standpoint of allowing students to choose how they will present what they know.  Students in my class have very little freedom to choose what they will learn about and how they will learn it.  Giving my students more freedom to decide some of what they will learn is going to be the first task I tackle in trying to improve student motivation.

Professional Development

As a member of the technology committee in our school I have been asked to deliver some professional development to my fellow teachers.  We recently purchased a set of 31 Chromebooks for our school and teachers are excited about using them in the classroom.  However,  many teachers have questions about how to use them with a class full of students.  The focus of the professional development I will be providing will be to show my colleagues how they can use the Chromebooks to enhance student learning.  

I have decided that the best route to take for this professional development will be to take something I have already done with my students and show that lesson to the teachers.  I hope to have the teachers be the students and teach them exactly as I would if they were in my class.  By modeling the use of technology for them it is my goal to give them ideas on how they can effectively integrate technology into their classrooms.   Also, I hope by using an actual lesson it will make what they learn in the professional development more meaningful and useful. 

 I haven't decided which lesson I will use yet, but I do know the digital tools I will be using: Actively Learn, Ed Puzzle, and Google Classroom.   I have used each of these tools with my class and have found them to be very effective.  Also,   I think that each of these tools is very user friendly and the teachers could use them with their students the next day with minimal set up.  

We have a very talented staff at Orleans Elementary School full of dedicated teachers.  I am very excited about getting the opportunity to share some of my knowledge with them.  I also know that by having these types of Professional Development more lines of communication will be opened and more sharing among our staff will occur.  

As part of my PLN, Personal Learning Network, I use Twitter.  I think that Twitter is a great way to connect and learn new and innovative things I can use in my classroom.  There are some extremely talented educators on Twitter that I have learned a lot from.  Another avenue I use to learn and grow as an educator is by reading Blogs.  There are some very informative Blogs out there that are written by some great educators and leaders.  Keeping track of all that information can be daunting, and that is why I began using Blogtrottr last summer.

I learned about Blogtrottr during a professional development training session on integrating technology into the classroom, and have used it daily since.  Blogtrottr delivers messages to my email from all of my favorite blogs whenever they are updated.  I chose to get daily emails, but you could choose to get real time or hourly updates as well.  Currently I subscribe to over 30 blogs and most are emailed to me first thing in the morning.  I spend a few minutes sifting through the emails before I begin work.  Some of the content will catch my eye and I will read it right away.  Others I will pin to one my my Pinterest boards to look at later, and a few I will just delete because the content doesn't apply to what I am trying to do in class.  

Blogtrottr isn't the only way to keep track of your blog reading.  I also use Feedly to keep track of blogs I follow that are not educational, and really like it as well.  However, I like the convenience of getting the emails every morning and being able to scan the content in the messages.  The key to finding and using information found on the Internet to help you grow as a teacher is to develop a work flow for researching and curating information.  Blogtrottr has been a key part of my work flow, and has helped me access helpful information.  I would highly recommend it.

Aurasma

After talking to a colleague who had witnessed a demonstration on Augmented Reality I began to do a little research on the topic which led me to Aurasma.   Aurasma allows users to create "Auras" that pop up when you scan objects or pics with your phone or tablet.  I was intrigued by the possibility of using this app with my students so I decided to give it a try with book recommendations.

The assignment was for the students to use their own device, phone or tablet, to create a short video or presentation to be used as an Aura.  Students that didn't have a device could use my Ipad to record their video.  Most students created a short video that they shared with me on Google Drive, which I then uploaded to Aurasma.  One student chose to create a Powtoon presentation for their book recommendation.  Those were the only instructions I gave them.  Some of the students just recorded themselves telling about their favorite book while others wrote scripts and acted out a short skit to tell about theirs.

Once the videos were all shared with me I uploaded them to Aurasma and used a pic of the book cover to act as a trigger.  In Aurasma when you scan the trigger image the Aura plays as long as you are pointing the device at the trigger.  When you point the device away from the trigger image the Aura goes away.  All of the Auras were on my public channel so I was the one to put it all together so the students could scan and watch them.

The book recommendation Auras turned out well and I can definitely see myself using this again in the future.  I would like to create Auras for science as an example.  Students would scan a trigger image in their book and it would take them to a short video that explains a concept.  I could also see using math problems as trigger images with the Aura being an explanation of how to work it out. Also, I would like to give the students an opportunity to create their own channels to host the Auras that they make, instead of me having to take their videos and create them.

Using Aurasma for book recommendations was my first attempt at using augmented reality in the classroom.  I have just started learning about this new tool for engaging students and plan to keep exploring ways to use augmented reality to help my students learn and grow.

Chromebook Cart

My school recently purchased a cart of 31 Chromebooks for our K-6 building.  This is the first step into possibly going 1:1 in our building in the future.  The thought process right now is that we will get Ipads for Kindergarten and first grade, with grades 2-6 getting Chromebooks.  Since we have gotten the Chromebooks I have noticed a few things while using them with students.

First, I have noticed that the students like using them and look forward to having them in class.  Part of that is undoubtedly due to the fact that they are new.  Students, like everyone else, enjoy trying out new things and in this case they have enjoyed having the opportunity to use the Chromebooks.  The other reason I think students like using the Chromebooks is that they are comfortable learning in this way.  Students today have gown up in a digital world and feel comfortable using these tools.  They also expect to be able to use digital tools at school, as in the rest of their life.

The second thing I have noticed is that as a teacher I need to work on ways to use the Chromebooks as more than just a substitution for what I was already doing.  We have done some things with the Chromebooks that quite honestly we could have done just as well with pencil and paper.   I feel that the wonderful thing about using the Chromebooks, and technology in general, with students is that it gives teachers the opportunity to do more in the classroom then was possible in the past.  My challenge as a teacher will be to find ways to use these tools to help students enhance their learning.

Third, I have noticed that I don't have to have all of the answers.  When working on the Chromebooks the students have asked me some questions I didn't know the answer to.  In those situations I have encouraged the students to ask a classmate or just Google their question to see if they can figure it out.  This is has led to some great collaboration among peers and some much better projects.

I firmly believe technology in schools is a great tool that will help teachers as they strive to prepare their students for success in the future.  Technology can never replace the guidance and instruction that a teacher provides, but it can be a great tool to use with students.

Actively Learn

I am constantly searching for new and engaging technology to use with my 6th grade students.   Working with students who are digital natives challenges educators to reach them in ways that they are used to, and online digital tools allow teachers to do just that.

One of the best tools I have come across this school year is Actively Learn.  Actively Learn allows you to insert text from the internet, pdf files, Google Docs, or choose from already created assignments.  Once a text is chosen teachers can insert questions to check for understanding. Questions can be multiple choice or short answer and can be labeled with Common Core Standards. You can also insert video clips and pics into your questions.  Questions can also be set up as gates that  students must answer before being allowed to go onto the next question.

Another feature of Actively Learn that I really like is the ability to insert notes.  Teachers can insert notes into the text to help clarify meaning of words or parts of the passage.  Links can also be inserted into the notes or directly into the article that will allow students to access other websites to further their understanding of the material.

I have also given students a text with few or no questions and allowed them to insert their own notes. Having students insert notes into the text serves as a great way for students to annotate what they are reading.

Actively Learn is a great tool to use with students and I am constantly discovering new ways that I can use this tool with my students to enhance their learning.  I would highly recommend that you give it a try.