First Quarter Reflection

I am being evaluated by a new person this year as it is my time in the good old evaluation rotation.  The principal (Jane G.) at one of the middle schools where I am a gifted and talented teacher is doing my evaluation, and my goal is to record some reflections upon what went well and what  didn’t go so well during the school year . I thought that doing that here in my blog would be a perfect place.  I am keeping a journal on a Google Doc as well, but I figure end of quarter reflections here in my blog might be a great place to not only reflect, but also to share some student work.

My first quarter was exciting, frustrating, fun, and not-so-fun, all at the same time.  I was so use to the job I was doing as  math lab teacher for the past 7 years that I believe I was becoming a little complacent in my willingness to try different methods of teaching and new things in my classroom.  I mean, if what I was doing in math lab was working well, and it was, why should I change a bunch of things.  I believe the attitude I just expressed in that last sentence was leading me to stagnation.  I was ready for a change in my career and still grateful that I made the effort to make that change.

I took my first real crack at Project Based Learning this quarter and had some successes and also some failures.  The best teachers and research both support that PBL is a great way to get kids motivated, engaged, and learning.  I think at times I forgot the driving question that I crafted in Washington, DC with my friend Dean Groom last summer.  I also wasn’t as sure as I could have been what the end product was going to be, which was a bit problematic considering that PBL principles state that you should begin with the end in mind.  Anyhow, the end product that kids created ended up being a news story on the career they were hoping to have when they became adults.  I wanted them to find someone to interview who held that career,  and many of my students were really afraid to make that initial contact.  Many kids interviewed teachers, partly because teachers were the easiest person to interview, and partly because some of them really had an interest in becoming a teacher.  When I teach this unit again next quarter, I plan to give students more freedom with regards to how they decide to conduct their interview, possibly letting an actor or friend stand in for the interviewee.  Also, I should have had students research their career before they conducted their interview.  Part of the reason for this I feel was my lack of foresight into what exactly the end product was going to be.  I still believe the project was a good idea, and I plan to do a similar one, with a few adjustments, next quarter at East Middle School.  Many of the final projects were very well done, as you can see from the two news stories around this paragraph.  The ones that were very well done were probably well done not so much because of how fine a job the teacher did, but as a result of innovation and creativity on the part of the students.  Man, I have some creative and imaginative students!

You can find more of my students’ final projects by clicking here.  Please, if you have time, give one or two of my students some feedback by commenting on their News Story by clicking on their episodes permalink.

Something that I also tried this quarter was an application called Shoutem.com.  It is a microblogging application that I used as a way for students to communicate with each other about a variety of things.  I believe it was very successful with several of my students as it gave them a way for anytime, anywhere, communication with both their peers and their teacher.  Kids enjoyed creating their own web page and designing their profiles.  They also enjoyed the social aspect of the application.  I plan to use the same account with the students at East Middle School, so that the students I had at North Middle School can share and communicate with each other via this awesome learning network application.  As more students see its usefulness in their own learning process, I believe more kids will begin utilizing it for that purpose.  Hopefully, students who see no purpose behind our Shoutem account will learn from the kids who are gaining the most through the application.

Finally, I began utilizing Moodle with my students as well.  It was a bit clunky and difficult to get use to, but I think the kids like it, and it is a great way for students to share ideas and work with both their peers and their teacher.  I need to let go of my need to have a hard copy assignment if I am to truly utilize Moodle to its full potential.  It would be nice if it were more like Shoutem.  I believe that security/fear issues keep teachers from using the web to its full potential.  The ability to have a larger audience to share ideas with is the purpose behind twenty-first century learning.  I want my students to have feedback, not only from me, but from their peers from their own school, peers from other schools in other places, teachers, and teachers from other schools and other places.  Twenty-first century applications via the WWW will allow students to gain that feed back if we get over that fear.

I told my first class of the day that they were like Guinea Pigs, an idea I was given by a retired gifted education teacher.  I felt haphazard at times in my delivery, and I am sure it came across that way to many of my students.  My hope is that my students learned one-tenth as much as I did during my first quarter as a gifted and talented teacher.  If they did, I believe I can consider my first quarter a success!  Last spring I wrote a grant proposal which included much of what I have tried to do during this first quarter.  So someone at Qwest or ACTE must think that what I am trying to do in my classroom has value, because I was awarded the grant near the end of the first quarter.  Without the ability to collaborate with some very fine teachers in my PLN on the other side of the globe, I would never have been able to win that grant.  That collaboration is exactly the type of thing I hope to share and instill in my students.

Blogging My Way Through a Construction Zone

The only time I have time for blogging any more is when I am driving on a highway, flying on a plane, or riding on a bus.  I just started a new teaching position as a gifted and talented specialist and I feel as if I haven’t got a clue what I am doing.  I think everyone should feel like that once in a while because I believe that is when real learning occurs.

My last post was about microblogging in the classroom and my students have been doing just that during this quarter of school.  We are using a tool called Shout.em which is very similar to Edmodo.  Some of the kids really “get” microblogging and are asking questions, sharing information, making connections, and getting to know one another in a new way.  Other students are not sure and some see it as a big waste of time.  There is an old saying that goes something like this:

“Contempt prior to investigation will lead a man to everlasting ignorance.”

This attitude seems pervasive with people who do not see the purpose behind the connected learning applications like shout em, moodlechat, Quest Atlantis, Second Life, Reaction Grid, etherpad, etc. can provide.  I am finding that the students who investigate with an open mind, in most cases, find the purpose behind connected, anywhere, anytime learning applications and begin utilizing them to enhance their own learning.  When email, fax machines, telephones, automobiles, nose hair trimmers, and toasters were first introduced many people didn’t see their purpose either…until they decided to investigate them with an open mind.

Big Thinkers: Henry Jenkins

I received a link to this video in a school email.  It seems like many people in our district are really getting on board with these new tools.  I really like the ideas that this man presents in this video.  Here’s hoping that people in high places pay attention to Mr. Jenkins.

more about “Big Thinkers: Henry Jenkins on New Me…“, posted with vodpod

Microblogging in the Classroom

Our district has been bringing in big-pay speakers like Kevin Honeycutt and Leslie Fischer to discuss the power of learning networks, mobile devices, and social media in our classrooms.  I think it is simply fantastic that people in my school district are beginning to see the power many of these tools might have in our classrooms.  For me, the ability to learn new things has increased exponentially as I have become increasingly proficient in utilizing many of these new tools in my own life, both personally and professionally.  I am hoping that others see how powerful these tools are and continue to push their use in the classroom.  I believe microblogging tools  can be powerful tools to share ideas and content with students.  I also believe they give us a new method for assessing student learning.  Sharing your thoughts in 140 characters  requires communication with precision and clarity.  I have talked with one teacher who has used a microblogging tool in his classroom, and he shared that the benefits far outweighed the detriments.  I really want to use many of the tools I have learned about, but it sometimes seems an uphill battle to use them as many people fear the negative repercussions of implementing these tools in a middle school classroom.  I can see why many teachers simply give up when it comes to using new tech.  It seems so much easier to simply maintain the status quo.  Anyone out there have any similar experiences?

Inspiring Bits « johnsonLAB

I watched this video and found it to be extremely insightful. The web is only 5000 days old, a little older than most of my students. What will it look like 5000 days from now? The connections we make on it are only going to continue to increase in an exponential way. I think that is an exciting thing to think about…

more about "Inspiring Bits « johnsonLAB", posted with vodpod

Blogging from Joanie’s Minivan

Seems like the only time I blog anymore is from a fast moving vehicle.  I guess if I am not sitting in a car or a plane traveling to a new destination…I would just as soon be on my bicycle riding up a hill.  I am in my car with my wife and two sons heading to Lincoln City, Oregon to spend some time with Joanie’s family.  Her parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary…so I thought I had better go.

On my last trip out here to moodlebootcamp, several teacher friends told me about this game/activity called geocaching.  They explained it to me and it sounded very cool.  Geocachers search all over the place for hidden treasures called geocaches.  The coordinates of each Cache are loaded on Geocaching.com and you can actually load them on your Ipod or Iphone with their application.  There are several different types of Geocaches, but I have only found one kind so far.  When you find the cache, there is a notebook inside for you to sign that says you found it.  When you return home you can log your find, or non-find in some cases, on the Geocaching.com website.  Some of the Geocaches are far more well hidden than others, but actually finding the geocache is really quite rewarding.  It could be compared to completing a difficult and arduous quest in World of Warcraft.

Geocache at Hidden Lake

When I went to the Geocache.com web site, it was boggling to my mind how many geocaches were placed around my hometown.  I investigated a little further and found that people place them at the end of terribly long and strenuous hikes…but man…those hikes have some kind of a view.  We went for a family hike earlier this week and found a very beautiful mountain lake with a geocache hidden in some rocks right next to it.  There was one other cache up there that I did not have time to hike up to…but I know I will go back again for that one.  Our district just purchased several GPS devices for teachers to begin using and geocaching will be an excellent way to incorporate those devices into my classroom.  I found an excellent blog that was entirely about classroom uses of Geocaching if anyone is interested in ways to utilize this awesome technology in their own classroom.  This blog contains an excellent video that describes in far more detail exactly what geocaching is if my description was not enough.

On a personal note, We are going to hike up to Multnomah Falls on our way to the coast tomorrow.  I found four Geocaches on Geocaching.com and uploaded them onto my GPS device.  My two boys, joanie, and I are going to do some geocaching before we head to the beach.

Blogging on a bus 2

I recently purchased a wireless card from Verizon and let me tell you, it has totally increased my ability to learn on an anytime, anywhere basis.  I spent several hours on a bus to and from a workshop called Moodlebootcamp at a place called Pack Forest near Eatonville, WA.  It is the most productive traveling I have ever done.  On the way there, I wrote two blog posts, re-connected with numerous twitter and plurk friends, tweeked several Moodle Tasks I have been working on in a course I am creating, and I even played a little World of Warcraft.  On the way home I continued customizing Moodle tasks and started planning a workshop I hope to conduct in the fall.

Blue Acer

I am writing this blog post an Acer Aspire One Netbook that costs less than $300.00usd.  I believe similar machines will soon cost under $200.00usd.  My wireless card is a little pricey, but I would gladly pay the amount I am paying to get productive things done at times when in the past, productivity was impossible.  I beginning to truly love my time writing in and posting to my blog anytime I want…even as I move across three states coming to and from a workshop.  Learning anytime, anywhere, anything will only become increasingly possible as we continue moving through this century.  The ability to learn in a mobile way will only become more efficient and inexpensive over the next few years for our students.

Are we ready to let our kids take advantage of these increasingly inexpensive technologies by allowing them to utilize mobile devices in and out of our classrooms for learning, sharing, and collaboration purposes?  According to many of the teachers I know, we are not.  Mobile devices and the communication they produce are nothing more than a distraction to the learning process is what many teachers I know profess.  Perhaps we should be teaching them HOW to utilize those devices as learning tools instead of forbidding students from having them anywhere near our classrooms.

Twittering from #Moodlebootcamp

Currently I am sitting on the porch of my cabin at Moodle Boot Camp near Eatonville, WA writing a blog post.  This truly is a beautiful area.  I was lucky to be able to come here for a learning opportunity regarding Moodle, the learning management system that we will begin to incorporate in the fall for Great Falls Public Schools.

This is where I wrote this blogpost

I learned a few new things yesterday, but the one I would like to discuss is the  utilization of twitter at a fishbowl session we had as an end to our first day of #Moodlebootcamp.  I was using my cell phone (getting a few dirty looks) during the session to take notes using hashmarks and @replies as a method of organizing.  A hashmark in twitter is simply placing a pound sign “#”, before a set of text regarding the topic, which is what I have been doing with the phrase “#moodlebootcamp” each time I send a tweet with respect to my experience here.  What the hashmark allows me to do, is organize all the tweets that contain that phrase in one place on a page on the web.  My notes have been shared with anyone who wants to look at them or even add to them if they choose to tweet including the phrase #moodlebootcamp. Backchanneling is powerful learning tool and twitter allows me to have a backchannel whenever I want.  I knew the twitter names of a couple of the fishbowl participants so I was able to utilize those as well…I hope @orwinr and @jeffrobodine didn’t mind.  For myself, I managed to widen the conversation and pull in some information from my tremendous PLN (Personal Learning Network). I can now access my experience at moodlebootcamp using a hashmark on a word in a tweet.

Imagine taking notes in class, sharing them with everyone, and having people you respect and who respect you adding their comments to your notes.  I can do that with twitter.

Tracker Bots, a Bus, and My Wireless Card

Warning…If you understand anything I say in this blog post…You are a GEEK!!!

Okay…here’s what I did on my Bus trip from Great Falls, MT to Eatonville, WA.  I recently purchased a wireless card so I would have increased access to the interwebs.  I noticed that I was retweeted by someone named Missoula Tracker and someone else named Spokane Tracker whenever I mentioned either of their first names on Tweets I was posting to Twitter.  I wondered if they were real people so I retweeted their retweets and and asked if they were real and they ended up retweeting my retweets of their retweets.  At this point, I was fairly certain they are twitterbots.

The idea popped into my head that if there were two people named Missoula and Spokane Tracker…They most certainly must have a family tree so I decided to create a twitter account with the username Trackertracker and follow all the tracker bots I could find and then retweet there retweets until the resulting retweets exceeded the 140 character twitter limit.  Tracker Tracker tweeted that he was “the Father of All Tracker bots” with the words Missoula, Redsox and Spokane attached at the end hoping for more retweets.  I hope I have not angered any Missoulians, Redsox or Spokanians who follow their cities’ two trackers…but man, did that was the fastest of many road trips I have taken between Great Falls and Seattle.

I am hoping that creating a twitter account to follow tracker bots does, in no way, qualify as spamming under Twitter’s terms of service…Even though if something is to get spam…a non-human, robot, spamming machine would be my first choice to be that spam’s receiver.

Blogging on a Bus

Davey and me sharing lunch

I am on the bus traveling to Moodle Bootcamp in Eatonville Washington. Since my stupid new wireless card won’t allow me to play WoW…I thought it might be a great opportunity to write a blog post. I attended a Great Falls blogger luncheon and party yesterday and I met some pretty nice people. I have looked at a couple of the blogs but political blogging is not really my thing. I am not much of a debater and I am not as certain of myself as some of the others who attended the luncheon. One topic that came up regarding reasons we blog. I blog for a variety of reasons and I hope none of my motives are hidden, but I believe the main reason I blog is because it makes me a better learner. Blogging requires that I think through various aspects of a different issues in a thoughtful and reflective way. It also provides me with an audience (albeit much smaller than the bloggers I met yesterday) who really care about what I have to say and in many cases sometimes even give me serious feedback.

The Bus to Moodlebootcamp...teh qantas of buses

When I blog, I usually am not trying to convince people of anything…(or am I?). A couple of the people thought that was what blogging was all about…convincing people of something. I would like to think that sharing how I utilize and integrate technology in my classroom is as important as anything I do on my blog. My motives for blogging are always changing, I am sure at times I have blogged for poor reasons…but usually when I have blogged for attention, vanity, or convincing someone they are wrong…that is when I have learned the most about myself. My hope is that I can share how blogging has helped me learn with my students and about developing what one of the bloggers talked about yesterday…COMMUNITY. When he talked about community I believe he was talking about the same thing I talk about when i discuss my Personal Learning Network. This little machine on my lap allows me to communicate, collaborate, and have friendships/relationships with people who 10 even 5 years ago…It would not have been possible for me to do. I am a bit introverted but all these networking tools have helped me overcome some of those weaknesses…perhaps even someday, help me turn them into strengths.

I wanna ride my bike up to the base of this

On a personal note, they let me stick my bike on the bus…hopefully I will be able to ride my bicycle up to the foot of Mt. Ranier.  I love riding my bike up mountains…its probably one of my favorite things to do…and dang it…they just changed the plans to come home early…I don’t know if I get to ride my bike up MT Rainier now…Guess I will find out when I get there…:)