#EdublogsClub Week 2: My Classroom

Moving meant packing up, cleaning out, and organizing. It wasn’t something I was looking forward to after being in a regular classroom for 19 years and collecting anything and everything I may need to enhance the learning taking place in my classroom.  However, I found that moving was great- I cleaned, purged, and downsized!  

All of my teaching years before this one have been spent in a regular, self-contained classroom where every possible space was filled with paper, pencils, books, supplies, students, etc.!  This year is different.  I moved to a new position where I am managing and teaching in a computer lab.  The lab was freshly transformed from a classroom to a computer lab this summer. Because I was not going to teach a regular classroom, I left a lot of the “stuff” that filled my old classroom behind for the teacher who took my place.  That has made my new space much less cluttered.

One good thing about creating this new space was that I was able to give input into how it would be set up.  We had to be creative with our layout because of needing to use available plugs.  Having all of the computers face the same direction helps so that I can stand in the back of the room and see the screen of everyone’s computer at the same time.  We also wanted the kids to be able to see the existing Smart Board that is hung in the front of the room.  Thirty-two computers fit comfortably in the new space, leaving a small area in the front where I can have a group of kids gather on the floor, if needed. Last year, I created an inexpensive “stand-up” desk using some old boxes.  It makes it much easier to use the computer with the projector when needed, and encourages a good bit of healthy standing during the day.

Because I didn’t have as much junk to fill the shelves, I opted to add some color and some fun to my back shelves. Colored cubes from the dollar store and several technology-related pictures fill the back shelves.  I also brought my classroom pet, a parakeet, to my new space.  

Edublogs Inspiration:Starting Again

Starting Again: After writing a few school-related blogs and not finding the time to put good effort into writing, I put the blog on the back-burner. I feel like I can write, but I don't have the natural, creative talent that I see in many blogs I follow.  In December, I received an email from Edublogs inspiring educators to take up blogging and offering a weekly prompt to get us typing.  I love a good challenge, saw this as an opportunity to grow myself professionally, and promptly signed up to be part of the #EdublogsClub.  The #Edublogsclub is a year-long weekly series where educators will blog together. Here is how it works- every Tuesday you get an email with a blog prompt. After writing to this prompt, we are encouraged to share our writing.  (Want to join the club? Click here.)

Week One: My Blog Story: I began blogging about 10 years ago when my first daughter was only a few years old as a way to share her experiences with family near and far. I kept this up for a while... until baby #2 arrived. Suddenly I was short on time and blogging fell to the wayside. I tried to restart a few years ago, but never found the time to keep it up.  Last year, I began a blog to chronicle some education highs, not only to share them with fellow educators, but also to keep a log of activities I wanted to use from year to year. Again, I found that time was short and I didn't do a good job of writing regularly. This year, I have found myself in a new role at school. I shifted from a self-contained classroom teacher to the whole school technology teacher.  I began blogging again to journal about my new adventures after 20 years in a regular classroom. I started strong, but didn't keep up the writing when life got busy! So, I guess I'm not an experienced veteran, but also not a new blogger! 

I do find time to read many blogs. Although I read them often, I can't list them because I'm subscribed to email notifications and often just read them when I get an email with the blog's summary.  I not only read blogs related to education, but also blogs with family life topics.

My goal for the #EdublogsClub are to  use this platform to regularly reflect on my teaching practices.  I have found over my years of teaching that reflecting on teaching is one of the best ways to improve it. I often don't spend enough time thinking about the good and bad points of a lesson unless I force myself to sit and think about it (like I have to do when I blog!) My biggest fear is that I'm not a super-star writer, so my writing will not have the character and charm that I often see in popular educators' blogs.  I also worry that with time being short, I won't have time to edit my writing to make it flow better.  However, I know that if we don't stretch ourselves, we may never learn our strengths. So, here I am, blogging. 

Teaching Excel 2016

Some days you just have to teach things you aren't comfortable with! Excel is one of those things.

I started the class with a FULL disclosure of my discomfort with Excel. I just don't use enough of the functions to be comfortable with doing more than just the basics.  I ended up using some YouTube videos I found that introduced Excel in about 4-5 videos. We'd watch a little, then stop and do what the instructor was telling us.  For the last day, I attempted to help the students recreate a gradebook ledger that they use in each class. We set up the columns, inserted formulas, etc.  There were several times over the days we worked on Excel where students would make a discovery about how to make something work or how to do something better. So, my lack of knowledge was great because it led them to have to figure things out for themselves! That is what makes learning meaningful. 

Here are a few resources I found to help with my Excel instruction:
YouTube videos from Motion Training- Short videos that walk you through the various functions of Excel. Starts basic and works towards more complicated functions of the program.

Kathryn Parry's Excel Lessons- A teacher's webpage from Baker Middle School which is FULL of great resources!

Have you ever taught something you were uncomfortable with? How did you get through it?

Digital Footprint

Common Sense Media has some great resources for teaching digital citizenship.  My daughter is in middle school.  I often look at the feeds belonging to her social media accounts to make sure she is posting appropriately, but also to see what her peers are posting.  It amazes me some of the poor decisions the middle school kids make when they post.  So, I spent this week focused on digital footprints. 

Here is a basic outline of the week:
Intro Video (kids loved that it said BUTTS!)

Common Sense Media Trillion Dollar Footprint Lesson-  The kids were very engaged when discussing the digital footprint of the two candidates.  They really picked up on the flaws in their profiles and posts, and were torn about who to pick. Several said they wouldn't pick either (which is the final decision of the producers.)  The only thing I would do differently next time--- I would show them the candidates letters first, without the other items, and have them make a preliminary decision about who they would pick based on those letters. Then, I'd show them the social media information that the private investigator found, and would see how that information would change their decision.  I think this would make a bigger impression on how important your digital footprint is to you in many areas of your life.

After discussing and sharing their decision about who would be the host, I had the kids use Microsoft Word to create a footprint using inserted shapes.  Then, they added words to their footprint telling what they wanted their digital footprint to look like in 10-15 years (see example below).  I encouraged them to dream big.  They did a great job with the activity.



I wrapped up the lesson with parts of this video talking about their digital dossier.  (Because of time constraints, we watched 2:00-3:45, and 4:50 to the end).  I think the impact here was that their footprint is created by more than just themselves and has been growing since before they were born!

Again, I'm sure there will still be some kids not making good posting choices, but I figure if I made an impact on at least a few then the lesson was a success!

So, whew!, I've made it through another week. One of my biggest challenges is finding meaningful technology lessons that I can tie to our curriculum.  I wonder... what is your favorite resource for finding technology lessons?

Skype in the Classroom

Skype in the Classroom

Last year, I discovered Skype in the Classroom. (What an AWESOME experience!) Recently our 2nd graders read a story about an astronaut's day in space. We skyped with the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and it was a fabulous experience. The leader of the skype talked on the kids level and showed them the Intrepid ship, models of the space modules, and the model of the  Space Shuttle Enterprise.  It was great and really held our 2nd graders' attention!   Last year, we skyped with the Turtle Hospital and with a shark expert. Both of those trips were equally as amazing!  I still have yet to try a mystery skype (I haven't seen one in person so am a little uncomfortable with the unknown!), but have read that those are also great experiences.  Any suggestions to making a mystery skype successful would be appreciated!

Google Classroom Success

Google Classroom... go!  One thing our local high school asked us to focus on with our 8th graders was using an online classroom platform.  So, I spent a bunch of time this summer learning the ins and outs of Google Classroom (and even became a Google certified Educator!).  However, just like learning to be a teacher in college, nothing prepares you for actually using it until you actually use it! Overall, we were successful in logging in, changing passwords, and using Classroom.  I kept it simple this week: started with a question, had them complete a google form that told me their thoughts on computer use, and used a few shared documents to make them think about social media posting.

I found a great video by Josh Shipp about Internet Safety for Teens.  I played that for the kids, then had them answer a few questions about the video before turning it in.  (Are you guilty of oversharing?  What surprised you from the video? What would be an example of something your grandma wouldn't approve of you posting?)   Their reactions were honest, and they thought he was funny.  The next day, I had them write fake social media posts that were "rule breakers". For example, what might someone who is sharing TMI say?, what would a bragging post look like?, what would a complaining post look like?  I'd love to be able to follow the kids on social media to see if it makes an impact, but I'm not interested in being "friends" with students. I guess I just have to hope that I've at least made them think before they post!

Rain Date Flexibility

In life, you have to learn to be flexible.  Today taught me that things won't always go as planned. A severe rain event cancelled school. Normally, when I had my own homeroom of third graders, I'd be able to just adjust my plans and continue on where we left off. Not the case with middle school enrichment classes. Today was supposed to be the last day with my class I had this week. I had planned the week perfectly to finish up a project today and also take a typing test to check our progress. With school cancelled, that didn't happen, and I won't see this group for three weeks. Oh well... best laid plans.

This week, we used the Olympics Sport Info site to find information about a sport that the kids didn't know much about. They each picked their own site. Then they used that information to create a short powerpoint.  One slide had to feature bad design (too many pictures, color off, non-readable font...), and one slide had to feature good design.  The kids were amazed that they actually were allowed to create a "bad" slide!  We also googled Olympic Medal Count and used Microsoft Word to create a medal table.  In addition to this, I found some tips and tricks that many people don't know about when using Microsoft Word, and shared these with the kids. It was fun to hear their "wow"s when they used one of the tricks!