Chaos

I rarely do this, but somehow my Honors class managed to convince me to let them bring in food and have a party on Halloween.  While this makes sense on the surface, I am not a fan of food in the chemistry classroom except on rare occasions.  They organized it and we had a ton of great baked goods (should have reminded them we would need drinks).  I gave them 2 rules before anything was distributed:

1. They must clean the room before they leave so that my CP classes don't get jealous (only my Honors class asked so they were the only ones that got to have a party).
2. They could socialize and eat as long as they were being productive on the work that was assigned for the day.  Anyone not working would have their food taken from them.

About halfway through the period I look up and my supervisor walks in the room.  I pause in helping a group of students on a problem and survey the room.  The volume in the room was in direct proportion to the amount of food that each student was consuming.  The students rearranged all the desks to better group themselves with friends (something they do normally when working on review sheets or "homework") and from the causal observer, it was absolute chaos.  I mean scary levels of chaos.

Then I started to really examine what each group was doing.  Even though nearly every student was engaged in a conversation, they all were working on either the review sheet, the homework, or arguing about where the QR codes for the scavenger hunt were hidden.  Not a single student was off task.  Several were even giving instructions on how to solve problems to the members of their groups.

After just short of 10 minutes in the room, my supervisor left, and, ironically, the students began to lower their voices.  Some even commented that they saw him walk in and made sure to work extra hard to demonstrate how well I had taught them.  The thing about that was what they were doing didn't look any different from any other day.  

I don't know what was running through my supervisor's head when he left the room.  Sometimes learning is messy (especially in my class) and doesn't conform itself to what we typically think a lesson should look like.  The classroom needs to be a relaxed environment where students feel like they can be themselves, demonstrate learning in ways that are best suited for them, and where they can dare to fail.

ISTE Conference part 1

Wow.

I seriously underestimated the power of this conference.  I knew the energy flowing through the rooms would be tremendous, but the number of extremely motivated educators are dying to do more in their classrooms and with their students in stupendous.   All of my notes for the day are being kept in a Google Doc (which I would be happy to share), but for some reason I can't figure out how to embed it here.  So, I am going to include some of the major things learned at each of my sessions.  After Wednesday, I will give additional comments about the conference and also any of the exhibits that interested me.

Using QR Codes in the Classroom (Names may not match what was in program exactly)
To preface, I have used QR codes so I didn't get as much as others, but here are some important things I took away.  

• qrstuff.com for custom qr code creation
• can create QR codes for variety of information
• create QR codes in colors other than black
• Can use QR codes to send to hotspots on websites
• ask more questions related to specific parts of sites or images
• might have to create own site to add more advanced features
• Ways to use QR codes:
• turn QR codes into art projects
• answers to HW problems
• links to video tutorials
• send emails to teacher about status of work done (I did it!/I need help!)
• There was also talk about Augmented Reality Codes (AR), but Stephen didn't want to go into it.

Using Technology to Improve Staff Morale

• While the presenter was amazing, there wasn't much to really take away from this.  A lot of this is very common sense, but here are my thoughts
• Setting the tone is critically to stopping the void from being filled with whining and negativity. (this was huge!)
• need teachers to look at other teachers and say that they inspire them to work at the school
• morale improvement doesn’t come from admin, but from masses
• No reason to have fear of tech with so many resources available
• Share tools in short bursts
• Need to do a better job of telling the good stories as they happen.

ISTE Feud
I was actually supposed to see another session, but right before this I listened to Nicholas Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher) talk about student blogging and he lured me into watching ISTE Family Feud for Web 2.0 tools.  Absolutely loved this!!  So funny to watch 6 Twitter stars battle over web tools and hand out nice prizes.  The site with all of the information is TLSmackdown.wikispaces.com.

• Best sites for digital storytelling
• animoto, voicethread, storybird, photostory, prezi
• Best tool for digital collaboration
• google, wikis, twitter, Edmodo, Skype
• Best sites for organizing research
• Noodle tools, Diigo, Google Tools, Livebinders, Evernote
• Technology Innovation that has the greatest impact on student learning
• Internet, computers, mobile devices, projector/ELMO, laptops
• What is the best tool for social bookmarking
• Diigo, Delicious, Stublupon, Google bookmarks, Facebook
• Best tools for photo editing
• Picnik, bighugelabs, picasa, photoshop, aviary, Flickr
• Best tools for animation
• GoAnimate!, Xtranormal, voki, scratch, animoto

How to be a tech-savvy administrator
Absolutely fantastic to listen/watch 6 administrators who love what they do and want others to love what they do.  There was a decent amount of talk about technology, but what I took away was more about being a great administrator which I think was more valuable.

• Regular vs. tech savvy admin
• no matter what, focus needs to be on what’s best for students
• TSA--more efficient and effective in what they do.  Harness power of WWW.
• Start with why instead of the tool
• Tools for learning selection
• stay focused on the vision and match resources to meet the needs
• pick tools that are right for learners and teachers.  Not every tools works for every teacher.
• Don’t use tools in isolation.
• model the practices you want to see in the classroom
• establish goals in how to use tech
• don’t use every tool out there--pick 1 or 2 and find its use
• Strategies to encourage reluctant teachers
• Admin should go in to model in the classroom and even create lessons based around it to show effectiveness.
• Tell teacher it’s ok to make mistakes and support them to improve
• Take things off of the plate so not to overwhelm
• What kind of tech are you looking for in obs?
• is there student choice?
• is there engagement
• is there an objective for what tech is using for
• is there an assessment of learning related to that tech
• Bad tech leadership
• throwing money to buy latest tech
• wasting time on equipment that no one finds meaningful
• not-understanding the needs of students and teachers
• not creating partnership with teachers
• Tools to help become a tech-savvy admin
• http://esheninger.blogspot.com/2010/11/tools-to-help-become-tech-savvy.html

Absolutely amazing day!!  My brain was so full, that I left early, but Tuesday is packed so I don't feel so bad.

ISTE 2011

I don't know who the people of Philadelphia paid off, but it held the NSTA national conference last year, ISTE 2011 conference this year and I believe another national conference is next year (either AP or ASCD).  Last year I went to NSTA and it was absolutely AMAZING!  I loved being surrounded by so many great science ideas that I just tried to absorb as much as I could and make the appropriate changes in my classroom.

This weekend, ISTE 2011 begins.  I will be attending Monday-Wednesday and am thrilled.  I have been getting involved with a lot of social media discussions and this will be the opportunity for me to see so many more.  There are so many things I want to see and do in those three days, but I think I have narrowed my goals down to the following:

1.  See everything!  I know I will be absolutely overwhelmed, but I don't think I will have another chance like this and I need to do it all.  Thank goodness for the online program planner otherwise I would be running around like a crazy man even more than I will be.  On my tentative agenda, I will be learning how to be a tech-savvy administrator, discussing the flipped classroom, joining in an online blogging project, learning more about QR codes, and trying to better use podcasts in my class.

2.  Meet the elite!  I have only been on Twitter for educational purposes for about 9 months and there are so many people that I have developed a lot of respect for.  I need to meet them in person.  I don't know if I can do it, but I want them to know how much they have helped me grow.

3.  Get involved.  I feel like I am poised at the precipice of something great, but don't know how to get over the edge.  I want to get involved more with the people who are leading the reform charge and find out how I can help.  In reality, I just want to sit at the same lunch table as the cool kids and simply absorb.  Maybe once in a while I will throw out a useful comment, but mostly I want to feel included.

When this event is over, I know I will have so much to comment on.  I will try to tweet and make posts while at the conference and each night to discuss all the amazing things I have learned. 

Dare to Fail

I had one overarching goal for this school year:  do something you have never done before.  On the beginning, that was the Flipped Classroom.  I didn't know if I would have any success with it, but I knew I needed to try something different.  Then I started to get involved in other PLNs (Educator's PLN, Classroom 2.0) and through those I learned about Animoto, QR Codes, and so many other fantastic learning tools.  My students have really liked some of these and have been ambivalent to others, but have always been willing participants.

But it is the things that I have done outside of the classroom that I want to talk about because those are great examples of me failing like a champion.  The first is my work striving to be a Fred.  I have tried to boost the morale slightly in the school.  Contract negotiations were not going well, the school budget almost failed and teachers are being let go all over.  So, I began putting little token gifts in peoples' mailboxes.  It started with a Sharpie marker for members of the science department, then I put candy for Valentine's Day, followed up lollipops in March, and an Easter Egg filled with candy for Easter.  While some teachers have commented to the secretary next to the mailboxes how nice it is to get these gifts, some people still have them in their mailbox!  I noticed three mailboxes with lollipops and at least half a dozen with eggs.  Plus there was that incident of some Sharpies left on the counter by the boxes as a clear indication they were unwanted.  It is hard to make changes when my efforts are so blatantly unwelcomed.

Then there was the Teacher Tech Tip.  Every Wednesday I began posting Teacher Tech Tips in the faculty rooms as a way to expose the staff to some Web 2.0 tools they may not have seen before.  I have subtly asked around to see what they feeling was and if anyone was using.  Almost every person I talked to said that they never even read them.  Most had seen them, but never paid any attention to them.  I put them right by the photocopiers hoping that teachers would read them as they were waiting for their copies, but nothing.  That means basically no one benefited from the tips I was trying to provide. 

So, what I have learned from all of this.  First, even though most of my efforts were not completely welcomed, I felt really good while I was doing them.  I had so much fun sitting in my living room with my son stuffing what seemed like 1000 plastic eggs (it was actually closer to 160) with candy and I discovered a bunch of great websites while researching web tools.  Second, sometimes you have to water the rocks.  A few people (and it was only a few) keep asking the secretary who was the "little elf" who kept leaving them treats because it always made them smile or it was such a great surprise to find a little gift to brighten their day.  Maybe I didn't help everyone, but I helped a few have a better day.  Finally, you have to try to change the world.  Maybe you will succeed, maybe you will fail (and it's ok if you do), but no matter what happens you at least have to try.