I will never forget this day, but there are many reaffirming days in my new job. This just happens to be the one that makes me want to get up every morning and make a two hour round trip commute.
I spend most days teaching students and teachers how to record and create digital stories. My students range from ages three to eleven with vast array of skills.Teachers schedule appointments with me and we invent a project for their students and book time to produce it. Most days I don’t know what kind of situation I’m about to walk into since I service 5 different schools, but that’s the best part, the not knowing what gem we might capture.
This particular day I was invited into one of our Early Childhood classrooms to record students reading their favorite book. The only catch was that these were students that had limited language ability so I was curious as to what reading would look like. Of the few words they could say, iPad was one of them and they were fascinated by the technology I brought to their tiny tables. I took pictures of the book, imported them into iMovie and the recording process began.
Every adult I record seems to have a fascination with the microphone, but every child insists on putting their mouth close to it as if it was a water fountain. Our first brave 3 year old read the title of the story and I played it back for everyone to hear. He listened intently and looked up at us, eyes shiny as he smiled widely.That moment and the moments after, as we watched his friends excitedly scramble to record their parts, it’s recreating those moments for other kids that makes me excited to go work every day. There is nothing like the joy on a child’s face after they hear their voice for the first time because the visible change in their confidence is immediate.
There is a vulnerability that audio recording captures without the evaporation of regular conversation and in an age where our characters are limited, we desperately wish to connect in a meaningful, memorable manner. I’m so thankful to be able to share this process with students every day.
When this video was played for their parents, they were emotional at what we were able to capture.
I often think about my life and try to pinpoint people and events that have changed me. The experiences that made a difference in who I am and how I navigate the world. The four most important people who have truly made the difference in who I am are my grandparents.
This is what I remember and it’s not the clothes or toys they purchased each year. It’s how every week Grandma Margaret and I had our Friday rituals of making dessert and playing 500 rummy. The time I was six years old I had a nose bleed and she held me so tight that she didn’t let go until it went away. I remember the photo album that she made for me where she saved poems she liked and in the cover was a story she wrote detailing the day I was born. She passed away on December 8th when I was 8 years old.
When Grandma Margaret passed away, my Grandpa Charles made it a point to take over our Friday night rituals which turned in to watching baseball and boxing on television and teaching me how to fish. We still played games, but 500 Rummy turned into craps and bunco. Our girl talks became long conversations on his porch staring into the night thinking about what happens next in life. Nightly Friday night shows became boxing and sports and he told me stories about war and what his home was like. We spent many years waiting in boats for fish to bite our hooks and I still remember every afternoon. He passed away on the 18th when I was 18 years old.
I remember how every day my Grandpa Hank, who was blind, would pick me up at school and walk me to his house.I remember how he would bring me a rain coat when the weather is poor and how at 3P.M. everyday we would have tea and cookies and talk. I remember how he answered every question I asked with detail as if I was a reporter. His stories and songs made me feel like I was there with him. I remember when his eyes gradually went blind and how he would ask me to read him books about Notre Dame and we would listen to the Cubs game on the radio together. I remember when he couldn’t tend his garden anymore and had to teach me to cut roses. He passed away on August 13th when I was 13 years old.
Grandpa Hank walked me to his house every day to have tea and cookies with Grandma Mary. She started taking painting lessons at 70 because she wanted to learn something new and painted until she passed at 95. Her pictures were memories we never were able to achieve. We would sit together in the evening working on our projects and now I sit and stare at her paintings; gazing at the portrait she made of the two of us and wondering how did I get so lucky to have so many people who were so good at showing love. She passed away on July 26th when I was 26 years old.
People are the most important resource we have and the most important and fleeting resource we can give someone in return is our time.
In my work with planning and teachers, I have realized there is a key element to planning that isn’t being discussed. I don’t see evidence of this in twitter or in other blogs right now, as I am constantly looking for someone who is discussing the change in instructional style and designing for technology integration. When we help teachers plan for instruction, we discuss standards, contents, questions, activities, but are we discussing how we are going explain our plan for having them acquire knowledge? Do we know what styles would work for the best learners or for understanding the content objectives?
“The Pleasure of Finding Things Out”
After so many years of being given basals and books to instruct, we may have lost track of the research based theories of why we teach. Direct Instruction isn’t our only tool to teach children and in a world where they are hungry for knowledge, we need to be providing them with opportunities that allow them continue to engage the joy of finding things out. If we want students to be creative, innovative, and collaborative, we need to provide them with an environment that is flexible and problem based.
One Time Only Theory-“I’m afraid I’ll launch a rocket if I push the wrong button.”
As teachers, we are sometimes so frustrated when we go to PD days and are expected to problem solve. We are uneasy about not being masters of content and this frightens me that we doubt our skills so much. Our entire job is creation, but we grow tired at the idea of having to learn or make something new. This fear of not being correct stems from growing up in learning environments that only allowed for one chance to be correct. In our adulthood as teachers, let’s give ourselves permission to not be the masters of knowledge and allow ourselves the chance to grow. By creating environments where they have to work to discover answers and create independent conclusions.
Stop thinking about what YOU’RE going to teach. Start thinking about HOW they’re going to learn.
The most important teachers I have had in my life were the ones who believed in me enough not to give me the answers. When we create utilize instructional models, like backwards design, we are not including copious amounts of direct instruction. We create activities for children to read, discover, argue. We create an environment where they create and share their own understandings of meaningful and relevant material. We bring in examples from our world. We talk about our global world and sometimes debate on topics which are not easy to understand because our children are in the midst of a developing process.
Example: Can we talk about the Bill of Rights and not talk about the Occupy Movement? If we are not making connections to the Global issues we are facing how are we teaching students to be critical of new information. Allow them time to read articles about countries who are just acquiring democracy and have them predict about what kinds of problems are ahead.
When we leave reality out of our plans, we are denying that our students have prior knowledge and prevent them from connecting to the world. The most important teachers I had in my life were the ones who made me question my very beliefs and pushed me to defend my claims. Great teachers don’t make you create projects for them; they make you create projects you believe in.
Remember at the end of the day, we don’t teach content or standards; we teach people.
Resources Instructional Design Models:
http://classweb.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/Resources/IDKB/models_theories.htm
http://www.corwin.com/upm-data/7158_tassel_ch_1.pdf
http://www.instructionaldesign.org/models/index.html
About 3 years ago, our past superintendent gave a speech explaining that as teachers we are also jugglers. Some things we juggle are rubber and some are glass. This notion has really effected me because as a person who has survived so many deaths of friends and family, I thought I was able to live a fully present life. Until last Monday, when, for the 2nd time in my history, at a meeting, I found out a dear relative died. It was at that moment that I looked around and was grounded in realizing I needed to take care of my family.
As teachers, 9 months of the year we are dedicated to what feels like one long day. We often have a hard time turning off our brains as we strive to think about solutions and best practices for our students, but now we have to start transitioning those best practices into our personal lives too.
The man who died treated me like a daughter, always kind, loving, and encouraging. The more I talked to people who knew him the more recipients I found of his unconditional kindness and contagious humor and optimism. As one of the lucky people who was able to know him for so long, I knew I had to do a few things to perserve his history for the grandchildren who will never meet him.
So now I give you:
10 Ways You Can Use Technology to Create Richer Family Relationships
1. Make a movie and narrate it for your child or grandchild.
Going through someone’s camera will tell you much about what is important to them. On his camera ,I found he went on a train ride and narrated the trip to his 5 year old grandson who was not present. I imported the videos into iMovie and made ia dvd for the child to watch. Now he can listen to his grandfather telling him all about their favorite, shared hobby, trains.
2. Keep a journal on your computer or “In the cloud”
This may seem silly or even simple, but when my grandmother passed when I was 8 years old, I found a photo album she made for me. It was filled with poems she collected, photos, and story about the day I was born. Even as an adult, this story is something I can read andtruly feel the love she had for me. When people pass, their families long for a connection to remember them. Children grow up so fast. Why not take a few minutes to document your feelings for them during this stage of life. I promise they will treasure your memories forever.
3. Record stories using Garageband for an audio recording software.
This summer I was struck with the compelling notion that I need to become more knowlegable about my mom and dad. I always spent more time with my grandparents than my parents because they were often working when we were at home. Now that they are retired, I make it a point to go over to their house and record them telling me stories about their lives. There is nothing like being able to hear a person’s voice when they are telling a story and now I know I will have a audio history to share one day with my own family.
4. Record people telling stories about one person.
Since his grandchildren will never know him, I took my computer and set up shop just outside the room at the funeral home. I knew the memories would be flooding into everyone’s hearts and I wanted to create a outlet for them to be shared. Sitting with my niece and nephew, they helped me record people telling hilarious and heartfelt stories about their grandfather. As soon as I finished, they asked me to play them the stories. Since hearing the stories, more and more people want me to sit down and record their memories so the family will have a wonderful collection of tales during those times when they are really missing him. We learned so much about him from the people he worked with and can’t thank them enough for being willing to give us this gift of word. We burned the stories to a cd and now the family can listen to them for all time. (This American Life And Storycorps are great podcasts where you can get an idea of how stories are documented.)
5. Make memorable experiences and then document them.
When I was in college, I had an assignment where I had to “make a memorable experience with a child and then, together, write a book about it.” I had my cousins come over to my house and we took pictures as we made cookies together. To me, this book was only an assignment, but I found over the years that this was a treasured book for them. We remember people in the moments shared with them, so make it a point to take time to document these moments with your children and grandchildren. Storybook application creations ideas: photostory, storybook, imovie.
6. Write down what you have learned and share it with others.
My best friend passed away from cancer when he was 21, but before he passed he wrote a letter to us explaining what he had learned from life. This is a letter I read so often that I feel I have memorized it. I learned from him that , “People are the most important resource we have and no one you have ever loved, cried, kissed, or bled with with ever forget you.” Take some time write down experiences and explain what you have learned from them. History repeats itself, but only if you know history.
7. Document your family history using IMOVIE.
We have all searched through family photo albums and asked questions about who the people are. Scan in your photos and use the voiceover tool to sit down with an older relative who can tell you information about the photos. Maybe have them explain a few pictures at each sitting. This imovie can be burned as a dvd and shared with all the member of your family as a long lasting history.
8. Use your voice memo tool to capture important audio moments.
Most smart phones have the voice memo function, but I’m not sure people actually use it. My cousin graduated as the valedictorian from her class last spring and I wanted to make sure I captured her speech for all to hear. Since she was on a microphone, her epic speech came out crystal clear on my phone. I was able to import it into Garageband and make copies for the relatives who could not be there. They were beaming at hearing her and the reaction of the audience.
9. If you’re taking so many pictures, make a book from them.Snapfish is only one of the amazing companies that offer ways to make your photos in to books, blankets, or even puzzles. I organized all of the photos into folders so the grandchildren could each have a hardcover book of their memories with their grandpa. You can sit down and have the kids write the story about each photo or leave it blank so they can write in the words later. My grandmother made me a book when I was five and I have it on display in my office. I promise if you make a book for a child, they will treasure it always.
10. Let your children take the photos and let them explain the story.
When my niece was 5, I taught her how to use my SLR. I know, it’s kind of wild to just turn over a very expensive camera to a child, but I promise she took good care of it. Since she was so talented at picture composition, I bought her a digital camera more durable for kids. When you let then kids take the photos, the stories they come up with take on a whole knew meaning. I think it is important of us to document the amazing moments we have with our children, but also to allow them the freedom and encouragement to write their own tales.
If people are the most important resource we have, we should probably spend more time telling them how we feel and documenting our time together because before you know it, your moment is gone.
Part of what makes this field so exciting is that books can’t be written fast enough to provide us with what we need, so we rely heavily the experiences of each other. Instructional technologists only have the present moment to quickly make solutions for an ever-changing technologically enhanced environment. Although we are all early adopters, we have learned to contemplate on the capabilities of our audience because, for some, the technology has made the world overwhelming and complicated to communicate with each other. We thrive on the thrilling industry of seemingly endless possibilities, but must learn to stay grounded in the fact that most of learners need to be taught the very fundamentals because they lack the intuitive relationship with technology.
Before I started this job I always separated the people I work with into groups: parents, students, teachers, administrators, and coaches, but I now view people as learners who I need to get a feel for before I start instructing them. Before I meet with each learner I need to figure out my plan in which I can support them best. This involves formatively assessing their knowledge about technology so instruction can be adjusted and assessing their feelings toward integrating technology which makes me change the pace in which I teach, talk/listen, and connect information to their life.
Make No Assumptions
The first lesson I learned involved my previous assumptions about my learners’ prior knowledge. One of the most dangerous things we do as educators is assume that our learners have prior knowledge or experience in the topic we are covering and many times, the more familiar we are the topic at hand, the less we remember what it was like to be a beginner. To the same extent, one of the most dangerous things we do in the classroom is assume that we must reteach every concept or lesson. To combat both of these issues, I have become a master of formative assessment using tactics that don’t even appear to be assessments at all! Adult learners can become nervous at showing the extent of their abilities, but setting up interactive experiences that they can showcase how they use technology will let you get a good idea of how much you need to deconstruct a lesson.
Interactive Formative Assessments
When teaching a SMART Board sessions, I posted an activity on the board that encouraged the teachers to interact with it and tell me how they felt about using it in their classroom. This activity revealed to me just how much of the basics I needed to cover and let me know the style I needed to approach them with based off their personal feelings about teaching it. This kind of formative assessment is extremely beneficial in a non-voluntary PD when you might encounter people who are nervous about using technology. Knowing this information gives you a clear idea of the people who can move ahead with and those who might need some extra repeating or help throughout the course.
Another pre-assessment tool I give to gain knowledge is the use of TodaysMeet as a introductory backchannel. I start out every training session with a question in TodaysMeet. This allows me to post a question for my audience to answer. I usually ask how they utilize technology in the classroom. This simple question was a quick way for me to see what kinds of projects and software are being developed and utilized.
Needs Assessments
Finally, before my coaching partner and I began collaborating with teachers we developed a needs assessment using Google Forms. We asked how they used technology in their classrooms and how what kinds of technology they wanted to learn to use and projects they wanted to try. This gave us an excellent starting point to develop our PD classes and a great way for us to prepare as we contact those people and set up collaboration meetings.
Listen. Talk. Inspire.
Teachers are being held accountable for the success of so many new mandated initiatives and district initiatives that we can’t approach them in a cold manner that ignores the fact that they too are on a journey of being a life long learner. Someone said to me this week, “I bet you love this job because every time you meet with someone they leave you so happy.” Well, yes, providing people with the training to make them more confident in themselves and their jobs is a very rewarding position to have. I recognize how intensely lucky I am to be able to work with learners of all age levels and abilities. Every day I learn a new way to approach, implement, and utilize a tool that will enhance or improve the education of everyone I meet.
We must always remember that we do not teach groups, we teach people and we must form our messages and instruction to them in ways that are relevant, tailored to meet their needs, and able to inspire them with confidence to explore their own capabilities with technology.
A year ago my school asked me to participate a guest artist in their art show, but I had never taken an art class.
I’ve always been a science person and although I have a significant and strong love for art, I just felt I would never be able to produce it. At the art show I showed some pictures I took while on various adventures around the world and decided I would interview kids and parents to find out what their opinions on what are is.
My findings were intensely moving.
After everyone answered the question,” What is art?”
I then asked, “Are you an artist?”
Almost every child answered yes
and almost every parent answered no.
Their words help me redefine my own definition of art and yet again this summer
I was asked to be in another art show, but this time I know I have something to share.
This Friday I’m sharing, for the first time in public, a series of three pieces called
Instructional Materials.
Listened to in order they are the three most life altering audio pieces I have ever collected. I live my life now changed because I had the opportunity to hear them and need constant reminders of their messages.
Of the three pieces, the final is the most meaningful. It is an audio recording of a letter my best friend wrote 5 months before he passed away from cancer about the things he learned and reminders about what we are here on this planet to do. It’s titled, “This is all true.”
I’ve never defined myself as an artist, but over the last year I learned I can create installation environments for people to experience intangible art. I’ve always admired painters who can capture moments in shapes and colors, but there is a beauty in the human experience that I hope to share with everyone for the first time on Friday.
My mom and dad have been married 43 years today and this summer I decided to take on a project to get to know them better.
My mom started teaching in 1966 and we were colleagues while teaching in the same district for 2 years. I wondered what she would want to do if she had the opportunities that were available now.
She explains why she wanted to be a teacher.
Music: Nick Drake “Which Will”
Listen to this while reading: Andrew Bird- Tables and Chairs
“Just don’t let the human factor fail to be a factor at all.”
As a kid I spent most of my time outside playing with my friends making up games or creating things out of scraps and spare parts. Video games were just not a part of our lives until we were in late elementary and middle school and even then, it wasn’t a hugely popular activity in the neighborhood. On a regular sunny day you could find me and my best pals building contraptions out of skateboards. This kind of endless creativity and curiosity for the “What If” is something I haven’t lost in adulthood; the only difference is now my ideas are a little larger and I am learning how gently share them and break them into manageable steps so more people can be involved and collaborating.
Most my school ideas are entirely community based because I think the transaction of sharing and giving feedback is an immense and powerful motivator for all people. There is a genuine excitement in learning how things work and finding things out, but I believe that longing to solve problems and the opportunity to be creative exponentially increases when we create knowing it will be shared with others.
I saw proof of this last spring when I started using Kidblog with my students and started counting the amount of times they were going back to revise their entries. Amazed at the word choice and length, my ESL students were writing more paragraphs that I had ever seen them hand write. These kinds of tools make our work feel valuable, but I think adding in a weekly live person component could consistently make the program sustainable engaging activity rather than just another cool tool.
My latest What If
What if we use Skype as a way for our 3-5 students to collaborate and give each other weekly math extended response problems. Each 3-5 classroom would be paired up with a classroom in another school and each class would take turns reading the and displaying the weekly math problem. It would be revealed in a special envelope (hype and excitement is also very motivating) Each problem should take about 30-40 minutes and that includes 10 minutes of individual time, 10 minutes of partner time, and 10 minutes to share as a whole group and decide which strategies they want to share with the other classroom.
This exciting model could be used in literacy as a way for kids to share their work between classrooms. Teachers could showcase exemplary work by allowing students to read their pieces over Skype to another classroom.
Filed under edtech engagment extended repsonse motivation problem solving skype kidblog
After reading the The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown, my 3rd graders each wrote and recorded the most important thing about their fathers.
Setup: I used a Logitech headset, Macbook, and Garageband to do this project. I asked them to write a description about specific moment that was important. Students all recorded themselves and edited their own recordings. As a class, we decided on the music and they voted on what I should say as the culminating phrase.
Content: Determining importance, descriptive writing, reading fluency, audio recording, revising, phrasing, expression, 6 + voice and word choice.
