Day 50: Sugar Rush

There are certain things an elementary teacher hopes/wishes for.  There are certain things they cannot control.  Teachers always hope Halloween falls on a Friday or Saturday.  That gives at least 48 hours for children's systems to purge the sugar ingested.   This year, no such luck.  The sugar rush happens on the worst day, Monday.  Let's analyze the sugar gathering process...

Class Party. (aka let the sugar rush begin)  This is an expectation that is non-negotiable, kind of like recess.  Teachers are in battle trying to steer the party to an 'educational' direction. ie book costume, book report, mystery day.  There comes a point when the teacher can stand it no more.  They succumb to the expectation.  Now the problem becomes how to host the coolest, most memorable halloween party ever.  The solution?  Turn it over to the parents.  Thus, the sugar rush begins in the hands of a handful of parents who won't disappoint their child.  It WILL be the best Halloween party EVER!  Let the sugar rush begin. The only consolation to the teacher... all this happens in the last couple hours of the day.  The sugar won't really begin to kick in until after the students arrive home.

Trick or Treating  (aka the tradition)  Every kid deserves some great trick or treating memories.  Mine was the year my family lived in the Black Forest, Colorado.  It was exactly that, a black forest.  For a 5 year old, the neighbors might as well have lived in another county.  I don't ever remember walking to their houses.  I don't know how we trick or treated.  The best year was when the snow began to fall on the morning of Halloween.  By the time school let out, it was turning into a disaster.  Snow everywhere.  How in the world would we trick or treat?  By the time nightfall came there was no possibility of going outside unless we were dressed as Nanuk of the North and had a spare dogsled in the garage.  Halloween ruined, UNTIL...  mom reminded us that she had a bowl of candy that was ours if no one else rang the doorbell.  JOY!  I only remember two, crazy high school boys showing up at the door that night.  They go a few pieces of our stash but left  us with a whole lot more than we would have ever got by venturing out on a clear night. Now, parents drive their kids to the 'sugar fertile' areas of town where candy bars rain down and every door is only a short sidewalk away.  I even had neighbors that would make my son his own gift bag of halloween goodies.  These bags were not just a piece or two, they were stuffed full of full size candy bars, popcorn balls, and other sugary goodness.  The only consolation to a teacher... at least students get some exercise running in between houses.

Trunk or Treating (aka the LDS tradition)  If you live in Utah you've probably heard about this one.  Think of it as the gathering of sugar in a condensed form.  Find a parking lot.  Have 20-80 of your closest friends, acquaintances, neighbors park their cars in parking lot.  Open your trunk.  Place your halloween candy in the trunk.  Let the kids walk from trunk to trunk and gather more candy in 10 minutes that they should be legally allowed to have.  Warning: make sure your child has a pillow case.  If not, the bag/bucket they have will either break or overflow.  This activity is especially nice to be able to watch the children to make sure they are safe.  No need to ring doorbells or worry about anyone having to cross the road.  Plus, you can keep sending your child back to the trunks for your favorite candy bar. This activity usually happens in addition to the traditional trick or treating.

The Mall (aka trunk or treat II)  In case the students don't have enough access already to sugar, here is another opportunity for sugar overload.  Your local mall, grocery store, youth center, civic club, or other entity is probably sponsoring an event.  Its the same as trunk or treating.  Lots of candy with only a few steps in between each station.

What happens to all this candy?  Why is Monday a horrible day for Halloween?  On Tuesday, students arrive at school with one OR all of the following:

• a sugar induced headache
• sugar induced hyperactivity
• a bag of 'trading' candy to share with others
• no appetite for a healthy lunch
• no ability to focus unless it involves a sugar bribe

So, I congratulate all the teachers who successfully survive this week.  May education win out over the sugar rush.

BTW-  for teachers reading this.  Don't forget the students in your class who can't/shouldn't have candy and sugar.  Halloween is not the greatest of holidays for the diabetic child.  Costumes are fun.  Activities are nice.  Raisins and crackers are cute.  But when it comes down to it, sugar is the king of this holiday. 

Day 40

I spent days 35-39 with the 5th grade classes at the Teton Science School (Kelly Campus).  Check out the website I compiled during our stay @ https://sites.google.com/site/tssebls/

Some things I take away from the experience...

• I love being outside.
• Place-based learning is still one of the most effective methods of instruction.
• Students view things through refreshingly naive lenses.  ie... Adult = run away from the moose  student = cool, a closer photo op w/a moose.
• Some educators/schools 'get it.' 
• Doing is often more relevant than knowing.
• A good teacher engages the student.  A great teacher adapts to engage the student with the content.
• It's good to be nice.  It's better to care.
• Nature is surprisingly loud.  Just sit on a hillside listening to the wind come through a conifer forest sometime.
• Everyone can do hard things.  They make us stronger.
• Time lapse video is still makes me excited and giddy.
• Flickr and Youtube are still amazingly easy to upload content.
• Flickr and Youtube 'get it' by allowing Creative Commons licensing options.
• Flickr and Youtube are easily accessible for parents to 'check in' with their students who are two states away.
• Flickr and Youtube are great, until you get back to the school and the internet content filter takes over.
• Flickr and Youtube ought not to change.  The filter is the one who should get a good talking to.
• Too many people are more excited than they should be about the prospect of seeing a grizzly bear up close.
• Students want to be outside.  They want to experience nature. 
• 1.25 miles on a GPS = 9.0 miles in a student's mind.
• Dusk + elk herd + elk bugling = bliss
• It is hard to take a bad photo of nature.  
• Lastly... my classroom last week was way more impressive than your classroom will ever be.  (see photo below)

Days 17-20: Rethinking

I read/heard about a great strategy.  (can't remember which)  Basically, high school math teacher is trying to figure out how to help students learn better.  Decides to film lectures.  Has students watch lectures at home, as homework.  During class, students work on the assignment related to the previous night's lecture.  Teacher is free to answer questions and 'teach' those who are struggling or need some alternate explanations.

Brilliant!

Of course, there are complications to resolve, problems to be dealt with, and unforeseen circumstances to negotiate around.  The ideas, however, is quite clever.  The teacher spends the majority of her/his time working directly with students rather than talking at students.

What I like most about the idea is that it looks at the idea of improving education and comes up with a clever method.  I also appreciate the effort to view education differently than the traditional view.  I realize the methods of instruction have been refined over the years and are, for the most part, effective.  This however, has the guts to ignore traditional approaches in order to reach student needs.

I wonder what other areas could be improved by looking/trying things in a new way?  Classroom arrangement or location?  Perhaps.  I'm thinking strongly about this in regards to the rows I have in the computer lab.  However, I am a bit tied down by the direct wiring the computer tables have into the wall.  It is a large, limiting factor to my ability to play around with alternative furniture arrangement.  Still, so many ideas....

Days 15-16: Shifting

A lot of ideas/thought/philosophy for today's post comes from an earlier entry, Day3: Shift.  I suggest reading it (if you haven't already) to get a better idea of my thinking.

I had one of those adrenaline moments yesterday. Perhaps you know the feeling.  I was doing something I really enjoyed and I couldn't keep up with all the cool ideas my brain was throwing into the discussion.  It was a buzz of excitement and a "I love what I'm doing" moment.

October 2006

It happened working with our fabulous 5th grade teachers, Anitra Jensen and Joan Kyriopoulis.  Each year 5th graders from EBLS spend two and a half days at the Teton Science School in Kelly, Wyoming.  It is a fabulous experience discovering, exploring, and learning about the Grand Teton ecosystem.  I've gone in previous years.  (see the picture of my son, Thomas, and I )  I am lucky enough to go with the 5th grade this year with the challenge of using technology to improve the learning experience of the students.

This is where my adrenaline rush comes in.  In thinking about how to enhance the experience, Anitra, Joan and I had a really good conversation about... Teaching and Learning!!!!!  The focus wasn't technology, although we did throw some ideas around.  These wonderful ladies talked about what they wanted to see their student's get out of the experience.  They shared curriculum objectives and learning outcomes.  They talked about what was most important to them and what they felt was most important to their student's learning.

They made my life easy.  I can now go about my work looking for innovative uses of technology to enhance what is most important.  I can suggest technology that will not only be cool, but also effective.  I can tell them why doing (tech project A) is much more effective that (tech project B).  They are willing to trust me enough to shake their heads up and down in agreement even when they may not understand the nuts and bolts of what I'm talking about.

Thank you for putting learning first.  That helps the technology be sooooo much more effective.

P.S. On a side note...  my dissertation proposal was officially approved by the USU IRB.  I'm now off to gather some data and write a few pages (or more) of deep philosophical significance.  Topic: PARENTAL PERCEPTIONS OF THE INFLUENCE OF DIGITAL MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY ON STUDENT READING HABITS AT HOME.

Days 10-14: Pouring the Foundation

Planning vs. Doing
It may be the biggest challenge in the life of a technology specialist.  There is a certain amount of planning that needs to take place, unless... all there is doing.  Planning takes time.  It takes effort.  It takes away from doing.  It makes the doing more effective.  I remember my early days of teaching.  I spent a lot of 'planning' time setting up templates for labels, web pages, and other 'stuff' I knew I would use on a year to year basis.  To some people, it seemed a bit insane, the amount of time I spent getting a spreadsheet set up.  However, that all change into jealousy the next year when the same task was insanely quick.  Other teachers were asking, "how did you do that so quick?"  The answer, I invested the time earlier that allowed me to be quick.

This week I have been finding the balance between getting things set up for future success and 'doing' things. As a consequence, my 'to do' list ballooned throughout the week till I began to be a bit scared of things.  I was adding things that I wanted/needed to get done on top of things that others needed done, all while trying to do things that others needed to get done.  Adding no small measure to my anxiety was the daily email delivered by my 'to do' app informing me of all that I hadn't done.  I think some programmer at Wunderlist had an evil smirk on his face as he contemplated an automated email feature that would be sent out during the middle of the night.  "Just the right way to get the morning started, with a guilt trip," he probably chuckled as that feature was added.

Well, I have news for him.  Today I had a few chunks of 30 minutes to myself and have successfully cut my list down to a manageable size.  I've even been considering 'bigger picture' tasks.  My hope is that, by getting the right foundation (planning) down, everything I end up 'doing' in the future will be much more effective.  Kind of like the gal on PBS' Antique Road Show.  "Your antique, because of it's condition, is only worth a small fortune.  BUT... if you spend a few hundred dollars on a professional restoration, it could then be worth a large fortune."

I hope to spend a small amount so my efforts will be worth the larger fortune.  I think that is a wise investment.

Day 9: Happy Birthday to Me

Yes, This is Me

You will have to excuse me with today's post.  There will not be a lot of technology reflection here.  It has been a quiet morning.  My 'hurry up and wait' time is over as of this afternoon. (see an earlier blog post)  However, it is my birthday.  I am now 44.  I am leaving school an hour early to go spend some extra time with my wife who continues to recover from more back surgery.

The significant message of today's post is... Thank you to my beautiful wife of 18+ years for taking care of me so well and being my best friend.   Thank you to my wonderful parents who spent the first decade of my life taking care of me, the next two decades worrying about me, the last few decades advising me, and ALL the decades loving me.  Let us not forget my son, a wonderful young man who has more talents than I ever could imagine. (and more energy than his father and mother combined)

Day 8: The Element

I've been reading The Element by Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D.  Most people have heard of his work through his speech at TED.  (I like the RSA Animate version better)  The book is reminding me a lot of some of my other favorites, Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink, and just about any book by Rafe Esquith.  I think the fundamental message behind each of these books is the same...  Everyone is unique and deserves to be treated with respect and appreciation for individual talents.

I was thinking today that I've tried to work hard in my career to treat my students with appreciation for their uniqueness.  Now, I find myself in the role of primarily working with adults.  I think it is even more important to remember those principles.  To that end, I pledge to avoid, as much as possible, the following...

• One size fits all technology training.
• Show up, listen up training.
• One size fits all technology implementation and use in classrooms.
• Directives for what 'must' be done.

I pledge to encourage, as much as possible, the following...

• Opportunities for differentiated technology training available at flexible times.
• Multiple opportunities to 'try' technology at variable levels in classrooms.
• Suggestions for what would be 'good.'

Day 7: Connections

Civilization grew in the beginning from the minute that we had communication -- particularly communication by sea that enabled people to get inspiration and ideas from each other and to exchange basic raw materials.  - Thor Heyerdahl

My favorite thing is to connect to great people and great ideas.  I've had that opportunity many times in my career.  Edith Bowen and Center for Open and Sustainable Learning (COSL) being the most recent.  What I find when you fill a room with outstanding people is that great ideas follow.

A big thanks for the opportunity to be in the same room and share ideas with Dan Johnson often over the last few days.  Another big thanks to Dan for letting me bring the very talented Casey Elliot from ThereNow into the office.  Here's to some great ideas turning into great projects leading to great results.

Day 6: (and a day late)

Why a day late. Not procrastination. Not lack of interest. More of depth of TO DO list. It's the start of week two and things are starting to roll. My TO DO list reads like a list of good ideas not implemented. Unfortunately, when there is a bunch of good ideas, it takes time to prioritize. Good, Better, Best. Not easy decisions to make.

Each teacher with a TO DO on my list has a great idea. Not only that, but their idea is important to them. Most of them involve the need for me to do some footwork to find information about a product, idea, software to be implemented in the classroom. In most of these cases I have made Diigo my best friend.

For those of you not aware, Diigo is a social bookmarking website. You sign up with an account. Mark webpages you like. Assign 'tags' to the pages you've bookmarked. You can share with others, make groups of people, compare with other's bookmarks, and tons of other social features. It's all kept online. Very convenient. So convenient, in fact, I cannot remember the last time I created a bookmark on my computer's web browser.

If you want to take a look at my bookmarks, go ahead. They're public (except for the ones I don't want you to see).

• My main page: http://www.diigo.com/user/kurtusu
• Web pages I recommended to the USU ScEd 6270 class http://www.diigo.com/user/kurtusu/USUSCED6270
• Stuff I like having to do with history http://www.diigo.com/user/kurtusu/history
• Want to see the websites a 4th grade teacher may want to consider using for creating online timelines? http://www.diigo.com/user/kurtusu/timeline
  

You get the idea. Go ahead. Browse my tags. I update them daily, adding web gems I like.

Day 5: Relevence

This afternoon, my wife and I drove by a new furniture store in S. Logan. The space use to be occupied by a Hollywood Video franchise. In fact, I remember when the building was built and the grand opening for Hollywood Video. It was a big event. It was a happening place on a Friday night. My wife made an insightful comment today. She said that

"video stores are a trend that we have seen come and go in our lifetime."

Now, I'm not terribly old, but it was shocking to realize that the age of video rental stores is over. No more browsing through shelves of empty vhs covers to find the perfect movie for the evening. No more $1.99 new releases, 99 cent everything else rentals. No more filling out a membership application at the grocery store, Hastings, Hollwood Video, Blockbuster, and The Book Table. No more visits to the video store at 1 in the afternoon in the hopes that the new release we've been dying to see would have been returned, re shelved, and still on the shelf.

Sure, fashions come and go. But, this was a whole industry come and gone. Replaced by Netflix, Redbox, Hulu, and thousands of other online video services.

This has made me reflect (and appreciate even more) the importance of making technology integration decisions on what is best for learning, not the technology. Equipment will become antiquated. Learning will not. So, the question to ponder over the weekend is...

Are you focusing on what is MOST important in the big picture?

Day 4: Hurry up and wait

There are times where all you can do is wait. Today was one of those days. Sure, I could have started manipulating student data and creating user accounts for the 4-5 software systems students log into. Yeah, it wold be great to start collecting data with students working on individualized learning software. However, Why duplicate work and take the chance of getting it wrong.

Here at Edith Bowen there are several networked and online systems that allow students to log into a personal account and for teachers to track progress. Pearson Successnet, FasttMath, Type to Learn, Spelling City. It's nice to have these tools available. It would be really nice to have an open directory system or a 'connect to Facebook' option that all these products and company use. However, just like in real life, you must create and manage passwords for EACH and EVERY web site that requires a username. You know how it is. Cool web site. Create a user account. Try to remember the username and password for every account. If you are lucky, you will be able to always use the same username and password. I hope you are luckier than me.

So, back to waiting. I am waiting for our fabulous tech support staff to create user accounts and passwords on our school's server. It will make my life much easier when they are able to send me a file of those accounts. I can manipulate that data to import into all the other systems I need to create student accounts in. So much easier than typing (or mistyping) the data over and over again. So much easier than generating usernames and passwords only to discover some of them don't match what was created on the server. Let's face it. With 7 year olds, this is a big issue. The same username and password make life sooooooo much easier.

There were plenty of other busy work tasks that occupied my day. Sure, they weren't as important as getting the user accounts up and running. But, sometimes it's good to wait. Today is one of those days.

Day 3: Shift

Our school is going through a fundamental philosophical shift regarding technology. I can see it and wonder how many others are consciously aware.

In the past the emphasis was technology as a topic with a sprinkling of a tool aspect here and there. MEANING... Student were taught technology, either intentionally in keyboarding and media time or indirectly through projects in the classrooms. The focus was on learning technology as a topic. Learning podcasts, learning iMovie, learning PowerPoint, etc. I'm not saying that this is completely bad. There is a necessary amount of skills and fundamental knowledge needed to use technology effectively. I am saying, however, that this approach does not help unlock the true potential technology has to improve the teaching-learning process.

I am hoping, in light of discussions around school the last few days, that our new philosophical approach to technology is about the curriculum. MEANING... Technology is used as a tool in the natural teaching-learning process. The emphasis is on how this tool improves learning. Thus, learning how to use the technology is secondary to the primary objective, the curricular objectives. In that light teachers don't say, "I want a set of iPods" or "I want students to learn to make a blog." Instead they say, "I want ways to improve reading fluency" and "I feel my students need more feedback on their writing to help them learn how to revise.". In the context of those latter questions, the purpose is to improve student performance in quantifiable curricular area. It is not about the acquisition of a skill set alone.

The idea comes first. A great read before I elaborate more.

Great ideas online aren't about creating a technology. They are about solving a fundamental problem or improving a needed process. Twitter did not come from someone wanting to make a fun little tool. It came from a need for a small group of people to communicate faster and more directly. The tool was designed to meet a need, to improve a process. Facebook... Help connect people better. Wikipedia... Build a free, online encyclopedia. When the idea of highly qualified, peer review took too long, adapt the idea.

Here is to the hope that the 'tool' philosophy wins out and that learning always is the primary focus.

Day 2: Getting into the flow

Today was a clarifying. It's good to have a job. It's even better when your job is defined and with purpose. A big thanks goes out to Dan Johnson for providing both a definition and a purpose. I feel I am being set up for success rather than being left to linger in the murky waters of unspoken expectation.

On a related topic, I spent the day finding a to do system that works for me. After all, I spend most of my time working with many different machines and I really need to keep my life organized. I've decided the iPad is my best friend because it loves the cloud so much. Email, synced. Calendars, synced. Documents, synced. I have been using my iPad so much that if there is a case that would allow me to velcro it to my hip, I think I would find it quite useful. It goes with me to the classrooms, faculty room, lunch, and anywhere else that I might actually talk to someone. Why? Because being with people usually entails a sentence with the phrase, "could you...?" It is so nice to write those down rather than forgetting them in the walk down the hallway. Not quite sure what I mean? Just read Patrick McManus' story about puttering around town on errands.

After playing around with multiple apps that sync with Google tasks, reacquainting myself with Evernote, and trying to find a way to integrate with USU's Exchange server, I've decided to give Wunderlist a chance to win my allegiance. So far, so good. Let the lists begin. (and go away faster than they are created)

Day 1: the right reasons

And so it begins. I was thinking about my 18 years in the teaching profession. I have two tendencies for how I handle the end of a day. Either I am completely enthralled in finishing my list of never ending to do's OR I sit in my room doing nothing more than being completely aimless. Either way, I was wasting my time. One, by being aimless. As productive as it is getting tons of little things done that have been haunting me from the top of my desk, I was missing out the pleasure of ending a work day and being able to focus on being with my family at home. Either way, I wonder if I was focusing on what's most important.

I've decided,this year to end each day with some reflection. It will be the last thing I do before walking out the door. It will happen despite numerous things I could finish that will still be on my to do list when I arrive the following morning. I he iT will be a way for me to finalize my work day, allowing me some down time until the sun rises.

Today's reflection is taken up with creating this blog. I was impressed that I actually came up with a clever name, a name worthy of reflection. Also very clever is me creating the blog and posting this entry entirely on my iPad. Amazing where technology has taken us over the last 18 years. My first classroom... 1 Apple Classic II computer. Lemmings was the big game my 6th graders fought to play. Half way through the year, the miracle that was a color screen. No more gray screen. I think I should have saved that first computer and made a fish tank from it. Oh well. Lost opportunities.

Let this year begin with hope of many exciting changes to brightness my days and the proper perspective to see that technology, despite how cool, has not replaced the human element.