Day 164: The less I know...

It has been a looonnnnggg time since I've last posted.  However, I had a little insight this morning and felt it had to be shared...

Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Pintrest, Diigo, RSS feeds...  they all help me keep up on what is happening with technology in education.  I read voraciously online, over 100 blogs posts a day, 300+ twitter feeds, and numerous articles that are linked from social media friends.

I realized this morning, it is all like my PhD work.  I have built a large online community of resources so I can do a daily literature review.  When I read and read and read until I end up coming back to the same ideas and articles, I know I'm onto something.  In my PhD work, I would call this a literature review.  In real life, I call it survival.  I have to know the current trends, tools, and practices.  The only way I can do that is by independent verification of my thousands of online friends who do much of the work for me.  I just have to be bright enough to piece it all together and apply it to my situation.

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)