Category Archives: Learning to Teach

Digital Citizenship Book Club

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Digital Citizenship

In my quest to learn all there is to know about education (ha!), I’ve joined a bookclub run by the Indiana Department of Education. We’re reading this book, Digital Citizenship, which is terrific so far.

The link is here:

eLearning Book Club

It just started yesterday, so I’m pretty sure you can still join. You can earn up to 14 PGPs, which doesn’t really affect me yet, because I’m not a Real Teacher, but which is interesting for the future, and might be interesting to someone reading this!

Susan Bearden lays out a definition of digital citizenship and the categories within it: Internet Safety, Privacy and Security, Relationships and Communication (she’s including cyberbullying within that), Digital Footprints and Reputation, Self-Image and Identity, Information Literacy, and Creative Credit and Copyright.

Full disclosure: I’ve only read the first chapter so far, because I’m trying to follow the bookclub “rules” and do a chapter at a time. But so far she’s written a very coherent and (it seems to me) thorough summary of this topic. I’m excited to read the rest of the book, and figure out how to incorporate these ideas in my teaching, both in the computer lab and later on, in a classroom.

I think the book would be interesting for parents to read as well. It’s part of a series called the Corwin Connected Educators Series, but this particular topic is of high interest to a lot of parents, who are struggling to deal with tools and abilities that we did not have to deal with when we were young. It’s like all of our kids got this superpower in their cribs. We got it too, but we’re older and had a structure with which to deal with it. The difference between a Superbaby and an adult getting superpowers is control and understanding.

That being said, it’s true that a lot of us need the benefits of a thoughtful approach in dealing with this brave new world. Bearden (so far! will update as I go along!) has thought through the rules of life in this Internet world, and is laying out the issues for us.

I bought the book on amazon.com. It’s $10, although there are used copies available for slightly less. The kindle version is $9.50 but I thought it would be useful to have this available to loan out.

If you’d rather avoid the bookclub, I would still recommend this book. I’ll update as I go along throughout the club!

 

Geeking Out

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Ok, so I went to the best. workshop. today.

It’s a code.org workshop given by Michele Roberts, taught at IUPUI for FREE. Seriously. And there was swag – a cool bag and a water bottle and a clipboard and a notebook. But that wasn’t even the best part.

The best part was, this was exactly the information I need – her mission, if I may hazard a guess, is to prepare teachers to teach computer science to elementary and middle schoolers. We have new computer science standards in Indiana, and schools may be scrambling a little bit to figure out how to cover those. I’m hustling a little bit, because I want to both support the teachers with what they need and also to teach computer science in the lab this year, and school starts in 2 1/2 weeks.

She gave a couple of reasons to teach computer science. I’m paraphrasing her, but as Willie Sutton said, when asked why he robbed banks, It’s where the money is – an enormous number of projected jobs in the future are computer science jobs.  Also, our kids are going to be making policies and laws and SENSE of what the computer hath wrought. Privacy issues, data issues, all kinds of things need to be understood and digested so people can vote intelligently and make and interpret laws intelligently.

In addition – and this is according to me, not Michele – in my district, the computer lab is a Special class, along with music, library, gym, and art. So here’s what’s great about that: Specials classes often reach kids who are not reached otherwise. We talk often about how kids are different for us – some kids are outstanding in PE, love it, never have any disciplinary problems – and other teachers are tearing out their hair when that kid comes through the door. Some kids come to school for art, or for music. That’s how we reach them, that’s how they learn best, that’s what they love. Computer science can be the same way. I saw kids who knew how to do stuff on the computer that no one else in my class knew – I didn’t know how to do it – but they did and what a boost for them, when I deferred to their greater knowledge.

Computers allow kids to explore and ask questions and go deeper into whatever they’re interested in, and do so many of the things we want education to do now. It’s an amazing opportunity to encourage kids to be proactive in ways that we have a hard time figuring out how to do elsewhere, whether they’re programming or doing Google searches or creating a spreadsheet .

I figure there are roughly 39 weeks in the school year, and even though I miss the Monday kids every three day weekend (five times in all, not that I’m counting), and the Friday kids four times during the year, I will have every kid in the school roughly 24-29 hours during the year. I need to make that as productive and useful a time as possible.

My Information Science buddies may appreciate this: she was discussing parameters, and gave as the example the code Rectangle (5,10). Now you can change those numbers all day long, she said, and you’re changing the parameters. I said, Do you mean Rectangle (x,y)? Wouldn’t that mean you could change those parameters more easily? She faced the class. Class, she said, Elizabeth’s skin has been drained of all color, and if we turned off the lights in here she would glow. She is GEEKING OUT.

I am so. proud!

I highly recommend taking this workshop. Today’s was part 1, and tomorrow I’m taking part 2. Here’s the link to find a local workshop, no matter where you are:

Code.org local workshops

 

Google Educator, Leader in Me, and C4 Conference: Being a Techie

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Whew! What a week! I’ve spent a lot of it hunkered down at the computer trying to become a Google Educator, Level 1. Monday, I went to a Leader in Me meeting? conference? at my school, which was great – three hours and we discussed what to do next in Year 2 of our Leader in Me culture. Great to see everyone, met the new teachers, and managed to get in a couple of plugs for what the computer lab could do for everyone.

Yesterday, worked on Google Educator modules, interspersed with cleaning – I can’t do too many of the modules in a row or my eyes cross. I have one. more. module. left. And then the test. Crossed fingers – hoping to finish it this week.

Today, C4! E green screenHoneycutt school

The first picture is a bummer – it had a REALLY cool Van Gogh background that apparently doesn’t show here – but don’t I look excited and happy to be at C4? ‘Cause I was!

The second is a slide from our speaker, Kevin Honeycutt. He was AMAZING. Totally a Robin Williams character, with a lot of energy and humor but deep feelings underneath – and not all that far underneath. He got choked up a couple of times, talking about his family, and I got choked up, and I just felt lucky to be there in that place.

Kevin Honeycutt

This is his website if you want to go take a look:

www.kevinhoneycutt.org

So the slide refers to a project his son started – he had to do a project to graduate from high school, and he asked his dad if he knew of any schools who needed anything, and his dad said that there was this teacher in Nepal who was teaching in a place without any government services and they had 20 books in the library. So his son organized to help this man, and they figured out how to get him the money to go buy two laptops, and then the school was torn down and … well, it’s not my story to tell, but his son worked out how to help on a BIG SCALE and just so inspiring a story. There’s a link on Kevin’s webpage, and the site is on the pic above.

This is one of his talks – you should DEFINITELY click on this to hear it (yes, there’s an ad, sorry).

The Angels of My Education

C4 was amazing overall. I went to five different sessions, plus keynote and EdCamp. The first was Your First Graders Do WHAT?!?! – Technology for Your Little Learners. The woman who presented is a first grade teacher at Smoky Row Elementary, Kristen Cannady, and she has got her kids reading QR codes to find out what to do in stations, tweeting for her (she is the only one who can push “Post” – also, no kids’ names are used), and creating their digital portfolios with SeeSaw. She also regularly sends videos home for the kids to watch as their homework. It’s just very impressive what those kids can do.

Second was Computer Coding Clubs, presented by Hanna Rumschlag, who’s the media specialist at Mohawk Trails Elementary – she has been doing a club for two years, and I want to start one this year. She’s very thorough so that was super helpful.

Third was the presentation about the technology plan at Carmel Clay Schools, which is super-exciting for this coming year. I don’t think I’m allowed to say anything about it yet, but it’s going to be fun.

Fourth was Helping Kids Help Themselves, PACKED with apps for literacy and for math. The always-awesome Tracy Hastings presented those, along with Betsy Howard. So. Many. I’ve taken notes but need to go through them and see how they actually work. Not sure how many we can use in the computer lab, but helpful for the future when I have a classroom and, God willing, more devices.

The last session was the Going Deeper with Trends, Tools, and Tactics for 21st Century Learning, which was led by Kevin Honeycutt, and it was great. He talked about his website and options and had several stories about his being able to really push to the limits his programs in order to keep his kids engaged and learning.

Then EdCamps, during which we talked about Canvas and our concerns about devices.

The whole thing was just helpful and inspirational and all of the good things. We even got lunch, and that always counts for a lot for teachers, you know? And door prizes – I won an iTunes gift card! I am so lucky I got to go.

This post is too long already, but a couple of quotes from Kevin’s speech:

“We’re dying of humble.” (gotta tweet/blog more about awesome stories)

We need to be “tradigital” teachers (see what he did there?).

“A good teacher is like a good quarterback – he throws the ball where the receiver isn’t yet.”

Oh, and “Teaching is non-invasive brain surgery.” !!!

Indiana Wesleyan University Trip

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Wildcat Pride

Travelled to the actual. physical. location of Indiana Wesleyan University yesterday. They’re in Marion, IN, and although I’ve been a student for a year, I haven’t actually been on the campus. All of the Transition to Teaching program is online, which is so convenient, but a part of me didn’t really believe that this was a school, unless there were buildings. And a library.

Girls Globe library

Whew. Library at last. The black ball is a globe, by the way, not the Death Star, as one friend thought. That would have been funny, true, but inappropriate outside a library.

We walked around the Student Center. I was bitterly disappointed that they didn’t have the bookstore part open (“They’re only open for part of the year, anyway,” said the nice lady in the store. ??? Why??? I don’t know.). The bookstore was upstairs, so they blocked your entry by closing off the stairs. But you could buy t-shirts, and shirts, and stuffed animals with IWU t-shirts on, and notebooks that said Indiana Wesleyan University. And of course, pins and patches. I bought a pin for my dad, who collects pins, and will be amused to have one from IWU.

We went to the bookstore t-shirt store, which was in the Student Center, and the library, and walked around a little bit. EXTREMELY large building that called itself the Chapel Auditorium, which I would have liked to have seen the inside of, and an extremely small chapel which I thought was lovely. Didn’t try to go inside, though. t thought about trying to find the Education building, but by the time we got started on this jaunt, it was late, so we were going to get home at dinnertime. Bah. Maybe another trip is called for, when the bookstore part is open!

IWU chapel

Learning to Teach

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I’m in the Transition to Teaching program at Indiana Wesleyan, and just JUST finished my first year.

I. Loved. It.

I love the intellectual challenge of it, I love the opportunity to see “behind the scenes” of practices I’ve watched teachers perform in my school, I love the chance to talk about teaching with people who are just about as interested as I am… although I’m the teeniest bit obsessive.

Seriously, everything I read, hear about, watch, or discuss with family and friends is filtered through an education filter. How would I teach that? Could I use that in a classroom? Ooh, that gives me an idea. . .

It was a tough year, and we ate many terrible dinners, I’m not going to lie. But it has been a great experience to have and I’m so grateful that I had the chance to learn. What a gift, at 47 years old, to go back to school!

The classes I’ve taken so far:

Intro to 21st Century Education for Elementary Teachers

Culturally Responsible Teaching

Assessment and Learning in the Elementary Classroom

Reading and Language Arts Instruction in the Elementary Classroom

Three more to go:

Diag Reading and Language Arts in the Elementary Classroom

Methods of Teaching the Elementary School Curriculum

Research-Based Behavioral Intervention and Elementary Classrooms

And then in March of 2017, I begin Student Teaching.