One Size Never Fits Right

     I was given an opportunity to attend a very good edtech conference this week, the Southwest Building Learning Communities conference by Alan November's group. One of my friends was unable to attend all three days and allowed me to take her place on the final day. (Thank you Kathryn!)  I had heard of the conference before but it's expensive so I didn't even ask.  I'm very glad I went! 

     The keynote session by Mr. November was not anything novel, but certainly reinforced the beliefs I have in engagement, relevance, and how sad it is when gifted students have to cobble together their own educations. The conference assistants were young people who obviously had  far more knowledge into tech than I do. One young man talked about his efforts in creating an iphone app in order to prove mastery in a chemistry class rather than take two pencil and paper tests. I smiled all the way through his talk, until he said he worked on it, with and without the teacher, pretty much on his own time. So, he learned what he needed for his app, which was everything from the unit being taught, developed and created an instructional tool that would help his peers also learn the material, but had to continue on with regular classroom instruction? What?!?  

     I know the teacher was doing the best he could in addressing the needs of all of his students including this one, but how sad is it that there's nothing more tailored for students achieving above the "normal" expectations?  It's wonderful the teacher was able to see how much more this young man could do and find a way to encourage his learning. But I wonder if that teacher had to find the way, by himself, to help outside the parameters of normal learning curves. And that is where this conference was pointing...teachers helping teachers. 

     The student also mentioned that he did not always attend a school which fostered his learning through the use of tech. He was very pleased this one did have the tools he could use to go beyond the norm.  And that's the other place the conference went...using the tools available to expand learning environments. Where would this wonderful young person been without them? Would he have tuned out school?  Where would he be if his school had the tools but no teachers willing to take the risk to use them? Not a pretty thought. 

     I hear stories like this young man's quite a lot. The tales are inspiring and hopeful. But I admit that I'm beginning to become a little bitter, too. Why, after all these years, are these recollections so unusual? Why aren't they normal? When is the world of education going to rouse from its apathy and realize that one size does not fit all? It's imperative that we stop squandering the education of our students...ALL our students.  Do we want everyone meeting minimum skill levels? Or do we want each and every child to become the very best they can be- lifelong learners, problem solvers, critical thinkers, creative souls? 

     Yes, Mr. November, I had to memorize the states and capitals. No, I don't know why, nor can I still do it. I bet I can find the info when I need it. Austin, right? I NEEDED to know that.

Time and 5th Graders Wait For No One

     The end of yet another school year is here. For many weeks my teacher friends and I have counted down, dreamed of summer, and packed away school tools and rules. And now it's here. As usual, I'm not really ready. 

     I tell myself it's the paperwork and packing up that makes me so anxious. But really, it's watching the kids moving on. You see, I'm one of those odd, lucky teachers who gets to watch her students grow up over many years. Some of these guys I've had since kindergarten. Now they're taller than I am. 

     They have not been perfect children. I don't know why I will miss them so much. They have taxed my patience, talked non-stop, and spent more time working to get out of work than they have working. 

They have also magically become their own persons. They don't want to wait for me to tell them anything. They want to tell me what they are thinking about. And they all want to tell me at the same time. They have some of the most creative thoughts and dreams I have ever heard. At least this year. 

     Because yes, there have been so many more like them who have come and moved on. They too outgrew my height, my books, and my ideas. And this is why I can push them out the door. 

     It's because I still get to see my former students sometimes that I can see they kept on growing without me. I did my part and got them to the end of childhood. There are more teachers out there just like me who will take them farther than I ever could. I get to be where they started their learning. I sometimes envy those who will see who these kids become. But I belong here  to help get these children started down the path to individuality. No, I can't go to middle school with them. Everyone is taller than I am there.

     Besides, there are more children still to come. I'll stay here where I never have to grow, or have to grow up. Good luck to my wonderful students. I'll miss you.

To All the Moms I've Loved Before

     Since today is Mother's Day I have been thinking about all of the wonderful, strong women I have had in my life. People say you don't appreciate what you have until you don't, and I agree. I've been very lucky. I actually knew and remember not one, but three great-grandmothers. I suppose I always believed the women in my family would live forever. But the generations behind me are winding down, and the future belongs to my children and (hopefully, eventually?) grandchildren. But what examples those children have and must live up to.

     I still think of the family reunions at the old farm in Western Kentucky. We would go way back in the boonies to see Great-Grandma and Grandpa Franklin and all the rest of the clan. My sister and I were not too fond of going. There never seemed to be much of anything to do. It never entered our minds how much there was to do BEFORE we got there. All the ladies of that generation cooked and cleaned for days just to welcome us. We ate food grown right there on that farm, not  ordered and picked up from Honeybaked Ham. Funny, it was too expensive for my family to do things like that, but now I understand how much better the home cooking really was.

     There were roses around the farmhouse and fireflies in the evenings. But when you're 10, you just don't care about those things. You have no idea how much Great-Grandmas harvest, cook, and clean just to have a chance to pinch your cheeks.

      Now, we did enjoy Great Aunt Lee who lived next door to her parents. Another strong woman, she had a Lincoln collection we loved to hear all about when we were little. When we were older, she began to share her genealogy hobby. Yes, she was two generations behind me, but she always knew how to speak my language.

     On my grandmother's side of the family there was Great-Grandma Page. She was really a hoot. She never really grew up, just grew older. I can remember on one visit, she wrapped her head in a towel and became a gypsy fortune teller, telling stories to all the kids in the neighborhood. She was the perfect lady for the "I shall Wear Purple" poem, and is probably the  warped member of the family where my sense of humor was cultured.

Great-Grandma Page (front), Grandma Franklin, Daddy, and me  

 My other great-grandmother still alive while I was a child was Grandma Loften. My sister and I really didn't want to go there when we were little. It was an old house, complete with an outhouse, and smelled like tobacco.  I really regret not talking with her more, finding out what she remembered from her childhood. But that just wasn't important when you are living your own childhood. She gave my dad an old muzzle-loader once. Said it was used for Indian fighting or something. He cleaned that gun with great care and prepared to take it out and fire it. He only shot it once. Kicked him back so hard he landed on his rear.

     Her daughter was my Grandmother Ritchie. I adored Grandma. She always gave me a dollar and let me drink coffee (with lots of milk and sugar). She and her best friend Wanda used to babysit me sometimes. That's how I learned to play Hearts - sometimes they needed a 4th player. Both of them were married to river boat captains and were alone every other month. Legend has it that on babysitting nights they would take me with them to honky-tonks and let me dance on the tables. That ended one Sunday morning when I boogied down the church aisle in apparent imitation of the night before.

     But she also taught me to quilt and embroider. I think my creative side came from her. As she aged, sometimes it was hard to remember how she was when I was small. I had spent so much time with her for so long but began to dread going to see her in the nursing home. I know now that was selfish of me. Trying to keep my memories intact, I robbed both of us from making new ones.

     My dad's mom was Grandma Franklin. She was married to a railroad man and had five children, four of whom lived to adulthood. She inherited the family dinners and reunions after the generation before her all passed. It seemed like she could do anything. She could cook, sew, garden, and worked in a department store. When I was little, I think I annoyed Grandma. We'd go to her house and I would go to a quiet room and read. I think she thought I was odd. (Maybe she should have seen my moves in the honky-tonks.) As I got older, I liked going out there. My Aunt Kat and Aunt Sis were there and they were just a couple of  years older than I was. Mom didn't like to leave me out there to be babysat. She never knew what Grandma and my aunts would do. One time they cut and permed my hair. I was like a big doll for them, but at least it kept me out of the bars.

     Grandma thought we were oblivious to the fact that she drank a little wine now and then. It was pretty funny when we would stumble on her stash. Once it was in the trash can in the formal living room (which, of course, was never used except on a holiday) and when daddy pushed the wrapping paper down, he hit paydirt, pulling up a bottle of Mogan David. Another time, daddy was working on her washer, pulled it out from the wall, and guess what was sitting under the cold water pipe? Yep, a nip of the grape.

     I was also privileged to be daughter-in-law to an awesome woman, Joanne Effler, otherwise known as Momis. She was an Army wife who raised four sons. She kept hearth and home together during some very lean years but never lost her sense of humor or her love for her boys. I wish I was more like her, she never spoke ill of anyone. But she could tell some truthful stories on her kids. Like when they would tie up babysitters so they could go out and play. Or like when they washed and dried the cat. In the washer and dryer. That one made the papers. I don't think the cat made it long enough to read it though.

     And that brings us to my own mother, a smart, sassy female and the last of my heritage still with me. She married young and promptly became a Navy wife, trying to make ends meet while living far from home. She's not afraid of much, just airplanes and traffic. I get the airplane part: it has to do with a monster storm while she was on her way to join my dad on base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I still am not sure about why traffic gives her the willies. But that woman will drive five miles out of her way to avoid certain streets at rush hour. And that's just in small town Paducah, Kentucky. She won't even come here to Texas anymore because of the traffic. I've always thought the perfect Mother's Day gift for her would be a brake pedal in the floor of the passenger seat of the car. She's got the move down already.

Dad and Mom

     She can cook like you wouldn't believe. She took a cake decorating class when I was five or six, and I can remember hanging close, hoping she would mess up her icing roses so I could eat them. She's still the one everyone calls when they want desserts. I've lost count of how many Blue Ribbons she's won at the fair. Even the newspaper just assumes that mom will win each year, and announced her ribbons last year as usual. Only problem is, she didn't enter. Doesn't matter, she would have won if she had entered so just go on and give them to her.

     My most prevalent memories of mom are of her sitting in a chair, on the phone, with a gold loafer hanging from her big toe, shaking it for all she was worth. That phone would ring starting around six am, no alarm clock needed.

     Notice that nowhere in this trip down memory lane did I mention that these women held any high paying jobs, or had college degrees, or were known outside their circle of family and friends. They didn't and weren't. They were all good God-loving Southern women who took care of their loved ones and did the best they could. They formed the base for my life and no amount of fame or fortune could have raised me better. Each generation pushed the next one up and along, sacrificing so the young'uns would have a better life. Through them I learned everything I needed to know, and got pushed along to learn a little more. My sister and I live pretty great lives, but we won't cease to nudge our little chicks even further.

     I see the next generation rolling their eyes at us, cutting our apron strings, and flying away. I hope one day they too look back at who came before, and stop to appreciate us before we're gone for good.

     Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's I've loved before.

     

Nibbling the Apple

    I have given up and given in. I am now the proud owner of an ipad2. I even took a day off from school to be home when it was delivered. And I don't take days off easily so you can tell it was quite an event.

     As usual when I over-plan something, things went awry. Scheduled for a Thursday delivery (remember that day off?), the pad came on Wednesday. With a little scrambling my darling daughter was there to accept the handoff. But I still stayed home the next day to meet my new little friend.

    Getting set up was not too hard since I have had an iphone for some time. Get it on the network, set up mail, and GO! I figured I would sync everything and see what turned up. The first thing I noticed was that the phone apps do go to the pad, but start out small, centered in the pad screen the same size as the phone screen. There is a 2x button to the bottom of the pad and you can expand the app to fit the larger screen. But it is a fuzzy resolution when you do. Most of the time this won't bother me. I watched a 17 year old behemoth TV in the bedroom until last week when it died. I thought the DirectTV guide screen was supposed to be soft focus. What a surprise on the new TV!

     Then began the process of filtering what I wanted to keep on the pad vs the phone, along with sorting and grouping into files. I highly suggest that if you haven't filed your apps on your iphone or ipad you do it quickly. It's very simple: hold your finger on an app until all of them wiggle. Then drag to move one type of app, such as a game, over the top of another game. They will blend together into a file and suggest a name for the file based on the two apps. You can, of course, give the file your own custom name. You can also drag from screen to screen. For those of you as OCD as I am, you can even alphabetize your files. Once finished, you can easily locate even the most obscure apps, especially if you have a file marked "Obscure Apps."

     After filing, I started looking through itunes to download some must haves and to upgrade some of my old phone favs. I spent most of my bucks on Pages, the mac word processing app. At $10 it was a bit pricy, but I know I will want to do some real work occasionally. It's also easy to use. Even printing was a dream. Because I have a wireless printer on my network the pad automatically found it and printed happily away.

     Next up was Garage Band. My daughter, an existing Mac snob, tsked me and said it wasn't that great. But I think it's really cool to be able to play virtual instruments since I can't play any real ones. Air Guitar or Air Drums just won't cut it anymore. And I've almost figured out Heart and Soul!
     I also felt the need to get the newer ipad apps to replace some of the iphone ones. Those Angry Birds just look soooo much angrier in HD. Same with Yoga. Well, actually, they looked more peaceful.

     Then I went off grid. One of my big issues (along with the rest of the non-Apple world) is that the istuff doesn't do flash. No facebook games! But there are some apps which allow a parallel version to run. The ones I hear most about are Skyfire and Cloud Browse. But both are pay as you go and can get pricy. I had also heard about iSwifter and decided to give it a shot. It is free, and although it asks for a purchase, for now at least, you can keep it free if you choose.  There is a good video on it at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVIy6XeapkM.



It does work, but just as the video says, it's clunky. I won't be playing any of my timed FB games on it, but it works just great for things like slots. Another plus: Hulu movies look great on it. No problems at all.

     BFF Patti, an old hand on the ipad, also weighed in on apps for me. She had already been the final tipping point for my joining Words with Friends earlier that morning, challenging me to a game at 5:45 AM. Several friends had tried to get me interested but I had declined. But that early in the morning when the caffeine had not kicked in I foolishly gave in. Now I face a number of challengers wanting to take me down. And it's only been ten hours! Too much pressure!

     She also showed me iBooks, Scramble, and iFarkle. I showed her Mummy's Treasure and Cat Physics. You'd think we had better things to do, huh? But summer's coming. And teachers will have a life once more. There'll be time for a much bigger bite from that apple.

Spring Tech Me Up

     I attended the Region X/XI Texas Computer Educators Association conference this weekend and came back with a new attitude. Actually, I went there with a bit of a spring in my step due to some small (but not minor) changes in our district as of late. For some time now I have been up to my knees in Web 2.0 and many of the highways and bi-ways of the internet. But I have been unable to use many (most) of these apps in the cloud with my elementary students due to filters. However, in the past few weeks our district is giving new filters a try and letting us open up areas of the world previously hidden to us on campus. Teachers can use YouTube now!  Ring the bells!

     Don't get me wrong. I am very much a proponent of internet safety for my students. But there is a difference in teaching the proper use of technology and playing ostrich. We are not doing our students any service by saying, "Sorry, don't go there...no, not while at school...I know you go there at home, but not here." Some of my peers and I were quite shocked recently when we asked our 5th graders how many had personal e-mail accounts of their own. We expected maybe 40-50 percent. Easily 85-90 percent raised their hands with no hesitation. The students are already there. We are only playing catch up right now. But we can catch up. First and foremost: more in-depth lessons on appropriate use of the web.  I'd rather work with the children and guide them instead of having them learn about tech on a street corner the way I did.

     At the conference I shadowed Randy Rodgers, a teacher from Birdville ISD  who I had met in previous years. I went to all of the sessions he led and was not disappointed. He has a huge amount of ideas, connections, and experience. Even better- he's willing to share. His blog, The Moss-Free Stone, will give me many hours of reading pleasure as I mine it for quirky uses of tech.

     I also attended a session on ipads. I have a second generation pad on order and can't wait until it comes. In the session I learned about a number of apps I can use not only for myself but also in the classroom with my students. The instructor was using it under a document camera and I had wondered if that would work should I need to demonstrate something. I am pleased to say it did, although video/movement still has that doc cam drag.

     I am a baby with apple products (in spite of my iphone) so I was happy to get a heads  up on the device. I had heard about the issues with apple and flash products but didn't know there were work-arounds such as Skyfire and Cloud Browse (app store) to let you see flash sites on the pads and phones.  Maybe I need a vacation day when the new pad arrives so I can become proficient? Shhhhh, don't tell my boss.

     I also learned about LiveBinders, yet another take on the cloud work/storage genre. It was very interesting and may have fewer limitations than Skydrive, which I just started using with my students.  I love the concept in general ("Seeing Sense in the Clouds" February, 2011) and this is one of the main reasons I wanted e-mail for my class. I will be doing more research on LiveBinders over the summer and may move the kiddos into the format this fall.

     We wrapped up the day with prizes and I snagged an itunes gift card and USB hand massager. Score! As usual, a good time was had by all.

And They Said it Wouldn't Last...

    It has been twenty-seven years since my father walked me down the aisle to stand beside the man I was to marry. It's been twenty-seven years since we loaded two separate lives into one small yellow car and left for Texas. I look at my wedding photos and think, "Dang I was skinny."

Wait, of course I mean, "Oh, how young and in love we look." Because we do.

     It's been twenty-eight plus years since he walked into my Basic and Fortran computer class at Middle Tennessee State University, sat on the front row, turned to scope out the room, and promptly relocated to sit next to me and another boy on the back row. He leaned over and informed me he was quite fond of  my legs and hoped I planned to wear skirts often. Strangely, he is surprised to this day that line did not work and I did not fall swooning into his arms. I thought he was a jerk.

     We didn't exchange another word until the end of the semester when I was attempting to debug a program by using a shoe on the side of the computer (technology is great...when it works). I guess I was making a bit of noise and he leaned over from the adjacent carrel and offered to help. I said, "Thanks, Dan" (I thought his name was Dan for the first 8 months I knew him), and realized there was more to this jerk than arrogance if he would offer assistance to a damsel in distress.

     We met again the next semester in Horror and Gothic Literature (yes, I had a very stressful, depth-filled college schedule), and went on our first date right around spring break. It was to Stone's River Battlefield. We were searching for the cold spot where civil war ghosts were supposed to walk. How could I not fall head over heels in love?

     A year later came the romantic proposal, "How long will it take you to get ready for a wedding and move to Dallas?" He gave me a month. I chose March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, thinking that for the rest of his life he could go into any Irish Pub in the world and get a countdown to his wedding anniversary. He has never forgotten when it is.

     Here we are, twenty-seven years later. We've been richer and poorer, we've been better and worse, we've been sicker and healthier. I have loved him, I have honored him, but rarely obeyed him. I had that one removed from the vows. I knew he wouldn't notice until it was too late. We've raised kids, dogs, cats, rabbits, and the occasional rodent. We've been back to other colleges to further our educations. (It was too hard to find a job in Horror Lit.) We're to the age where we have stopped shredding the AARP letters and started reading them. We looked so young and in love back then. In our eyes we still do.

     Happy Anniversary Doug. You are still the love of my life.

P.S. I guess that darn line about my legs actually did work after all.

Here a Tech, There a Tech...

 A fellow teacher asked me this week what a classroom looked liked when it's fully integrated with technology. Then, before I could answer, she said, "Like yours - aren't your students on the computer all day?" That question brought me to a stop for a moment. Is that what people think is really happening in my classroom?

     I love technology. Both for the fun it brings to my life and also for the doors it can open into areas of the world which I will never see any other way. Not coincidentally, I also love reading. And it is by comparing tech to reading that some teachers might see what makes a tech-integrated classroom.

     Reading gets a lot of attention in schools and rightly so. Without it adults are the openers of the doors for children, but the ultimate goal is for the students to seek out and open their own passages. Reading enables the mastery of all other subjects, including math.

     Teachers have many ways of teaching reading. Immersion, whole-language, phonics, sight words; and all are necessary because all people do not learn to their personal BEST in all the same manner. Much time is spent in the early grades making sure to reach each and every student, trying all tips and tricks in teachers' goody bags. The learning of reading goes on for many years, and sometimes never stops, as the acquisition of vocabulary is a never ending pursuit.

     Now look at technology. It's a quirky little thing. It too can be used to promote reading skills in students. But it needs the partnership of reading to be used at its best. As reading abilities soar, so can technology use. Just like in reading, there are some things which need to be studied in isolation: sounds, letters, blends, etc… compare to: keyboarding, "click," menus, etc…  A few basics in reading and technology and students have the world at their fingertips.

     But are books used every minute of every day in a classroom? Of course not. Children are found all over the school coloring, cutting, moving around, using manipulatives, and discussing. And when books are used, it is always the same book? The same genre? The same topic? It's the same with technology, just substitute "tech" for "reading" in the paragraphs above.

     In my class we have a techie's dream. We are 1-1, have an interactive whiteboard, projector, CPS units, doc cam, cameras, software, and apps. I'm sure there are a few things we could use, but we're pretty much covered. Believe it or not, there are pieces of tech we don't use every day. I know, a real shocker. And to make things more horrifying, we don't even use tech AT ALL some days. Why? Because sometimes we don't NEED to.

     Despite accumulating massive amounts of tech in the class there are still some subjects which need a different method of teaching to best be mastered by the students. Shoving tech into a lesson just to say you used tech in the lesson is inappropriate. Tech should be used in order to best help the students learn, help them demonstrate mastery, and (in a distant third place) help present material to them. If it ain't broke, don't fix it with tech. You could actually hinder learning by making lessons too complex. Put the complexity into the content, not the format.

     Technology is very engaging to all of our students and I know that most, if not all, job choices for them will involve tech to some end. Using no technology at all would be a true disservice to our children. You cannot justify never using tech just because that's the way you've always done it anymore than you can justify tossing in technology where it is not relevant. So, don't break the teaching, enhance it. Things do change and disruption happens.
     I will continue using technology in my lessons to bring in relevance, heighten engagement, foster an ease for learning, and bring a sense of pride into finished products. I will also allow my students to make some of the choices on their learning by themselves, including adding or omitting the use of technology tools where that use is not an integral part of their understanding. My students will learn how to be fluent and flexible with the tools of learning. That my friends, is what a classroom looks like when it is integrated with technology.

     Oh yeah, we'll also have a lot of fun.