I am a Teacher

Reflecting back on the last year I have discovered that I truly miss the classroom! For the last year I have been serving as our district's "Classrooms for the Future" coach, a temporary position required for our district to receive technology in the high school. The main concept behind the grant is one of high school reform. Professional development is also a component of the grant. So my role has been to assist the teachers in making the shift from 20th century classrooms to ones that infuse technology.

When I think back to the factors that led me to make my decision....

Once our district's technology director gave me Palm Pilots to try out in my 3rd grade classroom (2003), I started to see how technology could be used as a tool to meet the different needs of my students. Through the years I found ways to weave technology into the curriculum, attended (and presented at) PETE&C and learned of new and exciting ways teachers were engaging their students, and was named a Keystone Technology Integrator. After the Keystone Summit, a week long event centered on enhancing learning while using technology as a tool, my professional life took a huge leap forward.

I became connected with some other educators who shared my vision and passion of learning. Daniel K. Pink's A Whole New Mind helped me to see that we, as teachers, have an obligation to teach in ways that incorporate both sides of the brain. From here I moved to Wikinomics and The World is Flat. My connections to other grew through the use of twitter and skype. Suddenly I had a personal learning network and quickly discovered the true meaning of life-long learning. Exploring blogs, wikis, rss feeds, podcasts, and aggregators gave me more ideas and my teaching started to truly transform.

It was at this point that I was asked to consider leaving my classroom to become our district's Classrooms for the Future coach. I decided to apply and signed on, learned that I would leave 3rd grade half-way through the year. My emotions were so mixed. I had only just begun to blog with my students and to work with wikis and project based learning. I was ready to collaborate with a first grade class in western PA via skype. There was so much to try, I was not sure I wanted to leave this class! Then, the concept of getting an opportunity to bring about this kind of learning in the high school excited me.

Over the last year, I attended 12 different required training session, most two days or more, all over the state of PA, networked with other coaches from all over the state, and started to share what I was learning with the high school teachers. Then things started to change....

My coaching job started to become more about troubleshooting and trying to manage online courses, tracking every minute of my day and capturing them in daily logs, and defending the entire project to many. A half year position turned in to a year and a half of coaching.

While I have been enjoying my job and exciting things are happening in the high school, I am starting to really miss my own class. As my class wiki and blog remain dormant this year, I realize that, well, this did not need to be the case. :(

I do not regret the decisions that I have made as I have learned so much. When this year ends, so does the grant and I can't wait to return to teaching. Having worked with "smart" classrooms I am going to search out grant opportunities to bring some of this technology into my classroom. I am going to continue to build my lessons and resources for a new year, a new beginning. I can't wait!

Blogging Buddies!

It's time for the K12 Online Conference! In case you are new to this one, it is a conference for teachers by teachers, where presenters put together 15-20 minute talks that can be viewed or downloaded. I enjoy it because I gets tons of great ideas, for free, from the comfort of my living room!

After viewing “We Like Our Blogging Buddies: The Write Stuff with Blogging Mentors” my mind started to spin! First graders were paired with college students (aspiring teachers) and they became blogging buddies. First graders blogged, college students commented on their blogs. It was a positive learning experience for all involved.

Last year I had my third graders blogging, but in small groups. We used blogging as a reflection/reporting tool. I could see some real possibilities for collaboration here! This would be a wonderful opportunity for students in a practical writing class! The high school students who typically struggle with writing could actually become mentors for younger students. In this way, everyone is writing for a real audience, with an authentic purpose, bonds are being formed, and, everyone is learning! This could be an opportunity for some struggling learners to feel helpful and needed.

In the presentation each student had his or her own buddy and they exchanged pictures. I think I would have my students describe themselves to their buddies and vice versa. They could draw pictures of each other, and then do a meet up on skype. In my future elementary classroom there are 3 laptops so this could be done with a learning center approach, after modeling and guided practice.

The high school students could also benefit from this revising, editing, and commenting process because it could be a great opportunity for review lessons on specific skills. hmmmmmmmmmm

Until I get a chance to try this out, I might have to attempt to recruit a friend or two. I would love to see this in action! Well, back to the conference!

Brain Rule # 1 Exercise

My reflections on brain rule #1 exercise:


Interesting Discoveries:
Long term memory (not short term) seems to be enhanced by exercise.
Aerobic exercise can lower your risk for dementia.
Exercise is very beneficial to people with anxiety and depression.
Children who are physically fit appear to concentrate better than those who are less active.

Favorite quote:
"Physical activity is cognitive candy." p.22

Implications for the Classroom:
The concept that exercise is vital is not a new one. It helps our bodies physically and mentally. So it would stand to reason that children need to be physically active throughout the day. Here are some ways that I have incorporated movement into the average day:

*Use dance music, such as the Cha Cha Slide, or the Macarena as a morning warm-up.
*Change groupings and seating arrangements many times throughout the day.
*Allow children to work around the classroom, not just at their desks. I call their desks their "home bases."
*Take power walks either inside or outside.
*"Act out" many concepts. For example, when the children are learning their multiplication tables, we use movement. For the three times tables, we would hop on "1" and "2" then JUMP on "3". So for every multiple of 3 we were making a more dramatic movement.
*Take stretch breaks as needed throughout the day.

I would love to hear how others are incorporating movement and exercise in their classrooms!

Brain Rules!

I was on the lookout for a good summer read/listen when I noticed that many people were reading and discussing Brain Rules by John Medina. Since podcast season is not hopping right now, I decided to download the book for my ipod. I am only 4 chapters into this book and it has already made me rethink how I teach! I decided to use my blog as a place for my reflections. If you plan to read the book and haven't, you might want to tune out any of my "Brain Rules" posts. Here are a few items that might interest you if you are considering this book:

*The author has a website, complete with exercises, to accompany the book.
*Eduwikius BOOK CLUB is exploring this book, as are many other groups in the blogosphere.

Planning Collaboration Virtually

About a month ago I started working on a presentation for the PA Governor's Institute STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Some of my fellow Keystones and CFF coaches gathered on a conference call to begin discussions about how to present 21st century skills to this audience. We broke off into 3 groups: elementary, middle, and high school. I had the pleasure of working with Jeff Rothenberger on the elementary portion of the presentation. We brainstormed, shared information, created a wikispace, and developed a Keynote presentation without any face to face meetings. We met today, for the first time, and gave our presentation.

A year ago, I would never have envisioned that this would be possible! Our early correspondence consisted of email in order to exchange skype names. Later we used video skype in order to share ideas. We each built our part of the project on a collaborative wikispace then moved into a Keynote presentation. (It occurred to me today that we could've used Google Presentations as well!) Jeff created the template for the presentation as well as his slides. He uploaded it to my .mac idisc. I downloaded it from there and added to it. We continued to revise up to and including the day of the presentation.

The implications for education are tremedous! Even though the digital divide is still a reality, many people in my area are migrating to the local libraries to obtain internet access. This virtual collaboration could make group work more feasible! Where was this when I was in college?!?

It's All About Learning

Having worked with teachers, helping them to embrace technology as a tool to enhance learning, several good questions keep arising.

1. How can I do all of these new things and still teach all of my content?

2. What about preparing kids for PSSAs? (PA accountability testing as part of NCLB.)


Here is how I address these questions:

Learning and technology are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Technology is a wonderful tool to have in our tool belt when helping learners learn. Does that mean technology should be infused in every lesson? No. My rule of thumb is if technology can help to ENHANCE instruction, then use it.

I have found that varying instructional strategies is also essential. While I grew tired of continual lecture as a student, or classes where all I did was participate in cooperative learning, my guess is that students might tire of the integration of the same technology techniques if they were used all of the time. I think the key is to know your content, know your learners and their needs, know how what technology tools are available, and then blend them together.

So, I guess I am trying to say that LEARNING is at the heart of everything we do. Technology is a wonderful tool to help engage learners but it is not all about the technology, it is about the LEARNING.


This might muddy the waters, but here are some references that I go to when developing lessons:

The Needs, Learning Styles, Multiple Intelligences of your Learners
Rigor & Relevance (making activities relevant and rigorous, higher level thinking)
Understanding By Design (keeping the "main thing" the main thing, starting with a main concept, not all of the details) - awesome book that I studied in grad. school and is still being discussed and practiced today
21st Century Skills (skills that our children will need in an ever changing world)
State Standards (our curriculum)

Just remember..... it's all about the learning.

What a Difference a Year Makes

Birthdays are naturally times for reflection. A year ago I was an excited 3rd grade teacher. I was about to embark on a new adventure, a trip to a technology summit as a Keystone Technology Integrator. During one week last July my life changed in ways I can't quite articulate. For a week I was immersed in learning about learning and technology integration with a group of people just like me. I was no longer an oddity. There were 100 other people just as excited about making learning come alive for children.

Perhaps the most exciting outgrowth of the week was that I developed a Personal Learning Network. I have stayed connected to most of the people that made incredible impressions on me. We have stayed connected on a daily basis for nearly a year now via skype, twitter, wikis, eduwikius, google docs, elluminate, and wimba.

So now I have made connections to some fabulous people all over the world! When I have questions, need support, want to share, I head to my computer. I am also able to offer suggestions/advice, collaborate, and share in the lives of so many special people!

This summer I look forward to teaching some district level courses on technology integration, facilitating a study group for my high school CFF teachers, moving my classroom to a new building, co-presenting at the Governor's Institute (STEM) and just being a mom and wife!