Ah, #EduCon - thank you.

I feel that this will be the first of many decompressions of this year's EduCon at the Science Leadership Academy (#SLA).

My mind is on overdrive.

But I feel the need to capture this, and start the sifting process.

It was wonderful to be around so many like-minded people. You all renewed my faith and my hope that change is possible.

It's hard to keep a fire burning by yourself. You all helped spark the embers; you reignited the burning passion to make thing better.

Although I still struggle with the full nature of this idea, I love that Chris Lehman phrased this change as a narrative. We all can play an important role in this story, and it is a tale that must be shouted from any mountaintop or anthill we can find.

We are connected. Whatever the means, we have the means to find the end.

Ideas are bulletproof. Let's thicken our hides and stop hiding - it's time to take this thing and run. To paraphrase Nat Turner: we are what we've been waiting for.

We must stay active and tell this story to anyone who will, and more importantly those who won't, listen.

Thank you, EduCon.

EduCon! I've arrived...

I am so excited to be attending EduCon 2.5 in Philly. Looking for the real-world inspiration from inspiring educators. I will be keeping a running document of notes (feel free to comment right in the Google Doc) which may turn into future blog posts. I will also be tweeting throughout the weekend. Let the learning begin!

Do Students Learn Differently?

I decided to write this post on Storify, as I wanted to include the original tweets that inspired my thoughts. Due to the large font, though, this is a scroller...sorry about that. 

Here is the link to the Storify post in case the embed code doesn't work.

My New Gmail #GTD setup

My district recently started a program to enable employees to become Google Apps Qualified. As we (Clarkstown Central School District) are a Google District, this was an exciting chance to learn more about the tools I already use. I jumped at the chance and became part of a group of 21 other colleagues on our quest to become Clarkstown Google Experts (CGEs).

First, I did not know Google offered such extensive training materials for their Apps In Education suite. Second, I did not realize how extensive the tests were. I spent a manic week studying while my son fell asleep in his crib and then running downstairs for an hour of testing. The good news: I managed to pass all six exams and am now Google Apps Qualified (for the next year). The bad news: sleep deprivation.

One immediate takeaway, though, came from the Other Tools module. Specifically, the Labs section.

First, some context: in September, we were still using good 'ole Outlook. In October, we were informed we would be migrating to Gmail (yay!). However, I had never used Gmail as a web-based experience before; I funnel all my email into Apple Mail on my various iDevices. Being naive, I set about to recreate all of my Outlook folders as Gmail labels.

Inbox 1700+.

I realized the futility of attempting to do this with integrity, and eventually archived all the pre-migration emails.

Inbox 1000.

I then decided to shrink the number of labels I used, and created labels for each of my classes (5 in total) and a few other things (To Do, To Grade, Prep, etc.).

Inbox 1000. (ugh.)

Enter the Google training mentioned above, the Gmail search bar, and the QuickLinks lab. Simply put, this Lab allows you to save a search query as a clickable link for quick use later on. More complexly, the Search bar is amazing (I have yet to explore the Advanced Search in it's entirety). This changed my approach to HOW I use Gmail. In other words, the training allowed me to reflect on my process and experience using Gmail.

Here's what I discovered:

1. I rarely, if ever, clicked on a class label to view those emails.
        Step taken: delete all class labels.
   
2. When I did need to reference a previous email, I found myself searching for it.
        Step taken: archive everything...I have thousands of emails and am at 9% of my 25GB limit.
   
3. It was more important to label my processes than my descriptions. To rephrase, the English teacher in me decided to label my verbs, not my nouns.
        Step taken: create labels Follow Up, To Grade, Read and Review.
   
4. Having a To Do list was not enough, as it grew out of control. I needed a way to sift through it and categorize the To Do items.
        Step taken: Superstars, another Lab item. This allows you to use a variety of stars on an email. I stuck with 4 to keep it simple.
   
5. Having immediate access to the categorized To Do list was essential.
        Step taken: QuickLinks. Save each "star" as a QuickLink and immediately sort your "starred" items.
   
6. I needed to see my Unread emails first.
       Step taken: Use Priority Inbox with three levels: Unread, starred, everything else.

By redefining my process, I found managing my inbox much easier. As soon as I read a new message, I do one of three things: reply, Archive, or Flag/Star (depending on which device I read the email on). I then "process" my starred items and make sure they have the appropriate star "level." I have the QuickLinks set up in my left sidebar and I can see exactly what I need to.

I'm sure this will be an evolving process, and I welcome that. Reading the material Google has provided has opened my mind to ideas I did not know were possible, and for that I am thankful.

Oh yeah...Inbox: 82. But all accounted for.

Who needs sleep?

So. This weekend was kind of a mess. Friday evening flurry of #LiteraryTunes, red wine, and what I now know was pre-fever.

Friday night: toss, turn, freeze, swear, wonder why I am buried beneath an avalanche of blankets. Not realizing pregnant wife has same symptoms I do.

Saturday: sick. Fever sick. Stomach borderline, stays solid. Wife not so much. Vomiting on and off. 18 month old seemingly not affected, wants to play. Great fun!

Saturday night: pass the F out.

Sunday: wake up feeling exhausted but not sick. Wife still ill, asleep all day. 18 month and me...Play! Fun.

Sunday night: this one gets a timeline all to itself.

7pm: start baby bedtime. Books, crying, lights out. Not so bad.

8pm: discover #21stedchat on Twitter and get sucked in.

9pm: downstairs, decide grading is done for night. Hooray! Early bedtime! Read, lights out.

10pm: Toss, turn, can't sleep. Kung fu fantasies of what I'd do if a burglar broke (complete with a variety of "tough-guy" 911 calls but, alas, lacking any sort of kick-ass soundtrack).

11pm: sick of not sleeping. Brew sleepy time tea (false advertising), grade another 20 1984 essays.

12am: ready to sleep. Nuthin'.

1am: start thinking about Web 2.0 tools. Of course. Briefly consider my unfinished lesson plans. Start composing this post.

2am: everybody was Kung fu fighting. Hoo. Hah.

3am: decide to live "on the wild side" and "in the moment" and download the Blogger app. Baby cries. Awesome. Baby stops. Awesomer.

4am: finish post and try to remember what automatic settings I have on seldomly used blog. Find myself not caring. Wonder if anyone is still reading (and caring). Praying that I have one more free coffee reward at Starbucks.

Prediction for 5am: I will be surprised when the alarm goes off. Bitter irony.

Good(?) night/morning all.

Twitter as Newspeak?

I recently started teaching George Orwell's 1984 to my senior English class, Struggles of Humanity. They have just finished reading Part 1, and I would like to link the novel's ideas to students' lives today. Looking through my class website, I found a link to an article, "Parallels between Twitter and Newspeak," by Art Silverblatt. In this article, he makes an interesting comparison about the currency of limited language. Of course, Twitter and Newspeak have different concepts, but the article got me thinking about what impact "limited" language has on my students and their perceptions of truth.

It is very evident to me that most of my students (the "average" population) struggles while reading an extended text. They can't seem to hold on to the extended thought long enough to glean the larger meaning, or truth, from the text. Conversely: does the economy of language expressed in a tweet or a text limit their capacity to understand a larger truth?

To this end, I want to create a class lesson / activity to test this idea. I have a vague concept in mind:

• Put students into groups, ensuring that each group has at least one smartphone available (my district has blanketed most schools with WiFi and has instituted a BYOT policy that students don't quite take advantage of yet).
• Direct them to twitter and ask them to search on a topic (do I provide, do they choose?)
• Have them collect a variety of tweets (copy into notes?) and then have them follow through to full story? Does the tweet accurately represent the story's "truth"?
• Choose one to share out with the class.

Like I said: this is a vague conception of an idea. I would love to hear any feedback as to shaping this, and perhaps incorporating additional / different Web 2.0 tools.

An Open letter to the parents and students, 2011-12 school year

I've decided this year to "go public" with my ideas and post some philosophical rationales on my class website, a sort of here's-where-this-idea-came-from post. I preach transparency, so I guess it's time to live it.

An open letter to the parents and students, 2011-12 school year:

Basic Philosophy

Mine is two-fold.

• Choice and Consequence
• Transparency

I believe in choice, and I will defend anyone's right to choice. However, I also believe in consequence - there is a result to every choice we make, and it is important to me to be aware of the consequences of the choices I make. Thus, I make this the center of my teaching practice - my students need to realize that they DO have choices, but also that those choices DO have consequences that will be upheld. Life teaches us that some choices have more positive (or more dire) consequences than others, and I believe that should be practiced in my classroom.

Secondly, I believe that rationales for making those choices should be available to all involved in the choice (hence this page of the website). You cannot make a truly informed choice if you are not truly informed. I do not want to hold "secrets" from my students - teaching is a collaborative act, and no real progress can be made if students do not understand the "WHY" of the "WHAT." Giving students a more clearly defined framework for WHY I am presenting these items to them is a professional goal of my own this year. 

Teaching Concepts

I have chosen 3 teaching concepts to focus on this year:

• Student choice and flexibility
• Student accountability
• Teacher responsibility

Student Choice and Flexibility

Growing from my philosophy above, I have attempted to revise my own approach to the classroom; I would like to make it more "realistic" - too often, classrooms operate in a four-walled vacuum and do not take into account "real" life. We all experience good and bad days, and life provides us all with varied hiccups along the way. In an attempt to meet the students where many of them are, I am introducing CHOICE assignments this year (please refer to the syllabus for more information). These assessments will allow students to A) express their understanding of the content in a variety of ways, and B) have some say in how much they do. I believe this very much reflects the idea of choice and consequence, but also gives students some individual control of the work they do. A lot of the ideas from Race to Nowhere and The Case Against Homework were influential to me here.

Student Accountability

I firmly believe that students need a guiding  hand to stay "on track," especially towards the end of their high school careers, when the more "adult" experiences begin to accumulate. However, I also am uncomfortable with students "getting by" without doing a significant portion of the work - my job is to ensure learning takes place in my classroom, and assessment is the main method by which I judge that. So, a new "catch phrase" this year will be: the consequence for missing the work is getting the work done. (See also Dr. Douglas Reeves' ideas on toxic grading practices)

I am inspired by Tom Schimmer's blog post about removing the late work policy in its entirety - although, on reflection, I think that is too much of a jump to make in one year. Thus, I have a revised late work policy that I believe will both give students a little elbow room and still hold them accountable. There is an eventual consequence, but they have a lot of choices to make before that consequence is applied. And, of course, I will do my best to include the parents/guardians in those choices along the way.

Teacher Responsibility

Standing in front of the classroom, I am responsible for (hopefully) reaching and teaching the minds of up to 125 students per day (quick math puts that number at almost 1000 students at the end of this, my 8th year teaching). As such, I believe that it is my responsibility to model that which I teach. I seek to help students develop into creative, flexible, critical and reflective thinkers, and I need to follow suit in both WHAT and HOW I teach. 

Education is at an interesting crossroads these days, and our students are being presented with more and more challenges almost daily. To that end, we must be aware of our immediate neighbors, our global partners, our technological advances, etc. We are constantly looking ahead to the future, but we cannot forget the past, for the past is how we got to where we are today. I am currently reading David Perkins book, Making Learning Whole. He encourages reshaping our curricula to look at a larger, more relevant picture. I am looking to Perkins to figure out a way, for instance, to wake up the sleepy topic of Macbeth for my juniors. It should be an interesting journey...

Another book that has fallen into my lap lately is Nudge, by Richard Thaler and Prof. Cass Sunstein. This book focuses on how particular "choice architects" have great influence over the choices people make, and that sometimes people need a "nudge" in a particular direction. The implications of this idea on the teaching profession, I think, are quite large. The ideas from this book influenced some of the above policy ideas.

Finally, technology is prevalent in our society today, and I do not think it is "going away" any time soon. Thus, we must educate the users of technology in appropriate methods of use. I plan to try to integrate technology into the WHAT and HOW that I teach this year. Students will be utilizing blogs, Google Docs, and other web 2.0 tools throughout the year in an effort to both increase comfort with these powerful tools and, hopefully, inspire students to seek out further methods of use.

In closing, I encourage you to follow some of these links and read some of these books. And please, feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns about anything - I'd be more than happen to continue this conversation.