The First Few Days

I've had a hard time sitting still and compiling a single thought since school began last week, but this is my attempt.  I am absolutely in LOVE with my job and my students.  Each day is challenging, each day there are moments where I consider shedding a few tears...but each single day there is at least one student that surprises me and makes me want to keep going.

Tomorrow I'm introducing Edmodo to all of my classes, something I had showed them...but they had been unable to get on at school thus far.  What I didn't expect was that when students learned their usernames and passwords for my sites they would take it upon themselves to go home and try it out!

What ensued today and yesterday were students who jumped off the bus or out of the car, ran into their house and practiced their typing skills and played around on Edmodo.  I was floored.  To have students tell me that they went home and practiced their typing was one thing, but to see the students talking back and forth about how much they loved class and all of the cool things they got to do was completely another.

As I fight to try to be 100% safe and responsible while also teaching my students responsible social networking skills, this tells me that I'm doing at least something right.  I can't hope to be right all the time or that every lesson will be effective...but I know I'm going in the right direction.  I have lots of support, and still lots of naive first year teacher blood...so I think I'll keep going full charge.

Lesson of the week: Never ever underestimate the power of your students or tools that you use with them.  Most of all, don't be afraid to be the first to try what others have been afraid to do.

The Importance of Connecting in 3 Ways

Only one more day until I have students in my classrooms, and I can barely contain my excitement (or my stress)!  I've spent the past 2 jam-packed days in training, meetings, and the like preparing for school with my fellow teachers...so I felt the need to reflect a little bit.  I've realized the importance of connecting with people over the past 5 years of college, and with my newly found connection to Twitter and blogging found even more of a reason to be connected.  So I'm going to reflect a little on the three ways I feel like we should all invest our connections...and this is especially for aspiring and new teachers.  Because, trust me...I wouldn't be about to start school in this amazing school district (and be prepared) without any one of them.

1.) Internet & Social Networking Connections
This is of course why you are reading this at this very moment.  There is an infinite amount of wisdom and experience available to teachers both new and old from many different mediums.  Whether you are on a listserv, reading a blog, Twittering, or just Google-ing websites..there is something out there for everyone.  Find one connection to get you started and build from there.  The rest will come from experience and sticking to it.  Don't be afraid to try new things, to pull in your peers, and to start something of your own.

2.) A Variety of Subject Area Connections
This is a commonly known fact.  The more connections you make for students the more they will learn.  Right?  Well it sounds nice, until you have to do the collaboration and the planning.  It is however VERY worth your time.  Especially if you are an "elective" or "specials" teacher as I am, and that's for 2 reasons.  First of all it really does help students.  Students use technology in all areas so teaching it while using the content from their other classes is just common sense.  Secondly, the other teachers appreciate it, a lot.  Just in the time that I've been working with teachers so far they have all praised me for being willing to collaborate with them and take some of their suggestions.  It validates what they are doing, and it helps them out!  So...don't forget while you have a million other things going on to keep making those connections for students.


3.) "Physical Human" Connections
Remember these?? Before all of this Internet stuff if you needed help you got up out of your chair and went and asked for it.  This is still extremely important.  It seems like a "duh" factor once you're teaching...but I want to talk about getting you to the teaching point.
The market is difficult for teachers right now, so for all you pre-service teachers, when people tell you to get to know your professors... They are dead serious.  Let me tell you why =)  I had only been an education major for 1 1/2 years before student teaching, so only 2 before getting a teaching job.  Some of my good friends who were education majors for all 4 years....are still struggling to find a job.  Not only did I find one (that I didn't go looking for), I was the only person interviewed, and I was hired the same day.  How you ask?  Connections connections connections!! It really is all about who you know.
Ever since I became an education major I stopped by my advisor's office frequently, sometimes for things that I could've waited to ask about or things I could've asked a classmate.  I also always talked to my professors before or after class multiple times a week. And of course the obvious speaking up in class, doing what I was told, and going a little beyond.  This all led to me having leadership roles in my College of Education (again only after one year in the building), eventually getting multiple scholarships to participate in an International Teaching Experience, multiple awards from the College at graduation, and now...TA-DA my very own classroom.  I literally added lines for references on my job application because there was no way to narrow them down.  When I mention other of my fellow teachers' names to professors (who've had those students in the past) they don't know who they are...or can't remember.  And those my friends, are my peers still searching for jobs.

I know life is hard, your broke, your tired, and you just want to have fun in college.  But my good friends out there...please listen when I say make LOTS  of connections.  Don't stop when you graduate, don't stop when you get a job.  Keep connecting, keep learning, and you will keep on being happy. =)

My Reform Symposium Reflection

As I write today...an Elluminate session is running in the background from yesterday's Reform Symposium which I hated that I had to miss.  However, I'm honing my multi-tasking skills watching it in one part of my screen while I reflect on how much the Reform Symposium has got me thinking, interacting, and made me more hopeful for my first year.

Before this weekend I had lots of ideas, but no clear cut plan on how I was going to establish the culture of my new technology classroom.  I also had about a million questions buzzing around in my head that I've been afraid to ask my mentors and other teachers...only because I feel like that's all I do!  Now though, I have a network of people who are more than happy to help whenever I have a question.

The Reform Symposium was amazing to me.  Being able to sit in my living room at my desk and talk to experts from all around the world....insane.  It also did something else for me.  It gave me a drive to continue to do better, strive to help others do better, and improve my knowledge.  I'm a very restless person...if you read earlier you know that deciding what I wanted to do with my life was very difficult, basically because it felt like a permanent decision with most majors, and I hated that.

Even now, I haven't even begun to teach, but I already had the feeling of being trapped in a job or place for longer than I wanted.  I know that I want to get my Master's, I want to go travel to lots of other places, I want to teach and work at a university....but I had to accept the fact that I might have to stay in my small town and accept a daily/weekly routine for a few years.

This weekend has given me a refreshing breath of air to help me remember that there are so many things that I can do with my future.  Technology is also ever changing, so just because I have a plan for my students for the first 6 weeks, doesn't mean that the next 6 won't be completely different when technology changes.  And I have a feeling that whenever I start to feel restless and trapped...I'll be able to go out to my PLN, take a deep breath, and check out all the wonderful 140 character "inspirational messages" to get me back on track.

My Classroom

I usually don't think of myself as a creative person... however I had to force it when I came upon my huge stark white classroom.  Especially because I was out of my comfort zone of high school students, who only mildly care what the classroom looks like.  I'm talking some 4th graders here!! They care!!

So here are some pictures of things that I've done to spice up the classroom a bit.  I had a lot of trouble finding something like this...the in-between.  Nothing too childish for my 8th graders, but something fun for my 4th graders.  No theme...just technology!

Click "View All" at the bottom of the slideshow to see all the pictures at once and then you can click on a picture or watch the slideshow to see my descriptions of the pictures.  Enjoy!

What is a PLN??

That acronym was something I was completely unfamiliar with.  As I was with many other things out here in cyberspace.  Don't get me wrong...I'm very up with the technology.  As a pre-service teacher in Kentucky, especially at Murray State I was lucky to be in a very "tech" enabled building.  We had tools like you wouldn't believe in every classroom.  Smart boards, doc cameras, air liners, etc....etc...
Also MSU housed the KATE office, or Kentucky Academy of Technology Education.  Can't get any better than that right?

So as I began trying to figure out how I would teach 650 4th-8th graders technology, with little to no guidelines left for me from the previous teacher.  I'm lucky enough to see my students every day (unlike most elective teachers at an elementary level) but only for 6 weeks at a time...once a year.  So I knew I needed an intense 6 week schedule that could cram in as much as possible with each grade level. Of course I have to collaborate with other teachers, fight with the resources I have, and complete my first year of Kentucky teaching known as the Kentucky Teacher Internship Program (a more complicated form of student teaching).  FUN!

SO, last week I sat searching for collaborative classroom tools that I could use with all grade levels.  Things that would keep my student's information private and yet allow them to connect with one another and myself in the classroom. Somehow I came upon Steven Anderson's Web 2.0 blog which is literally loaded with resources.  Check it out here: Web 2.0 Classroom

I was entranced!  There were so many things that I wanted to read, so many sites to check out, and how on earth would I sort through all of this madness I was finding?  At this point my Twitter account was almost non-existent.  I followed maybe 5 people, and had 2 friends that were followers.  Not too exciting.  But Steven's blog got me a little more excited about Twitter so I thought I would improve my following and started to follow a few tech educators.  That was Thursday.  By Friday I was listening and participating in an online conference about technology education #rscon10 or check it here: Reform Symposium.  And now I'm following a whole crew of amazing educators, constantly watching my Twitter feed for new ideas, sites, and other people who can help me out!

Most importantly I learned what a PLN was...and am learning how to use it to my absolute advantage.  The few tools I had found for my classroom are now being replaced by ones that are far more interactive and exciting for students...and I'm coming up with even better ideas for how to get my students exciting and learning about technology.

So....here are some of the links/sites that I have checked out in the past few days.  Only a sampling.  I hope to continue to use this blog to share my adventure as well as my trials with different tools in my classroom.  If you find some exciting stuff you would like to share or want to share your feedback and advice, trust that it will be taken with the utmost appreciation from me.  I'm looking for every resource I can get!!!

Already mentioned but Steven Anderson's blog is wonderful!! Web 2.0 Classroom
Inspirational PLE video by a 7th grader: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEls3tq5wIY
Great collection of tools: http://newtoolsworkshop.wikispaces.com/
A great way to find educators to begin your PLN: People To Meet PLN - Educators

Really Cool Sites (I just found out about!!!)

Edmodo
Stixy
Symbaloo
Twiducate
GoAnimate
Glogster
Evernote

(Just type any of those into Google and explore!)

Thanks for reading...look for a post shortly where I'll show off my brand new classroom and maybe give some ideas!!

A Little Background

I began my adventure 23 and a half years ago.  And to this day...I'm still not sure what I want to be when I grow up, and I think that's an amazing thing.

I attended public schools all my life, and was lucky enough to go to a K-8 magnet school which helped me become who I am today.  Throughout high school I fought the system defying anyone who tried to tell me what I should be.  In some ways I continued to do that in college, however that process of changing majors was slightly more difficult.

I started at Murray State University undecided and quickly became a Political Science major with a minor in Organizational Communication.  Before my third year of school I had switched my major, minor, and whatever else I could a total of 4-5 times.  I finally settled on Accounting, or so I thought.  I was excelling in my classes, making connections with accounting firms, and well on my way to being a slave to a company by the time I was 22.  Then I went home for spring break before my senior year...and broke down.  I was completely unhappy with what my life would become, and even though I loved the content I was studying...I didn't love my future.  A quick scan through my options of what I could possibly do and still graduate in a timely manner brought me to Business Education.

An extra year of school and here I am today, fresh out of college with a teaching job in an amazing district.  I was extremely lucky to have found in our College of Education wonderful advisors and professors who pushed me further than I thought I could go, and asked me to constantly step out of my comfort zone.  For example, having put off studying abroad earlier in my university career...I was one day away from a deadline to apply for an International Teaching Experience program in Belize.  I had given up on the idea of going, for lack of money and motivation.  But there I sat, at a table with professors from my entire college career (at a technology conference no less), who wouldn't take "no" for an answer.  So within a day I got all of my material, some money included, and applied.  This is important.  Because I constantly talk myself out of risk taking and adventure...and this time...regardless of what I wanted I WAS going to Belize for a month to teach foreign students and learn more about myself than I would ever imagine.

I started student teaching at a high school this past spring, had a wonderful supervising teacher and even greater students for my first "real" classroom experience.  I had ups, I had downs, but most importantly I had freedom to try new things under the guidance of a very experienced and understanding mentor.  I wrapped up my "American" student teaching experience a month before my peers and set off on a journey to Corozal, Belize with 7 of my peers for a month.  It was an amazing experience to be stripped of technology, resources, and my all important iPhone...and still be able to teach and affect students' lives.  Also, during this experience I experienced blogging for the first time.  Although I wasn't able to update often, it was a great thing for my students back in Kentucky to be able to see what I was up to after I left them.  You can check it out here: Belize Blog

I returned from Belize and in a whirlwind 48 hours went to several honors ceremonies, events, and of course graduation.  At this point in my life...I was content.  I knew that finding a teaching job in the field of Business Education was going to be hopeless near where I was located, I didn't want to head back to Illinois to teach....but I wasn't ready to go too far to anyone else.  So instead I finished up my application for my graduate program, secured an amazing graduate assistantship, and another part time job in a technology office on campus.  I was in heaven (plus I'd get to stay in idealistic college for that much longer). 

Not even 2 weeks later I was informed of a job opening for a computer teacher at the middle school in the town.  (An absolutely AMAZING school district)  I also got a call and was asked to be a reading teacher for a high school summer program.  So I made the decision....to put my college life and learning on hold...and pursue an actual teaching job.

After a very busy, exciting, and fulfilling summer...here I am...almost 2 weeks until I have students in my classroom and almost ready to go.  However...the last few weeks have been a bit trying.  As I try to get everything ready, do the best I can, and of course not take on too much I ended up online.  And let me tell you....it was one of the best things that I have ever done!  ....more to come