A Scoop of Technology, Vol. 4
Edtech News and Events as Compiled by @TxTechCoach
Investing Time in Joy (UPDATED)
That's not true. While I am not the best at time management, I do spend my days working. It isn't the same type of work that a classroom teacher does, but I'm not a classroom teacher. I do get a bit offended when people say I don't work.
I took time out of my schedule to decorate my door to bring in some fun and excitement. I worked with my office mate and we had a blast, and I know that it has brought a lot of cheer to the hallway. I think joy is the important thing we are missing in education. Something has sucked most of the joy from education. Kids aren't joyful, teachers aren't joyful, parents aren't joyful--puppies still are, so maybe we need more puppies too. (And obviously some people are joyful, I'm using a bit of hyperbole here...)
I think it is time to bring the joy back. Do some things that make you and your class happy. Do a random science experiment because it is cool, or create an art project because your kids would love it. At the end of the day we want to have kids that WANT to come to school, and how many really do right now?
Let's start a joy revolution. Let's show people that a joy for learning will be worth so much more in the long run than drill and kill to pass a test. I think taking the time to have fun with our students will have more impact on them than anything else this year. I think we can find a balance of joy and learning that will have students achieve more than we ever though possible, what about you?
UPDATE: This is a running commentary of my opinion on the state of education. Too many tests, too much focus on scores, too much pressure to do well on a test which is a tiny part of education. Again, that's my opinion. I love education, and I love my campus. I work with dedicated teachers who are doing great things. In overgeneralizing I may have sounded like a zealot who hates everything and everyone. Not my intention. My intention was to give you all a permission slip to drop the curriculum for a day and seize a teachable moment if you want to. Truly it was meant to encourage and uplift, but as is typically my style, I instead stuck my foot in my mouth and alienated the people I work with. I still think education needs more joy, I'm not recanting, but thought that I should clarify that I am not condemning any one person or organization. Peace and joy to all!
And see below for an opportunity to make my door a learning experience!
Thinking Blocks
"For my final interesting thing, I give you Thinking Blocks. This lovely little web resource (and related apps) harnesses the power of model drawing and the unit bar. Some folks have a passionate dislike with model drawing. I've always liked it personally, but I like things to be linear, so it fits my style. Model drawing is a huge part of Math in Focus, which second grade in our district is using this year, and they are always asking for more resources for practicing problem solving. I would combine this with some note-taking, and reflection to make really meaningful practice."
Glyph Graphing
Here is a link to a worksheet that I used when I was in the classroom to have the students pick a criteria to graph and then have them create questions that can be answered with their graph. The kids could then switch with a friend to answer each other's questions. If you want more of a challenge, here is the worksheet for the students to make a double graph.
If straight up graphing is too high for your littles, then let's do tally charts, shapes counting, color identification...
I'd love to see little people with clipboards loitering around my door graphing, and I'd love to teach the graphing lesson if you would like me to! Just let me know if you want more information or a lesson!
Depth of Knowledge
I always think that I know what rigor is and how to move students up the ladder of Bloom's, but then I'll be given some new information and realize that maybe I didn't have a firm grasp on it after all.
This week I saw this infographic about depth of knowledge and I thought I would share it. I wonder how deep we are taking students with their learning. I know that there are time and money constraints, and a whole host of other excuses, but are we getting kids to the extended thinking level often? I think that I've seen it with some of the hour of code lessons I've done so far. The kids have had to really puzzle through the lessons to make the code work, and they have enjoyed it.
Looking through this lens might bring to light what we are doing right or what areas we can bring in some more depth.
I came across this infographic that shares some great ideas for how to use Twitter with your students. There are several ways to get students on Twitter, from having them all use a class account to having teacher owned "student" accounts.
If you would like to learn more about using Twitter in the classroom come to my session at the InnovateEdu Summit or just let me know. I'd love more guinea pigs to test my ideas on!
Computer Lab Reminders
- Make sure your students are logged off before you leave.
- Make sure the projector is turned off before you leave.
- Write any service requests on the clipboard. I check this regularly, and I'll fix what I can or put in a ticket for the rest. If it isn't on the clipboard, it won't get fixed because no one will know about it.
- Have your students clean up after themselves and return things they have borrowed.
- There is no KidPix on number 14. When they were redone at the beginning of the year we weren't supposed to have KidPix but it somehow magically appeared. I don't think that will be happening again. As the computers need to be reimaged KidPix will disappear forever.
- If students are getting a lot of buzzing and feedback from their headphones, it might be because they are using headphones with a microphone. Check the headphone jack--if there are three stripes it has a microphone. The solution that seems to fix this, other than bring different headphones, is to plug the headphones into the CPU instead of into the monitor.
About Me
Email: krystal.weiss@springbranchisd.com
Website: scoopoftechnology.blogspot.com
Location: Houston
Twitter: @txtechcoach