Research Can Be Fun, Too!

My students started a research paper this past week. In asking other teachers in the building, I have found out that this is the fourth year in a row they write a research paper. Well, gee, no wonder they're less than enthralled with the current event topics I let them choose from. Here I expected "oohs" and "aaahs" as I passed out the assignment sheet with "CHOOSE ONE FROM THESE SIX" at the top. Nope? No big deal to them? I supposed they are so used to doing research that they don't bat an eye at being asked to research high-interest topics such as the legalization of marijuana and the interest of marriage equality. I certainly didn't research these topics back in the 90s...but alas, times have changed.

And...so has the method of research. I know we've discussed the innate difference between OUR high school research versus THEIR high school research, but it still has shock value for me. We definitely could not, under any circumstances, "google" anything for our research papers. In fact, the online research we could complete was all intranet-based and through the school's network, if there really even was such a thing back then (saying "back then" is really funny because I understand that graduating high school in 2000 isn't even that long ago, but in terms of technology, it's light years).

Which leads me to my incorporation of EbscoHost to my 98 seniors who would much rather just plunk their topic into the google search box. Boy, were they anti-EbscoHost! And let me preface this by saying, I used to be anti this as well. I thought it was too "boring" I guess. But I let them figure out the importance of it firsthand when most of their sites regarding these hot-current-event-topics were blocked from the school's network. Ha! It's all I could do at this point (in each and every of my four class periods) from singing "I toldjya so!" But in all sincerity, it was kind of cool to watch them learn how to search for scholarly pieces of information instead of just some radical's blog posting about how Obamacare shouldn't happen, or whatever. It just kind of happened that they found out that plain old googling wasn't going to cut it. I think part of the importance of finding quality resources also came from the required annotated bibliography (oh, did I not mention that before? I guess that's pretty vital to in-depth research, eh?). I complained and complained every single time I had to do an annotated bib, but boy, they really start to see the effectiveness of their research once they are forced to quantify it.

Oh, and thanks for the tip, everyone during the first few weeks of class-- www.easybib.com works like a dream and makes them hate citations SO much less!

So here we go...research paper outlines start tomorrow, so we'll see how much information they could gather. And if not, I'll direct them toward those ancient pages between hard covers that are full of words and useful information. You know...books.

"Using Computers Makes Learning Fun!"

...said one of my wiser, more sarcastic students. Before you make him out to be a smartalecky, mean kid, I'll tell you that he has been his class's president for the past three years and is basically one of the coolest kids I've ever had the privilege to teach. Mostly, probably, due the fact that I sincerely appreciate his style of humor. His cynicism is always appropriate and meaningful, like yesterday when I had students using laptops to access www.noredink.com to practice some grammar concepts before today's big test. When he said it, all the students chuckled and I replied to agree with him and they were off to the races.

But his statement, although harmless, still made me ponder. Are teachers making their incorporation of technology too pointed? Is it just way too obvious that we're trying to connect to these age-of-informationers using media that makes sense to them? Maybe. But then the next question is, do we really care that they're on to us?

My answer, after a pregnant pause to ponder, is decidedly: "nope." :)

At any rate, I continued with the online grammar review, and they had so much fun! Since they get to personalize the sentences they get on the review, they were all laughing intermittently as the random and creative questions popped up (e.g., "Fifty Cent had run to the store for some lightbulbs." And so on and so on...haha!). My "sharing a new literacy website" screencast is on this site and is posted on our wiki, so feel free to check it out. The formative assessment you can do with this forum is outstanding...for instance, there is a graph that I can view in real time and if most of them are getting it wrong, I announced this and went to the board and re-explained the rule. At the end of the session, I told them, "Ok, you all seem to understand the confusable words because you're mostly all in the 90% range, but man, you guys HAVE to study plurals and possessives tonight because no one got over 75%."  Now HOW effective is it to have that instant feedback? Especially with so many grammar concepts? It's impossible to quiz them and assess them all as a group (or individually, for that matter), but this site makes it so easy. They actually verbalized how thankful they were to know what to study that evening, and some got on the site last night to practice the ones they missed. (the site gives you practice options for any that you did poorly on)

Intrigued yet? I got some other teachers on board yesterday. I'm telling you...if you want them to be engaged, check out this website. I've never had such success with grammar in my life.

So yes, Will, using computers DOES make learning fun!

It's November!!! And Other News.

I struggled all week to find something for this blog entry. So I'll just give a few tidbits about my classes from the last few days and see what happens:

1. I taught grammar all week to my seniors. They didn't hate it as much as I thought they would...instead, they sat and listened intently as I reviewed the rules and some hints at remembered them. I was SURE they'd be viciously bored, but they verbalized often that they were glad to hear these rules one more time before I sent them off into the world. Maybe it helped (scared them...?) that I mentioned this would probably be one of the last grammar lessons they would receive EVER unless they were going to be an English major in college. At any rate, I love grammar and it can be really boring to teach because, honestly, there is no way around lecturing of the rules, even though I bribe them with candy and (what I think are) funny example questions...so this was refreshing...to see them appreciate it.
2. I gave my Argument and Debate students a podcast to listen to for two days of class. I really liked a lot of the examples I found while creating my own podcast, so I wanted to see how they would react. They're all considered gifted and often challenge me (verbally) to teach them well, so I knew this would be interesting. Since the curriculum includes listening skills, I thought this would be fit perfectly. I set it up by asking them to fill in completion questions as they listened to practice jotting down MANY notes, as they have to during debates in class. A lot of them asked right away about the actual definition of a podcast, so I explained the sounds, mood creation, background themes, etc., and they seemed pretty excited. End result? They LOVED it! I used one (I think I mentioned it before) from thisamericanlife.org called "The House on Loon Lake," a true story mystery. They were absolutely riveted the entire time. They got to make predictions and voice their complaints for the ending...it was a cool way to have them use their skills from class to observe and analyze a true hour-long story, something that they will definitely have to do as we create an entire classroom debate later in the semester. 
3. All that aside, this class (as I mentioned) is quite challenging for me. I try to incorporate fun and creativity to the lessons as I am taking over for a teacher who taught this for 25+ years, so I am kind of free to change it up a bit. However, it's on a topic that does not really interest me (student congress and parliamentary procedures), so each day I struggle with the content AND the delivery. Any suggestions? I've tried voicing my concerns to our English dept. head, that this is more of a social studies class than ELA, but it's tough because then I wouldn't have a class to teach and what would that mean for furloughs and full-time status? Sigh...
4. But...I really overall have so much fun teaching my seniors for the remainder of the day (I only have one A & D class this semester), that I don't really let it bother me as much as it could. I have really gotten to know the 12th graders and I think they feel that I understand their academic needs very well because they always seem appreciative. (Probably helps that they're getting college credit for this course, right?) Anyway...I love it. 

I had a good week and I don't mind saying THANK GOODNESS OCTOBER IS OVER. (I'm a big proponent that October is the roughest teaching month...I generally love the fall weekend activities, but honestly, teaching through the whole month with no breaks is quite daunting)  So it's on to November now and I'm happy to be here!

Long string of random comments is now over ;-)

Moodle on my Noodle

Yep, that title just happened. 

But seriously folks...I signed up to be trained on all things Moodle, so once a month, five other teachers and myself sit in the administration building and participate in the completely-online training course and work through training modules to learn the tools and best practices for our district's online learning interface. For those who don't know, Moodle works almost exactly like any Blackboard course (very similar to BlendedSchools as well). It has many different tools to incorporate into online courses, such as blogs, discussion boards, quizlets, virtual flash cards, voice threads, the list goes on for what seems like forever! I have used some of this stuff in my regular classes almost as a supplement or complement to the everyday lesson content. (Kind of like how Edmodo works.) But now, my district is leaning toward including more online courses for cyberschool students. So these courses need to be organized down to the tiniest detail, so building my class is pretty challenging. I basically have to map out the entire year, which is pretty difficult for ELA, as it is not as simplistically linear as a math or science course. Instead, there's a lot of jumping around to different topics. 

So I guess my problem lies in this gigantic organization process. Because I'm so used to planning for about a month at a time, I tend to find this quite daunting. As in...I basically get stymied and end up staring at the screen for about an hour. And I'm assuming this is a pretty common problem when teaching English. 

Currently, I share a college writing Moodle site with two other teachers and the students really appreciate having a portal to go to when looking for resources. Plus, bonus, we save so many trees this way! Let me share a picture of our current section for a rhetorical analysis essay: 

(Note that one section at the top is "unavailable," so teachers can control what students can see and work on.) Anyway, front-loading all of this can be tedious (that's one word I used during the last training...there are other words I used, too, as I awkwardly meandered my way through uploading a self-created voice thread...). However, look how neat it is displayed this way! You basically then have your lesson plans for the entirety of your teaching of the course. Now, all of the copyright to this page goes to my colleague, but this is what I strive for as I work toward creating an online course for Language Arts 8. I'm up for it, and I have to be honest, being enrolled in New Media at Pitt this semester has helped immensely. I'm so intertwined in all things new media that the technology is literally flowing from my brain and fingertips. It's invigorating and comforting, that's for sure. 

AND look what I found!!! Moodle is on Twitter! They post issues, troubleshooting, examples of cool stuff from Moodle users...ah, how I love social media... nice way to tie everything together! 

Wikis for Everyone!

I'm challenged daily by the curriculum of Argument and Debate class. Not only do I not understand the content, but I really, really don't enjoy it. It's very content-heavy, like learning the rules of student congress, legislative procedures, debate rules and regulations...not really my cup o' tea, and it seems pretty social studies-related vs. being under the language arts umbrella.

But I digress. I have to teach it, so I might as well find a way to make it interesting and meaningful...for the kids AND for me!

Enter technology. (And my wonderful professor, Tim, and his wiki inspiration!!!)

I decided to have them work collaboratively to research some (real, existing, United States) bills and resolutions so that we could debate them in class. Instead of just assigning the unoriginal individual powerpoint, I had them choose one of six groups for bills that they voted on last week and they're going to have a period-long presentation on the topic, including time for cross-examination by their peers. In order to best help this project come to life, I created a wiki (much like the one we do in our Pitt online class!) and within the wiki, created groups that they can collaborate within. Here's what it looks like:

(there are two more blue boxes below these three for the remaining groups)

So far, only the following headaches ensued:

• taking time in class to invite students via their school emails, to which many forgot the log-in procedures
• waiting for them to create accounts
• waiting for them to change their usernames to something appropriate and based on their name (ya know, so the other members actually know who they're chatting with on the wiki......

And I expected more issues, honestly, since none of them raised their hands when I asked who had worked on a wiki before. But in checking on their progress today (one day into the project), I noticed they're actually utilizing the collaboration possibilities! Color me impressed :) Check it out!

One major aspect that the love so far is that there is a field trip for four of the students tomorrow, but they'll be on the bus on their smartphones joining in on the wiki during class, anyway, so as not to leave their group "hangin'." (Their decision...not mine!) 

I'm excited to see the finished products. Our online Pitt class already taught US that this is a highly effective format for collaboration, discussion, and sharing of content, but I'm glad that these students (9th graders) are getting this experience in group work with a twist on technology. 

We're Not in Y2K Anymore

I think the most important thing I learned last night while chaperoning the homecoming dance was that if I ever have a daughter, she is not getting new shoes for any dance. Those girls marched in past the ticket table with their corsages, glittery clutches, and dates in tow, teetering on brand new four-inch strappy, sparkling platform stilettos (seriously, most of them were nearly identical save a few color differences here or there), making their way toward an unclaimed, poorly-camouflaged cafeteria table littered with paper plates full of pretzels and cheese puffs. No sooner did their tiny bags clunk onto the tables did their shoes fly off and their iPhones come out, and they were scuttling (now barefooted) into the gym to hit the dance floor. 

All while I stood there in my heels, wishing I wasn't a grown up so I could fling my shoes into a corner, too. 

And then I got to thinking (lots of time to kill while standing around watching high schoolers chug Mountain Dew and try to dance to all those 80s songs that made me feel like I was at a wedding...), how would I do things differently if I was back in high school? Or better yet, if time travel wasn't an option, how would my friends and I be handling the onslaught of technology? Because students just did not have cell phones back then. (Except for my friend Kelly, whose dad let her use it during musical season so she could call for a ride home. Man, were we jealous.) So we had to have actual film cameras at dances and the only people who got to see the pictures were our friends at the lunch table about a week after the dance IF we took them to be developed immediately. I mean, there are thousands of pictures out there that my peers took during, say, just ONE dance I went to as a senior that I will never, ever see. And meanwhile, last night, of the 800+ in attendance, probably about two thirds of those students saw at least 100 pictures on facebook or twitter that same night. (I'm ballpark-ing, but I think that sounds close, right?) 

I mean, let that sink in. Just in visuals alone, imagine the brain capacity that is being used up on a daily basis in comparison to when I was in high school a mere 13, 14, 15 years ago. No wonder they can't pay attention in class or respect their elders! Their brains are at max capacity! I mean, this isn't groundbreaking; this is the proclaimed age of information where we are constantly overwhelmed with content in a multitude of media. 

I don't feel negatively about it; I enjoy new technologies, and I embrace them in my classroom as much as humanly and fiscally possible, but it does baffle me from time to time. Like I just sit back and watch it all happen and sometimes can't believe my eyes. For instance, I just got an email on my iPhone from a student asking me to read over her college essay. I glanced at it in between commercials of the Steelers game; I didn't have to send myself into a small panic Monday morning amidst my other 10,000 tasks to print it and glance at it; instead, I brought it up on my phone and wrote back immediately with some quick changes and a note of admiration. Now she can go about her evening with a little less worry and some confidence that she will get her essay turned in on time. (A bit bold of a predicted result, maybe...but overall I'm sure she's pleased nonetheless!)

Tomorrow in the computer lab while students are reading articles with which they will respond in a rhetorical analysis essay, class will move along merrily as they will effortlesslly log onto the online classroom and download their .pdf files with ease, killing no trees in the process. And no one will blink or miss a beat. I loved being in high school, I did; but I love 2013, too. 

Old Habits

Sometimes I love my online gradebook, other times I am highly annoyed.

For instance, I love the fact that I don't have to figure out grades manually. In fact, I have never existed as a teacher in a world where I had to do that. So I'm not even sure how that was done. But it sounds awful.

I also think it's great that students can stay updated on their own rather than whining to the teacher (as we often did as students back in the day) to tell them what their grades are. Not only are teachers not bothered but now students (and families) can take ownership. For example, I have a not-so-100%-engaged senior who recently asked me why he had a zero for an assignment. I had just assumed he hadn't turned it in when I updated the gradebook, but he said he was absent (truth) the day I collected it and handed it to me right then. Now, this could have gone unnoticed and harming his overall average had he not had access to the gradebook. I was impressed by his diligence and I now feel compelled to not dismiss him as the slightly apathetic student I sometimes see. (Technology: allowing us to see our students in different, dare I say more accurate, lights. Very cool.)

One thing I do NOT completely enjoy, however, is having to stay completely current for the good of the public. Like when I would get emails from parents wondering why their child's score was blank for something... AS I WAS TYPING IN GRADES. Now some might call that coincidence, but not when it happens more than thrice. It's like, "Hey, moms, dads, students, take a peek into my world of hurrying to update sometimes a bunch at a time because I haven't done it in awhile eek!" It's a stressor for sure, but ultimately it keeps me on my toes. As I have learned a lot so far in life, the annoying stuff usually creates the greatest of lessons.

Ok: and raise your hands out there in teacher world if you also still use the old school "pencil and blank spreadsheet" gradebook before typing online. I can't help it...something about a piece of paper and a mechanical pencil is just so comforting to me, as I can have a product to hold in my hand and glance over. My five classes (along with seating charts and lesson plans) are all tucked away neatly onto a clipboard and perused often during the course of the day. In fact, as a traveling teacher, it's kind of been my security blanket this year, as I truly can't conduct a class without it.

Which leads me to a question...will our society ever fully ditch the paper-in-hand product when it comes to education? (or anything, for that matter) I know I am having a HECK of a time transitioning from my thick, delightfully-scented library book obsession to the Kindle Fire that I received last January as a birthday gift. I've seriously read like four things on it so far. And it's not that it isn't awesome, because it is, but something about that old habit of holding weight in my hand as an English nerd I just can't abandon. And then really, will we all ever truly abandon it? When will text books disappear and iPads be used solely in literature classes? I mean truly this has started already, hasn't it? More importantly, should we abandon it? Is it so wrong to have physical stuff in hand versus the online version? 

(...this could easily delve into a discussion of cyber school vs. traditional brick-and-mortar school...but I'll save that for a later posting...)

Bottom line: for now, in 2013, I think I'll hang onto my mechanical pencil and paper copy of The Great Gatsby from undergrad, but the grading calculator can stay in the desk drawers.