Today is my birthday.  I had a nice day, got to spend it with students who I enjoy being around and co-workers who care about the job they do. I also spent it Skyping with Mike and his class.  The day ended uneventful as I walked out the building.   I was driving home to pick up my own children and daydreaming about why I do what I do.  As I walked into my children's school, I saw a flyer in the hallway, "It's Friday".  It's Friday, is a weekly newsletter by the Superintendent's office about the schools my kids attend.  It is for teachers, not the general public (I think), but anyways I read it--and so glad I did. 

The superintendent started by exploring the Three R's: Relationships, Rigor and Relevance. I wanted to share a pome he had shared, with you.

We teach the whole child with all of his or her
  Shortcomings and strenghts,
  Soiled blue jeans and runny noses,
  Abilities,
  Thoughts,
  Feeling and attiudes,
  Beautiful complexities,
  And Deep human interests and needs....
       That Have Driven Us All Into the Education Profession.  

Enough said.  I am proud to do what I do.  

Cheers, Garth

Sir Ken Robinson, international known expert on creativity, has a new book out "The Element".  In the short 3 minute clip below Sir Ken gives a brief overview of this book.  He brings up a few questions:
1.  What is your view of your own talents?  
2.  What do you think you can accomplish?
3.  Do you enjoy your work or endure it? 
4.  Are you in your element? 

Both Mike and I are big fans of Sir Ken's work.  I plan to head out and get this book in the next few days.  

The second little clip is about a analogy off teaching...Teachers Are Like Gardeners.
Do you think this analogy is correct and makes sense?  Mike loves to talk about education as organic.  I think I hear that here.  What are your thoughts on this idea? 

What comes around goes around.  Mr. Pennington came to my classroom two weeks ago during his Holiday break to meet the kids face to face.  They have seen him many times on Skype, but face to face is different.  Next week, Mr. P and I are opening our Window to each others schools, as we will have an all day live feed from the other classroom.  Therefore, when kids come it to Mr. P's room, they can see what is going on in my room--this will be a post as soon as we have some images and student reactions.  But back to our travels. 

So, on Wednesday I made the 65 minute drive to Chardon to spend the day with Mr. P's students during my Holiday break.  When I first arrived, the principal invited me in his office for a few minutes to talk.  It was nice to hear his excitement about our work.  Then he walked me to Mike's room.  He stayed in the room for some time and I was introduced and talked with the kids.  After a few minutes he and I talked some more about our plans and hopes for students, as students in the room worked on a google doc that my students had completed before our break began.  In each period, as students came in they said, "Hi Mr. Holman".  It was a treat to see them smile, as this was something new for them to see the real guy.  

At lunch time, Mike and I had a meeting with the superintendant.  This was a great discussion about family, education and our future plans.  He was a very insightful man with high hopes for what Mike and I are doing.   This meeting lasted about 55 minutes and then we headed back to class (Board office is right next door to his school).  During the last class, the director of Special Services was in the room for the whole period.  She had great things to say about the online book, differentiation used in our classrooms, skills we are teaching our students.  However, both she the superintendant talked a great deal about the experiences we are giving our kids.  The more I thought about that, the more I realized that experiences are an important part of education, something that will stick when the facts are gone.   

As Mike noted in his post, the kids really accepted me as a teacher from the minute they walked in.  It was a true joy to have sent the day, not virtually, but physically in Mike's classes.  It really hit home as we walked out of the school to our cars and a boy yelled, "Bye Mr. Holman, see ya soon!"  

This week both Mike and I were teaching about leaving positive digital footprints.  We skpyed a few times and shared ideas between the schools with great discussions on this topic.  We set up a wallwasher page inside our blog for students to post ideas, links, comment, images and so on.  We thought a few kids would post.  However, over 110 posts total on the first day, not to mention 13 post on the blog.  

The work is embedded below, but after so long it will delete the work (click the pink "Post a sticky" to open full screen). But, you can see an image to the left after day one.  Great work by kids and they found some great information on digital footprints. 

Mike and I do the same project to start the year.  It is called, "What was 7th grade like?"  This project is based on kids learning a few skills: Interviewing, researching, creating essential questions, storytelling and building a documentary.    In essence, they become historians.  Over the years, I have collect about 750 of these documentaries and this is the first one a parent has given written permission to post.  I hope you enjoy it and I am sure this 13 year old would love to read your comment of her work.  

Pay close attention to the very end.  The last minute or so is very impressive.  

I read Harry Wong's First Days of School years ago.  I bought in to his ideas on teaching rules and procedures for the first days of school.  However, doing that on the first day of school made me just like everyone else.  That is not me, I am not everyone else. 

I stand at the door and greet my students.  At the door, I hand them a card to find their seat.  Random and quick.  Once they sit down, we get started.  My first day is packed.  I start with a Think-pair-share.  What is History?  How do we study History? 

The answers are the same.  We read the textbook, work on vocabulary, fill in some worksheets and then take a test.  This varies every once in a while, but for the majority of kids that is the study of history--and why most dislike it.  I then explain this class will be a little different, as I had out a white or yellow chalk and a black 8 x 11 colored paper.  I then explain to them to draw what they see on the overhead and flip it on.  The image is a massive blurr.  They freak out, for a second, but I calm them down  and tell them to keep drawing.  Over 20 minutes or so, I slowly focus the image, BUT never make it clear. During this time I have them move around the room and "See the blurr" from different angles (glare changes and the distance impacts the image).  Kids are moving and guessing, making noise and "wondering". 

I then ask them to talk about how this activity is like (Metaphor for) the study of history.  They say some cool things:
-"I felt like I did when I open the book to read... I had no idea what I was drawing"
-"How can I be successful when I don't know what I am drawing"
-"We have to dig deeper"
-"See each topic from a different perspective"
-"Think about our farm of reference" (I explain this idea at in the first discussion)

Then I ask them to write a short paragraph  on the following question:  What did you learn today?

This is some of what they wrote:
"I learned that if something you see is blurry, try to learn more than what you know about the topic and soon you'll see want your looking at more clearly.  What I want out of this class is being able to see things differently than I usually so.  I want to be able to see the world in a whole new perspective and I think that history is the best way to do that."
"That history can be interpreted multiple ways by historians like a blurry picture, so we will be figuring things out this year...."
" I learned that not everybody sees everything the same way.  This year in history will be different because I'll try to understand more and look at things from different angles.  I'll try to actually think about it and not just learn facts."
"...I need to dig deeper and find out some background on the topics you are learning to "see it". "
"I learned that when you study history, you really have to sink your teeth into it.  You have to look at history in a whole new and different way from everything else..."
"I learned about perspective, that you must let go of your wrong answers and let the real answer become clear as you learn."
"I learned that studying history this year will not be like other social studies classes.  It will be more interesting and creative.  I want to enjoy social studies more and really remember what I have learned.  I think I will."

I could go on these are all from first period, I teach six periods.  But I leave you with this one from six period:

"I learned that studying history will not be easy.  You have to know all the facts before you can see the big picture.  I want to learn history in a more fun way than reading a textbook.  I think some skills I need are being patient until I know the  information.  I also need to not give up when I am frustrated about not being able to remember or see it all.  It takes time, you even said you don't see a clear picture."

Students leave my room excited, not bored.  They are engaged from day one and that carries over for the several days of rules and procedures, but they have "bought" in to my class and as the saying goes, the rest is history. 

Stay tune to see what happens next.  Garth
 

BLC11 is over.  It was a great experience to hear such exciting keynotes and reflection on good teaching with outstanding teachers from all over the world.  Mike and I truly enjoyed our time in Boston and hope you get to attend BLC12 next year in Boston. 

One of my best experiences was meeting Amy Burvall.  She came to our presentation about the online book.  After our presentation, I got a twitter message from Amy Burvall...She is the lyricist, singer and dancer of the HistoryTeachers Channel on Youtube.  Below is my favorite music video she has done.  It was played over and over again during class...in fact, a few teachers would come in and dance.  Her songs will get you and your class dancing.

Mike and I spoke a great deal with her about how her work has inspired our students to create their own music history videos.  I plan to send her a few examples later.  It was a great pleasure to meet this special teacher who is influencing millions of students around the world.  She should get an award.

Check out her work at the links below--Also check out her TED Talk later in the fall.  She is airing a new music video live on TED.

Here are her links:
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/historyteachers
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/historyteacherz
Tweet @historyteacherz
email historyteachersbh@gmail.com

My first blog on her work was April 6, 2011: History class with rhythm.
Below Amy's Video are a few pictures from Boston and BLC11

Let TFT and HistoryTeacherz know your thoughts on this outstanding work.

In the podcast below Garth and I discuss a few of the things that surprised us this year.  3 major topics discussed was the success of using role playing in the Middle Ages WebQuest, The discussion of positive digital footprints throughout the school year and the passage of Senate Bill 5.

During the Middle Ages WebQuest we gave students a social class from the Middle Ages and then allowed students to create the story of their character.  The students used their characters to gain empathy about life in the Middle Ages.  Students followed their characters through the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance and Reformation.  Students responded on end-of-the-year surveys that they enjoyed having a character to follow through the story of world history.  Garth and I plan on expanding this idea and allowing students to learn the story of history through the eyes of a character throughout the entire school year.

Garth tells a story about a students who gets a FaceBook account and takes criticism from his classmates for using complete sentences and proper grammar.  When asked why he was being so conscientious about what he posted, he said "I want to leave a positive digital footprint".  It's great to know that students are taking away such important concepts from our class.  Here is a students that not only wants to leave a positive digital footprint, but stands up to his friends when they question why he cares so much.

As for SB5, Garth and I were pleased to see so many people stand in support of teachers and really question the motives/effects of such a sweeping change; getting rid of collective bargaining.  Below are a few links to information about SB5

SB5 via the State of Ohio Legislature
OEA Senate Bill 5 Central

Our online textbook, created by middle school students over the last four years, has been twitted by Ashton Kutcher, Alan November and many others.  Our students created the following youtube to place on the homepage of the online textbook found at dgh.Wikispaces.com. 

The basic idea three seventh graders came up with, is that no one person writes the book, so no one person should completely answer a question. They interviewed Mike and I and five students and then took the two hours of interviews and made a 2 minutes introduction for the online book.    I was a little unsure of the idea until I saw the final product.  They got to the main idea of the book...we are all better off when we work together to produce the content.   We are very proud of the kids who did this as a  final project for their seventh grade year: they left a positive digital footprint and legacy.  They would love to see your comments on the video and online textbook. 

I have been teaching at the University for six year now.  I guess I have taught over 500 students some ways to integrate technology into the classroom.  I really enjoy the time at the university.  It is so different from the middle school world, but many of the same general issues: following directions, time on task, giving everyone a voice, etc....  This term, during the first class, I had them write their thoughts, ideas and feeling about taking this course.  Then for a final I had them read that first reflection and write a final reflection blog on how their thoughts, ideas and feelings had changed.  Read for yourself their words:

From Keri: http://mrsklr.weebly.com/blog.html
This course has been very educational for me.  I have always struggled with technology and how to implement it correctly into the classroom.  I remember on the first day of class, hearing that this class is hands on and used the constructionist approach to teaching.  Throughout the semester, I felt frustrated and confused when it came to putting together an assignment for working on my blog.  When I sat down to work on my final piece (Wiki lesson plan) I was amazed at all I had learned.  Other times, with technology, I would learn a concept and after leaving class, it would be lost.  It has been many weeks since I have learned how to complete some of these technological tasks (skype, google docs, voki, delicious, create links on a document) and as I worked to create my Wiki lesson plan, I remembered everything.  This was quite a learning experience for me.  I not only learned technology, but learned the strength of teaching using the constructionist approach.  Technology is everywhere in our society.  It is changing at a rate faster than anyone could imagine.  I watch my two and four year old boys as they manipulate a mouse, search through my cell phone, and play video games on WII with ease.  I am amazed to see how at such  young age, kids are in full understanding of how technology works and how to manipulate it.  Taking this class has shapes a future, for me, with the use of technology.  I had some trouble with skype but feel with a bit of practice, I could gain an understanding of how it works.  I really enjoyed creating a Wiki lesson plan and intend on incorporating this into my future teaching experiences.  I learned a great deal.


I have created my final reflection is this format as a reference for myself and others if they forget or loose focus on how to use some of the things we have learned in class. I have also designed it this way so that I do not forget how I have planned to, or already use some of these technologies in the classroom. I have taken more from this class than any other I have taken at any university whether it be graduate school or undergraduate. I have learned that the uphill battle is not going to be understanding the technology but transferring it from understanding to implementing in the classroom. I have learned that technology is the future of our learners and if we do not teach it to them or provide them with the opportunity and the tools they are not getting what they deserve out of their free and appropriate education. I feel as though educators loose tract of that due to the overwhelming responsibility educators face today. That is why I set up this final blog in this format. I do not want to loose tract of what is really important. And if it does happen I have my own website to refer to as a reference to the possibilities of implementing amazing technologies in my classroom.   Lindsay   http://is.gd/8Ra0mr

Or this:  This class was not nearly as bad as I had first thought it was going to be, and it actually turned out to be the most useful class I took this semester.  This class changed the way I looked at how I will and should teach.  I had my mind set that I was going to just plow through the books, teach a little grammar, have the kids write a couple papers, and then coach wrestling.  I found that I can actually make class interesting to many different students with just a little more effort.  The things that we learned how to utilize are so easy, free, and simple.  It really would be a shame if after taking this class I didn't take something and incorporate it into my lessons....

Or this: I remember when I first registered for this class, I had no idea what to expect and was not looking forward to class on saturday morning.  Who would have thought this class would turn out to be my favorite and that I would actually enjoy getting up saturday morning to go to class.  I really think the constructivist teaching environment motivated me to learn and to apply what I learned.  I now understand how children learn better when technology is used in the classroom.  Instead of limiting children to a textbook, they now have the high tech world at their fingertips and that opens up a whole new dimension of thinking and new possibilities about their future....

Or a total Jing Presentation:  http://screencast.com/t/Qg9iESmqZLh9

Or the one I read several times, just says it all....

When I first start this course I thought, "Oh great another technology course, seriously, I know how to use Microsoft office, surf the net, use e-mail and I know copyright laws."  (Not sure why copyright is always lumped into technology but Akron always does!)  The only beacon of light for me seemed to be that we were in a computer lab so I could play my Cityville while listening to the same ole same ole.  Than class started and I soon realized that this was not the traditional Akron boring tech for teachers course.  When Mr. Holman went over what we would be learning for the year I actually only had heard/used about three of the many things he named.  At that point I started to panic; I started to resist.  I thought, "I'm a math teacher these don't apply.  I don't want technology in my classroom, I want my students to use their brains.  Real schools don't have these resources they cost too much!"
     This may seem a bit ridiculous but, its nothing new to me.  I am a creature of habit.  I hate change and anything new.  I order the same thing when I eat out, shop in the same pattern at stores (hey, there is a way to walk through stores so you don't miss any sale items!) I drive the same way to work every day.  I make lists of everything to do, I even make lists of making lists....well you get the idea!  I don't handle change very well; it makes me nervous, I sweat, I shake, I have difficulty breathing -I know I know I have issues but my point is I was not going to be able to handle this class with this crazy "new age" unrealistic teacher!
     Than we started and man was I right!  I didn't understand anything!  I was so frustrated that I wanted to cry.  It was about three lessons in when I though THAT"S IT!  This guy is a jerk and I am going to drop the course.  I let out a primal scream that made my son run into the office and ask what happened.  When I explained that I couldn't do something on the computer he leaned over and said did you do this and clicked a few keys.  It magically fixed it. (Hey to me it was like magic.)  I started laughing, a crazy insane hysterical laugh.  A laugh that came from frustration followed by an ironic realization.  He was looking a bit worried at this reaction said, "Mom, you okay?"
     I put my arm around him, reassured him and really looked at him.  It was in this moment that I realized many things.  1. That my seven year old knew more about technology that I did at thirty-two years of age. 2. That his generation is always going to be ahead of mine in understanding technology so how are we going to teach it to them. 3. That I have become my parents (well sort of; at least now I know how they feel a lot of the time.) 4. That it is for the students that I have to give up my insane clutching to the past so I can give them the best future possible.  It is what I want my son's teachers to do so how can I ask any less of myself.  And, that's when it happened.  I started learning and realizing how I could apply many of the different things from the class.....

Powerful stuff...What can we learn from these reflections?

Cheer, Garth