tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45349334006871415462024-02-21T04:12:49.514-08:00Adventures of a 21st Century EducatorThis blog by no means reflects the opinions of my employer, colleagues, or students.
It simply reflects and is related to my own growth and opinions as an educator.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05223131146235350503noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-67288256450621952162015-01-18T09:11:00.001-08:002015-01-18T09:11:41.016-08:00Brainstorm First, then Do SomethingOn Thursday of this past week my 21st Century Communication class presented their first projects. This project took only a few days and oriented them with the features and layout of the class. After the presentations took place we began discussing the concept behind the next project, which I cleverly call the Online Ethics, Etiquette & Bullying project. (Fascinating, right?) The thing that the previous classes have all liked about this project, however, is that I lecture very minimally and allow them to come up with the online behaviors they are most concerned with altering in the next generation. This semester, however, things went a little differently...<br />
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We started by considering the contrasting uses of social media between their generation and mine. They were shocked to learn that most of their social networks didn't even exist when social media rose to popularity, and it was interesting comparing uses. Best example:<br />
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My generation began using Twitter to share information, typically including a link, to some kind of news or pop culture event/item. Also, hashtags were almost isolated to being universal, widely-used, and searchable.<br />
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Their generation uses Twitter to have conversations with one another and to post random tidbits about their daily lives. Even they agreed - who care!? Their use of hashtags is primarily to comment on the words within the tweet. A perfect example we discussed was #sorrynotsorry.<br />
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However, before we could finish our comparison chart a few students began adamantly sharing concerns for the next generation that go much further and deeper than social media, though they apply there too. The farthest we got in our discussion, which extended through Friday's class, was how parents expect morals to occur naturally and lack of importance of education and faith/religion.<br />
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Color me shocked. And thrilled!<br />
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Sadly the bell rang before we could get too far, but I can honestly say I'm beyond excited to continue this discussion on Monday. Thankfully before the bell rang I was able to leave them with one thought:<br />
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I asked, "How many of you have a serious concern for the next generation?" Every hand but one or two went up.<br />
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I asked, "What are you doing about?" This question was met with silence.<br />
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Here's hoping we can come up with an action plan ASAP.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05223131146235350503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-11348665048613804222015-01-07T12:36:00.001-08:002015-01-07T12:36:05.946-08:00It's All in the NumbersAs I mentioned yesterday, I surveyed my freshmen for the details on how comfortable they really are with different Apple devices and how reliable their access to wifi is. I think the results are pretty interesting, and just so you know I have 69 freshmen.<br />
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Comfort with Apple devices like iPods, iPhones and iPads:<br />
64% very comfortable 32% somewhat comfortable 4% not at all comfortable<br />
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Comfort with MacBooks or desktops:<br />
13% very comfortable 42% somewhat comfortable 45% not at all comfortable<br />
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Reliable access to wifi<br />
75% have it all the time 22% nearly always have access 3% have it none of the time<br />
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First of all, I think it's pretty interesting that so many of them are comfortable with Apple devices, but few are comfortable with Apple computers. I think the experience with mobile devices will give them a huge step up when learning about their new MacAirs. Additionally, I am very grateful that only two of my freshmen don't have easy access to internet at home. Yup, that's it! That will save me a lot of stress when accommodating for lack of access.<br />
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All this is just more evidence that this is a really, really great place to work with a lot of amazing things going on.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05223131146235350503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-12418995069152329472015-01-06T14:10:00.002-08:002015-01-06T14:10:28.889-08:00Testing the WatersSo today was the students' first day back from winter break. As a part of my easing them back into academic life process I thought we'd spend a little bit of time chatting about the pending laptops. After all, they could be here as soon as three weeks time!<br />
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I started by sharing the information with them about when things were voted on and how certain things were determined - though of course my knowledge of the details is minimal. They really tuned in to that whole thing though. It's amazing to see how much they care about this process. Then I opened the floor up to questions, not all of which I was able to answer unfortunately. I was very impressed with the quality of their questions. The students showed great concern for taking care of the devices and capability. Next, I got their feedback on how the devices will be used in the English classroom. For instance, how do they feel about digital textbooks, digital journals every day and digital note taking. The general consensus was pretty positive. The nice thing was that for almost every concern I was able to provide options. For example, every student writes in a spiral notebook for three minutes every day, and some said they would prefer to go digital with that process while others prefer to maintain their spiral. Another thing I found interesting was that a high number of students said they would definitely take more and better notes if they could type them instead. That's the answer I was hoping for, but honestly I doubted that they would say that. That's a good kind of surprise in my book though. We finished the discussion by having each student fill out a brief survey about their comfort with Macs and their home technology access. I'm eager to check them and see just how much access these kids really have when they leave these walls.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05223131146235350503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-46170243522173812742015-01-05T13:21:00.000-08:002015-01-05T13:21:50.636-08:00Apple Training with the 6-12 English Department<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today the entire 6-12 faculty broke into departments around the high school and had an Apple instructor per content area to share with us some resources, tips and tricks that fit specifically into what we teach. It was a great day and I'm so excited I decided to "live blog" it. It's obviously not live right now, but it's broken down throughout the day. Enjoy!</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8:38 a.m.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After group introductions, including every teacher adding together their personal number of years teaching, we have reached a total of 217 years of teaching experience for 17 people. Our instructor, Cyndi Danner-Kuhn, seems very approachable and knowledgeable, and I’m eager to learn more from an Apple instructor with English as the focal point. </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-e5b3b996-bbf4-a90c-ab84-7c479bf7b93a" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8:53 a.m.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Really enjoying hearing ideas from all teachers, regardless of the grade, to make assignments more technological. I didn’t expect to gather anything from the middle school level teachers, only because I assumed we did such similar things, but we don’t! I’m eager to visit with two teachers a little bit more about how they used Minecraft for an English assignment. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">9:20 a.m.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Opening iBooks, here we go! Plus, Cyndi put up her personal site and it’s already obviously full of great stuff. Check it out here - </span><a href="http://theedtechplace.info/CDKs_ED_Tech_Place/Home.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://theedtechplace.info/CDKs_ED_Tech_Place/Home.html</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I found a super great iBook of “Romeo & Juliet” that had graphics for every single line that when clicked on will bring up a modern English translation for the entire book. How fun!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">10:25 a.m.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moving to iTunes! There are Apple Learning Series books intended to be read on the iPad so we can read on the iPad and execute on the Mac. Now, someone was thinking there!</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ooo! There’s a free audiobook of “Romeo & Juliet” broken down by act and scene so kids can listen to the book while they read. Now this could be a very useful and effective way to break up the monotony of reading as a class every - single - day. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">11:05 a.m.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now Cyndi is showing us her personal website, she has a ton of amazing resources. Plus, hello Pinterest! Now she’s speaking my language. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12:38 p.m.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Okay, back from a tasty lunch from HyVee (thank you adminstration) and ready to do some more practical work. Looks like we’re prepping to make a little video reflection. Better pay attention…</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1:18 p.m.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So individually or in pairs we all made videos discussing our teaching objectives and/or how mastery is demonstrated and assessed, and now Cyndi is having us share them all. Some are totally hilarious and others are more straightforward, but I’m really struck with out allowing students to record speeches ahead of time will ensure a quality improvement. Now, when they give speeches, they never rehearse. I mean, they SAY they do, but I know better. This way there are no excuses for awesome speeches. They can record, view, revise, rehearse and re-record. I know this is a can, not a will but at least it’s a can. Plus, they will probably be less nervous about public speaking when they have this much more power over the situation. I do believe we’ll be doing some more speeches in English I once the Macs are delivered. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1:41 p.m.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Exploring the differences between making Bookmarks in Chrome and a Reading List in Safari. I would say we’ll stick with Bookmarking into a folder in Chrome, that way everything is still in a group, like for a research paper, but they have all the convenience and compatibility of working in Chrome. I really do like the idea of helping kids to decide that they should keep their reference sources all in one place for easy access. Of course there will be a few sites that update too regularly to make a bookmark of, but those will be relatively far and few between. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3 p.m.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, we all just made a Pages document that could kind of be used to advertise a unit. It might be a notebook cover or a poster for the whiteboard during the unit. I chose to make mine over “Romeo & Juliet,” and for only 30 minutes of work time I think it turned out pretty well! Others are over Digital Citizenship & Plagiarism, the Holocaust and Anne Frank, poetry, and others.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3:12 p.m.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I just shared my “Romeo & Juliet” poster and, like I said, I’m pleased with how much I got done and the group responded pretty well to it. Now we’re all sharing one thing that we’re really excited about from today and know we’ll use. A lot of today was repeat for me after having gone through four full days of Apple Vanguard training, but it was still a very nice refresher on what I learned during those days, and it was a fun day with the middle school English teachers who we almost never get to see. A big thank you to Apple, Cyndi, and our administration for everything the entire 6-12 faculty had the opportunity to learn today. I’m incredibly blessed to work in a district that keeps what’s coming up in their sights and does their best to roll with all those punches. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05223131146235350503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-20965740830519949842015-01-02T14:04:00.001-08:002015-01-02T14:04:24.799-08:00A New Year, a New GoalI have too long neglected my educational technology blog, but I now have the inspiration required to make it actually happen - the amazing district I work for has approved 1:1 devices for all students grades 6-12. Though the questions are many and the risks possible, I firmly believe that the benefits far and above outweigh anything negative. Plus, it's going to be an amazing learning challenge for the educators.<br />
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Obviously, the aforementioned devices will be the inspiration for my re-vamped blog. Now all I have to do it keep it up!<br />
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We'll have to wait and see.<br />
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<img height="287" src="http://carmenkynard.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/6343698.png" width="400" />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05223131146235350503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-15169864299741204482013-11-13T12:04:00.001-08:002013-11-13T12:04:12.610-08:00Social Media Links as of LateSo I've come across three share-worthy articles lately, and to make sure I share them all I'll just share them all together.<br />
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The first is <a href="http://mashable.com/2013/10/14/best-facebook-pages/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss">9 Excellent Facebook Pages You Should Like</a>. Only one of them had a heard of before, so I'd say this article is doing its job of drawing out some of the better, yet ignored, Facebook pages. After all, it isn't just about who did what on Friday night anymore.<br />
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The second is <a href="http://mashable.com/2013/10/18/social-media-and-job-applicants/?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner">What Social Media Can Really Tell You About Job Applicants</a>. I've shared this one with quite a few students. It's so refreshing to see that a fun night out doesn't ruin your chances at a job anymore. Though it's a challenge to make sure my students understand that nothing is okay on social media if it's not legal in the first place.<br />
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<img alt="Social1" height="179" src="http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEzLzEwLzE4Lzg4L3NvY2lhbDEuY2U2MmEuanBnCnAJdGh1bWIJOTUweDUzNCMKZQlqcGc/21304add/d89/social1.jpg" width="320" /><br />
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The last link today is similar to number two. <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/11/in-college-admissions-social-media-can-be-a-double-edged-sword/?_r=0">In College Admissions, Social Media Can Be a Double-Edged Sword</a> is from the NYT. But it still has to do with the gap between having a life, being social, and being employable, when it seems like those things should all mesh pretty well..<br />
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On an unrelated note, I think some of my preferred news sources need a lesson in concise headline writing.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05223131146235350503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-83671803260103121142013-11-01T07:08:00.001-07:002013-11-01T07:08:12.179-07:00Trick or Tweet?!So I have no sympathy for kids who whine about trick-or-treating, whether it's weather or lack of the "good candy," which, by the way, we definitely handed out the good candy this year. Anyway, I didn't get to trick-or-treat as a kid, one of the few downfalls to growing up in the country. We had costumes for school, and our parents drove us to our grandparents' homes that evening, but that was about it. Made me think a little extra then, about this <a href="http://mashable.com/2013/10/31/kids-trick-or-treat-comic/?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner">21st Century Kids Just Don't Get Trick-or-Treating</a> article I read last night while waiting for the witches, Spidermen, and even Uncle Si's to knock on our front door. They're complaining virtually now! Suck it up kids, it's a night you're allowed to roam the neighborhoods in the dark, effectively begging at doors, knowing that a glowing porch light equals some kind of goodie. So be happy with what you get kids, or next year I'm passing out floss.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05223131146235350503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-59826250273280762562013-10-29T06:17:00.000-07:002013-10-29T06:17:28.455-07:00To Sleep, or To Be Sad?Okay, now there's medical research being done all the time, but this particular study really got me thinking.<br />
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<h1 property="dc.title" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="entry-title" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/new-study-offers-evidence-of-a-link-between-staying-up-late-and-risk-of-depression/2013/09/30/f6596518-29d8-11e3-8ade-a1f23cda135e_story.html?wprss=rss_homepage" target="_blank">New study offers evidence of a link between staying up late and risk of depression</a> </span></span></h1>
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<span class="entry-title" style="font-weight: normal;">So how many teenagers have been diagnosed with depression? Seems like most of them. However, they're staying up late pretty much every day. Sometimes voluntarily, sometimes because life requires it of them. But we're also dismissing it as average teen behavior. I've read many, many times about how the average circadian rhythm for a teen involves late nights and sleeping in, so how does this all figure together? They naturally stay up late and sleep late, but those same habits are increasing the risk of depression? I don't quite know what to think about all that, but I do think it's worth some serious consideration. </span></div>
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<span class="entry-title" style="clear: right; float: right; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img height="359" src="http://www.nap.edu/books/0309101891/xhtml/images/p2000f230g20001.jpg" width="400" /></span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-30663444033492706942013-10-28T09:53:00.000-07:002013-10-28T09:53:11.463-07:00So Much Information!Okay, so wow. There has been a ton of interesting stuff in the news lately. I've been able to share it with many of my students, but it's just impossible to go over everything with all of them. Therefore - on the blog it goes.<br />
<br />
<b>For Everyone</b><br />
<a href="http://m.rollingstone.com/culture/news/sexting-shame-and-suicide-20130917/?utm_campaign=partner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=wired">Sexting, Shame and Suicide</a> was published in Rolling Stone just two days ago. It is incredibly long, but I read almost all of it. It's just terrible. Plus, it puts a new light on sexting. It's so commonly thought of as people intentionally sending provocative photos of themselves. But this article brings awareness to the risks of abuse being used for sexting. It tells the story of Audrie Pott, high school student, who drank until she passed out and was then abused by high school boys who photographed their acts and then shared them with their peers. As indicated by the headline, Pott committed suicide.<br />
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<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/16/high-school-binge-drinking-alcohol_n_3935168.html">High School Binge Drinking</a> was published in the Huffington Post on Sept. 16. It reveals that 20% of high school seniors have consumed five+ alcoholic beverages in a row, thus participating in binge drinking. Now, when I shared this, in my opinion shocking, fact with a colleague she said she thought the percent would be higher. But she misunderstood, that's not a stat for drinking, but for <u>binge</u> drinking! Five plus drinks in a row! So incredibly sad.<br />
<br />
<b>For Student Journalists</b><br />
Me: "Guess who's on tour!"<br />
Students: *crickets*<br />
Me: "Someone I care about..."<br />
Student 1: "The Backstreet Boys...?"<br />
Me: *sigh* "No, Mary Beth Tinker!"<br />
Students: *crickets*<br />
<br />
Okay, so even if they've forgotten who she is, the remember her actions, and I'm so excited about her tour. Yay First Amendment! Plus, the tour ends at Blue Valley West High School. Talk about local!<br />
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<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/15/mary-beth-tinker_n_3930938.html">Mary Beth Tinker, Plaintiff in School Speech Case, Going on Tour</a><br />
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Next up is an advertising switch that is affecting the livelihood of journalism. Watch out!<br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/16/business/media/storytelling-ads-may-be-journalisms-new-peril.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1&">Storytelling Ads May Be Journalism's New Peril</a><br />
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Major update in the world - The New York Times updated their font.<br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/16/business/media/a-subtle-redesign-of-the-new-yorker.html?partner=rss&emc=rss">The New Yorker Spruces Up a Stalwart of Print, Subtly</a><br />
<br />
<b>For 21st Century Communication Students</b><br />
And you think you can't learn anything from the Internet! It's a lot more reliable than when I was growing up, and chock full of catty goodness.<br />
<a href="http://mashable.com/2013/09/16/fascinating-internet-facts/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss">50 Fascinating Facts We Learned from the Internet </a><br />
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-46846246633727470912013-10-24T12:30:00.000-07:002013-10-25T07:05:35.543-07:00Amusement & Cursive HandwritingToday I have two images I've recently come across that I'd love to share. The first is photographed out of <a href="http://www.realsimple.com/" target="_blank">Real Simple</a> and is not only pretty, but justification for why I make my freshmen hand write for three minutes every academic day of their freshmen lives.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LgwSVsKO_bU/Ujw9VUw3ZdI/AAAAAAAAAV8/-nVTFubXi7M/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LgwSVsKO_bU/Ujw9VUw3ZdI/AAAAAAAAAV8/-nVTFubXi7M/s320/photo.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
They never believe me about how basically and essentially <u>good</u> it is for their brains, but it is! So keep writing folks!<br />
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The second is just a beautiful mini-poster that came out the September YA Newsletter from <a href="http://goodreads.com/" target="_blank">Goodreads</a>. Don't you just love those people over at Goodreads? I do.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dRImI_TyJBs/Ujw9k7EZQBI/AAAAAAAAAWE/VxjY9SaoYhE/s1600/Untitled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dRImI_TyJBs/Ujw9k7EZQBI/AAAAAAAAAWE/VxjY9SaoYhE/s320/Untitled.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
I love that art, that sentiment and that author. Well done Goodreads people!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-10095210990345839312013-10-23T07:47:00.002-07:002013-10-23T07:47:58.862-07:00Miss Manners Goes DigitalThe first major project my 21st Century Communication students complete regards online safety, bullying, etiquette, etc. So, even though this is a little late in the semester, I can't help when I find these awesome things!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://mashable.com/2013/10/14/twitter-etiquette/?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner">The Complete Guide to Twitter Etiquette</a> is exactly what is sounds like, and man do we need it! Thank you Mashable...again. I've been telling kids all year, and even last year, about the transformation of Twitter from 2007 to now. From sharing links to sharing what you're eating...doing...thinking...boring! From one generation to another. And can I just give a shout out to the decreasing gap between generations? I think it used to be 8-10 years, now it's more like 3. Whoa.<br />
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Then there's <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/08/14/facebook-annoying/">20 Things Your Most Annoying Friends Do on Facebook</a>. I think we've all seen these, hated/judged/been annoyed by these, and considered unfriending these. Or at the least removing them from your news feed. Isn't that a delightful option?<br />
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Here's to finding a little decorum wherever you go. Happy surfing friends!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05223131146235350503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-10837156836986259432013-10-07T12:00:00.001-07:002013-10-07T12:00:37.599-07:00When It All Comes TogetherQuite awesomely, a few days after my student began researching innovations and inventions specific to certain time frames in history, I came across two great and relevant articles. Thank you <a href="http://www.feedly.com/" target="_blank">Feedly</a>!<br />
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<h1 class="title" href="http://mashable.com/2013/10/06/sustainable-launch-forum/" style="background-color: white; clear: left; font-family: MuseoSlabLight; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://mashable.com/2013/10/06/sustainable-launch-forum/?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner" target="_blank">10 Innovations Poised to Change Sustainable Industries</a> is perfect for students researching things currently being researched but not yet released, which is their last category of research. </span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://mashable.com/2013/10/07/business-innovation/?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner" target="_blank">The Right Ingredients for Innovation</a> is an article dealing with motivating people and encouraging people to be more innovative. This is a specific area my students are expected to address in their opinion-based section of their project. I think it's the most challenge question I pose. I feel that way because every single teaching day of my life I struggle to help students solve their own problems and/or to create solutions with what they have. It's hard! On both sides!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In the meantime, here's an amusing cartoon about innovation I put on the board last week - </span></div>
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<img height="204" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/jSFwdHyONEsz5xrA_7h2YudnlTlce7rmqdVSRE3ySdF6O2ybT_X5Kw7fhQshl9ftDQJHpmPBk14g9Jhfa1JEgPYwqw7ACS0Dt_z--dPvj31Ri5FM5FMmWOpU" width="640" /></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-5382353056292059682013-09-19T09:00:00.002-07:002013-09-19T09:00:58.208-07:00Response to a Sandy Hook Parent's LetterThough several months have passed since 18 children and six educators were slain in Connecticut, there are almost daily reminders of the tragedy. Without a doubt this incident hit home more deeply and permanently because of the loss of such young lives. One of our administrators shared this letter with us this week via e-mail, and I wanted to spread it further. For one it is incredibly well-written and moving, for another it hits home for me personally.<br />
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<a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/09/06/03marquezgreen.h33.html?tkn=VZTF3CYMOTTIb%2Bzy2iBQTvgKvVFKEdGpv3Vv&cmp=AGGLINK">A Sandy Hook Parent's Letter to Teachers</a></h1>
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By Nelba Marquez-Greene</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">This letter was published in Education Week and was promoted by a local radio station, <a href="http://95.0.0.7/">95.7</a>. </span></div>
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I want to thank this mother for her recognition of what all school employees can, and often, do. We do have a real power, a real opportunity. In fact, yesterday my husband said something about how he wouldn't mind teaching all day, and I responded with "I wish!" But I didn't mean it as negatively as it may sound. Yesterday I was a businesswoman for at least two hours, and many, many days I spend time feeling like a social worker. Other days I feel like a cat-herder, but there will always be those days. </div>
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<img src="http://www.lifewithlily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/df200210012.jpg" /></div>
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I also want to thank this mother for her strength and her ability to put her emotions into words. I am in awe of her faith of the school system, especially in terms of her putting her son back into school just a few weeks after his sister's untimely death.</div>
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This is the kind of woman who was a mom and a wife before her words were published. Now she is a hero. </div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-16686477131303264792013-09-09T07:43:00.001-07:002013-09-09T07:43:08.254-07:00Two Classes = Twice the Fun (and Work!)When the 2013-2014 school year rolled around I was pleased to see that the 21st Century Communication course enrollment had increased significantly. Though I am sad to have lost a section of English I, I am thrilled that the importance of this elective is being recognized by the student body. It's interesting, however to have the conversations I have with these students twice a day instead of once, and I'm really enjoying the different dynamics of each class period. I'm amazed at how two conversations guided similarly can end up in such different directions. Regardless, both groups have attacked the curriculum and projects with gusto, and I think blogs this year are going to be even more successful. Today they actually begin work on the Social Networking project and I was able to place a lot more emphasis on affecting a positive change via social networking this semester. I think their final products are going to be by-and-large outstanding.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-59920256424301690702012-08-13T16:03:00.001-07:002012-08-13T16:03:40.794-07:00Back to School - Part IWhat an interesting inservice I attended today. Wait...did I just use those two words in the same sentence? Interesting and inservice? Why yes, yes I did. This is no dig on my district or educators in general, but let's face it, inservices are rarely bundles of fun.<br />
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Today we were given some concrete instruction on CCSS ( Common Core State Standards) and how to use them in our classrooms. I must admit, I'm actually pretty eager to use what I learned today, which is mostly due to how much use I see for CCSS skills in students' futures.<br />
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Details to come<br />
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-87066852209035467272012-06-14T08:05:00.001-07:002012-06-14T08:05:33.567-07:00Baby Steps with CCSSCCSS, or Common Core State Standards, is proving to be a challenge for me even before they are officially implemented. I am grateful, however, that this is a positive challenge.<br />
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I hope to do my action research next year on literature circles with use of CCSS. The head of my department has been very helpful in helping me find and choose good YA literature to possibly work with. I knew though that I should figure out <u>what</u> I was going to do with these books before I started reading them.<br />
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You must understand how hard this has been for me. I have a lovely pile of brand new YA books waiting for me and I can't read them! Torture! But doing the research first has really paid off.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>For one thing, I found this really great blog. It's called <a href="http://www.scoop.it/t/the-latest-in-common-core">The Latest in Common Core</a>. Not only does it have a very clean, modular layout, it's really full of links to great articles explaining CCSS and subject-specific lessons and ideas. I got a ton of great information by following links from The Latest in Common Core, but today I'll just share one. Sadly, I lost the original source. :( Makes me even feel bad about sharing it, but I'll post it later if I find it.<br />
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This particular article is called <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jUzj6ILX-LOFO0rYWZZzzKV_sn-tBG48i0Bga9cDlGc/edit">A Guide to Creating Text Dependent Questions for Close Analytic Reading</a>. (Kind of a mouthful, eh?) Anyway, it gave me some very specific step-by-step instructions for writing good, CCSS-based questions for reading guides. When I started reading the first book in my pile, <u><a href="http://www.betterworldbooks.com/9780142419779-id-9780142419779.aspx">Matched </a></u>by Ally Condie, I was able to immediately start thinking with a CCSS brain. I did research about the book with everyone's favorite site <a href="http://sparknotes.com/">SparkNotes</a> and found that <u>Matched</u> has been compared to <u><a href="http://www.betterworldbooks.com/9780440237686-id-9780440237686.aspx">The Giver</a></u> by Lois Lowry. I immediately got some notable quotes from <u>The Giver</u> so when I found a comparable passage in <u>Matched</u> I could make note of it. Plus, I followed the guide's steps for creating those text-dependent questions. Just in case you're wondering what that exactly means, it means that students aren't just going to answer questions about what happens in a book. Those questions are fine, even necessary for some level of comprehension, but to stop there means that most students will never truly interact with a text. Text-dependent or analytic questions require them to reference the text and maybe even other texts to formulate their response.<br />
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Enough rambling, here are the six steps with some of my own notes:<br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.15204171184450388" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step One: Identify the Core Understandings and Key Ideas of the Text</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step Two: Start Small to Build Confidence</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The opening questions should be ones that help orientate students to the text</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step Three: Target Vocabulary and Text Structure</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Locate key text structures and the most powerful academic words in the text that are connected </span></span></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to the key ideas and understandings</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step Four: Tackle Tough Sections Head-on</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step Five: Create </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Coherent Sequences</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of Text Dependent Questions</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step Six: Identify the Standards That Are Being Addressed</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step Seven: Create the Culminating Assessment</span></span></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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So far I'm not only really enjoying reading <u>Matched</u>, I'm enjoying killing two birds with one stone and developing a lot of my higher-level questions as I go. Plus, I think it's making me read the text with a closer eye. Mission accomplished!</div>
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The question remains, will it work with the students?</div>
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We'll see!</div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-22587138624322712752012-05-28T15:32:00.001-07:002013-11-13T11:58:27.639-08:00Shiny New ToySo, iPads have been a big deal for more than a little while now. I've pretty much always had iPad envy. However, I just couldn't justify the expense. My laptop never quit, I had both a work and a home desktop, and when my mobile phone contract came up for renewal I upgraded to my pretty, pretty iPhone. With all at, what use does a high school teacher have for an iPad. Of course I would use and love it, but it was far from a need. So I always joked that I was waiting for someone to give me one.
Guess what, folks?
It finally happened.
Last Friday, the faculty's last day before summer, the IT department handed out our district-provided iPads. It had been in the works for a while, but I was a skeptic on this particular promise. It was a huge purchase obviously. Their word was their bond however and Friday afternoon the high school library was buzzing with teachers from all generations finding their ways around their shiny new devices. I couldn't wait to spend the first few days of summer personalizing and playing.
Then my home Internet gave up the ghost.
Needless to say I didn't exactly handle this like a grown-up, but now that I'm at my wonderful boyfriend's apartment, where the Internet works just fine, I'm a much happier camper. My entire point here is two things: 1) I GOT AN IPAD!!! 2) I now have extra motivation, reason, and platform from which to be a better blogger.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-62989112747278351032012-01-09T16:17:00.000-08:002012-01-09T16:17:37.192-08:00Semester Two, Semester AnewAfter last semester, I feel as though I've learned a lot about learning, teaching, and 21st century skills. Thus, even just the first three days of 21st CC this semester have gone smoother. Last semester I offered students a very open-ended project about this course, what they hoped to learn in it, and what 21st century skills are. The projects were as loose as my instructions. This semester, I introduced the students to the <a href="http://www.p21.org/">Partnership for 21st Century Skills </a>right off the bat, and we began discussing and working with the related buzzwords. Students are creating a variety of projects now to discuss what they think those skills mean and might look like. The projects are due tomorrow and I can't wait to see and upload some of them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-4421236365455351162011-10-07T11:57:00.000-07:002011-10-07T11:57:35.659-07:00Sites You Said Were Interesting (Class Post)Dearest 21st Century Students,<div>
I've finally looked through your website research and pulled out the websites you found and included on the lists you turned in to me. So, if you're struggling with your Social Bookmarking and Blogging project, you might want to turn to some of these sites for inspiration.</div>
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<b>Organization Sites</b></div>
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<a href="http://linkable.com/">Linkable</a> - social bookmarking</div>
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<a href="http://evernote.com/">Evernote</a> - it's like an online notebook where anything of any medium can go</div>
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<a href="http://sprindpad.com/">SpringPad</a> - very similar to evernote</div>
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<a href="http://chorebuster.net/">Chore Buster</a> - create lists to organize your chores and other tasks</div>
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<a href="http://hassleme.co.uk/">Hassle Me</a> - this site will nag you until you complete the task it's nagging you to do</div>
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<a href="http://tripit.com/">Trip It</a> - useful for organizing travel plans</div>
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<b>Interesting Sites</b></div>
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<a href="http://stumbleupon.com/">StumbleUpon</a> - a random search engine that directs you to websites fitted to your interets</div>
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<a href="http://youthnoise.com/">Youth Noise</a> - where young people have a voice on world issues</div>
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<a href="http://pinterest.com/">Pinterest</a> - photo sharing and organizing</div>
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<a href="http://epicurious.com/">Epicurious </a>- food</div>
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<b>Personal Sites</b></div>
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<a href="http://igoogle.com/">iGoogle</a> - a personalized homepage</div>
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<a href="http://tumblr.com/">Tumblr </a>- microblogging</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Academically Useful Sites</b></div>
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<a href="http://easybib.com/">EasyBib</a> - use for creating bibliographies</div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-25301495295431116172011-10-03T10:09:00.000-07:002011-10-03T10:11:05.777-07:00My Favorite Websites (Example for Class)To my faithful readers: Herein lie many of my favorite websites, ready for you to browse and enjoy. Even if you're familiar with them, maybe I've included some ideas of how that website can be useful to you that you haven't yet thought of.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Pinterest</span></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oma0aIzw0I8/TonnjgVw5iI/AAAAAAAAAN8/IEx-8PyD2iE/s1600/yarn+wreath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oma0aIzw0I8/TonnjgVw5iI/AAAAAAAAAN8/IEx-8PyD2iE/s200/yarn+wreath.jpg" width="200" /></a>One of my new favorite websites is <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/">Pinterest</a>. It's an amazing photo organizing website, but not for your own photos. Any time you're browsing the Internet and you find a photo that blows your mind you can keep it with the brower app Pinterest offers. At that point you add it to any of your online Pinterest bulletin boards. However, you can also get on the Pinterest site and browse pins from other users. You can follow users who have great bulletin boards as well. I've used the site to find photos of delicious food to eat and cute crafts to make. I'm planning to make the yarn wreath in this photo very soon. I've already made a dried orange wreath that I found on Pinterest as well. Many of my friends who are planning weddings, or planning to plan a wedding, have bulletin boards just for their wedding ideas. The only downfall to Pinterest is that you have to request and wait for an invite. But mine only took a week or two to come, and the wait was well worth it.</div><div>Website Grade: ______________</div><div><br />
</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Uncommon Goods</span></div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aFD9MKAXSM4/Tono4ATjEJI/AAAAAAAAAOA/KfnnV4uNqPo/s1600/iphone+cases.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aFD9MKAXSM4/Tono4ATjEJI/AAAAAAAAAOA/KfnnV4uNqPo/s200/iphone+cases.jpg" width="200" /></a>Okay, so I love shopping. But as much as I love buying a new pair of amazing shoes, which is a lot, trust me, I also love finding super weird gift ideas for my friends and family. Enter, <a href="http://www.uncommongoods.com/">Uncommon Goods</a>. Generally my gift ideas are for other people, because if anyone I know is silly enough to ask what I would like for a birthday or Christmas, the answer is almost always the same - books. But sometimes an item is just so me that I have to let my mom know. Like these literary iPhone cases. Of course I'm all about the <u>To Kill a Mockingbird</u> one. Too bad it won't fit my iPhone 5 when I get it soon-ish, so I decided it wasn't worth the cash. Still an amazing find though. One thing I really love about this site is that it's organized by gender and by part of the home. So you can find goods specific to men and women or you can find goods specific to the kitchen or the office. Even if you can't spend any money it's still fun to get online and browse the weird stuff they offer.</div><div>Website Grade: __________________</div><div><br />
</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Goodreads</span></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ChE08UWUkMc/TonsTzyQSZI/AAAAAAAAAOE/Q1rtBW4fPHQ/s1600/goodreads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ChE08UWUkMc/TonsTzyQSZI/AAAAAAAAAOE/Q1rtBW4fPHQ/s200/goodreads.jpg" width="161" /></a>As I just finished rambling about, I love to read. And even though my list of "to read" books is already more than I can get through in a lifetime, it never hurts to add a few more, right? I was introduced to <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">Goodreads </a>during a summer fellowship during graduate school. It's pretty much a social network for book worms. It's also a digital shelving system, which I really enjoy. I have a shelf for books I've read, books I want to read, and books I'm currently reading. You have to make a profile, like any other social network, but that also means that you can have friends and see what they're reading as well. It doesn't ever come as much of a shock that the people I am friends with on Goodreads usually like the same kinds of books as me. </div><div>Website Grade: ________________</div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-10574411075137499752011-09-30T06:33:00.000-07:002011-09-30T06:33:22.469-07:00Setting an ExampleLast night I wrote the Social Bookmarking and Blogging Project for my 21st Century class to complete over the next week and a half or so. Guess that means I better get back to blogging to set a good example. Overall, the students' reactions to the class have been largely positive. Though I know they're often being patient with me and with the technology as we grow and build upon the curriculum. I'm blessed to be teaching such patient, flexible students. And as much as I'm enjoying this semester, I'm even more excited for next semester when the curriculum has already had a trial run and I can begin making adjustments. I just wish the same group of kids would be with me in the spring.<br />
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Units we've covered so far, and that I intend to expound upon in later blogs, are: Cyber Ethics, Etiquette, and Online Bullying, Social Networking, and Google Apps. I may have forgotten one, per my usual brain organization. Now, what about these more consistent blog posts?<br />
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We'll see!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-57716351844879086462011-06-19T15:22:00.000-07:002011-06-19T15:24:05.972-07:00A Fresh StartI began this blog because there was chatter around school about me possible teaching a new class in the fall, but nothing was official yet. That new class was supposed to be called "21st Century Communications." Well, the chatter was right and starting in August I'll be piloting this semester-long, elective class for sophomores through seniors. Here's the catch - there's no curriculum. Thankfully, a somewhat-local high school already has this class in place and their leader is of the sharing disposition. I have a copy of their year-long, required class curriculum, ready and waiting my adaptations. Quite the project.<br />
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Today I sat down with this project for the first time, though ideas had been circulating in my brain for several months. I find myself faced with two problems, too much to teach and not enough to teach. It's very difficult to know how much time to award each topic, as it is my nature as an educator to try to do too much each day. I'm going to spend this next school year striving for a balance between good pace and not rushing, this applies to this new class as well. After several hours of planning and research today I have a list of topics, enough for a semester with a few empty weeks. I'm not too worried about these empty weeks, however, since I've likely planned not enough time for some topics earlier in the semester. Not to mention, it's refreshing to be able to add and adjust as I find necessary. There's likely a major topic I've forgotten but will be able to build in later.<br />
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Here's the list so far in chronological order: <br />
Introduction<br />
Cyber Ethics, Etiquette, Safety, and Bullying<br />
Social and Professional Networking<br />
Online Word Processing and Slides<br />
Online Spreadsheets and Other Google Tools<br />
Social Bookmarking<br />
Blogs and Blogging<br />
Wikis<br />
Audio Projects<br />
Photo Projects<br />
Video Projects<br />
Final Project - for Final Exam Grade<br />
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But don't hold me to that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-26017164597932825012010-12-24T07:08:00.000-08:002010-12-24T07:08:58.805-08:00Improvement AlreadyIn just a few, okay four, hours the other day, I made some significant leaps and bounds in planning for second semester. With that much already done, I feel like I can be truly successful in making those lessons more 21st century, and generally better and more interesting for that mattter.<br />
Don't stop now Special K!<br />
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We'll see!<br />
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Merry Christmas Eve everyone!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-30365798766905843612010-12-20T14:05:00.000-08:002010-12-20T14:05:48.100-08:00Mission SummaryIt's finally winter break. Finally. I love my job, but, yes, finally! Two weeks of rest, family, too much food, running, and time for myself. The end of the semester marks the end of the "Romeo and Juliet" unit I taught. It went well. The kids liked the play, they did well on the exams, and they turned in some good quality projects. Of course some of them learned nothing, did poorly on the exams, and turned in horrific projects. But what can you do.<br />
The real point of this blogpost is to reflect on how much of a 21st century educator I was during this unit. Which was, as you may know, my goal in starting this blog at the same time I started that unit. To sum it up - I failed. Miserably. I did nothing different than I did in "The Odyssey" unit. Every day I thought about it and never came up with anything.<br />
But I'm not one to dwell on the disappointing past. So here's the plan - I have two weeks to get started on the next unit for my freshmen. That means I can research and reflect to my heart's content. I know I can do this. I really do know. And even though I didn't succeed during "R&J" I certainly did learn. I learned how it felt to disappoint yourself, I learned how to do better, I learned that I really am motivated to do this. Besides, my next unit is nonfiction, and I KNOW there's a ton of great stuff I can do with that. It's definitely more free and open.<br />
So, onward and upward, I hope.<br />
We'll see.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4534933400687141546.post-71690069170825525412010-11-25T06:26:00.000-08:002010-11-25T06:26:26.184-08:00Seeing My Words WorkApparently I'm going to be writing some reflective blog posts. Can't help it.<br />
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I wonder how JFK would have felt, or did feel, when he heard someone say, "Ask not what you can do for your country, but what you can do for your country."<br />
I wonder how anyone famous feels/felt when they heard their own words spoken by someone else and used in an attempt to change the world.<br />
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Well, I"m about a million years away from being famous at anything, but the other day I was grading my students' journals and I found my own words buried in one journal. I almost missed it. Here's the background - one day during Red Ribbon Week a list of students who had not been wearing their seatbelt that morning was read over the intercom. This was about 2 minutes before the end of last hour. A student in my room had his name read, and everyone laughed. I was infuriated that they thought that was funny. With what was probably my coldest stare ever I said, "I don't think you all would be laughing if that was a list of people who had died on the way to school today."<br />
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The next day my school lost a student in a tragic football accident. Many of my students journaled about that incident and in one student's journal I found my words and her reflection about what that really meant. I was bowled over. Now, please note that this has nothing to do with how awesome I am or how moving my words were. Just simply that she was listening. The fact that she opened her ears to what I was saying. That she opened her mind to a bigger perspective of what was happening in my classroom.<br />
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This student motivated me to encourage more incidents like this one. Now, how to do this? Teaching listening may be one of my biggest challenges.<br />
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We'll seeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com0