Amber — Page 81

If…

March 7, 2013 by Amber Leave a Comment

If you knew I was next door….would you still talk to your students that way?

If it was your child…would you treat them like that?

If it happened to your grandchild, would you be calm & rational?

If you knew your coworker behaved that way, would you say something?

If you “liked” a student more, would you be more lenient?

It’s challenging as an adult to self-reflect. I think most people GENUINELY think they are doing the best they can. Are you able to see how you come across to your students? to your peers? to your students parents? or more challenging, have you asked yourself those questions?

I genuinely think as a first teacher I was proud of myself when my administrators saw me “getting onto” or admonishing students. Looking back now, I cringe. What I thought was effective was actually way more detrimental to my relationships than I thought.

The three words hanging in my office: energy, enthusiasm, and empathy are the three that are my compass. If i have a trying task at hand, or a daily situation I’m dealing with…I’m always hoping to use three words as my guide. If you knew that, would it make it easier to understand why I act the way I do?

ifN,

Amber

Mystery Thread

March 7, 2013 by Amber Leave a Comment

I was contacted by Craig Badura, a K-5 media/technology integrationist, also known from the That Guy in the Library Blog. He was interested in collaborating with different classes on a mystery skype/Voice Thread project. We set up a three way project amongst classes of second graders.

Each student was asked to draw a landmark that could identify where we were from. Craig, Martha, Mrs. Bain and I communicated back and forth through a google doc where we got everything all situated. (Amazingly convenient!)

Today Mrs. Bain’s group added their comments, it was auh-dorable to see how excited the students were to share their “landmark”. It turns out that Ms. Lackey’s class is only 40 minutes away. I wonder how long it will take for our students to figure that out!

I am SO proud of Mrs. Bain’s class and their projects!

Not sure what a VoiceThread is? A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate pages and leave comments in 5 ways – using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). You can share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too. Instead of a parent program or assembly just for your class, you can create a VT and share with the audience of your choice!

Here’s several great “idea” banks to help you get started!

Some tips to get ya going?

Use your computer’s built-in microphone or a USB headset to record audio for your VoiceThread.
You can input your cell phone number onto VoiceThread, and the site will call you to record your audio.
PowerPoints can be easily uploaded onto VoiceThread. Save your PowerPoint slides as jpg files and upload them to your VoiceThread

Upload a variety of files to your VoiceThread including pdf, docs, etc.
You can record up to 15 minutes of audio per slide on the VoiceThread site.
The VoiceThread site will automatically scale photos so they fit the allotted space.
Allow anyone to view and anyone to comment on your VoiceThreads, but be sure to moderate all comments.
If you are concerned about sharing student work, you can opt to not allow your VoiceThread to be shown on the browse list.
You can create sharing groups to choose who can view and comment on specific VoiceThreads.
You can export your VoiceThread as a .mov file and burn copies for your class.
You can subscribe to VoiceThreads that you like.

I love this example of Math Strategies because it goes back to what we just talked about in staff development. Let students figure out their OWN way of solving a problem! (math + technology = happy Teamann!)

If you’d like to create a VT for your Lions…holler! Ask pain…quick and painless!

VT-ly,

Amber

Bully BooN

March 7, 2013 by Amber Leave a Comment

I came across this article today from a “friend” on Facebook who was venting about the hows’ and whys’ his children wouldn’t attend a public school what with all this bullying going on…

I challenge you to read this article and see if you can view it through two separate lenses.

First, look through the lens of a seasoned educator. Your day is filled with, “he touched me, she looked at me, they’re picking on me.” Your classroom is made up of students who come from a variety of homes, with a variety of personality’s and a HUGE variety of quirky behaviors. You learn very quickly that a nine year old’s version of what happened isn’t ALWAYS the most clear…and requires you to also become an investigator. You can already tell by September which students have a ton of friends to play with…and which need some direction from you. You add personality match maker to your already impressive plate of underpaid teacher, tutor, social worker, nurse, momma stand in, test giver, curriculum creator , and human. How easy would it be to dismiss a playground claim of bullying?

Now look through the lens of a parent who gets the call from school that your child hung himself in the bathroom. Is any excuse good enough? Is any attempt to rationalize what wasn’t communicated good enough?

As a momma and a loveR of our Lions…I don’t think so.

It’s a thin thin line between being completely whipped by the extreme amount of effort it takes to completely discern whether or not a student is being bullied. I know this. I know that your days are long and your lists of “one more thing” never gets any shorter. I know that the new “b” word is thrown around DAILY.

I also know the most important thing in my life is my children.

Maybe looking through the lens of the bullied, vs the bully, will help us to identify behaviors and help create an environment that doesn’t tolerate ANY incidents that could be perceived as bullying. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Bully BanN,

Amber