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Truth, Justice, & the Edtech Way

May 21, 2013 by Amber Leave a Comment

One of the more fabulous reasons that personal learning connections are so worthwhile are those random moments when they can impact what you do, daily. I’ve responded to a couple of different hashtag requests that the reason I love twitter so much is that it allows me to connect with people who make me better at what I do.

Cue this rainy afternoon. I come home drenched, soggy toed and exhausted from a stormy school dismissal and am directed to check out a live podcast that was being shown on Youtube. I recognized all the faces from the show today, and realized what a GREAT group was assembled!

Lisa Johnson, @techchef4u, is an educational technologist in Eanes ISD. She blogs all kinds of instructional technology awesomness at www.techchef4u.com, a site that you can lose yourself in for hours. She’s also the creator of the TechChef app, “TechChef4u offers multiple resources to support teachers and parents in their search for FREE quality apps to support their children and students. While the TechChef4u app is an educational app store that provides searchable and categorized lists of 500+ FREE apps for PK-12.” Check it out in the app store!

Greg Garner, @classroom_tech, is from Austin, Texas. I love the line on his about.me page, “Always improving and taking people with me, I define success as empowering others to be successful themselves.” Isn’t that we should all strive to be?

Jon Samulson, @ipadsammy, also from Eanes ISD, is an educational technologist. He is an incredible provider of technology resources, especially on his other other job, hosting the @Techlandia podcast. He’s a big fan of Tony Romo, thank goodness, and someone I enjoy greatly “on the twitters”.

Carl Hooker, @mrhooker, is the director of educational technology in Eanes ISD. As a relative new member of his fan club, his reach is far and wide. With over 30, 000 hits on his blog, www.hookedoninnovation.com, he is an ed tech force to be reckoned with. From his start as a teacher to his current district technology leadership, he’s always had one common belief – the kids need to drive their own learning. How can you not be fan of that guy??

Four different perspectives, four different levels of experience…four more opportunities to learn! Check out their vodcasts in the iTunes store, just search for iVengers radio, and you can also subscribe to their podcasts there. I can’t wait to go back and listen to the rest of them! Thank you, Carl, for the pick me up pointer!

AmVengePressed

Mathematically speaking….

April 26, 2013 by Amber Leave a Comment

I shared this on Twitter this week, an article that details different ways to teach perseverance in math. I then received this as a follow up.

Never one to back away from a challenge I’ve talked to several different high school math teachers and complied THESE strategies for David.

Set a questions goal. When you are struggling with students understanding a concept, allow each student to ask a certain amount of questions and see how many different ways peers or the lead learner can answer them. For students who DO understand the concept this will be an especially high level activity, allowing them to “teach” to different levels of weakness.
Set up a section in their notebook or math journal for struggles. In a fast paced class, by the time a student has figured out they have a question, the class may have moved on. Use sticky notes to record the questions that come up, even if they don’t ask them. This allows the students to capture their thoughts and confusion somewhere, so that they can come back to them.
Integrate Warm-Up Activities The use of quick warm-up activities in class can be beneficial for several reasons. One of the most common reasons students may need intervention is that they have not fully mastered prerequisites. You can use warm-up activities to review prerequisites and to gauge student mastery. Begin your lessons by having your students complete several problems that cover prerequisites. This technique will also give you time to circulate among your students and have quiet one-on-one conversations. These discussions can be used as valuable informal assessment opportunities.
Differentiate instruction. This sounds very basic, but especially in an environment where social expectations are even higher than usual, students will benefit from a variety of instructional methods. Many students who need intervention struggle to learn concepts because they may not be able to grasp abstract concepts. “Some students may not understand a concept when illustrated symbolically, but may be able to understand it when it is illustrated concretely, either via models, manipulatives, or technology.
Try the concept of ““remediation through acceleration.” The concept introduces students to higher-level thinking and higher-level problems. Within the context of those problems, the teacher offers remediation to students who need it. Great example of this here….

Anyone else have any older students suggestions?

HS thinkN,

Amber

A cautionary tale…

March 7, 2013 by Amber Leave a Comment

A word to the wise…

Parents are biased. Parents are sending you the absolute BEST that they have to offer at home. The child in your class that may test your patience like no other is the 20×30 poster hanging over their mantle. They are LOVED. ADORED. WANTED.

Yesterday when I picked up my TsT, she was “shadowing” the teacher. Meaning her lil’hand was in the teachers pocket and she had to stay there all day. No free play, no lunching with friends, no centers…basically no fun. Why? Because she wasn’t being sweet and gentle with her friends.

(Read: a hitter! my kid was the hitter!! argh)

My first reaction was to want to cry. (Like the year old was doing as she was telling me how ” sowee” she was.)

Disclaimer: I MISS my kids when they are away from me. I think about them. I want to see them. I can’t WAIT to hug them.

Do you know how hard it was to “discipline” my girl once we were home? I made her stay in her room, gave her no dessert, and NO ipad fun game time with mom.

Guess who felt more punished?? ME! I didn’t know if that was the right thing to do! Were these things effective? Should I be more concerned? Is there a youtube video I could watch on how to fix this issue??

Teachers….you have to HELP your parents. Explain behaviors. Explain when there is cause for concern, or if it’s developmentally appropriate. They look to YOU as the expert. Balancing being a mom and wanting to support what is happening at school but also loving your kids is HARD. We’re asking them to unbiasedly look at their child and behaviors that they weren’t a witness too, and take action on them.

How would you feel if ONLY negative things came home? Or if the only contact you had with your child’s school was a negative one?

You have the power to fix that. YOU can make every encounter positive & supportive. Even when there is negative information to convey…

a mom’s perspective,

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