The Nerdy Teacher

First, I want to say I’m sorry to @jenniferpro, my wife, for starting a new project when there are so many other things on the burner. I promise this will not get in the way of my chores.

I was watching the Twitter feed the last two days and was more and more bummed that I was not able to attend #edcamp Philly. My schedule was jammed packed and it was not feasible to get down there. I really want to meet some of these great people I’ve formed friendships with and maybe even present my Nerdiness to the group. I watched as another group of teachers started talking about an #edcamp in KC. Another great idea that is too far away from me. Ugghhhhhhh. I joked about an #edcamp Detroit and there was some positive feedback. However, this is not something that one man can do alone.

I started to think about the Whats and the Wheres of an #edcamp Detroit. Seems like a feasible deal. Then I started to think of the Whos and I realized that I do not Tweet with very many Michigan educators. I’m not sure why, but most of my Tweeps are all over the world and not in my backyard. I tried to rally the Michigan troops back in February, but I had little luck. I think it would be great to create a network of Michigan Teachers who blog, tweet, wiki and use other tech in the classroom. We can share this with other teachers from all over and maybe this could be the foundation for an #edcamp in the future. Sometimes it is nice to talk and connect with local educators because they are dealing with the same local problems.

I’ve created an open Wiki that allows people to put their name, Twitter ID, etc in one place. Please add to the list and pass it along to others. Feel free to add to the wiki in any way. If you have an idea to improve the wiki, go for it. I want everyone from Michigan to have ownership of this as we move forward. Don’t hesitate to contact me with ideas or questions.

In education, I am always looking neat and interesting lessons to bring to my students. Different approached to long used themes might help a different group of students. As I sit and think about new ideas and cruise my Google Reader to see what amazing things other teachers are doing, I find myself thinking of more reasons why something will not work or be allowed than reasons why this new idea will work. Why is that?

I wonder if that is a result of my district, state or something all together different. My district has switched to common assessments for all mid term and final exams. I’m not a fan of this because it doesn’t allow me to differentiate for my individual classes come assessment time. Also, getting two departments at two very different high schools to agree on one test has been slow and painful. Multiple tests have been created and nothing seems to stick for more than a year in the past 5. Have I been beaten down by this concept of being like everyone else? Am I starting to worry about being different?

In my first year of teaching, I did something totally different for final exam time for my American Literature classes. I created an Olympic style set of events and broke up each of the three classes into 3 colors. Each class competed in events on the football field that mixed questions and physicals challenges. There was a water balloon toss that forced students to take steps back if they answered questions incorrectly. There was a relay race where students had to construct responses to essay questions to advance in the relay. The assessment lasted 90 minutes and it was a blast. The students I still run into remember that event fondly. Layoffs, subject changes and the new common assessment prevent me from even considering do that again. I should say, it did.

I’ve decided to stop looking at all of the reasons not to do something and focus on the positives. Now, I’m not going to knowingly do something that will break school policy, but I think that more good can be done if I start to focus on the yes instead of the no.

Your #MissionMonday, if you choose to accept it, is to focus on the yes. Stop looking at the reasons why something will not work and focus on the reasons it will work. Do something new and see if it works. If it doesn’t, so what. See if the lesson can be fixed and try it again. If it can’t be fixed, try a new idea. I’m going to focus on the yes and see where that takes me. You should try it too.

- @TheNerdyTeacher

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Grades. This is something that has always been linked to teaching and learning. By always, I of course mean, as long as I have been in school and a teacher. There is a segment of the educational world that is steadfast in their position against giving out grades. Education should be about learning and not obtaining a letter. I agree with people when they say this. I RT all comments during an #edchat that support this concept. After much thought, I think I can’t get behind the concept of getting rid of all grades. No grades for anyone doesn’t make sense to me. IMHO, grades are not the problem, assessments are the problem.

I had my epiphany early in the year when I realized that my use of MC test and Scantrons were not really helping me assess the learning of my students. It made life easy for me to check tests and assign grades so student and parent could be happy. After doing my 10 Week Experiment, I realized that Project based learning is the way to go. With this type of assessment, I was able to see what students had really learned in a way that a Bubble Test could never show me. I went this route again, with some fine tuning, for my next unit, The Catcher in the Rye. The results so far have been amazing. Kids are actively engaged in the classroom, they are comparing projects and they are commenting on the projects presented. I feel like a good teacher watching these projects come together.

I don’t think throwing out the entire grading system is truly going to solve anything. Teaching is what really matters. We can throw out grades, we can give them new meaning, we can assign smiley faces or even assign random symbols. All that truly matters is the way that we teach students and the way we assess them. Students need to be taught to value education. Grades are not the reason students do not value education. I didn’t value education because I was a knuckle head, not because the value of an A was too much pressure. The value of a Grade is determined by the level of instruction and assessment. I can say that the value of an A on one of these projects means more than the A a student received last year on a Bubble Test on the same topic.

Getting rid of grading is not going to solve the problem of valuing education or learning. As people, we are always seeking some form of validation for what we do. That validation can come in the form of gold stars, blog comments, Retweets, promotions or letter grades. The value of hard work and a job well done in High School is a letter grade. Earning an A in my class is tough. I’m proud of that fact. I realized that my assessments needed to change to truly challenge my students and assess their learning in a way that allows for self expression and meets my content expectations.

I know that this is not the popular idea, but this is how I feel. Now. I’m an open minded person. If I would have told me two years ago that I needed to move away from MC tests, I would have laughed at myself. (Side note: That would be so weird to hear yourself laugh outside of yourself. Almost like hearing a recording of your own voice. I always sound weird on those things. Anyway…) I think there are many different ways to teach the many different types of students. Differentiation is huge for me. If I want to give letter grades, I’m going to give letter grades. If I want to give smiley faces, I’m going to give smiley faces. I think that there is never a one size fits all solution for the ills of education. Eliminating Grades is not the end all be all solution. I think that is important to remember when we talk about changing the education landscape. 

Remember, It’s not the letter we use to end an assessment, it’s the assessment we use to arrive at the letter.

- @TheNerdyTeacher
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Here are some great examples of student work I’ve been bragging about for the past few days. I tweeted some yesterday, but these were too good to live in Twitterland alone. The students have been great at posting on the presenters personal Wallwisher. It keeps them focused and the presenter has a great collection of comments to review later that day. The entire project is working very well and can be used with any content area. Take a look at the different projects and let me know what you think and I will pass them on to the students.

Here is one great example of a Blabberize created by a student.

Here is a cool project that used GoAnimate!

GoAnimate.com: Catcher in the Rye by Giggles415

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It’s free and fun!

Here is a Puppet Show by two students. Just goofy good times.

Here is a very cool blog a student created. It’s a site selling The Catcher in the Rye T-shirts. The best part about this project is that she actually made the shirts and gave them to me. Free swag always gets you a good grade!

Here are just a few examples of what my students can do. There is another one I can’t put up yet that is amazing. A student tooks clips from the movie Stand By Me and linked it up to the story line of The Catcher in the Rye. It was just good stuff. He used Tubechop.com and it worked very well. Please leave a comment if you liked something or have a suggestion to improve the lesson. I’m always open to becoming a better teacher and making lesson stronger for the kids. I’ll have some more projects later in the week. Thanks for stopping.
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I was working on some school stuff at home and I thought I had saved it to my Dropbox folder so I could access it later at school. I must have clicked the wrong folder because it was not there for me to access and that annoyed me very much. I needed to work on it at school and share it with other teachers. My wife had already left for work so I couldn’t have her just email me the file. Luckily I had the LogMeIn App for my iPad because it saved the day. The App allowed me to synch up with my home computer from my iPad and search for the file. After some looking around, I found the file and was able to open my Dropbox folder and drop the document there. The internet at my school was acting a bit screwy, as normal, so I disconnected from my home desk top and opened up Dropbox on my iPad and there was the document. I opened up my DocsToGo App, because it links to my Dropbox account, and found the document I was looking for. I then emailed the document to myself and edited it without any problems. A complete disaster was averted.

Now, I understand I could have just emailed the document from my home computer using the LogMeIn App, but I really wanted to see what my iPad could do using multiple apps. It was very nice knowing that one step could have solved the probelm, but I wanted to know how it would work if I needed multiple apps to solve a problem. The interface was quick and easy to use. The whole process did not take me more that 15 minutes. Most of that time was waking my home desk top up and connecting. Everything else was very quick and easy.

For those of you who are unsure of getting an iPad, let me assure you that it has been worth the price for me. It has not solved world hunger, but it has made my life as an educator easier. That is important for any teacher to know.
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Here is Episode II of the Everything I Know About Technology Integration I Learned from Watching 90′s Nickelodeon. I was inspired today for some reason to sit and write and outline for Episode II. The next thing I know, I’m typing away and searching for Youtube videos that will match up with each post. These posts are a labor of love and I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy writing them. I know that some of the ideas seem to repeat themselves, but I feel like they are good ideas that can never be stressed enough. Also, some of the other posts might not appeal to others and these might be reach a different audience. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride as we take a trip back to Nickelodeon circa 1990′s.

Hey Dude was such a fun show. I’ve been able to watch some of the old episodes on YouTube and they still make me giggle from time to time. Like many great shows in the 90′s, the theme song still resonates in my head long after the opening credits have ended. When thinking about tech integration, it wasn’t very hard to see where Hey Dude fits in. You see, Mr. Ernst is the ultimate Digital Native. Follow me on this one. Mr. Ernst left his comfy accountant job to run a ranch. He had no idea what he was doing and it would have been very easy for him to give up and take his son Buddy and their dog Cassie back home. Mr. Ernst was smart to surround himself with people that knew what that were doing and could teach and help him along the way. He had Danny Lightfoot who worked as a ranch hand that helped with all of the small problems that would come up in the day to day work of a ranch. He had Melody, played by the amazing Christine Taylor, who could take care of the pool as a lifeguard and run the fitness classes. Mr. Ernst could rely on Lucy to take care of the major issues at the ranch and act like a Mom to the rest of the kids on staff. Ted was a pain in the butt, but he could be counted on in a pinch if necessary. Lastly, there was Brad. Brad was the rich girl from Grosse Pointe that could ride and take care of horses. I hold a special place in my heart for Brad because she is from the town I currently teach. Grosse Pointe is an affluent suburb and Brad would fit right in there. I wonder how the town found a place in the script?

Anyway, as teachers of technology, it is our job to help the Mr. Ernst’s in our building as they struggle with new technology. We need to make sure there are many of us in the building with various strengths to help these teachers through the tough transition in their lives so they don’t pack up and quit integrating technology into their lessons. Running a ranch is not an easy chore and neither is integrating brand new educational tools to something you have been teaching for 20 or 30 years. As teachers, our job should not be limited to helping our students learn. Our role as educators needs to expand to help all of the people in our district and across the globe learn about integrating technology into the classroom. If it weren’t for the hired help at the Bar None Dude Ranch, we never would have experienced 3 great seasons of Hey Dude.

Before people start sending me emails and leaving nasty comments I just want to say that I’m aware that these shows are Canadian and originally aired in the 80′s. However, these shows were rerun through the early and mid 90′s on Nick and thus can be included in this post. Also, I have an awesome correlation I want to make so it’s staying in.

YCDTOT was a solid sketch comedy show by kids for kids. Alanis Morissete was on the show for a little bit and was very funny. There were many memorable characters, Barf, and many memorable skits, all of the Locker Jokes, but the sliming is the one thing that Nick took and ran with. Whenever a character would say, “I don’t know”, they would get a large amount of slime dumped on them from above. It was always funny and you knew it was going to come eventually. Sometimes, if we were lucky, the cast member who was slimed would follow it up with a “What are you talking about?” and they would get doused with a gallon of water. I’m not embarrassed to admit that that type of humor appealed to me over and over again. Heck, I turn into the Kid’s Choice Awards to see what celebrity will get slimed. It’s who I am.

I truly feel that there are teachers out there that feel like they will get slimed if they utter the words, “I don’t know.” It the jobs of the tech friendly teachers of the world to reach out to those teachers and reassure them that technology integration is a slime free zone. I have always said that teachers are the worst students. We are just as afraid to ask questions as they are. Many teachers think they need to appear to know everything and never ask questions around our peers. I spend the first couple of weeks of class telling my kids how silly those ideas are in the classroom. I try to make sure that I provide a comfortable environment for teachers that are interested in tech, but are a bit skittish. If they feel the slime hovering overhead, they will never be honest about understanding new tools. It doesn’t help anyone if they smile and nod at me for an hour and leave and never use it in class. For the tech teachers out there, make everyone comfortable and take it easy as you walk people through these great tools out there. If you don’t, I might send you to Barf’s for a specialty burger.

Technology Integration needs to be approached the same way that Roundhouse approached serious issues for teens. If you try to sit a teacher or student down and try to walk them through GoogleDocs, Blabberize or Prezi, they will lose interest very quickly. I’m not suggesting that teachers start doing a song and dance about the value of Web2.0 tools in the classroom. However, it might not be a terrible thing to put together and become a YouTube sensation. Actually having the teachers or students actively involved in exploring these tools would be a great way to show them value of these tools without lecturing to them. The songs, dances and comedy made the messages accessible to the audience and memorable. It’s been 15 years, but I still remember those episodes like it was yesterday. Do you remember anything valuable from a staff meeting from last year? 2 years ago? 5 years? Using fun and interactive ways to pass important information along is vital if we want more and more teachers to start using Web2.0 tools in their lessons. Otherwise, these ideas will be ignored like our parents ignored our requests to go to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida to be on Super Sloppy Double Dare.

Ren and Stimpy 

Here are some old Promos to hold you over.

I realized that all of those videos were game shows. Hmmmm. Maybe Episode III will have a game show vibe. You will just have to wait and see. Thanks for reading and being awesome educators.

- @TheNerdyTeacher
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A couple of days ago I tweeted that I needed to create 90 Wallwishers for my American Lit students becuse they were getting ready to present their Catcher Projects next week. I received many responses asking about the Wallwishers, the project guidelines, etc. I promised to put together this post and share this project with all of those that are interested.

I decided that I was going to have a Project Based Assessment after concluding my 10 Weeks and No Tests experiment (Read from the bottom up). I figured I would use the same idea I used for my Great Gatsby Project, but fine tune it a bit. 

I use a Livebinder for my class lessons and projects. Here is the one that I have used for this semester. American Literature Livebinder I have the instructions for the project here, but I will break it down here for you as well.

The students will be allowed to express 2 themes and 2 symbols in any presentation form they would like. Their presentation must use technology and it must be approved by the teacher before they get started. The students also needed to use a different form of technology than they used for their Gatsby Project. I like this part of the project because it forces the students to explore other areas outside of Power Point if they chose the easy way out with Gatsby.

After selecting their project, the students had two weeks to come up with a rubric and submit it to me on a Thursday. I provide the students with a link to Rubistar to help them create a solid rubric. I collect the rubric on Thursday and pass it back with corrections and suggestions on Friday.

On Monday, the students will have a chance to work in the lab and make sure everything will work well on the school computers. They can practice their presentation and fix any minor bugs that they uncover. On Tuesday, students will be randomly selected for the rest of the week until every students has presented.

The late idea I had on Friday was to have students provide feedback on the projects. I have used Wallwisher with the students in the past and they are comfortable with it. I created around 90 Wallwishers and placed them on my school website. Students in each class can go to this website and click on the name of the student presenting and leave constructive feedback on the presentation. I’m not worried about jerky students because I have them pretty well trained on proper computer use. I also threatened them with total point loss for everyone if one person breaks the rule. Hey, it works.

After reading their walls, students will write a 2 paragraph response to the wall. One paragraph will focus on what went well and the other paragraph will focus on areas that could be improved. I think this will be more valuable than the comments I leave on their rubrics. I know that many students just look at the score on the rubric and move on to the next lesson. At least with this approach, the students will have to look at the comments and think about them as they craft a response.

I will post some of the projects the students come up with after next week. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave me a comment or tweet me @TheNerdyTeacher and I will help you however I can. Thanks for reading this long winded post. See you on the flip side.
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Happy #Mission Monday everyone! Friday night I decided to unplug for the weekend so I could attend to a growing list of to dos. I chaperoned the Junior Prom and that was piece of cake. It’s always nice to see kids in their best outfits having a good time with their peers. As teachers, we often forget to look at teens as teens and not just butts in a seat. That is why I loved being a class adviser, coach and chaperon. It gives me a chance to interact with the kids in a positive way outside of my room.

I also spent some time working on my Masters program. I’m putting together a Grammar Web Quest and I will be bugging some of you for feed back later on. Thanks PLN. I will be done with my Masters in Educational Technology by the end of the Summer of 2011. I can’t wait. The extra pay will help offset the 3% of my paycheck that now has to go into the State Pension fund to help them balance the budget. Sweet!

I was also able to take in a Tigers Game with @JenniferPro. It’s been a while since we have been able to hangout and it was such a nice day I thought it would be good to see the home town team play the Red Sox. Sorry Sox fans, you were not the victors this time. If it makes you feel any better, the Tigers took 3 of 4 from the Yankees. You can thank us later.

I guess the point that I’m trying to get at is unplugging was one of the best things I could have done for the weekend. I love being connected to my PLN and I’m positive that I missed some good resources this weekend, but the fact that I was able to do some great things over these two days was amazing. I suggest that everyone try to unplug for a day or two and see what you can accomplish away from the Twitter/Blog world. I know that my Reader is waiting for me, but it will always be there. Events like Prom and Tiger games with the wife will not always be there. Take the time to shut down and explore the world around you. It might be tough, but you will come back refreshed and ready to grow with the rest of the PLN.

Let me know how yo have unplugged and what you did with your free time. It’s nice for teachers to share these stories. We are all in this together people. As they say, it takes a PLN to raise a child.

P.S. – Don’t unplug until you have reads this post and passed it to all of your friends.  JK
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Picture from http://arithmaroo.com/

Full Disclosure, I’m no good at Math. It has never been my strong suit and I currently eat lunch with the Math Department in the hope I can build enough credit to have them tutor my future children. I ran across Arithmaroo on Twitter and they suggested I take a look at their Arithmaroo 1: A Counting Math Game for Kids app. As an English teacher, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this app, but the @Arithmaroo people were so nice, I couldn’t say no. Here are my thoughts on the app.

The app is a very simple game that allows up to 4 players and one guest to store scores and compare them with friends. The screen consists of a row of numbers and pictures that appear. The pictures might be rocks in various order or hands holding up fingers. Their might be multiple hands with different number of fingers or many rocks in various formations.The goal is too quickly count the objects on the screen and select the correct number. As time ticks down, the picture at the top changes from a Kangaroo (fastest), a Salamander (Fast) and a Turtle (The Nerdy Teacher Speed). The first level is fairly simple and focuses on numbers 1-5. It took me a couple of times to get straight Kangaroos, but I eventually got through it. 

Level 2 has 10 numbers and the combination of rocks and fingers intensifies. Again, this took me many tries, but eventually I made it to level 3. Level 3 brought me to a dark place as I tried to count objects in the allotted time up to 20. After stressing for 20 minutes, I was able to jump to level 4 where the total number goes to 50. That is where the level review ends because I have no idea what is beyond that and may never find out. I guess it is 75 or 100, but I’ll need to ask one of my younger cousins to give it try and let me know how it goes.

I took a couple of days off from playing the app and went back and was surprised to see that I had an easier go of it the second time around. My responses were faster and I had more points than I did last time as well. I still could not get past level 4, but I felt that I was doing better. I was learning to identify patterns and identify quantity at a much faster pace. From that perspective, I would say the app is wonderful. If anything can improve my quick math skills,  think it’s great.

As a high school English teacher, I can only guess how this would play in the Elementary Math classes. I think the fact that multiple students can store their scores on one app is great. It allows some nice competition amongst peers. Teachers could reward students for attaining certain levels and have class competitions if there are enough iPods to go around. Given time to play with this app, I can see that students would strengthen their Math skills. I have never been strong at looking at items and adding them up, but this app could help me grow in that area with continued use. 

 I think the timer moves a little too fast, but I think that is because I’m terrible at counting quickly. I did not encounter any glitches along the way. I tried selecting various wrong answers to see if it would freeze or shut down, but nothing happened. The clock stood that at turtle, mocking me, as it waited for me to eventually get the correct answer. I think it would be nice to see different images over time, but since I never made it past level 4, I’m not sure if there were others.

I think this would be a fun app to add to a class set of iPod Touches in Math classes or for personal use. The app looked great on the my iPad as well. Kids would strive to beat their previous best, their friends high scores and even their parents totals. For $1.99, I think it is a good buy if parents and/or teachers are looking at a fun way to help kids with their spatial math skills.

Thanks to Arithmaroo for talking me into this app because I will be recommending it to the teachers in my district. Great job and I look forward to seeing other great apps from you in the future.

Pictures from www.arithmaroo.com
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I cannot tell you how many times I have heard that from my students. Another one I love to hear is, “What do you mean I can’t use Wikipedia as a source?” As an English Teacher, I have spent many long hours teaching students how to conduct proper searches on the internet. They should never be able to tell you that they were never taught how to properly cite information or where to look that information up.

With that having been said, sometimes I just want my students to look at a few specific websites for a specific project. I have started using a great site I want to share with you great teachers. The site is called Diigo and it is a bookmarking site. By creating a free profile, you can add specific pages to your account and direct students or other teachers to look at them. That is not the only thing you can do with this great tool though.

Highlighting – You can highlight specific information before you bookmark the site. This can save people time when there is to much information to read through and all you want is a few lines.

Sticky Notes – You can places notes on the highlighted areas to remind you of their relevance. There have been too many times where I have bookmarked a site and I could not remember why I saved it a day or so later.

Groups – You can create specific groups and send pages you find to that group only. You can make the group a public group (anyone can join) or a private group (you select who can join). After some time, I will make the teacher’s group a private group to keep nosy teenagers at bay.

Email – You can directly email any site you find to yourself or other teachers. You can create an address book and send the site directly to students or to other teachers in your department.

Teacher Account – You can request to sign up for a Teacher Account from Diigo. This will allow you to sign up students to join your specific groups that you have created. I have a Teacher Account, but am not using it with my students yet. I’m just creating groups and keeping them open to the public. I put links to them on my website so students can view the groups without an account. It could come in handy if I want to email them sites to look at over the weekend.

Linking Accounts – Diigo allows you to link your blog and Twitter accounts to your Diigo account. This way, if you bookmark something, it can be posted to you blog and your Twitter. You can set up a your account to post all the bookmarks you have made to your blog. It can be set for a daily, twice daily or weekly. This is a great way to save you time. You can also link your iPhone to Diigo as well. Download the Diigo App and you will have access to anything that you have bookmarked. It might be available for other phones, but you would have to check for that.

The best way to start bookmarking after you create your account is to download the toolbar. It will sit at the top of your browser and you just click the bookmark button when you want to share a website. There are many other great parts of Diigo that you can use. It’s best to log on and play around a bit.

- @TheNerdyTeacher
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