A Wordle of my blog!

Check out the Wordle of my blog!!

Wordles are these neat things that takes which words are used and makes the ones that are used most often the biggest, then compiles them all into art! With colors! And a font!















You can make your own at http://www.wordle.net :)

Decisions, decisions...

Recently, I substitute taught at Junction City Middle School for sixth grade social studies and eighth grade math. I have always heard that teachers have to make a ridiculous number of decisions in one day, so I decided about halfway through the day to keep track of all the decisions I had to make that day. Keep in mind that this was one full day of teaching (no plan period taken) for a substitute, so I generally did not have to make decisions that affected more than one class period generally. So, here's the official list. Sometimes I included my decision. :) I'm not saying they were all correct decisions, but that's what I went with!

--Do I take the extra job presented to me once I got here?
--What do I buy with my $1.35? (I didn't bring lunch, just a breakfast snack.)
--How do I find the kids for Cat Time who didn't check in (since they went to other classes today)?
--Do I allow kids to go to the restroom? (Even though the teacher asked me not to?) (No.)
--How exactly do kids play this game? (The instructions were slightly vague...)
--"Do we have to turn this in?" (Yes.)
--"We lost our die for the game." Where did it go? How can they play without one?
--Should I take the paper football or return it and have them put it away? (Trash it.)
--Do I allow the rowdy boys to continue rolling their die on the floor? (No way.)
--Do I make the kid play the game if he would rather just complete the math worksheet? (As long as you finish the math, I don't care.)
--How closely should I watch the kids and enforce the rules? (They're making progress on the worksheets... guess as long as they're relatively calm I'll leave them alone.
((END OF CAT TIME))
--How quiet do I make the kids be before we walk to the library?
--Should I make the kids stop walking until they can be quiet on the walk to the library?
--Should I let this girl go to her locker before going to the library? (Even though I told kids during passing period to bring their books?)
--Should I pull the giggling girl who kept "dropping" her books on the walk aside and chat with her about appropriate behavior?
--How much time should we spend in the library? (Has the past 10 minutes that the teacher said to stay long enough?)
--How many kids should sit at each table in the library for them to keep quiet? (Three.)
--What book do I suggest to this boy? (Some Chris Crutcher.)
--How will I tell kids they need to be quiet for the rest of the period and read? (Mean? Kind? Remind them about their behavior grade.)
--How do I reward kids for being silent the whole reading time? (Two minutes of talking.)
--Should I let a girl leave to take an RC test? (No.)
((END OF CORE 1))
--repeat several of the above questions
--Should I separate Tamica and Jacy? (Not yet.)
--Should I let Jacy get out of the line to get a drink for her "hiccups"? (I guess.)
--How much extra time should I let Adrian stay in the library?
--How do I get this class to be quiet? (Kind of mean.)
--Was Tamica just up out of her chair? What was she doing?
--There she was again! Do I get up and say something? (Hopefully meaningful eye contact was enough.)
--She's crawling on the floor to pass a note to Jacy! Eye contact all the way... Was that enough to stop her?
--Do I dock Tamica and Jacy both for behavior points?
--How do I approach them while the rest of the class talks the last two minutes? (Ask them why I might be docking their behavior points today--they know.)
((MOVE TO 8TH GRADE MATH))
--How strict should I be with the 8th grade?
--How do I learn their names with no rosters?!
--What do I have them do with their time if they have no worksheet from yesterday to finish?
--Should I let them work in groups?
--Do I get someone to go find Reshawn from the restroom? (He's been gone nine minutes... oh there he is.)
--How closely should I watch them? If they're talking and working, do I let them?
--These girls are definitely not talking and working, who should I have move? (Ask them for a volunteer.)
((END OF 8th GRADE CORE 1)
--When do I walk these kids to lunch?
--Do I need to go get them from lunch? (I don't have any idea when... they'll walk themselves back.)
--Should I let these kids work in groups?
--Do I 'let it go' or discipline that? (There were several of these decisions...)
--Do I comment on that joke I just overheard about "cutting myself over boys"?
--Do I let them continue to work in groups? (Chris and Austyn are way off task and talking so loud...)
--What do I do with this new 7th grader in 8th grade math? (Just give him the worksheet and let him work through it with another student.)
--Do I take the balloons or just make them put them away? (Throw them away, boys.)
--Why is that boy holding that girl and her desk hostage? Should I make him stop?
--Do I let this kid interrupt class across the hall to use the pencil sharpener? (This one's not working?)
--Should I have my student tell someone the boys' bathroom is a mess with toilet paper?
--What do I do now that I've seen balloons the second time? (Take them and ask them for all the balloons they have--these kids will probably give them to me.)
--Does this 7th grader really need to leave 20 minutes early from this hour?
((END OF 8th GRADE CORE 2)
--What do I do with this kid that's playing games on the calculator? (Make him do his work without.)
--Can these kids handle group work?
--What do I do with the kids who have other kids' papers? (There were several!)
--Is that kid trying to blow up a balloon? Should I take it?
--How many kids do I let go to the library when their work is finished? (Two.)
--Should I give them a pass to their locker for extra work? (If they really want to use their time to do more homework, then definitely.)
--Can I leave this class to go to the restroom now?
--How much help should I give this kid on this problem?
--Should I go ahead and send another kid to the library? (It's 5 minutes past the 10 minute limit I gave the others... No, just wait.)
--Should I let this student who hasn't been working go to the restroom? (There were LOTS of these requests.)
--Should I make them all sit down and be quiet until the end of class or not worry about it? (They've been awful and are all out of their chairs.)
--What do I do with this calculator with the awful picture drawn on it? (The kid who gave it to me definitely did not draw it...)
((END OF 8th GRADE CORE 3))
--What do I do with Chris' apology for his behavior earlier? (Take note of it... but keep his name on the 'misbehaved' list.)
--Should I leave this class to go to the restroom? (Ah! There's a hall monitor I can ask to watch them!)
--Should I allow a group of 5 to work? (I'll give it a 5-minute test run.)
--What noise level should I allow since they're actually working?
--Should I let this group of girls work in the hallway? (They're complaining that the boys are bothering them... They'll get over it.)
--Do I punish the kids eating candy who were tattletold on by others? (I hate tattletelling...so no.)
--Do I interfere with the "fighting" and flirting boys and girls?
--Do I reprimand that girl for climbing over her chair?
--Do I let them work in the hallway now? (Still no.)
--How long should I tell these two girls to be in the library?
--What do I do with my last 25 minutes here since I'm done with my homework?
--Do 7th graders really leave two minutes earlier than 8th grade?

There you have it: 75 questions. And then... HOME. :) It was a long day, but I did get paid for the extra hour I worked instead of taking a plan.

This semester

I can't believe this semester is already winding down. I always feel a little frantic right before Thanksgiving break, because I know that right after Thanksgiving break, I have very little time before I'm taking finals/ turning in final projects. Especially because this year's biggest final for me is a 15-20 page paper for my ENGL 660 class. Yikes. At least my other classes seem fairly easy. A final project for educational technology, a non-comprehensive final exam for educational research and a normal 5-7 page paper of what I learned in educational philosophy.

All of this just makes me even more excited for next semester. After doing a quick intercession class, I just have two more classes (one is online) and the portfolio. Then I get a master's degree! :)

Now, I'm going to go back to work on my first four pages of that final paper for English, due next Monday. I have ... not very much so far. I'm just not sure where I want to go with the paper. My topic is alcoholism and the Drunken Indian stereotype within Sherman Alexie's novel Reservation Blues. Tricky, tricky. I think I will re-read the book and take careful notes now. Thank goodness it was a quick read!

When I imagine...

I have decided, while I sit here broiling in the RP office, that I should blog. It is nearing the middle of my third year on staff, and after being immersed in the world that surrounds the most award-winning college yearbook in the country, you would think I have some reflections. 

Guess what! I do.

Many of them center around how I would like to run my staff when I advise for a high school. Some general ideas, in the order that I think of them:

• Take my kids to conventions. And pre-covention etiquette dinners so I can teach them good manners for the trip.

• It is important to lie to the kids about deadlines. It is important to build in a little leeway for yourself, because things will happen, and high schoolers won't handle it nearly as well as the RP staff has.

• Have as extensive of an editing chain as possible. 

• Reward kids with dinners or movie nights or something at my house. It's important they see me out of school and they take time to relax and enjoy a job well done.

• Encourage positive peer pressure and student responsibility within the staff, so that kids feel they can and should speak up when something is not right.

• Goals.... and keeping them in focus and bringing them up constantly. Otherwise they're pointless.

• Deadline charts are awesome. Update them daily.

• Because the book will have a video and Web element, I want three people to go to every story. One photographer, and one team of a writer and videographer. Each "staff writer" (non-editor) on my staff will be a writer and videographer. Each video story will go through the same chain a written story would have to, except instead of a copy editor I will have a video editor.

• Recycle all that paper!

I know Anna and I have talked about more, but that's all I've got right now. :)

Clickers

I have been interested in “clickers,” or student response systems, for a while but have never read about them much or had the opportunity to see them in use. So for this assignment, I read an article on the NEA Web site, “Clickers and Classroom Dynamics” by Derek Bruff. The purpose of clickers is for students to engage in in-class polls or quizzes. A teacher presents a multiple-choice question, and students all submit their responses via the clicker. Then, software on the teacher’s computer will analyze the students’ answers and produce a chart. This is an easy, pressure-free way to do checks for understanding, and based on students’ answers, a teacher knows whether to move on or cover certain material again. The article discussed other, more advanced uses for the clickers. For instance, a professor at Harvard made famous “peer instruction.” If students were asked a question, like mentioned previously, and a significant number answered incorrectly, they would take a few minutes to discuss the question in small groups and then resubmit their answers. Often, the second answer was correct. I like the fact that students submit their answer semi-anonymously (other students don’t know what they answered), and that it gives all students a chance to participate easily. The article also gives suggestions on ways to use the clickers to ask more high-level thinking skills questions, such as giving an example of an ethical dilemma, then asking students to identify the classical ethical philosophy that went with it. This would be easy in a science class, as you could give an example of something happening due to one of Newton’s laws and then ask which one it is.

There are several systems for clickers, but the one I looked up was the iClicker, but you had to get a quote for the price for them. I did some Google searching, however, and found that several universities offered a FAQ section for courses that used clickers, and most quoted the price as $45-$50 per remote, and Amazon had some for around $30 used. That price does not include the teacher’s receiver or the software, however, so it seems to me this basic piece of technology may cost more than it’s worth for small, K-12 classrooms where a teacher could simply take a closed-eyes vote and count them herself.

Bruff, D. (n.d.). Clickers and classroom dynamics. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/home/34690.htm.

The Digital Divide

The first article, “The Digital Divide: Where We Are” on Edutopia, was written in 2002. I wonder what in this article would be irrelevant or different now. Seven years is a LONG time in Technology Land. The statistics, I’m pretty sure, would be different, though I bet the concern would be the same, maybe even more so today because a hugely (in my opinion) increased dependency on the Internet. This article came out before Facebook, for goodness’ sake. :) I couldn't tell when the second article, “Three Dimensions of Racism and the Digital Divide in Education,” was written; the latest research mentioned was from 2002. However, I would imagine the argument is still valid, especially because it is based on systematic racism, which hasn't changed much, though I would also imagine that along with race, SES and geographic location also plays a large role.

I asked for volunteers to discuss technology with me at the end of the first hour I was subbing for Thursday. In my discussion with a black, female senior from Junction City High School, I discovered that there may be a discrepancy within some of the statistics: we were talking about difficulties in using technology, and she said sometimes at home it was difficult to find a wireless connection for her laptop. In asking more questions, she does not have a wireless network in her apartment; rather, she uses other connections she can find within her apartment complex.

The interesting thing is when I asked about how she and I would use technology differently, her response dealt with me as a college student and her as a high school student: she thought I probably got my homework done before I played games like TextTwist (a game we discovered we both loved). I am only four years older, so I think she assumed age didn’t affect what we do. I don’t think it occurred to her that there might be a difference between myself as a white woman and her as a black woman, even during my puzzlement at her trying to find wireless connections for her laptop. When asked, she thought maybe I would be able to get the Internet easier, though she recognized the idea of the “poor college student.” I told her all the wireless connections at my complex (and most that I knew of) had a pass key because people too many people using them would slow them down. She also talked about the frustration of updates and how often you have to re-learn how to use things, like Internet Explorer. (Take heart, older folks, we feel it too!)

Mainly her use of technology, when I asked, dealt with her cell phone and texting her mom when she was at work, using her laptop for gaming at home, and using the laptops from the mobile labs in class for typing papers and other classwork. She mostly enjoys using the entertainment side of technology, especially when it comes to using her mp3 player and games online. She also said she uses e-mail to communicate with family in Texas, but she was different from many young people in that she doesn’t use the computer much for its social networks, due in part to the fact she can’t access them at school, like Facebook, which she uses mostly for games. I asked if she used technology well at school, for classes, and there seemed to be a different definition for her when it came to technology at school vs. at home. This echoes the ideas in the second article about “Gaps in Pedagogical Access.” I don’t know everything teachers use technology for, but I know that this teenager seemed to equate technology with word processing.

Her most interesting comments dealt with advice for me as a teacher. She told me that no matter what, kids will find a way around the site blockers, so make sure I have students sit facing away from my desk to watch them, rather than having to get up and stand over their shoulder to check on them. She also encouraged me to let kids use their iPods when working on work during class; she likes it because it keeps class quieter and more kids get their work done that way. She also told me about a recent leadership conference she went to, where they discussed how much of a “crutch” technology, especially their cell phones, are, and they talked about how much face time they lose with people when they depend on texting for conversation. She even confessed to me that she texts people who are across the room from her.

Overall, it seemed as if this particular student did not think much of the digital divide. Not having their own Internet connection was just how they did it. Technology at school is basic at best, it seems, and though many teachers have smart boards, often they seem to be used most for projection screens.

Some thoughts on subbing

So. I've been subbing now for a little over a month (making twice as much as I did as a janitor at Bramlage and working half as much!), and I've got some reflections.

1. There is power in learning a kid's name. If only ALL the teachers left seating charts...
2. Speaking of things ALL teachers should leave, I like teaching. So teachers should not leave movies, and teachers should DEFINITELY NOT leave a movie without a note-taking guide or questions to answer. Boring!!
3. Kids like it when you trust them (and leave them alone to do work at their pace), but they expect you to be strict with them when they break your trust. If you aren't, they lose all respect for you.
4. Talking with other teachers can be helpful... and it can be poison. Teachers can be productive and talk about actual solutions or reasons for problem kids, but they can be just the opposite and gossip and share "horror" stories.

That's all for now. I'm subbing as we speak, though a friend of mine is the student teacher and is in charge of all the lessons today. Then, during seminar sometime, we have a pep rally. Woot. (Not really... mass chaos.)