Life With L

Trials and Tribulations
We lost some momentum over the weekend. I really wanted my students to try and read Thoreau on their own. I know his writing is difficult, but I gave them some guided reading questions to help them through the piece. Well, that didn’t work. I got tons of push back. I’m not sure if it was because it was a Monday, if the questions and material were too difficult, or if they just didn’t want to do the reading. Probably a combination of all three if I had to guess. So, the next day we read Thoreau together and discussed his beliefs and how his ideas and actions have had an impact on our world. I got an  “Amen” and a “Yeah right” as we read. Kids are funny when they connect to something.

What Kind of Test is This?
I don’t give tests often, but I wanted to see if my students understood the readings from Emerson and Thoreau. When we read and discuss as a class, it’s not always easy to “see” who has been a bystander. I created a fifteen question multiple choice test on Edmodo for the first part of the test.  The quiz feature on Edmodo is awesome. It creates these little pie charts showing the percentage of correct and incorrect responses for each question. This allows me to see where the misunderstandings are the greatest.

For the second part of the test, I asked the students to write a ten word summary and find an image to correlate to their summary. I got a few groans for the second part. That surprised me because I thought the second part would be more fun, and they usually complain about getting traditional tests. The process was definitely not a smooth one. I shared links to sources for creative commons pictures on Edmodo only to discover they were all blocked. I finally gave up and told the kids to find images on Google search. I had them copy the link to the images, shorten them and then paste the link to the photo to give credit to the owner. Not ideal, but sometimes we have to improvise when sites are blocked. I am not sure I would do this again as a test. A lot of the kids struggled creating the ten word summaries. I will definitely have to re-think this for next year.

Back on Track
I got really lucky. A friend from my twitter stream, Daniel Scibienski tweeted this:

I thought it was a great idea and the perfect way to get my students’ interest peaked, to draw them back in. I showed them a version of the Milgram Experiment video and we had an interesting discussion about authority and individual conscience. They were shocked that so many of the people just kept pushing those buttons. They were even more shocked that they did it for a grand total of $4.oo.

We then read the handouts from the Asia Society I mentioned in the last post. My students were able to tie Thoreau’s ideas to Ghandi and to Martin Luther King as we read their pieces.

Now, we are wrapping up the unit by taking what we learned from Thoreau, Ghandi and King about non-violent resistance and applying it to our original discussion on the Occupy Movement. My students are writing a persuasive essay stating whether they agree or disagree if the Occupy Movement will be successful or not. They will be using material from the literature as well as from current news to support their opinions. Hopefully, they now have a better understanding of the dissenters and how they continue to have an impact on our world today.

The Dissenters

We just started a new learning activity packet (LAP) called the Dissenters. We use a LAP system in our school. Students are able to work at their pace until they complete all activities. They then receive a credit when they have attained 80% mastery of the objectives of each LAP. This is a new system for me, but I think of it in terms of a Unit. Right now we are learning about Civil Disobedience and non-violent resistance.

Getting Started

To begin the unit, we read an introduction to and talked about the characteristics of the Romantic period. We talked a bit about the individual and society, and a little bit about Civil Disobedience.

Non-Violent Resistance Today

I wanted to spark some interest and also to make this unit relevant for my students. To get started, I showed the students these two videos:

These videos sparked some interesting discussion about non-violence and the violent reaction. Some students were shocked by the violence of the direct pepper spraying on the docile students, and the lack of reaction on the students’ part. Why did they just do nothing? Why didn’t they fight back? They also remarked about the silence on the second video. We talked about the impact of that silence and the effect of the sounds of the heels hitting the pavement. Again, someone questioned why they didn’t get up and get in the Chancellor’s face.

These videos have also helped set the stage for a real conversation about non-violent resistance, about the implications of writings from the 1800′s and how they are still impacting our world today.

Emerson

The next day,  we talked about how they are or are not self-relient in their lives. How it is a learning process as we grow older. We talked about Emerson and how he felt about the importance of being an individual and being true to yourself. Then, we read a short piece from Emerson’s Self-Reliance. They were so funny!

“This is deep.”

“I’m going to tweet this out.”

I was just happy they connected; they got it.

The Masters of Non-Violence

Now, we will move into the guts of the unit. We are going to read from Throeau’s Resistance to Civil Government, from Ghandi’s On Nonviolent Resistance, and King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. I also found some handouts at the Asia Society Website that will help my students put the movements in sequential perspective, and tie the men and  their writings together. To begin the discussion for this next phase, I am going to place this quote on the board (IWB) and have the students respond in a quick write and a think-pair-share activity:

“I know this well, that if one thousand, if one hundred, if ten men whom I could name--if ten honest men only--aye, if one HONEST man, in the state of Massachusetts, ceasing to hold slaves, were actually to withdraw from copartnership, and be locked up in the county jail therefor, it would be the abolition of slavery in America.” ~Thoreau

Image shared under Creative Commons License by wikipedia.

I’ll share the next phase after its complete. If you have any ideas that might add to my unit. please, please share. I can always use help.

Photo belongs to Flicr user busy-pochi shared under Creative Commons

It’s been quite a while since I have written a post. I am now working in a new school and am just starting to feel like a part of this new community. Change is good and inevitable, but it definitely takes time to adjust.

In January of 2011, the staff at my former school was informed that our school would be a  part of the Renaissance school program We were designated to be turned over to a charter organization. We spent several weeks learning about the Charter organizations, and wondering what it meant to be a turn-around school. There were meetings with the community and with the staff and students. We were a community in turmoil. The teachers were forced to make a decision whether they would re-apply for their jobs or just look elsewhere. The students were wondering what this new school would look like, and how the changes would affect them. Our team was breaking apart. Our school did not go charter due to some political mayhem, but it did become a Promise Academy, a new model within our public school system. All teachers were still required to either re-apply to the school, or search for a position elsewhere. The process dragged on so long that many teachers accepted positions in other school systems or at other schools within our district before the interview process even got started. It was a difficult time for everyone, a sad ending of the school year for both teachers and students. There were tears and hugs on that last day of school.

I interviewed for and accepted a position with a new school within our district. The first few months have been a time of adjustment. Getting to know new people, learning a new system. It’s funny how two schools within the same district can be so different.  I have taught in several school systems, at different grade levels, and the only thing that remains constant for me is the kids. Kids are kids. They may have different abilities, or different family backgrounds, but they are just kids trying to live out their hopes and dreams.

So now that I am finally starting to get adjusted to the changes, I thought I might start sharing what we are doing in class this year. I would love your feedback. I have been teaching for 22 years, but I am still learning new things all the time. I am still trying to improve my craft, so please jump in with your ideas.

This was my third ISTE experience and each one has been unique. In DC, I was a newbie. I went to several tech workshops and learned a ton. It was enough to really whet my appetite and keep me interested in learning how to incorporate technology into my pedagogy. Last year in Denver, I made face to face connections with many of my twitter colleagues and even jumped in and did an unplugged session with the edcampPhilly team. I was moving forward with my learning. This year at ISTE, I was a hacker. A hacker, you say. Yep that’s right, a hacker. We think of hacking mostly in terms of computer disruption, but with this ISTE experience, I now have a whole new respect for the term. Let me tell you why.

The HackJam

I attended a HackJam at SLA on Sunday hosted by Meenoo Rami and Chad Sansing. We began our session with a little game play hacking. Each group of participants was given a Monopoly Game to hack. What fun! One group ate their way through the game. They placed chocolate all over the spaces and proceeded to work their way to chocolate monopoly heaven. Another group, turned the board over and created w whole new game. They placed a rubber band in the center. If someone rolled a six he moved to the center. They had this funny catch though, a person could buy houses to throw at the center and knock their opponents over for an instant win. Our group went for a flipped game concept, Pay it Forward, a game of charity. A game about giving and not getting.  You can read the rules for all three games at the HackJam tumblr Chad created for the day.

Hacking the Game

After Hacking the game, each participant was asked to think about what the term hacker connotates and create something original to represent the the meaning of the term hacking. We had a variety of responses: Wordle, GoAnimate, Stupeflix, Original drawings and more. I created a video from some photos I had in my library that had represented some type of hack.

Finally, Chad showed us a site called Hackasaurus. With Hackasaurus, you can “hack” any website using a set of web goggles. Don’t worry it’s not a true hack. The hack takes place in a safe mode that will not change the real site. I imagine my students creating a NY times site based on a theme we might be exploring. The best part is that they can learn some HTML in a risk-free, fun environment.

Why edcamp Matters.

21 edcamp events have taken place since the first edcampPhilly on May 22, 2010. There are 10 more currently on the calendar with mentions of more to be planned. That is a lot of enthusiastic people, a lot of learning. But, do they really matter?  Well here is a list of my top ten reasons why they do.

1. edcamp offers a safe place for educators to converse and share their successes and failures.
2. edcamp attracts all levels of learners.
3. edcamp provides an extension of online networks.
4. edcamp is all inclusive.
5. edcamp empowers teachers to lead.
6. edcamp fosters friendships.
7. edcamp provides choice.
8. edcamp inspires reflection.
9. edcamp advances action.
10. edcamp is about serving others.

Find an edcamp near you. Or, Join the fun and run your own.