Thing #10

Thing #9

I already explained in Thing #8 that I was first exposed to Wikis when my department head used them to share information with all of the English teachers. My department head and I are actually partner teachers. We are the only two teachers that teach both English II and English II Pre AP, so our lesson plans looks very similar. Since she had a lot of experience with Wikis, we integrated them in our Pre AP classrooms when teaching Philosophy at the beginning of the year. We each had two class periods of Pre AP classes so we each assigned a philosopher/philosophy to a group in our class. So I had a Socrates group and she had a Socrates group. Then we set up a wiki for them (you can access it HERE)to combine research. During the class period, students would search for information and add what they found and the website to the Wiki. This made the process a collaborative one across class periods and teachers. It was really cool to see them sift through information with students that they couldn't actually see and talk to.

I was thinking about how else I could use a wiki and came up with an idea on a personal level. My mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law every so often have what we like to call "family meetings." Basically what happens is whenever someone has a day where they don't have much to do (like testing days) we send emails to everyone just to catch up. The result is a full mailbox and crazy conversations. If we had a family wiki set up though, we could have family meetings there instead. I'm definitely bringing up the idea next time we are all in the same room. 

As I said before, I think wikis are a great way for educators to share ideas. I love the Poppers wiki that Dr. Wilson set up. It has a plethora of quick ideas that I can realistically use in my classroom because they are from other teachers. Below is my contribution:

Sarah: I have so many ideas. It's hard to just share one. Recently I've become addicted to Ted Talks. They are inspirational and engage the students. I have used them to get my students to think about thinking. It's amazing to see light bulbs flash on as kids realize the importance of education and how to make the most of the time they spend here. Similarly, the TEASes that we created for Educational Applications have turned out to be great "Poppers." My kids have never been so enthusiastic about poetry than they were when I showed them my TEASe.

Thing #8

Mr. Wiki and I are pretty familiar with one another. I've used them for a little over a year now. I first saw them when my department chair wanted teachers to sign up for what they would bring to the first annual English Department Potluck Friday. Later, we used them again with our kids, but I'll explain more about that in another Thing. I found some of the wikis useful. The Princeton BookLovers Wiki was neat because it divided up books according to genres and included comments and reviews from readers. It would be nice for my kids to see what people are reading and how they felt about it before choosing books of their own to read for Outside Reading. The Middle School Tech Wiki had lots of ideas for Middle School teachers and even had lesson plans. It was nice to see a collective list of teacher wikis on the Educational Wiki. It's always nice to have one place that you can use to find multiple resources.

I think Wikis are a great way to collaborate and share with teachers around the world ideas and lessons. If we expect our kids to use their peers as resources, I think it is important that we do the same. Since teaching takes up much of our day, I think connecting to other teachers via technology like Wikis is an awesome solution.

Thing #7

This was a difficult Thing!! It wasn't difficult because I didn't know how to work any of applications, but because I had used so many of them. We create Wordles and Glogsters often in my class. For my 11 Tools I had to create a Voki. Last semester, in Education Applications, I created a video with Animoto. And so you see dilemma. However, I had not heard of WordSift before. I like it a lot and I actually "sifted" my journal entry that I wrote today with my students. Like Wordle, I have a hard time sorting out how this would require higher level thinking with my students. The only thing I can think of is for them to enter text from something they are reading and then creating a WordSift. From there, I could have the analyze the words that are the largest since those are the ones repeated most frequently and why the author chose those words to use multiple times. I'm going to have to think a little more on how to apply this.

The other tool I had never used before was Flipsnack. This one was way cool and I enjoyed it a lot. I started writing journals with my kids because one day, I was bored at hall duty and I visited my brother's classroom website. What I found there were a collection of journal prompts and his responses to them. It was brilliant and his entries were touching. I went through each of them, and got an idea. I decided that I, too, would respond to the prompts and compile all of them into a scrapbook for my mom and dad for Christmas. The finished product was amazing. However, the scrapbook is huge and it would be nice to have a digital version to share with family and friends, so...I made a Webber Journals Flipsnack. I'm so excited to find a new presentation tool for my kids. This is just another option they can have for presentations and projects. It also makes notes interactive which is good because we all know how much they HATE taking notes. 

Thing #6

RSS and Readers...I had never heard of them before this summer. This is one "Thing" that very closely resembles one of the "Tools" I had to learn for Spring Branch ISD. However, I had never seen Netvibes before. After setting up my account, I was bombarded with all these widgets and tabs. I got very confused very quickly. I played around with it for a little while, but there was a lot going on. Perhaps when I have more time, I can seriously delve into what all it has to offer. I was able to subscribe to blogs and newsfeeds, but that was about it. 

For my 11 Tools,  played around with Google Reader. This seems much more manageable. I can have all of my blogs and sites that I want to keep up with in one place. It's an awesome way to stay current with educational happenings as well as news. Below is part of my blog post of "Tool #2) complete with blogs that I subscribed to in Google Reader.

On another note, I think I just fell in love...with Google Reader. I had no idea such a thing existed. I have a delicious account and am familiar with what Diigo does, but Google Reader is a new one for me. The major reason why I have not followed particular blogs up to this point is because I don't always have time during the week to sit at my computer and just look at blogs I'm interested in. Google Reader is AMAZING because I don't have to search for new blog posts. Google does it for me. Come to think of it, if Google could cook dinner and do my laundry, I'm pretty sure my search for a mate would be over.

Lastly, the blogs below are ones that I have found useful in the past. 

www.philosophybro.com is a great source if you're trying to put really difficult philosophical primary texts into language your kids can understand. WARNING: The material is not school appropriate, however, I emailed the author of the blog and was given permission to edit his material in order to distribute it to my pre AP students. If you're looking for something to make you smile, go read his version of the "Allegory of the Cave." It's hilarious.

www.secondaryworlds.com, like 11 Tools, has helped me see all of the different ways technology can be used and updated in the classroom. Because my Masters work is in Curriculum and Instruction with Specialization in Instructional Technology, this blog is incredibly useful.

www.scholastic-scribe.blogspot.com caters to English teachers and adds an AP element. I find it intriguing to see others ideas and to feed off the wit and word play of my peers. Seeing others in my position have fun in the classroom is reaffirming. It ISN'T at all strange to love your job as an English teacher. :)

Thing #5

It seems as though my students and cheerleaders are experts when it comes to photo mash-ups. On my "teacher" facebook, I always see crazy pictures on my newsfeed that my kids have taken and manipulated using different apps. I, on the other hand, had never used a mash-up app or website so I wasn't prepared for how AMAZING they can be!

I went to Big Huge Labs and found tons of options for changing and creating photo mash-ups. The first one I created was their "Motivational Poster." Everyone has seen them. Most of the time, I think of them hanging on a wall in counselor's office. They're those posters that have pictures of a mountain or something and at the bottom have one word like "DETERMINATION" or "PERSEVERANCE." Below that word is a little saying, usually a cliche, like "Keep on keeping on." At Big Huge Labs you can make your own using a personal photo. Below is the one I made. I started Crossfit three months ago and every single time I go (about four times a week) this is what I end up looking like afterward.

I love it. I think I'm going to print it out, take it up to my gym and post it on the bulletin board. 

I also made a Mosaic at bighugelabs.com. I've already explained how close my brother and I are, so I decided to compile some pictures of the two of us. This was the result.

I absolutely loved working with this website and these pictures. Photo mash-ups will certainly be changing the decor in my classroom and condo from now on. I'm enthusiastic about seeing people I know in picture frames from now on rather than the random people that are in there now because I haven't bothered to take out the sample pictures that came in them.

 

Thing #4

I think Instagram has probably gained more popularity than Flickr these days, but I'm pretty sure they do the same thing. Either way, it is nice to have a repository of images that are available to use. If there is one thing that should be pointed out about online communities, it is that they like to share. One need only to type in a word of what they are looking for and hundreds of images appear straight from the personal lives of internet users from all over the world. This TATTOO is an example of one of the many I looked at before deciding on where and how I wanted my own literary tattoo. I searched tumblr and Instagram and Google Images and after searching high and low, finally figured out what I wanted, Eventually, I figured out what I wanted. On my birthday, August 28th, I got fourteen lines from my favorite book tattooed on me. It not only chronicles my journey over the last year, but it embodies the relationship between my brother and I. The two characters in the book parallel the two of us so much so that I had Bradley write the quote out and then had my tattoo artist copy his handwriting onto my ribs. This might be my favorite tattoo to date.

Thing #3

I love using pictures in my classroom. Quite a few times last year I used personal photos and pictures found online as journal prompts. Also, because of the EOC test, visual images are used to help students think about certain subjects and topics. Like I have mentioned in a previous "Thing" I always respond with my students to the journal prompt for the day. The following is an example of a prompt with my response, in both written and pictorial form. 

Whether it is somebody famous or a best friend, we all have

somebody that we can relate to. There is somebody who goes through

similar situations as ourselves and who we can talk to. 

Describe the one person you relate to best in your life.  What makes

that person different than everybody else?  When have you used them

as a listener?

The night before his wedding, I read my brother, Bradley, a letter I had written. Sitting in Room 122 of the Hampton Inn in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, a letter that should have taken 5 minutes to read, took nearly 15 because of the many pauses it took for me to choke down sobs. Looking around, my mom, dad, and brother were experiencing similar emotional reactions. You see, Bradley is my best friend. There is no one else in this world that I feel completely and totally myself around. Around him, all masks are shoved to the side, all pretenses forgotten, and only the true Sarah remains. I realized in college that Bradley was the only person that had experienced the same upbringing, the same rules, and the same expectations as me. We lived our childhood together regardless of the different choices we made. I realized when he was in college that I didn’t feel like a big sister. His decisions were more rational, more goal-driven and when I figured out that we were equals and the sibling rivalry was meaningless, I realized that I’d had a true best friend beside me my entire life.

10 sentences

Thing #2

I feel like I am becoming a blogger extraordinaire. In her introduction to the 16 things, Dr. Wilson mentioned that certain school districts were implementing similar projects with their teachers. Spring Branch ISD, where I am, is one of those districts. This past summer, I completed "11 Tools" training which also required me to set up a blog and explore different ways to use technology and Web 2.0 tools. Because of that experience, creating this blog was actually incredibly easy. I am now familiar with Blogger and how to create a new post as well as link websites and embed videos and pictures. Don't get me wrong, those things took practice. I wasn't an expert in July when I was looking at every blog I could find and reading instructions at least 5 times. 

I can confidently say now that I am very comfortable with blogs and blogging. Looking at the blogs of my colleagues and other more "professional" blogs, I am able to get ideas on how to improve my own.  And while I have never personally commented on another person's blog, I can see how comments can prove to be useful. With that said, whether it be 16 Things or 11 Tools, I think I've got this down now and am very much looking forward to creating a blog for my classroom as a place where my students can discuss with one another concepts we are covering in class and other relevant topics.

-Sarah

P.S. If you're curious, my 11 Tools blog can be found at twelvetoolsminusone.blogspot.com. 

Thing #1

One of the first things I tell my students at the beginning of the year is that I'm never going to assign something that I'm not willing to do myself. When they write journals at the beginning of class, I write with them. Before I have them work on assignments in groups or individually, I always use a model that I have created or written. Not only do i do this to be an example for my students, but also to challenge myself. It keeps me fresh and on top of the material I teach. It's a way for me to continue to be a life-long learner.

I can't be an effective teacher if I don't believe in the product or service that I'm providing. In this case, I provide knowledge and learning. Just as I wouldn't trust a Toyota salesman that didn't drive a Toyota, I can't expect my kids to trust me that they will learn in my class if I don't want to or know how to learn myself. For this reason, I constantly reference my HBU Grad School experiences. Being on the other side of a classroom has been invigorating. I missed soaking up information and new knowledge. And even though I sit in professional development every year and go to conferences, there is something about going to class, having homework, and following a syllabus that satiates my desire to learn.

From the list of 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners, I am most efficient at Habit 7, teach and mentor others. Besides teaching English II and English II Pre AP and coaching Northbrook High School's Varsity Cheerleading Squad, I also am an instructor at Region 4 in their Alternative Certification Program. For five years, I have taught people (adults) how to be teachers. I have talked them through the lesson plan cycle and given them pointers on how to set up a classroom management system. Basically, I have been a direct line to a classroom. I answer questions, give advice, walk them through an interview, and share my experiences. More than anything, this has helped me to learn and grow as a teacher. It has taught me to truly believe in what I'm teaching regardless of what type of classroom I am in. Teaching and mentoring those teacher candidates reaffirms what I do for a living and reminds me of how much I love my job.

The habit that I am the weakest at is Habit 3, view problems as challenges. I can honestly say that I deal with normal, everyday stress pretty well. I am a good problem solver...for the most part. However, much of the time, I don't have a normal, everyday schedule. Even before Grad School, life was hectic. I would go from after school tutorials to Region 4 or a pep rally to a football game in Waller, Texas. Fourteen hour days are my normal. And at times it becomes overwhelming. It's hard for me to look at my schedule and not see problems and conflicts. A lot of times I feel like I am running full speed at a wall or driving way above the speed limit towards a road block. I don't know how to turn those problems into challenges. In order to push through, it usually takes some serious encouragement and prodding from those close to me. Eventually, the grading gets completed and football season ends. The problems get solved, but I come out exhausted. If I looked at those conflicts more as challenges, I have a feeling I would feel a lot more accomplished when they were over instead of just wanting a really long nap.

One challenge that I am looking forward to, however, is the project I have decided to take on in my Learning Contract. You may view both the objective and the contract in a Google Doc HERE.

-Sarah