Day 22: My DREAM Team #aprilblogaday

Prompt: If you could collaborate with any teacher/class what/who would it be and what would the collaboration look like?

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Our spring break is very late this year. It's felt like an incredibly long stretch, I am sure exacerbated by my surgery at the end of February. (It was my second surgery this school year and the 4th time I was subjected to anesthesia). All these things are incredibly hard on one's body. I'm ready for a break.

However, this is also the time of year I start thinking about next year. All the things I can do differently... better. I often feel like I have failed my students, I could have done so much more, so how can I improve and do better. 

Next year will be round 9 in my own classrooms. Year 11 since I walked into my first DOE classroom. I have lost some of my passion when it comes to teaching and I have to work harder to fine new ways to grow and challenge myself and my students. There has been some great stuff with student led discussions in my 10th and 11th grade classes this spring that I would like to figure out how to vertically align so students are doing this type of work each year. Giving students a structure and the space to teach and learn from each other is powerful. I learn so much about my students and the content from listening to them grapple with what they are studying.

That's all well and good Meredith, but get to the prompt. I would like to teach a block with someone from our social studies department for 9th grade to design and implement a humanities curriculum that reflects some of the themes already existing in the 9th grade curriculum around power.  I want to take many of the things I have learned and design a scope and sequence that challenges students to read, write, speak and listen. That it challenges them to find connections between literature and history. 

I think back in one of my most successful semesters in college. I took:

1. Intro to political science
2. U. S. History, 1865-today
3. Clothing history (my BFA is in costume design and construction)

I remember the point in the semester that the first two classes synced up and suddenly the content was clicking in a new way. The parallels between clothing history and the political climate was eye opening. When content from multiple POVs aligns the learning can be so much richer.  

Another class I would love to teach is in fact a costume design and construction in Design & Tech with our teacher Mr. Rothman who runs the makerspace.   That is my HUGE dream class. 

Happy Spring Break!

Day 14: Favorites! Tech Edition #aprilblogaday challenge!

Prompt: Resources and Recommendations: Favorite tech gadget, app or software you have used to support student learning! 

Sorry this isn't longer.  Happy almost Friday!
 
Turnitin.com-Kick plagiarism to the curb!

Learnerator - AP Test Prep

Quizlet - Flashcards!

Scratch and Scratch Jr. - Learning the building blocks of coding!

Busy week.  We have not had our spring break here in NYC yet and kids and teachers alike are TIRED.  Everyone is getting sick: we had six staff members out today and I have 5 each kids in two different classes out. I am exhausted...But....

60,000-volume poetry library in New York City.

60,000-volume poetry library in New York City.

 

Day 28: The Worst Advice We've Ever Heard About Technology in the classroom? #AprilBlogADay Challenge

Day 28...The Worst Advice We've Ever Heard About Technology in the classroom

It's just after 7 on day 28 and I have been thinking about this topic all day.  For the life of me, I could not think of any specific advice I had been given about using tech.  I am one who has embraced tech and often ends up teaching other teachers how to integrate themselves. 

At my current school, we have a computer science department (because we are a CS school) who for the most part are working on an entirely different level of tech than most of us.  I have great aspirations to let better at tech- at least learn some basics of coding so I can talk more with our students about what and how they are doing- but finding the time to sit down with Alice or some version of Scratch is overwhelming for this old lady.  Eric, graciously spent time with me on two occasions teaching me-or trying to teach me- how to use Doctopus but my brain just can't wrap itself around that one.  I do have my mainstays: Skedula (that has improved so much over the last 5 years) and I wish our school used more of it's features, but it's our online grade book.  I also use Teacher Dashboard, a lot.  It is on my top 5 digital teaching tools ever.

I guess for me, the prompt should really be: what misconceptions did you/do you have about tech in the classroom.  

Here are three:  

1.  All tools work for all teachers, because they are teaching tools.  

One of the most frustrating parts of EdTech- is that there are so many tools and administrators want to try new things, get on board with what will best help students move forward, support teacher development, and provide the all important data to support positive instructional outcomes.  I stand by this: do a few things really well.  REALLY WELL.  Not two dozen things half way or sort of.  I feel this way about lots of school related things.

2. Practice makes perfect.

We are not all excellent at everything.  I can be proficient, even ok- but who wants to be just ok?  I want to be HIGHLY EFFECTIVE.  There are been a few things over the years that I just couldn't figure out.  I don't push myself to master all the nuances (like with Excel) but I also don't have cause to use it very much because I teach English.  


3. More experienced (read: old) teachers can't learn new tricks.

It's all about what an individual clicks with- don't assume talent coaches.  


It's now almost 9.  Cooked and eaten dinner.  Still have a PPT to make for class tomorrow- thankful for this tech that will let me quickly, prep, save and get to go to bed.