My favorite lesson for the end of the year.

What do I do with my students? How do I keep them engaged at this point in the year? I have the solution.

One of my favorite lessons happens around this time of the year. My students open up the time capsule they created in September. In it they answered a bunch of questions, so when they open it in June they see how their answers have changed to those questions.

It's one of my first lessons for the year. It's a quick way to get to know my students, and an easy way to introduce some slideshow tools.

One of the first slides is a Table of Contents listing all sorts of things about the student: their favorite movie, their best friend, how the first few days in a new school went for them. I then teach them to hyperlink those items to the corresponding slides in the presentation.

It's in their google drive for safe keeping, and right around now we open it back up again. Since they're mature, sophisticated, almost 7th graders, the answers they gave as tiny little newbie 6th graders sometimes make them laugh. They create new slides and answer the same questions again, noticing how much they've grown and changed over the course of the year.

It's a good lesson to show them how much they've grown, and to be proud of how far they've come in a year. I'm thinking I should create one for myself, and see how my answers change from the beginning of the year. After all, I should be growing too.

Here's where it gets interesting.

The state tests will be done soon and that's usually when most students and even some teachers check out for the year. I always feel differently. While the pressure of the test is gone, now the fun can start. I can experiment and play a little. I explore other resources and test out new sites.

Since everything I wanted to cover in the curriculum is done and all the grades I needed are in, the things I meant to try all year have worked their way to the top of the To Do list. Here's where I can work on projects now so they can blend seamlessly into next year's lessons without too many bumps in the road. I can plan lessons that I'm not too sure about.  I listen intently to the student's feedback about these new items.

This is the time of the year where the real growth can happen. What are you going to play with this month?

I was featured on Vicki Davis' Podcast!

It’s not just about the badge

I completed the EVERFI Certified Teacher Program (CTP) last year, and it has made all the difference in not just my EVERFI teaching, but my teaching skills overall. I know it’s neat to get a nifty badge to post on your social media sites when you finish a certification, but that wasn’t the prize. I’m an all-around better teacher because of this program.

What I got out of it as a teacher.

This certification program made me consider my role as an educator. Since the program asks you specific questions about how you are implementing EVERFI in your classroom, it made me reflect on my teaching. How can I best implement this curriculum? What am I doing to prepare my students to learn this material? Am I making it as easy as possible for the learning to happen? What more can I do for my students?

What I got out of it as a collaborator.

If you’re like me, you’re the only teacher in your school using EVERFI. The great thing about CTP is that it connects you with people all over the country who are also using EVERFI’s resources in their classrooms. Everyone in the program was so generous with their thoughts, ideas and responses to the online discussions. It was also a great place to share other online resources, and learn how other teachers were using EVERFI in their classrooms. Some teachers had outside speakers from banks come speak to their classes about money skills. Some teachers had graduation ceremonies at their school assemblies. We tell our students to collaborate and work in groups; we should be doing it too. We all got better because we all helped each other.

Online discussions and resources from everywhere.

Periodically throughout the six weeks, the CTP moderator would post relevant articles for us to read and discuss. Some were about the philosophy behind self-guided online learning, and others were focused on the importance of teaching financial literacy in today’s classroom. These articles would start a lively discussion every week. It wasn’t our only online discussion, but they were thought-provoking and we got to know each other a little better. I now know teachers from everywhere.

My PD on my time.

The best part of CTP is that it happened when I wanted it to. Since it was online, I could work on it at my own pace. You don’t sit in a room for a day trying to stay awake and then forget everything you learned the minute you leave. This program is over the course of six weeks, which gives you time to plan, execute, and reflect on how the course worked in your classroom. Any questions or concerns were addressed as they occurred. Instead of running into a problem and getting no support after a traditional PD day, I could ask for help, and ten teachers would respond within a few hours. I firmly believe that giving teachers time to do the work and supporting them through the process was the key to the success of the implementation.

All certification programs should be like this.

As the only tech teacher in my building, talking about technology curriculum with someone is a rare event. CTP made me feel like a part of a team. I’m now EVERFI certified because of this program, but I feel like I am so much more.

Don't Drive Angry

I love the movie Groundhog Day. I think it's really funny but very profound. It asks a universal question, do we live the same day every day, or are we truly living a life?

I'm trying to be more mindful this year. I'm not counting the days until the next vacation, and I'm not Thanking God It's Friday. I'm being present in each day, and thankful for it. Days I expect to be easy rarely are and days I assume will be difficult surprisingly are not. I'm open to the randomness each day can bring, and I'm finding the joy in each one of them.

We are lucky and blessed to have the lives we do for many reasons, but also because we have a freedom and the opportunity to make it better. I'm not sleep walking through life. I'm going to stay awake and aware of the world and the people around me.

It doesn't matter to me what some groundhog does. I can enjoy six more weeks of winter anyway.

These kids need jobs.

The New York City Department of Education instructs students to be “college and career ready.” Since I believe it’s never too early for my students to think about this, I created a unit for my sixth graders. It can be tweaked to work up or down a few grades.

Part One-My Career Plans

I've shared the link to this presentation.

I start with a simple question, what do you want to be someday? During the class discussion about careers, I ask them the following questions.

• Do you know anyone who has that job?
• What do you have to do to get that job?
• Where did you learn about this job?
•  

I direct them to the Department of Labor website. This site will is geared towards students. They can explore all sorts of career paths to find a specific job that interests them.

From what they learn, they create a presentation illustrating the steps they will take to get that job.

I provide the students with a slideshow template. This way they know what’s expected. Some classes I don’t give them the template and let them create it from scratch. Here’s the general outline for the presentation.

1	Title	I will someday be a __________ by (your name).
2	Intro	I will be a _________ because ______________. (You will list at least two reasons why you want to someday have this job)
3	Details	Discuss what you would do every day if you had this job, how does it help people?
4	Money	Information on how much this career pays a year, from starting salaries to how high it usually pays. (The Dept. of Labor website helps with this slide)
5	Outlook	Information on what the outlook is for this career; will there be lots of jobs available? Or is it hard to get a job in this field? (The Dept. of Labor website helps with this slide)
6	Planning	How will you get this job? What can you do today to help get the job you want to have someday?
7	Sources	Where did you get your information? What websites did you use for pictures? (This is the citations slide.)

While they are working, I circulate around the room asking the students why they chose the career they did. I’m looking to hear some articulate answers, but I’ll take what I can get.

Part Two-My Eventual Career

Once their slideshow is complete, we start working on the second part which is creating a resume geared to getting the job they chose.

Here's the link for this presentation.

Since they now know the requirements for their career, they can create a resume with real ideas on how to get it. I give them a simple resume template and tell them fill it out as if it is ten years from now. I tell them that they’ve just graduated from a four-year program in college, or professional training, and they’re looking for their first job. Some questions they need to ask themselves while they create their resume

• What did you do to help your resume stand out?
• Did you volunteer somewhere?
• Did you organize a club in college about your future career?
• Did you intern somewhere useful?

While they are working on this, I circulate around the room and observe partners asking each other common interview questions. I want my students to have a coherent answer ready for that type of question, they will be asked that a lot in the years to come.

These tasks may seem far-fetched for 11 year olds, but a dream stays just a dream until you add an action plan to it. They may not even be sure about their choices right now, but any direction is better than none. I know it seems like an advanced lesson plan for sixth graders, but you would be surprised how this opens their eyes. They now know what a resume is, and they can keep their eyes out for any opportunity to add something significant to it.

My motives seem honorable, but I’m just hoping they get really good jobs so I will someday be able to borrow money from them. I think that’s a solid retirement plan.

I'm a certified bilingual nerd

I recently earned my Google Level 2 Certification, and it felt great, but I'm just as proud earning my Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Badge for this year too. I like to say that I'm bilingual: I speak Google and Office. Both prove I met certain requirements, but they proved it in different ways.

You can earn your Google Certification anytime you want, just pay the $25 and you have three hours to complete the test.

The MIE Badge is only awarded once a year so you have a long time to complete the tasks, but if you miss the deadline you’re out of luck. I submitted my application 15 minutes before the midnight deadline, cause I’m organized and efficient. I knew about the deadline for MONTHS, yet there I am cramming like it’s a final for a class. I’ll never change.

The Google Test is a bunch of multiple choice questions and a pile of specific tasks you need to complete. Get enough correct, and you’re in. Don’t assume this test is easy-it’s not. You may be great at some Google products, but you need to know enough about ALL of them to pass. Google does provide all sorts of study materials and sample questions to prepare for the test, so if you do your homework you can pass it. I didn’t pass Level 2 the first time, you can read about my humiliation here.

Microsoft has a bunch of courses that you can take, just complete a certain amount of them. You watch videos, or complete interactive tasks, and there’s usually a short quiz at the end. The quiz will tell you whether you got the questions right or wrong as you go, and you can retake the quizzes if you don’t pass the first time. There’s over 100 different courses and badges you can earn along the way. The final piece for their certification is to create a two-minute video or Sway on how this process has influenced you and how you will implement what you’ve learned in your classroom.

Both methods of assessment were effective in their own way. I proved I can do specific tasks and had specific knowledge of Google products, but Microsoft just wanted to make sure I knew about all the things that were available to me and how I can be a better 21^st century teacher for my students. I only really had to prove what I knew by creating a Sway, which are very cool things, by the way.

The Google test gives you the results within seconds, the longest few seconds of your life.

The Microsoft results were released a month after the deadline.

The Google Badge email shows up a day later, the Microsoft Badge shows up with the congratulations email.

The Google Certification is a personal thing, you earn it for your own gratification.  

The Microsoft Badge is a global event. If you are connected to Microsoft in any of the many social media ways you can be, you will see that people in India, Germany and Mexico got their badges the same day you did. It made this planet feel a lot smaller seeing proud teachers from all around the world showing off the same badge as you.

So, I have my nerd cred from both Google and Microsoft. I learned a lot from both processes, and I am a much better teacher for it. It’s vital that teachers remain students, it’s the only way we learn.

My brain has too many tabs open.

There's a lot of tabs open in my head because there's no such thing as downtime anymore.

No one sits and stares into space anymore, there's always some way to distract yourself with your phone: the endless emails, your Facebook feed, or your candy crush level.

Thoughts float through my brain like clouds in the sky but they don't stick around. I'll want to act on a thought, and open a tab to start, but it just stays open and then gets added on to the never ending “To Do” list. Before you know it, your browser window has 20 tabs open, nothing got done, and the bell just rang.

I have gotten a chance this summer to just sit and enjoy the moment; that's what summer is for. It’s almost impossible to be productive sitting in a beach chair, I challenge you to try. I need to be like this all year though, I need to take time and just stare into space and live in a thought for a few minutes.

One of the dilemmas I pondered was this; do I act on my thoughts as I have them, or finish one task completely before I start the next? I ran the risk of not remembering the ground-breaking thought later, but I do complete actual tasks. I’ve tried the former method, but it led to the endless number of tabs. I realized, as I stared into space this summer, is that if I try to act on all my thoughts, I just have more. I don’t run out of ideas, my hamster brain just keeps spinning on its wheel, churning out one goofy thought after another.

So that’s one of my goals as we embark on a new school year. Finish tasks and complete projects before I start new ones. And sit in a beach chair more often.

My infographic on how to prepare for the NYCDOE Tech Summit tomorrow!

The painful sting of failure

So, I took the Google Certified Level 2 Exam last year and failed it by 4 points. That stung.

I was embarrassed, I pouted, and felt sorry for myself. (Yes, my life is a living hell.)

But after a few hours, I got over myself and realized that this is a real learning experience. I thought about what failing feels like to my students. Do they feel the way I do when they fail?

The difference between their tests and mine was that I got another chance at the exam. You know I was prepared for it this time. The first exam showed me what skills I did poorly on, so naturally I will always remember those even more than the ones that came easily to me.

Shouldn't my students get another shot at tests in my class? Wouldn't they do much better the second time around? Retaking a test made a big difference in my learning, I think my students deserve that same opportunity. I’m going to allow more retaking of certain tests in my classroom. Mostly, I’m going to work on creating assessments that check for understanding without the pass/fail stigma attached to them.

Fast forward to this year. I took the test again. I was anxious; how embarrassing would it be if I failed again? I faced my fears, I studied harder this time, and with the help and support of my NYCDOE colleagues, I passed.

I learned so much, and not just from Google.

What I've learned from tiny little dictators

These North Korean officers are standing there proudly and why shouldn't they? They're wearing enough bling on their uniforms to set off metal detectors.
If you notice along the side of my blog, I've got some micro-credentials: Google, Microsoft, CommonSense, etc. I'm proud of the work I've done to earn them and to display the badges on my blog. I realize that my students should get the same opportunities. Technology class grades are usually not a big deal on report cards, so I have to make them a big deal in my room.
I have some graphic design experience, so I created some badges for my students. When they finished certain modules online, or mastered a unit of work, I've created a badge for it. Google Classroom makes it easy to email just those students I select, and I send them a congratulations email with the badge linked to it. I tell them to post their badge to their blog, and it gets the rest of the class racing to see how fast they can get one too.

Learning something new should be it's own reward, but sometimes it's nice to show off a little.
We're all still looking for little gold stars.

The Second First Year

I've mentioned the gym before on this blog, and how I go often. It's one of the things that I do that I'm most proud. I'm proud that I went that first year and lost all that weight (40 pounds) but actually, since I recently hit the two year anniversary, I'm more proud of myself now.

Sticking with something when you see results is one thing, but sticking with something that doesn’t show big results is another. I go to the gym now because I feel better than when I don’t. I'm not losing the weight I once did, but I'm keeping if off. The gym is now a part of my regular schedule. I never had to remind myself to eat or sleep, and now I don't have to remind myself to go workout. I just go without thinking about it.

I'm trying to remind my students that when they first learn something, it can be life changing, like learning how to write. It came with its own reward. But learning how to write well, and the mechanics of writing, isn't as glamorous but still very important. It's what you do the second year that really shows your character.

There are only two qualities that can guarantee success in anything you do: commitment and perseverance. That's what I know and desperately want my students to understand.

What am I going to work on this year.

I've got a lot of these skills covered, but certainly not all of them. I'm assuming we all could improve our skills. This post resonated with me, so I made it pretty to post it near my desk. When I glance at it, it reminds me of what I am working towards. For all the resources, go back to the original post in The Educational Technology and Mobile Learning website.

Not staying in your lane.

My students, like every adolescent, have their phones in their hands all day. They are in constant contact with their friends, and don't miss an opportunity to take pictures of themselves or their lunch. To the adults around them they may seem very tech-savvy, but the adults should know better. The kids certainly know how to use Instagram and Snapchat, but they don’t know how to insert a picture into a Word document without screwing up the whole page. They stay in their lane.

I thought I would someday be out of a job because the kids would just naturally learn everything before they got to me, but it’s still not happening. They get to sixth grade still not even knowing how to double space a paragraph or create a simple chart. These aren’t highbrow skills; these are tasks that they will need to know how to do. They will need to present their knowledge in ways to efficiently communicate their thoughts, and it’s my job to show them the best possible way.

What I teach rounds out their technology knowledge, heck, its most of their technology knowledge. My job is to take them out of their safe lane and teach them how to drive in all the lanes, even the fast ones. They will work at jobs that haven’t been invented yet, so I need to teach them skills for those jobs. I owe them my best efforts, and I need to teach skills that are creative and effective.

I take my responsibilities seriously and I’m honored to have this task.

How do you stay motivated?

I am better off when I'm self-motivated. I don't need to tell other people about my goals, I hold myself accountable. But the minute I tell someone else about a plan, I will crawl over broken glass to fulfill my plan. I can disappoint myself, but I'd rather die than disappoint someone else.

I also love earning gold stars. I keep track when I go to the gym, so I can look at the calendar and see all the days I've kept my promise to myself.

It's taken me quite a few decades to realize that about myself, so I shouldn't waste that insight. I choose how serious I am about a goal. If I'm hopeful but not completely confident, it's best to keep it to myself. If I'm sure I will complete the goal, then I can shout it from the rooftops.

All of this goes back to my classroom, (doesn't it always?)

I want my students to be self-motivated. I want them to complete work for me, but I really want them to learn because they want to gain the knowledge. The best way I can get this to happen is to engage them in relevant, enjoyable tasks. I can show my enthusiasm for my subject, and demonstrate how the skills I’m teaching the class will benefit them.

I’m asking my students to reflect in their blogs on the lessons they’ve completed. I ask them to go home and teach the people there what they’ve learned today. I still need to do more. I need to light fires that they will themselves keep burning.

I take this as my challenge, and since I’ve made this goal public I am required to achieve it. Because I won’t stop until I do.

Here's my latest infographic

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A Fresh Start

I've moved to a new middle school this year. I tell my sixth-grade students that I'm just like them; I have no idea where the bathrooms are either. It's a fresh start for me, so I need to step back and really reflect. 

With technology constantly changing, I always need to look at my curriculum and decide if what I'm teaching is still relevant for today's students. Some lessons I've taught for years, like how to format paragraphs and create tabs, but most lessons should change every year. I didn't know what coding was three years ago, and now it's a vital part of my curriculum. 

With my fresh start in a new school, I think it's time to turn all of my lessons upside down. It will be a lot of work, but I believe I need to work from a growth mindset and focus on what's just out of my reach. If nothing else, I'm modeling for my students what it's like to be constantly learning.

I will make my share of mistakes, but I think it's time for some real growth. 

Stand back, this should get ugly.

Reflection is not just for mirrors anymore.

Where were you last year? Where are you now? Where do you want to be in a year?
Three questions that can stop you in your tracks.

In September, I present to the students my goals for the year. I look at them periodically throughout the year to see if I'm on track. More times than not, I'm nowhere near them. The rosy glow of September is deceiving; so my original plans don't take into consideration the set backs along the way. While it's a humbling exercise, it's one I feel most important in my role as an educator. I model for my students my successes and failures, and the most important part: my persistence. I'm going to keep working at this. I'm going to try again. They need to see failures and how to handle them. Failures are not life-long failures, just places to get it better right now. It's where real growth can happen. While it's hard to be honest with yourself, it's vital. Besides, if you're not honest with yourself, who else will be?

4 Apps that helped me lose 40 pounds.

On the one year anniversary of joining the gym, I wanted to celebrate my accomplishment and take a look back at the journey so far. I realize my phone has been the most important tool to my success.
Full disclosure: it wasn't just the apps that helped me lose weight, there was some sweat involved. (Actually lots of sweat. There's no pill to make this happen; if there was Oprah would have invented it. She had to lose weight the hard way and so do we.)
The following four apps did help me follow a plan and achieve my goals. Like everything worth doing, it's what you put in that determines what you get out. So here's my list.

1. MyFitness Pal-Where my journey started. I just started recording what I ate, and that's a rude awakening. Once you're aware of what you're eating, you stop eating like an idiot. That would be the name of my diet book, "Stop Eating Like an Idiot and Go to the Gym." Actually, that would be the whole book, because that's all it is. Seriously. So I began with just a few simple changes, and the first few pounds started coming off. It's deceiving at first because they're the pounds that are the easiest to lose, the stubborn ones hang on.
2. Fitbit-I did get a Fitbit, so I guess that isn't a free app, but there are ones that do it for free, like StepLog and Stepwise. I instantly became conscious of how much I was moving throughout the day, and while it didn't provoke me to run a marathon, it did goad me into taking the stairs more often. Some more pounds left the building. Here's where outside support and motivation came in. I noticed all the people around me wearing Fitbits, so I friended them and now I can compare my steps to theirs. If your friends are too active, buy some of your lazy friends a Fitbit. You need to be better than someone. All's fair in love and weight loss.
3. Fitlist-I finally got serious when I joined the gym, but nothing happened. Turns out, anyone can JOIN a gym, the secret is you have to GO to the gym. A lot. Laura the trainer walked me around and showed me what to do and how to do it. That made all the difference in the world. I would have never gone near those scary machines unless she showed me what to do. Here's where the real pounds left town. Fitlist is where I recorded what I did each day, and I can look on the calendar and see how often I went to the gym. This accountability is what I need; you may need some other type of motivation. In a good week I'm there 6 times, a bad week is 3. 

   

   July was a good month for me.
   It's amazing what having off every day will do for your exercise schedule.  

   

   I guess I really got into vacation mode in August, because I clearly was phoning it in.

4. LFConnect-This app syncs with the treadmills and other machines at the gym to record the amount of calories I burned off. For me, I need to get credit somewhere for the work or it doesn't count. This app did it for me. I just take a picture of the QR code on the screen after I'm done, and it enters all the information on my phone! I can set a goal of burning 2000 calories in a week, and the app will let me know how close I am to my goal. Little goals and big ones are important to the process, so here's just another way to reward myself with a gold star. I clearly am very needy, but I know that and work with it.

I'm not saying that these are the only apps to use, but these are the apps that worked best for me. Some people need a support team, some need schedules. It really doesn't matter, just find what works best for you and use it.

This is the first year I can remember where I haven't had "lose weight" on my resolution list. I feel better, people tell me I look good, and I got to buy all new clothes that fit. While I'm sorry it took me so long to get here, I'm very happy now and I don't ever plan on going back.

Lean in

I  go to lots of PD days and learn new stuff all the time, but there are only so many bandwagons I can jump on.
When I'm sitting in a presentation, I'm all in. I buy whatever they're selling. It's only when I walk out and start thinking about the real world scenarios where I will use this. I often come up short somehow. I don't have the time, the support, the resources. I quit before I even begin.
What I've changed about my attitude is I've taken Sheryl Sandberg's approach and now I just "Lean In" which is the title of her book. While I'm all gung-ho about the new resource/website/program, I don't assume it will change my life. I dip my toe in and try it a little. I see how that works for a while and then try more. I'm not investing too much time or energy before I see some actual results. If there isn't enough positive results, I feel no guilt in walking away. I tried, but it just didn't cut it.
The key is to give it a fair shot. Anything worth doing is worth doing well, so a decent attempt at implementing the new resource is necessary. The difference is I no longer spend hours wasting time on something that seems like a solution when it only adds to the problem.
I like the "lean in" approach so much I didn't even finish her book; I took what I could from her book and left the rest. How's that for following instructions?