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.

I was featured on Vicki Davis' Podcast!

One Good Deed Deserves Another

I read George Couros' book The Innovators Mindset recently. It was enlightening to say the least. There was so much in the book that I wanted to implement in my classroom, so I created an infographic about the book's main points. Since I post my work online (as you see if you scroll through my blog) I didn't want to create it and publish it without George knowing. I also wanted to make sure he was OK with my interpretation of his work. I emailed him and he promptly responded that he was flattered. He loved the infographic and told me I should tag him in the graphic so he sees it when it goes online. I was happy, relieved, and did just that.
What I wasn't expecting is that he then posted my infographic on his website. Teachers from across the country were complimenting me on my work. My infographic blew up on Twitter. Teachers were asking me if they could print it out and hang it in their classroom. I was honored. Something I created would end up all over the country.
It didn't end there. George then wrote a post about what I did. The fact that I asked permission first and properly accredited his work is not something that happens all the time. He is frustrated by how many times he sees his work being used by other educators and claimed as their own. I did the right thing, and that is actual news. Sad, but common place in this day and age.
The fact that I was teaching a lesson to my students about having a positive digital footprint was an added benefit. I was able to model for my students that doing the right thing can sometimes be a great thing. I had the proof.

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.

Practice What You Preach

One of the big buzz words for education lately has been collaboration. We want students to work together. The 21^ST century worker won't be plugging along by themselves at a workstation, they will be working with a team to accomplish a goal or solve a problem. So we need to train our students to work together.

The irony is we don't practice what we preach. Teachers are very territorial when it comes to their teaching methods. “Don't come in my room, and don't copy my lesson plan.” It makes no sense. You don't get paid any less or any more for sharing. You don't look bad if someone else uses your work. If anything, your work inspired others. If we truly are doing all we can for the kids, then we would be doing everything possible to better ourselves and everyone around us, and that means sharing.

So I'm putting my money where my mouth is. Here's my OneNote Technology Curriculum Notebook. It has all my lessons, and links to online resources for anything you need. I've built these lessons from teachers who were generous enough to share them with the world, so I'm paying it forward.

Use anything you want from it. Enjoy.

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.

Cubicle Life

I did a friend a favor during this Christmas vacation and worked in an office for a few days. It was almost fun to act like an office worker; to work at a desk and feel like just a cog in a wheel.

There was a liberation in being at a desk instead of a classroom. I could go to the bathroom whenever I wanted, and I drank my tea while it was still hot. I ended up missing lunch because I was so occupied with what I was doing, and there were no bells to tell my stomach to start growling. I sat in a cubicle and listened in on phone conversations from the cubicles around me. I talked to adults all day. It was awesome.

I was doing relevant work which was the reason I was there, but I couldn’t help but feel that anyone could have done what I was doing. I was just the “hired hand.” When I’m in front of the classroom though, I feel significant. My job is truly making a difference. I have over thirty little faces looking up at me and my job seems so vital. I may be a cog in a different wheel, but I’m making a difference in lots of lives and I can see it right in front of me.

I did feel a degree of satisfaction living the cubicle life for a few days, but it doesn’t come close to how I feel when my students learn something new because of me.  That temporary life reminded me how important the life I’m already living is.

Parent Teacher Conference Night

I have parents coming into my classroom today asking how their child is doing in my class. They only have a 95, how can they get a higher grade?
Really?
This happens over and over again. I wonder why they're here. I don't think it's to make themselves feel better about how great their child is doing in school. I also don't think that they are very worried about the 95 not being a 98. I believe it's to show their child that they are fully invested in their education.
Parents who show up to Parent Teacher Night are sending a message to their child that education is important and I'm here to support that. I'm here to help you get to where you can be. I'm taking time out of my schedule to look at what you're doing every day for six and a half hours.
So it's not about the 95. It's about taking an afternoon off from work and waiting in line to talk to a teacher for seven minutes because that's how important this is.
So thank you parents, for being here.

Teachers sitting in a classroom on a Saturday

I recently taught a Digital Citizenship class for NYC teachers using Common Sense Media and I was truly amazed. These people spent their day off to come into the city and sit in a classroom all day, just to learn how to better serve their students. We spent the day getting better, in some ways by me, but mostly from what everyone brought to the table. Everyone shared something: a resource, a classroom hack, or answers to a question. Everyone was so generous. I came away from the day with a wonderful feeling. Teachers are awesome. 

I don’t know of other professions where everyone shares their best practices. You don’t see salespeople sharing their sales pitches, you don’t see plumbers posting how they fixed a radiator. Teachers are one of the few professions where people are so proud of their work they want to share it so that other teachers can benefit from it too. And that’s not all they do. They bring work home, they steal supplies from home and bring them to school, and they spend their own money to equip their classroom. You’ve heard all the stories, most of you have done one, if not all those things.I just want to stop and say, thank you teachers. I’m proud to be a colleague of yours. You might not be told it very often, but you’re awesome.

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.

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.

Parent Teacher Conference is a learning experience for me

While staying late sitting in my classroom until its dark is not the way I want to spend a day, I do find Parent Teacher Conference Night a way for me to be a better teacher.

I love seeing the family dynamic. Kids can be so funny; they behave one way in the classroom and act completely different around their parents. Seeing how much the parent loves their child is also a reminder that the kid in my class is actually someone's child. They're young and out in the world without their parent next to them, and that is sometimes a scary thing. After I met with one father, I watched him tousle his son's head, say "Let's go, handsome" and my heart just melted. They're not just my students, they're someone's pride and joy. I need to keep that in mind more often.

Some of my students are the family translator. Many of my students have parents that don't speak English, and they translate for them. These kids are taking on an adult job in some ways, being the go-between for their parents and the outside world. There's even students who have an active role in the child care for their little brothers and sisters. They seem so grown up sometimes, when they’re not. I need to keep that in mind too.

I learn a lot about my students, but I also learn about me. I find out ways I could support my students better; what I'm doing or not doing in my classroom to help the learning. It's helpful to listen to the students from their point of view and the discussions they have at home about my class. I can always use some suggestions for improvement.

What is really great is when the parents thank me for the job I'm doing, and tell me how much my students love my class. I know it’s not about me; I teach technology and kids love it anyway, so I can’t take all the credit. It is nice to hear though that my students look forward to my class. Those are the times that make the late nights worth it.

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.

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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I created an Infographic about something we should think about

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It's June! Time for something new!

I like June, but not for the usual reasons. Yes, the school year is winding down, and the kids are getting “antsy,” but I see it as an opportunity to think outside the box.

I can try all the things I wanted to during the year with a little less pressure on them to succeed.

Keeping them engaged is the focus in these last few weeks, so the resource I try has to get their attention, and get it fast. We can have a little more fun, and celebrate all that we've accomplished this year. Students need to be reminded of how far they've come, and take pride in their efforts.

I even open the "Welcome to Technology" presentation I show in September, and we review what we've learned and what we came up short on. It's a way for me to reflect, and to model for the students what it means to try and not always succeed. It's also an opportunity for the students to tell me what they think about what I taught them.

June is not just counting down the days, but making the last few days with your students count.

It's not always about the Open Bar

Tali Horowitz invited a bunch of DOE nerds as her guests to the Common Sense Media Awards Dinner. The awards were for everyone who works hard to provide a safe environment for children to use technology. It was a lovely evening; we hobnobbed with big donors, caught up with friends, and had a nice evening out. What really inspired me was the message of the evening. We are playing defense for the small people who are defenseless against the giant we know as the Internet.
Marie Belle Vargas was the educator of the year. Working in the South Bronx, her students are among the most disadvantaged in our city. She comes early to school and stays late to give them internet access to complete their work. She provides support to parents to help them in all things online. She works tirelessly for her school and it was humbling to learn how much she truly personifies a dedicated teacher. She's an advocate for her children, her parents and her school. I am proud to call her a colleague. She turned around and instead of taking the accolades, thanked Tali for all the support and encouragement she provides the DOE teachers on a day-to-day basis. I'm proud to know both these women.
I came away from the night with a full belly, and a full heart. I work with amazing people and we are trying to do good. That's a great place to be. Thanks for having us, Common Sense.

Me and Educational Creator Award Winner Bill Nye discuss quantum physics.

Running into a really old friend.

I graduated from the School of Visual Arts a long time ago with a degree in Fine Arts. It sounds impressive, but my brothers tell everyone I went to Crayon College. I loved the experience, and it has enriched my life. It set me on a path that took many turns for me to wind up where I am now; a computer teacher. It took a lot of turns.
One assignment I remember from school was to go the the Metropolitan Museum of Art and study a specific statue called Marble statue of a kouros (youth). You would walk right past it, as it is not very distinguishable from the thousands of other pieces of art in the same room. It is life-sized, but not very detailed. It's simple and straightforward. I had to write 10 pages on it. I just wrote two sentences about it and that's all you really need to know about it, so you can imagine how much elaboration had to go into 10 pages. That was the exercise; to really look and study it extensively. I sat in front of it for hours and then wrote about it for even more. I felt I really knew him. I handed in my paper and forgot about him.
I've been to the museum over the years, but I completely forgot about the statue until I bumped into him recently. (I didn't actually bump into him, you get into a lot of trouble for stuff like that.) I was shocked. He hasn't aged a day, and I've aged over 30 years since I last saw him. I stood there looking at him from the eyes of a grown woman, remembered the young lady who first studied him. Time really felt solid to me in that moment. I could sense the breadth of my life, and how insignificant my 30 years feels to a statue that's thousands of years old.
I thought about what was ahead of me back then; and all I've lived since. How I am just a blip on his timeline. Centuries will pass, and he will still be there. Nations will rise and crumble, and he will still be there. 
Art is powerful; it speaks to us in many ways. Mostly though, it reminds us to look outside ourselves. To see the small part we play, and to play it well.
It was good to catch up with him.

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?