The Best Gift a Teacher Can Get

Don't get me wrong. I love me a Dunkin Donuts gift card and appreciate the sentiment behind it. I love all the gifts I get from students and parents and enjoy the recognition and appreciation they represent. My students and parents were generous this year to the point I'll be treated at D & D's for most of the summer.   But it was the gifts that can't be measured through monetary value that left a lasting impression on me and pointed to the ultimate impact that we, as educators, have on our students.

One gift came in the form of a white-lined sheet of paper. This young lady wrote me a two page handwritten note expressing her gratitude. She remembered three years earlier when I said my favorite gift was a note from a student. After working with me the past two years as a member of my leadership group, she waited to the last day of school to hand me this note. It was so well-written and heartfelt that it nearly moved me to tears (I'm not much of a crier).  The fact that this young lady remembered my words from three years earlier left a lasting impact on me that my words carry a powerful weight with my students, and I must continue to choose them wisely.  

Another one of my leadership students wrote me a note in a hand picked card detailing all of the ways I had influenced his life. The thought and emotion that went into the card verified every reason why I work in education. He spoke of the opportunities that he had been given to lead and the choices that he had to make along the way that have "helped turn him into the person he is today."  This reminded me that I must continue to give students opportunities to lead and grow through their choices.  They need to learn to not only fall down at times, but learn from it and get back after it. 

The most creative gift of the day went to a young lady who made me my own picture book. She wrote and illustrated a book that detailed her experience in my class. I couldn't believe the time, effort and thought that went into the creation of this unforgettable gift.  She titled it "The Adventures of Mr. Pardalis and Rebekah."  She told the story of her year complete with dialogue, nicknames and a theme.  She reminded me that when we allow students to create and think outside the box, there is no limit to what our students can accomplish. 

Sometimes we get caught up in the negativity that surrounds our profession. Test scores, new initiatives, outsiders questioning the educational system. But these thoughtful gestures by kids give me the reminder of what this job is really all about. The gift of meaningful relationships where I can truly make an everlasting difference in students' lives keeps me coming back energized year after year. The gift of knowing that what I do matters in the eyes of the kids that walk through my door motivates me more than any evaluation score ever will. A simple note is the gift that drives me to make a difference in the next student's life. These youngsters don't know how thankful I am for the gifts they gave me. 

EdcampSWCT Wonderings and Wanderings

An overwhelming success, the inaugural EdcampSWCT came and went with a flurry of collaboration, sharing, and learning from the 100+ educators and students who passed through the doors of Brien McMahon High School. As an edcamp rookie, I had only experienced EdcampCT this past summer, but I was instantly hooked on the concept of professional development with other teachers who want to learn on their own time.  Being surrounded by other educators whose passion for the profession and whose love of their students permeated every conversation was a great reminder that we are not alone in our classrooms.  Teachers and students from all different backgrounds told their educational stories of successes, failed attempts, and learning experiences with the purpose of improving the experiences of students.  Here are some things I noticed and some things I learned throughout the day:

Relationships before results

"Challenge: When you walk into school on Monday, talk about something other than school first. Share something about your weekend. Anything other than school.  Build rapport." Paul Bogush (@paulbogush) challenged a group of educators to concentrate on building relationships with students before worrying about the content.  I couldn't agree more.  Showing students that you care about the "person" instead of the "content" or the "data" or the "grade" goes further towards creating class buy-in than any well-crafted content lesson you could prepare.  Once students trust you, the possibilities are endless as to what can be accomplished.  Paul's students even followed him to an Edcamp to present ideas from their class.  

During this same session, Paul talked about the importance of looking at body language when working with students.  He talked about what to look for in their feet, defensive positions, how they were holding their arm, etc.  It was one of the most insightful educational talks I have heard, and to be quite honest, I had never thought to look at those things before.  It was something that I plan to look for on Monday giving directions...after I talk about something other than school, of course.  

Technology was at the forefront of sessions (except when it wasn't)

Most sessions held some sort of technology piece to them.  Google Drive and Classroom were presented.  Blogging came up on multiple occasions as did digital literacy and gamification.  The underlying theme to all of these technology pieces though was that they allowed for student voice and student choice to shine through within a classroom.  Technology within these sessions acted as a gateway of sorts to allow students to expand audiences through blogs, creation of book trailers, and other videos that could be shared beyond the classroom walls.  It also acted as a means to allow choice in how students demonstrate learning.  Jimmy Sapia in his session on Digital Literacy stated that "kids should be content creators."  Allowing choice among technologies as to what content they create helps to build a classroom of unique creators where creativity and curiosity run rampant. Technology or no technology, we all have the opportunity to allow for a variety ways for student voice to shine through and for students to choose how to demonstrate what they have learned.

Learning comes in all shapes and sizes

Great conversations occurred during every session with presenters ranging from veteran teachers from various grades to middle school students who gave up their Saturday to share their learning.  While classroom sessions provided for excellent learning and a variety of topics, my favorite discussions came in the informal setting when I was able to pick the minds of experts on their topics of expertise.  I was fortunate enough to be able to pick Sharon Plante's (@iplante) mind on the topic of dyslexia, a topic which she is clearly at the forefront on in the field.  In a ten minute informal conversation, I gained resources I can use with my students right away as well as a person I feel confident I can contact when I need further help on the topic.  David Saunders (@DesignSaunders) also provided a wealth of knowledge on the concept of Makerspaces.  He gave me so much information, that I needed to go back to him the next day to ask for the specifics again. (Thanks for the information on Little Bits...really cool stuff by the way.) If you were willing to ask the questions, people were willing to help and share.  

Being a connected learner is great, but face-to-face connections are really where it's at

Twitter has been a great tool for me that has continued to challenge my educational thinking by exposing me to educators around the world.  Reading blogs, engaging in chats, and following hashtags has been a non-stop flow of professional development that has opened my eyes to different classroom strategies and practices, authors and books, and basically anything education.  With that said, meeting with other passionate educators face-to-face refreshes my educational soul.  The passion and productivity in the air cannot be replicated across the screen in a chat.  The EdcampSWCT environment was reinvigorating and exciting to be a part of.  Plus, getting to know some of the people you meet "through the screen" face-to-face makes the "community" piece of PLC a little more real.  It was a pleasure to meet some "tweeps" face-to-face for the first time.

If you build it they will come.  

Great things happen when you are willing to take a chance, take that leap of faith and just go for it. This may not be as big as building a baseball field in the middle of an Iowa corn field.  But EdcampSWCT was just that; a group of educators that had met for a minute going for it.  I want to say thank you to Rob Pennington, Sharon Plante, Amy Traggianese, Jimmy Sapia, Frank Rodriguez, and Sean Hutchinson for taking a chance and putting together a great event.  This was a memorable day for many educators because of the work you all put in.  Thank you for giving educators in our part of the state the opportunity to learn from each other.  I can't wait to start planning for next year.  

Why I Teach...

I teach to make a difference. But what difference do I want to make in my students’ lives? Yes, I want my students to leave me as improved readers, writers and lovers of learning, but most importantly I want them to leave New Fairfield Middle School as better people. It’s easy to get caught up in standards and the alphabet soup of acronyms that lead to data.  But when it comes down to it, our most important job is to help mold youngsters into men and women who understand how to collaborate, use their minds creatively, and think beyond the four walls of a classroom.  

Having grown up in the town I teach in, I understand the bubble my students live in. My job is to expand their thinking past the borders of New Fairfield. It is my job to get my students to understand that the words they choose matter and have a powerful effect on others. Words are power. With this word power, each student has the choice to use their voice as a weapon to tear down or a tool to build up.  I teach because I want my students to wield their powers responsibly, learning to treat others with respect regardless of appearance, popularity and common interests.  There is a big world outside of New Fairfield. It is my job to open up my students’ eyes to different ways of thinking.  This starts with being able to collaborate and take part in active discussions where disagreeing without being disagreeable is the norm.  

I teach because I want my students to understand the value of a question.  Students who learn to question unleash their curiosity. Questions open pathways to deeper thinking and reasoning.  Teaching a student an answer leads to an endpoint.  But, teach a student to question and the learning possibilities are endless.  I want students to question what they read, the actions of others, why people say what they say.  Students who learn to question turn into adults who are less likely to accept the status quo and search for ways to continually improve the world we live in.  

I teach because I want students to leave me as leaders willing to speak and act for others and with others. I want my students to experience life thinking about how their actions influence the thoughts and actions of those they meet.  Students need to be given ownership and voice, but, most importantly, students need opportunities to lead.  As educators, we can’t be afraid to give up the wheel and let the students steer the ship.  Students need to experience the ups and downs that come with leadership while being given the leeway to work through and learn from failures and missteps along the way.  

I teach because I watched my mother and father affect the lives of thousands of students that entered through their classroom doors.  Walking through public places with my parents, students, past and present, rushed up to greet them because they valued the relationship they had. They were my role models, and I want my students to have that adult role model who values interpersonal relationships and positive communication.  Students need to be taught the tools to survive and communicate in the world.  They need to be empowered with the confidence to go out in the world and contribute while understanding their responsibility to treat others equally no matter their station in life.  In the end, I can teach students everything they need to know about reading and writing, but I hope it is the lessons that go beyond the standards that stick with my students the longest.  

The Presentation Dilemma

Now don't take this the wrong way.  I am all for students learning presentation skills.  These skills are modeled, brainstormed, and used frequently within the four walls of my classroom.  Being able to engage a group of people while relaying information is an essential skill in most professions.  Heck, in my profession, I need to use these skills effectively or twenty-five eleven year olds may revolt.  

So, What's the Problem?

My frustration lies in the fact that as teaching evolves, I believe student presentations need to evolve as well.  My teaching is based on student voice and student choice with a lot of collaboration and discussion in between.  My projects give students the opportunity to demonstrate learning in a wide variety of ways.  In my latest Literary Elements Project, students were given twelve different applications to choose from to demonstrate their learning with many students choosing to "app smash," combining upwards of four applications to create amazing projects.  

But when it came to the presentation piece, it became a passive event. Students enjoyed seeing the creations their classmates concocted from different applications to demonstrate what was learned, but they were listeners.  I have gone away from lecturing, yet during presentations I am having students turn into lecturing teachers.  By the twenty-fifth presentation (even though it was pretty good), I find myself losing interest, so I can only imagine what the other students are feeling.  

So, What's the Answer?

Wesley Hedgepeth (@wehedge) offered the idea of giving students specific tasks to perform during their classmate's presentations.  He also mentioned having students evaluate each presentation.  I liked the idea of having students actively engaged in a specific portion of each presentation.  For instance, if groups of students each concentrated on giving contructive feedback on a piece of the presentation rubric, the audience would become active listeners as opposed to passive observers.  

Angela Breneman (@teachlove4SpEd) offered the idea of having students backchanneling during presentations, so students could generate questions for the speaker to answer at the end of the presentation.  Using TodaysMeet, Edmodo, or a Twitter hashtag could create an actively engaged audience bringing up key points from the presentation or further questions to be answered.  

The ideas mentioned above take a class that is strongly built on trust and respect where students are comfortable putting their ideas out their for the group to discuss and dissect.   

Presentation skills are an essential piece of the learning process.  Students need to be able to verbalize information to a group effectively while using visuals to support their ideas.  But how do we keep these presentations from becoming the lectures that many teachers are moving away from in the classroom?How do we give students the opportunity to create and present to their classmates without losing the interest of the rest of the room along the way?

How do you use student presentations in your classrooms? What responsibilities does your audience have during presentations?

Thanks for any help and ideas you can offer in advance.  

The Whole Novel Study Meets Technology

When I first had the opportunity to read Whole Novels for the Whole Class: A Student-Centered Approach by Ariel Sacks (@arielsacks), I was instantly intrigued by the notion of students taking on the key role as owners of what would be discussed about the novel being read.  I, like most students throughout the United States, had always been given chapter questions, story vocabulary, and been "helped" to find the importance within a novel.  Unfortunately as a teacher, I fell into that same trend. Ariel equates this style of teaching a novel to going to a movie theater and having the movie stop while questions are asked about the movie thus far.  It just doesn't work that way. Students need to be given the opportunity to comprehend a piece of literature, and then creatively and critically respond to that text. So, I set out to change my style of teaching the whole novel, and along the way, I found some engaging ways to integrate technology into the whole novel study.

During the Reading
During the study of the whole novel, Ariel Sacks puts a lot of early emphasis on students recording their thoughts using post-it notes throughout the text. On these post-its, students keep track of their questions, feelings, opinions, and predictions about the events of the novel. Throughout my first novel studies, I have realized the importance of continuing to model literal, inferential, and critical thinking on the post-it notes. The best models though come from the authentic sources of great thoughts: the students.

Using the website Padlet, students are able to post one of their post-it notes during the week onto the the class's wall.  Students browse the thoughts of their classmates, challenging their thinking and modeling

An example of student posts for Maniac Magee on Padlet.

different thought paths within the novel.  It also acts as a great check-in with the students where discussions stem from student thoughts.  Posts can also be organized on the wall into related themes, thoughts, or similar questions.  It is an excellent and easy tool to share quick ideas as a class.

During the reading of the novel, Ms. Sacks uses mini-projects that help students to "investigate a literary element in the text and unlock a layer of comprehension for them."  These mini-projects described in chapter seven of her book are collaborative, ongoing, informal assessments that allow students to interact with the text in a meaningful, engaging manner.  A new technology piece that I used with my class for a character mapping mini-project was Cacoo. This site links directly to your Google Drive through Google Apps. Cacoo is an interactive whiteboard with many capabilities including numerous pre-made templates.  For the character mapping project, students utilized Cacoo and its mind mapping templates to organize the character's motives, actions, traits, and conflicts.  The best part about Cacoo is that students are able to share their creation with a group of students.  In my class, up to five students collaborated on the same diagram allowing them not only to work in class, but to collaborate on the same diagram from home as well.

Students used Cacoo to create collaborative character maps.

During the Discussion Process
Student-driven discussions about the novel are the backbone of the whole novel approach.  Student thoughts and questions drive the discussion allowing them to experience the novel as the "chief thinkers" throughout the process.  Technology helps to enhance and organize the discussion process for the students and the teacher.

I started typing the transcript of each day's discussion on a Google Document.  Ariel talks about the importance of examining the transcript as a teacher before the next day's discussion takes place. I began sharing the transcript with the participants as a "can edit" document.  Students were encouraged to use the comment feature, highlight important statements, and raise questions that could be brought up during the next day's discussion.  Not only did this allow the students to reflect on the discussion that took place during class, but it allowed students to gather their thoughts for the next day's discussion as well.  Students picked up on trends within the discussions that I would have never thought of after examining the transcript.  

Edmodo also acts as a multi-purpose tool during the discussion portion of the whole novel study.  Discussions work best when there are twelve students or less with speaking roles.  This allows students to voice their opinions and should give them ample opportunities to get involved in the discussion. But we all know, classes are rarely twelve students with some class sizes reaching the high twenties/low thirties.  Edmodo gives students an opportunity to get into the discussion without having an verbal role.  Students are able to backchannel and discuss what is being said using Edmodo as their platform.  We use Twitter speak (@Tommy or @Emily) to address where our comments are directed.  This digital venue also gives quieter students a voice during the discussion as well.  Students address comments from the discussion and comments from other students who are back channeling as well.  When I use this inner circle/outer circle format, students enjoy reflecting on the backchannel discussion and often carry the discussion over outside of the classroom.  Teachers also use Twitter as another backchannel option during discussions.

Each day during whole novel study discussions, students also create their own homework questions that stem from their discussions.  Edmodo is also an excellent place for students to post their answers to these nightly, student-generated questions.  It gives students an authentic audience and allows them to read differing points-of-view on a topic.  Some nights, I ask students to post their answer and respond to a classmate's post. This jump starts and builds excitement for the next day's discussion period.

Some days, I just can't move my typing fingers fast enough to transcribe entire discussions.  Class Dojo has given me another venue to keep track of student discussions.  I think of it as Mr. Pardalis' class version of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption.  Normally a behavior tracking program, Class Dojo gives the user the ability to set up classes and edit comments.  I have found it very useful as a means of tracking class discussions.  I edited the comments to score for "participation, citing text evidence, referring to a partner's comment, drawing a classmate into the discussion and discussion hog." Students really enjoy seeing their scores up on the board, and it gives them a visual cue of when they may be taking over a discussion and others may need or want to get involved.  It has been a very useful tool to help engage students in class discussions.  Plus, they love comparing their monster avatars.

These are just a few examples of how technology can be infused into the whole novel study and discussions.  What are some ways you use technology to enhance your teaching of literature in the classroom?

Popping the Bubble

How do we get students to step out of their comfort zones and experience new people outside of their circle of friends? This is a struggle in many middle schools.  Many of these students have been together since kindergarten, and kids are pigeon-holed into cliques for the remainder of their schooling.  How many small towns are just like this across the nation?  Students get stuck in their comfort zone, afraid to step away from their safety blanket of friends for fear of how they will be perceived.

We aimed to burst this comfort bubble with the help of our leadership group comprised of 7th and 8th graders, PACK. Mix It Up Day was the perfect venue to shake things up in a cafeteria that had been defined as "exclusive" by these same student leaders.  At first, our leadership team of students was a bit skeptical.  They weren't sure how their classmates would receive the idea.  Some admitted that it would put them in a very uncomfortable situation with their friend groups and they were worried.  My co-advisor, Rachel Dapp, and I helped ease their fears and reminded our PACK leaders that one of their main goals was to create a school climate that was welcoming to all students.  We also let them know that no change is ever made without taking risks and putting yourself out their for potential judement and failure.  We decided it was a risk worth taking and a potential learning experience. 

The students then went to work planning the event that would take place on October 29, 2013. Our PACK youngsters created a lunch wave that would put their classmates in an uncomfortable situation sitting with kids that they normally may not ever speak with.  Groups planned how to randomize seating as students entered the cafeteria.  Another group decorated the cafeteria with color-coded table clothes and a number system.  And yet another group produced a video explaining Mix It Up Day to be played at the beginning of each lunch wave.  Our PACK group was prepared for this event and at go time, the cafeteria was ready and looking great.

I would love to say that everything worked out perfectly, and all students arrived at the cafeteria willing to take risks and converse with new people.  But that would be too easy.  Our leaders did an outstanding job of getting students into the cafeteria and ushering them to their random seats for the day.  Once students found out what was going on, the inevitable questions of "What is this?" and "Why do we have to do this?" sprouted up around the room.  Students were uncomfortable and it showed in their demeanor and in the volume of the cafeteria.  Initially, there were some silent tables, uncomfortable shrugs, and angry glares among the students.  Our PACK members anticipated this and came armed with conversation starters ranging from "Who is your favorite celebrity?" to "What is the most unusual thing you have ever eaten?" to "If you could have a superpower, what would it be?"  Some students opened up and introduced themselves.  Some were reluctant participants while some stayed silent.  Our leaders wandered the cafeteria acting as facilitators trying to keep conversations going and sharing their own experiences and answers.

It was not all high fives, handshakes and uncomfortable conversations.  We learned that we still have a ways to go to popping the bubble surrounding some cliques especially with our 8th graders. Quotes like "There's a reason we don't sit with them" and "I hate this person, why do I have to sit with them?" were reminders that we have a long way to go towards creating a school culture and climate where all students feel welcome.  And while these comments were disheartening, they were good wake-up calls to our students leaders that there is still much work to be done in our school.

Our student leaders felt a sense of fullfilment.  We were extremely proud of the effort and energy that was put into planning and implementing this event. Most importantly, I was proud of the risk our PACK students were willing to take to try to create change in their environment. One of our 7th grade leaders left us with this quote by John Bingham after our last lunch wave, and it couldn't have been more fitting: "The miracle isn't that we finished; it's that we had the courage to start."  

Hopefully, this new courage can be a springboard to affecting change within their social groups.

How does your school go about creating a welcoming environment for all students? 

Question Everything...

I ask my students from Day 1 to question everything.  This is a new concept for most 6th graders, and when they hear me say that includes my opinions also, I usually get a few double takes.  It's easy to say to students that you want them to ask questions of each other, of things they read, and of ideas they come across, but it's another thing for them to actually do it.  I soon realized that students were so used to being given questions to answer that they had spent little time learning about questioning.  At about this time, I was introduced to the book Make Just One Change by co-authors Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana and the idea of the question formulation technique by a progressive colleague, Jane Martellino (@JaneMartellino).  It changed the way my classroom worked.  Students took ownership of creating questions: discussion questions, project focuses, and unit guiding questions. And with that ownership, engagement in discussions, interest in projects, and learning in units increased. Students were excited to answer the questions they created; the questions that they wondered about a topic.

The question formulation technique really is a simple process that pays huge dividends in any subject area.  The first step is for students to brainstorm questions from a QFocus.  This QFocus can be an unbiased statement, a quote, a piece of artwork, a group of pictures, or a multitude of other things that get students asking questions about a topic.  From this QFocus, students are given seven to ten minutes to brainstorm questions.  The rules during this time are:

1. Ask as many questions as you can.
2. Do not stop to answer, judge or discuss.
3. Write down every question exactly how it was stated.
4. Change any statement into a question.

The next step deals with categorizing the questions into open or closed.  Initially, the question was asked, "What is the difference between an open and a closed question?" My sixth graders had no idea what I was talking about at first.  Then the ideas started to trickle out until realization dawned on students.  My favorite answer was when a student stated that closed questions closed the door on any possible discussion while open questions invited opinions and conversation.  Pretty deep for a 6th grader.  Students discussed their brainstormed questions and decided which questions were open and which were closed.  During this step, when students get good at the process, it is also a time when students can discuss and revise questions to change them from open to closed.

The last step is for students to decide on their best questions.  The amount you narrow it down to is dependent on the assignment and the expected outcomes.  I usually end up in the three to five question range.  Three if the questions are leading to class discussions and up to five when the questions are driving research like in our Core 21 project-based class right now.

Below is the QFocus that I used for my first unit.  Each of my four language arts classes went through the process, and each of the classes has different guiding questions that they will try to answer throughout the unit.

Our QFocus for Unit 1

What is considered good fiction? How can good fiction create its own reality if fiction is not real? What do all books have in common to make them good fiction stories? Why do good books get turned into movies? How can a good fiction book create its own reality?  This is a sampling of a the questions that my sixth graders came up with to help drive their learning based on their QFocus.

Questioning is a skill that needs to be embraced.  Students need to be encouraged to ask their own questions, question what may be commonplace, and think outside the box in how they look at things.  When students create their own questions, they take hold of their learning and their thinking about a topic.  Students need to question the status quo and the opinions of others (even their teachers).  When we question, we put learning into motion. 

Here's to questioning everything this year.