Top 10 quotes from Iowa 1:1 Institue 2011

Angela Maiers made the infamous top ten quotes list at #ITEC10 so here's mine for #i11i.

10. "bandwidth is critical!" Tech coordinators group

9.  "Hashtags are like a look into the collective subconscious of those schools." @SMGHogan

8. “We decided that we were doing it, and we did it.” Admin group

7. "1:1 is not going to help improve test scores." Admin group

6. "The world is shrinking, and most people don't even know it." @CoachB0066

5.  "I'm smart, just not three paragraphs double spaced smart." @shermanmi

4.  "Teachers need to stop hiding behind points” @russgoerend @mctownsley

3.  "Twitter is your Neighborhood BBQ, SO how'd you get to be the party host?" @angelamaiers

2.  “Technology does not equal learning.” @mcleod

1.  "Providing students a laptop will not magically improve the quality of instruction provided to students." @DeronDurflinger

Can We Become A Community?

Last Friday the Ambassador group hosted the "Waukee Carnival".  There was dancing, games, food, and fun.

Towards the end of the event @CoreyStJohn (who was co-DJing) said, "This is great, we should do this more often!"
I said, "There's only 50 people here out of the 750 in the school, we can't afford to do this often."
"The people that are here are having fun, that's a good thing"
"True"
"We should have these for all sporting events; basketball, football, baseball.  Then we could come up with a school chant that everyone would learn on orientation night, then we could all walk to the gym or field chanting.  Wouldn't that be cool to get 400 middle school students chanting at one football game?"

That would be cool, but how do we turn an attendance of 50 to 400+ students?  How do we become a community?

Tour of Waukee MS

Kids learn a lot from their teachers but teachers can be more effective and productive in a great building that we are fortunate enough to have.  I am going to share what makes Waukee #1 in my book.

You can tell that this isn't any ordinary building by the front entrance.

The brightly colored mural at the front of the building.

The lovely secretaries are a great key to success here!

The library is a lovely place to stop in and read, browse, or chat with @kellynelsen.

The "heart" of the building is the painted bench.  Original name, I know. :)

Our three state-of-the-art computer labs are nearby too, offering students access to many life tools.

The lunch room keeps everyone well fed and ready to learn!

The P.E. teachers are ready to help you burn off those calories you just ate at lunch in their gym.

At the back of the building is another mural that takes up an entire wall.

Last but not least, the classrooms where all the magic happens.

iPad or #SBAR

When the now infamous iPad came out only a year ago, there were quite a bit of demoting outlooks on the device but today you're considered old fashion without one.  You could say that Standards Based Reporting is the same way.

When they were released to the world not everyone latched onto them, they were kind of leery to take that first step.

When the iPad came out there were those Apple fanatics that had their device pre-ordered.
When standards based reporting came out there were some that were all for it.

Most people wanted nothing to do with a "giant iPod Touch".
We've taught this way for 100+ years and it hasn't failed us yet.

Apple has provided updates and newer models to make a good device great.
People have developed methods and made them fit their needs and students.

Apple has sold over 1 million iPads and probably even 2 million by the time I'm done typing this.
Schools are looking into and experimenting with Standards Based Reporting if they don't all ready have the system.

The iPad may have only been out for a year while standards based has been for about 10, but everyone has their own five minutes of fame.

How long do you think it will take for the majority of U.S. schools to switch to #SBAR?  Is there any other way to compare the two?

Introducing........TWITTER

     Today I spent the day at the Iowa 1:1 Institute in Des Moines.  This is first in a series of posts about my day at the convention.

     If you're reading this, you probably found it from Twitter, right?
     That means that Twitter is a great education tool, right?
     If you said "Yes" to either one of those questions, you're right.
     So if Twitter is that great, how do we get new Tweeters on board with it too?

     This was an interesting topic that we discussed at the Tweet Up in the afternoon.  @AngelaMaiers made a metaphor that works beautifully with the topic!

     Twitter is your Neighborhood BBQ.  When you're NEW to the neighborhood (Twitter) you're kind of nervous and reluctant about jumping in and talking to people unless you've all ready met them.  You also aren't obligated to bring anything to the potluck for the first time, just eat what everyone else brought (Not tweeting, just lurking & getting info).  Unless you absolutely hate your neighborhood you'll come back to the next BBQ and have some familiar faces, bring a dessert, converse with a few people here and there. (Tweet a little, get some followers)  IF you never bring anything to the BBQ then you're neighbors might start despising you. BUT, eventually you'll be hosting your own BBQ and having people bring, desserts, and their own NEW friends (Expert tweeter, established followers, PLN). So within a year you're no longer the neighborhood newbie but the party host with your own friends and connections.  SO, how'd you get to be the party host?

It's just a few simple steps...

• Be on Twitter; add a bio, picture, location.
• Tweet often; even if it's only five a day.
• Find followers that tweet about your passion.
• Start tweeting about your passion and involving yourself in conversations

How did you become the tweeter you are today?  How can you help a friend that needs to get started?  What else is essential in being a part of the Twitter Culture?

FREE Video Camera Contest

I am hosting a contest to give away two used video cameras to educators to use in their classroom, building, district, etc.  The most creative idea will be the one rewarded the cameras.  All you have to do is complete the form below by April 30th and I will email you if you win.

Please tell others about it on Twitter, Facebook, etc. so everyone has a fair chance.  Can't wait to hear your responses!

Fill out the form here or click the LINK to fill it out.

Middle School/Bullying Discussion

In Language Arts we are studying "Upstanders" for about a month.  We also had visitors from the high-school talk about bullying, cliques, and opportunities in their building this morning, which coincided greatly with what we are studying.
Today in L.A. we discussed what we had been told this morning and had a very "Reflective discussion"about it. 

The whole thing started with the question,
     "What did you guys learn this morning?"
In which people openly answered.  Lots of connections with their own lifes were made and you could see peoples eyes light up at the phrase,
     "People find out who they are and anyone who bullies is left behind, it's just not cool anymore.  Not that it ever was."
If everyone was like me they were envisioning a world where everyone got along and was their own person.  Great right?  Then this was said,
     "It's not like we all sit around a campfire and sing koom-by-a, but we all respect each other."
I then brought up the comment of,
     "In middle school everyone tries to fit in, in high school you want to be as independent as possible."
Then Mr. Maxwell said,
     "If you were to ask anyone what their hardest years of school were, most would answer middle school.  Why?  Even my wife who went through years of medical school said that it was for her."
"When I was in middle school I used to aggravate my L.A. teacher and look how I turned out, A middle school L.A. teacher. :)"

The discussion then turned to students asking about standards based reporting, but that's a whole other story....

I'd love to hear from you on twitter, in a comment, or by email on any of your thoughts!

What was the hardest part of your education?  How can you help educate your students about bullying and individualization?

#DYF Should Students Be Allowed To Bring Computers To School?

@Russgoerend and @Amyquam 's kids are writing #DYF Posts about the same topic and I was inspired by them to write my own.

Student's should be able to bring a laptop, mobile device, iPad, or any other technological thing.  I think this because it would be a great benefit to their learning.  At this point at Waukee we would not be able to go 1:1 like this but it would be a nice start. 

The people that didn't have a laptop or mobile device could "borrow" one from the school for the day (not being able to take it home, it's not officially their property).

People also think that maybe it will get lost or stolen. My opinion is that they won't be stolen because everyone else will have one too so why would they want yours?  Plus I keep at least $400 (retail price) of items in my locker most of the day.  If nobody steals it now, they wont in the future.

Visit www.kidblog.org/2017purple to read others #DYF Posts.

21st Century Teaching

We had a substitute teacher in math class on Friday. We took a quiz that took about 30 minutes to finish.  12 minutes isn't enough time to start and finish a new lesson so we had "free work time" to read, draw, or do homework.

I was waiting for the infamous question of
     "Can we use our iPods?"
And sure enough it was asked before we even started the quiz.
This sub was an older lady and her answer was
    "Yes, but if I was your teacher there wouldn't be any of those things in this building.  All they do is distract people and cause interruptions to learning"

I realize in this case they were for entertainment purposes but my question is this
     "Does she know they are educational tools too?"

I use my iPod everyday for school purposes.  In fact, I couldn't imagine a day without it.  At the end of the day it's dead and ready to be charged again.

• I take notes
• look up information
• Take pictures of directions to reference back to later
• Access the wiki for assignments
• Make movies
• And it's been used as props many times

I have one last question, Does that sound distracting?

Reading Reactions

At the beginning of each quarter we make reading goals.  I wanted to be a higher thinking reader.  In order to do this I ask 2 questions, 1 connection, 1 prediction and a summary of each chapter.  I also try to read MORE often, to be truthful though I've found myself reading LESS because I don't like taking notes. 

Here's how I take notes now:

Whenever I started a new book I put 20 sticky notes in the front of my book.

As I read something that interests me I write on it and put it over that area of text.

At the end of the book I take all of my sticky notes and make them into a more formal reading journal.


There is one thing that I don't like about this system; my questions, connections, and predictions are too short.  I don't feel like I'm pushing myself enough and I'm not using my full brain capacity.

I'm going to try and solve this problem by using bigger sticky notes so there is more room to write.  Instead of using 4 little sticky notes I'm going to use 1 big sticky for that chapter.

I am hoping this will work for a few reasons:
     1. I have a lot of these I want to use up.
     2. I'll be able to go above and beyond my quota for the chapter.

Do you have a different way of taking notes?  What works for you?