"But when are we going to REALLY make something?" 

The words cut through my heart like a knife.  I had just finished sharing the guidelines for the coding project assignment. It was simple-- meant to review basic coding and logic skills.  MOST of the students jumped right in-- eager to make their animated projects showing one friend helping another solve a problem.  

As I checked in with each table, I was pleased by the many creative ideas in progress. Some students even went above and beyond what I showed them last year!  Then, at the last table, I asked one sad-eyed third grader if he was okay.  He replied, "Yeah, I'm okay.  But when are we going to REALLY make something?"

I pushed my defensive feelings about my lesson aside, but I was still curious about what he meant. I decided to get some advice from my gloomy little learner.

"What do you mean by your question?" I asked.  "What do you wish you could make?"
I knew exactly what he was going to say.  His seat is next to the shelf of recycled "treasures", so I was sure he would say, "I want to make things out of all this stuff!"

Instead, I was shocked by his response.  "Cats don't talk.  Everything is not true.  I want to make a true story.  I want to make a REAL scene."  And just like that, I realized he was talking about fiction vs. nonfiction.  At the very least, he wanted to do something realistic.

After more conversation, I realized that he wanted to know when he was going to make something like a grownup would make. And making, in his mind, included digital animation. Digital animation is making in my mind, too. Why did I assume that a child would think differently?  

Digital products can vary, and they do not have to be something in a neat little package with a bow-- something that tells a story with a beginning, middle, and end.  Learning needs to follow wonder, and for the following week, the plans had changed. 

As his class walked in the next week, he was the last one through my door.  I was so excited that I whispered in his ear, "We are making something REAL today!"  His eyes got big, but narrowed when he saw Scratch Jr. on the screen again.  

"Everyone think of a scene from your favorite place outside." I pondered with the class, and we began a list of all the things we see in different ecosystems.  Then we started listing verbs-- telling how things in nature react with other things.  Before we knew it, we had programmed, together, a nature scene.  Bats flying, stars twinkling, meteors shooting across the sky.  "Doesn't this look real?" I asked, as I gave one special student a big grin.  

Another student related what we did to Disney/Pixar productions.  Even fiction movies have realistic parts, they discussed.  I gave them some criteria, and they began "REALLY" making things.  Here is what I overheard next:

• "We have to make these smaller because they are farther away!"
• "A bat doesn't just glide through the air; it flaps it's wings at the same time!"
• "How do I make the grass move at the same time?  When a snake goes through grass, it will move a little, too!"
• "We can't have a bird and a bat.  It's not realistic.  One is on the night scene; one is on the day scene.  Is it okay if we make TWO scenes?"

The video clip shows a few of the projects.  The code was MUCH more complex than it was when they made characters move across the screen with speech bubbles.  To program a TRULY realistic scene, the students had to have an overall understanding of the complexities in nature.

The word "perspective" also came up in conversation.  The students had JUST learned about that in art class the week before.  They had been analyzing scenes, noticing how size is something that can vary to show perspective.  My students naturally combined that into their digital animations.  Hearing concepts used across the curriculum is something powerful our students need.  They were making sense of their world!

 Students "REALLY make something" when they can take pride in their work.  When they feel like they've made a connection to THEIR world, then it is REAL to them.  

This summer has been QUITE exciting. Not only did I get the opportunity to attend the KTI Star Summit; I have also been a successful matchmaker in at least one instance.  The energy I feel from recognizing potential connections between people is so invigorating that I am almost as twitterpated as they are. It’s a high. At the Summit, as I was telling people about this romance kindling, I realized I was getting that same “twitterpation high” throughout the week as we learned together.  

After #KTI2019, I am definitely “in a state of nervous excitement” because I see SO MANY connections being made.  Like taking a chance on a new love, many of the connections we made this week will put us on a new path, changing our lives forever.  This also explains why we could still function after the action-packed week of PD. The twitterpation gave us a high in two ways:

1. Finding our own match(es) - These professional connections are thrilling, whether we connect to other people or to new tools and ideas.  We can imagine their potential to make our lives better.
2. Matchmaking - The electrical energy we feel from being a matchmaker is even more powerful than finding matches for ourselves.  We share, we solve problems, and we help others make connections that could change their lives.  

Either way, it’s destiny.  We were brought together for a reason.  

After amazing collaborative experiences— whether a conference, summit, or a brief day of learning together, remember this feeling.  While our KTI Summit experience can never be exactly replicated, we will continue to be matchmakers. We will feel that nervous excitement as we take risks and continue to get to know new ideas and people.  Most importantly, we will have this twitterpated, electric high by matchmaking for those around us (with educational resources). It will bring out the best in all of us, and push us all to be better teachers for our students.  
People can be anxious about taking risks, so here are some things to remember as you help others find their educational matches.

• People struggle to see the positives about themselves.  Point out what makes them awesome. Describe how they can add value to each other’s strengths.
• Remind them that the risk of trying something new does NOT mean it is a “forever” commitment!  They can always call it a learning experience if it #FailsFabulously.
• Some are scared off by that twitterpated feeling— it’s good to have that nervous excitement.  It means you care.
• We are all attracted to different things.  Our matches should not be compared. Obviously we all have specific destinies, but that doesn’t mean we can’t help each other.
• Take it slow; take it fast; pace yourself.  Speed doesn’t matter. Read the situation and do whatever brings out the best in all parties.  It’s not a race to see who can use the most ed tech or who can gain the most Twitter followers.  

Moving forward, if you ever feel like your professional energy is fading, be a matchmaker.  Not only will you bring the electric back to your own career, but you will exponentially light up the entire profession. It’s the power of love… it can change the world.

​Background: This year I have two roles in my district.  Throughout the day I teach STEAM classes for grades 2-6.  When I’m not teaching one of my 853 students, I work with teachers to effectively integrate technology into their learning environments.  Amazingly, we often find ways STEAM class can overlap with learning in the classrooms.  Classroom teachers and I have a symbiotic relationship—both learning experiences become more relevant for students.  Our school recently received iPads in a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio, so we are all excited about this new phase of bringing learning to life for our students.
​
Last week, a 6th grade teacher and I passed in the hallway.  After a twenty second conversation, I had a copy of her upcoming project in my hands, and many ideas about what students could use to complete it.  At the time, I felt confident that stop-motion animation would be a great option for her planned geography research project.  The teacher enthusiastically organized a time to meet with me after school to create an example project using the stop-motion tool on the iPads.  Because my students create stop-motion animation projects in STEAM class anyway, I decided to begin introducing the tool this week. 

The students’ imaginations blew me away as I introduced the stop-motion animation process.  Time was limited for experimenting with the app today, and yet I had one group produce a product that had over 80 frames (photos).  It couldn’t have taken them more than 10 minutes, but it was clever and well-done!  My example paled in comparison.  I was confident the students would be able to use this concept to create videos that tell a story or teach a lesson.  I could not wait to meet with my 6th grade teacher at the end of the day.  “Wait until you see what they can do!” I yelled after her as she passed my room grinning back at me.

After student dismissal, the teacher and I met to talk about the project’s process.  Her eyes twinkled as she proudly explained her idea of having each student create a “road trip” for the four states in the research assignment.  They would use stop-motion animation to show movement across the country, but they would also have a scene for each of the four destinations to animate.  Each scene would be a commercial for that specific state. 

We worked together as if we were students, soon realizing that it really should be a partner activity (it would be a lot for one person to do in the allotted time frame).  Oh well.  Each student could choose two of their areas and work together—no big deal.  Then we also realized that the students would need to take A LOT of pictures to have enough time to properly narrate their commercials or they would need to cut back on some of their words.  We decided that the students could try to be concise with their writing.  That can be difficult, so it would be worth their while to practice that skill.  Her example paragraph had elegant persuasive language and catchy plays on words.  As she paired down her writing to make it work, I saw a little bit of the twinkle leave her eyes.  We made our example, and it was really cool.  However, a bit of our excitement was gone.  Something just wasn’t right.  You could tell she was trying hard and she didn’t want to hurt my feelings, but something had to change. 

We went on a brainstorming roller coaster ride, shouting anything from “That’s it!” to “It’ll never work!”  Finally, we came up with what we THOUGHT was “it” and we tried it.  It was okay, but the idea that once had us both beaming had turned into an awkward game of make-it-work.  We had chipped away at the project until it really wasn’t hers anymore, and it was not quite what I had in mind either. 

Finally, I said, “Maybe this would be a good project for science.  You could show the orbits or demonstrate the phases of the moon!” 

She said, “Well I was just going to say, next year I would do [x, y, and z], and then it would be perfect!  This year, it just is not jiving with this road trip!”

I completely agreed, so we went back to the original objectives of the geography lesson.  She said, “You know that collage app you showed the other day?  Could we use that as our background?”  Again, we realized that would be great NEXT YEAR when we can plan it from the get-go.  But THAT got me thinking.  Instead of stop-motion animation, we could use ChatterPix to make the collage talk.  They could have four different states in the collage “talk” about the research to create the commercial.  It would give them much more time to narrate with their quality persuasive writing, so the ELA objective of the project could remain.  For a while, our sentences all began with, “They could…”  Students would use three apps: PicCollage, ChatterPix, and iMovie.  The end product would be professional, leaving students proud of all the research they completed.

​
Some of the twinkle came back into her eyes, but she also looked terrified—the look of being completely overwhelmed.   We took five more minutes and made a quick example.  It was perfect!  Finally, we had an example and a rough plan of what each student would do throughout the process. 
She had a little extra pep in her step as she walked out the door, gushing even more about ideas for what her students could include in their projects.  None of the conversation revolved around the technology, rather, the technology revolved around the learning process.  That teacher left feeling like the plan was “just right” for the learning she wanted the students to demonstrate.  As we walked to our cars tonight, she said, “That was so much fun!  I can’t wait for my kids to do this!”

Reflecting on this Goldilocks moment, both of us were willing to give a little to make our original plan work.  When we realized it was not going to be “just right” for our students, we made a tool switch to come up with something that would be even better for this particular integration opportunity.  With our trial-and-error time of creating examples and having discussion, we found the “just right” version of two future lessons using the original tool, so it was time well spent.  Also, this team of teachers always shares insights and ideas, so our time together will surely benefit the whole team and all the students involved.  When teachers are excited about projects, it’s because they know students will enjoy the process and be engaged with learning on a deeper level.  We can imagine the majority of our students having “just right” learning moments, and that is where we can begin to make a difference!

Do you work with Barney Fife? I think we all do.

Good old Barney Fife… He was my favorite character from The Andy Griffith Show. He was passionate about everything, and tried so hard to impress everyone that he failed miserably every time. Barney followed protocol to the letter, but in the town of Mayberry, his overreactions caused more problems than they helped. Just because he knew everything about the law, did not make him the best law enforcement officer. I started to think about what it would be like to work with Barney. This thought led me to The Mayberry Continuum.

My role as a coach involves instructional technology, but the type of coaching is irrelevant in The Mayberry Continuum. This model's focus is on understanding learners, regardless of content. In Mayberry, a fishing trip with Andy would surely provide insight about all the characters. This analogy reflects my experiences as a coach so far.

The Fishing Trip in Mayberry
Barney, having never fished before in his life, showed up dressed from head to toe in fishing gear. After reading about fishing, he bought every piece of fishing equipment the sales clerk showed him, sure to catch all the fish in the stream.
​
Gomer appeared without any gear-- not even a pole. He has been catching fish with his bare hands since he was a kid. His grandpa showed him that method, and it's the only way to fish, according to Gomer.

Opie brought his pole, a little tackle box with a few supplies, and a can of bait. His dad, Andy, was by his side, ready to teach him how to fish for the first time.

After a few hours of fishing, Barney grew frustrated because he did not catch one fish. He followed every procedure in his fishing manual. At one point, all of his gear threw him off balance and he fell into the stream. Other than that, he followed protocol to the letter. He had no idea why he was unsuccessful.

Gomer caught a few fish. He was soaked from being in the water all day, and fell asleep under a tree because he was so tired from all the hard work of catching fish with his bare hands. He woke up to a screaming Barney Fife who fell headfirst into the stream.

When Gomer pulled Barney out of the water, he made fun of the equipment Barney bought. He said, "That is why I never used a fishing pole, or any of that other new-fangled gear!" They both blamed the equipment for everything that went wrong that day. Barney later tried to fish with his bare hands like Gomer, but after a few minutes, they both had to just sit down and rest as Opie and Andy continued to fish.

Opie caught a dozen fish, and he still had energy to continue. Andy did most of the work when they got the first fish, but Opie caught the last six fish all by himself. Now Andy was only there to give advice as Opie needed it.
Gomer and Barney ignored them at first, but as they saw all the success Opie was having, they started to talk about it. Gomer took Barney's net and waders and headed up stream. Barney walked along a lot easier without those heavy waders, and he used some of Andy's tips as he put his pole in the water. Before they knew it, Barney and Gomer had both caught a few fish. Sure, Barney hit himself in the head with the fish a few times, but with each success came more confidence. They even asked Andy for a few more of his fishing secrets before they left, but Opie was the one to share them.

By the end, they were all successful at fishing. Individual fishing styles were respected, and they all had the tools needed to be the most effective. Those waders made Barney unsteady but were just what Gomer needed. Sure, there were some failures, but someone coached them along the way so they could learn, persevere, and thrive!

That is The Mayberry Continuum, and coaching Mayberry-style can bring out the best in everyone.

The Gomers - They have experience and wisdom that should be respected. The methods or tools that are new can sometimes insult the way they effectively taught in the past. These individuals should be shown how new tools and strategies complement their wisdom, but they should never feel like they need to leave their experience behind. In fact, they should be encouraged to share it!

The Barneys - They think they need to use every new tool or strategy every day, with all students, at all times. These people get overwhelmed easily. They may say, "One more thing we have to fit into our days!" These individuals benefit from discussions about their classroom needs. It helps to talk through which tools or strategies work best for different situations, so the focus is always on the learning.

The Opies - They are excited to try new things, and they ask for help when they need it. It is fun to work with these people because they love learning from others and have a balanced focus on content, pedagogy, and technology integration. Helping others and sharing will build confidence, so we should encourage that.

Sometimes Gomers and Barneys work surprisingly well together, as long as they can leave negative judgements behind. A coach can help people see the value in others so they feel comfortable working and learning together. Some people never want to ask for help, but they observe others trying new things. Just as Gomer and Barney learned fishing tips from Opie, people will learn from each other. Patience, coaching, and collaboration make all the difference. ​

​Giddy - adj. a feeling of elation brought on by students exceeding expectations because they want to.
In my role as a technology coordinator this year, I have had the pleasure of working with teachers across grade levels and subjects.  When I meet with teachers, a consistent request is to use technology to raise the bar for students.  Our student population is top-notch, and teachers recognize the need to increase rigor and responsibility in an authentic way.  I am giddy because of all the successes I have witnessed this year.  This post only highlights one small example of many thrilling learning experiences.   

Rigor. Responsibility. Authenticity.
With so much rigidity in education these days, several teachers made a decision that student-created videos would provide a much needed authentic experience. I expected teachers to use the videos as a culminating project at the end of units.  However, throughout the course of the school year, they used video creation before learning (to build background knowledge), in the middle of units (as formative assessment), as well as for final projects.  Another blog post is coming soon about integrating student-created videos effectively.  For this post, I will focus on one main project.

More Learning, More Questions, Repeat
Let's follow a group of sixth grade students.  At the beginning of the year, they used the green screen and video to create weather forecasts as a culminating project in science.  It was pretty straightforward.  Students used one or two backgrounds and recorded forecasts.  Most of them stood in front of the green screen like typical meteorologists.  After filming, students used basic editing skills in MovieMaker: simple video trimming, adding titles and captions, and creating scrolling credits.  One or two groups added creative twists, and in the hallway after the video screening, I overheard students asking each other about how various effects were achieved either in filming or in editing. 

Fast forward to a mid-year ELA project.  That same group of students worked in groups to create summaries for sections of a novel.  Then, they pieced all the movies into one large movie based on the book.  As the technology coordinator, I worked with the team of teachers in a similar process as the forecasts.  However, this experience was NOTHING like the first project.  The teachers' plans were similar, and so were mine.  The STUDENTS changed!  We never thought to limit the students, because most of the time these same students generally try to do the bare minimum to get "the A" on the project.  In this case, the top rating on the rubric turned into the basic guideline.

Each group wrote a script for a section of the book and rehearsed it.  As students arrived on filming day, several of them were carrying things that were out of the ordinary for a normal school day.  A bowl of fruit, a little wagon, suits, coat hangers, flags, cardboard creations, banana bunches, wigs, pillows, blankets, doctor's bags, and brief cases.  When the first group came down to my room to film, I realized all of those strange items from the morning were props!  The students even dressed in character.  It was amazing how much preparation students did outside of school!  Filming was an even crazier affair.  Some groups planned for twelve or more background changes using the green screen effect.  They even did creative photo editing to make the backgrounds fit the scenes more accurately!  All of those background changes meant that the set had to be adjusted before each scene was shot.    I actually felt like I had lost control at certain points in filming, and that was scary.  One group created a clothes rack "in a department store" by tipping desks upside down and sideways; another knew exactly how the chairs needed to be arranged so they would look like a crib.  I didn't always see their visions, but I decided to trust them.  They were so passionate about the story telling, and the group "directors" knew exactly what was going on.  At the end of the day, I had an iPad full of short clips that were somehow going to retell the story of Letters from Rifka.  I watched a few of the clips, just to review what was accomplished in that whirlwind of a day.  Again I was overtaken with fear.  Those individual clips made no sense. I went and apologized to the teachers for not guiding students as much as I probably should have.  They also seemed a little worried, but they decided to trust the students and allow them to see the project through to the editing phase.  I transferred all the files to the network, and in one "lab" period, most of the groups had their sections pieced together.  Trimming video clips seemed as effortless for them as cutting a piece of paper, and those amazing kids needed very little help from me!  I mainly existed to address questions that began with, "Is it possible to…"  The more students knew, the more questions they asked! What an awesome, natural cycle of learning!  Their visions took shape, and I was impressed. 

Oftentimes when a novel is read, students get the opportunity to compare it to the movie version.  In this case, the students created the movies.  We put all four sections together to tell the entire story.  It was about 20 minutes long.  Since the team of three classes all did the same project, there were three versions of the story.  They all were similar, but there were many differences worth discussing.  That led to deep debates about why some groups chose to emphasize certain scenes over others.  They passionately and respectfully spoke to each other.  Their movies made sense, and they were entertaining!  It wasn't like the never-ending class period of monotonous presentations or reports.  The students laughed or reacted as if they were watching a regular movie!  They were proud of themselves, and the teachers were speechless.  It was clear that the students understood the book in its entirety-- because they wanted to. 

Technology-Enhanced
A friend of mine played devil's advocate with  me one day.  She wondered why we need any technology in schools. "Why can't you just do good old-fashioned skits like when we were in school?"  In her child's school, she has heard a lot about "the devices" alone, but has not seen the direct student benefits.  Unfortunately, that is a common concern among any school stakeholders, with good reasons, I'm sure.  But any tool (even the simple pencil) has the potential to enhance learning or create a negative distraction.  Technology can be a very powerful tool when used effectively!

In this scenario, students took the project more seriously than a typical assignment.  They knew it was going to be saved.  It wasn't just something they stood up and did once.  It wasn't a worksheet that only the teacher would see.  It was valued, even treasured, by students.  It was clear that the students OWNED their "real" assignments.  Groups wanted their projects to be unique.  More importantly, they wanted their videos to be memorable for their classmates.  Students naturally dove deeper into the content.  Of course they did, because they cared.

Secondly, the shyer students flourished!  With a traditional class skit, shy student oftentimes choose the smallest part, and they mumble.  For this video project, those shy students were not threatened.  There were only a few students in the room during filming, and it was more like a practice.  They knew if they made a mistake, it could be "trimmed" during the editing phase.  They were willing to take risks and dramatically act out the parts!  During the movie screening, teachers commented about how they were surprised by the animated performance of some of the most quiet individuals!  Those students were able to gain confidence when they saw the positive reactions from their classmates, too. 

Lastly, it was not about the devices. It was about the learning.  The teachers had the ideas for learning, and I helped by integrating the technology.  In fact, in this school year, my single iPad with a green screen app was used for every project.  Scheduling and sharing was a bit of a juggling act, but it was worth it! Over 200 students created a video for this particular novel, and over 400 student shared my iPad for other green screen projects throughout the year.  For editing, students used a free program that runs on even our most ancient machines.

It is not about the devices, but we do make the most out of the resources we have.  We use them to help our students deepen understanding, ignite passion for learning, and trigger them to ask more questions so that learning in the classroom is only the beginning of an exponential learning process that extends beyond our school walls.

Looking back, I notice these recurring themes in my blog posts:

• I love teaching.
• Student success is really important to me.
• I have admired teachers my whole life.
• Solving problems and helping others is extremely rewarding.

A New Role
I neglected this site for a while because I was lost…professionally.  The name of this blog is Teacher in the Mirror.  This year, I stepped out of the classroom.  How can I blog about my teaching experiences when I am not even in the classroom?  Looking back on this year, I now realize that I should have been blogging along the way.  No matter what my official role is in my district, I am a teacher, and I always will be. 
While I was lost in my world of education, this year's journey has led me to have a deeper understanding of who I am as a professional and how being effective can come in many forms.
The Journey
My district created a few Instructional Technology Coordinator (ITC) positions as a trial for the 2015-2016 school year, so I accepted one of them at the end of last year.  In June, I moved my personal belongings out of my classroom with a heavy heart.  What did I do? How could I leave, even for just a year?  In 11 years, I took very few sick days, and I had a really hard time imagining someone else in my room.  I shed many tears on that last day of school.  And of course, I worried all summer if I had made the wrong choice.
August came, and as I settled into my new building (grades 5-6) with new colleagues, I wondered if they thought, "Who does she think she is?"  Honestly, I thought that myself. Family, friends, colleagues, and past parents asked many questions like, "So you aren't teaching anymore? Did you get tired of teaching? How could you leave your classroom?  You loved it!"
Hearing that made me sad. I was not tired of teaching.  I still love it. I took the ITC opportunity to make a difference in the district.  But then again, what difference could I possibly make?  Little me.  I knew I had to prove to myself that my year away from my classroom was worth it.  Therefore, I made a vow to myself that I would stay true to who I am. I leave every day knowing I did the best I could to make a difference.
Pleasantly Surprised
I was scheduled to train teachers at our first in-service day in August, and I was a nervous wreck.  Teachers can spot a mediocre trainer after only a few minutes together, so I knew being successful would take extra preparation.  I also wanted to gain the respect of my new colleagues.  Teachers' time is valuable, so I tried to make every second meaningful and inspiring. 
All the preparation paid off. I realized quickly that teachers LOVE LEARNING, especially when they can see the direct positive impact it can have on students.  I overheard several teachers talking about ways they could use some of the things they learned.  The day was a success, and I was still a teacher!  Their eyes lit up when they learned new things, just like my third graders' did.
There was no more time for worry after that first day!  One year now seemed like only a short time to share everything!  It was down-to-business and crunch time from that day forward!
Amazed & Proud
The teachers are true professionals! When we collaborate, I am humbled.  They ask insightful questions that go beyond the technology.  Focus is on what students need to learn and how the environment can be arranged to make lessons most effective.  One teacher told me at the beginning of the year, "I'm not tech savvy.  I actually hate technology…. but maybe I could give that one thing a try… with your help."  That teacher went on to have a love-hate relationship with technology.  It was kind of hilarious.  She was one of the first to use the new laptop cart, even though it came with some frustrations.  She reads my technology newsletters thoroughly, and always finds something that she is ready to try.  In fact, that self-proclaimed non-tech-savvy teacher volunteered to be a presenter at our last Technology in-service day!  I was so proud of her!  Actually, half of my new colleagues stepped up to be presenters!  This is only year one of our big technology initiative; imagine what those teachers will do in the future.  Just imagine how their students will benefit! 
I have learned more than I ever thought I would so far this year!  I have also confirmed that:

• I still love teaching (and I AM still a teacher).
• Student success is really important to me.
• I admire teachers, especially my colleagues!
• Solving problems and helping others is extremely rewarding.

Because of this, I will continue to add posts to ​Teacher in the Mirror.  I look forward to sharing my experiences with everyone.  They are too good to keep to myself!

Problem 1: Keeping up with #ISTE2015 on twitter
Problem 2: Managing QR codes scanned from busy poster sessions

PROBLEM SOLVER #1: Recently I learned of a website ifttt.com where you create “recipes” made up of if/then actions. Thanks @mcleod for this! I first heard of it so I could keep up and organize the tweets from the ISTE conference (#ISTE2015 and #ISTE15). After I created the account and linked my GoogleDrive and Twitter, I found “recipes” that automatically take tweets with a given hashtag and put them into a google sheet for me. I was amazed, and it was easy to make my recipe.  You can make them yourself, but we found one already made here: https://ifttt.com/recipes/search?q=%23ISTE2015&ac=false.  You can do this all via the web, but I went ahead and got the free app, and of course I started to think about the power of this new tool.  I always look to the problems technology will solve, and QR code organization was a big problem for me last year. 

Poster Sessions are filled with so many treasure-filled QR codes to scan.  Last year was my first ISTE conference, and I was caught off guard. I started out scanning with my phone's QR scanner, but that did not save my links. I then took pictures of the QR codes and saved them in EVERNOTE so that I could look at them later.  This didn’t work well either. Maybe I was missing the easy part of scanning QR codes, but I went home with random QR code collections, and it was overwhelming.

Over the last 24 hours, I finally made sense of how to do it. 

PROBLEM SOLVER #2: Now I can scan QR codes at the poster sessions (or anywhere), and they’ll go into my GoogleSheet as links.  They’re organized by date and time.  The setup process for this is not quite as simple as the twitter process.  It also is NOT free, but I thought $2.99 was worth it since I paid all the money to come to ISTE.  I want to easily access all of those resources well after the conference ends!

To make this work on your iPhone, you will need:

• An account with  https://ifttt.com/ (and optionally, the free “IF” app)

• Google Account (linked to the ifttt.com account)
• Launch Center Pro $2.99 (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/launch-center-pro/id532016360?mt=8) Download and create your account.
• Get the recipe “Scan QR Code to Google Sheets” here: https://ifttt.com/recipes/265160?z=6267944 and click the Add button (be sure you have the link on the screen first, or see below).
• This is the step that I skipped (that took hours to figure out): Where it says Install this Launch Center Pro action to trigger this Recipe: https://launchcenterpro.com/34l7k3 BE SURE YOU CLICK THAT LINK AND INSTALL TO YOUR PHONE.  It’s the magic that makes it all work.  The Launch Center Pro app will then ask you where you want to put the tile in the app.  Once it is there, you’ll click it, and it will bring up your QR scanner.  After you scan, a line will be added to your Google Sheet.  You’ll find the completed sheet in your Google Drive in the IFTTT folder (unless you changed settings).

I know it is complicated, and I would love to make a video sometime.  But if you can make it work, I think it will be a handy tool!

Good luck, and have fun at the conference!
I'm @duqcolleen on Twitter! :)

Social Studies: It’s About OUR Lives!

Growing up, I was always the math and science girl of the family, while my sister was superior in language arts and social studies.  So before I became a teacher, I pictured myself teaching math and science to elementary students.  Little did I know, I would end up teaching all the subjects in a self-contained classroom.   At first I panicked.  I always liked reading books that interested me (NOT out of the reading book), and social studies was just more boring reading.  How could I motivate my students if even I was bored?  Going through the motions was never an option for me, so I had to find a way to make it interesting for myself (and ultimately, for my students).

Surprisingly, the social studies book was much more interesting than I remembered.  It made so much sense, and after living life in the real world, I could see how all the chapters connected.  Unfortunately, when I thought about it from a third grader’s point of view, it still looked very dry.  It started with the study of the climate, land, and resources on the earth.  Then it moved on to some history of how the United States grew over time, inventors and leaders of whom made the country better, and our government. Eventually there was the chapter about economics.  That woke up the math part of my brain, and it was from that chapter where all inspirations of building a town grew.

An Idea Snowballs

Initially, I planned to have each student create an imaginary business and do a business report presentation that included important concepts and vocabulary from the chapter.  That still seemed a little dull as we were about to move through testing season, so I decided to liven it up by having each student create a model of their business out of a cereal box.  I knew this would be a great activity after a morning of state testing.  Looking around my room, it became clear that we would need some kind of background structure for the businesses.  I would want them to see each other’s businesses so they could discuss how they would affect each other economically.  It suddenly became obvious to me that we needed an actual town. This town project could bring in the entire social studies book, and it would be important to the students.   I could hardly contain my excitement! 

Meeting to Order – Citizens Come Together to Settle the New Frontier

I could hardly wait to get math out of the way so I could move on to social studies (WHAT?!).  When students transitioned into social studies, I called out, “Meeting to order!” First, I got suspicious looks, but I repeated, “Meeting to order!” in a deeper voice, and used my stapler as a makeshift gavel. Being third graders (always up for a great imaginary adventure), they gathered around and listened intently to their crazy teacher.  I announced that our classroom was now the state of “Pencil-vania” where I was the governor, and we were in the country of the “United States of Mars-Area” where the principal was the president.  I went on to explain that there was a new frontier at the edge of our state, and they were the citizens selected to settle it into a town.  I was there as governor of the state until they could create their own government.

Imagining the Lay of the Land

We talked about what the frontier looked like for our town.  Some students even got out their social studies books so they could have a list of possible landforms.  They took turns choosing the climate, landforms, and natural resources until we knew enough about our town to begin planning and settling.

Arguments & Chaos = A Need for Government

As governor, it was not my job to micromanage the citizens of our new town, so I let THEM discuss the details of building the actual town… for a while. It was fun to watch excited citizens plan, but as one idea after another was tossed out in excitement, the dream town of one child was replaced by the new ideas of another.  Eventually the excitement turned to some arguing, and before war broke out, the governor stepped in to help out.  I asked the students about what was happening.  In the heat of the moment, citizens started to tattle on one another.  We stopped the meeting, and I had the them open to Chapter 4: Government.  As they skimmed through, I heard a few students let out an “Oooooh!”  This was a first-hand example of why towns need government.  No decisions could be made without some leadership.  I recommended having an election, and they agreed.  The homework for the evening was for students to write a campaign speech (paragraph).  If they were really interested in being mayor (with all of the responsibilities), they put a star on their paper.  The next day, we had about eight students interested in being the mayor.  I put all the paragraphs on the screen anonymously.  Students voted on the one they felt supported the town’s needs the best.  Before long we had a mayor.  I made it so 2nd place became city council president, and the rest were members of city council.  No one complained.  It was awesome!  They were ready to build.  In random order, students chose businesses to create based on the land and resources.  For example, because the town was near a lake, there was a fishing and boating store. The next day we would have our first official town meeting led by the mayor.

All Those in Favor

The new mayor’s mother had the great idea to have her say, “All those in favor…” That is exactly how she ran the meeting.  I could hardly believe how well the mini citizens did.  They discussed important issues, and thoughtful decisions were made.  They decided to put the homes on the hillside (like Pittsburgh), and put the businesses down in the valley.  City council made committees for roads/signs, parks, culture, police, fire, sanitation, and schools (just like in the social studies book).  I made sure everyone had something to do, and then they went to work.  As students finished their businesses, they were allowed to work on joint businesses with someone or work on committee work.  By the end of testing week, we had all of our roads, homes, businesses, and parks.  Before the weekend, the students did an analysis of the town and realized we needed: parking lots, a hospital, a library, garbage cans on the streets, trees, shrubs, flowers, more stop signs, and crosswalks.  One student argued that if we didn’t have cars, we didn’t need stop signs and crosswalks, SO I allowed them to bring their toy cars in.  The students left the room on Friday with lists of items to bring.  It may have gotten a little out of control at this point, but they were loving it.

Finishing Touches

Monday morning was crazy.  Arriving by the masses were cars, school buses, fire trucks, and even a blimp that I hung from the ceiling.  I remember overhearing one student say, “I pulled all of these trees out of my old first grade dinosaur diorama!” Another girl had made a corn field for a farm, and she had a bag of some of her brother’s farm equipment for outside of town “in the rural area.”  When I thought I had seen it all, a little guy came in with a few airplanes and a paper airport, complete with a landing strip.  His mom drove him to school because he didn’t want it to get crushed on the bus.  “We need an airport!” he said (as if he had saved the world).  Between the farm and the airport, my room was overtaken with…town.  [Note: This is why I no longer have students use cereal boxes for buildings.  We use snack boxes, and maybe in the future, Band-Aid boxes. HAHA!]

With some help from the governor, the citizens made it all fit.  We had the airport on top of the class mailboxes, and the farm was over on the bookshelf outside of town, but that was okay.  No one cared. I thought. A day later, during indoor recess, they asked for yellow construction paper and yellow pipe cleaners.  In a matter of minutes, there was a big, yellow, Pittsburgh-style bridge being built from the town to the bookshelf.  It kept collapsing until someone realized they could tape it to the wall! That little town was a hot mess, but it was fantastic!  I even had fun helping them arrange things to fit. In fact, I realized we were missing something… PEOPLE.  I gave a few citizens “press passes” so they could take pictures of the founding citizens of the town, the governor, and even of the president! 

That night I went to work printing all the little people, then figuring out how to make game-piece bases for them (in year 2, I made students do this). As students arrived the next day with more things for the town, they realized there were two tiny people in the town (the president and governor).  Of course the governor was at the ice cream shop, and the president was at the coffee shop.  They were tickled to see people in the town.  They were even more thrilled to learn that they could put themselves in the town if they finished their morning work.  By the end of the day, the population of the town had grown, and all founding citizens were present.  That mayor’s mom had another great idea (I love parents).  She sent in crepe paper for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The town was complete… or was it? 

Always Changing, Always Improving

That town was only going to be up for a week or so, but it ended up taking up the real estate in the corner of the room until the last week of school.  When students finished work, they would go to the town for a few minutes and check things out.  Sometimes they would find something else to add or change (or they could move their little person to another business).  One morning I received a note from a mom, “Dear Mrs. Hinrichsen, Michael would like to bring in his train for the town.  Is this okay? I can drop him off tomorrow.  He knows how to set it up!”  Of course, we needed an operating train!  

In addition, the committee in charge of cultural activities ended up working together to make a schedule of events.  They had movies in the park, carnivals, and parades on different holidays.  Sometimes at the end of the day, I would see all of the little people in the town gathered around a certain place, so I knew there had been some event that day.  The students took this town so seriously.  It was real to them.  And they also took social studies much more seriously.

On the day of the business PowerPoint presentations, some students came dressed in character.  I never told them to do that.  After all, it was only a presentation for the students in our class, but it was important, I guess. A boy came in with a suit and tie, carrying a briefcase his dad had loaned him.  The pizza shop owner was dressed in her old waitress Halloween costume, and a borrowed pizza pan from her kitchen.  She “didn’t think” her mom would care.  When the presentations began, I was impressed.  They used social studies vocabulary like it was everyday language; they spoke like authentic entrepreneurs.  It truly was a dream town. 

It was sad when we had to tear it down, but someone had the great idea to evacuate and have a natural disaster.  If my memory serves me correctly, the first year was an earthquake; other years it was tornados or a hurricane. This year, we had a volcano erupt.  Each year, I always assured them that we would build it back the next year.  I could not imagine a year without a town. 

NO TIME FOR A TOWN – The Year the Social Studies Textbook Changed

I have done the town for six out of the seven years I have been in 3rd grade.  Last year, we adopted a new textbook.  I forgot to take into account the order of chapters and the timing in the year.  Before I knew it, the end of the year was approaching, and we were out of time.  The students were a little disappointed, but we did other things, and they understood.  The alumni (siblings), however, were irate.  On open house night, I heard, “Where’s the town?” in sad little voices over and over again.  My heart broke.  They let me know that the town was their favorite part of 3rd grade, and it helped them learn about business. Even some parents said, “No town this year?”  I really missed it, too.  Social studies just wasn’t the same.  Students were not as engaged.  It was content with no meaning. So, as long as it is applicable to my curriculum, I will never skip doing the town again.  We built it back this year, and the future looks bright for that small piece of real estate in the corner of the room, even though natural disaster hits it every year. 

No Limits

There are many more cross-curricular extensions for the town project, and I’m working to create a global collaboration project with this concept. 

Doesn’t it give you some comfort, knowing our future leaders will have had some experience running a town?

I invested in a Fitbit for the purpose of becoming healthier myself, but the data it provided was eye-opening.  As a teacher, I get plenty of steps in a day.  One day as a student, and I was led to a scary conclusion.  Are we creating a culture of "chronic sitters"?

My day as a teacher: 16,561 steps
My day as a student on an in-service day: 3,362 steps

When asked to visualize "the model student," most people would have a similar picture in mind.  It probably would look like a student sitting perfectly still in a desk, raising his/her hand, waiting to be called upon.  I have come to realize that very few of my “model students” take on such a pose.  In fact, I dislike teaching a classroom full of mannequins.  Sure, any teacher can create an environment of students who can sit perfectly still, who speak when called upon, and who can regurgitate information perfectly.  What about creating an environment where individual talents are nurtured, differences are recognized as strengths, and sitting still is not a dominating learning objective.

My Day as a Student: The Sad Realization
On a typical teaching day, I walk between 8,000, and 18,000 steps (without any additional workouts).  10,000 steps is my goal in a day, and it takes very little additional effort, if any, to achieve this.  I often laugh to myself about how silly it is that people have a hard time reaching 10,000 steps in a day.  Surely, America’s obesity problem cannot be from lack of movement.  I get the step goal without even working out!

My thoughts changed when I took on the role of a student.  It was an in-service day for teacher professional development.  The day consisted of seven hours of sitting, except for two brief breaks and a lunch (which is more sitting).  On a normal day, I have at least 5,000 steps by lunch, but on this particular day the Fitbit registered 1,200 when we sat down to eat.  I felt exhausted!  How could it have only been 1,200 steps?  By afternoon, I felt like a true slacker.  I even had coffee, mints, and gum to help keep me alert, but I allow none of these in my classroom.  How could I expect 8 year olds to do this every single day?

Yes, critics will say that students have been expected to sit still for years.  Why do we, all of a sudden, feel that students need to be allowed to fidget and move?  Well, things HAVE changed.  When my grandpa went to school, he walked to and from school every day.  He also played “out in the school yard” with his friends at points in the day.  When my mom went to elementary school, she still walked to the neighborhood school, and many students walked home for lunch.  She remembers having a few recess times in a day.  By the time I went to school, I had a fairly long bus ride and stayed at school for lunch, but we did have both morning and an afternoon recesses.  I think both were at least 30 minutes.  We even went out again at the very end of the day if we had our work done.  In the present day, all of my students ride the bus to school.  Unless they have phys. ed. in the morning, they sit in chairs until lunch.  There is recess right after lunch, but it is 20 minutes long, followed by a long afternoon of learning… of sitting.  I wish I could have put Fitbits on my grandpa and mom when they were in school to show the decline in the amount of steps average students get in a day over the past 80 years.

When I plan my schedule, I put math and reading first thing in the morning or right after recess.  When there is a change in plans, I realize how little my students stay engaged right before lunch and at the very end of the day.  Of course, I can make them sit there.  I praise the students who are actively engaged in the lesson, but many students focus more on trying to “be a student” and less on the content.  Oftentimes, I find myself repeating myself in the afternoon, and even my better listeners need more wait time to process the questions and formulate answers.  One day a week, my students spend the entire day with me (no special class), and there tends to be an overwhelming number of “bathroom breaks” around 2:00.  It is a long time to sit still.

On my in-service day, I experienced this for myself.  The afternoon was so hard.  I found myself staring at the presenter, thinking, “Wait, what did she just say?”  I zoned out, yawned discretely, and counted the minutes until the break.  I even admit that I took an unnecessary bathroom break, just to walk around.  I was glad to have that coffee drink, mints, and gum to keep me from becoming comatose.  There was absolutely nothing wrong with the content or quality of the presentation.  It was interesting.  My body is just not used to sitting, and my brain needed some blood flow!

Bad Habits: We Need to Remind Grown Adults to Move?!
Oddly enough, when I arrived home (exhausted), an advertisement for the Apple Watch was on the TV.  I glanced up just as it showed the reminder for the person to stand up and move during their work day.  I find it funny that we need a watch to remind us to get up and move.  Are we training our students to become chronic “sitters” now?  I recently heard a news story that reported, “Sitting is the new smoking!”  Isn't that silly that we reward our best “sitters” in the class!?  The students whose bodies are still able to tell them to move (without a fancy watch) are the ones who are negatively labeled and conditioned to sit.   Maybe the students aren't the ones with the problem.  The system needs to change.

Brain Breaks: Just Another Fading Fad
As with the initiative to have healthier lunches, “brain breaks” are a step in the right direction.  Unfortunately, they are forced, lacking in authenticity, and they do not appeal to all students.  Like any fad, the practice will probably fade quickly.  I have tried them with my class.  One website is very cute.  The students choose a video that encourages movement, and a little critter keeps track of the amount of time they move.  The problem I find, is that we all take this break at the same time.  Some of my students are in need of a break, but others may have just hit the zone of, “My light bulb is on, teach me!”  We all get up and move, but the boys in my class this year are just not into the Zumba-style dancing or the yoga-like moves.  They would rather go outside to run around in a game of tag or football.  They end up standing there, doing the bare minimum, and the brief activity becomes more of a distraction than a moment of rejuvenation.  This may be effective with some classes, but I’m glad it is not a mandated activity for this particular mix of students.  I had to find another way to give the students’ brains “recovery” time.

Good Habits: Listening to our Bodies
If we want our students to grow up to be adults with good habits, we need to allow them to develop those habits naturally.  Of course, there are times when sitting still should be expected, but the chunks of time need to be limited.  The opportunity to move needs to exist.  

• When there is not direct instruction coming from the teacher in the room, students should be able to stand or move while working (with a few ground rules).  
  
• There should be choices among a variety of breaks.  Not everyone enjoys the same activity, and we do not want students to think of this as a waste of time.
• The time of breaks should be based on the students’ needs.  If a student is in the middle of being productive, they should not be forced to go through the motions. 

I came up with “benchmark breaks” for my students.  When a student finishes a small section of work, I give him/her an exercise to do.  They may either choose one of mine or “create an exercise” of which I approve.  They love this, and I need to do it more.  The other day was one of the first warm, sunny days of the season.  I took the class outside to do their independent reading work.  There were five sections to the activity, and it was a little tedious.  After each section, the students had to bring me their papers, and I checked the quality.  If it was correct, it became a “ticket” for an exercise on the playground.  

Boy, were they ever engaged and focused!  Even my slower workers sped along.  My “rushers” found that they had to produce better quality answers to receive an exercise in return.  Here were some of the exercise:

• Run to the curly slide, go down it once, and run back.
• Hop to the swing set, do 5 swings, and hop back.
• Skip to the monkey bars, go across one way, skip back.
  
• Run two laps around the entire playground.
  
• Jog to the water fountain, get a drink, and sprint back.
  
• Climb to the top of the bubble and come back.
  
• Crab walk around the swings and walk back.
  
  

By the end of reading, everyone was finished with the assignment (even my student who NEVER finishes on time).  The fifth section of the activity was the finale.  This included several activities put together.  Most of my students had their own ideas for an activity by that time, and most of them ended with a trip to the fountain.  They were winded.  My earlier finishers were happy to sit and read a story or write in their journals when the main assignment was completed.  I had zero behavior problems, and best of all, I did not feel like a nag.  Not all assignments are fun, but we can make the most of them.

I actually had a student tell me that she did her math homework the same way that night.  She said she divided her page into 3 sections.  When she finished a section, she practiced her gymnastic moves, “five times like how we did the swings!”  

Inside activities are more calm, depending on the assignment.  They include things like:

• Various stretching moves
  
• Heel raises
  
• Hopping on one foot
  
• Jumping Jacks
  
• Triceps push-ups w/ chair
  
• Crunches
  
• Bathroom break - hall walk
  
• March in place
  
• Practice tying your shoe three times
  
• Create your own
  

We still do whole-group activities with movement, and students still have times when they are required to sit still.  The difference is, we try to have a balance in our classroom that respects the needs of those growing little bodies.  As a teacher, I need to stop “sitting” on the energy that molds creative, healthy students.

A few years ago, a colleague asked me to join her class to do a Wax Museum of Presidents and First Ladies.  I'm always looking for projects to bring the curriculum to life, and this one literally does that.

Before President's Day, each student researched a president or first lady, then wrote the speech from the first-person point of view.  Of course we finished the project with the big presentations-- the actual Wax Museum filled with students dressed in character and patrons there to press the buttons.  It was a successful day, and there was 100% engagement.  The best part of the project, however, was behind the scenes.

Leading up to the big day, the students spent every free moment reading books, websites, and encyclopedias trying to find  information about "themselves" that was interesting. 

"Can You Believe that my husband's family didn't even come to our wedding?"  I overheard Julia Grant say to little Martha Jefferson.  "My husband was against slavery during the Civil War, and my family owned slaves!  It was so sad, and I was embarrassed that we had slaves."  Julia actually blushed.  Then Martha tried to make her feel better.

"Well, my husband was not really the president.  It was my dad.  My mom died before he was president, so I was the first lady."

"I helped you a lot, though!" added in Dolley Madison.

They were having conversations like they were the first ladies.

Abigail Adams started telling her group about her pets when Barack Obama interrupted,  "Where did you find out about your pets?"  She pointed to the book up front, and then three of the kids rushed up to the front to be the next in possession of the book.  

Eleanor Roosevelt was very busy online.  "Can you help me find my newspaper article?  I wrote a newspaper article called 'My Day' and I want to put a picture of it on the back of my speech!"

Just then, George W. Bush, who had just learned that he used to be a cheerleader, called out, "Oh my goodness, Mrs. Hinrichsen!  Is Sarah Eleanor Roosevelt?  I saw her in Chapter 5 of our social studies book!  I'm sorry, I peeked!"  Just then my little Eleanor Roosevelt dove into her social studies book to find more about herself.

Not only did the students do research and give speeches, but they also made some pretty in-depth verbal comparisons.  They did this because they cared.  It was real to them. Yes, it took a few extra days to move through Chapter 4 and into Chapter 5 of social studies, but it was time well spent.  What my students did learn should stick with them for a while. It has been over a month since students presented their speeches, and I still catch them reading books or watching online videos about the presidents.  It isn't uncommon to hear them back in character, chatting away, either.