​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.

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?

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.

"Oh, you have Mrs. H.!" I heard a familiar voice exclaim, just outside my door.

As usual, I had butterflies before the big "Student Walk-Through Day" which takes place a few days before the school year begins.  Meeting my students is important to me, and it makes the first day of school much less intimidating (for all parties involved). When I recognized that voice in the hallway as one of my beloved students from the year before, I hurried towards the door to greet that familiar face in the sea of strangers.  I could feel my butterflies disappearing already, but before I made it around the corner, the conversation continued down a much more awkward path.

"How do you say her name?" questioned the new student's parent.  

I headed through the doorway to introduce myself just as my beloved former student's mom spoke.  When she saw me, she said, "Oh, this is Mrs. Hinrichsen.  Your child is going to LOVE her."  

She was too kind... Well, that sentence was kind.  

She went on to explain, "She is a FUN teacher.  Your child will do all kinds of fun and cutesy things this year.  He [pointing to her child] just loved her, but if you want your child to LEARN, you'll wish she had _________."  

What?  I was standing RIGHT THERE! 

See, my goal is for my students to learn, first and foremost.  Those words cut through me like a knife.  One part of my brain was thinking of all kinds of sassy things I could say.  My heart rate tripled, but then the professional side of my brain took over (thank goodness).  I smiled and said, "Oh yes, __________ is a wonderful teacher.  It is so nice to meet you!  Welcome to 3rd grade."  

As I showed the new student around the room, I avoided anything "fun" as much as I could.  I kept my mini-tour basic, and within a few minutes she had heard all of the essentials.  Her eyes appeared to have glossed over, and my butterflies were back in full strength.  She didn't have one question about the classroom.  It was as if she had already lost interest in school, but it hadn't even started yet.

I decided quickly that it would be okay to show her just one "fun" thing to get her excited about the year.  She smiled from ear to ear when she learned that she would be using an ActivExpression/Clicker "device" for lessons.  She asked if she could try it out, and then she told a quick story about how it reminded her of the remote control at her grandma's house.  Then she went on to tell about the two weeks she spent with her grandmother that summer.  As I listened to her talk, I noticed that she had a few issues with her grammar.  "Her has a remote that looks like this," was one of the first things she said.  

Oh, she was so excited that I had to show her just one more thing.  The bus tent was a curiosity, so she led us in that direction.  I explained that students earn money in order to buy a "bus ticket" for a day.  That led to more conversation, and based on her spoken grammar alone, I could tell we would have a lot of work to do together.  However, as our conversation shifted to the classroom bank, I realized that she was a bit of a math wizard.  She asked how she could earn money in the classroom, and soon figured out how many nickels it would take to earn a bus ticket ($1.00).  I let her in on a little secret, "On 2-hour delay days, the tickets go on sale for 50% off."  

"That means they is only 50 cents!" she called out as her eyes lit up.

It was at that moment when her mom announced she was ready to go.   

My new, bright-eyed student gave me a quick hug before she went on her way; my mind was left racing with ideas about how to make her have a successful year.  

The school year began, and I assigned her to be the banker for the first week of classroom jobs.  The first writing prompt was about grandparents, and she enjoyed revising and editing hers so her grandma would like it.

When I asked her how she liked school after the first few days, she said, "It was so fun!"   Oh no...

Well, I guess it WAS fun.  I even enjoyed it.  Why did I think "fun" was such a bad word to hear?  Was that parent right?  Was I the "fun" teacher in a classroom of non-learners?  

I realized that the comment I once regarded as harsh criticism was actually a compliment.  At least, I would take it that way.

See, I want students to have fun.  They are kids.   But my underlying goal is for students to learn.  When my students have fun learning, they ask questions, put forth more effort, and care about learning.

It is easy to give a written test, to copy a worksheet, and to follow a manual to the letter.  Those things are only my tools. I use them, but I also use what I learn about the human beings with whom I interact.  I make every effort to personalize learning experiences (even in a subtle way) to make learning meaningful.  If meaningful is "fun" for a child, then I will admit to being a "fun" teacher.  Just because I am "fun" doesn't exclude me from being effective.  

Data drives instruction, but not all meaningful data comes from a standardized test.  I talk to my students, too.  Personalized learning opportunities are strategically placed in "fun" places for students IN ADDITION TO typical day-to-day lessons from the curriculum.  It takes extra thinking and planning to make things personal and meaningful.  

What Did You Do in School Today?

When parents ask their children what they did in school, a common answer is, "Nothing!"  

They could say, 

"I did a really awesome worksheet."
"I copied definitions."
"I did the same thing I did yesterday but with different math problems."

Most likely they won't.  They will talk about something that stood out as interesting. Just remember, inside that "fun" story is a deliberately hidden, valuable lesson.  Just don't tell the class.

Now that I think of it, that "fun teacher" criticism was actually one of the biggest compliments I could have gotten.