Cellphones in school...

There has been a lot of talk recently about the use of cell phones in the classroom. Is there educational use behind these little machines, or are they just a means to communicate? For some teachers, this is not even a debate. How can something that has been for some many years now, seen as a distraction and even punishable, now be seen as having educational merit? The answer to that is rather simple....cellphones are now mini computers.

Let's look at some of the features that comes on many cellphones today:
Camera
Video Recorder
Text Messaging
Calculator
Calendar
Stop Watch
World Time
Unit Converter
Notepad
Alarm
Voice Memo

That's great....but how exactly can you use this in the classroom? Well....here are just a few ideas that came to my mind:
Take pictures that relate to their books, characters, or even word patterns.
Make mini movies based on a reflection on a lesson.
Use the calculator as an accommodation for sped students.
Stop watch can be used for measurement.
World Time can be used for Geography.
Unit Converter....can be used to reinforcement in independent work on units.
Notepad, can be where they take notes and send them to the teacher.
Alarm can be used to study time.
Voice memo can be used to take notes.
Text messaging can be used for polls.

There were just the very first things that came to my mind, however there are a ton more uses for them. Teachers need to start being creative since, not every student has their own computer. This might very well be a useful alternative to just that.

Here's an article on it that explains a bit more.
And here's another one as well.

Update - Hair Today Gone Tomorrow!!!

Adriel Arocha, the Native american 5 year old, was told by Needville I.S.D. that he was not able to attend classes with his peers because of his long hair last Aug. Thanks to U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison, http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/6038942.htmlAdriel is now allowed to attend classes who ruled against the district's strict dress code policy. Let's hope that this ruling stands and that Adriel can finish the year with his classmates. After hearing this update, how does this make you feel now?

The future is now here.....

Technology has once again upgraded and outdated itself in a huge way. Last year Microsoft unvield it's new software/technology called microsoft surface. Imagine a coffee table with an interactive monitor that can transfer wireless files from one machine to another without the need of wires. Imagine also being able to simple touch the monitor and manipulate any photo or video as easily as you would a mouse. Sounds pretty cool, right?

Now imagine what you can do with that techonology in the class rooms? Active and smart boards are fairly new techonolgy for the classrooms, yet after watching this video I'm sure you'll want to wait in line with me when this becomes open to the public. How would you use this in your classroom?

It's goal writing time...

It's that time of the year where I have to sit and go over with my principal about goals that I should have for the year. How many of you have spent hours pondering over this topic? The simple thing would be to look at test scores and reading levels and call it a day. However if anyone were to tell you that teaching is simple, they clearly have no idea what teaching is like. Soooooo I was racking my brain over how to clearly state that I would like to have some kind of positive effect on my kids with it being measurable and defined. But there's the catch...how can someone put a clearly defined and measureable label over something that is clearly not...learning?

We all know that students consume information at different rates and styles yet we are to measure them all in the same method and style. How fair and accurate is that? My point being is that if a student who might not learn how to comprehend a story but learns how to stay out of trouble and helps others around him, be ready for the real world of tomorrow? Clearly we would all love for them to be perfect students with A+ averages, but we all know that's far from the case. So, with that being said, which skill or trait would you want your student to leave your classroom and be successful with? We would all love for our students to be nice, and honest, and responsible, and dependable, so on and so forth. If a student who had history of being disruptive left your room with a desire to help others with positive comments, wouldn't that be just as important and vital to a career as anything else?

Teaching is such a demanding profession. Clearly you need to be everything at all times to everyone. Where would you rate job readiness skills in a student with test scores? How would you know if you were an effective teacher to a student?

What kind of teacher are you?

After watching this video I had to think about how I engage my students. It's easy to get stuck in a routine not using technology, but in the end the ones who suffer are the students. They need to be able to learn how to use the techonolgy around us in manner that will aid them in their learning. How many teachers do you know have no clue what a blog is, or what even a podcast is? We need to do a better job of educating and spreading the word out about technology, so that our students will be better prepared for tomorrow. After watching this video do you feel that you are engaging your students correctly?

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Why Work Sucks!!!

I was listening to the radio and I heard Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson talk about their innovative ideas of work culture. Can you imagine going to work and not have to go to meetings, can leave when you want, and show up when you want? Sounds weird, I know. But for some companies this has been just the thing to get morale and productivity up.

Here is a small part from their book, Why Work Sucks:

Do you hate cramming all your work into the weekend?

Do you resent having to beg permission to watch your kid's weekday soccer game?

Are you tired of seeing people who aren't very good get promoted because they arrive early and stay late?

This is a very interesting idea. Going to work, and focusing on making sure that my students are going to get the most out of this year. The purpose ofcourse is to move away from just those who get by just "going through the motions". Both the employer and the employee will look at what each can do to achieve the determined objectives laid out.

I do feel like the majority of staff meetings are well....not the most productive use of my time. Imagine being able to say, "Hmm, No I don't think I'll go to the meeting today, I have other things to do?"

Sooooo.....Here's my question to you, what's your take on this idea? Would you be interested in working in a place that focuses on only the result?

Are you a Great Teacher?

This was post was inspired by Patrick Higgins who earlier wrote about Ben Wilkoff’s Academy of Discovery Wiki, and he attributes it to the folks as Science Leadership Academy, and he belives it is something everyone involved in education should examine.

Let’s take a look at some of the words that are used to describe an “Educational Hero” in this picture:

Provocative: the first on the list, and for good reason. What is someone in education if not provocative. By nature, information is meant to incite in us something that lay dormant or underutilized. Giving our students access to such provocation is an act that we need to do often.

Risk-Takers: We teach our students to take compositional risks, to make cognitive leaps, and to attempt to connect several disparate ideas into one usable and coherent whole. Why should we as teachers not be doing the same? By nature, our approach should be daring, and variable based on “teachable moments.”

Balance-Freedom-Guidance: I like the inclusion of these words, and of “nurturing,” because if nothing else, our students need to feel valuable and safe before they can take the risks that they need to. These words, these actions are what makes it easier for learners to reach from the solid ground of what they know towards that which is shaky, unknown, yet incredibly valuable.

Humble: When I work with teachers who are trying to shift away from being the sole arbiters of information in the classroom, I always stress humility over the stress of trying to know everything. Being grounded, centered and comfortable with the idea that you do not have all the answers, and that these students can help you continue to learn, makes it all beautiful, doesn’t it?
Want to be like them: Perhaps the highest compliment anyone in education can receive. With the omnipresent stream of role models of ill-repute, being someone that learners want to be “when they grow up” is no small feat. I remember the moments that some of my past teachers did something amazing, showed us a door that we didn’t know existed, and then thinking back to it years later as I was doing the same thing to a group of students. It is high praise indeed.

As we are all going through our first part of school, I ask each and every one of you.....Do you see youself acting on all of these traits on a daily basis? School life is not easy, and anyone who says it is, is probably not doing it right. However, I challenge you to try to take this task on for one day a week. Then when you can, take it a step further and do 2 days a weeks. The goal ofcourse is being actively involved in each of these components on a daily basis. If you notice that you are simply "going through the motions" try to do your best to come up with a new way of getting your activity done that you haven't tried before. Let me know what your thoughts are on this topic......

To give or not to give.....

I know it's the timeless question. How much homework should be given out? As it stands, I do believe that homework should not be anything new, or difficult. It should be something that the student can do independently without taking up too much time. Yet I fear that there are teachers out there who feel uncomfortable in not giving loads of work to be done home. Old habits are hard to kill, and I do believe that with good first teaching, homework shouldn't be so taxing.

As a former second grade teacher, I used to make sure that one thing that they would always have to do is read and have their parents sign their reading log. As the year went on, I had them summarize and infer on what they were reading. Spelling and math worksheets were sent home every once in awhile. I made to sure to focus on getting what I wanted the students to learn in class which I saw made a huge improvement on their reading scores later on.

For anyone else out there who has been having similar problems with this dilema, here's a story from the houston chronicle telling how one school district is handling it. How much homework do you give your students? Do you feel that you are giving too much?

Learning without walls.....

How many times have you gone past a university and cringed at the thought of paying the high tution. In a perfect world wouldn't you love to learn new and cool things without having to pile on a new debt? One of the cool websites that I stumbled upon the other day does just that. Palbea is a place where you can go and learn a new language with others who can help you. There are lots of cool languages and the best part of it all.....IT'S FREE!!! I know, I couldn't belive it myself. Enjoy.

Another site Revoluminary, continues with the education, only goes a step further than just languages. Want to know science, math, social sciences, arts & leisure? It's all there and more. There is a small fee for each course you would like to sign up. I think it's a cool idea and the classes are bound to only get bigger.

The last site is called verbal planet. It's another place to lean languages with others and it uses the skype. You choose the tutor, the language and then you pay that tutor's fee. It's easy to use, and fun to look around.

What happened to the good ol' days?

I'm sure that this is not a surprise to anyone but I just came across this story and I had to stop and ponder about it. Meals today at many fast food establishments have tried to include healthy food, but as you can see there are too many unhealthy choices. Students now are growing up in a culture where it's not only ok to be lazy, but with the facebook, and myspace, and everything else, why would a teenager want to leave their home this summer? As role models we also have to make smarter choices, and we can also try to incorporate some health fitness into the classroom.

I know that many of us are not P.E. teachers, but that doesn't mean we can't bring a little of that into the classroom. As teachers we can have the students discuss what makes a healthy food choice and an unhealthy food choice. Have them sort ads from a Sunday paper and discuss what they have experienced. Another way is to graph their heartbeat. Have them start cold, and find their pulse and record their rate. Then turn on some music have do some light aerobics for a few min and again record their pulse. You can increase the level of difficulty a few more times, and then do a warm down and take a pulse.

Activities such as these will not only have your students engaged in the lesson, but also aware of good healthy choices. Which is exactly what we as educators should all strive for. We need to encourage more activites just like we had when we were kids.