Inspiring quotes, Inspiring students

17Fn recently posted a comment on a post on my other blog (Teach 'em How To Fish) that was Gandhi's quote, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

She said, "And recently, thinking backing on it Mr. Warkentin, I realize you were a big influence on my continued growth towards having a love of reading, writing, and environmental activism. Please keep doing what you did. You never know how many more you may unwittingly inspire by living as the change you wish to see."

Wow! 

Of course, this is a huge shot in the arm  as a teacher, since we all have seasons of our career that are more inspiring than others. The year I had 17FN in my class was one of the best years of my career, I would have to say. Since then, I have had a few very difficult years.

It was great to read the comment, but also great to browse over some of my thoughts from previous posts. The quotes that were important to me, and things I was learning at that time... Now at a season that is very stressful for a teacher-the beginning of the school year.

Some other powerful quotes from that blog:

“In times of change learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.“ – Eric Hoffer

This was a quote that I found 17 years ago, when I was student teaching. It is true now, more than ever, since I am now in the midst of very significant change:

1. Shifting to Common Core Standards
2. New principal & admin
3. New grade level teaching partners
4. New grade level (although I've taught 4th grade years ago)
5. Some new technologies that I want to use in my classroom regularly
1. my own teacher iPad
2. class sets of iPod Touches to share
3. class sets of iPads to share
4. Edmodo

And, finally, a post about Digital Natives-Digital Immigrants had some good stuff in it.

"We need to educate our children for their future, not our past." - Arthur C. Clark

This was inspiring, given the list above! This gives me energy and more inspiration, especially when I would be tempted to enter into these things more slowly. While it's wise to not bite off more than I can chew, I shouldn't be more timid than I need to be.

Edmodo 101

Here are my notes from the Edmodo session I attended. There will be incomplete sentences and outline-format ideas here. Enjoy this with taht in mind:

It's like Facebook for schools
It's a "walled garden": a protected, safe social networking environment
Students can't go "out" and make friends. They can't even connect to other classes that I set up, unless I configure it that way.
Teachers see everything, can monitor everything.

No email address necessary (good for younger-than-13-year-olds)
Write their username and password in their agendas/daily planner
Teachers can change their usernames/passwords

Functions:
1. Polls
PollEverywhere.com is a good option - a good way to use cell phones acceptably in school
Edmodo's Poll function might be a great way to to check for understanding, both mid-lesson, or at end of longer lesson/unit

2. Assignments (classwork/homework)
3. Tests & Quizzes
Multiple-choice questions - Students see scores instantly!
Fill-in - students must type in EXACTLY what you typed in
Short answer - teacher must grade
all is paperless, though! :)

4. Student and Teacher Collaboration
Huge potential for this. Hard to fully convey in a verbal conversation.
I think I'm just going to have to jump in to fully understand how this can work, and grasp the full potential of what this tool can do.

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Had a fantastic talk with the folks at the Edmodo booth in the Exhibit hall.

Very encouraged to see how folders can work.

For example, if there is a resource in a group I'm a part of (like Basal Alignment Project) that I want to share, I can share that resource with my teacher colleagues by sharing it with a group that we are all in.

Then, if a teacher wants to use that resource with his/her students, the resource can be shared with a group for just that class or period.

The chat/discussion feature is fantastic. I can choose the settings so that any comment that a student posts has to go through me first. This makes me, the teacher, the filter, so that I can teach my students about online netiquette...what is appropriate and what is not, how to make wise decisions about their online footprint, etc.

With all of these powerful features, I naturally had some anxiety about my class/school/district/etc investing time and energy in understanding and using Edmodo, and then it becoming a fee-based service, since many free online services have gone this way. The rep assured me that they "are free and always will be".

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I will probably update this blog post as I continue to talk more with the folks at their booth, and rub shoulders with other teachers that have used this tool with their students and colleagues.

Google Sites: Simple, Yet Sensational

Thanks to those planning on attending my session “Google Sites: Simple, yet Sensational”

I hope that you gained (will gain) some inspiration about creating a Google Sites for your classroom website, or perhaps another purpose.

Whether you attend or not, I hope you can use my presentation, which can be found here.

It covers:

Creating a new Site

Captcha

Name vs. URL

Templates

Features

Types of New Pages (Web page, File Cabinet, Blog)

Layout of New Pages

Live Links

Sidebar (Automatically or Manually)

Images

Upload files (non-File Cabinet way)

Embedding Google Products

Embedding other things (HTML embed code)

Countdown

Sharing (various degrees of privacy/publishing)

Examples will be shared

Live Demo and Q + A at the end

iOS App Recommendations

This vacation, I've been able to spend some time pursuing a dream I've had for quite a while: having an "App Night" for parents. I have noticed that the percentage of homes of my students that have iOS devices is increasing. When, at award assemblies or Christmas programs, it is time for parents to take pictures, out come the iPhones (and even a couple iPads this year). I asked my rural, low socio-economic students how many of their parents have iPhones, iPads, or iPod Touches, and the number is more and more encouraging every year.

Because of this, I have wanted to somehow have a conversation where I recommend quality apps. There are many apps that merely improve "twitch" speed, and so nothing for literacy, math skills, or critical thinking, etc. Knowing how much time my own children like to spend on our family's iOS devices, I know that there is an incredible potential for learning here.

So here is a Google Presentation that I've been working on, with recommendations for apps. I hope that during this season where many of you (or your children) potentially got new iOS devices, iTunes/App Store gift cards, or both, that this might be helpful.

1. This is a list for parents, not teachers. Many have done this, and I hope to prepare a list for teachers, at some point, too.

2. Obviously, keeping up with all the incredible apps out there, and truly picking out the best, is an impossible task. There are many apps that you would probably like to add to this list. Please add them to the comments here!

3. Since I am now teaching 2nd grade, and my children are in K and 4th grade, this is primarily (ha! "primarily" - get it?) where I'm coming from. As this project continues to grow, I hope to provide more recommendations that include higher grade levels. However, many of my Science and History / Social Studies app recommendations are relevant to all ages/grades.

4. This does not attempt to be an "iPad list". Many of the apps recommended either a) have an iPad version, or b) are "universal", which means they work on both. Here is a list of apps that are specifically about iPad apps.

Merry Christmas!

Migrating from Edublogs

Years ago, I began blogging. At that time, I favored Edublogs. I had a clear purpose then: To provide tips, tricks, resources, thoughts, and such about technology and education. I liked Edublogs because it was free; it still is, but now has seemingly non-sensical ads in the form of making some of the text of my articles into links to other websites that didn't have anything to do with the content of my articles.

I plan to bring several of the articles from that blog to this one. (Both blogs having the same name, which might or might not be a great idea... we'll see.)

In the last couple years, I have become a hard-core fan of Google and its tools. I even teach an online class called "All Things Google" through Fresno Pacific University. To briefly introduce/explain that course, I'll just say that I began developing that course by looking at the Google home page > more > even more. Then, from that page, I picked the Google tools that I felt had the most transformational potential for education. So far, it seems to be going well.

So, my re-entry into the blogosphere after an unintentional hiatus, might as well be with Blogger, rather than with Edublogs, given the disadvantage mentioned above. The downside of using Blogger, which kept me away years ago, is that at the top of each window is a link to other blogs.

I hope that I can be more consistent and continue contributing via this blog, and my other Blogger blog, "Stretching". This blog will be focused on education and technology, while Stretching will be where I blog about other areas of my life where I am learning, growing, and stretching (hence the name).

Teach 'Em How To Fish is (and was) named based on the idea of us wanting not just to feed our students for a day by giving them a "fish", but teaching them how to learn (how to "fish").

More later...

If you're green, you're growing!

"As long as you're green, you're growing. As soon as you're ripe, you start to rot.” - Ray Croc

My principal shared this with us in the context that we're all growing... He doesn't expect anyone to be perfect, and he doesn't ever put irrational or unkind pressure on any of us. He just wants us to continue to grow, as he, in fact, is doing, as well. A good place to be.

By the way, a few minutes earlier, our superintendent shared a version of this idea - a quote from one of his mentors: "If you think you're good, you're dead."

The LEARN Act - What really IS the best way to teach reading?

Here, Susan Ohanian quotes a letter sent by Stephan Krashen to the Congressional sponsors of the LEARN Act.
Conversations like this always make me wonder... What research really counts, and what "research" is merely opinion couched in authoritative-, academic-, and scholarly-sounding language?

Krashen says that the LEARN Act is "Reading First on steroids". He goes on to list lots of reasons why the money is misplaced. That we should instead be investing time and money in having kids READ instead of going overboard on direct instruction of phonics, etc. I was glad to see that he made a distinction between Intensive Systematic Phonics, Basic Phonics, and Zero Phonics. (He advocates Basic Phonics.)

INTENSIVE SYSTEMATIC PHONICS
phonics taught in sequence
all "major" rules
all rules consciously learned
reading = practice of learned rules

BASIC PHONICS
no optimal sequence
consciously learn only basic rules
most rules subconsciously acquired from reading
reading = source of most phonics knowledge

ZERO PHONICS
all rules subconsciously acquired
reading = source of all phonics knowledge

He says that the LEARN Act insists on Intensive Systematic Phonics, and most of what he says in the letter opposes this. However, he clarifies by saying that he is NOT in favor of Zero Phonics.

Interesting conversation, which I presume will not be over any time soon...