This is what Democracy looks like!

Good morning colleagues! It is a BEA-utiful Saturday morning in Colorado Springs! It is already 63 degrees out, so I'm just itching to go for a walk or hike. It's surprising that I even wanted to get out of bed after a very long day yesterday! But to tell the whole story, I have to go back to last Friday, April 20th.

I'd gone out to eat with friends as we were celebrating someone's birthday. While sitting at BJ's, eating a gluten-free pizookie and watching the Cubs just utterly destroy the Rockies, a friend received a text message - her district will be closed on April 27th for the Colorado educator rally. Recently I've been quite politically active, but this bit of news just flew over my head. I'm embarrassed that I didn't know about this rally as things are happening in the Colorado Legislature that will AFFECT ME as an educator. So as my friend fills us in on the march, and another friend and I look at each other and say, "You in? I'm in."

Monday morning rolls around, and I put in for a personal day on April 27th. I'm even lucky enough that my preferred sub picks up the job quickly! A colleague comes into my classroom to ask if I'm going to the rally on Friday and I smile and say yes. After that conversation, word about the rally spreads among the teachers in my school, and the "situation" begins to escalate. We get an e-mail later in the day asking for teachers to let admin know if they will be gone on Friday. I, of course, told admin that I will be gone and that I have a sub already lined up. The response I received back was not that nice, but I know also stemmed from frustration. It was evident that teachers were talking and were putting in for subs, and not all of the sub positions were getting picked up.

Then, on Tuesday, we get an e-mail from our superintendent. It was not well received. In fact, in an act of situational irony, the e-mail had the exact opposite effect and teachers started taking the day off in droves. It was all that anyone could talk about, and the teachers that I spoke to were irate. Luckily, the next day, the superintendent decided to change the school day to a professional development day for teachers. Across all schools, it would have been "all hands on deck." I heard that there would be classes held in the auditoriums and gyms because there weren't enough teachers, counselors, or administration left to cover. It would have been a waste of a day if there was school.

So yesterday morning my husband and I were able to sleep in (so luxurious!), run some errands, then pick up a friend to drive to Denver. We took the light rail from the south edge to downtown, then walked along 16th Street Mall to Civic Center Park. It was powerful to be on the train and see more and more teachers in red pile on. As we walked along 16th Street, there were teachers in red everywhere!

 The march, from Civic Center Park to the Capitol Hill, started at 1:00 pm. The march was short (too short) but was powerful. We shut down a busy street, but as we marched, many people in cars honked in support! We were near the front, so we ended up on the hill. As we looked back, people kept streaming towards the hill. It was pretty exciting! But around 1:30/1:45, the police reopened the busy street and cut the group of teachers in two. At 2:00, when the rally began, it was evident that the sound system was not up to par for the number of teachers in attendance. It was hard to hear. I found out later that Governor Hickenlooper spoke, but I have no idea when he spoke. I looked back down the hill after 10-15 minutes, and teachers started leaving. It was disappointing that the rally turned out that way, but it was still a powerful experience. As people left, we did move our way forward. We were near the front for the last 20 or so minutes, so we heard some great speakers, saw some hilarious signs, and chanted, clapped, and yelled with the remaining educators!

So why did I march and rally yesterday?

• Colorado schools are currently underfunded by $822 million and $2,700 below the national average in per pupil funding. Right now, Colorado's economy is #1 in the nation. Why is there such a disparity?
• Initiative 93: Great Schools Thriving Communities is a bill that will raise $1.6 billion annually in support of public education, while 92% of taxpayers will not see an increase in their taxes.
• SB 18-200's legislative intent is to improve PERA’s (our pension fund) funded status and lower its overall risk. It will phase-in a 3% increase from the current 8 percent to 11 percent of pay, starting in July 2018. As currently written, the bill would change the retirement eligibility age for all members who are age 46 or younger (i.e., me) as of January 1, 2020, by adding one year to full-service retirement eligibility for every four years less than age 46, not to exceed 65 years of age. At 34 years old, I would have to add three more years to my full-service retirement eligibility. 

Fascinating chart from @axios shows how inflation-adjusted public teacher salaries have gone down in the great majority of states. pic.twitter.com/h1vF8Q9I77

— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) April 3, 2018

Right now, my husband and I are okay. We are living a comfortable life and have enough left over each month to put into savings and retirement (outside of PERA). BUT, the reason that we live a comfortable life is because of two things. 1) We were lucky enough to "win" a house through a HUD program called Good Neighbor Next Door. We were one of the last people to get a house, through this program, in Colorado Springs. We have a low mortgage rate and much more house than we could ever fill. We have been able to improve the property over the last seven years, and now, because of the housing boom along the Front Range, we will be able to walk away with a large amount of money when we sell. But we can't sell because we wouldn't be able to buy another house in town. The market is so hot that houses are selling, sight unseen, in less than 72 hours. We are really, REALLY lucky that we own a house. 2) We've made the conscious decision to not have children. We would be struggling if we did have children. 

Even though we lead this comfortable life, it could easily change by not having our salaries grow each year with the massive rise in the cost of living. It could easily change by our rise in rates for health coverage. It could easily change by having to contribute more to PERA each year, but have a chance that it will run out by the time I retire. 

As I saw on many signs yesterday, you can't put students first if you put teachers last. Thanks for reading... I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

The A-Z of Digital Learning Problems!

Good morning colleagues! The struggle is REAL! I had such a busy week, and I'm exhausted. Luckily, I stumbled across an article talking about the A-Z problems in a digital classroom. Even though the article was only a year old, I felt like there needed to be an update. So here are MY A-Z problems of digital learning!

Applications - as teachers, we have to wade through 2 million applications available in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. That's A LOT of apps. 
Building rapport - Our students, when using digital devices, will put their head down and put their face close to the screen. It is imperative that we get them to look up every once in awhile, and maybe even have them talk to each other, and to you as a teacher.
Celebration of learning - when providing praise or feedback, we have to be intentional with sharing student success. It is a little more challenging with digital devices as we don't have a way to put work on a bulletin board in the hallway. As digital teachers, we must use Instagram, Twitter, and blogs to share those successes.
Distractions - "What did you say?" It is not challenging to end up down a rabbit hole when on a digital device. It is so important to make your curriculum engaging and relevant to keep kids present. It is also essential to help students learn HOW to stay present with a device. Be a good role model - be present YOURSELF.
Engagement - a digital device is JUST A TOOL! Make your content appealing and authentic. That will keep students engaged in your class and hopefully free of distractions. 
Feedback - it can be tough to provide timely feedback. What is a better use of your time... discussing feedback with your students in class (either in person or digitally) or handing back an assignment with feedback that they'll never look at? Google Forms is so easy for providing quick feedback, especially with Autocrat and Simply Send add-ons.
Group Work - group work can be a challenge when students are working digitally. G Suite has helped the digital classroom move forward, but we still have to be on guard. Apple Classroom has recently been a lifesaver because I can see what all students are doing. Every student needs to play a role, in group work, because that will also happen as students move into the workforce. 
High expectations - no longer should we be expecting DOK 1 level work... especially when students can just Google an answer. We should have high expectations, especially when it comes to the 4Cs (collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking). Our high expectations should also include students sharing their work with the general public.
Instant gratification - students just want everything to work, work right, and work right now. Life DOES NOT work that way, especially the internet! We have to help students move past needing everything done right now and slow them down. Patience is a virtue, and it's been learned young. 
Jargon - if we teach our students digitally, we need to understand and explain technological jargon. This also includes what's relevant to the students right now (gifs, memes, DMs, dog filter). If our students live on the internet, we have to keep up just a little.
Knowledge mastery - even though we should be moving beyond DOK level 1 activities, we still do want students to know and understand the content information. We must build exercises that use content knowledge for our students to master the topics. Memorization cannot be the only activity we use! Yes, I want my students to know what the Constitution says and means, but I also want them to understand how the Constitution affects their daily lives and how it will continue to influence them as they age!
Learning Management Systems - Which is better, Google Classroom or Schoology? Both options are fantastic depending on what type of classroom you have (or want to have) and what kind of students you have. My district pays for Schoology Enterprise, but we also pay for G Suite. I used Schoology religiously as a Social Studies teacher (for flipped learning), but now I find Google Classroom better suited for my broadcasting students. Find what works best, but know them both! Be an expert!
Managing time - I've come to realize over my 12 years of teaching that students DO NOT know how to handle their work! With digital devices, it has only gotten worse (due to so many distractions)! Helping students utilize calendars and find apps that quiet their devices can assist them in managing their time. Kids are busier today than we ever were! 
Networking - Emma Gonzalez was just another senior in high school until the school shooting at  Stoneman Douglas High School. Instead of staying quiet, she became an outspoken activist in the media. She has become a celebrity as people around the world know her name. She didn't continue to be quiet - she reached out to anyone that she could, to find her voice, and to find her purpose. Our students should be able to also network in that way, so we have to help them and support them through reaching out to strangers. This takes time but is a skill that is absolutely necessary today.
Objectives - technology can be fun and engaging, but you should also ensure that your curriculum has strong student objectives that align with state standards. Don't be a "fluffy" teacher! 
Plagiarism - two ways to prevent "piracy": 1) make your lessons un-Google-able and 2) teaching your students HOW to research. Students plagiarize when they are frustrated and have run out of time. We want students to explain their thinking, not someone else's.
Questions - Students. Have. A. Lot. Of. Questions. How can we provide help? Make video tutorials, write out explanations, make an FAQ for major projects... then put them all on a Google Site. Institute a policy - 1) ask a friend, 2) check the website, 3) ask me. Hopefully, this will help students become a bit more self-sufficient.
Rudeness - Students struggle with personal interactions with other humans. This is likely due to them staring at a screen for a majority of their day. Along with building relationships and rapport, we also need to teach students empathy and proper social interactions. Do not let students continue to be rude - model how people should be interacting with each other.
Scaffolded instruction - this is a problem that every teacher has, but technology should help support scaffolded instruction. Gone are the days where we just assign fewer problems to complete for homework. We want all of our students to understand the content, explain their thinking, and meet the same objectives. We need to, then, think of a variety of activities, using technology, that will meet their needs.
Troubleshooting - Even though we would love to assume our students are "digital natives," that myth is just not accurate. Yes, students, for the most part, know how to use digital devices, but they do not know how to use them for an educational purpose. We have to teach our students how to troubleshoot their way through a digital issue. We have to reinforce those troubleshooting techniques until our students know what to do. We cannot always fix the problem for the students!
Understanding failure - students have to be challenged to face frustration and, sometimes, defeat. Not everything in life comes easy, and students have to understand that before they are adults. We do not want our students to purposefully fail every time they try something, but they should be challenged so that tasks are challenging. We want students to be tested in a way that may cause them to fail so that they learn from their mistakes and move forward with a growth mindset. 
Video tutorials - Stop assigning homework! With the free time that you now have, design video tutorials over your top vital concepts. Put them on YouTube, or Schoology, or Google Classroom. Use Edpuzzle to build in comments and questions. Then, after this year, make another set of videos over your secondary key concepts. Start small to be productive!
Wifi - technology is not going to work at all times, so we have to be prepared for when it does not work. Does that mean we need to double plan? Maybe. Should we have the capability to think on our feet? Probably. 
Xenagogue - our students are not always prepared for living in a digital world, so we have to assume that they do not speak a digital native language. We have to believe that our students are "foreigners" to the internet and teach them as such. Never assume that the teacher before you has prepared your students for how YOU teach - educate the students that you have, right now, at this moment. 
Your students - you know your students best. Prepare them for a world not yet imagined, but also ensure that your students are getting a high-quality education. Not every great task requires technology, so sometimes you need to suck it up and use paper or provide a hands-on activity.
Zombie Syndrome - The internet is not the answer for everything. As a teacher, take a break. In your classroom, take a break. Go for a walk and enjoy nature. See what is around your school or even your community. The internet will be there when you get back. 

Thanks for reading... I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Helping Students Research

Good morning colleagues! This week researching in class came up two different times. The first time research came up was when my former teammate needed some advice to help students analyze Civil War historical figures. The second time research was in a conversation was talking about some students that are ineligible for track because of failing a research assessment in math.

It is very evident that students struggle with researching a topic. I think the main reason is that students are overwhelmed with information as they investigate, because they expect instant results (instant gratification), and because learners have never been taught HOW and WHY they should research a topic.

This is not a blog post where I wag my finger at other people and their inadequate teaching of research in their class. I am less than a year out from being a Social Studies teacher myself, and I will own that I did a poor job teaching my students. This post is, instead, about how I think we can get students to research thoroughly.

I believe that this problem can be resolved through teaching students advanced Google searching skills. If a student is studying Abraham Lincoln, there are 10,500,000 results. TEN MILLION RESULTS! What if the information that they need is hiding on page 36 of the results?! I've long been a proponent of teaching students advanced Google searching skills. I haven't always been the best at explaining it to the kids, but it's essential to help students dig through the waste of the internet to find the diamond. I even put together an infographic of my (personally) most used Google search terms when I research. If a student is analyzing Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address on Google, there are 646,000 results. "Abraham Lincoln" "Gettysburg Address" site:.edu has 8,650 results. "Abraham Lincoln" "Gettysburg Address" site:.gov has 7,550 results. Both of those searches have many results to wade through, but it's approximately 98% fewer results than the original search AND all results come from an educational or government website. "Abraham Lincoln" "Gettysburg Address" site:nytimes.com has only 343 results. We have to help students "dig" to find the information that they need. If you have your students doing general research, I would encourage you to force students to find information from .edu and .gov pages, and maybe even ask them to use a reputable news source.

If you want students to slow down as they work, SLOW THEM DOWN and give them time. I would encourage you to do a class research project at the beginning of the year. Work together as a class using the same search queries and search results. Have students look at the author to identify bias and to evaluate the source. Have students discuss what makes a result better than another. Force students to find a wide variety of sources as they research. Then, as students get better at slowing down, start giving them more of a challenge. Give them questions that cannot be "Googled," i.e., have them form an opinion about the subject and find evidence to support their answer. It makes it much more difficult to plagiarize, AND if they're passionate about the topic (or their opinion), they will invest and want to find the answers.

Why should we make our students investigate a variety of topics? I think the better question is, do we want our students to be self-sufficient, well-rounded, life-long learners? I feel like every teacher would answer yes to that question. But not every student is going to be an academic for the rest of their lives. Some kids may end up as a mechanic, a doctor, or a secretary. No matter what occupation someone has in the future, they will likely have to do some research. We seek more efficient methods for doing our job, and in an ever-changing technological world, how we do our jobs changes. We have to be able to adapt to those changes through making and understanding that evolution. So after we conquer the "why" with our students, we have to teach them the HOW. Students need to learn how to use advanced skills with Google searching, they need to understand what a good source looks like, they need time management skills through assigning small chunks of work at a time, and they need to cite the sources that they use to avoid plagiarizing someone else's work. In the end, if you want students to be excellent researchers, you have to teach them to be thorough and thoughtful researchers. Never expect that the teacher they had the previous year showed them anything about research. Take ownership of the students that you have, right now, in your class.

As I wrote out my blog, I realized there was an extra problem - meeting the needs of ALL of our students. This problem was always my most challenging. I did a decent job at differentiating and accommodating my assignments, except for research. You have to scaffold inquiry for students, whether that's finding and vetting websites for them, creating research cloze notes, or even putting students into homogeneous groups for a research project. I would also think about doing small mini-lessons for research or even severely chunking a student's time in your class as they research. It is hard for kids to stay focused past 20 minutes. How can you use that to your advantage? Can you make 20-minute research blocks available for your students so that they're not doing the same thing for 60 minutes?




Hopefully, this gives you some food for thought as you are thinking about an upcoming research project (or how you can improve a previous activity)! Thanks for reading... I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Vetting Apps

Good morning colleagues! I'm back! I was going to post last week... I had this great plan of reading The Innovator's Mindset and doing a book review blog post. But then Spring Break happened, i.e., I sat around and did NOTHING and enjoyed my time off. So then I was going to finish it this week, but we started track practice, and having two and a half hours less each day really cramps my time! SO...  I have a completely different blog post this week!

While reading The Innovator's Mindset, I saw a great quotation from George Couros, "My belief is not that teachers don't want to change, but they sometimes lack clear guidance and support to make the desired change." This bit of information has stuck with me this whole week as I've thought about supporting teachers in my position, but also as I've read more on the news about Cambridge Analytica. If you don't follow the news, Cambridge Analytica is a political consulting firm that mines and analyzes data. Why this story is huge is because they accessed private information from between 50-80 million Facebook users to influence and target American voters in the 2016 Presidential election. Cambridge Analytica is mostly funded by two people: Robert Mercer and Steve Bannon.

So why am I bringing up this breach on my educational blog? Because I, along with a group of three other teachers, have embarked on an ambitious program to "vet" apps for our school district. Traditionally, large school districts have an "edtech" team that does this, but because our district is still designing (hopefully) this team, some of the responsibilities have fallen on everyday teachers.
What is app vetting and why do we do it? In simple terms, we are auditing/reviewing apps to ensure that they meet student data privacy laws such as FERPA and COPPA. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. One aspect of this is that schools must have written permission from the parent to release any information from a student's education record which includes their name, location, student ID, etc. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is a law created to protect the privacy of children under 13. COPPA imposes specific requirements on operators of websites or online services directed to children under 13 years of age, and on operators of other websites or online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information online from a child under 13 years of age.

Right now, D49 is not meeting the requirements of these two federal laws. After the Cambridge Analytica scandal, it is even more imperative to be in compliance ASAP! We have to ensure that our students' data is not being accessed, let alone mined, for nefarious purposes!

So why did I bring up the George Couros quotation? Because it has been briefly mentioned to my 1:1 colleagues that there will be changes next year and some apps will not be able to be used. Some teachers were quite frustrated and wanted to know why this change was happening. I even mentioned FERPA and COPPA, but the teachers didn't know what those laws were and wondered if they were new. After looking at, reading, and thinking about the quotation,  I've realized that the frustration stems from teachers lacking the guidance and support for the change.
So I'm going to lay out how we vet apps (what we're looking for) and how we will make changes for the next school year.

• We look at the applications that teachers want to use and determine if they will be used for educational purposes. 
• We access the iOS application's App Store page so that we can quickly find the developer website and privacy policy. 
• Once on the privacy policy, we scour for a few things. What types of information are being shared?  Is there any information shared that could be considered sensitive?  Are students sharing personally identifiable information? How does the application gather data? Does it share or sell the data? Does it retain the data after the account is deleted? Does the application have ads? Are students under 13 allowed to use the application? Does the app require parental consent before use? Are students generating content? Is that content shared publicly? What happens if there's a breach of data?
• After finding answers to all of the questions that we have, we put the application on a spreadsheet. The app will fall under one of four categories: 1) approved with no limitations, 2) approved with limitations, banned completely, approved for a teacher account only. 
• By the end of the year, all 1:1 teachers need to make a list of applications that they want to use in the classroom. We will compile the list and vet apps over the summer. At the beginning of year registration, parents will sign off on all applications to be used. 
• If a teacher wants a new application through the next school year, at SMS I will vet the app. Once approved, the teacher will have to send home a parent permission form, receive all forms back, then I will add the application to the 1:1 device. 

This is all a work in progress, and it is very slow moving as there are only four of us teachers vetting applications. I hope, through this process, that teachers understand the importance of vetting apps to keep our students safe in the 21st century.

Thanks for reading! I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website