What inspires me?

Good morning colleagues! I am back for one last blog before our two weeks of fall break (thank goodness - we're all exhausted). Well... once again, I was not selected as a Google Innovator. Was I surprised? No, not really. But it still feels like a low blow.

So to change my mindset, especially considering #oneword2018, I have to look forward and remind myself... why do I teach? Why am I still doing this after 13 years?

A quick side note, this is my tenth year teaching middle school. Whenever people ask what I do, and I say that I'm a middle school teacher, I either get a crazy look or a sympathetic look. I've never gotten anything else. And even though this job is sometimes insane, I don't need the wild look or sympathetic look because I enjoy my occupation. I still want to come into the building day after that. I do this because I believe that my job is integral.

I believe that education has a purpose in society, that our job is to educate future generations to be well-rounded, productive citizens. I think that my role as a teacher is to facilitate students learning. My goal every year is to make my students better people. I do that by providing students with a voice and a choice as often as possible. I want students to take ownership of their learning, and for that to happen, students have to "buy in" to what they are doing in the classroom.

What keeps me going? What makes me come back to my classroom every day? My students, plain and simple. I love seeing them grow and mature. As a broadcasting teacher, I now have students from 7th to 8th grade. It's incredible to see how much they change from August of the 7th grade year to May of their 8th grade year. The students start to look at the world differently and begin to understand their place and who they are.

What inspires me day after day?

• Conversations: On Wednesdays, I meet with a small group of teachers. We consider ourselves "coaches," but in different ways (interventionists, technology, English language, and our actual instructional coach). We discuss best practices and proven instructional strategies. We talk about how to move our colleagues and how to implement change. I also have great conversations one-on-one, randomly, in my classroom or a coffee shop. I love to talk about education and learning. It leaves me with my thoughts about how to implement change and growth mindset in my classroom. 
• Learning: I enjoyed school as a kid, so it's no surprise that I'm someone who loves to learn. I learn while reading Twitter, reading books, having conversations, or through taking classes. We have professional development through the district that has provided me with great ideas, but I've also done online mini-courses that have given me great ideas. It keeps my classroom "fresh" and different each day and every year. 
• Creating: I love learning and conversations that lead me to design unique curriculum. I do enjoy creating curriculum - thinking about what I want my students to know, which standards I'm covering, and how my students will use their learning in the future. I want to continually adapt and change my curriculum to meet my students' needs. Students will keep evolving... how can I keep up with them? How can I ensure that they become well-rounded citizens? 
• Taking risks: Using new technology and ideas in the classroom leads to failure. It is a risk. But the more you do something, the better you get. If you try once and fail, do you give up? Maybe I'm just stubborn, and that's why I continue to take risks as a teacher. I know that I need to meet my students' needs and that's not going to happen if you don't try something new. 

As you "fall into fall" (the days get shorter, and we get closer to winter break) try to remember WHY you teach. What happens when you "fall"... how do you get back up and keep going?

Thanks for reading. I'll see you back here on October 27th!

- Rachel
@historicalipad
My Teacherspayteachers website

Reimagining Education

Hello, colleagues! Happy weekend!

Last Friday I was perusing Twitter, as I am wont to do, and I stumbled across an article from Singularity Hub. I had never heard of Singularity Hub before, so I went to their about page to learn more who they are. They wrote Since 2008, Singularity Hub has offered daily news coverage, feature articles, analysis, and insights on key breakthroughs and future trends in exponential technologies as well as highlighting how they’re being leveraged for social impact and utilized to tackle the world’s grand challenges. So... seems like something that's right up my alley! The article itself was focused on reimagining education in the exponential age. SH interviewed Rohan Roberts, the author of the book Cosmic Citizens and Moonshot Thinking: Education in an Age of Exponential Technologies.

Some highlights from the interview:

• Classifying the skills that machines should bring to the table and what humans should contribute to the partnership is key.
• Any curriculum worth its salt would focus not on content but on developing critical survival skills, such as leading by influence, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurship, effective communication, analyzing information, and curiosity and imagination.
• We’d need to focus on future fluencies that are based on problem solving, creativity, digital citizenship, media, and collaboration across networks.
• The days of the teacher as subject expert and fount of information are numbered. In addition to being cross-curricular specialists, teachers will need to be guides, counselors, mentors, and facilitators.
• If we acknowledge that human destiny is to become a multi-planetary species and that our future lies in the stars, then we’ve got to start training our students to have discussions about who we are, where we are headed, and what we want to be. 

I found the article interested as it entwined my philosophy of education with some futuristic science! It also got me thinking... what skills did I learn in school that I still use today? My answer is very little. I grew up while education was still very much listen, memorize, regurgitate, forget. There are bits and pieces that I still remember from school, but nothing of real value that I still use today. So what skills are we teaching students that they are going to use when they're 34? I'm hoping that the answer includes some of the bullet points above.

In my classroom, students:

• Choose different "occupations" each week: producer, director of photography, audio engineer, on-air talent, or editor. Students know what they need to do in these roles. This allows each student to lead, but also to follow. They have to communicate and collaborate together to ensure that a broadcast is developed every week. 
• Are all pre-production writers in that they have to plan and write the script and design the corresponding camera shots. Students must be creative to engage their viewers, but they must also critically think about how their video will appear to others.
• Are sometimes absent, so a group must be capable and take initiative when that other student is missing. They know they have to "pick up the slack" because they have an upcoming deadline that doesn't budge.
• Learn about local and world news. My advanced broadcasting students are designing two stories for the broadcast - the first is about a local narrative and the second is a feature outside of the United States. Students will have to research, check sources, analyze information, and conduct interviews. They have to be flexible especially when preparing to do a phone interview with a complete stranger. I am hoping by exposing them to local and world news that they will think about who they are as a student, a member of the community, and a US and global citizen. 
• Design a social commentary video. Students will pick a social topic important to them, provide commentary and information on the subject, and suggest solutions to solve these social issues. 

I've realized in my (short) time in education that I am no longer the only person/thing that knows anything or everything about a topic. Students today have access to the internet, their classmates, and their own brain. I don't know "everything" anymore, so I knew that it was time for me to take a step back and have students take ownership of their own learning. My job, as a classroom facilitator, is to provide structure and a safe environment while also providing students with resources that will help guide their knowledge.

My last thought on all of this is something that happened to me last weekend. My husband has been craving eggs benedict. I'm by no means a top chef, but I like to cook and work in the kitchen. So I went online, searched how to poach an egg, found a website tutorial from Alton Brown (who I know is a renowned chef), and learned how to poach an egg. I Snapchatted how everything went, and on my first go, I had one formed egg and one runny egg. Did it still taste delicious? Of course. And the next day, I tried it again, and I successfully poached two eggs for my avocado toast (#millennial). I realized that I learned how to do something new, with a facilitator, I tried and failed, but then I tried again. 

So think about this... what are you still learning today? What do you want your students to learn as well? How can you reimagine education? Thanks for reading :) I'll see you next week!

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Google Innovator Round 2

Happy weekend, colleagues!

I blogged a year and a half ago about doing something scary and outside the box for me: I applied to become a Google Innovator. And I was rejected. I'm not going to lie, it was a blow to my ego. And it took me a year and a half to be ready to try it again. I mean, I basically had to slap myself in the face and say, "GET IT TOGETHER!"

So I did it again. I applied to be a Google Innovator.

I will say that I feel less confident this time than last because the questions they asked were very open-ended. To be honest, I don't feel like the questions were written in such a way that the people reading my application will know much about me. But it is what it is, right? I'm definitely prepared to not be accepted this time.

So what is the committee looking for? I think they want passionate, driven, and hard-working teachers, but it seems like they also want teachers that are outside the box, creative, open to change, and forward-thinking. I know that I fit that mold, but so do a lot of other teachers! Am I more innovative than other teachers? Yes, but there are plenty of other teachers that are more innovative than me. I just hope that my passion shines through!

My submission responses
Question 1. If your life had a theme song, what would it be? Up to 5 words, 50 characters
“Don’t Stop Believing”

Question 2. Explain (1) how you came up with an idea for change, (2) how you went about implementing the change, (3) how others responded to the change, and (4) how you measured outcomes. In looking back, what things would you do differently? Maximum of 500 characters.
1. I was inspired by my PLN to start a tech tips newsletter. 2. I didn’t ask for permission; I made the newsletter and posted it in the staff bathrooms. 3. My colleagues are resistant, so it hasn’t made a recognizable shift YET, but innovation is happening in small pockets. 4. I’m measuring success through teachers moving away from “sage on the stage” teaching to providing choice and voice. I wouldn't do anything different. I’m taking measured steps to move the staff towards innovation.

Question 3. Give 10 examples of things you would put in a box to give teachers around the world to transform education.
1. An iPad
2. A Chromebook
3. Green fabric (for a green screen)
4. Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess
5. A Twitter account
6. A ticket to an EdCamp event
7. Motivational quotations
8. A blog
9. Pictures of non-traditional classrooms
10. A list of metacognition educational questions 

Question 4. Advocate: Link to a piece of content you've created that you think has inspired other educators. Show us a blog, a YouTube or webinar you've done, a poster or infographic, a presentation resource, or something you're really proud of online that you'd love to share. Include your link here!

https://sites.google.com/d49.org/historicalipad  

Question 5. Grow:  If you could choose any new talent to have, what would it be and why? Maximum of 500 characters. 

If I could choose a new talent, I would be more spontaneous. I can be spontaneous in my classroom, but most of the time, I am very deliberate and calculated. I am observant and well aware of my surroundings, but I feel like it would be nice not to worry so much. And when one is spontaneous, possibilities are endless. They don’t let anything pass them by, and they choose to live for each day. No moments pass them by, and they live surrounded by beauty and inspiration. It an exciting aspiration! 

Question 6. Brief description of a challenge that you’re facing. We are looking for big thinkers who are inspired and undaunted in tackling the most difficult challenges in education. Describe a challenge you’re currently facing and why it matters. Focus on the challenge and avoid posing any solutions at this point.  [Maximum of 250 characters]

An issue I've encountered is students’ lack of awareness of local, US, and world news. Students do not watch or read the news on a neutral platform, but instead, hear about news through hyperfocused social media (if that).  

Question 7. Focus on Your User: Who is affected by your challenge and how would addressing this challenge improve their experiences? [Maximum of 250 characters]

Students, teachers, and the greater community are affected by this problem. Addressing this issue improves student awareness of the local and global community. Students then discuss with their families to improve their awareness as well. 

Question 8. We are looking to have innovators who are tackling a variety of challenges across all seven elements of our transformation framework. Which element does your challenge most resonate with? Vision, Culture, Technology, Funding and sustainability, Community Engagement, Learning, or Professional Development.

Culture 

Question 9. Innovation Video: You have 90 seconds to creatively explain a difficult challenge in education, why it matters, who it affects, and why you are well-positioned to tackle the challenge in an impactful way. Please post a public YouTube link. This is also an opportunity to let your passion and personality shine. Don't forget to change the share settings so we can view your video.

Crossing my fingers! I'll see you next week! 

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Going all in on hyperdocs!

Hello, colleagues! I've been working quite hard this year on streamlining my curriculum through the use of hyperdocs. It is by no means perfected, and I still have more work to do throughout the years, but I feel like what I've created is a great start and can help you in your classroom!

So first off... what is a hyperdoc? Hyperdocs were created by three women in the Bay area: Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis. They wanted to provide their students with a way to be curious and explore problems instead of just consuming information. A hyperdoc often looks like a Google Doc with a whole bunch of links, but it is actually so much more! The point of the document is to have students engage, explore, explain, apply, share, reflect, and extend their learning. Basically, the document covers all of Bloom's Taxonomy or the four depth of knowledge (DOK) levels.

What am I doing with hyperdocs this year? As I said previously, I wanted to streamline my curriculum, clean up my broadcasting I and II curriculum, and also design curriculum for a new class: advanced broadcasting. I use backwards design (Understanding By Design) to plan out my units. I start with the end goal in mind, then plan out all of the steps necessary to get to the end goal. I wanted everything for the unit to be in one location and include all of the objectives that I am using with my students. A unit hyperdoc will look something like this:



How are the Hyperdocs working? I think they're going pretty well! Students are responding well to the documents (not that they know any different), and they are well aware that everything is in one location. Funny enough, they've enjoyed the different colors that I've made them in - I heard a student say, "What color is the document this time?!"

My goal for the year was to have every unit in a hyperdoc (BOY curriculum for broadcasting I and II and all units for advanced broadcasting). I would like to build hyperdocs for each week of broadcasting, but that's a work in progress that may not be accomplished by the end of the year. They're not a priority because I have to make new hyperdocs every week, every semester, every year. I just have to change the links, which is time-consuming, but is also not a priority... not yet.

I also know that my hyperdocs are incredibly basic. They are interactive, but they aren't as engaging as I would like. I need to add images, and I also need to add some extra pieces to make my hyperdocs more:

• Exploratory: students aren't exploring a topic as thoroughly as I'd like. This probably should be done through screencasts, Youtube videos, and readings. 
• Reflection: I have the students fill out a feedback form after watching the broadcast each week, but each of the units also needs to have a part where my students think about their learning. I could do this through Padlet, but I want it to have more meaning instead of just being "another step" in the process.
• Extended learning: I'm not entirely sure what to do here, at least for a broadcasting hyperdoc. Part of the issue is that my classes are only 45 minutes, and we're definitely set to deadlines. It's almost like we don't have time for this piece. Instead, the high schools should take on this piece (or my advanced broadcasting class should). I need to think through THIS step. 
• Critical thinking and problem solving: these two pieces are built into my classes already, but I don't necessarily feel like they are built into the hyperdocs. Once again, I am still thinking through this step... potentially for next year!

So what is the next step beyond just broadcasting? I've been asked to run two teacher "Tech Thursdays" in which I provide training for the staff. I sent out a Google Form to find out what teachers would like training on. I then took the responses and started designing training hyperdocs. They are currently WOEFULLY incomplete, but I'm not presenting until October 25th, so I have time to complete them and make them interactive!

I do wish that I learned about hyperdocs while I was still teaching Social Studies. I definitely would have designed similar hyperdocs to what I am doing right now. I think it would have provided sufficient context for my students when it came to learning about a) historical information and b) how everything "fit" together.

Thanks for reading! I hope this week's blog gave you a little inspiration to check out hyperdocs and potentially use them in your own classroom! I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Goals for iObservation

Good morning, colleagues! The school year is in full swing with a three-day Labor Day holiday! Can't believe that I've had four weeks of four-day work-weeks in a row! (A tiny bit ridiculous, right?!) Now that the school year has really started, it's time to set goals for the school year and for our growth plan.

Our district uses iObservation, which is a professional growth website designed by Learning Sciences International. LSI is partnered with Marzano evaluation tools which is what our district uses. I just completed my growth plan for the year with two goals.

1. My focused element is #2: tracking student progress. I'm pretty sure that this was a goal I used in the past, but I did a pretty terrible job with it as a teacher (and saw little growth with my students). Now that I'm in my second year as a broadcasting teacher, I really want to see improvement from my students to have strong broadcasts throughout the year. My plan for tracking student progress through formative assessments is as follows:

• The first broadcast is set for September 14th. On the 14th, after watching the broadcast (and potentially throughout the following week), I will conference with students individually. I will show them their first scale grade, discuss their baseline knowledge of broadcasting, and have them set a specific broadcasting goal (one goal for improvement and a discussion about their strength to be in). I will post these goals/strengths as post-its on my classroom cabinet where they can see them at any time (necessary for the third bullet point below!)
• I will check in with students three times through the remaining semester: October 4th, November 9th, and December 14th. I will be charting students’ scaled grades on individual progress reports and on a whole class report. When I conference with students on those days, we will discuss their progress on their goal and strength, and we will discuss their progress compared to their colleagues’ progress. 
• We watch the broadcast every Friday, so I will add a question to the feedback form where they reflect on their progress towards their goal and strength based on that week’s video. 
• At the end of the semester, students will post on their digital portfolios with their best and their favorite segments from the semester. They will also publish their individual progress report and reflect on their goal and the strength for the semester. 

Is this a lofty goal? Maybe. But I think it could make for real progress with my students in my class. 

2. My personal goal is to work on building my advanced broadcasting curriculum this year (as it is brand new and I'm making it up as I go). I'm turning my curriculum into interactive hyperdocs so that the curriculum is available to them as we go through the units. It will take me all year to build the hyperdocs, so I'm hoping to have the hyperdocs all completed by the first day of the last unit of the year, April 8. Example of these hyperdocs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lYGDJyJoF6JnaGHiEMbN_bBiNi55MkInQd7vn9x8-q4/edit?usp=sharing

The lovely thing about our growth plan this year, different from previous years, is that we are reading The New Art and Science of Teaching book together in our large team meetings. It gives real purpose to our meetings (instead of meeting just to meet) and gets us thinking and talking about the Marzano elements. I'm also glad that we are only focused on one target instead of three (in previous years). I really feel like I can use my growth plan, for the first time in thirteen years, to actually see growth in my class instead of checking something off the list. 

As your school year gets into full swing, think about what your goals are for the year. Are they personal? Are they professional? And also think about the purpose of your goals - are they for you, for your students, or for the "higher-ups"?

Enjoy your three day weekend! Thanks for reading! I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Advice for new teachers

Hello, colleagues!

Graduation is upon us! I love this time of year because the weather is (usually) pleasant, people are all nostalgic, and teachers are reflecting on the end of the year. Last weekend I was perusing Buzzfeed when I came across an article with advice, for new teachers, from experienced teachers. That really inspired me to share some information that I have for new teachers. Even though I don't know everything about teaching (I've only been teaching twelve years),  I have learned a lot over the years and can often anticipate what will go wrong ahead of time.

So here is what I think new teachers need to know about teaching.

1. Expect to want to quit. Teaching is HARD. You don't realize how difficult education is until you have your own classroom. You have to be "on" as a teacher every moment of every day. It's exhausting. Compound that with learning new teaching strategies, with building curriculum, and with the massive amounts of grading that you have. You will have days where you're at school until six, and you find yourself falling asleep as you drive home, and then you wake up on the couch with a full glass of wine that you forgot to drink. It will wear you out and will eventually make you want to quit. But if teaching is what you want to do, and you know you still love, don't leave. Know that the longer that you teach, the better your arsenal or strategies and lessons will get. You won't have to prep as much. And if you combine that with effective grading policies, it will get easier. 
2. Find a healthy work-life balance. This is something that every teacher struggles with, myself included. But it is achievable. I'm someone who separates my professional and personal lives quite a bit, so I try to keep school work at school. I realized over time that I couldn't grade at home for both struggling to work at home and because I needed the separation. But it's not healthy to stay at school incredibly late either. I made a rule for myself that I would work, at school, every day until 4. I would leave school at 4, and whatever wasn't done, wasn't done. This also helped me learn to prioritize what work was essential. I also visited new and charming coffee shops in town on Saturdays where I would also do school work and get caught up from the previous week. This schedule allowed me to have my weeknights for reading or watching tv, it promised me Friday and Saturday nights for going out to eat and spending time with my husband and friends, and gave me a full Sunday for grocery shopping, watching football, and meal prep for the week. 
3. Reach out to your PLN. PLN stands for personal learning network. This network is where you learn everything that you can about teaching. My PLN consists of my very close colleague friends, in-building colleagues that I admire, other teachers that I've met through trainings and classes, and teachers that I follow on Twitter. I insist on being around other teachers that are like-minded but push me to think and work outside my bubble. A new teacher will probably struggle with finding a PLN to start, but a new teacher should find a mentor in-building. This mentor should guide them through what they need to know about the school but also about being a new teacher. A new teacher may want to find more than ONE mentor. I've been lucky enough to mentor new (and not new teachers) because they believed I had the information that they were looking for. A new teacher should also sign up for Twitter ASAP. It's a perfect (and relatively safe) way to ask any and every question!
4. Build relationships with your students. This is something that I still struggle with (it's easily my biggest weakness as a teacher). Get to know your kids. Find out what they like. Try to build real-world "stuff" into your curriculum as much as possible. Talk to your kids. Listen to your kids. Give them your time and your attention. Be a parent, a counselor, a friend, and an adult. Give them advice. Sometimes repeat that advice over and over. Stick up for them. Tell them when they're wrong but admit when you're wrong too. Forgive and forget. Remember that every day is a new day. Believe that every student can succeed (even if they fail your class). 
5. Don't be afraid of making mistakes and don't be fearful of jumping into the deep end. I make mistakes EVERY day! I've told students to "tap that" (when talking about iPads), I've said some unsavory things to students in anger, and I've gotten defensive to parents when they have simple questions. I've also learned how to incorporate iPads into classrooms, I've built curriculums from scratch (twice!), and I've presented at local and national conferences. As a teacher, you must take risks to grow and mature. As you do so, you will make mistakes, and some of them will be terrible. But you have to evolve and change. Being a stagnant teacher isn't great. In your class, students will stop engaging and will start being compliant. 
6. Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast. Sometimes you have to start small to get big. This was probably one of the most frustrating things for me to learn. I wanted to be an excellent teacher right away. I wanted everything to be perfect (and easy). That's just not how teaching is. I think I realized this when doing flipped learning. I was never trained in flipped learning, and sort of stumbled and bumbled my way through. It was when I was explaining to another teacher about the process when she said, "It's just so easy for you." I told her that I needed five years to really grasp flipped learning in my classroom, and I realized it took me FIVE YEARS. Even now, with broadcasting, I've designed a great base that I can use for the remaining years to come, but there's still more to do. As I see new students and realize what skills they're lacking, I then have to design new lessons and create new quizzes. I want to self-pace a lot of my curriculum. I need to differentiate my curriculum for new special needs students. I want to change my work into Hyperdocs so that it's all located in one place. But I can't do all that this summer. I can do bits and pieces so that my curriculum evolves over time. 

Other advice that I have for teachers? 

• Learn about different DOK (depth of knowledge) levels and don't be afraid to challenge your students. 
• Understand what differentiation is. You will have students at all levels, and you need to meet them where they are. That includes ELD and SPED students. 
• Sometimes you just need to throw your lesson plans out the window.  
• Be the adult in the room.
• Watch other teachers teach. 

Thanks for reading! I hope that you all have a lovely summer! I'll see you next school year :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

End of year reflections

Good morning, colleagues! This week I was sitting and watching my students collaborate while making their broadcasting segments. I realized, now that it's the end of the year, that I should probably blog about how my school year went!

I had some large shoes to fill in my the broadcasting position. The teacher who left, to become a full-time filmmaker, was beloved by the students and set an excellent precedent for the job. I knew that I wanted to put my own touch on the broadcast, so my focus for the year was to have students design stories that involved as many Skyview students as possible. Here's what went well:

All three classes worked together to produce the weekly broadcast. I set up a Google Doc script at the beginning of the year. The doc was accessible by all three of my classes. This allowed all three groups to work together to design the script because they could all see each others' work. This also drummed up excitement as students saw other ideas, were inspired, and then pitched concepts to me for later broadcasting segments.

Students had choices when picking weekly stories. Because I have three classes, I didn't want to favor one more than the other. Every week a different group picked "first" for broadcast segments. Students selected their top three choices for the videos (using a Google Form), then I put them into groups based on their decisions. 99% of the time the students got one of their top three choices. Because I rotated which class picked first, everyone got their first choice at some point (including being anchors!). Also, if a student or group pitched a topic to me, I ensured that they got that idea as their first choice.

The script layouts worked really well. I ended up having to build brand new scripts for Broadcasting 2.0. I knew when making the scripts that students would need guidance and structure, but I still wanted students to always have the ability to present their voice. I realized, over time, that some stories were very similar. I recognized that I could build a script template that could be reused over and over. I then put together that I could grade those scripts the same way! Once I developed a model, then I would plan a Marzano scale for proficiency grading. The script template gave the students structure for what they needed for proficiency but was flexible enough to allow for student creativity.

There were new students on the broadcast each week. To get student and teacher "buy-in," I created a Google Form that teachers would use to sign up their classes for the weekly show. Part of the video included teacher and student interviews. I would work with my students each week to pick new students that have not been on the broadcast. Then, to build community, I would have my students put the interviewee's name on the screen. That is a start to how people get to know each other. First, you have to learn their name. I also partnered with Yearbook to have access to their photos. We did a photo slideshow every week as a) a preview of the yearbook at the end of the year and b) so that more students could see themselves in the broadcast.

More school stories. As I said in my previous section, the broadcast is meant to build a community in the school. When dealing with middle school students, we have to walk a fine line between creativity, being outlandish, focusing on the school, and not being boring! I knew it was important for students to see themselves in the broadcast instead of just the broadcasting kids. I knew it was essential to design stories that focus on what's happening in the school. But I also want to honor MY students and provide them with the opportunity to be creative and have choice and voice. When I put the broadcast script together, I would always include some sort of original video. Even though a video is creative, if it's about a topic that the kids care about, then it will matter to everyone, though it may not be school related.

Added extra touches. I wanted kids to take ownership while also learning about all of the different jobs that are required to make a broadcast. I taught all of my students how to use GarageBand on the computer and iPad. I wanted students to design music so that, in some cases, they take ownership of the video they are creating. I also taught my students twenty-three different camera shots to try to add variety to the videos they produce. I also added extra school information like sports scores and daily announcements. My colleague who does daily announcements even thanks the broadcasting kids on Friday for saying them! I wanted to make sure my students were still seen in the broadcast, so they put the credits at the end of the show on top of videos of them dancing or being silly. I even let them put bloopers at the end of the broadcast for extra fun.

All in all, this year was a success for my students and for myself. I never thought that I would have a job in broadcasting (especially after eleven years as a social studies teacher), but I was excited to have this opportunity. I'm just taking it all in!

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

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Grading Policies Evolved

Hello, colleagues! Are you guys tired? I know I am - it's the end of the year, and I just spent eight hours at our last track meet of the season yesterday. I'm also frustrated... we had students that couldn't compete in the competition because they were ineligible. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a teacher more than I'm a coach, so I've seen it all through my own classes. Students do fail assignments which cause them to fail classes. I've also had students fail my class and be ineligible. However, one thing I noticed this year is students failing a class due to strange grading practices.

Instead of blogging about what I think my colleagues are doing "wrong," I'm going to post about grading practices that I've changed over the years due to reflection and research.

1. No zeroes. A zero in the grade book implies that a student has LITERALLY DONE NOTHING. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Is that ever the case? Sometimes, sure. I've given kids zeroes on flipped learning because they never started it. Other than flipped learning, I did not give students a zero. If you look at a standard grading scale, an F is between a 0 - 59%. That is an enormous gap. If a student does not turn in an assignment, they still did work in class. Did they do 59% of the work? Usually, they did more, but just didn't turn in the assignment! A student should not fail a class because of one task. Give students a chance to be successful even if they didn't complete one project.

2. No late grades. Students have all sorts of reasons for turning in work late, stemming from them not wanting to do the task, to having a sibling get sick, or due to a family celebration. Should a student be penalized an arbitrary 10% because they turned an assignment in one day late? I don't think so! If students can prove that they know the information, and they meet the criteria of the rubric, then they deserve a better grade, even if it's overdue.

3. More formative assessments. Does this mean I should get rid of summative assessments? Absolutely not; they have a time and a place. Should a kid's grade suffer because of one test for an entire quarter? That's a tough one, but I would argue that it's also crucial that a teacher checks for understanding throughout the unit. Those checks should also be considered assessments, even if they are formative assessments. I would always know if a student would fail ahead of time because of all of the checkpoints that were done along the way. Also, if a student demonstrates quality understanding on a past formative assessment, then the grade should be changed. The student may have achieved proficiency at a later date, but they still exhibited mastery of the content.

4. No more "fluffy" grades. Students do not receive participation points. All students have to participate in my class whether it's by raising their hand or collaborating with a colleague. I also stopped grading assignments based on how they looked. My rubrics would have one category for "basic requirements" (like a specific minimum time or that it had the 10 pieces of criteria), but all of the other categories were based on research and content presented. Do I want a pretty project turned in? Sure, but I also want the students to show me and tell me what they know and what they learned.

5. Behavior does not equal achievement. Every day is a new day. Students act out for various reasons. There is no reason to "punish" a student by giving them a low grade. Grades should be reflective of student achievement, not student behavior. Yes, we want our students to be able to communicate, collaborate, be creative, and think critically. Human beings learn through practice, so if you want your students to learn to communicate, give them time to talk. Students don't need a grade to know if they can talk to other people.

The problem with sharing this information is that I definitely sound like an insufferable know-it-all. Do I have all of the answers? NO! I've evolved as an educator over the last twelve years (and will continue to grow as I teach). I just feel like these changes made a difference in my classroom. I want all students to have the capacity for success to have a promising future.

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

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

Work that matters to you.

Hello, colleagues! This week I've been thinking about my job change (prompted by my yearly teacher evaluation) and how I love my new job. I enjoy this position because I feel like I'm making a difference! Making a difference fits in with my personality (which I blogged about already). It's important to me to feel like I'm making a difference because it means that my work is meaningful. I can see the impact that my class is having on my students, the rest of the students in the building, and on the staff members. So, in this post, I want to talk about HOW to create meaningful work! Why is it so important?

Step 1. Work. Continue to work. Go to work every day.
I am lucky that I enjoy my job. I don't love waking up early, and I don't love going in to work every day, but I like it more than I don't. I am also lucky that I have a job that excites me and is a little bit different every day. I'm also passionate about making people better, so I throw myself into my career to make my students better people. I care about education, and I care about how to educate people, so I am continually learning new ideas to use in my classroom.

Step 2. As you work, what makes you excited?
I was also lucky in that, after six years of teaching, I was asked to be on a 1:1 iPad team. I threw myself into digital education and how it can be useful. I got excited about using technology in the classroom.

Step 3. Start to focus on what makes you excited. Focus on that excitement and research to learn more.
I decided that I wanted to become THE iPad teacher. I wanted to be 100% paperless, and 100% focused on the device. I wanted to become the teacher that everyone came to for advice on using tools seamlessly in the classroom.

Step 4. Dig into your excitement and pull out those pieces. Get specific. Find the meaning.
I realized, especially over the last two years, that using technology wasn't always the answer. Figuring this out shook me to the core. But I realized that I cared more about educating children than just using a device in class. So I focused on excellent strategies to use in the classroom, with technology or without. I focused on being a fabulous teacher that uses technology a lot.

Step 5. If your excitement wanes, try something new in your life. Get excited about it.
After five years of being on a 1:1 team, I was burning out. I was working TOO hard because of my passion for education. Sometimes it's hard to be a "black sheep" and an innovator. I paved a singletrack trail, seemingly by myself, and didn't have a support system. I knew I had to take a step back and be passionate about other things. I regularly went to yoga, I bought a new camera for my photography, I read more books more often (and not about education).

Step 6. If your excitement continues to wane, go back to your work. Then repeat steps 1-6.
Then I had the opportunity to move to a new position - one that is concrete and provides real-world skills for students and also allows me to share my passion for education with my colleagues.

I would like to think that every teacher wants to make a difference and wants their work to be meaningful. I also would like to believe that teachers want their students also to be creating significant work. I've talked in the past about student voice and choice. It's become an integral part of my educational philosophy. Giving the students an opportunity in how to speak their voice provides meaning to your class for your students. Realize that you can use these same six steps with your students!

Allow students to work on open-ended topics and/or essential questions in your class. Have them do lots of work in class. Keep them busy, but don't focus them too much on one thing. Start picking their brain - what do they find interesting or exciting? Have them dive deeper into those ideas. Would you rather have a student memorize dates or make connections to someone who escaped from slavery? Would you rather have a student know all grammatical rules or write a creative story that has a well-written character and descriptive language? As their interest wanes, and they feel that they've covered the topic, move on to another unit and repeat the steps.

For students to grow (as students) and become young adults, we don't want them to worry about whether or not they got an A. We want them to create good work and be prepared for the future. Students have to produce in order to be creative. Students have to work to see what is solid work. In order for students to grow, they have to find their passions. Give students some autonomy, make their work complex, and help them find connections between your content AND who they were in the past, who they are now, and who they want to be.
Autonomy (freedom from external control or influence; independence). Give students some flexibility (e.g., student voice and choice). That doesn't mean that students to get to do whatever they want, but they should have opportunities to make decisions. Let students pitch you different options. Let students redefine your rubric. Let students invest in content that is useful to them. Let students build relationships with each other and build trust with you.
Complexity (the state or quality of being intricate or complicated). Make your students think. Give them hard questions that make them wrestle mentally with themselves and others. Force your students to think "outside the box" and present outside the box. Give students time to dedicate themselves to these tasks and support them. Make your students stretch, in your class, to be the best citizen possible when they leave at the end of the year. Set ambitious goals and help them map a process to achieve them. Don't let your students sit idly by.
Make connections (a relationship in which a person, thing, or idea is linked or associated with something else). Don't let your class only be about content, objectives, and standards. They are necessary, but they're not enough. We don't live our daily lives through content, goals, and standards. We crave connections and meaning. Make your classroom a place for making bonds, whether it's to a historical figure, a data point, another person in the room, to the school, or to themselves. Let your classroom be a tangible place for the students, so they walk away with some appreciation for life.

There are a lot of ideas in this post, but in the end, we want students to come to class, to care, and to create. Hopefully, something sits with you, and you make a change for Monday. Thanks for reading! I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website

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