2019 Summer Goals

Colleagues! It's been a while! I know I've been MIA (see my previous blog post), but I'm here today to share with you my goals for the summer. This past Friday was the last day with students. Where did our year go? Did I also mention that we had a SNOW DAY ON MAY 21ST?! That was one of the craziest weather things I've seen (on top of the bomb cyclone that lead to our 2 1/2 week spring break...)

So what am I doing this summer?

• Finish my master's degree. I'm almost halfway through the courses halfway through the six-month term. The last month has been rough, but I'm back on track with the summer! My deadline is August 31st, so I have a busy upcoming three months. 
• Continue with my #oneword2019 goal: habitual. I've been bullet journaling regularly, which, surprisingly, has been therapeutic and has improved relationships with my friends and family. I'm much more aware of my moods, and my daily gratitude log has shown me all of the things I should be grateful for. 
• Update my TPT store. This year I built a new curriculum for my advanced broadcasting students. I've also designed new scripts for my Broadcasting 7 and 8 students. I need to turn that work into PDFs and get it uploaded (and ready for sale). I know a lot of people think TPT is silly, but if I can make a few dollars a month off of my hard work, then great! I'm definitely keeping my day job... 
• Get healthy. I've struggled with my IBS for the past few years, but I feel like I've achieved a breakthrough in the last four months. I feel significantly better, which means I can start working out more. I've lost weight by eating less, but because my stomach has shrunk, I'm less hungry in general. Now I want to tone up and maybe lose a little more. I have grand plans in my bullet journal to hit 100 miles by July 25th whether swimming, walking, running, or biking. I also want to add more yoga into my routine. I was awful with going to yoga since winter break, and I miss it. 

I am excited to take some time for myself, my friends, and my family this summer. But by mid-July, I'll be ready to be back. I'll see you then! Cheers!

- Rachel

@historicalipad
My Teacherspayteachers website

Changing your Mindset

Last weekend I was scrolling Twitter when I came across a post from Alice Keeler.

11 Getting Started for the School Year Blog Posts https://t.co/blhoPIwv68 pic.twitter.com/kuiJCi6Dnt

— Alice Keeler (@alicekeeler) August 28, 2016

One thing that Alice mentions is not jumping into the deep end (which I am known to do with disastrous results). Within that post, she also talks about changing mindset, which reminded me of a question I get often at Skyview:

How do you know all of this?

The teachers that ask me this question do not realize how much I love and am invested in tech. This started at an early age. Like many people my age, Apple IIe computers were installed in schools. My small, tiny elementary school had a full lab of computers, and we all LOVED computer time. I still have fond memories of The Oregon Trail, but even more love for the Munchers series. I also enjoyed Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (although I was terrible at it). As I got older, and the computers changed, I still enjoyed using them, and to be honest, in weird ways. At home, we didn't have the Internet, but I would practice typing on computers and designing banners using old software. Eventually, in high school, we got a new computer and installed AOL. I think computers became an addiction at an early age! I've just always loved being on computers and always wanted to know more about them and work with them. At Luther, which had quite a progressive educational department, I learned how to use computers in my curriculum. It instilled in me to take risks, try new things, and to stay current with my students and the world.

So this brings me back to the original question, "How do you know all of this?" It's just that I'm always on or around a computer, and if I don't know something, I look it up and figure it out. Tech is just my thing. I never had to change my technology mindset. I was lucky enough to be surrounded by technology from an early age, I like technology, and I was taught to be a risk-taker teacher in college. But I have had to overcome some roadblocks along the way, and realized while justifying to others about why I wouldn't change that these roadblocks were ridiculous and I just needed to change my mind.

So how do we get other teachers to change their mindset? What advice do I have? There are a lot of websites, blogs, and posts about changing one's mindset, but I thought these six steps (from Myrkothum) provided the best advice. So here is what I have to say about these six steps:

     GET THE BEST INFORMATION ONLY

Where do I get information for best practices and 21st century skills? Twitter and blogs. I have been on my professional Twitter for two years now, and it has been the best place to get best information. I only follow people that are like-minded and are using Twitter professionally. This keeps my Twitter feed clear and ensures that I am seeing the information that I want to see. Once I started blogging, I use Twitter to find blogs of like-minded people. Just recently, Mari, a teacher in California (@MsVenturino) started a #sunchatblogger Twitter group, so I am even more focused on getting the best information!

     ROLE MODEL THE BEST PEOPLE

Once I followed people on Twitter and blogs to get the best information, I have started "copying" (really role modeling) them. I am taking what they say to heart because I know that they believe that they are using best practices for children. Are they getting results? Yes. So that means I should be using their methods in my classroom.

     EXAMINE YOUR CURRENT BELIEFS

I had to do that this summer. I kept hearing over and over, "Why aren't you giving students choice?" I had to look at what was stopping me, and when I was able to get over that hurdle, I stopped questioning it. As someone who has always been a bit different in the classroom, it made no sense for me to be hitting these hurdles. I had to examine my current beliefs! (And had to change my mindset!)

     SHAPE YOUR MINDSET WITH VISION AND GOALS

We have to do this yearly with our evaluation. This year I really took my evaluation to heart as I wanted to focus more on reflection with my students (and myself). That's when I finally decided to write a blog to be more reflective, and to really think about education and my classroom. That then ties into the next piece... 

     FIND YOUR VOICE

I have felt stifled at Skyview for awhile, which I have not kept a secret. That is why I created a professional Twitter, and realized that there are like-minded people around the world! I could say how I felt about education and what I was thinking about a classroom topic... and people agreed with me! Now I am blogging which is still scary to me. But people are reading my blog each week (I see an uptick every Saturday - people are waiting for my next blog post!!!) and they are either interested in what I am thinking or like what I have to say. That is scary and new for someone whose voice was never cared for in the place that she worked. 

     PROTECT YOUR MINDSET

Haters gonna hate. That's just how it is. Do what you think is best for your students. If it works, others will follow. That's when your mindset becomes the culture.

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

- Rachel
@historicalipad
My Teacherspayteachers website
Donate a Google Cardboard to my classroom!

Welcome to my blog!

I've been fighting blogging for the past few years. I always made excuses about how I never had time, it would take too much out of me, and that no one wanted to hear what I had to say. Turns out, not one of those things are true - so here we are.

To introduce myself, my name is Rachel Jeffrey. I am about to start my eleventh year teaching. I am originally from Iowa where I graduated from Luther College. My now husband and I first moved to Kingman, Arizona where I taught high school world and US history for three years. The recession hit Arizona hard, so we packed up and moved again to Colorado Springs. The last seven years I've taught 8th grade US history at Skyview Middle School, and the last four years I've been lucky enough to teach on a 1:1 iPad team. My curriculum has essentially been developed by me with a lot of help from online sources and material. I believe in having students answering open-ended essential questions through projects and document-based questions. My curriculum is challenging, but the information and projects are engaging. I am a "pusher"; I push kids to what I think is their best potential.

Because I am new to blogging, I am not entirely sure what I will blog about per my classroom. I know that I have a goal of blogging once a week, hence "Sat. Chat". I do a lot of work and grading over the weekend, so it just makes sense that I blog at the same time! I want to talk about what I am doing in my classroom, what I've learned on Twitter, and other educational topics that I want to talk about. I sincerely hope that my voice can be heard, and I hope that people WANT to listen to what I have to say! It is scary to put oneself out there, especially when the internet can be scary and cruel.

Even though it is not Saturday, I do want to blog about my experience at ISTE 2016. Wow - what an overwhelming, informative conference. For me, the biggest takeaway from this conference is that there are a lot of like-minded teachers like me. Even though I have times where I feel very isolated at school, I am not alone. I have to remember to reach out to other teachers, whether in Colorado Springs, or around the state, the US, or the world. Even though I am a self-proclaimed "black sheep" at Skyview, I am just a normal, typical sheep all around.

I went to some amazing sessions

• The keynotes from Michio Kaku and Ruha Benjamin were absolutely inspirational! Mr. Kaku talked about what technology will look like in the future and how we have to prepare students to live in that world. Ms. Benjamin talked about designing schools as laboratories of democratic participation instead of reproducing inequality. Ms. Benjamin's keynote was eye-opening and challenging. It made me think about inequalities in my own classroom. Powerful, powerful stuff!

Transform education - how do you use this information instead of memorizing --> time to stress concepts and principles #ISTE2016

— Rachel Jeffrey (@historicalipad) June 27, 2016

We can’t force our Ss to turn off culture in order to learn #ISTE2016

— Rachel Jeffrey (@historicalipad) June 28, 2016

•  I also enjoyed the flipped learning session with Aaron Sams and Jon Bergmann, web tools with Monica Martinez, the Google infused classroom with Holly Clark, and sketchnoting with Sylvia Duckworth and Kathy Schrock. Needless to say, I was FANGIRLING when I met all of these people. They were amazing and motivational! I aspire to be like these presenters someday!

I definitely have a lot to think about with my classroom for this year. Step one for me, this summer, was to finally create my Teachers Pay Teachers account. I don't know if my curriculum is worth anything, but it doesn't hurt to find out! Step two is to clean up my curriculum. As a Marzano district, I need to make sure my unit scales are in order. This will then tie in to some sort of standards-based grading (classroom only - the district has not moved this way... yet... hopefully). I also want to use the Knoster Model to outline my unit projects.

Sorry this was such a lengthy post! I hope that I said something of some interest to you so that you will keep reading! Have a happy Fourth of July on Monday, and be on the lookout for a new blog post on Saturday, July 9th.

 - Rachel

@historicalipad

Teacherspayteachers Account

Google Cardboard GoFundMe Account