Flipping Out

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At the recent NCTE convention in Chicago, I saw a clip of spoken word poet Sarah Kay performing "B."  If you haven't seen it, click this link right now.  Kay's brilliance comes from the way she sees and hears unique linguistic combinations in ordinary words.  The presentation that featured Kay's TED talks recitation of "B" was about mentor and model texts.  Penny Kittle showed the clip, then asked Kelly Gallagher, and the audience, to pick a line and use it to jump start a free write.  There are so many lines in the poem, choosing one was tough; in the end, I chose to write in response to the line "getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air."  If this line does not define the craft of teaching, I don't know what does.

I mean, let's be real for a minute: How many times have you begun a lesson, believed in what you were teaching, had a clear goal in mind, saw in your minds eye the aha moment playing at the corners of your students eyes and mouths, and suddenly the reality challenges your view of who or what you are?  If you aren't raising your hand, you probably aren't telling the truth.

How do we maximize instructional time so that students remain engaged and still get the coverage of prior knowledge needed to be successful?

A new technological trend has teachers flipping out in response to to this question.  "Flipping" instruction is not just a profane phrase anymore (not that it ever was).  A flipped sequence of instruction is one that literally flips daytime lecture with nighttime application.

Well that couldn't possibly work, Dan?!  Are you "flipping" mad?!


My mental health aside, think about the possibilities; the good folks at the Harvard Education Letter did.  The November/December 2011 edition of the letter addresses the use of flipping in schools to raise student performance:

"Since she began 'flipping' lectures and homework assignments, high school science teacher Shelley Wright has noticed something: the number of students failing her course has dropped from the usual three to zero.  Departmental exam scores are higher, too."

Wright teaches sophomore, junior, and senior science at Cornerstone Christian School in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, so her practice and the flexibility surrounding varies compared with many of the teaching contexts we have; however, the article contains other teacher pioneers in this instructional method.

Despite this difference, any strategy that seems to improve students' abilities to learn and retain information is welcome information.  I have spoken with a number of my science and math colleagues and they almost instantly saw the appeal of such a practice.  One of my colleagues even began excitedly theorizing about extra lab time.  The trouble for us, as teachers of English, is finding a way to apply this strategy to our classrooms.  We generally don't have discrete, measurable skills that can be analyzed in a single lesson.  In math classes, students can learn a method for working a problem.  In science classes, students can discuss the effects of acid-base reactions and begin to solve acid-base equations.  In English, teaching students to read or write in a single lecture is laughable; what could we teach?

I was recently rereading Deeper Reading by Kelly Gallagher and I found the answer.  Having students measure their own level of comprehension could easily adapt to video lectures at night.  Then, I came up with a sequence I think could work for English teachers; below I have provided my idea for a sequence of flipped instruction for the English classroom as well as the outline of a flipped instructional sequence as it appears in the Harvard Education Letter.

Basic Outline for Flipped Instruction:
Day 1: Exploring - "explore the material with an activity building on prior knowledge"
Night 1: Explaining - "watch and sometimes interact with some form of media online"
Day 2: Applying - raise "questions about the video from the night before" and pose "an application problem"

Flipped English Class on the Opening of The Great Gatsby:
Day 1: Exploring - Students open the text and read the first couple pages (up to that break as the action becomes present instead of the reflective frame); they write questions they have from their reading.  The class discusses Fitzgerald and his life using the opening paragraphs of the novel as a frame for the discussion (ex: Fitzgerald is sometimes called the Jazz Age moralist and he opens the novel with a discussion of judgment).  Finish reading the opening chapter.  Students ask more questions, this time adding ones about spots where they struggled with comprehension.  Unanswered questions are collected before students go home.
Night 1: Explaining - Students can pull up audio clips from the National Endowment for the Arts's The Big Read website.  They can watch teacher created videos about comprehension strategies to help them measure their own understanding, applying the strategies to brief articles on background information for the novel.  They could also watch videos from students or other sources about the value of what Gallagher calls "second-draft reading."
Day 2: Applying - The teacher brings up the unanswered questions to see if students have found answers for them on their own through the videos or the background reading.  Students reread the first chapter in class, rating their second reading using their newly learned comprehension strategy.  The remaining questions about the content of the first chapter are answered.  Questions are generated about what will happen next.

I know it is rough and somewhat idealistic outline, but it is a starting point.  The real value of flipping for English classes would be the development of skills that will help students become more successful independent readers.  The more skillful the reader, the more likely he or she will not struggle to read independently assigned text; thus, even though two days are spent on one chapter of a novel (the essence of luxury), the time can be made up as students learn to read, not just consume, text with more skill and understanding.

There are many objections and questions we could raise about flipping: access, knowledge of ed tech, what to include in a video, and where to find good videos are just a few.  These questions are best tackled by individuals from each school.  I could sit here in my comfy chair at home in Virginia and offer grand pronouncements on ways to avoid these obstacles, but that wouldn't help many of us develop strategies to overcome these obstacles.  Instead, I challenge you to look at each of these challenges and ask "what if" instead of "yes, but."  For example, what if I could flip my instruction?  What if I had the same success as Shelley Wright?  What if my students got excited about homework?  What if having them access lectures online brought some new motivation to their learning?  I can't be sure, but I think this idea is not just another idea to make the public school system behave in the same way with a different outfit.  This idea seems to require the kind of revolutionary thinking that could reshape the way public education works.

In any case, I have to go for now.  I am going to try and record a lecture about rating comprehension and post it on my class page to help my students with their break reading;  I'm excited because I get to play with an iPad to do it.  Who says that we get too old for toys?

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and winter break.

Teaching Vocabulary, Successfully

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by Tara Seale
The best advice I received this year came from my students, and it related to vocabulary instruction. I struggle with the best way to teach vocabulary; and unfortunately, like most English teachers, I do not have the time I need to devote to vocabulary instruction (maybe it should be its own class, I thought, grammar too, but that is another blog post). I also recognize that a strong vocabulary is essential for effective reading comprehension. Looking for contextual clues only works if students understand the other words in the sentence.
Frustrated, I tried guilting my students into learning words because they just need to know them to succeed in life. That doesn’t work. I related a story about how my husband, at twenty-four, attended his first board meeting. He realized that it was imperative that he increase his knowledge of words and bought 30 days to a More Powerful Vocabulary. We still have this book with all of his annotations. They liked the story and realized that they might end up in this same situation one day, but they also decided that they would rather play video games, text, work, go to band practice, football practice, or any number of teenage life distractions that make additional learning outside of class something to put off until absolutely necessary.
After nine weeks of frustration, I asked my students, “What can I do to help you learn the words you need to know?” They told me that Paula Barker, their pre-AP 10th grade teacher, helped them learn words through vocabulary bingo, and they also received the added bonus of candy. I told them that if I was going to buy candy, I needed proof. I was amazed as my 11th grade students recited words they could still remember because of vocabulary bingo in 10th grade English. Of course, I immediately contacted Paula and asked her to explain her visionary bingo game.

This is it:

• 20 - 3 x 5 index cards will fit on a desk uncut, but you can cut the index cards to fit more.
• Students write the vocabulary word on one side and the definition on the other.
• The teacher also has her own index cards.
• The class plays bingo during the last 10 minutes of class.
• Students place all bingo cards word-side-up on their desk.
• The teacher reads the definition, and based on the definition, students turn over their card.
• The teacher goes slow at first letting students look through all of the cards, but the longer the game is played the more the teacher speeds up.
  
• The first student to bingo receives a piece of candy.
• Another version is to allow students to pick one card and stand up next to their desk. The teacher reads the definition, and students sit down as the definition to their word is read. The last one standing receives a piece of candy.
• After two weeks, the teacher quizzes the students on the vocabulary words.

This idea is great for several reasons. First, it takes care of the last moments in class when some students would rather pack up than listen or participate. Second, competitive students want to win and just doing well on a quiz is not really winning, but blurting out bingo or surviving as the last one standing is winning. Third, it doesn’t take much planning or time out of class, so teachers can implement vocabulary bingo and not feel like they are sacrificing precious time.
The last reason involves a different implementation. I recently used vocabulary bingo for rhetorical devices instead of vocabulary words. It worked well; students wrote the definition and an example on their index cards.
Regardless of how a teacher decides to use this idea, students will be engaged because of the competition and the chance to win an inexpensive piece of candy. Learning vocabulary through vocabulary bingo is a win win situation for both the teacher and the students.

Poetry Across the Curriculum

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They are just not getting it, he says
Head shaking, heart sagging.
The seniors were struggling, grappling
With the grave forces of gravity, inertia, momentum.
The subtle combination of math and movement
Buried them under mounds of complex theory.
"Maybe I can help," I intoned in a voice
far from the Superman crowd,
"Maybe I can unlock their interest with poetry."
His look more than withered.
If his eyes could have spoken, they might have said,
"What's wrong with you boy, are you out of your head?
There is no way that your verse and your line,
Can help my students to get and define
The topics of physics, you must be quite wrong,
What could a science student learn from a song."
So, I paused and I waited, while his eyes said their peace
And, thankfully, he didn't voice these thoughts.
Instead he said "Sure, that might be fun,
I will try anything to bring these students back
To the topics and ideas of this great science."
So, I assigned three different topics
Based on the physics teacher's
Suggestions. The students were to choose
One of these topics and craft a poem,
Formal or not,
To describe the physics concepts embodied by each.
And lo and behold what to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a sleigh full of verse about forces and motion.
In the end, the physics teacher allowed that
Poetic adaptation is not the worst of all tricks
To get students to learn the science of physics.

So, bad poetry aside, what the heck am I talking about? How can we possibly ask science, math, and history teachers to judge poetry? How can we ask the teachers to assign poetry? Should we?

My friend and colleague, Chris Spencer, does something he calls Friday poems. The basic idea is not necessarily original or innovative (students write poems and present them in class at the end of the week), but I think Chris has managed to make it his own. In Chris's class, students write poems every week. About what ever they want. They spend time at the beginning of the week generating three topics for the week. Chris does not generate these, but he mediates the process. And surprise...they love it. Seriously. When I taught at Chris's school, all of the students in his class would find him at lunch, after school, on e-mail over the weekend, seeking his expertise as the most knowledgable writer in the room.

Writing in class does not have to be just journals and essays. Poetry is a tool that can be used to unlock those stubborn barriers to understanding in other disciplines. I recently had sophomores writing poems based on the ideas about genetics they were discussing in Biology class. I had freshmen writing poems about mathematical topics like point-slope equations. Each time, my colleagues said they noticed a positive change in the students' understanding of the topics. Poetry, like all writing, is inherently generative; therefore, in writing these poems, these students generated new understandings of subjects they struggled with before.

Is it foolproof? Most certainly not. Not every topic works this way for every student; but, ask yourself this: how often do you get your mind blown by a poem about physics?

Time to Flip Out

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by Tara Seale
Dan Bruno, who also publishes on the High School Matters blog, wrote a post about flipped classrooms in December.  Although I didn't explore this instructional method at the time (re-doing two National Board entries, taking a graduate class, teaching 90 AP Lang students, and trying to be a mom and wife - as teachers - you, best of all, understand why I didn't get around to it:) I recently found the time to explore the flipped classroom concept, and Tech & Learning has a great post explaining the positive effects of flipped classrooms.
Simply, a flipped classroom is one in which students watch a video lecture at home and complete classroom activities, or what would normally be considered homework, in class. This set up allows teachers to act as both a lecturer and a facilitator.  I watched the Flipping the Classroom Tech & Learning video, and one comment made by a student really stuck with me.
He said that he didn't have to stop the whole class if he didn't understand.  He could pause the video and re-watch what he didn't get the first time.  We all know that we have students who will not raise their hand, and unfortunately, they miss out on important information.
A teacher comment in the video also stuck with me.  When students come to class ready to complete classroom activities, the teacher is not the only one helping students.  Students who watched the video and easily understood the lesson serve as peer tutors.  Students who have additional questions can ask not only the teacher but also a classmate, and the students who understood the lesson reinforce the concepts of the lesson as they assist other students.

If you did not read Dan's post, he provides a basic outline to organize flipped instruction in an English classroom.  I encourage you to read Flipping Out.

Several websites support teachers implementing the flipped classroom model:

1. Sign up for the online community The Flipped Class Network
2. TechSmith has printable tutorials
3. Best of all, TEDTalks has signed on to support teachers in facilitating a flipped classroom.  Check out TED's Beta TED-Ed site.  Read the press release here: TED-Ed Launches Groundbreaking Website with New Tools for Customized Learning.

Applicable Apps for Apple's iPad

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So, technology in the classroom is one of those big things we always hear about. Tied to differentiation! Tied to student success! Buy our software package! Ancillaries available! On and on the signs cry out for our attention and we, as the savvy 21st century educators we are, flock to the demonstrations and the booths, seeking out that technological tools that will reshape our practice.
Unfortunately, the reality often distances itself from the rose-colored posters of the vendor booths and brochures. In our schools, division or building specialists purchase technology, place it in the hands of some of the faculty, and then expects results. Sometimes the technology sits on a desk in a classroom, holding down papers, keeping the dust all to itself, mutating into a hairy monster that one should not get wet or feed after midnight. The end of the year comes, administrators call for results and examples, people make things up to justify expenses, and technology becomes another term thrown about to justify big bottom lines with very little substance.
One victim of this policy of technological salutary neglect is the iPad from Apple. In case there are people who think that Apple still only means Macintosh computers, the iPad is a friendly little tablet that is about a thin as a class set of quizzes and as broad as a text book. The processing power and display have gone through subsequent improvements; Apple is currently developing its fourth generation iPad. Since the dawning of the iPad day, teachers and administrators have sought ways to incorporate this stylish technology into daily classroom life for a number of reasons, some noble and others not.
The truth of the matter is that this technology presents a fair number of challenges and a fair number of rewards. These vary from subject to subject, class to class, and student to student. As part of my transition this year to the Commonwealth Governor's School, I have had the opportunity to work with one of these pieces of technology all year. My site has even been assigned a cart full of 30 iPads to engage students in classroom activities. As a result, I have been exploring some of the apps available for the iPad in order to make it a seamless part of my daily classroom routine. This is my top app list for this past school year, 2012-2013.
1. ThinkBook: Ever outline or teach others how to outline? How about teaching good note taking strategies? ThinkBook is your app. Intuitive and easy to use, ThinkBook has been one of the most easily adapted apps to my classroom practice. I have used it to teach research outlining and I have used it to outline my own writing. Most helpfully, I have used ThinkBook to organize lesson and unit plans. Beyond this adaptability, ThinkBook is affordable.

2. Essay Grader: As an English teacher, I can appreciate the company that created this app: Gatsby's Light. Essay Grader is the answer to the question: "How many times do I have to write this comment?" I will be posting again soon on this app by itself, but I wanted to include it here since I use it so much. In the app, there are pre-set comments and space for custom comments. After you have set your matrix of comments, all you need do is check the box next to the appropriate category and the app generates a detailed feedback report based on your pre-sets and custom comments. For those who want even more freedom, there are free write sections at the beginning and the end that allow teachers to personally address the student being assessed; these sections are also integrated into the final feedback report. Teachers can instantly send the feedback to the student via e-mail, or they can export them and print them off one-by-one. More on this one soon.

3. Remarks: There are a lot of annotation apps for the iPad, but the most seamlessly integrated one has got to be Remarks. As far as I have tried, remarks offers the best method for pulling digital copies of student papers and, forgive me, remarking on them. There are a variety of options for putting commentary on papers from handwriting to typing. My preference is to use the underlining/highlighting option because I can attach sticky notes to the underline/highlight that students can view by simply hovering over it with a mouse cursor.

4. Storyist: This app, endorsed by the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) program, allows students (and their teachers) to organize, develop, and write a novel. This function is accomplished in a variety of ways. The most exciting are the story sheets - individual "sheets" that allow for the development of setting, character, etc. These sheets are kept in folders within each separately named project file. I have found that this app makes discussing the process of writing very transparent as students can see their own and their teachers' processes at work. Using it in conjunction with the NaNoWriMo curriculum would be a great activity for any class studying the structure of stories.
5. iThoughts HD: iThoughts HD looks like a very familiar educational technology program, Inspiration. Beside the fact that it is much more affordable than its PC counterpart. The interface is clear and easy to use. The maps are uncluttered and easily manipulated. I've used this program to model essay outlining, to analyze characters, to map out plotlines, and to define problems. All of these exercises have been done through either an LCD projector or an Apple TV, making the development and final use of each map a whole class activity, and an opportunity for open class discussions. I've even labeled bubbles in the map with students' names to identify their contributions to the finished map. This both recognizes each student's contribution to class and makes grading whole class discussions easier and more justifiable.

6. Nearpod: Nearpod is a great app for presentations. Remember the last PowerPoint presentations you sat through. They usually drag on, each slide pounding you further into your seat, making you wish for any opportunity to escape. Unfortunately, we are usually forced to watch these in Professional Development sessions; sessions required by our employers. Students have the same frustrations. PowerPoint-based classrooms can be a grind that wear students down. This takes the computer-based presentation and makes them interactive with videos, quizzes, and other feedback mechanisms. For the teacher, there is a student list that instantly provides feedback on how much the students are learning from the presentation. There are even free response sections that allow each student to respond to open-ended questions. The best part of this app? The fact that it is free. The downsides? First, you need a full class set of iPads for this program to work. Second, the Nearpod "Store" (all of the lessons I've seen thus far are free) contains a limited number of lessons at this point; however, many of them are very interesting and engaging (see the one on Shakespearean insults first if you want to try one out). If you have the equipment, Nearpod is a worthwhile investment.

7. Socrative: A great feedback mechanism for any class because it is available through iPads and PCs. The program provides a template for taking tests and quizzes you already give to students and adapting them. The program allows for student- or teacher-paced administrations of the test. The student-paced version of the quiz allows them to move to each question as they complete them; the teacher readout allows for tracking of class progress by individual student, providing assessment data from first question to last. The teacher-paced version of the quiz allows the teacher to determine when each question will be available. This method, though it takes longer, ensures every student finishes at the same time. After the test is over, regardless of which method you've used to administer it, a report is generated which can be e-mailed or (if you are using a PC) downloaded directly from the site. This reports are then saved to the website and can be recalled at any point in the future. I've used this app on each type of assessment from simple reading check to complex free-response test. It is free and well worth the time. As I think about this coming year, I already have a bunch of quizzes and tests stored on the site that I only need to adjust and then administer.

8. ShowMe: I am going to end this rather lengthy post with this app. I will probably add to this list throughout this year as I find new apps that help, but for now this list should keep the curious engaged. ShowMe is a site on the internet accessed through either PC or iPad. The iPad helps with the writing functionality, especially if you have a stylus, but it is not necessary. A ShowMe is a recorded whiteboard presentation where anyone can listen to you speak as you write on the whiteboard. The benefit of the program is that this app allows for the generation of quick instructional videos that can be used to flip your classroom (see post from 5 December 2011 or 12 May 2012 for more on flipping). I have used this program to provide additional tutoring to students and to share strategies from my classroom with colleagues. ShowMe also contains a large community of people who have developed and shared their work for use in any classroom. Sign up and check it out.

If you have any apps you want to tell other members of the NCTE secondary community about, feel free to respond to this post. There are many apps out there, this conversation could help us identify some of the best.

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Why Southern New Hamisphere University?

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Are you thinking of getting your degree? Then Southern New Hamisphere university is the best for you. You will get beyond you expect from this university. They have got a campus rich in resources and all facilities. You can also take their continuing education in any of their locations. They are very well equipped with all resources and friendly people. SNHU has been always available online at any time. Once you join the university, you can work with well dedicated and knowledgeable faculties. All their costs are reasonable and affordable. They also offer various low cost options and other financial-aid packages. You can visit their website and use their net price calculator to see how much it will cost for your degree from SNHU.

You can get federal loans at lower interest and long repayment plans for your studies in the college. It can be used for several purposes, including tuition, buying books, transportation, and all other school-related costs.

About The valence Group

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You can consult Valence Group for any questions about the chemical mergers and acquisitions. They are the specialist invest bank which are offering M&A advisory services to the companies. They are providing their service as a chemical investment bank and chemical advisory. Since they are independent company, they are free from many issues and commitments which other similar banks have. They are providing their services to different areas with their offices in London, New York and Shangai. They have got several experts in the chemicals and the related sectors who are working in each of their offices. They are free from several geographical and political barriers, which exist in most of their banking competitors. They have got high experience in this sector, and their clients are all getting great benefits from them. The depth of their experience is allowing them to operate at a high level. You can visit http://www.valencegroup.com for further information on the services offered by The Valence Group.

Mentoring Minds - Get Updated with New Teaching Strategies

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Teachers play the most important role in our lives. They will teach us the importance of learning and will provide us the base of knowledge.
  Mentoring Minds is one among the which is offering teaching strategies for the teachers. Home school parents will also get benefited from this website. The teaching style is changing as the lifestyle is changing. Today's children are totally different from those who studied years ago. Teachers or home-school parent should keep up with all the standards in the education as it is changing. The motto of Mentoring Minds is critical thinking of the life. There are a number of teaching strategies, which are available in the website. Several products like math, reading, assessments, card sets, critical thinking, common core standards, classroom strategies, science, vocabulary, etc. make it evident that they are having excellent knowledge in the educational area. There is one research tab present in the teacher education section of the website. Here they have got the views that specify the products which are offered by them. They too have got data on bully guide, behaviour guide, hip habits, ADHD, and much more.

The Year's Most Popular Titles

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The end of the year means circulation statistics.

Image from here.

This time around, I've delved deeper into specifics, and I think I know a lot more about my user population and their reading habits. This week I learned the following:

• Ninth grade boys don't very read much. I didn't realize that their circulation numbers were so abysmal compared to everyone else until I broke it down this spring. I **think** it's because most of my 9th grader ELA teachers don't require classroom novels, and fifteen year old boys just aren't that anxious to read for fun.
• 8th graders and 9th graders read very different things. Books popular at the 8th level don't even break into the top ten at the 9th grade level. This could be because 8th graders are exploring titles that weren't available in the middle school library, while most 9th graders read these books the previous year.
• Blockbusters, like Hunger Games, are popular with EVERYONE.
• New books aren't always the most popular. Older titles like Twisted and The Lovely Bones were well-read across the board. This is probably the result of ELA teacher booktalks which get the kids pumped for specific titles.  

Most Popular Books Overall in the Junior High:

1. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Mocking Jay by Suzanne Collins
3. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
4. Numbers by Rachel Ward
5. Twisted  by Laurie Halse Anderson
6. Matched by Ally Condie
7. Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien
8. Fallen by Lauren Kate

Most Popular Books Among Females in the Junior High:

1. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
3. Mocking Jay by Suzanne Collins
4. Numbers by Rachel Ward
5. Matched by Ally Condie
6. Fallen by Lauren Kate
7. Crossed by Ally Condie
8. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold 

Most Popular Books Among Males in the Junior High:

1. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Mocking Jay by Suzanne Collins
3. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
4. Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien
5. Numbers by Rachel Ward
6. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by
7. Football Champ by Tim Greene
8. Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

What titles drew top honors in your library this year?

Setting The Tone

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One more week and then it's back to school in New York State. I'm sitting in the lobby of my junior high pushing agendas and sketch pads from the school store during 8th Grade Orientation, so it's the perfect time to blog about setting the tone for a new year.

 What is tone? It's the mood, attitude and atmosphere of a place and program. When it comes to the tone of my library, here's what I'm trying to convey:

• Inclusiveness - the library is a place for everyone. We're a safe, comforting, welcoming and accepting environment. 
• Creativity - this is a creative environment where you can explore and develop projects and ideas.
• Respect - I expect respect to go both ways in the library. 
• Information hub - it's one stop shopping for books, magazines, Internet resources, etc. If you're a student or teacher have questions, we've got answers.
• Academic success - to be a successful student or teacher you need the library and it's resources.

In my attempt to set this tone for the school year, I've done some very specific things. For example, I made this pennant for above the circulation desk - it's the first thing you see when you enter the library and it's impossible to miss; it helps convey the message of academic success. When I was student teaching, I worked with someone who greeted all his classes with "Welcome, Scholars!" It's an awesome way to say, "You're here to learn, you have the capability to learn, and I have confidence in you" - that's what I want our students to think when they enter the library.
 
I'm also concerned about setting the tone with faculty. For new staff, I prepared a one page quick tips sheet with all the info they need about the library. At the top of the list was a section on collaboration and Common Core skills - I want them to know right off the bat that I'm the go-to person when it comes to those needs. I also publish a monthly newsletter for all staff and I'll include an overview of our new Common Core reading and writing resources to reinforce the idea that we're an information hub. To make staff feel welcome, I promote our well-stocked candy drawer - a necessity during the first few crazy weeks of school.
Any tips or suggestions for setting the tone in your library?

Back in the Groove

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It's September, so I'm back at my computer with the old to-do list posted in front of me. How is my desk already this messy on the fourth day of school?



Like most teachers, it's a little bit of a struggle to get back in the saddle after a couple months of vacation. This year, as an added bonus, I'm seven months pregnant, so everything I do seems to take just a tiny bit more effort than normal. Teaching requires physical endurance - I always forget how much energy I need to "perform" all day long. I always sound like a croaking, gasping frog the first few days until my voice and breath readjust to the routine.

Here are my tips for getting back in the groove after summer vacation:

* Don't wait until the night before school starts to re-do your routine. I find it a lot less stressful to ease into an earlier bedtime/wake-up schedule. If I've gotten up at 6:30 AM the last few days, I'm sleepier at a more "normal" time, and the shock of 5:15 AM is easier to handle when the first day does roll around.

* Pack some protein in your lunch. I'll admit that during summer vacation, I took a nap every day after lunch. It was wonderful. Now, back at school, 1:00 PM rolls around and I still have three periods to teach, with no nap in sight. I've found I feel noticeably different in the afternoon if I eat protein for lunch. I'm a big fan of cottage cheese or greek yogurt, but there are all kinds of high protein things that help prevent 7th period crashes.

* Squeeze in exercise after school. This is sooo hard for me right now, as all I really want to do is go home and sit (or rather sleep) on the couch, but thirty minutes of cardio gives me a time to reflect on the day, obsess over silly details, and then turn off my "school brain" for the rest of the evening. The exercise also gives me enough energy to make dinner!

* Turn off your electronics two or three hours before bed. Studies suggest that the blue light emitted by computer screens suppress your body's secretion of melatonin, which means staring at a screen may prevent you from feeling sleepy. Make yourself step away from the computer, TV, etc., at a reasonable hour, and do something crazy, like read a (paper) book to help you relax.

What are your tips for surviving (and thriving) during the first week back at school?

Whispersync Voice and Visually Impaired Students

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We seem to have an unusually high number of visually impaired students this year, so we've been working hard to help the classroom teachers meet their accommodations. Every 8th grader, including those with low-vision, needs to choose one of ten dystopian novels for an upcoming English project. The novels are all titles published in the last year or two, and I can't find enough ILL large-print versions to meet demand.

So, to solve the problem, I've been buying digital versions of the books and putting them on our Kindles. The kids can change the text size on the Kindle, allowing them to view the page at whatever size is best for their eyes. Alone, this solution would be adequate, but this week Amazon released a fantastic tool called Whispersync for Voice. This awesome improvement allows me to start reading the Kindle version of the book and then pick up where I left off in the audio version of the book on a different (or same) device. That means I can stop reading at the beginning of Chapter 2 on my Kindle, and pick up my iPhone to start listening to the book at the beginning of Chapter 2.

Here's how it works:

* Purchase a Kindle book that has an accompanying Whispersync narration. There are 26 free titles to pick from (classics like Moby Dick and Little Women) and almost 15,000 titles in total.

* After purchasing the Kindle book, you'll see a box that says "Now that you own the Kindle book, you can add the professional narration for $X.XX to switch between reading and listening without losing your place." Click the link, and it will take you to Audible.

* If you don't already have an Audible account, you'll need to create one. It's important that you link the Audible account to your Amazon account.

* Purchase the accompanying Audible version of the book.

* Download the Kindle book to your Kindle or other device (iPod, iPad, etc)., and download the audio book (if you're not using a Kindle, you'll have to download the Audible app).

It's pretty seamless. Read on device, and then pick up listening on the other device.

For our population, they're doing their reading AND listening on the same device. When their eyes get tired, they can just seamlessly switch to the audio version.

The only bummer is that it doesn't work on the Kindle Touches we bought 3 months ago, but it DOES work on the Kindle Keyboards we bought two years ago (once we upgraded to software version 3.4). Go figure. According to Amazon, the supported devices include: "Kindle Keyboard with software version 3.4 and greater, Kindle Fire 2nd Generation, and Kindle Fire HD."

An even cooler product with SO MANY educational applications is called "Immersion Reading." This works like the Whispersync Voice described above, but you can read your book as you listen to the audio version, and it will HIGHLIGHT the text as the author reads it aloud. How great would this be for students? The only bummer is that availability is limited to the latest versions of the Kindle Fire.

Have you used Whispersync Voice or Immersion Reading with your students?

Orientation iPod Video Tours

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I don't know about you guys, but orientation is one my least favorite times of the year. I love meeting all the new kids, but I hate repeating the same thing over and over and over. With 5 eighth grade teachers, I do the same exact presentation almost 30 times each fall. Orientation requires a lot of talking - I have to convey loads of information, so even though I try to mix in other activities to keep everyone interested and intersperse some hands-on learning, I'm still exhausted by the end of the day.

So, two years ago, I smartened up. My goal was to create a library orientation activity that didn't result in permanent laryngitis. I had a class set of iPods at my disposal, so I developed a library iPod tour. Using my iPhone and iMovie, I recorded 1-2 minute clips about each section of the library. Students move from station to station around the library. At each station, they watch the corresponding video on the iPod about that zone. After viewing the iPod video, they complete a task.

Here's an example of what students watch at Stop #2 - The Computers.


This is the task they're asked to complete:

Task #2 – Computers:Locking your workstation keeps other people from using your computer account. Predict what might happen if you forget to lock your workstation.

And here's another example - Stop #3 - Graphic Novels.



And the corresponding task:

Task #3 – Graphic Novels:What are three characteristics or traits most graphic novels have in common? You can use the books to help you come up with a list.

When coming up with the tasks, I went out of my way to include questions that were higher level thinking, rather than simply recall. I ask students to rank things, make predictions, and categorize.

Overall, it works well. Students groove on the independence of the activity and the novelty factor of the iPods, and I'm able to convey all the important information without losing my voice.

How do you handle orientation? Any tips for making it easier?

Movies From Mars (and Mars' Science Laboratory)

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We did it! We landed on Mars! Well, really NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory did it. If you have read this blog for a while you know that geeks (a term of affection here) hold a near and dear place in my heart.

Can you imagine how great all those scientists, computer and software engineers, launch pad operators, command center technicians, janitors, data entry personnel, optics and robotic experts, lab technicians, personal assistants, electronic experts, mathematicians--those modern day magicians--feel? Great! (Where's a bottle of champagne when you need one).



NASA created a full resolution decent and landing video of the $2 billion Curiosity's trip through the Mars atmosphere to its touchdown at Bradbury Landing.



Can't get enough? Me either! How about Curiosity's first jaunt across the Mars surface. There's no video yet, but here's a picture of its first drive.



Want to stay caught up with Curiosity's antics? Here's a link to NASA's Mars site.

So what's your major?

Business Majors: Best (and worst) Small Businesses

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Visual News put up a flow chart documenting the best (and worst) small business opportunities, and some of them may be surprising to you.

Good small businesses include pilates and yoga studios and accessory stores while bad choices range between movie rental franchises, music stories, and bookstores. Surprisingly, electronics (computers, etc.) aren't doing well either.



If you plan on opening a small business (or going to work for a small business franchise) consider some of the "good" options. Try working in your dream industry for a while (maybe even take a part time job to pay your tuition bills).

Accomplished small business owners and entrepreneurs fail before they ever become successful. In the same way, good salespeople know that they have to get a certain number of "Nos" before they will make a sale. This also translates to the entrepreneur who wants to convince a banker or venture capitalist to invest in his or her business. So if you are planning on going into business just know failure is a part of your success.

While some of these small businesses (successful or unsuccessful) are fairly predictable, are there small businesses they left out? What kind of small business would you like to open?