Reflections of a Techie

Did you feel the spirit of the 4th of July? I did!!!!

Yesterday I had the good fortune to stumble across a pre-Fourth of July parade.  I happened to be in Oceanside, California which is just outside the gates of Fort Pendleton...a huge Marine base.  Oceanside seems like city of contrasts...there's a big dose of surfer types, another big dose of tourists and a huge chunk of Marines.  An interesting mix, huh?

This parade was like so many I've been to or when I was in the marching band.  Yet it had such a different feel.  I think it was the presence of Marine families and Marines in uniform standing along the parade route.  I stood near an Iraq war vet who had 2 hearing aides in because of an injury who was in his uniform.  I haven't stood near many Marines recently and let me tell you....they are a presence...take up a lot of space both physically and psychologically.

As the parade went on and the twirlers had passed by along with the beauty queens and city council members....car loads of veterans started.  This section of the parade was dedicated to Pearl Harbor Survivors, WWII vets, Korea vets, VFW members, Desert Storm vets, and Iraq and Afghanistan vets.  As each group came by, the Marine captain next to me would snap to attention and yell out Semper Fi.  If there was another Marine in the car, that person would yell "hoo ra" back.  Other people in the crowd would applaud and yell out "thanks".  This parade made me remember my Daddy.  He served as an artillary spotter in the Army Air Force before there was a separate branch of the service.  I know, in small chunks, how he changed from what he went through in those two wars.  It was a good thing and a burden to carry...but he felt like it was his priviledge and duty to protect our country and his family.  I felt that same sense of things while I was watching.

I was reduced to tears.  The spirit of brotherhood that went back and forth between the captain and vets...well, it was special.  The unity of people standing and thanking these vets for their service and sacrifices was humbling.  I am so glad I happenstanced upon this parade.  It was a blessing in my life and one I won't forget....ever.

It's almost time for wiki camp!!!!

Last summer I was thrashing about trying to learn how to use wiki more effectively.  I was a self-taught wiki user so I had gaps and holes.  Along came the PBwiki Summer Camp.  I found it by chance and enrolled...faithfully doing all homework and watching the videos.  I was so pumped.  I did use what I learned in putting together a wiki for an NSF grant that I was working on.  Most of those teachers hadn't used a wiki, so I felt like I was true to my commitment to use the resource although it wasn't with my students.

But I had planned to use it with my science students.  That didn't happen.  Unfortunately I really have to do one thing at a time.  Otherwise I find that I don't implement anything well.  So when I had a chance to get some totally rad Vernier probes to add to my science labs, I jumped at the chance to integrate those into my classroom.  I'm not sorry I made this choice, but it did mean that I didn't do wikis with my science students.

Along came a new invitation (along with a new wiki name) to join the Summer Camp again.  I'm enrolled along with 1700 other teachers who are all committed to learning how to integrated this kind of writing into their classroom.  I couldn't be more excited...even though I'm overwhelmed with other work obligations.

PBworks summer camp starts on Monday and I am excited.  I'll keep you posted on how things are going and what I'm learning as we go along.

Can a class be fun and challenging? at the same time????

I've been reflecting on my meeting with math colleagues last week.  We met to discuss what types of enrichment activities we'd offer to our students.  These are wonderful math teachers who are very dedicated to their students, who want to see them excel and you care deeply about the discipline of mathematics.

We hit roadblocks, I'll have to be honest.  Our first hurdle, and I definitely sure we did not solve this problem, was how to keep the pace up of learning while some students lag behind.  The class we were focused on is one that is designated for above average students....the course description is written so that parents and students know that the pace will be faster and the homework will be a higher level.  Our dilemma is that the course is opt-in by parent/student decision. 

I have no problem with that UNTIL the student can no longer keep up.  When the student requires so much remediation that they are holding back the majority of other students and when the parents are frantic that their child is no longer getting "good enough" grades.  As a teacher of this class, I can recommend that they move their child to the regular class, but it is utlimately the parent's decision.  Often the parents decide based on things far, far removed from what's academically best for their child (ie. popularity concerns, community status concerns, etc).

To my mind there is no solution because you can't leave anyone behind even in the advanced class and you can't keep the pace up because you can't leave anyone behind.  Extra tutoring, modified assignments, more tutoring, extra parent help....sometimes it isn't enough.  I don't know how to make everyone into an exceptional student.

Luckily for me, I must be a persuasive voice.  When I've had students that aren't succeeding, I've had pretty good success at helping parents arrive at the place where they move their student to a different class.  The ironic part of all this is that no matter which class you are in during our middle school years, you'll arrive in 9th grade taking the same honors geometry class.  Usually when you point this out to parents, they relax and move the student. 

Second hurdle.  Many teachers don't want to up the complexity of the instruction they are offering because they fear the lack of the "fun" factor.  By that I mean they want to hang onto projects that are fun so kids will like math.  Sometimes taking these advanced students into more open-ended problem solving won't win you points for being fun, but they learn to derive a different experience.  I guess I'd probably define that as satisfaction...satisfaction from being challenged, failing, learning how not to fail the next time, and then being successful.  In the end, I think they'll remember this kind of learning experience as favorably as those deemed "fun".

It takes courage to go with this kind of learning instead of fun.  Dare I say that I find myself lonely at taking this view? 

My solution to this roadblock is to keep on doing what I believe is best for students in the long run.  I guess I'm sort of freed up because I don't care too much if my projects are fun.  I mostly care if they earn themselves more self respect, if they grow in confidence and build their self esteem for legitmate reasons.  We all have different students who we must "read" and respond to...so I will continue working on those open-ended problems with multiple solutions and teaching six or seven of the best problem solving strategies from MOEMs or Math Counts.  It may sound too hard to others, but I have seen my students transform.

These are two pretty big roadblocks to finding a thriving, enriched math curriculum.  You see the point of this class is to provide an extra punch of math if they are already conquering the curriculum without accelerating them onto the idea/concepts they'll have in future years.  It isn't easy.  Sometimes I wonder if it's even possible.

I also have a bead on some super fun projects that I will try to incorporate, too.  Fun never hurt anyone and I'm up for that right along with the next guy.

Deconstruction Zone....standards beware, we're tearing you apart

I have the privilege of teaching two graduate courses this summer on assessment.  The unit we just finished was all about how to go about tearing apart curriculum standards into pieces that will have meaning for students...you know, making a target that kids can hit because they know what you want them to know or be able to do.  On Sundays and Mondays, I spend hours grading all the online conversations and the papers they've written on that week's units.

It's been invigorating to "listen in" on their thinking.  This group has talked about the meaning this exercise was creating for them.  One of the younger teachers talked about how she had all "these manuals and stacks of standards" with little understanding how she'd go about teaching them.  She tried but felt like she was casting about, never knowing if she was accomplishing anything.

Gosh haven't we all felt that way?  I know I still feel that way sometimes.

The process of taking apart these standards has real promise for not keeping us overwhelmed.  Again one of the students put it this way....I'm figuring out how to breakdown this vague standards' type statement into things I can teach.  For my two cents, if she can figure out the requisite things she needs to teach, they'll do fine on the standard.

I'm thankful for these classes and the re-introduction they provide me on how important it is to keep our goal in mind when designing instruction.

Our PLC trust bridge is swaying

Trying to find a way to be a leader is tough.  Not that this is new information, but I've just recently sat through a series of meetings where I'm reminded of that pearl of wisdom.

My leadership group has a very hard time with the tough questions.  It seems as if folks aren't sure if you disagree with their idea if you "like" them.  Since when does a frank discussion about student learning have anything to do with if I like you, I think  you are a good person, etc etc etc. I can still like "you" even if I think your ideas are wrong and hopefully you'll still like me if you think all my ideas are terrible.

Why do we, as a profession, seem to have such sensitivity to critique and criticism?????

I guess it all distills down to trust.  That's in short supply I'm afraid.  You can tell because when you look around the table loads of people have things to say...but they won't say them.  That is until they're out of earshot.  Then they have plenty to say.  I'd much rather hear your opposing ideas so we can find mutual ground or compromise than to have what you say in the bathroom boomarang back to me 3 days later.

It's a mystery to me.  Some people think we need to have team building sessions where we learn trust by doing a ropes course or by doing those blindfold exercises.  I'm all for it if it would build trust.  Or some people think we need to know what kind of personality traits we have so we can work together.  I'll try anything but I have to tell you that I'm very, very skeptical.  It seems to me that you build trust when you tackle a problem, define it, develop solutions to try, keep working at solving them, and finally feel like the problem's resolved.  You get a sense of people and their strengths when you work through those kinds of situations.  Honestly I can't see our group getting to that point very soon but I'll keep hope alive just in case.

Discourse.  It's scarce around these parts.