School Year Start Up: How to Get Through It

School Year Start Up: How to Get Through Why does the beginning of the year fly by? I wouldn't always say it is because we are having fun...yet I wouldn't always say it is because we aren't having fun either. Oh "school year start up", how we dread you as you approach, how we don't sleep well the night before, and how we feel so exhausted after you happen. Some things never seem to change. I can be over-prepared to the point of having the first month completely planned, or wing it for the first two weeks, it doesn't matter. I seem to hit a wall at some point anyway. Here is the wall: exhaustion! 

Exhaustion not from the students themselves, they are usually still pretty happy to be at school and are not complaining too much at this point, but exhaustion from being torn in fifty directions. I live in a rural community and my family is involved in agriculture. As you can imagine, life in my house from the months of August-November are just insanely busy. My husband is extremely busy and I end up running my household as almost a single parent during these months. I'm sure you can imagine (if you don't have children) just how fun and simple that would be (those of you who do can likely relate well). But looking back I do recall school start up to be a thorn in my side from teaching year one. As I am entering my 8th year of teaching I hate to admit out loud but it isn't getting any easier (sorry new teachers, it's the truth). 

The question then becomes how the heck can we fix this? How can we manage work, kids (if applicable), house, lawn, personal maintenance, exercise and general health? Oh the answer is easy, quit! Ok, just kidding (sort of). A person needs to really get a handle on the things that matter the most. Does tomorrow's laundry need to be done? Yes. Does getting a turkey for thanksgiving need to be done in September? No. Do you need to feed yourself (and family or kids) a healthy meal every single day? It would be nice to be healthy every day but the reality is "lets just eat food" most days.
To summarize, pick you battles. Choose where you attention really needs to be that day and what matters the most right now. The rest will fall into place. Let's face it, we can all multi-task when we need to and as we need to, the things on our list will get done. Put your feet up tonight because school start up days are winding down and it is time to settle in for the long haul. Enjoy your night 

My life has changed....Google Docs are GENIUS

I have been using Google Docs for years...I obviously have not been using them to their full potential! Wow. It is funny how you can miss things that are right under your nose. 

Google Docs 
You can research the words you write by clicking on the tools menu and choosing research. You can then cite your source! And choose the format for citing. OH MY GOSH!  GENIUS! My students will LOVE me again! 

This begs a bigger question....what ELSE do I not know about Google Docs? 

SHARE IT WITH ME by Commenting on this post!! 

Get Interested!!! iTSummit14 R.Hurley-Keynote May 5

R. Hurley - Keynote iT Summit 2014 - May 5

Don't let the steps stop you from following and finding the broader process. Everyone likes to follow steps with tools but it doesn't help students.

AUDIO
Audacity Ideas - From todaysmeet.com/RHSK

Podcasts for teaching persuasive writing- creating 'hot topic' radio style talk shows

Audacity-fractured fairy tales picture book. Record voice parts and change for each character. Use PowerPoint to display.

Made news articles about Macbeth/R+J/Hamlet

Used audacity for Foley recording (record sound effects for video production)

Soundation is free online software where students can create their own songs. We then imported the songs into audacity

I have been using Mobile devices to collect sound files with the kids. Then editing using audacity.

Storyrobe is a great app for using audio with a digital photo story.

Use Audacity to record a seasonal poem or song and add sound effects for interest. 

Ex. "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"

Audacity linked to Inspiration webs

Radio Advertisements

IMAGES
Flickr
Not always wanting to hear the 'right' answer, make sure students are given the chance to share without consequence and keep them asking questions to be engaged, and not worried about other students' reactions.
Images are a way to connect without words. Show them INTERESTING things to think about - i.e. bicycle herding camels. It is as simple as choosing a topic like bicycles and finding neat/unique images to create a neat dialogue.
Find legal images: search.creativecommons.org
Cite sources with images as well as their information
tinyurl.com/NVcitingsources
From Today's Meet Participants: 
Key concepts of intellectual property: http://mediasmarts.ca/intellectual-property/intellectual-property-key-concepts
Grabbing copyright friendly 
images.http://nextvista.org/projects/Project-Citing_Copyright-Friendly_Media_from_Online.pdf
Fair Dealing for media education: http://mediasmarts.ca/intellectual-property/fair-dealing-media-education

SLIDESHOW VIDEOS
Narrable.com
VERY COOL--call to record - the kids can enter their phone number, it calls them and they can record their voice through their phone
"Narrable ... to engage students and to draw out important higher order thinking skills." It's not the tool, it's the application.-Alan Stange(from today's meet)
ex: voiceover of sports commentating, kidsnippits, record a conversation from a photo of historical figures in a meeting possibly discussing world decision (ex: Winston Churchill, Stalin, etc), narrate students critiques, "Bad lip reading" - http://bit.ly/1mvdEF5 watch this video later! a sample of bad lip reading videos! Very entertaining!
Teachers want the video to be good, but students want it to be "good enough". If you tell them that others will be watching it (audience), then students typically put in more effort.
Give them a 45 second time limit. If they want more, tell them to show you the script. Up it to a minute and a half. Go from there.
Implementing a Video Project
-time frame
-script
-audience
-poster option (they won't want to)
-partners
-time limits
-other rules (no violence!)
-links
Fostering Quality
-Look at other student projects ex) tinyurl.com/NVcareers No matter what your project is about, show them some other student examples and they will know what they like and what they don't like (strengths and areas for improvement) - how can these things be fixed - different approaches

"Am I done yet?" - want to hear "How can I make it better?" Make it a contest!!!Send feeback to the students

Great presentation - lots to learn no matter how long you've been teaching, what you teach, how old you are, how young you are, or a number of other factors. Keep trying new things!!!

Smiling and Education

When I started my career, it was very clear to me why I wanted to be a teacher. I really enjoyed showing people how to complete things, and loved to see the joy on their faces when they "got it" or when they completed a goal, whether that goal was a shop project, an essay 'finally', or just a concept that they had been having difficulty with. Above all else, I am a social person and truly found that getting to know the kids and seeing them everyday was the BEST part of my job.
You probably think I am leading up to saying something like, "it is not like that for me anymore". But you would be wrong. It IS like that for me, every day. Obviously it goes without saying that if it weren't for the kids, I wouldn't have a job. But it also should go without saying that it is the kids that can help make or break a teacher (in part). I have been fortunate enough to have been in 3 great schools and feel like I have seen some ups and downs but for the most part I can say that I still love the work I do. 

Things start to get a bit irritating when I start to think or focus on the more difficult parts of my job, and that being the curriculum and some of the mandates that have come down on teachers lately. I am not saying kids are perfect 100% of the time, by far they are not, but that should be an expected understanding when you are a teacher. They have bad days (or weeks!), and so do I. It is being a problem-solver and knowing when to pick your battles that helps to work through those times. Back to my concern of mandates and teacher expectations, I foresee many teachers jumping ship into different career paths, and sooner than they should if they are new teachers, because of what is happening in the teaching profession. The unrealistic expectations being placed on teachers some days is really overwhelming for someone like me who has been teaching for 7 years, let alone a brand new teacher who has a new curriculum that doesn't have resources yet! How can you teach from a curriculum with no textbooks, or resources besides a list of 50 websites to sift through? Who has time for that? I sure don't! I can only imagine a new teacher who has just finished university, ready to take on the task at hand and feeling very incompetent because of the lack of support and/or resources to teach from. I sound like I am being harsh but I'm scared. I am worried and scared for my colleagues and myself. I am worried and scared for the kids we are teaching. What would happen if we said no? Of course most of us would never dream of doing that, but the question is there - what

if? I can be a "debbie downer" (wah wah) and I know others can too, but I'm trying to say that how that can make you feel, isn't healthy. There can be a better way if you try. You can be scared, it is allowed. It is all in how you deal with that fear or anxiety or frustration, that is all your choice. And I'm telling you to choose happiness. 

Let me stay positive, because the last 6 months of my life has taught me a few things. What I've learned is that you need to take situations and change in stride. It can be the single most difficult thing when that change is unexpected, painful, annoying, challenging, confusing, frustrating or sad, but IF you don't take it all in stride, IF you don't choose to fight every battle, IF you choose to let it make your mood swing deeply one way or the other, you WILL sink. And sinking can be hard to deal with. The range of emotions that change brings in one's life is astounding, and when you're faced with daily issues in your work, it compounds on you often and easily transfers those bad emotions into the other aspects of your life such as your family, friends, recreation/hobbies and to your soul. Don't let it be you.
I will say something in closing that I'm sure you teachers can understand, and those of you that aren't teachers would probably be able to relate to in some fashion:
I am making a choice, daily, to come to school and be the best I can for the kids I see. I am making a choice to smile, to try and keep those kids smiling, and to encourage happiness in my classroom. I will not let "the man" get me down, although I will admit I have bad days like anyone about what's happening around me in education. I live for these kids in my job. I truly love seeing them and enjoy having conversations with them; they are like my own kids, or my own family. In a small school the culture is everything, and if I let things sink in too deep, I will drown. And you know what? You know who I am taking with me? Everyone who is in my life and everyone I see in a day, including those kids. Sounds like a lot of pressure; to keep everyone else from sinking. It really isn't when you think about it; do you care? If you do, you will keep smiling for yourself, and for your circle. I think I will teach a little longer this way.... 

"Start every day off with a smile, and get it over with" - W.C. Fields

Creative Writing with Rory's Story Cubes

A Creative Writing Activity

I just used Rory's Story Cubes with my grade 12 students in ELA today. They are always complaining we have so much boring work, and they never get to do any fun things in class anymore including just writing. So, I was in Indigo last week and I came upon this little game called Rory's Story Cubes. Basically it is a little box that contains 9 cubes (die), and you roll them all. Each cube has a image on it and the random 9 things that are face up, you write a story linking all 9 together beginning with Once Upon A Time...
There are a few variations to the game and how you can play it. You can use it to create superheros, you can use it in groups of 3 and have them write a story together, or you can do it this way. I'm sure there are plenty more ways but these are 3 that are on their website. I love this game because it is not just for little kids, it can be used for older students as well. It spices up my classroom and anything that does that, I'm into. Check it out! It was only $10!
Did I mention there is also an APP for this????  - iTunes store!

I'm Back!!!

HELLO EVERYONE!
Here I sit at my teacher desk after a year's maternity leave, and I think to myself what has changed in a year? The answer is.....a lot. The students grow taller, many mature (a bit at least), and the coursework is changing as new curricula is introduced as well as being given some new teaching assignments for this year. Change can be good as well as bad, I'm sure you all know that, but in terms of teaching - change is constant and therefore needs to be taken in stride.
I will say that not all change in education is great, but teaching is a profession that requires you to think on your feet. And let me tell you something, after a year's absence - and I mean absence (I didn't read a thing related to school until a month before coming back), thinking on your feet and adapting to change can be painful and confusing. I love my new family, my little boy William is just the best thing I've ever done, but after a year of one-ended conversation with him, I was ready to have some adult interactions. I played a scrabble game in the summer and my head hurt all evening! It was time to come back. 
I started looking at the new curricula that I was going to be teaching, I was reading new novels, creating lessons and units and I was suffering from some of the worst migraines I've ever had. My brain literally hurt. I've talked to other teachers, to gain some resources and some 'heads up" on ideas for teaching this new curricula but I was hit with a lot of "I am just as confused and frustrated as you are", which begs the question, what are we supposed to do as a teaching community to help out each other, if no one else is going to help us from the top-down? The answer? Technology. 
Now technology has changed in a year, but not a lot. Not to an extent that a person couldn't catch up easily enough. We got some different computers in our school, and our marks now need to be done using a specific program but all in all, (at least at the school level), not much has changed. Technology though, is that island of hope we are all looking for when it comes to sharing resources. Of course face-to-face is great, and I'm still a firm believer in it, but technology is that enhancement, made to make our lives that much less hectic and simpler. I can hear some of you yelling "wait a minute!! Isn't technology the devil that makes us slaves to our computers and phones?" My response is this: technology is here. It is not going away. Join it, use it, or you will be left in the dust. With the ever growing social media, availability of smartphones, and inclusion of technology into our curricula, how else do you expect to be relevant to your students? I've kept up what I've needed to, now the next step is sharing. I need resources, these new curricula are empty of resources! Even the website dedicated to it, has no resources listed for many of the curriculum out there! So the task is to us teachers, to create, share and use technology to enhance our teaching. I'm back and I'm ready, are you???

"I've Been In Grade One.." by Little Miss Higgins featuring Nokomis School Students and Staff

Here it is folks!
"I've Been In Grade One..." 
By Little Miss Higgins featuring Nokomis School Students and Staff

NOKOMIS SCHOOL from Red Hat Studios on Vimeo.

iT Summit 2012 - My Notes; Go Ahead, Use It!

iT Summit Conference 2012 Saskatoon, Sk
May 7th, 2012

Keynote Address
The Power of Networks: Why it Matters to Education 
Alec Couros
My Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12i690Hn1eltdnI5StTFANmGzF9vRaMIjjCocHGPdRt0/edit

Breakout Session
Classroom Instruction and Technology: Tools to Support Research-Based Strategies
L. Forrest, D. Benko
http://technoteaching.weebly.com/
Teaching With Technology - Website for teachers, looking at teaching strategies and tools to help support classrooms with technology integration

Breakout Session
Welcome to the Inquiry, Flipped, Tech-Embedded Classroom
Shelley Wright
My Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XRIck6fqCGHUgLqKoGGiXP1rwzFW75pFbTuwhBVpgjY/edit
Very inspirational!
@wrightsroom
shelleywright.wordpress.com
wright.shelley@ prairiesouth.ca

Breakout Session 
Breaking Down Walls: Collaboration Across the Planet
Lori Zbaraschuk
https://mp.srsd119.ca/ITSummit/Collaboration - view her powerpoint here!

May 8th, 2012

Breakout Session
SMART Notebook 11
Trish Shynkaruk and Jason Orbaugh
My Notes: Including a lot of the new features that are coming out in Notebook 11 - AWESOME!!!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MUC_w7qZ8MyMWLlaScEmN60oU5pzrksBI0UOTKcfb6g/edit


Breakout Session In The Zone: Using Technology to Differentiate
W. James, C. Walter, J. Byershttp://schools.spsd.sk.ca/curriculum/techyteacher -Find the PPT here!

Why are you interested in technology? Why am I?!

I sit here wondering how exactly it is that I came to be so interested in technology. I never really used to be when I was in high school or growing up, besides the odd fun game on our old computer at the farm like Oregon Trail or Simfarm. Boy do those games ever bring back memories! When I was in elementary/middle years, we had DOS and learned very basic programming (not sure I remember much of that now!), and it wasn't until I was in upper high school that we got "new" computers that dealt with some other formatting and basic MS Word. I caught on quite quickly and continued advancing in technology as my years went on. 


I had to do a lot more work on computers in University as I went through the College of Education at the UofS, and with a major in PAA (Industrial Arts) and a minor in ELA, it became a part of my everyday life. Whether it was in IA with drafting in AutoCAD, machining programs, or writing essays and creating projects and presentations in my ELA courses,  I was always using a computer for some form of technology. I guess you could say I just sort of got better at it as I got older and I continued to work on programs more and more. I would never have said that my life was always filled with top-notch technology and opportunities, but that my perseverance and dedication to doing well (and sometimes the 'easy way') with computers, helped me see the proverbial 'light' about technology in education. 


Now I have a laptop , a projector, speakers,and a SMARTboard I cannot live without, and soon to be a classroom set of iPads that I am sure I won't be about to live without as well. Maybe it doesn't matter how I came to be where I am, but the more interesting question or discussion to have would be why I am where I am in terms of technology. Education is a living organism. I truly believe that. It is CONSTANTLY changing, as long as those teachers who really care about the meaning of education take the time to stay up to date. Whether it be the curriculum that guides the content, to the far reaches of teaching styles and content delivery. Teachers have a wide-ranging job, more than a lot of other professions in my opinion. In saying that, it is also our job to try to stay on top of some trends and innovative teaching, which typically means with TECHNOLOGY! I must say that if I needed to pinpoint why my teaching style involves a lot of technology I guess I could say it is because of the students and their need for inspiration, engagement and advancement, but I might by lying if I said that was the only reason. Ultimately, with all these extra things put on teachers plates today, I use technology (and am interested in it), because it makes my job a whole lot EASIER! 
What about you? Comment and let's talk. 

Crunch Time vs. Quality Time

I know this is a bit late but I wanted to come back to this post I started (and obviously became too busy to finish) at the end of January. The points remain valid to teachers so I thought I would share a food for thought that was floating around in my busy brain this year...


Teachers need to talk about this...
It is nearing the end of semester one and I am about 2 more weeks away from exams, and a switch to a new semester. During this time of year (every year it seems), I find myself wondering if I should be crunching all that undone material to my students or choosing a few key pieces and focusing on them more thoroughly. Seems to me that even veteran teachers come across this problem, and it doesn't just lie with new-10yr teachers. I think I find that a bit more comforting in that maybe I'm not doing such a terrible job and that possibly in reflecting like I am here on this post, that I am actually doing the right thing. It is the dialogue that needs to happen, talking about these sorts of concerns and then finding a bit of a common practice.

What do I do? What have I done in the past?
Hmmm.....Well for starters, I think this year finds me in a further behind spot than I have been in the past 5 years at this time in these courses. Possibly due to a number of factors that include new curriculum, student engagement issues (i.e. lots of boys in an ELA class who dislike ELA), spending more time on certain things than I did last year, and also I can not forget that some of this lies with me (the teacher). I am not naive enough to say that it isn't at all my fault that we are in this pickle, but that is not to say that I can control my whole learning environment and make students read, comprehend, or work faster because I want them to either. I can't even count on two hands, the number of classes that were taken away from me for things other than curriculum or education (in the traditional sense). We have missed lots and although this is a concern in and of itself, it leads me to the next question....

Crunch vs. Quality? End of Semester Concerns
Choose some of those really key pieces that need to be taught and focus your attention and time there with quality, or push through the rest of the curriculum pieces and hope for it to hit as many kids as possible....hmmm...concerns that are really trumping great education. The push from many different places makes delivering quality education difficult or at least more challenging than it ever used to be, creates unique learning environments when the end of semester is looming in the near future. I am not sure what anyone's real 'rule of thumb' is on this question, and it probably has a lot of factors that make this a not-straight-forward situation or example. How many kids, what age, which subject, what grade level, the kids themselves (attitude), your attitude, your experience, your administration, etc. can all affect how the students will respond to either you pushing forth crunch time or savouring the quality on a few pieces. Either way, whatever you choose in your situation, I vote that the teacher always makes the best possibly decision for their students, their class and for their own comfort level. Go for it, and don't let what other teachers decide affect your classroom and your own unique students because only the teacher knows best in this situation. 

The Super Book of Web Tools

This comprehensive tool-kit gives great web 2.0 learning and teaching resources to use with your students. It is separated according to elementary, middle years and high school grade levels, so this resource is really user-friendly and gives great descriptions of the tools.

Check it out, share it and use it!

http://issuu.com/ktenkely/docs/webtools?mode=a_p