Closing Shop Here

After some reflection, I decided to shut this blog down. My new and hopefully more productive home is at http://keeferto.typepad.com/blog/. I have named this new place atychiphobia (fear of failure) and will try to focus a little more on writing more from my heart and in my own voice.

If you have come here before, please consider venturing over to the new site.

Our Space, Redesigned

Over the last few weeks I have read some fun and thoughtful posts about teachers and librarians who have redesigned their rooms. I started thinking about an Extreme Room Makeover last spring. I got a SMART Board installed in my room last year which my class and I liked a great deal, but the location (which I had little control over) was right in the middle of the room. The SMART Board became the giant elephant of the room. I knew I had to change things for this year so that when kids were using it to collaborate, other kids wouldn't just stop and stare.

So here is my design proposal for this year. If you happen to have friends at HGTV, feel free to pass this along. I think I could do a much better job than the three finalists I saw last night on Design Star (In case you missed it, one of the designers suggested using your clothes as inspiration. Since my typical wardrobe is cargo shorts and T-shirts, I'll pass on that advice).

Goals:
In thinking about what I have learned from countless hours spent on The Third Teacher's site and reading all the things the Third Teacher tweets, I decided to focus on a few big goals:

1) Diminish the presence of the SMART Board by creating more inviting spaces for students to work if they are not at the board.

2) These inviting spaces should allow for different types of groupings and work to be done.

3) I wanted to get back to the idea that as much as I love tech, fostering a love of reading is still the most important goal in my room.

4) I still wanted a huge space in the room to meet as a class and if possible sit in a circle or oval.

Winning Design:
After several attempts of moving things around, I decided I should just draw some things out. I found a nifty little tool called Classroom Architect that helped me play with the space. This is what my "final draft" looked like:
Last night, I was able to see what my design looked like. I think it turned out much better than having khaki walls with lots of storage space like my cargo shorts ... come to think of it my room does have tan walls and lots of storage space. Maybe I am not that different from the young lady on Design Star.

When you first walk in the door ...
you get to see a long narrow, tunnel of a room that sometimes makes me feel like I am in a subway. Not much I can do about that, but I do get to hang all the pennants from stadiums I have visited over the years across the room from the door. At least that is a little fun. You also get a little peek at my new crazy cool table I found at Ikea that will hopefully be a 'coveted' place to do some collaborative work when the kids are not working at the SMART Board.




The Back Corner ...
is where I think I will find 4 to 8 of my class during workshop times because of the table and these 2 little cubes that students from previous loved. I have 4 more of these cubes stationed around the room, but the 2 that are in the little nook were "hot spots". There must be something to reading or working in a place that someone standing at the door (e.g. our principal or parent volunteer) can't see. I purposefully bought an oval table to make conversations between students easier.




The Meeting Area is still huge and the SMART Board is still front and center but I am optimistic the other spaces I have created will offset the presence of the SMART Board. I also added a little bookshelf under the screen to maybe subliminally suggest that reading and thinking are a good foundation for using technology. I am also a little excited about my fun new floor lamp that is in the picture. My daughter was a heavy influence on that decision.


The Library and Computer Tables ...
now create an area that is separated from the rest of the room. One of my colleagues who saw this said something to the extent of. "You know, kids might not read there because you can't see them." I wanted to respond, "You know, kids still might not read when you can see them if you don't value reading." But I took the higher ground and just replied something like, "We'll figure it out." I love this space for many reasons, but the main one is this new area gives my students the opportunity to show that they can read/work without being seen by an adult.

My new favorite spot is this little table I put against the window in the back corner of my room. We have a great view of a wooded area near our school and this space will be a great spot for one or two of my kids (or me when they are at lunch) to work and get a little glimpse of nature at work. I am thinking about putting a little plant on the table as well, but I want to see how much space this table actually has before I do that. The stools will also be nice for storage during the summer or drumming like the guys you see in summertime Chicago near Millennium Park.
A view from the other direction ...
shows that three of my tables are now pushed against the "back wall" of the room. I have never done something like this, but about the only time my class is at their desks for long periods of time is during an assessment, so I figured this design allows for as much floor space as possible.








Reflections
It will be interesting to see how this little experiment works. I think the class will really like all the little nooks and crannies that will give them independent places to work. I also think they will like the places that allow for better collaborative work. I know that my true reflective thinking might not take place for some time. I want to see how the class uses our room before I get too excited about this redesign. After all, the room is meant for the kids, not just me. If you have any ideas, let me know (I am talking to you Candice, Vern and Genevieve)

Later,
Tony

Picture Books: 10 for 10

Two of my Central Ohio Edublogging friends (Cathy and Mandy) started this little challenge for today based on the silly premise that if we could only pick 10 picture books to use with our class, what would they be? Seriously, only 10 books?!?! I think Cathy even suggested the idea of being stranded on a deserted island with our class what would we have in our survival bag? Now, I am extremely passionate about teaching and love working with kids, but being stranded on a deserted island with 25 or so 4th graders does not sound fun on any level (unless your idea of fun is Dante's Fifth Circle).

So I am thinking of this challenge as more of what 10 books would I throw out my second story window if the blaring alarm was an actual fire and not on the last day of the month when my principal remembers to schedule the monthly fire drill.

My Must Rescue Books in no particular order are:

Owl Moon written by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr


Besides the incredible illustrations and wonderful wordplay, I have a strong connection to this book because it is one of my daughter's all time favorites. I probably share this book with each class about 5 to 6 times a year for many reasons. The most important reason for sharing is the connection my daughter and I have with the book.

Tough Cookie by David Wisniewski


I absolutely love this book. Take one part Bogart-esque gumshoe and one part stale chocolate chip cookie and you get the protagonist. Every class I have shared Tough Cookie with has loved it. We tend to spend a great deal of time analyzing the pictures and the pacing of this wonderful tale.

The Watertower written by Gary Crew, illustrated by Steven Woolman


This story may not be for every teacher, but the wonderfully descriptive story of two friends trying to outdo each other is almost lost inside the somewhat creepy pictures. An added bonus to this book is the layout. When you read the story you have to rotate the book, not unlike the swirl of water going down a drain.

Home Run written by Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Mike Wimmer


I have about 20 fabulous picture books that are about baseball, so I could have probably completed this entire challenge referencing nothing but America's Pastime. So it was hard to pick just one, but Home Run is a grand slam. Burleigh's poetic bio of Babe Ruth is magnificent and Wimmer's art is astonishingly good. Just look at the cover above. I am glad this book was not in print when I was 10 years old. I may have become a Yankee fan, yikes!

Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg


For me, no list like this one would be complete without a book by CVA. Yes, I know others like The Stranger and Jumangi might be more obvious picks, but the story of these two little mischievous ants exploring someone unknown bystander's house makes me smile every time I read it. I also love the perspective of both the writing and the illustrating. I think kids love the idea that they can "stand on CVA's shoulders" to manipulate perspective in their writing as well.

Condor's Egg written by Jonathan London, illustrated by James Chaffee


This story is one of several books London has written in a narrative nonfiction style showcasing a day in the life of an animal. London's research into Condor's must have been extensive because the richness of this tale would be hard to imagine. The illustrations are breath-taking and definitely extend, not just add to, the text. This is another frequently shared book in my room. The most powerful discussions seem to flow from the idea of using this as a mentor text for writing a nontraditional research paper.

Rimshots by Charles R. Smith Jr.


I wish I would have thought of an idea like this one. Smith meshes his love of basketball, photography, poetry an apparently typography into a an pop-artish stew of imagery that can be read and explored over and over again. As an added bonus, I think this book single-handedly helped over 50 boys I have taught in the last 10 years get that poetry can be extremely cool.

Shrek by William Steig


Kind of like choosing a CVA book,it was hard for me to choose a William Steig book. There are many worthy ones, but even before the movies, Shrek was my favorite. For 4th grade students, it is hard get get more laughter than what I hear when I frost read aloud the searing, but well-written insults that appear in Shrek. But once you get past that the real magic happens. Shrek is a great mentor text for numerous reasons in my room. This may be the reason I have to buy a new copy about every two to three years.

Rapunzel's Revenge written by Shannon and Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale


Definitely not a picture book by any classic definition, but this graphic novel twist of the Rapunzel story is one of my current favorite books. I love the story and the art, but I especially love this version of Rapunzel. Think Pipi meets Trinity from the Matrix in the wild west.

How I Became a Pirate written by David Shannon, illustrated by Melinda Long


There are too many positives in this book to count. The only one you really need to know is you and your class can snarl like Blackbeard and it would be perfectly acceptable.

There it is. The books I would rescue from a fire. Thinking about the list and composing this post were more difficult than I thought. I kind of felt like the selection committee for the NCAA basketball tournament. Speaking of which, if this were a bracket, Shrek and How I Became a Pirate would be the top seeds, but I would expect the sentimental fan favorite Owl Moon to make a deep run.

Thanks Cathy and Mandy for dreaming up this idea, it was big fun.

Later,
Tony



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Big Thinking: Leadership Day 2010

This week Scott McCloud, of Dangerously Irrelevant, encouraged edubloggers to post our thoughts about how we can help educational leaders grow into more tech savvy educational leaders.

Scott says,

"Administrators’ lack of knowledge is not entirely their fault. Most of them didn’t grow up with these technologies. Many are not using digital tools on a regular basis. Few have received training from their employers or their university preparation programs on how to use, think about, or be a leader regarding digital technologies."

To a certain extent, I agree with Scott's words above. From what I have seen in the last 5 year of my teaching career it is not hard to imagine that many administrators are not comfortable with digital technologies and have also not received any training. However, I have a hard time with the "is not entirely their fault" part of Scott's quote from above. I think if something is truly important to you, you work on it without your employer, teacher, parent, spouse, etc. providing you with resources or incentives. When you are intrinsically motivated to learn, you find a way to learn it. Based of what I have seen via my PLN, there are administrators and teachers all over the world that are finding ways to enrich the educations and lives of their students by embracing digital technologies.

So, what would I say to counsel an administrator? I think I could boil it down to three big ideas.

1) Remember your roots. Now, maybe there are some administrators in the field today that dreamed of becoming a test-data driven automaton that would punitively dress drown teachers for not raising test scores. But I am sincerely hoping that nearly all administrators started out as teachers who wanted to engage students in learning and change lives. So, remember your roots 21st Century Administrator. Think big about how some of these new technologies can engage kids in learning and maybe even change their lives.

2) Be supportive by example. I know it can be hard to try new things, but if a teacher is working for an administrator who is muddling through their own successes and failures in an attempt to become more tech savvy, then I believe the teacher will be more willing to try some new things as well. So, don't be afraid to subscribe to some blogs, start a blog, create a Twitter account or join a Ning to learn and explore 21st Century Administrator. Think big about how setting a positive example of risk-taking can lead to your teachers taking some risks.

3) Observe and learn from the students in your school, then challenge them. Don't be awestruck. Kids amaze me with technology, but not because they know how to do something with a computer. When I am amazed, it's because of how a student can stretch her thinking and world with technology. I am not so impressed when a student can put a movie clip on YouTube. So, 21st Century Administrator, when you are on your next walk-through don't be impressed that a student made a PowerPoint or created a podcast. Ask them to show you some tricks, but also look to see how they are using these tools to enrich their learning. Then challenge them to do something bigger. Think big about how the students in your school can utilize technology to stretch themselves.

I feel lucky that I have worked for some administrators who have let me take some risks and explore integrating technology into my classroom. But, I also think that is because I have learned how to make a strong case for integrating technology. I think the next big step the administrators that I have worked for should take is to not just be supportive of teachers like me, but cultivate a climate where teachers who do more with technology than using a SmartBoard or having kids type a report on a computer are the norm, not the exception.

Thanks Scott for encouraging all of us to reflect and think about how we can help administrators help themselves.

Later,
Tony.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Drawing Pad: Possibilities Seem Endless

In my last post I shared about how I would most likely be downloading the Brushes app for my class iPads. However, I will definitely have the kids experiment with Drawing Pad as well.


Drawing Pad has many features that I think would be ideal in the hands of an elementary student. These include:
1) Four different drawing tools: crayons, markers, colored pencils and paintbrushes (all of these have a wonderful selection of colors).
2) A stamping tool which allows a user to tap the screen to make stars, hearts and bubbles.
3) A collection of sticker book styled animals, transportation devices and some goofy emoticons.
4) A decent variety of background paper choices, including the option to use a photo as the background (as long as the photo is in the iPad photo library).
5) Ease of use when erasing not- so-perfect attempts.
6) Easy to use sharing and saving options.

There are probably too many possibilities to count on how to use Drawing Pad but a few that are swirling around in my head already are:
1) Quick sketches of characters or scenes from stories read.
2) Creating illustrations for stories written in writing workshop. One of the saving options for Drawing Pad is to put the newly created drawing into your photo collection, so you can place it into other documents you create. We did a digital picture book project last year and I can see the potential of having students use Drawing Pad for illustrations this year.
3) Creating observational illustrations in science or math class.
4) Just having fun.

Below is a picture my 11 year-old daughter made using Drawing Pad. I asked her to play around with it and I told her I would be sharing it here. She thought it was easy to use and she wanted use a lot of the features to show off what Drawing Pad could do. She thought her beach scene turned out ok, but she admitted it only took her about 10 minutes to do it.



It will be interesting to see what my 4th graders think of Drawing Pad this fall. I know I would of thought it was pretty cool if I had something like this when I was there age.

Later,
Tony

P.S. I am also using this entry to try out BlogPress for the iPad. It seems easy enough to use, but there are some downsides (like not being able to easily create hyperlinks). I imagine I will only use it when I am not at home and take my iPad with me or if one someone else in the house is using the laptop and the only tool I can get my hands on is the iPad (like that will happen).