Tim Childers’ Blog

OK, I admit it.  I got a Skype account (tim.den) to keep up with friends in the DEN.  But, I got a webcam to use Skype to video conference with my 1 year old grand daughter!  She points to the camera now and says, “Papaw.”  I love it!

I got a ustream.tv account to stream workshops and such, but I haven’t been too quick to actually use it much.  Still just playing around.  I ustreamed myself painting my living room one night.  So exciting! (You can probably sense the dripping sarcasm).

I know of other DEN members using Skype to connect their classrooms with others around the world.  One of my favorite stories came from Alan November.  He told us of a teacher who was using a book set in Ireland for her students.  When she found out one of the kids’ grandmother was first-generation Irish-American, she contacted the grandmother and had her read the book over Skype (recorded).  When she played the recording for her class, every kid wanted their his or her grandmother to record a book for the class!

Yesterday, I read of a youth pastor traveling through Australia and New Zealand.  He was using Skype to video conference with a class in his church’s private school.  Kids asked questions about where he was and what it was like.  Then, they did research on the places he has been.  Pretty cool.

Today, I read a blog post about a teacher who took his 8th grade class on a field trip to Washington, DC.   He used ustream.tv to broadcast his students to their parents.  The parents could ask questions in the chat room and kids would talk about what they were doing and learning.  Again, pretty cool.

Our middle school’s Show Choir won Grand Champion at Disney World this year.  They win everywhere they go.  Even beat out high school choirs.  So now I’m thinking I need to go on the field trip next year to use ustream and Skype to broadcast their performance and keep them in touch with students and parents back home. Hmmmm.

What other creative ways are you using these tools to connect students, parents, teachers, and others?  Readers of this blog would like to know.  I know for sure the writer of the blog is really interested!

Saturday, the TN DEN LC hosted a DEN Event at Tennessee’s “secret city,” Oak Ridge.  We had some wonderful people show up (you wouldn’t expect less considering they are all members of the DEN!).  I’ll be posting more about that on the TN blog later today.

DEN events are great for more than just the event.  Every time our LC gets together, we feed off one another when it comes to ideas.  Saturday was no exception.

We had been sitting around commiserating about wanting to go to NECC, but not being able to afford plane tickets, hotel rooms, etc.   Then, the Supreme Commander of the Universe (Teryl Magee) said, “Why don’t we drive?”  I thought, its only 16 or 17 hours, so we should be able to do that with no problem.  Within minutes, Karla and I were in.

The three of us will leave Knoxville the day before the Discovery Pre-Conference Event.  We’re trying to decide whether to drive the “northern route” through Nashville and Memphis or the “southern” route through Mississippi and Louisiana.  You can help us make that decision!

We have room for a 4th in our car.  If you would like to share the company of three “wild and crazy” DEN members, we’re taking applications!  Just contact us through this blog, and we’ll be in touch.

NECC, here we come!

The American School blog posted this today:

When you think of a teenage girl’s high school experience, do scenes from Disney’s High School Musical come to mind? Well, think again.

According to a new reality series that chronicles the experiences of 12 young women, high school isn’t characterized by snooty cheerleaders and cheesy songs, but instead pregnancy scares, anorexia, self-injury, and depression.

I can only cringe to think what deep, dark secrets will be exposed on “High School Confidential,” which debuts tonight at 10 p.m. EST on WEtv. The series was conceived by single mom Sharon Liese, says the Boston Herald. It takes place at her own daughter’s high school in Overland Park, Kan.

Parents and school officials may want to tune in to find out what’s really going on in the hallways of their facilities and in the minds of their female students. Many young women spend their high school careers establishing their identities, making these tumultuous four years their most vulnerable.

The series helps convey the importance of adequate counseling and increased education on the risks of drug use, drinking, and sexual behavior. And, it promises to be entertaining.

Stacey Hollenbeck, spring intern

OK, today is my day to vent. I’ve waited several days since finding out that the great state of TN has blocked Twitter. Someone finally realized the website was being utilized (after spending all year so far Twitting several times a day…every day). I filled out the appropriate forms to have the site reopened, but it was denied because it is listed as a “social networking” site. Well, duh!

Now, I don’t use Twitter with my students. To my knowledge, none of the students in my classes have even heard of Twitter. I have read of students who utilize Twitter through cell phone updates, thus eliminating the need for computers (and working around computer filters). If this is going on with my kids, I am totally unaware. Being a teacher about to turn 50, totally unaware is often the perfect state of mind.

However, I DO use Twitter to connect with other educators across the country and literally around the world. I follow people from east coast to west coast, north to south, Canada, China, Australia, and more. While much of my Twitter experience has been pleasant and polite banter with people who share similar interests to mine, the real gem of Twitter are the links provided by people who have just discovered something important and want to share it with other teachers who will probably put it to use.

I share a lot of my Web2.0 sites with other teachers on my campus, but so far I’ve had few takers. Four of us use Google Talk to share ideas across campus during the day. Two have signed up for Twitter, but neither of them have updated anything in over two months. No, my pleasure comes from sharing ideas, websites, innovations, videos, pictures, and more with other people who, like me, will probably use these tools for the benefit of their students, their families, or themselves.

Back to my venting.

I thought the idea of education today was primarily based on a constructivist view of learning that states all learning is socially constructed. Notice the key word: socially. I understand the need to do what we can to protect students while online at our schools. I am glad we have filters most of the time.

What I don’t understand is why we can’t find a work around where teachers have a log in that allows them to utilize social networks like Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, and others while still filtering those sites away from kids who might abuse them, or be abused by them, in some way. How hard can that be? Does one filter really fit all?

After all, MTV, MusicJesus, and a host of other video and music sites are readily available to everyone. These sites contain songs with explicit lyrics that we simply do not tolerate on our school campuses. They show men and women in various states of undress and sexually compromising situations. They condone violence against women, police, and anybody else who isn’t like the song’s writer/singer/performer. Yet, we make no attempt to filter these things in order to protect our students.

Filter things? Yes. But don’t throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Don’t hamstring the educational process. Don’t just click a button and say, “Wow, another one bites the dust.” Let’s think about how these systems can be used for educational benefit and try to find a solution that works for all.

OK, my venting is done. There’s nothing else to see here. Everybody get back to work.

(NOTE: I do have a work around for Twitter.  Twitbin still works as an aggregator, but the filters do not allow me to click on any names to add someone to my following list, nor do they allow me to access my own account privately).

Tonight I got my first ticket in a very long time.  Chattanooga has built some roundabouts on heavily traveled roads in town.  While some people find them tricky, after five years in England they are second nature to me.

In case you don’t know, a roundabout is not just a song by the quintessential 70’s rock group, Yes.  It is a circle created at an intersection.  Everyone approaching the intersection looks to their left.  If no one is coming, then you have the right-of-way, and you can cruise on through the roundabout.  If someone is coming to your left, then you must yield until the road is clear again.  It sure beats having to stop at stop signs on every street corner!

Anyway, tonight I went through a roundabout.  No one was coming to my left, but there was a policeman to my right.  No problem, right?  I have the right-of-way and he must yield.  So why did I suddenly see spiraling blue lights in my rear view mirror?

When I pulled over, I asked the nice man what I did wrong.  He said I failed to yield.  When I explained what I knew about roundabouts, he said there had been an accident a day there.  That really didn’t answer my question, so I mentioned that I didn’t think I should have to yield if there was no one coming from my left.  It didn’t really matter how many times I asked, no answer was satisfying.  Instead, I got a court date.

As I drove away somewhat flustered, I wondered how many times I had answered students unsatisfactorily because I didn’t really get the question.  How many kids have left my class wondering what they did wrong?  How many wondered why I couldn’t answer their question?  How many did I dismiss because I wear a teacher’s badge and control the blue lights of my room?

I will fight the ticket.  But there is just a bit of uneasiness in the pit of my stomach about my own classroom.

Since watching Seth Godin on a TED Talk recently, I decided to subscribe to his blog.  He is a very interesting and sharp guy.  Something he said in a recent post got me thinking that his statement, although directed at marketing, is applicable to education as well.

If asked about their most frustrating moments in education, most teachers will tell you that they concern smart kids that simply won’t apply themselves to the work.  I have one of those students in mind as I write this post.  He’s intelligent.  When he tries he makes great grades.  Not good.  Great.  He probably knows more about computers in the 8th grade than I do at nearly 50. OK, maybe that isn’t saying much, but you get the idea.  I have been telling myself that if this bad judgment on his part continues, he is likely to be in jail before he graduates from high school.  His indifference goes to just about everything in his life.

So here is the quote from Seth that got me thinking:

Here’s a thought: Maybe it’s not bad judgment.

Try this on: “If I believed what you believe, I’d probably be acting exactly the same way you are right now.” (Better thought than said, probably).

If I approach this student as one who is making bad judgments, I can fight and cajole until I turn purple and he isn’t going to do anything different.  But….

If I can get to the heart of what he believes….

What does he believe about school?  About education in general?  About himself?  About his family?  About his future?  About what his teachers believe about him?  The list could be daunting.

If I can find the heart of what this student (and others like him) believe, maybe…just maybe…we have a chance.

I am sitting in the middle of the huge general sessions auditorium that easily holds the entire crowd of middle school teachers attending NMSA in Houston, TX.  It is Friday morning, and the line to get into the auditorium (at 7:30 AM) extended past the entire length of the convention center.

Using a combination of YouTube worthy videos and a stand-up routine by both the Teacher-of-the-Year and Jack Berkmeyer, the crowd was made ready for 2 middle school students to introduce The Iron Man, Cal Ripkin, Jr.

Cal is sharing with us his 8 traits for success.  Fortunately, his number of traits matched his uniform number.  Great for the book deal!  Of course, this is his original list and does not match what the editors did for the book.

•  The Right Attitude
• A Strong Will To Succeed
  • Not important how much you have, but how you use it
  • His will to succeed caused him to act destructively as a child (tantrums, throwing bats).  Parents encouraged him to harness the energy rather than stifle it (do push up, long bike rides, batting practice) - Good tips for teachers
• Passion
  • Dad told him too many people were doing things they hate.  You must love what you do.
  • Parents who push too hard may cause kids to walk away from problems when parents are no longer there.
• Love to Compete
  • This is internal and external competition
  • His successive game streak was an internal competition - he wanted to walk away from it many times.
• Consistency
  • Adjust and re-adjust (modify and accommodate?)
  • Solving problems and finding quick solutions makes you irreplaceable
  • There was a time when Cal would call pitches from shortstop rather than the catcher.  Helped poor performing pitchers turn their game around.  This helped managers decide to leave him in the game even when he wasn’t hitting.  It led to his consecutive game streak.
• Conviction
  • This involves having a thick skin, being stubborn, and seeing things through to the end
  • He was criticized by the press and others for hogging the lineup, but he truly believed he was adding value to the game and stayed the course.
  • Remember for kids (my thoughts here), stubborn is good when it is harnessed for good.  Help kids channel their stubbornness to the things that matter.
• Strength
  • There is a connection between physical and mental strength (exercise and maintaining focus)
  • After retirement, he broke the link.  He gained weight and began to be more tired.
• Life Management
  • Keep balance between professional and family lives.  Either can control you if you are not careful.
  • In 21 years of consecutive games, Cal had 9 different managers.  How many principals have you had?  Change can happen even when you don’t move.

Time is up and we are about to move to our first session.  See you on the flip side!

In China, middle school students line up after class to ask the teacher for more homework.  No, this is not a teacher’s dream sequence.  It is an actual happening witnessed by Alan November when he visited China recently.  Can you imagine this happening at your school?  Neither can I.

But the truth is, according to November, kids will rise to any challenge you give them provided the challenge makes sense in their world.  What is their world?  Well, it is social.  So kids want to do something that is seen by others (yes, that’s one reason why so many misbehave).  Their world is also digital.  Pencil and paper will often freeze them up.  Their world is filled with online gaming.  Yes, this is the freeze tag and hide-and-seek of my generation.  Think how you felt in elementary school  when recess was cancelled.  That’s how these kids feel when their favorite website is blocked at school.

So here’s another tidbit from Alan November about how to get kids, especially boys, to open up and write in class.  Have them play their favorite online game.  Yes, even the one you thought you should keep them from because it seemed so inappropriate.  If your state or district hasn’t blocked it yet, it must be okay, right? (OK, that was me, not Alan).  Then, put them on a blog and have them write about their strategies to win the game.  They are writing, right?

Next, have them read the blog posts of other students.  They will undoubtedly be drawn to write comments about others’ strategies.  They won’t all be playing the same game, but they will probably be blogging about games they all know.  They all have opinions.  Let them write.  They won’t even know they are practicing literacy skills!

Don’t know where to start with blogging?  Ask how many of your kids blog on their MySpace account.  They know how to blog.  Remember, it isn’t important that you know how.  It is just important that you know why and when.  You can set up a free blog account at Blogmeister, and educational blog site established by David Warlick.

Now go play some games!

Teachers are the bottleneck that prevents us from using technology in the classroom. Although not a direct quote, this is the sentiment outlined by Alan November at our NMSA session earlier today. He couldn’t be more right.

There were over 100 people in attendance at Alan’s talk. Out of those, I was the only one in the crowd who had ever seen a TED Talk video. Less than a dozen had a Skype account. Barely a dozen had heard of Audacity. For me, this explained why the crowd was so thin. Middle school teachers are not current when it comes to technology. Many of us have not even immigrated to the web, so “Digital Immigrants” does not apply to everyone.

Here’s a gem from today’s conference: If you want to learn to podcast, take a couple of 12 year olds to your training session. You can grade a lot of papers and let the kids learn how to podcast. They’ll pick it up in a heartbeat. It isn’t necessary for teachers to know how, according to November. It is only important that we know why and when. The kids will do the rest.

Class 208 has a podcast on iTunes. This is a group of 2nd graders who podcast every week to explain what they learned the previous week. The teacher is pretty much hands-off. The kids organize it, write it, record it, and upload it.

Look for more information from Alan’s session in a later post. I can’t stop talking about how exciting some of these things were to witness at NMSA!

McDuggal-Littel brought Alan November to NMSA to discuss technology.  It is one of the most exciting and fun sessions I have ever been to.  I’m blogging here from the NMSA email kiosk with people waiting, so I can’t finish this now.  I’ve taken nearly an entire page of hen-scratched notes and will upload them tonight with some photos.

Great stuff!