Genius Hour - Round 6

This week was very interesting. Students really started to think about their topics. I had 3 students approach me about changing their topics. While they were very excited about the topics, they realized through their research that some of them may have been not been going in the direction they had hoped for. I thought this was great! I was thrilled to see them thinking deeply about their topics and the direction they wanted to go with them.

To start Genius Hour, we read Going Places by Peter and Paul Reynolds. The kids really enjoyed this book, as they have all of our Genius Hour read alouds thus far.

Students got right to work researching and I began pulling them over to conference. Conferencing provided great one on one time that allowed me to teach the students where they are at and what they needed to learn from me at that time. For example, one student wants to conduct an interview. This is probably the hardest topic for me to wrap my head around out of all of the topics in our class. However, the little girls is SO EXCITED - that was the goal! We conferenced and decided that she would begin researching good interview questions and jotting them down. She wants to interview Katy Perry. We posted on her FB page and also sent her a Tweet from our class Twitter account. Fingers crossed - please reply Katy Perry!

My daughter attends a project based learning charter school in our district. She works within 6 week project cycles. During each cycle she is expected to research 60 facts on her topic from a variety of resources. This got me thinking about Genius Hour....when could students start working on their projects? I had not set any guidelines for them. Should I have? I decided to tell them that they needed at least 5 facts about their topic to start. We will evaluate after they have obtained 5 facts whether or not they should continue on researching.

Genius Hour 5

This week, we moved to the Library Research Center for a change of scenery. Our amazing Library Director, Ms. Davis, read us Anything is Possible by Giulia Belloni. The kids love listening to picture books during Genius Hour. Reading these inspirational books has made me realize that I do not read aloud to my class enough and am going to make time to do it more.

This week, was very eye opening to me, as I saw the powering of conferencing with individuals first hand. We came to the Library Research Center for a change of scenery and to take advantage of Ms. Davis' expertise in online Databases. She showed us how to use them and we went to work. Many kids had difficulty finding information about their topic in the databases. We practiced searching for related things. Students then went on to conduct more online searches using Google.

I encouraged students to take notes on anything exciting they found. As I walked around and checked on students' progress, I started jotting down notes that they dictated to me. I realized that this was something we would need to work on - note taking. Thus far, I had modeled it at the beginning of every Genius Hour class and throughout the week when we were working on other subjects. It was something that students struggled with and we would need to continue to practice.

I enjoyed conferencing and felt that it was extremely beneficial to students and so much more than just monitoring their progress. I was able to work one on one with students and guide them in their note taking and in generating questions. Side note - this month I participated in the #geniushour Twitter chat. Something I will be investigating is rightquestion.org to search for resources to help me ask thought provoking questions that encourage students to continue questioning. I will also be creating a form to track conferences.

We also discussed our experts. It was interesting to me that many students did not think past their families. I encouraged them to think BIG! We have the world at our fingertips via technology. It doesn't hurt to try, right? As one of my friends and colleagues says, "You won't receive unless you ask!"

Plan of attack for week 6: continue researching, conferencing, and generating lists of experts to contact.

*On conference sheet - include "expert" and "final project ideas".

Genius Hour - Take 4

This week, we kicked off Genius Hour by reading But I Read It on the Internet by Toni Buzzeo and Reach for the Stars and Other Advice for Life's Journey by Serge Bloch. Both great books and highly recommended! Buzzeo's book laid the ground work for great discussion about researching on the internet. Very appropriate for 3rd grade and they were all very engaged! In the book, the awesome librarian shares a "Gizmo" with students - a website evaluation tool. This is something I want to create for Genius Hour research for my kids. Need to think about it and how I want it to look... Perhaps even a half sheet of laminated paper with a checklist to refer to?

After our inspirational reads, we moved on to internet searches. We practiced searching for a topic and citing our source. In Buzzeo's book, the librarian teaches kids to check out the "URL". Today's GH goal: find one fact on and write it on a piece of loose leaf paper. Underneath your fact, write the URL. We practiced shortening it up a bit and only writing until the first slash. This seemed to work well with the kids.

After we searched on our Chromebooks for a bit, we took a shot at our new reflection page. Two simple questions:
1. What is one thing that went GREAT today?
2. What is one thing that was challenging today?

Heartbreak of the day, right here folks...

We then excitedly got our new folders. I gave each student a plastic, 3 pronged folder to keep their GH work in each week. Passing out folders and practicing putting our papers in was pretty exciting stuff! I really liked the folders and I think they will definitely help keep these third graders much better organized.

Overall, today's Genius Hour session went much smoother. Every single child was engaged and excited. I feel like that makes it a success in and of itself.

I have recruited my dear friend and Library Media Specialists for next week's Genius Hour....(insert music and dun, dun, dun sound). We are going to collaborate this week and decide - explore databases? Practice internet research? Practice book research?

Genius Hour 3

This week's Genius Hour Plan: Complete a Project Proposal. We first read two great books: The OK Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and 11 Experiments that Failed by Jenny Offill. The kids enjoyed them both. They especially loved 11 Experiments that Failed, as we have been conducting experiments about the states of matter.

Students were asked to complete the following questions:

• Name
• Date
• Topic
• My INQUIRY question will be (What are you wondering about?):
• Materials I need for my research (How do you plan to find the answer to your question?):
• How do you plan to show/share/present your research findings?
• Teacher Approval

By the end of last week, I had conferenced with each student and worked with them to create an inquiry question. This week, two students had completely forgotten their topics! Most of them did however, remember their exact question. Overall, students had difficulty answering these questions - even with modeling and assistance. Many students were demonstrating the exact reason that I wanted to implement Genius Hour - they were scared to take a risk. This task wasn't a workbook page or a defined set of problems, this was open ended and much more difficult for them. 

We worked on these proposals for most of the period. With about 15 minutes left, I asked students to complete the daily log reflection (posted last week). This was a complete flop. I am going to take off the "Notes" and "Resources" boxes and simply create a new form that focusing on reflection. The theme of Genius Hour Week 3 was - HOT MESS. I felt a little discouraged, but then remembered our classroom's precept of the month...

Genius Hour 2

Today we had our 2nd Genius Hour. We read The Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires and Olivia's Birds: Saving the Gulf by Olivia Bouler. Many of the kids had read The Magnificent Thing, which surprised me because I had not heard of it before exploring Genius Hour this summer.The kids LOVED both books. They were very engaged and amazed that an eleven-year-old girl wrote a book! Some got a twinkle in their eyes.... You could see them thinking, "Hey, I could do that!"

I then told the kids that we were going to continue brainstorming using our electronic "Wonder Wall" - a shared Google Doc. The kids were immediately excited - time to use their Chromebooks! They weren't quite excited about what we were actually doing yet. This was a great idea. Or, so I thought... The kids were not focused on brainstorming, they were very concerned about what other kids were doing and who was writing in their "box" (I created a table and each student was designated a box to brainstorm in). The shared Doc was also updating a little slowly and lagging in updating, which is completely understandable as there were 20 people using it at the same time! I decided to pull the plug about half way through and have the kids create their own Google Doc and share it with me. I told them to type in "Sarah Simac". They were amazed that I had a first name! The stress level in the room instantly decreased.

I want to note that before we began brainstorming, I told the kids that we would decide at the end of the period if we were going to do one group project or individual projects.

As our Genius Hour went on, the kids became more and more interested in their own ideas. I then began conferencing with each student. There were some kids that definitely needed more modeling and prompting through the brainstorming process. There were also some kids that completely blew me away. My favorite was a little girl who recently donated her hair to an organization that makes wigs for children with Cancer and other diseases. She wanted to learn, "How can I get other kids to cut their hair?" She will be making a PSA that we are going to share with the school and world on Youtube! I just finished individually emailing parents about their child's choice of topic for Genius Hour. The goal for next week: tweak our big QUESTION and work on a Project Plan. I also want students to reflect and complete our Genius Hour Project Log.

Genius Hour 1

Today marks the end of our first week of school, and what an amazing week it was! The students were eager to learn and ready to go! I have to note that this year, I believe the beginning of the week went exceptionally well. I am so lucky that I have taught this group in kindergarten, 2nd grade, and now 3rd grade! I have had over half of the students in class before. I have been fortunate enough to work with the rest of the students in other grade level activities. Needless to say, I not only know all of my students - I have relationships with them. I was not going to start Genius Hour this early in the year, but decided to jump right in!

On the 2nd day of school, the students carried their "Chrome Eggs" around. These were hardboiled eggs that we pretended were our Chromebooks. There were a lot of cracked "Chromebooks"; however, I believe the activity was extremely successful. We reflected as a class and came up with great lists of how to handle our Chromebooks appropriately and what not to do. The next day, students were given their Chromebooks and taught the basics. Today, they learned how to access Drive, how to create a Google Doc, and how to share a Doc with others. During this lesson a light bulb went off in my head... we would brainstorm on a shared Google Doc!

This afternoon, we started our FIRST Genius Hour! We began by watching and discussing a Prezi that I made - click HERE to view. We then looked up the word Genius and found the following definition:
: a very smart or talented person : a person who has a level of talent or intelligence that is very rare or remarkable

: a person who is very good at doing something
: great natural ability : remarkable talent or intelligence

We had a great discussion about what genius was, that led naturally into an in depth about passion and things that got us excited!

I had students fill out an interest survey:

Name: _______________________Date: ________________
Think FAST! What are 3 things you wonder about?
1._______________________________________________

2. .______________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________
What do you like to do most at home?
________________________________________________
What are your favorite hobbies?
________________________________________________
What are your favorite books or magazines?
________________________________________________
My Favorite:
Team: ______________________________________________
Game:  _____________________________________________
Animal:  ____________________________________________
Musical Group:  ______________________________________
Sport:  _____________________________________________
Subject in School:  ____________________________________

This was a great idea; however, it was overwhelming for some of my students who have difficulty reading and writing. I did write for some students, but decided to scrap it about half way through. I then opened up a Google Doc that I named "Genius Hour - Wonder Wall" and shared with students. Click HERE to view our shared Doc. Unfortunately, we only had about 10 minutes to work on the shared Doc and we had to go to P.E., Power Hour, then HOME! I did share the Doc with parents and invited them to check their child's progress and add ideas with their child whenever they'd like.

Excited for next week!

Student Reflection

Our elementary school currently uses a daily planner in grades 3-5 to record activities and assignments. True to the title of my blog, I have moved on up again. This year, I will begin my first 3rd/4th grade loop. I am very excited and could go on forever about that excitement, but back to reflection!

Our principal has already ordered us planners. Our PBIS committee has been brainstorming ways to incorporate a spot for our students to reflect on our expected behaviors: be safe, be responsible, and be respectful. Last year, one of our amazing teachers created and combined a planner and behavior reflection piece all into one. Using her planner would entail weekly copying for each student.

In an attempt to save resources and utilize our chromebooks (newly 1:1 in grades 3-5), I have created a google form. My thought is to make a copy of the form for each student, and share it with them and their families. This is a snapshot of the form, but not the entire thing. It also got distorted when taking the screenshot. There is an additional text response box for students to tell something they learned or something exciting from the day. I love this piece and am excited to use it as an exit ticket for students. We are meeting as a grade level next week, and I am excited to share this with my co-workers! Please feel free to offer any feedback or suggestions, thanks!

Pure Genius

I am currently reading Pure Genius: Building a Culture of Innovation and Taking 20% to the Next Level by Don Wettrick. I decided to write this reflection a little differently than other book reflections I have written in the past. Instead of taking notes, reviewing my notes, and reflecting; I am going to stop intermittently in the book and jot down some ideas as they strike me! This blog will basically be my notes to reflect upon.

LOVED Wettrick’s discussion about Dave Grohl (drummer for Nirvana and front man of Foo Fighters). Grohl basically says that now people are making music on computers, altering sounds using software. People are winning contests on reality shows that they are just singing someone else’s song on. Musicians need to fail. They need to record, rerecord, play cheap shows with poor equipment. Then, when they do make it – their music is organic and filled with passion, because they have poured their hearts into it. This is not only a great analogy for education, but for many things in life!

I also thought Wettrick’s comparison of education and gaming was brilliant. We often hear that kids and adults alike, love games. I love candy crush!  However, think about our classrooms. If I told all students they had to start at level one. No matter what, even if they had already completed level 22; everyone was starting at one. That’s not how we should be teaching, leading or guiding our students.

Key points from chapter one:

• Innovation Class is one in which students can have time and space to create their own learning experiences and collaborate with experts from around the world. It is also a place where students learn by doing and creating, rather than passively listening to a set of directions and pre-determined outcomes. And although we make sure to meet our standards, the focus is less on compliance and more on self-discovery and the pursuit of curiosity and knowledge building. YES! I love Wettrick's explanation of Innovation Class. This will be very helpful when explaining Genius Hour to parents this fall. 
• Innovation is always a work in progress, always evolving.
• One of the most important steps when problem solving is to ask the right questions. This reminds me of what Dave Burgess said in his book, Teach Like A Pirate: framing everything with the right questions is extremely important. It changes the way your brain thinks about things! Creative questioning helps us change our thinking and frame things as possible instead of just assuming we can't do it.
• Innovation uses a fresh approach to solving real problems with the resources you have and finding clever ways around the resources you don't have...Innovation brings new solutions to problems that arise in a changing environment. This is completely in line with what I tell my students - be solution people, not problem people! Innovative people are solution people by definition. I will definitely share this with the kids and make the connections to solving problems instead of stating them.
• I just finished up Learn Like a Pirate by Paul Solarz. One of my goals for the upcoming school year is to create and foster a student-led classroom. I want students to take ownership and responsibility in our classroom. Wettrick ties this in seamlessly, Students are asked to take ownership of their education. Instead of teachers putting a standard on the board and telling them how to meet it, students are given the challenge to prove they have mastered the required standards. They are also given the freedom to choose the method for completing the projects they choose. My 2nd goal for the upcoming school year - implement Genius Hour! Students will be working towards standards; however, instead of me speaking to them directly and then assessing them on what they heard/learned, the students will be choosing how they are going to demonstrate their knowledge of the standards and content to me.
• Working towards anything important to you means that you have to be willing to fail!

The Puzzle of Motivation by Dan Pink - click HERE! Wettrick suggests this TED video on motivation. Very interesting! Pink talks about the 3 things needed to motivate people: 

1. autonomy - independence!
2. mastery - need and desire to learn more!
3. purpose - doing this for a bigger reason!

This TED video and the research provided in it, support Genius Hour/20 Time tremendously!

Wettrick discusses creating a "Culture of Freedom from Day One". This had a big impact on me. He points out that students are excited the first day of school - they are excited to see their friends, bring in their new school supplies, etc. While building a collaborative classroom community, it is important not to squash that enthusiasm by telling them everything they canNOT do. Spend the first days telling them all of the exciting things that we will be doing in class.

According to Wettrick, there IS NO PLAN! However, there are guidelines:

• Project Based Learning; however, the teacher is not choosing the topic which typically happens in a project based learning environment.
• Students research topic of their choice, personal interest - this is hard for students! Many have not had this type of freedom before. Hold a classroom brainstorming session. Research how to EFFECTIVELY brainstorm. Also, create surveys for the kids to help get them thinking about their passions. Thought - have them research solutions to a local problem or a problem that they can make better. Something to do for our first whole group Genius Hour project. Do one together to model the process?
• Students can work individually or in groups (should be nor more than 3). If students do choose to work in groups, come up with possible "roles" to keep all on tasks. 
• Students must collaborate with outside expert (person from the community, Facebook contact, Twitter, Skype, etc.)
• Project plan? Hmmmm.... Wettrick suggests a project plan for high school Innovation course. Is this necessary in 3rd grade? I am thinking just an end product in mind. Will create some type of graphic organizer for 3rd graders.
• Reflection after each work period, what did they do? What did they learn? What did they find? Blog or VLOG - video blog??
• Presentations (will hold family night at the end of the year).

6 Building Blocks of Innovative Learning:

1. Collaboration: Students need to collaborate with each other and they also need to collaborate with experts outside of the classroom. The real world interactions are authentic and will provide them with real world experiences.
2. Task- Oriented: Often students are extremely excited about the big ideas; however, they then don't know how to go from idea to project. Help them create a list of tasks, goals, and a timeline for completion. Make sure to not only set a final timeline, but a timeline along the way for each task.
3. Daring: Students need to be fearless and be risk-takers! Create a classroom with the freedom to fail!
4. Relevant: In this scenario, relevant means to have students solve real world problems that they can see the benefits of their solutions. Challenge students to create a meaningful project.
5. Reflective: Constantly reflect - students and teacher!!! Reflection helps us to see how to improve and to also correct any misconceptions or mistakes.
6. Ongoing: Some projects have long lasting impacts that go beyond the school year. Some projects just simply can't be finished by the end of the school year. Older students can absolutely follow through on their own, and they should as it is a PASSION project. However, not sure how realistic this is for 3rd grade. Will play this by ear...

Wettrick also discusses social media for both teachers and students. I have decided to again have a daily student "Tweeter". The daily student Tweeter will send out a daily tweet sharing something from their day - a project, something they learned, a picture, something fun or silly, etc. Our class will also use Twitter to connect and collaborate with other classes (Mystery Skype) and experts (as mentors for Genius Hour projects). Our class will also have a Facebook page; however, I will be in control of it for the time being. It is new and I want to do a trial as a class, just as I had with Twitter in the past. Our school board recently approved a new social media policy, so we are still navigating these unchartered waters... I will be sharing a letter with families at open house about our Facebook page (see below). I started to write the pros of social media; however, decided to keep it short and sweet. I would rather discuss it with the parents in person at our Open House. This will give them the opportunity to ask questions and me the opportunity to address them directly.

Click HERE to read my letter to parents about Facebook.

Learn Like A Pirate

I just finished Learn Like A Pirate by Paul Solarz and my mind is spinning. It was full of such GREAT information. I bought and read Learn Like A Pirate with my end goal in mind - a Student Led classroom. I want students to be independent thinkers and learners. I want students to be solution people, not problem people. This came to be from the learned helplessness that was abundant in my classroom last year (see Freedom to Fail blog post).

This upcoming school year, and for all the school years after, I will focus on improvement and welcome failure. I believe that I did this before; however, my biggest mistake was not conveying this message to students and teaching them to believe it and live it.

I have used and abused my trusty highlighter when reading this book. I also went through a pile of post-its and a notebook full of scribbles about all of the key points. This blog is my reflection on what will I change in my classroom for the upcoming school year.

1. Give Me Five - I will empower all students to be equal parts in our classroom by allowing them to signal (raising their hand) and get the attention of their classmates by saying, "Give me five," when they want the attention of the entire class. I will teach students that this is a privilege. We must respect when other students are talking (silence our mouths, freeze our bodies). This is not to be used in specials (art, music, PE, etc.) or with substitute teachers. I will express great appreciation to students who use it correctly. When students interrupt at inopportune times, I will use it as a teachable moment.

2. Daily Goal - At the end of each day, students will write in their daily planners and reflect on their own behaviors - were they safe, respectful, and responsible? We will also set a goal for the next day. What can we do better as a class?

3. Strategies for Dealing with Conflict - Last year, it seemed that there were always students running up to me. I consistently asked students if they were "tattling" or "reporting". We went over the differences between the two in depth, multiple times throughout the school year.  Solarz gives three strategies to teach students to resolve conflict on their own:

• Rock-Paper-Scissors: When someone HAS to win or be right, break it down to a good old fashioned game of rock-paper-scissors.
• Compromise: Take ideas from each person and figure out a solution using both. For example, two students are working together, Sophia and Natalie. Sophia wants to search for information on a website and Natalie wants to search for information in the library. They are instructed to work together. Compromise - do both! One will have to be done first, but figure it out! It is a win-win situation for all involved.
• Be Kind: Truly think about what the other person wants to do. If it is a good idea, do it!

4. Silent Day - Tell the kids that they are working towards a goal: Silent Day. For Silent Day, I will be quiet the entire day. I will not say a word. I will not bless someone when they sneeze, I will not say thank you - nothing! In order to do this, they will need to practice throughout the school year and show me that they can make decisions and handle things as responsibly and independently as possible.

Solarz also gave plenty of other great instructional strategies to implement. I am excited and focused on beginning the school year teaching the kids what a student-led classroom is and how we will become one! 

From Learned Helplessness to the Freedom to Fail

Last year, I taught 2nd grade. Throughout the year, I reflected on what was working and what wasn't working. This summer, I continued to do that, what could I do to make my classroom better? To make students more engaged? To optimize learning and success? No matter what aspect of my classroom I reflected on - student engagement, curriculum, technology, etc. - there was always an underlying "area that needs improvement". My students had learned helplessness. I do not take full credit for teaching them this, I believe that it was learned over many years. However, I definitely contributed. I think that there is so much pressure to get everything done, it is simply easier to just show them or tell them instead of guiding them, letting them fail, guiding them some more, and letting them figure it out.

When I attended ISTE this summer in Philadelphia, I attended a session by Andrew K. Miller called Freedom to Fail. At the largest international tech conference in the world, I took away the most impactful message from this session and it wasn't about tech at all for me. It was focused on teaching kids to fail forward, to change the negative connotation of the word FAIL to something that means needs more improvement, TRY AGAIN and KEEP TRYING! I came home and bought Andrew's book. Short, but great read. Here's the key points hat I took away from Andrew's book and will continue to revisit as I begin my first loop:

• When treated as a necessary step towards innovation, failure can help students to:
• Promote and establish a growth mindset,
• Build resiliency and a life-long learning mentality, and
• Prepare for the real world.
• Fear of failure is one of the leading causes of anxiety for students.
• Frame failure through a growth mindset.
• FAIL: First Attempt In Learning
• Failure is a beginning, not an end.
• If students are never given the opportunity to fail, they'll never know how much they can improve.
• By allowing and even prompting productive failure in the classroom, we can help students build their resiliency.
• When we fail in safe ways, we want to learn more.
• Students learn best through authentic experiences connected to the real world.
• Failure can only move students in the right direction if they have clear expectations and objectives, which are best established through rubrics and checklists and should be based on learning outcomes or standards.
• When students know that they'll be sharing their authentic products with an authentic audience, they will be motivated to continually revise their work as they make mistakes. Authenticity can create the need to improve work and , in the process, embrace the virtues of failure.
• This is one of the biggest problems with failure in the classroom: We set students up for epic fails before the have a chance to learn from the process. Instead, students need to be given multiple low stakes opportunities to fail, as these facilitate ongoing risk taking and impart to students the sense that failure isn't a big of a deal as they may think it is.
• Through the explicit teaching of questioning strategies, teachers can support students in moving past failure to success.
• A culture of collaboration must be sustained year-round if the freedom to fail is to be ingrained.
• Educators should model learning from failure as often as they can.
• Reflection focused on analyzing failure can help students to reframe it as a positive and meaningful experience.
• Consider using journals, discussions, and other reflection methods to facilitate failing forward.
• We all have students who tend to finish tasks early or who have some background knowledge that makes work a bit easier for them. We need to make sure that these students experience failure too. DIFFERENTIATE. Challenge them.
• Assessments that encourage the freedom to fail allow for student voice and choice and structured feedback.
• Smaller, targeted failures prevent students from becoming  overwhelmed and allow them to see failure as integral to the journey rather than simply the result of it.
• SMART Goals: Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Reasonable. Time-oriented.
• Students need specific, relevant, and timely feedback. We want students to think and reflect on their failures and reach an understanding of what happened and what to do next, and we want them to apply the feedback to their work immediately. Make sure feedback isn't overwhelming.
• Students should not be graded on their failures, no matter how important they are to eventual success. If students fail and receive a poor grade, they will think they are being punished for taking risks. Instead, teachers should sue grades to reward students at their best. Failure should be motivated by authentic learning and risk taking rather than by grades. 
• When we admit something isn't working, we communicate the message that failure is simply an opportunity to reflect and revise.

At our Open House, I will be sending a copy of my Philosophy on Failure to parents.

ISTE 2015

This June I traveled to Philadelphia to present at ISTE. My session was, "Teachers and Students Communicating with Families Using Technology." Presenting at an international tech conference was a tremendous experience. Participating in other sessions was also amazing. Here are my top 4 take aways from ISTE 2015...(If I didn't restrict myself to 4, this blog post would never end!)

1. Twitter Challenge - Love, love, love this idea! First I should add that I love Twitter as a professional development tool. Living in Northern Wisconsin, it sometimes feels isolated. Twitter has allowed me to meet great people, learn from ideas and articles, collaborate - the list goes on and on! During our monthly Tech Talks, I have held many sessions on Twitters and its benefits. However, we still have staff that are hesitant and do not yet see Twitter's value. This Twitter Challenge is designed to get people using Twitter comfortably while exploring what it is all about. The goal is that through these tasks, people will see and experience the great professional development opportunities and connections that Twitter has to offer.

1. Add a profile and cover photo to your Twitter account.
2. Complete your “Bio” information on your Twitter Profile.
3. Send a tweet with your name, grade level, and the hashtag #erespride.
4. Reply to someone who used #erespride in a tweet yesterday & share why you love ERES. #erespride
5. Follow 5 new people from ERES.
6. Take a break, it’s Saturday!
7. Follow 5 new people in your subject area/grade level that you do not know.
8. Favorite (click on the star) a tweet.
9. Get familiar with edu Twitter chats & hashtags: http://goo.gl/pdY3
10. Tweet a photo - picture with your favorite quote or saying, your classroom, vacation spot, etc. #erespride
11. Observe or participate in a Twitter chat (anytime this week). #erespride
12. Tweet one new tech tool or way that you will use technology in your classroom this school year. #erespride
13. What are you reading or learning? Tweet a link to a blog post, article, or book. #erespride
14. Quote a tweet (click retweet and select edit or quote) and why you chose to retweet it or think it was an important/awesome message. #erespride
15. Tweet something about your Twitter challenge experience. Perception changed? Knowledge gained? Ideas shared? #erespride

2. Freedom to Fail - This was an amazing session put on my Andrew Miller. After thinking about the session, I realized that much of it is so simple and should be common sense. Notice the "should" in that sentence... Last year, I realized that many of my students had learned helplessness, and it was my fault. Just like my own kids at home, sometimes it's easier to just hand them what they need instead of teaching them how to get it for themselves. This session was just what I needed! Some key points that I took away and will be referring back to often (for myself and to teach my students!):

• Success is not a straight line.
• Scientists don't run experiments guaranteeing they will be successful, they run them to gain knowledge.
• Be open to outcomes that may not have been anticipated in the process.
• Fear of failure causes anxiety.
• Judy Willis, brain based researcher in education says, "Kids won't learn because they are scared."
• Less teaching, more feedback.
• Failure Factors:
• School Culture - trust and relationships are most important. It students trust you, they will take the risk with you. Don't only post exemplary work, post all of the work that led up to the final product.
• Assessment Practices - Feedback must be timely, specific, understandable and actionable. Teachers do not have to provide lots of in depth feedback on every formative assessment. Make the feedback put the cognitive load back on the kids, so that they learn from their failures. Feedback should cause thinking, don't do the thinking for the kids. Was it a mistake (you know it but you made a boo boo) or an error (implies a gap, they don't understand something, they need more instruction).
• Curriculum Assignments - Do an analysis of curriculum. How does curriculum need to be structured to allow failure? What do the work and assignments look like? Is there differentiation?
• Instructional Strategies - Teachers should learn to ask questions for, not about learning. Teach and model which questions to ask to get kids thinking on their own.
• Facilitate conversations about failure with kids. Demystify it and make it not scary.
• Teach kids how to ask good questions. Questions should be honored. Questions are important - after you fail, you have to know where to go next.
• HIGH EXPECTATIONS - we have to mean it and believe that all kids will get there.
• Model making mistakes.

3. Coding - In passing (in person and via social media) I have a basic understanding of what coding is, but no understanding of how to do it and especially how to teach it. ISTE sparked my curiosity about what coding is and why it is important. While a couple of 30 minute sessions gave me a brief overview of coding and its importance, they also provided me with resources to learn more. Code.org was mentioned multiple places at ISTE. Upon my return home, I decided to check it out. Code.org offers FREE professional development for teachers (and anyone else who choses to learn coding!). There is a 1-3 hour online option and also one day workshops. Unfortunately, the closest workshop was 4.5 hours away and the Saturday after school starts. I did some investigating, contacted code.org trainers (listed on their website) and have a wonderful trainer coming to our school district to train our staff! We are currently working with our administration to finalize details, but I am very excited about this opportunity! I personally would like to learn more about coding, then use the code.org free curriculum to teach my 3rd graders during our "Power Hour" time slot.

4. Google PD - More FREE, online professional development! Google has revamped their professional development and offers different levels of training for those interested in becoming Google Certified. I would like to pursue these certifications to learn more about all of the tools Google has to offer, as well as to share this information with colleagues during our monthly Tech Talks and teach my students.

Teaching Like a Pirate

I am currently in the middle of reading Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess.  It is amazing and I recommend it to every teacher I know!

I just got done with Part 1 and thought it would be a great time to reflect and jot some ideas I had so far...

PIRATE:

P - Passion

I - Immersion

R - Rapport

A - Ask & Analyze

T - Transformation

E - Enthusiasm

The book states many things that we already know we should be doing as educators; however, may very well not be. I would like to reflect on each one of these very important pieces of the education puzzle.

Passion 

Before reading this chapter, I thought I had passion in the bag. I am by nature a very passionate person. However, after reading this and later chapters, I realize that I probably have mistaken my enthusiasm for passion. Dave points out that there are three different types of passion: content, professional, and personal. Content passion - what subjects am I most passionate about teaching? With my upcoming move to 3 and then 4th grade as a loop, I am passionate about social studies. I love culture studies and am excited to explore the continents with students. Professional passion - what drives me as an educator? I am passionate about building relationships (rapport) with students, making them feel valued, and getting them excited about learning; therefore, creating lifelong learners. I am also passionate about teaching independence and real life lessons. While in my heart I know these passions, reading about professional passion helped me to reflect and gave me a little jolt of energy to finish the school year strong. Personal passion - what am I completely passionate about outside of school? This last quarter of school, I have felt a little frazzled - always so busy, always so much to do. But am I really that busy? Do I really have that much to do? No. Not anymore than anyone else. We all have 24 hours in a day. What are my passions right now? I realized that I had not been focusing on them and therefore have not been focused or content. 

"Don't fall into the trap of thinking time spent developing yourself into a well-rounded person, above and beyond your role as an educator, is wasted or something to feel guilty about. It is essential and will pay dividends in not only your life, but also in your classroom."   -Dave Burgess

Immersion

Basically, I am focused on what I am doing? Am I completely immersed in the lesson? I just read a blog post by Pernille Ripp about distraction and how many of them there are in our classrooms. For example, when we hear the ding of our phone or laptop notifying us of an email, it is very hard to not wonder what it's about and who it's from. These last days of school I am going to do my best to immerse myself totally in what we are doing and focus 100% on the task at hand.

Rapport - Building relationships with kids is one of my professional passions. I love children, but more importantly I love to have a genuine connection with children that allows them to trust me, and then help them learn.

Ask & Analyze

This chapter focused a lot on creativity. I can no longer use the excuse that I am just not that creative. I have to start asking the right questions to arrive at the right answers.

Transformation 

GPS - I learned about this in the first book of Dave's that I read, "P is for Pirate".  Here is where my GPS will be set (I blogged about this previously!):

1.Happy 

I want every person in my classroom to feel that our classroom is a happy, fun place. I want a POSITIVE classroom culture. Even when things are serious, I want the children to know that I first and foremost care about them.

2. Safe

I want all students to feel safe. Not only physically safe, but emotionally safe. They will be respected and treated with love and compassion. They will not be demeaned or talked down to by any student or any adult, including myself, ever. I also want them to be safe to take educational risks, try new things. I want them to know that it is okay to fail and feel safe in doing so. 

3. Empowering

Students WILL be confident and resourceful. They will do these things together, not exclusively. For example, they will find the answers because they know that they can. They will search and not feel fearful of failure or uncertainty. Try, try, try.

4. Student Led

Students should know that this it THEIR classroom. I would ultimately like them to control as many of the daily routines as possible. I would also like them to take responsibility for their learning, to realize that they have a voice in our classroom.

5. Engaging

I want students to WANT to be in our classroom. I want students to be intrinsically motivated to learn, to crave more, and to be active participants in their own educations.

Positioning and Framing - make it exciting and make it relatable to what they are doing and things they like! Don't position and frame yourself as dreadful, "I know this is boring, but we have to do it..." Be motivating and exciting! Fake it 'til you make it, love it and they will.

Enthusiasm 

Again, may have to fake it 'til you make it. Dave points out that you can fake enthusiasm, but you cannot fake passion. I believe that I have done a good job at being enthusiastic or "monkey dancing". For example, I try to do all of the fun and positive culture building activities that we have at school - i.e. dressing up in my wedding dress for "Princess Day" at homecoming.

Looping - Possible Forms of Communication?

Next year, I will be teaching 3rd grade - the beginning of a 3/4 loop. I AM SO EXCITED! This is my dream spot. I have taught both kindergarten and 3rd grade before. I loved both of them, but am especially excited to teach 3rd grade again. I am excited at the possibilities - 1:1 chromebooks and I love the content, especially continent studies.

My priority with each and every class is to build relationships with students, with families, and foster them amongst students. My mind is racing as I reflect on what has worked this year and what has not been as successful.  This blog post will be my personal list of things to do. This list will be fluid and continually be edited and revised as ideas are added and tried.

Communication. I would like to establish a list of information for parents, as I do every summer, about how I will be communicating with them and how they can communicate with me.

1. telephone - Provide contact information, include cell phone or not? Objective: to relay specific information about your child, both positive and things to work on.
2. email - Collect an email address from EVERY family. If they do not have one, help them set it up. If they do not have internet access, provide paper copies of everything. Objective: to relay specific information about your child, both positive and things to work on; as well as group messages about our classroom.
3. Twitter - This will be a class Twitter page, the students will be tweeting. Objective: Students will collaborate with other classrooms around the state, country and world. Students will learn and practice internet safety. Students will also "tweet" information about what is happening in our classroom and is interesting to them.
4. Facebook - Our district is currently in the process of implementing a Social Media Policy. After this is approved by the board, I would like to implement my own classroom FB page. Objective: I will share pictures and events to share with families and the community to showcase what is happening in our classroom.
5. smore.com - Weekly newsletter via that will be emailed. Objective: MAIN SOURCE OF COMMUNICATION - Will list what is happening in our classroom; links to our social media sites; upcoming classroom, school, and district events; links to curriculum sites, and pictures.
6. school website - General information as well as updated calendar of events and links to frequently used websites (Envisions Math, Wonders, etc.). Objective: A general site for information such as my bio, contact information, school lunch calendar, links to our social media sites, and links to curriculum sites.
7. remind - Group text and email reminders. Objective: This will take the place of paper reminders.

Is this too much? It seems overwhelming as I write this list. I think it will be important to clearly state what the objective of each is. Going to go back and do that in a different color text...

I will also add a note about meetings. For example, "Parent - Teacher conferences will be scheduled throughout the year. If you'd like to meet with me any other time, please feel free to contact me and we will schedule a time." 

I strongly believe that it is important to have open two-way communication. I will strongly encourage families to contact me at any time and provide my contact information on all correspondences.