Teching and Teaching

"Technology won't replace teachers, but teachers who use technology will probably replace teachers who don't" 

Working together on a skit

I am a technology addict. As I type this on my Chromebook, my iPhone, iPad, and Toshiba laptop are not too far from my fingertips. I have prbably spent more money on personal technology than I have spent on clothing. I like to be able manipulate and explore things; technology allows me to do that on a grander scale. More so than my own enjoyment of technology, I love to pair this with another of my passions: teaching. 

First and foremost, I do not integrate technology simply for the sake of integrating technology. I do it in a purposeful manner: either to extend and enhance learning (such as with the Green Screen Skits) or to teach them real-world skills. I believe that for students to be able to be successful in life they must be able to effectively and efficiently utilize tech. Many students are good with technology, but we must make an effort to extend this past being able to get a high score on Angry Birds.

Collaborating on a Presentation

The absolute powerhouse to my technology integration efforts has been Google Apps for Education (GAFE.) In the fall, I was selected as one of six educators who effectively use technology in their classroom to be a part of a Google Educator Consortium. I earned my Google Certified Educator before anyone else in my cohort and even presented to the entire consortium. My work with teachers and tech will form the basis of a blog post later in the summer.

Last year, I used Edmodo as my learning management system. This year, I was lucky enough to use Google Classroom, and it has revolutionized everything. I will post a document for students to edit and see them collaborate in real time. When we were working on our "We Didn't Start Virginia" music video, I posted a Doc with everything we needed pictures of and told them to find the links. I gave a brief mini-lesson on ctrl+c and ctrl+v to copy/paste, which is a critical time saving tip for students to have. Finding all 75+ pictures and pasting the links would have taken me over an hour. With the students working together, it took less than fifteen minutes.

Similarly, students can collaborate on writing documents together. They have figured out how to share it with each other (surprisingly with minimal instruction from me.) They use the chat box to communicate (sometimes getting into emoji battles!) I like to preface collaborating on a Doc by saying that every keystroke is logged and I can see everything they do. We have all of their Docs set up in a folder that has been shared to me, so I have executive oversight on everyone and their work.

Using Draftback

Yesterday, we were working on our final writing assignment: a letter to our future selves. The assignment wasn't so much based on the topic, but more based on editing. My students struggle with self-editing. They often believe that "once and done" is enough. We have usually done the traditional paper rough draft and typed final copy, with very little change between the two. I wanted to have a way to effectively track these changes and hold students accountable. 

Through Chris Nesi's (@mrnesi) House of EdTech Podcast, I found a really cool Google Chrome Extension called Draftback. It takes all of the revision history and plays it into a video so you can track edits and changes. I wrote a letter to myself to model the writing process and played the Draftback for the students. So far, I have seen the students taking their time and working to really enhance their writing, because they know that I will be checking their Draftback.

In addition to using Google Apps and Documents, our class also utilized Google Hangouts. We do this in two primary ways: Mystery Person/Place or Weekend/Snowday Hangouts. 

Mystery Person with Mr. H

Mystery Skype is all the rage, but I did not really understand what it was. After connecting with Richard Hattal (@hattals) during a Twitter chat, we decided to have our classes collaborate on Reconstruction differences in Florida and Virginia. We had a nice discussion and decided we wanted to continue our partnership. We extended this into Mystery Person, which was essentially a version of the game Guess Who played with famous Floridians and Virginians. We have done two of them, with his class winning once and mine winning once. I hope to continue this in the future. We also were lucky enough to connect with Kayla Delzer's (@mrsdelz) class to do a Mystery Place Hangout. Even though it was different than what we were used to (different format and different topic,) we were successfully able to locate her class!

Weekend Hangout

Google Hangouts continue on Snowdays and Weekends as well, which was also discussed in a previous blog post. This is an optional practice that I started this year. Students join me on weekends and snowdays to extend their learning in math or Virginia Studies. It is a good way to show them that learning doesn't stop when you leave my classroom. Students have asked if I would continue over the summer. How could I say no?!

Technology has the ability to be a force for change and empowerment of students, if used properly. This is merely a sampling of some ways technology pokes its head out in my classroom. Many students who are not great with reading or math have emerged as leaders in technology in my classroom. They may be the student who remembers how to do cut and paste better than anyone, the student who can log others onto Google Drive in a flash, or the student who recently figured out she could use Google as a spell-checker. 

Technology is changing education, whether people are ready or not. We must embrace it to best serve our students. Without purposefully integrating technology, we are doing a disservice to our students by not preparing them with skills for their future careers and not allowing them to have a rich experience of education. 

What are your thoughts on technology? How do you integrate it into your classroom?

The Final HSCN: I Volunteer as Tribute

The arena set, the districts formed, the Capitol ready. 

Tributes working hard in their Districts

Sounds like the beginning of the Hunger Games, doesn't it? This was the staging for the final HSCN: The Math Hunger Games.

To bring you up to speed if you are not familiar with my HSCN, I hosted evenings three times a month where I instructed parents on math and reading. This is explored more in depth in this blog post. The final HSCN was Students vs. Parents.

In a Twitter chat, I got the idea to do a review game based on the Hunger Games. I was going to do this in class, but opted to play Survivor instead. I used the idea for the final HSCN instead. I sent out the RSVP forms and was expecting about 11 families (students and parents.)

It involved some set up. I took released items from the VDOE and pulled them into a Google Presentation. I also devised simple rules to play: Correctly answering a question earned you the right to steal "lives" from other teams. I decided to use Smarties as "lives," and gave 16 to the students and 10 to the adults. I also created challenges that aligned with the books' quotes to reveal along the way, as detailed below:

Math Star Surprise

• “I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute”
• President B needs one tribute from each district to participate in a round of Math Star (flash card game we play to practice math facts.) Winner will earn 5 Smarties for his/her district. You have ten seconds to decide.
• “The Cornucopia"
• Visit the Cornucopia and retrieve the bag for your district to use in this next round. Open it, but keep it a secret! (Prizes included a calculator, extra Smarties, a "cheat sheet," and a "peek card."
• “The Quarter Quell. As a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest cannot overcome the Capitol...”
• For the following round, the winning tributes must give half of their prize to President B
• “If we burn, you burn with us”
• One tribute from each District (cannot be same tribute from Math Star round) will face off against President B on a math problem of Mrs. Burke’s choosing. Beating President B results in a win of 10 Smarties for your District. 

Receiving the Declaration of Education

There was even a surprise in it for me! Before we got started, two of the parents interjected and said they had two surprises for me. The parents in my class had gotten together and gave me a Visa gift card. I appreciated this a lot, even though I was not expecting this at all. Their second surprise was more meaningful for me. The students had gotten together with one of the other teachers and written a Declaration of Education, detailing reasons they enjoyed my class this year. It was a very touching gift and I will treasure it for years. 

We had 22 total Tributes (12 parents and 10 students.) I livestreamed the entire game on YouTube, which you can view here. The students and parents were all extremely excited. Even better, the majority of the Tributes got all the questions right, which helps to show that the HSCN was effective. As we went along, I decided that I would have students and parents model answers on the board. I was surprised by the eagerness of some of the parents to model problems, especially ones who had said from the start that they were not "good at math." This illustrated how I had empowered students and parents alike. 

Student modeling

The game lasted for two hours and it was a memorable experience for the parents, the students, and me. One parent team became the winning district, earning one pack of Smarties per member! 

Overall, I saw the HSCN experience as a very powerful and meaningful experience for all involved. I noticed gains in the students. One student in particular went from borderline failing every subject to excelling. Her parents attended the majority of the HSCNs. She also put forth a huge amount of effort in class, so it is hard to quantify exactly the effect of HSCN. Overall however, I saw a greater degree of improvement in many of the students whose parents attended HSCN regularly.

Parent modeling

I also witnessed and heard great things from parents. Many of them mentioned how it was a great refresher for them and they felt empowered to help their students at home. Parental involvement is something I am very passionate about (to the extent where my graduate research project is being formed on this topic,) and I was thrilled to hear that I would be able to help the parents grow.

Recently, I was contacted by a teacher in a neighboring school district who had heard about my program and wished to mimic it. He asked me various questions about the process, including if it was worth it.

Showing answers

I immediately said yes. I will be the first to admit it; this experience has been no walk in the park. It takes about three hours to make a truly effective presentation, another two hours on presentation night, and then some time sending out RSVPs and other related tasks, all of which I am doing on my own time for no extra pay, recognition, or incentives. It is frustrating when I get to a night and only three parents show up. However, I frame it as I am helping those three parents, which then helps my students. I like to keep a student-first mindset and that is what keeps me going. I would highly advise you to give a whirl, whether its by yourself, with a grade-level team, or school-wide.

Have you every tried something like this? Do you need any help getting started?

Forming Family Foundations

"No school can work well for children if parents and teachers do not act in partnership on behalf of the children's best interests. Such communication, which can only be in a child's interest, is not possible without mutual trust between parent and teacher."

- Dorothy Cohen

Parents at a HSCN

The above quote really forms the basis of my thought process in teaching. Parents are the first teachers of children, and I believe they should continue to take a leadership role in their children's education. Parental involvement in the classroom is forming the basis of my graduate research project. I enjoy educating parents just as much as students, as evidenced in my prior posts about the Home-School Connection Nights (final one coming up this Tuesday) and the Battle Tour. 

Parental involvement is something that I am always praised on by parents, colleagues, and administration. I have my work email linked to my phone, so I can respond to emails after school hours or on weekends within minutes of receiving them. I've even called parents at 10:00 pm to respond to a concern they expressed in an email. Parents have indicated that they enjoy this and have said that they're not used to that level of communication from the child's teacher.  I challenge others to shift their paradigm and make this the norm, not the exception. It literally takes seconds to respond to an email, and the payoff is long lasting. 

The HSCN experience, and many of the things I do in my classroom involving parents, would not have been possible without strong communication between them and me. As with any relationship, the interactions between parents and the teacher needs to be built on trust. From day one, I work hard to form partnerships with each parent. I tell them about my educational background and my personal background. I want parents to see that while I am young, I am fully qualified to teach their kids and also that I am a real person. The bottom line is that I want them to know that I want what they want... the best for their kids.

Last year, I used email groups as my foundation for getting mass communication home. It was a good idea,

ClassMessenger home screen

but this year a few parents indicated that they did not have access to email. I decided to find another way to keep communication alive.

I ended up happening upon ClassMessenger. This is an incredible (and free) app provided through Scholastic. The teacher creates a class account and provides sign up details to the parents. The parents choose how they wish the be notified: email, text messages, or in-app notifications. I can send messages to the entire class or just individual parents. There is also a way to turn on parent-to-parent messaging, but I have not personally activated that. Another cool new feature is the ability to schedule messages (like you would on TweetDeck or HootSuite.) It is a two-way communication system, so parents can also send messages back to me.

I saw this app as my godsend. While some parents didn't have email, all of them had text messaging. I was able to meet them where they were. I sent out a link and a paper to have them sign up.

And I waited. And waited. Two weeks passed, and only 3 of 22 parents signed up. I was tempted to scrap the idea, but I decided to persevere. On Parent-Teacher Conference day, I set up a laptop in the hall with the sign-up website pulled up. I wouldn't begin their conference until they had signed up. By the end of the day, I was up to an enrollment of 21 parents. The final parent did their enrollment a few weeks 

ClassMessenger has revolutionized communication with the parents. They probably hear from me more often than they ever imagined. Every day (or every other,) I share some sort of update from the class. I may send a picture of what we are working on, RSVP slips for HSCN or other field trips, a reminder about an upcoming assignment, or just a link to a new YouTube video we recorded. It is very simple to send a message: I can do it from my computer, my phone, or my iPad. 

#FindMrB

One fun way I use this app is for a game I call #FindMrB. I am a history nut, and living in Virginia allows me to fuel my addiction. My girlfriend and I will often visit battlefields. As I am there and if it relates to our curriculum, I send out clues to parents through ClassMessenger about where I am. Generally, I have about 4-5 students who send guesses back to me. If they get it wrong, I explain why it was incorrect and encourage them to make a second guess. Generally, the final clue makes my location obvious. If they get it correct, they are rewarded with a picture of the location (sometimes featuring yours truly!) With the new scheduling feature, I can program all of the clues for the entire day so I do not have to worry about constantly being on my phone. I think my girlfriend liked that feature too!

Snowday Hangout

I also use ClassMessenger to coordinate Google Hangouts on snow days and weekends. In the morning of a chosen day, I will send out a message saying that I will be doing a Hangout and I need to know who wants to join. About half an hour ahead of time, I will send out the link to those who indicated an interest. It a quick and easy way to continue learning outside of the scope of the normal school day.

Another way I facilitate constant parent communication is through my classroom website. Here I have a photo slideshow of different class activities, resources, and weekly updates written by the students, One thing I especially love about my website is the File Cabinet page. I upload all important documents: homework, rubrics, permission forms, reminders, etc etc. If the students need it, it's on

The File Cabinet page

the website. It eliminates the need of me having to constantly reprint things if it's lost. The students can get it themselves in school or the parents can download it at home. Similarly, their daily agenda is posted on the website, so parents can be aware of the nightly expectations.

In the future, I would also like to use Voxer with my class. That idea is bouncing around for next year. I also plan to use ClassMessenger and a website to step up my ESY class this summer. 

Parent communication is critical to my teaching. If parents and I work together, it makes everything flow more smoothly. I feel supported and they feel supported. I advocate for you to make parental involvement a big part of your teaching. Set up a ClassMessenger account, build a website, or just pick up the phone and bring them in! I promise, it will change they way you see your classroom.

How do you incorporate parents in your classroom? What has worked best?

Powerful and Tantalizing Test Prep

"In an era of... testing frenzy, we are failing to inspire our children's curiosity, creativity, and imagination. We are denying the opportunities to tinker, discover, and explore - in short, to play." 

- Darrell Hammond 

This week I really struggled with what to my blog topic should be. I have two really cool activities coming up that I want to blog about, but those are still a few weeks away. I decided to reflect upon what is currently going on in my classroom and I determined that it is a lot of test prep.

Hold your gasps! While many other teachers have been throwing worksheet after worksheet at kids in aims of getting them ready for the Standards of Learning tests (SOLs) at the end of the year, I have chosen not to do this. I don't feel that this is the most effective way to prepare students for these tests. Yes, I do understand that seeing the format of tests are important, but I feel that taking away creative activities is a larger detriment than the gains of traditional test prep.

Do not get me wrong, I am not saying all tests and data instruments are evil. I believe it is important for the teachers to know what the students know and how effective their instruction is. However, I do not think the SOL should be the only measure. Not all students test well; we should respect and honor this. This week, and the upcoming weeks (and all year long,) we have/will be participating in a number of fun and engaging activities for review, including:

Scoot in action. Notice the yarn.

Scoot: In this game, I cut up a practice test and put one problem on each desk. I laid down yard to make a path for the students to follow. At each desk, they are given 4-5 minutes to respond to the question. They mark an answer document for me to review later. At the end of the time, I call out, "SCOOT!" and they move to the next desk. The students liked this activity, but needed some help in figuring out the rotation initially. 

BoardRush template

BoardRush: Imagine a giant tic-tac-toe board on a SmartBoard. Students work together to respond to prompts in each square. On blue squares, I wrote questions for students to answer. Orange square had fill-in-the-blank questions. The students had to write questions that would result in the word. They write their answers on Stickies and put them on the Board. I check them and "close" the square after two correct answers. The goal is to get five in a row. You can see my students playing it here!

The yellow cards are their Plickers

Plickers: This is a fantastic new app that requires only one device to use. The students each get a square that looks like a QR code, called a Plicker (paper clicker.) I project a question on the SmartBoard and the students hold up and orient their Plicker to reflect A B C or D or T/F. I scan it with my phone and get real time results. They really like this activity, and I make a big deal of students who get questions right when the rest were incorrect. 

Sidewalk Race. I can quickly see who is prepared. 

Sidewalk Race: We've only done this once, but I will be sure to repeat it! I took the students outside and put them all on one sidewalk square. I asked them a question, they wrote it on their whiteboards, and held it up. Correct answers allowed them to move up one square, while wrong answers forced them to move back one square. We had quite a few major upsets and underdogs in this game!

Move Around the Room: This game is simplicity in its finest form. I write A B C and D around the room and ask a question. Students physically move to their desired answer and it allows me to quick check their understanding. I make a point to say to go with their what they think is the right answer versus going with where their friends go.

I Have, Who Has: This game involves more set up. I took all of their history content and wrote them into questions, such as "Who has the man elected to the presidency in 1860, which resulted in southern states seceding?" Another student has a card that says "I have Abraham Lincoln," and another clue. The game continues until it gets back to start. Our current class record is 3 minutes 45 seconds for 26 clues. You can check out a video of the game here.

SWAT in action

SWAT: Set up is required for this game too. I type up a bunch of vocab words/answers to math facts and call out a clue/math problem. After I say "SWAT!" students whirl around and try to swat the correct answer with a flyswatter. Meanwhile, students in the audience are writing answers on their whiteboards to show to me. 

You will see none of these activities require the students to sit around and do lots of worksheets. They are more engaging and movement based, which helps them to create better connections in their minds and foster a sense of fun. As one final culminating activity for VA Studies, we will be playing Survivor, which will involve knowing content, teamwork, speed, and twists and turns.

Author's Note: I wrote about Survivor and one more idea for review games in May 2017. Check them out here.

As a final note, please keep my students in your thoughts. We will be taking our tests on 5/18, 5/20, 5/27 and 5/28, and I know the students could benefit from support and encouragement from my PLN. Many of them are extremely stressed due to these tests. I have done everything in my power to limit their stress, but they know that these tests are important. I find it sad how everything stops to a grinding halt when we get into testing season. I fear it poisons students' love for learning, which is more important than a single test. I constantly tell my students that I expect them to try their best, and that will be enough for me. 

In addition to this stress, the students are not allowed to be proctored by me, because of cheating that occurred in a different school than mine last year. I am concerned that the students might not do as well without their number one fan in the room, but I have ingrained in them that I will always be there in spirit. 

Additionally, the VA DOE granted ability to have expedited retakes. This would allow students who failed the test to retake the entire test. Not just one section, but the entire 40-60 questions all over again. The entire school had to shift our entire test schedule up 10 days to accommodate for this. It angers me because I could be using those days to prepare the students more, and hopefully lessen the need for a retake. I do not think that 10 year olds should have to sit through an entire second tests. 

In conclusion, I do not think testing is inherently evil. I see the value in it and believe some testing/accountability is necessary. However, I think modern-day education has overdone this need. My students will have taken over 30 tests this year that were mandated by the county or state. This does not even include tests the grade level gives for report card grades. At some point, it becomes too much. My final thought is this:

Are we teaching kids to love learning or 
are we teaching them to become test takers?

What are your views on testing? How do you teach your students to be "bigger than the test" and instill resiliency? 

Bouncing Toward Better Learning

Take a look at my classroom. What do you notice?

You may have noticed the technology integration, the collaborative grouping, or the students seated on yoga balls. While the first two are also important in my room, the latter observation will form the basis of this blog post (as you may have guessed from the title.)

Working together on yoga balls

It all started at my end of year conference with my principal last year. After discussing how my first year went, she asked me if I wanted anything else for my classroom. On a whim, I said, "I would really like to try yoga balls as chairs." She thought it would be a good idea and said she would look into how to get that accomplished.

Now, I am a man of action and do not like to wait for things. Numerous colleagues, personal friends, and students can attest to this. That evening, I hopped on eBay to see how much yoga balls were. I saw I could buy a lot of 10 for $90. It seemed reasonable to me, so I ordered them.

peerbackers.com project

While I was waiting on them to arrive, I brought in two yoga balls I already had at my house and gave them to two students to use. I chose these two students specifically because they had a hard time focusing, due to built up energy and ADHD. The effect was immediate. They could bounce around to let out energy and maintain focus. The other students were jealous and wanted their own. You can imagine their delight when I told them more were on the way!

More balls arrived, and I now had enough for half of my class. The students switched off days of having ball or chair. I had one guiding principle:

If your bottom comes off the ball, you come off the ball.

This year, I decided I wanted a full class set of yoga balls. Again, being a man of action, I decided to start a fundraising page on peerbackers.com to meet the goal. I set the goal of $400 to cover the original cost, cost for new balls, shipping, peerbacker/PayPal fees, and assorted other costs. The project went well and I raised about $250 in the first three weeks.

As momentum was dying down on the fundraising, I reached out to local newspapers and yoga ball companies to help spread the word. Of the newspapers/companies I contacted, The Northern Virginia Daily and Gaiam Yoga Ball Company responded to me. The NVD came into my classroom, interviewed some of my students and me, took pictures, and featured us on the front page of the paper. You can read the article here.

My email to yoga ball companies. Click to enlarge.

I received an email from Gaiam's Vice President of Human Resources, Jacki Abraham, asking for an address and how many yoga balls I needed. I gave them the school's address and that we needed 11 more, but I said even two would be a great donation.

A few days later, I was paged to the office. There was a large box addressed to me from Gaiam. I opened it up, and there were six balls inside! I was floored. The next day, five more arrived! Gaiam had totally covered the entire amount of balls we needed. We were very appreciative and wrote them thank you notes. We also filmed a Thank You video message to them on YouTube. I was also successful in raising all the money on peerbackers.com, which allowed me to use the money for extra balls and other classroom improvements. All the yoga balls belong to me, so they will be able to travel with me whenever I leave my current job. I also lend them out to other classrooms for them to use.

On our balls during a guest speaker

Yoga balls have had a great effect on the students' enthusiasm for school. It allows them to get pent-up energy out in a way that is not too terribly distracting. My classroom is very active and we are not at our seats often. This helps them to still move at the time we are at our seats. Some other teachers in the building are highly distracted and annoyed by their bouncing, but it doesn't bother me. At the end of the day, school is for the students.

As you see pictures and videos of us, you will notice some students do not have balls. Some students chose to not have a ball, while others lost the privilege (by bouncing too high or focusing on bouncing more than their work.) In addition to being a great way to release energy, it can help as a

Notice some students do not have balls,
either by choice or by consequence

motivational tool. Students can lose their ball depending on their choices, and earn it back after a few days or weeks by proving they can handle it. Generally, I start them all fresh with a ball at the beginning of every quarter. Some students have also popped their balls, in which case they can earn one back once their parents replace it.

I would definitely advocate for using yoga balls in place of chairs. I polled my former students how not having them has affected them in fifth grade. Many of them indicated it was hard to focus now and they weren't as engaged in class or comfortable. My current students definitely think it is a fun way to sit and it keeps them on task. I have heard third graders say they want to have me so they can sit on the yoga balls. I will admit, for the first two weeks the students are very "bounce-happy." The novelty wears off after about two weeks, and then it becomes the norm. It allows the students to move, which is something all students need.

Former student poll

Have you ever tried yoga balls in your classroom? What was your take on it?

Tweet Me, Vox Me, If You Want to Reach Me

"Social media is the ultimate equalizer. 

It gives a voice and a platform to anyone willing to engage."

- Amy Jo Martin

I am relatively new to the teaching profession (only two years of full time teaching) and I was already feeling burnt out. With no hesitation, I will be the first to admit it. It's not that I didn't like working with students; that part has always been my highlight. It was more the fact that when I started at my school, I had just turned 22, fresh out of college, single, and a male teacher. Conversely, the majority of the teachers at my school had been teaching for many years, were female, married, and had kids (some of which were my age.) We also differed greatly on instructional methods. Aside from a few key connections, I honestly felt out of place. Here I was starting my career and life, and my colleagues were already established in teaching and life and generally set in their ways of teaching. 

My Twitter handle @Mr_B_Teacher

This post is not meant to slam my colleagues. I have high respect for them and do not wish to discredit their successes. The focal point is that I felt like I was an island in a large sea. I persevered, but honestly, I was exhausted.

One evening, I was texting my longtime friend and fellow educator Jennifer Guido (@missguidoedu.) Sharing many of my frustrations, she asked if I had used Twitter for professional purposes. I had used it to try to raise donations for a fundraiser I did, but not much else. She told me to get on and try it!

Oh. My. Goodness. Did that change things. I was hooked from the moment I jumped into a chat (I believe #tlap was my first.) It didn't matter to others that I was younger and more inexperienced. My opinions were valued and I engaged in lots of great discussions with like minded individuals. I was hooked.

I can firmly say I've hit every stage

For the next week or so, I attended nearly every chat possible: #satchat, #satchatwc, #sunchat, #read4fun, #whatisschool, #sschat, #ecet2, #chatttechchat, #1to1techat, #tlap, #sstlap, #ptchat, #tmchat, #weirded, #BFC530 and many more. It was overwhelming at first, and I have since learned to prioritize and jump into topics that apply best to me.

The great thing about social media is the bonds you can make. While I have not met many (if any) of my followers, I feel like I've known some of them for quite some time. We have been able to connect professionally and personally. 

And so it began...

The first person who really reached out to me was Barry Saide (@barrykid1.) In the #ecet2 chat on Sunday evening, he mentioned his Voxer handle and I jumped on it. We now Vox nearly daily, sometimes including our classes. I greatly value his opinion on many issues and he seems to do the same. When I mentioned casually that I had only been teaching 2 years, he said he was shocked and I handled myself well. This goes to prove the above quote.

Rosy read to my class during her Spring Break

In my school, one of my closest teaching and personal friends is Mrs. Burke. You can imagine my surprise when I found Rosy Burke (@rosy_burke) on Twitter. Although she lacks in the literacy department (she's never read Harry Potter,) she and I have connected through Voxer as well. Our class affectionately calls her Ms. Vox Burke and our respective classes Vox back and forth daily. My class eagerly asks me to check my phone from her class! Apparently some of my mannerisms have made the jump to her class! With Rosy, I have also connected with a number of funny, yet insightful, teachers, including Mari Venturino (@MsVenturino,) Stacy Lindes (@iruntech,) and Greg Bagby (@gregbagby.) I suppose that this long winded post really is #justinsfault.

Another great Twitter/Voxer companion is Connie Hamilton (@conniehamilton.) One day while I

Students created their own polygon bracelets for Connie

was ranting about the irrelevance of some math standards, she challenged me to find the relevance in all standards. She showed me some nonagon bracelets and asked that I share them with my class. They were able to see why they were nonagons and deepened their connection. She has now been deemed "the nonagon lady from Twitter," and continues to provide challenges for my class. Looking forward to her next one!

Tamara Letter (@HCPSTinyTech) is also a frequent Voxer. She, too, lives in Virginia, so she and I have the ability to discuss issues that impact Virginia's education. We see eye-to-eye on many matters and also respectfully agree to disagree on some matters. She also gives me an inside look at the life of an ITRT (my eventual career goal) and keeps the conversation lively!

Mystery Person with Richard's class

Richard Hattal (@hattals) and his class have also made a large impact on my teaching. He also teaches fourth grade, but in Florida. In a chat one evening, we both mentioned that we were teaching about Reconstruction, and decided to do a Google Hangout with our classes to compare and contrast Virginia and Florida's roles in Reconstruction. We expanded this recently to play Mystery Person (Guess Who) with Famous Floridians and Virginians. They may have won the first round, but I have high hopes for my class next time. Richard and I managed to convince another teacher (coincidentally Mr. B also) to join us. Wouldn't it be funny if Mr. B, Mr. Florida B, Mrs. Burke and Ms. Vox Burke all did a Hangout?

Thomas helping out on my digital portfolio

Finally, Thomas Martellone (@TomMartellone) has made a huge impact on my teaching career. While in an informal chat about including QR codes on resumes, he suggested that I create a digital portfolio and include that too. I thought it was a great idea and planned to work on it over the summer. However, I was contacted to interview with a new district and decided to create the digital portfolio on the spot. I reached out to Thomas and he guided me along the process, checking for errors, and providing quality feedback. I appreciated his efforts, even though it was not his duty to help me. He has also agreed to read to my class on his Spring Break this week!

This is not an exhaustive list of my PLN, although it may have been exhausting to read! It was hard to narrow the scope of this post because there are so many great educators out there. I will see something during the day and think to myself, "Oh I have to tell so and so this," or "I bet so and so would like this." Many of my free moments are spent on Twitter connecting with other educators and furthering my abilities. I will boldly say that Twitter/Voxer have revitalized love for my teaching and innovated my instruction. It has given me a voice to share my opinions and ideas and a channel to receive suggestions and ideas. My students have directly (by connecting with other students worldwide) and indirectly benefited from my use of social media and I have grown as a professional. It may seem silly to say that since I have not been in education long, but it has had a huge impact on my career. I appreciate each and every connection I have made on Twitter/Voxer.

What about you, anonymous blog reader? Has social media impacted your profession? Have I had an impact through social media on you and your teaching? I'm always happy to connect with anyone. Share your thoughts below!

The Battle Tour: Living the Past Anew

Historical marker in town

"If this Valley is lost, 

Virginia is lost."

- Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, 1862

And thus sets the stage for the Battle of Front Royal Driving Tour, an annual event hosted by me with my fourth grade students. The idea came to me in November of my first year teaching. One of my cooperating teachers, Bob, was down visiting me and we were completing the tour ourselves. Bob had always hosted Saturday field trips while I was in his classroom, and I said he should come down in the spring and lead a trip with class. Bob turned to me and said, "Justin, it's your my classroom. I will come down and watch YOU lead the trip." I accepted his challenge and began putting more work into the idea.

First stop, first year:
Ashbury Chapel

The Battle of Front Royal Driving Tour would perfectly coincide with our Civil War unit in the spring. The Tour is 16-miles long, with ten different stops. These ten stops include Ashbury Chapel (where Stonewall was told of a secret route into town,) Rocky Road (hasn't been changed since 1862,) Prospect Hill Cemetery (where the artillery was placed,) the Bridges (where Union force unsuccessfully tried to destroy bridges as they retreated,) Fairfew (the final stand,) and more. It chronicles the perilous day of the Battle of Front Royal, which included spies, brother literally fighting brother, and urban warfare. One of the primary focal points in fourth grade is the Civil War. I decided that there was no better way to teach it than let the students experience how the Civil War impacted their hometown.

First stop, second year

As I said in my HSCN blog post, I am a huge proponent of family involvement. I decided to make this Tour an event on a Saturday. I did this to avoid having to pay for a bus for transport, allow more interaction with parents, and to allow me to focus on being the tour guide rather than being a teacher. I made it clear to the parents that they needed to provide transportation and were in charge of their child for the day. I would not be Mr. B that day; I would be Tour Guide Justin.

I partnered with one of my colleagues and opened it up to both classes. I am very thankful that we collaborated on this. I get very carried away with ideas, and she helped to bring me back to the ground and work out the logistics. We developed a permission form, directions in case the parents got lost, and a feedback form. 

Reading a historical marker

Last year, we had approximately thirty families between the two classes, and this year we had about fifteen. Miraculously, we had beautiful days both years (aside from a little bit of rain on the second trip.) The first year, we visited each stop, read the historical marker, listened to an audio recording, discussed, and drove to the next stop. While I had originally said the tour would take three hours, it took over four hours. So much for not getting carried away!

Introduction in town. Note the binder with pictures

This year, as my co-worker and I reflected and discussed the Tour again, we decided that we were going to make some changes to the Tour. One of the dominant themes of the feedback slips was that the parents and students both enjoyed hearing my words during discussions more than listening to the recordings. We decided to incorporate the feedback. Using Google Drive, I wrote myself a script of what to say, based on additional research I had done and by listening to the audio recordings. You can read the exact script here. Because I felt the reenactors could sometimes better say things than I could, I selected powerful quotes from the audio recordings and condensed it into one file. We also found pictures of key individuals and concepts. At each stop, I gave a grand speech about what had transpired at the spot, interspersed with the audio snippets and had students hold up the pictures. Along the way, I live tweeted with the hashtag #BFRDT and students sent Voxes to some of our Voxer friends. This seemed to increase engagement with both students and parents.

At one of the most popular spots:
Prospect Hill Cemetery

The other major change we implemented was the elimination of two stops. While they both were interesting stops, they did not add to the overall understanding of the battle, and one was way out of the way. We felt that removing these would allow the Tour to flow more smoothly and to cut down on time. At the stops that preceded the skipped stops, I told them about what they could see at that spot, and encouraged them to revisit it later. This definitely helped to cut down on time, and the second year I was only fifteen minutes over!

The reaction to the Tour was overwhelmingly positive. Verbally, on the feedback slips, and through email, students and parents alike said how much they enjoyed the tour. I think the parents enjoyed it, if not more than, the students did. I personally loved being a tour guide for a day. I think it would be a fun job later on in life. 

Feedback slips

Another observation I found interesting was to observe how the students' behavior varied from the classroom when Mr. B was in charge to while their parents were in charge. In my classroom, I run an incredibly tight ship. Students know my expectations and I usually only have one or two students who do not follow these. Many of the students on the tour were like completely different children; running around, throwing things at siblings and friends, yelling, and talking back to parents. It made me see how some students are different at home and made me wonder how the parents were ok with this. Parents will often ask me for advice how I get their students to behave so wonderfully in class and I want to refer back to this day and just politely remind them that if  you hold your child to high expectations, they will rise to the occasion. 

One comment has really stuck with me from the first tour. At the end of the Tour, a parent walked up to me and mused:

 "You know, 

I have lived in Front Royal for my whole life. 

I never knew about any of this, 

let alone that there even was a battle. 

You have lived here for less than a year, 

and have taught me more about my hometown 

than anyone else."

Parent reflections on learning something new

Have you ever done anything like this in your teaching? How did it go? If you haven't, what would you like to do? Leave a reply in the comments below.