Thoughts on Georges blog from the heart

I am feeling very sad for George and how he felt about the death of his friend and pet.  I am also feeling down.
I really care about children's education and committing myself to being the best possible teacher.  I am constantly reading, staying on top of the latest techno. whiz crappo things, philosophies....  I also have been seeking that next level of teaching.  I know I am good but I see so much more but didn't know where to go.  After years of trying to find the next inspiration it all came together at Connectedca.  The conference itself didn't do it.  It was the comraderie teh conference created.  It was that feeling of not being alone in this quest to take education to another level.  I am sad and upset about what has been taking place in my school.

Firstly I have been passed over again for any accolades of my contribution to students well being.  I am not a smoozer, I'm a bit on the spectrum as seen in my difficulties socially.  But I have been openly (though not 100% publicly) placed in the lower ranks of inquiry teaching by someone who has never been above.  The school is at odds our being called a Science and technology school is only recognized by the gadgets and equipment not by the quality of inquiry teaching (although there are a lot of great things happening).

I am saddened for myself but also for this person.  He has given up,  he dedicates himself to reading and understanding principals but that effort is for personal gain it does not spread through the staff.  I think he is depressed and wish I could help get him on track - be a leader, study leadership like you study technology.  Dedicate yourself to becoming the best possible example learn to do what you need to do to do your best at your career.

I want to change schools - what I am doing can be done anywhere - I don't need ipads, apple tv, and all the gadgetry to teach inquiry.  What I do need though is the license to explore new methods, ideas adn be creative in my lessons without being questioned about where I go in my search.  I may have that problem at another school.

My daughter is a canary and she got it from me - no heart on the sleeve but it sure can feel sore in the chest!

The good times keep rolling after Connectedca.  Each day has brought new fun adn engagement from the children.  Today was all about measuring surface area.  I started off with a 5 minute flip video on area (done as homework).  Then sent the children out to measure the area of the intermediate play area.  I gave them a choice of resources; large red sheets of 1 sq. m. paper or meter sticks.  See pictures.  It took less than 5 minutes for 10 of them to join together with their paper.  They started leap frogging paper around the play area all totally engaged and problem solving.  I looked over and saw 2 students with a meter stick measuring the  the dimensions of the area and then using their ipads to multiply to get the area.

When we debriefed the activity the large group that worked so well collaboratively realized sheepishly that they had only measured the perimeter.  When the 2 students with meter sticks reported on their thinking and calculation the whole class paused then broke into excited discussion.

Tomorrows problem will be to measure the area of the soccer field.  When I mentioned this 1 student muttered under his breath "Why go outside I can do that on Google Earth."  Another student called out in response to me  mentioning I will have several tools available to them,  "...are you going to put out the GPS units"  We had used them in a measurement unit a month earlier.  I look forward to their creative designs.

Day 5 post ConnectEdca Unbelievable!

Unbelievable!!!Had a phenomenal activity on making a fence around the primary playground.  I let them go - they were on track and busy and talking and being creative and having fun.  It so relaxing and fun to just walk around and ask questions of  the students about there work and see their little minds at work.

Near the end of the day I asked the students if they noticed that learning was very different this week - all hands went up.  Then I asked if were better or worse all hands went up for better.

The formula this week was about our brainstorming session on engagement.  They made the suggestions I implemented  and they followed their list to support my planning.  Also I gave them real projects and problems to do/solve and room to work on them.

I have reading articles about inquiry and facilitation in the classroom and trying small bits out for 2 years now.  I feel I have just elevated by teaching quality to a new level.  I was always good but this is really HOT.  It will be interesting to bring along a new class next year.  I hope I don't forget while I am grooming the little gr. 4's to handle the responsibilities of my truly inquiry class.

Day 4 post #connectedca

Im feeling very comfortable letting the class go a little. Today in math we a all over the playGround measuring perimeter. Tomorrow we are going to figure out the cost of fencing the primary play area. Real world authenticate is becoming easier to do! Today Rob Wielgoz and I started a school blog site to show case student work from around the school. The students from the gr 5 & 6 class are very excited to get out of class and take pictures and write about what other classes are doing. Asking for volunteers every hand went up. I asked them why they all hate writing They responded with "this isn't writing, this is fun". We will be encouraging students, teachers and parents to make comments! One of our efforts to practice authentic writing.

Day 3 Post ConnectEdca

A couple great things today!  I relaxed the reins in French today.  We are playing the game I spy... en francais.  The students were all over the class and outside in the sun practicing and looking up words on their ipads.  Upon them self evaluating they got lots of work done and lots of talking about the french words - a major letting go of the reins for me.  I did have to send 3 students back to their seats 1 for climbing on the top of the monkey bars with ipad paper and pencil and 2 others for swinging on the swings again with ipads, paper and pencil.  They are still testing after having a sub when I was away at ConnnectEd.

Another thing went well! I was dressed in period costume (1890) announcing the release of land for homesteading.  I explained all the rules for homesteading and then they started to choose their 1/4 sections.  Lots of noise fun adn conversation and a few wanting to make their own commune (community).  This was one of those activities of old that I said I was going to resurrect.  A total inquiry activity and very successful.

On an unhappy note my mother is not very healthy and my father is really too old to take care of her (93).  We are having her cognitive function assessed and it looks like the end of a very astute and clear mind. sigh!  Luckily I have a brother and sister in town - we are a very good care team!

Day 2 post ConnectEdca

I had so much fun and it was so relaxing and rewarding on Monday, Tuesday could not possibly live up to it! The failure part kicked in. I' m not sure what happened. We had a great pe class then came back to Justine Wilds' presentation on her trip to Antarctica (yes the Justine Susan Eaton talked about on saturday night). It was really good and the children were fantastic! The original plan was to work some more on our engagement web specifically what creativity meant to them. This needed to spread out and it was raining out so we did some catchup work instead and the children lost focus/engagement completely. I did get them on track at 2pm for our class meeting and had great discussions on how to help peers from excluding others on the playground. I didn't have mucH opportunity to try anything from the weekend though I had a different feeling towards the class more positive (praise) and generally more kind and helpful even though the class was falling apart. Tomorrow I go in reinvigorated. The project based stuff has always worked really well so we' ll have a blitz on going about choosing and applying for our homesteads on the praries. I really don't feel as alone as I have in the past. I have my Tweet friends and I feel bonded in our common effort to do our best for the students. Weird! Also weird opening up my issues to the public. I will have to review that.

Day 1 Post Connectedca

What an exciting day!  I was exhausted from connectEd and then had to stay up late to figure out what and how to bring a new "look to the class.

We sat on the grass in the sun(warm not Calgary) and I talked about the conference.  I was interested in hearing why they were becoming disengaged.  What a fantastic discussion - Just give them a voice and those 10 year olds show they know what is going on.  Got a huge then had an awesome game of soccer.  my team lost 2 - 0.

After break we moved onto the SMART board and chose "boredom" to look at closer.  They decided they needed more hands on from me.  I responded well "what are you going to give me?"  They came up with respect (me and equipment, peers), responsibility for learning and staying on task....

In the pm Science class - project the respiratory system
-task-how do we breathe, and 6 words (trachea, alveoli...).
Goal make an animation on ipads (Animation HD) or use Showme and do voice over describing the breathing process.  GO
45 minutes later 1/2 class is done to about 80% missed on putting in the alveoli.  One of them is attached.
All I did was guide and conference and ask questions.

FRIGGING FANTASTIC

ConnectEdca

 What a weekend!  Overwhelmed by the numbers of very intelligent nerdy educators.  For once I fit in with my teaching philosophies and interest in inquiry learning and technology.  A lot of validation for my practice but also a lot of encouragement to do more and go deeper.

The biggest change I can see in my current classroom is to let the reins a little more loose.  I am doing excellent in the lab and on cloud programs and use.  I am not doing well in the classroom with Socials especially.  Somehow I want to slide more fun and intelligent design into my program.  I almost need to go back into some of my old materials and review them for inquiry focus - they were really fun and gave the students lots of latitude for creativity and curiosity.   Funny this has been a thought of mine for 2 or 3 years now.

I was thinking I might have a paradyme shift this weekend but not so.  It is going to be work to figure out how to go about doing what needs to be done.  I was hoping I could just get it from osmosis.  No such luck.