#SocialMedia in the Classroom in Lieu of #NoBillNoBreak

Today and tomorrow I am in our State's beautiful Capitol Visitor's Center working on reviewing/ updating the current ELA standards for implementation in the upcoming school years. Approximately 40 like-minded, passionate educators are able to talk through each of the principles of ELA that we all feel very passionate about.

This afternoon we reviewed the standards for writing and one standard that we discussed at length was about the production and publishing of student writing through technology.

5.W.6 With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.

I thought the discussion was very good and particularly relevant for today's politics. Now, I am going to set my personal political beliefs of the content of the subject matter today aside as I'm not here to debate the merits of the content. Rather, I implore educators in America to take the actions by the United States House of Representatives today more seriously than ever when looking at what we do in our classrooms. The aforementioned standard is not just the publishing of writing (or reading spoken word through a presentation) for an audience that is closed to just the teacher and the student. As all my edtech friends know. there are applications such as this very blog that allow us all to express our opinions and gain a potentially large audience that our students could use to publish their writing (Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Periscope, Voxer, Wordpress, etc.).

It is my understanding via CNN, that House Speaker Paul Ryan left the chamber and there was no proper way for a vote to take place on two pieces of gun legislation, as well as some legislation on funding a combat plan for the Zika virus. So, to really jump ahead in the process here, as I was working on standards review, not watching C-SPAN to catch this firsthand, the House Speaker tried to get votes on legislation on topics other than gun control, the Democrats protested. The House Speaker ended session and left the floor leaving nobody to run the session. And, (this is the part where educators should listen up) to quote CNN, that's when the C-SPAN television coverage was stopped. Why do you ask? Well...

"That's because the cameras are operated and controlled by the government -- specifically, the Republican leaders of the House and the recording studio that works for them. When the act of congressional disobedience began, House Speaker Paul Ryan said the House was in recess, and the TV cameras were turned off accordingly." --CNN, by Brian Stelter +Brian Stelter

At this time, many digital immigrants that currently serve in the U.S. Congress turned to their mobile devices to broadcast their actions using an app I find many teachers currently use, Periscope. The livestream by Congressman Eric Swalwell of California was the first of many social media videos and posts to come from the House chamber today. Going on something like 11 hours now, House members, joined by like-minded Senators, are protesting the taking of the traditional Fourth of July Holiday Break of Congress. Their hashtag #NoBillNoBreak is being chanted outside the U.S. Capitol itself in support (I know this because I saw pictures on Twitter) and trending on Twitter.

Regardless of where you stand on this issue, you have to look at the implications of the fact that #SocialMedia is changing the story today. And, Hearst is probably looking from above right now agonizing over what he could have done with this media! Could you imagine the age of yellow journalism with social media? I see one awesome high school English lesson there. No longer do social movements need to wait until letters are composed, pamphlets distributed, reporters woo-ed to an event, or waiting for an editor to review. Could you imagine the Twitter feed from the Montgomery Bus Boycott or from Seneca Falls? History/ ELA lesson plan collaboration all over the place here... 

The Congressional members participating in this #NoBillNoBreak did not have a media plan. They did not have interns writing or rewriting press releases for distribution on the morning news. No, they turned to free social media platforms (Twitter, Periscope, Facebook) to express their opinions and start a trending topic on all the major social media platforms. That is what digital immigrants did to circumvent being shut out of the traditional media outlet on the House floor. I would definitely say that in my standards tracking document, I can check off that they have "met" the standard of publishing their grade-level writing for sure and hit a pretty high DOK in problem solving. What should this look like in the classroom? What would our digital native students think about this?

We can write our own story and publish it for the world. #SocialMedia will fundamentally change the story when used properly. So, I ask you, are we as educators teaching our students to use the most powerful tool in the distribution of the human word since Gutenberg's Printing Press in the 15th century or are we waiting for them to just figure it out themselves? I would assume that in 1995 educators had the same debate over the internet in the school, but I was still just a student then myself, so I wasn't privy to those conversations. Eventually, though, internet and 1:1 computers became commonplace in K-12 schools. Will #SocialMedia be commonplace in our schools in the next decade? I think so, but I want to hear from you.

Do you want your students to have the tools to start a #Movement? If so, what would your lesson plan look like? And, as an administrator, what can I do to support your teaching? Can we live in a world where we block everything anymore and still give our students a relevant, real world education on the English Language Arts my colleagues and I are busily reviewing this summer? What do you think?

What I hope our kids learn #FathersDay #ThankYou

Being Father's Day and all, I thought I'd share with you a few things that I hope our two kids learn from their amazing Dad. Let me preface this list with the fact that I am entirely biased. My husband is not just a supportive, kind husband that is really good at doing dishes, he is also an incredibly patient and intuitive father to our two kids.

Patience with Quiet Persistence

My husband has just the right mix of patience and persistence. He knows that time will pass and days will come that are simpler. Not shy to explain that he is looking forward to simpler days, he just continues on the way the end "dream" or goal. The quiet persistence is something I need to work on. I tend to let everyone know that we are headed in a direction. I share the goal. The steps to the goal. I write the goal on the board. I write the steps to achieve the goal on the board.  Tom just keeps heading forward with the goal in mind. I want our kids to learn to be quietly persistent like that. 

Laughing for No Reason

Tom's sense of humor has taken me close to a dozen years to almost get all of his jokes. He can find humor in situations that build camaraderie with his peers and memories with his family. I admire how he makes us laugh and not at the expense of somebody else's character or image, but just a good humored laugh. Oh, and the television shows he watches. I didn't know that The Big Bang Theory  could be any funnier; then, I watched it with him. That deep, hand to forehead laughter is just priceless. I want our kids to learn to laugh like that. 

Calmness

No matter the situation, Tom can keep calm. I attribute much of this to his over two decades working as a correctional officer during all shifts. He never knew what was going to come in and he needed to be calm. He needed to be prepared for any situation. He also has the innate ability to understand that it is certainly not about what he brings to the table some days. It is more about how he reacts to what the others bring. I want our kids to have the calm in the storm attitude that their Dad does. 

Dishes Love

Now, this is just as much about me as it is my husband, because I hate doing the dishes. I don't mind sweeping or mopping, doing laundry, mowing the lawn or any of those other household chores, but I really dislike dishes. I can't blame it on my mother. I can't blame it on anyone. I just don't like them. And, my husband knows it. So, he does the dishes. Does he do it because they need to be done? Probably. Does he do it because he enjoys it? Most certainly not. But, I like to think, that he does them because he knows how much I don't like doing them. I have yet to load the dishwasher in the house and I have never sorted the dishes to put them away. I want our kids to know how to love to do the dishes. Not because they have to, but because their spouse doesn't. 

Some lessons you cannot learn in a book or in a classroom. These lessons can only be learned from a role model like my husband. Not everyone has that father figure at home, so I am definitely thankful that my kids do. Happy Fathers Day to all! 

Running helps me to remember that feeling many of my students have... #effortneeded #workhard

This morning was a pretty typical Saturday morning for my family. My husband and daughter headed to the golf course for an 8:00 am tee time and Grandma Donna met my son and I to run a local 5k. My son is only two years old, so I push him in the most awesome BOB Sport Utility Stroller that I purchased after much research when I was expecting our second child.

My running journey began when our daughter was about seven months old in the spring of 2009. I was teaching Middle School and High School English at the time. After talking with the Math teacher across the hall, Mrs. Tvedt, about a local 5k that she organized. I thought, "I can do this" and downloaded the Couch to 5k app.

The training was less than stellar to say the least. I really had no idea what I was doing. I bought a pair of Nike shoes from Shopko that looked cool and were on sale. I purchased black, flowy cotton pants and a pink cotton shirt to wear to run the 5k. The app timed running and walking intervals. I would head out to the west of town and out a ways for 10 minutes at first and then up to about 45 minutes a week out from the scheduled 5k. My shins often hurt, I was out of breath, and everybody in town kept telling me how great it was to see me walking out there. Didn't they know I was running not walking? But, I knew that I had a training plan and I trusted the plan.

To my surprise, though, I really started to enjoy my runs after work 3 to 4 times a week. I was enjoying the time to myself and my husband was very supportive. I was actually looking forward to the 5k. That Saturday morning, I sat in my car for awhile, nervous and unsure if this was a good idea. It was raining and cold; therefore, I had every excuse to just turn around and drive home. But, I had paid for the race and my students and the teacher from across the way, were all going to be there. So, I put my headphones on, sucked it up and went for the run.

The rain quickly exchanged itself for humidity on the run and I regretted my cotton clothing choices (sorry, cotton pees, but wikable fabrics are certainly the better way to go for running). The course was an out and back. And, I was about one mile in when one of my current students, a sophomore whose Mom was the band teacher, came back and said, "Good job, Mrs. Walder!" And, as a huge testament to what I have come to know as a very remarkable young man, he made me feel good. So much so, that seven years later I remember it.  

Regardless, I remember finishing around 43 minutes. I certainly had earned that half of a banana. 

Today, I pushed my 40+ pound, two year old in a local 5k for fun. We were slow and it was hot enough that I had to stop and take off my son's jacket at one point in time, but this one decision to do the "Couch to 5k" program seven years ago has changed our family's Saturdays. Since that first 5k, I've ran one full marathon, about 20 half marathons, dozens of 10ks/ 5ks and a few random, other distances. 

And, every time that I run, it is hard. I have to work at it. Many times, when I am laying in bed wondering if I really need to get up and run, I ask myself, "Is this something I really need to do?" And, of course, it isn't. I choose this.

I don't need to run. Running doesn't come easy. My PRs (Personal Records, I know the lingo now after seven years) are not stellar compared to most of my age group.

This whole attempting to run thing, for me, takes effort-- a lot of effort. 

The run today took us by the Estelline School and my mind started to think to my school. How much of what many of my students do everyday takes work? Not just pronoun-antecedent agreement or finding the lowest common denominator, but everything. I was fortunate, in school, I didn't have to work. It wasn't until I was taking graduate work that I learned to really study well. 

So, I think about kids that have to get up and get themselves ready for school. The kids that hope their lunch account has money in it. The kids that don't have the example in front of them for personal hygiene or other self- care. The kids that wish Mom or Dad or Grandma or Uncle or somebody would be there at the end of the day to ask about their homework, help them read their "book baggies" and make them supper. Life takes effort. Not only do many of our students come to school with more concerns that as a school "we" could ever "fix" for them, but they still choose to come to school. 

We have to help them continue to choose to come-- and although it starts in elementary school, it continues every fall for every student. As a school district, we have to make sure that from the first bell to the last bell, the only place that they ever want to be is with us-- at school. We need them to chose us and we don't have seven years to get them "hooked" on school. We have days. 

Somehow, we have to help our students find the intrinsic desire to be at school even if it takes effort. We need our students to see the value and trust the process of education. And, we need to remember that feeling of support that we needed when times are tough for us and we doubt ourselves, too. We need cheerleaders just like my student from years ago. Especially, as many educators are like me and didn't need to study or work at school. We loved everything about school. So, it's difficult for us to even imagine what it would be like to not have that love. Running helps me to remember that feeling my students have. 

I encourage you to find something like this that does the same for you. Something you need to work at everyday. Something that puts you in many of your students' shoes. And, if you have something like this, please share what makes helps you to continue to connect with your students.

When it's preaching to the choir... #ConnectedEducator #GrowthMindset

Always appeased by a good metaphor, I found myself giving a lot of "yes, sirs" and "I agrees" when reading the first couple chapters of What Connected Educators do Differently by @ToddWhitaker @JeffreyZoul and @JimmyCasas over the past day or two. These authors were certainly preaching to the choir. Especially as an educator in a rural school, connecting is essential. In many schools in South Dakota, you ARE the English department or you ARE the Science department, so if you are unconnected you will be on an island. Having a Personal/ Professional Learning Network of like-minded educational professionals around the world is the lifeboat to bring efficacy to the ever-changing world of education.

Although I have yet to read Carol Dweck's book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success in its entirety, I found myself referencing this thought process throughout the first chapter and preface of the Connected Educators book. Much of Dweck's argument supports the idea of continual improvement and this book gives us a way by which to find that improvement. In an age of MOOCs, Khan Academy and EdX, there is no reason that we cannot find a way to build our knowledge base and become the best version of ourselves. The thing is... we have to be open enough to realize that we do not have all the answers and it's okay to seek other perspectives.

On page xxiii Whitaker, Zoul, and Casas list the mindset competencies of a connected educator, "Our view is that serving as a connected educator is a mindset more than anything else; a connected educator tents to adopt and live out a mindset that believes: ... improve effectiveness [to] enhance student learning... must collaborate... seek to grow professionally through continuous improvement... live as active participants in ongoing discussions." All of these excerpts make sense and are imperative to creating a classroom that is more reflective of the practices of the "real world" as opposed to our old models of education.

As a school district leader, it will be more important than ever to not only support teachers in being connected educators, but also to facilitate their connections by drafting policies that foster connections if teachers choose to use them. We have to be informed enough to assist in the education of our decision makers (school boards, legislators, DOE) as well as our parents and community members that may wonder why we are changing our current practices. That being said, I do not want to require staff members to "Tweet" or "Instagram" or "Periscope" rather, encourage and pave the way for the ability to connect.

What else can Principals do to promote this type of "Connected Educator" and "Growth Mindset" in our schools among staff and students? Well, just this. Firing up that old blog and trying to connect with others. Continuing to connect via Twitter, participating in EdCamps, and reading professionally. Hopefully, other principals are lucky enough to find another principal to chat about their reading as well. Which is exactly what I am off to do now... because, as much as a Twitter chat can help broaden horizons, the perspective of a professional peer in a face to face conversation is also important as well.

ELA Standards Review

It's day two of a five day assignment to be part of the English Language Arts Standards review for the South Dakota Department of Education. The review is conducted every 5-7 years of the standards. The current ELA standards for K-12 education were adopted in 2010. The standards that were adopted were the Common Core State Standards and South Dakota, subsequently, became one of 46 states and the District of Columbia that originally adopted the CCSS.  

When South Dakota adopted the CCSS, I was teaching Middle and High School ELA in a small school in South Dakota. My colleagues and I were part of many groups that adopted the "Common Core" with Curriculum Mapping, Disaggregating, and any other buzz word you can find on CCSS. My current staff at my Elementary School are on year three of a "Common Core Aligned" curriculum that was produced by a textbook company. There are supplemental posters, leveled readers, and online guides to assist in the teaching of these standards. We use an online program called IXL to help assess these standards as well as Moby Max to reteach or reinforce concepts. Our districts are very committed to the CCSS with our professional development time and district funds that have already been spent.

All of this being the case, when the email went out to be part of a standards review, I thought it was important to be at the table. The way we organize our professional development time as well as allocate funds over the next couple of years is dependent upon the standards that we adopt.

We started yesterday being sorted into tables by grade level. I was the administrator assigned ot the 5th grade ELA standards table. Each grade (K-8) was assigned it's own table and grades 9-10 and 11-12 were combined. As our task is to review all of our grade level's assigned standard or reinforces and then make sure the standards properly align with both the grade level above and below, we were given a document that explained why we should make changes as well as Key Features of a quality standards.

The document is very well written and our discussions on standards vs. curriculum were very good. My table is composed of four teachers, a curriculum specialist and myself. Our experience levels are diverse and we are critically analyzing every 5th grade standard during the review process. We have access to examples from other states all around the U.S. to look at as well. Eventually, I think I will use a chart like this to present some of the changes to our staff at the local level. I think it is important to remember that "standards" are not curriculum and "standards" are not textbooks, rather guidelines of the expected competencies teachers must help students meet through the use of educational materials such as textbooks, multimedia, primary sources, etc. This chart helps to explain that difficult concept. 

Right now, we are just in the early stages of reviewing standards. There will be more days that our educator group will meet this year, a time for open comments by all stakeholders (parents, teachers, students, administrators, public, etc.) as well as hearings in front of the State Board of Education prior to adoption of the new new standards. It is a lengthy process, but it will be worth it for all of South Dakota. We have tried the standards as they were written and now we will amend them after they have been implemented for five school years. 

I look forward to working with the team that I have been assigned today and over the next meetings. We definitely take our work seriously and understand the long-standing implications of every "and" "or" "explain" and "describe" as it is written in the standards. The days are very rewarding when discussions about every educational implication are reviewed during a standards review.