Have you tried Google Drive?

My school district has started a push for all employees to use Google Drive. As everything is in education.. innovation starts with a lot of talk and more talk and then we start slow, get scared, bury our head in the sand, desperately claw at the past and then when we are finally thrown off the edge, we see that it wasn't so bad and the "cliff" was only about a foot and that instead of drowning, we could just put our feet down.

Okay.. so that's a lot of cliche, but you get my point. Innovation doesn't come easily in education.

Well, Google Drive is a game changer. 

Here is my Google Drive for school. I have created all of these folders in the past couple of months! 

Each of the header bars is a folder. Inside each folder there are numerous documents or in the case of my class folders, I have student folders. I can't show you a class folder as my student names are listed on each file, but here is the inside of my instruction and guides folder.

What is so cool about this is that because I made the folder searchable, I was able to give the students the link to the folder (I made a tiny url) and they added my folder to their drive. So anytime I create a new guide, or as I add more guides to the folder, their folder is automatically updated!

From a work management perspective, this is a game changer.

Here is the folder of one of my student's in Art 1. As he completes his assignments, he loads his work into his folder. Because he has shared it with me, I can see his work in real time. 

And, because he gave me "can edit" rights, I can have him drop stuff into his folder from my ipad without him having to log into google.

Storage is unlimited, so while some folders like the above one only have 6 items right now, one of my folders has 168 photos! Multiply this by 160 students and you can imagine the amount to storage that would be needed for me to keep all of my students work on my device. 

So there you have it. My ringing endorsement for Google Drive. And fyi... if you haven't tried Google Docs yet, you should! 

Environment as Third Teacher

In the quest for education rigor, academic performance and high stakes testing, the educational environment is easy to forget.

I'm talking about the actual brick and mortar building.

The classrooms, the playgrounds, the hallways, the bathrooms.

All of it.

Sure, it has to be safe. Everyone is aware of that.

No one (or at least I'm not) is going to send their kids to a school like the one in Matilda!

But if we want to reach students and help them to achieve all that they can be. Or let's face it, to just ENJOY the journey, we have to stop and ask what their daily environment looks like.

I really, really appreciate the Reggio Emilia approach of Environment as the Third Teacher. Interested in learning more? Click here is a fantastic pdf article on our teaching environments. What I see in this approach, besides acknowledging that the environment we live in is important, is that it levels the playing field a little between teachers and auxiliary staff members.

In fact, I bet the custodial team at my campus has never been given articles on environment and how all team members are CRUCIAL for successful schools. Sure, people are quick to stop these hard workers when something isn't done, but when was the last time I stopped Lilly as she is organizing the cafeteria and told her thank you and that she MATTERS! Shame on me.

So what am I going to do?

Well, I'm going to start by saying thank you and telling our maintenance/custodial team that they matter. Then I'm going to work on changing MY environment. A really good article on creating quality environments is "How the Environment Inspires Curriculum." 


And then I'm going to...

1. De-clutter. I'm going to look for and get rid of "unintenional knick-knacks."  (man just typing that and looking around my dining table, I'm like oh man. How about the Easter basket that is on my china cabinet? It's July. Talk about an "unintentional knick-knack")

2. Walk around the room/building and ask "What is the purpose of ___?"

3. Remember that the environment needs to be balanced. If I break the room into sections, have I balanced the space or will all of the students be forced into one area so that I can create a cool space that looks fun but rarely used. The idea of taking a section and placing it on a mental scale has me rethinking sections of my classroom. I have a ton of space designated for rarely used stuff, but for every day life with students, we end up crowded.

4. Create more FOOT space than SHELF space. (Boy this another ouch for me. I have shelves, shelves and more shelves. Both at home and at school.  I really need to get rid of some of my junk to make room for life!)

And once I've done that. I'm going to stop and brainstorm about the places that I like spending time in. And figure out what I can do to bring that about into my daily environment.

Here are a few of my favorite places.. these are just representative pics from google. I haven't necessarily been to Starbucks on at Downtown Disney. :)

 

So what do I notice about these places.. I love the contrast between light and dark. I love the different textures. I love the see-thru containers.

Stopping and brainstorming about my teaching (living) environment is pretty fun. I would have said that the lack of windows to the outside world was the hardest thing for me to overcome. But after some visual brainstorming, I have so many ideas! And ideas that I can implement! I can't cut a hole in my cinder block wall and put in a window for my classroom. But I can add contrast and texture!

This is where I am starting.  These are pictures from my classroom at the start of school last year.  It's pretty much the same.. maybe even less cluttered right now!

First up. Moving the big front table from the dominate position in the classroom. We use it primarily for holding supplies. So why does it get soo much space?? If I move the monster table to take up some wall space, I can open up a large section of the classroom for feet space. This would really help the traffic jam of students trying to get in and out from their tables.

And the half painted wall of cabinets? It bothers me, but I got used to them. Like we all do. We get complacent in our daily life. I'm not sure what color they will be painted, but something for contrast!

And that's one of the best things about summer. It's a time to rejuvenate our minds and bodies AND our environments!! Because I want my environment as the third teacher to be a ROCKSTAR.. not a teacher in need of assistance plan! ;)

Differentiation DOES Work

James R. Delisle’s article “Differentiation Doesn’t Work”  in Education Week absolutely hit a nerve with me.  His statement “differentiation is a failure, a farce, and the ultimate educational joke played on countless educators and students” to be honest made me mad. 

I agree that differentiation is hard and incredibly difficult in a classroom of mixed ability students. But to say that differentiation is a failure and a joke is ludicrous and I felt like I had been slapped in the face!

Why? Because creative differentiation not only WORKS, but is sometimes the ONLY glue that keeps a classroom running and students achieving more than they ever thought possible.  Is it easy? NO! But curriculum that provides creative approaches to education and gives students choices about their education is crucial if students are to be met at their current educational level and then be challenged. In my opinion, this is the very essence of differentiation.

To say that differentiation doesn’t work, is a copout. It’s like saying because some students struggle to read that we should just stop teaching reading.  Instead, we have to say that maybe the way we approach differentiation needs to change.  Or maybe the expectation that teachers would know how to differentiate needs to change. What I do know is that the traditional model of lecture, take notes and give a test doesn’t work for students if we want them to be the best self that they can be.

Why am I so adamant that differentiation works? Because after spending the last 15+ years in the public school classroom teaching everything from 3^rd grade special education Math to 8^th grade Reading to 12^th grade Economics and a dozen other subjects in between and afterwards, I KNOW that if we want to reach students we have to do things differently.  And to be honest, I am tired of always hearing what doesn’t work and that we have such a hard job so woe is me. NO! We have the BEST job! Yes it is hard! Yes, things aren’t always great and sometimes things happen in our classrooms and in our schools that are crap. And sometimes it’s because we have crappy curriculum and no support. But you know what, at the end of the day, I can adapt my crappy (or lack of) curriculum and I can work through times when I feel like I am being sabotaged by administrators. Because my students are worth it!

I could give you some of my real-life tried and true differentiation strategies. For those of you out there that might care, my differentiation strategies are really a blend of differentiation and choice-based learning. What I have learned is that when given options, students will self-differentiate effectively most of the time. I might have to eliminate a few options for the students, but a choice in differentiation strategy creates individual by-in and ultimately yields better results.

But here is the caveat… in order to create this environment, you have to be willing to think outside the box and be willing to give up the worksheet that you made ten years ago! Even harder, the “bundle” that you spent all summer working on has to have embedded alternatives in order to give you the flexibility to reach students. We have to let go of the mindset that things HAVE to be done a certain way or they are failures.  Because my gravy, does it really matter what students use to process when working with a manipulative if they master the concept? Does it really teach students to be creative writers if the only poems they are allowed to write are a,b,a,b patterns?

So here are the most common statements against creating individualized lessons and my response.

•         “I have 100+ students; I can’t give every student their own assignment.”
•    No, but you can create a sheet of options that allow for the different skills students have and their interests.  When teaching Agamemnon to around one hundred 9-12 grade theatre arts students, I created a project that allowed for the skill level of students AND their interests. The assignment sheet listed 10 options, like “write a new ending to the play.. 40 points” and “research the Ancient Greek culture and explain the role of the chorus (essay, powerpoint or speech)”.. 50 points as well as stuff like “draw a mask for one of the main characters..10 points.” If there was a basic piece of the assignment that everyone had to complete, I would make that a required element and assign points. Then I would meet with students and they would tell me their plans. Lower achieving students might have to earn 80 points and I would guide them to maybe not do a research paper. On level students would be required to earn 100 points. Yes, this is a time consuming approach. But SO WORTH IT!! Students who didn’t think they could understand a Greek tragedy not only understood it, but were able to adapt the play into a reality tv series and act out a scene!
• 
  
•    My curriculum is bundled and if I do “fun” things I won’t get in the required lessons.
•     Why are “fun” things not valued? Why are required lessons boring?  Example: when teaching Economics instead of having students take a paper/pencil test on the economic impact of WWII, I gave students three options. 1^st option, take the traditional test. 2^nd option, create their own version of a ration book that rationed cell phone minutes. Students had to come up with the guidelines for the rationing, how it would work and all of the details that would go into rationing their data/minutes. 3^rd option was interviewing someone who lived through this time period and create a report (written/documentary/powerpoint) from this original source.  The overwhelmingly majority of the students created a ration book. The hardest and most time consuming option.  Even better, these required elements were “fun” to the students.
• 
  
•    I’m not creative.
•     Then ASK FOR HELP!!!!! Explain to your students what you want to do and ask them to help you come up with creative options. You would be shocked! Their assignments will be much harder than ones you would come up with. It has been years and years since I taught 3^rd grade special education inclusion math. But what I remember the most is that while they were NOT interested in counting blue bears, they created a “store” and counted money and did fractions and everything imaginable in order to get Legos to build with! Blue bears did nothing for them. Legos did.
• 
  

In the end, I realize that differentiation is hard. 

And by definition, my brand of creative choice-based learning with a differentiation approach is probably not classic differentiation. But I’ll take my brand, my students are worth it.

And for the student that is struggling in written expression, being given permission to verbally say his essay into a computer, spell check it and print it and then using his printout to look at, copy in his own hard to read handwriting, his very own legitimate essay, that is a win. 

Will he pass the state mandated writing test with this approach? I don’t know. 

But what I do know is that by differentiating today, he gained the courage to try next time. Sure, as the teacher, I could have demanded that he write his essay like everyone else. But what would have happened? At best, the student would have turned in something that I could “accommodate” to a 70. At worst, the student would have been reminded that once again, he wasn’t “good” enough.

A lose never translates to a win. And saying that differentiation is a farce is saying that students aren't worth the trouble. Personally, that’s not why I got into education..

Ready for 2014-2015!

I can't believe another school year starts tomorrow! 

I'm more excited this year than I have been in a long time.

A lot of different reasons, but having Maddie on my campus has me pumped.

And I've also finally made the place MINE.

Going into my 7th year in the same room teaching the same thing has me in a place that's comfortable and fun. I'm not having to recreate the wheel anymore. I'm just fine tuning my approach.

So here is my room.

And a panorama.


Yes, I am blessed with a lot of space and organization. In the past, it still felt crowded and cluttered. Because it was. But I have finally thrown away or given away a dumpster worth of stuff I won't use and so now I have a CLEAN space!!

Let me show you a few more pictures of my space.

 

Yep, I have to say, I love what I do!

Classroom set up.

It's that time again. Classroom set up!

I love this time of the year. Everything is clean picked up and the floors are waxed.

It's the time of year where I spend time reflecting on the good and bad of the year before and try to figure out if the room set up needs to change.

This is the start of my 7th year in art. That just seems crazy to me, time is flying by. But what this means is that I'm finally making this program and room truly my own. I'm STILL cleaning out old files and records from the previous teachers, but my stamp is squarely on this art program now and I'm proud of it.

Anyway.. back to the room.  This is how I found it a couple of weeks ago. Lexi and Maddie helped me to move tables back to their homes with the use of a big wool blanket. These tables are heavy! 

I'm still working on the room, and will post pictures soon!

This is going to be a great year!

Work in Progress

One of the things that I am really trying to focus on this year in my classroom is for my students to see me creating artwork.

This is what I am working on currently.

It's a mixed media, colored pencil, marker and watercolor piece.

I'm having a lot of fun. Working 10 seconds at a time will do that for you.  It keeps it fresh.

My students love to see that I am drawing and painting too. And they never quite know what to do when I ask them for feedback and critiques! They try to just say they like it... but nope, I force them to pick apart my work and offer suggestions.

I'm hoping to finish it next week.

Classroom Under Construction

If you were lulled into the summer schedule and didn't realize that August 1st came and went.  It did.  As a teacher, August 1st is THAT DAY for me.  I really enjoy June and July at home.  I do a little school work and piddle around the house.  I love that time, but in the back of my head, the date, August 1st sits there and reminds me to not get too comfortable.

It really is kinda funny.  Last week (prior to August 1st) I was up at the school and it was me, one administrator and the cleaning crew.  It was DEAD!  Then August 1st, Monday, arrived and the school is a hive of activity.  Our students don't officially arrive for the first day of school until August 22nd, but the building is crawling with kids.  In fact, tomorrow the 4th, we have a full morning of freshmen as they get acclimated to the campus and our procedures.

I can't wait to show you my classroom!! I am the lone high school teacher probably in the world (or so it seems) that decorates my classroom.  I guess it's that artsy-elementary brain I have!  This year I am doing IDEAS AT WORK.  Complete with orange construction barrier stuff draped on my ceiling! 

Hopefully by next week I can show you the room!  It is going to be fun.  And a good thing.  30 art students in one classroom with one teacher is going to be NUTS and LOUD!  I've even bought myself a Yakker Tracker (sp?)  It's a stop light that will change from green to yellow to red depending on the noise level.  I think it fits my construction theme perfectly!

So that's what I am up to.  If you live in the area and feel the need to organize, label, sort or hang.. give me a call.  I can use all the hands I can get!

My Art Classroom. Ready for another year!

One of my absolute favorite things about teaching is that every year I get to redo my classroom!  I can move things around, change my decorations, and basically reinvent myself all at the same time.

Here is a sneak peak into my world!

From the door:

Yes, those orange books are textbooks!  I’m up to close to 150 students this year!  EEK!!

Looking in main room: 

From the far side:

Front corner:

I love a clean counter:

The important things..
       

Thanks for stopping by my room!!