Little fish

Wow, has it really been five months since I first started this blog? I guess my main problem with updating is that I don't want this blog to just be a place where I complain (at best) or make excuses (at worst) for my struggles with adapting edtech and new strategies into my teaching methodology. On the other hand, maybe I just need to vent and put into words the initial struggles to clear my head. I tend to think about things a lot, without properly putting them into words for others.

Here's the thing, there's a lot I want to try, but I'm afraid. I've just completed my fifth year as a teacher and I still feel like a newbie. I'm not the type to get out there and advocate for what I want, rather I'm the type who does what he's told. However, the tweets I read from my PLN, the more I realize that there's so much I can be doing. Then there's the classes I'm taking for my doctorate on Servant Leadership and so much I want to try, but I'm not quite sure how to do it.

My school is a Title I school and, like other institutions, very cash strapped. Our principal loves to shop and often buys first and then asks who wants what she purchased. The "first come, first serve" e-mails go out and when I responded for an Interactive Whiteboard, it was dropped off with the caveat that I basically needed to figure it out by myself. I found some interesting resources, but I really want to create on my own, which I'm struggling to figure out.

Like most faculties, I guess, we've got a mix of teachers who are great with technology and those who accept it as a necessary evil in their room and let it gather dust. I try to use the newest tools, but due to my family life, part time jobs, and doctoral studies, it's hard for me to attend the professional development we do have on these tools. We do have some teachers using clickers, IWBs, etc. to enhance their lessons, as well as others who feel that they are simply flashy and distract from the real educational work they feel we are supposed to do. Trouble is, I fear we might have more of the latter working at my school than the former.

I also feel that my district is fairly strict on social media and cell phones. The school board recently voted to allow schools to search through student cell phones and the district wide policy is, "out of sight, out of mind," during school hours. We've also had some teachers misuse their social media to communicate, inappropriately with students, so the board has that view of social media and does not seem open to the positives it can bring.

So, in a lot of ways, I feel like a little fish in the big pond of education, floating by myself. I look over at some of the giants in my PLN, and to be honest, I get jealous. I see the wonderful things that they are doing and hear about how open their schools/districts are, and I want to feel that too. I just don't know how to go about it in my school and district and I feel that I need more support to effect change.

I have a bad feeling that the consensus is that we are a rural school where a lot of our students don't go on past high school (those that do finish high school) and end up doing menial jobs with little need for technology. I really wish we taught more in the way of life skills and tailored the curriculum towards the skills they will need and use, rather than what we think they might need. This does not mean I don't think our students should have access to the latest tech tools, but at the same time, I wonder if the tools we think they'll need are the tools they will, in fact, end up using.

I also don't want to give the impression that I'm down on my school. I love working there and I do recognize there are a lot of good things going on. Again, hearing stories on Twitter of the tools my peers are using and the projects their students are working on does make me jealous. I often feel that I don't have much to add in the way of resources, so I try to retweet the best of what I find and I also try to jump on a website or news story I see that to "pull my weight" in the PLN. On the other hand, I hope things do change and at some point I am able to pay my PLN back for everything they've given me, most of which goes into my Delicious Site.

So that's where things stand. I hope to update soon with my vision for a classroom run by Servant Leadership, as well as more ideas I have. Hopefully this will be the year I help shepherd my school into the 21st Century!

Mission Statement

Thought I would spend a quick minute describing the reasons for this blog.

I love teaching. It is my calling, as far as I'm concerned, and even when I'm at my most frustrated, I try focusing on the good things, such as individual students and how much fun we can have during class. Yes, there are downsides, but that's true of any job, and they are far outweighed by the downsides.

Like most (hopefully) all people who love their job, I want to find ways to make it even better. Especially since it doesn't matter how much I love my job, what matters is if the kids get something out of my class that will help them in life. So the more I find ways to be a more effective teacher, the more I can get through to my students.

As I mentioned in my first post, this process is not an easy one. It's hard coming from the point I am at now to where I want to be, but isn't that true of any journey worth taking?

I keep reading great posts on Twitter and blogs and I hope one day to be someone adding great resources and sharing my triumphs both with students and with technology, but I know I'm not there. Yet.

So by blogging about my experiences, my fears, my failures, and my successes, I hope to get some great advice and hopefully inspire others.

In my next post, when I get to it, I intend to lay out where I am currently in terms of professionally and in terms of where my school is, specifically with regards to technology and the students we teach.

As I realized early on while teaching, the more I teach, the more I learn, hence the name of this blog. I sincerely hope that those reading this take the time to help me out with a comment, question, or suggestion! Thanks to all who do!

Shaken to the Core by Twitter/PLN

Being a fan of comics, I recently have remembered a scene in The Dark Knight Returns (and "imaginary" story that takes after Batman has retired) where he compliments his new Robin by saying, "Good job, soldier." The scene sticks out in my mind because of how it shows the dark, dreary world (among other things, The Dark Knight Returns is notable for being the beginning of making Batman "grim and gritty") and how perverted the ideals of Batman and Robin have become. Robin, ever the light to the darker side of Batman, the colorful acrobat (at least, originally) accompanying the dark hued detective, is now a soldier being praised for her (yes, Robin in this instance is a female) violence and ability to take down the criminal element.

*Hopefully, I didn't scare off non-comics readers, because here's where I bring it back to teaching*

I'm really not a big fan of standardized testing, pacing charts, and things that make education formulaic. However, at this time of the year, I'm forced to put on a show and convince the kids that their upcoming tests (Florida's FCATS) are important and that they should buckle down (sometimes even Buckle Down, if I'm using the series of test preparation books such named) and focus on the preparing for the test. Since funding for the school and now, after a few years of inadequate AYP, the school's status are tied into this, I feel obliged to focus on teaching them to write by stamping out most of their creativity and to follow a regimented essay formula. And why do I do this? Partly because of the ramifications to my school if I don't, partly because teacher pay looks to inevitably be tied into it in the future, and partly because I want to be a "good solider" (I told you, I would relate the comics talk to teaching!).

It was easier to do in past years. I put on my "blinders," told myself there was some redeeming value to doing it this way, and continued on, trying to do everything I was told to do (which always reminds me of a quote from Ned Flanders, of The Simpsons, where he's talking to God about following the Bible and says he did everything he was supposed to, even the stuff that contradicted the other stuff in there!).

About a month ago, my father, cybraryman1, set me up with some people to follow on Twitter.

The more I followed them, and the more people I followed, the more I realized that the way I'm teaching now is not the way that would most likely benefit my students. I'm stuck in a 20th Century mindset, and I'm there because, like it or not, we're teaching to the test. But, there is so much more I could be doing!

I'm also reminded of a recent in-service I attended run by two University of Southern Florida professors who understand the situation we are in. They were there to teach us about literature circles and they agreed, when we said it was something we could focus on in late March and onward, since the FCAT tests are over by then. March and onward is a wonderful time, since we have less pressure and are freer to try new things, introduce more technology, and try to make the learning, if not fun, than enjoyable. The only problem? Our students are mentally checked-out, as they too, realize that we are no longer pressured by the FCAT (even though, as we were once told at another in-service, the latter part of the year, after FCAT is when we are supposed to be preparing kids for next year's FCAT).

So, I've resigned myself to sticking it out for the next month and I have resolved to try something new post-FCAT. If I can get a hold of one or more laptop carts, I'd love to have the students start blogging. I'd also like to see if we can get around the ban on Twitter in my school district to try some Tweeting (or something similar). Mostly, I intend to gather as much data, opinions, other teachers, and resources as possible to put together a plan to approach the administration about the need to change how we teach.

They say the first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem. So, I admit it, I feel like I have my hands tied by a test. However, the more I read from posts on Twitter and blogs, the more I realize there may be a common ground between teaching in the 21st Century and preparing my students for the FCAT. I'm giving myself 2 1/2 months to try something new and see how it works. The tough part: Can I prepare well enough over the next month to do it effectively (or at least make the kind of mistakes I can easily avoid next year while preparing the next group for their FCAT tests)?

Finally, is it possible to branch out, be creative, and still be a "good solider?"