ISTE: Finally, the Ugly

You've had the Good, the Bad, and more Good again.  I needed a break from the commotion inside my head before I could come up with the Ugly.  This conference was definitely intense, and I have so many links and notes to look through so that I can organize everything that I learned.  Of course, at my house the best way to get one's head straight is to do the five days of freaking laundry that had spilled over the baskets and onto the floor in my absence.  Seriously, did nobody see that?  Also, my kids had not touched a bar of soap while I was gone.  While I was glad to see them, I knew I had my work cut out for me before I could even get back to my reflections on ISTE 2014.

[caption id="attachment_341" align="aligncenter" width="300"] This is EXACTLY what the laundry pile looked like in my house. I guess if you don't EVER SHOWER it is necessary to change your clothes five times a day.[/caption]

 

 

 

At first, when I wrote the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, I thought I was just capitalizing on a known movie in a cute way.  This is usually how I write my race recaps on my running blog, Run away from Trouble.  After writing three posts (with more good than bad), I thought about the Ugly, and it turns out that it is much uglier than I imagined in the first place.  So, drumroll, please.  What is the Ugly?

It is the inability of ISTE to accommodate so many people at the venue.  It was the lines and the waiting and the crowds and the lack of everything.

Right now you are saying, What?  Seriously?  That's all you've got?  Just bear with me.  I'm going to take you on a bit of a journey, so fasten your seatbelts.  If heights dizzy you, close your eyes when I get on my soapbox.

I was horrified when I arrived at ISTE on the first day.  The crowds were huge, and the lack of space in all available rooms made it difficult to get into sessions (even ticketed ones) or to get within hearing and sight distance of any of the poster sessions.  I had favorited many sessions on my app in order to have many options.  I looked at the poster offerings, and I favorited those, too, so that I could remember to find them at the right time.    I learned that it didn't matter what I favorited; I would not be able to see any of those presentations.

I also would not be able to go to the bathroom, sit down, drink water, or purchase any food or beverages during a normal meal time.  Twenty thousand conference attendees meant long, long lines to get up and down stairs and escalators, get into sessions, and God help us, get into that first awful Keynote.  The few times I did try to purchase food and water, I found after standing in a long line that there was none available.  I am not exaggerating.

[caption id="attachment_342" align="aligncenter" width="300"] This is EXACTLY how we looked as we tried to pack ourselves into the bathrooms and the sessions. Just kidding. This is the Tokyo subway, of course.[/caption]

I talked to many people about this, and the reactions varied from furious (usually me) to annoyed to resigned.  The reaction of resignation is the Ugly in this conference.  Why did ISTE believe that it was acceptable to allow twenty thousand attendees when they couldn't accommodate all of those people?  I'll tell you why:  because it's just teachers.  If you are an educator, you know what I'm talking about.  There is a horrible culture of teacher bashing in our country, and even in the best of circumstances, teachers get the crumbs of what the corporate world enjoys.  In the case of the ISTE conference, we couldn't get crumbs or drops.  At some point, ISTE believed that the teachers who paid five hundred bucks to attend and  stood in line thirty minutes to buy a bottle of water only to find out that there was no water would simply shrug their shoulders and get on with their day.   Many (most) of them did, and that is Ugly.

Would your surgeon have endured a situation where there was no food or water available, even for purchase?  Would your lawyer have attended a conference where he had to stand in cattle chutes hoping to get into a session that he reserved ahead of time?  What about a judge?  Why do we allow this?

The answer is simple:  We allow it because we don't want to rock the boat. We play into the teacher-hating by thinking we don't deserve a normal or even great experience.  We don't want to anger people, hurt their feelings.  You know what hurts?  Not being able to go to the bathroom between sessions because the lines are too long.  You know what makes me angry?  The fact that a bunch of people in suits who took my five hundred dollars couldn't be bothered to have a conversation about whether their conference could accommodate me comfortably or safely.

What can we do about this?  Well, for one thing, I have decided to become more vocal.  I am mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore.  When someone assumes that I deserve nothing because I am a teacher, I will correct that assumption.  I will not shrug my shoulders and think, "Oh, well, I'm sure it wasn't his/her fault," because it decidedly IS someone's fault, and that person doesn't care about me or my needs.  When a well-known actress and would-be politician accepts money to speak in front of twenty thousand people and WINGS IT (I'm looking at YOU, Ashley Judd), I will not say, "Oh, poor thing.  She meant well," because that isn't true.  She meant NOTHING because in her views, we were nothing.  She is wrong.

We are educators, and guess what?  We are consumers, too.  We deserve more consideration for our money.   Wake up, ISTE.

[caption id="attachment_344" align="aligncenter" width="300"] After this post, you realize that I am the one with the devil horns. We're getting the band back together.[/caption]

 

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ISTE: This Just in: There is More Good!

I know I promised the Ugly in this post, but after today's Keynote Address, I just had to write a new post.  Don't worry, I've got plenty of snark in me; I'm just not ready to unleash it yet.

Christina and I were almost ready to skip the Keynote today after the debacle of opening day, but the Universe steered us toward getting to the conference center just in time to walk in and find a good seat.  I would like to take this moment to thank the Universe for that manipulation because HOLY SHMOLY!

Kevin Caroll opened the conference today, and let me tell you, he makes up for every minute I sat and stewed and endured Ashley Judd.  He was incredible.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Kevin Carroll, founder of Kevin Carroll Katalyst, pointing to what got him started[/caption]

 

Kevin Carroll is a consultant, the most dynamic, positive, and non-specific consultant you can imagine.   Nike paid him for seven years to just be himself.  During that time, he created his job, the position of "Katalyst," someone who serves as a creative agent for change.  I'm not going to copy his whole biography here, but I will give you the link to his page so you can learn about him yourself.

In yesterday's post, "Yesterday was the Good, Today is the Bad," I wrote that ISTE should have considered three requirements of its Keynote Speaker: 1) good public speaking skills, 2)knowledge of education issues, and 3) knowledge of education technology issues.  In my post I wrote that the Keynote Speaker should meet at least two of the three requirements.  Mr. Carroll is a stellar example of someone who was able to tailor his brand to fit the needs of his audience.  He talked about the importance of education--in and out of school.  He talked about embracing play as a way to learn.  He talked about embracing curiosity and the joy of life.  I could go on and on, but I won't.  I encourage you to check out his sources and come to your own conclusions.

Mr. Carroll made me laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time.  Most importantly, he made me proud to be an educator and reinforced my desire to strive to be a better educator and leader.  Thank you Kevin Carroll, and thank you ISTE.

 

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ISTE: Yesterday was The Good. Today is The Bad (and Still some Good).

Quick recap:  Atlanta is beautiful.  I love pie.  Read yesterday's post here.

Let's get right to it, shall we?

THE BAD:  I'm going to try to be as kind as possible with this one, which is so unlike me, but I'm writing this after my first two cups of coffee, so just roll with it.  THE OPENING KEYNOTE.  Were you there?  'Nuff said.  Ok, not really because apparently somebody has to say something since ISTE has NO IDEA who would be appropriate as an opening speaker.  Really, we only needed to fulfill two out of three requirements:  1) Good speaker, 2)  Involved in education, and 3) Involved in education technology.  ISTE is zero for three on this one.  To be fair, I blame ISTE for the choice of speaker, but I blame the speaker herself for that trainwreck of a keynote.  We can't fault ISTE for assuming that a professional actress would be on her A-game for a speaking engagement.  Ms. Judd did not do her homework, and I think that is insulting.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="511"] She looks so poised and professional here. What happened?[/caption]

 

By the way, ISTE, you had a Keynote Speaker right there the whole time:  Why no LeVar Burton?  Judging from the Twitter-clamoring to get into his small session (not to mention my own starstruck wishes), I'm betting that not one person at this conference would have left that hall before the time was up.  We love you, Mr. Burton.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="275"] Look at that man. LOOK AT HIM and tell me he shouldn't have been the Opening Keynote Speaker![/caption]

I am snarky, but I am not a heartless bitch, so I am going to finish this post with a bit of the good.  Yesterday I attended a double session  on using Twitter to engage students.  Adam Taylor gave us some tips on teaching students to connect with professionals through Twitter.  I use Twitter quite a bit, and while I've thought about having my students "interview" writers and other professionals in the language arts field, I've never really thought about how and why I should do it.  Mr. Taylor was very engaging and knowledgeable, and he gave me a lot to consider in teaching my students to leave a presentable "digital tattoo."  Shannon Wentworth led the session on using Twitter to collaboratively write stories, and this is something that I honestly never thought of doing.  I love this idea, and I plan to use it as part of my icebreaker exercises.  I think her session really started me thinking of ways to creatively teach students to use Twitter in my class.  I also love that both sessions emphasize that we need to model professional digital citizenship to our students.  Thank you, ISTE, for giving me the opportunity to participate in these sessions.

Next Post:  The Ugly.

 

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Days 1 and 2 at ISTE: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I had a decision to make, and it was tearing me up inside:  Should I go to Blackboard World in Las Vegas, or should I attend ISTE in Atlanta?  Before you hit me over the head and scream, "LAS VEGAS, YOU MORON!" in my ear, hear me out.

I have attended Blackboard World in 2012 and 2013.  In 2013 (Las Vegas, also) I was a co-presenter and a VIP blogger, so I felt hyper-involved in the whole conference.  I loved the conference both years.  This year Blackboard decided not to go with bloggers, and I didn't prepare a presentation, so I felt like maybe I should try something different.  I had heard lots of buzz about ISTE, and I was very interested in the posted sessions, so I thought I should attend.  After all, I often complained that I didn't get a chance to really see the sights in either of the cities because Blackboard does a fabulous job of keeping attendees busy from early morning until late at night.  I started my days at 5:30 am to work out and get to the first session by 8:00, and my nights usually ended around 11:00 pm because of Blackboard social networking events, all which were included in the conference fees.  Why should I choose the conference in Vegas if I don't get to see Vegas?

Anyway, I arrived in Atlanta yesterday, and I've experienced two days of ISTE, so I have some ongoing observations, which I have sorted into The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.  In today's post I will focus on my good experiences in the first two days.  Let's get to it, shall we?

The Good:  First of all, Atlanta is a beautiful city.  Last night I strolled through Centennial Park where I saw the Olympic torch and a gigantic Ferris wheel.  Children laughed and splashed in the dancing fountains.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="640"] Centennial Park[/caption]

 

My sessions were informative and engaging.  I learned how to use games to engage my students (Brain Pop and Minecraft), Twitter to link my students to professionals and each other, and video to tell stories.  I will write about what I learned from these sessions and others in future posts.

The best part of my first two days in Atlanta has been a surprise.  Christina (the Technology Integration Coach on this blog) and I were tired and cranky, and we wanted pie a la mode.  After walking to a diner to find out that it wasn't a diner but a bar, we came back even crankier than before. . . until we saw the counter of pie in Sway restaurant at the Hyatt Regency.  Sway is a nice place, and we weren't sure they would want to sell us pie a la mode to go, but boy, were we wrong!  The hostess offered us the Bucket of Love, which was a box that we could fill with any dessert we wanted.  It was only nine bucks and it came with enough ice cream for both of us.  Click on the link to see  our Bucket of Love .

While I have enjoyed the Bucket of Love, and I highly recommend that you get one if you ever come to Atlanta, the absolute best part of ISTE so far has been spending some time with Christina, whom I don't get to see as often as I would like.



I will leave you with a happy thought because remember, today is The Good.  Tomorrow I review The Bad.

 

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Get Kahoot!

No, I did not say to get "in Cahoots;" I said, "Get Kahoot!"

Kahoot is an online game quiz that I learned about at the Learn 21 conference this year.  Gamification is the new buzzword in Blended Learning, so there are many apps and websites that incorporate gaming into the classroom.  I try many of them when I'm not overwhelmed with life and work, and Kahoot is a new one that has great potential.

There are many apps that use a quiz format for kill-and-drill.  Quizlet is an early app that my students and I use to create online flashcards that students can study through quizzes like Space Race.  My students and I like the app because they can share their flashcards online.  One possible drawback to Quizlet might be that the quizzes are always individual.  I believe that group activity in review adds excitement and relevance.  This is where Kahoot comes in.

Kahoot allows any user who registers for a free account to create, save, and possibly share online quizzes (multiple choice format).  It is important to note that a central screen/projector is necessary to play this game.  The teacher goes to getkahoot.com to create and access his quizzes (or Kahoots).

This is the screen shot of my collection of Kahoots.

He launches the Kahoot, and the students see a PIN, which they log into their devices after going to kahoot.it.

This is what the students see when they receive the PIN for the Kahoot.  They enter this in their devices.

Students log in with the PIN and they create user names to join the game.  Note:  if a student uses an inappropriate handle, the teacher can boot her with a click of the mouse.  When all students have joined, the teacher starts the Kahoot, and the fun begins.  Students read the question and possible answer choices off the main screen.  Each answer choice is linked to a color (yellow, red, green, blue), and the student simply taps on the color of the correct answer on her device.  The interesting part about this game is that the answer choices do not appear on the students' devices; they must look at the main screen to access the questions and the choices.  This creates a group dynamic that is often missing when students use their devices for quizzes.  Students must focus on one point together rather than look down at their screens individually.  To reinforce this group dynamic, Kahoot flashes a leader board after every question.  Students get points for the correct answer and for speed.

I have used Kahoot many times this semester, and the students have loved it every time.  They discuss the questions and the answers, and I see a real motivation to get the correct answer and get on the leader board.  The best part is that I have the students create my Kahoots after we play the initial game.  They work in groups to create questions and answers for future Kahoots, which strengthens their review of the material and makes less work for me!

Give Kahoot a try--you may decide to replace some of  your Jeopardy-style review games, and your students may be more motivated to learn together.



Stephani Itibrout

Blended Learning Rhetoric and Composition

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A Walk with Blended Learning: Community Service

This morning I ran almost seven miles in Sand Run Metropark.  It was beautiful, hilly, and fast.

This morning I saw eight deer.

I'm not going to write about those experiences.

This morning I joined some of my students to participate in the Medina Walk out of the Darkness Suicide Awareness Event.  A large crowd showed up at 9 am on a chilly but sunny morning to walk 4.5 miles.  That crowd raised over nine thousand dollars, and my students were a part of it.

Part of the philosophy that I embrace about Blended Learning is that it facilitates community involvement.  I want my students to strive to be good citizens of their school, their community, their state, their country, and their world.  Students in my Blended Rhetoric and Composition class chose to fight back against suicide, a heart-breakingly relevent issue in our community.  What I had originally imagined to be a quick project in making videos turned into a large-scale community outreach complete with publicity, fund-raising, donations, interviews, research, and lots of writing.  Click here to see the video my students created to Stomp out Suicide.

Our walk today was a way for us to process everything the students have accomplished this year and to reflect on their involvement in the community and their year in Blended Learning.  I try not to always lead the class; I want them to lead themselves, each other, and me.  It was in this spirit that I encouraged my students to lead the way on the walk.  As they talked, I listened.

The students talked and laughed about Prom.  They poked fun at each other and at me.  Then, as often happens on walks or runs, they got serious.  One student told me why she was glad that she took my course.  She told me that she learned how to be more independent and responsible.  She said she learned to enjoy literature.  Another told me that she felt that our class had bonded more than any of her other classes at the school.

Every one of those students told me that they were so glad to get up and walk together in the sunshine at nine in the morning.



It was perfect.

 

 

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The Power of Collegial Coaching

Last night I edited my last few lines of my final paper for my graduate course, hit the submit button, immediately checked to see that I actually submitted the damned paper, checked again, and then poured myself a glass of wine.  Whew.

[caption id="attachment_298" align="alignnone" width="300"] This is EXACTLY what I was afraid I would see just as I submitted my paper.[/caption]

It was a bumpy ride, this course on Mentoring and Leadership, but I have to say that it was completely worthwhile.  I have been thinking a lot about Leadership lately.  I am currently a mentor for a second-year Resident Educator in Ohio, and it's a big responsibility.  I remember every mentor I've ever had, and it just occurred to me before I took this course that all of my mentors have retired.  Sure, I still visit with them, and they still offer great support, but who is currently my mentor at school?  This is the first step to realizing that I am old.

[caption id="attachment_299" align="alignnone" width="300"] This is EXACTLY how I look when I realize that I am an old teacher.[/caption]

 

 

[caption id="attachment_231" align="alignnone" width="225"] See the resemblance?[/caption]

The model that I often use in my mentoring experiences is that of Cognitive Coaching.  The premise of Cognitive Coaching is that my colleague has the answers to her questions/problems already, but she needs some help to bring them out.  I first learned about Cognitive Coaching when I helped to start our Mentorship Steering Committee in my school district about fifteen years ago.  I find that truly listening and reflecting back a colleague's thoughts gives that person the chance to discover his own truths.  When a teacher can find his own answers, it builds that teacher's sense of efficacy, and that is a large part of the goal of Cognitive Coaching.

Through my Leadership course I learned about Collegial Coaching, a process where two or more colleagues work together to form their own professional development.  This may include reading groups, reciprocal observations and critiques, and group discussions designed to improve teaching and learning.  The premise behind Collegial Coaching is that teachers know what they need to do to improve their classroom performance, but one can not force professional development on a teacher.  Professional development must be relevant, it must be authentic, and it must be clear in its payoff in the classroom.  Overall, teachers want to do what is best for students; if professional development does not offer immediate improvement in this area, teachers will not value it.

My colleagues and I have been formally and informally practicing collegial coaching for years; we just didn't know it.  Rob, the English teacher, sends out a group email at least once a week in which he attaches an article about educational practices or trends in education.  Some of his colleagues meet him for lunch for a lively discussion about the article; the rest of us (who don't eat during that time) weigh in by email or Google docs.  Our Blended Learning Pioneer Team meets weekly to discuss Best Practices in Blended Learning.   This is a practice started by our original  Tech Integration Administrator (Shout out to Stacy!), and our current Instructional Tech Coach (Christina) continues the practice.  Shannon (the Blended Learning Social Studies Teacher) and I meet nearly every day, or every night in a Facebook chat, to go over our trials and tribulations (See my post Snookledorp Means Camaraderie.) and rehash our day in the classroom.  In all of these practices, we continually challenge ourselves and each other, and the discussions can get heated.  The best part about Collegial Coaching in my building is that it all comes down to one question:  How is this good for kids?  We may have differences of opinion about many educational topics, but we all agree that our ultimate goal is to be the best teachers we can be to serve our students.

Last week Christina and I participated in a professional development session at Purcell Marian High School in Cincinnati.  We saw a group of dedicated teachers who were in the same boat we were in three years ago: they can see the headlights of the big Mack truck that is called Blended Learning, and they want to drive the truck instead of getting run over by it.

[caption id="attachment_300" align="alignnone" width="300"] My name is Blended Learning, and unless you can drive me, I'll mow you down![/caption]

 

We spent the day listening to them, and we heard our own voices from three years ago.  The difference now is that we know we have something to share with these teachers.  Three years ago we didn't know what the hell we were doing, and it seemed like there was no mentor for us.  Today I am thankful that there is an ever-expanding Blended Learning network in Ohio and, via Twitter, in the world.  This is what we were able to introduce to our colleagues, mentors who are willing to encourage, critique, and share.  What we saw at Purcell Marian was the beginning of great Collegial Coaching.  These teachers have the will to examine themselves and their practices with a critical eye, and they have the sense of efficacy to know that they can create a learning environment that is good for kids.

My colleagues at Purcell Marian made me hopeful for the next step in Collegial Coaching in our own district.  How can teachers provide even more leadership through professional development?  How can we be the leaders we need in our classrooms, our schools, our district?  How can we continually question our practices with the idea of what is good for kids?

This is an exciting thought for someone who believes in encouraging efficacy, who believes that she and her colleagues can create their own intellectually and creatively stimulating environment.

Rock on, Purcell Marian Friends.  You have inspired me to fight the good fight in education.

Stephani Itibrout

Blended Rhetoric and Composition

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Change Is. . .

This week I was part of a team of teachers who led a professional development day at Beaver Local School District.  Even though I have presented at three conferences, a board meeting, and a podcast, I was nervous as hell.  A dark secret we all know is that teachers can be the worst audience.  They can be critical, disinterested, or downright rude.  There are many reasons for this, but I attribute the main reason to the fact that professional development offered to us usually sucks.  There, I said it.



Kent Polen, Superintendent of Beaver Local SD, invited us to present for his waiver day.  He gave us very open-ended instructions, but one thing he told us really interested me:  Beaver Local is building a completely new school district.  Their teachers and students are highly involved in the whole process, from working with the architects to researching programs and technology for future use.  Kent told us, "We can't create a completely new building on the outside and do the same thing we've always done on the inside.  We need to change with the times."  There is nothing more fearful and at the same time exciting to me (and many other teachers) than those words.

Change is good.  It is exciting, stimulating.  Change is bad.  It is stressful, worrisome.  Oh boy, I know this.

Three years ago, I started a wrestling match with Change called Blended Learning.  My principal asked me to be a part of our Blended Learning Pioneer Team, and I said yes.  I didn't even know what Blended Learning was, and so I started a year of research.  The whole time I was convinced that I was learning to develop technology in the classroom that would eventually replace me.  What changed my mind was good professional development:  Blackboard World, OETC, Learn 21, Twitter, and the fascinating blogs and articles written by my colleagues.  I learned that there is a time and place for technology, and I learned that sometimes I can relinquish control of my students' path to learning.  I am learning to be a guide who participates in the journey rather than a travel agent who delivers a completely planned itinerary.  Three years later, I am still here, and I am still teaching and learning right along with my students.

Back to the professional development session.  I taught three sessions about using Web 2.o tools (see our Google site with links here) and one session on Google docs.  The Beaver Local teachers were outstanding: kind, eager, energetic, and FUN!  I gained some experts in my Twitterverse (@Kentpolen, @AmyWolski, @mrjcongo), and I learned to expand my thinking about instruction to other subjects and grade levels.

I would like to thank my colleagues at Beaver Local School District for reminding me how scary and exciting change can be.  I would like to thank Kent Polen for being on the cutting edge of change for his school district.  Finally, I would like to thank my Medina colleagues for encouraging change.  When Christina (Technology Integration Coach, formerly The Math Teacher on this blog) told us about this opportunity, I said, "I don't know what I can offer."  She and Shannon (The Social Studies Teacher on this blog) looked at me like I was insane (shhhhh. .  .Let this one go.) and reminded me of things I had learned that, instead of taking for granted, I should be sharing with my colleagues.  Thank you for reminding me that I do contribute.

Change is. . .Necessary.

 

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Blended Learning and Service Learning

Today I am exhausted and humbled.  Yesterday, I was exhausted and nervous as hell.

Yesterday my Blended Learning Rhetoric and Composition students organized a community event to record a video for the Medina County Stomp out Suicide Project.  They have been planning this particular scene for at least a month.  This means that I haven't had any sleep for at least a month.  Let me backtrack a bit. . .

 

One day my students and I were discussing possible research projects when I came upon an online flyer for the Stomp out Suicide Video Project.  "Hey, do you want to make a video for this contest?" I asked.  "You could win a thousand bucks."  The students jumped all over it, but in the way that seventeen year olds think about how cool it would be to make a video without doing any of the work to make a video.  We downloaded the information and the students half-heartedly discussed ideas.

That day the unthinkable happened:  our school lost one of our own to suicide.  That evening, one of my students emailed me.  "This just got very real for all of us, " she wrote.  "We need to get serious and do something to make a difference."  And so they did.

The students created storyboards, recruited two videographers, and started shooting.  They researched statistics.  They assigned responsibilities.  One idea they all agreed on was that they needed a community crowd scene.  "Our theme is 'You are not alone,'" they said, "so we need to show that nobody is alone.  We need the community."  They created a Twitter hashtag (#MedinaStrong).  They created waivers and flyers.

 



 

 

I watched with pride (and honestly, a whole lot of angst) while my students made appointments with administrators, safety forces, business owners, students, and community members.  "Beth," a student who had always been a bit shy and quiet, volunteered to meet with our school's administrators and book the high school stadium and the gymnasium, in case of inclement weather.  "John," another student who previously hadn't been much of a go-getter, managed to secure free pizzas, pop, and all the napkins and cups we needed for a large crowd.  He also volunteered to plug our video on the school's morning video announcements.  My students wrote invitations to school board members and our communications director.  They papered our hallways with posters.

What was my role?  I tried to stay the hell out of their way.  I bit my tongue. . . a lot.  I showed them how to log their "business meetings" and all the documentation for the video into a wiki on Blackboard.  I retweeted them.  I took pictures. . .and I held my breath.

Yesterday, I watched my students organize a crowd of ninety students, EMT's, police officers, and community members into a meaningful event.  They presented an opening ceremony, they directed all of those people, and they sent them away feeling that they contributed to something important in the community.  Oh, and they collected money through wristband sales to donate to the Battered Women's Shelter of Medina.  Here are two newspaper articles describing that day:

"Video: Teens, think twice about suicide" from the Medina County Gazette

 

"Medina High School students create suicide prevention video" from Cleveland.com

 

In my last post, I described my job as a shepherd dog.  In this particular case, I learned how a blended learning class is really supposed to work.  My students were inquisitive, and they were willing to do the work.  I was lucky enough to point a finger and gently nudge them from time to time.  When I can take a moment to exhale (we aren't finished with the editing process of the video), I will be able to reflect on how this project helped the students ( and me) to learn and grow.  More importantly, I will allow the students to reflect on their learning.  I want them to tell me what they learned, not just for the sake of the Common Core Standards, but to give them the opportunity to realize what a fabulous moment they shared.  This is something I will remember forever, and I certainly believe they will, too.

 

[caption id="attachment_282" align="alignnone" width="300"] You are not alone. Photo: Sydney Campbell[/caption]

 

 

Stephani Itibrout

Want to read more about Blended Learning?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout

 

Return of the Wiki

So. . . because I am a masochist, or because I am extremely stubborn (or both), I am revisiting my use of the the Big, Bad Blackboard Wiki in my Rhetoric and Composition class.  Why is this so frightening to me?  Click here for a glimpse at my epic fail with the wiki last year.

This year is different.  It is.  The students are different, the assignment is different, I am different (true story--I am different:  I broke my foot!).

 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500"] This is an image of the Wiki-Gods laughing at my attempt at redemption. I'll bet you didn't know that the Wiki-Gods are evil cats.[/caption]

 

For this assignment, channeling the true spirit of Blended Learning, my students chose a collaborative project in which they will create a suicide prevention video, which they will submit to the Stomp out Suicide Project, sponsored by Alternative Paths.  What better way to collaborate than with a wiki?

Because the project is completely student-driven, and their idea came rather unexpectedly, I didn't give the extensive wiki-training prep that I gave last year.  Instead, I showed a short clip that demonstrated the purpose and function of a wiki, and then I demonstrated the basics of Blackboard Wiki.  I already know that I should have given the students more time to process the technical aspects, but they are picking it up a little more each time they work.

The wiki is currently very messy, but I've upped the ante by informing the students that I am going to present the information on their wiki at a Board of Education meeting on Monday night. There is nothing like a surprise deadline to instill panic  make students productive.  We shall see.

I have to remind myself that the basic concept of Blended Learning is one of student responsibility.  Students learn through mistakes, and learning is messy, just like the wiki.  As the teacher, I need to give them room to figure things out, with gentle nudges in the right direction from time to time.  Sort of like a shepherd dog.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400"] This is EXACTLY how I look when I'm herding ducks. Or teaching wikis.[/caption]

 

 

Interested in Blended Learning?   Follow me on Twitter @itibrout !

 

Banned Books Week

The week of September 23, 2013 is Banned Books Week.  This affects every reader, but as a teacher of literature, I take personally any attempt to ban books, especially books that I currently teach.

In celebration of Banned Books Week, a North Carolina school board banned Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison.  Read NPR's report here.

Ralph Ellison's novel is a bildungsroman about an African-American who gradually loses his naivete about racism during the Harlem Renaissance.  My students find it to be a difficult read, sometimes because of Ellison's highly-descriptive and poetic style, sometimes because of the frustrating innocence of the protagonist.

 

 

 

 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Invisible Man in his apartment with stolen light.
Photo: Jeff Wall[/caption]

 

 

 

We spend weeks unpacking the novel.  My students learn literary criticism through their research on Ellison and the Harlem Renaissance.  They learn how to analyze a work for its motifs.  They learn that syntax can be symbolic.  They learn that writers can be eerily prophetic.  At the end of it all, we are exhausted but better for our journey through Ellison's graphically-depicted world.

I hope that my students will better appreciate literature knowing that there will always be authority figures who wish to keep it from them.  I hope they ask questions, many questions, of themselves and the authority figures in their lives.  I hope they find at least one book that makes them think, grow. . .and want to change the world for the better.

 

Stephani Itibrout

English Teacher

Follow me on Twitter @itibrout

Armchair Quarterbacks in Education

We all know Armchair Quarterbacks.

[caption id="attachment_246" align="alignnone" width="250"] My husband is a card-carrying member. Are you?[/caption]

 

Those are the people who can solve all the problems of education with a wave of a magic wand.  The Armchair Quarterback has the brilliant ideas that NOBODY has EVER thought of, and without any research or understanding of education, he has just figured out what you were never smart enough to know.   My husband is an Armchair Quarterback.  His priority is usually saving the Browns (why won't they call him????), but on occasion, he graces me with his wisdom about what is wrong with education and what should fix the problem.  His solutions involve lots of uses of "they" ("Who are they?" I ask.  "You know, the people in charge.  Them," he replies, as if I am especially simple-minded during this conversation), and he talks at length about budgets.  I find it incredible that a man who can't drive past a Sears Hardware without dropping fifty bucks talks to me about budgets.

This post isn't about publicly ridiculing my husband.  I can do that the next time he tries to beat me at euchre.  This post is about people who think that there are simple, quick fixes to problems in education.

Our district has a school board election coming up.  For reasons that you have probably heard on the news or read about in the newspapers (if you live in Ohio), there will be many people who feel very strongly that they can "fix" the education in our district, more specifically the budget.  One of the candidates has stated publicly that online education will be the way to fix our budget. This disturbs me for many reasons, but I only have the space to explain one of them.  I am a Blended Learning Teacher.  I teach Blended Rhetoric and Composition on a rotational model.  The students come to class at least three days a week, and they can choose to "flex" the other two days by working on their projects from home.  They can also choose to come in to class during that time for conferences, help, or just because they would rather be in school at that time.  I monitor their flex time through Blackboard, our LMS, and they frequently communicate with me when they aren't in school.

My first thought is this:  If my course goes to full online instruction, how will that save money?  Will we require students to come to school and use our computers?  We need new computers, if that is the case.  Who will teach the children?  Will the board buy canned online courses and replace me with a "computer monitor" (see what I did there?) who makes eight bucks an hour and watches the students to prevent vandalism or other discipline problems?

On Friday I looked at my class, and I took a deep breath.  I had thirteen different projects going on all at once.  Some students were researching blogs, some were editing their previous writing, some were collaborating on a new project (a suicide prevention campaign), some were writing literary analyses about "Little Things" by Raymond Carver, and some were reading the next section of 1984.  All of them were practicing relevant, real-world skills that they will need when they leave high school.  All of them needed my guidance, direction, re-direction, and encouragement because they are still in high school and not ready for the real world.  Can a prepaid online course give them all of that?

It all boils down to this: when we devalue the role of teachers, we devalue our children.  My students deserve the best, and I want to do my best to give it to them.

Look, I don't know the answers, especially when it comes down to budgets.  For me, starting a Blended Learning class is one way that I can try to be a part of the solution.  You want students to be better prepared for life after school?  I'm trying to help.  Armchair Quarterbacks, I think it's great that you want to help.  Just know that the Facebook status of education right now might best be "It's complicated."  Please do some research, really think about the pros and cons instead of just dismissing or ignoring the parts you don't like,  and then share your ideas.

 

Stephani Itibrout

Rhetoric and Composition

Follow me on Twitter @itibrout

Leadership

In the seventeen years I've been teaching at the same high school, I've had three superintendents, eight head principals, and too many associate principals to count.  I should have abandonment issues.  When I think about how unstable a teacher's job really is, I am sometimes tempted to crawl into the fetal position and rock while sobbing.  That's hyperbole, by the way; I'm not entirely sure that I could actually arrange my body into the fetal position.

 



With each new leader, whether it's at the district or building level, comes a new-and-improved great idea, and believe me, THIS time it's going to make a big difference for everyone.  I have learned to filter out the details and get right to the point, "How is this good for kids?"  If any leader can satisfactorily answer that question with a minimum amount of bullshit and a maximum amount of know-how, I will gladly follow him or her.  If the answer comes with a whole lot of bluster, and I sense very little preparedness, I throw down the gauntlet.

The best leader I've ever known in my district began or ended every conversation with me by saying, "What can I do to help you as a teacher?"  Whenever I gave him an answer, and I always did, he would honestly tell me whether he could give me what I wanted or not.  We sometimes didn't agree, but he always did his homework, and he always welcomed my challenges when I didn't agree with him.  That's a leader.

The primary responsibility of a leader is to take care of those she leads.  The secondary responsibility is to create as many potential leaders as possible.  A true leader raises up the people who follow her, encouraging them to take more responsibility, learn, and grow.

Recently our Administrator of Technology Integration took a job as a Blended Learning Consultant for an educational consulting group.  She could have left us in the lurch, as some leaders have done, but she didn't.  She kept us informed, and she has continued to ask what she can do to help us develop our Blended Learning program in the district.  We realized when she left that she has given us the necessary tools to continue the vision of moving the district forward with technology integration.  Thank you, Stacy, for all of your leadership.  She made us want to step up and lead, and that is just what we have done.  As a matter of fact, I'd like to be the first to announce on this blog that our new Technology Integration Coach is. . .Christina Hamman, whom you know as The Math Teacher on this blog.  Christina has many exciting ideas to move us forward, and she is making good on our commitment to district leadership.

 

[caption id="attachment_239" align="alignnone" width="300"] This is the t shirt we are making her wear when she visits our classes.[/caption]

Christina is smart, driven, and responsible.  She has earned the respect of her students and colleagues.  She will ask us what we need to be better teachers, and if she can make it happen, she will.  She will challenge teachers to learn with the students and to think about their needs.

A teacher is that kind of leader.  I,too, want to begin or end every conversation I have with my students by asking, "What can I do to help you grow as a student?"  I want to listen to their answers and give them what they want if it will help them.  I want my students to challenge me.  If I can't answer the question, "How is this good for kids?' about anything I do, then I shouldn't be doing it.  If I do my job correctly, my students will be future leaders who will raise up those they lead.

 

Stephani Itibrout

Blended Learning Rhetoric and Composition

Follow me on Twitter @itibrout

Breakthrough

Julie can't give a speech, and her 504 says that I must find a way to accommodate this.   It would be an understatement to say that this is problematic in an English class.  I was immediately frustrated, and I consulted Julie's former teachers.

"What should I do?  We start the year with an introduction speech!" I said to my friend the speech therapist, with whom I run in the mornings.

"Can she submit a speech without giving it in front of the class?" she asked.

"Will Julie submit a speech on YouTube?" I asked her former English teacher.

"I offered that possibility last year," she said.  "No go."

I truly wanted to accommodate Julie's needs, but I wasn't sure how to do it so she would be successful.  Typing and sending a paper isn't the same as a speech, and speeches are a required part of the Speaking and Listening Standards.  Furthermore, I was worried that Julie wasn't going to attempt anything I suggested.

I took a deep breath and jumped. . . I told Julie that she could submit her speech using any web tool of her choice.  I suggested Sock Puppets because through the app she could scrub her voice, but I said any tool would do.  I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

This morning I opened my email and found a link to Julie's Voki.  Voki is a free web 2.0 tool that generates avatars that can speak whatever words you give them.  Julie had typed her speech into the Voki, and her avatar spoke the words she gave it.

I use Voki for my introduction pages on Blackboard.  I like it because I can use different avatars for each purpose.  Here is my Voki for my Blended Rhetoric and Composition class:

 



And here is my Voki for my AP Literature and Composition class:



Which one looks the most like me?



 

I realize that technically, Julie only typed a paper, but she had to make that paper sound like a speech, which I think is a big step.  These are the moments that I thank God that I took several workshops on free Web 2.0 tools.  What would I have done without Voki?

The point is this:  let go and take a chance.  Sometimes an app will work, and sometimes it will blow up in your face.  Sometimes a breakthrough will come from the use of an app or a tool, and that erases all the other epic fails (as long as you learn from them).

How do you use Voki?

 

Stephani Itibrout

Blended English

Follow me on Twitter @itibrout

VoiceThread Revisited

Here I am, setting up for another year!  I have decided to use VoiceThread as an opener to my course again this year.  I recorded three slides to this year's Thread: my definition of sportsmanship, my daughter's experience lying down on the clear glass in the Willis Tower, and my son just goofing off.  If you don't remember my previous post about Voicethread, it was a realization that VoiceThread could be a valuable tool to teaching my students how to reflect and share narratives.  It was a great jump start to my year, so I'm giving it a shot again.

My students will view my examples, and they will respond to each one by comparing similar or different experiences or ideas.  In the learning module I've built on Blackboard, I've given them examples of substandard and acceptable responses.  They can respond by phone (voice or text) or computer (video or text).  Next, they will build their own VoiceThreads and respond to each others' posts.  Lastly, they will use their Threads to write a reflective narrative.

Here is my VoiceThread example--enjoy!

 

How might you use VoiceThread?  Include your suggestions in the comments.

Stephani Itibrout

Rhetoric and Composition

Follow me on Twitter @itibrout

The Relevance of A Teacher

The Keynote Speaker for the last day of Blackboard World 2013 was Dr. Sugata Mitra, inventor of "The Hole in the Wall" project, an experiment which places a computer in a wall in a very public area of an Indian slum (among other locations later) in order to prove that children can teach themselves through natural curiosity and reliable access to technology.

 

[caption id="attachment_189" align="alignnone" width="300"] Dr. Mitra's credentials[/caption]

 

 

 

[caption id="attachment_191" align="alignnone" width="300"] Children can access computers placed in an Indian slum.[/caption]

 

He also invented "The Granny Cloud," based on the idea that children can better learn with an encouraging, non-judgmental adult (like a grandparent) watching and praising their progress but not actually guiding it.  For more information about Dr. Mitra's projects, check out his Ted Talks.

 

[caption id="attachment_190" align="alignnone" width="300"] Children have real-time access to retired British schoolteachers, who encourage them in their language acquisition skills.[/caption]

 

Dr. Mitra's presentation blew me away.  How could a teacher not love a man who wants to tap into children's natural desire to learn?  How could I not appreciate a man who wants to bring education to children who may have no access to technology or education without him?  When talking about the problems with education today, Dr. Mitra said that we need to release teachers and students from excessive testing, and that's where I burst into applause.

When I got back to Ohio after BbWorld 13, I started thinking, and as many of you know, that is where the problems begin.  Dr. Mitra's theory is that given access to technology in a very public way, and given the proper amount of encouragement (but not guidance), students will learn more quickly than in a traditional environment.  I can see where this is a fabulous idea for areas of the world where children do not have regular access to technology or good education, but now Dr. Mitra is using some public schools in England for his experiment.  This leads me to think that he believes those students don't need a teacher, just a computer.  Here is where it gets weirder for me:  Dr. Mitra says that the roles of his "grannies" in his "cloud" are only to observe and praise, but he specifically chose retired teachers to do this, and the video he showed us featured a granny instructing children (not just observing them) in reading in English.  Doesn't this contradict his original theory?  Now I'm wondering if this is another push to get rid of face-to-face instruction in favor of online instruction because it will always be cheaper to stick kids in front of computers than in front of live teachers.

One thing I've learned from pioneering a Blended Rhetoric and Composition class is that I am essential to the equation when it comes to student learning.  I teach students to learn; I point them in directions where they can find the rest of their way, and yes, I am like the "granny" who tells them, "That's amazing!  I could never have done that when I was your age!  How did you do that?"

Does Dr. Mitra think that my students would be better off without me?

Stephani Itibrout

Blended Learning Rhetoric and Composition

Follow me on Twitter: @itibrout

 

Learning is Social: Using Social Tools in Blackboard

"Get out your phone or tablet, take a picture of the quote you'd like to use, and send it to me with an explanation."

"What?  This my PHONE.  I use my phone to text my friends or take pictures of stuff I like.  I DON'T use it for school stuff."

I have this conversation with my students more times than I can count.  Even though I have an open BYOD policy in my classroom, and I encourage my students to use their phones to research and share information, the students are very reluctant to use a tool (the phone) that they consider purely social for academic purposes.  Today in the Social Learning session, led by Terry Patterson, Melissa Stange, and Francesca Monaco, I heard a statement that validated my struggle with getting students to use their phones for my class.  Francesca Monaco said that students want to network with their classmates, but they want a strict separation between their academic networks and their social networks.  I get very nervous when I think about students connecting online in a social network because of a requirement from my class because the minute a student posts to Facebook, Twitter, or Google + (yeah, that might happen) on behalf of my class, I feel responsible for what happens next.  I can't control those interactions, and I can't fully protect my students.  Students want to connect; what should I do?

This is where Blackboard Social Learning comes in.  Students and faculty post profiles in the tool, and they can use the search function to find groups that share their interests and concerns.  The tool offers profiles, walls (on which to post information), spaces for collaboration, and messaging, and the best part is that it is protected because you can monitor the interactions, something that would be very difficult to do in Facebook or Twitter.  Check out the video for more info:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CMATBAkj4E&feature=youtu.be

Clay Shirky talked about using technology to make connections with the world around us, and I think the Social Learning Tool is a good way to teach students how to make and use these connections responsibly.

 

 



 

Stephani Itibrout

Blended Learning Rhetoric and Composition

@itibrout

Clay Modeling: Lessons from the Keynote Address

We are facing an educational landscape which is about to be formed by student demand.--Clay Shirky, Keynote Address, Blackboard World 13

“Boy, did we make a mistake.  We did not listen to our students,” Howard, a Stats professor at a local university told me.  “We thought our Blended Learning and online courses were popular because of the use of technology, but our surveys did not reflect this idea.  We assumed that students of online courses were commuters who were working from home.  When we checked the login times and places of these students, we realized that they were doing their work in the early afternoon, even though the classes were scheduled in the morning, and they were working from their dorms.  When we changed the class times to afternoon, the students flocked to them.  The data showed us that students didn’t want to think about statistics courses in the morning, and we didn’t fill their needs in a face to face class, so they used what they could to get the learning they wanted.”

Clay Shirky's words have been whirling through my mind.  My first takeaway from his address was to remind myself that students DO want to learn.  In a sad time where many school districts are limiting class choices due to financial constraints, students are still looking for ways to educate themselves.  Many high school students are signing up for Advanced Placement, Post-Secondary Option, Dual Credit, and Language courses on their own, and these classes aren't always connected to their schools.  I've come to see that my role as a Blended Learning Teacher is to help them accomplish these goals by training them to "learn to learn."  My primary purpose is to teach them to take responsibility for their own learning because they may need to pave a "road less traveled" in the journey to their education.  I want to empower my students on their journey, and so I make a resolution:  I will listen to my students.

 

 



 

 

 

I will let them show me how they want to learn.  I will remember that I am not always the potter, rather I may sometimes be the clay.

 

 

 



 

Stephani Itibrout

Blended Learning Rhetoric and Composition

@itibrout

Twit or Tweet: Using Twitter to Engage Students

Psst.  There are a few things you need to know about me.  I'm giving you some personal info, so let's just keep this between you and me, ok?  Here we go:

I don't own a cell phone.

I just got into Twitter about three months ago.

I know; it's ridiculous.  I am the source of much ribbing among my friends.  I have to have a "texting secretary" whenever people want to communicate with me.   I was probably the only person at the Ohio eTech Conference who didn't have a phone or Twitter account, and my Administrator of Instructional Technology made a point of shaming me each time we presented at a conference.  Twitter-shaming.  What has the world come to?

I see the light now.  Twitter allows me to connect with people I admire in my profession.  It allows me to see into the thoughts of colleagues, researchers, innovators, and influences in education.  It also allows me to make connections in the running community so I can learn from runners I admire and so I can promote my running blog.



Today I saw the 2:00 presentation Twitter: Micro-blogging to Increase Engagement, and I am eager to take my tweets to the next level with my students.  I intend to use the ideas of Cheryl Boncuore (@cherylbonc) and Aurora Dawn Reinke (@AuroraReinke) to engage my Blended Learning Rhetoric and Composition students in their research of colleges and career choices.  How exciting will it be for my students to connect with a professional in a field they are considering?

There are problems to consider.  How will I make sure to keep my students safe in the TwitterVerse?  I keep my blogs gated through Blackboard, but I can't control what students do through Twitter; I can only control what they choose to show me.  Hashtags are a great way for me to think about monitoring and assessing what they do  for my class.

My takeaway from this session is that Twitter can work for my Blended Students, and eventually I can extend its use to my younger f2f students.  I am getting with the program; rather than be a Twit, I choose to Tweet.

 



 

Stephani Itibrout

Blended Rhetoric and Composition

@Itibrout

Don't Tell Me What to Do: Using Templates to Improve Course Design

How do you balance standardization of templates with freedom of expression in teaching?

Certain administrators, supervisors, and bosses have told me that I am a challenge.  Why?  Well, it may be that just about every conversation I have with a "boss" begins or ends with me saying, "Don't tell me what to do."  Even if I WANT to do whatever someone requests of me, I want it to be completely my idea and my decision.  It is no wonder that my mother laughed her butt off when I complained about my son's newly applied "assertion of his independence" because she has been waiting all her life for this payback.

My resistance to standardization of templates kicks in when I think that it might inhibit my creativity.  Even if I grit my teeth and agree to a template, I want it to be a template that I designed, and herein lies a huge problem.  I am the Queen of Control Freaks, but I am not naive enough to believe that I am the only control freak in my district.



How deep should we go with templates?  Building-specific?  Department-specific?  Course specific?  I have seen some good course designs in classes at my school, but their layouts do not reflect the way I think or teach.  For example, some teachers organize their content by standards, and they train their students to think about the course that way, too.  It works for them, but it doesn't work for me.  Some teachers like to group their content thematically--what do they lose when someone forces them to convert to organizing by standards?

 

On the other hand, what about the students and parents who try to navigate our LMS?  As a mother, I know how frustrating inconsistency of webpages and online lessons can be.  I want my audience to be able to easily navigate my class lessons in Blackboard.  Does this mean that I should make my class page look like every other page?  Does this mean that I should separate my content into  standards, themes, or genre?  Where is the balance between ease, consistency, and freedom of expression in teaching?

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  My takeaway from the pre-conference session Using Templates to Improve Course Design really gave me a lot to contemplate.  See what I did there?

 

Stephani Itibrout

English Teacher, Blended Learning

Follow me on Twitter: @itibrout