Wrapping Up the First Semester

I have been very excited this year because our new Head of the Upper School has been requiring more formal reflection from all of us about how we teach. To be thinking about teaching is right up my alley, and it can so often be pushed to the wayside by the day to day needs of managing a school.

So I completed my self-evaluation a little early because I had a few free moments before a college evening presentation I was giving. I thought of two ways that my teaching could be improved, and technology can actually help them both. First, I am not a visual learner naturally. I can walk into my office on any given day and not see something someone left for me -- I just don't see things naturally. So, I would like to push myself to use more visual learning in my classroom -- to teach outside how I myself learn. I have already adapted a short lesson I use at the start of the second semester by adding a series of pictures to show a progression of writing in a different light. Thanks Google images! It is so easy to be visual with laptops and technology -- I am going to work hard to remember this all semester.

My other area of focus for improvement is helping my AP Lit students manage the multiple choice sections better on the AP exam. I never give multiple choice tests, so I struggle with how to prepare them beyond doing some practice AP tests. Google docs is what I am going to try [Could Google actually save the world as well as my teaching?? :)] This also fits with an earlier goal to use every technology at least twice. So, my students are going to post short excerpts from a book and work together on dissecting them to pieces. Then they can from home reflect on the Google doc on the meaning they discovered with each other. We'll see!

A Different Approach to Research

I tried something a little different with a small research essay my AP English students write. I made a point of presenting the assignment as fully INQUIRY. I gave them a process where they were to think of something in our thematic study that interested them and just find something to read more about it. They then did an article summary for me to show that the understood the overall points of the article, and only then did they work to integrate this reading with our in-class studies to formulate an essential question to answer in their essays.

I have read half of the essays so far, and they are GREAT. They really seem to have a deep grasp on their chosen subjects, and I would like to think that was because of the process of inquiry and summary before even getting started. But I will not count all of my chickens before they hatch! I am going to have them give me some feedback when I hand back the essays, so time will tell if they felt any different about this research than other research they have done.

Google Docs

Yesterday I had my students use Google docs again. I have made one of my goals for this year to use each technology integration at least twice so that students can get past the initial learning curve for a new application and see how it really works and enhances their work. So, having had them work on a Google doc I uploaded a few weeks ago, my plan was to have them create their own to map in groups Siddhartha's journey through the novel. I was pushing this to a new level -- they had to use the whole system themselves.

5th period came. The students got into groups, and one person set out to create the doc and invite the others. One group was successful with this, but the other three were not. They kept creating documents and inviting their group, but no one, not even the creator, could find them. Almost 10 minutes later, someone found them in their "trash" -- a mystery I still have not solved. Anyone know what we were doing wrong to have them sent to trash unknowingly?

But we were then able to move ahead, albeit with much less time for them to actually work on the assignment. That really is the hardest hurdle for using new technology -- it chews up precious minutes of class time working out the kinks no matter how in advance you prepare. This is another reason I have vowed to use everything at least twice -- I want to get some of that time back the next time I use the technology!

But then 7th period came ... and the Internet went down ... again ... No Google docs for that class, just plain old Word. But this is what was interesting. A student responded to this news with, "Oh, but that takes all the fun out of it!" I was really surprised actually and to be honest relieved. I learned in that moment that even with the hiccups technology brings, the students have enjoyed what we have done. Amazing.

At a Tech Conference

I am at the NCTE/ACE technology workshop as I type this. We have reviewed making blogs and using Google Reader. I am feeling confident because these are not unfamiliar things for me, and I have even started this blog as a result! What has been most interesting so far is to watch the others around me and their knowledge level. This is actually something I did throughout the NCTE conference. The world is changing, and FA IS changing with it. Our choice to become a laptop school 6 (?) years ago was prescient. We spend a great deal of time at school thinking about are we using the laptops well in classrooms, are we up-to-date on technology knowledge, are they a help or hindrance ... My few days here at NCTE have shown me that, as much as we should continue to refine and grow our own laptop program, we are also doing great things already.

Our students' lives will be focused around technology in both their home and work lives, and we have made a school that reflects that. As a teacher at FA, I am on the leading edge of conferences such as this -- I understand what the presenters are talking about and can work right along with them. This is not to brag about me -- instead it is evidence of what I have learned as a teacher at a laptop school. I am evidence of what we are doing at FA, just as our students are evidence of what we are doing.

Well, the workshop is moving along to a new topic, so I need to "go 45" with my laptop and listen!