Treasure Chest of Thoughts

This week during the meeting of one of my peer PLN’s (my Classroom Redesign Team), colleague Lisa Huff mentioned the term tradigital, a word that caught my attention, a quite interesting combination of terms, one that sounds much more interesting than the term I have been touting lately…blend. 

Tradigital?  Blend?  Yes..tradigital sounds much more interesting!

Therefore, I went where most of us go when initiating a search:  that’s right…Google.  When scanning down the list of results, I encountered this link to Word Spy:  http://www.wordspy.com/words/tradigital.asp

Ahhh…very interesting!

Below the “Example Citation,” the owners of this site then list the “Earliest Citation,” followed by “Notes.”

Thus, intrigued, I decided to check out other trendy vocabulary.  Today’s word is peanut-buttering, defined as “spreading the resources of a company or person too thin.”  Peanut-buttering…that word just might describe me!

Will such vocabulary appear on the ACT, SAT, Arkansas’ End-of-Level 11th Grade Literacy Exam?  Probably not in the near future.

I have subscribed to this site’s feed; think I will ask my students to add this feed to their Google Reader.  Knowing some of their busy schedules, I do think that many of them are peanut-buttering also as they sit in our tradigital classroom. 

This, I think they need to know!

Tonight, two other facilitators and myself met with our new group of NBCT wanna-be’s…cool!

Working with teachers who are striving to better themselves professionally is an exciting endeavor. (In Arkansas, the Department of Education provides support groups, such as the one at our school, which the candidates may choose to attend .)

I look forward to working with these ladies through the process of enlivening their portfolios, of placing not just themselves but also their students within the literary works they each will create.

At the root of this process lies what all role-model teachers continually strive for…student achievement.  Interestingly enough, this process also reminds one that for each teacher, these methods are different…yet all are excellent as each teacher simply chooses the strategies at which she excels.

This evening, I could feel the excitement, the stress, the wonder…all those emotions intermingling as the teachers began…or continued…processing the many decisions that lie before them.  Each sat taking ownership in a work that in just a few short months each of these ladies will submit with pride…okay, with relief!  Relieved pride…there…that will be the true emotion!  I can still remember the huge load lifted when I mailed…yes…”the box.”

Those of you who work with teachers in a mentoring role, you understand this natural high that one gets from watching others grow professionally.  As Martha Stewart would say, that is ”a good thing.”

Author Pat Conroy wrote this letter to the editor upon hearing that parents were attempting to “suppress” his novels The Prince of Tides and Beach Music.

While I have not read his novels, I do appreciate the reading of his letter, not just because of his focus on English Teachers (!) but because of his practical “real” approach to life.

If you have not read the letter, please do so.  Prepare to be inspired, to be moved.

A final note:  I rescued The Prince of Tides from the “free” soon-to-be-discarded table of books in our high school library.  A nice hard copy with the dust-jacket still in tact.  Now, if for no other reason, this letter makes me want to investigate this novel’s journey.

What are your thoughts on censorship in our schools?

This morning I posted a comment on Twitter…and got “slammed,” as noted later in a Direct Message by another follower.  Just have to say…these comments bothered me.  Why?  Not because everyone should agree with everything I say.  Free country.  We all have a a right to our own opinions.  Very much believe in that First Amendment!

I am bothered/disturbed, though,  for two reasons:

1. In that box that will only contain 140 characters, one can only say so much!
2. By the time I noted the replies to my comment, it was buried under several screens of comments.  Gone.  Like my voice was lost.  Like I could not even defend myself.  Therefore, here I will thank those who responded, for dialogue is a strong tool, and respond to the last two comments and maybe continue that dialogue here, where one does not have to be immediately present to still respond in a timely fashion. (Yes, it’s true I could reply to them…but I still feel that this somewhat random response twelve hours later is “lost” within all the other comments.)

Original Twitter comment:

Attended a workshop this week based on Dr. Ruby Payne’s work on poverty…very interesting and so applicable for many of my students.

Replies to this comment:

• jennann516@tgillmoreThat workshop is so eye-opening. The part abt material goods vs paper (ie deed to house, insurance, etc) rang so true.
• JenAnsbach@jmiscavish @tgillmore After working in a high-poverty special needs district for 6 years, I found Payne’s work offensive when I read it.
• jmiscavish@tgillmoredon’t drink the koolaid yet-her thoughts really simply a complicated situation: http://is.gd/1DgTd (This is a link to a paper critiquing Dr. Payne’s work.)

To Continue the Dialogue:

On Thursday and Friday of this past week, I did attend a workshop during which Dr. Sue Dehart (a humorist also!) presented the work of Dr. Ruby Payne.  All attendees (125 teachers both from my district and several surrounding schools) received copies of A Framework of Poverty and a workbook of modules (prepared materials for immediate use!  So exciting for any teacher!)

Honestly?  I have not read enough of Dr. Payne’s works to consider myself a valid reference, but after listening to Dr. Dehart for twelve hours, I am confident enough to promote her presentation of Dr. Payne’s work. 

• Day 1 was full of statistics and good reminders (vivid enough to immediately call to my mind students I have had, those I still have, persons who live in my community, those who my church have helped in the past…yes, people in poverty, those people, who, unfortunately, I forget and do now acknowledge enough as I sit here in my middle-class arrogance.  By the way, that descriptor is mine…not one I heard during the workshop).
• Day 2, one in which I left with much applicable material, was simply the use of graphic organizers, which I totally support.  Very much. 

As I peruse the last two comments, I would have to ponder along with the Twitterer who left me this Direct Message:  it’s worth noting that political agendas are connected to acceptance and rejection of her work. Fact becomes irrelevant as agenda takes over.  With this I would and do truly empathize.  Politics within a school district is frustrating.  Very.

One additional note:  I went to that workshop totally unenthused about the topic, preferring to be almost anywhere (with the exception of jail, the grave, and the hospital…just a few that come to mind!).  What is important to note here, though, is that I left a more sympathetic, caring teacher, who hopes to make a more positive impact on her students…and her neighbors and fellow church-goers… this fall.  Yes, that is what is really important to note here.

There was a time in my life, I would have denied knowing myself as I am today.  NEVER would I have been reading more than one novel/book at at time!  It’s okay.  I liked myself then, and I like myself even better now.

Here is what I am currently reading…as they lie about in the various spots of my life:  purse, desk, bedside table, side tables…

• Nosey in Nebraska by Mary Connealy:  A collection of three novels, this one caught my attention at Wal-Mart because of the individual novel titles – Of Mice…and Murder, Pride and Pestilence, and The Mice Man Cometh.  Catchy, uh?!  I have read the first one:  an easy, entertaining, light read.  Just what I need during these summer days with my Diet Coke, iced tea, or lemonade!
• The Hunger Games by  Suzanne Collins author of the Underland Chronicles:  I received a free copy of this novel (Thanks, Scholastic!), lent it to a student who loved it, have seen various reviews of this novel listed on other readers’ book lists, and, so far, am enjoying this one…if one is supposed to enjoy a novel about kids killing kids…more about that later when I review this novel at Mrs. Gillmore’s Book Reviews.  Lots of good info here at Scholastic that students would love as they read this novel.  This series continues with Catching Fire, being released September 1.
• Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom by Will Richardson:  I am about halfway through this one and most of it has been a review (have picked up some good tidbits, though, and reminders) as the first part of the book is about blogs and wikis, which I use.
• The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow:  Thanks, Mrs. Ann, for reminding me about this one!
• Readicide by Kelly Gallagher:  Read on Dana Huff’s blog that she is going to complete this book and comment on it.  I, too, did not finish the novel as the group read it on The English Companion Ning.  Found another way to read and share!
• A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink:  This one I am reading with my 21 CLC team at school.  “Meeting” Mr. Pink online during our meeting next week, thanks to Lisa Huff, coordinator of these teams within our district.  By the way, Pink just released an educator’s discussion guide to this book.

Are you, by chance, reading any of the above?  Comments on them?

Have now had a little down time since our five days spent colloborating with the teachers in Fort Smith and getting to better-know my five peers who will also share the experience of 1:1 computers this fall at Batesville High School. Took a little break from technology to…

1. Slept for about ten hours. We spent some intense, long, exciting days “playing” with technology.
2. Finished James Patterson’s Sail, the novel that helped me get through a major storm on Friday!
3. Read James Patterson’s Judge & Jury while re-acquainting myself with my comfy recliner.
4. Bought okra plants and a pool at Wal-Mart…shhh, the kids think the pool is just for them!
5. Took a nap.
6. Helped plant those okra plants. Now know I did not purchase enough. Have to have two complete rows! (By the way, girls, remember that bean-picking party I mentioned?!)
7. Am now using technology again…have recovered from my “maxed out” level.

While Twittering…or Tweeting as I have also heard it called…I came across a link posted by Bud the Teacher to Webspiration: a tool I will now weave into my lesson plans for the fall, a great tool for prewriting/planning papers and projects. Have I mentioned how much I like it?!

Okay…enough technology for a few hours…now have to help David Baldacci solve some sort of crime in The Whole Truth. By the way, I just noted Baldacci’s interest and support of “literacy efforts across America.”

1. Wish You Well Foundation
2. Feeding Mind and Soul: maybe a project for Beta Club or English National Honors Society?

Ah, another reason to support the reading of David Baldacci!

Also posted at Cafe Gillmore.

This week I spent part of three days packing…two in my classroom and one day in my mother’s house.  I cannot say that I enjoyed anything about these days…until they were over.

In my classroom I had hoped to go through every piece of paper and recycle 99% of them.  Sorry!  I AM going green, but  I am also an annotator.  In time.  Just give me time.

Time was not to be my gift, though.  On Friday morning, I learned that my classroom had to be completely packed and ready to be moved out on Monday morning, so into the box every piece of paper went. 

Time is my gift.  Now my classroom will be refurbished to ensure the redesign of our 21st Century classrooms.  Early in the summer.  Time to work in my classroom. 

Time was not to be my gift in my mother’s house.  My siblings and I made the decision to move my mother into a “home” due to her advancing dementia.  My sister placed my mom’s house on the market…a little quicker than I was ready.  Thus, I spent a day…a very tiring day…sifting through years of history to determine which parts I would be honored to preserve.  Treasures, indeed.  The letters my dad wrote my mom before they married…what would have been 61 years ago yesterday (June 5).  My mom’s recipe box.  Her Bible.  Dishes.  Pictures.

Both of these “packing up” days represent my unwillingness to change, to keep some things they way they are.  To honor them, to preserve them.

I like to think, though, that I am on the “cutting edge” of change, of technology.  Surely this is symbolized by the additional two days this week:

• Monday:  Created my teacher web page on our school’s new website.  Cool!  Very student and parent friendly.
• Tomorrow:  I leave with five other ladies to attend a week of training using our new “mini” laptops.  Very cool!

This, then, is what I am.  The package.  Inside is a mix of the old and the new. 

I suspect that is what most of us are and were.  People like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln.  Yes, all the greats.

The package.  Packing up what we were.  You see, I felt such a sense of relief when those days of packing were over.  Maybe a sense of finality, but so much more a sense of peace, of accomplishment.  You know what comes next, right?  The unpacking.

Unpacking what we will become in the 21st Century.  Unpacking my dad’s letters, my mom’s recipes, and their many pictures into a book…what will be a gift to my siblings and other family members.  A preservation of the past for those in the future.

Did you know that in 2012 “tech literacy” will be added to the Nation’s Report Card?

eSchool News has an interesting article “Get an ’A’ on Your Report Card:  Maximize Your Tech Investment” with several articles embedded.

Questions I am pondering…

• What is your district planning in preparation for The Test?
• Does testing the use of technology take some of the fun and excitement out of these tools?
• Is technology a tool?  Or a curriculum?

My Plans…

1. To keep learning…often self-teaching myself.
2. Train for use of a class set of laptops and with my peers in our project entitled Classroom Redesign 21.
3. Actively participate in the Professional Learning Network entitled 21 CLC within my school.
4. Learn more about how technology will be tested on the NAEP, including the following from this article:

The National Assessment Governing Board has awarded a $1.86 million contract to WestEd—a nonprofit educational research, development, and service agency based in San Francisco—to develop the 2012 NAEP Technological Literacy Framework.
 
Under this new contract, awarded through a competitive bidding process, WestEd will recommend the framework and specifications for the 2012 NAEP Technological Literacy Assessment. Ultimately, WestEd’s work will lead to ways to define and measure students’ knowledge and skills in understanding important technological tools, the Governing Board said. Board members then will decide which grade level—fourth, eighth, or 12th—will be tested in 2012…

The Governing Board is slated to review and approve the technological literacy framework in late 2009.

So much to learn!

I hope that this weekend was special for you.  It was for me.

Yesterday, I spent several hours with my mother, whose Alzheimer’s is quickly advancing.  Yesterday, she knew me, and that is the memory I will treasure, for I know at times, I am no longer in her memory.  This is truly a sad disease. 

Today, I spent time with my daughter…going to church, eating with my husband’s family, shopping, where she bought me Australia, one of my very favorite movies.  Now we are all watching the movie…yes, spending more time together.

All in all?  A great weekend.

Yes, the greatest Mother’s Day gift a mother can receive is time…time spent with your mother…or daughter.

What did you do with your “time” on this Mother’s Day?

Happy Mother’s Day to all!

This week I noticed a copy of Learning & Leading with Technology  lying in very plain sight in another teacher’s mailbox in the teacher’s lounge.  This magazine caught my attention for a couple of reasons:

1. I’m nosey (…but not to the point that I would snoop!  Seriously!  It really was in plain sight!).
2. I am very interested in learning the latest of the latest in technology…not that I will use it all!  Just do not want to have the deer-in-the-headlights look when my students mention tech tools/jargon of which I have never heard!
3. Did I mention I like to learn?

Later that day, I Googled the title, and I just have to share what I discovered!  Every educator interested in technology should check out this magazine/site!  Published by the International Sociey for Technology in Education, this magazine is published eight times a year, costs $7.75 per issue, and includes very interesting articles, articles that can be accessed for free!

Please check this out…what do you think?  Do you agree with me?  If you do, then please share this…best kept secrets should not be allowed in the land of education!

Now if summer would just hurry and get here so that I can spend time reading some past issues!