This being my very first blog, I didn’t know what to expect.  I originally felt like it would basically be a reflection posting place.  However, I learned that a BLOG actually allows for dialogue and group reflection.  When that happened this year, I learned so much more than I had learned from my own introspection!  It’s like a virtual small group experience.  I think it’s an under-utilized and yet very accessible medium for collaboration and idea generation.  I’ve even suggested to my PLC that we could benefit from our own blogging.

And, since this is the last post…it’s also a farewell…until we meet again!

I adore animated movies!  Disney’s “Finding Nemo” is one of my lasting favorites, too!  As I reread my posts from this year and considered the question “Did I Grow As I Had Hoped”, I found myself returning to the original analogy of the fish bowl (school), the pond (local LEA), the lake (state ed.), and the ocean (national/federal ed.).  I think a continuation of that is the best way to share my response.

Now, I have debated whether or not I need to share this, but after laboring over my introduction for WAY too long, I decided to add a small disclaimer/apology.  I am still somewhat heavily medicated from a serious and invasive surgery 2 weeks ago, and I was hoping that completing this blog a wee bit late would atone for the foggy brain.  I am definitely better.  Furthermore, I will be fine.  The surgery had a positive outcome — all’s well.  But, I really can’t let this get any later, so…this may be a weird post.  Sorry about that.

Nemo is a fish in the ocean who is curious about what’s beyond his own “backyard” – his safe place.  He has a handicap, which should mean, he might want to just play it safe and stick to what he knows.  But he doesn’t.  I am Nemo in the world of my school.  My handicap is that I had no idea how to be part of the bigger ocean, and no one with that knowledge was particularly interested in selecting me for any ventures.  There was a general sense, too, that all I needed to do was be good at taking care of the children before me and let the ocean do its own thing.  Nemo defied that mentality and was swept into his adventure somewhat unwittingly, and there our analogous stories diverge.  I was invited to be scooped gently from my home and was merged carefully and gradually into the greater ocean!  Honestly, I was awestruck to find myself in DC this spring, collaborating with like-minded individuals from around the ocean, er, nation.

Did I grow as I had hoped?  Beyond my greatest imaginings!  I am a better practitioner, mentor, collaborator, and leader than I realized I had potential for, and I’ve realized that I could be and do so much more!  I have met some of the most interesting and inspiring people!  I truly count myself blessed to have been a part of the Fellows internship experience and am beyond excited about the possibilities to engage with my Fellow Kenans (met and unmet) in the future.

I absolutely loved the process!  I’m very proud of the product.  Sign me up for more!

You know how new parents, particularly new parents of child number one, take many pictures of their beautiful new (and often deeply asleep) newborn and then want to share them with everyone?!  They flip through the photos (that often look remarkably similar to everyone but the proud parent) and go on and on about their little one without seeming to notice the disinterest of their audience?  Well, I am that new parent of a solid, hyper-tabbed, five-week plus unit in bound form.  Wanna see?!  Well, I knew you would!!

Isn’t it lovely?!  And absolutely thorough!  I mean, there are fifteen lessons in this baby, complete with unit rationale and overview, a detailed plan for each lesson, and all the support resources the classroom practitioner could imagine wanting as they help their students navigate the study of Salem, MA in 1692 and today!  (By the way, that is the backside of my second bouncing baby boy – superimposed in a pic of NC’s Salem.)

I think the analogy is just!  I labored over this baby in a totally different kind of pain.  I was excited by the prospect of delivery, yet was screaming, “Get it out of here!” by the time its due date was approaching.  And, just like the preparation for each of my four precious children, I needed assistance along the way.  I had a team of other expectant mothers, each working on their own ELA delivery, who were willing to share their process and challenges.  They provided insight into how the unit would be received and how to organize the chaotic preparation into a cohesive whole.  They shared their own discoveries about what worked and what didn’t as they compiled their units.  I also had a mentor who asked importantly difficult questions and sent me back to the “drawing board” at several key junctures.  Finally, I had a cheering section at Kenan who read the drafts and provided the incentive to keep on “growing the baby.”

The hardest part of the process for me was honestly the videos.  I didn’t want my childbirth labor videotaped and I was equally reluctant to tape the implementation of my unit.  I wanted to privately navigate the process and reflect and refine without video-graphic evidence.  However, I was inspired by the videos I saw in our PD sessions that focused on the students.  I realized I needed to keep my mind from focusing on my part in the whole process so that I could enjoy being part of my students’ process.  It was SOO much better than I expected.  Although I haven’t really received a lot of feedback on the whole package, I am satisfied with the results.  I have shared my work locally and found the unit well-received.  It is already being implemented county-wide.  I look forward to getting feedback locally, because I know I will, so that I can continue to refine the unit that I implement in my own classroom.  I know it will be disseminated statewide through DPI, because that was the point of the project, but I don’t know if I’ll receive that valuable feedback from the broader audience.  That would really be wonderful.  Well, and challenging.  I mean, who wants to hear that their baby is not the glorious creation that you’re so openly sharing?!

And, just to complete the analogy, and for completely gratuitous satisfaction, here are my real babies (and their daddy) as of Thanksgiving 2013.

Lenovo was new technology for me.  Over the course of this Fellowship, I have discovered that some of the most savvy technology users that I know, choose Lenovo.  I came to enjoy the tool, myself, and use it regularly for my own personal needs.  It’s versatility in mobile use as well as in desk top application were ideal for me!

But…here’s the rub.  I work in a district that is in its third year of 1:1 implementation with Apple.  All teachers and students in grades 6-12 have MacBook Air laptops.  For my district work, I must be using that technology in my classroom.  Since my Kenan Fellowship is through DPI for the purpose of building a unit for the middle grades ELA classroom using Common Core standards, that work needed to be done on the Mac, as well, for the ease of student accessibility.  So, I really can’t attest to the use of Lenovo for the purpose of completing my Fellowship Project.

image from: tomshardware.com

That being said, I have used my Lenovo to access that work and share it with others as I’ve been out and about and working with Microsoft users.  That has been really nice!  It has made me a versatile technology practitioner, as well, which is a solid benefit both for Kenan and for my continued ambassadorship throughout NC.

I have had a lot of time, of late, to reflect on the lessons that I implemented through Kenan because I have been finalizing the videos I needed to make.  As much as I don’t like to see myself on videotape, I really enjoyed reviewing my students at work.

Let me share some of our moments:

http://youtu.be/-rzNTdBV8N4

I really love how my already working students took our videotaping as a challenge to be at their best.  AND, I really love how the reality of our classroom remained intact.

I suppose this reflection should be a bit deeper, but honestly, right now, I’m just loving the recorded flashback to last semester.  Basically, after putting all the pieces together during the last two weeks of missed school days, I’m mentally “toast.”  I hope blogs can sometimes be a stream of consciousness and not terribly insightful, because right now the face in the mirror is tired — but happy.

I have really appreciated working with my DPI mentor.  She has really helped me to hone and refine my work for my unit.  Her feedback is constructive and she is careful to include positive and motivating comments, as well.

My experience working with Anna has influenced my interactions with my students.  I have always felt it was important to respond with consideration, but I have learned to be much more specific with my feedback, too.  Instead of telling students they have a strong opening in a paper, I tell them what makes it strong.  I name the specific grammatical errors that need to be addressed and tell them what paragraph they’ll find them in.  Students are showing quicker and more lasting learning with this style of feedback, too.

I can’t conclude my comments without adding a word about the Summer Institute experience.  It was definitely a highlight for me.  The DPI team that I was working with was kind enough to invite me out to dinner with them and include me in their social times.  I enjoyed getting to know the people who work so hard to improve our teaching experiences and influence the curriculum for our students.  I was very appreciative of their openness and direction about my work for Kenan, as well.

No, really.  I do find that this Kenan Fellowship has changed my perspective, provided important insight, and broadened my horizons!  It makes sense that it would, too.  The professional development opportunities introduced me to educators and policy-makers from all over the state!  Very few schools “look” the same nor do they operate in quite the same way, and yet we are all working towards achieving the same standards.  In other blogs, I’ve been able to share the perspective shifts and the insights and tools gained.  The most fundamental impact, however, has to be leaving the home “fish pond.”

I know that I, like most people, work hard to know my own pond.  I know where the fish swim and why and I sometimes even know how to attract them to my own little space under a rock.  It is a natural drive to get comfortable like that.  However, it is a rare and wonderful opportunity to brave visits to other ponds — even to become part of a bigger school of fish!  And, most challenging of all, to consider changing our accepted swimming patterns and feeding behaviors!  Kenan has been all of that to me.

I have been provided the opportunity to network with other educators and discuss policy and policy change with those who do that as a career.  I have been shown new tools of the trade and different approaches to accomplishing my standards.  Perhaps most empowering of all, I have been invited to share my best practices and what I love most — working with young people and opening the world for them!  My total professional development experience has been the most powerful and positive experience I have ever had.

…Cultures.  Sigh.  I really wanted to come up with something that sounded remarkably like “Titans”, and thought of: “Tightened”, “Frightened”, and “Tight-Fisted.”  While I had a rationale, they just didn’t totally encompass what I wanted to share.  You see, I think that when it comes to digital awareness and use, what we are constantly dealing with in education is a clash of generational understanding and experiential cultures.

As a mother of four fantastic children, I am constantly being personally educated about all of the opportunities and applications that technology provides — and updates on a daily basis!  I am occasionally overwhelmed with all that’s available to us through the internet and our technology tools.  I find that while I’m open to the wonders and values of these tools, I am also frustrated at the life style that seems to come with it.  One of my sons is a senior in high school and has become a tech support person for the county’s technology team.  He is obviously savvy about technology.  I’m so proud of that!  However, he spends any free time he can grab, on his computer, competing in various “games.”  I am worried about that.  He is working to help me understand that it isn’t “fooling around” or laziness, but actually a viable and growing field in which he can make a very good living.  Our “clash” on perspectives here seems symbolic to me of the generational divide we are experiencing in all things technological.

As educators, we are certainly a mixed lot of perspectives, but we are overwhelmingly ranked in the majority of the under-informed when it comes to technology.  Some of us feel that the traditional method is what works best and what we experienced as good teaching and learning experiences should be what we promote in our classrooms.  Some of us note that the use of technology has changedwritten communication in a way that seems less proper and that social manners have changed to the detriment of our ability to carry on face-to-face conversation.  We see more lounging time and less outdoor engagement and worry about a generation of vidiots (video-addicted and educationally lacking individuals) ruling the world.  We have seen the misuses of the tools — inordinate barrages of inopportune photos, cheating, off-task behaviors — and move to block them instead of redirect them.  The voices of those who are working to highlight the empowerments of innovative technology application in the classroom are currently the minority, but I believe they are growing stronger.

And that’s a good thing.  Although we currently have more educators in their classrooms fighting against their students’  “inappropriate distractions”, it is of more advantage to examine what is interesting to our students (i.e. relevant) and use our experience to help them learn how to be appropriate with tools like social media.  That will be life-changing for us now and in our future when these individuals are making decisions that impact our country.

So we don’t need to keep a tight grip on our respective perspectives or be frightened by the increasing “dumbing down of America”,  we need to do our job — help our students grow as learners and life-practitioners using the tools that are and will be available to them.

b/w photo taken from www.eveningnews24.co.uk on 9/30/13

knotted rope taken from www.tips.slaw.ca on 9/30/13

I was honing my skills as a student this summer.  As I was taking in the information presented and shared from our various (and incredible) presenters, I noticed something about myself and my colleagues as students.  When we were watching multimedia presentations, we were most engaged and entertained by those videos that featured the students, the young people.  We are all in this profession because we enjoy our young students and the journey they travel as they learn.

I am going to apply that observation to my own videos for my Kenan Project.  I need to demonstrate something specific with those videos, but I believe that it will have the most impact if it can highlight how the students are working through those processes.  That is encouraging to me because 1) I am not fond of seeing myself on video and 2) I want the videos to be worth the time and effort (and “pain”).

Truly, the “something” borrowed from my PD this summer is a “something learned” for me and I’m excited to see the application of that new knowledge.

My mother-in-law loves Christmas.  She loves all the family traditions — the family foremost of all! She has four children and twelve grandchildren and she is one of four children herself!  She is always the first person awake on Christmas morning and she shared a special ritual with my husband, her youngest child.  With sparkling eyes she would give him a playful shake and chant, “Christmas is coming!  Christmas is coming!”  To this day, she calls sometime in December and sings out those same words.

I feel the same way about a new group of students!  I could very easily develop my own little song and dance: “Students are coming!  Students are coming!”  I have so many great tools to apply to our studies this year that will make our class time new and innovative for all of us!  I am probably most excited about Aurasma for the beginning of school.  It will be like magic as far as my students are concerned!!  But beyond the apps, I know that what I’ve learned about Data will impact my practice and my lessons will be so much tighter thanks to the new evaluation tool I’ve learned to use.

Hey!  Students are coming!  Students are coming!  I’m apped, schooled, and ready to apply!

Thanks knittingparadise.com for the dancing teacher!