The perils of being accessible

A discussion on the pitfalls of 24/7 access

 

Setting relief using digital tools

 

Being sick (or having sick children) used to be a curse.  It used to take at least an hour, if not more, to create or find worksheets, photocopy them, print rolls, and nicely bundle everything up for the administrator to pass on.  I even used to have to drive 30 minutes to take my work out to school.  And most of the time the work was busy work, rather than being productive.

My son had a sniffle today, so from 6.10 – 6.30am I was able to

– double check the unit plan was shared with my Year 10s (I use a Google presentation with a slide for each day with the learning outcomes, resources and links on it) and create an anticipatory guide for Chapter 4 of The Outsiders if they streaked ahead,

– book a set of Chromebooks for Year 13s and record a quick video showing them how to create a bibliography with Bibme.com, then shared that on the class Facebook page

– email my HOD to say I wouldn’t be at a meeting

Bliss!

 

But then …

 

Year 13 have an internal assessment due tomorrow, a written report.  They are panicking.  Foolishly, I emailed them to say that I wasn’t at school today but I would be able to read any drafts they emailed through.  

So far, I have read at least 10 drafts (700 – 1000 word reports) and given voice feedback, replied to five emails, and advised on research logs.  

Luckily, my son is not too sick and was able to amuse himself for good chunks of time, but is this right?

 

Whose problem is it?

Blogging for reflection 2.0

A year ago, in another blog, I wrote a very strong post in response to the idea of Blogging for Reflection.

My biggest problem was I didn’t actually agree with the content.  The presenter opined that blogging was the ideal tool for reflection.  The NZC asks for reflective learners (agree) and we want to encourage our students to be engaged with their learning (agree).  He also stressed the need for a positive digital footprint (agree).

Public blogs are the best way for showing reflection (disagree).  A scaffolded approach such as RRR is best (agree with the scaffolding, disagree with RRR.  Can’t actually remember what it stood for).

To me, reflection is primarily a private activity.  We want students to see that failure is not the end of the world, as long as you learn from it and make changes.  Admitting failure to the world is too much to ask.

 

Isn’t it funny how much can change in a year!

Previously, I had used blogs to impart information to my students.  My class blogs had lists of resources, instructions, and a link to Goodreads. Students went there to click on a link, and never went back. 

I remember having a vision of a transparent classroom, where all my lesson plans could be accessed on the blog.  Why shouldn’t students actually know what we were doing and why?  But that was as far as my vision went.  Share my musings, my successes and failures?  No way.

The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection. Thomas Paine

What made me change?

1. The many fantastic models of teacher reflection blogs out there.  I particularly enjoy Hannah’s blog and Steve’s blog, and there are many others. If these teachers can be so honest and generous, and insightful and creative, and the world hasn’t come crashing down, then I can too.

2. I like thinking about teaching.  It’s been a feature of many appraisals that I am reflective.  I also like the creativity of teaching, and the chance to have an idea and put it into practice immediately.

But sharing?

Sometimes things happen that I want to reflect upon but certainly don’t want the world to know. There are privacy issues for individuals and the school. New Zealand is a small place, and everyone seems to know everyone else (particularly after #edchatnz conference!).  My solution is to have a secret blog, that I will only share with my principal when it comes to registration and which is more open about interactions and incidents.

And a question to finish with: do any of you share your reflective blogs with your students? 

 

#edchatnz: let the games begin!

The first post to explain my motivation and vision.

#edchatnz conference at HPSS

I’ve been following #edchatnz for a few months and enjoying the fortnightly chat.  Initially I lurked, but now I try to be involved as much as possible, or as much as I can keep up!

When @MissDtheTeacher announced the conference, I saw it as an opportunity to involve colleagues who would shy away from a full-on, holiday conference like U-Learn (I was disappointed in U-Learn last year, but that’s another post).  There was resistance from some, but SMT were very supportive, and I was encouraged by six colleagues asking to go within an hour of my invitation.

And the conference was WONDERFUL! 350 educators who were passionate, excited, appreciative and so thankful for the opportunity to share.

The sessions

The first day was really focused on HPSS.  It’s an amazing place, really challenging the assumptions about learning held by just about everyone else in the country!  I found it overwhelming, and went away the first day struggling to find my place in this brave new world of education.

The second day, I went in with the mindset that I had to keep it real and practical for my setting (although I will certainly ask to knock down some walls and create a new timetable)!

First up was @MaryWomble describing her experiment with using Google Sites.  She was very generous sharing her practice, and there was a good discussion afterwards about how collaborative skills are introduced to students.

Next was @chasingalyx, an enthusiastic Beginning Teacher with so much to offer the wider community.  She has inspired me to investigate becoming a Google Certified Teacher.

Third was @ipadwells, who I follow regularly and am gradually coming round to agree with.  His message about the folly of using 21st century technology to do 20th century tasks struck home.

Twitter

Twitter is power!  The energy created within (hundreds) of 140 character messages was incredible.  There was such a sense of community generated from the hashtag, and I so enjoyed seeing different points of view and what others picked up from the same sessions that I was in.

One next step (there’s going to be a few) is to investigate using a school hashtag to communicate with colleagues.  Hang on, I’m not going to investigate, I’m just going to do it!

Colleagues

They loved it! Everyone could see different potential but our shared vision was that we can do a lot of this.  It was fantastic to see them all sign up to Twitter (and use it), take selfies, collaborate online and the talking about where to next!  These weren’t colleagues I

Plotting with @CathieABlack

usually spend a lot of time talking to, but now we have a shared vision and a sense of the power of collaboration.

And then I got this lovely email:

Sharyn, you are simply the best. Thank you for “hunting down” this happening. It has been a great pleasure to be able to share ideas with such an amazing group of people. I’m just desperate that I couldn’t capture all the awesomeness. It takes something like this to actually realize what a wonderful platform our curriculum has to offer – if we would just have the courage to exploit its possibilities to the fullest.

Awesome!  Our principal doesn’t know what’s about to hit him.

In conclusion (say what you’ve now considered as a result of the question and where to next in your thinking)

• Teaching is social.  If you can’t collaborate in your school, there is a huge community out there to inspire and support.
• Many of the tools I sort of use have immense possibilities: Twitter, Google, blogs, video.
• My learners deserve me trying to make their experience as good as it can possibly be.

This blog

My purpose: to reflect on my teaching journey, the highs and lows, the inspiration, the resources.  To inspire others.  To communicate with others in the teaching community.

My audience: fellow educators. And my family. And maybe my students.  When I told my Year 13s I was doing some post-grad study, one said, “That just goes to show, you’re never too old to learn.”  Bless.