Twitter Chats

One of my favorite things to do on Twitter is participate in Twitter chats. Twitter chats are live conversations that happen between a group of people following a hashtag. It allows you to get the experience of sitting around a table to have a conversation with other like minded individuals, but you don't have to get all dressed up or leave your living room!

Twitter chats are planned and scheduled. They start at a certain time, and they usually last one hour. During that one hour, there is a moderator (or sometimes a team of moderators) who poses questions to the group to start conversations. Participants then share their ideas and create a discussion around the question. After allowing time for discussion, the moderator moves on and poses another question. Most Twitter chats follow the Q1/A1 format. That means the moderator poses his first question by starting with Q1. His/her tweet might look like this: "Q1: How do you plan to make this year better than last year? #DCHSchat." To respond to this question you would start your tweet with A1. Your response might look like this: "A1: I threw out all my worksheets, and we're doing ALL hands on, engaging learning! #DCHSchat." This format allows participants to know when a new question is being asked, and it also lets people know which question you are responding to. Notice that both tweets included the hashtag #DCHSchat. This is super important. If the hashtag is not included in the question or your response, no one will ever see the tweets, and it will be like you are not participating at all.

There are dozens (maybe hundreds) of Twitter chats about education. Here is a list of dates and times of some Twitter chats about education: http://goo.gl/RG1zm6. I would encourage you to find one that interests you, and "attend" the chat!

When I first started getting involved in Twitter chats, I was a lurker. That means I would follow the chat hashtag and I would read everyone's tweets, but I would never contribute to the conversation. I was afraid I would say something stupid. Lurking is okay. You can learn a decent amount by lurking. However, my learning increased exponentially once I started adding to the conversation! Now, I love jumping into Twitter chats; it's how I push myself and grow. However, there are times today when I still lurk. Sometimes there's a great Twitter chat during my son's bath time, and I can't engage in the conversation, but when I get a chance I peek in on the conversation to see what teachers are talking about. You have to do what ever is comfortable for you...then push a little further past that comfort zone. That's how we get better!

Now that you know what a Twitter chat is and how they work, I would like to invite you to join our DCHS Twitter chat. Here's how to join the conversation. On Monday August 18th at 7:00 pm, log on to your Twitter account. In the top right hand corner, there is a search box. In that search box, type #DCHSchat. It will give you the option to view the "Top Tweets" or "All Tweets." You'll want to see everyone's tweets, so click on "All Tweets." You'll start seeing questions and responses. Then, start responding with your own tweets (remember to use the #DCHSchat hashtag)! That's it!! I can't wait to "see" you there!!

Launching Into The Twittersphere!

When people hear that I'm on Twitter, I often hear, "I have a Twitter account, but I don't really use it." Or, "I signed up for Twitter, but I don't really get it." This is a very common experience. This post is intended to expose some of the Twitter "secrets" and lingo to help launch you into the Twittersphere!

Firstly, you should know that each tweet can only contain 140 characters. That includes punctuation, spaces, letters, and numbers. You can add pictures, videos, and links to your tweets, but just know that those eat up some of your characters.

Anytime you include somebody's twitter handle (username) in a tweet, Twitter sends that person a notification, so they can easily view your tweet (when you use their Twitter handle remember that you must use the @ sign).

The real magic of Twitter is the hashtag (#). There are millions of Twitter users tweeting about all kinds of random things; it can get very distracting! The hashtag allows you to sort through those billions of tweets and search for tweets that are important to you. Simply search for a hashtag, and Twitter will sort through every tweet and deliver only the tweets you are interested in. For instance, I teach Algebra 1, so I often search the hashtag #alg1chat. There are teachers from all around the country sharing their thoughts and ideas about Algebra 1 by using that hashtag. There are very specific hashtags and there are generic hashtags like #mathchat or #edchat. Perhaps you want to know what's going on in Kansas or our school district; search #ksedchat or #usd443. You will only see the tweets of people talking about Kansas education or USD443.

With the hashtag comes great responsibility. When you tweet, you should try to include hashtags. If you don't include a hashtag, then no one can search for your tweet. If you are tweeting about independent and dependent clauses, then include a #ELA or #Englchat. Use a hashtag that others might search for and make your tweet visible! Also, I love using #usd443 because I want parents, community members, and other teachers to see what's happening in our district. I try to share within the district as much as possible.

When you tag users in your tweet (by typing their twitter handle), and you include two or three hashtags in your tweet along with a picture, you will run out of characters fast! So, sometimes tweeters will get creative to use less characters. Sometimes they use 2 instead of to or too. Sometimes they'll use b4 instead of before. Now, we're teachers, and I think this type of "text" talk annoys all of us! I try to avoid it at all costs because I want my tweets to be professional. However, there are instances where I need to get creative to get my message across in 140 characters, so I'll have to take some shortcuts. Many times teachers will use "Ss" to represent students and "Ts" to represent Teachers. There are other shortcuts teachers use when tweeting, but I can't think of them off the top of my head. Here's my advice: if you have a questions about what someone is talking about, you should totally just tweet them, and ask them! I promise they will be cool with it! That's the best way to find out!

Another thing you can do on Twitter is send a "Direct Message." A direct message is essentially an email. When you send a direct message, it goes straight to that person and no one else. Some conversations you may want to keep private, so you should send those out as a direct message (click on the little envelope and type in the persons twitter handle). Just like tweets, Direct Messages can only be 140 characters. WARNING: If you send a tweet and it is NOT a direct message, it can be seen by the entire world of Twitter. Try to avoid embarrassing situations at all times!!

Finally, if you like a tweet that someone else wrote, you have two options to show them some love. You could "retweet" their tweet or "favorite" their tweet. When you retweet someone's tweet, it gets shared with all of your followers. This is a great way to spread really good ideas. This is how tweets go "viral" because the more people share, the more people see the tweet. Plus, it feels really good when someone retweets your ideas. So, if you want to make someone's day, retweet them. Another way to show love on Twitter is to favorite a tweet. This is similar to "liking" a status on Facebook. The cool thing about Twitter is it saves every tweet you favorite. So, sometimes I see an article I'm interested in, but I don't have time to read it at the moment. I will favorite that tweet, so I can find it later and read it. You can always search any tweets you favorite. Again, this is another way to show someone some Twitter love. It's like giving someone a virtual high-five! 

You're turning into a Twitter pro! I think you're ready to learn about Twitter chats!!

Why You Should Have a Twitter Account

Just six short months ago I did not understand Twitter. I saw no real value in using Twitter as an educational tool. Today, I get it! Twitter has totally transformed me as an educator! I currently follow over 300 educators on Twitter, and many of those educators are the very best teachers in the country (and planet)! The best thing about this network of educators is they LOVE to share! They are constantly sharing their ideas, their plans, their blogs, and their failures. I have changed from a teacher who learned to improve by sitting through inservice meetings twice a year to a teacher who learns new tools, strategies, ideas, technology, and tricks EVERY SINGLE DAY! Anytime I feel like learning how to be a more effective teacher, I just open up my Twitter App and read for 10-15 minutes. Ok, my wife will tell you I read for 3-4 hours, but I can't help it; I get sucked in! My point is you don't NEED a lot of spare time to learn a lot from Twitter. Even if you only checked your Twitter for 30 minutes a week, that is 30 minutes of specialized, differentiated, classroom tested, teacher approved professional development that you cannot find or receive anywhere else! 

So, I follow 300+ teachers on Twitter, and that's awesome! But, another cool thing is that there are over 200 teachers who follow me! Anytime I want to share something to the world, I put it out on Twitter, and my Professional Learning Network (PLN) responds and gives me feedback. When I was branding my classroom and creating a logo for my classroom, I shared my logo on Twitter. Within minutes I had teachers giving me feedback on how to improve my logo. Without having much experience with design, I asked for help, and almost immediately one of my Twitter followers had created a new logo for my classroom! Also, this summer I read a book called "Teach Like A PIRATE" by Dave Burgess. I had a question about an idea I had inspired by the book. I sent Dave a tweet, and by that afternoon, the author of the book answered my question! Those are conversations that couldn't have happened without Twitter. In fact, after I read the book, I wrote a blog about what I learned from reading the book. Dave saw my blog, and tweeted a message endorsing my blog to his followers (he has nearly 23,000 followers)!

Twitter had allowed me to make connections with hundreds of teachers from all around our country and the world. Those connections have allowed me to pick and choose little pieces of advice or information that have helped me transform as an educator. If you would like to learn and share ideas with top notch educators from around the globe, I would highly recommend Twitter to be the tool you use to make those connections.

Singing up for Twitter is a breeze. You can create an account through the website (www.twitter.com) or though the app (in the App Store simply search for Twitter and download the free app). To sign up, you'll need an email address and you'll need to create a Twitter handle or username. All twitter usernames start with the "@" sign. My twitter handle is @JustinBCoffey. Remember, you want a professional twitter name that other teachers will respect and want to follow. However, don't get too hung up on your name because it can always be changed later. What are you waiting for?? Go sign up!!

Learning Through STEM

Last April I had this idea about creating a STEM Camp in my community. The more I thought about it, the better the idea sounded. However, I knew the project was far too big to conquer alone. So, I asked my colleague Shannon Ralph (@sralph81) who is a spectacular Biology teacher at my school to team up with me. Shannon it's an outspoken advocate for Inquiry Based Learning and her ideas lined up perfectly with my new found passion of Project Based Learning. We also enlisted the help of a few elementary teachers to help us organize and run the camp. We teamed up with Cindy Venard, Jennifer Millier (@jmill517), and my wife Amanda Coffey (@AmandaCoffey21). Although we didn't know where our funding would come from, or where we'd find students, we did know that we wanted a camp that was completely hands on and full of engaging challenges.

Shannon and I pitched our idea to anyone who would listen! We talked to community members, parents, and administration. Thankfully, every person we talked to believed in our vision and wanted to find ways they could get involved. We were able to secure donations from a private business (Dodge City Dental) and Dodge City Community College, and our administration seached, scrounged, and scraped up funding to ensure our camp received the resources we needed to make it successful. We were also able to be resourceful and use recycled and repurposed materials whenever possible. It was overwhelming to witness the generosity of our community to help put this camp together and ensure we could offer the opportunity to students at no cost!

Together Shannon and I thought that it would be fun to offer the camp to fourth graders. We thought that was a pivotal age where students were still inspired and enthusiastic about school, but also had the mental capacity to understand some of the concepts we wanted to emphasize. The problem was we didn't know how to reach any fourth graders. Without defining any terms we decided to simply ask every fourth grade teacher in our district to nominate "one at risk student who they believed would benefit from this type of experience." To be honest, I was concerned about turning over the control of who was going to be invited to our camp. However, my concerns were immediately put to rest after the first day of camp. We had an unbelievable group of young boys and girls! They were brilliant, hard working, fun loving campers with overwhelmingly positive attitudes! I immediately fell in love with each of our campers and I'm excited to follow their progress as they work their way through our school system!

We structured our camp to last three hours per day for five days. We decided to give each day a theme and create challenges and projects based upon that theme. The themes we chose were Air and Space, Ecology, Chemistry, Energy, and Engineering. As much as we could, we tried to create challenges where our campers would need to design, build, test, re-design, re-build, and re-test until they had a product that satisfied the challenge. It was simply inspiring to watch their little brains spin and their little fingers put to work. Watching our campers at work really rejuvenated my outlook on the future of our planet. We have some really creative and brilliant students in our classrooms; unfortunately, they are not always given the opportunity to let it show. At our camp we tried to give them full permission to allow their brilliance to shine!

Almost every day we had a guest speaker from the community come and talk briefly with our campers. We wanted to show our campers that there are lots of career opportunities out there in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. The speakers talked to our campers about their education and the types of opportunities at their jobs. It was fun to listen to the questions our campers had for our speakers. In most cases, our speakers were able to spend the rest of the morning with our campers. They hopped right into the mix and took directions from our campers as they worked to complete their challenges. I was very grateful for their willingness to share their experiences with our young campers!

I have to give credit to my partner Shannon for thinking of the idea of having high school students volunteer to help with the camp. We both asked a few of our high school students if they would be interested in helping to run the camp, and thankfully we received positive responses. We had a total of eight student volunteers, and I would not hesitate to say they were the number one reason for the camp's huge success. We spent time mentoring our "teenagers" (as they would come to be known) about the challenges. We would also talk to them about Inquiry Based Learning and Project Based Learning. We asked them to encourage the campers to try and experiment with their ideas. We asked them not to direct the campers, but rather support the campers as they worked their way through the challenge. Our teenagers were wonderful! The campers LOVED working with the high school students!

The other afternoon I was at the city swimming pool with my son. As we were leaving, I heard a woman yelling, "Mr. Coffey! Mr. Coffey!" I turned around, and there was a grown woman chasing me! She said, "Mr. Coffey, I'm Julian's mom. I saw you and I just had to stop you so I could thank you. Julian LOVED your STEM Camp! Thank you so much for giving him that opportunity. Wednesday night Julian was down in the dumps and acting very sad. When I asked him what was wrong, he said he was sad because he only had two days left of camp. It was the highlight of his summer!" That is not the first experience I have had with parents going out of their way to thank me for inviting their kid to the STEM Camp. Although I appreciate their gratitude, I almost feel bad accepting it. I feel like I should be thanking them (and I do whenever I have these encounters). It was their willingness to arrange rides, change schedules, and commit to this camp that made it so successful. It was their children who took time from their summer, worked hard, and kept a smile on their face for three hours every day of the week! Because of them, I became a better teacher. I learned more in that week than any college course or professional development seminar could have ever taught me. I can't think of any other way I would like to spend a week of my summer! The entire experience was exponentially more amazing than any vision I had in April. I am eternally grateful to Shannon Ralph, Cindy Venard, Jennifer Miller, Amanda Coffey, our eight teenagers, each of our campers, their parents and family, my principal Jacque Feist, our school district, our donors, and all the other people in our community who helped bring this camp to life! I can't wait to see what the future holds! Thank you!!

Here is a highlight video of our experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUY94u67txM

Three Takeaways from Podstock

I was introduced to Podstock through my friend Ginger Lewman (@GingerLewman) during some Project Based Learning training. I went home, did some research about Podstock, and I started gaining an interest. Soon, my Twitter feed was consumed with talk about Podstock! As I began talking to my professional learning network and learning more about the conference, I knew I had to go!

Technically, Podstock is a technology conference for educators and administrators. However, those who have attended the "family reunion" know that the conference is much more about transforming education into something real and inspiring for our students. Thankfully I work in a school district who values teachers who want to learn, and they sent me and twenty-eight other teachers and administrators to Wichita to learn! 

The Podstock experience was inspiring, motivating, and full of boundary pushing challenges. At Podstock I wanted to participate in every extra-curricular event (I attended Moonlight Madness, I took second place in a pinewood derby race, attended a dance, dressed in costume, participated in a gift exchange, took photos during an early morning photo walk, and my team won the social scavenger hunt)! That was A LOT to do in two days! In addition, I wanted to listen, share, and learn from every conversation going on at the conference. I tried to use my time to ask questions, make connections, and improve my craft in the classroom. Those two days completely blew my mind, and it has taken my brain an entire week to pick up the pieces and put things back together. Although I learned an insane amount from my first Podstock experience, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on my three biggest takeaways from Podstock 2014!

The first thing I noticed at Podstock was the transformational vibe. Everywhere I looked I found educators using technology to completely transform the educational experience for students. These teachers weren't switching from analog to digital worksheets. They were connecting their students to students on the other side of the globe; they were transforming their classrooms into hospital rooms; they were allowing students to plan, design, and create while learning. What I learned is that emailing an assignment to my students instead of passing out a paper copy isn't using technology to its fullest potential. This year, I want to focus on finding creative ways to utilize technology to the fullest. I want to create educational experiences which will leave a lasting impression on my students. I want to use technology to inspire and motivate my students. I want my students to feel the same vibe I felt when I walked through the Podstock phone booth!

Another takeaway I had from Podstock was the phrase "learn to love to learn." As far as I know, Kevin Honeycutt (@KevinHoneycutt) coined this phrase. I say that because I was fortunate enough to sit next to Kevin during the "Flip Like a Ninja" session put on by Todd Nesloney (@TechNinjaTodd), and Kevin had the phrase tattooed all over his laptop! This notion was laced throughout the sessions I attended during the two day conference. Todd Nesloney talked about it during his keynote. He talked about how students should be running to school because they are so excited about what they might learn that day. I think school starts out that way for many students, but somewhere along the way the grind of school buries that excitement somewhere deep inside. I like this idea of learning to love to learn because of the growth mindset mentality. I think we all love to learn as long as we are learning about things that are important to us. What's trickier is to get a 15 year old to learn to love to learn about quadratic equations. However, for me, Podstock drove home the point that if I teach with passion and enthusiasm, and I give my students the opportunity to pursue their passions through our curriculum, then students will be running to my classroom to learn, build, and create using mathematics. As the start of a new school year rolls around, I want to be mindful that one of my goals should be to help my students reach the point where they learn to love to learn.

Over the Fourth of July, I spent a week in Minnesota at a family reunion on my Mom's side of the family. My family reunions aren't your typical family reunions because they center on education! I'm a high school math teacher, my wife is a kindergarten teacher, my Grandpa Bill spent much of his life working for North Dakota State University, my mom is a college professor, my aunt Beth is a member of the local school board, my aunt Patty is a Physical Education teacher, and my aunt Barb is an Instructional Coach. Not to mention, my cousin Lindsay teaches dance, my cousin Alex is a school counselor, and my brother and his wife home school their four children. And this is just my Mom's side of the family. There are just as many educators on my Dad's side of the family! Education, quite literally, flows through my veins! Anyways, when we get together, our conversations always turn to education. Even when we try to talk about sail boats and jet-skis, somehow our conversations naturally move towards education. Well, I always hear people say that "Podstock isn't a conference, it's a family reunion." For me, I think they are right on! Just like my family reunions there are tons of laughs, there are super deep conversations, there are disagreements, there are debates, there are more laughs, there are hugs, there are tears, there is fun, there are late nights and early mornings, there is food, there are competitions, and there is never enough time. That sums up my Podstock experience; it was an intense two day family reunion. My final takeaway from Podstock is that I am part of an enormous family of educators who are pushing and striving to better our educational system, to better or schools, but most importantly to better our students.

Three Takeaways from Teach Like A Pirate

Teaching is a great job! The rewards of teaching are plentiful! One of the great rewards of teaching is summer. I know what you're thinking, "Here's another teacher bragging about having summers off." Let me assure you, that is NOT where I am going! I love summers because they give me a chance to step back, re-evaluate, study, and improve my craft. Can you imagine if all careers gave workers a small break to catch their breath, re-evaluate what they're doing, and give them a chance to seek more training? Can you imagine how much more productive workers would be when they got back from their "break?"

My son Blain driving the boat with my cowboy hero uncle.

This summer I am taking part in a Summer Learning Series (#SummerLS) put on by Todd Nesloney (@TechNinjaTodd). Mr. Nesloney is entering his first year as a principal in Texas. The learning series was intended to be a voluntary challenge for Mr. Nesloney's new staff. However, it has transformed to a learning challenge with over 1700 teachers from 13 different countries participating! Each week throughout the summer, Mr. Nesloney sends out a challenge, and participants work during the week to complete the challenge and report back their results. A few weeks back, one of the challenges was to read Teach Like A Pirate by Dave Burgess (@burgessdave). By a stroke of luck, some leaders in my district were doing a book study on the Teach Like A Pirate book, and my Assistant Superintendent gave me a copy of the book to borrow. How lucky am I to work for a district who strives to be on the cutting edge of education, and a district who is always willing to help teachers?!?!

Now here's a treasure worthy of a pirate's quest!

From the opening page of Teach Like A Pirate, I was hooked! I learned so much from the book, and was re-inspired by Dave Burgess's energy! I can hardly wait for students to come back to my classroom! Here are my three take-aways from Teach Like A Pirate.

The first thing that I learned from Teach Like A Pirate is that I am lacking in passion and enthusiasm. Now, don't get me wrong, I have a great deal of passion for math and learning! However, I've been holding back. I haven't been very enthusiastic, and I haven't let that passion shine. I've been too shameful. I've thought, "What if my students think I'm a weirdo? What would my colleagues think if I let all my enthusiasm loose?" Dave has helped me realize that my students' futures are too important to hold back my passion and enthusiasm! I think Garth Brooks said it best when he said, "I'M SHAMELESS!" Who cares if my students think I'm crazy? I am crazy! Who cares if my colleagues hold up their nose? When it comes down to it, I think they would want their own children in my Algebra class! I need to be shameless when it comes to using my passion and enthusiasm in my classroom.

The second thing I took from Dave's book is the idea of immersion. Dave's idea of immersion is to completely give yourself up to the moment and fully be with your students. I would love to say that I am fully immersed in my classroom everyday, but I would be lying. Too often I get caught up in checking my e-mail, grading papers, or letting my mind wander. How can I expect to keep my students' full attention in class when there are times I can't even keep my own full attention on class! My students deserve my full immersion in class, and I appreciate Dave calling me out on that point.

My final take-away from Teach Like A Pirate is to not be ashamed of thinking of my classroom as a place of edutainment. I have heard teachers say, "I am paid to educate these children, and not to entertain our students." I have also heard teachers in my department say, "Math class is not supposed to be fun." I have always disagreed with those statements, but hearing those comments put a seed of doubt in my head. In his book, Dave helped me realize that I don't have to apologize for making math class fun or finding creative ways to entertain my students. In fact, separating education and fun is dangerous! When I observe my son learning, it is always while he is having fun. He learns through play; he learns through games; he learns while doing things he enjoys. Although my students are a bit older, they learn though the same processes. Along with helping me come to terms with being an edutainer, I loved the way Dave wrote about creativity. He talked about how creativity is developed through hard work (I love the growth mindset undertones). I really appreciated the advice about how to create a system to capture ideas. I am going to use my iPhone and iPad to help me capture ideas as they come to me!

I am very grateful for the opportunity to step away from the every day hustle and bustle of the classroom, and re-calibrate my classroom GPS over the summer. The summer is a great time time to examine the desired destination of your classroom and program your GPS to get you to that desired location. Teach Like A Pirate has helped me set my GPS, and I believe the payoff will be less time stopping to ask for directions once we hit the road this fall!

A Growth Mindset

Sometime between my day dreams of fishing trips and the reality of grading papers, the last day of school has come and passed. The sixth chapter in the book of my teaching career has been written, and I think the last day of school is a perfect opportunity for reflection.

Recently, I have been exploring the idea of a "growth mindset" versus a "fixed mindset." In case you haven't read Dr. Carol Dweck's research, here is my short version of the difference:

A person with a fixed mindset believes their abilities, intelligence, and talents are fixed. People with this mindset say, "I'm just not good at math; never have been, never will be." A fixed mindset will use challenges and obstacles as an excuse to quit trying because they are afraid of failure or being perceived as "dumb."

On the other hand, people with a growth mindset believe that abilities and talents can be developed through effort, hard work, and persistence. Rather than being fearful, people with a growth mindset, see failure as an opportunity to learn and improve. People who seek challenges and maneuver around obstacles are said to have a growth mindset.

As I studied these types of mindsets, I started hearing my students use fixed mindset phrases on a daily basis. I started seeing the correlation between their fixed mindset towards school (and specifically math) and their poor effort in the classroom. I heard my students say, "Mr. Coffey, I just don't get it. I give up. I'm just not good at math." Unfortunately, someone put these thoughts in my students' brains (either directly or indirectly). My students are picking up this fixed mindset from parents, friends, the media, and dare I say, teachers. I decided that I can no longer allow this fixed mindset in my classroom, and I am making a commitment to helping my students develop a growth mindset.

The task sounds daunting, maybe even impossible. That is because you are reading this with a fixed mindset. Stop it! Towards the end of this school year I helped my students rephrase their fixed mindset phrases. Instead of saying, "I don't get this," I stopped them and made them repeat, "I don't get this yet." Instead of saying, "I don't like math," I made them rephrase to "I haven't liked math yet." I would have thought that my students would brush off my little added word, but I could honestly see a difference in their attitude when I forced them to rephrase their fixed mindset phrases. It's like I magically tricked their brain with one little word. If you don't believe me, I challenge you to try it. Next time you hear a fixed mindset phrase, ask the person to repeat the phrase with the word "yet" added to the end. Watch the change in their facial expression when they allow themselves room for growth. You can literally see the change in their face.

I'm not saying I drastically changed the lives of all my students by adding three letters to their statements; some students are stuck deeper in the fixed mindset rut. They are going to need more discussion, more examples of successful people with growth mindsets, and proof that they can grow taller than the obstacles their minds have created. But, I did see a change, and that was with minimal effort.

The great thing about a growth mindset is it spills over the classroom walls. A growth mindset can change, "my mom and I don't get along," to "my mom and I aren't getting along right now." It can change, "we are poor," to "we don't have much money at the moment." And, those little changes can open a lot of doors while offering some much needed hope.

As I sit in my empty classroom, and contemplate the good and the bad of this past school year, I believe I can make next school year more successful by addressing mindset early and often. My students need to know that "Neither success nor failure is ever final." You can be on the highest high, but that doesn't mean you can stop growing because we've all witnessed top dogs fall to the bottom. You may be at the lowest low, but that doesn't mean you should stop growing because we've all seen the underdog end up on top! For me, it's about giving students permission to make mistakes. It's about giving students permission to fall down. But most importantly it's about giving my students permission to knock down walls and push themselves to grow.

Do We Still Need Teachers?

I feel the need to write a post to clear up some misinterpretations of my words. You see, nearly a month ago I was asked to speak to the staff at my school about how I am using iPads and technology in my classroom. I chose to talk about how I use Moodle to create a blended learning environment. I talked about how I record video lessons and share them using Moodle. I talked about how I create my own textbook using CK-12 and share it electronically using Moodle. I talked about how I am able to differentiate instruction for all the individual learners in my classroom. And, I talked about how I assess learning using electronic quizzes through the Moodle interface.

Although my presentation was limited to a very short amount of time (I could have talked for two or three days), I was happy to stir-up some conversation amongst the staff. Some teachers were open and ready to try new things with the technology in their classrooms, while others were hesitant and not ready for that kind of change. I'm not here to judge either side. I wasn't there to try to persuade teachers to try blended learning; I was there to share one story from inside one classroom in our high school.

However, recently I've heard some concerning conversations. I've heard teachers ("inspired" by my presentation) who are concerned about the future of education and the teaching profession. A few teachers are envisioning a classroom with a 100:1 student/teacher ratio. They are concerned that technology is replacing the need for a teacher.

I want to be very clear that I envision the teacher of the future to be valued MORE, and play a MORE important role in student learning!

Look, I understand the concern. The role of teachers is definitely changing! One-hundred years ago students HAD to come to school in order to learn. There were very few books, nearly no libraries, and limited newspapers and magazines. Teachers were the source of nearly all information. Teachers were the gate keeper to knowledge. 

However, technology has changed the educational landscape! Teachers are not the sole source of information now. Students have 24/7 access to unlimited amounts of information. Instead of relying on a teacher with limited training, students have access to industry experts who have devoted their entire life to studying very specific disciplines. The incredible knowledge that is available for FREE with a few clicks of the mouse (or finger) is mind blowing. It's impossible for me to wrap my brain around the ways our educational landscape has changed over the last 100 years! Yet, for the most part, the structure of our schools has remained nearly unchanged. It's no wonder our students are feeling let down, bored, and disengaged with school today. I can see how teachers could feel threatened. 

I hope my story can spread a message of hope to teachers feeling threatened. As I have integrated more and more technology into my classroom, I have never felt more valued and essential to my students' learning! Although I can share information with thousands of students simultaneously, skilled teachers are needed to draw meaning to that information; teachers will always be needed to bring that information to life for students. To borrow words from my friend Ginger Lewman, I have adapted the mindset that I am a resource, not THE source to my students. I push my students to search and discover information rather than passively receiving information. I want my students to find meaning in their life rather than me telling them what's important to them. I push my students to grow individually to reach their potential rather than push them collectively over an arbitrary hurdle. All of these roles are different, but FAR more important than the giver of information. These important roles need to happen on a one-to-one level; it cannot happen on a mass scale.  For this reason, I have a hopeful vision of the future of our teaching profession!

Our students no longer need teachers to feed them information, the information is at their fingertips. Instead our students need help making sence of information, help finding meaning, help making connections, and help digging deeper. Computers and technology will never be able to do this as effectively and magically as I can. The perfectly placed question, the balance between pushing hard but not breaking, the emotional connection, the stern look, and the deserved celebrations are all artistic touches that only a human can paint into a lesson. These are the pieces that engage students in learning. They are invaluable! 

Although technology could make it feasible for one teacher to manage 100 students; it will never happen. As long as our society values learning (which will be forever), the human teacher will be too valuable to spread across 100 students. 

WARNING: If you are a teacher, and you still believe that your only job is to feed students information, then you don't have to wait for the future; your job has already been replaced by technology. Sure, you may still receive a paycheck, but your days are numbered. I would urge you to loosen your grip on the control of the information, and encourage your students interact and engage with the information all around them.

We live in an exciting time of great innovation and technological advances. My mind cannot conceive the great technological advances we will see over the next hundred years, but my heart assures me that the future will be lead by great human teachers!

Hey, You Should Make Your Math Class Fun

When you're a math teacher, introductions can sometimes get awkward! After the handshakes, smiles, and usual small talk, the question is always asked. "So Justin, what do you do?" Once this question is asked, I can predict the next twenty minutes of dialogue. It never changes.

"Oh, wow, a math teacher eh? I hated math in school. I was never very good at it. Thank goodness I've never had to use it! Hey, you know what you should do? You should make your math class fun. My class was always so boring. Also, you should stop teaching them useless math like Algebra, and start teaching them math they'll actually need in real life. You know what I mean?"

Stop smiling. There's no smiling in Algebra class!!

I have never met a person who has said, "Oh, awesome! That sounds like a great job! I would love to teach Algebra to high school students! Do you know of any openings?"

The truth is I do have the greatest job on Earth, and I would never trade for another (except maybe an astronaut, but then that's not really a job "on" Earth). If they only knew... 

Their advice sounds so simple. Make math fun. It's like people actually believe that math teachers sit up at night asking themselves, "This lesson is okay, but how could I make this just a little more boring...?" Here's the truth: every math teacher I have ever met (and I've met a lot) is desperately searching, researching, clawing, and fighting for "fun" math lessons. And, they are out there; I've seen them. I'm working on adding more and more "fun" to my Algebra class, but it's a process, and it takes time, energy, and resources. Unfortunately, none of those are unlimited!

Please don't wear this shirt.

The other thing I hear (nearly everyday) is, "I never use Algebra, and I turned out fine." I have to bite my tongue. I want to say, "You drove your car here without running out of gas didn't you? You know how many bags of Cheetos you could buy with $10 don't you? You used a car loan to purchase that new truck didn't you? You're investing in your retirement aren't you? Heck, even the people who designed that funny little shirt you're wearing used Algebra to ensure their text was centered and the font size was optimized to ensure maximum readability." But, those arguments are best left unsaid because then the next line coming is, "Well, that's not really math..." But the truth is math is all around us and our brain is making constant calculations to keep us safe and happy. Most of those calculations are done unconsciously; not because it's not really math, but because you probably had math teachers who stayed up late at night wondering how they could exercise that mathematical portion of your brain the next morning.

Catapulting pennies onto targets

I have digressed. Here's my point: I was part of an amazing training today about Project Based Learning, and I am more excited than ever to put the fun in Algebra class! I have done "projects" in class, but I am a newbie to the whole PBL strategy. I think I have a plan to mesh my current blended classroom with a dynamic, exciting Project Based Learning classroom. I also think Ginger Lewman (an educational guru) has a similar message to all those strangers I have met. If I hook my students with a "tasty" project they are dying to get their hands on, I will be amazed at the lengths my students will go to in order to learn the skills necessary to make a totally rad project. Give them a reason to get excited and fall in love with math. Make it fun. 

Stay tuned to share in my mistakes, insights, and triumphs!

Down the Rabbit Hole of Blended Learning

Lately I've been feeling a bit like Alice falling deeper and deeper down a crazy rabbit hole called "blended learning." I had heard of this madness called blended learning, but I had never explored or thought too deeply about its possibilities. That is, until I stumbled upon Moodle, seemingly by accident.

My trip down the blended classroom rabbit hole started out with the idea of "flipping" my classroom. I read some research; I did some homework; and I started my adventure by video recording my lessons. I was content that my students could access my lectures at anytime, my absent students could stay caught up, and I was putting the responsibility of learning back on the students. At this point, I was uploading my videos to YouTube and sharing the link on my classroom website. To share assignments, I experimented with Google Drive. To administer quizzes, I played around with Socrative. All of these apps and programs were working well, but I was missing some cohesion. I was searching for a platform that could host all of my needs. 

One day while sharing stories and experiences with another teacher (a total teaching rock star) who is "flipping" her classroom, she mentioned using Moodle in her classroom. Since that moment my classroom hasn't been the same! I quickly bombarded her with questions. I had heard of Moodle. My mom (who has been a great inspiration, coach, and sounding board) is a professor of nursing, and has been raving about the use of Moodle in her courses. I knew that Moodle could offer me the cohesion I was searching for in my classroom.

Without much effort my Moodle site was up and running. The more I experiment and tinker with Moodle, the more confident I am that I can offer my students a learning experience tailored to their style of learning and technology culture. Moodle has allowed me to truly transform my classroom into a blended learning environment. 

For each module in my course, I am able to share videos of my lectures, pdfs of textbooks, practice sets, notes, and assignments electronically. Essentially, my students are taking High School Algebra "online." Except it's better than an online course! Because my students have access to all "nuts and bolts" at their fingertips 24/7, we are able to spend our classroom time clearing up any misconceptions, working in small groups or one-on-one, and taking our knowledge and applying it to real world applications. I create a quiz at the end of each module from a test bank of questions. If the student scores an 80% or above, then they are awarded an electronic badge to signify their mastery of that particular module. If the student scores below an 80%, they are asked to go back to their notes, re-watch the lecture, re-read the text, or come in during study hall to receive extra help from myself or a math tutor in order to correct their mistakes. Then, they are asked to retake the quiz until they earn an 80% or higher. This model for learning has worked great so far, and I believe it will only get better as I gain more experience and find solutions to minor issues.

Looking out from the inside of this rabbit hole it all seems to make sense. Blended learning is taking the very best benefits of online learning and combining them with all the very best benefits of "brick and mortar" learning. We have to remember that this generation of learners don't simply listen to the radio; they choose what song they want, and when they want it. This generation of learners don't simply watch TV; they choose what show they want to watch, record it, and watch it when they want it. Why would they expect anything different from their education? I have come to the realization that this generation of learners is the generation of personalization and choice. For this reason, I believe Moodle grants me the opportunity to create a blended learning environment that is both relevant and effective to today's learners.

More Technology, More Problems (and More Triumphs)!

Sometime back, our local school board had an important meeting. After deep thought, careful calculations, and probably some nifty marketing by a company named Apple, our board voted to move forward with a plan to put in an iPad in the hands of every student in our school district. Yes. Every. Student. In Dodge City, Kansas, the innocent hands of kindergartners, the awkward hands of middle schoolers, and the "too cool for school" hands of high schoolers all hold a small tool capable of displaying the big world on a nifty nine inch screen.

I received my iPad a little over a year ago. The district wanted to give teachers a head start with the new technology, so we were given a year to play, discover, and plan. As an educator I was excited to know that my students would have the world at their fingertips. I didn't exactly know how I was going to use the iPad in the classroom, but I knew it was a game changer. I've always considered myself to be kind of a tech savvy guy, but with each passing year I can feel technology pulling further and further ahead of me. I've found myself gripping tight to my mouse while the world around me has moved on to touch screens and finger swipes. 

Nonetheless, I volunteered to be on the "iPad Deployment Team" at my school in January. It would be my job to introduce the students to their iPad. It was a moment that I wanted to witness and be a part of. I wanted to see their reactions. I wanted to see their comfort level. I wanted to learn from them. The process of handing out and doing some initial set-up on 1,800 iPads took 9 days. There were a couple moments of deep frustration, but for the most part things went smoother than I could have imagined.

Our students have had iPads for two months now. I have gone full circle through the emotional ringer. There have been moments of pure excitement and moments of pure torture and frustration. There have been moments where I have felt like finding a sturdy shovel, digging an enormous hole, and burying 1,800 iPads. Students have been playing games, snap chatting, and making absurd sounds with their iPads. Holding the attention of a 15 year old while you lecture about equations written in vertex form is difficult enough; but when you add the distraction of an iPad, the task has become darn near impossible.

Despite the difficulties, I have been planning, collaborating, studying, and working non-stop to somehow find a way to make these iPads work in my Algebra classroom. We have experimented with different apps. I have tried new techniques. And, we have talked extensively about iPad etiquette. 

Two weeks ago things suddenly became very clear to me. The honeymoon fog was lifted, and I was left with a very precise vision of how my classroom should be ran to make effective use of the iPads. Not only that, but I am also finding ways to tap into the "gaming" culture which has been embedded in my students' lives since they were two years old. I am also experimenting with new ways to customize the classroom for each individual student. All of this change has come very sudden, and I am still working out a few kinks; however, I have never felt so confident and secure about the direction of my classroom. I have a new found passion and excitement to give my students what they have been longing for, a style of learning which fits their lifestyle, culture, and individual needs.

I have been amazed at the changes I have seen in my classroom in the last two weeks. I am excited to share my victories and setbacks in this journey into the land of iPads. I hope to use my blog as a platform to share ideas and gather advice and input as I continue to search for ways to improve the classroom experience for my students.