Sometimes a "Fail" Can Be a "Find"

This year I subscribed my students to Scholastic Scope Magazine, a language arts publication designed specifically for middle school students that contains thrilling articles that my kids love to read. Some of their favorites?

This article about Facebook:

This Justin Bieber/Beatles compare and contrast activity:

And this awesome writing mechanics review cleverly disguised as an article chronicling the life of the famous competitive eater, Takeru Kobayashi...

When I got the latest issue, I was thrilled to find that they had made some reading comprehension quizzes with interactive PDFs, ones that could be edited and emailed directly to me. This was such a cool find since it jived so well with, ya know, the whole paperless concept. After reading this narrative nonfiction piece about one of the world's deadliest creatures, we embarked upon our new paperless adventure (shocking.), the interactive quiz.

Link sent to all students? Check.
Link retrieved by all? Check.
Bubbles marked? Check.
Short answers answered? Check.
Quizzes "Saved as..." and email sent? Fail..

If you don't already know, middle schoolers are pretty adept at fishing out a teacher's failed preparation, and my students are no exception. They quickly realized that whenever they "Saved as..." in order to make a copy of their completed quiz, they lost all of their answers.

I chalked it up to my not reading the directions carefully enough, apologized profusely, and told them to not worry about the quiz. (Contrary to popular perception, they were incredibly gracious.)

So, I do my duty to go back and double check my instructions, but find that nothing was wrong with them. Then I contacted the fine people at Scope asking for help. Not an hour after my email, someone wrote and said that my class had found a major glitch in their interactive quiz system! Not only did they thank us, but the editor of the magazine wrote a personal "thank you" and will be sending a gift to each of my students as a thanks for helping them fix their system.

This "Fail." was definitely a "Find".

Go team!

At First I Was Insulted....Then I Laughed.

So the TV spot aired on December 5, and I think it went ok. Of course I thought of 2039845702345 other ways to word things and remembered 2039857023 things I wanted to say but didn't, but all in all, the whole spot went well.

Then this morning a colleague of mine stopped me in the hallway as I was dropping off 37 hamburgers for my son's Christmas feast and mentioned that someone had commented on the story via the news website:

(Yes, I am aware there are some writing mechanics issues here...) Hurt and mortified that someone would think that about me, I wanted to get all of my friends to add comments to validate what I have dedicated the past 16 years of my life to: teaching.

And then I laughed.

I don't just teach Latin and English anymore; I've added an entirely new dynamic to my curriculum with this paperless thing. I teach Computer Troubleshooting, Computer Maintenance, Materials Management, Digital Organization, Personal Problem Solving, and Thinking Ahead 101.

Remember that poor soul who just couldn't get a screenshot to work nearly when we first started this project? He's so good at navigating a computer and thinking through computer glitches that I never have to fix anything for him any more. There was another boy (about whom I never wrote) who last year thought that his computer was personally out to drive him crazy. The other day out of no where, he raised his hand and said, "You know, I can't believe how good I've gotten at all of this." And he's right. He and 59 other people have gotten a free computer course in addition to the Latin and English that they signed up for. So, @idahoser, I don't use technology as an excuse to internet shop and catch up on my soaps; I use it to connect to kids, to save trees, and teach kids to do more than decline a noun or conjugate a verb.

I Wore a Ton of Black

Well, the day of reckoning arrived. Today Action News 5 came to my classroom to see how the paperless thing works. First he did a solo interview with me and then let the kids in for class. I was so nervous that my mouth kept going dry, and I'm pretty sure I had hives. Luckily, we will all be able to confirm that when in airs in December. Two of my lady friends were there with me for moral support. If they hadn't been there, I would have run out the door, straight for my car and started Thanksgiving break four days early. Marci told me she would "guard the door to keep the gawkers out," but I'm pretty sure it was to keep me from running out into oncoming traffic. I. was. that. scared.



But you know, as soon as Marci (a.k.a. the Praetorian Guard) let the kids in, I relaxed. They were such a comfort to me that I was finally able to relax and enjoy it a little. I had them practice noun/adjective pairing with Expo markers, using their desks as tablets. Everyone was so attentive and eager to participate. It was like they knew that I needed come TLC, and they delivered.



I love these little philosophical moments when I am able to see teenagers defy their stereotypes of being loud, obnoxious, and selfish. They are just like everyone else, and maybe even better than most of us at realizing when someone needs a lifeline. Seeing Eli smile in the front row, watching Virginia try just about every problem, watching Bryce take me through that multi-step grammar problem flawlessly, and having a gaggle of girls come up and hug me afterwards to tell me that "I did awesome"....these were just a few of the many awesome moments during my short 40 minute class today. They are the moments that I will remember. Thank you, sweet Latin class.

That Fame Was Short-Lived, But...

So as luck would have it, the introvert gods showed some mercy upon me and gave me jury duty next week. In other words, no TV spot because I will be hanging out with federal judges and other cool people downtown rather than talking with Kym Clark on Tuesday.

However, something amazing has come out of this.

Behold, the video lesson:

Yikes.

I am an introvert.

You wouldn't know this if you saw me walking around school or teaching a class, because I'm just as loud and obnoxious as any 8th grader you'd find roaming the halls of GSL; however, when I'm out in public, I prefer to go unnoticed. That's why today's message from my co-worker, Marci, absolutely freaked me out. During my Latin exam this morning I received this email from her:

Well-- now Channel 5 has called-- Kym Clark would like to come do a segment on your classroom.
Can you believe?! Now you REALLY are famous!

Fantastic. Television? Really? It's an INFJ's worst nightmare. But this is important to me and a fantastic way for Memphis to know about GSL, which has often been called Memphis' "best kept secret" in education.

I told my Latin kids who will be involved in the whole filming experience which will happen on Tuesday, and they were so happy...and rightly so, it's pretty fantastic to have all that hard work pay off in the form of a cameraman in your classroom. Go, team!

Irony of Ironies

Well, as irony would have it, our paperless classroom made the paper.

Relish in it now, for soon it will become someone's compost (except for maybe the copy my mother has snatched up).

I'm really proud of all of these middle schoolers, both those who are with me now and those who have graduated from GSL. You guys deserve the attention and accolades because you made it happen.

"No, We Won't Just 'Hang Out' Since Lots of People Are Absent"

You know the scenario:

Your school grants a half day before a break, and families plan to use the half-day for heading out early on a vacation; and you, the teacher, are left with a decimated classroom.

That happened to me today, but I used the opportunity to testdrive a new paperless discussion tool, backchanneling. Backchanneling takes the ultimate passive activity, watching videos in school, and turns it into a powerful learning opportunity. Armed with Today's Meet, a designated URL for a chatroom that I could delete two hours later, and a Disney movie, I launched my explanation to the ten lucky kids sitting in my classroom.

Me: So, people, we will be doing something called "backchanneling" today. We will discuss The Emperor's New Groove in this chatroom while the movie is playing. No one can talk. You can't write anything down either. Just follow the discussion with some pertinent and insightful comments.

Smart Girl: So this is just like we are in a chatroom without weirdos and we will talk about this Disney movie?

Me: It's not "like" that. It is that...

Smart Girl: So, like, Mrs. White, can we use chat lingo?

Me: OMG, IDK, WDYT?. LOL.

(silence)

SmartYoungMan: Um, is this graded?

Me: Is the sky blue?

SmartYoungMan: Well, how will we lose points?

Me: Don't type anything that you wouldn't want your mama to see.

SmartGirl: She'll screenshot you...

You get the picture. We launched right in, and I asked some questions about fairy tales, motifs in fairy tales (good vs. evil) and pointed out the imagery in Yzma's clothing (read from the bottom up):




We chatted about the names of the characters and their references. Some kids thought it was cool. Others were annoyed that I was over analyzing it (read from the bottom up):




There were those who insisted on trying to divert the conversation (-1 for every impertinent comment), but most really enjoyed the activity. Right before class was to be dismissed and as the movie was still going, I typed, "Should we do this again?"

They responded:



...and so we will...once I put together a rubric and list of expectations. As for my thoughts on the exercise? I tend to agree with Ruthie:

Just When I Was Getting Comfortable....

One would presume (if one were I) that after six months of paperless nirvana, getting back into school and acclimating students (especially the new 7th graders I teach) to life in a paperless classroom would be a breeze at this point.

Well, think again...

Just when I was getting comfortable, GoogleDocs - my paperless lifeline to students - up and stopped working at school. I found myself waking up in the middle of the night with cold sweats obsessing about how I would be able to continue sharing documents with my kids. They (and I) had gotten so used to the procedure of sharing-copying-renaming and resharing that I just KNEW that we all could just jump right in with both feet and spare ourselves the get-to-know-you period that comes along with a paperless classroom and all of its technological puzzles. Murphy and his stupid law came and bit me in the butt the first day of school. How's that for a welcome into the new school year?

Given that I'm married to the most awesome tech-savvy genius at the school, I immediately asked him (with doe eyes) to look into the problem. He did, but so far it's still a mystery, so I had no choice but to figure out another way to run my paperless classroom. All of the sudden I was just as unsure as the newest 7th grade student that walks into my classroom on the first day of school (and that's a humbling perspective for those of you who still remember the first day of 7th grade).

Luckily, I love trying new things. Luckily, so do my students.

Enter....ZOHO.

Happy New School Year, everyone. Try something new today.

TAIS Presentation

Well, I hope all of this goes well! Below you can find links to my prezi that I will be giving at tais today. You can also find a link to a google doc that has a quick and dirty "How Do I...?" list.

Post-Day 31 - Realizations and Reasons

So, my students and I were completely paperless (and still are) for 31+ days. That's a really long time to not have handouts or homework come in on paper, so I most definitely applaud my students (and myself) for trying something new, being pioneers, and really thinking about how to avoid using and wasting paper. That said, I've spent the last week or so ruminating over what I really want out of this project. I wanted to try something new; I wanted to avoid the copy machine, and I wanted to give my kids some problem-solving skills that they will most certainly come across in the years to come.

So now what?

I touted the fact that I shouldn't force students into learning my way, so with that said, I plan to let them choose the way they want their homework and notes. Paperless is now an option, not a requirement. I won't run things off, but I will provide every student with electronic copies. If he or she wants to make paper copies and turn them in, the option is there. It's always been there, really.

Now it will be fun to see who remains paperless... I've shown them how to do it; I wonder who will keep flying the flag.

Day 31 - Bleh.

For the first time in 31 days, i've questioned my project. I need to think a little before I write more.

Talk About Paperless... - Days 23-25

Every winter our students choose a place in town at which to intern in order to learn about LIFE IN THE REAL WORLD. Needless to say, they are often blinded by the fact that they can sleep until 9am, which translates into their staying up all night long. Generous businesses around the city host them and work very hard to teach them about life in the working world. They learn about running a small business, selling and buying, prosecuting, restaurant-running, publishing, promoting musicians, making jewelry, dentistry, veterinary medicine and many other awesome things. Obviously, this is about as paper-free as it gets. Real life learning = the ultimate paperfree experience.

Business To Tend To - Day 22

I was not at school today, but I was able to monitor work done by my students via google docs. I had them add some stuff to a document that had already been shared with me, and since Google can track all changes and additions to the document, I was able to see who did their work and when/if they finished by the end of their respective class. It sure does feel good to hold them accountable even when I'm sitting in the DMV. That's a great feeling.

So Normal It Was Boring - Day 21

So yeah, totally normal:

Routine in place? (check)
8th grade student sass (check and check to the "n"th power)
Students troubleshooting themselves (check)
Students attempting to surreptitiously search the web for glitter lip gloss (check)
Student caught and banned from computers for the remainder of class? (check)


Oh, but one cool, new little paperless thing today. The 7th graders and I did some multiple choice exam prep by writing on our desks. Everyone got an Expo marker and answered my class starters on their desks. That's right; I let them write on their desks. They seemed to love it. Low tech and satisfying.

And In All Fairness...

We are really 21 days without paper counting weekends and holidays. The kids have to work paperfree at home too, so there. Yay for the 20s.

My Thoughts On Homework

So I've had this debate in my head for the past 10 years. It's about homework. And how and when to give it. I think about how I've handled assigning homework over the years, and it's scary for me to think just how lousy I used to be and sometimes still am.

Consider English class. Is it a better use of time to go home and answer questions out of a textbook or is it better to read a poem, jot down some notes about it, and use Facebook or texting to discuss it with friends? Is that even feasible? Can I even grade that? No one actually gets a thrill out of answering those textbook questions. Yet there are pages and clubs dedicated to discussing literature and art, physics and biology. And why is that? It's because people love to talk about what love and find interesting. But only if they are 30+. They don't love to be graded on how they answer questions; they just love to talk. Would it be more feasible to assign a student to find a popular reference to the book or story and explain it? In talking and discussing, they learn. And in this social media-rich environment, it's stupidly backwards to refrain from tapping in to that; however, schools don't want the liability/distraction of social media. What a conundrum since social media accounts for 80% of the lives of teenagers who would rather Tweet, Tumble, Facebook, text, or Kinect rather than discuss something face-to-face.

So how do you make homework relevant to "screenagers"? How do you imbed the rules of comma use to tweens? How do you help kids of the digital age recognize imagery and discuss symbolism without homework as practice?

One thing I've noticed over the last several paperless weeks is that I have become far more judicious about what I give as homework. I've had to come to terms that grading everything I assign is essential. And I have come to realize that having a night off from English work is not a criminally negligent act on my part.

I don't know where homework is headed in the 21st century, but I'm willing to bet that it's moving away from the canned textbook questions I grew up with. Homework will look more like getting prepared for a debate or meeting. It will come in many forms, and not every person will be doing it the same way. That's pure speculation on my part, but I think I'm on to something...

Research Paper Worries - More Day 12

Why do these thoughts come in clusters? I know it must get annoying to some of you who signed up to read this silly thing, but honestly, this is just a place for me to keep everything straight in my head. When something sparks, I have to save it....and this is where it lands.

I have worried for a while that I will have to break this awesome paperless streak come spring when research paper time rolls around. It's not the actual paper I'm worried about; it's the notecard-writing and organizing of the paper that's freaking me out. In the past, kids have gone through a 7-layer-burrito-sized stack of notecards, and those have been used to cluster ideas and organize topics and quotes. What's a paperfree teacher to do if she can't use notecards?

I just discovered some of the answer...and maybe all of the answer.

Mindmeister

Check this bad jammer out:

A Tour of MindMeister from MindMeister on Vimeo.

I haven't worked out the details (After all, it's a spring project, and right now, I have to figure out how to give a paperless exam to 46 students with only 24 computers....), but I can see how this will help kids organize ideas, websites, and notes about certain topics. Not only that, the girls are gonna love being able to make it all pretty by embedding pictures.

Gosh, now I can't wait to make a little mini project with Mindmeister to get them used to it. : )

More Projects, Less Busy Work - Day 12

A word about projects: They have become my best friend.

I'm starting to see how just a little solid core instruction can go a long way with a good, well-designed project. For instance, I spent 15 minutes introducing symbols one day. On the next day, I spent another 15 minutes discussing allegory. The two topics go hand-in-hand, obviously; however, had I taught both of those topics in one 45 minute class period, my lovely "screenagers" would have started daydreaming about the "Never-Say-Never" Bieberfest that was happening tonight. Since I split the lesson into bite-sized chunks, I was able to hold their attention for the project I had been planning for a week.

These two 15-minute core instructions led to the coup de gras - that merciful deathblow that would save my kids from multiple choice and fill-in hell: "Stump The Chump" - An Allegory Project.

Step 1: Divide into productive groups (use information from prior projects to avoid repeat partners).
Step 2: Assign a modern allegory such as a Twilight Zone Episode or a Dr. Seuss book.
Step 3: Outline the three P's: Paragraph, Poster, Presentation
Step 4: Let them loose with the four C's: Critical thinking, Collaboration, Communication and Creativity

Bake for 45 miuntes.
Take out of the oven and let cool for a day.
Repeat Step 4 until baking is complete.

Enjoy this delicious recipe for as many days as is necessary for a thorough comparison and explanation of the modern allegory.

A Celebration - Day 10

Well, Day 10 was yesterday, but it's worth noting because it's a nice, round, double-digit number. We celebrated with the 2049385720345 boxes of Girls Scout cookies I bought from various students.

But, you know, beyond the small celebration it was a completely normal day. We got out computers, I gave a superb lesson that engaged every single teenager I taught, and we went home. ; )

Seriously, though, it was a normal day...but without paper.

Remember Two Things... - Day 9

1) Don't accidentally unplug your computer cart overnight if you are in the midst of running a paperless classroom.


2) The kids who whine without a computer will whine twice and much WITH a computer.


That's as much as I will say on this Day 9 - the least stellar of my paper-free days.

Better luck to us all tomorrow.

There's An App For That...

While I was briefly thumbing through the App Store looking for a version of my favorite childhood video game, Centipede, I came across a crapload of Apps that I think my students would be able to use for educational purposes.

Math
Of the teachers who are most skeptical about going paperless, it's the math teachers. Rightly so, because how will students write out the answers to their homework problems?? I don't have an answer for that unless there's an online site or pad/phone app that will allow you to draw, save, and send... Until we make an ipad-sized Smartboard, algebra students can review basics and hone their foundation with the Algebra Touch, or graph their parabolas with this free graphing calculator.

FlashCards
I have pointed my kids to these apps to make flashcards since they can't turn in paper index cards anymore. There are very basic flashcard apps like this one: Flascards+. Flashcards++ allows you to theoretically download cards from Quizlet, which would be incredibly helpful to some of my students. There's a "lite" version. I'd try that before spending the $4 on it. The same offerings are available from this app, Flashcards Deluxe, and it has a "lite" version of it as well. Dang, just do an App Store search for "Flashcards," and you'll find a bunch of stuff to choose from.


Science
If you are working on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and Stephen Hawking is your best friend, the Atomium Periodic Table is for you. iElements is a cool little app that is free. It gives you all of the scientific number stuff PLUS pictures and information about each element.

English
Now, you know you can get lots of the books that you read in school at the iTunes audiobook store. There are also books inside of the iBook app as well. But what about stuff like grammar? There apps for practicing and reference! Grammar Guide is a basic reference app. Grammar Up is much more specific.

History
You can find the US Constitution in an app. This historical documents app was also pretty cool.

But while I was poking around, I also noticed more and more textbook companies (like McGraw-Hill) creating apps as ancillary materials for their textbooks. Notice that in this app, all of the McGraw Hill texts can be accessed with one app, and the app contains ancillary material that runs with the information in the textbook. Wave of the future? Most certainly.

And While I'm At It...

...Let me just sing the praises of my Latin classes for their 7 Wonders Projects via Glogster - an online service that allows students to create posters-on-steroids. (Educators, Glogster offers an .edu version just for us!) Bask in the amazingness of the interactive pictures, movies, and icons. Click on a picture, and it pops out. Press the play button and a movie starts. They have linked text to other pages, embedded movies, and all sorts of other stuff. Enjoy some of the amazing designs and layouts; they are beautiful and definitely worth the week I gave them to create and present:

Another Fun Activity Sans Papier - Day 8

The irony test that I gave on classmarker.com went really well. No glitches! It's been a week (8 days really), and the kids are getting used to the routines and pathways. One guy - the one who sent his first email on day one - looked at me and said, "Wow, Mrs. White, I've come a long way in a week, huh?" Yes sir, you most certainly have! (Last week, you had no idea how to send an email, and this week you are functioning paper-free with relative ease. I might even go so far as to say that you, sir, are even comfortable without the paper. And as you saunter in with only a textbook and a smile, I might even call you liberated...)

But again, I digress.

The same class with my emailing genius came in wondering why I had marked each desk with a number. (I love to make them wonder what in the world I could be devising for class.) With an Expo marker, I had written a number from 1-12 on each of my 24 desks. That meant that two desks had the same number. Desks with the same number became partners, so they scooted around to gain proximity to one another and listen for directions.

Once I told them that they were to translate a story with a partner sharing one document, light bulbs went off, and they started handling the technicalities on their own....At this point I stood on top of a desk, did a dance of unadulterated joy, and promised to bring them Cokes on Day 10.

The rest of the class is history: They did their work, students worked together and completed translations for access the next time they needed them, shared their documents without me having to remind them, and earned themselves a little free time.

It. was. epic.

Coolest Test Review Ever - Day Seven

I'm giving a test on irony and ambiguity tomorrow and until today had always just lectured a list of things to do, handed out a review sheet, and let students work together in groups through the material while I walked around answering questions. Collaborative critical thinking, right? (Remember that phrase for later, mkay?)

Today was different, very different.

First, since I couldn't hand out anything, I made a shared Google doc that was "view only." In it contained that obligatory list of "Things To Do So You Will Pass My Test," but what made it different was that I linked the online version of the textbook to it (no need to lug the 12lb brick home), and I linked the notes we had discussed (but didn't write down) from Day ONE of the experiment much to the relief of my pack of OCD girls.

(Insert lots of "yay's" and "sweet!'s," as well as the predictable, "Do we have to do all of this?")

But that isn't the best part of the review.

After that I shared with them a Google Presentation on Irony. They thought it would be me yammering on about definitions and such, but they started to figure out something was different when they all had privileges to edit.

(Small diversion: One kid wrote "poop" on the slide show to delight and entertain his classmates. (He had to close his computer). "But how did you know who it was?? Since no one fessed up?," you ask. I just looked at the revision history and found out instantly. No longer was he "delighting" and "entertaining" his classmates. Ahhh, power is good.)

But I digress...

So 23 people are sharing this one slide show I made. They start to notice that each student has his own slide and ask what is going on. I explain that I would like them to go and find comics that contain irony, add them to their slide, and write one sentence labeling the type of irony and explaining why the comic is ironic. Then I let them loose. On the technical side, I strolled around and helped a few insert images, but MOST of the questions (for the first time in a week) were about IRONY!

"I think this is situational irony because those three people are fighting over a book about the art of sharing; I'm right, right?" (Yep!)



"The fact that George Bush is upset that reporters are invading his privacy while he is using government surveillance to monitor people is situational irony, right?" (Yes, again)




"OMG, he has no idea that he's about to jump in a swarm of jellyfish. Dramatic irony!?" (Yep)




Ultimately, after about 10 minutes of hunting and thinking, copying and pasting, we had a 23-slide presentation that they could view later while they were studying tonight. They laughed at the cartoons, asked tons of good questions, and all worked on the same slide show at the same time and both delighted and entertained their friends without writing "poop" all over my slide show.

Now, that was some serious collaborative critical thinking.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - Day Six

After about 5 days of getting used to the switch, I'm starting to get back into the normal routine of material that I had planned to cover. If you want to do this, don't expect it to just happen. You have to teach the kids how to troubleshoot their machines, try new applications, organize usernames and passwords, make the transition form classroom to home...and that's just the tip of it. I even have to get myself into a new routine, starting with making an online list of tasks I have to complete, like remembering to grade the 7th grade handout that is so quietly sitting in my Google docs. There aren't stacks of papers to remind me that stuff needs grading.

I've had to figure out ways to label rubrics and return that information to individuals, ways to distribute forms that can be filled out individually...and all of this going into it with a pretty darn good learning curve already.

Today after my 6th paperless day, I had my 7th graders ponder the good and the bad of the entire experience:

The Good:


•"I like being able to finally keep up with the teacher as she talks; I can’t write fast. That, and I love computers, so this has been generally great."
•"The coolest part of this experiment will be when I fix my phone so I might be able to do my homework on my phone. Plus the no books part. It my be sometime in the near future when I don't have to kill my back with a backpack."
•"I like it because I don’t have to bring home all of the papers."
•"It educates students about how to use computers and is much faster than writing."
•"I like learning to share Google documents."
•"I like not having a piece of paper to keep up with."
•"I love computers and I am really good at them too. I also love to type."
•"We have gone a whole week with being paperless and its much easier to organize."


The Bad


•"Trying to do my homework when sometimes or many times when I don’t have access to a computer"
•"Dealing with a computer that's not a Mac (my parents have PCs)."
•"Waiting for web pages to load"
•"Having to remember whether to use Safari or Firefox on certain things."
•"Having to wait for my sister to get off of the computer so that I can do my homework."


The Ugly:

I caught myself forcing kids to use Evernote. It was an utter flop. All the sudden I realized that I had reverted back to my alter ego (the school marm), imposing my way on them. Note to self: Expose kids to several options, then let them choose the best way to keep up with their stuff.

OMG OMG OMG

It's 10:03 and I am sitting on my couch seeing which google docs I can grade before school tomorrow since Tuesdays are super hard. As I'm perusing documents, I can see students doing homework.

And. They. Can. See. Me.

So, I start a comment in a student's Google doc, and this poor, (un)fortunate young man can see as I write it:


Me: Greetings, Bob*
Bob: Uh, this is freaking me out. I'm kinda scared.
Me: Why, Bob? Cause I can pop in and see how the homework's coming along?
Bob: Yeah.
Me: Well, make sure you don't copy and paste from Wikipedia right in front of me, ok? Have a nice night! ;)

*Names have been changed to protect the poor souls who will have to face me tomorrow.

It's easy for a teenager to lock himself in his room with his laptop, xBox, iPod, HD TV, and his phone. Mom and Dad are probably blissfully watching Modern Family not realizing just how ironic it is.

But never fear, I'm checking on the sweet, little beasts and making sure they are scared half to death of me just dropping in on their homework adventures....helping with this and clearing up that.

Technology works both ways, kiddos. The classroom is no longer just that place that has desks and lockers. It's EVERYWHERE. I'm EVERYWHERE. Night!

Just Call Me Captain Stubing - Day 5

Welcome to English class; I'm your captain. Go ahead and settle in for an enjoyable 45 minute cruise.

Amazing Things That I Noticed:

•Kids making Google Docs and sharing them with me with little help
•Kids importing Word documents into Google Docs
•Kids uploading screen shots into Google Docs
•Kids wholesomely occupying themselves while I helped other students
•Kids helping kids troubleshoot computer problems
•Kids demonstrating tips to upload, troubleshoot, created, and import (i.e. hooking themselves up to the projector and showing groups of people at a time)
•Kids not toting around binders.

Interesting Questions That I Was Asked:

•When will our textbooks be online? I think my mom paid that same amount of money for my books as she did for the iPad I got for Christmas. Would it come close to evening out if we had iPads that contained our textbooks?

(I don't know; maybe we ought to do a project on it and see what we find)

•Why do you still have those smelly paper dictionaries? You don't really need them anymore, do you?

(No, I guess I don't.)

•This desk system doesn't seem to work in here with all these computers out all the time. Wouldn't tables be safer? Can we have class in the conference room?

(Why, yes they would. AND I don't know; I'll ask.)

•How long do you think this will work?

(I don't know; I hope forever.)

•Will the other teachers go paperless?

(I have no idea. Hopefully we can work out all of the kinks for them so that if they do choose to go paperless, it will be an easy transition and YOU GUYS can help them.)

I love the questions and I love all of the awesome stuff I saw today. Literally, I stood in the back of the classroom like a cruise director, pointing to this and that letting them learn and problem solve on their own around the a short story we read today. It was amazing.

The One Question That Wasn't Asked:

•How is this gonna help me in the future?

Ponder that, my fellow educators...

Technically, There Are No PAPERS To Grade...

...but there's a crapload of digital work to go through, and grading digital work is slower for me than actual paper work.

I'm doubtful that it will get much faster.

BUT all of this is not necessarily a bad thing. I'm forced to be pointed in what I want to grade; therefore, I will probably stop giving busy work (good for everyone, right?). Secondly, the reason it takes so long is because I comment on good stuff and bad stuff. I write out the student's grade and give feedback. The final product is a thoughtfully graded exercise. It's what I would want from a teacher if I were getting graded.

Bonus Perk: It's one big electronic student portfolio. Ta-dahhhhhhhh!

How Do I...?

As you can see, this little experiment has been pretty pivotal for me. My colleagues can attest to the fact that when I'm excited about something, I can't keep my mouth shut. (Chalk that partially up to being a Southern female.)

Regardless, and for better or worse, I've gathered some of the questions I've been asked in the last 92 hours:

1) How do you do class work?

Depends on what it is. We are mastering the art of group conversation and listening, but when it comes down to handing classwork in, I have each student share a Google Doc for that chapter's classwork. They do an exercise from the book, or type the answers from a PDF or document I have on the projector, and I automatically have the end product in my Google Docs.

2) You're a language teacher right? How do the students practice vocabulary?

Quizlet flashcards. At the end of studying they take the "Test" and screen-capture the grade. Then they email it to me. Study Stack also has something similar.
There's also several iPhone/iPod apps.

3) How do you do homework?

Questions from a textbook? a shared Google Docs homework page
Questions from a PDF? see above
Open ended questions? a google doc or a blog
Mind Mapping? Mapmeister
Practice vocabulary? Quizlet and take a screen-shot of the grade. Email me.

4) How do you grade?

Like I normally would if I had a crapload of papers on my desk. Now it just looks like I'm internet shopping all day.

If the work is in a Google doc or Word document, I add a comment box with the grade. If it "accidentally gets deleted," I just add it again (and again, if necessary).
If the work is on Classmarker.com, I sit back and relax, letting the machine grade the answers for me.

5) How do you avoid kids sharing their documents with each other?

a) I can see who is collaborating (or who has collaborated in the past) on any shared document.
b) I also have them pledge each assignment in their document?

6) How are you gonna give a test?

Classmarker.com = both objective and subjective questions. The objective questions will be graded by classmarker.com; the subjectives will be graded by me personally.

7) How do you give them handouts?

I have a PDF folder of every handout I give, so I can shoot them all a group email with an attachment or I can post it on my assignment page at school. I have also experimented with livebinders.com I have all of them stored there as well, and my students can download what they need from a binder I have shared with them.

8) How do they take notes?

Evernote, Word, or the students just listen. I have actually found the latter just as effective as typing class notes.

9) How do you handle one kid having a tech problem and 20 other kids just sitting there waiting for you to fix it?

Thankfully, I'm part ninja. Middle Schoolers know how to entertain themselves without upsetting me most of the time, so it works out. In the back of their heads, they know that they could be the one having an issue and asking for help, so they are usually pretty courteous to their classmates. Some of them play a quick game of widget basketball on the dashboard of the computer. They aren't hurting a thing by keeping themselves wholesomely entertained while I help a student.

I'm Just Popping In...

Coolest part of my day: Popping in on the 8th graders' Google Docs while they were filling out my iNotes on a short story we were preparing to read. I left comments and helped them individually without talking and distracting them. It was fun for me and them because I got to help and make them smile while they were working (sometimes I typed stuff like, "WAKE UP!!" Other times I was able to type, "Why are you deleting that? It's a great answer!!" Best of all I interacted with every single student (and most of them more than once) in the span of 20 minutes. I felt like they were motivated to work knowing that I could pop in and observe their progress without tipping them off by walking towards them. The element of surprise is essential in a middle school classroom. Today, "just popping in" made my day.

Just this... - Day Four

Middle Schoolers are more flexible than people give them credit for. That's all.

Workarounds - Day Three

Can't believe it, but I still managed to avoid the copier and printers today. Students and I are running into many speed bumps but I anticipated it, so I'm much calmer and patient than I would be under most any other circumstance. This experiment has tried my patience and the kids' patience as well, but we are learning to think differently. OMG, we are constantly thinking critically. We are problem-solving!

Last night after assigning a vocabulary practice on Quizlet instead of the normal paper practice quiz to my 7th graders, I got several emails like this:

"Dear Mrs. White,
My computer shut down before I could take a picture of my grade, but I made a 100. okay, thanks."

(didn't accept that as an excuse)

and this....

"Dear Mrs. White,
I took that quiz you assigned and I promise I made a 100 on it, but I couldn't figure out how to take a screen shot. My best friend was over, and he saw me take the quiz, so if you need to verify the grade, he'll tell you I made a 100."

(didn't accept that as an excuse)

but this one made the whole dang experiment worth it....

"Dear Mrs. White,

My mom has a Dell, and I couldn't figure out how to take a screen shot, so I took a picture with my iPod and emailed that to you. I hope that's ok."

Grade: A

There were a ton of successes. But there was one poor guy who took the quiz 293847529384756 times and still couldn't get the screen shot. His mom finally emailed me and verified his grade. I felt so sorry for him, because he was trying so hard, so we talked about other ways of possibly getting the information to me without paper.

All of this to show that assignments will come to you...somehow. The kids that we teach today have phenomenal problem solving skills. They can work around just about any issue. I've seen kids who can text in the middle of class without having to take their phones out of their pockets. It goes without saying, then, that they will figure out how to send me a picture. or email their homework. or text me answers to their model sentences if their email stops working.

Kids these days aren't helpless or lazy. Give them a problem to solve, and if it involves not having to dig for a pencil, they will find an answer. I <3 Middle Schoolers.

The Gap Closes - Day Two

Up until today, I used to view the 7th graders as young and possibly unable to handle this endeavor. Today they proved me wrong. I set aside 15 minutes to allow them to share a google doc with me. The class unfolded as follows:


Me: Ok, kids, open up the computers, log in to Google Docs and take some time to figure out how to share a document with me. How many of you have used this program before?

Kid 1: I saw my brother use it one day.
Kid 2: Google what???
Kid 1: Nope, never done it.

Me: See if you can figure it out.

(insert the sound of talking and typing, laughing...)

45 seconds pass

Kid 3: I'm done
Kid 4: Me too
Kids 5-8: Yep, check. Done. Ditto, Mrs. Whizzle.

Me: Are you sure you've never done this before?


Technology bridges gaps for lots of people. Babies play with iPads. Heck, unbeknownst to me, my second grader went internet shopping and used my iphone to order a nerf capture the flag set via my amazon iPhone app. And all on the way back from a basketball game.

Without. my. knowing.

I'm pretty sure knowledge is no longer just a factor of age and grade level; it's a factor of curiosity and persistence.

Paperless - Day One

Paper-free for the first time EVER yesterday. The kids are excited, but I'm screaming on the inside because I have spent the past 15 years chained to a copy machine: stapling, hole punching collating and unjamming. For all intents and purposes, I was born with a red pen in my hand. But today, a Tuesday in January, I didn't even see my nemesis: that faxing, copying monolith downstairs in the basement that I used to sweet talk whenever it came close to overheating.

In English, I stated my case and as I was explaining why I wanted no more paper to be used in my classroom, I could have heard a pin drop. I had them! And I had thrown down the gauntlet for myself too. If I said it out loud and did this in every class today, I had to own it for the rest of the year. This is the kind of pressure I have to put on myself. Own it or look like a dummy in front of my students. I don't have a choice now...

In English we talked for a while exchanging ideas and asking questions about how this was all going to work. "No, I didn't clear this with Mr. Kvande first." "I'm not sure if it's ok for you to bring in your iPad from home." "This doesn't mean you just get to break out your phones and start texting me all day." "How are we going to take tests?" "How will we study?" "My dad is 48; he isn't going to understand this concept." "This is COOL."

After that, instead of taking notes on the computer like most do, we just talked about irony and how we use it every day when we are being sarcastic with our friends and parents,and how we see it in scary movies all the time. It was the most productive note session I have had all year. A couple of girls freaked out because they couldn't write anything down, so I think I will set them up with Evernote.com so that they can have the notes somewhere. I also gave them links to the powerpoint on my livebinder.com page.

The 7th graders were similarly interested in this endeavor. For the first paperless day, I had them access their email accounts and write some model sentences out and then send it to me.