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: