The reality is even better than the idea

Tonight's dessert: grilled peaches a la mode with Bhakti Chai chip ice cream and fresh, homemade whipped cream. Tastes even better than it sounds. Wow.

Tomorrow is the final day of Global Learners training. I'm really excited about the new group of Global Learners. They are really enthusiastic about the program and all they are learning, even if they are a little overwhelmed right now, much like I was a year ago.

One week from today is Freshman Day. Wow. I'm looking forward to it, though. Yes, the year will be replete with its bumps and bruises, but I do think it will be a good year anyway.

It's over... new beginnings

The summer is over for me now. I attended part of new teacher induction today, and tomorrow I will be back full time with Global Learners training. This was a really intense summer for me, so I'm not sad that it has come to an end. Added to that is the opening of the brand new, beautiful and exciting high school building, with all four Academies in place and ready to go. While I'm taking a break from the climbing program this year, my plate will not be empty. (The program needs to be reset due to the demise of the Denver Climbing League and Paradise Rock Gym, so the students and I are going to take some time to figure out what that will look like for the 2010-2011 school year and beyond.) Instead, this year I will have two mentees in Global Learners, a student teacher until December break, a few senior adoptees to get ready for graduation, and as senior class sponsor, I have graduation to help out with. The only extracurricular I have planned for this year will be the book club, though there are a few teachers and I who want to put together a triathlon event for the spring. In addition, with the authorization of the full IB program, we have to get that up and running as well. Like I said, my plate will still be decently full.

Last night I attended a book signing and teaching with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, author of The Joy of Living and Joyful Wisdom. I've been to a few such teachings/book signings, two with Tibetan writers/teachers (this is my second of such). The event was both entertaining as well as educational: I learned a great deal, and took quite a lot home for me to sort through. It was a really nice way for me to end my summer and to begin a new year. I'm looking forward to it now more than I was before.

Global Learner Year One Reflections

The conclusion of my first year as a member of the Global Learners program is rapidly drawing to a close. I can comfortably say that in many ways this has been one of the most exciting years I've had as a teacher in quite a while. Not only did I choose to take on collaboration/group work as a norm of the class, but I integrated technology into my teaching far beyond what I thought I would. (Quote of the day from one of my juniors as he is typing his final: "Mr.... how do you spell 'miracles'?") Ning, Edmodo, Twitter, CoverItLive, YouTube, TextTheMob, Power Point, Google docs, TurnItIn.com, and the like played far more of a role in my classes and in my instruction than I initially believed they could, to the point that they became as much of the classroom culture as a whiteboard or a textbook. There are some that I've introduced my students to but haven't really dug into yet, like RSS feeds (I use them, but haven't spent a lot of classroom time on them yet), podcasting, videocasting, OpenZine, and so forth. I used blogs this year, and will continue those as well. I'm sure there are other educational technologies that I've not even heard of, but will seek out and utilize as much as I can.

On the one hand, it does mean a good bit of extra time and work for me, at least initially, but when schools in other countries are making it a part of their regular curriculum, then it becomes a given that my students need to be made aware of these tools as well; under no circumstances will my students be given the opportunity to be left out of the conversation. There are plenty who disagree and feel that social networking and the like have no place in the classroom; I and many others respectfully disagree. The bottom line is that the technology is here to stay and as educators we can either adapt or be left behind. The tragedy of that is if we choose to become Luddites, we drag our students down with us and so disenable their ability to stay involved and connected to the world that they can, do, and will live in.

Back at work and back at live blogging

We had another live blogging session in my epistemology class today. The kids have really gotten into it; it's definitely become a part of the classroom culture. Actually, yesterday we had a brief moment of panic when I said we were going to discuss the blog topic but not have an online conversation. The kids misunderstood and thought that I was saying that we weren't going to use coveritlive anymore, and I almost had a mutiny on my hands. Today's conversation was "What is the goal of science?" Before we started the conversation, I asked the students to take out their phones and turn them on. There were a few sheepish looks from the students who already had them on, and general confusion all around. One student looked at me, laughed, and said, "You know they're waiting for the snatch and grab, don't you?" Once the phones were on, I had them send text messages to as many people as they wanted to (preferably not other students), asking those people what they thought the goal of science was. It was pretty amazing... I think many of the students were a bit surprised to be using their cell phones and sending text messages as part of class work, but they certainly weren't complaining. As messages came in, we added them to our class discussion on coveritlive, where John Albright and someone named Angel had joined us.

I love the fact that the students have taken to this so readily and have really become much more active participants in class discussions; it's even bringing out the "wall flowers," especially when they could incorporate text messaging. My only wish now is to get more people participating in the live blog that are not only outside of the building, but outside of the district (and not just through text messaging); I've begun posting the links and notifications on Twitter, Facebook, The Global Education Collaborative, and even MySpace, but we haven't quite gotten the response I've been hoping for, at least not yet. Then again, it's new, so I'm not really discouraged, either... I figure once I make this a more regular thing, I'll get more outside participation.

(Cross posted to the Global Learner blog.)

Global learning... at least into a district next door

I was talking with my son's best friend last night about an assignment he has for one of his classes in which he is being asked to make a collage using pictures and quotes. I offered to help him out with finding what he needed online, and he replied, "I can't... I'm supposed to use magazines." I asked him how much technology they were using in his school, and turns out that they aren't using much, which is particularly frustrating for him since he hears me talking about what my students are doing in my class and what my son is doing in his classes, and basically he wants in on the action, so to speak. Furthering his desire is his intent to attend CSU after graduation, and so between the higher use of technology in our district and our partnership with CSU, which has taken serious steps towards going green, including having students hand in all work electronically, he is considering transferring to ACHS in his sophomore or junior year.

He also talked with me about becoming more tech-savvy in regards to his schoolwork, so I've agreed to tutor him in the use of technology, ranging from Power Point to blogging to Google Docs. His first "assignment" was to get his teachers' email addresses and talk with them about handing in his work electronically. He was wondering how he'd be able to "make his mark" at his high school... he may have just found it. :-)

Super-nerd Extraordinaire

I took the big leap today and incorporated not only my Smart Board, but also the podcasting into my lessons today. A few of the students had a few laughs at my self-professed nerd-dom, and there was a brief discussion as to whether I was a nerd or a geek, but since I took ownership of both titles, it worked out great. (ha ha!)

The goal of using the technology is that if a student is absent or needs to revisit the class for whatever reason, they will be able to go to the class website and from there watch the PowerPoint notes for the day and listen to the corresponding podcast. That way a student that is absent for any reason whatsoever can easily stay caught up with the work in class. I think it could also be a great way for parents or anyone else interested in what is going on in class to check it out at their leisure- the walls of my classroom are disappearing for sure!

I'm also hoping that other teachers will check it out and share their thoughts and ideas with me. This new technology represents an amazing potential for (literal) global collaboration... can you tell I'm excited?

I felt a little nervous about using the technology, and I've realized that from a practical point of view, I am likely to only use one of the recordings of my freshmen classes, rather than all four- I simply won't have time to edit and upload five different recordings (four freshmen classes and one junior/senior class). The best of the day will be the one that gets featured. At least, that's the thought for now... perhaps I'll just post the entries "as is" since a listener could just as easily fast-forward through; we'll see, I guess.

Hm. Yes. Well, then. I just gave a listen to one of the podcasts and realized that I had forgotten to switch the Audacity software setting from the computer's microphone to the wireless mic I was wearing. As a result, there is a ridiculous amount of background noise. Woops. I'm sure errors like these will at least lessen somewhat once I get used to using the equipment and no longer have any real anxiety about using it.

Still.. an exciting day in the room for sure!

Ouch and a Candle4Tibet

I have FINALLY gotten to go rock climbing! Ironically, the
injury photos that are here aren't from the actual climb. They are from the hike down afterwards. Overall, the day was great. I met up with two recent graduates, a student who moved to the midwest, and one of the members of the climbing team, and together with my son and his best friend, we headed up to Boulder Canyon for a few hours.

The day was perfect. We got there early enough in the morning that it hadn't gotten really hot yet, so that really helped. We knocked out a couple of climbs, and then around noon decided that it was getting hot, so it was time to go. That's when
the fun began.

About halfway down the trail, there is what is called a talus field; basically a big section of rocks. I was the last one over it, and I guess I wasn't paying full attention, because the next thing I knew, down I went. I pitched forward and landed on my knees and right arm. Not a lot of fun. I actually hit my arm hard enough that I thought maybe I'd broken it, so I rolled over on my back and took a few seconds to make sure I was okay. I did a quick scan and realized that nothing was broken, which was a pretty huge relief. I got up and finished the hike down, then we headed home.

I still can't believe that school starts in less than a month. Wow... this summer went by incredibly quickly!! I'm still working on getting podcasts together, and I haven't had much of a chance to experiment with my Smart Board.

In other news, on August 7th, I would like to encourage everyone reading this to light a candle for Tibet. It's part of a campaign to get 100,000,000 people to light candles the night before the Olympics starts to remind people of what is happening to Tibet and the Tibetan people. It is a nonviolent, global public statement that will help to remind our world leaders that we have not forgotten Tibet. There is also a social network on Ning (which was mentioned during our Global Learners training... see?! I was paying attention!), which I would also encourage people to join. The time to light the candle is 9:00 p.m. local time (whichever time zone that may be). If our world leaders won't do it, someone needs to show them how.

The word of the day is "unicycle"

Today was my first "official" day of summer vacation, even though I still spent a good part of it discussing Global Learners and figuring out more ways to incorporate the technology into my classes. I figure that I'll take a "break" (I never really take a complete break from teaching... I spent part of my day today reading Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson) for a couple of days, then plunge back into the technology I've recently been given and explore some of the sites I found during the training. I have a few lesson plans forming that I need to get down, and I'm thinking of going through donorschoose.org for my own set of clickers, though we'll see about that. I'm more interested in the possibilities represented by WiziQ, blogs, podcasts, Smart Boards and Google docs. I'm thinking that I'll probably focus on those and make those my area of "expertise" at least for this year.

The big news was the new toy I picked up, courtesy of craigslist and $10... a spiffy unicycle. I have to admit that it's actually much harder to ride than I thought it might be, and definitely is going to help me work on my core strength. That being said, the thing is FUN. I actually was able to get going on it... for about six feet, which is my record so far.

A pretty fun way to start my summer.



Yeah, I look GOOD... well, I did for about six feet anyway.



















The Matrix... unicycle style!

Day 1 of Global Learners training, and I'm pretty excited. For those that don't know, being a part of the program means I get all sorts of cool technological gadgets for my classroom, including a laptop, projector, etc. as well as several days of training in ways to better incorporate technology into my teaching. I've already gotten some nifty ideas, including changing up how journals are done in my classes. In my increasing effort to go paperless, I've decided that starting next year, rather than write journals in a notebook, my students will be required to create a blog using their school Gmail accounts and update those blogs at least once a week. I'll have guiding questions and word counts for them, but that's the basic plan for now. Being a part of the program also means that the other teachers on my team who have access to the same technology and I can plan cross-curricular lessons and "simul-teach" (yay! new word! Inspired by the word "simul-climbing" in rock climbing) students in each of our classes. Instead of just working with 25 or 30 students, I could work with all 100+ students, and so would the other teachers on the team. THIS is going to be FUN!!! (With sincere apologies to my students from the class of 2012 who won't get to take advantage of this kind of thing... don't worry, I still love you... well... maybe. Ha! ha! ha!) Seriously, though, it's too bad I hadn't thought of this last year or the year before last. Sorry, kids!

Two more days of training... we're going to be discussing blogs, wikis, podcasts, Twitter, Skype... all sorts of really cool things that I can't wait to use. Oh... for the members of 2012, I do have one consolation for you. Remember how I used to email you the class notes so you never missed a thing? Well, one of my goals for next year is to make podcasts of my classes, so students who are absent can log into their Gmail accounts, get the notes, AND listen to the class day that they missed. Not only will they not miss the notes, they won't really miss the class (and all of my super fantastic jokes)... how amazingly cool is THAT??? :-D

In other news, if it weren't for this stupid cold I have right now, things would be peachy. I was too tired and sick to even make dinner tonight, so Lamar and Blake made dinner for everyone. It was pretty tasty spaghetti, too, I have to admit. Not as good as mine, of course (ha! ha! ha!), but it was good... they did a great job.

Hmm... I think I'll make some tea with honey. Hope everyone is having an excellent summer. More soon!