I <3 AVID

Today was the first day of the AVID Summer Institute. I was delighted to see friends from my school, friends from other schools, even an intern from our science department that is a teacher now.

AVID is a program with a mission. Paraphrased, AVID strives to make college a reality for the forgotten middle. So many federal programs are focused on moving up the lowest 25% of students, and the top 25% will likely continue being the top 25% without much work, that the middle quartiles seem to be forgotten, just drifting along with no one to bother them. (The AVID literature spoke of the "extensive" gifted programs as well, however anyone that works with the gifted knows that they are possibly the most forgotten of all when it comes to meeting their needs...but I digress).

One of the key features of AVID is to equip kids for college by teaching them organization. HERE is where the rant comes in, and here is where I will collect my thoughts before petitioning our principal. As we dove into our clunky AVID manual, we were instructed to place sticky notes on pages 45, 64, 83, etc. We were told to highlight the fourth line of page 93, and underline the main point of page 128. We were told to take notes on the pages of our books. We were asked to fold our into the pages of our (did I mention clunky?) manuals so that we could find them later.

As I was sticky-noting, I found myself wondering about the sticky-notey-ness of the future. When our middle schoolers begin their college careers, will they even have textbooks? Will our then 20 year olds carry paper notebooks? Will they even hand in sheets of paper? My guess is no. According to Educause virtually ALL college students own both a computer and a cell phone. Almost 75% of computers owned are laptops. Further, 36% of students own TWO computers.

The organization that we need to teach our students is NOT sticky notes and highlighters, it's files and font.

We are the people our parents warned us about.
- Jimmy Buffett


I come from a long line of early adopters in the use of technology. Of course, it's all from my mother's side. My mother always had an interest in computers. She was online in chat rooms since the early 90's. (She even fell in love online in 1992, and moved to New Jersey for the relationship!) My grandmother has long been interested in computers. I remember programming in BASIC on the Apple IIc in 7th grade. What the heck could I possibly have been programming?? "Grammie" has had a new computer every 2 years or so since then. Grammie has long been a social networker as well, being a very active member of the PAL's club, a nationwide network of create-a-card experts. She has even traveled to conferences across the US to meet fellow PAL's. I hear that my great-grandmother even harangued my Grampy into buying a new-fangled tele-vision set.

Why am I thinking about this? I was just thinking about who at my school might be interested in blogging. I'm coming up with a big fat NOONE. Well, the technology teacher might blog already. Other than that.....mmm, no one. We have some brilliant teachers. Brilliant!! I am not sure how excited they would be about adding technology into their classes. I plan on doing some professional development, where teachers can choose to learn more about Web2.0. With so many other 'new ideas' in education, I'm not sure I can convince them that this trend is not only here to stay, but it will be growing grander and more extensive every year.

Conclusion? I better find them some good stuff, and not what their grandmothers are used to.

Kids today...

My son is just pushy! I know I shouldn't let him get his way, but you know how soft parents are today. At the his request (and those of his goofy friends), please enjoy the "Here Fishy Fishy" Sesame Street episode. Aparrently "fishy" is the new "buttah".

More educational content to follow soon!

Going old school

Remember Sesame Street, the best kid's show ever?? I love it when I'm somewhere and a stranger or friend know the same episode. (How would they know?? Maybe I was counting to 12 for the Lady Bug Picnic..I don't know it just happens!) Below is one of my favorites, that was also a favorite of a Science Center volunteer.

BTW I'm looking for the video clip with "It's the plumber, I've come to fix the sink," so if you've seen it drop me a comment!

Speed Matters

Below is a speed tester to tell you how fast your internet connection compares to the greater global world. I had no idea I was so slow! Or that Japan is so fast. What is it about Japan that makes them always on the cutting edge of technology and gadgetry? And, is the United States comparatively slow internet connections a result of the vast emptiness in some of our more rural areas? Either way I would like to see what a download rate as fast as Japan's would be like.

Wordle!

Check out Wordle! This site imported my del.icio.us tags and automatically arranged them into a cloud. I think my cloud is gorgeous! I'm also glad I didn't save more astrology and tattoo sites :)

Find me!

Connectivism and Connective Knowledge Online Course

Can't wait to get started!

Task Creep

Learning overload! I have so much going on right now I'm not sure I can get it all done. Not because I don't have the time or the ability, but because I'm so easily distracted. I have so many windows open on my browser, so many items that are interesting and setting me off on tangents, so much STUFF to look at!

My focus for today is to focus. I'm going to be getting things done.

1. First priority, UF class, then
   
2. Reading Endorsement class
3. Helping my favorite teachers start their blogs and twitters
4. Organizing curriculum for Orlando Science Center
   
5. Karaoke w00t!
6. Cleaning the house (yes it's dead last, since it's the least interesting of all my tasks)

C'mon Leyla you can do it put a little focus to it!

It's ALLLL coming together now

Today I attended a Science Leadership Academy. The session was led by Lee Meadows from the University of Alabama, and focused on the benefits of adding inquiry to the classroom. (I took some notes here.) I enjoyed the activities today, and I'm always willing to admit that I don't know as much as people think I do. What was coming together for me, was the past 3 years of teaching, my experience designing training for adults in my previous non-teacher life, and the work that I'm doing in the course I'm taking at UF.

I think that as far as the inquiry model goes Lee was preaching to the 5E choir. 99.99% of teachers in that room have a strong belief in the need for inquiry based lessons, and would likely implement Inquiry (with a big "I") to some degree immediately (if not already) given the resources and the lesson plans.

The coolest thing from today? Being able to subscribe to the blog of an education leader that I actually met! I've never in the past taken a class and then turned around and had a virtually instantaneous application of the course material. How many of our students take a class like that? Admittedly, much of their life is not in progress yet, but what are we doing to provide a scaffold for them in that future life?

Yeah so I'm standing there contemplating the whole blog thing and the RSS feed thing and I'm thinking "why doesn't everyone know this?" HA! I didn't even know it myself until 2 weeks ago. How far I've come :)

And on a related but completely tangential topic:
Who makes these videos and why aren't more teachers being exposed to them?

A time to reflect

Part of the IB environment includes significant time to reflect. As I reflect on the current year, I am thinking of things that I did better and things that I could do better. This year is different, however, in that I am chomping at the bit for the kids to come back.

Since the IB program is tracked from 6th to 8th grade, I already know (well, i KNEW, now I'm not even sure what my position will be) who my kids will be. I've already had a chance to meet them in th cafeteria, during assemblies, when I'm in the technology or band class, and from coaching 6th grade basketball. I love these kids already! I can't wait to teach them about dependent and independent variables and the relationships between them and how to draw a graph and introduce them to the concept of slope and linear equations. I can't wait to use slinkies to demonstrate waves. I can't wait to tie dye at the end of next year.

I loved this year of teaching. It was my third year, and definitely the best so far. I felt that in the 1st year, I learned how to come to work without crying. (I taught ESE inclusion with 40 ESE kids split in two classes, with 3 preps including language arts, science, and reading. Did I mention that I had no planning?) The second year I learned classroom management, and now that the third year is complete I've learned more about how to teach. My progress in assessment and in organization have been the biggest improvements.

Next year will be the year that I put it all together. I'm going to be adding (and improving upon) the technology strategies that I've learned, the cooperative learning strategies, AVID strategies, and my knowledge of science in general.

In short, I can't wait for August!

Disclaimer: This anticipation will not stop me from sleeping until noon or getting a great tan.

Thinking out loud

Here is the next "required" post for my blog. It's funny, for someone that doesn't like to journal or keep a diary, I was in the shower this morning actually thinking about what I would put in my blog! Of course it was brilliant, and of course I have no idea what I was going to write.

In other news, I may be switched with another teacher in my school. I currently teach physical science to the 7th grade IB team. Potentially, I'll be teaching 8th grade earth/space science to AVID students. I LOVE AVID! The problem? Moving all my stuff! I mean wow how things pile up over the course of a few years. I would also be moving from a classroom with 10 computers in it to one with ONLY the teacher PC. Supposedly 18 laptops were stolen from our school at the beginning of last year. Hello, isn't this stuff insured? Anyways, I won't have the same access in the new classroom (which is an OLD classroom) as I did in my old classroom (which is a NEW classroom). Ugh!

Truly though, the material would be easier to deal with, since earth/space science is more reading and modeling and describing than physical science. I mean, you can measure a force or feel a magnetic interaction, but it's not like you would reach out and touch a star. Plus the projects that I could do with earth science and the environment! sigh....

I suppose that whatever the outcome, I will be happy. Going to 8th grade would mean that I will have taught all the middle school sciences (life, physical, and earth/space). However, it would also mean that I would have the science FCAT. And that I would have 8th graders, who I taught my first year and didn't particularly like!

Good thing I believe in the goodness of the universe to provide the best opportunity for me and my students ;)

Shift Happens - YOU WILL

We've all seen the Shift Happens video. I'm positive that I've seen it at least 3 or 4 times, in 3 or 4 different settings. Well, I was browsing through another, more experienced blogger's site, The Tech Savvy Educator, when I came across the video below. Does anyone remember this old AT&T commercial series called "You Will"? These commercials depicted a high tech world of the future, with crazy things like GPS devices, paying tolls without stopping, video conferencing, and other uses beyond our imaginations. These commercials are from 1993, the year I started at community college. Ahh, the good old days, where we all had home telephones and had to actually toss quarters into the toll collector.

My son begrudgingly watched this video while he waited for his next XBox interactive game to load (you know, the one where he is on a military team with men and boys from Canada, New Mexico, Ohio, and Early Frost Circle). The most shocking thing to him was the "outrageousness" of buying concert tickets online. Fifteen years after this commercial, we take online ticket purchases for granted.

Ticketmaster began in 1976. Who would have thought then what changes would occur in not even 20 year's time?

Don't plan...DO!

Today was a curriculum writing Day 1 (of two) for the IB team. The goal was for all three grade levels (6th, 7th, and 8th) plus the elective teachers to meet, greet, and write lesson plans for the entire year.

It was super-fun to be in a room with teachers with no kids around. I mean, I love the kids, and the school is not really a school without them running around, giggling, and screaming...fighting, whining, and flinging hornets....dozing, talking, and backtalking... Ummm, anyways, let's just say the kids were missed.

It took me until 11:43 to truly begin to plan. Before that time I felt the urgent need to clean the coffee pot. Of course FCAT scores needed to be pored over. Then I realized that my backpack was messy. But what is the point of having a clean backpack if your binders are disorganized? Once all of that was finished, at least 3 people needed my mad PC sk!llz for the new mail upgrade. Oh yeah then one request to help move music from LimeWire to iTunes. It was a busy morning.

Suffice it to say, I am READY for curriculum planning now!

Note to self:

Dear Self:
Make sure to chronicle tomorrow's adventures in curriculum planning...
Love,
Your Self

To blog or not to blog?

I want to be a journal-er, but I've never been one of those diarykeeping types. Will using a keyboard instead of a smelly Strawberry Shortcake marker inspire me to record my random musings? For the next 4-6 weeks it will! This blog has been started as a project for an educational technology class, but perhaps it will continue into an ongoing collection of my jumbled thoughts, an online fruitcake of ideas about education, technology, positive thinking, reading, science, students, Modern Marvels, and fung shui. Here goes nothing. No, wait...here comes SOMETHING!