Let the Flogging Commence

Wow!  I just looked at the last time I blogged (August).  I feel horrible.  Then again, I don't.

It's been a really tough year this year.  We changed our school calendar up three weeks.  I may have mentioned that in my most "recent" post.  That has been really hard for both teachers and students.  We've been so ingrained in how things used to go.  We feel like we have more time for things because of where they used to be in the school year.

The English department in the district is, after like 15 years, adopting a new "textbook" (read: curriculum).  We chose StudySync.  If anyone out there has experience with that, shoot me your thoughts.  One of my team members and I worked together and tried both contenders out.  We personally liked StudySync better, but now I'm a little concerned because the district is throwing the baby out with the bathwater and shifting and moving novels and things around to other grade levels because of where they are in the StudySync curriculum.  Without teacher input of course.  This is not a good year to be the department chair.

My 11th graders are probably this least studious I've ever had in my 12-year career.  Everyone seems to be having trouble with them, especially the ELA and Social Studies teachers.

Since February, I've been battling with pneumonia.  I've taken 5 days off (6 including this coming Monday for a CT scan) because of this, not including the time off getting pulled out for meetings and for conferences (CATE and CUE).  This is more than the last 6 years combined.  I've been very lethargic because of this and am WAY WAY WAY behind on grading (instead of just WAY behind).

I'm currently at CUE now.  I'll try and write up about CATE and CUE.  Maybe I can do it Monday after or before my CT.

If you are in the OC area, there is a #MarchforOurLives event at Centennial Park in Santa Ana at 2 p.m on March 24th.

Why is Life So Cray Cray?

And yes, I used the words cray cray.  Since my last post...

It's been very busy, and I've barely been the in the classroom.  At the end of February, I attended the National Conference on Bullying and Child Victimization.  I mentioned agreeing to this in a previous post.  I learned a lot about bullying.  What it is, and what it isn't.  A quick run down for those that don't know:

• There needs to be an imbalance of power.  For example, a group of students against one student or upperclassmen against lowerclassmen.  
• It needs to be repeated.

If there isn't an imbalance of power or it's not repeated, it might be mean (and still needs to be handled), but it's not bullying.

Don't label:

• A student who bullies instead of calling the student a bully.
• The targeted student instead of the victim.

We took the red eye out so we could spend one day at Universal and experience the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  It was amazing.  I can't wait to experience the one here in California.  

We also did a half-day pass to Seaworld, which was within walking distance of our hotel, and enjoyed the afternoon and evening there.

At Universal, Seaworld, the hotel, and the restaurant across the street, I was consistently amazed at how friendly everyone in Florida was.

The biggest takeaway, the session that stood out to me most at this conference, was the one I attended for the One Leg at a Time group.  This is a student-led initiative and not an adult one (there are of course adults involved).  It was really amazing and inspiring to see these kids take an active role in being better people and trying to get their classmates to be better people too.

I had three days in the classroom when I got back--interrupted by the weekend--before I had to be pulled out with half the department to grade district writing assessments, which is never fun and--considering our school does school-wide writing four times a yea--very unnecessary for us.  

I finally had a full week with my kids after that, though time with my 10th graders was interrupted with registration one day, and then another time this past week.

Then, I was out the last two days for CUE 2016. But, before that...

All hell broke loose on campus because of a phone app called Ogle.  I was notified about it by a student early Tuesday morning before my 10th graders registered.  I downloaded it to see what the student was talking about and showed admin right away. It is a horrible, horrible app that the students are using to bully and demean each other and staff (the post about me is so awful and vulgar that I can't show you) and distribute porn (including nudes of each other).  

Threats were made against the school through this app, which is anonymous, and now the FBI is involved.  

Despite the horrid way many of us were made to feel, there were a few lights that this darkness revealed:

• Many students are willing to report such behavior and do what they need to to protect themselves and their friends.
• Many students care enough about their teachers (me) to stand up against those that say vile things about them.

The week before all this went down, I was put in charge of the group of kids called Safe School Ambassadors I talked about before.  I have a feeling/am hoping that a lot more students want to join us for tomorrow's meeting and make a difference in the culture of the school and how we treat each other.

Two months of turmoil....tranquility tested.

I know.  Trust me, I know.  It's been over two months now since I last blogged.  I'm sorry for those that actually read what I put out there.

I'm just going to be bluntly honest (not that that I'm often not), and tell you this last month, in particular, has been emotionally taxing.  I was hoping to get caught up on my grading during the holiday break, and while I did in the last week get the 5 sets of 5 blog posts and 4 comments graded, I ended up having to deal with something a little more pertinent, particularly that first week.

The Sunday before Christmas, I got into a car accident, or more accurately, I was forced into a car accident.  I've been dealing with the aftermath ever since.  I'm physically okay for the most part, just lots of trips to the chiropractor.  And, the logistics of everything but bodily injury have been taken care of.  But, emotionally--between thinking I was going to die (yup, she went there) and already being stretched thin emotionally with work and my graduate work and having to replace the life saving car that I had had for 9 years (a very pretty blue Honda Civic that I called Belle) with a new car (a very pretty blue Kia Soul named Luna)--it has been noticeably draining.  

But now that the semester is over, all the grades are in (well, all except maybe two, but that depends on if I get an essay on the positive effects of procrastination from a particular someone on Monday morning, and if one student is out of the hospital and can take their final--I hope that is the case), and I finished the working draft of my section of a group literature review for my graduate group's action research project on badges in education, I have a little time to sit down and do some reflecting on my teaching through the written word.

Let me start with the most important tech tool EdTechTeam Google Summit I mentioned in my last post gave me.  I've used it with my 10th-grade honors students a few times now.  I love it, and the kids are still making up their minds about it, but let me--if you don't already know about it--introduce you to ActivelyLearn.  

There are different pricing level's, but there is a free level, which my account reverts to tomorrow (I think) after getting a free trial upgrade from the summit.  You can find some content that comes with questions and notes built in; you can start completely from scratch or add your questions and comments to the ones that already exist.  You can add media right into the story.  I put pictures and videos in the margin notes, which was  helpful with "Murders in the Rue Morgue".  You can also add media and directions to the beginning of the story, like this video I added for "The Tell-Tale Heart".

The aspect I enjoy most about ActivelyLearn though is the ability to grade by question, rather than student.  This is immensely helpful in seeing where the weaknesses and needs are for the class.  For example, for "The Raven" (we just finished a unit of Edgar Allan Poe if you didn't guess), I had added a question about the setting of the poem.  If I was grading it student-by-student, all questions at once, I might not have caught the fact that many of them were forgetting that setting is both time AND place and address it with them.  I was also grading as they were reading and answering questions so, in some cases, they were getting real-time feedback from me on their answers.

I also like the fact that teachers can reset students' answers, or that students can request this themselves.  That way you can give them a chance to get it right.  Sometimes they still don't get it.

I was tempted to give him points for persistence.

But, they often come up with answers that make you chuckle.

As a Walking Dead fan, I enjoyed this answer.

ActivelyLearn integrates well with  Google Classroom.  You can set up your assignments for Classroom from ActivelyLearn.  You can also pull your roster to create the class from Classroom as well.  

You don't have to be an English teacher.  They have content for various subject areas and grade levels, and--depending on your price plan--you can upload your own text.  I highly suggest you check it out and, at least, give it a try.  I'm probably going to try it with my 11th graders for "The Battle with Mr. Covey" and "The Lowest Animal".

I think I'll leave it there for now.  I'll follow up with a quick post about the fun we had reading "Masque of the Red Death" in my next post.

Still Treading Water

Just...GAH!


I'm so overwhelmed and haven't been able to read my Feedly or get a post in.

I should be grading or planning, or at home packing for this weekend's EdTechTeam Google Summit, but I decided to try and get a post in.

So what has been going on since the last post?  Let me tell you...


With broken up weeks because of holidays, and testing, etc. We haven't had a Passion Project Day in a while, and it looks like we may only have one after the students get back from Thanksgiving Break and before "Winter" Break.  I'm still making them blog about it though, to hopefully encourage them to work on it.  I've decided to start making the blog post due every other week though instead of every week.   I have barely made a dent in grading them, so if I'm drowning in them, the kids must be too.

Still on the subject of the Passion Project, we (mostly) finished up our presentations of our proposals.  There were a few things that stood out to me:

• One student said the project is helping them start to figure out what they want to do in life.
• One is doing a project about the bass guitar and naming it "All About That Bass" (I thought that was cute)
• One is doing his on the topic of the brain and depression.
• I have a few groups of students who are going to make their own video game
• One is going to learn American Sign Language
• One is doing one on Slacklining
• One group is doing one on preventing baseball injuries
• and, one is doing one on Autism because he wants to give families back hope.

The group of 5 I talked about in my last post are still together.  I pulled them aside and asked them to figure out how to break into two groups or to create a presentation to convince me to allow them to stay together.  They did a pretty good job, though one girl was the clear "ringleader".

Besides getting blogs and comments graded and into the books, I need to start planning out the elevator pitch that I originally planned for the end of the semester...I guess we will see.

Last week, I had a really transformative experience when I participated in a training for Safe School Ambassadors with 6 other teachers and 15 students.  It's really hard to put into words what it was like, but I'm looking forward to helping students (and myself) change for the better and help others change because of that.  This also inspired me to say yes to a request to send me to Orlando in February for an Anti-Bullying conference that I didn't want to do previously because I didn't want to pulled out again.  But, this issue is really important.

I will be spending my break coming in to do work.  I need to plan out the Edgar Allan Poe Unit for my 10th graders all the while going into their To Kill a Mockingbird essays do when we get back to give them feedback.

I'm hoping this enormous feeling of being overwhelmed will lessen a bit when I finish my Masters at the end of the school year.  I need to find more time to fit in some yoga.

Struggling to Reach the Surface

Not to be a downer (or drowner, as the case may be), but I'm struggling.  I'm sure I'm not the only one, especially if you teach English like I do.  I'm (hopefully not vainly) trying to break the surface of that which is grading.  

I'm SO far behind.  With my own school, where I often spend the weekends, or at least Sunday, getting most of my work done, and trying out the passion project, and planning, and making sure I'm not sitting at my desk when I'm being a "guide on the side", and getting my 10,000 steps in Monday-Friday (20 pounds lost, woot), I'm never really making any significant progress in filling my lungs with the oxygen that is being completely caught up.

Only in teaching do you contemplate taking a day off in order to do more work.  I'm not going to do it because I already know I'll be pulled from the classroom two days in a row in November, and at least one in December.

Speaking of that, as a teacher that uses tech in the classroom, planning for subs is that much harder.  And, planning for subs is a major pain without the added issue of tech.  I don't feel comfortable putting the Chromebooks in the hands of a sub, so I often have to figure out how to do something the "old-fashioned" way, or do a one off lesson.  Any other techy teachers want to talk subs with me?

I had an epiphany moment with the Passion Project this week.  We started the presentations of our proposals.  It took a lot longer than I thought, but we also had a shorter class period than normal, so we'll continue this Friday.  I had borrowed the template from Kevin Brookhouser after reading his book on 20 Time in the classroom, but my students (many of them) were confused by it.  So, I simplified it a bit and changed it for next year (again, that must mean I'm planning to try this crazy ride again) by changing it to have a more clear objective that has an impact on at least one other person.  I've also decided (damn, that 20/20 hindsight) to create a screencast explaining the proposal for next year.

The proposals presentations were enlightening.  I learned, that of course, there is a group of 5, despite the fact I told them both verbally and in writing that they could only have 4 people per group (*sigh*), and that some kids are unbelievably selfish (but only some kids).  I'm quite impressed with the ideas some of my students have.  Here are a  few ideas that stood out to me:

• two students are going to work together to inspire people with their passion for music, which will hopefully culminate in a performance of an original song.
• three students want to give turtles to children in hospitals for companions.
• numerous students want to do something to help the homeless
• one student wants to educate people on the culture and languages of the indigenous Mexican tribes so they don't become lost
• one girl wants to do henna tattoos for people who have lost their hair

With the Passion Project just about every Friday, I'm "behind" where I should be according to the curriculum map.  I guess it's a good thing I only use that as a guide and have decided to take the time my students and I need (or try to at least, that's another struggle) to work through the content regardless of time.  

I am still on To Kill a Mockingbird with my 10th-grade honors students.  We've finished reading the book, but there is so much I can still do with it.  I feel the push to get done and started on the Poe unit, but I'm not going to.  I'm going to give it a few more weeks (especially since it looks like testing will get in the way one week) and take Poe to the end of the semester.

My 11th grade PLC wants to have The Crucible done before Winter Break.  Yeah, doubt that is going to happen for me.  We haven't even started it yet.  We finish Romanticism next week, and that is with taking out Transcendentalism.

I wonder how much time I would get back if all the testing went away?

Speaking of my 11th grade.  I had them go through "The Raven" and mark all the words and phrases that contributed to the mood, then had them type the words into a wordle (which doesn't work on Chrome by the way, had to switch to Firefox).  Check out their wordles below.

First Two Weeks of School 2015

I originally created this post with the intent to blog on the first day of school, but things got in the way.  That seems to be the possible theme for this year, as I then decided I would use this post to blog about the first week of school...and things got in the way.  Those things were my Master's program, planning and grading.

So, here I am, blogging about the first two weeks of school.

Let's try and take this chronologically.

I'm one of the "techy" teachers on campus  (If you've ever read anything on this blog before, you're probably thinking, duh.  If you haven't read anything on this blog before, why are you starting here?).

So I planned to follow Catlin Tucker's example and avoid the boring cliched first day of going over the syllabus.  My plans and the technology's plans were not the same.

Of course, the students couldn't log into the Chromebooks and access the internet.

So we ended up going over the syllabus for the first two periods and chatting about the things we liked to read and watch.  It wasn't until 3rd period that we figured out if the students "browsed as guest" that they could access everything they needed.

From that point on, the rest of the day was pretty good.  The kids liked taking the quiz and they enjoyed competing against each other with the Socrative Space Race.

The second day I switched things out a bit and got 1st and 2nd caught up with the rest of the day, and 3rd on caught up on the syllabus.

The network was still being wonky.  So, the students were still browsing as a guest.  But, I still got them all signed up to Quill.org (though, there were some snafus with that the company is ironing out).  I gave them some time to practice on the site and had a practice unit for them to do that was due at the end of the week (I have not yet gone into grade said unit yet *sigh*).

I got the kids signed up to Google Classroom and started off with an assignment on Two-Chunk paragraphs with attached screencast directions.

I'm in the middle of grading these, after taking a "break" to give the students some feedback on essays, and the students seem to understand the concept and formatting better than they did last year at this time.

On Friday, I tried out Classroom's new question feature with an attached presentation with some videos related to Genius Hour and 20% Time.  I'm going to attempt this with my students this year.  I'm calling it...

I had students respond to a question asking about what stood out most to them and to respond to at least one other student.  That seemed to work out really well too.  

This past week, we worked on our narrative.  The previous week, I used a Google form and took a quick survey of the students to see what kind of narrative essay they wanted to write:  (auto)biographical or a short story.  The short story won.

I had them start off with an assignment that had them going through the ABC strategy (Attack the prompt, Brainstorm, and Choose the order).  I encouraged them to use Lucidchart add-on or the Google Drawing function to create their graphic organizers.  This ended up taking way too long.  Students were a little intimated, I think, by the charts and it took many of them two days to finished and cut into the two days I gave them for drafting their essay in class.

Friday was another Passion Project day.  I had some questions to help them explore their passion and try and begin to think about what they want to do for their projects.  I'm following a lot of the advice/format of Kevin Brookhauser and his book, The 20 Time Project.

I think that is it.  I've got to get to reading and doing my assignments for MY class now...

Let's Play Catch Up

Almost 3 months since my last blog post?  I know; I know; I'm not a very consistent blogger.  Feel free to wag your finger at the screen.

So, what's been going down since May?

Well, in March, I said I was going to have students retake a survey to get their feedback on the use of Chromebooks in the classroom.  Well...note to self: set reminders for surveys you want students to take at different points in the year.  Yeah.  I got overwhelmed with end of the year stuff and forgot.

The end of the (school) year was a typical scramble to get things done.  I was not happy with the overall grades of my students, but talking with other teachers on campus, neither were they happy with the results.  Since most of the other teachers did not move to blended-learning like I did,  I'm going to hazard a guess that the apathy from the students didn't have anything to do with my transition into using the technology, but with the change in climate and expectations our school experienced last year.

I'm looking forward to being able to teach the 11th grade two years in a row for the first time in my now 10 year career as a teacher.  I'll actually be able to build on what I did the year before.  Imagine that!

The day after the last teacher duty day, a Saturday (yes, a Saturday), I participated in a summit at one of our district campuses that was put together by the EdTechTeam.  I really enjoyed it and gained a lot of useful information, particularly with Google Forms and branch logic (I'll talk more about that perhaps in another post once I get the hang of it).

That summit also had me contemplating trying out a 20% Time/Genius Hour Project with my students.  I'm not sure exactly what I want to do, but I'm thinking of using the first few Genius Hours (because that's what I'm going to call it because I think we'll skip them when we have short weeks), working with the students to create the criteria and protocols for it.

I spent some time this summer going through the Fundamentals Training at the Google for Education Training Center  to begin getting GAFE certified.

I took the Level 1 test today, and I PASSED!!!

I've gone through all the Chromebook training as well and as soon as I get everything I earned from my Level 1 certification, I might go and take that test as well.  I'm hoping I'll be able to find time to get Advanced Training in this year, but with with the last half of my Masters, I doubt it.

Speaking of my Masters.  I aced the first half of the program. I got an A in all my classes and a 100% in 4 of the 5 taken.

One way I'm going to try and be a better blogger is to start posting interesting articles/blog posts that I come across on the web or my Feedly reader.  A friend of mine outside of the education world does that on her blog each week, and it appears that my friend over at Flipping With Kirch has started to do something similar as well.  I'm not sure I'll be able to do every week.  But, I should be able to do at least once a month.