Teacher's Diary

Xtranormal - Make Your Own Teaching Movies

Hypothesis
by: otandon

Here's a cool new tool I recently discovered: Xtranormal, a website that allows you to create your own animated movie. The program is a little buggy and it crashed my browser once in the making of this movie. It's also very slow to load. That said, the results are pretty cool and I'm interested in classroom applications. Perhaps I create a short video like this one that poses a question and students must create their own animated response? The difficulties arise from the fact that some of my students don't have reliable computer and/or internet access at home and my current school is fairly low tech, with just one computer lab and 2 laptop carts that are always in complete disarray. Last week, I tried unsuccessfully to get my students some computer time to do research for their water project. Oh well. For now, I can make my own little teaching tools - maybe animations will hold their attention more than my boring voice! One can only hope...

Inquiry at Last

Inquiry is one of those buzz words in education these days. I get teachers' magazines every other day with new tips on how to include this innovative technique in the classroom, and I truly believed that I was doing it to the best of my ability. The problem, though, is the tests.

All last year, I was struggling with the desire to teach through inquiry and the fear of the tests at the end of the year. Everyone says that through inquiry, students learn the material better, but it's easier said than done. With the tests looming, there seemed little time to spend creating and presenting projects. After all, I didn't even get through the whole curriculum.

In the end, few of my students passed the Regents anyway, so this year, I figured, why not go all out with the inquiry?

In general, I have felt more at home in the classroom and my family has said this holiday season that my talk about school has changed drastically from last year. I am more comfortable in my teacher role and know the curriculum better than I did last year. This summer I did a lot of planning ahead so that I would be ready for this year, and much of my research concerned how to create better inquiry-style labs and projects. I did my first project - making a brochure to educate community members about possible dangers from space - and it was somewhat successful, but I felt the students weren't really into it. It wasn't real to them.

Then I hit upon a new idea. In doing my unit on insolation, climate and atmosphere, I decided to have students build greenhouses for our school garden (built by a community organization called EATS that brings urban farming to low-income schools). I had been working with them to try to get more students involved and using my class seemed like the perfect plan, plus we were talking about the greenhouse effect and climate. It was ideal.

I created a competition: each class was divided into groups of 4. Each group had to design a greenhouse that used the properties of winter insolation and electromagnetic radiation. We went outside and measured the angle and direction of the sun, confirming what we had learned about low-angle insolation. Groups presented their design to the class, giving an explanation as to why it would be effective and comparing it to the atmosphere. Then each class voted on the best design - and when we return from break, they will build a prototype and cover a single bed with it. Then we will see which class came up with the best design and they will win a class trip with EATS to a culinary arts college.

The designs they came up with were fabulous and the kids were so excited to be outside and doing something physical, tangible. In their presentations, most groups demonstrated a clear understanding of how Earth's tilt causes low-level insolation and why greenhouses are necessary. They were even able to answer Regents-level questions about insolation and seasonal changes.

The project could still use some tweaking, but it was such a breakthrough for me as a teacher to see that students really can reach Regents-level understanding through inquiry and project-based learning. They are not mutually exclusive. I even have a feeling that my students, especially those who struggle on paper-based assessment, will remember insolation better than other topics. I truly hope I am able to come up with similar projects for my upcoming units. If I can keep the interest of my usually hyper students and actually get them to retain information, I will do whatever it takes. And I know their test scores will benefit.

How to Prepare for Parent-Teacher Conferences

Tomorrow the day arrives when I will meet the parents of my new advisees, some for the first time. I must say that last year, I was much more proactive about getting in touch with parents, even just to introduce myself. Perhaps I am a bit turned off by the lack of good it did some of my students last year. Positive phone calls home definitely work for many kids, but calling about behavior issues has been a mixed bag for me. Still, I think this year has been to scant on the phone calls and I will try to rememdy this soon.

Part of the problem this year has also been the fact that almost my entire advisory has parents who speak very little English and since I am not fluent in Spanish or even conversational in Bengali, I have been a little shy about calling. This is one of the things that also worries me about parent-teacher conferences tomorrow. Hopefully I will be able to manage.

With that said, I'd like to offer some tips for those who may be heading into their first PTC:

1. Be familiar with all your students and, for those who failed, notice if they failed other classes as well.

Parents don't like their kids to fail. So they may be angry and upset if you have not passed their son or daughter. You should be prepared to defend your position and back it up with evidence (such as an attendance record showing all their absences or your gradebook with no homework assignments turned in). If the student is also failing other classes, you may want to discuss underlying issues that may exist. If he or she is passing most other classes, try to think about why that might be and what is different about your class.

2. Be prepared for the parents.

I don't mean just having a sign-up sheet ready and the gradebook by your side. Last year, I had parents who didn't seem to care and parents who seemed way too upset and parents who didn't show up at all. There is a wide range in ability among parents in terms of reading and communicating ability, some so severe that it takes them 5 minutes just to sign in. Last year, I wasn't expecting this and it caugth me by surprise.

3. If the student is there, include him/her in the discussion.

Often when a parent is present, we teachers are inclined to speak directly to them, but if the student is there with them, I like to ask the student questions have them respond to both me and their parent. This makes the student feel more comfortable and allows them to feel like they have a say in the conversation, which is about them after all. Students are then much more likely to be honest with their parents and listen more closely in your class - they now have a little ownership.

Of course, I'm no expert, going into my 3rd parent-teacher conference! I'm sure I will learn a lot this year about how to involve and engage parents appropriately. Good luck tomorrow!

Feedback Part 2

So, in my last post, I extolled the virtues of getting feedback from others when something isn't going well in your classroom. It allows you to step back and focus on what is working and what is not. It gives you new ideas to try.

Of course sometimes, you try new things and they still don't work.

That's what happened to me yesterday, when I tried changing seats and changing the location where teaching took place in my difficult class. And none of it worked. If anything, they were less manageable than they had been, with even some of my (few) good kids getting out of control. Although this was extremely disheartening, I had a perfect solution.

I asked for more feedback.

That's right, I told my AP that her suggestions did not work and invited her to come offer more on Friday. In the mean time, I'm going to try to keep them as on task as possible and get them to do at least a little bit of work. I also intend to open up lunch times for people to finish work we cannot complete in class due to the behavior. This will allow me to assess who really cares and who does not, as well as keep the class on track to finish the material needed for the Regents exam.

The only ray of sunshine right now is that my other three classes are moving along brilliantly (with a few minor exceptions). I'm getting into a groove and feeling more and more confident about my lessons. Hopefully I can eventually achieve that same feeling in my worst class.

The Power of Getting Feedback

Last week, I was frustrated time and again by one particular class, and I gave suggestions for dealing with that situation. The last thing I suggested was inviting someone into the classroom to help you improve. I asked my Assistant Principal to come and observe me in my worst class.

Well, today was the day she came, and boy am I glad I invited her. To begin with, the kids were ten times better than they normally are because, after all, she can get them in way more trouble than I can. However, she did pick out some really key things and offered concrete, manageable suggestions to help. She gave me positive feedback too, which felt nice after so much hard work for little return.

Some of the suggestions she gave me were:

1. Change the seating chart - this is something I had been planning to do anyway, since I have groups of friends sitting together right now. They have been pretty good about staying in their assigned seats, so I have hope that this will work.

2. Teach the lesson from different parts of the room, not just the front - by moving around, she suggested, students will be kept on their toes and be forced to look in a different direction from the norm. Students who are usually at the back and out of my watchful eye will suddenly be in the spotlight. I've been meaning to circulate more and she told me to put it directly into my lesson plan so I won't forget. For tomorrow, I'm trying 2 teaching locations, and if that works I might move on the three.

3. No downtime during transitions - this is something I truly struggle with and don't know how to fix besides practice. I've certainly gotten better at making smoother transitions and filling that time with jobs for the most disruptive students, like handing out papers or materials. Still, I need to keep an eye on how my students move from one activity to the next.

Overall, I thought her visit was extremely valuable and I am grateful she was able to take time out of her busy day to help me. For those teachers who may not have such a supportive administration, find a co-worker or even a teacher from another school who might be willing to come watch you once in a while. Sometimes even non-teachers can have great insights into what is and is not working. Often we get so caught up in what we are doing and planning that we don't notice what is working and what is not, or we do, but can't see how to fix it. A fresh eye is often the answer, and I look forward to seeing how my lesson works out tomorrow.

How to Deal with a Difficult Class

Overall, my second year as a teacher has been ten times easier than my first year - I am feeling confident and in control, even when I allow the students to take the wheel for a bit. It feels great! But there is one class that I'm still having trouble with.

My largest class happens to also contain about 15 of the most difficult students in the grade. While this means that my other classes are wonderful, devoid of any trouble-makers, this class reduced me to tears yesterday for the first time this year (although I would never actually cry in front of them, I saved it for later). Standing in that room, watching every single student talk without giving me a second thought, I felt like a newbie all over again. What if, I thought, this is how it's always going to be.

Today, I got back out there and managed to get them somewhat under control. Here's how.

1. I let my feelings out the night before.

By airing out my frustrations with this class, I was able to look past just how hurt I was and think about what the fundamental problems were. The current topic of topographic maps is not the most thrilling thing in the world, so for already-rowdy kids to have to sit and listen to me talk about contour lines would take a miracle. I don't blame them for talking over me. At the same time, they need to learn this and I can't even get through the explanation of a lab, let alone the lab itself. It seemed like nothing would ever work and I needed to get those feelings out.

2. Give the students more power, not less.

When I created my lesson plan for today, I incorporated a 10-20 minute discussion with my students about what was going on. I opened up the discussion for them to share with me how they felt the class could be better. Many students frankly admitted that they found the class boring and I was able to convince them that the faster we got through the boring stuff, the faster we could move on to more exciting topics. I also asked them to consider the fact that the less they listened to me, the longer I had to stand up there talking and the less time they had for group work. Overall, I think they respected me for asking their opinion. I even pulled one of the most difficult students aside after class and asked her if she would be willing to work with me to make the class more active. By giving her ownership of the class, it becomes more likely that she will value the class and respect me as her teacher.

3. Invite others to help you improve.

The last thing I did today to hopefully improve the situation is that I asked my AP to come observe me in that class. Many new teachers - especially those without tenure - shy away from having administrators in the classroom. However, they often have invaluable insight into improvements you can make and are less likely to sugar coat things for you than other teachers are. I personally enjoy getting feedback whenever I can, especially when it has the potential to drastically improve a class' performance. In fact, my AP called me a superstar later in the day, commending me for being so committed to student achievment. Rather than setting myself up for a failed observation, I showed my administration that getting students to learn is far more important to me than their opinion of my teaching.

My advice to all teachers is to put students first, always. Before your ego, before your pride, before your job even. If we can't do that, then public education stands to lose a lot. When times get tough and teachers are being judged on the performance of their students, who is going to take on the difficult classes?

How to Come Back After a Bad Day

A few days ago, I had my first "bad" day of the semester. It wasn't all bad; in fact, a lot of it was good. I got flowers and two cards from students for my birthday and my last two classes sang to me and were extremely well behaved. The first two classes of the day, however, did not go as planned.

Last year, I fell into the trap of assuming that my students knew certain things: how to use a ruler, how many centimeters are in a meter, how to create a graph. They're tenth graders, after all. But in reality, many of them only read on a 4th grade level and they never mastered the use of the metric system. They struggle to even figure out which side of the ruler is inches and which is centimeters. I resolved that this year, I would start out by explicitly teaching these skills rather than assuming the students already possessed them.

Of course, that in itself is sometimes disheartening - it is sad to realize just how far behind some of these students are. My students took twice as long as I had expected they would just to do a simple lab on measuring. It wasn't like they were goofing off. They genuinely struggled to use a ruler and distinguish between centimeters and inches. I started getting frustrated that it was taking so long and the students were getting frustrate by their lack of ability. It led to unhappiness on both sides.

So, in this type of situation, how can you come back the next day and reinspire the same group of kids?

1. Take a step back and evaluate what went wrong.

Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, we get upset about things that don't really matter that much in the scheme of things. It's hard for us as teachers to admit that we've made a mistake, especially to our students directly, but we're only human and of course we do sometimes mess up. In this case, I realized that the second part of the lab we were doing was unnecessary and too difficult for my students without a strong math background. So I truncated it the next day and told the kids not to worry about it.

2. Don't take things personally.

Kids get frustrated for many different reasons and they also respond to their frustration in different ways. Sometimes that manifests as silence, but sometimes as outbursts and lashing out at teachers. If you take things personally, you won't be able to teach the student in the same way you teach the others, which will only compound his or her frustration. So shake it off and realize that kids are mean, but they don't really mean it. They are simply trying to get your attention, so help them more, not less.

3. Plan a stellar lesson the next day.

OK so this isn't always possible when you have certain material to cover, but the idea is that if the day didn't go well, the lesson probably wasn't right. Maybe you were covering too much material, it was too hard, or the lesson itself wasn't engaging. Make your next lesson better and the kids will respond accordingly.

It took me three days to fully recover, but I ended the week with a great lesson and now I'm reinvigorated to plan a great week next week. Hope you can do the same!

SCONYC Conference

This weekend was very relaxing as far as first-year teacher weekends go. I was able to enjoy the sun on Saturday and stay relatively warm and dry on Sunday. I caught up on sleep and certainly on work.

One of the things that made my weekend great, though, was the Science Council of New York City (SCONYC) conference held at Stuyvesant High School on Saturday. As a participant, I was able to partake of several excellent workshops on different methods of engaging students in science, choosing from probably close to 50 offerings in all areas of science. I also raided the vendor booths, where publishers and educational sites tried desperately to get people to off-load the sample text books, Regents prep guides and pamphlets of information they had. I must have gotten 15 free text books, most of which are being sent to my school for me so that I didn't have to lug them around the campus.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the conference (especially since my school is giving me some kind of reimbursement) and I learned quite a bit from the workshops I attended. In my opinion, it was well worth giving up the majority of my Saturday to spend time at this conference. Next year, I will be sure to let readers know about it in advance!

A Day at the Mines

Today was a gorgeous day, full of blue skies, turkey vultures and mine shafts. That's right, I took my kids on a field trip to Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, New Jersey, where they got to learn about the dangers of mining and the rock types that abound in a mine.

I have said it before and will continue to say it: I believe trips are the best way to get kids excited about learning. My students are often rowdy to the point of wildness, unruly and unmanageable. But get them out in a field in New Jersey and they will beg you to help them fill their cardboard box with the 6 different rocks they are supposed to find. The toughest kids grow wide-eyed upon entering the cold, damp mine tunnel. It was an experience that none of them are likely to have again and I made it possible for them.

Talk about an authentic learning experience. Our tour guide was an old, soft-spoken man who worked in a mine himself for most of his life. He told the kids stories about how he started out as a "mucker," breaking up rocks by hand that hadn't been broken down enough in the initial dynamite blast. He told them about a friend of his who was crushed under a giant piece of iron and killed. And he told them about the marble that lined the walls we walked through. They took it all in and really experienced it.

Trips are hands-on learning amplified. Not only are the kids investigating science for themselves, they are experiencing it with their whole bodies. Taken out of their normal, safe environment, even the toughest kids become angels. They know instinctively that they can't get away with things that they get away with back at school, so they don't even attempt it. I am always truly amazed to see that side of them.

For anyone in the New York or New Jersey area, I highly recommend that you take your students to Sterling Hill. The tour guides are fabulous and the learning experience the kids receive is unparalleled. I could tell that it opened so many of them up to science and made what we have been learning about come alive.

To the right, check out one of the cool fluorescent rocks found at the mine!

Digital Classroom - Introduction

In my graduate class (which focuses on literacy in the content-area class), we have focused a lot on how to incorporate technology into the classroom. Now, I consider myself pretty computer literate - I mean, I write a blog, use Facebook and Twitter and can even do some basic HTML programming. But as a first-year teacher, I have been finding it difficult to find time to incorporate these things into my classroom.

For one thing, working in a high-need school, I don't have very many resources at hand. We are lucky enough to have two computer carts, but that must be shared between the 20 or so teachers. And there are only about 4 digital projectors between us. Forget about Smartboards and the like...

I used DonorsChoose to fund a projector for my own classroom, so now at least I don't have to fight for that. However, I can't use DonorsChoose for everything and it takes time to write a proposal and wait for it to be funded and delivered. Now that I have the projector, though, I have been able to incorporate videos into my lessons and have found that the one way to get every kid completely silent is to stick them in front of the screen. Even in my worst class, kids settle down when the projector comes out and a video starts.

But lately in grad school we have been discussing other ways to incorporate technology into our classrooms. There have been so many advances in what we can do with computers and over the internet that showing class videos no longer constitutes forward thinking in terms of technology. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are now being considered tools for increasing literacy. Many teachers are setting up blogs to communicate with students and get them thinking about the material outside the classroom.

It's true that I struggle to get students to do homework and something like Twitter can be accessed on a phone or Sidekick even if the student does not have a computer. Many of my students already use Twitter, but do they know how to use it responsibly? Can they use it to communicate a short, concise message that still makes sense? At first, I thought blogs could be useful but didn't see how Twitter could possibly further classroom discussion. At the same time, I myself have written about the incredible rate of change for technology today.

This week, I plan to focus on several of the articles we have read in class and discuss ways in which these tools can be incorporated more effectively into the classroom. If you are ready to make your classroom more high-tech, stay tuned for upcoming posts!