Helping Your Students Learn from Everyday

Wow, this past week and a half has been filled with a ton of dramatic and fun news.  Sports have consumed my time this past few days.  My twitter project for the summer has really dwindled down.  Not having student followers has made it very challenging.  I should have started early before the school year ended.  Yet, I have continued to learn, and learn on purpose.  Creating some wonderful experiences with friends and my family.
This weeks post is mostly about some events that have popped up in the news these past few days.  Of course I am only going to mention what news I caught while I was switching channels from reality shows to Sports Center.  So here goes:
        
          First:  This past week Derek Jeter of the New York, Yankees hit his 3000th hit with a home run on home his home field.  How cool is it to see a MLB player complete such a task and complete it without cheating. The person who caught the ball only gave up the ball for season tickets and a few autographs for the rest of the season.  Oh no, not this guy.  Jeter would be at my school every year till I retire giving a keynote,  I would have some college funds for my kids and at least 10 years worth of season tickets.  All kidding aside, I hope that most of my students were able to see this milestone and notice that with hard work and not just talent alone you can achieve great things.  Which leads me to my next lesson learned

          Second:  Pacman Jones is in the news again.  No ladies and gentlemen you are not going to hear good things.  He was arrested again and most likely will be punished by the NFL or not.  You may think because of the lockout Pacman  is out of the reach of the league but not at all.  What a lost talent.  Unfortunately I also blame alot of it on his upbringing.  Pacman was so talented that he was always praised for how great he was, how well he did it and how his talent will get him into the NFL.  His teachers and parents should have praised his hard work and recognized his good choices.  All the talent in the world can get you the job and money you desire but it won't help you keep it.  WORK HARD kids!!  Teachers recognize these things in class let them see how talent is not the end of the story.  For the first couple of years of teaching I always brought up Ricky Williams football career, the intelligence of Jeffry Dahmer, and Michael Jackson's path from King of Pop to a weirdo.  Please teachers give your students examples in the classroom of  people seeking greatness not success.

Third:  This is a competitive world and it just isn't in the marketplace.  It begins in the classroom.  I know it is not a new idea but it really clicked with me watching the U.S. women's world cup team play in the early rounds.  These players are training and dedicating their lives to win something bigger than themselves.  They are representing a people, a country, and idea of democracy.  Are we instilling that kind of mindset in the classroom or are we just leaving that up to sports only.  Create your class to be a global classroom.  You may think it is hard but it is not.  I teach 8th grade U.S. history.  When you think about of course it is global but 8th graders just think about what is happening on the mainland not the influence we have on the world, the big Why am I learning this question should be answered with a global mindset.  Competition and global learning should be an everyday expectation in your class.

I hope that in the coming years of my teaching my students and co-teachers will grow to be competitive global thinkers.  I hope you do too!  Make Good Choice, Do Great Things!

Learning About the Space Shuttle Program

My son has a stuffed animal that I gave him that belonged to me as a child.  It is a grey pound puppy named Brandon.  I named him after the famous golden retriever from Punky Brewster.  I am sure some of us grew up during the time of the adventurous Punky Brewster.  Punky had spunk.  She was  a character who I looked up to, even though she was  a girl.   In the 80s boys were meant to be boys who looked up to characters like He-Man, and Voltron.  Yeah, all of these shows were make believe but they played to something that public education has deadened, our creativity and imagination with Science and Math.

Today marked the day of the last NASA space shuttle launch.  It was amazing to see how far we have come in technology to see every moment of the flight set up.  It might be the wannabe nerd in me talking, but it was so fascinating.  I woke up at 7 a.m. put Benjamin back to sleep with his pound puppy Brandon and turned on my phone, laptop, and the television to see the launch.  I remember learning about the NASA from that famous show Punky Brewster.   I still remember the Career day scene where Punky walked in wearing the coolest astronaut costume.  Her explanation of an explorer made everyone in her T.V. classroom want to be an astronaut including the little boy watching it on a 10 inch television from his mothers bed.

When I went to school I always wanted to spend time in Science and Math, and I was terrible at them both.  I still remember having to spend my tutorial class,  homeroom, and my off period studying for my Science classes in high school.  I do not recall ever making above  a B in any of my Science classes.  When it came to projects I did well, I was a bit of a procrastinator so my grades could have been better on the projects, but my creativity always gave me a fair grade.

Having things like the NASA program shown creatively on television made me want to learn more.  It made me realize other than Buzz Lightyear what creative alleys will my son go down to learn about space and science.  How do we teach my kids about the space shuttle program when now it will be privatized.  Soon, we will have to watch the shuttle launch on Pay Per View.

So here is what I have learned from Punky Brewster and the NASA shuttle launches:

1. Be observant:  Science can be eye opening even for those who don't like it.  Hey, I thought punky's friend who wanted to grow up to be Rambo was  a great idea.
2. Create a constant learning environment:  Learning can be created with any medium: TV, Videos, walks in the park, trips to the museums, sports, and yes even water balloons.  I could go on with tons of ways to apply science and math.
3. Be a creativity advocate:  My wife comes up with the most creative ways to celebrate holidays and birthdays.  She is a poet and a problem solver.  Her creativity and gusto helped organize and create a lot of fun for our church week long day camp.  Yet, she believes that she is not creative.  This coming from the women who wanted to be a pro-wrestler and Isaiah Thomas when she grew up.  She even told me school killed the creativity in her.  It was about making good grades.  I try my best to encourage the process and her ways of thinking.  The same will go for my students and children.
4. Be a Learning Engineer:  Learning is one of the only things you continue to do as you grow in life.  
1. An learning engineer is a professional concerned with applying high yield instructional strategies of scientific knowledge, mathematics, humanities and ingenuity to the educational environment.  A Learning Engineer creates materials, structures, machines and systems that encourages and utilizes whole brain learning.

So the question is who is going to teach my son about the space program.  I am!  Make good choices do great things

Tweet This!

I have been using Twitter this summer as a social experiment for the classroom.  I have done two competitions so far. The first competition I created was based around the New Release of "The Green Lantern" and this was the question:
Which American figure would have the greatest superhero powers, and what would they be? Best answer wins tickets to see Green Lantern.
I had very little participate but the winning answer was quite witty and very insightful:
Alexander Hamilton-The power to create a force field around his body. Sadly, it malfunctioned when he got shot in the face.
I have used it to repost quotes, data, pictures, wierdfacts, and other statements made by twitterers such as: @usmission, @smithsonian, @cnnstudentnews, and other SS based groups/people.
My second competition I am giving away two Texas Rangers tickets and I am only trying to build a database of students who attend my school.  I would love to drive more of my future students as well as my previous students to my twitter site but I am finding difficulty.
I am not discouraged I am going to keep pushing video of the week, word of the week, and all of my other little ideas.
I am still reading Jeff Utecht's book Reach and it discusses twitter in there and I want to see how he uses it for learning.  Next objective is to use my google docs account to create a survey to see who all uses twitter and measure that to the people that have followed me.
I am getting excited to see what my summer end result will be and as always: Make Good Choices, Do Great things!

Should Outreach Programs be Supporting Public Schools? Or The Other Way Around?

        
This past week I, and few other men from my church went and fed a few volunteers and teachers at Fortress Youth Development Center.  Teachers, substitutes, and volunteers love food, especially free food.  Better than that, they love free food that comes with a thank you.  Let me tell you a little about what Fortress is:

•          Fortress Ministries was established in 1996 as an inner-city church outreach, serving the needs of Fort Worth’s Near Southeast residents and homeless population. Reaching out to the neighborhood with hot lunches, a food pantry, clothing giveaways, and a Sunday worship service, it soon became clear that there was a need for an after-school program as well.  The homeless community was being served very adequately by other nonprofits in the area, but it was clear that the children of the Near Southeast side needed more. Specifically, they needed social and academic resources that would help them overcome the trap of generational poverty and grow into productive adults. After much prayerful consideration, Fortress reorganized in 2005 and incorporated as Fortress Youth Development Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

          The first time I stepped into Fortress was long before it became a youth center.  Seeing the students and the teachers work with kids from pre-k to secondary was breath taking.  They were doing the same work I was doing for less pay and in much more difficult circumstances.  The thought of knowing that when I send a student home at 4:00 every monday through friday and they have a support system like fortress is so comforting.
         So, What are we doing to make sure that programs like Fortress are being developed through out the city?  What as educators are we doing to support our community?  As you can see the community is already stepping up to support us.  Sometimes, sorry, most of the time we are to consumed with our campuses, and districts to see that are communities are getting involved.
          These Outreach programs are key to the success of our students.  Especially our economically disadvantaged students.  Learning is a 24-7 verb.  It is being created all the time.  Yep, think about it.  Learning is something that is created!  So, learning needs to be an on purpose activity in your everyday planned life. 
          One way is to support your local youth development centers.  Help them, Help you!  Get out there and be active in learning.  Your school year doesn't end at the beginning of summer.  It now becomes harder for you to teach.  Help your students environment expand beyond the classroom walls you teach in. 

         I hope you will get a chance to make an awesome choice in learning this summer.  Make Good Choices, Do Great Things!!

Extending the school year through Social networking

          The school year has already come to an end. I have already packed up my room and Lila Grace came four weeks early. My first year at Bailey was a success and I have maintained my scores and created some EPIC learning experiences. Well, that is according to my students and preliminary scores. I have always looked for that extra learning experience that reaches more students.  I really would love to create an opportunity that reaches the student who I identify as the students that education an learning keep missing. I have come up with a social experiment for the summer and I hope it continues through the school year.

          The idea behind the project comes after reading a book called Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell.  He discusses the issues of poverty, education, and the length of the school year.  It is a great read and an eye opener for understanding how public education in America is so different from the rest of the world.

          I also follow Eric Langhorst, author of the Speaking of History learning log.  Eric is the 2010 State of Missouri Teacher of the year and teaches 8th grade American history in Liberty, MO.  Mr. Langhorst blogs and podcast on issues that cover using technology, and social networking for the learning environment.  His lessons and podcast extend his teaching of American History beyond the classroom walls.

         Another great innovative teacher I follow is Jeff Utecht, an international teacher and is currently teaching in Thailand.  He is  the author of the blog The Thinking Stick, and recently published, Reach: Building Communities and Networks for Professional Development. 

          My new idea is not innovative but it is creative.  I have decided to use twitter to reach beyond the walls of room 211.  My students spend countless hours using social media. Why not use it to widen the walls of learning.  Using twitter to create learning content will definitely push the walls.

So far the experiment is going well.  Here are my goals and ideas for using twitter:

Purpose:  Create an extended learning experience beyond the classroom for students and parents.

1. Goal:  Use twitter to help with classroom management and discipline 

• For example:  Let's say "Rebecca" is a regular classroom disruption in class.  Why not wait for the opportunity when Rebecca is participating or just did something that deserves praise.  TWEET IT!  Convince your parents at the beginning of the year to follow you and when they see that tweet:  "Rebecca is an Awesome team player!!!" and then give her praise again at home.  I am sure your discipline is going to drop and participation is going to increase.

    2.  Use twitter to create a learning light.  "Like a moth to a flame" The idea is to get students to come  to my twitter site for learning experiences not just to get simple information like test dates, and social event reminders.  Twitter is a great new tool for teaching.

• For example: Link videos, podcast, and photos that will not only enrich their learning experience but encourage the student to seek learning for themselves

My ideas for the summer are: 

Use twitter:

1. Regular updates, create contest with prizes to drive students to the site,  use not only history content but other core subjects and humanities. 
2. Guide students to student focused apps. and tools online
3. Update a reading log
4. Prizes would drive learning like:
1. movie tickets
2. Food gift cards
3. Ice-Cream
4. Tickets to UTA Omni
5. Dino Rock Passes
6. Rangers tickets

If you have any ideas how I can create more learning with twitter please comment.