Almost Famous

I recently attended the CUE conference in Palm Springs. I'll save that blog post for another time, like three or four months later when I catch my breath and both of my children are napping. You can nag me in June or July if I haven't written it by then.

 I entered my classroom early Monday morning, and flipped through the small stack of papers left for me by my sub. I skimmed her notes for the sake of time, but instead, I got sucked in by her words. It started with this: "Tracy, do you think I could re-enroll in your 6th grade class next year? This has been a fun 3 days."

 Her note continued on in the same vein-your students were perfect. No problems. Perfect. My class. My "day family" (thanks to Lisa Highfill for that saying).

This group of 31 students coming from 9 different elementary schools have become a cohesive and driven group. The credit is not mine, but theirs and the structure of our 6th grade classes on campus. I am fortunate enough that when our middle school opened its doors to 6th graders, that they had the foresight to create its own implementation of 6th grade. All sixth graders have the same core teacher for four, yes, four subjects: history, science, English, and PE. Some of my students are also lucky to have me for their tech elective class too. This class structure encourages that very important social aspect of middle school peer relationships and provides students with a home base.

 Hence, my day family. This is what I tweeted.

Unintentionally provocative, but apparently it piqued some interest in the Twitterverse. My email was full of messages for two days after the original tweet. Your tweet was favorited, your tweet was retweeted. Wow. Who knew something that I posted would create a mild stir. 

Two people who I admire greatly reached out and contacted me about my Tweet. Alice Keeler (wish I had her energy) wanted to see my sub plans. Sure, why not? They weren't anything special. But when I compared them to my October sub plans, I noticed something. In October, my sub plans involved a lot of teacher driven lessons and classroom management suggestions. Conversely, in March the plans had evolved as my students did-they transferred the learning responsibility from the sub to the students.

Diane Main mentioned via Twitter that her class had discussed my Tweet. I shared this news with my class (who were all very excited to hear that "real live people" were talking about them and that they were "almost famous" hence the title of this post). I wanted to take this one step further. I wanted to know why they thought they are successful when a sub is there.

We used Today's Meet to hold a Twitter-like chat. (It always amazes me how quiet and focused they get when using Today's Meet!)

Q1: Why is our class successful when we have a sub?  by Ms. W.
A1: we are successful with subs because everyone wants to learn and you leave us with fun activities to do. by K.
A1: Our class is like a family and we understand each other's strengths and weaknesses  by R
A1: I think our classroom is successful because we teach each other and work well together. by H
A1: our class is good because our plans are fun so we don't need to goof around by E
A1: Are class is successful when we have a sub because we want to get work done together and we are all well caring for each other.  by T

This is just a snippet of the conversation we held online.  To see more, you can click here to see a part of the transcript. Our online conversation lasted about 30 minutes-it was class time well spent, a glimpse into the heart of our class.

I will leave you with this.  Students were continuing to work in their figurative language groups on Monday.  As I was cruising the room, I noticed two giggley students hanging out behind my easel. This is a little bit out of the ordinary, so I crept closer to observe.

Super Tracy

I soon came to the realization that J, a bilingual student, was teaching M, a newcomer from Guatemala, how to say the introduction to their presentation in English. Over and over again, they practiced.  It will be M's first time presenting in our class, AND she first time speaking in English.  I never asked J to do that, I wasn't even here when she decided to try. I am so proud of the both of them.

(The presentation occurred after I wrote this post-but after M spoke, the class erupted in applause!)

For me, teaching (and learning) is about building relationships.  And that is my teaching super power.

(Gobs of thanks for Gwyneth Jones, AKA The Daring Librarian, for her rockin' tutorial on how to create a Super Me!

CUE Rock Star Day 2: Better Late than Never

Back on Board

Patty had attended a class on flipping the day before, and was eager to learn more from the same presenters (Sam Patterson and Cheryl Morris).  I have been intrigued by flipping the classroom, but more as supplemental and review instruction rather than replacing classroom instruction.  I also find it easier to implement any new ideas when you have a friend trudging through the trenches with you. My interest was also piqued because I knew Sam had brought his puppets to share.  (Observation: it's easier for some people to use puppets if they are camera shy.  6th graders tend to go either extreme-camera hogger or camera hider.)

I love presenters who talk, demonstrate, and then let participants create.  I chose something basic, The Preposition Song, so that I wouldn't have to worry about content creation.  With puppets literally in hand, Patty and I giggled our way through our impromptu skit in front of a green screen.  Content created, now what?!

Camtastic Camtasia.

After uploading the content from my iPad to my MacBookPro, I began to play with Camtasia.  Some parts of the program were familiar to me, the reminded me a bit of iMovie.  Other parts reminded me of interpreting my 2 year old son's garbles.  Thankfully, I had my very own Genius Bar consisting of Cheryl and Sam-this preventing me from becoming frustrated when I hit a few walls.

And then my a-ha moment (called "Holy Buckets" at our house)...if the purpose of the video was to help students remember the Preposition Song, then I needed to include the prepositions in the video while the song was being sung.  I tried to do something similar to the "follow the bouncing ball" visual, but I couldn't figure out the how.  Thankfully, Sam found a Camtasia tutorial about adding captions to the video.  I will admit, this part was time-consuming.  I think I spent over an hour adding captions to one minute of video in order for the captions (prepositions) to appear at the same time the word (preposition) was being sung by the puppet.  Phew! 

Ultimately, we decided just one session wasn't long enough, so Patty & I stayed for one more.

Although the video isn't perfect, I think for a first try it was pretty good.  The lighting on board made it difficult to use the green screen effect tips that we use in my classroom (three point lighting, wrinkle-free background, proximity to the green background, etc).  Via Twitter, I conversed with Sam and Cheryl how much time good lighting can save in the long run.

Our production:

iMovie, Camtasia, and After Effects

During the final few minutes of the session, I asked Patty to film me one more time with Tina singing the Helping Verb Song.  Again, the skit ended in giggles as Tina continued to shed during the final moments of filming.  Tina's footage sat on my iPad for a bit as my summer got busier.  I'm glad that I waited because then I had time to think about what I could do with Tina's footage.  I threw out the idea of comparing iMovie, Camtasia, and After Effects to see how the quality of the green screen would compare.  (After Effects is out of my league, but Cheryl is an expert.  I asked her if she was willing to try.  From what I gather, she had to go frame by frame and move the framing dots alongside Tina as she moved.  Even this was a minute of footage-it took several hours for Cheryl to complete.  The quality of the green screen effect was the best of all three, but at the cost of time).  

But the results will have to wait for another time.  

CUE Rock Star on the USS Hornet

PD on an Aircraft Carrier

The highly anticipated CUE Rockstar on the USS Hornet in Alameda has come and gone, but the eduawesomeness of the experience hasn't faded away. This two day "camp" for teachers had a lot going for it already.  Combine some of my favorite teacher presenters that I stalk follow on Twitter, along with fascinating STEM topics, and I can't fail to mention that we were on an aircraft carrier!

Day One

Brrrrrrrr, it's cold outside.

Upon our arrival in the morning, Patty (@mrsgrayiron) and I glimpsed a shivering Keeler family near the gangplank.  I've been following Alice (@alicekeeler) on Twitter for awhile now, and I enjoy her insights, ideas, and her sense of humor.  And her energy!  She has 5 kiddos, and she has enough energy to share.  We offered our services to her and assisted in nametag assembly along with Shane & Laura.  I'm so glad we did, because we hung out with the two of them a lot afterwards.  

Corridor Confusion

I hope I never have to depend on my directional abilities.  I'm bad enough with driving directions, but now I'm in a metal, windowless air craft carrier (no Google maps to guide me) trying to find my way to places called The Ready Room and the Ward Room.  I even had trouble finding the "Rest Room." If I could have pulled off a Hansel and Gretel, I would have been leaving a trail of bird seed behind me the entire two days.  On the second day, Patty and I discovered that sometimes it was easier to go up to the flight deck, gather your bearings, and then venture downstairs via another entrance.  (This aha moment also led us to a Coke machine-woohoo!)

Learning Objectives

Most of my learning on Day One was about managing my own frustration with technical difficulties. I also reexamined my ability to work well in a group that had a variety of personalities and different learning styles.  Essentially, it was a good reminder how working with groups can be challenging and/or illuminating.  I hope to remember this as I select groups for students in my upcoming class.  I was determined to finish this trailer:

Just couldn't do it!

Rest Up

We had already decided that we would not be spending the night on board the USS Hornet. I love camping, but I also appreciate a warm, comfortable bed and a whole lot of quiet (with two toddlers at home, this is a rare occurrence). 

Patty and I continued our learning in our hotel room and experimented with Augmented Reality.  I'm hoping to create an something for my classroom door using AR.  More info on that later.

Highlights of the day:

For me, it's all about the relationship and connections that I was able to make and strengthen.  Patty and I spent the morning commute enjoying each other's company.  Our friendship has grown considerably during our EdTech journey (which started with last year's #edcampsfbay). 

I enjoyed reconnecting with Alice and meeting some new friends.  Early in the morning Jon Corippo spoke about Cue Rockstar connects the lone nut teachers; Sam Patterson, took it a step further with "an e-harmony for lone nuts).

Duh.

Sometimes, I meet educators that I've been following on Twitter, and I become a bit starstruck.  I know I need to "get over it."  Contemplating that, I think it has a lot to do with my inner monologue-what on earth have I done that will be good enough to share with these "rockstars?"  And-"I don't want to bug anyone."  Unfortunately, my insecurity led me to miss meeting one or two people, and for that I am regretful.