High School Flashbacks

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flickr photo by Rusty Sheriff: http://flickr.com/photos
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There are days when I walk out of school wondering what I was thinking finding myself back in middle school and high school.  Those are not the rough teaching days but the days when the social and emotional equilibrium is out of whack and I am reminded of how awkward I felt during those years.  Every Wednesday our MUN students dress up as part of their training to feel comfortable in their skin no matter the circumstances.  I really give those kids credit as in high school I never would have stood up and debated live - never.  Perhaps I was too opinionated, not opinionated enough, shy or introverted.  Most probably it was a mix of all, depending on what day you bumped into me in the hallways.  I have grown out of that fear and now speak publicly with conviction and confidence but still feel that trepidation when I think back.

Last month an email went out to the Flat Classroom community asking if any of us were interested in judging the Eracism Project.  This was one of the projects that I had investigated and blogged about early in the course.  There were a few aspects to judging this project that appealed to me.  First of all, the judging is asynchronous so I do not need to be live so can fit it into my teaching, studying and mommying schedule.  Secondly, there are new Web 2.0 technologies to learn like ObaWorld and Voicethread.  Thirdly, I am going to be part of a judging team so I can work virtually and collaboratively with like-minded colleagues.  Finally, and not at all least, I can support students and teachers out there who are flattening their classrooms.

As I type this students around the world are preparing their opening remarks on the topic: "The use of Facebook by students around the world to communicate with one another does more harm than good." I attended online bootcamps on the use of ObaWorld and Voicethread and judging practices.  I studied the rubrics, connected with my judging partner who lives in Florida and am excited to be part of this new community.

What global projects do you participate in as a judge?

World ___________ (favorite school subject) Day

For the last four years I have led the middle school World Education Games extravaganza.  I believe that the combination of academic fun, global connection and the cause, UNICEF's School-in-a-box program, make for a worthwhile school-wide project.  This year, new school, different circumstances.  I still promoted it and coordinated it for the teachers but I was in no other way connected to it.  To my surprise that left me feeling globally DISconnected.

While I did not connect globally, I realize now that I did connect with my students in a not-so-usual-Ms.-Wolpowitz way.  It reminded me that I need to be sure that I continue to keep a focus on our classroom community growth and learning while I'm investigating and enjoying my new global adventures on my Flat Classroom Teacher Certification journey.

Confusion was definitely on the face of my students' today when they walked into math and digital art class to see me sitting on a stool with a book in my hand.  First of all I rarely sit and secondly, they have only seen me refer to math textbooks.  Today was World Read Aloud Day and I took 10 minutes from all my classes to share and discuss one of my favorite passages from Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist.  I read the scene where Santiago is leaving Tangiers (p.59) to return to Spain and he reveals that while the King's words and watching for omens did guide him forward, the King had failed to mention the obstacles he would face on his journey.  This led to brief but magical chats about their journey through school.  Many shared that pep talks drive them crazy because adults try to make them focus on the positive and don't always admit that it is going to be hard going.  They also volunteered that they focus on the treasure (grades) and don't give enough love and care and respect to the journey, as the Alchemist suggests later on in the book (p.125).  One 14-year-old commented, "I guess since I am in school I should take the most from it that I can" after 4 pages being read, out of context, out loud!  

And thus the magic of reading and the brilliance of the words of Paulo Coelho.

Perhaps I should do this more often!  Perhaps next year I should try and get Paulo Coelho to read aloud to them via Skype.  Perhaps next year I should try and connect to other math classrooms and read aloud together.  I think I am starting to get in the #flatclass grove.

The Mentor learns a thing or two

Kid Safe Mini-mizer

Build Your Wild Self

I signed up to be a mentor for The Student Blogging Challenge.  Thanks to what I learned in my Flat Classroom Certified Teacher course, I quickly added my mentees to a new folder in Google Reader so that I would know when they are adding posts.  The amount of pulling and not pushing time saved for the 28 students will be well redirected to other learning.

Then I spent a wonderful hour getting to know 13-year-olds from the US who love cheerleading, the 49ers, running through the park, eating, baseball, play station, rock music and dancing.  I was inspired by their avatars so I created some of my own.  Even more fun, I added an avatar creating activity to the lesson plan for my digital art students who will add them to their blogs.  Using art as an expression of self is one of our learning points.  I am excited to find out more about them through their avatar creations.

World Education Games Avatar

And then the light bulb went on.  I have three classes of digital art students and I read their blogs a few times a week.  I click through to see who has written and updated posts and who hasn't.  For some unknown reason, it never occurred to me to put them in Google Reader.  You know what I'll be doing after I post this.