… And I am Excited.

That’s not to say I won’t miss Summer Holidays because they were Awesome!

This summer, I have climbed many of the world’s famous monuments with MeYou Health’s Monumental App. for iphone,  http://monumental.meyouhealth.com/…

With Monumental, you can explore the monuments of the world, as you seek out and climb stairs in the real one. This iPhone game uses the internal accelerometer to track your stair climbing. When you reach the top of a monument, check out the view and collect souvenirs. EVERY STEP MATTERS:

This summer, I have unlocked my fitness/exercise potential.  I have been a sporadic exercise-doer this since I was 17 years old.  That Summer – I was Super Skinny, I might point out, though I thought I was a huge, gross fatty, and boy, could my 34 year old self kick that young stupid skinny cow’s butt right now – anyway, I discovered Cindy Crawford’s First Workout Video, on VHS!  I did that video each and everyday that Summer.  Why?  Because I enjoyed doing the video; I enjoyed the work out.   Then, there was the  Roller Blading phase, that lasted about a Summer and the Elliptical Trainer Phase that lasted about the first few months after that one Christmas that I got it.  And, the Gym that I visited sporadically for a year.

It seems that my Challenge is now to continue with the Exercise Routine; to focus on how good it actually makes me feel, and not to mention the sense of accomplishment I feel for having committed to Exercise.  The other things I have been doing is Zumba – Feel the Music!  It truly is a fun workout that doesn’t even seem like work, well, except for all the sweat!

The great thing about running up and down the stairs, aside from it being a FREE workout, is the Nature – birds and bugs and neighbourhood cats, AND a Stair Climbing Coach, thanks Mr. Cicada.  Though, I totally woulda gone a whole lot faster if he had chased me!

Here is a tremendous gift that has been passed from somebody’s parents to their child upon embarking upon his future:

Whenever you have to make a tough decision or you are in a challenging predicament, read this list of words. Then close your eyes, be quiet and something amazing will happen. One of these words will jump out and steer you in the right direction…
Prepare
Listen
Smile
Care
Choose
Focus
Believe
Relax
Act
Forgive
Pray
Trust
Change
Persist
Accept
Risk
Wait

Now, I am passing the Magic of these words to you:)

(Original Author Unknown)

… OR, A TECHNOLOGY-FREE MORNING…
Early in the morning of June 8th, we had a magnificent storm.  The eerily comforting glow and hum of digital/technical life was replaced by the repeated shine and crackle of lightening, the angry booming of thunder, the teeming rain and the assault of hail on the window panes.  As suddenly as it came, the storm passed and the house grew abnormally silent and dark.

Shortly after 5 am (boo!), My Hubby and I were (quite rudely) awakened to the sound of the phone ringing, as the alarm clock no longer worked (Note to self: Replace battery in Alarm Clock).  It was my Hubby’s father and Boss calling to see if we had power…

“Huh?! What? No!  What time is it?!  Yikes!”  Within a couple seconds, we had him out the door in time to leave with his ride for work.

So, after that excitement, I couldn’t get back to sleep.  I was thinking back to the Great Power Outage of 2003; it lasted more than one day!  And, I had just gone to great lengths to procure Radiohead tickets for the sold-out Toronto show, only to have it be cancelled and postponed to a date I absolutely could not attend.  Anyway…

As the years pass, more and more people are replacing newspapers with online news and listening to radio online or on satellite.  But what happens when we have no access?  What happens when the power goes out?

The mobile phone is good for awhile, until the battery is used up, and it is my only lifeline to other people.  The iTouch is also rendered powerless when the battery is spent, and without a Wifi connection, it is not so useful anyway.

I was lying in bed trying not to think about all the food that we couldn’t afford to replace that could have gone bad.  And then, the most disturbing and distressful thought of all, “HOW WILL I STRAIGHTEN MY HAIR?”  (You see, I had my shower the night before so my hair is a disaster area until I run my trusty ELECTRICAL straightener through it.)  I reluctantly came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t be straightening my hair, and then, “I am working at a school in town, where we have no power.  Will there even be school today?”  Normally, I would check the Board’s Website, but I couldn’t – No Power.  I may have had to actually go outside and talk to real live people for some information – just like the good ol’ days (so I hear!).

Ironically, this forced a Technology Detox from my frighteningly techno-dependent life.  I had just started reading “The Digital Diet” by Daniel Sieberg.  Regaining balance in our lives and breaking our technology addictions are the main themes in the book, and one of the first steps is a Detox, and there’s the irony!

So, I’m not sleeping, and I’m thinking all these things and I find some paper and a pen (wow, old-school!) and I get out of bed to sit by the window.  It was turning into a hot, sunny morning.  The effect of no power was quite evident, allowing a reflection on how I depend on it and the part it has in my life.  With the noises of life silenced, I could clearly hear the birds, singing their morning songs, quite clearly unaffected by the turmoil their human neighbours were experiencing.   Here is what I didn’t hear:

No constant hums of the fans, the refrigerator, or the computer powering up.  No YouTube videos or songs playing on iTunes that accompany my morning routine.  Not even an alarm clock going off!  Just the shrill ring of the cell phone (a temporary tie to our technological life).

As I was sitting there, in a state of fleeting peacefulness at 6 am, I made a list of how this lack of power has affected me:

- No coffee (in a power outage, coffee makers and electric kettles are rendered useless.)

- No smoothie (ditto with the Blender)

- No light to help me find clothes (Note to self: Find flashlights and make sure there are batteries)

- No computer/Internet to see if I missed anything during my slumber (Facebook withdrawal is setting in…) And, I can’t help but feel slightly unsettled without the muted glow of Computer, which, admittedly, is the first thing that gets turned on upon arisal and arrival.

- No status updates, no Tweets, no checking the weather on-line (oh, wait… My cat’s fur had gone sort of crimpy.  That meant it wass humid out… )

- No air conditioning, no fans

- I’ve already mentioned that my hair straightener was cruelly unavailable (Note to self: get a mini-generator for next time – I must be able to straighten my hair at all times!)

- Heck, I can’t even charge my tooth brush (Note to self:  Get backup non-electrical one)

“Oh, dear! WHAT DO I DO? WHAT DO I DO? WHAT DO I DO?  WHAT DO IDO?”

to check out this fun & easy program for creating short animations!”]Made using GoAnimate! Check out... goanimate.com to create Fun & Easy Aanimations!


Things to do with No Power:

- Eat all the food (Romantic-Style Candle Lit Dinner, not in front of the Telly or Computer)

- visit someone with a BBQ

- read (by sunlight)

- write (My. gosh! I still remember how!)

- Art (on paper, with a pencil or crayons!)

- play cards/boardgames (how they were originally meant to be played)

- Make a List of things needed to be done before the next power outage

- Take a walk and notice your surroundings… and, if it gets to be night and still no power – gasp, oh the horror! – then marvel at the world without power

- Reflect on how technology (and lack thereof) affects you

- Exercise (most likely does not require electricity)

- Talk to actual people!

So, I got ready for work, the best I could in the dark with no power and I walked to work.  No power means no school.  I walked home from work and found that…… the power had returned.  I thought to myself, “Ah but why not use this as an opportunity to stick with a power-free day, to step away from my monitor and my gadgets.  Take the time to appreciate REAL LIFE.  Why don’t I exercise?  Why don’t I…….”  Excuse me, computer has booted up;)

Conclusions:

1.  We are screwed if the apocalypse or some other worldly disaster were to occur!

2.  Perhaps, I should follow through with the Notes to self!

3.  Maybe, we should try to do some of those things that don’t require power a little more often!

Technology has great potential to “level the playing field”.  It also has great potential to divide it even more.

Unfortunately, it may be the latter statement that is true in many cases.  I am speaking from the point of view of an occasional teacher who goes into different schools across a large city.  I am not a consultant or an expert, and thus, this blog is simply my humble opinion.

There are a lot of great teachers doing great things with technology in their classrooms.  That is Truth.  I’ve seen it; they share it; the students love it and they are engaged.  These are all facts.  And, this is all very Awesome.

But, what about all of those teachers who would love to get in on all of this only to find that the school they teach at does not have the technological resources available to do so?  What about the students who do not get to build an application for an iPad because their school does not have even one iPad?  What about the schools with no Smart Boards, or classrooms without one computer, never mind a pod?  What about the school without digital cameras or the means to create a Podcast, or to Skype professionals around the world? What about those schools where the main concern is the Food Programs because the students are not coming to school with enough food?

Sure, you don’t NEED technology to teach.  We’ve been doing it without forever, but wouldn’t these students benefit from the experience gained and the engagement that technology can provide?

I am not at all suggesting that any teachers stop what they are doing with technology in their classrooms, but something needs to be done.  It seems that education is all about, “No Child Left Behind” and “Every Child Matters” and similar such Sentiments.  It is being said by Boards and Provinces, but is it really being reflected?  Not all the time.  It comes down to money.  It always comes down to money.  Technology seems to be furthering the divide between the “Haves” and the “Have-Nots”, perpetuating the cycle.  Some of our young people will be fluent in Digital Literacies and others will not be.  I wonder who will have a better chance at getting into higher education, and then better-paid careers?  Who will be more likely to remain engaged in their learning and stay in school?

(*Just something I’ve been pondering this week.)

BUMP IT UP – Do Better to Be Better!

Enjoy all the beauty that surrounds you!

INFOWHELM…. too much info!!!  There is a lot, like virtually an infinite amount, of information available to us at any given moment....

So, what can we do?  We simply educate ourselves and our families and friends — everybody, really! There are countless articles and videos available on the Web.  I've pointed out just a few to get you started.

NOTE! — It is important to realize that (once you know how) the actual mechanics of checking the credibility of information only takes a few seconds of clicking, copying & pasting, searching, and judging for yourself.  THE PART THAT TAKES THE MOST WORK IS LEARNING TO DO YOUR OWN JUDGING!!!!! - And it is vital that we teach our students about safe-gaurding themselves. 

While “surfin’ the Net”, whether it be for fun & folly, or for work or school,  ensure you have your ‘Crap-Detectors’ out – “Every man should have a built-in automatic crap detector operating inside him.”
—Ernest Hemingway, 1954

A good question to ask yourself, particularly if asked to download anything, is: “Might someone be trying to put one over on me?” — This could be anything from actual cash, to the more common phishing spam, going after your personal info.

For example, there is one going around Facebook about a horrific roller coaster accident… Never click on a link from a friend if you think it is not something they would normally send, post, or say.  Also, if you see numerous posts with the exact same comment, it is probably suspect. 
Here is a wonderful article explaining how these types of spam work, as well as what to do if you’ve clicked one of these:
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/04/10/theme-park-accident-video-used-as-bait-by-facebook-viral-scammers/

Howard Rheingold has written some excellent guidelines about basic information literacy that everybody should become familiar with, plus some lesson plan ideas to use in the classroom (if you are a teacher):
http://newstrust.net/guides/crap-detection-101
(He also provide many informative links.)
This website, too, has some great information for lessons… http://globaldigitalcitizen.org

Here are 2 videos about spam!

Happy Judging, Questioning & Critical Thinking, everyone!!


And, don’t forget to BUMP IT UP — DO BETTER TO BE BETTER:)

Everybody likes to know that they’ve done good work and what they do is appreciated. I’m not saying we need banners and sky-writers after every wonderful thing we do, but an acknowledgement is appreciated.  Today was one of those days for me, and I only worked for the morning!

“You know what, Mrs Schneider?  You’re my favourite supply teacher!” (boy, 4th grade)

“It’s Mrs Schneider, What a great day!” (Grade 8 boy, and I’m just going to pretend it wasn’t because he perceived it to mean he could slack off!)

“Mrs Schneider is awesome!”  (overheard 2 grade 6 girls in conversation in the hallway)

“You know, the kids really enjoy having you in the classroom!”  (A teacher whose room I was recently in for the day)

Knowing the staff and students is definitely a benefit to working in a school on a regular basis.  Sometimes as an occasional teacher, we do not have the opportunity to build such a rapport.  While it is great to work in many schools to gain experience in many different settings, there are some definite advantages to having a “main” school.  These benefits are evident to everyone:

Students get to know me and I get to know them.  I am able to greet most of them by name as they exit the bus, or enter the classroom, or as I pass them in the hallways.  I tend to know more of them by name than some of the staff, as I teach in across all the grades and subjects.

Teachers and other staff also come to know me, and I them.  This means I learn about the teaching styles of many teachers and become familiar with their classroom routines and expectations.  Teachers also do not mind leaving less-detailed lesson plans.  Sometimes we can connect, previous to an assignment, to go over the day in person.  Or, if they were not expecting to be away and know I will be in, they are comforted by the fact that I know the routines and where supplies are and the students’ names, personalities and quirks.

I become familiar with the school’s procedures, rules, routines and expectations.  This makes everybody’s lives easier.

Even parents come to know me.  Knowing their child’s anxiety is less than when they have to meet a stranger is helpful, in some cases more than others.  Who are we kidding, in some cases, it may ease parents’ anxiety more than their childrens’.

When I go to those familiar schools, I believe it is often a more productive and comfortable day for a lot of the people involved in the school.

And, when everyone is happy, we can get on with happily learning.

We can BUMP IT UP – DO BETTER TO BE BETTER!

Direct – from the HWDSB’s website and confirmed by excited Tweets and FaceBook statuses (statusi?!)…

So, excuse us while we all pine for our lost day at work… Yeah.  Right.  Not!!

More like, Do Your…

Remember, the excitement of a Snow Day, the value of a ‘free’ day off?  You can go back to bed and snuggle with the cat (or Blog because you are so excited).  Then you can get up have your coffee (while scanning your Twitter Timeline) and get all bundled up to play in the snow, excuse me, I mean, to shovel (or stay inside and play video games).  Then maybe have a nap (but think up a Blog instead) so get up to write said Blog.  And before you know it, the Grumpy Husband, who does not have the luxury of Snow Days, trudges through the door….  you ask, sweetly, “How was your day, Honey?”  to which he replies, “Busy.  Unlike you, I had to work, so how was your Snow Day?”

“Awesome.”

MeYouHealth (http://www.facebook.com/meyouhealth) has offered this suggestion today:

Pay it forward today: Make eye contact and say “hello” or “Have a nice day!” to someone in your community that you don’t usually talk to.

I love that I live in a town where people say, “Hello!” as we pass each other.  I can tell when I’m in the “Big City”… I try this, people often look at me as if I have two heads!  It is sad that being unfriendly has become a norm in many places.  This simple act makes people feel a part of the community – connected, and, nowadays, unless we are online, it is easy to feel lost in the world.

As an occasional teacher, I always try to greet the students at the door in the morning, offering each one of them a cheery, “Good Morning!”  If I know the kids, I add their names. Sometimes, this simple gesture, on my part, can set the tone for our day together.  I believe it shows I care, and that I am in their classroom for more than just a pay cheque. Even grumpy and sleepy students can’t help but mumble something back to me, “mumble Morning.”  Ps.  This also works on teachers, parents, secretaries, custodial staff and principals!

A smile is a frown:( upside down:)  You just never know who’s day you can turn around by this simple act.  Random acts of kindness, whether on the giving or receiving end, can bring more happiness than anything money can buy.  It’s amazing to see the transformation on someone’s face when you do it.  It is often difficult to scowl when someone genuinely grins at you, and says, “Hi, there!”

Games are FUN, and when the mechanics are appropriate, a high level of ENGAGEMENT is born.  Thus, ACHIEVEMENT is sure to follow.  So, why wouldn’t we take some of these aspects and incorporate them into education?  I’m not talking about our students playing video games all day at school (though in small doses and used appropriately, they can be beneficial).

So many students “tune out” at school, or they just go through the motions; doing the bare minimum to get by until they are released into the real world.  The question remains, are we adequately preparing them for their roles when they get there?  Probably not, though I can say with certainty that a lot of great teachers are trying – my Twitter PLN is testiment to that!

What are the elements of video games that make players sit in front of a screen, focused for hours on end, and how can we transfer them into the classroom?

I am totally into the ‘Gamification’ of the stuff that we should do in our lives but aren’t always motivated to do.  Let me give an example… In January, I came across an amazing site called, Daily Challenge from YouMe Health (challenge.meyouhealth.com).  It is a health-focused social game.

Daily Challenge sends players simple tasks for them to complete on a daily basis, and the game encourages them to share their results with their Facebook cronies, who can provide encouragement and (ideally) participate in the game themselves. 
If players do something healthy—such as taking a walk, eating a vegetable-rich salad, or wearing lip balm that provides ample sun protection—they hit a “Done” button and gain points, earn health badges, and progress toward higher levels of the game. 
(It’d be easy to cheat in this game since there’s no mechanism to prove that a challenge has been done, but then players would really only be wasting their time and, potentially, misleading their friends.)  
I have so far completed 50 challenges, and feel a great sense of accomplishment.  Now, I just need a House Cleaning game!

I found myself thinking about the school experience as a game one night, instead of sleeping.  Here is my vision… I call it, “School as a Role-Play Game” and the role is student (a role our youth already play, but now, they are more engaged).  Projects and tests could be quests, and lessons and activities could be the mini-challenges along the way to allow students multiple chances to succeed, thereby keeping them engaged and motivated.  The harder goals will strengthen students’ perseverance.  Collaboration and cooperation would be key for some of the quests.  Along the way, the ‘player’ has the opportunity to train and strengthen different skill sets such as critical thinking, literacy strategies, specific curriculum subjects, problem solving, creativity, etc.  There would be mini-games, as well, which are a chance to earn achievement badges or points.  These would be the various sports teams, clubs, and intra-murals.  Teachers would be like the wise sage character whom students go to for guidance; they also give out the quests; and the rewards/feedback.  They could also interact with Experts out in the world from their physical school.  Ideally, students would form cross-level, multiple strength groups to aid them in reaching the goals, like in Farmville and other such social games, benefiting both the beginners and the experts.

Sounds quite similar to some of the things we already do, doesn’t it?  It’s just kind of tying the bits together, and thinking of it and presenting it to the students as a game.  A variation could be, “Super Teacher”…

Real-Life Example:
Quest to Learn is a New York City public school, a school that uses “game-like learning” as a way to empower and engage students from all walks of life. Quest to Learn (Q2L) is specific in its focus on connecting rigorous student learning to the demands of the 21st century, supporting young people in their learning across digital networks, peer communities, content, careers, and media.

From the Site’s Overview…
Mission critical at Quest is a translation of the underlying form of games into a powerful pedagogical model for its 6-12th graders. Games work as rule-based learning systems, creating worlds in which players actively participate, use strategic thinking to make choices, solve complex problems, seek content knowledge, receive constant feedback, and consider the point of view of others. As is the case with many of the games played by young people today, Quest is designed to enable students to “take on” the identities and behaviors of explorers, mathematicians, historians, writers, and evolutionary biologists as they work through a dynamic, challenge-based curriculum with content-rich questing to learn at its core.

It’s important to note that Quest is not a school whose curriculum is made up of the play of commercial videogames, but rather a school that uses the underlying design principles of games to create highly immersive, game-like learning experiences. Games and other forms of digital media serve another useful purpose at Quest: they serve to model the complexity and promise of “systems.” Understanding and accounting for this complexity is a fundamental literacy of the 21st century.

The brainchild of Quest To Learn is a professional game designer named Katie Salen. Salen, like many people interested in education, has spent a lot of time thinking about whether there is a way to make learning feel simultaneously more relevant to students and more connected to the world beyond school.  And the answer, as she sees it, lies in games.

She believes that going to school can and should be more like playing a game, which is to say it could be made more participatory, more immersive and also, well, fun. Nearly every aspect of life at Quest to Learn is thus designed to be gamelike, even when it doesn’t involve using a computer. Students don’t receive grades but rather achieve levels of expertise, denoted on their report cards as “pre-novice,” “novice,” “apprentice,” “senior” and “master.” They are enlisted to do things like defeat villains and lend a hand to struggling aliens, mostly by working in groups to overcome multifaceted challenges, all created by a collection of behind-the-scenes game designers. The principles are similar to those used in problem-based learning, a more established educational method in which students collaborate to tackle broad, open-ended problems, with a teacher providing guidance though not necessarily a lot of instruction. But at Quest to Learn, the problems have been expertly aerated with fantasy.

Once it has been worked over by game designers, a lesson doesn’t look like a lesson anymore. It is now a quest. And while students at the school are put through the usual rigors of studying pre-algebra, basic physics, ancient civilizations and writing, they do it inside interdisciplinary classes with names like Codeworlds — a hybrid of math and English class — where the quests blend skills from different subject areas. Students have been called upon to balance the budget and brainstorm business ideas for an imaginary community called Creepytown, for example, and to design architectural blueprints for a village of bumbling little creatures called the Troggles. There are elements of the school’s curriculum that look familiar — nightly independent reading assignments, weekly reading-comprehension packets and plenty of work with pencils and paper — and others that don’t. Quest to Learn students record podcasts, film and edit videos, play video games, blog avidly and occasionally receive video messages from aliens.

They also spend significant time building their own games.

Here is a magazine article from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19video-t.html?_r=2&ref=education&pagewanted=all

How very fascinating!  I want to work at that school!  Ideally, we could just open up more of these schools, but, realistically, it is not going to happen.  So, what parts of this can we use in our schools?