P.J. Hoffmaster State Park continued

(Continued from yesterday...)

     "That's right! The dust is actually a metal called iron.” The lady began to hand out bar magnets to all of the students, and continued to talk about the makeup of Michigan dune sand. At least I think that’s what she was talking about. I was otherwise occupied.

     I rushed over to CT, who was eagerly digging a hole in the sand, quickly scooping sand between his legs, looking like a dog about to bury a bone. “C., please don’t bury your magnet. They’re going to need that back.” I look around at the class. They were having the time of their lives, burying the magnets. The poor DNR lady was trying to get their attention. She was very nice, but clearly not a teacher. A teacher would know: never give a group of 3^rd graders any kind of exciting object, such as magnets, or any other object for that matter, until AFTER you have delivered your message.

     After the poor DNR woman had recollected and dug up all of the bar magnets, it was time for us to run the big dune. Feeling the same level of excitement my third graders were feeling, I quickly started the long hike up the massive dune. The sweat started rolling down my forehead almost immediately as hot sand began working its way into my shoes and under my socks. After what felt like 10 minutes and 9,000 calories burned, I had finally reached the top, just in time to catch OC. as he was about to run down the dune. The dune consisted of a narrow pathway between large clumps of beach grass. The problem was, the pathway was still heavily populated with more than half of the class trying to climb up.    

     I took a minute to explain to several disappointed boys why we had to wait until the pathway was clear before running down the dune, and lined the boys up. It felt rather similar to pulling a slingshot back as far as possible, and then waiting. At last the pathway became clear (enough). “OC, you are cleared for takeoff.”

     In a flash a blob of third graders rocketed down the dune, running into and tripping over each other. Within the first few seconds, several had already tripped face-first into the sand. One by one, they each crashed and burned, losing shoes along the way. The side of the dune looked like the set of a war movie, with bodies strewn everywhere, moaning. After first catching my breath from laughing so hard, then asking if they were ok, I declared, “Look out below!” and I was off.

(To be continued…)

P.J. Hoffmaster State Park

A few of my students on our trip.

      Hidden among several enormous natural sand dunes on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, P.J. Hoffmaster State Park is a popular field trip destination for schools in West Michigan. Operated by the DNR, the learning center at the park offers amazing programming relevant to the third grade science and social studies curriculum in Michigan. It is for this reason we decided to make the 45 minute bus trip to the park on a beautiful warm sunny day in May.

      I knew it was going to be an interesting trip when we had to leave without J.’s mom, one of my chaperones. “But she had to run a few errands. She is going to be here,” J. kept saying over and over, but as it was, the bus had 30 minutes to make the 45 minute trip to the park, so we had to leave.

      After we had arrived at the state park and watched the introduction video in the learning center theater, my class headed out on the guided tour through the hiking trails. Things seemed to be going well. The kids were enjoying looking for animals, excitedly pointing out birds, and bugs, and wild mushrooms, and what two apparently in-love teenagers had carved into the fallen tree. JS. came running up to me, barely able to contain his excitement. “Mr. Working!” he was shouting as several other boys came running from the wooden rail overlooking the backdune. “I just saw a woodchucker! Come look!” He quickly pointed to a nearby tree, and sure enough, there was a chipmunk.

      The hiking trail ended at the top of a dune on the edge of the lake. The DNR guide had the class sit on the dune. “Boys and girls, how many of you know what is special about the dune sand in Michigan?” C. had already moved down the dune out of hearing range. D. and I. had removed their shoes and were busy burying their feet in the sand. “Boys and girls, if I could have your attention, I want to show you what happens when you slide a magnet through the dune sand.” She pulled a bar magnet out of her bag, and began to gently drag it across the hot sand. “What do you notice about the magnet?” A handful of boys pushed their way in to see while I tried to round up my beach explorers.

      “There’s dust or something sticking to it!” JL. announced with excitement.

To be continued…

(Taking a cue from Sarah Parker’s blog… 15 minutes a day goes quickly)

Year-Round School

Tonight in the class I am taking we had technology implementation presentations. The assignment was simple: take a broad technology (whether device-based, software-based, or process-based) and come up with a plan for diffusing the technology through your district or organization. A big focus was on systemic change and including the community stakeholders in the process. My presentation was on the need for digital citizenship and online ethics in the elementary grades.

One classmate did a presentation on year-round school. (Year-round school is considered a technology because it is based upon improving human performance through research and changes in practice.) I've heard of year-round school, and in the back of my head I know it is probably what is best for kids. We all talk about summer-loss. It comes up A LOT in the fall when we see kids reading levels drop by one or two grade levels or more. We all talk about how kids no longer know basic math facts after summer, and how getting into the grove of writing is challenging. The first month of school is getting back into the swing of things. I also have a gut feeling that down the road it is something that might become mandated.

I also can't help but feel selfish when I think of my summer vacation. During the school year, my personal needs take a backseat to the needs of my students and the needs of my district. This usually comes at a cost of sleep, social events, and frequently even eating and using the restroom. Teachers don't always get to eat lunch during lunch. But summer is different. Summer is when I take classes I'm interested in. The past few years I have had the opportunity to participate in the summer invitational at Red Cedar Writing Project where I live the life of a writer for four weeks. Summer is when I get to catch up on much needed sleep, start working on my pile of "to-read" books, and actually get to plan ahead for my teaching. Most importantly, summer is when I get to spend my days in air conditioned comfort when it gets really hot, a luxury I don't have on hot days at my non-air conditioned school.

But her presentation surprised me. She had taught at a year-round school, and had been reassigned to a traditional school. I couldn't believe what she was hearing: the traditional school was too exhausting! In Caledonia where she teaches, the year-round school still has the same number of school days that I do. However, those days are spread across the calendar year. My big concern of needing a summer vacation to recharge? They still get one. And it's surprisingly long! They still have traditional vacations: Christmas break, a two week spring break, and the summer vacation. But they also have two "intercessions:" the entire week of Thanksgiving, and a whole week in the middle of February. Her biggest rationale: with year-round school, January and February are very exciting months of the year because kids are fresh from Christmas break, the snow outside is still pretty exciting, and they look forward to Valentine's day followed by a winter intercession. In the traditional school year, January and February are the longest, bleakest, most depressing months of the year. Isn't that the truth...

Now I'm thinking that if my school had air conditioning installed, I'm all for it!

Technology Expertise: On a scale of 1 to 10?

In class the other night, Dr. Sally Hipp, the Graduate Teacher Certification coordinator at GVSU, told us a story about her interview at the College of Education. One of the interview questions was, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your technology skills?” Her answer- “I can do everything I need to do.” Simple, if not vague. But she brought up an interesting point. She didn’t have a hard time figuring out what someone given a score of zero would look like. However, what is a ten?

She encouraged us to turn and speak with the people we were sitting near. I turned around in my chair to a fellow classmate sitting in the row directly behind me. He is a fairly new teacher, and through other discussions, I know teaching was his second career. Immediately he declared himself to be a 7 or an 8, because he knows how to build a computer, can do some basic computer programming, and is pretty good on the internet.

To me, I don’t see “technology” as a narrow enough field that you could ever consider yourself approaching a 10. When I consider technology, the more I read and learn and share thinking with other educators and educational technologists, the broader I realize the field truly is. I remember hearing once that centuries ago, it was possible to know pretty much everything there is to know. Today, it’s impossible. Just off the top of my head, I can think of several technological fields in which I know nothing: 3D animation, web database programming and online security, iPhone app development, and robotics. And these are the fields in which I know I don’t know anything. What about all of the technologies that I don’t even know exist, much less know anything about operating them?

In my grad classes, we have also discussed the true meaning of educational technology. The Definition and Terminology Committee of the Association

for Educational Communications and Technology gives educational technology the following definition:

Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.

In other words, educational technology includes processes, including learning theories, and systematic and systemic changes. Pretty much it includes any kind of research.

Putting all of this in perspective, I know relatively little about technology. Yes, I can get the digital projector to connect to my laptop, know how to edit video using a limited number of video editing software, and can do what I need to do in Photoshop, but I really don’t know squat. I guess I would say, I can do everything I need to be able to do. I give myself a 2.

Writing: 15 Minutes a Day

So how does CPR work again? Two breaths and 15 chest compressions? Because this blog needs some serious resuscitation after two years and one month without a single post. It's not that I haven't been writing. I have been.  I've been writing papers for class, stories for and with my students, and I've even been writing the stories that go along with the Facebook status updates I’ve been posting this year about humorous events that happen with my 3rd graders. I have been writing. But I haven't been sharing my writing. So when Sarah Parker, a teaching guru and my teaching mentor, posted the 30 day challenge on her blog, I decided this was it. I'm going to do it. 

I always have high expectations for all of the things I want to accomplish over the summer, but then I never seem to get them done. In the past summers, I don't think it has particularly always been my fault. I spent most summers moving my classrooms, preparing for a new grades and new curriculum, and stressing out about teaching assignments, checking the job postings twice a day. Summers have not traditionally been relaxing for me. But strangely enough, after possibly one of the most stressful end of the school year I've ever had, I somehow finally landed in a permanent teaching position, teaching the same grade I taught this past year, in the same building. So now I don't have an excuse.

One thing I really want to accomplish this summer, aside from reading and writing for fun, is to digest the gobs of information I've absorbed through my reading, classes, conversations, professional development, and participation with Red Cedar Writing Project. For years now I've been learning, learning, learning, but never really taken the time to do anything with the learning. One of the best ways I know to process information is through writing. 

So, my goals for this blog:

1. Share writing

2. Process information

3. Write every day for 30 days

I'll bring this old blog back to life yet. It's.... ALIVE!