Blogging from NECC 2008

I am very passionate about technology and its usefulness in the classroom. I do believe it can be used too much, but if used properly it can be the best experience for both teachers and student. That said, I am heavily involved in organizations that promote the use of technology in the classroom.

As a member of ISTE (International Society for Technology Educators), I had the opportunity to present a session this morning at the annual NECC (National Educator’s Computing Conference). It was a great experience! Our topic was “Creating a Personal Learning Network in Second Life.”

As I, along with a panel of five other presenters, did our thing, I watched the crowd of over 100 education professionals (and there were 20 or so watching via Ustream), and was reminded, once again of the power of collaboration and networking.

I say this is off topic because it is a post that is more reflective than informative for new teachers. However, as with most things I write about, I can find the cross-over. Here is is …..

If you are going to survive in teaching, you need a network.

Whether you get it with real-life interactions in a group of like-minded educators, online in a webinar, or in Second Life – you need to use the resources you have available to you in the “seasoned” teachers you can find if you look past your room.

I’ll be blogging during this week from NECC. Don’t worry, the Big Questions and Teaching Truths haven’t gone away, they are just on hiatus while I’m doing my thing! Stay tuned!

Big Meme, errr Question #4

I got tagged by Terry Shay on this and after giving it some thought, decided to post my response and keep the meme going. I actually figured out a way for it to fit into the nature of this blog, as well.

First, the question: Looking back on your life, what was the “worst job” you ever had that ironically helped prepare you to one day become an educator?

Next, the reason I think it fits this blog: Sometimes the only way to keep your sanity as a new teacher is to reflect on and evaluate the reason you became a teacher in the first place. It can be a rejuvenating experience to remember the event or series of events that led you to education. This is usually how it was for me. I would remember the times I felt like a real teacher . . . meaning I’d gotten through to somebody.

Which brings me to the last thing I’ll do with this post, which is to answer the question and keep the meme alive. As I contemplated the question, I tried to really pinpoint some magical event in my life that told me I was meant to be a teacher. The first time I remember wanting to be a teacher was about second grade or somewhere around there. Prior to this time, I always said I wanted to be a nurse, just like my mom. However, one of my big sisters destroyed that dream for me when she pointed out that part of nursing school was having to change the dirty diapers of babies. (as if she really knew what nursing school was all about). It was later that same day that I focused my dreams on being a teacher. Little did I know that someday I’d be changing the dirty diapers of babies without the benefit of learning a trade . . .

Off and on through my education, I encountered teachers who made me start to believe I really did want to be a teacher. These educators were the ones that were really great teachers and remain my examples of what a teacher ought to be . . . Polly Potter (4th and 5th grade), Mrs. Keast (8th grade history), John Brown (9th grade Earth Science), Mr. Ratzloff (9th grade Life Science), Janice Smith (10th grade English), Sheila Lisman (11th grade English), Del Knauer (12th grade English), Gary Hughes (12th grade Government and Russian History). It was interesting, each year I had a teacher like this, I decided that was the grade I would teach when I grew up.

Lots of things happened as I became an adult and my dream to become a teacher didn’t materialize for quite some time. It wasn’t until I was going to college as a non-traditional student that my Biology instructor, Joyce Selsor, saw in me the potential for becoming a teacher, that I began to really pursue becoming a teacher. By that point in my life, I had become cynical and all of my hopes to become a teacher had long since diminished.

Even after Mrs. Selsor encouraged me, I wasn’t sure. I think that what convinced me was the “worst job” part of the question. I was a Supplemental Instruction leader for General Biology during my sophomore year of college. This meant that I planned short tutorial-type lessons designed for small groups of 5-8 people. I took my job seriously. One day, towards the end of the school year, a group of three students who had been very dedicated to showing up to all of my sessions approached me. One of them, apparently the designated spokesperson, said, “we just want you to know that you really helped us. You are a good teacher.” To which I thought . . . “Can someone pull this hook out of my mouth?” and as they say, the rest is history.

The truth is, although I’ve left the classroom for the moment, I’m finding that it is exceedingly difficult to stay out of the classroom. Before you make any decisions about whether or not to remain a teacher, reflect on what got you here and ponder what it really means to you to be a teacher.

I’m tagging a few people, Lee Kolbert, Tom Turner (where are you, man?), and Marie Coleman. You’re it!

Big Question #3 is Teaching Truth #7

I was sitting in my car on my regular commute – well not-so-regular in that I was going home early enough for the commute to last about 30 minutes instead of 65 – but I digress. Anyway, I was sitting in my car, thinking that maybe Cruel Shoes needed to go on hiatus over the summer when it occurred to me that I actually still had something to say this year which would actually be very timely right now.

Recently, as the school year ends, I’ve heard a lot of reflection from the teachers in my network. Now, one of the most important things a new teacher can learn and do is reflection. If we get too immersed in what we did and not on what we accomplished in the doing or what more could be accomplished in the revision, we become ineffective teachers (in my opinion). I’ve also heard from several teachers who, like me, have decided to leave the teaching field (or have they? – but that’ll have to be another post).

I read an entry on Teaching in the 408, which is a great blog by a teacher who was very effective and a great teacher, but who didn’t think, at the end of the day, that he had been the teacher he wanted to be. This set off a little bell in my head, reminding me of how I felt during my last weeks of teaching as I reflected on my performance. What had been my goals? What goals had I succeeded in attaining? In what goals had I miserably failed?

Seeing the world through my own eyes, I always thought I had been an ineffective teacher. I felt like I had set out to be a teacher who could make a difference in a kid’s life. I felt like I had set out to be full of information and excitement and could pass that on to my students. I felt like I had dropped the ball – opting for classes where I would follow the questions of my students into a territory not planned for, though just as scientifically relevant as what I HAD planned for. If my students came in asking me about what alcohol does to their brain, then I spent a class (or two) having frank discussions with all my students about what it really does to a teenage brain, peer pressures, parent misconceptions, etc. Did that follow the state-prescribed formula for a successful science student? No. Because of this, I constantly felt like I was a fraud and that if someone walked into my classroom when I was showing a video of a girl crying about how she’d lost a friend to a drug overdose, I’d be booted out because it wasn’t on the TEKS (stands for Texas Wants You To Teach This) for the science I was teaching.

I also keep remembering an episode of Twilight Zone that had a retiring teacher on his last day reflecting on what a miserable teacher he had been. Former students long gone and deceased (usually because of some heroic action) miraculously appeared in his classroom to tell him all the lessons learned in his class that had made them the heroes they became. We can’t truly know how we did until years later, if ever.

Now that I’m out of the classroom (or am I?) I realize how much I WISH education could be about discovering new things because we WANT to. About finding out what makes a student’s brain engage and catering to that miracle to stimulate them into lifelong learning, rather than cramming enough information about many things into their brains in the hope it will stay with them long enough to pass a test.

What is Teaching Truth #7?  Good or bad isn’t in YOUR eyes, it is in your students’ eyes.

Listen to what your students say. Listen to what other teachers tell you your students are saying about you. Don’t worry so much about what the state has to say, or even what your administration has to say. Teach like you mean it.

Why did I call this a Big Question? Because I want to hear from you. What do you think makes a good teacher or a bad teacher? Help all of us to understand where we stand.