Reflections of an Educator

Against Undermining Middle Schools

2012-02-25T08:46:00.002-05:00

In "The Middle School Plunge,"authors Martin West and Guido Schwerdt hypothesize all the reasons under the sun that middle school is a plunge in student achievement in math and reading. For sure, the change in standard deviation of math and reading achievement is concerning, however students are more than their math and reading scores. In a time fraught with social pressures, emotional turmoil, parental and peer pressures and increased academic rigor, middle school is a uniquely special place. Students in middle school are unlike any other age group of students, which is why organizations such as the Association for Middle Level Education exist. What Mr. West and Mr. Schwerdt fail to address (and perhaps they did measure this but did not report out on it) is the impact of structure of schools.

Many middle schools are in name only - they follow the old "junior high model" of scheduling students as though they are mini high school students. Providing students with the support and structure of an authentic middle school model provides supports that simply do not exist in the old "junior high model." In an authentic middle school model, students share a team of teachers who regularly meet to discuss student struggles and successes. Not understanding the impact of a true middle school model may just have led to Mr. West and Mr. Schwerdt to underestimate the value of a middle school - an authentic middle school - that can support and challenge students appropriately, no matter if it housed in a K-8 building, 6-12 building or a 6-8 building.

Middle school has a unique set of challenges - for students, staff and parents. Undermining the importance of addressing the needs of 11-14 year olds and treating them as 5-10 year olds or 14-18 year olds would be a serious mistake. Middle schoolers are neither elementary school students nor high schoolers, and the supports available to teach the whole child in a true, authentic middle school model - not just their reading and math achievement scores - is invaluable.

Awesome Things This Week

2012-01-28T10:27:00.000-05:00

As a school administrator, it is easy to be bogged down in minutia, details and forget the big picture! In order to stay positive and remember all the great things occurring in our school each week, I am publicly making a commitment to reflecting upon my week in middle school, and to weekly, share the Top 5 Awesome Things that happened in school this week! (The challenge now, is to sustain this.) Though a simple and quick reflection, looking back through my calendar and reviewing events allows me to stop, pause and remember all the awesome learning and teaching going on! Focusing on these events will allow me stay positive and recognize staff and students alike for their awesomeness!

Top 5 Awesome Things At Stony Brook This Week: January 28, 2012

1. Our Geography Bee School Finalist took thestate-qualifier test.

2. Math teachers challenging accelerated math studentsby trying something new and differentiating instruction.

3. Teachers collaborating to create authentic,appropriate reflections for upcoming progress reports.

4. Teachers building their positive recognition ofstudents by thoughtfully selecting students of the month for January.

5. Spanish students creating Animoto projects – andstaff members taking risks to try something new!

Learning (with our students)

2011-12-31T07:20:00.000-05:00

Our last day before the holiday break was a half-day. These days-before-breaks have notoriously had a bad reputation, especially half-days, but when I walked the classrooms on Friday, December 23, I saw wonderful things happening. Students were learning; students were celebrating learning; students were reflecting upon learning. Too often schools are full-speed-ahead on the curriculum train that we forget the value of (and consequently do not share the value with students of) stopping to reflect and celebrate our learning, our performance and our goals.

Actively participating in education!

In one seventh grade teacher's classroom I entered, students were reflecting upon their September-through-December learning, and setting goals for the new year. Instead of nodding and watching from afar, I took some colored pencils myself, and sat down elbow-to-elbow with students to complete the task with them. Though such a small task (and one barely completed as I was soon walkie-talkied away to an emergency), I later reflected that participating first-hand in learning is essential to being an educator and a leader. Recalling what it is like to be a student, first-hand, gives perspective, shows students you are human, and best of all, it is fun and exciting to learn in middle school!

Though only a 10 minute sliver of the day before the holiday break, this small exercise was a genuine reminder that I need to daily be an observer (see picture to the right) and active participant in learning. Authentically seeing and participating in learning is important to me; we make time for the things that are priorities for us. What will you allow your priorities to be in 2012?

The Urgency of Instructional Leadership

2011-12-11T06:51:00.001-05:00

As part of leadership (especially in a school), many things can morph into being the most urgent. I can find myself in my office, away from students, working on one most-urgent project, and then jump to another most-urgent project. Before I know it, the day is over, and I've only had face time with students at lunch and dismissal...and multiple most-urgent projects are still to-be-finished. It can be easy to be sucked into the black hole of building manager and it takes a constant revisiting of urgencies, reflection and priorities to strive toward being a true instructional leader in a school.

To this end, working towards being a true instructional leader in my school will require me to:

Reprioritize what is truly urgent in my day: learning and teaching.
Each day, schedule myself for one hour of closed-door, productive, focused work on truly urgent assignments.
Participate in learning throughout the school day.
Use my PLN to continue to be a lifelong learner: it is as much as the habit as it is the content.
Share important resources with staff to encourage life-long learning and direction.
Converse with staff about learning and teaching, in a face-to-face manner.
Have the courage to tell someone, "I cannot do that now, but I will get it to you by X."
Be present in the hallways during passing to provide feedback to students and receive feedback from staff.
Be always positive with staff, students and parents. The words I use matter!

I must remember that my to-do list can wait, because the students cannot. I mustn't only say that learning and teaching is a priority, but show that through my actions; by doing so, I will further my journey towards true instructional leadership.

Math Resources

2011-10-27T10:59:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Kathleen McClaskey from EdTech Associates for exposure to some awesome Web 2.0 Math Resources:

4mality - tutoring system for third through sixth grade students
ThatQuiz - free formative math assessments
National Library of Virtual Manipulatives from Utah State
Thinking Blocks - help with word problems
Math Playground - math games and problems
A Maths Dictionary - a visual dictionary; help with math and literacy
Conceptua Math - help with fractions
Bright Storm - Homework help in math, ELA, science
Math Snacks - math practice
Kathleen's Mass CUE Presentation - more resources here

Respecting

2011-10-02T07:58:00.001-04:00

This Ed. Leadership article, "Respect - Where do we start?" from the ASCD has inspired me to stop and take note about how we respect staff and students - every day. This article led me to consider:

How does what we say and do - and not say and do - speak to our respect for educators and students?

Often when a teacher is starting to feel sick, they frequently will say to me, "I cannot take a day off, I need to be here for my students and to do X, Y and Z..." to which I respond, "You must take care of yourself if you want to take care of others!" Before an educator can respect and take care of students, they must first take care of and respect themselves. When staff members are overwhelmed and stressed out, students can perceive this - middle schoolers are smart cookies!

This article has encouraged me to stop and take inventory of how I support teachers to be their best. What can I do better and/or more of to remind teachers of the positive impact they have every day on students' lives, and encourage them to take care of themselves, so they can be their best?

The gift of time: there is simply never enough of it! I will offer to cover more classes (which allows me more face time with kids - a gift in and of itself) so teachers can accomplish more collaboration and collective tasks required to be a successful educator.
Stay positive: Regardless of my own day or my level of stress, I will remain positive in my interactions with students and staff.
Thank you: Such a simple phrase, but it is wonderful to be thanked. I will spend more time writing thank you notes to staff members for the impactful things they do with students each and every day.
Fun: Instead of discussing the best way to have fun, I will work with staff members to create schedules and events that intermingle staff members and allow them to connect with their colleagues.
Students' Voices: As a teacher, the most valuable gift I ever received was a heartfelt note from a student thanking me for making a difference (and I still have those notes!). I will work to facilitate this more with the student body.
Technology Use: I will use our newly created Twitter and Facebook pages to not just share upcoming events, but to highlight excellent learning and teaching! (Thanks to @Matt_Gomez and @gcouros for the inspiration here.)

Any thoughts? Examples to facilitate more respect, enjoyment and fun in schools? I'm all ears!

Participating in a Twitter Chat

2011-05-31T15:45:00.001-04:00

Perhaps you're new to Twitter; perhaps you're new to trying a Twitter Chat....either way, you probably hear the calls for participation in Twitter chats for education. They are great ways to connect with colleagues of similar interests, gather resources, share ideas and gain perspective. Twitter Chats are great, because you can lurk and just read/listen, or you can actively participate. Twitter Chats allow you to multitask as well - another great feature! (I've frequently cooked dinner while participating in a Twitter chat.)

With that being said....if you need some help walking through how to participate, take a look at this quick screencast, created by yours truly: http://www.screencast.com/t/9Hy2kYnFsKB

If you need to locate a schedule of Educational Twitter Chats, take a look at Cybraryman1's schedule here: http://www.cybraryman.com/chats.html

Enjoy, have fun, and learn something new!

Memorial Day Resources

2011-05-26T17:48:00.000-04:00

On Monday, our nation recognizes Memorial Day. Whether it be stopping to deliberately teach a lesson about Memorial Day and recognizing our nation's heroes or a simpler moment of silence and a quick poem in recognition of all those who died fighting to defend our nation, students deserve to understand what Memorial Day is and why they have a day off on Monday, May 30, 2011.

Below is a sampling of resources worthy of use in classrooms:

History of Memorial Day from The History Channel
Video History of Memorial Day from The History Channel
Teacher Resource Guide from Department of Veterans Affairs
History of Veterans Day from Department of Veterans Affairs
Memorial Day Internet Treasure Hunt
Memorial Day Lessons from the NEH via Thinkfinity

#edcampBOS

2011-05-07T11:26:00.002-04:00

#EdCampBoston is today! Unbelievable discussions going on...

Some questions that have been raised from our #EdCampBOS sessions today:

How can schools blur the home/school line?
How can schools better be places of collaboration for students?
How can schools address "fear factor"hurdles to successfully incorporate technology?
What technological models are appropriate for teachers to make with students?
How can we encourage intellectual risk-taking using technology?
How do we teach students responsible technology use?
Can technology encourage appropriate, differentiated professional development from the ground up?
How can space be used to facilitate learning and conversation in schools?
How can PD be differentiated for teachers?
How can schools rely on in-house, peer-to-peer PD models?
What if grades reflected conceptual mastery?
How do we encourage and ensure followup of new information learned?
How do we get to yes?

Basketball as Learning

2011-03-15T14:44:00.001-04:00

Last night, our PTO hosted the second annual staff basketball game between the faculties of the two middle schools in our district: Stony Brook vs. Blanchard. Being a runner and not an athlete with much coordination at all, basketball is definitely out of my comfort zone. As soon as I stepped foot on the court, I realized I was in for a steep learning curve! Being thrust into the role of a struggling learner (struggling to play basketball), I was humbly reminded of the challenges so many of our students face every single day to learn the skills and content the 21st century requires. I found myself taking away a few important lessons about teaching and learning from basketball:

Meet your students where they're at: When I couldn't make a throw from the 3-point line, Amanda suggested "Why don't you start a little closer, Steve?"
Provide a model for students: Watching Katie and Justin make nearly every basket gave me a expert model for learning.
Remind students of the goal: Scott and Bev reminded me, every time I played, who/where I was supposed to guard.
Celebrate small successes: Though I am an awful player, when Stephanie and Dianna gave me high fives, it made all the difference to keep on trying.
Provide constant feedback: After I returned to the bench, Beth continued to tell me how to improve what I was doing.
Everybody deserves a cheerleader: As I ran past the SB bench, Alyssa and Kim continued to encourage me to try my best.
Everyone deserves a second chance: With sufficient practice, I know Coach Cohen will give me another opportunity (or two) to show my new knowledge and understanding!

Image Credit: http://www.iloveclipart.com/images/free-basketball-clip-art.jpg

Snow: An Enemy of Learning

2011-01-27T12:36:00.001-05:00

As I was shoveling snow onto the eight-foot-high pile in front of my house during my fourth snow day, I considered the fact that we had lost an entire day of school and educational momentum, and wondered: should that also mean we lose an entire day of learning? The in-again-out-again lack of routine for everyone - students, teachers and parents alike - is certainly detrimental to maximum student learning, but what can we do? Mother Nature has another plan! But what if snow was no longer a reason for learning to stop? Physical schools are important, yes - but when we cannot get in there (be it snow, rain, travel, vacation, or something else), what if getting into the physical school building was eliminated as a hurdle to learning? What would that look like? What if...

Students were expected to think deeply every day (even on snow days!)
Technology eliminated the snow day hurdle
Students were engaged in authentic, project-based learning
Teachers provided learning opportunities online

Is this possible? Yes - and essential on days when students and teachers cannot get to school. An unexpected snow day is fun for everyone, and I'm not trying to be the Fun Police, but really, it's all about maximizing our students' learning, isn't it? Therefore, snow, sleet, freezing rain or burst pipes should no longer be a reason for learning to stop.

Lost Potential

2011-01-09T09:24:00.000-05:00

As an educator, I have dealt with sad moments in my career, with the death of students with whom I spent time. As Cicero said, "Nosce te ipsum," and boy, do I know myself: the death of a child is likely the saddest thing that I've ever had to experience, and hope to never again. What truly gets me: the loss of potential of a child.

I needed to put my current blog post on hold, to stop and think about the loss of Christina Taylor Greene. I never knew this nine year old, but her death has hit me like a ton of bricks. This young lady was a victim of the Tucson, Arizona shooting at Representative Gabrielle Giffords's community meeting. Her potential was simply incredible: the only girl on a baseball team, an aspiring politician, a dancer, a gymnast, a swimmer, a musician, a volunteer. All of this potential: lost, in a single moment, and it simply devastates me to the core.

No one can reverse the insanity that occurred yesterday in Tucson, AZ. No one can bring back Christina Taylor Greene. But, as an educator, I remind myself today, and everyday, to always look for the potential in all my students, and commit to not letting that slip away. Christina Taylor Greene's potential may have been lost, but I simply will not allow her death to be in vain: the potential of our students is right in front of us, waiting to flourish. As educators, it is our job to develop it. Please join me in ensuring that Christina Taylor Greene's memory is used for good, as a reminder every single day about the delicate potential that every student holds - and important job that we educators all hold. It is our responsibility to ensure that potential blossoms to its fullest extent.

Works Cited:

http://globalgrind.com/channel/news/content/1899875/she-has-a-name-christina-taylor-greene-9-yr-old-killed-in-tucson-massacre-born-on-91101-photos/
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/article_28c8e686-1ca6-5b3e-ab85-965bd22c68c0.html

Cloud of Students

2011-01-02T08:41:00.001-05:00

I was excited to learn of Tagxedo, a word cloud creator. I submitted my blog's address, knowing that I was making myself vulnerable as to what would be most prominent...I was thrilled to see the biggest word in my blog's cloud: students. Woo hoo!

Grades: Understanding, not Obedience

2010-11-28T09:36:00.000-05:00

The New York Times got me thinking, in its November 28, 2010 article "No More A's for Good Behavior." The Potsdam, NY Public Schools, led by Superintendent Patrick Brady, are right on. As I concluded in a previous blog post, "Extra Credit: The Downfall of America?", grades must be a reflection of knowledge learned, information synthesized, skills demonstrated, not a reflection of behavior.

I have opened up the following conversation individually with teachers, but have not yet taken it on with the staff of the whole school in which I work - yet. Grades must not be a reflection of behavior, but of understanding. This includes the a big piece of student responsibility: homework. The excuse that "if students do not homework and are not penalized for not completing it, then won't ever learn to do it!" is simply hogwash. We should be creating homework assignments that are essential, and if it uncomfortably illuminates our own homework policies, then guess what: maybe it's time to change! To the nay-sayers of no-zero homework policies, creating a clear system in one's classroom begins with ensuring that homework assignments are essential and worthwhile to learning and understanding. Next, follow this If --> Then Equation:

If	Then
No Homework	Complete HW + Reflection*
Still no HW	Complete HW during lunch + Reflection*
Still No HW, again	Complete HW before/after school + Reflection*

* Reflection should be age appropriate and in lieu of deducting points from homework grade; teaching responsibility and follow-through may come in ways beyond just subtracting points.

Creating a no-zero homework policy and minimizing the amount that homework counts in one's grade really does allow the conversation to shift from behavior to understanding. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater, though: conduct, effort and responsibility all still count, and are important to be teaching, especially in the middle school level. These important values and academic characteristics may still be taught in a plethora of ways, but should be absent from grading and homework practices. Values should still be taught in classes on a daily basis, as well as advisory, reflection, extension time, lunch, clubs and classroom management, to name a few.

We must shift the focus of our classrooms from obedience to understanding. Yes, we should teach students important values, but not at the expense of content understanding. Making sure that students are provided with every opportunity to understand is essential. I'm all for democracy, but let's not forget that children are still children: they should not get to decide when and if they want to complete homework (assuming it is worthwhile and essential). Grades should be a reflection of understanding, not obedience, and it is simply not an excuse to claim that "students need to learn responsibility." While this is true, it cannot be at the expense of understanding.

The New York Times is right: grades should not reflect behavior. I believe our schools should do the difficult work of making sure that our grades (and subsequently, our homework assignments) are a reflection of understanding, not obedience.

Extra Credit: The Downfall of America?

2010-11-21T08:33:00.001-05:00

I feel dizzy from the number of times I have flip-flopped on the topic of extra credit in schools. As a middle school educator, I am flooded with requests from students, "Please, Mr. G. Is there any way I can do extra credit? Pleeeeeeease?" Some years, heart strings were tugged in September, and my policy was made for me. Other years, however, I stood strong and tall, feeling a bit like an ogre, saying "So sorry, I don't do extra credit," but unsure about the WHY behind this statement. Once I thought long and hard about extra credit, and its potential damaging effect on my classroom, and exponentially my school, my state, and beyond, I decided that extra credit was a dirty little secret, and simply had to go.

Why? Extra credit, sitting innocently enough by itself, doesn't sound so sinister, right? I found that more often than not, extra credit was being requested by students who wanted to raise their grade. What a fantastic situation: eager students who were requesting to learn more? How could I go wrong!? Often, I found, the extra credit I assigned was for the student to investigate, learn or understand more knowledge, and it often was extension material. If I'm being totally honest with myself, more times than not, students were using Wikipedia to look up information that someone else had researched, wrote a few paragraphs, and hope that Mr. Guditus was feeling generous and hadn't forgotten his coffee that day (there was no rubric, of course).

After being totally honest (and vulnerable) with myself, I realized the purpose of extra credit was flawed: I was taking students who were struggling with mastery of a topic, and piled on what amounted to additional busy work, and raised their grade as a result. WHAT?! This couldn't be: I was a thoughtful teacher: how had I let myself get away with this? Teachers are human, and I let emotions drive my decisions, not thinking about the students. I had forgotten that kids don't always get to make the decisions in the classroom, and that as the teacher, it was my responsibility to determine mastery, and (here's the punchline) what to do when students do not master the material. I think it was ignorant bliss. I hadn't realized I had stumbled upon a big question: how do I handle students who struggle? And seemingly, I wasn't. Those who were motivated got a boost in their grade, but those who were embarrassed, unable or unwilling to approach me simply got diddly-squat. This is unacceptable.

Now, here I was facing a bigger issue: how do ensure that students are learning? It appeared that just giving additional research projects willy-nilly was not the solution. Not to mention, what about those high-achieving students who had demonstrated mastery? Extra credit may or may not have motivated them, but was it fair to only offer extra credit to struggling learners? Would they stop when their grade reached a 100%? Am I teaching them to be learners for the sake of learning? I had opened Pandora's Box. But I'm so glad I did. Because ultimately, extra credit isn't about ensuring learning, it's about superficiality: raising grades to make students, parents and teachers feel good about themselves, without actually demonstrating mastery of the concepts from class. Shouldn't a grade be a reflection of understanding of the curriculum? It simply must be so.

My next year of teaching, I confidently listed "No extra credit is offered in my classroom" in my classroom policies, as well as "assessments under 70 are required to be retaken." I expected the worst: posters, riots, protests. Nothing. After the first assessment, one reflection of student understanding of the material, I contacted students who had scored below a 70, letting them know they must have:

Parent signature.
After-school/before-school conference with me.
Written reflection of why you got the grade you did, and what you will do differently to prepare for the next assessment.
Personalized additional study work, due in one week (this looked differently, depending on the assessment and the preparation that was done or not done) to ensure missing concepts were covered
Retake the test or quiz, following this cycle, until a 70 or better was achieved.

In this fashion, I could confidently provide students an avenue to increase their understanding, learning and comprehension, of the material I/school/town/state decided was important. Extension of high-achievers still happened, but I was able to inform students and parents that extension was for students who had mastered the material, not for those to wanted to improve their grade. To do that, there was a process.

Fastforward to this year: I'm an assistant principal, and in the last few weeks, as I've walked the classrooms of my middle school, I have found extra credit to be rampant. I wonder: how often are students offered extension of curriculum, when they haven't yet mastered the fundamentals? Is extra credit ruining our students by sending them the message that "more is better," and "complete what you want to complete, not what's important"? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for student choice and constructivism in classrooms, but extra credit could potentially be damaging our nation. Extra credit allows students to opt-out of the curriculum they need to master, in lieu of something else (which may or may not be important), but still go on record as having achieved the standard. This allows us all to be living in a sea of smiles and happiness, but not in reality. If students are struggling, we must take on the hard work to help them learn and find mastery, not allow them to work independently on material that is not essential. If we do, our nation will wake up to find students who have become adults that lack essential knowledge and skills, but no one knew...all because of extra credit. (That may be a bit dramatic, but you get my point, right?) Extra credit has the potential to send students the message that more is better, and learning just for learning's sake isn't good enough (see Daniel Pink's book Drive for more about motivation). Our nation simply can not be sustained on these values. More is not better: creativity, drive for excellence, innovation - these are the values that will help our students be the best in the world.

Teaching is hard work. As educators (and as an administrator), we must not allow ourselves to take the easy way out, but closely follow our students' mastery, and teach them that learning for learning's sake is important, and that understanding and success is not an option: it's mandatory, and the basis for ensuring that all our children learn.

Image credits:
http://dclips.fundraw.com/zobo500dir/thongs_01.jpg
http://www.clker.com/clipart-6937.html

#masscue reflections...a bit late!

2010-11-14T08:06:00.003-05:00

I attended the Massachusetts Computer Using Educators (#MassCue) Conference in October at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Besides being able to simultaneously watch outstanding workshops and progress my own learning, I also was able to watch the Patriots practice from the luxury box in which I was sitting...pretty awesome! (But: no pictures allowed!)

I collected lots of links, attended several workshops, and gathered resources from presenters and colleagues alike. Below you'll find a plethora of disorganized links, essentially in chronological order of when I learned of them at MassCue.

Back at school, my goal: deeply explore one resource per day, considering ways to incorporate into the classroom. I've also decided that in lieu of a traditional grade level meeting, we'll have a knock-down, drag-out, down-and-dirty Exploration Party of the links, giving staff members some time to work with their "content buddies" to discover, explore and create, bringing more instruction, differentiation, and scaffolding to the classroom. These grade level meetings will require:

Teachers must sit next to content buddies.
Start by exploring several websites individually, noting instructional implications/ideas/interest for your specific class(es).
Share out best ideas with content buddies.
Create a 3-2-1:

3 websites you are personally interested in "mucking around with" by the next grade level meeting in two weeks.

2 ideas you and your content buddies can incorporate into your classes by the next grade level meeting...do this together (many hands make for light work!).

1 idea you can try from today's work, by the end of this week.

http://www.polleverywhere.com
http://tadalist.com
http://www.wallwisher.com
http://www.smartmoves.com
http://www.vimeo.com
http://www.skitch.com
http://www.spellingcity.com
http://www.storybird.com
http://www.tickatock.com
http://www.storyjumper.com
http://animoto.com/education
http://tweentribune.com
http://teentribune.com
http://www.openoffice.org/
http://www.voicethread.com
http://edu.glogster.com
http://www.flocabulary.com
http://myavatareditor.com
http://www.voki.com/
http://www.fodey.com
http://www.comiclife.com
http://www.xtranormal.com
http://web.archive.org/collections/web.html
http://www.ted.com
http://arted20.ning.com
http://ali.apple.com/cbl/
http://www.weebly.com/
http://voicethread.com
http://www.nicenet.org
http://mysterytheaterpodcasts.blogspot.com/
http://keepvid.com/
http://school.goanimate.com/
http://wordle.net
http://www.titanpad.com
http://www.spaaze.com/
http://en.linoit.com/
http://www.pindax.com/
http://crocodoc.com/
http://www.twiddla.com/
http://mywebspiration.com/
http://www.stykz.com/
http://www.xtranormal.com/

Middle School Homework Tips for Parents

2010-11-12T15:24:00.000-05:00

Prioritize homework assignments. Based on difficulty levels and due dates, created a numbered to-do list each afternoon/evening to help your child efficiently complete their homework.
Learn to advocate for themselves. If an assignment is confusing to your child, they need clarificaiton, or additional support from their teacher, discuss with your child to whom they should speak and about what, including specific questions to get the help they need.
Create a calendar for long-term assignments. It is helpful for students to use a blank monthly calendar to plan time they will need, backwards, from the due date of assignments. Try color-coding for various classes; this will help students better chart out their after-school time.
Have a consistent work time. Everyone deserves some down time, especially after a long day at school! Allow your child some time to relax and unwind, encourage them to stay hydrated, and have a consistent start time for homework. There's nothing worse than trying to start a difficult homework assignment at 8:00pm!
Stay positive. Homework can be difficult, but modeling a positive attitude, especially when work gets difficult will help teach your child develop problem-solving and self-advocacy skills. Encourage and support your child by providing guidance as to how to solve a problem and/or seek help.
Take a break. If your child is focused and down to work, keep an eye open for frustration. It is ok to take a break!

Middle School Teaming

2010-11-11T10:40:00.000-05:00

Two researchers from Northern Kentucky University, Christopher Cook and Shawn Faulkner, conducted a study of two middle schools in Kentucky that had effective teaming at the middle grades level. This study clearly listed the benefits of having common planning and meeting time at the middle school level, a crucial time for students in their educational career. In order to support students at the middle school level, it is important for common planning time and meetings to occur. Although this model can be costly, when properly implemented with tight-loose leadership from the administration, the benefit to student learning and support is nearly endless.

Cook and Faulkner make the argument for three types of meetings at the middle school level:

Interdisciplinary Teams: these teams, made up of adults that teach different subjects but the same students, should meet regularly, to address:
- Scheduling changes
- Student concerns
- Students receiving services
- Behavior issues in classrooms
- Team activity prep work
- Team field trip
- Student growth and progress
- Scheduling/coordinating assessment schedules for students
- Discuss transferable skills across content areas (e.g. reading comprehension, study skills).
According to the researchers, "Daily or regular common planning time is essential so that teams can plan ways to integrate the curriculum, analyze test data, review student work, discuss current research, and reflect on the effectiveness of instructional approaches."
Grade Level Teams: these teams are also interdisciplinary, but are larger than the Interdisciplinary Teams, and met less frequently, and often on "as-needed" basis. These teams should focus on:
- Housekeeping tasks
- Grade-level field trips
- Awards programs
- Assemblies
- Special programs and schedules
- School policy implementation at the grade level
- Assessment demands of the grade
- Grade-level or school homework policies
- Grading policies, at a grade-appropriate level.
Professional Learning Communities (PLCs): these teams are made up of teachers who typically teach the same content in the same grade level. These PLCs have the potential to most directly impact student learning and progress. These PLC groups should be meeting regularly, to:
- Discuss curriculum alignment
- Develop ommon assessments
- Analyze student data
- Share best practices
- Share ideas and resources
- Share what works and does not work
- Planning daily lessons, assessments and scope and sequence calendars
- Share different teaching strategies
- Outline units
- Compare assessments
- Have a outlet for teachers to discuss delivering the most appropriate instruction.
PLCs should remain focused on curriculum and assessment functions, whereas Interdisciplinary Teams and Grade Level Teams are a more appropriate forum for student-specific behavioral/academic issues and housekeeping functions.

Cook and Faulkner go on to describe a few other signs of successful middle-level teams:

Printed agendas
Recorded minutes, forwarded to building level administrators
Commitment from building-level administrators and central office administrators
Administrative trust that teachers will use their times wisely to focus on students
Culture of high expectations, trust, and professionalism
The view that planning/meeting time is "sacred"
PLCs should meet at least once a week, and more if possible; flexibility should be key with scheduling Interdisciplinary Team and Grade Level team meetings
All team meetings should have clearly defined purposes and expectations (by agenda use)
Reasonable goals, able to be accomplished during meeting time frame
An unwavering focus on students

This study provided affirmation that many middle schools are doing good work already, and that there is always room for improvement, as we work to "tighten up" the purpose of meetings, to focus on student learning and supporting one another.

Helping Oneself Help Others

2010-10-07T18:24:00.000-04:00

“You need to take care of yourself first.
If you don't care for yourself, you can't take care of someone else.”
-Kathleen O'Brien

As a new school leader, I think that sometimes we forget to take care of ourselves and stop to reflect. This afternoon I got the opportunity to stop and reflect with other new assistant principals in the Boston area, thanks to a roundtable discussion hosted by the MSSAA in Franklin, MA. It's funny, the fact that as school leaders, we ask teachers to stop and reflect on their practice, to focus on student learning, and we ask students to stop, and assess their learning, and revise their goals, and to keep on going! As an administrator, we don't have many other checks, besides our peers and our superiors to stop and reflect. And often times, we all (other administrators) are also running around like mad men and women, assessing their ever-expanding to-do list, and trying desperately, all the while, to spend time in classrooms and with students, to have an impact on student learning.

This deliberate break in my day was just fantastic. It was a true PLC: we focused on student learning, worked together, shared best practices, and kept the norms of the group that would lead to full, authentic participation by all.

Rick DuFour states that in order to "create a professional learning community, focus on learning rather than teaching, work collaboratively, and hold yourself accountable for results." It was great to stop and reflect on my own learning, the learning of students, and to work collaboratively with a group of professionals in the same boat as me! I will need to hold myself accountable for some of the action items we discussed in the group, and to create an action plan that will force me to regularly stop, reflect, and take care of myself professionally. Just like good teaching is never finished, as teachers constantly reflect, revise and edit, and schools that function as a high-level PLC will encourage that, I need to encourage myself to do the same. I must reflect; I must revise; I must edit. I will need to rely electronically for other educators in my PLN to keep pushing me, hold me accountable, to regularly carve out the time I need to engage in my own professional development. The Chicken-Without-A-Head Syndrome, which I genuinely love about my job, needs to occasionally be put on hold, so I may stop, take care of myself, reflect on my learning, and engage in as much of professional learning community as I can, even if it is on my own, or with hundreds of fellow educators out there in my PLN who challenge what I do and affirm what I do. Thank you to you all!

Works Cited
DuFour, Rick. "What Is a "Professional Learning Community"? http://pdonline.ascd.org/pd_online/secondary_reading/el200405_dufour.html

http://edupln.ning.com/

http://fullygeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/chicken.jpg

My Hopes as an Educator

2010-07-20T07:45:00.000-04:00

As I exit the classroom, I am coming to terms with the reality that my impact on students will be in another forum as Assistant Principal. A secondary impact on students as the Guy-Who-Schedules-The-School isn't as glamorous as creating an awesome learning expedition that directly impacts students and their learning...but just as important? Yes, I think so.

I dusted out my journal from my first year of teaching and revisited some of my journal entries and reflections. Much of what I reread from those years ago still applies to my hopes as an educator of middle schoolers, though not as a classroom teacher:

1st Year Teacher Reflection	Administrator Hope
"Overwhelmed and excited. These are the two words that describe how I am feeling." (September)	I hope to feel mostly excited (though I'm sure I will feel overwhelmed at some point!) throughout the entire year.
"I didn't realize how much I would be looking back and thinking about what I had taught and how I had taught it." (October)	I hope to always be willing to hit the drawing board again and again. Continuous improvement is sometimes about reflecting on successes and failures.
"I probably should have different ways of delivering instruction, and in chunks. Kids need a way to reflect and process the information." (November)	I hope to be honest and reflective about my leadership, and continuously work to improve it.
"I think that we, as a cluster or grade, miss a lot of potential for interdisciplinary units." (December)	I hope to systemically encourage staff to collaborate, go beyond their comfort zone, and create meaningful learning experiences for students.
"I still feel passion for teacher (and know I always will), but feel like I am getting into a slump with my creativity." (January)	I hope to be balanced in my professional and personal life, and recharge my batteries; I've got to take care of myself to be there for others.
"I wanted to do something different than my colleagues, but I wondered: how much would I be rocking the boat? Would it be acceptable to create these other options?" (February)	I hope to be a boat rocker. I hope to be a boat rocker that is respectful, inquisitive, and listens. But still rocks the boat.
"My colleague and I both contributed ideas to this exciting lesson plan, but all our students benefited from the expertise of two brains. I wonder where and how this can happen again?" (March)	I hope to encourage collaboration and develop structured PLCs that improve student learning!
"If students are motivated through something they are god at as well as the desire for more knowledge, their overall engagement and comprehension will increase." (April)	I hope to encourage good behavior and relationships through my interaction with students. I hope my interpersonal connection with students will increase their learning.
"It is a great way for students to begin the process of researching, writing, notating, paraphrasing, and note-taking." (May)	I hope to encourage teachers to focus on academic skills, 21st century skills, and content knowledge. Middle school must be a blend if our students are to be successful in their next setting.
"This week I encountered my first instance of plagiarism. At first the girl denied it, then she denied she meant to do it. I feel like the most important consequence should be what she learns from the mistake." (June)	I hope to always remember that kids are kids. Perhaps the most important impact I can have on their lives as an AP is to have them reflect and change their behavior and attitude for the better.

So what have I learned from this reflective exercise? I have learned that I am still an educator, that my role has shifted but the genesis for why I am a teacher, for why I am involved with educating our youth, and why I want to make the difference in the lives of others is still the same...I just needed to revisit how it all began for a little reminder.

School Opening Kickoff Videos: August Inspiration

2010-07-19T20:54:00.000-04:00

After spending time scouring the web, I've zeroed in on the following videos clips as the ones I believe to possess the most potential to use with staff to kick off the school year in August. Please feel free to comment, add to the list, share, RT, or let me know what you think!

If you have a video that's worthwhile to share you think is missing from this list, please, by all means leave a comment below or tweet me with the URL.

A Vision of K12 Students Today

A Vision of All Kinds of Students

Shift Happens (2010)

Did You Know (4.0)?

The Essay

Education Today and Tomorrow

A Brave New World-Wide-Web

I teach, therefore you learn...or do you?

Mr. Winkle Wakes

Pay Attention

No Future Left Behind

Baby Squirrel Learns

Do You Teach or Educate?

100 Ways to Show Children You Care

Starkville MS: Believe

We Think

Dalton Sherman: Do You Believe in Me?

Adora Svitak: What Adults Can Learn From Kids

Kurzweil in Middle School

2010-07-19T08:48:00.000-04:00

I am not a reading specialist. And I do not play one on TV.

I am, however, a middle school educator. And I know what works.

Through several years of trial and error, research and reflection, I found the value in using Kurzweil, a text-to-read program, which I believe can transform the way students read and write. Initially introduced to me as a special education accommodation (for which it works well), I discovered the power in using it mainstreamed across the curriculum and across all classes.

From what I have seen, good readers don't just happen. Certainly, some students are simply gifted readers, but even the "best readers" in middle school are likely good readers because they work at it: they are avid readers, and therefore have become good readers. The best readers have created and/or learned strategies that work for them to make them effective readers. Weaker readers don't lack the ability to be good readers, but just lack the strategies that good readers possess either intrinsically or have adopted as second-nature, much like playing a musical instrument - after a while, seeing the music and pressing the correct key is second-nature, after practice.

What makes Kurzweil so valuable in this process of teaching readers to become stronger readers is that it creates structures that allow and encourage students to use those "strong-reader" strategies that strong readers might not even know they are using. For example, teachers may imbed reading comprehension questions, definition requirements, multiple choice questions and other options that require students to stop, summarize, confirm their understanding, and proceed. If used regularly, students should acquire these strategies and generalize them to anything they read, without Kurzweil. It is the lifevest which can be gradually taken off until students are ready to swim, grow stronger, and hopefully are competing in swimming competitions - and winning! Two other components of Kurzweil that make it worthwhile for all students includes the writing function, which provides graphic organizers that automatically transform ideas into outlines, and provides a split screen off of which students may write paragraphs. Finally, Kurzweil allows for successful differentiation by giving the teacher (and student, if they are ready) the ability to provide various levels of scaffolding to support their reading and writing level, depending on their ability grouping.

This video, filmed by Kurzweil in my classroom over a course of two days, illustrates these benefits of Kurzweil - certainly worthwhile for a variety of classroom settings and learning styles. Do not hesitate to contact me with questions about integration!

Becoming an Administrator

2010-07-16T09:16:00.000-04:00

We ask our students, especially in middle school, to work on transitions, changes, to Never Give Up! Reach For The Stars! Change Is Good! And now, here I am, hovering above myself, trying to remeber the advice I gave my students. I am two weeks into a new path, a shift in my professional life, and it is exciting, scary, challenging, and invigorating! I have shifted my middle school educator role from classroom teacher to assistant principal. With no students in the building, it has become a great time to reflect about my hopes, fears, challenges, and excitements.

More than anything, I am excited to impact the lives of middle school students on a broader scale. Looking back to my purpose for wanting to become an administrator, it was that - I want to help impact the lives of more students than just those in my classroom. It is with this idealistic view that I enter into July and August, albeit with no students or staff in the building! I am excited about helping to develop protocols to support struggling learners, and ways to extend the learning for those students that are ready to move to the next level. I am excited about cultivating student life, developing the adult-student bonds in the school, and viewing excellent learning and teaching. I am excited to get into classrooms and see great instruction happening, and help improve student learning.

My fears - so silly, as I fear like a middle schooler myself with these fears, but perhaps that means they are human, and not age-based - are that I won't know names and faces of staff, and that I won't know the answer to something that I should have! (Uh, sorry, I went to the bathroom during that part of my degree program...I'll have to look that up.) I worry about some the technical learning curve that exists, such as in scheduling, but know that like my students, I need to remember to stick with it, and not get frustrated.

This is all so new, that sometimes I have an idea (Eureka! Oh, well if only I was an administrator, I could...), and then a moment later, I realize - wait a minute, that is something that could happen because of me! This is great!

Now I know it's not all peaches and cream all the time, but the excitement of trying new things and helping to improve student learning and student life for more kids is invigorating to me. I need to remember to come back to doing what's right for students, and need to spend some time observing - months, probably, listening, watching, asking questions, and seeing how my new school works. It will be a steep learning curve, but one I'm excited for and ready for. I need to preserve these feelings - and remember that this is what many of my students will be feeling - perhaps every day!

Joining the Web 2.0 World for Educators

2010-02-14T09:30:00.003-05:00

20.5 Century Education

2010-02-04T11:22:00.011-05:00

I was floored by a statistic cited in the Boston Globe article "Parents seek balance as screens’ allure grows." It states that, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, American kids between 8 and 18 spend seven and a half (7.5!) hours in front of a computer screen, phone, TV, or some other electronic screen. In 2004, it was just one and a half hours. If this trend continues, in six years, will students be spending nearly every non-school hour in front of a screen? I can only stop and wonder: Is this the reason my students are always so tired in school? Perhaps it's because my cluster's English class just finished reading Fahrenheit 451, but are we leading our students down the road of awake-all-day, awake-all-night, with no down time to stop, reflect, and think? Guy Montag would be concerned.

In middle school (and adolescence), exploration and testing boundaries is normal, typical, and healthy. Like anything, however, balance is key. The Globe suggests that, like a diet, one must have a healthy balance of screen time and non-screen time, as well as different types of technology. In my classroom, I advocate for a 21st century learning environment and push the envelope in my building and with my students to encourage new technologies, new applications, and new styles of thinking. Frequently, I proudly proclaim to colleagues and myself, "I am so progressive! Look at how much technology I am integrating into the school day!" Hoping to inspire and teach others to try new ideas in the classroom, I failed to realize that students were already spending the majority of their non-school like in front of a screen. So, the question is:

1. Since students are so comfortable with electronic screens, does using electronic screens in the school day help or hinder their understanding of concepts?

2. Should schools be a hotbed of electronic screen use or an break from them?

3. Is it time to temper technology use by combining 21st century skills and the good ol' 3 Rs (reading, writing, arithmetic)?

I'm not sure how I feel about questions one and two, but regarding question three, I propose we make a return to 20th-and-a-half century skills. I'm not proposing we return to a school environment of the 1950s, complete with atom bomb drills and rote memorization, but instead, let's use the Boston Globe's idea of moderation - like anything - as being beneficial for our students. There's a time and a place for technology, and like differentiated instruction, it shouldn't be used every day and for every lesson, but when it's appropriate. The two biggest advantages of using technology in education is (a) the efficiency with which students can learn information and (b) the level to which they can make connections abstractly and creatively. Should it be integrated every day? I'm not so sure...but rather used deliberately and thoughtfully, not just for technology's sake, but to develop thinking, creativity and writing skills, access the curriculum, and collaborate. As a rule of thumb, if technology isn't helping achieve one of these goals, should we really be using it? If students are inundated with technology for entertainment and for technology's sake outside of school, as educators, we must teach students moderation, efficient time use, and deliberate technology use.

Now with that being said, here I am reading online news articles, blogging about them, and microblogging them to Twitter. Perhaps what I need is a reminder that if we don't model what we teach, then what are we teaching? I look forward to your thoughts.

Image from http://www.boston.com/community/moms/articles/2010/02/04/parents_strive_to_temper_screens_pull_on_children/.

Kurzweil

2010-01-27T11:20:00.003-05:00

The past few days I have been using Kurzweil 3000 with my 7th and 8th grade students. It's been about a year since I have used it, as our district was updating licenses and reimaging computers. Now that it is done, I've got to say, it's been worth the wait. The potential to revolutionize the way students read and write is contained in this program.

The venerable question, "Why are we doing this?" rang out as I began my lesson first period of the first day. I quickly was reminded that learning needs to be authentic and interactive; I needed to not just tell my students they needed Kurzweil, but show my students they need Kurzweil.

Benefits of using Kurzweil:

1. It's the future: e-books are around the corner in college, and probably high school soon (think: Kindle from Amazon).

2. A big payoff: For just the little more work of highlighting while they read, students can have 3-column notes extracted from their highlighting, right from the text.

3. It's convenient: If a term is unknown or confusing, a 10-second pause of the reading allows students to use the built-in dictionary function.

4. Worthwhile: The brainstorming and outline functions are interchangeable, and allows students to write with their outline in the next column.

5. It's fun!

I found that two groups are truly drawn to using Kurzweil in class (I make all my students, regular ed and special ed, use Kurzweil): strong students and tech-savvy students. My strongest students understand that assistive technology is not something to ignore, but channel; it allows one to highlight, record, and rearrange all in a few clicks, which saves a lot of time - no more writing and rewriting. Certainly, there is something to be said for good, old-fashioned, hand-written index cards to brainstorm and arrange ideas, but the efficiency and ease with which ideas can be extracted and manipulated is astounding. My strongest students, who already are adept at doing this, realize this and are on board. I'm hoping that my middle ground students, those that have a big potential to increase their writing skills in these last few months before leaving for high school, will see this being modeled, and be on board. My tech savvy students seem to love the ins and outs of colorizing, highlighting, and reading online. Certainly, it's been an attention-grabber to begin. I think it to be important for students to build reading and writing skills, and if Social Studies and the Byzantine Empire can serve as a forum through which students can learn transferable skills, I think I have done my job as a middle school educator.

Massachusetts Senate Race - January 19, 2010

2010-01-16T15:51:00.005-05:00

With the upcoming Massachusetts Senate election on Tuesday, January 19, things have heated up across the Commonwealth (and the national peanut gallery has been growing). My own political interest is in overdrive, so receiving three to four calls nightly about the election is exciting! Our students need to be aware of the statewide, national and historical importance of this election, so I created some materials to use in my 7th and 8th grade Social Studies classes.

Below, I have shared four documents that I will be using in different capacities with my students. Please feel free to use and adapt them for your own classroom and students as appropriate. Any ideas, lesson plans or reactions, please pass them along, email me, tweet me, or comment on this blog post!

Grid of candidates on the views
Venn Diagram to process information
Explanation of federal and state jurisdictions - from about.com
17th Amendment (calls for special election)
Recent Yahoo! News article on state election as proxy for healthcare debate
Homework: Interview an adult about the election

#masen

EduBloggerCon (R)Eflections

2009-07-29T17:13:00.006-04:00

I made my way down to the Boston Park Plaza yesterday for my first EduBloggerCon-East (#ebce09 is the free, one-day precursor to #BLC09). I found some amazing resources, met some great new colleagues, and thought it useful to draw some conclusions to synthesize, find patterns, and make my own meaning. I created a mind map using Mind42.

Best Practices in Textured Literacy - Tom Daccord

Essentially, Tom suggests that we can no longer focus on traditional student literacy, but we must also consider multi-modal literacy and texts (pictures and text)
Use backchannel Today's Meet to assess previous student knowledge
Avoiding multi-modal texts in our schools will leave our students marginalized
We must add value to traditional and multi-modal writing by making it:
- meaningful
- authentic
- social
Consider the Student News Action Network
Tom created the The Great Debate of 2008 ning with his own students

New Media Reaching All Learners - Karen Janowski

Etherpad is a good place to begin to provide a forum for hesitant learners to speak up
UDL = Universal Design for Learning
A good resource to simulate having a disability from PBS
CAST - multiple resources, lesson plans, etc.
Text-to-speech
Great UDL wiki - free resources
Kurzweil 3000

Scratch from MIT - Liz Davis

Scratch from MIT (free download)
ScratchEd Educator Forum
Scratch Tutorials
Potential Purposes:

Making meaning
Kids need linear thinking
Following directions
Learning from mistakes
Problem-solving
Teacher-made game that kids use and practice
Alternative for presentation or as assessment
Animation

Backchannels - Lisa Thumann

Think about purpose for teaching, learning and instruction
Potential uses:

Record of discussion for current events, news, politics, speeches
Moderator status as privilege for 2-3 students
Extra help review sessions (after school, evening, weekends, etc.)
Weekend institutes for parent instruction (math, etc.)

More student engagement, especially with hesitant learners or to increase inclusion in classroom
Edmodo
Tiny Chat
Google Talk
Elluminate for Educators
Ed Tech Talk
Backchanneling should be:1.

able to be moderated
editable
clickable
embeddable
archivable

Web 2.0 Smackdown

bubblecomment.com @TeachAKidd

video comment
video camera needed
type in url
useful for class website
give "new" url to viewers

"Show Options" in Google @joycevalenza

Search in google.com
Click "Show Options"

Last 24 hours
contextual information filled in
Wonder Wheel - mind map

Timeline

Events by decade

More text
Images from the page
http://www.sdst.org/shs/library

Google Squared
Side-by-side comparison search by metatag

http://edu.glogster.com

one page of a website

text
video
music
animation
graphics
no code necessary

"graphical" glog
register up to 200 students with no contact information
glogster.com - very wide open; social network
edu.glogster.com - private, secure, your students are in one isolated box

Fireshot (Firefox add-on) @TeacherJim

Like the old "Print Screen" on PCs
Useful for teaching how-to for applications
Free and pay version available
Annotatable with arrows, lines, numbers
Always in your toolbar
No audio

Socrato! @socrato

Assemble worksheets
Print online or download
Free to use
Tag clouds
Search pre-made lessons by standard, subject or grade
Editable for our own use
Students may log-in

Assessment
Assignment

Aardvark @alightlearning

Import twitter, facebook, gchat friends
Pose question:

Question is sent to those that have tagged themselves as knowledgeable
Others respond with answers
Expand your network/PLN

The Live Pen by Livescribe @KarenJan

Write one key word
Pen will record what is spoken
Touch pen to word to hear words associated
Notes can be uploaded, along with associated recording
Available on eBay, Target, Amazon

Instructables @EmilyValenza

Upload explanations
Pick an experiment and try yourself!
Or, assess and improve

ImageChef @LParisi

Create your own image using words
Grab image
Send to social networks
Get an imbed code
Searchable gallery
Free!

Xtranormal @ lloydcrew

Text-to-moviemaker
Create a video
Enter text
Enter characters
Customize
Add movement, animations, camera angles
Use for assessment

Stixy @ kelleyc3

Virtual post-it note website
stixy.com/guest/41971
Summer Reading Books

Fair Use Guidelines

Repurposing

YoLink

Download
Tell YoLink to search links
Results will open new toolbar on right with paragraph synopsis
Key terms highlighted
Clicking on paragraph will open that webpage
Social Bookmarking function

WolframAlpha @ dkuropatwa

Computational Knowledge Engine

Power of mathematica in a search engine
Taking input - reformat equation

Roots
Alternate Form
Roots
Polynomial discriminant
Steps to solve equation

Changes homework

Punch this equation into WolframAlpha
Explain why

Get charts, languages, statistics

Social Technology and Education Conference @lizbdavis

August 14th @ Harvard University

#EBCE09 Wordle

2009-07-29T10:52:00.006-04:00

I attended the EduBloggerCon-East 09 "Un"Conference on Tuesday, July 28 at the Boston Park Plaza. It was great. Not only did I meet PLN friends in "real life," which was great, but I also learned about new tools for my classroom and met some new people. I created a wordle from the notes I took; I think the largest words is telling about what the focus of our conversation truly was! (One note: I obviously couldn't attend every session! If anyone out there has notes from their sessions they'd like me to include in another wordle, please email me!)

Right-Brained: The Fourth R of School

2009-07-24T16:22:00.010-04:00

Often considered superfluous, developing the right brain will become an asset with the advent of abundance, Asia and automation. Workers must combat these concepts and be high concept (beautifiers and inventors) and high touch (empathizers) in the Conceptual Age by developing six senses: design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning.

This 50-word mini-saga (synopsis: see below) of A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink is proof: I do have right-minded ability! Daniel Pink lays out a thoughtful thesis that I shall apply to the world of education: we must create students (and workers) that can no longer exclusively rely on left-brain analysis and logic, but instead must possess left and right-brained skills. The reason, you ask? With the abundance of "stuff" (cheaply-made and high-quality "stuff" at that - just head to Target to see for yourself), workers who can synthesize, rearrange and create that abundance of "stuff" will be in demand. Further, Mr. Pink says, outsourcing work to Asia at low costs and high efficiency means that American left-brained workers who rely only on their left-brain analyses will

always be undercut by the Asian competition. Finally, automation means that our left-brained geniuses can easily create programs so computers can inexpensively complete former left-brained human tasks - and probably nearly error free. He uses the example of Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue to illustrate this concept.

So how are we, as educators, to help create students that can survive this changed economy and world? Of course, one place to start is the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, which provides resources, links and frameworks. Another is this concept that Pink coins as "High Concept" and "High Touch." In a work, he claims, where left-brain skills are outsourced and computerized, we must ask three questions of ourselves. And - as educators - I think we need to ask if our classrooms and schools are developing skills in our children that transcend these questions:

Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
Can a computer do it faster?
Is what I'm offering in demand in an age of abundance? (Pink 51)

The answers to these questions will obviously depend on our subject matter, our grade level and our community, but shouldn't we be at least considering these questions, if we are truly educating our children for the future? I believe so.

Daniel Pink goes on to state that there are six skills or "senses" (65) that future workers must develop in addition to left-brained analytical skills. Pink does a great job of (a) explaining and illustrating each "sense" and (b) helping you, as an adult, develop your six "senses" with his portfolio, which includes suggestions, tips and links.

Below, I've listed some interesting points from each of the six sense portfolios - food for thought, online assessments, suggestions. My hope is that if you take even one idea and start to incorporate it into your teaching, we are moving our students in a direction to better prepare them for the future.

Daniel Pink's Six Senses of the Right-Brain:

Design: function, but also beauty, experience, and lifestyle:
- Create-a-shoe from Vans
- Vans Shoes contests
- O Magazine
- Real+Simple Magazine
- Create a type font from your own handwriting!

Story: persuasion, communication and self-understanding:
- NPR's Story Corps; their catch phrase is "Listening is an act of love."
- Write a mini-saga: a 50-word dramatic story.
- Daily Lit's Mini-Saga competition
- Participate in digital storytelling
- The Childhood Beliefs site

Symphony: crossing boundaries, seeing big pictures, creating a new whole:
- Why Not?, a website by Yale University professors Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres that discusses interesting solutions to problems and interesting problems to solutions
- One of the greatest symphonies of all time, Beethoven's Symphony #9, "Ode to Joy"
- Follow the links of random websites and find the patterns
- User-submitted marketing ideas at Halfbakery
- Draw more

Empathy: knowing what makes others tick, forging relationships, caring for others:
- Spot the Fake Smile from the BBC and Paul Ekman's research
- Study Paul Ekman, who is the leading expert on facial expressions
- Find your Empathy Quotient (EQ) and Systematizing Quotient (SQ) from Simon Baron-Cohen
- Learn about IDEO, a company who designs products using empathy

Play: the health and professional benefits of laughter, lightheartedness, games and humor:
- Smithsonian Invention at Play, at the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
- Laughter Yoga - Global Laughter Clubs, from Dr. Madan Kataria and the Global Movement for Health, Joy and World Peace
- Test yourself on the Humor Scale, from James Thorson at UNebraska-Omaha
- Play more games
- Head to your local Children's Museum

Meaning: transcending day-to-day struggles to consider purpose and spiritual fulfillment:
- Read The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama and Dr. Howard Cutler
- Visit an actual, real-life labyrinth
- Check out a virtual, online labyrinth
- Take the 20-10 Test from Jim Collins of the book Good to Great
- Measure your ST with the Spiritual Transcendence Scale test

So how can we apply these "senses" to our classrooms and our schools? Will helping our students develop these skills make them more marketable and functional in the future? If you can think of any ways to implement in the classroom, by all means, please leave a comment below! And, go buy Pink's book.

The Saturation Point

2009-06-07T12:04:00.009-04:00

I fondly remember the new NES my parents saved and saved and saved so I could play Duck Hunt and Super Mario Brothers. I was so happy and content with the NES console, and then my neighbor got the new Sega-Genesis. Alas, I continued playing my Duck Hunt and Super Mario Brothers, but then arrived Nintendo 64, and Play Station 1, then 2, then 3; Nintendo DS emerged, and Game Boy, and Nintendo Game Cube, Xbox 1, 2 and 3, the Wii, and now finally an incredible Project Natal from Xbox. With every newly-released game system, I hoped my parents or a rich, long-lost relative would purchase the newest game system for me...but not so. I forged on with my NES. Granted, I broke down and bought a Wii last year, but I still have my original Nintendo NES console, and there's something to be said for my perseverance, 20 years later, that every once in a while, I still pick up my NES and play, with my wired controllers (!), trying to perfect level 9-4 on Super Mario Brothers.

Since the world is so flat today, many web-based programs are very easily accessible and usually free; students seem to have a new "toy" with which to play/explore/create/synthesize material nearly every day it seems. I wonder: is there a saturation point? Since students are not being limited by the expense factor, they have their choice of options to create projects and presentations for their teachers, themselves, their peers and the world! But, is enough enough? When Ifirst learned of Microsoft Photo Story 3, I was blown away by its flexibility, versatility, and potential to encourage higher-order thinking of my students. Nearly immediately, I was excited by Audacity, and then Animoto, and Vimeo, and then Voicethread, and then Glogster, and then Google Docs, and then Moodle and Second Life, and then wikis, and then Wordle and Twitter and Yodio...the list goes on and on. I was piloting different programs with different classes, and then finally, one student game me reason to pause, and reflect, when she asked, "But I feel like I haven't gotten a chance to be really good at Photo Story yet; can we do that instead of something new?"

Wow, I thought. How right she is! I haven't even given my students the chance to become experts on one piece of summarizing technology before moving onto another...

I'm certainly not throwing my content baby out with the technology bathwater, which is good; I am keeping understanding content one of my primary goals, but I think I need to remind myself that 21st Century goals include collaboration and creativity, not becoming an expert in Glogster, for example. Glogster (not to pick on poor Glogster) should be the forum and means by which my students are practicing, synthesizing, creating, and demonstrating understanding, but not necessarily the final goal.

So have I reached the saturation point with my students and free, easily-accessed summarizing technology? Should I blitz them with a wide range of options, and then let them choose their favorite or most effective? Am I putting them at an advantage or a disadvantage by reaching the summarizing technology saturation point with them? As a policy, should students become proficient at technology skills or specific summarizing technologies (like Animoto or Glogster) before moving on? I suppose the former would allow more adaptability as options grow and the world changes, and the latter might get them stuck on being experts at the original NES system while the world is onto Xbox 360 Live.

The answer must lie, then, I suppose, in teaching students content, creativity, and adaptable technology skills. The saturation point of summarizing technology, then, would be a moot point, I suppose.

The 3 Rs and 1 C of school

2009-05-26T01:09:00.010-04:00

What's the true genesis of creativity? And the true need for creativity? And how can an educator/classroom/school/district/nation/world encourage it in our students? This evening at the Twitter #educhat forum on "Nourishing Creativity in the Classroom," a lively discussion was had, and the conversation finally eventually led to what I believe to be the crux of the matter limiting creativity in schools: grades. Are grades and creativity mutually exclusive? Polar opposites? I should hope the answer is no, but I fear the answer, in 2009, may be yes. Or at least perhaps. First, one must consider the determine what creativity is before one can determine if it is being used and encouraged in schools. According to dictionary.com, creativity is:

"the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination."

Looking back, of course, it is easy for us to "see" creativity now in any given museum around the world: Starry Night by Van Gogh seems "creative" to us, because so many have said so. If Van Gogh was our student, would we have considered him "creative"? How would we have

recognized and encouraged his creativity? Or is creativity a static skill that cannot be cultivated? I'm not sure if Van Gogh had a mentor in his school at age 13, but how will our schools handle the next Van Gogh? Isn't it said that so many artists' true genius was not recognized until after his or her death? Galileo, for example, had to retract his scientific achievements to fit in with the societal pressures of the time. Now granted, I'm not suggesting we live in a time where The Church dictates our art or our education stifles true artistic genius, but are we

encouraging creativity in all students, in all classes, and with multiple intelligences?
keeping up with 21st century technology and learning enough to know that creativity in the classroom may look different than it did twenty years ago? Or ten? Or five? Or even just last year?
sharing/celebrating/cultivating/recognizing both small and large creative achievements in our students?

If Van Gogh were my student, would I have given him an "A" in Social Studies? Perhaps not. Would he have earned an "A" in Art Class? I'm not sure. Would his creativity have been recognized or ignored? Creativity during Van Gogh's lifetime may look differently than creativity today; are we prepared to know what that looks like in our classrooms? I'm not sure that "creativity" was a category in a rubric in 1866, when Vincent Van Gogh was in middle school; should it be today? Doesn't our new, flat world dictate that "creativity" be one of several factors that separate the "men" from the "boys" in the labor market? I say that we must be ready, as educators, to support, encourage, recognize, and cultivate creativity in our students, even if we are not sure what that may exactly look like. We are, after all, preparing our students for jobs we cannot even fathom yet.

Demanding creativity be a factor in assessing our students would require an entirely new look at what schools and report cards look like in the 21st century. Should creativity have a place on report cards? Should it be universally accepted as another skill - "reading, writing, 'rithmetic and creativity." As educators, we must put down our guard, and believe in the greatness our students can create and achieve. What is the genesis of this creativity, though? How can we encourage it? Through positive reinforcement? Through modeling? Through grades? We must shift our paradigm, and it may mean editing how we "see" or "think" of school to promote creativity so our students do "transcend traditional ideas...and...create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations." It is not until creativity is seen as important in a leadership role, in both schools and world that we will start to see its impact on schools, grades, report cards, and the world. Let's be ahead of the curve!

Craigslist Killer improves Global Education

2009-04-24T16:49:00.005-04:00

It’s true: The Craigslist Killer will improve education. Why? The simple answer: awareness of “what’s out there” will improve our students’ ability to discriminate sources, be safe web users and responsible internet contributors. Believe it or not, it all comes back to one essential question:

How does peer pressure influence adolescent behavior?

As my eighth grade students start to head into young-adulthood, they will be faced with decisions and issues, not unlike decisions and issues adolescents have always faced:

What's my social standing?
Am I popular?
Who am I?
Do I fit in?

These questions certainly do pressure and guide students’ behaviors, and I am quite certain that as time goes on, students will continue to face similar issues, albeit some iteration of these questions. Generations change, but adolescent issues and behavior remain relatively constant. Regardless of it being 1959, 1989 or 2009, students need to be given the tools to be thoughtful, responsible young adults, and it is our duty to teach our students how to address these issues in today’s society. Students have always needed and will continue to need help in problem solving, reflecting and adapting.

Let’s take this question - How does peer pressure influence adolescent behavior? – and apply it to three different eras. Students face similar issues and peer pressures in each situation, although the context/era is different.

50 years ago, my father faced these questions, and he may have been dared to steal and throw a potato at a car from the farm across the street. 30 years later, the sprawling Walt Whitman Mall replaced the potato farm, but kids continued to face this question; they may have fell victim to shoplifting a candy bar on a dare to fit in. Today, however, kids are still at the mall, still facing these same questions, but are now congregating in food court, taking videos and pictures, and uploading them to YouTube or Facebook to embarrass themselves or others.

All three scenarios are typical of adolescent behavior, but their means and access to technology has added a layer of complexity never before seen, that changes how kids respond to peer pressure, social standing questions, and how to fit in.

So how does the Craigslist Killer improve education? Awareness of risky decisions on the internet and the concept of think-before-you-click can only improve our students ability to successfully, thoughtfully and safely utilize the internet in the 21^st century.

Our students today approach a crossroads when it comes time to make decisions. Sometimes eighth graders make good, thoughtful decisions, but sometimes, other factors take over, and poor decisions are made (see 1959, 1989 and 2009 decisions above). Adolescent decision-making continues to be difficult, and as adults, we must continue to monitor, give advice, opportunities to reflect, and especially the chance to learn from one's mistakes. The added burden that our students in 2009 are facing is that wider spectrum of opportunities to be impulsive and make poor decisions, more easily than ever, with easier access to information than before, with, as a consequence, greater potential for disaster than before.

What is different in 2009 is that students can more easily make decisions that are more permanent and with greater potential for negative consequences (typically, throwing a potato or stealing a candy bar, while a bad idea, doesn’t lead to much worse than a slap on the wrist). Kids are still thinking: If I do this, it may make me more popular, and it won't really hurt anyone, and think of how much I'll impress others...why not...

In 1959: Throw the potato.
In 1989: Steal the candy bar.
In 2009: CLICK.

The 2009 decision is both the easiest to complete and the one with the greatest potential for danger. This is frightening! So what are we to do? Turn the other way? Shelter our students? No: We are to teach our students (and children) about responsible behavior, worthwhile contributions on the internet, and ways to avoid dangerous situations (think-before-you-click!). It’s harder than it has ever been, but more important than it’s ever been.

We are faced with a generation of students (and soon adults) that need to understand that decision-making will be harder for them; it is a more complicated, tangled web than ever before, but one that must be traversed successfully by the students themselves in order to function, live and flourish in a global society.

A frightening point: not everyone thinks we should be teaching our children to learn these discerning, discriminating and safety skills. I was reading the Boston Globe yesterday, and stumbled upon this short, but disturbing editorial: Crime and Craigslist. The supposed "Craigslist Killer" in Boston has caused all sorts of buzz around Boston, rightfully so, and the author of said editorial states that "Either Web companies such as Craigslist need to take more responsibility for how their sites are used, or Americans need to get used to a lot more risk in the spaces where they gather." Unfortunately, I think both are unreasonable, and as educators, we must be realistic about the fact that both are unlikely to occur.

The Globe seems to be advocating for control of website content, but the fact of the matter is that our students today may be sheltered from inappropriate content on the web, but tomorrow they may not be - the firewall may be down, a new “Samslist” may have been created, they may be at home upsupervised, at the library, or at a friend's house. Instead of thinking shelter our poor babies, we must think, how will my child/student/future adult react when they need to make important decisions about their online behavior? Will they think-before-they-click? The future is one that holds risks, but many, many advantages and opportunities. Yes, we must provide safe, appropriate educational environments for our students, but more importantly in the long run, we need to mold discerning, able, savvy 21st century learners and workers; this will not be accomplished by doing what the Globe suggests, because once “Craigslist” has been "made safe," a new alternative will be created. The question becomes, then, not How do I shelter my students? but instead, How can I help my students become responsible web users and provide the safest learning environment? And, How does peer pressure influence adolescent behavior in the online, 2009 world?

Certainly, all teachers have experienced times when students have unwittingly and (very) innocently stumbled upon something for which they were certainly not searching. The crucial moment here is how we have prepared our students to react. I'm not suggesting that students are regularly stumbling upon the Craigslist Killer by mistake ("Oops, Mr. Guditus, I just mistakenly contacted the Craigslist Killer again while searching for DaVinci's biography..."), or even that they would purposely seek out inappropriate content, but the reality of the situation is that it is likely that our students may come across something inappropriate.

According to the Crimes Against Children Research Center at UNH, 42 percent of youth ages 10 to 17 were exposed to online pornography prior to being asked, and 66 percent said it was unintentional. Likely these numbers are higher than are even reported by the children surveyed, so as educators/teachers/parents, we need to speak with our students/children and discuss peer pressure, cyberbullying and online personas and behavior. To not do so would be irresponsible.

I’m not sure what will happen to the alleged Craigslist Killer. But I do hope that the case will shed light on the fact that we cannot shelter our children from the world – especially the global, 21^st century world – but instead speak to them about the reality of the online world, give them safe and appropriate places to learn and explore online (and offline), and remember that kids are kids and need our help to learn responsible behavior, even when they are more techno-savvy than we are. They are, after all, the future adults and leaders of our world.

The Audacity of the 21st Century

2009-04-22T09:54:00.004-04:00

21st Century Learning...it's out there all over the educational landscape, and it's truly very exciting; I'm wondering - how do I guarantee content, so as not to lose the meat of what my students need to know. You know, having students understand human nature, struggles, defeats and successes, like Edmund Burke said, "Those that don't know history are destined to repeat it." Yikes! I'd better ensure my students can function in the 21st century as a safe, responsible and meaningful contributor, but also know about history.

This is why I am turning to Audacity - hopefully, it shall save the 21st century learner! In a way that engages 14-year-olds to think, create and evaluate, Audacity has the, uh...audacity to provide students with a forum to think about historical concepts, ideas and people in a modern-day forum. Setting the constructs to be age and developmentally appropriate is essential, but I'm hoping that this educational experiment be a positive risk-taking venture. I'm hoping to give my students a forum that excites, engages, reflects, studies and creates. We shall see, and I shall keep you posted!

Kids will be Kids

2009-04-14T19:09:00.004-04:00

Thanks to my wonderful friend KRabs and my new virtual colleague MagistraM (via Classroom 2.0), I've been inspired to update my blog reguarly, and gosh darnit, I'm going to succeed.

Today my students had the option of creating a wiki, a Capzle, or a PowerPoint, and I closely watched who picked what option - because I think it says so much about a student - with regards to everything from risk-taking to learning style. Overall, I think that students were pleased that I'd decided to give them a project-based final assessment for our unit on Islam as opposed to a good, old-fashioned paper and pencil test. Seeing as the children had three tests this week, I saw this as a good opportunity for an alternative assessment. I wanted to keep my standards high, challenge their thinking, give them the opportunity to create an internet based-product, and give them choice in the matter. I believe I achieved all those things with my assessment. Only having done one wiki with my students, I think some students were influenced, obviously, by their past experience from the last unit with our China Wiki - did things go smoothy? Did any work get lost? Was it successful? Did I get a good grade? The Capzle was new and exciting, and for a student who wanted to try something new, this was it. And finally, the old PowerPoint standby; I remember when this was exciting and cutting edge. Now, PowerPoint has become the bland cousin that still relies on that silly card trick he's been doing for the last seven years. Alas, the cycle of life.

Even if this was a paper and pencil essay-writing test, kids would have reacted similarly: some students would stress too much, some would not stress enough, some would forget their supplies, some would struggle with organization of ideas; so it's not the kid that has changed - just the forum. Students will be students and kids will be kids; behavior and struggles haven't necessarily changed, just the forum. As for next year? I'd love a fourth option to put in my arsenal. Let me know any suggestions.

Worldwide PLCs

2009-04-13T22:09:00.006-04:00

I've decided that it is time to be regularly updating my blog, and not just with summer learning expeditions, but current ones as well. This evening I spent some time with Steve Hargadon and others on Elluminate via LearnCentral.org, an incredible website that has the potential to create PLCs (professional learning communities) around the world in a virtual capacity. LearnCentral hosts a sort of social network (i.e. Facebook) for educators, allowing them to connect on a professional level to discuss a topic that needs discussing...for example, middle school Social Studies. Elluminate has hooked up with LearnCentral to allow members to host virtual sessions based on the topic of choice (it must be open to the public and recorded for archiving). The potential for leveraging collective knowledge, expertise, and best practices in an easy-to-use forum is amazing. Now, the mission is just to get the word out. The idea has gotten me very excited; I've never before seen such a user-friendly, high-functioning piece of easily-accessed technology.

Valencia and Barcelona

2008-07-02T17:01:00.004-04:00

After leaving Granada (which could have been my favorite city thus far - the consensus is still out), we traveled about 6 hours north along the Mediterranean coast to Valencia. Valencia is not as flashy as some of the other Spanish cities in which we´ve been, but is trying hard to progress quickly into the 21st century.

We started with some exploration time near the coast, and explored the work of Santiago Calatrava, a great architect and native of Valencia. He was commissioned to do a massive project in the city to connect broad boulevards along the city. Similar to the idea of Frederick Law Olmstead´s Emerald Necklace in Boston, Valencia is being connected across the city by a series of parks. It has begun with a beautiful Opera House and a new Aquarium, as well as a Science and Art Museum. Some of the work looks somewhat like the Leonard Zakim-Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge. Calatrava´s first work was actually creating the Milwaukee Art Museum, which is on an earlier blog post from two years ago. My parents live there, and so I have been there several times!

We continued with a tour in the morning

of historical Valencia, which includes Medieval Walls and moats, beautiful cobble-stoned streets with cafes and restaurants, and it included a visit to Valencia´s Cathedral. It was a gorgeous church, and was completed over the length of several generations and eras; therefore, each entrance to the church is reflective of different styles of architecture. In addition, the Church claims to have Jesus Christ´s Holy Grail (think:
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

We had some free time and quickly boarded the bus to Barcelona, the site of the 1992 Olympics. Barcelona is quite different than other Spanish cities for several reasons - there are fewer very tall buildings

but still retains one of the highest population densities in all of Europe, is rivaled only by Paris and Rome for its pickpocketers, and lacks the Moorish/Muslim influence in culture and architecture that Southern Spanish cities possess. Instead, there is more Roman and Baroque influence in their culture. In fact, they do not speak only Spanish, but another language called ´´Catalonia,´´ a blend of French and Spanish.

We had a tour of several parks in Barcelona and I learned a lot about the artist Gaudi, an incredible artist who used nature, animals and plants for his inspiration. He felt that since God created nature, that his art should reflect that intersection of art, architecure and nature. The incredible thing - he used land and buildings as his works of art. Some parks in Barcelona are known as ´´Gaudi parks´´ and some buildings are ´´Gaudi buildings.´´ Hi

s incredible architecture and art is colorful and so inspiring - an incredible mind.

Finally, we were able to spend the afternoon in some cafes along the Passeig de Garcia - the Fifth Avenue of Barcelona. We did some serious people-watching and some serious café-con-leche drinking along the broad avenue. We did some watching around La Rambla, a beautiful

pedestrian walkway along which there are vendors, flower shops, boutiques, stores, cafes and stores. What fun!

Tomorrow, I leave for the Barcelona Airport on my own, hopping the Barcelona Metro and taking the Aérobus to the Airport. Cross your fingers my minimalist Spanish can take me home to Boston!

Tetouan and Granada

2008-06-29T16:27:00.007-04:00

As I write this, Spain has just beat Germany 1-0 in the World Cup...what an exciting time to be here! The streets are flooded with people, and the kids are all wrapped up in Spanish flags and Torres soccer jerseys - Torres is apparently the new Spanish hero of 2008.

Yesterday morning I got up early (too early for a run, sadly), and we boarded a bus for Algeciras (well, the Spanish town adjacent-Gibraltar is actually British) and hopped on a ferry to Puerta del Ceuta, which is a Spanish colony in Africa, next to Morocco. It was quite a process - we had to fax passports and numbers over to the border days ago in preparation, and have multiple copies of temporary immigration forms filled out. The ferry ride was beautiful, albiet a bit cloudy, and we arrived in Ceuta, a resort city of 85,000, full of Christians, Muslims and Jews. When Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand united Spain, all non-Christians were forced to either convert, leave or be killed; many Jews and Muslims fled to Ceuta and the present-day Moroccan city of Tetouan. We made it through the border incident-free, although it was a lengthy process with no pictures allowed. We traveled another 25 minutes into Morocco, where I exited the bus and rode a camel. Yes, a camel! It was unbelievable, and I was quite certain I would fall right off it! We headed a few more miles down the road to the city of Tetouan, which is a quite diverse Moroccan city which possesses religious toleration. Across the street from each other is a mosque, Catholic church and synagogue. We parked the bus and the gypsies immediately came in for the kill, offering us braclets and jewelry and all sorts of wacky stuff - some for cheap, others not. We entered the medina, meaning ´´old city,´´ which was the old wall created in 1492 when all Jews and Muslims were expelled from Spain. The streets are narrow and filled with all sorts of treasures and treats - dead chickens hanging from their feet, spices, meats and fish (both the bodies and the heads...mmm...). All the buildings were pasted with a white chalk/plaster, which made the medina incredibly cool - probably 10 degrees celsius cooler. With it being almost 44 degrees celcius, this was a huge relief!

We continued through the medina to a rug factory, where they sold us rugs and carpets and blankets. I inquired about a shirt, and the guy harassed me - a lot. He went for the sale bigtime...but in the end I backed out, because he was going to charge me waaaay too much - idiot American I will not be! We finished up in a typical Moroccan restaurant, where we enjoyed some Moroccan soup (similar to our idea of a minestrone), cous cous, chicken and mint tea. Afterwards, we went to an herbalist who pitched us (pretty successfully!) to puchase all sorts of herbal remedies - from stress to cracked lips to snoring.

We left the medina and headed back to Cueta, but stopped at the beach resort village of Smir for a coca-cola and some pictures. Here, the Muslim women wore their entire hijab while going swimming, as showing any part of the female body is considered sinful and temptation. After the ferry ride back and the drive back to Puert del Sol village of Marbella, we had a quick dinner and headed to the beach for some ice cream and I got on line for the bungee jumping on the trampoline on the beach. I was doing flips in the air (front AND backwards!) on the Playa de la Venus...amazing stuff!

This morning, during my six mile run along the board walk (to the Playa de la Casablanca and back), I viewed all the partiers going to sleep - Spain´s 6:30am is the equivalent of our 1:30am in the US. I ate breakfast and we hopped a bus to Granada, where we shopped around the little stores, and I saw the tomb and mosoleum of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Here in Spain, they are known as los Católicos, or simply, ´´The Catholic Monarchs.´´ Queen Isabella´s pillow is purposefully built two centimeters higher as a symbol of her power and importance in uniting Spain. We had a delicious lunch full of tapas sandwiches, gazpacho and tortilla, and headed up to Alhambra (meaning ´´the red fortress´´).

Alhambra was the Moors´ city that was built before the invasion of the Christians in the thirteenth century and was taken over in 1492. Eventually, Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire built a chapel in the Alhambra, and is a spectacular example of the blending of Christian and Muslim cultures. The beautiful Palace of the Lions was actually donated by Jews to Mulsims (before the Christian invasion) as a gift and sign of peace, representing the 12 tribes of Jerusalem.

That´s it for now, as I am tired and old (chipped my stupid tooth at dinner tonight. Ugh!) and need to go to bed so I can run in the morning, before taking our seven hour drive to Valencia (the namesake of The Decemberists´ song ´´Oh! Valencia!´´). Signing off for now!

Costa del Sol and Sevilla

2008-06-27T15:50:00.002-04:00

Here I (we) are on the beach in Costa del Sol, the southern part of Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. I mean we, because my newly adopted students from West Palm Beach, Florida are crowded in around me in an unairconditioned internet café watching me type. We can see the beach from the internet café here, and after a swim earlier in the Mediterranean and some delicious buffet dinner at the Hotel de Rodeo involving some fried local fish and tortilla (our idea of a quiche or potato pie), we all walked around on the boardwalk. We are in the village of Marbella, and it is a summer getaway for much of Spain. It is 7 hours south of Madrid, which seems like a lot for a weekend - imagine having a summer condo on the beach in Maryland, which would be the equivalent. With bullet trains the trip is much shorter, and Spaniards´ vacations are usually three or four weeks, not one like ours.

Yesterday, we spent the day in Cordoba, where we saw the gorgeous Mezquita-Cathedral there, which was originally built as a mosque in 750, after many Muslims were killed in Damascus and fled to Andalusia in southern Spain. There, religious tolerance was allowed for Muslims (obviously), Christians and Jews; but in 1250 when the Christians invaded, as a kick in the face to the Muslims, the Christians there built a chapel literally in the middle of the mosque. In the red and white arches (typically Muslim architecture), small monuments were built to different saints; and right in the middle of the mosque, where Muslim worship would occur five times a day, a gigantic chapel, complete with stained glass windows was built. It was incredible, moving and historical to see, for sure. This example of blending of culture was seen over and over again as we traveled through souther Spain.

In Seville, after seeing a Flemenco Dancing show (incredible!), and after a 6:30am run along the Guadalaquivir River watching all the party-goers going home after a night of celebrating Spain´s 3-0 victory over Russia in the World Cup semi-finals, we headed to the Sevilla Cathedral, where we saw Christopher Columbus´ grave (a history teacher´s dream come true!) and climbed the tower of the church. The interesting thing - this belfry tower was originally built as a minaret when the building was a mosque years before. The original waiting area for the mosque (I forget the word now) has become an orange-grove reception area. The view from the top - about 25 stories up - was magnificent. Afterwards, we saw the Royal Palace in Sevilla, where the King and Queen stays when visiting Sevilla. It is simply gorgeous, and again an example of the melding of culture and relgion. It was administered to be built by Christians, so there is clearly Christian influence in the art and architecture, but Muslim Moors were hired to build the palace. Therefore, it has influences from both religions, and is absolutely beautiful. Truly, Sevilla is one of the prettiest places I have ever seen in the world.

Tomorrow, we head to the Strait of Gibraltar and Morocco for a day of fun and adventure - and I will blog about it asap! Until then...thanks for reading!

Madrid Day #2

2008-06-25T16:50:00.003-04:00

Last night, I slept harder than I have slept in a long time. Until 3:37am local time, that is. At that point, about 50 screaming tourists got onto their bus heading who-knows-where. All I know is that woke me up...but I fell quickly back asleep again and walked into our morning buffet breakfast: holy cow. This was nothing like we consider breakfast to be - proscuitto ham, spicy ham, sausage, cheese, toast, olive oil, olives, fresh fruit, croissants with honey, poached eggs, apricot and peach juice...it was truly amazing. There was, in the corner, a small bit of Fruit Loops for the unadventurous-eating American. I needed, of course, my cup of coffee, which I discovered is not what we think of as a good old cup of Dunkin´ Donuts, but instead a cup of very, very concentrated espresso with some warm milk. Knowing me, this made me immediately very hyper, which psyched me up for the long day ahead (it is 11:10pm local time as I write this, and falling asleep!).

We headed to the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, which is the heart of the city of Madrid. It reminded me a lot of Downtown Crossing in Boston or Times Square in New York City. It was quite sleepy at 10:00am, which is when we arrived. We walked and browsed around, I bought a few souvenirs, and stopped for a café at an outdoor café. This time, however, I knew what to expect (in terms of caffeine, anyway). Our meeting place was the statue of the bear in the Puerta del Sol, which is the symbol of Madrid. If you click on that past link, you can see a picture of the bear, as well as the café where I had my café, just beyond the bear on the right, by the white umbrella.

We proceeded to lunch, where we had again, paella (but still with no fish - only chicken and some veggies), which is standard fare for groups in Spanish restaurants. It is probably the equivalent of taking a trip with a big group in America and being given trays of pizza or chicken fingers or hamburgers. Paella is everywhere in Spain - in every restaurant, from fancy to basic.

From here, we picked up Ana, our tourguide, who gave us a driving tour of the various neighborhoods of Madrid; we saw all the government center buildings, such as the Department of Agriculture and the national Library, we passed the monument to the Madrid train bombings, which took place on 3-11-04. We ended up at the Palacio Real, which is the Royal Palace of the King and Queen of Spain. We didn´t see Juan Carlos, but we got beautiful views of the valleys heading south, which was built on the given hill so that the Spaniards could see the invading Muslims from the south. We also got to see their Medieval Armory, which was full of amazing armors, for adult knights, horses, and even small children! Imagine that - baby knighthood!

OK, to bed for me! Tomorrow, we head to Cordoba and Sevilla in the south on the Mediterranean, and then afterwards, I believe to Morocco! More to come asap...

Madrid Day 1

2008-06-24T15:14:00.004-04:00

The flight from Boston to Frankfurt was interesting...half the people on the flight spoke English and half spoke German. For the first time in my life, I wasn´t able to communicate using words, which was, quite honestly, quite a challenge for me. I watched Dan in Real Life on the flight, took a long, long nap, and arrived in Frankfurt at 6am local time, or midnight EST. Dinner was decent - some chicken, veggies and rice. I ate a croissant for breakfast (midnight snack?) and some OJ - the total was €6 (six Euros) or about 10 dollars! Wow.

I met up with the group after transferring to Madrid, and having the experience of attempting to speak with people who didn´t know English. This was difficult, and really gave me a sense of what it must be like for others who don´t speak the native language, as well as the understanding of how essential it is to learn the native language of one´s country. We met up with Luis, our tourguide, who is fluent in both English and Spanish (thank goodness), and had some
paella and headed to the Prado Museum, where we saw classic paintings from El Bosco, Goya, El Greco and Velasquez.

Finally, we headed to Guadalajaro, where we are staying in a hotel for two days. This is quite a distance northwest of downtown Madrid. We are staying in a very nice hotel, but something interesting stuck me about Guadalajaro: it is a city with high-rise buildings surrounded by fields and orchards. We did not have time to venture into the city itself, but instead went to an adjacent mall for dinner at the food court. We had small sandwiches, kind of like tapas, that we shared. We had shrimp, cured ham, chicken, salmon and cream cheese, bacon and cheese and plain cheese. Delicious! It is 9:40pm in Guadalajaro and the sun still has not set...so different than Boston. Due to, of course, the higher latitude on the globe - more hours of daylight and fewer of nighttime during the summer so north on the globe.

Tomorrow, we head back into Madrid and then head south to the coast of the Mediterranean. Until tomorrow...pictures are not uploading tonight, so I´ll try again tomorrow or at the next hotel.

Happy Summer!

2008-06-23T12:17:00.004-04:00

Happy Summer to all! I am doing my last-minute packing now and am heading to the airport in a few - with plenty of time to spare. The weather in Boston is 70 degrees and humid...according to The Weather.com Extended 10 Day Forecast, Spain should be mid-eighties and and sunny for the next 10 days or so - what luck! I fly to Hamburg and then on to Madrid, where I arrive on Tuesday morning. We hit the road flying, tour the southern part of the country and then finish our trip in Barcelona, home of the 1992 Olympics. I'm very, excited! I have my money pouch ready to go with passport, money and my journal ready to go. Drop me an email hello! I will try my best to find internet cafes and use our hotel as best I can to post pictures and stories of my travels. Adiós!

MFA

2007-08-25T15:06:00.001-04:00

On Friday morning, I decided to have a cultural experience and visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. I had hoped to see the Edward Hopper exhibit, who painted famous paintings such as The Lighthouse at Two Lights, painted in 1929 and Night-Hawk, painted in 1942. But sadly, this traveling exhibit left a few days before I got there! Instead, I toured around the MFA...a beautiful building itself and there was so much to see. It was truly overwhelming and I will have to take another trip there to continue exploring. The MFA has many collections, which are listed on their website. I was able to take a look at many things will be studying this coming year, particularly in the second half of the school year. The following is just a few topics that I found interesting:

Explore the MFA a bit...perhaps we can organize a field trip in the spring while studying these topics!

Western Massachusetts

2007-08-21T14:20:00.000-04:00

Wow - what a weekend! I took a tour of Northwestern Massachusetts, and headed "out west" with some friends to go hiking and camping. I learned more about the geography of Massachusetts on this trip, heading west on the Mass Pike, and north on I-91, passing Northampton and Amherst, and just north of Deerfield (the first town burned in the King Philip's War - remember?!), headed west on Route 2, which runs east-west from the New York border into downtown Boston, where it becomes Commonwealth Avenue eventually.

Our first stop was North Adams, where we went to Mount Greylock, the tallest mountain in Massachusetts, placed right in the northwestern corner of the state. There are many trails to the summit, and we took Thunderbolt Trail, which is one of the steepest to the top. We were running a little late, so we couldn't take the longer, less steep, and more leisurely route. It was a great workout and an absoultely gorgeous hike. The views were just spectacular from both the trail and the summit. I got a little poison ivy on the way to the top, so note to self: always wear long pants while hiking on trails, even if you are hot!

At the summit, we took a few pictures, including this picture, which is a view of downtown North Adams, Massachusetts at the bottom, and the Green Mountains of Vermont on the left in the distance, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the distance on the right. At the top is a watch tower, where they take measurements and scientific readings, but it was all closed for renovation. Needless to say, I was pretty bummed, because it meant I could not visit a museum.

We climbed down the other side of the moutnain, via The Appalachian Trail (which almost seemed tougher - going downhill is terror on the knees!), and set up camp at Clarksburg State Park just down the road, where we had a campfire, roasted our hot dogs and s'mores, and I slept in my new REI Half-Dome tent - it was just great. I did a lot of research for my tent, and invested in this one, which is three-season, durable, and can withstand the wind and rain (but not snow...). It was a low of 35 degrees (yes, 35 degrees - in August! Yikes!), so it was a bit chilly, but beautiful outside.

The next day, we headed to scenic Williamstown, Massachusetts, which has a cute little downtown area, for coffee and breakfast, and we strolled around the small shops and visited Williams College. My friend Adrienne is an alumna of Williams College. Now she is in law school at Northeastern, but if you work hard, you too could attend Williams College! It was a beautiful ride back heading east on Route 2, south on I-91, and east on the Mass Pike. I don't remember much, because I slept the entire way!

The Adirondacks

2007-08-14T15:32:00.000-04:00

The Adirondack Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountain Range, was the site of my annual camping trip to Floodwood Creek and Rollins Pond, in upstate New York, just north of Tupper Lake, NY. Here, we stay on an island in the middle of the pond, so we canoe our supplies and gear out to the island, where I read my books, fished, canoed, played cards, went for some runs, and generally just relaxed. One memorable run led me down what I thought was a paved road...but eventually became dirt, and eventually I saw a state sign, "Floodwood Mountain, 1.0 miles." Being a bit ambitious, I decided to run (yes, run) up the trail. At first, I thought, "Hey, not too bad!" until the moutnain trail really became, well, a mountain trail. Nonetheless, I continued on running, despite my pace becoming a near-crawl. The vista was gorgeous, though, and worth the run/hike to the top: mountain tops scattered among lakes. Lesson learned? 1. A hike is definitely worth the patience, wait, and effort. 2. Don't try to run up and then down a mountain alone!

Teaching Digital History

2007-08-14T14:43:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the Gilder Lehrman Institute, a private history institute that is dedicated to increasing awareness of American History, I applied for and won a grant to study history in the digital age (today) in New York City for a week.

During the week, we stayed in the Iroquois Hotel, located on West 44th Street in Midtown Manahattan, adjacent to the New York City's Theater District, and three blocks from the NY Public Library Main Branch. It was here that we did most of our work. There were thirty teachers, who traveled from literally all over the country to attend the session: Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Orlando, New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago, Wichita KS, Los Angeles, Seattle, Juneau...just to name a few places! One neat thing about the conference was that I got to meet people from all around the country. We had great discussions about teaching and about history, as well as what their hometowns are like. There are huge differences, I found, between what topics teachers may discuss in schools.

The conference was led by a professor from the University of Houston, who teaches history and has his students create narrated historical documentaries (think: History Channel) on their own. It was pretty neat. My group created a narrated tour of the advertising industry in Times Square and Fifth Avenue. Individually, I created a six-minute narrated summary of the Lewis and Clark Expeditions into the Louisiana Territory.

During our week in NYC, we had tours of the Paley Center for Media (aka The Museum of TV and Radio) and the New York Public Library, which is absolutely beautiful inside. If you love architecture, check it out when you are in NYC.

With one night free, several of us saw a Broadway Show called The Drowsy Chaperone. It was in the New York Marquis Theatre on Broadway; it is the story of a showgirl in the 1920s who is scheduled to be married, but her manager and the NY mob does not want the wedding to happen, because she will stop performing, leading to a loss of money for the show. After the show was over, a few teachers and I went to the stage door and got to meet several of the cast members, including Gerry Vichi, a former teacher at Holliston High School and resident of Medfield, believe it or not!

Our week ended with a showcase of everyone's individual project (it took about three hours to finish them all!), which ranged from the Polo Vaccine to the Leni-Lenape Tribe. Our last event in the city was a National Park Service guided tour of the East River, New York Harbor, and the Hudson River - narrated by Kathleen Turner, which left at South Street Seaport. Fun times were had and lots was learned - a great combination!

Some Great Reads

2007-07-05T13:44:00.000-04:00

A key component of your eighth grade experience is the novels you will read in English class and your ability to make connections to the world today and other classes. Since you will have to read several books throughout the school year, I figure I should be well-versed in the books as well, right?

Therefore, I decided to brush up on some books that I know is part of the Eighth Grade curriculum. I started with To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Unbelievable! This book is incredible for several reasons. The characters are so ambitious and struggle with race and class issues that still exist today, despite the book taking place decades ago. Atticus Finch, one of the main characters wants to do what is best for his entire town and his kids; his selfless attitude is truly something that we all should strive to attain.

Next up? Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and then The Crucible by Arthur Miller.
Besides some school reading, I've caught up on Barack Obama's first book from 1995, Dreams From My Father, and A Clockwork Orange by William Burgess. I've been busy challenging myself; I hope you have been as well! Drop me a line and tell me what you've been reading this summer...

- Mr. Guditus

Wisconsin

2007-06-29T12:11:00.000-04:00

Hello students! I have failed you in my updating of my website, but I'm back on the ball now...I promise! I spent a week in Wisconsin with my parents just after school ended. I got sidelined on the runway Logan Airport because of thunderstorms, but finally got in to General Mitchell Airport, which is Milwaukee's regional airport. It's quite beautiful, and they have pretty neat stores - the Harley Davidson Store, the Wisconsin Cheese Store. It reflects the industry of the area, just like when you go into Logan Airport in Boston, you find stores like Legal Seafood and stores with historical souvenirs, which reflects Boston's industry.

While there, I got to celebrate my Mom's birthday with a surprise party. The rest of the week was spent exploring downtown Milwaukee, where I got to visit the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Milwaukee Public Museum, which is kind of like our Museum of Science in Boston. It was great to explore the culture of the city a little more. I was able to go for some beautiful runs along the Lake Michigan shoreline, which is designated as a county park, much like the Esplanade in Boston, but the park is much, much wider and longer, stretching for literally miles along the Lake.

I went to a Milwaukee Brewers game, which they won against Houston. Miller Park has an interesting history, built in 2001, it has a retractable roof and an entire museum dedicated to women's baseball league, like the one shown in the Movie A League of Their Own. A grand time in "America's Dairyland!"

Compare and Contrast

2006-08-21T19:13:00.000-04:00

As you enter 7th grade Social Studies class, you will find that we will be doing a lot of thinking, including assignments where you are asked to compare and contrast...in fact, you may have to complete a Venn Diagram.

One topic we will study is the Boston Massacre, which took place on March 5, 1770. In the Boston Massacre, British soldiers, who were patroling American colonists in Boston because tension was rising, mistakenly fired into a crowd. Rocks were thrown, both sides were aggressive, and in the end five American colonists were killed by the British.

On August 21, 2006, another Boston Massacre occurred. During this Boston Massacre, the New York Yankees swept the Boston Red Sox at home at Fenway Park in a 5-game series. The Red Sox gave a valiant effort, but in the end, the Yankees' bullpen and hitting were too much for the Red Sox.

If you would like to get a head start on practicing comparing and contrasting, then consider - what similarities and differences exist between the Boston Massacre 1770 and the Boston Massacre 2006?

Classes, and Wisconsin, and Kayaks, Oh My!

2006-08-13T19:13:00.000-04:00

I've been wicked busy, lately (yes, I'm almost a New Englander because I used "wicked," I know, I know...)...almost a month ago, I finished my last class in a program I was doing to become certified by the state to move into administration in schools. It was a year-long program, and I completed it with a "cohort" of people - meaning a small group of people who took classes together. My friends and I ended our year together with a celebration of a golfing expedition (I did not do as well as I had hoped....), and promised to get together soon. I'm certainly going to miss my friends! It's probably like missing your friends from summer camp, except all these people are teachers - your worst nightmare!

The very next week, I took a class with some other teachers (there were 32 of us) in Brookline, at an organization called Facing History and Ourselves ("FHAO"). The organization helps teachers understand more about human atrocities around the world from our history, focusing on big tragedies, such as The Holocaust, The Armenian Genocide, and the Eugenics Movement in the USA and Europe. During the class, we studied these topics, and examined the human behavior and decisions that led to these awful events occurring...and considered what we can do differently to prevent them from ever happening again. The topics were complex and complicated, but the week was very rewarding and interesting.

Next, I hoped on a plane and flew from Logan Airport to General Mitchell Airport (Boston to Milwaukee) to visit my parents. It was great to see them - Milwaukee is a very planned, organized city, unlike Boston. In Milwaukee, almost every single street goes north-south or east-west. It is virtually impossible to get lost (thankfully)! We relaxed, went to the golfing range (good practice for me), biked, I ran and trained for my marathon, and visited with friends. It was low-key, but fun. I spent a lot of time on the shore of Lake Michigan in Veterans' Park. It is similar to the Esplanade in Boston, but much longer. It was always full of people rollerblading, running, and walking dogs. Also in Veterans' Park is the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM), designed to look like a fish.

Finally, I returned home in time to continue my marathon training and read some more. Today was a cross-training day, so I went down to the Charles River in Allston to the Charles River Canoe and Kayak Store and rented a kayak for several hours. I kayaked about 15 miles, from just west of the North Beacon Bridge to the Museum of Science and back. It was absolutely beautiful out today, so it was worth the effort. I need to gear up for my next long run. So far, my longest has been 18 miles. My schedule tells me to run 20 to 23 miles on Saturday - wish me luck!

Upstate New York

2006-07-07T19:40:00.000-04:00

Friday, July 7, 2006
Whoa, what a week it's been! This past week I spent my time in beautiful upstate New York. My sister, brother-in-law, mom, and dad all rendez-vous-ed in Saratoga Springs, NY. There, we relaxed, talked, went out to dinner, and played 54 holes of golf. It certainly was a lot of golf. When I get the pictures, I'll throw one up of me playing golf. I hadn't swung a golf club in 11 months, so I expected it to be pretty bad - but I actually did alright. And, the more I played, the better I got. By the end of the third day, I was hitting the ball well, outdriving my dad and brother-in-law (once in a while). I learned through this experience, that practice makes perfect (or at least better)...and that if you expect to improve at something, you have to keep working at it.

From Saratoga, I drove with my sister to Ithaca, New York, where she and my brother-in-law live. Ithaca is home to two universities: Ithaca College and Cornell University. While out for some runs I checked both of them out...they have magnificent views, since Ithaca is located in a valley surrounded by mountains and at the southern tip of Cayuga Lake. This region is called "The Finger Lakes Region" because the climate and geography is similar - there are a series of long but narrow lakes running north and south created thousands of years ago by glaciers. You can see where this region is located - in western New York - by looking at the map to the above (courtesy of stayfingerlakes.com).

In Ithaca, my sister and I did many things, such as going for a hike in Taughannock State Park in Trumansburg, NY, just north of Ithaca, on the west coast of Cayuga Lake. We found some incredibly breathtaking while we were out for our hike. I've included some of my favorites - me braving the scary rapids, and a view of Cayuga Lake from up top of the mountain.

Since we needed to eat while in Ithaca, I convinced my sister to take me out for sushi. I have always been petrified of ordering sushi - it looks tasty to me, but I have no idea how to order it; the menu usually overwhelms me. My sister, however, is an expert at ordering sushi. In fact, she eats it once a week. Needless to say, I decided it would be great for me to use her as a resource..and so I did. She showed me not to be afraid of the sushi menu; it is just like any other menu. Typically, it will have the Japanese name and English equivalent, or just simply the English word of what you will be eating. Showing me how it was done step-by-step calmed me down - a lot. We finally ordered, having things like crispy shrimp roll, spicy crab roll, yellowfin tuna, spicy tuna, and a few other things that I cannot remember. Obviously, according to this picture, I thoroughly enjoyed eating my sushi. The best thing I learned, however, is not just that I like sushi, but more importantly, I learned how to order sushi on my own! Now, I can go anytime and eat the sushi, be it in Ithaca or Boston. I'm proud of myself, because I learned a skill - how to order sushi, as well as the ability to enjoy eating it anytime I want - the independence is amazing!

Now, it is time to go for a quick run and then watch the New York Yankees. Go Yanks!

Rejuvenating Reading

2006-06-25T23:04:00.000-04:00

While I was on the Cross Sound Ferry going to New York and back to New England, I had lots of time to read my book. It is called The Tipping Point, written by Malcolm Gladwell. It is simply an excellent book. It talks all about how certain things in society can become really popular (like an "epidemic"). For example, the TV show Sesame Street was not always popular. The author discusses the different factors that lead to an event, person, or fad becoming really popular...think about today's society. Ipods were not always so popular. It took certain factors for these products to become popular: cool people using them, lots of people using them, usefulness, convenience, etc. Once these factors occurred, Ipods became a "fad," where today so many people use them.

In this book, I have learned that so many things around us in daily life - everything from DVD players to Ipods to Crocs (plastic shoes...maybe I will make them popular?) may or may not become very popular, based on certain people and certain factors. It's very interesting....and if nothing else, they mention Paul Revere (which we will study in the 7th grade). See how interested I am in reading my book? You should make the effort to do the same!

Hopefully you have started or finished 12 Again by Sue Corbett, our all-school book. You have done that, right? I have already finished the book - I did so in the springtime, and I loved it. It reminds everyone to not take your life for granted - and be happy with what you have (among many other lessons, of course...). If you have not yet gotten it, they have copies in the Young Adult section of the Medfield Public Library...I have seen them there with my own eyes! Go ask a librarian there for help...

Driving on Water

2006-06-25T22:52:00.000-04:00

Welcome to installment number one to my summer blog. This summer will be great! - and filled with many adventures and learning.

My first piece of learning was this past weekend. I needed to travel to Long Island to go to several cousins' high school graduations. Instead of traveling through New York City, I decided to take the Cross Sound Ferry. I called and made reservations on the ferry, and drove to New London, Connecticut, on the Thames River. The ferry was absolutely gigantic. In the picture to the left, you can see how huge it is. Believe it or not, I literally drove my car right onto the boat. I learned several things at this point...that ferries can carry a lot of weight (imagine 2 tons per car times a hundred cars, plus people) and that traveling by boat is much more relaxing than fighting traffic in New York City! The picture to the right is the car in front of me getting on the ferry. Notice how the back just opens up and in the car drives.

Once I was on the ferry, things got a little rocky - what with the rough weather, the choppy Long Island Sound, and all the smells of diesel in the bottom of the boat. Needless to say, I immediately went upstairs to have some food, drink my coffee, and relax a bit on the ride to New York. I had an excellent weekend with my family. The return trip was not as relaxing, however. On Sunday, I just showed up, without a reservation, and had to wait for three and a half hours just to get onto the ferry! That taught me a lesson: always take the extra time to make a reservation; in the end it is worth the time spent over the time wasted just waiting around for nothing to happen!

New York City Day #6

2005-07-08T17:18:00.000-04:00

This morning was one of the most memorable of this week. Why, you may ask? This little piece of history is actually a piece of popular culture history. I got to eat breakfast this morning at the diner from one of my favorite TV shows of all time: Seinfeld. I am living this week in the neighborhood that inspired Jerry Seinfeld's TV show, and the diner from the TV show is 2 streets away. I ate with a few teachers this morning before heading to class for our final lecture and discussion.

It was absolutely raining cats and dogs this morning; not having an umbrella, I just put on my Yankees cap and bolted across campus as fast as I could through the rain. Out of the window of our classroom is a clear view of the neighborhood of Harlem. There was a Battle of Harlem, which although it was minor in the Revolutionary War, was significant, because it was an important stronghold that George Washington lost before entirely abandoning New York as a lost cause.

Harlem used to have an awful reputation for being a dangerous neighborhood, but has actually encountered a nice revival; it has been cleaned up, is much safer than before, and new restaurants and shops are opening up and down Amsterdam Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares through Harlem. The picture to the right is of Harlem, overlooking Morningside Drive. Notice the row houses and tenaments in the distance. It still is not a totally safe neighborhood, but has improved greatly in the past few years.

While in class today, we discussed the separation of church and state, as well as the abolition (or elimination) or slavery after the American Revolution. A few interesting facts that I did not know until today:

Massachusetts was the last state to get rid of a state mandated religion. If a state were to have a state mandated religion, it would mean that, even if you are not personally a member of a religion (let's say VooDoo religion, for examnple), you would have to pay taxes from income, property, and goods to support the state established church. All citizens, regardless of thier personal religion, would have to pay taxes for the construction of VooDoo churches, the upkeep of VooDoo burying grounds and churches, paying VooDoo pastors, paying VooDoo bills, etc. So -- I am Catholic, and could still go to my Catholic Church, but would be required (with no way out) to financially support the state established religion of VooDoo.
Virginia was the first state to eliminate their state established religion.
Massachusettians and Connecticutians both were so fearful that, after the American Revolution, the government would impose a state or national religion on them (based on England's previous policies when they were colonies), they refused to approve the First Amendment to the Constitution for these two states - until the 1930s. That means they held out for at least 150 years on principle alone!
Massachusetts was the first state to abolish slavery, even though the people did not decide. The Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) made the decision for the state. In fact, the SJC still makes decisions today, over 200 years later - but on current issues and policies, such as gay marraige.
For many years before, and even after the American Revolution, in order to vote in an election, one would have to take a religion test to vote. In a public election, where you are not voting on religious issues! Today, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights guarantees separation of church and state to all American citizens.

After lunch (and more running through the rain), we had teacher discussions about how to present the American Revolution to our students. It was awesome. I shared some ideas, I got some good ideas, and am looking forward to using them when I return in the fall! Once we were finished with our discussion, I went shopping for some teacher supplies and books at the Bank Street School of Education Book Store, which had a lot of neat things to see.

I return home tomorrow (Saturday). Although I am looking forward to going home, I am going to miss this incredible opportunity I had to talk to fellow teachers, discuss how to teach students better, and my new friends. I'll keep you posted....

New York City Day #5

2005-07-07T19:40:00.000-04:00

Another day that has flown by! This morning, we had a lecture to finish up the actual events of the American Revolution. It was great; we discussed slaves' roles in the American Revolution, as well as ways that the Americans gathered support when their morale got low. We talked a lot about how American patriotic symbols are different and similar to those in other countries, and discussed similarities between the American Revolution and the Vietnam War and Iraq War. We ended the morning with a discussion of the last battle of the war, Yorktown, Virginia.

A few interesting points I learned:

While in Valley Forge for the winter, the Continental Army were forced to use "The Vault" to use the bathroom. The Vault was basically a series of shallow ditches where soldiers went to the bathroom. If they were caught not using The Vault, they could be punished or even put to death, because of the diseases they could be spreading.
Benedict Arnold, who committed treason against America by revealing the internal plans to the base at West Point, NY (on the Hudson River), was very unsuccessful fighting for the British. In fact, he died in England broke, alone, and ill. While fighting for America, he was honored as a huge hero; he actually helped America in her fight for freedom more than he hurt the cause!
When the French secretly joined America as an ally against the British, in order to funnel French government money to America without the public and the British knowing, the French created a dummy corporation called the Hortalez Company. The company ran from 1776-1777, secretly funneling money from France to America for help with troops, supplies, and the navy.
Massachusetts and Rhode Island actually supported the continued trade of slaves, because of the massive amount of money they could make in the mere trade of slaves, even though they did not use slaves much in their daily life; in addition, they did not morally support the idea of slavery, but there was huge economic incentives to continue supporting it.

After lunch, we read the Declaration of Independence aloud, then discussed the different meanings of it, as well as the Founding Fathers' hopes for America. It was great to be able to discuss it; I got some good ideas to make the Declaration understandable and interesting.

Once we finished discussing the Declaration, we headed uptown towards the Bronx to an area of Manhattan called Washington Heights, because it is an area of highlands. This is the area of land that George Washington fortified before abandoning New York for safety in New Jersey. The area had two forts that the Maryland and Virginia Regiments of the American Revolution defended: Fort Washington and Fort Tryon. Fort Tryon was eventually bought by John Rockefeller, a New York businessman. He donated it to the City of New York, and it is now a beautiful park and gardens.

Once G.W. crossed the Hudson River to New Jersey, he was in safety at Fort Lee, directly across the river from Fort Washington. Washington correctly figured that it was be extremely difficult for the British to attack Fort Lee and New Jersey from the Hudson River, because of the palisades, or cliffs, that one would have to scale in order to read walkable land in New Jersey. To the right, notice two pictures: the top one is of the New Jersey Palisades, just south down the Hudson from Fort Lee. Notice the cliffs on the other side, and think about how tough it would be to climb them, with a 45-pound back on your back, from a boat, in the middle of the night, potentially with people shooting down at you. Tough! The second picture is of the George Washington Bridge, which is I-95, the same road that runs through Boston. Notice how high up the side the riverbank the bridge enters the land; where the cars drive into New Jersey is how high the soldiers had to climb to attack the Continental Army!

Signing off....

New York City Day #4

2005-07-06T21:25:00.000-04:00

This morning, we had another rich discussion of the American Revolution. We had a discussion of Paul Revere's midnight ride, the Battles of Concord and Lexington, Evacuation Day in Boston, and the Battle of Bunker Hill. Being only one of two Massachusetts residents in a room of about 35, everyone was relying on me to speak up about what Massachusetts' view is of the Revolution and the importance of our local cities and towns. It was pretty neat to have people from around the United States discussing towns that are a few mere miles from Medfield. We certainly are lucky to have so much history right in our backyards....

After a nice lunch, our group took a trip to the New York Historical Society. Here, we had a presentation by the Gilder Lehrman Institute, which is the group that is sponsoring our visit to New York City this week. One of the coolest things all week to happen so far happened at the NYHS (New York Historical Society) - the presenters took out several primary source documents out of a box. Primary source documents are anything that is an original source - a letter, a poem, a painting, an engraving, etc., that gives someone information first hand; this means that no one has interpreted it for you, but you are looking at the information and considering what it means all on your own. Everyone in the room was dumbfounded when boom! They took out one of the original engravings of Paul Revere's depiction of the Boston Massacre, which was created in the 1770s. The real one! Can you believe it? You can see an online scan of the engraving to the left, which you probably recognize. If you do not, you will next year!

After that, we saw a few other neat letters - including one by George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Robert Kennedy. It was incredible. Finally, we had about 2 hours to browse around the New York Historical Society. It is an incredible museum with artifacts all about the culture of New York City throughout time. It had everything from colonial paintings to shackles from the 1600s to photographs from the early 1900s to pieces of debris from the plane that hit the World Trade Center in 2001. We got to walk around with these neat computerized tourguides; they looked like big cellphones, and we simply hit the number of the artifact we were looking at, and it gave us a bit of information on the piece. Needless to say, I learned a ton about the culture of New York City throughout time.

Upon leaving the Museum, we decided to walk through Central Park, which is across the street. We ended up walking the 2 1/2 miles back to Columbia University. It was a great walk until we were about 10 blocks away; it started to downpour, and we showed up sopping wet for dinner! Oh well, it was an adventure if nothing else.

New York City Day #3

2005-07-05T22:50:00.000-04:00

Today was a great day....not as hands-on as the two previous days, but nonetheless important. We had lectures all day today from our professor (he teaches at the City University of New York at Lehman College) on the American Revolution. Since I am pretty familiar with the info from the American Revolution, the teachers all used the time as a chance to share good ways to make history come alive for students - so I got some good ideas! It was also neat to hear another person's thoughts about why certain things occurred during the war and look at events from a different point of view.

A couple of cool facts about the American Revolution Time Period:

American Colonists were willing to lose everything for their independence: their homes, their families, their land, their lives!
Harvard, Yale, and William & Mary were the first colleges in America; once religions other than Anglican were able to start schools, then Princeton, Rutgers, and Columbia Colleges were founded.
An incredible amount of money was made by smuggling goods across the Atlantic Ocean. As you can imagine, this greatly angered the British government.
American Colonists had to provide sheets, bedding, food, drink, and candles to any British soldier who simply knocked on their door and asked for it. Who allowed this to happen? King George III gave British soldiers the right to through the Quartering Act. Later, King George III also forced colonists to give up beds in their homes to any soldier who asked. Can you believe that?!
America started to have a huge coffee addiction partially when the Tea Act started taxing tea and Abigail Adams started the "Coffee Break," as opposed to "Tea Time."
England, thousands of miles away, and across an ocean, had the right, due to the Coercive Acts, to tell all towns in Massachusetts, including our very own Medfield, what they were allowed to discuss at Town Meeting. Imagine the U.S. government telling Medfield residents what they were "allowed" to talk about at Town Meeting today?!

Until tomorrow....keep on thinking and using those brains!

New York City Day #2 - Independence Day!

2005-07-05T00:08:00.000-04:00

I woke up nice and early this morning to a great sunrise, and ran down south down the Hudson River. The run was beautiful; I ran along the Henry Hudson Parkway, the Hudson River, in Manhattan, looking the entire time at New Jersey. Talk about awesome geography!

We had quite a day today...and after my run, we had breakfast and a mini-lecture, refreshing our teacher brains about what happened in the American Revolution, particularly in New York City.

We took the subway downtown (really south, but on a map, it is "down," so it is called "downtown.") to the southernmost tip of Manhattan, called Battery Park. Why is it called Battery Park? No, they do not dump wasted Energizer and Duracell batteries here...but are named for the batteries of ammunition that was stored here by both King George III and later George Washington. If you take a look to the map at the right, you will see the island of Manhattan. This is considered "downtown" New York City.

Imagine it is 1775. The Battles of Concord and Lexington were just fought in New England. Britain is mad; King George III wants to squash any ideas the silly patriots have of uprising against their throne. What does the King George III do? He asks two of his most able officers, General Howe and Admiral Howe (brothers, one in the British army, one in the British navy) to invade New York City. He figures if the British can take care of the troublemaking Patriots (those who wanted independence from Britain), he is more likely to keep the American Colonies under control. The Howe Brothers decide to send 1,000 ships into New York Harbor. The picture to the right was taken from the southernmost tip of Manhattan, Battery Park, looking into New York Harbor. The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island is just to the west (right side of picture), and Governor's Island is immediately to the east (left side of picture). In the distance, you can see the channel to the Atlantic Ocean between Brooklyn and Staten Island. Imagine 1,000 ships with 3 or 4 masts a piece arriving into the harbor. What a scene that must have been!

A few days later, the Americans, with the leadership of George Washington, decide to fortify (or secure) the Brooklyn Heights. Why secure a high spot? It is easier to defend oneself against an enemy. The American Patriots were ready to fight the British for the Brooklyn Heights, which overlooked and secured downtown Manhattan. What happened, you ask? The British were able to find a passage between some wooded hills that was not protected by the Americans. The Americans were surprise attacked, and George Washington had to retreat, leave the Heights, and under the safety of night, retreat across the East River to Mahattan. Brooklyn had been lost to the British.

A few months later, a document called the Declaration of Independence is written. It does what? It declares our intentions to be independent from England. New Yorkers are so excited with the reading of the Declaration of Independence that they take a lead statue of King George III and boil it down to make bullets for Patriot guns in the American Revolution. The statue stood in Bowling Green (picture to left) where the fountain is today. The Bowling Green is adjacent to the NY Custom House (we have a Custom House in Boston, too - it is the really tall clock tower downtown).

Believe it or not, New York City was originally founded not by the English, but the Dutch - as New Amsterdam in 1624. At the northernmost edge of the settlement of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island was a huge fortification or blockade that was built to keep out the Native Americans, English, French, and Spanish. Although that wall no longer exists, a street that was at its place does, and is called "Wall Street." You probably have heard of it; it is the financial capital of New York City (and some would say the world). Just a few blocks north of Battery Park, the Custom House, Bowling Green, and 2 blocks east of Ground Zero is NYC's Financial District. You will see, to the right, a picture of the NYSE at the corner of Wall Street (heading east-west) at New Street.

As you can imagine, all this walking was making us hungry, so we had lunch at the Faunces Tavern. This is an important site in Manhattan, because it was been standing for over 200 years. It is rumored that many Patriot spies, working for the Americans, were headquartered here. More importantly, however, it was here that George Washington gave his farewell to being the military leader of our newly formed nation. In addition to this history, they make a killer chicken sandwich and fries at the Faunces Tavern.

After seeing downtown lower Manhattan, we headed over to Brooklyn across the Manhattan Bridge (or we could have taken the Brooklyn Bridge) to see the site of the Battle of Long Island (Brooklyn Heights). To the left, you will see a picture of The Old Stone House. This house still remains as a place where 250 Marylanders delayed the British attack long enough to allow most of the American Continental Army to escape to safety in Manhattan. What price did they pay? Only 9 Marylanders from that commission survived. As a result, if you look closely, you will see the Maryland state flag flying from the front of the Old Stone House.

A bit later, we headed to the famous Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, which basically exists underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. In the picture to the right, you will see yours truly on the dock of the East River at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Company, with the Empire State Building (on Manhattan Island) in the background, as well as the Brooklyn Bridge. It was across the Brooklyn Bridge that many people left on September 11th to escape the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Later, we ate dinner in Greenwich Village, then headed to Roosevelt Island, an island in the middle of the East River, between Manhattan and Queens for fireworks. They were great. To be honest, however, the fireworks in Boston are better -- plus, we have the Boston Pops! It was a great time, even though it took us 3 hours to get home, because of all the thousands of people trying to use one single subway stop. The good part? We got to walk through Times Square (no, I did not see the MTV studios). We had to wait for about a half an hour for our subway car to come, stuck underground. Man, was it hot.

And so remember....extraordinary history has happened all around us, in the most ordinary of places sometimes! Until next time....

New York City Day #1

2005-07-03T22:21:00.000-04:00

I made it through Day #1 with meeting new people and seeing new places. I boarded an Amtrak train early this morning at 9:45 from Back Bay in Boston, and arrived at Penn Station in New York City. I should have taken pictures; it is incredibly crazy and busy there. There were so many more people than in any Boston train station. Plus - there were lots of Yankees fans everywhere!

After I checked into my dorm at Columbia University, I took a few pictures. This is the view out of my room - it looks down upon the Columbia University quad. The large light stone building in the middle with the rotunda/dome roof is the Columbia University Library. The green is the quad, where students will hang out, read, study, play frisbee...A bit of info on Columbia University: it was originally founded as "King's College" on what is known locally as "Morningside Hill," in 1754.

There are 16 schools at Columbia -- undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools. Columbia had an extremely famous dropout, who became an essential player in the Revolutionary War. In fact, he dropped out of college to become a Continental Soldier for the Americans. His name? Alexander Hamilton.After checking in, I went for a run through Central Park. It is the equivalent of the Boston Common, but with a lot more hills, a lot more trees, and a lot more space. It was incredibly crowded-- it seemed as though the entire city was there today!After that, all the teachers from the institute where I am studying had dinner together, and got to meet one another.

Tomorrow morning we have a walking tour of the city, mostly around lower Manhattan. This means we will spend the day around the southern tip of Manhattan Island, which is basically "downtown" NYC. It should be great!But first, tomorrow morning, I will go for a run along the River....on the west side of Manhattan...any ideas of what river that is? This picture is from the hallway on my floor. Any thoughts as to what state is beyond the river on the other side?

Any thoughts, be sure to email Mr. G.! Until tomorrow....