You can roll with this, or you can roll with that.

Webquest project. Should I make it look good, or should I concentrate on the material inside?
Shouldn't a webquest have visual appeal? I mean, seriously, the ones that we had to research in class all looked like garbage. The information was good, but they all kind of looked like interactive worksheets. If I am going to make a webquest that will be implemented in class, I would at least want it to look appealing to the kids.

Also, sending a kid out searching for information could be disastrous. My biggest concern is not being able to prepare the kids enough (if I am going to use this) with the skills needed to perform a basic search. We all know one kid is going to end up on a site that has ads for Viagra or on-line dating. Calming down the class could take a lot of valuable time.

I don't feel like I have enough time to implement something of this caliber because I feel it supplements a lesson. Our scope and sequence is tight enough as it is. Lord knows what happened last year with all those snow days. I have to make sure if I am going to use this, that the Webquest is finished when that class day is.
Doesn't that suck?
I attended the meetings for scope and sequence and all that was decided was how urgent we can cram all of these topics into our kids heads. There are maybe 12 days set aside the whole year for assessment and the rest is teaching information that could be truly learned if there was more time.
Maybe if sixth grade math were taught in a way that the kid would remember it, we wouldn't have to use three quarters of seventh grade math re-teaching all of the same topics.

There's no time. Education looks like a factory. Here are the topics you can squeeze into one year. Here is a test at the end.
GO!

Getting Bored with the Board

My Promethean board is getting boring. I would love to see the board go beyond its present limitations.

It's like every current Adam Sandler movie ... it has the potential to be good, but just ... isn't.

There is nothing exciting about a "container". In fact, it takes way too long to set up those stupid things for five seconds of flip chart use.
It would be cool if the board did fun stuff that the SmartBoard software already has. For example, the smartboard has these rotating boxes that you could put a question on the front and have it spin around to the answer. You can also imbed and hide items in a Notebook file. It's all simple, interactive Flash programming.
Imagine being able to grab the corners of a picture of a cube and rotate it any which way. I know it can be done. Why hasn't it?

These things create a more interactive learning atmosphere. The ability to make a boring topic, visually appealing will at least grab the students' attention and hopefully lead them to listening.
I did get to sample the ActivExpressions. I've been batting around the idea of taking them from the library and the kids will always have one in front of them. Then always allow them to text in their answer. Or use them for formative types of assessment.

The more I try to make my classroom feel less like a classroom, the more students I believe will learn.

I also think carpeted rooms would help for some reason. Nothing fancy. Maybe a nice Egyptian blue carpet ... maybe with a little Feldgrau mixed in there to keep a calm tone.

I've had it this week.

I have never thought about taking a day off school. I have never bad mouthed my students and meant it. I have never thought a lesson I thought was a complete bomb. I have never felt like I can't get my kids to learn.

Until this week.

I feel like my kids have given up on me. The hardest thing a teacher can do is be in a situation where they feel the kids do not want to learn. I just want to flip their desk over and say, "FINE! If you don't want to prove that you can learn this, then fail."
The very fact that I am thinking this is questioning my entire integrity as a successful teacher. My first year of school I was a rock. I would take on any challenging kid. Now it seems like I have so many kids that just don't want to learn.

Oh and don't get me started on parents!

Why do parents wait until the week before they get the grade before they start caring about their kids' grade? I've been e-mail you all year! Why do none of my kids care about their grade until the week before they are about to get it?

At least once a day I tell one of my classes that I truly care and want them to do well and they need to be responsible and care about learning the material so they can get a good education and good grades.
Well they don't. Until the day they get the grade.

When I learned how to drive a car, I didn't learn that I needed to start using the brakes after I made the mistake of slamming into the car in front of me. I understood what needed to be done to learn how to drive.

The same applies with these kids.

I hate feeling so helpless.

Make them want to learn.

Education is not received. It is achieved.

Why do we buy the brands we love? Why do we think Velveeta Shells and Cheese is so much better than its generic counterparts? Is there something about the way that box looks that makes me want to buy it over the crappy brand?

Advertising. I have no doubt in my mind that the reason people buy what they do is because of good advertising. What if you had to advertise your classroom?

What if your class were a movie? Would anyone want to watch it?

Sometimes I find myself staring in the mirror in the morning at my Adonis-like body and wonder: Are you a good teacher? Do kids want to be in your class? Do you want to be in your class?

How can I sell myself?

I've decided to stop bombarding this blog with hypothetics and get to the point. Let's advertise. I am going to sell my classroom ... in the format of what the back of a movie case would look like. The movie about my classroom.

Learn and Earn or Crash and Burn

Brandon St. Clair "captivates, motivates and agglomerates" (Time Magazine) in this fast curriculum based educational thrill ride filled with knowledge and excitement around every lesson!
Mr. St. Clair [Brandon St. Clair] plays a sixth grade math teacher with an insatiable hunger to inspire students to learn.
If he can get the kids to believe that what he teaches is what they want to learn, then they are going to want to learn it. If he just joins the ranks of mediocrity like so many teachers before him, he may not be as effective.
This year, Mr. St. Clair has some changes to make. With the help of a rascally troupe [Krause, McCarthy and Klimek] this year in Math6 is sure to be a hit!

Washington v. Kardashian: Wood Teeth v. Veneers

First off, did you ever have a grandma or someone start to lose it a little? Like so much that they made a lasagna where the top two layers of it is the dessert cake she made? And all you can really do is force it down and tell her that it's good and that she is the best cook ever.

That's how I felt about getting through the Revolutionary Wealth. There were so many good lines to get out of it, but so many, tons, much other ... WORDS! It was really hard for me, as a bad reader, to truly... get it.
So, the following is a quote and some of my chain letter that brings up some really insightful ideas and opinions.


"As speeds continue to accelerate, with currency and securities markets already operating at blinding, blistering, blitzing rates, the market life of products (and products related to them) will continue to shorten." p 267

When I read this, I was like "heck yeah I agree with this!" My "old" iphone is a few years old and is already a paperweight. How does education compare to the rapid acceleration? Well think about how long it takes to implement something new in the cycle of education. How long it takes for a student to start and end in the public school system.

When something in education is modified, it takes quite some time to see results.
At the "blistering, blitzing" pace information is growing, education seems to rapidly be losing its battle to keep up.
Think about history. Up until World War two-ish anything that got published nationally was HUGE news and would definitely make its way "into the books".
Now everything is national. What will history say about this era. Will the students have to memorize the dates Paris Hilton pops a tire on her bright pink Bentley? Or a matching section devoted to celebrities and their stints in jail.

We need to know what is important. A definitive line between what is going on in the world, and what the world needs to know to become better. Lately I have been feeling overwhelmed with everything this world has to offer.

I really feel, however, that my job is great because nothing will ever replace the value that a human teacher has on a classroom. Someone to walk around the room and tell kids about how much they care and want to see them succeed. If they can take from my class the knowledge that someone wants to see them do their best, and is willing to devote a little time to making them better people, then I've done a great job. The rest is just getting them to know the crap on the state tests.

Brandon

Design Part Deux

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works." -Steve Jobs

That nerd has got the right idea.

A major topic of discussion that is very pertinent to technology invading classrooms is Offloading. This was defined by myself (kind of) as making a human task able to be done by a tool that can do it more efficiently, making the potential for us to produce more.
As soon as this idea was circulating around the room I began to draw a picture.

The picture started with a large circle. This circle represented the time it takes for humans to create "work". As we evolve, we come up with better and faster ways for the "work" to be done. This led to an arrow in my picture pointing to a smaller circle labeled "Making the 'work' easier through technology". Then in my picture I have an arrow drawn to another large circle. Inside that circle I wrote "we now have more time to create new 'work'", which eventually points to a smaller circle with the same label as the first. And then my drawing connects as a cycle.

The way we evolve as a society is in itself a form of design. We must be warned because if we do not bide our time to create new "work", then we turn into a society fully dependent on the machines that we have created for our old "work".

What is funny is that I am reminded of a Mike Judge movie entitled, "Idiocracy" which is based in the future where people are so dependent on machines that they have stopped thinking for themselves. It is a really really dumb movie, but the more I learn in this class, the more I find myself referencing it.

Ok, hopefully I made a good point. Peace out.

I create, I teach, I inspire

A teacher as a designer means several things to me.

By definition to design could mean "plan: make or work out a plan for".
If this is true than anyone who can tie their shoes is a designer.
In education I am an architect to design. I not only plan, or work out plans, I implement those plans. I form lessons from topics given to me by a higher power ... the Standards of Learning. Do I stop there? No. As any great architect could tell you, the first draft [plan] always needs revision.

So I revise.

                             What worked?          
         What would make this lesson better?
                Are the students getting enough practice in class?      
                        Was that joke about the decimals staring at the sun a good one?

To be a designer you must be able to be able to critique yourself and learn how to accept criticism. Take suggestions seriously. Implement them. See if they work. Try again.

Design could mean "An arrangement scheme".
I design my classroom to be conducive to learning. An interactive word wall. Visual representations of past and present lessons. A large calendar. Pittsburgh Steelers paraphernalia. The things children look at every day in class should somehow coincide with the learning at hand. Cover the walls with covered material. They are a silent reinforcer of knowledge.

Design: "Intend or have a purpose".
What you say to your students every day makes you valuable to the learning process. Inside and out of the classroom you are a model of what they are to learn. To a 6th grader, you know it all. You must design what you say before, during and after a lesson. Behave how you want them to behave. Show them what you want to see.

You are the architect. Your lesson is a design. Your classroom is a design. Your words are designs. Your students are the mold. Fine tune and perfect your designs, and your structure will not falter.

What has God wraught?

It was close to 26 years ago when the good Lord gave to the earth and parents Robert and Rosalie a child who has the potential of being the most influential teacher of his time. Close to 26 rotations of the earth around the sun later, here he sits ready to become more powerful. In order to obtain a connection with all of whom his path may cross, he decided to further enhance his ability to form relationships with his students by participating in the Instructional Technology Cohort at George Mason University. A reflection of the night soon followed:

As I walked into the soft "goat puke green" colored room and begin to listen to the woman that will soon guide me towards multiple approaches of academic success, one word came to mind: Honored.
To be a part of a family of teachers with similar goals in mind.
To be in the presence and under the tutelage of a highly qualified, down to earth, caring, sensitive and honest woman.
To once again feel nervous about embarking in a journey of higher education.

What did I learn tonight?

• I was told and repeated the names of those in the cohort, but have yet to truly "learn" them.
• A definition of technology as a mediator between myself and the rest of the world.
• I learned that when I am reading, I should be looking for the main idea, however in my mind I know that I should still keep an eye out for the smaller details that will help lead me to the idea.
• I learned that communication is going to be more than essential to my success. This includes e-mail, blogs, attendance, participation, and a dash of humor.

What do I know?

• I know that through this class I know that I will learn how to use technology as a mediator in my classroom to connect with the students, parents, co-workers, etc.. I also have to keep in mind that it should not overshadow the invaluable relationships that should be formed with a child through my physical presence.
• I know that, through others that have traveled this path, I will find exactly the pushes I desire to find ways to connect with a student on a different level and make my classroom unique and stray from the typical lecture style teaching.

Acting

My goals are to learn, adapt and implement the practices found in this cohort. I desire to be the best at what I do, not for my own selfish desires, but for the benefit and academic excellence of all of my students.

What should I say to this challenge which lay before me. Would the mighty Achilles go into battle worrisome of his one flaw that may cost him his life?
Heck yeah I'm ready. Bring it on!

Brandon