Travel blog + new teacher = far too infrequent updates

Yes, I'm not neglecting this site on purpose.  But after a month of adjustments, my life is finally achieving some measure of balance.  So without further ado, a quick note that I sent to my favourite math practicum associate.

Good morning,

Well, I guess after a month of doing it, I can start to think of myself as a teacher.  Despite the insane amount of work required, especially since I don't have math this term, it has been an awesome experience.  Unfortunately, one of the unfortunate things about teaching three subjects that I wasn't prepared to teach (grade 10 science, 11 physics, 12 chemistry) is that I have had very little time to be a tourist while living in a fantastic country.  For as much as the people around here are incredible (whenever you need help, if the person you ask can't speak English they will find someone who can), I had no idea how tough it would be to learn Arabic.  At least my students are helping me with my Arabic; even though they aren't supposed to speak Arabic in class, there will usually be a 5 minute break in which I ask them to teach me how to say something new.

The students over here are wonderful.  They are far better negotiators than Canadian students so assessment is definitely a careful process.  And the joys of teaching in a private school where all of the parents know what the other parents' children are doing ... differentiations and modifications are extremely difficult to pull off.  Overall, picture a room that's half full of energetic students with the other half comprised of students desperate to get good marks.  There's only been one series of treats so far - my grade 10s marks leapt from a 70 average to high 80s after they worked incredibly hard on the first unit test ... so I had to get them some treats.  I haven't been able to get them their favourite treat yet (cupcakes of all things) but will find an excuse sometime.

I even avoided the new teacher's "teachers' college didn't prepare me for this" rant for the most part.  Oh, there were issues like:

• Where are all of the grade 10 & 11 resources that you promised me so I wouldn't be developing 3 courses from the ground up?
• How do you plan lessons when the power is out? 
• How do you manage a class in a laboratory environment with rolling stools?
• How do I teach with only a small rolling whiteboard, no projector and no access to computers?
• Ummm ... where are all the grade 11 physics textbooks that you ordered? (back order cancelled as text out of print)
• How do I teach waves and light without any laboratory equipment?

I figure that these are just the challenges that any new teacher would face (different issues, same stresses).  I realized very quickly that you get what you get ... so you can grumble or you can learn to deal.  I imagine that my desire to watch Shawshank Redemption again ("you either get busy living or get busy dying") was due to my initial stresses and 2 weeks of illness because of it.  But overall, my feedback has been great, my students are learning and administration has been incredibly supportive.

One of the best things that has come out of teaching science is that I remembered how much I loved science.  It had been years since I'd considered anything but math and history.  (get ready for an obscure reference)  Aside from the discussion with your students on elevator problems and normal forces after one of your grade 11 academic math classes, I hadn't thought of science in ages.  Strangely enough, despite having been a far better chemistry student (there are reasons I headed towards chemical engineering), I'm finding that physics is the class that I'm loving.  You don't get to slide textbooks (friction), hi-five students (Newton's 3rd law) or toss whiteboard markers (projectile motion) in chemistry.

The only difficulty I'm having with teaching physics is my class.  They've had a tough time in the school, and playing catch-up is extremely difficult.  One of the joys of international schools is that teachers who sign on for 2 years can't always survive the adjustment period.  My students had 7 math and science teachers over the past two years, and they're incredibly weak (mathematically and scientifically).  I'm still not sure that they understand why d = .5 a t^2 despite my attempts using v/t graphs, average velocity, and the ever popular "it's just one of those rules."  They are fantastic when you give them a formula and they know when to apply it ... but it's almost impossible to get them to visualize things outside of the box.  From what I understand, it's an outgrowth of teaching ESL students ... it's incredibly difficult to conceptualize things in a second language, especially when much of their Egyptian schooling is based on rote practice worksheets.

Well, I'm off to start getting my 10 science put to bed for the week.  After 1 month, I'm finally on top of the paperwork, interim report comments are done and I can finally devote most of my weekend to prep.  I keep telling myself that this will be the week that I finally can relax a bit during the nights ... perhaps this is the weekend that I get enough done to actually live that dream.

Best wishes and thank you again for such a fantastic practicum.  I find myself going back to many of the lessons you taught me - whether my students know it or not, my boardwork was far worse.

When did we cover this in Teachers' College?

I could use a Merlin right now

Tuesday is meet the parents day.  Wednesday is the first day of classes.  There, I said it.  It still doesn't quite seem real, but that moment is coming quickly.  And given that most of my new teacher colleagues and I are still seeking our classroom Holy Grail, I doubt that we really realize that it's almost that time.  This weekend is probably the moment when the transition starts and we recognize that the classroom will be what it is, it's time to change our focus to what is to come.  At least, it's a short week next week (two instructional days) and one of those days will be taken up by orientation and introduction.  You won't hear any complaints from me since I'm still locked into the too much to do in too little time mindset.

We're all wearing these

Overall, I will need some time to change my focus.  Despite my student-centred focus ... these past two weeks have been all about me.

• My classroom needs these items fixed
• There aren't enough textbooks for my class
• My class needs these items (posters, bins, whiteboards, tools, technology).
• I need a desk
• I need a lockable cabinet
• I ... My .... I ... My ....

I have to admit, that despite the feeling of autonomy that I'm enjoying, I never realized how much work went into setting up a class for the year.  During my practica, I never saw what my associate teacher went through in order to set the class for the year.  And, even if I had, many of the items that I'm developing, pondering, creating and considering ... those issues have been dealt with years ago.  So yes, it probably makes complete sense that I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed as I can't even rely on my past experience and practices when I look at my to-do list.

Always something up my sleeve.

Take classroom management.  I was fortunate enough to have associate teachers with three vastly different classroom management styles.  Add to that the theoretical underpinnings we discussed in teachers' college and ... I'm suddenly at the education buffet picking and choosing the elements that are going to sustain me for the coming four months.  Although I don't plan to reinvent the wheel, and I've talked to three or four of the returning teachers to learn their systems, I recognize that my management style is going to have to be my own.  I also realize that I'm probably going to miss things, and that I've considered elements that really don't need to be there.  Finally, I know that the system I have developed is likely going to be too paperwork intensive and will need some adjustments.  If it works out for me ... I'll likely post it someday.  If it doesn't, pick a card, any card (ie I'll find something else to write about).  For now, I've got my expectations, I've got my ladder, and I've got my tracking system.

And no, this wasn't intended to be one of the many post hoc teachers' college rants that erupt from new teachers from time to time.  Oh, those vibrant discussions made for some fantastic stress relief during teachers' college, but I've got 33 students to think about and have to toss away my "of course you can repeat the past" Jay Gatsby cap for a while.  This was nothing more than one of those new teacher revelations that classrooms don't organize themselves ... and that there is far more going on behind the scenes than I could have possibly imagined.

Well, I have a couple more templates to develop and I'm on to planning my first six lessons.  Yes, I have every intention of counting the three carbon copy introduction lectures individually ... it'll be good for my ego tomorrow.

This Can't be Mine

Approximately a week ago, I crossed the threshold of what will be my first classroom.  The bus had picked us up at 8:00 to head to the school and I'd been up since about 4:30.  I'd been awake and asleep all night - not due to any specific thoughts; but, the excitement of the whole novel situation kept my level of energy at 11.  I would never walk into my first classroom again so this one would be special.  Despite my early wake-up, it took me three tries to exit my apartment.  Yup, I was in enough of a hurry to get there that I kept forgetting something that I'd figured I would need.

Sadly, our view was obscured by apartment buildings

When I got on the bus, there were no tired eyes.  The level of energy wasn't at a fever pitch, but there was a subtle feeling of excitement and anticipation.  About the only thing that deflected our level of new classroom enthusiasm was our first view of the Great Pyramids as we drove on by.  It was finally happening - that perfect blend of math, science and ancient history all rolled into one teaching contract.  Although I had repeated some version of that phrase often enough to be a mantra, it still held the same level of emotion as when I first uttered it.

Sitting through the first part of the staff orientation was agony.  I'm filling out forms and discussing important issues when I could be seeing my class.  Finally the tour started and we wandered by.  My name wasn't yet outside of the room, but I knew from the description that it was to be mine.  To avoid seeming excessively anxious (in an attempt to maintain a thin veneer of moderate calm), I didn't stop to peer into the windows and just gave my corner a cursory glance.  Finally, the tour was done, the keys were handed out, I wandered back up to the 4th floor, unlocked my door ... and almost cried.

You talk about ideal tables - I don't even have a desk

I spent the first 15 minutes walking through the room in a daze.  After that, the "I don't have"s and "I can't find"s kicked in.  Within an hour, I got to the point where I seriously wondered what I had gotten myself into.  This couldn't be my room.   Although I didn't have a firm vision of what "my classroom" would be, there was some subconscious vision akin to Plato's universal ideal in my mind.  After all, I'd completed three vastly different practica and each of those associate teachers had a space that was theirs and it was great.  I was facing a classroom that didn't even have a whiteboard that I could use effectively ... let along a projector, laptop and dare I say, smartboard.  Direct instruction always has a place in teaching, and I didn't see how I could possibly deliver a lesson in my room.

Well, I've taken the long way to get to this week's question.  What do I wish that they'd told me during my pre-service teaching program?  I'm sure that this will change.  Sometime soon, I'll probably return to some of my previous gripes (lack of classroom management training, lack of practical / real-world education skills, insufficient focus on fast and effective organizational tools).  But for now, I wish that they'd advised us that no first classroom will live up to our expectations so we will have to adapt our teaching style to suit our surroundings.  We've seen classrooms that have taken our associate teachers years to develop and it's rare that we'll walk into a class that will have that same feel.  We haven't had those years to acquire furnishings that fit our visions ... nor have we had the years of purchase requests necessary to acquire those items that will allow us to teach in the manner we would prefer.  And, if I continue to focus on what's wrong and not on what I can do, I'll never feel at home in my class.

Sometime towards the end of last week, the switch flipped in my mind.  I haven't wrapped a towel around my head and started pretending that all is well, but I've moved away from impossibilities and started to see potential.  Teachers' college indirectly taught us to be adaptable, so I'll find a way to make it work.  Also, I remembered that I would be one of the select 4-6 people actually teaching this year out of a class of 40.  I have a feeling that most of the other 34 would be thrilled to be in my position.

Returning to Form

Well, all it took was a quick set-up of a travel blog (over here), and I can return to posting teaching blogs here.  And yes, it has been a wee while since I visited here for purposes other than travel.

When the idea of blogging as a teacher was initially proposed to me in my 21st century educator's class at Brock University, Ontario, I loved the idea.  Sometimes, it's critical to return to previous thoughts and feelings, if for no other reason than to do a quick "wow, I can't believe I've changed this much."  But, as practica come and go as a pre-service teaching student, the blogging part of my practice fell by the wayside.

Well, I graduated from teachers' college, and started the job hunt process.  Given the availability of teaching jobs in Ontario, this blog would have likely become one of those lonely blogs crying out for an author and an audience, were it not for the call I received on July 15th.  While I was eating lunch, my phone rang (a rarity) and in my typically familiar way, answered with the expectations that my mother was calling.  15 minutes later (and some delicate choking as I finished my then current sandwich chomp), I had set up an appointment to skype on the following day to discuss a position in Bangladesh.  Well, it was going to take a bit of a sales job to convince me, but I figured that I might as well chat with them.  When they called back, suddenly the opportunity was going to be in Cairo.  Given that I'm a history junkie and I was looking at a 2 year contract to teach math and science within 17km of the pyramids ... I couldn't believe that they spent the entire phone call selling me on the opportunity (as I was expecting that I'd need to be pitching myself).  Well, here we are, a little over a month later, and I've been living in Maadi, Cairo, Egypt for a week now.  Today was our first day on site and I realized ... that I was actually going to be a teacher.

So, back to those questions.  Why did I decide to blog?  Well, part of it is the reflective part that I mentioned above.  Now that I'm starting a real teaching job, I wanted to ensure that I followed through with my previous commitment.  The other part ... I really do enjoy writing and don't need too much of a nudge to do so.

And the blog name - well, initially, it started out as eccerexsum or "behold, I am Roy."  Once I'd created the blog, it didn't take me long to realize that the name didn't suit me.  It felt far too egotistical and it never truly felt like home.  So, I needed a name change asap and I figured that I'd start with my surname.  Given that I tend to be on the slightly analytical side of the personality spectrum (if you define slightly as frequently paralyzing due to the time required to consider all angles), deliberations made the most sense.  

The Arrival

It's definitely time to dust off this blog and get it up and going again.  After two years of preparation and a slightly hectic summer of job hunting, I'm about 2 weeks away from finally being a teacher.  Overall, it's been a whirlwind month (has it really been that long?) between first learning about the possibility of a job in Egypt and today.

Week one involved dealing with administrivia galore.  It seemed that whenever I tried to complete one task (getting certified in Manitoba), another few tasks were added to my to do list.  I found that I was so focused on what I needed to do (will my police check arrive in time) that I never really sat down to realize what was happening.

Week two was my week of waiting.  I started planning for the courses that I would be teaching and amassing any resources I could find to get myself ready.  Things started getting crossed off of my to do list and best of all, I was no longer adding to it.

My third week was the shopping week.  Things such as luggage, teaching equipment, power converters (etc) were acquired and it finally started to dawn on me what I was up to.  Despite having advised everyone how thrilled I was to be blending math, science and history in such an amazing way (teach two and live close to the third), it didn't really start to feel like reality until this week.

Finally, week four happened along with the typical last-minute crises that always crop up despite the best laid plans.  As my dealings with my student loan have always been slightly confusing and frustrating, my arrangements for repayment were par for the course.  I went through the typical packing crisis of what to take and how will I fit it all in such a small place (thank goodness my wife was able to keep a cool head during the process).

Well, I've arrived.  Sounds slightly anti-climactic doesn't it.  During my flight over (somewhere between watching the "Hunger Games" and "Shakespeare in Love", the full magnitude of what had been going on hit me.  At least my "what the hell am I thinking" moment of reservation occurred somewhere in the air over Newfoundland ... and it was too late to reconsider.  By the time I arrived in Frankfurt, I was tired enough that any concerns and worries had faded from my mind.  During the flight to Cairo, even the large population of crying children couldn't keep me from fading in and out of consciousness throughout the entire flight.

Well, time to get back to my kitchen clean-up.  Tonight will be our first touristy-trip part of orientation and I can't wait.

Would you read a dictionary? So why don't you like word problems in math?

Every so often, I'll ask my class whether anyone "would rather be in an English class right now."  Inevitably, I'll get a few people willing to confirm that math is not their favourite subject ... and I'll try to contain my smile.

I proceed by handing out a dictionary, a copy of Strunk and White's Elements of Style and another grammar book.  Usually one of my volunteers is a little more outgoing, so I'll ask them to read a bit from the book they've been given.  After they've read a couple of lines, I'll take over and ask whether that's the kind of book they typically read, or would they usually choose another type of book.

At this point, I'll start reading from a novel with great description (The Hobbit, Invisible Cities) and ask them what's going on in their minds while I read.  Once they get over the shock of a math teacher reading to them, someone will advise that they're picturing the scene.  Step one of solving a word problem covered - draw a diagram.




To get to step two, I write out a clause and description filled sentence on the board, such as:  "As the geese honked with anticipation, the terrified boy wandered along the path through the deep and forbidding forest," and ask the students what's going on?  It doesn't take too long to get to 'the boy walked along a path through a forest."  I cross out the initial clause, cross out the rest of the descriptive words and 'translate' wandered to walked.  I close by saying that math is nothing but another language so why not take the same approach when reading word problems that you do with books.  I ask the students what the nouns, verbs and grammar of math is and get some examples of the following:

• The nouns of math:  numbers and variables
• The verbs of math:  the operations (sine, multiply)
• The grammar of math:  formulae

So far, this approach seems to be working.  The two times that I've used this introduction, my students have gone from groaning about math word problems to ... gentle mutters.  I confirm that the dictionary is just as important as the drill math question ... but once you've mastered the initial skills / grammar, it's time to move to real world applications.

Lingering indecisions

During a recent class, the topic of how to deal with student plagiarism came up.  Although the presenters merely brushed up against the topic with the standard comment that it should not be condoned, I was in a slightly playful mood so I challenged them on that statement.  (I should have prefaced by saying that our class has an amazing rapport so challenges are welcome).  I pointed out the bottom image in their PowerPoint and advised them that I love the work from that site and wanted to use it in my presentation the week before ... until I checked out the terms of use and discovered that there was a fee to use it.  Yes, I proceeded to ask how we could challenge students on plagiarism when we sometimes model it ourselves.

Wikipedia is always my image friend

As the class was nearing an end, the topic didn't come up again until our psych class the next day.  We were discussing appropriate uses of technology in the classroom, and when copyright came up, for some reason many in the class turned to look at me.  Well, I offered them my 60 second creative commons summary and then confirmed that I do live in a glass house.  I felt that it was only fair to confirm that I have done the same thing in the past.  I'm not proud of the fact, and ignorance is rarely a defense, but I did find a YouTube video once or twice that had been posted by someone other than the creator of the work and used it in my class.  I stayed silent when the inevitable "what's the problem, you'll never get caught" point was raised, but couldn't stay silent for long.

Second choice ... wanted the Simpsons' interactive one

Shortly thereafter, someone raised a question that I wish I could answer easily.  Where is our balance point between education value and modelling correct practices?  In other words, what do you do when you find that ideal video on YouTube that is perfect for your class ... and you know that it's posted there illegally?  Well, I wish that I could say definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, that I would follow my beliefs and choose another method of teaching.  After all, there are many ways of getting the message across, and I always have the option of .... but that video is ideal, and as a student teacher, I don't have the funds nor the time to purchase it.  For now, I have a couple months to mull this over since my next placement is technology free (yes, there was an audible whimper).  And while I'm spending a month getting covered from head-to-toe in chalk dust, and remembering those halcyon days when the projector and computer were assumed, I'm fairly certain that my belief in the importance of modelling proper resource use will outweigh any other considerations.  I just wish I was sure.

It takes a website to raise a child

On Friday, I was given the opportunity to present at Brock's 2012 Teaching with Technology Showcase.  Given that I won't give a presentation or participate in a practicum without a Google site, I was thrilled to be presenting on websites in the classroom.  For me, the best part of the presentation was knowing that a few people committed to creating their own class websites.  Overall, my presentation included two parts:

Office Clip Art.com

Part 1:  The Sales Pitch
Along with covering the benefits to differentiated instruction, enrichment, engagement ... I covered the importance of facilitating connections.  It takes a village to raise a child, and we tend to take a passive role in fostering connections.  The student's village has changed from Bronfenbrenner's model, and we need to recognize the role of 21st century technology in our students' lives. We contact parents 3-5 times per term and rely on those contacts to create a bond between school-student-parents.  Our class lists are decided for us and those 60 or 75 minutes per day might or might not include the student's peers.  I believe that one of the critical functions of a class website is to bring the student's peers, parents, social media, internet and school / teachers together.

Part 2:  The Advice

Clipart Graphics

Based on my experience with my first website, I also offered some advice to those who visited my table.  The last thing I wanted was for someone to give up on setting up a website due to frustration.

1. Start small and take time out of the equation:  pick one unit to start and make sure that it's not the current or next unit you're working on.  Give yourself some time to play with the website ahead of time.
2. Decide how you want to organize your website:  I lost tons of time based on trial and error setups.  The organization can always be changed, but it's time consuming.  Google search your course code to see what others have done and ... pick something and stick with it during the initial creation phase.
3. Choose one of the default themes:  I spent countless hours choosing backgrounds for my first website.  Aesthetics can be changed easily so get your site going first.
4. Upload documents:  Google docs holds all of my rubrics, assignments, handouts, exemplars ... find a convenient way to get things on line.
5. Lots of images:  Find some go-to sites for images.  For history, I tend to lean towards Wikipedia since all of the copyright details appear alongside the images.  For math, I will lean more towards Flickr (same reason).  Overall, make the site visually appealing and model appropriate use of web content at the same time.
6. Get feedback everywhere:  Since you're creating a virtual textbook, solicit as much feedback from students, parents, colleagues ... as you can.  You're creating a resource for everyone, so try to find out what everybody would like.
7. Finally ... don't get bogged down:  I got incredibly frustrated when I first tried to move my tabs to the top of the webpage.  Don't spend too much time trying to work things out by yourself, especially when Google sites have an active how to / help forum.

Milton, Proust & Austin, and indirect instruction

Sometimes, people can roll their eyes in a good way.  So when I proposed modelling indirect instruction to present indirect instruction to the class, the professor used phrases such as "you're brave," "this will be interesting," and "I like to see people take risks."  It felt right, but I had a fair bit of work to do before I could believe that I was taking the right approach.

First things first, I had to say farewell to my favourite presentation tool, Prezis, since they're delightfully direct.  Next, I said farewell to the presentation handout since the actual analysis of the methods would be done by the class.  Bit by bit, I removed all of my safe havens and standard practices from the presentation and prepared to cede my presentation to the class.  So, with a shell of a website to hold the presentation questions I needed, I started to consider the summary slide template.  What was the main difference between direct and indirect instruction...

Marcel Proust

For me, it came down to one question... where is my personal balance between higher order thinking skills and time?  I recognize that indirect instruction is necessary at times, because I can't teach a jump shot and I can't lecture a student's analysis, but what about those in-between areas?  I know that I would rather rely more on indirect instruction, because the skills and critical thinking skills are far more important than the facts and figures, but what if?  What if the exercise completely flops and I end up like Proust, In Search of Lost Time?  What if the class doesn't come to the understanding that I'd hoped they'd find, or they don't end up developing the skills that I'd anticipated?

In the end, I realized that the whole issue came down to trust.  I realized that if I didn't trust my class in teachers' college, I would never be able to trust my own class.    With this realization, I finally knew that I had the right approach.  Throughout the presentation, I got to experience many of the positives and negatives of indirect instruction.  Our flipped class on Viking Poetry flopped.  Our unguided inquiry on 'love, friendship and the hero' went so well that I could barely wrestle the class back to move on to the next topic.  Our PBL / case study went well despite me asking the wrong question - we just transitioned to a better question.  And finally, we ran out of time and could never get to skill building / concept mapping.

Well, the web summary from the class is here.  The majority of the strengths, weaknesses, teacher role and students' role answers came from the class' guided organizers.  The summary was primarily based on the ending discussion on the roles of direct and indirect instruction.  Overall, the presentation was a resounding success that left me with only one bit of guilt.  It's often said that indirect instruction results in the teacher learning as much as the class; in this case, I learned more since I not only learned about indirect instruction, but I learned how it felt to teach that way.

Much Ado About Nothing

Louis Lumiere, where's the lab coat?

My grade 13 chemistry teacher was a pocket protector short of the Jungian archetype.  With a slightly stained lab coat and coke-bottle horn-rimmed glasses, our homeroom teacher could've starred in any 1950s reel-to-reel educational movie.  No, he's not the one that got me interested in teaching, but he did inspire me enough to start my chemical engineering degree at the University of Waterloo.  He was the teacher that we could always get talking and was honest enough to say that if he was marking our lab reports, and the Leafs scored, we would get an A ... if the Leafs were scored on, we'd get a B.  He covered everything from cooking (don't work out the ratios with eggs, everything tastes better with more eggs), to working in chemistry (one day we used too much indicator dye to detect a leak and turned the St. Lawrence green) to life in general.  The only time I ever saw him speechless was when I left a 15 page categorized list of his quotations (with illustrations) on his desk as a Christmas present.

Well, one day he was waxing eloquent on life and advised us that we would be facing failure - either now, in university or in marriage.  Although this might've been in response to a tough test coming up, it wasn't said in a cynical way, but as a way to remind us that sometime, somewhere in life, we're going to take a few steps in the wrong direction and we'd best be ready for the consequences.  Despite my adolescent view that it would never happen, I knew that he was right within a decade and he helped me recognize that this was just a part of life so pick your self up and move on.

Growing Success

So we're sitting in assessment class, and we're dealing with late and missed assignments.  Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to do more than recognize both sides of the argument and all of us were chomping at the bit to get involved in this discussion.  Overall, it's likely a good move that our prof didn't allow time for more than a very brief statement of both positions; nobody's position would have changed through the discussion and it's quite likely that a large majority of us would be on one side of fence.  Well, the part that troubles me is that I'm sitting on the fence when it comes to this issue.  My problem isn't that I'll have difficulty enforcing the procedures set within my school; but, both sides of the fence do a disservice to the student.

The Restaurant Analogy (aka I don't want soup with my ice cream)

About once a week, my wife and I head out for dinner.  Frequently, we get good service but there are times when timing becomes a problem; drink reorders aren't requested within 10 minutes of our glasses being emptied, appetizers don't arrive before the meal, my request for HP sauce is forgotten, or the not so subtle third request to vacate the table within 5 minutes of receiving the bill.  Overall, I get the impression that this is the camp most non-teachers sit in - the timing is so intertwined with the task that you can't separate them to assess them separately.  Usually, these are the times when my wife pays since she is far better at the poor service means no tip protocol than I am.  Typically, I'm the 5-10% with a slightly stern stare type so when the occasion demands it, I pass the buck to my wife.

And that's the problem with this analogy.  Lateness becomes subjective so a hard and fast policy isn't possible.  If the restaurant was busy and understaffed, there's no sense in punishing the server who's trying when it's a management issue.  The waitress that has given us excellent service the last few times will get penalized far less than the one whom we've never had before.  Finally, the server that gives us the honest answer as to why things happened will fare far better than the waiter who tries to brush it off as nothing.  And, depending on the person and their beliefs, the same service by the same person will be rated differently.

The Growing Success Analogy (aka two wrongs don't make it right)
Likely this is the camp that many teachers and parents find themselves in. We're already assessing responsibility and self regulation on the report card, so why assess the student twice on the same skill.  If we penalize for lateness, we've double-counted for lateness and not fully recognizing the student's knowledge and skills gained.  So, we're best to assess the lateness where lateness gets assessed and let knowledge and skills get assessed where they belong.  And I would be able to do this but ...

I checked Brock's Undergraduate Calendar admission criteria, and it's based on marks, not the other assessment categories.  The University of Toronto requests minimum 80%.  Here's York University's admission requirements ... again completely average based.  None of the universities are going beyond average in their admission sections.  Checking Niagara College's admissions, they select based on grades with a possible inclusion of the learning skills under their "prior academic performance" ranking criteria.  Checking other colleges resulted in similar findings; the averages aren't specifically defined but admission is based on prior academic performance.  It seems to me that by removing lateness from marks, we're assessing learning skills in a way that's being ignored by universities and colleges may or may not be paying attention to.  And by minimizing the effect of lateness on marks, we're setting students up for future failures in life when they enter university, college, or the working world and discover that lateness is always penalized.

Overall, I'm not going to have any problems with whatever policy a school presents me with.  My thoughts are divided enough that I can apply either methodology.  I tend to be a fan of the obstacle course paradigm:  if you miss a deadline then talk to me, see me for help on that subject area, and then earn the right to a re-write (quiz / test).  And I do recognize that some items are more time-sensitive than others (larger projects usually offer more flexibility).  But overall, my chemistry teacher's voice is still asking whether I'd rather that they learn to cope with lateness penalties now, while it really isn't critical, or later on when it's far more expensive and life changing for the worse.

You stole my reading day - thank you

Sometimes, I'm not quite as enthusiastic about heading to Brock's Hamilton campus.  Usually, this has been the site of our tech class, and probably my favourite class of the week.  But, after our final law class (test and assignment, 65% of our mark), most of our class was getting ready to finally enjoy a Friday off.  Usually, Fridays have been PD days, in school observation days, or conference days .... and at the end of our first term, many of us are in need of a break, and this was one of our two "reading" Fridays for the year.  Well, instead of a day off, our class headed to Hamilton to enjoy a lecture / presentation series on math teaching.

Yup, this was going to strain my ability to stay engaged.  As I love math, and I wasn't expecting the bamboo shoots under the fingernails moments that many non-math people might anticipate, this was going to strain my find 3 good things mantra a wee bit.**  At least I thought that things would be strained until the second presentation.  Shirley Dalrymple's presentation on teaching a 9 applied math classes.  As the past president of the Ontario Association for Math Educators, storyboarder for the Critical Learning Instructional Paths Support, and recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence, she definitely was more than qualified to speak to us. Some of the highlights were:

• Learning styles:  she has had one auditory learner within her applied math classes.  The classes tend to be evenly split between visual and tactile.  She recommended that we say nothing that a student couldn't say (and my inner Cicero cringed)
• She starts her year with a poster project - students have to fill in the blank:  math is important in _____ because.  The students link math to real world applications and she gets a set of contexts within which to frame examples
• With 10 minutes to go in class, she sometimes starts up a game of Math-O.  Students create their bingo card (filled with answers to problems), she reads out questions until 5 people win.  Net result, the students have willingly worked through about 25 math questions in 10 minutes - probably more questions than they would do for homework
• Finally, she re-emphasized the importance of highlighters for word problems.  I've been using them with the students I'm tutoring, and it's nice to hear someone confirm that I was going down the right track.

Overall, I enjoyed this presentation for one main reason.  We've been presented with a number of theoretical approaches to teaching within teachers' college.  Almost every class has included some discussion on assessment - either Lorna Earl's Assessment As Learning along with the discussions in Growing Success on assessment for, as, and of learning.  Also, our math teaching class has been focused frequently on the necessary learning processes to teach the math curriculum in Ontario.  And as part of these classes, we've delved into many hypothetical uses for these assessments and processes.  What Shirley's presentation demonstrated is some concrete ways that she has successfully embedded these techniques into her class.

**Please note that I've got a couple posts in the works, one of which deals with motivation, overcoming the theory/reality disconnect frustrations, and finding 3 positive things about any class to focus on.

A quick thank you to Dave Lanovaz

When it came time to choose our Virtual Associate Teacher for Zoe's class, I immediately gravitated towards the high school math teachers on the list. As part of my considerations, I flipped through the peoples' blogs and discovered this post.  Yeah, I was hooked immediately.  As a fan of Angry Birds, I thoroughly loved that Dave had found a way to interest his class as to the link between Angry Birds and math.  Among my goals as a math teacher is a desire to show students that math is more than just calculators - it's an incredibly important tool to help us understand how the world works.  And in his blog, I found someone that didn't only want to do so, but was actively doing so in his class.  (By the way, I also loved the title of his blog, Sine of the Times).

The other reason why I respect Dave Lanovaz's teaching style is his ability to do this.  Dave was able to offer a motivational speech without excessive sugar coating.  He underscored the competitiveness that exists in the world, and used that to motivate the students to find the best within themselves, and not to just settle for the easy way out.  Finally, he was able to recognize that this great discussion wouldn't resonate with everybody, and he didn't judge the students either way.  Someday, I hope to be able to do this since it's far more important than my stock answer to 'why do we need to learn trigonometry anyways.'

Finally, Dave has been an awesome support during my initial teaching blocks.  When I've had questions and concerns, he's always pointed me in the right direction.  When I was setting up this site for my presentation today to our math teaching class, he recommended a few resources for me to incorporate.**  Whenever I tweet something (as rare as that still is), he always asks how I'm doing ... how things are going?  It may seem a small thing, but it's wonderful to know that someone who doesn't really know me is willing to take the time to ask me questions.  While my health has been less than ideal, and it's dragged my energy level and mood down, his questions and advice have always been a branch to help me pull myself up.  I'm definitely hoping to stay in touch with Dave, for around Valentine's Day, my long awaited math teaching block will begin.  And I'm fairly certain that I'll be running into a few issues along the way (like what is this Geometer's SketchPad and how do I incorporate the OAME examples into my class).

Once again Dave, thank you for all your help and support so far.  I look forward to the days when I can actually offer you some assistance in return.


**(Quick aside ... Since I'm fairly sure that you'll be reading this Zoe, I'm not sure whether to thank you or scream at you for introducing me to google sites.  I can no longer bring myself to prepare a static hand-out for my presentations in teachers' college.  All I do now is create a google site, toss the class a shortened link and present away.  It takes far longer to do it this way, but I end up giving them a resource that is actually useful and won't get lost like a double-sided summary sheet.  Who wants to type out all of those links anyways when one bit/ly link will give them a full list of dynamic links.)

It's tough to return

Well, I've started a number of posts since the end of my teaching block, I've edited said number many times, and haven't been able to polish them enough to have them get my seal of posting approval.  So, when in doubt ... stream of consciousness.

1)  A dry mouth is a sign that your lesson has become too teacher-centred
2)  Rubistar - you are one of my best friends.  I was lost marking my first essays until I found you.
3)  Google Docs - you still hold the documents for my entire class.  Every note, handout, test, assessment tool.  I think you were my tech bff along with your cousin Google Sites.  Oh, and teaching you to two classes was probably my highlight of my block.
4)  It's tough to balance the 'edu' part in edutainment.  And I can't get over the thought that videos are me taking time off.
5)  Prezi - I do love you but it's an unhealthy relationship.  Don't worry, while I'm still at Brock you'll never fully go away - I've got a math resources presentation with your name on it next Monday.

6)  Make sure to learn to use the tool (VCR comes to mind) before it's time to use it in class.
7)  I 'can' develop all of my resources from the ground up ... but sometimes it's best to keep my life in focus and get help from your associates.  They know what has worked before, and likely those three hours spent developing the 'ideal' hieroglyphics handout could've been spent elsewhere had I used his version.
8)  Sleep is a luxury at times.  I wish I remembered how to sleep in later than 5:30.
9)  You don't really need to be up at 4:30 most mornings to polish that afternoon class' lesson plan and handouts. But it's going to happen anyways
10)  Do not forget the latter part of mens sana in corpore sano.  When the diastolic blood pressure gets too high ... your sane mind doesn't matter when your body crashes.

11)  Never try to be someone else in front of the students, even the person that you believe Brock wants you to be.  Be yourself, and integrate what you can from other methodologies.  There's a Hamlet quote here somewhere.
12)  When you can't find a way to engage the class, stop trying so hard.  Become far more student-centred and let them engage themselves.
13)  Skill building was probably my favourite part of the entire teaching block.  Must do more.
14)  I'm not sure that my love of history can overwhelm my desire to teach math.
15)  I'd like to resign my membership in the 'Loyal Order of Crotch Police' please.  Cell phones aren't going away so lets just allow them so that I can use them in my lessons and teach responsible use.  Shaming responsible use ain't working.

And finally, um .. yeah.  I guess it's time to figure out this job hunting stuff asap.

The Google Docs Adventure

It's time to ratchet things up a bit.  So far I've been using a few generic tech tools in the class to help increase engagement.  I've found a deep love of prezi - something about the option to spin the words around and have things zoom in and out from various directions seems to be far more effective than power point.  Students can sit through 20 minutes of power point ... and it seems that 40 minutes are possible with prezi.  But for next week, I've decided to take the plunge.

Google Docs.  We've seen them used in the class so I convinced my associate that we could save a class by using them.  As part of the war of 1812, I'm having the students prepare short write-ups on various players in the war.  Originally, Tuesday was going to be a computer room day, they'd print off their report on a person and then on the next day our students would travel from desk to desk copying out notes on other peoples' people.  Also, I now see the full value of the class website.

Step one will be a short introduction to google docs - how to create one and set up the sharing so others can read it.  Along with that will be a master sheet of reports so students have ready access to others' reports in one place.  I was dreading the thought of passing along the a google docs link for the master sheet until I remembered my website is a far easier url to access.  So, my assignments page now has the link to the master sheet, the actual assignment and the list of people to pick from.  My previous uses of technology (videos, games) were great for engagement, but now I see the other value of technology - saving time by using it more effectively.

Also, the website is wonderful.  It's a great feeling knowing that students who are away on a day, or missed a couple points in a presentation, have complete access to anything that occurred the day before.  I've only received one minor complaint about my website - I was a day late posting one of the assignments for ancient civ and a student caught me.  And as much as I was kicking myself for getting caught, I had to smile ... they're actually using it.

Sorry for the lack of pictures and links here - I'm posting on borrowed time.  As much as I'm ecstatic that my associate was comfortable enough with my teaching to toss me a second class so quickly, setting up a new website and brushing up on American history has put me behind the 8-ball.  So, with hopes that I haven't posted this here before ... the history of English (part 1)

Oops - forgot to add that having the 12 workplace history students do their presentations using goanimate was an incredible success.  They were on task for the entire work period, continued collaborating through the weekend and produced some incredible cartoons.  And the most popular question with their next presentation assignment - can we use go animate again?

Sound Nibbles

Just put together my first teacher binder.  Finally, I have a security blanket.

Note to self:  students obey instructions unless they're vague ... and then they create them

Note to self 2:  despite the best of intentions (great video on subject that students requested), don't try to free up a day by cramming 4 days into 3.

Sometimes, it's better to leave those 'interesting' asides for another year (see note to self 2)

Prezis Rock.  Especially when The Rock appears in a surprisingly historically accurate Ancient Egypt trailer

"Grade me, ... look at me ... evaluate and rank me!"  Lisa Simpson's reminder to student teachers on how to confirm when engagement is an issue.

Life is good in the teaching world.  Now, it's time to strive for arete

Maybe, just maybe, I can finally fit their king tut video into a presentation tomorrow.

If I can't fit in the history teachers asap into ancient civ, Monday is definitely Arrogant Worms day in US History.  'And it burned, burned, burned ... and we're the ones that did it.'

Last but not least:  PBS is currently ... like the best tv station in the world evah.  BBC is a very close second.

The Nicest Send Off

Given that all of our teachers are aware of our coming weeks, and know more about what we'll be going through than we can imagine, it's no surprise that each of them had some quick thoughts for us prior to leaving for our practica.  Each of them had some version of a sincere good luck to share with us.  But, the nicest farewell came from our Education Psychology class.  Since it speaks for itself, this will be my shortest post.

Worth Noting

  Yesterday was a good day.  Make that an awesome, anchor me to the ground 'cause I'm gonna float away with elation, good day.  It's strange how things change in a moment.

Yup, that's me ... for now.

So, it's a week before my first teaching block.  I'm faced with drafting a lesson plan for my history class that will also be useful for my first practicum.  And I'm freaking out.  Mostly, it's my inside voice screaming "Egads, forsooth, and Zounds, what shall I do?" but my associate teacher has been privy to many of my concerns.  They depended on the day, but usually could be found on my list of aaaargh:

1. I don't know how to plan a lesson yet
2. I don't know what I need to cover
3. I don't know how to time activities
4. I don't know how much time to devote to which material
5. I don't know how (feel free to add anything planning related, it probably fits)

In the back of my mind is Dave Lanovaz's post, "We're only students."  It's one of those posts that I had wanted to comment on but couldn't quite figure out the words.  There was something about the situation that Dave was describing that struck me as odd.  A student centered teacher faced with a group of students minimizing their abilities as students.  Couldn't quite put it together though.

And then Tuesday morning, Bob Mroz pops by to visit our cohort class and deliver a presentation on Note Taking.  He opens with a quick comment about our practica starting in about a week and asks us what we're afraid of right now.  Three guesses what I said (and the first two don't count).  Then he puts on this t-shirt and asks us what kind of fears we have.  Well, as my list above highlights, things look fairly pre-service teacher focused up there.

Between these two items hitting me within a couple days, I realize that I'm worried about an impossible task.  I'm trying to plan and create a student-centered lesson without having a feel for the students ... students who may not even realize what I'm trying to do.  And, I finally smile.  It's not the futile smile of someone who's given up, but that smile of acceptance.  I"m not going to create the perfect series of classes, but I'm gonna try to.  And even if I do create a masterpiece, it might be on the wrong day and I can't control that.  There's no way for me to develop withitness from without, so all I can do is keep trying and eventually I'll figure something out.  And for now, I'm ok with that.  Just please, don't ask me if I still am similarly calm Sunday night.

The confusion surrounding CC

Well, it's no wonder that people are confused by the little CC that appears from time to time.  Acronymfinder.com lists 427 possibilities plus another 250 in their archives.  When I was younger, CC was something that my father poured a couple of fingers of when he sat down to watch the Leafs game.  Since then, I've CC'd people when I e-mailed and have also seen two C's when I used to watch TV.  On Tuesday, our 8Y59 class was fortunate enough to have Rodd Lucier pop by via elluminate to discuss the meaning and implications of Creative Commons licensing.

He started off by discussing another pairs of C's - our culture of cheating.  In a world where most games have cheat codes and many people choose to download music and movies, we have found ways to make cheating more acceptable to ourselves.  We have the philosophical reasoning courtesy of Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica:  "If [a human law] conflicts with natural law in any way, then it is not a law but a corruption of law."  Then there's the slightly sophistic argument that in the real world, we'll have access to resources so why is it necessary to memorize things for a test.  With videos on Youtube teaching us how to cheat on tests, there are many incentives and arguments as to why cheating could be seen as not such a bad thing.

Traditionally, copyright was granted to the creator of something for 50 years beyond his or her death which afforded the artist 'all rights reserved' protection.  Once this copyright expired, the creation became public domain, which allows us all of those wonderful and free downloads of classic literature from Project Gutenberg.   Mmmm ... free classic books ... my Kobo loves this provision.  But, some artists may wish to offer people rights to use their work before it becomes public domain.  Some artists and musicians have recognized that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."  Others see the marketing  possibilities of allowing people to use their creations as a means to getting the word out.  And to fill the gap between all rights reserved and public domain, Creative Commons licensing was defined.

There are two basic permissions in Creative Commons licensing along with three conditions applied.  The artist can offer permission TO SHARE the material with another and / or the artist can give permission TO REMIX the material into another creation.  In other words, the artist may allow someone to keep the creation unchanged and give it to another person and / or may allow someone to change his or her creation to be incorporated into another person's piece of art.  The first possible condition is to ASK FOR ATTRIBUTION; so by note or link, the person who is using another person's creation gives credit to the original creator.  The second possible condition is allowing or disallowing COMMERCIAL USE; many artists will allow free use of pictures (on blogs, woo hoo) but will disallow use if you expect to profit from the use of their creation.  Finally, there is the condition to SHARE ALIKE; basically, the artist is saying that you got the original work of art for free so please extend the same courtesy to others.  These permissions aren't carved in stone - the creator always has the option of changing their permissions and conditions at any time.

Overall, Creative Commons licenses are becoming far more prevalent.  Youtube has become quite vigilant when it comes to copyright protection and adhering to peoples Creative Commons wishes.  Take a look at an image in Wikipedia and they will advise whether it's part of their wiki commons, or if some rights have been reserved and the image is being used by Wikipedia under certain permissions and provisions.  Flickr now prominently displays the Creative Commons licensing with all images posted to the site.

In response to Creative Commons licensing, many sites now offer services that echo creative commons permissions.  dig.ccmixter.org has a playlist of music that is available for people to incorporate into their works of art.  The Prelinger Archives contains a series of movies that are in the public domain.  Sal Khan's Academy allows teachers to incorporate his lesson plans into their own presentations.

Rodd ended his presentation with a confirmation that Creative Commons licensing presents an important learning opportunity for our students.  Many of us learned a great deal through Rodd's presentation, and he reminded us that our students and teacher colleagues would likely benefit from greater familiarity with Creative Commons licensing.

Shifting Snapshots

I've developed a new philosophy ... I only dread one day at a time - Charlie Brown

So, in reading my blog, my wife asked me if I was sensationalizing my concerns on purpose.  She advised me that it seemed as if I was lying awake at night and worrying about the issues that I'm raising in my blog.

Nerves and butterflies are fine - they're a physical sign that you're mentally ready and eager.  You have to get the butterflies to fly in formation, that's the trick - Steve Bull

As I assured her, I'm not trying to overstate my concerns, nor am I trying to misrepresent how I'm anticipating my career in teaching.  There are some issues that I've raised (make the first two minutes go away) that are a concern for me, but a large part of my reason for raising these issues is anticipatory.

If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you - Calvin Cooledge

Exactly Calvin.  I want to see those nine and also anticipate the tenth so that I can diffuse it as much as possible in advance.  Am I worried that a parent will ask me why his or her child needs to know Trigonometry ... not overly, but I'd sure like to get the thinking out of the way now - instead of when I'm under the gun, sitting across the table from them on a Parent Teacher night.

The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me.  The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them. - George Bernard Shaw

And along with getting some thinking out of the way ahead of time, I really want to have my own series of benchmarks.  I'm sure that there will be times in the future when I roll the clock back, look at my earlier concerns, and roar with laughter.  But, I hope to be able to look back and enjoy the feeling of 'wow, I've come a long way.'  I tend to be one of those people referenced by Shaw ... the old measurements type.  So, I want to be sure to have enough snapshots to ensure that I can actually measure growth and smile.

Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine - Robert C. Gallagher

But, I also realize that an endless list of concerns becomes tiresome - both for me and for the people that pop by to visit here.  So, while there will still be a number of times when I have to delve into these issues (psychology class reflections, teaching block reflections), I will be starting to move from worries to successes,  and from thoughts to tools.  Teaching block's coming, and I can't wait.

Oh, and if anyone wishes to enjoy my taste of irony for today ... I am planning to write a wee bit on Rodd Lucier's discussions on Creative Commons licensing, but figured that I'd deal with my benchmark post ahead of time.  Originally my post was going to be about finding the midpoint between Charlie Brown's quotation above and Alfred E Neuman's tagline 'what, me worry?'  Well, I quickly realized that I could not use these images from Wikipedia as both are still under copyright and only available for use through some specific assumptions and arguments.  So I quickly trashed that idea (after reading 15 minutes of legalese) and opted for The Quote Garden instead.

In closing, my new youtube addiction is:

These will definitely find a way into my history classes.

Who's my target

Dave Lanovaz's comment got me thinking about my target audience and my ingrained prejudices.  Ok, maybe my ingrained assumptions, hopes, expectations, dreams, etc.

I'm creating my history website and I started thinking about my target audience.  When I'm creating this website, what level of class am I aiming for?  Should I create this for the university level crowd (my inner scholar cries of course) and include enough resources that something will fulfill the needs of my college level class?

I'm considering questions on reward systems and I'm quite challenged.  Why, because my list of ingrained assumptions is based on the belief that these students want to be there and have a natural inclination towards engagement in whatever class I'm teaching.  Based on facing an engaged class, of course I start to question why I need to consider this.

I thought that I had removed this bias ... instead, I had just nudged it out of site.  I want to believe that each of my classes can be an academic class.  Not that I'm going to stand up and push the students beyond their capabilities, but that I'll be able to help them recognize the value of the material to such a degree that they'll have a university level of engagement.

On a subject material basis, I gained this understanding ... my own understanding.  I saw the workplace 12 math material, and I was able to recognize its critical importance to those students' lives.  These students need to learn how to budget money, measure a wall, make change ... ie learn the math that will help them live better lives and cope with day to day math.  It took me a while to get there, but I got past some of my academic snobbery regarding material.  For some reason, it's far easier for me to deal with subject matter issues than it is to bring myself to believe that not every student will share my joy of learning.

Well, I've identified what I consider to be a problem area - where is the balancing point?  How do I select appropriate resources for an applied level class without selling them short?  How do I ensure that I don't dive too quickly into a reward / punishment scheme to increase engagement without having fully explored my attempts at engagement through my lesson presentation.  My guess is that this is one of those questions that you can only answer through experience.  But, I really wish that I could know ahead of time.