Alive in the Classroom

Assessing Your Students Learning Style

2010-06-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

BLA MI test

My most memorable group of students was 2nd period 8th Grade US History, 2004. There were thirty-two students in the class. Of the thirty-two, thirteen were identified as IEP or 504 students. An additional seven were ESL students, only two of which spoke the same native language. That left twelve students who were "regular ed" kids; but of course some of them were on the cusp of gifted. With such a varied group of students, you'd think it would be a planning nightmare. It wasn't. I actually taught the same lesson, did the same activity, and spent very little time modifying. How is such a thing possible? Easy, teach to the multiple intelligences in every lesson.

Howard Gardner's groundbreaking research back in the early 80's gave voice to what good teachers have known since the beginning of education. Students have different learning styles. When a class is full of kids that may have different learning styles, good teaching means that you plan for more than just one. Teachers who spend their planning honing the perfect lecture, the perfect worksheet, and the perfect paper/pen test are always finding frustration compared to a teacher who plans varied activities around linguistic, visual, body, and other "intelligences."

Let's say I'm going to teach the 19th Century women's rights movement. I introduce the lesson by having the students listen to the song, "Let Us Speak Our Minds" while analyzing the lyrics that I print off. After a brief discussion, I show the students a primary source visual of signage for the Seneca Falls Convention. As a class we look at the image for visual metaphors and intent. To drive home the importance of this movement, we then break the class into small groups. Each group is given a discussion point comparing the 19th Century to today. Each group is equiped with current statistics on women that include labor, education, and representation in government. Small groups discuss and try to build a consensus opinion before reporting out to the rest of the class how far or how little we've come. After two or three rounds of discussion points, individual students are challenged to write a short news article pretending to be the anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention. A lesson like that hits musical, visual, interpersonal, intrapersonal, logical, and linguistic intelligences. I'll get to all of my students this way.

At our TCI trainings, we've used a multiple intelligence assessment with participants as a way to coax teachers to try hands-on pedagogy. We embed our test into our methods book and encourage teachers to use the first days of school to find out about their students. Regardless of the age or subject, finding out this information can make your planning fun. As you begin to engage in activities that include varied responses, your students attention improve and kids will WANT to be in your class. If you've never taken a multiple intelligence test yourself, here's a link to a quick on-line assessment http://literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html. You will get quick feedback. Check it out and think of the implications it has for what you learn. Then think about next year's batch of kids. What will it mean to them when you start teaching to their intelligences?

*I've included an embeded scribd doc of our middle/high school multiple intelligence test.

Alive in the Classroom Glog

2010-06-11T08:07:00.001-07:00

Glogster Poll

2010-06-11T06:21:00.001-07:00

Make your own poll voting question with Poll Everywhere

Free Web 2.0 Sites - A Quick Guide & Class Application

2010-06-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

Web 2.0 Tools Handout

Alive in Five: Words as Visuals

2010-06-10T09:05:00.001-07:00

Video Blogging with Camtasia & Flip

2010-05-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

I've been enjoying doing video blog posts on web tool tips and such with Alive in Five. What was really driving me nuts is the limitations I was finding. Now bear with me, because I am not an expert in this...I'm just now dipping my fat toes in the water; but I loved the ease of using my Flip Camera but it's limitations were that the video of my screen was too small.

Our company uses Adobe Connect and GoTo Meeting to conduct webinars. Both are excellent products but I've found they have limitations when you try to upload them to YouTube. YouTube would always have an audio delay when I tried uploading these as wmv files. Try as I might, I was unable to find a way to get my voice, and the videos to line up the way they were when I recorded them.

To the rescue comes "Flash!" That's what we affectionately call him in TCI. Jimmy Tran is our goto guy in finding resources for the company. I emailed Jimmy my issues, and he came back with, "try out Camtasia." I downloaded the 30-day trial. It's a winner. I love how easy it is to capture what's going on on the screen. The features are great...allowing you to create call outs, transitions, and custom zooms. The web cam PIP feature is a nice add in too.

Today I filmed a new Alive in Five on twitter and using the search tool as a source for finding personal PD. The results have thus far been incredible. Over 112 clicks in a couple of hours. Now, I know most of that is due to the subject being in-demand, which is good to remember when blogging edtech issues; but I also like the fact that the video that went viral looks so much better than me with a Flip only. I still used the flip, but only to film my intro. I then mixed that video along with Camtasia captured stuff.

So my shout outs before the weekend go to all the wonderful educators on Twitter that have inspired me to blog and stretch myself professionally as an educator. A HUUUUUUUGE shout out to Flash! "You Da Man!" Make sure to buy your school's IT people their beverage of choice this weekend in honor of one of their own making a difference. Lastly, thanks to Camtasia and my trusty Flip cam. Two great tools for educators and students alike to communicate with.

Alive in Five: Tweeting Your Way to PD

2010-05-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

Alive in Five: Polleverywhere

2010-05-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

End of School Year: Time to Reflect

2010-05-19T06:51:00.000-07:00

The month of May always seemed to zip by. After spring break, it seemed time went into warp drive to the end of the school year. Assessments, cramming last units of required curriculum in, spring concerts, yearbook signings (booo!) and then "see ya!" It's a critical time for so many reasons. Too often, lost in the rushed grades and such is a reflection of the year. Reflection on the lessons, the pace of the content, the classroom procedures...you name it.

Now though, is the perfect time to reflect. Things are fresh; just experienced. Your mind is mossy with all sorts of ideas to improve next year. Thankfully, the onset of new tech has enabled teachers to be better at this. It's also so easy to encourage all the stakeholders in your class to share their reflections. Here's just a few examples of how you could reflect using some of the free tools that are out there.

1. Create an exit slip for your students via http://www.polleverywhere.com/. Challenge students to text in a response to a reflection of their most memorable lesson. Conduct a class discussion around some of the top vote getter's. Afterwards, concentrate on the qualities that made that lesson(s) a home run with the students. Focus on the lessons that were not voted on then. What can you take from the home run lessons to tweak the lagging lessons? Get those plans in place now!

2. Get other teachers together on your team or department level and create a wall on http://www.wallwisher.com/ to collect images and links that will help you deepen students experiences in content. We often share drinks on Friday's with our department colleagues but precious few links and resources. Invite your administration to post ideas on ways they can support the teacher efforts to collaborate more.

3. Create a blog posting on a site like http://www.blogger.com/ that is directed specifically to parents. Highlight the year for them from your perspective in a timeline. Ask parents to leave their comments as a reflection of what they recall hearing from their kids when they came home. Were there stand-out moments? Anecdotes could be shared here that you would have never known otherwise.

4. If you have a class http://www.facebook.com/ Fan page, invite soon-to-be former students to post comments and helpful suggestions to students who will experience the class next year. Encourage these students to act as an alumni organization for your subject.

5. Based on all the feedback you get, determine what is the weakest area of your instruction. Narrow the list to two to three things to improve upon the next year. Using http://www.twitter.com/ , conduct searches on those topics using the keywords. Find people who are sharing ideas central to the subject of the weakness. Read their tweets, follow them, find their links to resources, and actively seek opportunities for on-demand webinars on them.

Great teaching is not an accident. It's a craft that requires continual improvement. By spending time reflecting on the year as it's winding down, you will recharge your batteries faster and be excited for your next school year. It's that passion and enthusiasm for a new day with improved instruction that will spill over to your kids. All who know you will recognize your desire to improve and you will lift their spirits as well. It sends a loud message to all in your learning community that you are a great teacher. Reflect on that.

Professional Development Survey

2010-05-18T12:45:00.001-07:00

Instruction Always Matters; Even in Change

2010-05-11T12:58:00.000-07:00

I've just begun reading a book regarding social media entitled, "Groundswell - Winning in a world transformed by social technologies." I've been struck by how quickly titles like these are showing up on bookshelves across the country; indeed world. Social media has broad implications to the world that we live in. As teachers and administrators, it reaches into the lives of our campus too. Social media seems to be the catalyst for education change that has eluded legislation and mandates. What's still in question is what the future of our schools look like.

We're seeing a movement take place in education, thanks in large part to technology and social media's use of new tech. Students are breaking down geographic and economic barriers that existed as recent as five years ago. All the tools of social media, be it Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube to name a few, have created a quickening of the change. Sure-we sat on our couches in the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's watching Star Trek and it's copies. In these future fantasies people commute on transporters, converse with computers for searches, and communicate instantly with smart devices. That was pie-in-the-sky dreaming. Not now...except for the transporter thing. The technology existed to do this as early as the 80's, but now it's virtually free.

Schools? They've resisted most the changes in our society until now. Something's afoot now though. What's changing? School calendars, school days, course offerings, staffing....need I continue? I mean, you're living these changes right now, right!? What it's moving towards? That's a much more misty question. For every pontification that I read regarding the future of education, I've come away with confidence in the knowledge that the most important feature to education will never change. Good instruction. It's mattered since the times of Plato. It matters today. It will matter tomorrow too, whatever tomorrow looks like.

I get a charge from watching a good lesson. It brings me a warm satisfaction that most would find not normal. It's a joy to see the moments of discovery happen when students are actively engaged in their content. It's what led me from the class that I so dearly love, to work full-time for a company that "gets it."

Change has always been/is now/will always be messy. There will be challenges to the way schools look like and serve students in the future. What brings me peace though, is the throng of teachers committed to continue using active instruction regardless of technology and its tools. Scotty, Beam me up!

Alive in Five: Mixbook

2010-05-06T08:46:00.001-07:00

Mixbook Example for Art History

2010-05-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

Here is the example mixbook put together that is featured in Alive in Five. This example is mocked up to go along with TCI's Medieval World and Beyond program where students learning about the early Renaissance study and classify works of classical, medieval, and renaissance artwork.

Like I stated in the video, this is a wonderful website for allowing students to put together rich, dynamic picture books. As you can see here, you can embed them in blogs and share in digital format. For a fee, http://www.mixbook.com/ will also print out you/your students' creation and send it to you.

It's encouraging to see so many websites like this out there. If you have other websites that you come across that allow such authoring, please share!

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

Alive in Five: Writing in the Content Area with Web Tools

2010-05-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

Writing in the Content Area

2010-05-03T12:42:00.000-07:00

This week, I'll be creating two new segments to "Alive in Five." The topic this week will be on writing and authoring in the content area. We'll look at two websites that are easy to use and a lot of fun. Those new segments will be posted on Wednesday and Thursday here.

Before that comes though, I'm smart enough to know that there is a world of great sites out there that help students author content and become more proficient writers. Sites I don't know, but need to. So, aside from http://www.fodey.com/ and their newspaper clip generator and http://www.mixbook.com/ , what other sites do you like to use with your students? I'm speaking directly to the science, math, social studies, and other subjects outside the L.A. class.

Please post your suggestion here along with a quick snippet on what the site does, and how you use it.

Alive in Five: Toondoo.com

2010-04-29T10:11:00.001-07:00

Alive in Five: Word Clouds as Instructional Tool

2010-04-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

Gettysburg Word Cloud PPT for Alive in Five

2010-04-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

Gettysburg addresswordcloud

View more presentations from Brian Thomas.

Alive in Five: Using Wallwisher as Instructional Tool

2010-04-29T10:04:00.001-07:00

Wallwisher PPT Companion to Alive in Five

2010-04-29T10:01:00.001-07:00

Wallwisher

View more presentations from Brian Thomas.

Create A Class Study Guide with Wallwisher

2010-04-24T05:16:00.000-07:00

Above is an example of how wallwisher can be used by teachers in their class. At the beginning of a lesson, the teacher goes to www.wallwisher.com and posts the essential question.

The teacher posts the link on the class blog or moodle site. Students are expected to visit it once a day during the unit and post one takeaway from the class that day. They must include an image or link (to a web site) that will help them understand the essential question/content.

As students create the wallwisher, they are creating a dynamic, online study-guide that will help them prepare for the assessment. Students are touching the content a second, third, and even fourth time helping them deepen their understanding.

Tagxedo as Word Cloud Alternative to Wordle

2010-04-22T18:42:00.001-07:00

I came across this site the other day as I was looking for cool alternatives to Wordle. Don't get me wrong, I love wordle. There are a ton of ways to use wordle with students, or for people like myself, as a presenter. It's good, though, to mix things up every now and then. Stay fresh. Well, if you're looking for word cloud alternatives, check www.tagxedo.com out!

Like wordle, users type and/or paste text in and generate a word-based image. Similar to www.imagechef.com and the word mosaic, Tagxedo allows users to set the words to a shape. As you can tell by the example to the right, you can get some incredible detail.

Unlike word mosaics at image chef though, this site does something really cool. It allows you to roll over the words and they straighten out in prominent fashion.

Imagine students being called to pick a word or words they find sums up Lincoln best by using the interactive white board and touching these words and then explaining to their classmates why that was their choice.

For teachers in the content areas outside Language Arts, sites like Tagxedo are a Godsend. They won't write your lesson for you; but for the saavy user (like people who use TCI), these can be another powerful tool in your back pocket!

Free Web 2.0 Sites - Updated Overview

2010-04-21T06:37:00.000-07:00

Web 2.0 Tools Handout

Newsclip Generator Easy/Fun to Use

2010-04-20T19:40:00.000-07:00

I found this site last fall at the T&L Tech conference in Denver. It looked cheap, but the more I think about it, there are many applications that can be made with it.

You can find the site by following this link http://bit.ly/Newsclip .

If you're a current events teacher, you could have the students react to a breaking news event by writing a quick article that might appear in the newspaper tomorrow.

If you're a history teacher, your students could pretend to be a journalist covering an event in the content. Example, have the students write a brief lead to passage of the Civil Rights Act.

This is also a blessing for folks working with immerging readers, like ESL students. Think of the challenge and rigor which will push them to be better readers/writers in the content area.

Do you have any suggestions for a site like this? I'd love to hear more! Post here for Alive's readers to also think about.

Which Web 2.0 Site Do You Use the Most?

2010-04-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

Student Collaboration Using Web 2.0

2010-04-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

The post below this one is a crude example of how students in our middle school US History program, www.teachtci.com , can create a sales pitch using www.mixbook.com. In Lesson 3, students work in small groups. Each group is assigned either the New England, Middle, or Southern colonies. The group is to create a "sales booth" to woo prospective residents to their colonies. After reading content specific to their assigned colonial region, groups pull together resources such as brochures to pass out later.

Mixbook is a tool that teachers could use that would allow some groups to use technology in a collaborative and meaningful way.

There are a host of sites like mixbook out there, and yet even more in the larger category of web 2.0. The trick isn't finding great sites...the trick is knowing how to get your students to use them in a meaningful way.

Using Mixbook for Student Stories

2010-04-08T12:35:00.001-07:00

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

Scribblemap of Grand Canyon Adventure Tour

2010-04-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

Topo Maps, Adventure Tours, and Scribblemaps.com

2010-04-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

The map above was made using http://www.scribblemaps.com/ . Students learn how to read/use topographic maps in Lesson 6 from Geography Alive (by http://www.teachtci.com/ ). It's refreshing to see how technology can meaningfully allow students to be collaborative and creative!

Primary Source Word Clouds and Voicethread

2010-04-05T08:08:00.001-07:00

How Many Red Buds are in Your Classes?

2010-04-05T06:29:00.000-07:00

We have an ugly tree that sits just behind our property. It’s an eye sore really. Here in SE Indiana, we live on a wooded lot. During most of the year, this tree is lost in the chorus of other trees that dot the hill behind us. However, once the leaves drop in the fall, it stands out; in an ugly way. I’ve thought to myself several times that I should go back there and just cut it down. The only thing preventing me from doing so is the small fact that it’s not our property. This past week though, I realized another reason why that tree will not be cut down by me. I found out I was wrong; it’s actually quite a lovely tree. It’s a Red Bud.

When the tree blossomed this spring, it looked like an explosion of purple. Standing on my deck, it’s become something that I look forward to seeing each morning. It also is a reminder to me of the types of kids we sometimes teach. We all have kids that during most of the year, they either stand out like a sore thumb; in a bad way or are crowded out by all the other students we have. We come to expect that they won’t amount to much. Then BOOM! Suddenly, they blossom and stand out again; in a great way. They defy our expectations. But why?

Some would argue that like the Red Bud, it’s a timing issue. They just needed time to bloom. Others would say that given the chance, these kids would bloom year-round. I’m interested in your take. Change the names to protect the innocent of course, but share an anecdote on your experience with the Red Buds in your classroom.

Rank Your Education Needs

2010-04-02T05:55:00.001-07:00

Teachers Inspire Greatness, They Always Have

2010-03-31T10:17:00.001-07:00

Let Threedom Ring - Three Web 2.0 Lesson Strategies

2010-03-19T06:27:00.000-07:00

1. Using http://www.voicethread.com/ & http://www.wordle.net/ Pick a primary source document or piece of literature that your class is studying. Copy/paste the text of the document into wordle’s website and generate a word cloud. Use the font/design menus on wordle’s website to get the image the way you want it to look. Do a print-screen of your desktop. Copy into a photo-editing package or even PowerPoint and then crop it and then save as an image. Going to voicethread, create a new voicethread and upload the word cloud image. Introduce the image to your students by asking, “What word(s) that grabbed your attention? Circle the words that are most meaningful to you. Why? Given these words all come from ________, what does that say about the significance of some words over others?” Have students respond using their cell phone, computer, or webcam. Conduct a discussion over each of the questions you asked.

2. Using http://www.toondoo.com/ Open a lesson by having the students analyze a favorite editorial cartoon on the subject you are teaching. Having the students work in pairs, have them upload the cartoon into a powerpoint slide. Challenge them to do background work on all the knowledge it would take to create this cartoon. Have them annotate their cartoon with arrows pointing to images or words/phrases with reference sites from the web where someone would learn more about it. Give pairs 15 minutes to prepare their slide and then have them use email it or download it to the class cpu and share with the entire class. After a debrief of the cartoon, have individual students use http://www.toondoo.com/ to create their own editorial cartoon on the subject. Require them to site their sources as part of the assignment to be turned in digitally.

3. Using http://www.wallwisher.com/ Open your lesson with an essential question that is answerable and arguable from different perspectives and draws upon a personal connection. Create a wallwisher with the question and as your students enter class, have them post a sticky onto the wall with their cpu or smartphone. Give the students five minutes to quickly respond individually, then use the wall as a lead in to your topic and content. At the end of the lesson, allow students to go back to the wallwisher you have created and change or add any additional insights to the wall as new stickies. Encourage them to include content references. Now they have a study aid for their assessment.

Using Social Media Template in History Class

2010-03-16T18:41:00.000-07:00

Cool huh? Lisa Macurak, a social studies teacher at New Windsor Middle School in Carroll Co., MD. has used a Facebook template with her history students to bring to life some of history's most famous/or infamous people as if they had a social media account.

I love the creativity this shows and what a personal connection for the students! You could take this idea and make it the same for tweets from historical people too. What a great idea Lisa! Way to go!

If you'd like the template that Lisa used with students, email her at lamacur@k12.carr.org .

Technology at the Speed of Indycars - It's Implications to Teaching

2010-03-16T09:18:00.000-07:00

It feels like we’re watching Indy Racecars speeding by at 200+ mph. The pace and speed of technology available for classroom teachers makes you feel like you’ve been on the infield imbibing for a few hours. Just think about a teach-tech timeline ten years ago. There was no I-Pod. Interactive White Boards were in its infancy and out of the price-range of schools and teachers. An LCD projector might be over at the board office, but it wasn’t in your classroom most likely. Responders looked more like Star Trek communicators (they still do by the way) and most technology was tethered by wires. Your standby technology included a desktop computer (probably your own) and an overhead projector. You could use TV mirroring in your class, but Johnny who sits in the back row, could never see the screen.

I don’t need to run through the litany of things we have now in our classes. Tech has come far and though expensive initially, prices keep dropping too. Last week I saw the 37inch Vizio TV I bought two years ago for $700 for $350. (oomph) That was a punch in the gut! The I-Pad will release and sell for $800 (top of line). Within a couple of years, it will be half that if tech pricing trends are any hint to future prices. IWB’s have dropped in price and savvy folks like Johnny Lee have figured out how to do an IWB for less than a hundred bones. (http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/) I use this version of an IWB and am able to do 80% of what Smart and Promethean do. Teachers are figuring ways out to use technology already in the hands of kids (i.e. smart phones) and turn them into responders using sites like http://www.polleverywhere.com/ . Authoring used to be time-consuming and expensive. No more. Thanks to web 2.0 sites, students can author videos, web pages, documents. They can do it free and quickly.

With an infrastructure now in place for technology advances in the classroom, there is a push afoot by well-meaning folks for all sorts of digital learning initiatives. You hear more and more about distance learning, 1:1, or “blended” classroom experiences. Serious educators look at these promising trends for what it can do for students. Others, namely policy-makers, are sometimes looking at these as being able to cut costs. That’s a huge change. Technology used to be an expensive toy. Now, it’s a way to cut staffing (distance learning). 1:1 is seen by some as the way to delete the expense of purchasing texts and curriculum. There’s a real danger here too. As great as technology is, it can’t replace good instruction. It can enhance it. It should enhance it. It can NOT replace it. That would be like a spade trying to replace the gardner.

It’s important that serious educators make sure the policy-makers are reminded of what’s most important. Technology offers so much promise. It’s the universal language of kids today. Its use can inspire and create a life-long love of learning….but only in the hands of a qualified, dedicated teacher. Technology is passive by nature. To become engaging, it must be planned out by a teacher with a purpose (think essential question). A good teacher also knows that sometimes the best use of a tech- tool, is not to use it. Cooperative learning can be achieved in a digital environment, but it’s much more simple and personal when it’s in person.

We have to keep multiple-intelligence strategies at the heart of what we do with kids. Great teachers have always and will continue to make lesson development the heart of the class. Teachers need to let the lesson demand what tech is used and how much tech is used. If we don’t, instead of rows of un-used textbooks drawing dust on the shelves of your class, you’ll have corners of your class where you’ve push technology aside to draw dust.

For teachers who are generous users of new technology out there, what tips can you provide on planning the use of tech? Share practical examples from your class. Please share your grade level as well.

***As an incentive to anyone who shares, and includes your name and school/state, I will send a methods book on interactive strategies. The book is geared to social studies, but its application works across grades and subjects.

How do you find out about new tech tools for you/your students?

2010-03-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

Using www.wordle.net to Bring to Life Primary Source Documents

2010-03-09T10:21:00.000-08:00

Note: I actually used Microsoft Powerpoint to present the word cloud, I said Microsoft Word in the video...as you can tell, this was not scripted! lol.

If you have some of your own word cloud or visual tips that you use, please share!

'Tis the Season

2010-03-03T19:05:00.000-08:00

Not the holidays. Not even St. Patrick's Day. Nope. It's test season. Whoo hoop! (sarcasm meant). Many states assess this month or early next.

The challenges as I see them are:
1. How do I last minute prep?
2. What on earth do I do with my students for the rest of the year?

Take some time and let's share best practices. Let us hear your thoughts and experiences.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Hey You! Yeah You! Just Do it!!

2010-03-01T18:01:00.000-08:00

Just do it. Nike. It may be the greatest slogan ever created by marketers. It also applies to so much about our daily lives. Here at TCI, we are starting our second year of a steps contest for wellness. The idea is that we work with a partner as a team, try to get as many steps as possible over a two month period. The winning team gets to choose a charity all the teams donate to. It’s a great contest…but I got to tell you, today was tough. I forgot how difficult it is for me to get 10,000 steps in a day. All I could keep telling myself today was, “Just do it.”

That same slogan can be applied to our profession as well. When I think about the challenges of being a classroom teacher, planning a great lesson is right there at the top. Follow through is another struggle. As teachers, we sometimes come up with fab ideas (usually in our sleep). We wake up, get distracted with the reality of paperwork, phone calls, extra-curricular duties, and then our away-from-school life (something our kids don’t think we have). It’s sooooooo easy to push the lessons away and shoot for something less difficult to plan and execute. Next time though, tell yourself, “Just do it.”

Plan the lesson with vigor and creativity. Think of a question your kids will be interested about. Pick a strategy to deliver the content that inspires your students (we have several you might try at http://www.teachtci.com/ ) Use a variety of tools too. Try a few web 2.0 tools that challenge your students to “Just do it” with the information they learn. Don’t stop short though, remember to give your students time to debrief what they do with the information, and then take another step. It’s follow through. For me it’s the difference between laying my head on the pillow with 9,500 steps or just walking another quarter mile on the tred-mill to put me over 10K in a day.

Reading some of my blog entries might give you the impression that I coach. Guilty. Twelve years as a basketball, football, track, and being an athletic director. I don’t mean to come off as preachy…I just want you to “do it” for yourself. “Just do it” for the kids.

Web 2.0 Combo Karma

2010-02-25T17:33:00.000-08:00

Voices that Inspire

2010-02-22T07:42:00.000-08:00

I have sometimes fancied myself as a man of words; spoken that is. (Writing isn’t my strength). A great speech can lift spirits and raise our dander. But it’s not the spoken word that inspires. Far be it, it’s the actions of others. It is when someone acts that it bears the full voice of their passion.

This past week, I learned that a good friend will soon retire from TCI. It is a well-deserved retirement. Jan will be able to travel, enjoy her husband, her kids, and her grandchildren. Though eloquent and a right-smart wordsmith on her part; it’s not her words, it was the voice she has given a long career to children that has been an inspiration to me and others blessed enough to call her friend and colleague.

Jan has spent some forty years in education. She has taught, been an administrator, a content-literacy specialist, customer consultant, and a doctorate as well. She’s not pretentious. She’s humble. She’s been working right up to her retirement for effective strategies to reach young people. Determined to make a difference, Jan just didn’t coast to the finish line of retirement; she’s sprinted with her actions. In doing so, she’s inspired all of us at TCI to continue to fight for the same things. Jan won’t really retire of course. We’re blessed that she’ll continue to have a voice at TCI. She’s got more up her sleeve I’m sure.

It is human nature to take things for granted. We grow accustomed to the wonderful people that surround us. It’s only when people take a step back in from our presence that we realize how much they lend their vision to ours. In education, we’re richly blessed to have so many cherished voices in our field. They lead us in our districts as superintendents. They support us in our instruction as curriculum specialists. These voices are the face of great leadership in our buildings as principals and assistant principals. The voices are steady and sure in our counselors and support staff. They teach right next to us in our hallway. They drop their kids off on time, and they come in on PTO nights as active parents and community members. The voices are diverse and as numerous as the number of kids we teach.

Take a moment and thank them today; not for their words…but for their voice.

Thank you Dr. Jan Zuehlke!

Scoring Discussion to Promote Rigorous Thought and Civility

2010-02-18T11:46:00.000-08:00

It was a magical moment in my teaching career. My 7th graders had been “discussing” whether Ancient Sumer would be considered highly civilized. The same kids were raising their hands. Even worse, the same kids sat there despondent. The lesson was definitely on life support. The Response Group strategy from TCI (http://www.teachtci.com/) to the rescue!

Instead of me throwing a couple more questions out to the students (meaning 2-3 kids) to talk to me about, we looked at the initial question again. “Was Ancient Sumer a highly civilized society?” The class was broken into small groups of three. Their task was to take seven minutes to prepare their group’s response to that question. One person would speak for the group on that question. That person would be expected to cite evidence to support their position. Groups were informed that the role of presenter will rotate for the next two discussion topics; so everyone will be heard before the lesson is over.

A list of “Rules for Civil Discussion” was also posted for the spokespeople to use when they shared their group’s position with the rest of the class. It was a simple list, but oh so powerful!
1. You will state your group’s name.
2. You will state your position briefly.
3. You will support your group position with evidence from the text, notes, or reliable source.
4. You will be scored on your effectiveness and civility.
5. When completed, you will call on the next presenter (from another group) by first name, and sit to actively listen to the remaining presenters.

Immediately, students took notice of these rules. They wanted to know what they would be scored on. “Glad you asked!” I said. Students can earn points from any of the following:

Acknowledge the previous speaker. Accurately restate the previous comment. Clearly state an opinion. Clearly state a fact. Use convincing evidence to support an argument. Make a relevant comment. Draw another person into the discussion. Recognize a contradiction. Recognize an irrelevant comment. Use analogies to support an argument. Asking a probing question that furthers the discussion. Disagreeing in an agreeable way. Pointing out details in an image to support an opinion. Calling on the next presenter, by name, before sitting down. Speaking with a loud, clear voice.

Students can also lose points for their group by any of the following:

Interrupting speakers. Not paying attention or distracting others. Monopolizing the discussion. Making a personal attack or using a put-down. Deviating from the topic of discussion. Disagreeing in a disagreeable way.

These items were passed out to each of the groups. I told them that scores would be kept by me and would be projected following the round of discussion had come to completion.

That was it. That was the magic. It happened. Seventh graders became engaged, even engrossed in Ancient Sumer. They listened to each other. I’ll say that again, for effect. Seventh graders listened to one another! The discussion was deep and meaningful. Students who had been nothing more than seat mannequins in class were now openly debating. As the rounds of discussion unfolded, they also got better. The groups would see their scores projected, they would self-police, and concentrate on ways to improve their score for the next round. It created an atmosphere where I didn’t have any slacker groups. Magic baby!

This same strategy can be utilized across curriculums and even levels. I’ve seen teachers use this at high school and elementary classes. It encourages students to rigorously think about essential questions. The strategy promotes civility and a discourse that is sadly missing from much of America on controversial and complex topics. I’ve become such a fan of the strategy that I’ve even used it at church and with family!

Students need a way to express their opinion on what you teach. We know that students require a personal connection to the content. Discussions are a method to do just that. The magical moment comes when ALL your students are a part of the discussion; and therefore ALL of the students are finding some meaning in what you teach.

I left the full-time class before the wonderful web 2.0 sites would enhance the Response Group discussion strategy. So two questions for you to think and respond to:
1) What site(s) could be used for students to collaborate in small groups during their prep?
2) What tools would you use to score the discussion?

Social Studies Alive: Population Density of Northeast

2010-02-16T17:52:00.000-08:00

Top 10 21st Century Homework Excuses

2010-02-16T11:20:00.000-08:00

10. “Sorry, my house just doesn’t have 3G coverage…you’ve seen the Verizon commercial right?”

9. “Ohhh, when you said check out the moodle, I thought you said try out a new noodle and we had corkscrew pasta last night!”

8. “I know, my avatar is just so lazy…can I get a new one?”

7. “My e-Pal Gunther was supposed to help, but Voicethread just doesn’t translate English to German.”

6. “I couldn’t download the criteria; my hard-drive only takes a terabyte.”

5. “Mom said I couldn’t do that assignment because she thought it would cost 99cents from the App store and you know with this recession and all…”

4. “Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Windows all crashed last night…I think it was a cyber attack.”

3. “ hmm, that’s strange. My file must have become corrupted by all the spyware on these netbooks. I guess we can chalk that one up as a learned lesson for 1:1 computing, huh?”

2. “Sorry, I’ve become a conscientious objector to digital learning…and you know that would infringe on my first amendment rights.”

….and the number ONE 21st Century Homework Excuse is:

Use Your Imagination Please

2010-02-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

Our family had the mini-van of the 70’s…a station wagon. It had to be a ’73 or ’74 Ford Country Squire. My place was the rear seat. Remember those? You could never see where you’re going, only where you’ve been. To boot, this had to be one of the first cars to have power windows. That’s cool right? Not too cool though. This car had no air conditioning. Sitting back there, I was on my own. I had no one to play with. Even if I wanted to converse; my sisters would start picking on me. They’d make up songs about me (none I’ll repeat here sober). No way. I had to be imaginative. Sometimes it’d be fun, like making faces at the people behind us outside of Macon, GA on the way to Florida. Sometimes it would not be fun, like getting my head stuck in the window making fun of the people behind us outside of Macon, GA on the way to Florida. Regardless, left to my own I created a reality all my own. Call it imagination or call it weird. It’s served me well as a teacher. We should also encourage it with our students.

The onset of new technologies allows our students to explore their imagination and turn in some really marvelous stuff. Students can create online portfolios (http://www.livebinders.com/). They can collaborate around images (http://www.voicethread.com/). Students can create their own editorial cartoons (http://www.toondoo.com/) or even annotate images (http://www.imagechef.com/). These are a mere scratch of the surface of wonderful web 2.0 sites out there which encourage imagination.

As with any site or tool (like an iPod), teachers should plan how they will use it. Make sure to create a criteria that links closely to their essential question. When I was in the class, I loved to do this using http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ . I’d print off these criteria and let my students go at it. Students can work in isolation, like my rear seat in that Country Squire, or they can collaborate with a friend who’s in another state, or even another country using (http://www.epals.com/) or Skype.

Having students work on highly creative projects has always been a part of elementary classes. When it comes to Junior High and High School though, these activities take a back seat all to often to “direct” instruction. Part of that are high-stakes tests and standards at work. Part of it is a lack of prep time. But let’s be honest with ourselves and say sometimes, it’s just a lack of imagination on our part.

That’s where new tech comes in again. Teachers can now get on the web and get ideas for imaginative activities with their students from a variety of sources. If you tweet (and you should), you could follow #edchat. Type that hash tag in as a search and you will find thousands of committed, imaginative teachers. You could even google some nings (http://www.ning.com/) that cover your subject or grade level. Become a fan on Facebook for your subject’s national and state organization.

We’ve got more choices and more sources now than teachers have ever had before. Our students have the creative juices; we just need to light a fire to their imagination.

What other sites do you use to allow your students to explore their creative side in a meaningful way?

You Feel Good About That Lesson?

2010-02-14T18:00:00.000-08:00

“Whoa-oa-oa! I feel good, I knew that I would, nowI feel good, I knew that I would, nowSo good, so good, I got youWhoa! I feel nice, like sugar and spiceI feel nice, like sugar and spiceSo nice, so nice, I got you”

So opens the great James Brown song, “I Feel Good.” As is with other JB hits, it’s complete with screams and grunts. When you listen to it, you KNOW the man was feelin’ good when he was in the studio spinning that out. As teachers, we’re familiar with it too. For us it happens after a great lesson. We want to feel that good after every lesson. We want the kids to feel that good too. Sometimes it’s elusive though.

First, let’s set a baseline for this discussion. To me, a feel good lesson is where you have seen and heard engagement and discovery surrounding the essential question. Not every student might have engaged the same or even share a common discovery; but nearly all the students have new insight. The new insight drives them deeper in the content than some rote-memory exercise. Evidence of the “feel good” lesson is their product of this discovery – whether it’s an assessment or product.

“Feel good” lessons are rooted with your relationship with your class. It takes preparation with them. Students have to feel comfort in sharing. Students have to trust you; even if they don’t know what you’ve got planned for the lesson. This happens on day one of the year and every day thereafter. If you want kids to be interested in you and your class, you had better show interest in them. Conduct ice-breakers and create opportunities for team-builders as a way to do this and still honor instructional time. Use the tools they use in your lessons…and yes that includes their cell phones and i-pods.

A “feel good” lesson also takes passion on your part. I can remember plodding through Manifest Destiny with my eighth graders. I was bored with the topic. I could tell they were bored too. Kids are no fools when it comes to knowing what their teachers dig. Our passion for a topic sticks to us like too much perfume (or cologne) on a middle school dance floor. Find your voice on the topic you teach. Get passionate about the essential question. You have to plan for it.

Some of the “feel good” lessons are lessons we don’t plan for though; not in the traditional sense anyway. We might be heading one way in our discussion of Wilson’s 18 points; and then all of a sudden you’re in the thick of a great class discussion on the merits of different world organizations. This takes a little courage on the part of the teacher. How do you know when to divert from the lesson you planned meticulously for? For me it’s when I know the end result will be the same as what I have planned for. If they will consider deeply the essential; I’m going for it.

There’s no guarantee every day will produce the “I feel good” moment. You can, however, increase the likelihood of them with what makes our profession great. We’re the caretakers of knowledge and the nurturers of discovery. We are passionate (sometimes to a geeky level) for what we do. Spend time to get to know your kids well, plan around interesting essential questions, present with engagement and collaboration, be open to unplanned route changes, and revel in the result. When you flip the lights off in that class after 6pm and you’re making your way out to your car, hum a few bars of that funky-cool JB as you think about that great lesson.

Creating a lasting "mental snapshot"

2010-02-13T14:37:00.000-08:00

As I think back on my own experiences as a student, I don't have many memories of note-taking that do not include a teacher lecturing while I hovered over a sheet of notebook paper, frantically trying to capture every spoken word. When I began teaching, I soon realized that even those students who retained information captured this way likely wouldn't recall it long after the assessment was taken.

Like the method of content delivery, note-taking must be purposeful and meaningful in order to improve student comprehension and retention in all grades. Venn diagrams comparing and contrasting key figures, groups, concepts, or places enable students to understand the connections among them. Spokes and webs are great for organizing related information. Simply adding illustrations (student created) to outlines tend to result in more focused and meaningful notes as well. There are countless graphic organizer ideas available including these as well as annotated images, illustrated timelines, and sensory figures. Part of our responsibility as educators is to teach students ways to organize their thoughts. Our goal is for each of them to experience success in our classroom-graphic organizers should be one of the many tools we use!

Which graphic organizers have you found to be most valuable in your social studies classroom?

Web 2.0 Sites and Students

2010-02-13T04:30:00.000-08:00

How do you know if the kids "get it" or not?

2010-02-12T09:49:00.001-08:00

The end of a lesson is, perhaps, the most nerve-wracking for a teacher. Students are typically challenged here in formal or informal assessments to demonstrate what they’ve learned. As I like to describe to fellow teachers, there’s three types of kids here: 1) the kids that get it. 2) The kids that don’t get it. 3) The kids that don’t get that they don’t get it.

Our job as educators is to get as many in that first grouping as possible. For some kids, we can see they get it; even feel it when we look at them. For many though, it’s not that easy. We can’t just rely on traditional assessments to tell us either. For a variety of reasons traditional assessments only give us a snapshot; a glimpse if you will. I know, I know….state assessments are built around these! We need and must assess students with traditional tests. However, there’s more to do.
We need to assess students at a variety of points during a lesson. Think of them as pulse checks. “Are you still alive Johnny!?” These assessments need and should be informal. They can be observations, but we can even assess in ways that are not-traditional and find out loads about what our kids know and don’t know.

Let’s say you’re knee deep on an econ lesson on how the Fed works. Sure the students have heard the lecture and taken notes from their text…but how do we know they are understand the content; and better yet…doing something with the information. You could have the students pretend to be on the Federal Reserve and present them with a historical situation. Give them some data in the fall of 1981. Have them review their notes on actions the Fed can take. Let the students work in small groups and determine a course of action the Fed should take. Should they cut the discount rate? Should they increase the money supply? Let the group report out to their class and back it up with data and rationale directly from their content understanding. Sure the students might give different answers; but as a teacher I’ll get a good idea of who really understands the material and its implication to their lives.

Much has been written (and more to come) on the trials and tribulations of assessing student knowledge. There’s no silver bullet when it comes to the right assessment either. The point is to be open to a wide array. Be dynamic and try many different types of assessments in addition to the formal, more traditional variety. Though assessments are designed to be scientific and logical; how they are applied is sometimes subjective and much more art than science.
How do you assess what students know?

Are You Getting Through to All Your Kids?

2010-02-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

It was in 1997 that I first became aware of Howard Gardner's research that is often called the "Multiple Intelligence Theory." ( www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm ) As a teacher, I didn't read it as theory. It was a moment of realization of fact. Teachers know this is true, even if we didn't have all the tags down yet (visual-spatial, body-kinesthetic, etc.). We see kids in our classes that learn best by physically manipulating something. We see kids that have an ear for music and can even play instruments without formal training. (By the way, if that was you, I don't like you. I’m jealous.)

The implications of Gardner’s research are that teachers have a wide variety of kids in our classes. Though we assess and are judged by the Verbal-Linguistic intelligence, we also need to think about other ways to find out whether our students understand what we teach. I'm not advocating we skip out on text and assessments. Rather, for me, it's been a wake-up call to make sure I equip my teaching strategies with a wide-variety of experiences; experiences that reach all of the intelligences if possible.

Imagine opening a lesson on the 19th Century Women's Rights Movement.
1) You begin the lesson by having students listen and read the lyrics of the song, "Let Us Speak Our Minds."

2) Afterwards, have a short discussion analyzing the lyrics, mood of the music, and key images of women in the movement. You have your students read a short introduction to the reform movements of the 19th Century.

3) After tying that into the song the students listened to, you then pass out some statistics comparing 19th century women to 21st century women (jobs, education, elected office, etc.).

4) You break the class into small groups where they respond to two or three discussion points like, "How far have women come in terms of equal status to men?" Groups report out their discussion to the rest of the class using responders, tweets, or just good ole fashioned talking.

5) After the discussions wrap up, you challenge the students to research the issues surrounding women's rights in the 19th century. Students annotate a graphic-organizer which is a silhouette holding an empty protest sign.

6) To wrap up the lesson, you challenge the students to write new lyrics to the tune they listened to at the beginning of the lesson as a way to comment on how far women have come.

A sample lesson like this involved musical-rhythmic, visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, interpersonal, mathematic-logic, and intrapersonal intelligences. Depending on how you would have groups respond out to discussion items, it could also be body-kinesthetic. In otherwords, you hit all the basic intelligences. You don't do separate activities for immerging readers, as the entire lesson has been leveled by including all the learning styles.

If you are familiar with the popular History Alive or Social Studies Alive programs, you are most likely aware that the MI Theory is a foundational pedagogy to the program lesson design. I'm proud that having used the program and it's approach ( www.teachtci.com/tci-approach/ ), it super-charged my class instruction. Kids salivated to come to my class, and trust me that it had nothing to do with looks! Every student had the chance to be engaged in a style they were comfortable in. It was also great to expose my students to a wide style of learning. As a result, all of my students-even ESL, IEP, and 504 kids were doing better on assessments (not their strong intelligence.)

When you're planning that next lesson, stop and think about all the different learners inside your class. How will you reach them? How can you tie a lesson together from beginning to end, with smooth transitions, and reach that golden apple?

If you'd like a sample of MI and your social studies programs, please take the poll question on my blog and contact us for sample lessons built for ALL the learners inside your class.

How do you engage All learners inside your class daily?

2010-02-11T07:13:00.000-08:00

Demonstrating Excellence

2010-02-10T04:31:00.000-08:00

Somewhere in Portage, MI today, a good friend of mine who I work with will demonstrate our materials to middle school teachers. Matt's a little different. He's not normal. Here's why:

One of the things that always drove me nuts as a department chair was when the textbook "reps" would pop in and push their big, thick books. I could tell the second I saw them that most had never stepped foot inside a classroom as a teacher. As they would show me workbook, after video, after picture disks (remember those?), I just wanted to rip what hair I had left out.

Publishers have long left teachers wanting when it comes to lesson development. I'm not talking about the "stuff" either. That's all eye candy. I'm talking about sound lesson development that engage all the learners in my class with the materials put to use. It wasn't there. For the most part, it's still not there.

Any good teacher worth their salt can develop a good lesson to incorporate the text and other tools. That's not the issue. The issue is the one thing that's completely outside of teachers hands; time. Teachers have so many duties inside and outside their school day, that proper planning on a daily basis is difficult to say the least. I spent twelve years as a middle school social studies teacher. Until I started using History Alive, I had either written all of my own lessons, and refined them over several years...or ripped off another great teacher's idea. (We should never abandon this practice by the way.) Yet, you should demand that the publishers that want you to use their program and materials show thoughtfulness when it comes to lessons.

This is what drew me to leave the class and work for TCI (http://www.teachtci.com/). Everyone in the sales and development side is a social studies teacher who was recognized in their school communities as excellent educators. At TCI, our bag is social studies. We don't make Science Alive, Math Alive, or Language Arts Alive; but if it's social studies and has the tag "Alive" at the end, that's us. When we visit schools, like my buddy Matt today, we don't pester the department chair in the workroom. We work with the school in advance of the visit to demonstrate a lesson inside their classes and let the teachers/administrators observe. We then debrief the experience following the lesson. It's a thrilling experience and allows us to demo not only our great lessons, but to demonstrate our passion for teaching.

If your school is walking down the path of selecting new materials, I challenge you to invite the publishers you are considering to come and demo a lesson inside your class. If you're going to buy an expensive new car, you definitely want to sit behind the wheel (pilot) and have the sales person (rep) demo all the goodies in traffic (your class).

At TCI, we're not normal. I'm happy for it too. Go get 'em Matt!

The Importance of Powerful Visuals

2010-02-09T19:03:00.001-08:00

By Brian_ThomasTCI | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

Powerful Images Create Desire to Learn

2010-02-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

Picture this: It's back in the day. You've got your mullet hair-cut, torn jeans, and OP shirt on. You're sitting in Mr. Thomas' social studies class. Of course you're in the back of the room. You hate this class...for a lot of reasons. The boring book, the endless stream of handouts, and picture after picture being shown with no rhyme or reason. Bring back bad memories? For some lucky few like me maybe not...but for way too many, like my wife, this was the norm.

How many times have we heard the cliche, "A picture's worth a thousand words?" Some teachers take it to the extreme and talk through powerful images. Some teachers don't spend anytime at all on them. Following Howard Gardner's groundbreaking research on the Multiple Intelligences, we know that a great deal of people are visual learners. That is to say, some learn best by looking at images, exploring their meaning, and discovering new information. What I've learned is that images are a language that (save visually disabled) unite everyone in the same language. For that reason, it's a great idea to build your lessons around powerful images.

Building a lesson around images does NOT mean just googling all the pictures you can throw at students showing trench warfare. It actually can just be a few images, or even one. We call this the Visual Discovery strategy at TCI (link above). In this type of lesson of visuals, we plan questions that lead to discovery. We also plan for the students to interact with the image by acting-out what they've learned from content related to it. Students may even take graphically-organized notes where the image is annotated with important insights.

The onset of new technologies has made this strategy even more impressive with students. Students can view images digitally on IWB's. They can touch, highlight, annotate, circle, and zoom with IWB tools. Students can take Flip Cams, their cell phones, or even good photo equipment and create their own visual lessons for other students too. Again, the most important component is the planning portion. Teachers need to plan their lesson with the images as a vehicle for content retention. Teachers can maximize it by involving the students with the images; not making it a passive activity.

Thank God I had teachers doing this the old fashioned way with slides and white board as magic paper! I don't thank God that I had the mullet though...yikes, what was I thinking!?

Using Spiral Questions with Images to Lead to Discovery

2010-02-08T17:31:00.001-08:00

Word Spiral Questions Examples

View more presentations from BrianThomasTCI.

What's Important from Content Providers?

2010-02-08T12:10:00.000-08:00

Don't Leave PD Behind

2010-02-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

Last week I visited Craddock Elementary in Aurora, OH classes and taught a first and second grade class. One of the things in each room was a Smartboard. Our TeachTCI was made with IWBs in mind; so we put it to good use. It also left me depressed. Don't get me wrong, Smart makes a great piece of equipment, but I would not want my school buying an IWB at $2500 or north.

Give me Johnny Lee and the Wii-Mote (http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/) for less than $100 and let me take the left-over cash to put towards going to my state social studies conference, national, and the T&L Conference. None of the teachers at Craddock have had the opportunity to go to those. They are not alone.

The amounts that the politicians and school administrations put toward tech can out-weigh monies put towards PD; especially any subject that's not reading, math, or science. I don't get that.

I love tech. It's great, but it's nit transformative unless in a skilled teachers hands and planning. That's where all that PD that is MIA hits. I'm not saying to administrators or school politicians to hold the tech...just saying make sure it doesn't supercede great PD offerings for all your teachers; even us lowly social studies folks.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Geography the way it's meant to be

2010-02-06T16:10:00.000-08:00

We are releasing our first revision of our popular Geography Alive! Regions and People this month. Since GA came out in 2006, thousands of students across the country in places like Denver Public, Baltimore City, Mason-OH, and many others have practiced GIS. Students have created adventure tours for National Parks using topographic maps. They've written emergency plans for a government preparing for hurricanes. Students have interviewed workers in India as they've studied comparitive advantage. Still, many teachers are unaware of GA and working hard to create those kinds of activities. For those who would like to learn more, I invite you to watch this video http://www.teachtci.com/programs/geography-alive-video.html?autostart=true. Contact us to learn more about the only geography program that matches all 18 NCGE Standards.

Teach with Greatness in Mind

2010-02-05T18:02:00.000-08:00

I've had the opportunity for the last eight years to travel the country and conduct professional development for teachers. It's been an exciting adventure and one that continues to inspire me to continue my learning process.

Being a great teacher is more than just content knowledge. A great teacher can take that content and make it interesting, even inviting to the most apathetic student. Great teachers are creative and constantly are on the lookout via blogs, journals, and colleagues to find new ideas and strategies to use. Great teachers don't know age either.

It's a stereotype that the great, hands-on teachers are only the young teachers fresh from methods courses. I've found that some of the most engaging teachers are veterans of twenty or more years of class experience. The company I work for sees these teachers all the time. My favorite story is that of a nun who had come to one of our workshops. She wanted to keep up with some interactive strategies for her social studies classes. That's always great. The fact that she had been in the class for over fifty years and was still seeking PD was awe inspiring!

Whether you are an entry level teacher or a veteran teacher, you can be great! Keep these things true and you'll go far: 1) Love your profession enough to continue learning. 2) Love your students enough to stretch your own comfort as a teacher. 3) Love new ideas and tools (like technology); just make sure you have a purpose for their use.

Teaching, to me, is the greatest profession of all. We get to motivate and inspire every other field of work. Take advantage of every moment to become better at your craft; no matter how many years you've been there.