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So give it a try.  Get on Twitter and  meet other educators from around the world.  You will be amazed by the possibilities.

Last week I spent three days in an all-day workshop called “Capturing Kids’ Hearts.” This workshop was paid for by my school district and was presented by the Flippen Group. Our presenter was Dr. Kate Cirillo. The goal of this training was to provide tools to educators to build more positive relationships with fellow staff members and students. It reminded me of my undergraduate work in Organizational Behavior, which was aimed at a business environment. I have a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Organizational Behavior.

This workshop was designed for education. Principals in my district have been taking Flippen Training for the past two years, so in our building we have already utilized a few of the tools, such as the Social Contract. We did this as a staff, and most of us did it in our classrooms as well.  The Social Contract serves as the framework for the behavior expectations in your class.

Build your social contract by asking four key questions, and brainstorming the words that come to mind. Ask your students these questions:

1. How do you want to be treated by me (the teacher)?
2. How do you want to be treated by others?
3. How do you think I (the teacher) want to be treated by you?
4. How do we treat each other when there is conflict?

I took notes as we discussed these questions.  If a word was mentioned more than once, I put a check beside it for each time it was stated.  Then I entered the words we came up with into Wordle.  The more times a word was entered, the bigger it was printed.  These were the things that were most important to us.  I printed off the Wordle and mounted it on poster board.  We all signed the contract.  Our Social Contract wordle is below.  We had this posted on our classroom door all year, and on our class wiki.

I will do the social contract again next year, but during the first day of the workshop, I was somewhat resistant to some of the other ideas in this class.  Half way through I was becoming a little burnt out, because the workshop requires an emotional investment, but by the end, I can say this is some of the best training I’ve taken in a long time. There are a number of things I will definitely be implementing in my classroom this year.

The problem with taking professional development early in the summer, is you tend to lose some of your momentum and enthusiasm by the time you actually return to your classroom.  One of the reasons I’m writing a blog post about this class, is so I can reread it later to refresh my memory, and it’s a great way to make a committment to change.

The whole point of Capturing Kids’ Hearts, is that by creating a safe nurturing environment in your classroom, students will be able to succeed academically.  Flip Flippen, the man behind the Flippen Group says, “If you have a child’s heart, you have his head.”

The goal is to help kids EXCEL, and that brings  us to the EXCEL model, and the steps that create this environment.

The first step is to ENGAGE students.  Greet each student at the door with a handshake at the beginning of each class.  I have tried this and I know there is a dramatic difference in the start of our day.  If I am at the door and cheerfully greet my students as they enter, we have a much more productive beginning, that often extends through the entire day.

The second step is X-PLORE.  Take time to find out where students are emotionally, physically and academically.  This involves taking time to explore, ask questions and actually listen to and address needs.

This class is one of those experiences that is most profitable if you are willing to do some soul searching, and be honest with yourself. I know that I am a good teacher, but I am an introvert by nature. There are steps I can take to make my classroom a warmer more welcoming environment for kids.  We usually hit the ground running each morning.  I need to slow down a little, welcome them into our room, and find out what’s going on with them.

Some ideas for doing this are to take three to five minutes to ask for some good news.  This way kids have a chance to share important things that are going on outside the classroom.  Another idea is to start out with a Joke of the day.  I know some days I definitely need to lighten up a little, so I’m going to have a Joke Can.  Each day we can draw a joke out.  As the year goes on, the kids can help add jokes to this can.

The third step is COMMUNICATE your purpose.  This is something I’m pretty good at.  When I started teaching, Madeline Hunter was the “in-thing” and we have talked a lot about explicit instruction in our building.  I usually communicate a focus or objective for the the things we are working on.  I also like to make real world connections, so kids understand how they will use these skills in their grownup life.  We always have our schedule for the day on the board, along with a pocket chart of objectives.

EMPOWER students to use the skills they’ve been taught.  This is step four and I already have some goals in this area regarding technology and letting kids take on increased responsibility for their own learning.  Important elements here were to provide students with affirmation, and to teach them how to provide support and affirmation for each other.  A big part of empowering students is creating a safe environment for them to take risks.  Communication comes into play here.  We want to make our classroom a place where kids and teachers alike, are kind to one another, affirming, and friendly.

During the workshop we all had mailbags that people could slip notes into.  The notes were affirming the things we appreciated about each other.  I have an idea to set up a mail center and to teach kids how to write complimentary notes to one another.  We already have mailboxes.  So in other words, I will be modifying my rules about the writing and passing of notes, but in a good way.

The final step in this EXCEL model is the LAUNCH.  We want our day to end on a powerful note, and instill enthusiasm and passion in our kids, so they leave school feeling successful and eager to return the next day.  An inspirational quote, or a cheer or chant to end the day were some of the ideas.  Our days often end in a rush.  Things get crazy as I make homework assignments, pass out notes, and we work to straighten up the room.  I really think I can impove this by just ending instruction a few minutes earlier, and taking a few moments to process our day.

So those are the steps:

E – Engage

X – X-plore

C – Communicate

E – Empower

L – Launch

Obviously there was a lot more to this three day class.  These are just some of the important points.  If you have an opportunity to participate in a Flippen Group workshop, I highly recommend it.

What techniques do you use to engage your students, or launch them at the end of the day?  Do you have suggestions for inspirational poetry or quotes that we might use? I am looking for new ideas.

EdCamp Omaha took place yesterday at the Thompson Center at the University of Nebraska/Omaha.  It was my first time to attend something like this, and it was a wonderful experience.    After driving from Des Moines, which is about 2 1/2 hours away, I arrived just after nine.  As soon as I walked in, I saw some people that I knew from Iowa Tweetups.  People were wearing nametags with both their real names and their Twitter names.  This helped a lot.   The first hour was an opportunity to meet many people that previously I had known only from Twitter.

Unlike conferences, this unconference had no pre-set agenda, so this first hour was a time for people who wanted to present to sign up for the sessions they wanted to do.  This professional development model is what makes Edcamp such a rich experience.  Unlike the usual PD model with the “experts” as presenters, all the participants are viewed as professionals with experience and resources to share.

This continued with the actual sessions themselves. The really neat thing about the format of these sessions was the collaborative presentation. The person presenting would start things off, but then they would invite others to add to the presentation with their own ideas.

I did my best to record some of these great resources here, but to be honest, there was so much great stuff, that I had a difficult time keeping up.

The first session that I chose to attend was called iPad/iPod App Mania and it was a review of favorite iPad and iPod apps. There were lots of good ideas here.  It was presented by Corey Dahl and Lisa Pospishil.  Here is a list of those that I found particularly interesting.

• Notes Plus  You can take notes with keypad or handwriting. http://notesplusapp.com/

• Dragon:  record  then it emails your text, and it’s free!   http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragon-dictation/id341446764?mt=8
• iAnnotate:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iannotate-pdf/id363998953?mt=8

• Garage Band:  http://www.apple.com/ipad/from-the-app-store/garageband.html

My second session was the Web Tools Smackdown.  Kristina Peters was the presenter here.  Everyone attending was invited to share their favorite web tool.  I picked up lots of fantastic websites to try out here.

• Voicethread to embed pictures and then comment:  http://voicethread.com/
• Progressive Story Writing Project:  http://writeyourstory.wikispaces.com/
• Grading Made Easy at:  www.flubaroo.com
• Make a comic strip at:  http://stripgenerator.com/
• Social Networking for Education:  http://www.edmodo.com/ http://diipo.com
• Another way to make cards, movies, etc:  www.kerpoof.com
• Make posters, badges and all kinds of things at Big Huge Labs:  http://bighugelabs.com
• Explore all kinds of maps at:  www.worldmapper.org
• Stykz, a great to create animation:  www.stykz.net
• Livebinders,  (a great way to organize bookmarks and other resources):  http://livebinders.com/
• Evernote (which I was using to take these notes):  http://www.evernote.com/
• Google Voice, sends an email with your voicemail message:  http://www.google.com/googlevoice/landing/index.html#utm_source=en-ha-na-us-sk&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=google%20voice&utm_campaign=en
• IBrainstorm:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibrainstorm/id382252825?mt=8

It was a wonderful day with fantastic people, not to mention, having a great lunch out. It was a day of meeting people that I have talked to via Twitter but never met face to face, and making completely new friends.  I am so thankful to all the people who worked so hard to put this together and I will definitely attend another Edcamp in the future.  The plans are to have another one in Kansas City in November and again in Omaha Next spring.

If you’re interested in other Edcamp dates visit the Edcamp wiki at:   http://edcamp.wikispaces.com/

Next weekend I am going to camp– EdCamp Omaha, that is!  I’m pretty much a homebody, and I’m not much of a traveler, but this is one of those times that the closer it gets, the more excited I am.  This will be my first EdCamp, and there are so many things that make this a great opportunity.

The Price is Right!

I am a classroom teacher.  I do not have a technology position, so I have no support or budget for conferences.  The price of EdCamp Omaha is just right, it’s free!  Because it is only 130 miles from here, I will not even have the expense of a hotel.  I plan to drive over in the morning, and drive home at night.

A Chance to Connect With Others Using Technology In Education

I’m going because this is a great opportunity to connect with others who regularly use technology in their classrooms.  I am the only person in my school who is doing webquests, using Edmodo, and blogging with students.  As I try new things, I waste a lot of time trying to understand and figure them out, and I often do things the hard way.  Sometimes I feel isolated.  Twitter has been a fantastic support.  My questions get answered, and I get new ideas.  Sometimes that 140 character limit is frustrating, however.  This is a great chance to listen, learn, ask questions, and have questions answered.

A Great Opportunity for Professional Development!

The whole concept of EdCamp is amazing!  They have been popping up across the country.  Someone takes the initiative to organize it.  No one makes money off of it.  No one gets college credit or staff development credit for it.  It is outside of work hours, so there is no financial compensation.  People go because they are dedicated passionate professionals who are hungry to learn and share.  What other profession has people who do that? I can hardly wait to spend time with these great people!  I have an idea of what to expect because of this great blog post by Russ Goerend (@RussGoerend) on his blog, Learning is Life

I’m going with a list of questions.  I’m starting a new project with my students soon.  We’re going to use Glogsteredu.  I’ve explored it, but I still have questions.  I’m looking forward to connecting with Barb Gilman (@BarbinNebraska) and Shannon Miller (@ShannonMiller) who I know have experience with Glogs.

It’s Social!

I’m looking forward to meeting people I have known via Twitter.  We have some regular Tweetups here in Iowa, so there will be some people that I know.  I’m excited to meet others face to face, that I have only known on Twitter.  It’s a great new adventure!

Omaha, My Hometown!

I was born here in Des Moines, but I grew up in Omaha, so I’m always excited for a chance to get back to my old hometown.  EdCamp is being held at the Thompson Alumni Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.  You can learn more about EdCamp Omaha by visiting the EdCamp Omaha Wiki.

Last night I had dinner with a few tweeps from my PLN.  We had a tweetup.  To some that may sound a little like a foreign language or some kind of crazy code, but for those of us who frequent Twitter, it just means I got together, face to face, with people that I met on Twitter.  These people have become friends and colleagues.  I turn to them when I have questions about technology, they come to my aid when I don’t know how to resolve an issue in my classroom, sometimes I just share a joke or two with them.

While others may hang out with friends at the local bar, most nights I sit in the comfort of my own home, chatting with my Twitter friends via Tweetdeck.  I’ve shared recipes, I know what their kids look like, I know their dogs, sometimes I even know what the inside of their homes look like, though I’ve never been there. 

When I know that someone in my PLN is going through a hard time, I worry about them.  When I’ve had a bad day, I can commiserate with them, occasionaly I even argue with them.    The most impressive part of all is how generous these people are.  Last week I mentioned that I was going to teach poetry this week.  Seconds later, someone who I wasn’t following yet, sent me a link to her Livebinder that was chock full of links for poetry websites. 

Last month I was becoming frustrated with the way Daily 5 was working in my classroom.  I threw a question out to the Twitterverse, and another member of my PLN offered several ideas regarding goal setting and planning which have helped my students to be more productive during their independent work time.

Twitter is 24/7 professional development.  I am continually inspired by the things that others are doing, and I learn new things every day.  People share links to websites and valuable resources.  Most important they share themselves through their tweets and their blogs.  I feel valued when I share the things that I have to  offer with them.

I am very fortunate to have taught for the past twenty years at the same school, with a wonderful group of people, who I see everyday.  None of the people I work with, however, share my interest in technology.   Twitter has added a whole new facet to my life, and has truly enriched it.  It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t tried it, but I really love my PLN.  I appreciate everything I’ve learned from all of you and have been able to share with you.  Twitter has changed my life.  Thank you!

There have been some big changes in my school district this year.  One of these changes,  is an early dismissal every Wednesday.  During the past few years, we have had an early dismissal once or twice a month for professional development.  It was sometimes hard to remember the schedule, but it concerns me that we are giving up so much student learning time.  On Friday,  the kids were out of school, because we  had an all-day professional development.  Consequently, I had only 3 1/2 days with my students this week. 

One piece of new information that I received from these meetings was that reading testing is due by October 12th, two weeks earlier than any of us had expected, and yet I couldn’t be with my kids.  I was sitting in professional development.

Once a month we are meeting to talk about the new Iowa Core Curriculum and the Common Core.  Last week was the first of these sessions, and what I took away from this was that they haven’t finished aligning the Iowa Core with the Common Core.  It will be interesting to see what the later meetings hold, because right now I’m wondering why we are having monthly professional development on this topic, when they have yet to figure out, on a district or state level, what exactly they want us to do.

I understand the value of quality professional development.  I have participated in some excellent PD that inspired my teaching, and changed my life.   More often than not, however, I walk away from district-directed PD feeling extremely angry.  When I began presenting building staff PD a few years ago, first in math and now on technology, I promised myself I would not present information that had been presented ten times before, and pretend it was new.  I promised that I would give people something they can take back to their classroom and actually implement.  Most important, I promised myself that I would always treat fellow teachers with respect:  respect for what they are doing in their classroom now, respect for their experience, respect for their professionalism.  These are all things that have been seriously lacking in much of the professional development that I have attended.

The most interesting things I learn at these professional development sessions are when teachers are allowed to talk.  This was certainly true last week.  During the past two years I have been told not to waste time teaching cursive handwriting or spelling.  I have read similar comments via Twitter regarding cursive handwriting.  Nevertheless, I was shocked last week when I learned that handwriting (manuscript or cursive) is not being taught at any grade level in my building.  Teachers have been pressured not to waste time on it. The theory here is that with modern technology, students will not be writing with pencil and paper.  I don’t know about you, but I use some form of handwriting, every single day, and, as I pointed out at this meeting, currently I have almost all of our building’s computers (that are available to students) in my classroom, and there still aren’t enough for even one class. 

Guess this would explain why I can’t read what some of my students write. As stated in the list of “non-negotiables” I am supposed to have students writing every day.  I am not suggesting that we spend a large block of time on either handwriting or spelling, but to not teach it at all, is unfair to the kids.  How are they to be successful with writing, if we don’t teach the mechanics? 

When my grade level partner and I expressed concern last year that students do not know basic math facts, I was told to give them a multiplication chart.  This year we were told, by two district consultants, to give them a calculator if they don’t know basic addition and subtraction facts.  Without mastery of basic facts, how can students perform or judge the logic of their answers in more complicated operations?

This year we have also been told that our focus is reading and math.   We are not to waste time on social studies, which interestingly enough, I saw listed as a required area in the Core Curriculum. I am a teacher at a public school that is a school of choice.  We are a traditional school that teaches a Core Knowledge curriculum, (E.D. Hirsch, Cultural Literacy), and they’re telling me not to teach social studies? 

Last week I tweeted that I am a real rebel. I taught spelling, handwriting, social studies, and basic math facts that day.  I received several tweets back from people in other states who are experiencing these same pressures to abandon the most basic of skills. 

I never imagined that valuing academics and building a strong foundation of skills for students, was going to present problems for me as a teacher.  I am not going to teach these kids less than I have taught every group of students before them.  This is their only shot at an education, and if they don’t have the basics, they will not be successful in the long run. If the public is angry with education now, how will it be when people learn that we are not teaching the fundamentals?

I am happy when I am in my classroom with my kids.  I’m also happy when I am in my classroom, preparing to be with my kids.  For the most part, I am not happy when I am sitting in professional development that has been district-directed.  My predominate feelings then are shock, distress, confusion, and anger. 

What are our priorities?  Where is our integrity?  Maybe if we weren’t sitting in weekly PD, we would have more time to spend on spelling, handwriting, math fluency, and social studies.