SUCCESS: What really worked for you this year...?

[Laura Gibbs]

For many of us, it's the end of the school year... and summer is a great time to reflect on the year's successes! Please take a minute to share some of your success with everybody here -

* Did you devise a really fantastic project...?

* Did you take your students on a fabulous field trip...?

* Did you gain some new insight into your school, your students, yourself...?

* Did you discover a resource that opened new doors for you...?

* Did you break out of your old routine in an exciting new direction...?

Share any and all details here, so that we all share in your success! :-)

[Andrew]

Good idea, Laura!

HERE"S MY QUICK SUMMARY

NEW PROJECT/M.O.
I have fully integrated the use of Google Apps into my Music Technology classes so all (300) students can have access to Google Docs for class projects and so those projects can be shared digitally in an asynchronous environment. Guess what? They do "homework" without asking...even when they're on vacation!

INSIGHT
I taught a Graduate level class on Web 2.0 tools in Education which really opened my eyes to the unbelievable disparity between teacher's knowledge about and use of technology. I created and used a slide show which was meant as an overview but became a paradigm changer for many. I still consult with individual teachers from this class which was taught in December 2008.

REFLECTION/CALL TO ACTION
I saw Howard Gardner speak on 'Globalization and Education' This talk coupled with my Grad. Class experience and personal experiences using technology (ie, i-touch) prompted a letter to the School Committee, Superintendent and Staff. This became a letter to the Editor of our local paper which was www.berkshireeagle.com-www.berkshireeagle.com">subsequently published.

OPEN DOORS
Doors are now opening for me as I'm being recognized as a educational leader/21st c. tech 'specialist/writer. Superintendent just resigned and many admin. changes are in store. Some positive support from the School Committee has me poised to be part of short and long range planning in the district which I look forward to.

NEW PATHWAYS
New Pathways are definitely in store as I embrace/use/teach new educational technologies. On the "analog" side of the fence: Band enrollment is up and my 7/8 Band earned a Gold Medal rating at a regional Festival this year. Truly a postmodern job I now inherit: cherishing the disciplined traditions of music making while embracing new ways of doing learning via technology.

[Laura Gibbs]

This is so inspiring, Andrew!!! Thank you! I've also had huge success with introducing my students to GoogleDocuments... consistently, it is something completely new to about 90% of them every semester. I've got a whole list of tools that I give my students extra credit for trying out - Technology Tips - and one of my fun tasks during the summer is to review the list, discard the ones that don't seem to really be "clicking" with the students' interests, and to add new ones to the list to try out next year! :-)

[Andrew]

Technology Tips=great resource. Thanks for it!

[Ian Carmichael]

What a great story! Thanks for the snapshot of your discoveries. Keep us in the loop and inspired, Andrew.

[Connie Weber]

Andrew: I love your slide show. We should display it more prominently somewhere. Laura, any ideas? Great news article, too: "Education in the new high-tech world." Good stuff.
I love how you organized this post: project, insight, reflection, open doors, new pathways. May try to use your structure myself... think I'll wait a few weeks before I reflect on the year. Very inspiring to hear what you're doing!

Laura, this is a wonderful idea for a forum. I hope we hear from a lot of people.

[Andrew]

Feel free to use the slideshow any way you would like. Maybe this summer? I look forward to your reflections, Connie.

[Laura Gibbs]

Hi Connie, for all that I get frustrated by the totally archaic listserv which the Latin teachers use, the moderator of that list sent around a set of questions basically like these the other day, which is what gave me the idea! :-)

[Ian Carmichael]

Not much new to report, but it's worth putting it here I think. This year I saw some traction with ning for my students, since I got them to blog their essay topic outline, and also required them to make (helpful) comments on three, or more, other blogs. Almost all did so, and they were helpful comments. A few shone in thinking about other people's project, when they weren't so clear on their own. It was a catalyst for more conversation about the work each other was doing as well.
And last - but not least, I now have an objective component for my collaborative work criterion.
In the past, with class discussions and group presentations - who knows who does what, and who remembers who said what (and as a hearing impaired body who heard well what was said anyway)? Not me.

I'll continue the practice in the coming term. Hope it gets even more traction.

[Laura Gibbs]

Hi Ian, I've seen that, too, where students can have all kinds of insight into someone else's project even when they are a bit lost at sea with their own work (often through being overly ambitious...). I'm definitely going to keep on using Ning next year... and I may have a new Ning life, since there is a wonderful Latin teacher at a high school in Atlanta Georgia who has been using a Ning with his Latin students; when they do their Aesop projects next year, I'm going to be "Aesop scholar in (virtual) residence" at their Ning - it will be fun to see how high school students make use of it! :-)

[Andrew]

While I use Ning, I never considered it for class. You gave me an idea. Thanks! And thanks for the positive feedback, too.

[Laura Gibbs]

Hi Andrew, my students LOVE the Ning. It is a colossal improvement on the discussion board software (ugh) provided by my school. If you'd like to take a look at the leftovers of the past year at my Ning (I use one combined Ning for all three classes), I'd be glad to send you an invite. Let me know your email address (you can write me at [e-mail]). :-)

[Bill Pearsall]

Good Morning - I am enjoying reading the other responses - I will take a look at Google Documents because that's an idea I had not thought about - as for my school highlights this last year, they mostly fall into the area of insights - I first heard about Teaching for Understanding about 2 years ago - I liked the concept, the idea of a framework to build around, but I could not figure out how to really incorporate it into my math classes - we are on block schedule, giving state tests twice a year, and a good number of our students simply don't have the background they need to succeed in mathematics - but I kept looking at goals, themes, what I wanted them to know and understand (independent of state tests), how I would know if they understood; and, by the middle of this school year, the ideas finally seemed to start coming together for me - I also found a software company (Kuta) that allowed me to produce the practice problems and quizzes that I wanted so I no longer needed the textbook as a resource - all of this led me to my summer project of producing "something" complete that I can start working with next fall that I hope will allow my students to not only succeed in Algebra 2 but to understand what they have achieved - I had thought before that I would simply adopt what I could use out of TfU but now I intend to start with the ideas as I first saw them - I suppose this has wandered around quite a bit but perhaps it makes some sense - at least, I can see some of my thoughts in writing here and that helps me find a place to start - I always feel a bit "slow" when it takes so long to begin making sense of an idea and wonder if I have it right even then - reading all the comments in Fireside certainly helps me out - thanks to all for sharing