Tired Teacher

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CfPM2e5geNs/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet So I just completed my first reel on Instagram and I want to share that adventure with all of you. This came about as a result of our knowledge sharing assignment. I was discussing the assignment with my daughter and she pipes up with this great idea to make a reel on Instagram.  "It will be easy", she said.  "It will be quick", she promised. Fast forward to Saturday afternoon on take 23 when I am ready to pull out every strand of hair I have. Add to that the distinct chuckling I am hearing coming from the room of my 17 year old son as I talk to myself and rerecord the same 30 seconds over and over again.  Around about take 40 I decided that this was it. Is it perfect? Nope. Is it good? Eh. But not to worry, I will get better.  Here are my conclusions. Social media is work! I always kind of scoffed at people who said that their job was to be a social media influencer, but man creating/c...

  I have been struggling with our upcoming knowledge sharing assignment. I think the problem is that I have too many big ideas. I want my students to all have access to the internet. I want my kids to all be fluent. I want them to know how to do all the things. In an ideal world, I would be able to go into my classroom on day one and incorporate every tool that we learned about in this class. I want all of these thing and I want them right now! Here's the problem. I have to do the work. If I want my big ideas to work, I have to start small. The problem is that small sometimes feels too small. I always want to put my spin on it, to try and make it my own. For me, curating and sharing the content of other people feels a little dishonest. Even when you give credit, someone is getting the idea from you and they might attribute it to you. I am much more comfortable sharing something verbally, than I am sharing something in a online space.  I am starting to understand that sharing c...

So I did something a little crazy and decided to get a summer job working with little ones. As most of you know I am a middle school math teacher. My summer job of choice working with 6, 7 and 8 year olds. I want to stop here and give a shout out to all the lower elementary school teachers out there. I will take teenage angst over little tears any day. I don't know how you do it!   What is my reasoning? I wanted to try something new? I wanted to see how the other half lives? I am secretly a glutton for punishment? Not really sure, but they did offer me some insight into this whole digital native argument.  Let me start by saying that the number of littles who have a device of their own is mind boggling to me. I remember forcing my kids to wait until late middle or high school to have their own device. Most of the students in my camp group have a device that is web enabled. By definition these kids are digital natives, but I have noticed a few things. 1. They don't ta...

The use of web tools and social media in a k-12 classroom is going to require educational leaders to trust educators. As stated in the article by Goodyear cries for pedagogical change are often not accompanied by the necessary support. In short we want teachers to maintain the status quo but also to be innovative and use new tools. As an educator this is immensely confusing.  There are so many outdated ideas and practices that we just do, because we always have. Why do kids have spelling test? If I can't spell it I can look it up using some sort of technology, but all across the country students continue to have spelling lists. When is the last time you had to complete a long division problem on paper using the standard algorithm? Chances are it was somewhere around 5th or 6th grade.   Students need to be taught explicitly how to use whatever the tool is being used.  While most of our students are classified as digital natives, they don't always possess the...

The Networked Knowledge Activities Framework (NKA) will be useful to educators who are trying to find ways to incorporate social media sites into the formal classroom environment. The framework outlines six activities that users participate in while they are participating in online activities. Online users collect, curate, share, broker, negotiate, and construct knowledge using the information they find on the internet. Collection refers to the process of saving a link for an item so it can be found and used later. Users curate information by creating organized collections of online artifacts. Users share informations that has been collected or curated in an online forum. These activities and their descriptions provide educators with a starting point when they are attempting to embed social networking sites into classroom activities. Brokers act as agents between networks of people. Learners negotiate to come up with shared meaning and understanding. Finally some learners ...

  So I am stepping out on a limb next year and changing subjects. That's right folks the math diva is now going to teach Language Arts. Change is good right! I get bored and I love a challenge. Bonus, I get to redo my very mathy classroom. After much thought (okay a little thought) I have decided to go with a coffee house theme. I operate under the belief that a comfortable classroom facilitates learning. Here is the link to my board so far. Does anyone have suggestions or ideas that I can add.  https://www.pinterest.com/kam73/ela-classroom-ideas-22-23/

 I did it! I completed the Twitter challenge this week. Here is a summary of what I shared this week! New badge here I come!! MemeMonday-This is my life! ToolboxTuesday-This is an oldie but a goodie. I highly suggest you try it! Wondering Wednesday-I am really looking forward to learning about this tool. ThrowbackThursday-Keeping with the teacher theme! Follow Friday-Breaking from the norm and suggesting everyone follow Food Network on Twitter. Shoutout Saturday-Leelocin is a lifesaver!! White text, that's all I am going to say.