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I have been a coach, teacher, and administrator for over 15 years. One thing that I know for certain is that are many "gray" situations that are dealt with on a daily basis. I think we can all agree that if everything was black and white it would be way to easy. Each decision that we make can be traced back to doing what's best for kids. The situations that arise in classrooms and schools are quite difficult to manage. Often when the right answer seems to be there for the taking, we pause for a moment. Why? Because sometimes it's really tough to determine how the decision will impact a particular student. We should be concerned less with "making a statement" or appeasing a parent or staff member. It simply comes down to putting a student in the best possible position to succeed. Let's take a look at a few examples....... A student uses their device inappropriately during class. How are we to respond? Simply take the device away? Conference with the student and issue a verbal warning? Call home and issue a detention? What's the right answer? If a student did something inappropriate with a pencil or pen would we not allow them to write again for the remainder of the school year? Definitely a tough decision to make and not as "black and white" as you may think. How about the staff member who wants to use social media to tell their classroom's story? As educators we need to meet kids where they are. So why do we pretend that students are not using Instagram or Twitter? Isn't this a chance to finally model how social media can be used for the greater good? Providing insight from the school day by posting an image of a learning experience or tweeting out homework assignments can provide a valuable lesson. The problem is that social media is in such a "gray" area. It makes people indecisive and anxious. What if someone makes an inappropriate comment or posts a highly questionable image? Deep down in our hearts we know that most people will use social media the right way, yet we consume our lives with the few who might use it the wrong way. What's best for kids is that we as educators continually model the positive application of tools like social media in order to show students what is possible to make our society a better place. Test scores and teacher evaluations are "black and white." But are they? What if a student had a bad day or week and did not perform as well as they wanted? Shouldn't we take this into account when placing them in a program or using the data to impact instruction? Same can be said for teacher and administrator evaluations. So many things happen in educator's lives both in and outside of school. Their contributions are often not observed or felt for many years down the road. In today's world evaluations are tied to test scores or 30 minute snap shots. Do these really provide a true "black and white" reality as it relates to performance? Seems more "gray" to me. Many of the questions posed in this blog post go back to the notion of doing what's best for kids. More often than not, the decisions educators make on a daily basis fall in the "gray" area. Quite frankly, "black and white" should never really come up. Even when handing out a zero for a missing an assignment or suspending a child for being insubordinate. We need to stop proving things to people and focus more on exhausting all options to promote the success of students. So what's your "gray" story? Does everything in life have to be "black and white?"
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I hope you enjoy this guest blog post written by Jessica Eresman. There are so many phenomenal things that world language teachers can do with technology to enhance student comprehension. Sit back and enjoy the read! We have been there before; Staring into their glazed over eyes while you are introducing new vocabulary.. You wonder how many of them are going to raise their hands to use the restroom just to miss being called for their skits. All the World Language teacher wants is for her students to feel the same excitement and passion they feel for the language... But how can I get there??? How do I excite the students to want to learn the language and push themselves to do better?? Is there a way for them to get excited for other than it’s reward day or fiesta time? I am a Spanish teacher trying everyday to change my students' view on language learning by using technology. I use technology everyday in my classes from signing in for class to creating a skit for class. By using something that most kids do and interact through already... Technology. The key to creating interactive lessons that will have students wanting to create and focus arduously on learning Spanish. Is This the Key?? In my recent lesson, my students practiced their present tense verbs (to bring/to buy/to have) and foods vocabulary by creating an audio recording of their final skit. But instead of just sitting/waiting having them read or memorize their lines in front of the class they all created an animated picture talking. The students started by following a template with how to plan a party (asking 3 friends in Spanish about foods they like and asking them what they could bring to the party). Then, they asked to pick from one of the dialogues already read from the chapter, and plug in their new information. Once they had reviewed their speech and knew their lines they received an iPad and visited the App ChatterPix Kids. With the iPad in hand, students had to find one image from around the room to take a picture of (funny to see the random images in the room talking). The result... several students creating voices for all parts of the skit and enjoying the process of repeating their lines until it came out to their liking! They created these skits with enthusiasm and excitement, wanting to practice their verbal skills more than intended! I also use Classdojo in my classes, and I let each student double tap themselves in every class period... they are responsible to come into class on time before it gets saved and loose a chance at “touching” the Smartboard. I start class by giving points to those that are attentive and participating when doing the date and the weather in Spanish ….and they love listening to those points Ding at the touch of the app on my iPhone. The excitements starts then, and more follow by being prepared with a notebook to handing in homework earlier than the deadline. I would have to say the first 10-15 minutes of class is filled with excitement for getting those points! The excitement for the classroom doesn't have be limited to “reward day” or Fiesta Time, but can be all year round if planned carefully. Using devices in the classroom has created an environment for success and trials, but the best part is that I am not getting those “¿Puedo ir al baño?” phrases as much. Brad Currie is the author of All Hands on Deck: Tools for Connecting Educators, Parents, and Communities. He is one of the founding partners of Evolving Educators LLC. Brad is an ASCD Emerging Leader, Bammy Award Finalist, ClassDojo Thought Leader and Google Certified Educator. He currently serves as a K-8 Supervisor of Instruction and Middle School Vice Principal for the Chester School District in Chester, NJ. Learn more about Brad by following him on Twitter @bradmcurrie or visiting his website at www.bradcurrie.net.
The day that Brad Currie contacted me about writing a guest blog post for him was coincidentally the same day that a student of mine Betsy “bought” (with her Dojos) the class job “Social Media Advisor” for the week. Just the previous week, I had introduced this new class job to my students so they could become a more active part of our class Twitter page @3rdGradeHuskies. The job responsibilities include writing one “Tweet of the Day” that reflects upon something we had learned and worked on that day. I hand picked our first Social Media Advisor the week before for two reasons: I knew he would catch on to the concept of a 140 character limit quickly, and I was confident his Tweets would be well-written and grand examples for the rest of the class (well actually three reasons: I also knew he would remember to post the Tweets, even if I forgot to remind him. I am still working on keeping a “to-do” list at my desk, I just continue to forget to write it..). After Brad and I corresponded about writing a few blog posts for him, and describing my use of technology in the classroom, I was ecstatic. What an exciting opportunity to share my class of amazing students with the education world. Throughout the rest of the day, I contemplated different ideas I could share (and not share) about integrating technology into the classroom. Some of my thoughts are recorded below: “My students’ blog posts have been fairly successful...I could include a screenshot of some of their comment conversations” “Maybe I should include a reflection on being a first year teacher.. that could interest other new teachers like me.” “I should probably not mention the Google Doc letter a student shared with me the day that he lost 5 minutes of recess for misbehaving…” As sifted and sorted my thoughts throughout the day, I realized I had totally forgotten about how Betsy needed to write a Tweet of the Day. During her literacy station, I walked up to her and quietly reminded her of her job duty. She turned to me with a huge grin on her face and handed me a piece of paper with the Tweet already written on it. I have included the picture of her tweet below. 
Translation: “What we learned today is linking words. And today we’ve worked hard on a body paragraph. Everybody is a hard worker.” Throughout my first year of teaching, I have not had many reservations about trying new things. I have revamped our math block 3 times to make sure I am using every second wisely, I changed our Daily 5 structure so my students could have 100% free choice during our literacy block, and I went from doing writing stations, to full-blown Lucy Calkins writers’ workshop, to now a combination of the two. That bravery, however, was stopped in its tracks when Betsy handed me this tweet. Just that morning I had promise Brad Currie that I would write a blog post about my creative use of technology in the classroom, and yet now I was nervous about posting a picture of this tweet to my class Twitter page. Don’t get me wrong, I was extremely proud of Betsy’s writing. The fact that she included periods and began each sentence with a capital letter was a Christmas miracle - but I had never shown the world that my students were not entirely perfect. Twitter has been such a revolutionary platform for me to get to know other amazing educators, and yet with my first-year-teacher insecurities, sometimes it was intimidating to see all of the perfect classrooms that were out there. I wasn’t ready to admit that I had not been able to turn each of my 3rd graders into the next J. K. Rowling. I stared at the tweet for a few more seconds, then looked down at Betsy who was still giving me the proud, toothy grin that I love her for. In that moment, I realized I was being absolutely ridiculous. This was something that Betsy was proud to share with the world. She wanted all of our Twitter followers to know how hard our class had worked on “leking wrd’s” and “Boty pargrph,” and by golly, I wanted the Twitter world to know too. I tweeted that baby out, and Betsy beamed with pride the rest of the day. The next morning, Betsy came rushing to my door and excitedly asked, “Did everyone on the internet like my tweet?” I smiled, “Yes, Betsy. They loved your tweet.” To be honest, out of everyone “on the internet,” I am fairly confident that I loved it the most. If I was to summarize the moral of this story (or blog post), it would be for all teachers, and especially fellow first-year’s, to not be afraid. Your students are not all on level. Your lessons are not always revolutionary. Your classroom is not perfectly clean at the end of the day. And that is okay. Don’t let the fear of perfection, the fear of messing up, prevent you from trying new things. In our ever-changing, technology-driven world, we have to take chances and mess things up to be revolutionary. We know that teaching our students that it is okay to fail is critically important for their personal and academic growth, so let’s make sure we take our own advice. Make a class Twitter page, and don’t be afraid to tell your real story. Everyone (including you) will be better for it. Brad Currie is the author of All Hands on Deck: Tools for Connecting Educators, Parents, and Communities. He is one of the founding partners of Evolving Educators LLC. Brad is an ASCD Emerging Leader, Bammy Award Finalist, ClassDojo Thought Leader and Google Certified Educator. He currently serves as a K-8 Supervisor of Instruction and Middle School Vice Principal for the Chester School District in Chester, NJ. Learn more about Brad by following him on Twitter @bradmcurrie or visiting his website at www.bradcurrie.net.
 Image Credit: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X96lcNIFT1k/Uyn5EjUurPI/AAAAAAAAA4w/CmqD-b5PZa0/s1600/online-learning.jpg Hanging out on a snow day and learning from your PLN can provide many benefits. The list below contains five resources that I came across from people I follow on social media sites like Twitter and Google Plus. Smithsonian X 3D Beta Thank you to Kristen Turner for sharing this tremendous resource on Twitter. The educational value of the amazing 3D images and content can go a long way with engaging learners in ways once thought unimaginable. Google Cultural Institute Thank you to Jonathan Rochelle for sharing this website. The implications of this interactive resource on student knowledge and empathy is second to none. YouTube Kids Thank you to Rick Kiker who made me aware of this new release by way of his Google Group blast recently. Download the free app and search away for kid friendly video content pertaining to such topics as science, social studies, and digital citizenship. Field Trip Thank you to Eric Sheninger for posting a blog on Google Plus that highlighted this great resources. Download the free app on your device and automatically be notified of nearby historical places to visit. Big Web Quiz Thank you to Eric Sheninger for posting a blog on Google Plus that highlighted this fun potentially engaging game app. Download the free app onto your device and sync with ChromeCast. This could have huge potential at home and in school. Those of you who know me realize how passionate I am about leaning on your Personal Learning Network to better yourself and others. Sharing of best practice resources is contagious and ultimately trickles down to students. Brad Currie is the author of All Hands on Deck: Tools for Connecting Educators, Parents, and Communities. He is one of the founding partners of Evolving Educators LLC. Brad is an ASCD Emerging Leader, Bammy Award Finalist, ClassDojo Thought Leader and Google Certified Educator. He currently serves as a K-8 Supervisor of Instruction and Middle School Vice Principal for the Chester School District in Chester, NJ. Learn more about Brad by following him on Twitter @bradmcurrie or visiting his website at www.bradcurrie.net.
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