The Power of Twitter

I am not normally one who puts themselves out there and seeks out others (I'm trying to change that!).  I'm normally on the shy side.  My husband even teases me because I don't like to make phone calls to people I don't know.  That being said I have made tremendous connections to educators all over the world through Twitter.  I don't know if its because you can hide behind a computer screen that makes it less intimidating to put yourself out there.  Maybe its the positive nature of the people I have interacted with in my Personal Learning Network (PLN) that sets me at ease.  Either way, I have come to know and trust the power of Twitter and greatly respect the people who make it so powerful.

Case in point...

Last night I had the sincere pleasure to speak with Cheryl Morris (@guster4lovers) via Google Hangout (GHO).  I tweeted my tech issue I was having in trying to collaborate making videos for my flipped class with a colleague when we aren't together.  Without getting into the specifics, we were trying to do something fairly elaborate and certainly out of my tech knowledge comfort zone.  Cheryl and I were able to find a work around and she even taught me some valuable tidbits on Camtasia.  A 10 minute conversation gave me more than most PD I've attended.  It was so valuable!  And it never would have happened had it not been for Twitter.

By the way, Zach Cresswell (@z_cress) had also jumped into that Twitter feed and was  helpful.  I've connected with a teacher who flipped this year and is teaching the same thing I am next year.  Here's to potential collaboration with John Stevens (@Jstevens009)!  I've picked the brain of Crystal Kirch (@crystalkirch), the WSQing queen and flipped math guru who had been an inspiration to me.

I've attended Twitter chats.  Mondays at 8pm EST I'm sharing ideas with my #flipclass tweeps.  I'm doing a book study of Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess (@burgessdave) through #tlap chats on Mondays at 8pm CST (that's 9pm EST by the way).  I read amazing blogs and articles I never would have found if it weren't for the connections I've made on Twitter.

So let go of your inhibitions.  Don't be shy.  Jump into Twitter.  Meet wonderful people and develop your own PLN.  Don't worry.  Most of us don't bite.

Editor's Note:  A sincere THANK YOU to those I follow on Twitter (mentioned and not mentioned).  You have collectively and individually been a powerful force in supporting me to become the educator I've always wanted.  I am forever in your debt!

Teaching Perseverence

My students struggle with perseverance. They struggle with being able to start a problem, continue working through it when the going gets tough, and seeing it through to an answer that makes sense.  I have long wondered how I can guide them in developing those skills.  

I think I've found something that will help. 

I recently stumbled upon Dan Meyer's 101 Questions (www.101qs.com). This website is a warehouse of images and videos that can help to inspire students to ask questions.  By displaying an image or video and asking students "What's the first question that comes to mind?" I can guide students in developing those questioning skills.  I think this is important in developing perseverance. I believe that students give up because they don't know what questions to ask themselves to get over the wall they've hit. I think that ability is one of the basic building blocks of critical thinking. 

After students have learned to generate their initial questions, I can then guide students in formulating a list of information they would need in order to answer some of those questions.  This would be great in helping students to discern which information is useful and which is extraneous. At this point we are not trying to necessarily answer the questions they initially developed. I believe this would take some of the pressure off students and allow them to be more creative in the questions they develop and the  plan of how to answer them they put together. 

Once we have spent some time in developing questions and defining the needed information we can delve into actually answering those questions.  This whole process needs to be done over time. Students need to get comfortable with each stage of the process before moving onto the next in order to build up their confidence.  Time also allows students the chance to develop their relationships with each other as mathematicians. After all, don't mathematicians spend time collaborating to explain the world through mathematics? Wouldn't it be amazing to have students begin to act, work, and think like mathematicians?

Now you might be asking where are the Common Core math standards in all of this.  And I'm sure I could find a standard to go with each image or video. I believe the process itself is worthwhile even without any standards. And in wanting to let go and work outside the box do I really need to spend the time linking standards to each image or is my time better spent planning how to guide my students through the process? I'm going with the latter.  

No fear, right?

Breaking Free of Fear

Fear - something that causes feelings of dread or apprehension;
something a person is afraid of.

Maybe its just me but I have always had the fear to let go and become the educator my heart leads me to become.  Let go of what you ask? Standards, test scores, evaluations based on test scores, tradition, the "norm", the way I was taught or the way I was taught to teach.  You pick.  There is this apprehension I feel every time I think about stepping outside of my comfort zone to pursue something new.  Something outside-of-the-box.

Inside that box is pretty comfy.  Teaching the way I was taught and the way my colleagues teach means that I will always have the acceptance of my peers.  It also means that parents will feel comfortable too.  Their children will experience what they did in school.  However, I've come to realize that "comfortable" may not be what's best for my students.  They are a different generation.  Raised in world where technology is the norm, maybe they aren't so comfortable being taught in a "traditional" way.  The world changes.  Maybe traditions should too.

So I'm stepping outside of the box.

I've already taken some baby steps.  This past school year I flipped my Algebra 1 classes.  Completely flipped for the entire school year.  And you know what?  It was kinda nice.  Stepping outside the box of normalcy gave me a chance to create a new "normal".  I think I've forgotten how to lecture in the traditional sense.  And I'm okay with that.  Surprisingly, my colleagues didn't disown me.  As a matter of fact, I have a few who are thinking of stepping outside of the box with me.  Yes, they are thinking about flipping too.  Huh.  Maybe I'm not so crazy.

And maybe its not such a bad thing being that lone dancing nut.  Derek Sivers suggests in this TED talk that an entire movement can start with one, lone dancing nut.  I like to dance.  I've never feared being ridiculed or failing in an outrageous endeavor in my personal life.  Why, then, do I have that fear in my professional life as an educator?  If I don't take the chance of doing something great for my students because I'm afraid that I will fail, then what am I really teaching them? No great feat has ever been accomplished without some risk.

So I've decided to break free of the fear.  The fear of failing.  The fear of not "covering" all the standards.  The fear of my colleagues not accepting me.  I've come to realize that there is different fear I should be more concerned about.  The fear of letting another school year go by that I am not the teacher my heart leads me to be.  Because if not now...when?

This is my journey...