iTouch, a step-by-step adventure

As I wrote over the weekend, I came home with 5 shiny new iTouches last Friday. I had been waiting for them since the end of August, and when a fellow teacher walked in with the bag I did a little happy dance. I think I might have actually moon-walked.

They actually scare me a little, though. I ended up calling in the big guns, my friend Brian who is a bonafide Mac fiend. Now I know how to get apps, organize the apps, get videos I made onto the iTouches, and get them them all synced identically.

So far, I have Glow Draw and a MVA player on them.What's next? We'll see.

Being Mindful

So I'm taking a meditation class. Not mediation, meditation. Trying to see if I can slow that hamster down; he never stops running on the wheel in my head.

So while we are practicing being mindful while eating a grape, I had to keep telling my thoughts "grape. Grape!" when my mind would wander to teaching. We are an obsessed lot, us teachers. I realized how very un-mindful I am most of the time. I am hardly ever present, it feels.

Our conversation turned to being mindful at work or while doing a sport, and someone asked "isn't that like being 'in the zone'?" I thought about how my brain works while teaching, and I realized that I really am mindful while teaching. In fact, a lot of the world ceases to exist while I'm teaching.

As we were leaving the class, I was feeling rather happy and relaxed and a little wooshy. I told my friend that I was not going to get on the computer when I got home, I was just going to ride out the meditation all night long. But then I needed to check noaa.gov and Paul Huttner's weather blog and then facebook to inform everyone of the snow that's coming and that jumped to telling my students about the weather and how can I turn this into a teachable moment and then I jumped on my blog and then I realized that I was so NOT sitting in my kitchen...my body was but my head is miles away.

When is that next class?

iTouch, birthday, friends

Here's a whole heap of blither-blather for today:

I received 5 iTouches for my classroom. I'm so excited to see what we can do with them, I can hardly stand it. Would love ideas or links to ideas! First I need to get the little buggars working; I couldn't get iTunes loaded on my work laptop - of course. Why should technology ever be easy?

It is Sunday and I went into work today. It took me 6 hours to prep for this week. I have come to the understanding that this year I need to be on my game every minute. There is no room for "flying" by the seat of my pants. It is also my birthday. Happy work-all-day-on-the-weekend birthday to me. The next person who tells me teachers have it easy gets a knuckle sandwich.

Lastly, I don't know if I have ever written about how much I love my team. The two teachers I work along side are the kindest, warmest, most fun people to work with . They make my heart happy, and I know a big part of my feel-good job is because of them. It's like working with sisters. Love ya, ladies.

Ice Ice, baby

We got a big chunk of dry ice yesterday. I don't think that we are ever to old to be amazed by the fun things a person can do with it. My favorite part was creating giant bubbles with a bowl, water, dry ice and a soapy strip of towel. The bubble that formed over the rim of the bowl would grow and grow until it popped into a puff of mist. We made pennies sizzle and dance on the ice, and poured the mist into our hands like it was water. I even froze my glove to my hand at one point!

We made a video of the fun (which I can't upload do to a music infringement), and shared it with parents. I love that they were able to peek at this small slice of our day.

And then, after all the fun craziness, my principal popped in for an unannounced quick evaluation during reading. Nice timing!

Coolest new idea I've seen lately

Here I am, sitting in the dark on a late Tuesday night. I've just had an argument with my husband over the time commitments and energy commitments of my job, and tomorrow I will be sitting in a surgical waiting room while my dad has heart surgery. I'm torn between stamping my foot like a petulant little girl and crying my eyes out. I've edited and posted video of our dry ice experiment today, canvassed the Twittersphere, and searched the blogs for something to think about that isn't scary or sad.

What I found what this, which I happen to think is the most exciting thing I have seen for a long time. Can you imagine the application???? Props go to WM Chamberlain.

At the Teacher's Desk: How to Create Your Own Interactive Art Display: Mrs. Smith (our Art teacher) and I have teamed up to create an interactive art "museum" for our students' work. This is how we are doing i...

How Blogging has Rocked my World

October is a busy month. Professional development, conferences, meetings, lots of running my girls around. Throw in all new curriculum and the prep and you find yourself standing in the desert of your own blog.

I was selected by Nancy Carroll for the Rockstar Meme Award (#rockstarmeme), and now it's become clear that I've got some catch-up to do. Nancy writes a fab education blog full of great ideas and innovative teaching.

So how has blogging rocked my world? It's all about three things: building relationships, developing myself professionally, and reflecting.

I have come to understand the power of connecting; connecting with students, peers, parents and other teachers. It's like being a spider and throwing out your line to others. Blogging has given me many new threads, all connected to others in education. These fine educators continually inspire me and ask me to look at my own teaching. They are the ones who can share in the joy that comes from educating.

Blogging gives me ideas. It's like a giant mind-map. I can always rely on the blogs I follow to get that hamster in my head to start running on her wheel. The best part is when I come across a great idea I wasn't even looking for. It's like Christmas every day.

Lastly, blogging continually asks me to look at myself and my own practices. It's a constant check and balance. You can't pretend everything you do is perfect and without the need for improvement and change when you are always reading what other teachers are doing, and when you are writing about your own practice. Stopping reflection encourages complacency, and there is no room for that when you are responsible for kids' learning.

I am passing this #Rockstar Meme onto the following people:

• Mrs. Huettle - http://mrshuettlsbusybees.blogspot.com/
  A fellow grad student and an amazing teacher
  
• Josh Stumpenhorst - http://stumpteacher.blogspot.com/
  Inspiring!!!
• http://teachingiselementary.blogspot.com/ nancy, you don't have to have to pass it on again :) I wanted others to note your blog.
• William Chamberlain - http://mrcsclassblog.blogspot.com/
  He never fails to crack me up. He definitely teaches like his own pants are on fire.
• Jessica Meacham - http://www.jmeacham.com/
  What I love best about Jessica is that she so freely shares her ideas. I love the video tours of her room.

Award recipients, here's your challenge:

When one is awarded the meme, according to the originator Guhlin, they are supposed to Write a Post about how Blogging has Rocked your World then:

1. respond to the meme and link back to this blog entry
2. leave a comment on this blog entry and then ask 5 more people to participate
3. Notify those 5 people by sending them a quick note (a tweet prob would work).

Blog on!!

Changing it up

Someone asked me today why I changed the design and title of my blog. Here's why:

If you've read my first posts, you'll remember that I identify strongly with the story Perry the Peacock. It helped me through the second year of teaching, when I knew that my style was a little different in comparison to other teachers I knew. It took some bravery and serious self-belief to stay true to myself.

The thing is, I really looked at the teaching world through an "us" and "them" lens. I felt like I was blazing a trail, and I was mostly blazing it alone. Perry made me feel like I was strong enough to go it alone.

I realized a few days ago that I'm really not alone. I think I felt more alone before I discovered Twitter and a window to a whole world of teachers doing their thing was opened for me. I found myself in the company of nothing but peacocks.

I guess in that moment teaching became something more than "us" and "them". It became a circle made of many different styles and energies. When I look at the talent I am surrounded by every day at school, I guess that I see many individuals doing their thing. We all have a little peacock in us, just as we all have a little bit of penguin.

I didn't feel I could embrace our uniqueness if I only looked at it as I saw my own. I choose to foster individuality in others instead of making it an exclusive club only certain types of teachers can join.