I wanted to let everyone know that I've moved my blog to a new host. The blog is now hosted by Weebly, but it can still be found at www.brentcoley.com. Before the move, typing in brentcoley.com redirected visitors to the page you are currently viewing, a page hosted by Posterous. Please note that all my new blog posts will be published to Weebly's servers -- the page you are on right now will no longer be updated.

Bottom line, if you have bookmarked my blog, please update your bookmark so that it points to the blog's new, actual address -- www.brentcoley.com.

Thank you for making this blogging journey with me!

- Brent

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

How are students in our classrooms like a glass of iced tea? Kind of an odd question, but read on to find out.

Before becoming a teacher, I, like many other college students, paid my bills with money earned waiting tables in a restaurant. For over five years, I served up turkey pot pies, Caesar salads, and apple pie a la mode to hungry customers at Marie Callender’s. Though I didn’t know it at the time, some of the training I received during those five years would serve as an excellent illustration of effective teaching. Restaurant training leading to good teaching? Let me explain.

When I first got my job as a server, I was taught that each server in the restaurant was responsible for a particular number of tables and customers seated at those tables. Nothing unique there. This is standard practice at all restaurants. But one thing the managers of Marie Callender’s emphasized was that servers should work as a team. Yes, each server was supposed to pay particular attention to his/her assigned tables, but I was taught (and reminded of time and time again) that when walking the floor of the restaurant, I was to keep an eye open for customers in need of assistance, regardless of whether or not they were seated in my section. For example, if I had a free moment and walked by a table where a customer needed her iced tea refilled, I should refill it. Makes sense. Not the most novel idea in the world, but stop and think about it for a moment. How often does this happen to you when you dine out? In my experience, not very often. You don’t have to have waited tables to know what I’m talking about. How many times have you been in a restaurant, needed a refill or something from the kitchen, but your server was nowhere to be found? We’ve all been there. Frustrating, huh? And how many times have you, while waiting for your server to return to your table, seen other servers pass by or stand idle against a wall, completely ignoring your empty glass that’s begging for a refill? If you’re like me, this happens all the time. Why? Because most of these servers have tunnel vision, focusing only on their assigned tables. Unfortunately, the servers who pass us by in the restaurant probably are thinking If iced tea needs refilled on Table 21, that’s not my problem, because I’m only responsible for Tables 16-20.

So here’s the question – Are we treating students like empty iced tea glasses? Are we passing them by, thinking That’s not my student, the same way servers pass by customers thinking That’s not my table? It’s easy for teachers to focus solely on the students in their classroom and on the subjects they teach, just as servers focus solely on their assigned tables. But is this what’s best for students and their learning? I think we’d all agree that restaurants offer better service to their customers when their employees serve not only their tables but are open and willing to assist anyone in need, regardless of where they’re seated. What if educators adopted this mindset?

I’m an administrator at a middle school, so I’ll use that educational setting as an example. What if science teachers stopped looking at their students as strictly science students, but as reading students as well? After all, there’s plenty of reading involved in science. What if a social studies teacher, while delivering content about the American Revolution, worked individually with a student who struggles with comprehension? What if a PE teacher came alongside a student and said, “Hey, I hear you’ve been working really hard in Language Arts class and did well on your last test. Keep up the great work!” Nurturing the affective domain of students is just as important as delivering the ABC’s and 123’s. How much more would students learn, and since we live in a world of high-stakes testing, how much better would they perform on the English Language Arts section of the state test if they had six teachers helping them with reading rather than just one?

The bottom line is this – they’re all our students. Returning to the restaurant analogy, if the glass needs refilled, fill it. Remember, the important thing is not who fills the glass (teaching), but that the glass gets filled (learning). 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

If you haven't seen this commercial from Kaplan University, please take 60 seconds and watch it. 

 
(Video link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_5SjeUKQ-g)

Despite being a couple years old, I think this ad does a great job of illustrating where education is headed. Actually, I believe it’s already there. One line from the commercial states, “It’s time to use technology to rewrite the rules of education.” As we see in the commercial, learning should no longer be confined to the four walls of a classroom, between the hours of 8:30 am and 3:00 pm, Monday through Friday. The reality is that learning can (and should) take place at 6:30 pm at the kitchen table, in bed on a Saturday morning, or in a subway station on a Sunday afternoon. Let’s face it, students don’t always “get it” the first time a concept is taught. Students benefit from reteaching and/or review sessions. But what happens when the bell rings and a student needs to see or hear it again? Should he/she be told, “Sorry, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to learn.” What about those students who don’t want to wait until tomorrow but are excited to learn now? What’s the solution? If only students could take the teaching, not just the textbook, home with them. Oh, wait. They can!

Mobile technology continues to find its way into the hands of students. I’m an administrator at the middle school level, and it seems like every student has a cell phone, most capable of playing audio and video files. What if teachers leveraged that technology instead of fighting it? Now, I’m not saying students should have free reign of their cell phones during the school day – that’s a discussion for another day. But what if teachers delivered content to their students that could be accessed on their cell phones, iPods, and iPads after hours? What if the reteaching and review sessions previously mentioned could be put in a format kids embrace, namely audio or video on their mobile devices? Fortunately, the technology tools available to teachers make this not only possible, but actually pretty easy.

While in the classroom, I provided my 5^th grade students with audio review sessions called StudyCasts (you can listen to them here). I got the idea from former Missouri Teacher of the Year Eric Langhorst who graciously shares his ideas with other educators. Before each Social Studies and Science test, I recorded myself going over the material that would be covered on the test. What I love so much about StudyCasts is that in addition to going over the notes students took in class, I was also able to review examples I gave or stories I told during class that weren’t necessarily in the notes. I didn’t do any editing of these recordings. If I coughed during a recording, I said, “Excuse me” and kept going. They weren’t meant to be polished works of art, they were meant to help my students study. StudyCasts weren’t intended to replace traditional studying, but rather to provide an additional study aid.  I posted the broadcasts on my classroom website and in iTunes, making them easily to download to iPods or iPads. For students without Internet access, I would burn the broadcasts onto CDs for them. I would also burn a few extra CDs and raffle them off to all students. Their reaction? You would have thought I was giving away gold. Seriously, I worked my students into a frenzy by doing what? Giving away my teaching. I just packaged it in a way my kids thought was cool.

There are several applications out there you can use to easily create audio broadcasts like StudyCasts. Here are a few free resources I have used:

• Audacity – Free download for PC and Mac (here is a series of tutorial videos I created for Audacity)
• GarageBand – Comes preinstalled on all Macs and available as an iPad/iPhone app for $4.99 (here is a series of tutorial videos I created for GarageBand)
• Cinch – Cinch is a free online service that allows you to create audio recordings using your computer’s microphone. Broadcasts are posted online on your personal Cinch webpage. In addition to listening on the Cinch website, recordings can be downloaded as MP3 files or embedded on your website or blog. There’s even an app for iPhone and Android phones that allows you to make a recording from your phone. If you’re looking for a really simple way to make an audio recording to post online, especially if you’re looking to do so while on the go, I’d definitely recommend Cinch.

While audio review broadcasts are great, what about students who are visual learners? Or what about math teachers? Standalone audio is not exactly the perfect medium to teach math concepts that are best explained visually. This is where video comes in, and fortunately for teachers, there are many ways to easily create videos for students. When I was teaching, I used a mobile interactive whiteboard to create math review videos for my students (you can view these on my classroom website or on my YouTube channel). Since complex math concepts often require reteaching for students to achieve mastery, many of my students needed extra instruction, often requiring more time than I had in class. I offered tutoring before and after school and during breaks, but not all students could attend. I needed to make my teaching available to students on their time. By creating videos my students could watch at home (over and over and over if necessary), I essentially gave my students the opportunity to take me home with them, showing them how to do a problem as many times as it took for them to learn the concept. Really, I created my own mini-version of Kahn Academy, only it was my familiar voice teaching them.

Here are some video-creation resources I’ve used:

• Interactive Whiteboards – many of the software applications used with interactive whiteboards or tablets have recording capabilities. If you’re already doing the math problems in class, record what you’re doing and post the video online for your students to view.
• Jing – Free screencasting software available for PC and Mac. Easily create up to 5-minute videos of your computer screen while recording voice-over audio. Great for showing students how do something online.
• SonicPics – If you have an iPhone, this is a great app that can create a video from a series of images. The app is currently priced at only $0.99. I paid $2.99, and it is well worth the higher price. This is a great way to create a video StudyCast based on PowerPoint or Keynote slides. Start by saving each slide of your presentation as a JPG image and transfer the images to your phone. Then import the images into SonicPics and discuss each slide, swiping to the next slide whenever you’re ready. You control the timing. The result is a video of you narrating your presentation. Very easy to use. I highly recommend this app.
• ShowMe – If you have an iPad, this is a free app that allows you to create videos with voice-over audio. When you’re done recording, you upload your video to showme.com. Post the link on your website or blog and your students are ready to go.
• Explain Everything – This is another fantastic app for creating videos on the iPad. The app retails for $2.99 and is definitely worth the price. It allows you to draw/write on the screen, and even import and annotate pictures. The app records your voice and everything happening on the screen. It’s a great way to illustrate math concepts, or this is another way make a video StudyCast by importing PowerPoint or Keynote slides and discussing each slide. A big perk of this app is that videos can be saved in the Photos app on your iPad, enabling you to export the video and embed it on your website or blog.
• Flip Video or Cell Phone Cameras – Don’t have an iPad or interactive whiteboard? No problem. You can use a Flip Cam or the camera on your cell phone to record yourself making a tutorial video. I have friends who have set up a video camera or had a colleague hold the camera while they do math problems on the whiteboard or even a piece of paper. These videos can then be uploaded to your website, YouTube, or TeacherTube. Remember, the goal is not to produce an award-winning video, but rather to provide students with opportunities to learn outside of the classroom.

Don’t think providing these types of learning opportunities is necessary? I’ll close with this. When I asked my students to let me know what they thought of StudyCasts, here’s how one student responded:

“I like the StudyCasts because I can listen to them on my computer while I’m doing my homework.  I listened to the Puritan StudyCast five times and I got a good grade.”

If we build it, they will come.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

I recently had the opportunity to attend a Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) conference led by Rick and Becky DuFour. If you are not familiar with the DuFour’s work with PLCs and ever get a chance to hear them speak, take advantage of that opportunity. The information you take away will change the way you teach (plus, they are extremely entertaining speakers).

It would be impossible to share all the amazing information presented by the DuFours, but one thing struck me more than anything else during the two-day conference – there is no shame in teachers admitting that they can’t do it all by themselves, or perhaps better said, it’s okay to admit that someone else in the building may do something better than you can. Everyone has teaching strengths and everyone has areas that, though they may not be considered weaknesses, are not as strong as those around them.

Let me give you an example from my teaching career. When I taught 5^th grade, I taught with a man named Bryan, someone who was stellar at teaching writing. In discussing common writing assessments and sharing student samples with each other, I was consistently amazed at what he could get his students to produce. By comparison, my students’ writing was not nearly as descriptive. While I didn’t consider myself a bad writing teacher, it was obvious Bryan was better. The proof, writing samples from both our students, was right there in front of me. I was faced with a choice – go back to my classroom and try to hide the fact that my teaching methods were not as effective as they could be, or swallow my pride and learn from my friend. So I went to him and asked, “How are you getting your kids to write like that? What exactly are you doing?” And to Bryan’s credit, he shared with me his expertise. He didn’t think to himself, Wait, if I share my strategies, my secret will be out and I’ll no longer be the best. No, he realized that teaching is not about hoarding a “secret formula” so that his test scores would be superior to mine. He understood that our job was to work together to reach all of our students, not simply the ones on our individual class rosters.

One of my favorite concepts regarding teamwork comes from an excellent book called High Five! The Magic of Working Together by Ken Blanchard, Sheldon Bowles, Don Carew, and Eunice Parisi-Carew. In it, the authors beautifully illustrate this concept regarding teamwork – collective skill transcends individual skills. It is more important to build the skill level of the team than it is to have a group of skilled individuals who work by themselves. When teachers share their skills with the rest of their team, the entire team benefits. Then, if a highly skilled teacher leaves to go to a different school, the team can still function at a high level because the shared skill does not leave with the teacher.

I think a real-life example of this concept is currently playing out in the National Football League. Peyton Manning, the quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts, has not played this season due to injury. Manning is one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, a future Hall-of-Famer. Yet as I write this post, the Colts have a record of 0-10. For the past decade, the Colts have been consistent Super Bowl contenders, but with the loss of one highly skilled player, they have not been able to win a single game. Now, while this is not a perfect example, since Manning’s skill as a quarterback cannot be fully taught or shared with his teammates, I think it illustrates the point that if a team is only as good as one of its members, how good a team is it?

We all have strengths. I encourage you to share them with those around you.

Note: For any Colts fans out there, please know that I’m not trying to bash your team or kick them while they’re down. After all, I’m a fan of the San Diego Chargers, and we’ve all seen how bad they’ve been this season.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Throughout my career in education, I’ve heard my share of four-letter words. Unfortunately, I’ve heard them all. But over the last few years, I’ve realized there’s another often-used, yet widely accepted, four-letter word that can be very offensive. It’s a word I’ve heard countless times from students, and it’s become a word I don’t allow when used inappropriately. To which word am I referring? Just.

Ironically, this is one of my favorite and least favorite words, all depending on how it is used. When defined as “guided by truth, reason, and fairness,” it’s one of my favorite words. Injustice is one of my biggest pet peeves, so in this sense, I love the word just. Personally and professionally, I strive to create environments that are just. But when the word is defined as “only or merely” and precedes something important, the word rubs me the wrong way.

Let me explain. Too often I hear the word just used to excuse poor behavior choices. For example:

“But I did my homework. I just forgot to show my work.”
“I didn’t hit him. I just pushed him.”
“I was just kidding when I said that to her.”
“I got the right numbers. I just put the decimal point in the wrong place.”

When used in this way, the word just is intended to minimize the importance or significance of whatever follows the word in the sentence.

“I just forgot to show my work.” This implies that showing work isn’t important, despite the fact that it was a requirement of the teacher.
“I just pushed him.” This sends the message that pushing another student is an acceptable form of behavior.
“I was just kidding when I said that to her.” So being unkind and disrespectful to a classmate is okay because you said, after the fact, it was simply a joke?
“I got the right numbers. I just put the decimal point in the wrong place.” The answer is still wrong. Close doesn’t count.

In addition to academics, I’m a firm believer that educators must teach students to be responsible, and not only for things like remembering to complete their homework every day. Students must learn to take responsibility for all of their behavior choices. Allowing them to excuse inappropriate behavior with the word just is not doing them any favors, because the real world doesn’t work like that.

Suppose a banker tells his supervisor, “I entered all the right digits into the computer. I just put the decimal point in the wrong place.” The supervisor’s probable response? “You’re just fired.”

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

When I began my teaching career, people would often ask me, "So, do you want to be a principal some day?" My response was always along the lines of "No way! I have no desire to become an administrator." And I didn't. I became a teacher because I wanted to teach, not because it was a stepping stone to the administrative ranks.

As an elementary school teacher, I was also asked during the early years of my career if I ever had plans to move up to middle school. Once again, I usually responded by saying that I was happy at the elementary level and had no plans to make the move to middle school.

Yet here I am, an assistant principal at a middle school. Who would have thought? Never say never.

I write this post after completing my first two days of the school year as a middle school administrator. How'd it go? It went well. My principal was ill and was forced to miss the final two days leading up to school starting as well as the first two days of school. That added to the stress of my new position, but my fellow assistant principal and I did our best to rally the troops, and all things considered, the first day went very smoothly. I even had the pleasure of speaking with a very, very upset parent. But I survived. The second day saw fundraiser assemblies, more breaks and lunches, and despite several dress code violations, the day once again ended well.

One of my big goals this week was to make connections with students, to try and make the campus a place of safety. See, I had a miserable experience when I was in middle school. I was consistently picked on and rarely felt safe when I had to leave the classroom and walk around campus during breaks and lunches. So as I walked the campus these past two days, I saw myself in many of the 1,500 students. I saw myself in that scared boy or girl who just wants to feel comfortable at school, to make new friends, to fit in. Was I able to assuage the fear and uncertainty of every student on campus? Unfortunately, no. But it's my prayer that those I was able to meet and talk to felt a bit safer, a bit more comfortable, that their assistant principal is there to do everything he can to make sure they don't feel the way he felt when he was a 6th grader.

I have a lot to learn, but I'm excited about this opportunity. God has placed me in this position for a reason, and I look forward to seeing what He has planned for me and Shivela Middle School.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

“One stage of your journey is over, another begins.”
     - Gandalf, in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Who knew that a quote from one of my favorite movie trilogies would become applicable in my life? Well, it has, as next school year I will be leaving the classroom after 15 years of teaching to become an assistant principal at Shivela Middle School in my district. While I will greatly miss the staff, students, and parents of Tovashal, I'm absolutely ecstatic about the opportunity to support teachers as they support their students.

Some of you may be wondering what will happen to mrcoley.com, my classroom website. The resources on my site will remain online for teachers and students to access, but the site will no longer be updated as I shift my focus to my new position. I will continue to blog, however. :-)

This is not the end. I hope you’ll continue to follow me as my journey leads me to new and exciting places (like middle school).

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

If you teach language arts at the elementary or middle school level, chances are explicit vocabulary instruction is an integral part of your teaching. In my fifth grade classroom, in addition to teaching my students how to use context clues to help determine the meanings of new/unfamiliar words, I pre-teach certain vocabulary words that are embedded in each story of our district-adopted reading series (in my case, Houghton Mifflin). I introduce the words before we start each story, students learn and review the definitions of the words during the week, and they typically score well on the vocabulary quizzes I give them. Sounds good, right? But what happens to the students’ knowledge of Story #1’s words when we’ve moved on to Story #2? Or taking it a step further, how well are my students remembering the definitions of Story #1’s words when we’re on Story #10? The question is not Are my students learning the definitions of the words? but rather Are they retaining the definitions of the words?

Now, if I told my students to study their old vocabulary words on their own, they’d be about as excited as if I told them to go clean their rooms. It's probably not going to happen. So instead, we play a game I call Define It, and in this post, I want to share with you how it’s played.

With about two months remaining in the school year, I take 100 vocabulary words that were introduced during the year and create a word wall. Each word on the wall is numbered, 1 through 100. Each day, a few students from each team (in my classroom, teams are made up of table groups) roll two 10-sided dice to determine which words they will try to define. The number rolled on the first die represents the tens digit of the vocabulary word's number, and the number rolled on the second die represents the ones digit. For example, rolling a 3 and then a 4 would mean the student would have to define word number 34. 

If a student is correctly able to define the word, his/her team earns one point. If the student can also use the word in a sentence, he/she earns a second point for the team. If students get stuck and are having difficulty defining a word, they can choose to have me use the word in a sentence. If they can then correctly define the word, they earn one point. This way, students are given an opportunity to practice defining words using context clues. So basically, students have a chance to earn two points with no help from me, or one point with some assistance. In the event that a student is unable to define the word after it is used in a sentence, I randomly select a student using my classroom's random sticks. If the student selected can correctly define the word, his/her team earns a point. This way, everyone in the class stays alert, because students never know when they may have an opportunity to earn an extra point for their team.

To make the game even more exciting, I like to make certain words “bonus” words, meaning they are worth double the points. For example, I may designate all even-numbered words as bonus words for the day, so if students roll an even number, they have a chance to earn four points instead of the typical two. This is also a great way to keep teams that are behind in points engaged, as all it takes is defining a few bonus words to get their team back in the game. Points are tallied, and the team with the most points at the end of each month wins a small prize.

If you’re like me and have struggled with helping your students retain vocabulary they learned early on in the school year, give Define It a try with your class. My students love it, and I think yours will too. 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Ever had an event where a sign-up sheet was required? Maybe you’re a teacher who has needed parent volunteers for a field trip or class party. Or maybe you’ve been the team mom for your son’s T-ball team and needed parents to sign up to bring snacks for each game of the season. If any of these situations sound familiar, you need to check out SignUpGenius.

SignUpGenius is a free and incredibly easy way to create online group sign-up lists. Using the website’s form wizard with a variety of templates, you can create an online sign-up sheet in a matter of minutes. You have the option of making your sign-up sheet public or private, and once set up, a link to your SignUpGenius webpage is sent to people you’d like to invite to sign up. When visiting your customized sign-up sheet, potential volunteers can see what’s available and what’s already been taken. Plus, every time someone signs up, you receive an email notification.  No more shuffling papers or worrying about two people signing up for the same thing. For more information on how it all works, click here.

In a world where we’re always looking for time-savers, SignUpGenius definitely qualifies.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

If you’re reading this blog, you probably know that I also maintain a classroom website at www.mrcoley.com. What began in 1999 as a simple site with just a few pages has grown into a pretty extensive collection of resources for my students, their parents, and other teachers. The mission of mrcoley.com is to 1) enhance parent-teacher-student communication, 2) provide resources that will support increased academic achievement, 3) showcase student work, and 4) share ideas with other educators.

I love sharing. It’s one of my passions. As stated above, it’s one of the reasons I maintain my website. I have been blessed to have amazing teachers over the years share with me, and my website is one of the ways I’m trying to give back (see my post “Paying It Forward”). I often receive emails from teachers across the country asking for permission to use an idea they’ve seen on my site. I’m always extremely flattered to hear a teacher has stumbled upon my site and found it to be a resource. When asked for my permission to use an idea found on my site, I typically reply with the following words:

"Please feel free to borrow ideas you see on mrcoley.com and use them in your classroom or on your classroom website. I love sharing resources and ideas with other teachers (it's one of the goals for my site). That being said, I firmly believe that educators need to share and borrow in the appropriate way. Plagiarism is not something we accept from our students, and it shouldn't be something we as educators practice. If you decide to borrow an idea and include it on your website, I ask that you include a link back to my site and that you don't copy and paste my exact wording, formatting, and graphics. I have spent years building my site and crafting the text on its pages, so to see it copied and pasted onto another site as someone else's original work is extremely frustrating, not to mention illegal. In short, feel free to  borrow the ideas, but please give credit where credit is due, and make it reflect your site and not mine."

Over the past several years, I have discovered many teachers who have found my website, copied my exact words (sometimes entire pages complete with graphics and formatting), and republished them onto their own sites. Believe it or not, I’ve found a couple teachers who copied practically my entire site, word for word, replacing only my name with theirs, without a word of credit. I’m often told by friends I should be flattered, that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I agree – imitation is a form of flattery. But copying and pasting is a form of stealing. Seeing a teacher imitate my site is extremely flattering. It makes my day each and every time I hear from a teacher who likes my website. Seeing a teacher copy my site is extremely frustrating. There is a difference between borrowing ideas and stealing content. Ideas are not copyrighted – they are free to be copied. Teachers should look for new and fresh ideas to make their teaching better – that’s what good teachers do. Someone’s words, on the other hand, unless otherwise stated, are copyrighted and may not be copied and republished (even if a copyright symbol or notice is not placed on the webpage). Bottom line – granting permission to use an idea does not constitute the right to copy one’s exact words. The exception to this is if material is copied from a source that is licensed under Creative Commons. Creative Commons grants users the right to copy material, provided credit is given to the original creator of the material. In my experience, however, most of the websites I have come across are not licensed under Creative Commons, but rather operate under standard copyright. 

So the question is, why do teachers do this? How could a teacher who would never accept this type of action from students model this kind of behavior? I’m sure there are some teachers out there who know exactly what they’re doing and just don’t care. But honestly, I think most of the teachers who copy and paste someone else’s words have no idea they’re doing anything wrong. Sad, but I think it's true. Maybe it’s a mindset of It’s okay, I’m a teacher. Teachers are allowed to do this because it’s for educational purposes. Whatever the reason, it isn’t right. Ignorance doesn’t make it okay.

It's my hope that this post would serve as a sort of public service announcement, because if teachers are engaging in this type of behavior and truly don’t know they’re doing anything wrong, someone needs to say something. Well, I've said something.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Raise your hand if you enjoy writing sub plans. What, no hands going up? You mean you don't enjoy the often tedious, time-consuming task of writing lesson plans for a substitute teacher? Me neither. I have yet to meet a teacher who does. While writing sub plans, have you ever thought, I wish I could just tell the teacher and students what I want them to do while I'm gone? Ladies and gentlemen, you can. I want to share with you something magical, something that will change your life. Okay, it won't change your life, but it will save you time. I introduce to you...audio sub plans.

Like life, substitute teachers are like a box of chocolates -- you never know what you're going to get sometimes. There are some incredible substitute teachers out there and, unfortunately, there are some not-so-incredible ones. What if you spend two or three hours writing really detailed sub plans, but the substitute doesn't read them or misinterprets what you wrote? All that time spent was wasted. Enter audio sub plans. Instead of writing it all out, record a short message for the guest teacher and students. Then place the audio file on your classroom computer's desktop or burn it to a CD. Now, all the teacher has to do is double-click the file or play the CD and...Bingo -- your message, spoken with your own voice, will be heard as you intended. All you need to include in your written plans is a short sentence telling the guest teacher to play the audio file for the students. And don't underestimate the power of your voice when you're not there. I teach fifth grade, and the ability to insert a reminder in an audio message about classroom behavior is extremely powerful.

Below is a message I created for my students explaining what they were going to do during a math lesson when I was out of the classroom one day.

Math_Message.mp3 Listen on Posterous

If you haven't yet tried creating audio sub plans, I highly encourage you to give it a try. You, your students, and your substitute teacher will be glad you did.

Listen to an audio version of this post below.

Sub_Plans.mp3 Listen on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

It’s easy to get frustrated as a teacher. We’ve all been there. The students aren’t behaving well. A lesson bombed. Students didn’t do well on an exam. All can lead to frustration on the job. Recently, I’ve been battling frustration at work, but not for one of the reasons mentioned above. First, let me say that I have an absolutely wonderful class of 5^th graders this year. The students are sweet, have a great attitude toward learning, and I have no major behavior problems. Now some of you may be thinking, “Gosh, Brent! You’ve got it good.” Nope. I have it great. I am incredibly blessed to be able to teach the kids in my class and work with not simply colleagues, but friends. So what’s the problem, Brent?

Ironically, it has to do with technology, and the fact that my students have access to it. With the exception of one, every student in my classroom has a computer at home with Internet access, and more than half of them have an iPod (please don’t be a hater – I know I am fortunate). Yet despite these facts, most of my students this year are demonstrating apathy toward the resources I’m providing for them on my website (e.g. iPod flash cards, StudyCasts). For example, despite year-long offers of extra credit for downloading sets of iPod flash cards or the corresponding PowerPoints, only three students have taken advantage of this opportunity. Last week, I embedded a secret, “extra credit” password in a StudyCast. Twelve students said they listened to the broadcast, yet no one came to me with the password (a subsequent classroom discussion revealed they had not listened to the StudyCast, but were simply telling me what they thought I wanted to hear).

Again, I know I am fortunate. There are countless teachers who have students with limited or no access to technology. But my students DO have access to it, and they aren’t using it. Therein lies my frustration. I’ve asked myself, “Should I continue to spend my time and energy creating these technology resources if most of my students aren’t going to use them?” The answer is…absolutely.

In my frustration, I was reminded of the timeless story of the boy and hundreds of starfish that had washed up on a beach (if you’re not familiar with the story, watch this short video). It would be very easy to give up, saying, “What’s the use? These technology tools aren’t making a difference for all my students.” But the reality is, if even ONE student is able to use these resources to be more successful in the classroom, the time and effort spent creating them has been well worth it. While I’d love for all of my students to use these tools, one is enough, because after all, what if that one student was my son or daughter? Would I be grateful to the teacher for providing learning resources for my child, even though others in the class weren’t using them? You bet.

It’s my sincere hope that readers won’t view this post as an attempt on my part to say, “Look what I’m doing with technology!” Rather, my goal is to encourage teachers who, like me, have been frustrated because we feel like we’re not making a difference. If you’re providing your students with “extras,” let us remember not to get caught up in how many are using them, but rather to celebrate those that are. Because like the boy in the story, we can then say, “I made a difference for that one.”

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

This past October, I had the opportunity to attend the T.E.L.L. (Technology, Education, Leading, and Learning) Conference in Van Nuys, California. While sitting in a session led by my friend Sean Williams, I discovered another cool tool, one that I’d forgotten about until just the other day. At the very beginning of his presentation, Sean put a slide up that asked attendees to pull out their phones and text a code word to the number on the screen (much like shows like American Idol do when asking viewers to vote using their cell phones). So, I pulled out my iPhone, punched in the code word and number, and.....instantly received a text message with Sean’s contact information and a link to the online resources from his session. I remember sitting there thinking two words – sliced bread. As in, “This is the greatest thing since…”

Okay, so it isn’t the light bulb or the wheel, but this is definitely a cool tool. How did Sean do it? With an incredibly easy-to-use website called Contxts. All you have to do is sign up for a free account, choose a username (the word people will type when texting), and enter your 140-character message. That’s it. Then, direct people to text your username to 50500 and they’ll receive your customized message in a tidy little text message. It’s free, and there is no limit on how many times your message can be requested.

If you present at conferences, this is a fabulous way to quickly and easily get your contact information and web links into the hands (phones, actually) of your attendees. I’ll be using this resource at the CUE Conference in March, and I plan on using it again at Back-to-School Night next year with my students’ parents. I would love to hear some of your ideas on how Contxts could be used in an educational setting.

So thank you, Sean, for sharing this cool tool, and thank you, Ruston Hurley, for sharing it with Sean. And now I pass it on to you. Enjoy.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

In searching for a new way to display my students’ artwork on my classroom website, I recently discovered an amazing resource I think few people know about. It’s called SimpleViewer, and perhaps its website says it best – “Spectacular images galleries made simple.” This amazing, free resource allows users to create professional, Flash image galleries in a matter of minutes. No, really – minutes. By incorporating an incredibly easy-to-use desktop interface, creating a stylish gallery is a snap.

There are several cool features, but probably my favorite is that SimpleViewer supports Universal Playback, meaning image galleries created with the software can be viewed on mobile devices that do not support Flash (e.g. iPhone and iPad). Each time you create a SimpleViewer gallery, a mobile version of the gallery is also created, and if a user’s device doesn’t have the Flash plug-in enabled, the mobile version is displayed automatically. Awesome!

I could go on and on about it, but seeing is believing. Take some time and check out a few of the student art galleries I’ve created using SimpleViewer. If you like what you see, download it and take it for a spin. Remember, it’s free. What have you got to lose?

• The Vincent van Gogh Student Art Gallery
• The Claude Monet Student Art Gallery
• The Pablo Picasso Student Art Gallery

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Cooperative grouping. Direct instruction. Use of manipulatives. Technology infusion. I’ve often heard teachers argue that one kind of lesson is better than others. Personally, I believe there are merits to each of the aforementioned types of lessons and that teachers should use all of them. Using only one type of teaching strategy is like taking only one type of vitamin. Sure it’s good for you, but your body needs a variety of vitamins to keep your body healthy.

While it is definitely important to vary our teaching strategies to ensure our students “get all their vitamins,” it is just as important (if not more important) to remember one thing – it all starts with classroom management. One of the first pieces of advice I like to give to new or prospective teachers is this:

If they aren’t listening, it doesn’t matter what you’re saying. 

Sometimes it’s easy for us as teachers to fall in love with the lesson, neglecting the question – “Are the students engaged?” I know I’ve been guilty of it. I could have crafted the “perfect” lesson, but if my students are doodling, spinning rulers on their pencil points, talking with classmates, or simply staring out the window, how perfect is my lesson, really? Think of it this way. One could spend two or three hours writing amazingly detailed sub plans. But what happens if the substitute teacher doesn’t read them? All that hard work went for nothing. In the same way, spending two or three hours on a lesson that is delivered without effective classroom management can lead to teaching without learning.

Should we strive to craft great lessons that incorporate a variety of teaching strategies? Absolutely. But let us not forget that a lesson is only as good as the atmosphere in which it is delivered. It’s been asked, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Allow me to put an educational spin on that question…if students aren’t listening, does a teacher’s voice make a sound?

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

So today I decided to get out of the house and head down to my local Panera to get a little work done. After ordering and finding a table, I proceeded to pull out my iPhone to check my messages. Then, since my food had not yet arrived, I pulled out my Barnes & Noble Nook (an eReader that I absolutely love, by the way). Shortly thereafter my food was ready and I enjoyed a delicious sandwich while escaping into the book I am currently reading. After my meal, I opened up my laptop case and pulled out my MacBook Pro. While the computer was firing up, it hit me. I stopped, sat back, and asked myself, "Brent, do you realize what you have in front of you?" And I wasn't referring to the remains of my Bacon Turkey Bravo sandwich.

I had three computers, neatly lined up on the table, staring up at me as if to say, "Do you realize how good you have it?" And at that moment, I was reminded how far we've come. When I began teaching 15 years ago, I didn't have a computer in my classroom, much less the Internet. Yet at that moment, I had on my table a phone capable of so much more than making calls, a device with instant access to over two million books, and a computer that puts unlimited information at my fingertips in a matter of seconds (not to mention free wifi).

So the next time I impatiently tap my finger while waiting for a slow internet connection or sigh because my cell coverage is poor, I hope I remember today and think back to what it was like when I went to a restaurant for a different reason -- to simply eat.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Most blogging platforms advertise themselves as easy to use, and most are. But recently I discovered one that truly delivers in the "Really-Easy-to-Use-and-Still-Has-Some-Cool-Features" department. If you are not familiar with Posterous, I strongly encourage you to give it a look (you're actually reading a Posterous blog right now). If you're wanting to publish a blog or you need a place to host your podcasts, it may be just what you're looking for.

Here are five reasons why I recommend Posterous:

1.  It's free. Enough said.

2.  It's free. Free is good, so it's worth saying twice.

3.  It's easy to use. REALLY easy. In fact, if you can send an email, you're ready to start blogging with Posterous. Yes, you can write and edit posts on the Web, but one of the great features of Posterous is that a post can also be uploaded by sending a simple email. The title of your email message becomes the title of your blog post, and the body of the email becomes the content of the post. That's it. Want to include media in your post? Simply attach it to the email and Posterous automatically converts and embeds it into your blog post. Attach an audio file and Posterous embeds a media player into your post so visitors can listen right in their browsers (see below).

sample_recording.m4a Listen on Posterous

Attach photos and Posterous creates an image gallery, right in the post. Here's a sample gallery containing some of my students' recent artwork.

See the full gallery on Posterous

4.  It's perfect for hosting podcasts. Posterous provides users with 1GB of total storage, giving podcasters plenty of room to store their broadcasts. Plus, Posterous automatically creates an iTunes-ready RSS feed, making your podcast subscribable. Oh, and did I mention it's free?

5.  You can post from your smartphone. Since posts can be published via email, you can use your iPhone, Droid, Blackberry, or other email-enabled phone to post when you're away from your computer. Want to publish a podcast episode while on the go? Use your phone's voice recorder to make a recording, and then email it to Posterous. Bam! Instant podcast.

Give it a look. I think you'll be happy with what you see.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Think back to your first year of teaching. For some, it was just a few years ago. For others, it may seem a distant memory (and some of you may still be in your first year). Regardless of how long you've been teaching, think back to the beginning. Did you have an experienced teacher mentor you through your first year or two? Whether it was informal or in a program such as BTSA, did you have someone come alongside you and share lessons, help you with your classroom management, show you the ins and outs of your new school? I did. Mrs. Kawase was her name, and I was incredibly blessed to work with her as she took me under her wing and showed me what it takes to be a great teacher. She listened when I had questions, freely shared her resources, and more than anything, was a friendly face during a very overwhelming year.  

I've asked the same question to teachers recently at presentations I've given -- "Did you have a mentor?" Unfortunately, very few teachers have said they had someone to mentor them at the beginning of their careers. After thinking about it, I asked myself, "Why not?" Is it because there weren't any teachers qualified to give a first-year teacher guidance? I find that hard to believe. Whatever the reason, it isn't right.

What about now? How many of you currently have someone you would call an educational mentor? I do. His name is Tony Vincent (www.learninginhand.com). Some of you may be familiar with his work. A former 5th grade teacher, he is now an independent consultant who works with teachers and students all over the world to help them tap into the power of educational technology. Spend some time on my website and you'll find his name on many of the pages, as he has been instrumental in helping me infuse emerging technologies like blogs, podcasts and iPod flash cards into my teaching. Tony has been an incredible resource to me, and although it's not an official title, I consider him to be my educational technology mentor.

Here's the point I want to make -- I've never met Tony. I have never been in the same room with him. As far as I know, we've never been in the same state at the same time. He lives in Arizona, while I live in California. With the exception of one Skype call, I've never even spoken with him. All of our communication has been in the form of text (email, Twitter, etc.). Yet because of his influence, because he has freely and graciously shared his ideas, expertise, and resources through his website, I am a better teacher than I was a few years ago. All because he was willing to share.

Are you sharing? Are you a mentor? Are you paying it forward? We all have something to share, whether we're in our second or third year of teaching or our second or third decade. It may be big or it may be small, but with millions of teachers in the world, someone may be online right now looking for what you have. So share, through a blog, a wiki, a website, Twitter, or simply a conversation in the staff room. Do not underestimate your influence.  

A few years ago, I received an email from a teacher in another state. After seeing some social studies flowchart notes I had posted on my website (http://www.mrcoley.com/flowcharts_examples.htm), she sent me a short message. Below is an excerpt from the email, shared with her permission.

"I thought you should know that today you managed to indirectly touch the lives of 18 students here in Alabama...Last night I stumbled across your website and noticed your social studies flowchart notes for your lesson on Columbus. Coincidentally this just happens to be the lesson we are on in social studies. So, I thought I'd give it a shot with my kids. TODAY WAS THE FIRST DAY that my students ENJOYED social studies. Today was the first day my students comprehended ANYTHING having to do with social studies...I just thought you would want to know that you made a difference in the lives of 18 children today, even though we are almost a continent away."

Do not underestimate your influence.  

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

OK, so I'm a little slow. I've had my 5th grade students blogging for a couple of years, and I'm just now joining the party. Better late than never, right?  

Starting my own blog is something I've thought about doing for a while, but I never did due to that little voice in the back of my head that kept saying, "What do you have to say that other people would want to read?" Well, I've listened to that voice long enough. Am I going to change the world with this blog? Probably not. Do I have all the answers to questions about teaching and educational technology? Absolutely not. But I'd like to think that after 15 years in the classroom, I've learned a few things that are worth sharing. 

So join me on my blogging journey and hopefully I’ll make it worth your while. Oh, and that little voice? Well, I’ll tell it the same thing I tell teachers during my professional development workshops. I understand that not every one of my students will take advantage of my classroom website, tutorial videos, or iPod flash cards. That’s okay. But if even one student benefits from one of these tools, the time and effort spent creating them was well worth it. In the same way, if one teacher gets something out of this blog, it will have been worth my time.

- Brent

Permalink | Leave a comment  »