I know that many have seen this video already. I have also seen it in many different forms including targeting college-age students. But, they all carry the same message. What are we doing to meet these digital natives? No wonder they are so bored in school. They are not engaged, challenged, and encouraged to become creators for the most part. As teachers, we have a responsibility to change the way we think and the way we teach. For some, the old style is so deeply ingrained that it can never change. For others, it is a challenge worth undertaking. I hope that many teachers fall into that latter category. Especially when I think of the futures of my own children.

The wordle above pretty much sums up my school year so far. I love wordle.net. I found it at the end of the year last year and was really looking forward to using it in my class this year. Well, this year has been very different. I have started my new position as Curriculum At-Risk Data Specialist. Rather than being obsessed with the progress and engagement of 22 fifth graders, I have been working on the progress and engagement of 28 teachers. I have looked at data and research non-stop for the past 3 months. I do enjoy this job. I love having the opportunity to assist teachers and to hopefully make their job a little easier.
I do, however, miss having my own students SO much. I miss planning lessons for them that I know they are going to love. I miss seeing them learn new things. I don't miss grading papers, but that's about all. I've now taken to grading 500 assessments instead. Not so sure yet about the trade off. As I move through this year, I certainly hope that I can make some sort of difference in the life of some child through this different venue. We'll see!

Through the Twitter network, I came across this blog post about contact between students and teachers outside the classroom. This is one of the best I've read. I understand that with the changing world, we as teachers have to be very cautious. That said, I think that if a teacher is willing to interact with students in a strictly teacher/student context, it should be allowed. I live in a small town, so I have the luxury of knowing my students' parents (usually) and they know me. I have students call me to ask the name of an author for a project they are working on or to ask when an assignment is due. Sometimes my husband thinks I'm too accessible for my students, but I always want to be there for them. This year, I had a student ask me to add them as a contact on Skype. When I'm on at home, I'll usually get a "hey" from that student. It excites me that she has taken the initiative to learn these technologies. She was also the first one to go home and work on creating her own wiki. I hope to interact with these students outside of class. I hope to hear from them in the future for help or just to listen to their accomplishments. I have former students as 'friends' on Facebook.(of course they asked me)
I am not so naive that I think that there are not teachers out there who take advantage of these relationships and that is extremely sad. I do not, however, plan to pass on any opportunity that I have to be a help to a child. I do not seek to be their friend, but I do hope that I will always be a mentor to them beyond the one year that they spend with me.

As excited as I am about the potential of the new position at Benton Elementary next year, I really feel like I am going to miss being in the classroom terribly! I already miss it now, especially these kids from this year. I truly hope that I was able to have an impact on them this past year and I wish them all the best going to CMS. We've had a lot of fun together, tried a lot of new things, and hopefully learned a lot. Have a fantastic summer! Love you guys!

Mrs. Beaton graciously agreed to allow me to try out VoiceThread with her preschool class. I never imagined four and five year olds would be so nervous about recording their own voices. They did a great job, though!

An article was sent to me by our technology coordinator showing one man's repentance for his actions during the Civil Rights Movement. I found it very interesting and thought you might, too. It just shows that even the worst kids of people can make a choice to be different. Read the article here.

This morning we had a Skype call with an International School in Spain. We were not able to post video on this call because of privacy issues with the other school. We learned lots of interesting things about their school and their students. They have lots of different countries represented at their school including many American students. They told us that this is because of families from America that have moved their because of companies or because they serve in the military.
They explained that they have a King and a Monarchy. Their school speaks mostly Thai and English, but many other languages as well. We learned that they like many of the same video games and television shows that we do. They also play sports like rugby and football (which we call soccer). For fun, they like to go hiking and explore their city. One of the students told us her hobbies in Spanish. The kids said that this was their favorite call so far!

My fifth graders have had so much fun Skyping with other classes, I thought we might try it with other grade levels. Today, Mrs. Combs' second grade called Shepherd Elementary in North Carolina. They did a great job and had some great questions!

Today we Skyped with third-graders in the "windy city". We learned that they have a school similar in size to ours, except with a few more teachers. They have also used a lot of the same technology we have. We also found out that we have several differences. They don't have a cafeteria! Every student brings their lunch every day. They also travel to school and around using public transportation. They were very surprised that we had no public transportation except for our school buses. They also noticed our accent as most schools that we have communicated with have. Must be pretty obvious!

So sorry for the delay in posting. We have had a very busy week! We have been preparing for TCAP all week and I feel very confident that the kids are going to do quite well. Testing begins on Monday so please be sure that your child gets a good night's rest each night and eats a good breakfast each morning. Thank you to the parents who volunteered to send snacks. You will receive a schedule on Monday.