And Change-o Was Her Name-o.

When I started this blog last year–the inaugural year of my school’s 1:1 iPad initiative, I thought the name I chose was so clever. I mean iPad … iTeachiLearn. Get it?

How delightfully clever am I, said I, gleefully clicking my heels in celebration as I hit “publish” for the first time.

But then the other day I was poking around Twitter, when this link came across my feed:

 

I heard a record player’s needle scratch vinyl as I realized … uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh … I’m not the only one. I went and poked around Dave Mulder‘s website: iTeach and iLearn and I was just like “OH MANNNNN” especially when I realized that his blog was older than mine.

Then, I did what any modern-day tech-savvy teacher should do PRIOR to establishing a new blog and Googled “iTeach iLearn” and OF COURSE, Dave’s blog came up and so did a bunch of other stuff that used the same or similar title: There’s an ORG with the same name, as well as an un-uploaded book, an RTI Tier at a school in Washington, a spiral-bound book about iPads, a slideshare slideshow, a barely established Pinterest Board, a NING, and an archive of student podcasts.

Let this be a cautionary tale, friends. Always Google your intended name, pre-establishment.

So, I’ve been thinking and thinking and thinking … actually that’s an exaggeration. I had TWO names picked out prior to establishing this blog and I ended up going with iTeach iLearn because of the 1:1 iPad connection. However, though iPads have certainly played a role in my blogging experience, they are not the focus of this blog, so my original name choice is probably more telling anyway. Now, I’m going to reveal to you my new blog name, (which I did Google and came up with ONE similarly named blog, but nothing else, so I’m forging ahead), and the name is … (drum roll, please) … Small Teacher, Big World, same tagline. New name. Same tasty flavor.

And now you know why.

P.S. Dave Mulder plays the ukulele and loves Jesus. I WANT to play the ukulele player and totally love Jesus. Coinkydink? I think not–>We’re actually the same person. DUNdunDUNNNNN.

Just kidding. We’re are definitely NOT the same person, but we both obviously have excellent taste in blog titles.

Want to make a kid’s day? Comment on his or her blog post. #comments4kids

A while back, William Chamberlain, a teacher from Noel, MO started the #comments4kids backchannel, which was devised for students and their teachers to promote their blog posts and garner eyeballs! (He wrote a blog post about it back in 2009 when he first planted the seed.) We’ve been using that hashtag for a couple of weeks now and it’s working! I’m glad I asked William about this concept because he pointed me in the direction of the aforementioned blog post and he told me about this resource –> COMMENTS4KIDS, which has many other resources for teachers/students seeking comments for student blogs. Also, I didn’t know that WEDNESDAY is the official #comments4kids day on Twitter, until I read his post. I’ve been using it indiscriminately … on all sorts of days of the week … and probably will continue to do so, because it seems that folks do check that backchannel on other days too because … like I said: It’s been working! (My Twitter followers have been helping too. THANKS DOOOoooOOooOods!)

Want to make a kid’s day? Comment on his or her blog post. If you have the time AND the *positive* energy to share, please consider visiting one of the following blogs to post some constructive comments of either encouragement or dialogue extension for my students.

Keaton D. * The love of my life, softball *http://conlitkd.edublogs.org/
“You’ve been gripping the ball this whole time.. To find out it was the other way around.”

Danny C. * contemporary literature blog * http://conlitdc.edublogs.org/
“Sponsored by Crosgrove Industries… Do NOT look us up”

Xiola K. * Passion Fashion Blog * http://phsapengxk.edublogs.org/
“fashion you can use”

Destiney H. * Tattoo Blog * http://phsapengdh.edublogs.org/
“all about tattoos”

Shelby T. * Seeing Red * http://phsapengst.edublogs.org/
“A young redheaded woman’s view on heated topics and government”

Kody S. * Kody’s Food Blog* http://kodysfoodblog.edublogs.org/
“food, food, and more food”

Truman S. * Aliens * http://conlitts.edublogs.org/
“What? Who? Where? Why?: Aliens”

Camden P. * Basketball Blog * http://conlitcp.edublogs.org/
“blog about all levels of basketball”

Nicole C. * Don’t worry. Be happy. * http://phsapengnc.edublogs.org/
“everything that makes me happy”

Jessica B. * Bitter Blonde * http://phsapengjb.edublogs.org/
“my pet peeves”

Megan I. * Pinterest Tutorials * http://phsapengmi.edublogs.org/
“seeing which/how Pinterest tutorials work”

Kylie M. * Important Problems * http://phsapengkm.edublogs.org/
“anything that I feel is important to discuss”

James E. * Farming * http://conlitje.edublogs.org/
“the farming life”

 

iFixate (a post of gratitude)

When I find something that works, I tend to fixate on it. Right now I am fixating on my students’ blogs. I have a few “greatest hits” as far as things that I’ve tried that have gone over well in my career and I’m officially adding blogging to the top of that list. I’ve tried blogging or some form of it in the past and nothing has worked as well as this year’s blogs. One year I had students “discuss” novels in the comments of a blog I posted. Another year I had students respond to literature in their own personal blogs. In the grad class I teach in the summer, I’ve tried group blogging and I’ve tried individual blogging, and grad students will do pretty much whatever their instructor asks, but that doesn’t mean that they will do it passionately. (It doesn’t mean they WON’T either, but it is the exception and not the rule.) One thing that I did differently this time is I asked the students to generate their own topic based on their personal passions. This seems to have done the trick for most of my students.

PASSION was the missing ingredient.

How silly of me to have overlooked this precious commodity. I mean, I have meant well over the years. I’ve made attempts to INSTILL passion in students, but when you get down to it, passion is innate, it is familial, it is written in the unique code of our DNA. It CAN be contagious, but there must be a seed of interest there in order for it to grow. YES, I am passionate about reading and writing, and so are SOME of my students, but for those who have other interests (which would include nearly every single student I encounter), blogging provides an opportunity to dig into their interests whilst practicing invaluable skills! It’s a win-win and it’s going to help us meet and exceed some standards along the way too.

I don’t want to give off the impression that this has gone off without some hitches … In fact, NOTHING! … *REPEAT* –> NOTHING! I do ever turns out PERFECTLY … I’m convinced there is no such thing as “perfect” in education, and I do think we do not SHARE our failures and imperfections enough! I could blog exclusively on my daily fails, but it’s more fun to promote what goes well!

Some students are still experiencing a bit of writer’s block and some suffer from apathy or Senioritis, but for the most part, this whole blog thing has proven to be an effective way for students to practice their writing and in many cases, their research and to stretch their thinking and creativity. And frankly, this is more interesting for me as a teacher than reading 80+ canned responses on a piece of literature half the students weren’t interested in anyway. It’s pretty painful to read through so many similar pieces of writing only to discover they are nothing more than regurgitations of what I said in class or — worse yet — responses designed to appear as if they are regurgitated forms of MY thought, but it’s clear that the writer is just “faking” it because he or she DIDN’T read the text AND/OR DIDN’T listen in class. That’s REALLY painful.

These blog entries are a delight AND I’m learning things about the topics the students have chosen and more importantly about the students themselves.

So, I’ve been fixating on these blogs and my TEACHER dashboard lately. I’ve been tweeting out my students’ links like crazy! I’m just as excited as the kids when they receive a comment from outside of our classroom and I’m off-the-charts, over-the-moon excited when I see someone has made another post, on their own time, just because they WANT to do it. I stumbled into a Twitter chat last night on “visible learning.” Talk about visible learning! This is why I teach!  This is why I’m still learning!  My students’ PASSION BLOGS have reignited my passion for teaching writing and for someone who’s been in “the biz” for nearly 14 years, that is so valuable. My students have given me this gift and I am so very full of gratitude.