If you've read my recent posts, you may know that I am following a different schedule this year. I start my morning at Tabb Elementary and then sometime as early as 11:00 or as late as 1:00, I pack up and head to Mt. Vernon. Depending on what's on my schedule, I may have barely enough time to catch my breath before hitting the ground running. Lunch is a "whenever" proposition.
I made this change because I didn't like being away from a school for even a few days. Now I'm at each school every day! I love it!
I repeat, I love it, so I'll preface my next thoughts with this: I'm not complaining. I like to be busy, and this schedule keeps me busier than I have been, probably since I left the classroom 10 years ago.
What I've discovered is that when I was at one school for Monday and Tuesday, my workload at the other school was minimal. I'd still get the occasional email from the other, but I would be able to focus on what was needed to be done at the Monday/Tuesday school.
Well, now that I'm at each school every day, I end up with projects and tasks and at both schools simultaneously. If a need pops up in the morning and I'm busy with other commitments, I don't have the luxury of finishing up in the afternoon; I have another school full of teachers and students who need my attention. I've always wanted to learn how to juggle.
The key is to try and stay organized. It's all about lists and folders and calendars and email. Now, where did I put my keys?
This was the first year that I was at Tabb Elementary on the first day of school. With teachers busy getting their students acclimated to the new year, I knew my duties would be limited to reconnecting speakers, reinstalling printers, and other non-instructional tasks. I decided to use some of my time to put together a welcome back video. As the doors opened to the 2015-16 school year, several of my colleagues and I took short video clips of the students arriving, walking down the hall, meeting their teachers, finding their desks, etc. By the end of the day, I had stitched together a video montage using the theme song from the old "Welcome Back, Kotter" television show. Here is a link to that video.
https://youtu.be/6It8R40lzhw
I certainly didn't want to neglect Mt. Vernon, so I came up with a different idea for them. Since I am only there in the afternoons this month, I decided to make a video montage showing what teachers do after their students leave. As far as I was concerned, there was no other musical choice than Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Taking Care of Business". Her is a link to that.
https://youtu.be/NthasZXoVwo
I enjoyed making that video so much, I decided I'd make another. This one was back at Tabb, and it was about what teachers do in the mornings before students arrive. Educators know that teachers don't arrive after their students are seated, waiting for them to make a grand entrance. Despite what we often see on television and in the movies, there's much to be done to prepare for students' arrival. The song I chose was unfamiliar to me, but I thought it fit the mood.
https://youtu.be/ZRi7qVfYALk
As you can see, video creation is one of my favorite things to do. Last year I experimented with recording using multiple iPads at different angles and editing it with quick cuts from one perspective to another, make it more exciting and visually interesting. Perhaps one day I'll create my masterpiece and you'll see me on the Oscars. I'll be that guy who get drowned out by the orchestra as his acceptance speech goes on a little too long.
Many years ago, back in my Gloucester days, we used KidPix as a creation tool. KidPix was a computer program that allowed students to "paint" pictures, add clip art and graphics, and insert text. One story I have told repeatedly over the years is about the time a fourth grade teacher brought her students in to the lab and told them to open KidPix. Their assignment was to draw and label a parallel circuit and a series circuit. What a great assessment: simple, engaging, and exactly what she needed.
There were two problems with KidPix. Although it had an undo button, it only undid the last move, so if a student needed to back up two or more steps, he was out of luck. The other problem was that the eraser tool erased the background as well as any layers above it, ruining a student's work.
In 2009 I joined the York County School Division and soon after I discovered Pixie from Tech4Learning. It did everything KidPix did and solved the two problems we had with KidPix in Gloucester. It was not difficult to get approval to purchase Pixie for all the elementary schools in York County.
Then, Tech4Learning came out with Wixie, a web-based version of Pixie. It had two additional advantages. Work saved automatically in the cloud, and a teacher could choose or create a template and assign it to her students.
Yesterday and I today, I had two third grade classes come to the lab for their first attempts at logging on to the computers. Once they were on, I had them go to Wixie and sign in. I assigned a template that looked like an iPad (see picture above) but without the apps. I modeled how to make solid colored squares, how to add and resize pictures, and how to insert and move text. They loved creating their own iPad app icons. This was mostly a "just for fun" activity, but I believe that the potential for Wixie is limitless.
For a while, I was at least moderately successful at posting something on this blog on most days. But like any good or bad habit, best intentions can become merely a reflection in the rear view mirror. I make no promises or commitments, but it's a new school year and every journey begins with a single step, blah, blah, blah.
The original purpose of this blog was to give others some idea of what I do for a living. For more than 25 of my 36 years in education, I was a classroom teacher, and for most of that I taught third grade. People understand what a third grade teacher does (at least on a superficial level), but unless you're an Educational Technology Facilitator -- or an ITRT or a TCIS or whatever we're called by your school division -- you probably have only a vague idea of what I do each day. So with this in mind, I reintroduce you to my blog, "What I did in school today".
For all of my ten years in instructional technology, I have been split between two elementary schools: Abingdon/Achilles, Magruder/Waller Mill, Mt. Vernon/Tabb Elementary. And for most of these years I spent Monday and Tuesday at one school, Wednesday and Thursday at the other school, and I alternated Fridays. This worked reasonably well, but I had one major beef with it. There were some weeks I'd leave a school on Thursday and not return until the following Wednesday. It's true that absence may make the heart grow fonder, but out of sight, out of mind is often the prevailing notion.
With this in mind, and with the luxury of working at two schools that are just a couple of miles apart, I am trying something new this year. For the month of September I begin my day at Tabb Elementary and move over to Mt. Vernon somewhere around midday. In October it will be the other way around. Now I am at each school every day. I might not be there the exact moment someone needs me, but waiting until later in the day is better than waiting until next week.
I have to be honest. The five minute trip between schools is a bigger disruption to my day than I anticipated. It takes about 15-20 minutes to finish up at one school, pack up, shut down, travel, and jump on the moving train of the day at the other school. I'm learning to relieve some of this stress during the short drive (music, sports radio), and as anticipated, I LOVE being in both places everyday and being able to have face time with anyone who needs me.
After only six days, my impressions of this schedule are still in wet cement, but right now I would have to say it's exactly what I'd hope for.
