I’ve MOVED!

Hi everyone! This is just a QUICK post to say that I have MOVED! I am now using a PRO Edublog account … and I LOVE it! The problems I encountered with embedding my Introductory Animoto for #ETMOOC exist NO more! You can NOW find me at:

http://ldrenton.edublogs.org/

I look forward to continuing my learning journey with you over THERE!

Hi #ETMOOC! It’s ME … Laurie!

Sadly, my Animoto introduction will not “stick” … could it be time to PAY for a REAL blog?!? I refuse to let it get the BEST of me, though, so you will have to follow the link to see my orientation introduction:

To see this introduction please click here!

First #ETMOOC Thoughts

January 7, 2012:

I am excited, excited, EXCITED! My FIRST #ETMOOC … from START to FINISH! Last year, I was fortunate enough to tag along with Tannis  in some of her classes with Alec Couros while she did her Master’s online. Inspired is an understatement. Her Master’s is what started my TWITTER love and my introduction to the magic of Blackboard Collaborative. Since then, I have had the privilege of experiencing some of the MOST powerful PD with an INCREDIBLE PLN … 24/7 … if I want! I am FOREVER grateful to Tannis!

 Photo by MrsDKrebs

I am excited for this new learning adventure and looking forward to expanding my PLN!

No Longer Walking this Journey ALONE

I just finished a post for the #globalclassroom January chats and thought it would be fun to do as a “celebration” of our year … collectively and individually … as globally connected educators. I was inspired by the #kinderchat tribe, as they sometimes refer to themselves. But … let’s back this up in time just a titch:

  Photo by Krissy Venosdale

This is my FIRST year of involvement with the #globalclassroom chats.  Honestly … it’s my first FULL year of being inspired, DAILY, by my AMAZING twitter PLN and THAT is how I FOUND the #globalclassroom community! Over that time, I have changed MANY of the preconceived notions I held about SM.

I remember CLEARLY lurking through many twitter chats in the early days, feeling, VERY strongly, the “worry” of presenting myself “professionally” and sharing content with “valuable” educational links. Each tweet was carefully thought out. And, slowly, as confidence grew, I began to invest MORE of ME … still professional … still education focused … and my learning community began to grow. Along with that came the relationships. A shared joke, a favourite song, support during struggles, GREAT resources, INSPIRED reading, connections I never believed were possible … SO much more than I’d EVER expected. Who KNEW?

No matter WHERE you go, or WHAT you’re doing … it ALWAYS boils down to RELATIONSHIPS. The bottom  line is “you GET what you put INTO it”! I am inspired by SO many twitter communities and individuals. It was the camaraderie shared between the #kinderchat tweeps, who share, collaborate, joke, support and work hard at cultivating their relationships, that inspired my post for January’s #globalclassroom chat … a celebration of community, relationships, joyful learning and the journey.

 Photo by Krissy Venosdale

I LOVE that twitter is a place where I have done some of the most AMAZING learning in my teaching career. I feel BLESSED to no longer walk this journey ALONE.

Call Me –, Maybe.

 photo by eraphernalia

Call Me (Molly Maid, or Crazy, or Melancholy) Maybe

I threw a wish in the well,

Don’t ask me, I’ll never tell

I looked at you as it fell,

And now you’re in my way

—

I’d trade my soul for a maid

Maybe even a can of raid

I wasn’t looking for this

But now you’re in my way

—

Your boxes ever growin’

The basement’s over flowin’

Banged shins and pace is slowin’

Who is gonna sort you baby?

—

Hey, I just cleaned you

And, this is crazy,

But, here we go …

AGAIN!

I’m fairly easily entertained. That MUST have been obvious as SOON as you read Carly Rae’s MODIFIED lyrics. Sorry Carly! The last two days have been spent organizing the basement. I hope there was a COLLECTIVE groan as people read that last sentence. Trust me … there were MANY groans as this purge was in progress. But, in the end, not only is there more SPACE … it provided me with some AMAZING time to reflect on the first 25 years of my teaching journey as well!

Okay … it may SEEM like a lousy way to spend a vacation … but, for me, it was cathartic, empowering and a GREAT exercise in reflection!

On my storage shelves were many, MANY “teacher” boxes. Hours and HOURS of collecting, creating, purchasing and saving. Essentially, an educator’s museum of a twenty-six year  journey. For several years I taught Grade One and Two. Lovingly, I pulled boxes labelled with Japan, Bears, Dinosaurs, Penguins, Egypt, Medieval Life, etc., from the shelves … you get the picture. On hands and knees, each artifact was extracted from it’s container … inspected, remembered, then recycled. Books were sorted into the “donate to the Kindergarten teacher” box.

You see, I don’t teach that way anymore. I haven’t taught that way for a VERY long time. Still, there was melancholy attached to this process. Remembrances of magical moments shared with young learners … seeing them, in my mind’s eye, at their Celebrations of Learning, dressed as “Penguintology Scientists or Egyptology Experts” , or some other type of expert befitting our inquiries, sharing their expertise with their families.

I started to think, while I sorted, about how much I had ENJOYED those “less than techie” pop-ups … those research projects and inquiries that ended in AMAZING finalized hands-on presentations that the children and I LOVED to share with our families. It made me WONDER … WHY have I moved further away from an ARTSY expression of our learning discoveries?

Call me (crazy) maybe … but I COULDN’T part with this … I’ll probably hold on to it until I’m 90!

Don’t get me wrong … we are curious, engaged, working hard and learning each and EVERY day. Somehow, though, technology seems to be taking over … not for the SAKE of technology … there are SO many valuable tools that are perfect for just about ANY job. But, as I sat there reminiscing and feeling, yes, a little melancholy, I began to do some powerful reflecting over ghosts of years gone by. There HAS to be a balance. I am the FIRST to admit that I LOVE technology and I would be LOST without it, (between you and I), I CLEARLY remember a day when I hand WROTE report cards. But, I MUST find a balance.

While I DON’T make New Year’s resolutions, because I strive to grow personally and professionally each and EVERY day, I have PROMISED myself that I will bring BACK the art of balance within my classroom … a balance between the use of technology and more opportunities to explore “tangible” ways to share our inquiries as well.

I wonder:

• How do you find a balance?

BE Quiet!

“Solitude matters, and for some people, it’s the air they breathe.”
― Susan Cain

A colleague recently talked with me about a new book she was reading. She had really enjoyed it and thought I might also like to read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain. Part way through this chat she looked at me with shock when I told her that I considered myself an “introvert”. Somehow, her response surprised me. Don’t get me wrong. I speak up during staff meetings. I eagerly share my ideas during team meetings. I am animated and “outgoing” with my students as we learn together each and every day. I am approachable and work hard to develop meaningful relationships with students, parents and colleagues. Needless to say, I raced right out and purchased Susan Cain’s book THAT night.

This book spoke to me on SO many levels. From personal experience, I could relate to many of the examples Cain shared within the pages of this book. I remember losing marks in school for a “lack of participation” and being terrified of “giving presentations”. As a matter of fact, I EVEN dropped a few COURSES while at university when I saw “oral projects” listed on the syllabus! Guess that’s IT for a Master’s Degree!

My husband lovingly laughs at me and finds it hard to believe because I don’t FEEL this way when I teach! “How can you say you don’t like presenting in front of adults … you’re in a CLASSROOM all day LONG … you CAN’T be afraid of public speaking!” I love the energy I feel in the classroom. I LOVE the interactions with my students and colleagues. But, I recharge when I come home. I like my “quiet down time”. It’s hard to explain. Like Susan’s quote above, it’s the air that I breathe.

Over the years I have given myself permission to express myself in the way I feel MOST comfortable – through writing. Somehow, ideas flow and I feel empowered when I write. Strangely, I even feel more “articulate” when I write. It used to bother me immensely that I couldn’t comfortably stand up and “present” professionally like, say, Sir Ken Robinson, for example! (Ya … I know … that’s setting the bar REALLY high! ) Reading Quiet helped to reinforce, for me, what I knew already intuitively.

Introverts and extroverts reside along a continuum. They appear to be “opposites” and yet there truly IS no black and white … just shades of gray. Some extroverts don’t like public speaking. Some introverts DO! Not all introverts are necessarily shy, either.

I think I’m a weird combination of deeply introverted and very daring. I can feel both those things working.

~Helen Hunt

The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases. 

~Carl Jung

Susan Cain does a beautiful job of melding personal experiences with scientific research. While our society values the power of the extrovert, she makes a powerful case for the need to respect, honour and empower BOTH!  This book is truly worth the read and the ensuing conversations it will provoke:

@rentonl @royanlee listened to her TED talk; enlightening. Benefits of introverts highlighted. Worthwhile talk – impact on ldrshp noteworthy

— Louise Givens (@GeeeLouise) December 29, 2012

@rentonl Made me see a different world- as an extrovert many ideas had never occurred to me helped in so many ways, educator and parent:)

— Verena Roberts (@verenanz) December 29, 2012

Like yin and yang, night and day, winter and summer – seemingly opposites … without one there isn’t the other … the world NEEDS extroverts AND introverts. The odds are you are either living with someone on the opposite side of the continuum or you WORK with a few!

Flickr photo by Charm 2010

I remember, clearly, receiving an email from my son’s Grade Four teacher. Although he is now 18, the experience is CLEARLY etched in my memory. He had worked for days on a presentation that he was to share that morning. His teacher emailed to say that he had “refused” to stand up and present his “poster”. I requested a phone call so that we could discuss the situation. Now I know that there is a FINE line between advocating for your child and “helicoptering” … but this was a situation my husband and I hoped to resolve by finding a compromise. You see, my oldest is a lot like I was. The teacher provided two options. He could present the next day or he could receive a zero on the presentation mark. We tried for a compromise. Could he present to his teacher alone? Could he choose two or three peers and present in a “safer” way, since he was shy? Nope. No options. Share with the large group or take the zero. A little “frustrated” with the lack of flexibility or sensitivity for personalizing the learning, we presented my son with his options. He chose the zero and we supported his choice. That day, I vowed to never put a student in my care in that situation EVER. (Maybe this is naive, since I teach Grade Three, but it works for me.)

Can you work to CHANGE certain aspects of your personality? ABSOLUTELY. Should you nurture your strengths and USE them to the best of your ability? Without  a DOUBT. As educators AND parents, it is OUR responsibility to help our children and students FIND their strengths, NURTURE their GIFTS and EXPLORE who they are … as learners … as people who have individual gifts to share with the world. After all, we USUALLY find our niche!

This above all:
To thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
~Hamlet, Shakespeare

I wonder:

• Do you see yourself as more introverted or extroverted?
• Have you had to work hard to strengthen an area of “discomfort” such as public speaking? How have you achieved this?
• How do you nurture your own child’s or students’  ”strengths”?

Struggles LEAD to Celebrations!

 

Flickr Photo by m-c

Yesterday was just ONE of those days where it ALL came together! Definitely NOT to be confused with the days that it DOESN’T … and … sadly … THOSE days exist TOO! For example, the day BEFORE our perfectly serendipitous day,  we experienced  a 100% FAILURE rate with our borax crystals! Don’t get me wrong. Experiencing failure is HEALTHY … it helps to develop character and, in a safe and caring environment, it supports the development of curiosity, resilience and perseverance! As one of LAST year’s young bloggers taught us: FAIL = First Attempt In Learning! What a HEALTHY way to LOOK at setbacks!

The morning after mixing our borax crystals, my Grade Threes and I BOUNCED into the classroom to check out our newly formed creations … only to be met with NOTHING! We’d done everything to specification. They looked at me, bewildered. I looked at THEM … bewildered. They asked WHY … MANY of them with quivering bottom lips. Now … I COULD have said, “Well, the borax may have been old … maybe we didn’t stir the solution well enough … maybe the ROOM wasn’t the right TEMPERATURE!” This list could have been extensive. Instead, I answered their WHYs with, “I don’t KNOW … what do YOU think? Let’s TALK about it!”

We sat, some of us quite downhearted, and what these students had to say was simply AMAZING for eight year old children. Maybe we didn’t put enough borax in. Maybe it was too LOUD in here and the vibrations  in the ROOM caused the failure. Maybe the water was too hot … or too COLD. Maybe the JARS were dirty … although several students piped up quickly and said that MIGHT be the case for a FEW of the jars … but ALL of them? We THINK not! Together, we decided that we would try ANOTHER little experiment. We mixed up ONE more jar of borax solution … adding quite a bit more borax … just in CASE it had become “stale”.  Some of us even went home to research just a LITTLE more!

Our TEST worked and we were greeted, the NEXT morning, by a GORGEOUS snowflake crystal. Maybe, since the borax was a year old, it HAD required more in order to saturate the solution! And THIS led us to our “perfect day”!

With MORE borax crystals to make, classroom blog comments to reply to and twenty MILLION other jobs to do … it didn’t LOOK like it was going to be one of those stellar days. Honestly, I didn’t know how I was going to “juggle” everything that needed to be accomplished!

Flickr Photo by Noticelj

That’s when it HIT me.

We’ve been working on our classroom blog for OVER a month now. This would be the PERFECT time to hand over the reigns to see what these awesome STUDENTS would do WITHOUT me guiding their responses to our readers. They’d had TONS of role modelling for crafting an awesome reply to our readers, and I decided that I would focus on helping a group of students with crystals. The rest of the class drafted a response to one of the comments left behind. It was a leap of faith … they hadn’t done it independently yet this year!

I had to bite my tongue as my little group of FIVE mixed their crystals … and I “listened in” on what was happening with the NINETEEN students in the blogging group! Yup. NINETEEN kids … working WITHOUT the teacher … compromising, collaborating, sharing, discussing.  I wanted it to be COMPLETELY their comment … none of my interjections or “leading and supporting”. I REALLY wanted to see what THEY would do!

One young man was the recorder, on the laptop and the smartboard;  he gathered student thoughts and recorded them. I could hear issues such as:

• okay, how do we START a reply?
• did we talk about her family’s “sentence”?
• how do we say it to “reel the reader in” and get them to come BACK to the blog?
• do you remember how Mrs. Renton makes that HAPPY face at the END of our comments … oh ya … it’s like THIS …
• how should we END the reply?

You will LAUGH at THIS … the comment left by the parent mentioned “LERD”, and these children discussed, as a group, what a LERD was!!! I couldn’t STOP myself from giggling … although quietly enough that it wouldn’t distract them! This is a group that is PROUD to shout their lerdiness from the ROOFTOPS!!! (Not all … but MANY profess to be LERDS!!!)

My heart SWELLED with pride over how BEAUTIFULLY this little group of students collaborated to craft their FIRST independent reply to a reader!

My tears were WELLING!!! And, if that wasn’t ENOUGH, even MORE magic happened!!!

When I came back to the group and they read their message, (FILLED with pride), the PERSONALIZED mini-lessons … authentic, immediate, and meaningful mini-lessons began:

• how to right click to check a misspelled word
• capitals for Mrs.
• leaving ONE space after a period (as opposed to none)
• when to use families vs family’s
• the differences between to, two, and too

Yup. This was TRULY a PROUD teacher moment! They had been internalizing EVERYTHING we had discussed as we crafted meaningful responses to our blog readers as a large group. They had worked through their struggles together. They had collaborated, supported one another, taught one another and risen to the challenge BEYOND my greatest hopes! JUST like the day before when we experienced the disappointing results of our experiment. They rose UP, pushed PAST … and … we ALL grew!

After all, you NEED the rain to appreciate the sun … without the rain there ARE no rainbows! Nope, I wouldn’t trade the struggles for perpetual smooth sailing. It is THROUGH these struggles that we learn and grow!

PS For those of you who are WONDERING … our SECOND attempt at borax crystals met with 98% success! We PERSEVERED and FINALLY achieved 100%. Phew!