Digital Learning Day

Digital Learning was such a neat day in the York Chester Middle School Band  We started out the day with a pic of a runaway slave collar on the Smartboard screen. Students were asked "In one word, how does this image make you feel?".

In order to collect student responses I created a Padlet Board for my classes, and then made a QR code for the Padlet URL. My students used a QR code reader to get to the Padlet page. We then collected the "One Word" responses from all of the students in the class. It was fascinating seeing what my students wrote. I then probed them further and had them explain why they chose the word that they did. I am constantly trying to get my students to outwardly express what's going on internally and this exercise seemed to recall get them to open up.

Empathy is sometimes difficult for our students, but one of the things that we discovered through our conversations is that when we can put ourselves in the place of others we stand a better chance of treating them the way we would want to be treated, but when we create a culture of "them versus us" it is quite easy to do the most inhumane things to other human beings. 

It was amazing how the use of technology helped facilitate this dialogue, which led us into the piece of music that we are preparing to perform, a negro spiritual. Digital Learning Day in the York Chester Middle School Band led us down wonderful road of discovery and we are continuing to use technology to facilitate the learning and innovate how we teach our students.

My First "Official" Staff Development

This past Tuesday, I dove into the waters of providing staff development at my school. I am used to teaching my students. I teach adults at my church and I have helped people from my school, my community and even provided, what I believe to be valuable training or at least guidance and/or instruction to people of all ages and abilities, from across the state. With that said I was surprised at how nervous I was to speak to the staff at my own school. There's something about doing a professional development at your own little pond that can be unnerving. Anyway...

I found out that we were doing some staff development the Tuesday after the MLK Holiday. I offered to do a session, but I had not heard anything...then, the Friday before MLK Day. I was told, "by the way, we need you to do a session on Google Apps Tuesday, ok", and oh course I said sure.  When I looked at the schedule and saw approx 40 minutes, my mind went racing.  What can I do in 40 minutes, how much could I cover, how much should I try to do...after taking a breath I decided to focus on Google Voice, Google Advanced Search, Google Forms, & Flubaroo.

Since we were coming off of MLK, I showed the class, by the way largest group I had was 3 people because I was only teaching our Encore staff which was spilt between about 4-5 other sessions, how to do an advanced search to find MLK presentations to demo for kids to get them thinking about how to create a presentation.

Next I incorporated Google forms and showed the teachers how easy it is to create a digital dropbox for student projects. While I was in forms I created a quiz to demonstrate how teachers can create a test about MLK and use Flubaroo to grade it.

All of this went well and teachers were very receptive, but the winner for the day was Google Voice. I walked the classes through creating a Google Voice number and setting up their voice mail. Teachers have already begun to hand out their Google Voice numbers to their new classes, since we have just hit semester change. Many people were so amazed by Google Voice that as people were walking by the computer lab, they began coming into the session to find out about it. This is a great tool for our staff to begin using.

All in all a pretty good start to presenting staff development. Thanks YC for my first opportunity. I'm looking forward to many more.

GCS Technology Smackdown

What a great experience today at Stuart Cramer!!! The GCS Technology Smackdown was a wonderful way to begin the second semester. As a member of Pinnacle 17, I felt very fortunate to be a part of the event. Fit so very inspiring to see what was going on across GCS and of course it is a perfect time to pick up new idea and new methods as I create college and career ready learners. There was one tool that stood out to me as a great fit for my classroom.

Being that I have less than 45 minutes with my student each day I have to maximize what I get out of that time. One of the time suckers of instructional time for me is having to bring students up to speed when they have been out of class. "Ted Ed" was a great tool to help me flip my class for those particular students or for students who need to review a concept. I have used various screen casting apps to do this, but what sets Ted Ed apart is the fact that you embed questions, so that students can answer questions, which make sure they are "getting it", as they go through the video...Genius!!! This keeps my questions and the video all together and I can keep check on my students answers to make sure they understand the concept. Great time saver!!!

I can't wait to get the list of all of the Smackdown technologies. I am sure I will find more that will innovate the way we do music at YC. Who knew a Smackdown could be a good thing...lol.

TPACK and Apptivities Times are Changing!

Great discussion and work session today at the GCS Pinnacle summer session. This session equipped me to explain to other educators the proper way in which to integrate technologies. One of the main challenges to many of my peers is where to start when trying to use technology in the classroom. The session today answered this question.After group today, I have been reminded that technology should be used seamlessly to create the already established goal or as we were told, "begin with the end in mind".

Reminding teachers to start with their Content Standard, which is where most teachers find the most comfort, is the most important thing. I have found myself so excited about a piece of technology that I have tried to shape lessons around that device. We should rather start with the standard and integrate technology that makes teaching that standard most effective. The Venn diagram for the TPACK model, demonstrated this very clearly. TPACK is a useful tool for wading through all of the technology and getting to the Core of what I want my students to be able to do. I am excited about the process and trying to make what I do in my class more and more seamless, when it comes to technology integration.

I saw some great potential in the Apptivity piece today. The students have much of the responsibility by way of choosing which tool to use, design, collaboration, evaluating data, etc. The process leads students to use higher order thinking skills along with several 21st Century technology skills.

I think that we naturally will improve the quality of teaching that goes on in the classroom as teachers begin to use some of the tools available through mobile apps or various other web 2.0 technologies that engage students at a high level.

The Teacher of the Year Process Reflection

Well I have completed the last step in the process for NC state Teacher of the Year, and I now await the results from the committee that was compiled to make the decision. As I reflect on my experience, several things come to mind.

First, I was and I still am so humbled by the fact that my peers choose me for this role. It's one thing to be chosen by your school to represent them. We all know each other and respect and appreciate each person's contribution at all levels in our school. I was caught completely off guard when I was selected for the county. It was such a blessing and I didn't realize that there were people outside of the community of my school who were aware of what I did or who were taking notice. We have so many fantastic educators in Gaston County Schools that, when my name was called, I literally was in shock. I still have not fully wrapped my mind around it.

By the time I was getting used to being the Gaston County Schools Teacher of the Year, I learned about the next step in the process, the regional competition. I was feeling totally satisfied with where I was representing my county and did not think in my wildest dreams that I had a chance in the regional competition. I thought about all of the counties that were included and the size of some of those schools systems and I said to myself...well it was just an honor to make it this far. When I was notified by the regional staff that I was a finalist, I actually thought the call was the..."thank you for all you do, but...." call. I was again telling myself that it was an honor to make it this far, and this will probably be as far as I go. My school administration did a good job of making me think that my classroom observation went very poorly, and my central office staff were silent about any news about results. When the program came together to announce me as the regional teach of the year winner, my heart was beating so fast and my mind was spinning...of course the fact that I had been sick the last couple of days before and still was not well, may have had something to do with that. All of the cameras, news stations, and reporters...I had no idea this is what it would be like winning the regional competition. I never allowed myself to think that far ahead in the process, because I felt it so unlikely, but there we were.

Yesterday, I went to the Umstead Hotel in. Cary, NC, along with the other 8 regional winners, for the NC Teacher of the Year competition. It was a beautiful venue and it was a great experience to meet these wonderful educators from every area of the state. In talking with them, I found that NC has some innovative things going on in classrooms all over. There were teachers who taught from language arts to dance at traditional public schools and charter schools. They came with a wealth of life experience which included the military to off broadway musicals. I look forward to picking their brains about all things educational. If there is anything I have learned from my years in teaching, it's that collaboration usually yields better answers than isolation. After finishing the interview process, we all headed home.

I have noticed several opportunities that have come available because of being a regional teacher of the year. I have enjoyed being a part of several county committees that are helping to shape the future of education in Gaston County and I am impressed with every committee and team. Gaston County seems to be on the cutting edge of things like schools safety or performance pay. It really makes me proud to be an educator from GCS.

No matter what happens next, I know that everyday I have surrounding the best teachers and staff members in the state, here in Gaston County. We are Gaston County.

YC JAZZ Messengers Classroom Central at Bank of America Event

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2013 All-County Experience

Preparing as a clinician for the Gaston County All-County Honor Bandwas a challenge. I felt honored that my colleagues would entrust me with one of the bands, but I also began to think: Would I choose the right music? How would I develop a good rapport with the kids? Not to mention the fact that my colleagues would be watching and that would surely make me self-conscious and somewhat nervous. The days leading up to the clinic I began to really feel the nerves...not sleeping like normal and obsessing about the music I chose.

One of the great thing about being a band director in Gaston County is the camaraderie. We share our personal insights and all of our tricks of the trade picked up through our different experiences and years of teaching. As I began to stress a little, I truly appreciated several directors contacting me. They had already experienced being a clinician and said "you may want to do this" or "that may be a little too much for the amount of time that you have". It was awesome to get a heads up from someone who had already experienced what to do and not to do.Once, Friday's rehearsal began I felt the nerves melt away fairly early in the rehearsal. I thought "there is a reason that my fellow directors chose me":)

The students in the Wilson Band (WB) were very receptive. They made my job easy. We read through 7 songs, by mid-morning and by then I knew what the students could play and what they really wanted to play. What was I ever worried about, right?...I found a redirect tool by accident. I do not know where it came from but the kids really responded to it. I would yell "I've been running a long time", and they would answer "but I ain't tired yet". In an instant the kids would bounce back to being ready to go. I continued to remind them they weren't tired and they fell in line. Little metaphors about performing kept popping in my head any time there was a music concept to work on. My brain seemed to be firing so fast that I had to slow it down...so many ideas, so many things I wanted to work on, so many things I wanted to say, so many things I heard in the music. By the end of the day, I was exhausted! But, I could tell that we had made some great progress with the band.

Saturday came way much too quickly. Who knew I would still be tired from the day before? We got to run cleanup detail on several tunes, and for a lot done. Before I knew it, it was lunch...and that was it. Rehearsals over it was concert time.

The concert experience was incredible. It was wonderful to see all of those people come out...not for a ball game, but for a concert. The support from the families was overwhelming. What a county to work in. Where else could you get that many people together and there not be someone kicking, throwing, or dribbling a ball. Band is an academic class with national and state standards that we teach. We impact so many students and families, as they effect us also, and I think this weekend we have done a pretty good job.

I've been running a long time and I ain't tired yet!