Social Media’s Impact on Students

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Now that I am over my Thanksgiving hangover, it is time to get back to writing.  This week I will not be short on things to talk about.  This past Sunday night was another great #Titletalk on Twitter.  I truly have found a great way to re-energize myself at the end of every month when it comes to reading and literacy.  I also meet new friends.  Sunday’s topic was about Social Media and how it has impacted us as professionals in our world of literacy.  Yesterday, I turned this question around on my students and reworded it a bit.  For their writing into the day I asked my 7th and 8th graders to answer the following question: How has social media impacted your student life and your personal life? The responses were overwhelming.  By my 6th hour class I had enough notes to write a book. Though I asked my students about their personal lives, I will not be sharing it here.  Below you will find several positive responses students gave to me yesterday.  Though I did not prompt them in anyway, I was captivated by how they discussed the benefits.

1.  Social Media helps to make quicker contact with teachers when I am absent.

2.  I can retrieve valuable resources quicker and easier.

3.  They are new learning tools that are better than paper and pencil.

4.  I can see other student’s writing and it helps me to generate new ideas for my own writing.

5.  I can contact friends and teachers for help with my homework.

6.  I am more engaged in my learning at school, it is fun.

7.  Helps me feel more social.

8.  I gain more confidence in my school work and my relationships.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there were students who did respond negatively as well. Though all of these statements are powerful coming from middle schoolers, my favorite is “I can see other student’s writing and it helps me to generate new ideas for my own writing.”  This is a very powerful statement coming from a middle school student.  Students need to see models and plenty of them so they can be more guided in their writing.  This particular student was referring to our Wiki page where my students have their e-portfolios. We even discussed in class how writers look to other writers for help and ideas.

I am truly blessed with the thoughtfulness that my students put into their journal writings yesterday.  I was pleasantly surprised how critical they thought about their  writing and how they showed both sides of the topic, not just the negative impact social media has on students. We see too much of the negative side of social media through the news when we need to see the benefits it has to our students and to us as teachers.

Cheers!

Grammar, My How You Perplex Me

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So it has been a few days since any real thoughts came across my brain concerning my teaching or my classroom. Besides being really bummed about not attending NCTE this year, I have been critically thinking about grammar and how to teach it with meaning in the classroom. Grammar and how it should be taught has been an ongoing discussion in our monthly department meetings. Last Spring we took action and ordered Jeff Anderson’s Mechanically Inclined. Over the summer we met and had our own book club with our department. Anderson’s book is written really well and if you haven’t heard him speak, you need to make it your first choice the next conference you attend where he is speaking. I love his sentence strip activity, the idea of bringing mentor text into the classroom to show students how writers use appropriate grammar in their writing, and how he has students set up their writers notebook. My favorite idea is AAAWWUBBIS. The idea behind this bizarre but adequate saying is to help students remember subordinating conjunctions and for students to have a way to remember different ways a complex sentence can be formed. There are many other ways Anderson explains how grammar can be taught efficiently in the classroom. I really liked the fact he said that students will show you what they need to work on. I agree with this and I also think that students need a certain amount of practice too. With the Common Core being implemented this year into my district it is pretty well spelled out what needs to be taught at each grade level when it comes to grammar. It isn’t set in stone, but it is much more definitive than what our State curriculum presented to us in the past.

However an English teacher looks at it, there probably isn’t a magic method to teach grammar. I use some methods introduced in Anderson’s book and I try other strategies that I have picked up in the past. Regardless of what I do, or what anyone does, I think it truly does depend on the group of students you have from year to year. I love my students this year; both my 7th and 8th graders. They have made it easy to try new teaching methods in my classroom. One of my 8th graders today said, “Mr.Hyler, this is the first time this year you have given us a worksheet!” I smiled and replied, “Yes, and I am sorry.” Believe it or not, it was a grammar exercise. Though I don’t pride myself on delivering worksheets to my students and I never will, it was necessary for them to have some practice today to make sure they were brushed up in their skills.

I believe grammar will continue to perplex even the most brilliant language arts teacher and I also believe we will continue to not only develop new ways to teach grammars in our classrooms, but we also revisit some old methods as well. After all, I taught my students to diagram sentences last year and I know one our high school teachers did the same earlier this year.

Cheers!

Problem Solving Skills Are Heavily Lacking

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Last week when I gave my 8th graders their writing prompt, I walked away being very discouraged.  I asked my 8th graders and my 7th graders what types of problem solving skills they possessed.  I set up a scenario for them to respond to and the results were disheartening.  The scenario was simply trying to figure out why their radio wasn’t working.  What’s a radio?, ok your Ipod. Jeez! Out of the forty-two 8th graders I teach, 50% of them wrote down they would go to their parents first.  Almost 75% of them mentioned involving their parents to solve the problem.  My 7th graders were better, but in one 7th grade class alone I had almost 50% of the students say they would consult parents first.

Don’t get me wrong, I consulted my parents when I ran into my fair share of struggles as a middle schooler.  My parents, however, were the last to be made aware of any problem until I exhausted all possibilities on my own.  Yes, as a middle schooler I did this. Today, students want their parents to solve their problems.  I not only continue to see problems in my classroom, but I have witnessed it as a coach too.  One of the biggest lessons I teach my students and have taught my players is to be advocates for themselves.  Oh yes, this can be hard to do. Especially if you are shy, intimidated easily, or just not that confident.  Students have to be willing to step forward when something such as this feels uncomfortable.  I feel we grow the most as individuals when we do something that is a challenge or makes us feel a little uncomfortable.

While talking to my 8th graders, I was getting fired up, and almost angry because they kept wanting to constantly seek help from their parents.  I had to come to the realization though, its not their fault they don’t possess these skills.  The plain truth here is students today are lacking problem solving skills.  Skills that can help them succeed through life.  With the internet being available to us all, problem solving does come easier, but there was a time when the internet did not exist and what did we do then? One of the smartest remarks I heard from a 7th grader was to go back and read the manual.  How many of our students actually read directions?  This in its self is a problem solving skill.

I know over the course of this year I am going to have to work hard at developing problem solving skills in most of my students.  I am ready for the challenge though, I want to see my students be successful without any crutches.

Cheers!

Finding A Male Mentor; Is it Possible?

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Fifteen years ago I decided to become a teacher and I have never regretted my decision. A majority of my decision was based on wanting to be a mentor to students and athletes who do not have a positive male role model in their lives. Today male mentors are becoming more increasingly difficult to find. I have had my fair share of positive male role models in my life. Besides my father, I can distinctly remember both my grandfathers, a handful of teachers I had, and my high school basketball coach. On the other hand, I could also discuss a few male role models in my life that were complete dirt bags and were hypocrites. I won’t waste my time discussing them here.

With all negativity aside and tomorrow being Veteran’s Day, I want to tell you about a mentor in my life that is exceptional. He is my brother-in-law. My brother-in-law is a former Marine who served in Desert Storm. Besides wanting to extend a big THANK YOU! to him for serving our country, I thought discussing why he is such a great mentor would be be more appropriate and meaningful.

My brother-in-law is one of the most unselfish people I have met. He is always willing to open his home to other people and not just family. He sets time aside for his family before himself. In addition, he is willing to help out someone in need, even if the job may seem too big. I witnessed him working 3 jobs because he felt it was his duty to support his family. He is a reader, which never hurts when it comes to his own children and other children he comes into contact with, including my own. His work ethic is without a doubt superior! He works very hard at whatever he is trying to accomplish. One of the most important aspects about my brother-in-law is that he listens. He always has an open ear and is willing to give a different perspective on situations. Sometimes, that one quality is all someone needs.

I want to thank my brother-in-law for serving our country and making sacrifices for me while I could sleep better at night. Thank you for being a great family member and always wanting to sped time with my children and my family. I love you!

Quality male mentors are difficult to find, but they are out there. Perhaps if you are a male, you can take a minute to just listen to a student, or player. Most of the time boys need to learn how to handle themselves emotionally as well, and that can be very tough without another male role model in their life that can show them.

Colby Sharp discusses in his blog http://sharpread.wordpress.com/ about how there are increasingly less and less male protagonists that are STRONG male protagonists. Is this the trend we are going to see? Check out his blog!

To all of you positive male mentors out there, thank you!

Cheers!

Students Viewing Writing Through Different Lenses

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The last two days in my 8th grade classroom have made me sweat profusely. I have been very intense with my two groups of 8th graders, while we discuss compare/contrast papers. As any language arts teacher know, teaching writing correctly takes a lot of hard work and preparation on our part. I started yesterday by handing to my students an exemplary example that was provided by the Common Core Standards website (corestandards.com). I discussed with my students that the student who wrote the paper was given an assignment to compare and contrast two different characters from two different genres, a movie and a book. I then instructed my students to do nothing but read the piece of writing and have a “conversation” with the writing. I wanted them to ask questions, write down things they noticed, etc. As my students were finishing up their reading I posted two simple questions on the whiteboard:

#1. Underline where the writer of the essay tells you the reader, what the essay is about. (AKA – underline the thesis).

#2. Circle any transitions the writer uses.

As our time was up yesterday, the students needed to finish the 2 items for homework. My last class of the day exited and there were a lot of disgruntled students who blurted out the dreaded term, “I don’t get it!” One of my students approached me afterwords and wanted to understand better was I wanted. He was completely lost by what he read and didn’t understand what the paper was even about. I then knew the students had not looked at the essay from the lens I wanted them to. They were reading it for understanding and they were reading it for comprehension. This was not why I wanted my students to read it. My students were reading it with the wrong lens.

Needless to say, 8th grade language arts class was very intense today after what I deemed a failed class yesterday. Today’s class was much more productive as I discussed with students that we have to put on different lenses or hats when we look at writing and literature. I told them as important as it was to get a general understanding of what the paper was about, they needed to put on their teacher or critique hats and ask themselves the question, “what makes this a quality compare/contrast essay?” After some very intense group work today analyzing the writing and my 8th graders finally putting on the right lenses, I felt very good about the conversations I had with each group. My students seemed to have a better grasp of what I was trying to accomplish.

As teachers we definitely need to guide and teach our students how to look through those different lenses. As sad and disheartening as it is to say, students need to be able to understand what makes a piece of writing exemplary for their own assignments in class, but also for standardized testing. I am proud of my students for working through the challenges we faced these last two days. I am sure we will encounter more bumps on our trip this year.

Cheers!

Being Productive

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Today’s 8th grade class was rather interesting. I began class by reading orally to them and then we did our writing into the day. I don’t have a lot of rules for my students when we do writing into the day. First, they must write the entire time. Second, I tell them they need to not worry about spelling, grammar, etc. Third, they can write about anything and not just the given topic for the day. Finally, they need to ignore the critic in their heads. My 8th graders generally write for 7-10 minutes per day. We then take time to share our writing. We share many different ways in class. Some days students just stay in their seats and share. Other days, we get into a circle on the floor and share. In addition, I sometimes have students share with two or three other students.

My focus for the first 9 weeks was to try and build a community of writers where students can trust one another when it comes to their writing. Today, something told me it must be working. After the students were given the allotted time to write, I decided to let the students just share from their seats. I figured since it was Monday the students wouldn’t be too motivated to share. After all, the topic was about experiences with public transportation. In both of my 8th grade sections we spent about 20 minutes sharing our writing. Yes, I write with my students too. Some teachers grade papers, I write with my students. My intentions for each class period was to simply take no more than five to seven minutes to share, not take 20 minutes. Let me tell you, it was worth it. I loved hearing the student’s tone in their writing and seeing their genuine excitement to share out loud. Furthermore, the gasps of disappointment when I didn’t call on a student first or right away. This did not leave me with a lot of time to discuss our next formal writing assignment. As a matter of fact, we got as far as discussing topics for the compare/contrast paper and that was it.

Most teachers or individuals would see my class time as being unproductive and what I did a waste of class time. I, however, feel it was one of my most successful class periods yet. Why? My students engaged themselves when it came to writing today and they were confident enough to share their writing with their classmates. They were excited about their writing. Productivity doesn’t have to be measured in quantity, but rather in the quality. Here’s to a productive day in anyone’s classroom!

Cheers!

Follow me on twitter @Jeremybballer

Your Not That Talented and it’s Okay

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While my car was getting an oil change at the Volkswagon Dealership this evening, I was reading about the generation of students we are teaching today and was enlightened by what I read. First, I read about a young man who had a bedroom full of trophies from all the sports teams he had participated on. The trophies weren’t for all the championships he had won or any scoring records that he broke. They were trophies for just participating. The author explained how this child and a lot of children today don’t understand there has to be winners and there has to be losers. Furthermore, the author discussed how we as teachers, parents, and coaches are afraid to tell the children we interact with they may not be that talented at a sport they play or that they may need to work extra hard at math because they aren’t that great at it. If we give students this false sense of confidence and help lend them to believe they can do anything, we are setting them up for failure.

We want kids to be confident and that isn’t a bad thing. However, we can’t paint a picture of false hope. My experience as a coach has brought me to the conclusion that parents don’t want a coach telling their son or daughter that they suck. I have let players know in the past what their role was going to be and these players may not have liked me for saying it, but I guarantee I received more respect from those players in the long run because I was honest with them.

Recently I had parent-teacher conferences and I took a very up front approach with parents and told them, when needed, their child needed to work extra hard at working in my classroom. At times, I had to tell parents their child wasn’t going to be a great writer and they needed to spend more time finding something they liked to read.

On another note, why can’t we tell students there may be a certain number of them not cut out for college? Not everyone is wired to go to college. There are plenty of success stories about Individuals who did not attend a 4 year college.

My point and the author’s point is we need to stop sugar coating everything for today’s students and we can’t be afraid to tell students they aren’t good at something whether it is a sport or a subject in school. It is okay not to be good at something. I can’t balance a check book to save my soul and my wife doesn’t have me do and tell me I am the next billionaire. She doesn’t let me touch the ledger in the checkbook.

Cheers!

Read Alouds and #Titletalk

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If you don’t read aloud to your students in class, you need to start right away. Sunday night was my first experience with a very worthwhile PD opportunity called Titletalk on Twitter. Titletalk happens once a month and his hosted by Donalyn Miller and Paul Hawkins. Various topics are discussed involving books. This past Sunday Colby Sharp filled in as co-host for Paul Hawkins and the topic was read alouds. I myself read aloud to my 7th and 8th graders and I find it a very rewarding experience with my classes. First, it allows my students to clearly understand tone and voice behind an author’s book. Next, it exposes my students to other genres that are out in the world, not just the ones the curriculum tells us as educators to teach. On Sunday night many teachers discussed the relationships they built with their students by reading out loud to them. I couldn’t agree more with the statements that were made about those relationships. As a teacher, there is nothing more rewarding then hearing a student ask if we are going to be doing read aloud or that ever famous “YES”, when I tell my students I will be starting class with where we left off yesterday in our book we are reading.

Now, many teachers also discussed time issues with read alouds. I completely understand and I have a very simple, to the point answer…make time. Even if you read out loud to your students for 5 minutes a day, it is worth it. The best comment I heard Sunday night was how even low readers in a classroom can follow along. That my friends is reason enough for me to keep that fire lit when it comes to reading out loud. After all, why should we be allowed as adults to listen to books on CD in the car and not read out loud to the kids in our classroom and our kids at home. It is basically the same idea. Someone is reading the book to you and you are listening.

So, what are you waiting for, go to your school library or your classroom shelves and find an intriguing book to read to your students. If you have kids at home, keep reading to them. Some parents are reading to their children through middle school and that my dear colleagues is awesome. Ignite the fire, get them passionate, and get them to want to read. What a sight it would be to see students in your classroom fighting over books.

Cheers!

E-normously Big Technology Woes

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Technology has become such a huge component in my classroom. Students have already contributed to the Wikispace I created for my classes, they have learned about Celly, Edmodo, and Google Docs. Throughout the year they will be creating an e-portfolio. The amazing thing, we still have one week left in the marking period. My hopes are to introduce them to Glogster, Toondoo, kidblog, as well as many other digital tools.

I am running into some snags in my school however when it comes to using technology. How does a 21st century teacher supposed to work with with 20th century technology. I am not going to beat around the bush, I am frustrated on a daily basis. My middle schoolers are using E-macs. Seriously? Students in the graduating class of 2001 were using those machines. Our projectors look like giant VCRs from the 1980s. By no means is our school made of money, but how can we make the claim as a district we integrate technology into our student’s learning when we don’t even have somewhat up-to-date technology. Let me make it clear that I am not bashing my district, I love where I teach.

This year we implemented power school a new online grade book and attendance program. It takes at least 5 minutes to get the grade book to load onto our machines. I have a colleague that hasn’t been able to get into his grade book all marking period. Now, my principal is well aware of the problem. As a matter of fact, him, another colleague, and myself are working together to get mobile labs, smart boards, elmos, and new projectors into our classrooms. I have already completed a grant, requested money from a major corporation, and we are exploring other avenues. The last thing we want to do is coordinate a fundraiser.

Plain and simple, we are struggling. In addition to our problems in the middle school, I know there are teachers in the high school who are struggling with tech issues as well. I am willing to do whatever it takes to get our school the 21st century tools it needs for our students to be better learners. If anyone knows of any possible avenues we could explore, feel free to tweet me @Jeremybballer or email me at almaballer@gmail.com.

Cheers!

Professional Development – The Other Side

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Since last March, I have been presenting at professional development events and I am becoming more and more comfortable with being on the other side of the table.  When it comes to the PD I present with my partner about Common Core and technology we us in our classroom, we continue to get better and with that we are noticing some things. Last night we led more professional development on Common Core Implementation and technology.

As I finished up last night with my brilliant Partner and our wonderful writing project site director, we discussed how different each group of adults have been.  When I presented Common Core with my partner last summer, she found on the first day the participants were thirsting for knowledge about the Common Core and they wanted to understand it better.  As we condensed it down last night to three hours instead of two days, we found last night’s group not as receptive to the Common Core.  We didn’t change our approach to how we were presenting it at all.  Our participants last night were more interested in the Google Doc side of things, rather than the Common Core piece.  It will be interesting in February when we do a one day presentation.

Common Core is important and it is here!  In our region, we know it isn’t going away. So, why was last night’s group not as interested in Common Core?  Being the learner when we chose PD, we know what we are signing up for when it comes to professional development.  Well, at least the PD we do get to choose.

Why did the group in the summer want to investigate the Common Core more than last nights group?  Is the content riveting and full of excitement?  Not exactly, but I feel my partner and I do a solid job of presenting our material and we do improve our content and our delivery each time.

The fact of the matter is, we all learn differently, even as adults.  What works well for one group, doesn’t always work well for another group. A lesson that should be taken into serious consideration when it comes to the students in our classroom.  Every individual and every group of children we come in contact with learn differently and have different needs.  The reality is some groups need you to go step-by-step.  Other groups want you to let them go and play, be less restrictive, and let them explore what is being learned.  They want you more as a guide, not as an instructor.

My partner and I have more professional development presentations before us and I know we will keep this into consideration.  The great thing is we are both very flexible and are able to go with the flow and change direction if we need to.  As far as being in the classroom, we need to be willing to consider our audience and remember that what works from one year isn’t always going to work for the next.  Heck, it may not even work from hour to hour!

Cheers!