30 Day Blogging Challenge from Te@chThought: Day 7

In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting September 1st!

Day 7
Who was or is your most inspirational colleague, and why?

This is easy: Carter Latendresse, 6th grade English teacher and mentor for my student teaching portion of grad school.

There were, first of all, a number of coincidences that I discovered when I learned more about Carter's curriculum.  His class follows The Hero's Journey as outlined by Joseph Campbell, one of the most inspiring figures of my life.  I own and regularly watch Campbell's interview series with Bill Moyers titled The Power of Myth.  The interview is held at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch, because Luke Skywalker is one of the most prominent fictional heroes of the 20th century.  Campbell likes to reference Star Wars because it's a popular example of an ancient storytelling motif.  Campbell discovered that there are many archetypal stories that have been shared among all the peoples of the world, the most universal being The Hero's Journey:

A young person's world is turned upside-down; a Helper emerges to tell the character that he/she is capable of great power, and to give the character a useful tool, weapon, or skill.  Suddenly, the Helper disappears, and this young person is face to face with the great villain but miraculously escapes.  The hero must endure a series of ordeals, including The Supreme Ordeal, that acts as a trial, building the hero's strength and focus.  The ordeals lead the hero back to the villain, and the ensuing battle ends with the hero emerging victorious.

I also discovered that other heroic tales that have remained favorites throughout my life, such as Tolkien and the Redwall series, were assigned reading for his students.

Carter also transformed the school campus within a short period of time.  Within two years, his Garden Club converted a nondescript grassy hill into a flourishing garden, growing all different kinds of food.  Two social gathering structures with green roofs surround a giant chess board, and a cob oven resides nearby.  The Garden Club moved on to similar conversion projects across the school grounds.  This work is part of Carter's vision for the future he'd like to see come to pass: People growing their own food; reducing reliance on fossil fuels and big box stores; a community working and playing together, helping each other learn, grow, and get the things they need.

The unit I shared with Carter during the winter of 2012 was titled "Empathy", and it led students through the Supreme Ordeal portion of the Heroic Journey.  This became a theme I never let go of, and I incorporate Empathy into my own classes at every turn.  In fact, the primary step in the process of Design Thinking is Empathy - empathy for the end user of the finished design.

Currently, my views on the role of technology in our civilization's future differ somewhat from Carter's.  Perhaps the greatest value of a mentor is the chance to hold a perspective outside of yourself in high regard, while also being able to compare and contrast it with your own.

30 Day Blogging Challenge from Te@chThought: Day 6

In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting September 1st!

Day 6
Explain: What does a good mentor "do"?

A good mentor cares about the student.

I tutor alongside my teaching duties, and after years of experience working one-on-one with students, I have found that the most important thing I can do is to make it very clear that I care.  It's all about relationships.  A close second to this is setting high expectations.  Those expectations won't inspire anything in a student who does not have a healthy human connection with the mentor.  I, of course, can only be a mentor if I possess and readily demonstrate the skills or qualities that the student is interested in learning.

30 Day Blogging Challenge from Te@chThought: Day 5

In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting September 1st!

Day 5
Post a picture from your classroom and describe what you see - and what you don't see that you'd like to.

Here's my classroom!  I share it with a few other teachers.  It's dedicated to Visual Arts with an emphasis on digital storytelling through audio/video/photo.  Classes run throughout the day for middle and high school grades.  There is a U-shaped seating arrangement with the teacher's table front and center.  There are two white boards and a TV monitor mounted in between.  Along the walls and corners are video editing workstations and two photo printers.

What I don't see that I'd like to: Bretford whiteboard flip tables, Hokki stools, no central teacher station, a class set of iPads, and an empty wall painted chroma green.

30 Day Blogging Challenge from Te@chThought: Day 4

In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting September 1st!


Day 4
What do you love most about teaching?


I love the creativity of teaching!  I love watching students create projects and then work hard, following it through to completion.


I love the creativity of lesson planning.  Any given class can be a performance, a showcase, a workshop, a brainstorming session, a group discussion, a movie theater, a think tank, a laboratory, a research library, a social gathering, and more!


I love the creativity of the student / teacher dynamic.  This relationship goes back to the beginning of time, and it's still radically relevant.  My favorite is when "the teacher has become the student," and "the student has become the teacher."

I love the creativity of learning!  There are so many learning styles, that the approach each student takes to their learning is so unique, like an individualized signature.

I love the creativity of collaborating with my colleagues.  Interdisciplinary units can be very exciting, because it's always a combination of source materials, the energy of team-teaching, and the merging of two classroom cultures.  Two heads are better than one.

30 Day Blogging Challenge from Te@chThought: Day 3

In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting September 1st!

Day 3
Discuss one "observation" area you would like to improve on for your teacher evaluation.

I'd like to improve on crafting formal backwards-planning curriculum maps using Understanding By Design as the framework for my class units.  I believe that by focusing on transfer goals (that students take with them from my class to others), the learning environment becomes student-centered.

UBD FTW

30 Day Blogging Challenge from Te@chThought: Day 2

In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting September 1st!

Day 2
Write about one piece of technology you would like to try this year, and why.  You might also write about what you're hoping to see out of this edtech integration.

The new piece of technology I'm trying this year is Pinterest.  I've been using it for myself as a teacher, because it's an incredible resource for lesson ideas, classroom organization, inspiration, and more.

I'm a Media Arts teacher.  For my 8th grade students who are 13 or older, I'm assigning them to create Pinterest accounts and build inspiration boards.  They are instructed to pin at least 30 different bits of inspiration that they have carried in their hearts and minds throughout their life.

Here's a link to my example inspiration board

This work will be completed as homework, and students are encouraged to share their boards with each other and myself.  I'm hoping that it will spark conversations about what ideas we bring into the classroom, what our stories are, and what stories we'd like to tell.  I hope to get a good picture of my students' interests this way, so I can tailor class content to each individual.

30 Day Blogging Challenge from Te@chThought: Day 1

In response to the recent challenge from te@chthought, I'm participating in a 30 day blogging mission, starting on today, September 1st, Labor Day, the day before school starts!!!  So exciting!!!

Day 1
Write your goals for the school year

• Tell and show my students that they matter.  They matter to me, they matter to the world, and they matter to themselves. 

• Have a TON of fun with my students, colleagues, and school community this year!

• Set and communicate high expectations for students in my class.

• Communte by bike every day.

• Keep a tidy email inbox!

• Make collaboration with other classes the top priority this year.  Regularly produce work out of my middle school Media Arts classes that matters to multiple audiences!  (See example below)