Celebrating Failure in Rm 613

Even though reading is my favorite pastime, it falls by the wayside when school is in full swing. That's not to say that I'm not reading, but by the time I finish reading all the blog posts, assignments, essays I'm too exhausted to read-for-fun when I'm home.  Since reading is a stress reliever for me, I've tried to incorporate more reading into my every day life and the best way, for me, has been through  Audible . Initially, I was against listening to books since 'that is something old people do' but now I'm hooked.  I look forward to my commute.  I've always loved having time before and after work to decompress and reflect, but sometimes it can get a little boring. I've even found I'm more alert and awake instead of getting lost in my thoughts.  It keeps me engaged.  As a teacher, its so important to stay relevant and connected to the world around you. It helps me remain 'human' and also helps me connect with my students ...

Without a doubt, I am a project-based teacher. I have set aside the "sage on the stage" mentality and have embraced my role as one that guides and facilitates learning for my students. If you walk into my classroom, chances are you will find me on the side, monitoring students, answering questions, or providing assistance where needed. But during my professional development sessions, I'm back in front of the 'class', with the learning and focus back on me. I know that its true; after sessions I would be exhausted from all the talking and would walk away wondering if the attendees got anything from my presentations. While the official feedback from the attendees were mostly positive, my worries were confirmed with the constructive feedback that I needed to make it more hands-on. #perfectionistsworstnightmare #imtheworst #whyme Then I realized: I have *mostly* embraced failure in my classroom, but not in my professional development sessions. #fail A...

Three years ago, I had the honor to be featured on #edchat radio following an #edchat about authentic learning in Common Core. Below is the audio from the podcast: Do you believe authentic learning can occur within the common core?

One of the best decisions that my boyfriend and I have made was adopting our two dogs Of course, we would have gotten dogs much sooner if our previous apartment leases allowed it, but it worked out since we wouldn't have gotten our beloved maltipoos, Leeroy Jenkins and Pacha. Pacha is on the left and Leeroy is on the right. If you have ever had dogs or any animal, you know that every one has a unique and different personality. For example, Leeroy is the goofy and inquisitive older brother who has immense focus and moose-like characteristics (we were told he would be at most ten pounds and currently he is pushing 25). Pacha, on the other hand, is cuddly and sweet little brother who is really the mastermind behind most crimes committed in the apartment.  I never expected that I would have to use teaching strategies and techniques with my dogs. Of course there are the classic ones, like clear and consistent expectations, rewards and consequences, equity, patience, tria...

When I was little, my dream job was a meteorologist. I envisioned myself being a weather-girl/storm chaser that studied all the crazy weather phenomenon, mostly inspired by the movie Twister. My vision was set until my sister attended a college fair and got information for me about becoming a meteorologist. I realized that studying weather was more science and technical focused and less social and relationships. As a person who thrives on social interactions, I realized that maybe meteorology wasn't for me. While nerding out to my mom about something I learned in AP Biology, she suggested that I become a teacher; I enjoyed learning and talking with people about what I learned. Long story short: I became a teacher and it was the best decision for me. This is why the third chapter in Aaron Hogan 's Shattering the Perfect Teacher Myth  struck such a chord with me: teaching is inherently social. It is so easy to isolate yourself as a teacher, but that isolation can cause you...

The teacher myth buster, aka Aaron Hogan , continues on in Chapter 2 by busting the myth that the best teachers effortlessly earn compliance from their students . Unlike the "no behavior problem" myth, this was one that I believed as a new teacher, but I no longer believe. Before any teaching experience, I envied teachers that seemed to quickly build strong and positive relationships with students. Eventually, I learned that student rapport is like any other relationship; it takes time and effort to build a positive relationship. Hogan's recommendation to thrive is to hook your students throughout the entire year and I appreciated that his solution wasn't do-this-and-your-classroom-will-be-instantly-awesome . He encourages you to reflect and "take time to identify those core values that will set the right tone for your school year." He also suggests redesigning one aspect of your classroom and reflecting on it every few weeks. At the Model Scho...

As a history person, I guess its natural that I love documentaries and all these streaming services provide me with endless access to documentaries. Recently,  9/11- Fifteen Years Later  showed up on my Hulu list and, of course, I watched it. It was definitely a thought-provoking documentary and it got me thinking about how I'm going to teach September 11th next year. If you remember, it was last year that I realized I needed to change the way I teach 9/11 .  I've started to do some research about news ways to teach the event and I compiled some of the best ideas or collections that I found onto an Outliner on Diigo that can be found here . How do you plan on teaching September 11th this year?

Adam Hogan wastes no time in Shattering the Perfect Teacher Myth. The first myth that he busts is one that I have definitely believed: perfect teachers never have behavior problems from their students . Ok, logically, yes, I know that this can't be true. Even my role model colleagues have had kids act up  and my 'best' classes have left me exhausted and frustrated at the end of the day. But belief in a myth doesn't have be logical. What teacher wouldn't want to have to worry about behavior problems? Yet, Hogan discusses how behavior problems do happen, no matter our level of experience. In order to thrive as a teacher we need to adjust our response to misbehavior; instead of assuming that students know how to act and behavior, we need to teach behavior expectations . We never give students the same type of grace when they make a behavior mistake than when they make an academic mistake. This notion is not a new concept to me, especially since I am on the lead...

Shattering the Perfect Teacher Myth by @aaron_hogan During the school year, one thing that goes by the wayside is reading for fun. I love to read but its not always compatible with my exhaustion and lack of free time so my summers include a decent amount of reading. One book I chose was Shattering the Perfect Teacher Myth by Aaron Hogan . Besides seeing my Twitter PLN raving about it, it also falls in line with the whole purpose of my blog; embracing all imperfections and failures that occur. Despite the advice at the beginning of the book, I read through it in one sitting. But I didn't have a choice; it was so incredibly relatable and intriguing. Aaron Hogan brings up so many truths that go against go against every myth that I have been guilty of believing and he offers numerous ideas and suggestions to embed these truths into your mindset and classroom. But because I ignored Hogan's advice to read through the book at a methodical pace, I most likely missed out on some ...

Last September, I reflected on my goals and feelings about my school year school. With a focus on creating more authentic project-based lessons, my Google Innovator project , and my work towards my Master's degree in Educational Technology , my fourth year of teaching did end up being epic with lots of unexpected surprises.  The biggest surprise of all was one of my friends and department mates was offered an incredible job opportunity, which he took at the semester. With this unexpected change, we gained a new teacher, class schedules were rearranged (I ended up teaching AP Euro for a semester), unofficial mentorships occurred, and somehow a student teacher was added in. All in all, Minarets and the social science department made this seemingly negative event a positive.  This is why my last blog post was in February. I wanted to stay online and be as plugged in as possible this school year, but the craziness of the year got the better of me. But I'm back and prepared to...

Last year I had my Woodlake students complete a DBQ regarding Progressivism, where they had to argue which 20th century issue they would invest their million dollars into. As always, I had students finish significantly earlier than others so I quickly threw together another project where they had to create a poster describing a current issue that they felt needed attention. This was meant to keep the early finishers occupied, but turned into a project that the students became excited about: Ebola by Mikayla Juvera New iPhone Concerns by Ramiro Padilla North Korea by Henry Pfaff Unfortunately, because of pacing and an upcoming benchmark, we couldn't invest much time into the project, but I wished that one day I could do this project on a big scale. Then a year later, my wish was granted when I was offered my dream job at Minarets High School, a school dedicated to project-based learning. I knew immediately that one of my projects would be focused on muckraking curren...

Words are powerful, especially the ones that you find as unimportant or insignificant. Someone saying hi, asking about their day, or remembering a small details about their lives is sometimes all it take make an impact on a person. As teachers, we all have that story of at least one student who you made a deep connection with even though you didn't realize it. It wasn't until the recent GAFE Summit in Bakersfield that I realize there is another statement that is influential to students: 'Good job'. Now, I don't mean this in a students-need-to-hear-positive-reinforcement kind of way. While positive comments are necessary, Brian Hamm, the keynote speaker, challenged me to reevaluate the kind of feedback that I give my students and myself. As Hamm was getting us attendees of his session ready to experience design thinking, he discussed the significance between 'good job' and 'good start.' Obviously, 'good job' implies that the task the person ...

As the school year races to the close, I have reached another milestone in my career by finishing my second year of teaching. With BTSA completed and my tenure gained, I can now smile at the memory of walking down the halls of Woodlake High School in 2013 and realizing that I would be a "real" teacher. Yet with another milestone gained, I can't help but feel a sense of incompleteness. I'm not sure where this feeling is coming from; last year, I eagerly waited for summer to arrive, but this year I'm wishing I had more time. It may be coming from my recent experiments within my classroom. In the past, I have done versions of project based learning, but I recently embraced student choice and did my first 'official' PBLs. I'm still waiting on my students' completion of the most recent project, but overall I have felt a greater sense of satisfaction and happiness watching my students on their own, rather than my direct instruction. As a result, I'...

Dates. Names. Details. Facts. No debates. No discussion. Just dates, names, and details. This is how history was (and probably still is) taught. Due to the expectation of the state testing, teachers had to follow the strict pacing guide in order to ensure that students will absorb the necessary information to pass the tests. Thankfully, things are slowing changing because of Common Core. Even so, I’m still faced with the struggle of quality and quantity of topics as a history teacher. My department has been flexible and accommodating to the new expectations of CCSS; we are adjusting our pacing and tests almost weekly to emphasize the quality of information rather than the quantity, which has been a big stress reliever.With testing season upon us (CAHSEE this week, SBAC next week, then SBAC again in May), I can’t help but worry that I won’t be able to cover all the major topics with my students. What if I let my juniors out into the world without understanding how various minority ...