Tag: edublogs

Blue Serials (12/27/15)

~ Blue Cereal

A Christmas Story

Tis the season to be jarring – fa la la la la…

What a week of joyous blessings in the forms of loved ones and weird dessert options, of hope in a glowing baby and the approach of another reboot. But there’s a hair in the pudding – a big wad of it, actually – as the state announces their tax cuts for the top tiniest sliver, smirking in smug hope that public education in Oklahoma may actually die a final violent death this time. If not, we can always cut revenue again next year – it’s a “tremendous opportunity,” it seems.

So’s cancer, if you frame it correctly. But we don’t work at making it happen.

But first, here are the GOOD things you might have missed in the holiday scramble this past week…

Finding Your Holiday Zen – In case you’re new, you need not be devoutly Zen (or even know entirely what that means) to read and benefit from Dan Tricarico’s wisdom at The Zen Teacher. He’s somehow legit enough to actually help you, but without being annoying the way legit people often are. Follow @thezenteacher on the Twitters, and use one of those gift cards you just received to buy his book. I don’t even like ‘teacher books’, and I LOVE this one. 

Amazing Student Candor Increases Learning – Starr Sackstein is more hopeful than I am, more willing to change than I am, and has more patience than I do – for this, I am truly thankful. In this post she reminds us of the power and importance of actual communication and reflection with students. The grades are not the goal. The grades are not the accomplishment. The grades are not the learning. Read her regularly at StarrSackstein.com, and as long as you’re spending those gift cards, she has several titles essential on any teacher shelf. Right now, though, follow @mrssackstein on the Twitters or you can’t possibly do better than a ‘D’.

Lesson Lab: Autopsy of a Photo Blog Project – This is something we should all probably do more of. Peter Anderson at Mr. Anderson Reads & Writes shares two essential teachy-things here: the details of a project he did with his 7th graders, and a thoughtful analysis of how it went – good, bad, uncertain, etc.  I know many of you don’t think most of what you do in class is particularly interesting or useful to share, but I can tell you from experience there are many, many teachers out there ready to benefit from your thoughts and explanations of stuff just like this. Plus – and I’m sorry to say it in front of everyone like this – it’s SO good for us to reflect and analyze post-learnifying. Analyze @MrAndersonELA on the Twitters – he’s into that kind of thing.

Unassigned Reading – Sherri Spelic, the much loved and increasingly renowned Edified Listener, shares some simple thoughts on the joys of reading with her child. I know, I know – but it’s thoughtful and insightful and kinda warm and fuzzy and it’s still sort of Christmas so shut up. You want to increase your joy? Follow @edifiedlistener on the Twitters – she’s the real deal. 

Rest for the Harvest: A Runner’s Letter to Winter Bodies – OK, yes… TECHNICALLY Christina Torres is writing about marathons and reflecting on the physical and mental preparation and her overall holistic experiences with running. She may or may not intend it as an analogy for anything else. But it is. Besides, there’s never a bad reason to read Torres or to follow @biblio_phile on the Twitters. She’s fairly amazing. 

Look for a Special Mid-Week, Nearly New Year’s Blue Serials In A Few Days.

I’ll be compiling the most essential #oklaed and beyond posts about the latest federal and state edu-slation. I’ll also be telling you more about the OK Legislator profiles you’ll see here starting in the new year – what they are, why we’re doing them, and what I hope you’ll do as a result. 

Hope is not a feeling. Hope is a choice. We don’t teach because we’ll win, we don’t love because we’ll benefit, and we don’t vote because we’ll get our way. We hope and we insist and we keep our eyes open no matter how much they burn because somebody has to. Because our kids deserve better.

If we’re going down, let’s go down shouting truth and hope and refusing to go gentle into the self-imposed night. In the meantime, I choose to believe. 

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Blue Serials (12/20/15)

~ Blue Cereal

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You Made It.

Well, through a semester, at least. That’s something, right?

I shouldn’t assume that most of us are exhausted, or at least relieved, rather than joyously celebrating another 18 weeks well-taught. But this is a weird gig, folks. The idea that we can cajole kids or teenagers, 30 or so at a time, into learning random stuff they rarely see much point in knowing, and do this more or less alone – every day – once the door is closed… who would expect THAT to work? 

Before we spend too much energy lamenting the times it doesn’t, or the kids who won’t, consider what a freakin’ miracle it is that you make it happen AT ALL! It’s really quite impressive.

Imagine flapping your arms wildly, hoping to fly about twenty feet off the ground. You only make it about eight feet, though, occasionally skimming the grass as you swoop wildly around the yard – less than half of what you’d hoped. BUT YOU FLAPPED YOUR ARMS AND FLEW OUT OF SHEER FORCE OF WILL AND A HEALTHY SIDE OF DELUSION! Anyone else would have to count that as a win. (Well, except state legislators who are positive you should be at least a quarter mile above the rooftops because they wrote ALL THE BILLS WITH THE SUCCESS WORDS.) 

That’s a little Christmas Miracle you have going all year ’round, my #11FF – even during those few weeks in April when you’re like, ‘screw this’, and those three ‘mental health days’ you took last month. But otherwise – FLAP! FLAP! FLAP! FLAP! FLAP!

Oh, And It’s Also Almost Christmas.

For those of you who are into that kind of thing. It’s cool if you’re not – but I’m personally a bit giddy. Consequently, I’m going to focus on the warm fuzzy touchy feely hopey stuff this week – or at least things primarily concerned with teaching, and students, and our various classrooms.

Still, these are tough times in education, especially here in Oklahoma. You should be following and supporting the legit folks fighting for your paychecks, your sense of purpose, and your students’ academic souls – especially OKEducationTruths, A View From the Edge, and Fourth Generation Teacher.

But this week, I’M all about unicorns and rainbows, baby – because IT’S CHRISTMAS!

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OK – maybe not ALL unicorns and rainbows. But NOT politics. Not yet. 

By Failing Our Students, Are We Failing Our Students? – Maha Bali at Reflecting Allowed wrestles with something very familiar to many of us as we finalize those first semester grades. Yeah, I see the numbers on the screen. Yes, I read their work. I know, I know… if only they’d tried, or listened, or made a little more effort… but… Could I have done something differently? Tried harder to reach THEM? Understood MORE of what they needed? Will this grade teach them an important lesson about responsibility, or…? If you know something of this feeling, you’ll want to bookmark this one. You may not find answers, but I felt better knowing others had the same struggles. And if you don’t know this feeling, read it anyway. Follow @bali_maha on the Twitters and you can wrestle through a variety of deep issues together. She’s amazing. 

How & Why We Should Let Our Students Fail – Since we’re on the topic, Jennifer Gonzalez at Cult of Pedagogy has a fascinating review of The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed (Jessica Lahey). I haven’t read the book, so I have no idea what it might be about, but… (That was what we in the blogging business call ‘knee-slapping humor’.) Like only the best reviewers can, Gonzalez gives us a solid stand-alone piece that merely doubles as a book review. On the other hand, I’ll be downloading this title with some of those gift cards I hope to receive soon. So should you. In the meantime, follow Jennifer on the Twitters at @cultofpedagogy for more learnin’ stuff, and while you’re at it check out @jesslahey as well – they’re both practically #11FF if they’d just join the %#$@ contest! 

What NOT To Say To Your Music Teacher – Mindy Dennison at This Teacher Sings speaks from personal experience, but I have to think this one resonates with any teacher who has ever taught a so-called “extra-curricular” subject. Turns out they’re not always fighting the tide of disrespect, testing-driven curriculum, and budget cuts just because they’re “lucky.” Maybe they’re fighting for our kids artistic and non-linear souls…? Follow Mindy on the Twitters at @MrsDSings and brush with greatness – she’s kind of a big deal now.  #oklaed 

Brave Spelling – Dana Murphy at Two Writing Teachers talks about spelling. And learning. And how ‘getting it wrong’ is the worst way to see things. Oh, and these weird little letter robots, too – who knew THAT was a thing? Follow Dana Murphy on the Twitters at @DanaMurphy68 and Two Writing Teachers at @2WritingTeachrs – they’re all hung up on the joys of learning and not very good at crushing hope out of little people. I love that about them.

A Voice – Rebecka Peterson on One Good Thing does that thing she does so well with the thinking and the wondering and the caring and the hope. Much like when I hear a capella live or watch Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog for the eleventeenth time, I don’t get it and I can’t do it, but I’m sure glad others can – and that they’re this good at it. Follow Peterson on the Twitters at @RebeckaMozdeh and sing along with her. Er… metaphorically, I assume.  #oklaed

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One Year Ago – And SO Worth Revisiting…

“To The Friend That Once Said, ‘You Need To Be Realistic.'” – This week’s flashback to #amazeballs post (I really need a more consistent name for these) is from Kris Giere at Involuntary Verbosity. It’s a poem, actually – which is what makes this a ‘first ever’, since I don’t really do poems all that often – or share them ever ever ever. But oh my glowing baby in a manger, is this one worth a read or seven hang-it-on-the-wall. It gave me the tinglies – and not the naughty kind, either. Go follow Kris on the Twitters at @KrisGiere, but don’t expect tinglies ALL the time. Mostly he’s just thoughtful and insightful and talks about education and stuff, and makes you feel smarter as a result of his questions and suggestions. 

Finally, Giddy Congratulations to #OklaEd Winners of #Eddies15:

OKEducationTruths – First Place, Best Administrator Blog; Second Place, Best Individual Blog

A View From The Edge – Second Place, Best Administrator Blog

This Teacher Sings – First Place, Best New Blog

Mrs. Waters English – Second Place, Best EdTech/Resource Blog; Second Place, Best Teacher Blog

It’s an honor to stalk and harrass each of you!

Alright Darlings – regroup and relax, give and receive, sing and watch and eat and play. We have so many miles to go, and so little objectively suggesting we’ll ever arrive. 

Isn’t it exciting to have a challenge? 

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Blue Serials (12/13/15)

~ Blue Cereal

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Baby, It’s Tepid Outside. It doesn’t really feel like Xmas yet – maybe it’s the weather (at least in Oklahoma), or maybe it’s because school’s still in. Maybe it’s just age blunting the potential of the season.

Nevertheless, I have an early present for you. A collection of edu-posts from this past week(ish) which you simply must. not. miss. You’re welcome! 

(Oh, um… can you save that bow? We reuse those. Yeah, thanks.)

The Other Shortage – OKEducationTruths wrote last week about the shortage of competent, capable, not-going-to-hell-for-their-shenanigans people running for state office. We need more candidates, and better candidates, and – while he’s a bit more gentle about this than I am – we need to get our collective heads out of our behinds well before next November to figure out who we’re supporting and who we’re not, and why. 

It’s partly with this in mind that I’m starting an #OKElections16 feature in January profiling various members of our state legislature – especially in regards to their actions impacting public education. As new candidates arise – IF new candidates arise – I’ll try to cover a few of them as well. You know things are serious when Blue Cereal tackles legit, boring-but-so-important stuff. 

In the meantime, follow @okeducation on the Twitters – he’s not always serious, but he does say much that’s pretty important. (Don’t, um… don’t tell him I said that, would you?)

#OklaEd Funding, Vouchers Proposals, and Other ‘Bend Over, Like It, and We’ll Call It Love‘ State Legislative Rhetoric:

Fund Us. Support Us. Or STFU! – Claudia Swisher at Fourth Generation Teacher has had enough of lawmakers and others talking smarmily about how their mother and their sister and several of their ex-wives were all teachers and so I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’RE SAYING I HAVE ALL THIS CREDIBILITY. If you get it, she says, then do something useful; otherwise, Shut The F-

Well, you get the idea. Find the normally much calmer, sweeter @ClaudiaSwisher on the Twitters. She’s brilliant and effective and still feels awkward about the ‘STFU’ thing even though it made everyone smile and no one thinks she’s a potty mouth.

I Can Run A Spreadsheet Too (Rob Miller, A View From The Edge) – Rob explains why vouchers do NOT raise ‘per-pupil funding’ for public schools after all the wealthy white kids run to Word of Grace of Hope of Profit Academy in the suburbs. Rob’s on Twitter – @edgeblogger – go show him some love. 

A Blatant Double Standard (Rick Cobb, OKEducationTruths) – Of rhetoric and reality regarding voucher proposals in Oklahoma. My favorite part is about how public schools MUST be buried in bureaucracy because OMG STANDARDS! while the privates/charters/chosenfaves MUST be free from any and all accountability because OMG BUREAUCRACY CRUSHES INNOVATION AND QUALITY!

Rick’s on Twitter also – or were you not paying attention above? *sheesh*

Early #OklaEd Reactions to the recent passage of the More Delusional Rhetoric Act (aka, “Every Child Learns Everything At The Highest Levels Ever Just Because We Mandate It” Act, sometimes abbreviated to ESSA):

Music Stands Alone – Meghan Loyd at For the Love has hope for extra-curriculars under the revised federal… thing. Only Meghan could make me feel happy thoughts about anything 18,000 pages long and approved by the federal government – but she does. Be happy with Meghan on the Twitters – @meghanloyd.

The First Bite of the Elephant / The Next Big Bite of ESSA – Rob Miller of A View From The Edge has been on a roll lately. Thank goodness – he does all that… thinking and facts and stuff, so the rest of us don’t have to.

Finally, GO VOTE FOR THESE AMAZING #OKLAED EDU-BLOGGERS Who’ve Been Nominated for #Eddies15!

Best Individual Blog – OkEducationTruths

Best Teacher Blog – JennWillTeach and Mrs. Waters’ English

Best New Blog – This Teacher Sings (who has a pithy new post we didn’t have a chance to get to this week)

Best EdTech/Resource Sharing – ELAOK Teachers and Mrs. Waters’ English

Best Administrator Blog – A View From the Edge

It doesn’t take long to vote, and you’re a better person for having done so.

Next week I hope to get back to warmer, fuzzier topics and grab a few from outside our troubled state as well. I know we’re tired, and I know anyone paying attention is probably livid and discouraged most of the time – but I promise you, you’re doing the Lord’s work out there. What you say to your kids and the simple things you try to teach them mean more than any thousands of pages those principalities and powers can pass. So to hell with the system – go love your kids. Hold their heads under that water of knowledge until they have to either drink, or drown.

Merry Almost Xmas.

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Blue Serials (12/6/15)

~ Blue Cereal ~ 2 Comments

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Tis the season, eh?

In the midst of our anticipation and preparation for family, festivities, or maybe just a few weeks curled up on the couch Netflix-binging, so many thought-provoking and challenging things are being written and discussed in the edu-blogosphere. Some are uplifting, some are rather discouraging – but the stuff you really really shouldn’t miss from this past week is all right here.

It’s my early gift to you, ’cause we’re tight like that, yes?

Breaking The Silence – Hopefully you’ve watched the video by now (it’s embedded in the post on the off-chance you’ve missed it). 12 minutes of teacher reality from the good folks at Moore Public Schools. David Burton of Idealistically Realistic certainly has, and adds his own experiences to the mix. You should too. Then, follow @APTeacherBurton on the Twitters. You’ll be one friend better as a result.  #oklaed 

A Little Thing Called Love (and Education) – Many of you read the post from OKWU regarding overly sensitive students this past week. I forwarded it along myself, albeit with a few minor reservations. Shortly after, I was approached by a colleague who’d graduated from there and who had some real issues with the letter and its tone. She made good points, and I started to wonder if I’d hit those ‘Likes’ and exploding heart buttons too soon.

Jennifer Williams, aka JennWillTeach, has some of the same reservations as my colleague, and expresses them so very well here. #TriggerWarning – Christian themes, possible sarcasm, hints of unicorns and rainbows levels of caring for young people. Find @JennWillTeach on the Twitters – but don’t expect her to coddle you, no matter how nice she seems here.  #oklaed

Side Note: There’s a fascinating article in Psychology Today about students’ supposed ’emotional fragility’ and the reactions to an earlier piece by the author on the same subject. It’s a long read, but worth it if this is a topic in which you’re interested beyond the occasional snarky post. 

A Call To Arms – I do so resent having to repeatedly fight the same old voucher battles and other efforts to suck the remaining marrow out of Oklahoma public schools. Worse, it’s always done with such gilding – it’s always for ‘choice’ and ‘the children’ and ‘healthy competition’ and all the same euphemising and verbiaging we always see when it’s time to reward #whiteprivilege or otherwise cut loose the neediest from the public lifeboat.

Thankfully, Rob Miller at A View From The Edge is able to address the issues with less hyperbole and bitterness than myself, and lay out clearly – AGAIN – why this latest round of “dump on their dinner and call it dessert” is bad for kids, bad for schools, and bad for the state. Santa Claus can’t possibly be bringing these people ANYTHING this year, can he? Follow Rob on the Twitters at @edgeblogger – I promise you, he’s much more calm and rational than I am about these things. Then again, who isn’t?  #oklaed 

You Can’t Blame Her – On a much more uplifting note, Erin Barnes at Educating Me shares one of my favorite testing stories of all time about her six-year old daughter – who is clearly MUCH smarter than Pearson or ETS or whoever made the stupid test she had to take. If you want to do something smart as well, follow @elynnlll on the Twitters. I just love her.  #oklaed 

Finally, and somewhat uncharacteristically, this piece from a non-educator about a topic not at all specific to public education.  

In Which I Tell You How Your Religion Works – I’m not that familiar with Luther Siler or his blog, Infinitefreetime.com. But this post resonated with me so strongly that I’m passing it along here, despite the very political and religious nature of the subject matter. He’s, um… rather blunt about what he has to say regarding faith, terrorism, and turning away refugees. Regular readers know that’s completely fine by me – especially when he’s so very right as well.

If you’re the sort to get fired up over social or political opinions inserted where you’re not expecting them, this is probably one of those times. Read it anyway – I’ll trade you being mad at me for you being exposed to what he says here. If you’re NOT pissed and DON’T unfollow me as a result, feel free to find Siler on the Twitters at @nfinitefreetime and see what happens. 

Whatever your social or political leanings, go forth boldly this week and teach the crap out of those kids in your room! Love them despite themselves and be excellent despite the system in which you labor. Illegitimi non carborundum! You are FAR more amazing than you realize – and they need you so much more than they can possibly conceive. 

I leave you with more Bellwether Squares for Xmas:

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Blue Serials (11/29/15)

~ Blue Cereal

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You did it. You survived Thanksgiving. 

I forgive you in advance if you’re unintentionally counting down to ‘Winter Break’ in the back of your mind. It’s OK to be tired, or to enjoy the breathers. We know you still love the children and would never willngly be away from them for long. 

Er… right?

Hmm. Maybe we’d better just press ahead. 

A few amazing things you may have missed in the rush of holiday festivities slash obligations:

Thank You For The Music – There were any number of ‘Thankful’ posts this past week from #oklaed and beyond. I’m choosing this one from Mindy Dennison, aka This Teacher Sings, to represent them all. As with so many of us, she loves her subject – but what she most treasures are the people. I’m personally thankful she’s back the blogging saddle – er… if that’s a thing. I’m a little bewildered by the Abba video at the end, but knowing my own musical tastes I have little room to judge.  #oklaed 

6 Guidelines for Extracurricular Advisers – The title is probably a bit of a giveaway as to what Peter Greene at Curmudgucation is writing about here, but in addition to it being pretty good advice for those ‘extracurricular’ folks he mentions, it’s pretty good advice for those of us teaching the so-called ‘cores’ as well. And when he says stuff like “sometimes the lessons come from failure. They have to– because if the students don’t have the chance to fail, they don’t have the chance to succeed…” – well, I’m pretty much an edu-sciple for life.

If I Stuck A Camera Into Your Brain, What Would I See? (Responding to Literature) – I don’t know about you, but sometimes I hit a wall with ideas on how to help my kids process information, especially when we’re trying to teach them to suck in more knowledge through their own straw and rely less on us filling our straw and shooting it at them. (OK, that analogy kinda got away from me.) Fortunately, Peter Anderson at Mr. Anderson Reads & Writes is much better at that kind of thing than I am, and here he shares an idea with which I am now in love for helping kids process and personalize literature more effectively.

Flexibility & Consistency: Why I’m OK With ‘Sometimes’ – Amanda Morgan of Not Just Cute is all about child development and growth and stuff, which doesn’t neatly mesh with my love of snark and abusing young people in the name of ‘grit’. Here, though, she highlights the value of balancing structure and systems with reality-based flexibility. Imagine how difficult this would be if our kids were growing up in a world of artificial dichotomies and manufactured ideals for everything from body image to career fulfillment? I know, right? Go read this one. Then, later… read it again.

AND THIS WEEK’S BLAST FROM THE NOT-SO-DISTANT PAST…

The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies – Jennifer Gonzalez is my most recent #educrush, and I’m having a hard time getting my pedagogical pulse back to ‘suave’ since discovering her work on Cult of Pedagogy. This one is from last month, but I’m making it this week’s ‘revisit’ because this is about the time of first semester we have so much to get through but have pretty much worn out our ‘go to’ strategies for keeping things interesting. Despite all those workshop notes we took and all those Marzano books on the shelf, we fall into ruts. It’s not that every one of these is radical or revolutionary or the solution to all of your edu-woes – but at least a half-dozen of the strategies summarized here will make you think ‘Oh yeah! I remember thinking I should try that!’ One or two will probably even be new to you. 

Go Be Amazing This Week As You Return To Your Classroom, Office, or Other Educational Working Space! Take a moment to participate in the Blue Cereal #11FF Blue Christmas Cup of Cheer Giveaway – all you have to do is promote blogs you’re already reading or share posts you already like, whether mine or those of existing #11FF. The first several winners will be announced soon – and it’s going until Xmas Eve!

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