New year

Well, the new year has officially started. It was nice to see familiar faces and get acquainted with the new sixth grade students. Of course, I greatly miss my last year's 8th grade students who were a great group and for whose support I might be reaching this year. We have a lot more students this year in Globaloria and are reaching out to 7th and 8th graders. I am curious to see the differences/similarities in learning these groups will display.

My plans for this year are very ambitious- we are taking on civics games and are to establish communication and collaboration with other schools in WV as well as TX. I am excited and maybe a little scared not to meet the expectations, but these feelings usually drive me to achieve more and help my students meet the goals of my class.

Globaloria is such an exciting class that, despite its complexity and new ways to deliver curriculum, it interests kids tremendously, challenging the high achievers and helping the struggling students take interest in school in general and see purpose in their education. I often compare the essence of this program to any other educational innovations, challenges, or problems schools deal with today.

I was recently reading Ian Jukes's blog When Flogging a Dead Horse It's Probably Good to Dismount and could not help but think that so many programs we run at school feel like a dead horse that we fail to dismount and keep on trying to find the ways to revive it. Ian Jukes notes that, unfortunately, it is common practice in education. I got a good laugh out of reading his blog, but in retrospect, the issue does not feel funny. Change is hard but it is now or never that we need to embrace it in education. Ian Jukes connects his ideas on educational practices of "riding a dead horse" to the issue of the biggest annual drop in reading scores in 31 years on SAT. In this case, the dead horse is our TTWWADI (that's the way we've always done it) and the demands of NCLB "running headlong into Digital Natives who are tuning us out and shutting us down."

"We try to engage kids who are neurologically different (Prensky, Small,
Tapscott, Pink, Dryden, Medina...) by using a PhD (piled higher and deeper)
approach. This much medicine didn't work so we'll just give them more of the
stuff. Based on the assumption that what doesn't kill them will make them
stronger." (Ian Jukes)

That's where Globaloria comes into play. This program does try to address the needs of these neurologically different kids by engaging them in the activities they feel are important to them, thus making their learning more meaningful.This program helps students use the skills they so artfully develop outside the classroom walls for academic purposes. Additionally, Globaloria lets teachers dismount their dead horses and try new strategies and approaches.

Wow! How did it change my life?

Looking back at certain moments in my life filled with angst, frustration, working under pressure, I surprisingly came to a conclusion that these were the most powerful learning events of my life. They made me - ME, shaped my teaching style, formed my outlook on various things in life, and opened my mind to tolerance, understanding, and compassion. Mainly, travels to different parts of the States and Europe contributed to my most powerful learning experiences.

I remember one of my travels specifically. It was my first visit to the United States, the country with culture so different from mine that at first it left me confused, searching for connections to my understanding of life, and scrambling to better my English :) Luckily, I ended up in New Hampshire, where the language was easy enough to understand for a newcomer. Beign a part of Easter Seals camp staff was an eye-opening experience as well as it was the first time I worked with children with disabilities, an entirely rewarding and humbling experience by itself. Even though I was questioning my sanity at the time, wondering about how in the world I was stupid enough to sign up for this crazy deal, but eventually I came to understand the importance of my undertaking as it helped me realize how big this world was, and how different, but not unequal, cultures were, which made me a better teacher and still helps me try to inspire my students in the secluded county of McDowell to look beyond the county line, open their minds to a multitude of possibilities ready for them to undertake, and view the world as a place for collaboration, not division. And, Globaloria enhances my beliefs even more!

Homework assignment

Just as doing my homework assignments for the admin class I took this semester from Concord Univeristy during the four weeks of Twilight obsession, I am unveiling my blogs to follow early in the morning, while it' not too late!
Lately, I have been following Ian Jukes's blog after listening to his presentations last summer. His insights into the 21st century learning gave me tons of food for thought and provided good support for opening my mind to the teaching and learning opportunities initiated by Globaloria. The work my students have accomplished this year proves that 21st century learning is taking place in WV schools . In the end of the year, my studetns have produced a video that shows their accomplishments in this class and is a great evidence of their engagement and hard work.
I have also decided to follow up the edu blogs website suggested by Rachael yesterday during the session. I am extremely interested in the issues of 21st century literacy and digital divide as these are the roadblocks we frequently hit as teachers working in high poverty areas. Despite the location and peculiarities of school locations, teachers still need to leave no child behind and find ways to help all the kids to be successful within the 21st century workspace.

Tying up loose ends...

Last week was a bit hectic as the much-anticipated and feared date of the game presentations neared. We also had visitors from Globalora staff and Texas who came to see how Globaloria works within the middle school setting. Students willingly shared their insights into Globaloria, what they learned, how it helped them work better in groups and become more familiar with Web 2.0 tools.

Wednesday, the day of our presentations, was both nerve-wrecking and rewarding. The students have put in a lot of work during class hours, after their lunch, and after school. Even though their games were not completed, the game presentations were engaging and well prepared for. Every group member, even the shyest one, contributed to the presentation. To share the student success and the results of their hard work, Sara and I invited our county assistant superintendent and technology integration specialist to be on the panel of judges. We also had a teacher from another middle school from the county come and videotape the presentation. Of course, our administration was present, supporting the students.

Even though the presentations are over, we still have a lot of work to do. The students have to assemble their games, and with Jeff's help, they are slowly moving to their goal. Even though student motivation is there, we still promised to bring cookies and milk (their choice!) for the groups who upload their finished games to the game gallery by next Friday! Middle school bribing sometimes works magic :) Blogging, organizing pages, and finalizing games is all that's needed to successfully finish up the year.

The time we spent in our first year of Globaloria was challenging, highly educational, and very rewarding for the students who embraced the 21st century learning skills and tools and have come out being ready for challenges future might bring them!

Presentation time nears...

Well, the students are almost finished with their individual units and are starting on their game scenes, which brings a lot of creativity, frustration, and seeking for answers into play. The presentation at the board is in three weeks, so I encouraged the students to produce a game demo and talk about their learning process within the course. They are worried about talking in front of the board, but that will help them in the long run.

Our assistant principal and I are trying something this semester. Her acquaintance is an owner of a graphic design company in Florida. We got in touch with him about possibly talking to the kids about this industry and his experiences with it. The guy is very willing to talk to the kids, so we might be setting up Skype session with him some time in future. I am very excited because this session would let our students see the significance and reak world application of what they are doing in this class. Of course, none of my students need to be really nudged to attend Globaloria. They perceive it as "fun learning", with some spending more time on playing rather than working for a specific goal- their game. However, work or play, they are still learning, so I am not complaining much.

Our progress...

My students are increasingly surprising me with the complexity and creativity of their work. Collaboration between these kids is amazing as they find resources and share them with each other constantly! However, they "play" with Flash a lot and sometimes forget about adding the newly learned stuff to their game! Thus, they need constant reminders to stay on task in addition to having "boss-ladies": Phyllis, Karri, and Chelsey!

Recently, we have organized a parent night at school, with one of the topics for sharing being Globaloria. Josh and Tyler decided to represent the group and talk about their learning in this class. Parents were impressed, which means that we might get a number of willing participants next year. Interestingly, many parents wanted to see this program continue in high school because it was evidently something the students would enjoy tremendously! This night was a good rehearsal for the boys as they have a presentation with the board coming up in April, with the final presentation of the games taking place in May. Knowing about these presentations and working in groups keeps these students accountable towards each other and towards this class, which eliminates my need for grading as a sole means to evaluate the learning process and actually see it take place.

I am excited about the things that the students are learning. They definitely know more than me even though I have progressed a lot further since last June myself!!!

Are we ever going to get back to work???

Well, snow days have provided a nice relief here and there, but I am sooo ready to do away with them and have a decent work week. I guess, we haven't had many cancellations as other schools have, but they still messed with the schedule. Through the chaos of snow days and semester changes, the groups switched schedules, and now the second group is coming in for eighty minutes. The kids are absolutely loving it! The first group, however, are not happy with the change, but so far it hasn't affected them that greatly.



We are starting to reap the effects of Globaloria by... letting our students help teachers who want to find out more about new Web 2.0 tools. Yesterday Sara and I were asked by a teacher who is happy to have evolved from a digital dinosaur into "just a big lizard" (her own words :) to help her learn more about wikis, blogs, and podcasts. Instead of jumping in right away, we offered... Josh to help her out. So, as soon as our snow days are over, they are going to meet every morning to learn more about these tools. The growing confidence and belief I have in these kids are another proof that this class helps not only students but also teachers to embrace the 21st century teaching and learning. Of course, I still have long ways to go in the means of acquiring knowledge and prefer conventional ways rather than skyping Jeff far away in NY to help me out with the glitch in the game (Josh :), but I am definitely moving along. What's the next stage of evolution from a digital lizard, I wonder???