Rush the Iceberg

So I was reading a book with my Casen – that means looking at two pages and the him running off – when his book sparked an idea for a project for my students.

These books are super cool because they have little pictures that are at certain parts of the narrative. Kids are then supposed to push coresponding button off to the side that creates a sound relevant to the story and picture.

What if students created something similar with one of their stories or essays?

I asked on Twitter if anyone knew of a soundboard iOS app that allows you to record sounds that you can replicate with a push of a button. @rogre sent me THIS (watch the video – five minutes of awesomeness!).

Imagine the possibilities.

Let me know what you think!

Walking into Starbucks, you can hear my pre-coffee tiredness: shoes dragging on coffee stained cement, saying sorry to no one after opening the door and hitting my own head, and the

“Mr. Davis!…Mr. Davis!…Mr. Davis!!!”

I see a blur come racing towards me as the five people ahead of me turn around, mad that I have unknowingly interrupted their pre-coffee ritual of catching up on their vicarious life on Facebook.

It’s a former student, from about two years ago.

I absolutely LOVE seeing and talking to former students.

However, I rarely know what to talk about. After the obligatory, “How are you doing?” I seemingly ask the same stock questions: “So, how’s Cypress High treating you?” , “How’s the boys/girls treating you?”, and “How’s everyone else? Catch me up on _________________________________.”

That often takes about three minutes.

“Mr. Davis!…Mr. Davis!…Mr. Davis!!!” Another former student walks in.

Then a few uncomfortable, awkward moments for both of us. This is where I struggle the most. Where do we go from here? Yeah, I know, just ask more questions. But what questions? I am not so good at asking questions.

I feel bad that things do not go more smoothly, like when I talked to my students when they were in my class.

“Mr. Davis!…Mr. Davis!…Mr. Davis!!!” Another former students comes over to me while I am waiting for my half-calf with a twist of lemon. (I got the French Roast, fully caffeinated…I just love the above line from LA Story)

Yeah, I am addicted to looking at my phone. I know I do it way too much. Don’t judge me. Below is a list of my most frequently used iPhone apps of 2012. Apple has yet to allow an app that somehow keeps track of what apps you use most frequently, so the list below is purely off feeling, not hard data. No particular order…

 Tweetbot
Weather Bug Elite
 Hipstamatic
Instagram
 Noir
Snapseed
 Lenslight
Fickr
 Foursquare
Any.Do
 miCal
Countdown
 Simplenote
 Instapaper
 Day One
 Instacast

Tweetbot – My Twitter client of choice: lots of options and I love the UI.

Weather Bug Elite – I love the weather even though I live in Southern California where it is essentially 75 degrees year round with minimal rainfall and even fewer weather “events”. I currently have five, yes five, weather apps in use on my phone. Nope, they do not all provide the same information and/or maps. Weather Bug seems to be the most accurate in my area.

Hipstamatic – My go to photo application. It took about a week or two to get used to the different sets of lenses and films and the results of different combinations. After a while, I began to know which combination would work best for certain situations. For example, the Loftus Lens and BlacKeys Supergrain Film combination works extremely well in harsh sunlight conditions with lots of shadows. I typically use it between 11 AM and 3 PM.  The Loftus Lense and Kodot XGrizzled lense works well for anything shot that includes a blue sky (also in low-light situations). My “all-purpose”, daily combination is Jane Lense and Sugar Film: I find it evens out tones and helps to reduce noise. You might find THIS and THIS helpful.

Instagram – Yep. You know all about this app.

Noir – I LOVE this black and white photo app. Great controls and options. The UI is intuitive yet simple.

Snapseed – Now that this app is free, there is absolutely NO reason to not have this app on your phone if you post ANY pictures anywhere people can see them. I was overwhelmed at first, but after tinkering around, I finally got “it”. 90% of my images run through my standard workflow with this app: Crop to 1:1; Brightness lowered; Ambiance raised; Contrast increased a bit.

Lens Light – I have been surprised at how much I use this app. It’s a fun little app, well worth it.

Flickr – Wow. What a great app. So much power under the hood. I love how much control I have over organizing my pics into sets, groups, and tags – much, much better than hashtag management/highjacking on Instagram. You can find my Flickr photostream HERE.

Foursquare – I had known about this app ever since it came out and was not interested. However, December ‘11 I saw an IFTTT recipe that posted all your Foursquare check-ins onto your Google calendar. Nice! It has been easy to keep track of haircuts, getting gas, doctor’s appointments, and many other things this way. Plus, seeing all the place Ken Shelton checks-in at is awesome!

Any.Do – Like weather apps, I tend to have many of the “productivity – to do list” apps (I still get little done…). I used Omni-Focus for most of the year, but it was too, well, confusing. Orchestra was/is awesome because of the shared list ability. However, Any.Do’s ability to be integrated with gmail is what put it on this list.

MiCal – Great calendar app. I also use Agenda, but have stuck with MiCal for most of the year probably because of their AMAZING iPad version.

Countdown – Simple app that allows me to keep track of what day of the year it is for my 365 photo project.

Simplenote – This is my primary writing app. I have long used this app because of their web app that is not blocked at school. I keep all my snippets of random thought here. The phone app and the web app sync together so everything I write is with me whenever I want/need it.

Instapaper – I read articles while waiting in line at Costco.

Day One – I want to write more and I really like how each day you write, the day of the month on the calendar turns blue. I once read that Jerry Sinefeld would put a big X each day of the month he wrote a joke, trying to string together as many X’s as possible. Another great thing about this app, is the syncing through Dropbox with the iPad app. So, while my student teacher is teaching class, I can do some journaling on my iPad. Then at night before I go to bed, I can close the day out with a few thoughts. Yesterday, I was listening to MacPower Users Episode 117 and they mentioned how you can use Day One as a journal for your professional work: I am going to explore this option!

Instacast – I love listening to podcasts! I used Downcast most of the year, but it felt too bloated for some reason. I went back to Instacast a few weeks ago and have been very happy. My favorite part of both of these apps is that you can adjust how far you want to skip forward or go backward. I know it’s bad to skip the commercials in podcasts as they are trying to support themselves, but I still skip them!

“Your so full of what is right, you can’t see what is….good.” Neil Peart.

In chapter one of Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement, Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehrenworth, and Christopher Lehman retell a story of a Yale law student trying to help out the people of Newark, New Jersey. The law student learns an important lesson from “Queen Mother”, the leader of a particularly run down community. She takes him outside and asks what he sees…He only saw negativity, stuff you and I see in our own imaginations of similar communities.

Virginia Jones, the Queen Mother, explains to the student “…The world you see outside of you is a reflection of what you have inside you. If you are one of those people who only sees problems and darkness and despair, then that is all there is ever going to be for you. But if you are one of those people who sees hope, opportunity, and love, then you can make a difference.” (p. 8).

I like her song…

Throughout the United States, the Blogosphere, and the Twitterverse, there are many different songs and dances regarding the common core. I will likely play and dance to every song. I will likely create a song or two of my own.

I am making a purposeful decision to gain more knowledge in all things Common Core, especially regarding English Language Arts in middle school.

I can spend all my time criticizing the Common Core, sounding the horn of change. But I have never liked horns too much. With the exception of Charlie Parker and Miles Davis (ok, others, too), the horn is just to harsh and lacking nuance. It lacks a sense of humanity.

source: techsavvyed.net

Rather, I am more into percussion, the many divisions and subdivisions of rhythmic patterns. Percussion is rooted in the common heartbeat of humanity. Percussion is at our core (rimshot please!).

I am going to document my journey with the Common Core here for various reasons. I want to be ahead of the curve of district mandates and initiatives. I want to add my paradiddles, polyrhythms, and odd time signatures to the district pop standards. I want to help set and direct the tone and tempo and trainings and conferences.

But mostly, I want to be a better teacher to help equip my students for their unknown future rhythms and songs.

Why are so many teachers ditching their desks?

Does not having a desk make you a great teacher? Are you somehow better than those of us who use their desks? Does a desk symbolize all that is wrong with education? Did Joe Bower tell you to ditch your desk so you did? Did Michelle Rhee say somewhere that desks are amazing, so you ditched your desk in protest?

A few years ago I started A Teacher’s Desk to highlight an aspect of a teacher’s life that rarely is mentioned. I have always been interested in other teacher’s desks and workflows, wondering if I could get some insight into a better way to be organized or more efficient.

The first year of A Teacher’s Desk was incredibily successful! Every month, teachers from around the world would send me a snapshot of their world to me and I would post it HERE. Last year, I tried to start the blog again HERE, but did not manage and promote it sufficiently because of the birth of my son and my mom being in the hospital for three months.

I also believe that, as James Joyce said, “In the particular contains the universal”. The little knick-knacks, pictures, momentos, and office passses on and around our desks reveal much about who we are as people.

This summer, numerous people encoureaged me to reboot A Teacher’s Desk. After much thought and discussion with my wife, I decided to reboot the blog using Tumblr so teachers can submit their pictures via email.

When I have extended invitations to participate in A Teacher’s Desk, half of the teachers have been enthusiastic and have begun posting.

Unfortunately, the other half declined, essentially stating the same thing: “I don’t have a desk, I ditched it, so I can’t participate! Sorry!”

I seriously do not get it! Where do you get your work done? Do you grade, err, assess standing up, while talking to students? Do you lesson plan standing up? Are you blogging and tweeting standing up? What do you do at recess or during your conference period?

DO YOU EVER SIT DOWN AT ALL AT SCHOOL OR AT HOME WHEN YOU ARE WORKING?

I sit at my desk at random times during the day. True, I hardly ever sit at my desk other tan during my conference period, before and after school. Most of the time I am standing at my computer cart, walking around asking questions, talking with students, stretching…

Side note – when my students are working together or solo, I do a few “laps” around my room to help out students. But then I either stand at my computer cart or sit at my desk and read a few essays. You see, I don’t want to hover around my students; I want my students to work with each other first, and then come to me after they have exhuasted their collective brain power.

I have reminded those that have declined that they can post pictures of their “desks”: couches, counters, and coffee tables! Look, A Teacher’s Place Where They Get Work Done does not make a good blog name!

I encourage you to participate in A Teacher’s Desk and show the world where you get your work done! You can even post pictures of your entire classroom (unless you have already ditched that!)…Sorry, um sort of, for the sarcasm between the quotes! If you still want to participate, send me a DM on Twitter!

The “Somebody-Wanted-But-So” activity is a classic in many middle school English classes. I tend to use it to help students with the classic Plot Triangle. I have students do this activity immediately after reading the story (preferably after second read through) and then label the parts on the Plot Triangle.

The “Somebody-Wanted-But-So” activity is a hybrid of a graphic organizer and a step by step process that provides an excellent foundation for students to wrestle with the deeper issues of stories.

But I always found it lacking.

So I changed it to “Somebody-Wanted-But/Because-So”

Below is the typical narrative I use when explaining this activity to my students. There is much ad-libbing and many dumb-jokes thrown into the mix – Insert your own middle school jokes liberally throughout…

________________________________________________________________

OK, write down the following on your paper:

Somebody:

 

Wanted:

 

But/Because:

 

So:

Think about the classic fairy tale “Cinderella” and fill in the words above…

(Here I say: Ok, let’s start with Cinderella…write her name down…)

Somebody:  Cinderella

(Here I ask: What is it that she wants? Discussion follows)

Wanted:  to go to the annual ball

(Here I ask: But what or Because why?)

But/Because: but her evil step mom was jealous of her beauty

Here I ask: So then what? What happened?)

So: Cinderella stayed home and scrubbed floors

The “But/Because” part can be tricky: you need to decide which transition word to use that would be the most logical for the sentence…sometimes it is “but” and sometimes it is “because”. For example…

Somebody:  Cinderella

 

Wanted:  to go to the annual ball to get her groove on…

 

But/Because: because she wanted to dance

 

So: (you can’t really logically complete the thought; it does not make sense)

OK, now  put this into a summary sentence or two:

In the fairy tale, “Cinderella”, Cinderella wanted to go to the annual ball, but her evil step mom was jealous of her beauty.  So (as a result), Cinderella was forced to stay home and scrub floors.

Remember you can change the “So” to “As a result” or another transition whenever appropriate.

You can change who/what the “Somebody” is and continue the process for different perspectives! Try starting with the Prince…what does he want? Try it!

With practice, you can go through this process quickly. This strategy can give you confidence to discuss the story with peers and to deeply think about the story.

______________________________________________________________

I hope this helps you! I have had students come back from high school to tell me they still use this right after reading to get a basic foundation for analysis.

Seriously, if you teach any grade above fifth or sixth, stop doing Ice Breakers! They are a waste of time!

The new school year is about to begin and I have already cringed, having seen a few posts mentioning ice breakers as great ways for students to get to know each other.

Why not let the ice melt from shared experiences throughout the year?

Community comes from shared experiences and reflection, not silly games or activities.

Challenges, struggles, tears, laughter, embarrassment, frustrations, boredom, excitement are the ultimate Ice Breakers…

In my suburban middle school, many of the students have grown up with each other since kindergarten. At some level, they already know each other.

I have seen and know of many teachers who do “Ice Breakers” activities the first two days of the school year, smiling along to biography bingo games and travel trivia. Unfortunately, those smiles turn upside down the third day of school, only to be seen again in June.

I think the metaphor of Ice Breakers is a bad image.

Ice is being broken. I use an ice pick to break ice. Ice picks shatter ice all over, leaving random sized chunks and slivers of ice all over the counter. You pick up some of the larger chuncks and put them in your martini shaker, leaving the slivers to melt on the counter.

The big chunks of ice often become classroom cliques. The slivers often become outsiders sitting silently, not getting noticed by anyone.

Why not let the ice melt from shared experiences throughout the year?

As students warm up to each other, ice begins to melt, rising the tide and all the ships. This image from Rush’s song “Natural Science” is an excellent image of each one of my classes each year:

When the ebbing tide retreats
Along the rocky shoreline
It leaves a trail of tidal pools
In a short-lived galaxy
Each microcosmic planet
A complete society

Why not let the first day ice eventually, naturally melt into year long nourishment for the class community?

A few weeks ago I crashed ISTE 2012 and got to meet many great people. I do not know if they are great teachers. I’m pretty sure they are, but how do I know?

And I really do not care if they are great teachers because they are great humans! Their humanity influences my humanity, which influences my teaching. I am not influenced by their blog post on “Ten Ways a Sprinkler iPhone App Can Equip a Student for Better Inquiry”.

But seriously, if we are as passionate about teaching as we say we are in blog posts, tweets, and pictures, doesn’t that reveal much about us?

Is not our online presencce intenstly personal at some level?

Photo: Stephen Davis

A large part of my identity is wrapped up in being a teacher, but there is so much more to me. As such, when I share blog posts, resources, and pictures I feel I am sharing significant parts of who I am. My twitter feed is mine, not my professional or personal feed. Rather, it is all things Stephen Davis. The same is true with my Instagram feed.

I really do not buy the notion of having “Professional” and “Personal” Twitter feeds. My life is not a series of boxes on the shelf. I do not pull down the teacher box on Monday morning at 7 AM and put it back up on the shelf at 4 PM. Life is not that easy!

Are my tweeps fellow teachers, acquaintances, or friends?

Photo: Stephen Davis

I got to hang out with John Spencer while in San Diego for ISTE 2012. What I thought was going to be a two hour coffee chat (at most) became an almost all day intellectual, gastronomical, comical, and conversational event. What sticks out in my mind (besides John’s arms, their guns!) is that we immediately feel into a comfortable place, as if we had known each other for three years.

We have know each other for three years…just never had met face to face until San Diego.

We often share more specifics about our lives on Twitter and Instagram than we think. The details of our lives shared on social media reveal our humanity. I firmly believe that not only do things we post online reveal who we are, but also those things we retweet, like, and comment on reveal who we are as humans, not just teachers.

I have often wondered if my tweeps on Twitter and Instagram are my friends. I definetely consider Roberto Greco, and John Spencer friends.

However, what about the others that I frequently engage with in social media?

Are my tweeps fellow teachers, acquaintances, or friends?

I am going to go with friends…

Lately I have been feeling like my blog doesn’t have a voice…

Do I write about teaching English?

Do I write about middle school?

Am I too focused on nuance that I have lost my voice?

Am I so concerned with crafting metaphors that I have forgotten narative?

I want to write less about policies and pedagogies and write more about daily issues.

Things like:

–My lessons, the good and bad

–Writing Explorations

–Weekly Review

–HashTags

–Photography as Writing

–Stupid jokes

While at ISTE12, I talked with many wonderful people who are passionate about many things under the umbrella of technology and education.

But I realized something while driving home……………………………………………………………..I’m not a techie writer.

I actually do not care about how to bring more technology into my classroom…

Rather, I want to bring more metaphors, ideas, and questions into my class…

…and my blog.

To my readers…In the comments, could you suggest topics you think I should write about? Please?

Hipstamatic certainly seems daunting at first tap, especially if you want to make photocopies of your world.

I do not want to photocopy my world; rather, I want to tell stories. Stories have nuance, metaphor, and change along with us, just as a great picture should.

Hipstamatic helps me tell stories…stories I often did not see when I first took the picture.

I had Hipstamtic on my phone a year ago and was overwhelmed. I did not want to take the time to understand how it works because I had grown so used to the immediacey of most of the iPhone photo apps.

Then one day I noticed it on my phone and decided to take some pics with it at my old junior college…I immediately felt something special as I looked at the pictures: they looked like my world, yet now had texture, different colors, and personality. Two or three of the pictures are still my favorites while the rest are simply terrible!

That initial day, I randomly choose a combination of film and lense and started shooting. This is one of the pictures I came up with:

Photo: Stephen Davis

Sometimes you have to pick one combination and go for it…

Hipstamatic reminds me of when I was in high school, shooting black and white film for my photography class. I did not know until I was in the dark room if a picture came out good…The waiting was exciting, like Christmas Eve exciting! Hipstamatic comes close to this waiting and excitement, and to be honest, that is part of the joy of photography: waiting to see if you have captured a story, not a photocopy.

Photo: Stephen Davis

I then wanted to explore the app more, become fully immersed in its world. I remember parking in front of a tree while at the grocery store and took a picture with every single combination that comes standard with the app. It took maybe ten or fifteen minutes, but I learned a lot! Mainly I learned how to save certain combinations as favorites. You can find a great walk through HERE.

I also started buying all the lenses, films, and flashes I could. I use a minority of them, but I do like having them to try different things. In addition, I like the Hipstachallenge, although I have not done this everyday like I want to!

Hipstamatch helped me greatly to wrap my brain around the various combinations of film and lenses, I highly recommend it! Mark Bruce has an EPIC collection of all Hipstamatic combinations Star Wars fans will appreciate.  Additionally, Check out the blog Life In LoFi’s posts on Hipstamatic.

Here are my favorite combos…I try to use each combo for EVERY pic intake in Hipstamatic…I am starting to know which films capture amazing sky hues, which ones are great for brown scenes…

Photo: Stephen Davis