Yes: Sean, Ryan, Brenden and Connor, there is a Santa

Boy have things changed since I was little, and I'm only 25. I can only imagine how hard it must have been for my grandparents to convince my parents that Santa was real...I spent much of Christmas Eve sitting by the computer, with my four younger cousins (because Patrick's just too old to care) tracking Santa. They were fascinated that they could see where Santa was, and where he had been.

I suppose the concept and the technology behind Norad Tracks Santa is pretty simple. Norad uses Google Maps, and instead of placing thumbtacks for locations, they use little gifts. When you click on the gift, a little picture of that location will pop up on your screen. In some locations, NYC for example, they even show a little animated movie of Santa's sleigh flying through the sky. This is what amazed the boys the most (my mother too!).

Being that their older brother is of the age that he just doesn't care, he goes around telling them that Santa's not real. Norad worked in our favor because we were able to 'prove' that he is real. When you have kids of various ages living in one house I guess it's going to be hard to keep them all believing, but I think Norad's a cute way to keep them believing for a little bit longer.

Who am I?

Just last week I turned 25; I am now a quarter of a century. Now I know I'm not old, in fact I'm one of the youngest members of the Herrick's TEAM. But this birthday (compounded with my mounds of grad work) have left me wondering, "Who Am I?", in a digital sense?

I was one of the first people I knew to have a computer. Does that make me a digital native?

As a kid, I found it easier to complete my assignments on the computer than by hand. Does that make me a digital native?

As an adult, I spend a majority of my day on the computer. Does that make me a digital native?

Who am I?

Or am I a digital immigrant? According to Will Richardson's definition in his book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools For the Classroom, a Digital Immigrant is somone who was not surrounded by technology growing up. So I guess I'm not a digital immigrant. But there are times that I don't really feel like a digital native either...I find it very difficult to be away from technology. Does that make me a digital native...or just an addict?

Dude I Got 16 Dells!

About three weeks ago I concocted this idea to have my students poetry anthologies on a wiki, so I went to work. I started up the site and then emailed one of my better APs asking if there was any possibility of my getting a few laptops in my room just for a few days so that they could type them. I explained that taking the whole class to the library wasn't practical because we only have 7 computers there, and if I couldn't get some in my room I was going to have to type them all myself . . .

Today I received a laptop car with 16 laptops for me to use with my class until June . . . saying I'm psyched is an understatement!

Who lives in an Easter Island Moai under the sea?

Squidward J. Tentacles of course!

Last week when I went to Will Richardson's conference, I left work for my students to complete. They had a reading comprehension packet titled "Ancient Visitors?". The article focused on the strange buildings/drawings of ancient civilizations. I figured this tied in nicely with last month's study of science fiction and this week's focus of distinguishing between facts and opinions. I didn't think much about it and planned to go over it as a class today.

Fast forward to this morning . . .

We are going over the passage, and I am reading it aloud. I'm reading the part about the Easter Island Giants, when a student stops me.

"Ms. Willis, have you ever watched Spongebob Squarepants?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, those pictures of those statue things, they look a lot like Squidward's house."

I told him that he was right and that it did look like Squidward's house.

Then the assistant principal came in to talk about a fashion show that she's planning. While she was talking I did a Google Image search for a picture to compare it to. I wound up at I actually found a website that talked all about how his house is designed to look like an Easter Island Moai. I couldn't believe that someone did this research and posted it on answers.com but I'm sure glad they did. As silly as it is, because of this person's research I was able to facilitate a connection for my kids.




Will my kids remember where Easter Island is? Probably not.
Will my kids remember what a Moai is? Probably not.
Will my kids remember that Squidward's house is supposed to look like an ancient statue?
DEFINITELY!

The Right Kind of Professional Development

I know I complain a lot about the various meetings that my supervisors make us attend because most of them are pointless and just waste our valuable time. Back in January I was sent an email from one of my supervisors asking me if I wanted to attend a slew of technology PDs; however, many of them were very similar to the workshops that we have for TEAM, so I politely declined. A few days later I received another email from her asking me if I wanted to attend The New York City Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform. I thought it sounded interesting, so I read on . . . the featured speaker was going to be Will Richardson. I figured that this was not an opportunity that I could pass up, so I got permission to go and have been anxiously awaiting my March 5th, trip to St. John's University to hear him speak.

He was simply amazing!

Of all the meetings I've attended over my three years of teaching this on was by far the best. I felt like I truly was learning and discussing things that were relevant and important. He even made a few references to his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, which I have been reading (and I highly recommend). He also gave us a link to his wiki that contains all of the information that he spoke about. If you ever get the opportunity to see him speak, take it! I know I will again!

"The Fun They Had"

Two weeks ago in class someone mentioned that Karen had once read a story about how when Rip Van Winkle woke up he did not recognize anything but the school, for the school had not changed at all during his one-hundred year nap.

That got me thinking . . . I knew that at some point I had read a story where just the opposite was true. This has been irking me since last week, because I knew it was a story that I enjoyed that I had used with my students one year . . . but for the life of me I could not think of the name. Then today while I was planning it hit me . . . "The Fun They Had" by Isaac Asimov!

If you've never read it, it's a pretty good story that illustrates how books and school will change from present day to 2157. Asimov is one of my favorite authors because he was so ahead of his time. Actually it's inaccurate for me to say "from present day to 2157", since he wrote this story in 1951, long before PCs, the Internet and Web 2.0!

If you'd like to read the story you can find it here: "The Fun They Had" by Isaac Asimov.

What is Education?

Last week in class during PG & S Dr. Weston asked us this question: "What is education"? It's a pretty straightforward and simple question.

I was fairly quiet and just listened to what my TEAMmates said.
What they said bothered me . . . then it dawned on me, their answer wasn't what bothered me, it was my answer that bothered me . . . Education = Data.

I work in a school where data is force fed. Every time we turn around they're giving us more data. They're constantly handing us forms to fill out and scores to analyze. We're now required to fill out a Student at a Glance form for each child that we teach. These forms have a category for each of the citywide tests they take, in each subject. We also have to fill out an IIP for each child. An Individual Improvement Plan is our Assistant Principal's way of identifying each child's strengths and weaknesses.

Do I think data is great? Of course!
Do I think that I'm lucky to teach now, at a time when we have access to this data? Of course!
Do I think that data = education? NO!

I do not want to see anymore data!

Podunkville

My girlfriend lives in Sterling, Connecticut. For those of you who don't know where that is (which, I'm going to assume is EVERYONE), it is in the middle of nowhere . . . I've often joked with her about this and have even called her town "Podunkville". There is no cell service in the entire town; however, they least have Internet access!

Really good friends of our family have lived in Kingston, New York for the past 30 odd years . . . I've never got "good" service in their house, but I could always go outside to make a call . . . where I've been for the past 48 hours has given a new meaning to the term "Podunkville". If you ever want to experience a complete umbilical-cord-like severing from technology go up to Woodstock, New York . . . I've had no cell service and no Internet access! Plus to top it all off, Megan just moved into that apartment (from her parent's home in Kingston), so she hasn't had her land-line phone hooked up yet!


Being that cut off from the world for approximately 48 hours was really strange! Being a child of this era, it's sometimes difficult to see just how much we rely on technology. I remember being asked when I was a freshman in college, what "modern invention" could I not live without . . . I said my glasses, because without them, I'm virtually blind. I guess a lot has changed in the past seven years, I still can't really live without my glasses (or at least my contacts) but there are a few other "inventions" that I'm pretty dependent on, like the cell phone that is attached to my hip 24/7 . . . maybe I should spend more time in "Podunkville" . . . maybe we should all spend a little more time there!

It's the little things . . .

Overall, I have had a horrible week. It was just one of those really bad stressful weeks . . . you know the kind . . . when it seems like everyone wants something from you!

Thursday I was really starting to feel overwhelmed . . . I overslept, and threw out my back. Somehow I made it in on time and when I got there, there was a letter in my mailbox inviting me to breakfast with Mr. Monereau Friday morning! Talk about scaring me half to death! Apparently I wasn't the only one who got this memo, but it was very surreptitious and generally scared the living-day-lights out of me! After a lovely treatment at the doctor's office (where I nearly hit the ceiling) I just went home and went to bed!

Friday morning came and I went into his office a little apprehensive (even though his secretary told me to relax). Apparently everyone whom he either hired, or tenured got this invitation . . . it was to tell us how (please read the following with a very thick Haitian accent): "[I] hired you or tenured you for a reason. You are good teachers, and I want to keep you here."

He finished off the meeting by asking us if there was anything that we needed, any general support that our AP's weren't providing us. Me, having learned the hard way this year to bite my tongue when it comes to my AP, kept my mouth shut! Then he turned to me . . . (thick Haitian accent again) "And you Ms. Willis, what would you like?"

"Umm"

"Tell me, what do you want?"

"A SMARTBoard!"

"I know, I know."

Well I titled this blog It's the Little things . . . for a reason . . . third period there was a knock on my door. "Ms. Willis, I have a delivery for you!

I am now the proud parent of my very own SMARTBoard! :c)

My article

Hey everyone! This week has been quite crazy and I am totally looking forward to my weekend! I just wanted to post this so that you can all see it. Today an article I wrote was posted on my friends webzine, cactus i.v. For some reason this isn't letting my put the link in, so here's the site: www.cactusiv.com
Please read it and leave comments!
<3 Me
PS - Let me know if you "get" the picture!

Fear of Technology

So I decided to show the most technologically illiterate person I knew the "Fear of Technology" video from the TEAM Wiki . . . that person is my mother!
She sat there and smiled and giggled, but I think it was one of those, "I smile because I have no idea what's going on," smiles . . . that sorta scared me a bit!

Today one of my Assistant Principals asked me to create a school website again . . . I told her that I haven't the slightest idea as to how I would even begin such a project, she told me not to worry! That in it of itself worries me!