The Challenge of Change

It’s never easy to change. Nobody is really that good at change but yet things are always changing. The secret to successful change is the willingness one has to embrace it. Why do people resist change? Because not changing is easier. In fact, it seems our human default change status is set to “please don’t make me.”

In the 2010-2011 school year I conducted an action research project at my school that I called Blogging Across the Curriculum. Fortunately, I had two great teachers on my team that embraced the challenge of teaching elementary school students to blog. Together we gave nearly all of our school’s 700+ students the chance to read blogs, create blogs and comment on each others blogs. Was it easy? No, it really wasn’t easy. Students in grades 3, 4 & 5 don’t even know how to type! Despite the challenges of elementary blogging both the participating teachers and students gained new skills in digital writing. Our fifth grade writing scores went up that year.

In the 2011-2012 school year our school did not blog at all. There were changes in the way the Technology Lab was run at our school, and our team was no longer teaching the Tech Lab. I gave a half hearted attempt to start a Blog Squad at my school but it fizzled, mostly due in part to my busy schedule and the fact that I did not promote it as much as I could have. Still, even at the end of the year I had students coming up to me and wanting to be on it! Blogs are like children, they need a lot of attention!

In 2012-2013 our students will be blogging again. I got the green light from our principal at our Leadership Meeting next week. We’ve even written it into the school improvement plan for next school year. This is exciting but not without its challenges. We have a new technology teacher in the Tech Lab and I’m not sure how she’s going to feel about blogging. Also, not all of the teachers on our Leadership Team were happy about the prospect of blogging with the students. I foresee the biggest challenge this year’s to Blogging Across the Curriculum 2.0 will be motivating teachers to embrace blogging. It will also be a challenge to find ways to blog across the curriculum. There’s a lot of things changing at our school next year. Our school will be adopting the Common Core Standards next year, which will be much different than the Georgia Performance Standards that we have worked hard to adopt. Sometimes it seems just as soon as we get used to one new educational reform trend, another one comes along.

But blogging is everywhere. It’s a job. People make money blogging. I don’t think blogging is going to go away anytime soon. Blogging is a big part of the way we communicate in the world today. It will be part of the way our students communicate as adults. Why shouldn’t we teach students to blog? Why shouldn’t teachers be blogging?

It won’t be easy, but change never is, is it?

Actually, nothing truly worth doing is ever easy.

See also:

Blogging Across the Curriculum: website

Nichols, A. (2012). Blogging Across the Curriculum: An Action Research Project. Journal of Multimedia and Hypermedia 21(2), 165-174.

Blogging Across the Curriculum: The Movie

I Use YouTube at School

Who says you can't use YouTube in education?

This post is or those educators who say YouTube has no place in today's classroom. I used YouTube successfully TODAY! I integrated some YouTube videos into my Finally Friday lesson plan that enhanced our use of John Jacobson's Music Express magazine.

In our first unit of the school year, we're learning about Irving Berlin (thanks to Music Express Magazine)! This YouTube link will take you to a video of Irving Berlin singing God Bless America on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1968. Irving Berlin was born in 1888 so I assume that it was a birthday celebration for him, as they wheel out a birthday cake at the end of the performance. He would have been 80 in 1968. This video was projected on my classroom Smart board for the children to view.

Next we learned to sing God Bless America (written by Irving Berlin) by watching this YouTube video. Again, video was projected on my classroom Smart board for the children to view. I love teaching songs with lyric videos because there is no need for copying lyrics, holding books or anything else to distract the students. Everybody is looking at the screen, not down at a book.

Now, even though we are in South Georgia, in August, in the middle of a heat wave (heat index 105+ today) we watched The Drifter's version of White Christmas (famously on the Home Alone soundtrack). This YouTube video was so popular with one 4th grade class they ALL insisted I play it again, both for the great arrangement of the song, and perhaps the pictures of snow, which seems exotic to my student. (I'm actually from Maine, so it makes me homesick, but only for a minute! (video was projected on my classroom Smart board for the children to view)

We use Music Express Magazine in our music classroom (SO AWESOME). John Jacobson, music teacher extraordinaire, recently became famous for his viral YouTube video "Double Dream Hands." Everybody (to date, 3,000,000+ viewers) seems to have seen this dance, even the staff on Ellen's show! Jacobson has included the song "Funny Feet" in the Aug/Sept 2011 issue of Music Express, and has posted a "Double Dream Feet" dance on YouTube. My students are really enjoying learning this dance, which I (again) project on my classroom Smart board for the children to view.

This same issue include a *gasp* Justin Bieber song "Never Say Never" (from both Karate Kid and the Justin Bieber movie of the same name). Needless to say, most all of the children LOVE to sing this song this week. As a Friday Treat we watched the official video for "Never Say Never" (video was projected on my classroom Smart board for the children to view!)

Video in Education

Bethke Elementary School Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/bethkeelementary - p/u/3/MuSFYf5ctHg
This YouTube channel features the work of an elementary school teacher at Bethke Elementary School.I feel that the video casts that the teacher has posted would be of particular use for me. I feel that my students would benefit from viewing other student work by children the same age as they are (Grades 3-5). It is obvious that the media assets created in this teacher’s classroom is student led and is very educational and entertaining. I appreciate the way the teacher allows the students’ personalities to shine through their performances.

Playing for Change
www.playingforchange.com
Playing for Change is a non-profit organization that has traveled around the world videotaping street musicians. It is a fabulous project that has been going on for 4 years. Many types of music are represented in the project and utilizing them in the music classroom helps children broaden their view of the world and become more globally aware. I strive to teach tolerance in my music classroom and the videos provided by this website is invaluable to this process.
Here’s a few Playing for Change videos to get you started:
http://vimeo.com/16635645 This video is an overview of Playing for Changes’ seven music programs that have been established as a result of the Playing for Change foundation.
http://www.playingforchange.com/episodes/8/War_No_More_Trouble This video shows musicians from all over the world singing Bob Marley’s War (No More Trouble).
http://www.playingforchange.com/episodes/2/Stand_By_Me This is the video that started the whole Playing For Change movement. It features street musician Roger Ridley singing Stand by Me.
http://www.playingforchange.com/episodes/3/One_Love Another Bob Marley song, One Love, featuring musicians from all over the world.
There’s many more videos on the Playing for Change website but these are a few of my favorites.

Blogging in Education
My AR project is Blogging Across the Elementary Curriculum and I found a number or video resources to support my research. One of my AR goals is to provide professional development to my fellow teachers. These videos would be very useful for teachers who are unfamiliar with the concept of blogging.
Blogging a Bigger Picture http://vimeo.com/4751315
CNN Report: Blogging in Education http://youtu.be/NRyh4UeP-IY
My Blogging Playlist http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D3B906FF4521C715
I created a YouTube playlist of all the videos I have found that focus on blogging in education. I have tried to focus in on elementary education as that is the level I teach.

PBS.org: Jazz: A Film By Ken Burns
http://www.pbs.org/jazz/
PBS has a lot of great resources for teachers, and the Ken Burns film Jazz is just one of many. Jazz is one of my favorite units in the music class. This site has lots of great videos to show the class without showing the whole movie to the class.

The Art of Possibility: Leadership with less resistance

This blog is for my class at Full Sail University: Media Asset creation. We’re reading The Art of Possibility by (Zander & Zander, 2000).

Lead from any chair. I am a trained classical musician. I attended the University of Southern Maine from 1987-1990. During that time I played for the University of Southern Maine Concert Band and sang with the USM Concert Chorale, while majoring in music education. The conductor of the concert band was(and still is) Dr. Peter Martin and the conductor of the chorale is Dr. Robert Russell. Both still teach and conduct at University of Southern Maine. It was a privilege to play and sing under both of these professors because they have excellent artistic vision as well as non-confrontational approaches to conducting. That’s not to say it wasn’t constantly intimidating to play in their ensembles. I never felt good enough. It’s tough being at the skinny end of the baton. Practices were long and tough. The performances I was exposed to during this time were some of the best live performances of music that I’ve ever heard and, amazingly, I got to take part in them. I love the shiny moment at the end of a piece when the exquisite music stops but the conductor does not lower his hands from conducting, the moment where the audience is transfixed on the performance they just heard and are reluctant to applaud for fear of ruining that moment of awe. But then the conductor lowers his hands, breaking his connection with the ensemble and the applause washes over the musicians bathing them in warming glory.

Questions. This book asks lots of good questions. Question: How much greatness am I willing to offer my students? Answer: About as much as they are willing to take. Why is my team not shining? Why are my students not shining? I plan on asking myself that more often both as a teacher and a team leader.

The book says that nobody has to lead but I’m not so sure about this. Someone always takes the lead. I mentioned in my last blog about the book (and in class) that I like the idea that you can lead from any chair. I think I figured this out as a child because I always wanted to be one of those back up singers (think 1970’s Tina Turner). The back up singers had great costumes, dance moves and their own microphone. They weren’t in the spotlight but they had the greatest harmonies that made the lead singer sound really good. I think it’s funny now, the idea that I was 12 and didn’t want to be the lead singer. Most people want to be the lead singer, but not everyone can (or should) be. It’s usually the people with the biggest egos that need to be the lead singer.

That leads me to Rule Number 6. More specifically: Don’t take yourself so goddamn seriously. That’s funny. I think I need to remember this rule. I take myself way to goddamn seriously. I must be listening to my My Calculating Self. I once went to a counselor in college who made me take this self-analysis test and then told me that I should be an accountant (instead of a school teacher) because I was constantly calculating about life. So true. This calculating mentality can lead to insomnia. I guess this takes us back to Rule Number 6. Chill out, Andrea. Relax.

What would have to change for me to be completely fulfilled? Oh man, where do I start? That may have to be a completely separate blog. How can I take myself less seriously if I have to figure out what I need to be completely fulfilled? Right now I think my answer to that question is more laughter and more sleep. ☺ I think that I get really depressed and downtrodden when my calculating self eclipses my central self. I think that I am generative, prolific and creative but usually way to busy with life to let that flow. This is where my discontent breeds amongst itself. It takes grace to practice Rule Number 6. Rich, compassionate and free, what I want the world to see, my expressive world of the central self.

Presence without resistance.
That’s tough.
Close the gate to escape, denial and blame. Easier said than done.
Emotional heavy lifting. Been there, done A LOT of that.
Clear all judgments. I’m not a judger, I’m one of the judged.
Downward spiral talk excludes possibility.
Sarcasm creates victims but that doesn’t stop anyone, does it?
Start from where you are, not from where you should be. I still need a map.
Make way for passion. I’m passionate about sleep.

My Promise to Myself:
Figure out what’s holding you back and let it go. I’ll try.
Participate wholly. I will.
Life flows when we concentrate on the long lines, the patterns that connect over time.
I’ll look for the long lines.

Phrasing is everything.

Resources:
Zander & Zander. (2000). The Art of Possibility.
Image: Andrea Nichols Photo

10 Things You Can Do With a Blog

I’m an occasional blogger. I aspire to be a more consistant, reliable blogger with a lot of followers. The only way that I’m going to do that is to just sit down and write on a blog every day. I think that some people think that the hardest thing about blogging is figuring out what to write. For me, it’s about figuring out how to say what I want to say without horrifying my mother.

I've decided to participate in the free professional development blogging challenge offered here: Edublogger Teacher Challenge

Here are 10 things that you can do with a blog:

1. Classroom Blog: I think that blogging is a great way to get your students writing. So great, in fact, that I’m doing my graduate research on Blogging Across the Curriulum. Check out my research website and blog. Edublogs.org is a great site for educational blogging but there are others out there too. Kidblog.org is a great site that really makes blogging simple. I find it especially suitable for the elemenatary classroom.

2. Journaling: Use your blog as an online journal! You could even be anonymous if your life is so spicy that you can’t use your real name. Here’s my online journal, which I admittedly neglect: My Real World

3. Online Scrapbook: Use your blog to make a scrapbook for yourself or your child. Here’s an example of my online scrapbook for my daughter: www.whatsdebidoing.blogspot.com. My daughter Debi is 19 and hates me for this.

4. Hobbys: Blogging is a great way to document your hobby. I like to follow blogs by illustrators. Here’s an example of one blog I follow. Or document your Second Life, if you have one: http://mysterionvichan.blogspot.com/

5. Professional Blog: This blog is an example of a professional blog. Blogging with Ms. Nichols. I use it soley for the purpose of communicating with other educators. There are lots of other teachers who do this and I follow many of them in my Google Reader.

6. Photo Blog: My sister-in-law has a new camera, a beautiful little boy and a great blog. She posts beautiful pictures and has “linked up” with a lot of similar moms who like to photograph. They compete in friendly challenges each day and publish the results. Check out her blog at: Live Every Moment

7. Humor: I like funny blogs. One of my favorite blogs is Wait in the Van. I follow both her blog and her twitter account. She is equally funny and audiacious, but great reading. Her blog can be found at:

8. Story: Tell your story, everyone’s got one. A blog that I love to follow began with this beautiful, now famous, blog post. I don’t want to tell you any more about it, in fear that I will ruin it for you, but it’s really worth the read. Kelle Hampton

9. Loose Weight: Last year I lost a bunch of weight by blogging. Seriously. I used the FREE website www.sparkpeople.com. Among other things, this site offers a “sparkpage” where you can socialize with other dieters and also blog, both text blog, or video blog. Here’s a link to my spark page: Spark ME: msnichols39 And here’s a link to one of my video blogs: Squander No More

10. Run the Country: Hey even the President has a blog. www.whitehouse.gov/blog

Blogging isn't just writing these blog posts, it's also commenting on other's blogposts. Here's a comment prompt:

Have you decided to start a blog? If so, where is it? Give me a link and I'll come visit your site and comment!

Have you already been blogging? Good for you? I'd love to visit your blog.

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National Writing Project Annual Meeting: Why Digital Writing Matters

Hello! I am blogging from the National Writing Project annual meeting at Disney World Contemporary Resort in Orlando, Florida! That's right folks, I'm here having a great time with my people from the Southwest Georgia Writing Project in Americus, GA. My first seminar (9:30 AM) is Digital Writing Matters, a book published this month by NWP about how digital writing is changing the educational landscape. I have been tweeting my way through the seminar. Check out my twitter! www.twitter.com/andreajnichols I will be blogging more, when I have time, but my twitter page will give y'all a more real time experience.