Regarding The Fountain

There I was, just walking by the "First in Series" table in the Children's section of the Tuscaloosa Public Library when I spotted this little book, Regarding the Fountain, by Kate Klise and M. Sarah Klise.  The subtitle was A Tale, in Letter, of Liars and Leaks, so I thought I would check it out. And check it out, I did!

This book is told exclusively through letters, memos, notes, and newspaper articles.  It is both a funny book and a mystery. The problem, as the principal Mr. Wally Russ reports it, is that there is a leaky water fountain near the fifth grade classroom at Dry Creek Middle School.  Mr. Russ contacts Ms. Florence (Flo) Waters, who owns Flowing Waters Fountains, Inc., about replacing the fountain. She asks for input from Mr. Sam N.'s fifth grade class and the fun begins . . .

I enjoyed the different ways of communicating that were illustrated in this book. I also liked the integration of newspapers into the story line. I thought the names of all the characters were funny, too, but I found that I had to read the name aloud to "get" most of them. (Go back and read the principal's name and the teacher's name aloud to see what I mean.) 

I would recommend this book to students in grades 2-5.  The reading level is 5.8 according to Accelerated Reader, but I think all ages of kids would enjoy it.  The pictures would help readers with the content and they make the book even more enjoyable. This would be a great book to use with a unit on writing letters or solving mysteries. I loved it and can't wait to read the next installment, Regarding the Sink.

The Other Wes Moore

Check out this video about the author, Wes Moore,

and then go read his book, The Other Wes Moore. I just downloaded it to my Nook. I'll write more about it when I finish the book.

Read Alouds for Grown Ups? Heck Yeah!

Why do I read picture books to college classes?

After some careful consideration of this question, I realized I do it for many reasons. I think one selfish reason is to give myself permission to buy more children’s books for my own library.  I see so many great books that are being published and want to share them with my classes. I am also a big fan of reading aloud to students since it is something I remember fondly both my mother and my elementary teachers doing for me.  There is also research (http://journal.naeyc.org/btj/200303/readingaloud.pdf)  that says that reading aloud is good for kids of all ages. Check out these sites Read Aloud.org and Jim Trelease's site. So, why not include my adults in this trend? But I digress. . .


Back to my original premise, why do I read books to my adults in Technology and Education?

1.    I read picture books to my classes to connect with my elementary education majors since I was a secondary teacher.  I want them to know that reading aloud is a good skill to have regardless of what subject and grade level you teach.  
2.    I like reading books to my classes to start conversations about learning. I love it when my class laughs at the funny parts of the books I read, but then worry about what will happen if in the future we stop reading from “real” books and only have electronic versions.  The students also point out the parts of the books that actual school-age kids would miss, but that they see.  I love the conversations that the books start.  
3.    I want all of my students to know that reading aloud can be powerful for students of all ages. One of my best read aloud experiences is when my junior English teacher read Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” aloud to us the day before Christmas break in 1984.  I can still hear her voice doing all the voices of the characters in the story.
4. I like to share books I love with them and cool, new finds I have recently made like Dude: Fun with Dude and Betty, Good Night iPad, and You Will Be My Friend. These books were recommended to me by professional learning network.  I connect with these teachers and librarians via email, Twitter, Facebook, and blogs. Check out these links. On Twitter search the hashtag #titletalk for great monthly talks on books and reading hosted by Donnalyn Miller.  Also, I like the Watch.Connect.Read. blog by Mr. Schu and the Help Readers Love Reading blog.
5.    I am also working on my read aloud technique. My classes in the fall said I had gotten markedly better since the beginning of the semester with the whole read aloud thing. I was better at the voices, the expressions, and the showing the book around.
6.     Finally, I want to use the books to create community in the class. By having the books to bring us together, we have some common ground even though the class includes special education teachers, elementary education teachers, secondary education teachers, and physical education teachers.  It is easy to get them talking about other topics after we have discussed the picture book for the week.  It gives my students confidence in participating in class discussions.


Some books I have read to my classes include:

• It's a Book by Lane Smith (not for kids--adult humor)
• It's a Little Book by Lane Smith (for kids)
• Good Night iPad by Ann Droid
• Junkyard Wonders by Patricia Palacco
• Dude: Fun with Dude and Betty by Lisa Pliscou
• The Dot and Ish by Peter Reynolds
• You Will Be My Friend by Peter Brown
• We Are in A Book by Mo Willems
• When Marian Sang by Pat Munoz Ryan
• Julius Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes

And finally, I do it because I LOVE TO READ! :)

Merry Christmas, Papaw!

This reflection about my Papaw Fowler is one that I quite literally stumbled upon when I was rearranging things in my office at UWA this week. I have not had time to write like I should this week, but this piece from a 10-year-old paper journal leaped into my consciousness and would not let go so I write it here to share with the world.

As I sit in room 321 of Redmond Regional Hospital on a cold January night, I see the wisdom that the composer of the Compline service in the Book of Common Prayer had.
Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or
weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who
sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless
the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the
joyous; and all for your love’s sake. Amen.

How important it is to pray for those who work or watch or weep each night. I see that God’s hand is around me in this place making people well for this life and for others pointing the way to heaven. This prayer would comfort so many who are not even Episcopalian. I should give it to the nurses I know.


For 32 years, I have had the unadulterated joy of knowing my Papaw Fowler. This is a man who grew up poorer than I can even imagine and then, as a young man, traveled to the Pacific Theater of war to defend his country as a United States Marine. Upon returning, he married his childhood sweetheart, Katherine, and they contributed to the Baby Boom of the late 1940s and early fifties by having four children--three boys and a girl.
Now only his youngest and oldest child remain. Tragedies have taken the two middle boys, but nothing has taken Papaw’s spirit. He sees everything optimistically; his glass is always half full and getting fuller. He took to heart the verse about my cup runneth over. (Psalm 23:5)

He is there to encourage and support and to love and listen. He took me on great adventures when I was a child--to the Duck Pond to feed the ducks, to Krystal’s playground to play, to McDonald’s for french fries, and to the local parks to explore. He let me play with his flat pencils and bendable rulers and didn’t mind if I ate the Little Debbies that were really for his lunch pail. He smiled and laughed and lived a life of joy. Many people that I know who are much younger and most certainly much healthier cannot seem to find the joy in life that Papaw has.
His faith is rock solid. It should be as it has seen him through the Great Depression, World War II, and a sometimes hard life. He has that solid foundation that having a personal relationship with God engenders. He always says he doesn’t really think about the prayers he prays oh so eloquently; instead he just closes his eyes and talks to God.

He is remarkable this man. He has so many gifts that he so willingly shares with others. He has a great sense of humor and loves to tease everyone from his wife to his kids to his grandkids. He sings without knowing how to read music in a powerful baritone that resonates with love and praise for the Lord. And even at 78, his eyes still light up like a child’s at Christmas time.

God, bless and keep Papaw. Please make sure that the Cursillo angels line the path into heaven upon his arrival and sing "Sons of God” loud and proud for him when he gets there--and I have no doubt he will get there. Even though he hasn’t been to Cursillo, that will be the perfect way to usher him into heaven, for he loves a party and I think there is no better way to enter into heaven than on the notes of that song of joy.

What I learned from my ED 505 class this semester

This semester has been challenging to say the least.  Teaching was something I was sure I had “figured” out and didn’t need to worry about.  I had gotten comfortable with my teaching and slipped into a bit of laziness.  I took for granted that my students would love technology as much as I did.  I whizzed through directions because I had explained them so many times before they were easy for me.  I demonstrated web sites at lightning speed because they were familiar to me.

My students came into the class expecting a couple of PowerPoints and a paper or two. More than a few of them were also extremely worried about taking the class because they didn’t consider themselves good at technology. They had more than a bit of intellectual dissonance when I came out blazing a trail with technology that was new and fresh and fun and exciting. And even though I thought I was doing a heck of a job teaching technology, I left my students behind--way behind.


So, I regrouped and retaught some things and arranged for additional lab time to help students outside of class. I sent detailed emails of how to do the assignments I had rushed through in class.  And I think it paid off. Last night, my students did presentations on what they learned in my class including good and bad things about technology, what they liked and what they struggled with, and their own strengths and weaknesses with technology.  It was a very enlightening evening.

First, here is what they learned. They learned about my favorite Web 2.0 sites--Glogster, Animoto, Class Tools, Wordle, Bubbl.us, Blabberize, Big Huge Labs, YouTube, and more. They learned how to create examples and to link technology to the curriculum they were teaching. They learned how to encourage themselves and their students to write and collaborate using wikis and blogs.  They found online games to use in their classrooms to teach and motivate their students. They learned about assistive technology and how it can be used to level the playing field for special needs students with learning disabilities, sensory impairments, and physical disabilities.  They learned what copyright and fair use mean for them as graduate students and for their own students. They learned about plagiarism and how to prevent it in their own work and their students’ work. They learned what it meant to be digital citizens and how to make their students responsible digital citizens. They learned that there is still a HUGE digital divide in the Black Belt and West Alabama and East Mississippi; many kids are not getting any exposure to technology because the computers are broken, or they ave been stolen, or there are only 3 or 4 in the library for an entire school. They see how unfair it is that some schools have computers, Elmos, LCD projectors, interactive white boards, clickers, Mobis, and other great technology when their schools or their children’s schools have none, nada, zilch, nothing.  They learned how to design lessons that incorporated technology and interested the kids and realized they were doing project based learning.  And these graduate students realized that it was okay to be unsure about something, to say I don’t know, to ask for help, and to learn new things outside of their comfort zone.  All in all, I would say they learned what I was teaching and whole lot more.

 
 Second, here is what they listed as their strengths.  Some realized that they were good at research. Others fell in love with blogging. Some saw how helpful Web 2.0 tools would be for differentiating instruction. Others rediscovered their creativity.  Some found new ways to use the limited technology resources their schools had. Others found great sites to share with their classes. Some learned to teach other teachers what they had learned.  Others developed their ability to be flexible in their thinking. They realized as they said their strengths out loud to the class that they had learned a lot.




Here we go to their weaknesses.  They found that it was hard to teach a whole class of students to use a Web 2.0 tool in fits and starts of lab time and limited computer access.  Some still don’t embrace technology. A student admitted being afraid of losing something on the computer or having to redo something that didn’t work right the first time. Another said that she didn’t like to read and found that not reading the assignments or directions on the different web sites was a problem. One student did not want to write papers. Some had difficulty sending assignments through Blackboard or attaching them to emails. Others would do the assignments and forget which flash drive, computer, or file they had saved it in. Some could not do classroom management for large classes with limited numbers of computers. There were some students who couldn’t use the sites we used in class at their schools because of filters.  One student said she wanted to use technology, but didn’t know how to troubleshoot enough to figure out things when they went wrong. They were honest and they were reflective even about their shortcomings.

Here is what I learned last night . . .
1.    I need to get a Greek book and keep it on my desk. This is to remind me that Greek was the hardest, most difficult thing I ever took and that many people view technology as I do Greek.
2.     I need to remember the kids and teachers and schools who don’t have even the basics of technology and figure out more ways that UWA can help get it to them.
3.     I need to start blogging on the first night of class. It really opened their minds and got them to relate to each other.
4.     I need to include an Elmo demonstration and make my students do a presentation using the SMART and Promethean boards.
5.    I need to visit some classrooms in the Black Belt. I may not be Ms. Fix-It, but at least I could get some things going technology-wise.
6.     I need to redo the wiki assignment to include more widgets and ways to be creative.
7.     I need to have a class on using eReaders and the Wii and other “different” types of technology beyond computers.
8.    I need to offer a workshop on grant writing for technology in this area in Spring 2012.
9.    I need to show my students more ways to use technology for their personal productivity and for professional use.
10.    That all in all, I am doing a pretty good job teaching my course, making them think, exposing them to new technology, and helping them tackle challenges.

I am part of the solution to our current education problems; I am creating the next generation of teachers.

Why I Write

In honor of the National Day of Writing
October 20, 2011

I write because I like to tell stories.
I write because I like to play with words and language.
I write because I think I have something to say.
I write because I think people might care what I think.
I write because I cannot keep all these thoughts in my head.
I write because I cannot imagine not writing.
I write because of Laura Hunter and Bill McBride who taught me to be a true craftsman.
I write because I must.

Working with Friends Means so Much

Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to hang out with old friends from a former job.  We worked together to make schools a better place for kids to learn and teachers to teach.  

Our clerical help, Kathy with a K and Dale, were angels in disguise because they could organize and manage all of us and the mountains of paperwork that a curriculum and instruction department produced with humor, patience, and efficiency.  Many times these friends were right there with me when I was struggling to lose weight on Weight Watchers assuring me I could do it.  And they were there to help me learn not to take myself so seriously.  I also found that they were loyal to a fault and that they would do anything I needed.  And for that and so much more,  I consider them some of my truest friends.

Then, comes Cathy with a C, who is the nicest, kindest elementary teacher/counselor you will ever meet, but whose organizational skills for getting all the standardized tests unpacked, distributed, monitored, collected, and accounted for were amazing. Managing 17 schools and all of the testing materials that go with them was a major undertaking, but Cathy with C always did it with a sense of humor and a sense of purpose. These two things are crucial when you have to bag up a test booklet in a Ziploc because a kid threw up on it, but the State Department requires it to be returned no matter what. Yuk!  Cathy usually did this without much help, but our team recognized her need for help and we helped out for a few years with this overwhelming task.

Vicki was on board in this department as the Reading Coach when I arrived to be the director of staff development.  She is a bright, lively person who is passionate about getting kids to read and about teaching adults to help the kids learn.  She set up many professional learning groups with reading coaches from all over the district and when our middle school reading/language scores were in the basement, she took on the task of working with middle school reading teachers.  Vicki always made me laugh or smile when I went to her office because she had such great picture books and stuffed animals.  I learned lots about what makes good readers and what makes good reading instruction from her.

After our schools were on alert or in school improvement or whatever the term was at the time, the department got its next addition, Sabrina.  Her job was to improve those schools, by golly, and use whatever means necessary to get the message to the teachers and to the students on what they needed to do to make that happen.  Her background in middle school and high school came in very handy and her intelligence and organization skills made her a force to be reckoned with.  Sabrina visited all the schools in school improvement on a regular schedule and made sure they were walking the walk about changing things for the better, not just talking the talk.  She was able to use all of our skills in the department as well as her own leadership to turn around those schools in just a couple of years.  The middle schools in our district were never in better shape than when Sabrina led them out of school improvement.  

Finally, our fearless leader, Polly Moore, gave a vision to our team about what high quality learning and teaching should look like.  She inherited most of us from a previous assistant superintendent, but quickly made us all feel part of her team.  She was a no-nonsense leader and she supported her people with integrity.  She also made decisions not based on politics, but on what was good for kids.  She taught me many things including how to be firm yet gracious, that looking good is important, how a professional educator acts, that sometimes a pause might be in order before firing off that email or saying something that might be better left unsaid, and mostly just how to be a great mentor and friend.

Lots more folks, like Jan and Ruth, were there to make this place a good one to work.  Each of us took pride in our jobs and tried to keep kids as the focus of what we did.  Because of this group of people, for a time, this was one of the best work environments I have ever had the privilege to work in.  Professionalism and pride in your work mean a lot, but working with friends means so much more.