"Find Your Passion" Research #EdChat

A new article has come out and it shared the research done on the idea that people just need to "Find their passion" and how it is terrible advice. In the educational world, the phrase, "find your passion" has been shouted from the rooftops as a way to engage students and teachers in the learning process. Many people have built mini empires on driving this narrative for teachers and students. The phrase can actually be quite complex and do tremendous harm if not unpacked for students and staff, but many people don't want the long and dirty answer regarding the value of passion in schools. "Find your passion" is not about waiting until lightning strikes with that one thing you have just discovered. It doesn't work that way. I never would have grown to love coding, physical computing, and Raspberry Pi if I did not stick with it and let the passion I have for it grow organically. It was a process. The idea that your will just find that one thing right away is mythical. Now, some people pick up a paint brush, solve a math problem, or strum a guitar for the first time and are hooked, but that is not the vast majority of people. As a teacher, I have grown more passionate about the profession over the years because I became dedicated to growing as a learner. I have been an advocate for Makerspaces and Genius Hour/20 Time. I am an advocate for finding things that you are passionate about or might be passionate about and exploring them. Genius Hour/20 Time for my HS students was an opportunity for students to explore areas that interested them. Some of them found out they were very passionate about these projects at the end and others recognized that this area was not something as interesting as they had hoped. You can't even call it a failure because trying something out and realizing it is not for you is just how life works. The problem stems from people showing up on PD day, standing in front of a large group of teachers and just telling them to tell their students to follow their passion and for teachers to follow their passion and walk away with the check in hand. No real strategies on how to do that or what that means in the grand scale of the school or district. Poor administrator support makes it even worse. Teachers are all pumped up, but have no real idea what this means and this can harm students in the long term. Passion needs to have a tempered approach that allows all educators and students the opportunity to try things and see where it takes them. Helping students and teachers develop passions as they explore the world is an amazing thing to do. Makerspaces and libraries are perfectly poised to be a space that supports learners as they explore the world and find what they are passionate about. As long as we all accept that it can change and evolve over time, then I'm all for "Find your passion" being in education. If not, then we have another empty platitude that puts money in the pockets of people and leaves teachers and students in the dust to figure it out on their own.

Time for an upgrade

One of the many things I was looking forward to this year was the possibility of becoming a part-time tech facilitator. I was told a job was going to be posted and I just needed to apply. I had spent countless hours planning all of the different things I was going to do to help the students and staff of my district. I talked with so many great people in my PLN, I was sure I was going to help my district accomplish its goal of being a leader in educational technology. My district was in desperate need of an upgrade and I was excited to be part of the solution.

Well, the budget was hammered out and that position, among others, was lost. I do not want to use this space to rail against the decision to cut the tech positions while the district claims to want to be a leader is educational technology. I've covered that topic before and I do not need to preach to the choir. So, I've decided to build a better position and pitch it to the powers that be. I would appreciate any comments on the make-up of the job I'm proposing.

Details:

- This position could be part-time or full time. If it was part time, the person who fills the position would teach two classes in the morning and would fill the tech facilitator responsibilities the second half of the day.
- The tech facilitator would be available to all buildings in the district.

Tech Facilitator Duties:

- Working with all building administrators, including the superintendent, to get them signed up to Twitter. If they are willing to sign up and lead, the teachers will be more willing to do so.

- Setting up blogs for each school for admins to share information with parents, students and staff.

- Creation of building Facebook pages

-Individualized PD

- The TF could be checked out by teachers like a book from a library to help construct lessons that incorporate technology. Teachers could get workshop hours for these 1:1 sessions.

Large PD

- Building Admins could check out the TF to run building wide PD or have them create smaller in-building workshops.

Tech All-Stars

- The TF would work with willing teachers from each building to create a group of Tech All-Stars that would help teachers within their building with tech integration and grade specific help.

- The Tech All-Stars would meet regularly to discuss tools and integration strategies to best help all the buildings in the district.

Tech Blog

- The TF would run a district wide Tech blog that would provide examples of new tools available in the district.

- Screencasts would be created and uploaded based on the needs of the students, staff and parents of the district.

Attending and Presenting at Conferences

- The TF would attend and present at conferences to be up to date on the current trends in technology and pedagogy.

Business

-The TF would work with local businesses to try and bring new tech to the district. Building a relationship with local families and business could help offset major budget cuts.

After School/Weekend Seminars

- The TF would run after school and weekend seminars for parents, students and staff on various tech related items.

Policy

- The TF would work with the administration, parents and school board to shape new policy as technology grows and changes.

All of these job duties, and possibly others, would be performed by one person who would also be teaching 1-2 classes as well.

The ultimate goal of this proposal is to create a position that would best use the money available by drastically changing the way PD is offered in my district. In the long run, money will be saved on PD because the TF will be working with more teachers effectively.

Please feel free to comment on anything I have or might have left off. This is going to be my last ditch effort to create some change in my district before I start considering other options. A person can only roll the boulder up the hill so many times right?

Thanks again for all of your support and wish me luck!

-@TheNerdyTeacher

Innovation

Picture from Flickr CC by are you gonna eat that

A friend of mine directed me to a documentary on George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic company. I'm a huge movie guy and a bigger Lucas fan. I sat down late last night and watched all six parts on YouTube. It was very cool. As I watched, the one thing that was really focused on was the fact that the ILM team was being asked to do things that were "not possible". They were the first to do many things involving technology and film. They never said, "We can't do this", it was always, "How can we make this happen and make it great?"

I look at my approach to teaching the same way. When I encounter an obstacle, I immediately think of ways to accomplish the task. It might be something that has never been done before or it might be using tools in ways people haven't used them for. No matter what the situation, I committed myself to finding a way.

I think people assume that innovation needs to be a life altering invention. It doesn't. Innovation can simply be taking a different approach to an old problem. Using a tool in a different way to make something, like a lesson, more successful. Lucas and his team at ILM did this time and time again.

There was a brief part where the documentary covered the resistance from the old guard of special effects. There were some people that did not like the changes and wanted nothing to do with it. It took some hand-holding, but some of the more resistant people eventually came over and became some of the best in the business. It wasn't said, but the feeling was there that those who refused to adapt were left behind.

This is where we are in education. There are amazing educators that are resistant to change, but could be some of the strongest users of technology in the classroom. They could be the innovators if given the time and proper training. However, there will be those that will be left behind as the rest of us move forward. That is just an inevitable part of innovation and progress.

I highly recommend that you watch the documentary. It's only an hour, but it really shows the determination of a group of passionate people bent on setting the standard for the movie industry.

I think there is a group of educators out there trying to do the same for education and I'm proud to be among them.

If we keep working hard, we can make a difference and set the standard for what education looks like in this country.

- @TheNerdyTeacher

A penny for my posts?

I was having a conversation with a non-teaching friend (Yes, I have those) and I had casually mentioned (Not casual at all) that I had been nominated for two Edublog Awards (That you can vote for here and here). The following is a recap of the conversation,

Non-Teacher Friend – Cool, what do you win?

The Nerdy Teacher – Well, I win a free Edublogs Campus subscription for one year and one free Edublogs Pro subscription for a year!

NTF – You don’t win cash?

TNT – No, just those prizes I guess.

NTF – How about a plaque or something to hang in your classroom?

TNT – No, but I get a badge I can put on my website.

NTF – Do you make any money from your website?

TNT – I use Google AdSense, but I haven’t made a cent from that.

NTF – You spend all of this time on a website and attending these conferences and you are not making any money from it? That sounds like a ton of work and money for a hobby.

TNT – Well, it’s not a hobby, it’s my job.

NTF – No, you get paid for your job. You take days off and go to conferences you pay for. That’s a hobby. It’s a well intentioned hobby, but it’s still a hobby. When you start making money, then you can call it a job.

Posting for Pennies is not something I set out to do. The one thing I can say about teachers is that we did not get into education for the money. I think it is safe to say that teacher bloggers definitely did not enter the game for money either. Money should never be the driving force in education. It’s a terrible motivator as it will only get people to do just enough to earn what they want. Passion is what is needed to make education better for everyone. Money will never create passion.When I read other blogs, it’s the passion that engages me. Using that passion to make education better for everyone is what I love to do.

I’m working with another school on setting up some Professional Development for their teachers second semester. I never thought this would be something I would do. I didn’t seek people out to make this happen, they found me. I have an opportunity to take my passion for learning and share it with others. Those teaches will then take what I showed them and share it with their students. The fact that I have a chance to reach more students is exciting. If I make a few extra pennies to buy a comic or two, that is great. However, money will never be my motivator. That’s the one thing that makes cents to me. (Puntastic!)

- @TheNerdyTeacher

Tech Integration is like Cooking...(Reboot)

This past #edchat, we talked about passion and it reminded me of this post. I gave it a reread and it made me smile. Cooking is something that I am passionate about. This was my first Tech Integration post and I had no idea what I was doing. Well, I still don't have a clue, but maybe more of a clue now than I did in January. Very early in my blogging life, I was not sure what to write about and did not think anyone would care. I stumbled upon so many great teachers since this post, I truly feel I have grown up since then. Here is a look back at some of my first thought son Technology Integration.   ..............................................................................................................................................................
Before I start this post, I want to give a shout out to the Teacher Twitter Nation that responded to some of my tweets that led to this post being written. @ktenkely, @cpoole27, @mattpearson, @fejoknom, @BArcher001, @ShellTerrell, @Russsauntry, @SeanBanville, @Marissa_C, @msmithpds and anyone else that re-tweeted my comments. With educators like these, the world of education is heading in the right direction. :)

I love to cook. It's  right up there with gardening. People think I'm weird when I tell them I love to do those two things. I've always been a bit of a jock and videogamer, but I have a creative side I get to show in the classroom when I teach, but also when I garden and cook. I was thinking about cooking, mostly because I was hungry, but I realized that there is a link to how I learned to cook and how I have integrated technology as a teacher. I hope these comparisons help you or teachers you know start to bring new forms of technology to your students.

Start Boiling Eggs Before You Make A Turkey

 I needed to start off simple so I wouldn't overwhelm myself on the first time out. Once I mastered the easy stuff for myself and then my friends and family, I could move on to more complicated dishes. You need to build confidence as a cook. You are not going to run your own kitchen on the first time out, but you can develop some very important skills while learning the ropes on easy dishes that will prepare you for more difficult ones later on.

Finding new technology for your classroom is the same. You need to find things that you feel will be easy to take on when starting out. It can be a blog, a discussion board or a class website. Whatever you feel you can tackle first, start there. It's important that you use something you feel comfortable with before you start to share it with students. If you are not comfortable, they will not be. Imagine a cook that does not look confident biting into their own burger, Yikes!

Don't Reinvent the Cookbook

When I started cooking, I relied on The Food Network, The Naked Chef Cookbook and various websites. These sources of information were helpful as I tried new and different things. Although one person might be an award winning chef, someone else might have an even better take on the same dish. I looked for sources of information that could help me become a better cook. You might be surprised to know that your friends have recipes that you would love. At this stage, I did not need to create a new recipe every time I cooked, I just needed to see what recipes worked for me.

With Technology, we are blessed with so many people out there that know more about tech that you or me. These teachers are dying to share their information with the world. The only thing you need to do is look around. If there is a teacher in your building using "Clickers" in their class, ask them how they use it and if you can watch. There are many blogs by teachers and for teachers that deal with technology. Your reading one right now.  Once you find something you like, try repeating what they did. Once you master that, try changing it to better fit your needs.

One Spice Does Not Fit All

In my early cooking stages, I would find a spice I loved and I would use it on everything. I did not care if the spice was for pork only or chicken only, I used it on everything. There were a few meals that were not great because of it. I had to learn that certain spices work for certain foods for a reason. Find the right spice for the right food and you will have a better meal in the long run.

It is very easy to assume that this new technology you have fallen in love with will apply to all areas of your curriculum. That is not always the case. Trial and error is the best way to explore, but be prepared for a bad lesson or two if you use it on everything. Use your tech sparingly on the outset. Look for ways that lessons can be connected using the tech and integrate them that way. Not all lesson might need a spice of technology.

All Of The Spices At Once Is Not A Good Idea

Spices are good things. They can enhance the flavor of any dish. They should be used to accent a flavor already found in the pasta, meat or veggie. Adding too much or too many spices will take away from the food itself and can even make the meal taste terrible.

Don't just use all of the technology at once because technology is good. Use only some of it here and there to add some flavor to your lesson plan. They should not take over the actual lesson, but just give it a little kick to appeal to a wider audience.


You Need A Few Bad Meals Before You Create A Masterpiece

I cannot even count the number of failed recipes I tried to put together when I started to explore my personal creative side of cooking. I would mix and match spices that seemed great separately, but were a total disaster. Learning cooking times for certain veggies and meats so that everything can be done at the same time is not an easy thing to learn on your own, but it was important that I do not get discouraged as I cooked. I was ok with making bad meals as long as I went back and noted what went wrong and tried to fix it or scrap it and start over.

We have all created lessons that have not worked out in the classroom. We go in with the best intentions and sometimes it is just a dud. At the end of the day, we sit back and try to figure out what went wrong. Sometimes it's something very simple and the lesson is a hit next year. Other times, the whole thing needs to be scrapped. Integrating technology needs to be treated the same way. You might plug it into a lesson and it works great or it fails. It's important not to give up and try to find what went wrong. If ti can be fixed, fix it. If it can't try to find another way to make it work with a different lesson. You can't give up after a few bad lessons. Most of us would be gone after the first year if that was the case.

When You Finally Get the Right Recipe, Write It Down!

There have been too many times where I finally found the right mix of spices, cooking length and other variables and then I realize I did not write any of it down. I got so into the process and the great thing that I was creating that I didn't take a second to jot some notes down. It's ok if you get used to cooking something that you no longer need a recipe, but it is always good to have in case you need it or your friend asks for that awesome Eggplant Parm you make.

Bookmark or save pages that are helpful to you. Write down and save lesson plans that you create. These are great sources of information when something works or doesn't work. You can go back and hopefully pinpoint the best or worst part. Also, when something works well, you should share it with the world. The only way you can share that awesome lesson on The Declaration of Independence is if you have it written down somewhere.

Know Who You Are Cooking For

I love Tomatoes. My Wife does not like Tomatoes. It's amazing we got married despite this terrible division. When I cook , I need to remember that she is not a fan of tomatoes and I need to make adjustments to my recipes. Some tomato use is unavoidable and she grins and bares it, but I try to make the accommodation because I do not want to eat alone.

Just because you love the Document Camera does not mean everybody is going to love the Document Camera. They should try it, but they don't have to love it. Your students might not like the different types of tech you bring to the class. That might change from year to year. Kids are picky. You need to be ready top adjust your lessons so everybody can enjoy the learning process. Like my wife though, some students will have to have some technology whether they like it or not because it's just part of the recipe, I mean lesson.


You Are Now Ready For Thanksgiving Dinner

After spending time working on the various recipes, I felt confident to invite the family over for Thanksgiving Dinner. I decided to use a combination of personal recipes and ones borrowed or tweaked from other people. I had others who helped me along the way, but I was in charge of the show. There were a few stumbles along the way, but the meal went very well. Drinking Wine along the way did not hurt. :)

After some time, you will feel comfortable to show everyone what you have learned. You can do this at a department meeting or in front of the entire staff. Know that you do not have to do this alone. Ask others to help you along the way and do some of the little things so you can focus on the big picture. It would be a shame if you learned all of these new tech tips and did not share them with the teachers in your building. Sharing is what teachers do. Teaching teachers is not an easy thing to do, but if you can teach one teacher, you are teaching hundreds of students.

Post a comment with your thoughts.

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That was my first tech integration post. It is weird to look back at your writing and try to think about what you were thinking att he time. I remember everything that led up to wanting to write the post, but the actual time spent and thought process behind it escape me. I've never been a "jot your ideas down then write" type of guy. I like to let the idea flow freely and then edit where it is needed. That was not a great format early in my HS writing career, but I got better at it. It works really well for blogging. I love just jumping on and posting something I found or a thought about a topic that has been on my mind. I hope my posts have been interesting, helpful and most of all, entertaining. As educators, we need to find the humor in what we do or we would not make it very long. Have a great day everyone!

Tip of the Hat to the Great Educators at Grandville High School

I've been meaning to blog about this video for a few weeks, but life always seems to get in the way. Please watch the video below created by the students of Grandville High School in Michigan. Also, here is an article the Detroit Free Press had on the school and the video.

I can't stop watching this video. It brings a huge smile to my face to see kids doing something they love and will never forget. The school got behind a crazy idea and supported the students in their endeavor. How many times have we, as teachers or administrators, told students that they cannot do something because it is a bit out there. I consider myself a pretty open minded teacher, but there are still times I tell kids to scale it back. After a week of state mandated tests, Grandville High School thought it would be nice to let their students dance and have some fun. I showed the video to my students and their first reaction was, "Why don't we do something like that?" Other students instinctively replied, "The Principals would never let us do that!" I told them if they never ask, they will never know. It got me think though. Why do the students feel like that? Is that an environment created by the staff of a building or by the students themselves?

I want to give a huge high five to Grandville Administrators that supported their student body to make this crazy video happen. You have helped create a memory that these students will never forget. We forget that school is not just a place for book learning. School should be a social experience for everyone involved. Not just certain groups of students that will always participate in the few programs offered, but for all of the students. Making every student feel a part of the school is not an easy task, but shouldn't that be the goal for all schools? Thank you Grandville for reminding me what a school can look like when the leaders listen to the students and support their ideas.
 


- @TheNerdyTeacher