Reform Symposium 2011 for New Teachers

I'm excited to be back and presenting at the Reform Symposium this Saturday January 8th. This is going to be another great conference that is not only going to help new teachers, but truly be helpful to everyone in education. I will be presenting on the importance of Mentoring at 10pm EST. My presentation is entitled, Mentoring: Everyone is a Sidekick. I'm going to use a few buddy cop movies to help explain the way mentoring works or should work in education. Here is an interview done by the amazing Greta (@Gret).

I always get excited to present to other teachers and educators. I'm lucky to be presenting with such a great host of people and I really think their is going to be some exciting learning taking place on Saturday. Please find the time to stop by and share in the fun. I hope to see you there.

Improving Huck Finn and other stories

By: Andrea Bohner

Warning: Do not dare change any of the words of this post or suffer the penalty of being given the stink eye or worse, an unfollow on Twitter and defriending on Facebook.

I’m sure many of you have hear about the new edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that is going to be released with the “n” word replaced with slave and the word injun removed. If you have not heard about it, stop reading and go to this post. This is my honest to God response, “Are they out of their fucking mind?” Despite the tech stuff I do to keep busy, I am a certified English and Social Studies Teacher. I have taught Huck Finn for the majority of my 10 years in the classroom. Mark Twain is one of my favorite authors and one the best satirists this country has ever seen. The thought of changing the text of this book bothers me deep down. As an author, the only thing that is left after you are gone are the words you left behind. Those words are considered sacred. I could care less if it is a dime store trash novel from the 50’s or a piece of classic literature; someone wrote those words and should be the only one allowed to alter them.

On the other hand, once I thought about it, I saw the other side of the coin. In today’s society, we have to be very careful about the words we use and the words we let our innocent children read. I’m an expecting father and I have to start thinking about what my son is going to have access to. So, if we are going to censor Huck Finn because we want to make it more accessible to readers who are easily offended, I suggest we look at some other texts and make some important revisions. Here are some off the top of my head.

To Kill a Mockingbird - I’m teaching this right now, but I’m going to replace all of the inappropriate parts of the story so my students are not going to be offended. First, the “n” word is gone. That will be replaced by African American. It doesn’t matter that the term did not exist at the time the story is set. That is not important, so save your fingers the stress of typing a comment. Also, Boo Radley will be confined in his house not because he stabbed his dad in the leg, but because he did not clean up his room like he was asked. We cannot have violence like this in stories. It sends the wrong message to students. Dill will be replaced by an imaginary kitty cat that Scout and Jem will play with. We need to get rid of Dill because he is based on Truman Capote and we know what he is all about. We cannot let kids learn the back story to a story. They might draw conclusions about the writer and the reasons the story was written. There really isn’t a place for that in the classroom. Tom Robinson will not die in the story, he will be given work release and be able to see his family on every other weekend. The important part is the speech that Atticus gives in the courtroom. Oh, the speech will be shortened to accommodate the readers who have short attention spans. It will look something like this, “Tom didn’t do it. You know he didn’t do it and it is racist if you convict him.” That’s essentially what he is trying to say. Also, Boo doesn’t save the kids at the end because Mr. Ewell never attacks them. Frankly, it is too scary and the we do not want kids accepting help from strange guys who stare at them from houses. Once we finish with the book, it can go from 31 chapters to about 16.

Romeo and Juliet - Children that do not obey their parents and commit suicide is not appropriate for school. Suicide is very serious and the taking of one’s life should not be endorsed in writing for students. It doesn’t matter that Shakespeare was commenting on young love. Kids are not smart enough to understand the meaning of the play and teachers, like me, cannot be trusted to impart that information to these students.

Fahrenheit 451 - Well, this should just be banned outright. Fire is not something to be played with.

The Holy Bible - Have you read the Old Testament? There is blatant incest and terrible violence. God even dabbles in Genocide when he wipes out Sodom and Gomorahh, not to mention the entire planet when he sent the flood. I think we should remove all of the violence and hate in the first part of the book and replace it with some pretty pictures like the ones they have in church. People like pictures.

I think we can all come together as a society and agree that these books, and many more, need to be changed so the wrong message about our past is not passed onto children. If there is one thing I have learned as a History teacher it’s that you do not learn anything from History. I hope all of you can agree with me on that.

Editor’s Note:

All comments will be “edited” for content. Comments need to be acceptable to all readers.

The "value" of work

As some of you might have seen on Twitter last week, I was checking essays on Huck Finn. They were not the best essays in the world, but they were not the worst. The students need to work on their analysis and I decided to spend the next few days helping them in that area. Today I had them review their essays online and see the comments I made. I discussed what the analysis should look like and gave them an opportunity to fix their essays with more analysis. They had class time today and they will resubmit Tuesday. A girl raised her hand and asked how many points it was worth. I told her not to worry about it and focus on improving her writing. She was adamant about knowing the “value” of the redo. I asked her if she would try harder if it was worth more points. Her response was bothersome. “I don’t know. Work is worth points, that is what school is about.” I felt terrible when I heard this. I told her not to worry about points and focus on the writing. She was clearly disgusted at my response and I got the teenage eye roll in response. I want to me annoyed with her attitude, but is it her fault for feeling that way? Isn’t it our (Schools in general) fault for creating this culture? #Barf

- @TheNerdyTeacher

Top Eleven Nerdy Teacher Moments of the Year

Here is a list of 11 things that happened the past year because of this silly blog. They are numbered, but they are not is a particular order. They all had a major impact on me in some way and I'm excited to share them with you. It is crazy to think that this blog has been around for only one year. I feel like I have have been doing this for a real long time and the new friends I have made feel like old buddies. I truly look forward to the amazing things 2011 hold for me.

11. EduCon
EduCon has not happened yet, but I feel like it it going to be the culminating event of my blogging year. Most of my new friends are going go be there and we are going to get together and share more ideas and have a good time. I've got a bowling outing planned that weekend where my team, No Pins Left Behind, featuring @Tgwynn and @Ejulez will be kicking some butt!

10. #ProjectPLN
I had an idea about collecting blog posts month to month and releasing it as an online magazine. I shared that idea with @KTenkely and #ProjectPLN was born. We have collected various posts from all over the world and have shared them with others. I never thought that this would be something I would get involved with, but an idea was in my head and I had to see what would happen. I would not be able to make ProjectPLN happen without Kelly. She is one of the hardest working people in all of education and I'm proud to call her a friend. Project PLN will be making an appearance at ISTE11 at a Poster Presentation, so keep an eye out in June. #ProjectPLN is always looking for people to submit articles for each issue. Contact us at ProjectPLN10@gmail.com or @ProjectPLN.


9. Blogging Alliance
@KTenkely's Blogging Alliance was a brilliant idea. She saw that connecting edubloggers would be a great way to support bloggers from all over the world. As a novice blogger, it was so cool to have the support of other people. I really felt like I was part of a community of teachers that all wanted the same thing. The Nerdy Teacher was not the first time I tried blogging. I had tried it in the past, but felt like I was speaking to a void. The Blogging Alliance made bloggers feel heard and that is what got me over the hump. I'm not sure The Nerdy Teacher would still be around if it weren't for Kelly and the Blogging Alliance. It was also nice to have a collection of blogs I could read every week. I still read those blogs and share the great resources I find with the teachers in my district.

8. Van Meter
I've been working with Van Meter this school year and it has been super exciting. Kids have been blogging and sharing ideas with kids from another state. It is a really exciting thing to see kids passionate about learning. Shawn has been amazing to work with and Shannon and the rest of the Van Meter crew were so wonderful when I visited. Van Meter is a great community and I am really lucky to get to work with them on the various projects we have come up with. They have a great admin staff that are working hard to create an amazing learning environment for their students. If you have not connected with the Van Meter crew, do so quickly because you do not want to miss out. We will be gearing up for the huge Romeo and Juliet project and I can't wait to see what the kids produce.

7. The Nerdy Teacher Blogs for Lifetime
In one of the most shocking bits of information to hit the blogosphere in recent years, I was asked to blog for The Balancing Act. I was asked to provide a short posts providing parents with helpful education tips. I thought this was a gag or something, but it turned out to be the real deal. I've been happy to work with The Balancing Act and look forward to working with them in 2011.

6. EduBlog Awards
I could go on about having the 3rd most powerful new blog in the world, but that is really not what this is about. The EduBlog awards are cool because it collects blogs nominated by other teachers. It I'd an honor to just be nominated because it's by my peers. It was not something I ever expect and am truly humbled by.

5 a. Organizing #edcampDetroit
I heard about #edcamp on Twitter and was really excited about what it was about. I really wanted to attend, but had to chaperone prom. :-( #ntcamp was at the end of July, but I was working at a summer camp. Double :-( After hearing rumblings of people starting their own #edcamp in their neck of the woods, I thought that Michigan should have their own as well. #EdcampDetroit was born and we are kicking it into high gear. Registration open 1:11:11 and you can find more details by following @edcampDetroit or checking out www.edcampDetroit.org.

5b. Going to #edcampNYC and #edcampKC
I knew if I wanted to organize an #edcamp, I would have to attend one or two and get a feel to how these events run. I took the opportunity and flew to Iowa to visit Van Meter and drive down to KC later the next day. #edcampKC was an awesome event and I met some great people. Well done KC.

#edcampNYC was an equally awesome event. I met some of my Twitter friends from the East Coast and ate some Ox Tail for lunch. :-) Above all, I had the chance to see how #edcamps work and I was not let down. KC and NYC did an amazing job and #edcampDetroit has much to live up to.

4. #140 Character Conference
I was asked to sit on a panel for the #140 Character Conference when it came to Detroit in October. I had no idea what to expect when @ShellTerell asked me help. It was an amazing event that connected me with so many great people. It was also a great chance to speak to non-educators and show them what some teachers are doing out there. The panel went well and at one point, I was a trending topic on Twitter in Detroit! It doesn't seem like it should be a big deal, but I never thought something like that was ever possible when I started a year ago. It was a cool event and I hope to go back next year.

3. ISTE
I went to ISTE10 in Denver to meet some of the great people I have been talking too for the past 6 months. It was an amazing learning experience from the start. Because I went to ISTE, I connected with @Shannonmmiller and the Van Meter crew. We have now been working together on some exciting projects and will be starting on our Romeo and Juliet Project soon. Because I went to ISTE, I now have a Blogger's Cafe that my kids enjoy. Lastly, I will be attending ISTE11 in Philly and presenting two poster presentations. I'm excited for the chance to share some of the great things I have learned this past year with other teachers. Maybe I'll be able to impact a teacher the way many of you have impacted me.

2. #edchat
I never thought something like #edchat would have such an impact on the way that I teach. I stumbled upon #edchat one night and sat on the sidelines until the very end were had a dropped a couple of comments into the discussion. I was shocked to have people actually respond to my ideas and RT them to the rest of the world. I was still new to Twitter and only had a handful of followers. I didn't think joining the conversation was going to be a big deal. Because of a couple of simple comments, I have met some amazing people from all over the world. @mbteach, @web20classroom, @amandacdykes, @ShellTerrell, @Kylepace are just a few people that have had a huge impact on me this past year and it was all because of #edchat. If you have not participated in #edchat, what the heck are you waiting for?. #edchat has been a major influence on my teaching this year and I can't wait for another year of chatting.

1. My first post

It all begin with this first post.


I've decided to create a blog. I'm a 30 year old English teacher that is currently working on my Masters Degree in educational technology. I spend tons of time helping other teachers in my building incorporating technology into their teaching and thought it would be nice to share these new concepts with the world out there. Also, I'm sure this blog can help me with my Masters Program.


If you have any thoughts or ideas you would like to share, please feel free to email me or post a comment. Let's see where this thing takes us.

I'm still helping teachers in my building, but now I get to help teachers from all over the world. I've been lucky to present at some online conferences and have one coming up in a week in a half for New Teachers. The only this blog hasn't done for me is help me with my Educational Technology Masters Degree. Hopefully my class this semester of Blogging and Wikis will teach me a thing or two. :-)

I cannot wait to see what 2011 has to offer, but I know it will be a great year with the support of my friends and my amazing wife @JenniferPro.

Have a great year and teach the crap out of those students!

@TheNerdyTeacher