April 26, 2013

This isn't going to be a long post as it's been a really long week with tech for the junior high musical keeping me here until around 9:00 all week long.  In fact, Kameron has been here with me running spotlight for the show, and craziness takes over the brain after 12 hours at school.  Here he is saying goodbye to the spotlight after a performance, and it was only the Thursday performance, we still had Friday to go!

Just a few things to remind you about: book reports are May 6-10.  End of level testing starts the week after that.  We finish with our science core with the space test Monday and we'll begin reviewing the first few terms.  We also finish the math core this week and will review a bit after that.  The end's coming, and it's coming fast!

"Our eyes are placed in front of us because we are meant to look forward and not to look back." ~ Nishan Panwar

Classroom Technologies

Technology is everywhere.  From the cell phone in your pocket, to the TV at your house, to the GPS in your car, to the computer I'm typing this on.  It wasn't but back in my childhood that the internet required the telephone line and made those awful squealing sounds to connect.  Now I sit here connected with no wires, no phone lines, and no awful sounds, transmitting information faster than we ever thought possible as kids.

When it comes to educational technologies, we're always making leaps and bounds as well.  I remember punishments that were dished out, to others of course, where you would have to take those wretched chalk erasers outside and beat the daylights out of them to clean them out.  I'm guessing there were several sets of lungs that were ruined by such punishments.  Luckily, mine are still in good health.  We thought dry erase markers were a bright new invention.  They were cleaner and more efficient.  In our classrooms, we've taken  yet another stride past that, using a Mimio, which turns our regular everyday whiteboard into an interactive whiteboard that uses computer based lessons.

Well, recently, we've taken yet another huge leap beyond even that.  A few weeks back, I went to the UCET (Utah Coalition for Educational Technologies) Conference.  I spent a good two days learning everything I could about iPads.  I bought one, and began using it in my classroom.  Since, the school has supplied us with another, as well as an Apple TV so the smaller screen of the iPad can be displayed upon the larger screen of the television.

There are a lot of apps that I've already found much use for.  Splashtop allows me to control my computer from the iPad, giving me full control of the interactive lessons displayed on the board from anywhere in the classroom.  There are several science, language and math apps as well, that I currently have and are currently in use.  It's an amazing technology, so far fetched from anything we could have dreamed about as children, but it's here, and it's not a dream!

If you feel the urge to buy any gifts for me, or the classroom, as I know tends to happen, especially during Teacher Appreciation Week  and the with the end of the school year, consider including iTunes gift cards with it.  They will allow for the purchase of apps to further expand our classroom and allow me to use  these technologies to extreme!

It's amazing where the world has come in such a short amount of time, and all I can say is, I'm excited to see where it goes within my lifetime! Who knows, the Jetsons may be a reality sooner than we ever thought possible!

Ever so fitting for an iPad post, I think I'll end with a few of my favorite quotes from the man himself, Steve Jobs:

"What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with.  It's the equivalent of a bicycle for the brain."

"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me... going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful - that's what matters."

"My job is not to be easy on people.  My job is to make them better."

April 21, 2013

Let's start this post off with a little bit of fun!  Every year with the book fair, Clifford the Big Red Dog comes to visit.  I was able to capture this moment between Zen and Clifford.  I warned him it'd be blackmail, but I think the blog is far more fun!  He laughed and couldn't wait for it to be posted, so here it is!

Another prize for us this week was the Spelling Bee.  Congratulations to Kourtney and J.J. for winning the classroom bee, and representing our class in the school bee.  An even bigger congratulations to J.J. for taking second place in  the school spelling bee.

Beyond all this, this are moving along as usual.  We're working on our last couple of units for Language.  We're on the last unit for math.  Pretty soon we'll start reviewing for end of level testing, which takes place the middle of May.  It's unbelievable that there's only about 34 school days left before the end of the year...unbelievable!

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come.  We have only today. Let us begin." ~Mother Teresa

The Essential 46

As we come back from the break, it's a perfect time revisit all of our classroom rules. It's a well known fact among teachers that the closer we  get to the end of the year, the more the students struggle with controlling their anticipation for summer break.  This means that we sometimes have to rule with heavier hand.  Over Spring Break, I reread a book that I have on my shelf, "The Essential 55," by Ron Clark.  He's a fantastic educator.  In fact, if you ever get the chance, there is a movie that tells his story called, "The Ron Clark Story".  I highly recommend you watch it.  In the introduction of the book, he encourages those reading it to adapt his rules for their own classroom.  I thought this could be a "fun" way to tighten up a little bit around our classroom. It includes the required school rules as well as those of Mr. Clark's rules that I felt appropriate or adaptable to our classroom. So, here it is! The Essential 46:

The Essential 46

Based on Ron Clark’s, “The Essentail 55”

SAA’s Essential 7:

1.       Follow instructions

2.       Be prepared and participate

3.       Use hands, feet, and objects appropriately

4.       Use kind words

5.       Signal and wait to be called on

6.       SNAPPE

·         S-Sit up straight

·         N-Nod (show that you are paying attention)

·         A-Act interested

·         P-Be prepared

·         P-Participate

·         E-Evaluate

7.       Hall of FAME (Mr. Clark’s Rule 44)

·         Face forward

·         Arms to self

·         Mouths silent

·         Even line

Mr. Pratt’s Essential 39:

8.       Be attentive when any adult is talking and respond respectfully.

9.       Always have good sportsmanship when winning or losing.

10.   Respect other students’ comments, opinions, and ideas.

11.   Always use ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’.

12.   Never make an inappropriate comment when given a something from someone.

13.   Surprise others be performing random acts of kindness.

14.   Use absolute caution when grading another student’s paper. The only marks you should make are an ‘X' over the number and a score at the end.

15.   When we read together in class, you must follow allow.

16.   Answer all written questions in complete sentences.

17.   Never expect rewards for behavior. If you ever ask for a reward, you will not receive it.

18.   Homework should be turned in on-time every day.

19.   Transition times need to be swift, quiet and orderly.

20.   You will make every effort to be as organized as possible.

21.   When I assign homework, there is to be no moaning or complaining.

22.   While you are with a substitute teacher, you are to obey the same rules that you follow when I am with you.

23.   Do not get out of your seat without permission.

24.   Do not speak unless:

a.       You are called on.

b.      I ask a question and you are responding.

c.       It is recess or lunch.

d.      I instruct you otherwise.

25.   You may bring a bottle of water and leave it on your desk throughout the day. Do not ask me if you can get water while I am teaching.

26.   Flush the toilet and wash your hands after using the restroom.

27.   Do not ever try to exclude anyone from anything.

28.   If any teacher in the school is speaking to or disciplining a student, do not look at that student.

29.   If you ever have any questions about your homework, do not hesitate to ask.

30.   Use your manners when eating in the lunchroom.

31.   After we eat, we will clean up after ourselves.

32.   If someone drops something, help them pick it up.

33.   If you are the first of a group of people to a door, hold the door for the others.

34.   If you bump into someone, even if you feel it was not your fault, say, ‘Excuse me’.

35.   During an assembly, do not speak, do not look around, and do not try to get the attention of your friends. Pay attention to the assembly.

36.   When you answer the phone, do so only in an appropriate manner, “Mr. Pratt’s class, student speaking.”

37.   Never cut in line. If someone cuts, do not say or do anything about it. Let it happen, tell me about it, and I will deal with the situation.

38.   If we are watching a video, there will be no talking whatsoever.

39.   If any child in this school is bothering you, let me know. I am your teacher, and am here to look after you and protect you.

40.   Stand up for what you believe in.

41.   Be positive and enjoy life.

42.   Live without regrets.

43.   Accept that you are going to make mistakes. Learn from them and move on.

44.   No matter what the circumstances, always be honest.

45.   Carpe diem. (Seize the day.)

46.   Be the best person you can be.

March 24, 2013

A small celebration of a sort is in order.  For the first time this year, I have changed one of our bulletin boards.  There's a lot going on in the hallway right now so I really had no place to hang these posters, and I really wanted a place to display them, so c'est la vie, our Reservoir Word Wall is gone.  Don't tell, but I wasn't using it near as well as I should have, so it probably won't be missed, but the expertise on the planets in our solar system can now be displayed.  

There are actually two different projects going on up there.  The first is the posters.  Each student was assigned a planet to become an expert on.  They had to create a poster that they then shared with the class, sharing their knowledge of the planet along with it.  The posters on display are not just from our homeroom.  All of the classes participated in the activity with their room during rotations, so I have displayed some posters from each of the rotations.

The other project was what I like to call our Human Solar System. The planets are vastly different in size, so with the 27 students in our class, we represented the size of the planets by the number of students that would proportionately represent it. So, Mercury, being the smallest planet is represented by one student, where Jupiter, the largest planet, is being represented by all the students.  I even took one of the smaller students and represented the dwarf planet Pluto, because, well, this letter says it all:

As I teach science for the first time in three years, I'm doing a lot of research of my own to make sure I'm able to answer questions they might have.  I can now adequately explain why the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has changed Pluto's classification.  To be classified as  a planet it has to meet three criteria: 1) It has to travel around the sun. 2) It has to have enough to gravity to have pulled itself into a spherical shape. 3) It has to have cleared it's orbital path by either absorbing other things or pushing them out of the way.  Number 3 is where Pluto loses it.  It is located toward the outside of our solar system, where its orbit passes through what is known as the Kuiper belt, a large group of thousands of other space rocks.  

It is because of that, and not necessarily its size, that it lost its classification as a full on planet.  There's your fun fact of the day. For now, Pluto maintains its classification as a Dwarf Planet, always striving to achieve his big boy status once again.

Pictured above is  the wall of book reports for third term. All in all, I was pleased with them, especially considering I had forgotten to give the assignment the first couple of terms.  We will be doing another one fourth term.  They have about a month and a half to read a book and prepare a project for presentation.  I have the presentations planned for May 6-10.  The students can plan on presenting in reverse order from what we did this round.  If they presented on Friday this round, they will be Monday on the next, and if they were Monday this round they will be Friday, etc.  I'm not making any specifications for types of books. The only thing I am requiring is their project needs to be something different than they did the first time.  As you can see, we got a lot of pictures, which is great, but I want them to expand their creativity.  If they drew a picture for the first report, they need to find a different project for this round.  I hope that makes sense.  If there are any questions, please ask.

The official end of the term is Wednesday this coming week.  Ancient teaching secret, I've pretty well stopped assigning things for third term.  You'll see on the online gradebook, that I've already started putting in math scores for fourth term.  There are still a few things to finalize, so third term report cards will be coming home Wednesday, April 10, after spring break.

Three terms down, one to go!  Life is crazy, but it's definitely more exciting that way!

"Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true." ~ Leon J. Suenes

March 17, 2013

Happy St. Patty's day, everyone!!!  Hopefully all my fellow Irish have found themselves a nice bit of corned beef and cabbage to celebrate, and hopefully the leperchauns haven't raised to much havoc in your households!

This picture below could earn picture of the year.  It was taken at the reward assembly this week for the reading contest.  Kourtney being the top reader in our class got the opportunity to hit me with her best pie arm.  Between her and the others who felt the need, I was cleaning whipped cream from places I didn't even know existed.  It's all worth it though.  Fostering a love of reading helps to promote lifelong learning, and really, there's never a good reason to stop learning.  We did take a more serious photo, but what's the fun in that? Kudos to you Kourtney for making way your way to the top reader!

Theres really only a few things worth mentioning at the moment, so I'll just make a short bulleted list of them:

• The official end of the term is next week.  I will be stopping third term assignments in all subjects at some point this week.  Friday will be the last day to turn in any assignments, so the missing assignment list they get on Monday will be the last one of third term.
• On the note of missing assignments, I have been keeping to my end of the deal, and unfortunately, some students have been affected by it.  Each time I create a new missing assignment list, anything that was on the previous list becomes a 0.  Honestly, if they turn it in once it's a 0, I will still give them some credit for it, but I will only attach it to one missing assignment list.
• Book reports are due this week.  Pictured below is the schedule for when they will be presented.  I did warn those who present on Monday before the weekend, but the rest have not seen the schedule yet.  I will give them a copy of it Monday, but if you get a sec, share it with them so they are sure to be prepared:

We have some exciting new technology coming into the classroom.  I've begun introducing it to them already, but the familiar I make myself with it, the more it will get used.  Keep an eye out, as I should be posting another blog here within the next week showing it to you.
All in all, things are going well.  Aside from a slight head cold, my medical issues seem to be cleared, so once I can put the tissues away, we should be good to go!
One final note to make, the elementary musical is being performed this week. We don't have anyone performing in it, aside from Kameron, who is part of my Tech Crew, but it is a cute show, so if you have a spare night, bring your family. It will be playing Tuesday through Friday nights at 7:00. If you want to make a real event out of it, in honor of the musical being about Pirates, Friday night they are holding a pirate costume contest.

In true pirate fashion, let's end with a quote from Johnny Depp, the most famous pirate of current time:

"There are four questions of value in life: What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for? And what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same... only love."

They Called Me Pork Chop

It seems that everyone in life has something they have to grandstand for.  Some people choose political avenues, other choose to do it more privately with just their families. Some people choose guns.  Some people choose equal rights.  Some people just choose simple things like the Golden Rule.  I choose bullying. My grandstand is against bullying.  Being a teacher is the perfect avenue for me to fight this battle in hopes that one day, it's eliminated.  I realize this is an uphill fight.  I still choose to fight it.  I realize I won't win.  I will do my best.  I will affect those I teach.  So long as I make it so even one less kid gets bullied, one less kid has to feel the pain I grew up with, then my grandstand can be deemed a success.

They didn't call me Pork Chop. They called me Fat Pratt.  Everyone grows up with a nickname.  For some people, it comes from their real name. A Samantha might go by Sami. A Robert might go by Rob.  There's any number. I grew up with a kid who went by Budda. We call one of my best friends Huggies. The unfortunate side of this is that not all nicknames are so positive.  And what's worse, is we get bombarded by that ridiculous saying:

As if sticks and stones hurt any less than walking home friendless, or not having someone to play with at recess. I grew up hating that statement, "Words will never hurt you." Yes!  They will.  Stick and stones break bones which heal within a few weeks.  The brokenness you feel after being called names time and time again takes years, and that's IF it heals. And what's worse, is that it doesn't stop with the name calling.  The name calling is just the sticks, what follows is really the stones:

There's pushing into lockers.  There's tripping.  There's mocking.  Any form of making fun happens!  It happens more often than we care to admit.  And even if someone gets involved and puts a stop to what's seen, kids are creative.  They find ways to get around it.  They find unseen ways to continue the torture.  They prey on what they see as the weaker students, and the longer they prey, the weaker they get, until they grow up to be adults.  Sometimes the wounds heal, other times they don't.  I was probably in my early 20's before I allowed the emotional baggage to escape me; before I realized that the kids back in school really didn't matter.  It's not easy. Even when you have people looking at you telling you how beautiful and amazing you are, it's never easy.  And what's worse? "We're not the only kids who grew up this way."

Day after wretched day we watch other kids in the hallway going through the same bullying.  Name calling, pushing, talking behind backs.  The sad part is that too often these events are watched by a bystander and nothing gets done about it. We're not sure we're strong enough to help.  We don't want to get in the middle of it.  We don't want to be the next target of the bullying. "If a kid breaks in a school and no one around chooses to hear, do they make a sound?"

Yes! They do! And we as the bystanders need to choose to hear that sound! Listen to them! Stand up for them!  Stand up to those bullying and tell them we've had enough!  One of the most power things I've seen in a long time is so subtle.  Say the word "beauty" out loud and really listen to how you say it.  You cannot say the word "beauty" without saying the word "you".

You need to tell yourself that.  Over and over again, you need to tell yourself you are beautiful.  And if you are having problems saying that and believing it, than by golly you need to:

Because each and every one of us is beautiful in our own right.  We are who we are.  We are unique.  We are individuals.  We are different, and it is those differences that turn us from the lousy caterpillar into the beautiful butterfly.

Growing up can be tough.  It's hard enough on it's own, developing bodies, developing minds, family life, money, work, health, relationships.  Life has enough troubles on it's own without us creating so, so many more for each other.  I beg you all, please.  I'm down on my hands and knees, please, please, PLEASE... let's put a stop to the bullying.  Let's start caring for one another, and boosting each others spirits.  Rather than putting each other down, let's bring ourselves to new heights!  Let's soar to places we never knew we could, and let's do it more easily than we ever thought possible because we are doing it together!

As I previously said, I realize my grandstanding is not going to bring an end to it all, so the most important thing I need you to do is not listen to them when they come around.  I don't care what they say; if it's about your looks, if it's about your size, if it's about your skills and talents, if it's for no reason at all, I don't care.  They are wrong.  They will always be wrong.  But for them to truly be wrong, you have to believe it.  You have to believe in yourself.  You have to believe

(I have to thank Shane Koyczan and everyone who helped him create the original video, "To This Day".  Without that platform, this blog would not have been possible.  If you have not seen the original video, please watch below.  It will be the most powerful way you can spend the next seven minutes of your life.)