Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, friends! 2012 has been a wild ride, and I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store.

I'm hoping to add some new technology to my classroom this year, and you can help! DonorsChoose offered an amazing deal on Chromebooks in December that I couldn't pass up - only $99 each! I've requested 10 Chromebooks from DonorsChoose and would be very grateful if you would consider donating, even a few dollars, to hook my students up in the new year. If you're local, I'll even bake you cookies to say "thank you!"

I'm hoping to start 2013 with lots of fun new adventures and am looking forward to sharing them soon. Thanks for considering making a donation to my classroom - you rock!

xoxo,
Megan

Psst - you can help me spread the word by tweeting the following: 

The students in C8 would love new Chromebooks in the New Year! www.donorschoose.org/ellisenglish @MeganRose_Ellis

Texting with Students, or, Just One More Crazy Thing Happening in C8

"Oh Megan, you're so crazy!"

I hear that a lot. Especially at work, where I'm doing wacky things like letting students show their learning in a variety of ways and *GASP* giving students my cell phone number.

I signed up for Google Voice back in the spring, excited by the possibility that my students would be able to choose how they might contact me, much like I let them choose how they might demonstrate their understanding of a topic. All of my students have Gmail accounts, but very few of them really know how to use email very well. They send emails when they have a question, but then they never check their emails to get a response.

Pointless for them, frustrating for me.

"Surely," I mused, "They would text me if given the chance."

And text me they do.

Last night, our school's Google Apps was down. I knew about it instantly because I received 3 emails but I also received 15 texts. My students were in varying stages of panic, and I was able to reassure all of them that contacted me individually as well as send a mass text via Remind101 to let everyone know that, yes, I was aware of the issue and no, their paragraph draft was not due the next day so they needed to stop freaking the heck out.

It's only the 2nd week of school, but students are already texting me to clarify whether we have homework or not. When we don't, I suggest they work on independent reading and ask what book they are reading. And then they text back to tell me what book they are reading or ask if I have recommendations for a new book. I never got emails asking if we had homework, and I certainly never had conversations about independent reading books over email.

Sometimes, they even call me, which is totally awesome. When a Google Voice phone call comes through, the students have to say their name, and then I can decide whether I want to answer or not. This means I can screen my calls even if I don't have that kid's number stored in my phone. All voice mails are transcribed to text message, too. It's not a perfect transcription, but it's close enough that I can figure out what someone is asking and either call or text right back.

Finally, I have "Do not Disturb" hours, during which all calls and texts go straight to my inbox and my phone doesn't ring at all. The kids know that DND hours start at 9pm and end at 7am, so I won't be able to answer any late-night, last-minute, morning-of homework questions. Those hours are the same for emails too. It's working really well and encouraging my students to look at their work ahead of time so they can get their questions answered before it's too late.

While I think a lot of my colleagues think I'm texting with students just to be considered "cool," I really do think it's important to meet kids where they are so you can best support them. Email communication was not supporting a lot of my students, especially those with limited computer and internet access at home. It was time-consuming and frustrating and often one-sided and teacher-initiated. Texting with my students is quick and, I think most importantly, student-initiated. Moreover, my students know that I want to hear from them and want to help them, even when we aren't in the classroom together.

Until next time,
Megan

Big News! Google Teacher Academy, New York 2012

Friends, I've been busy.

Busy tutoring. Busy attending weddings. Busy reading YA novels. Busy snuggling my dog. Busy harvesting cherry tomatoes and basil from my fledgling garden. Busy setting up my classroom.

But mostly, I've been busy applying to the GTA - the Google Teacher Academy. From the GTA:

The GTA is a FREE professional development experience designed to help primary and secondary educators from around the globe get the most from innovative technologies. Produced by CUE, each Academy is an intensive, two-day event during which participants get hands-on experience with Google's free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues, and immerse themselves in a supportive community of educators making impact.             

I've talked myself out of applying to the GTA for the last two years. I had a myriad of excuses. I didn't know how to make a video. I didn't think I used enough technology in my classroom. I didn't think the technology that I did use was all that spectacular. I didn't think I had much of anything to offer - who really wants to hear anything this twenty-something teacher who just got tenure has to say about innovation and learning?



And then I realized: I have a lot to say about innovation and learning. And my age doesn't really matter. And the fact that I haven't been teaching very long doesn't really matter. In fact, the only thing that does matter is that I am crazy passionate about technology in education and want to learning every single thing that I can cram into my brain (and then some).

So, on July 29 I sent in my application, crossed my fingers, and figured that even if I didn't get in, it would be a great learning experience to even go through the application process.

And yesterday, at 4pm, I GOT IN! 500+ applicants, 50 selected to attend, myself included. I am blown away and so, so, SO honored to be part of a truly incredible group of educators (you can find about half of us so far on Twitter here).

I have plenty more to say, but I find myself kind of at a loss for words, so for now I'll leave you with my application video. Enjoy.

xoxo
Megan

The Final Countdown

Friends, exactly one week from this moment I will most likely be taking a nap after my first full day back at work. No students, but plenty of meetings and business to take care of before my classes arrive next Thursday. I spent today enjoying the sunshine and, yes, getting ready!

My three most notable accomplishments today:

1. I went to Big Lots, my favorite store for back-to-school prep, and bought a huge new (clean) carpet and more floor pillows for my independent reading corner and some composition notebooks. Lest you think these composition notebooks are not noteworthy, these were college-ruled composition notebooks for only 39 cents. I stocked up.

2. I discovered Corbett Harrison's website and have been knee-deep in incredible writing instruction all afternoon. I am so excited to adopt his Writer's Notebook format with my AVID class and finally, FINALLY, get them producing some quality written work. I bought the full set of his Writer's Notebook Bingo Cards, and my fingers are tingling I am so excited to use them! It doesn't help that I had an enormous iced coffee this afternoon, either.

From www.CorbettHarrison.com

3. I learned that students can upload videos directly to Google Docs and share the link with me without having to use a YouTube account. I technically already knew in theory that they could do this, but today I finally tried it myself to see how easy it was. This is a game changer, people! I wish I had known about this last year, it would have made my life 100x easier. Google is amazing.

Hope you are all getting a few last relaxing days (and for some of you lucky ducks, weeks) in before we head back to work. I know I'll be in my classroom at least twice this week, but I'm also planning to relax on the beach in Santa Cruz for a few days as well.

xoxo
Megan

Getting the Go-Ahead - Cell Phones in my Classroom!

This week I got the "OK" from my principal to officially pilot a limited "bring your own device" program in my classroom this year! I allowed students to use their smart phones in class last year if they had them, mostly to supplement my meager supply of 10 dictionaries, but now that I have explicit permission to run a pilot with the purpose of collecting data for the rest of the school, I'm excited to explore all the possibilities!

Incidentally, I led a session at MERIT earlier this summer on cell phone use in the classroom. Feel free to check out my presentation below and share your thoughts/ideas in the comments!

Juggling

If you didn't know, I am a teacher. A junior high English teacher, to be exact. I've wanted to be a teacher for as long as I remember and I love my job with a passion that surprises even me sometimes.

There is something about education that thrills me. I love that my job is different every single day. I love that I get to work with 100 kids in varying stages of awkwardness every single day. I love that my job challenges me and I honestly do love working in a broken system. I feel like I am doing good work, making a difference, being the change that I want to see in the world.

If you know me well enough, it should make sense to you that blogging about healthy living (like I used to) didn't really excite me. Education excites me. Educational technology excites me. Writing instruction excites me. Quinoa, while delicious and a wonderful source of complete protein, doesn't really excite me.

I've been trying to find a balance between trying to establish a web presence and a PLN within the educational sphere and staying in contact (and in synch) with the many wonderful people that I met in the two years I was a healthy living blogger. I tried having a separate teaching blog, but it was far too complicated to run two blogs, and then I just stopped blogging altogether.

I know I don't really need to explain my decision to switch my blogging focus from food and fitness to primarily education, but I still wanted to write about so I could process it myself. There are still a lot of non-educational things that I am interested in and will probably write about, but my goal is to use this blog first and foremost to reflect on my teaching practice and share new and interesting things that I am doing in my classroom or that other people are doing in their classrooms.

Do I still work out and eat healthfully? Yes. Will I still share recipes and healthy living tips occasionally? I certainly hope to! But I also intend to use this space to flesh out some of my ideas for transforming my classroom into a mobile technology workspace, teaching argumentative writing strategies to students as they move away from concrete thinking, and building a community of literary nerds.

My hope is that But First, Coffee will begin to reflect who I truly am more than Running Foodie ever did. I am not just protein smoothies and half marathons! My job is an enormous part of who I am, and I am excited to get to share that with you. I do hope you'll stick around and see what this space transforms into.

xoxo,
Megan