The Next Page Entry 38: iPads? Really?

iPad distribution day…

I gave out index cards [I now have controlling interest in the Dollar Tree simply based on my unlimited purchases of index cards.] 

I had them write their name on the card. 

Pretty straightforward.

And I called out seven names. 

And I asked them to stand up. 

And I didn’t say anything…kind of fun to have them puzzle over whether they were caught snacking during read aloud or cutting in the cafeteria line or slipping an overdue book under the library door. 

And then they started crossing their arms [Well, Beth Carson did. No surprise there. And no surprise that her name was chosen—I think she rigged my own deck of name cards—I don’t know how she would do it, or, not knowing my reason for calling names—why she would do it, but hey, that’s Beth! And that’s me…being paranoid.]

Anyway, I picked up the box of iPads and gave one to each of the students standing.

I gave them a handout with the following info: 

“You are the iPad team captains for the next week. You will receive a list of your team members in the next five minutes. In the meantime, come up with a list of ways you and your team might use the iPad for the purpose of learning or for creating something.”

After that five minutes, the new teams met for five more minutes of brainstorming other ways to use the iPad.

I can tell you this…we’re going to get a lot of footage of our field trip to Buy Mart.

The Next Page Entry 37: Message from unknown sender

Got this in my mailbox a day after my traffic cop performance in the parking lot.
I prefer to think it’s from a friend…

The Next PageYet Another Chat with Mrs. Nix

Mrs. Nix: So you’ve been busy.
Joanna Page: We’ve all been busy, right? Kind of comes with the job.
Mrs. Nix: Even after school.
Joanna Page: Yeah, I’ve met with a few kids about photography.
Mrs. Nix: In the parking lot.
Joanna Page: Oh, that.
Mrs. Nix: What got into you?
Joanna Page: I’d just seen one too many close calls and I just kind of snapped.
Mrs. Nix: Any way you could have handled it differently?
Joanna Page: You, and probably the parents, wouldn’t have appreciated my other ideas.
Mrs. Nix: Which were?
Joanna Page: Let’s just go with ‘more extreme’ and leave it at that.
Mrs. Nix: So, are you done with your little venture into law enforcement?
Joanna Page: Yes.
Mrs. Nix: So on to other things…how’s the instructional schedule going in your room?
Joanna Page: From my viewpoint, it’s going fine.
Mrs. Nix: What exactly is your viewpoint?
Joanna Page: I would think we are meeting instructional minute expectations.
Mrs. Nix: You would think?
Joanna Page: I don’t watch them too closely, but I feel there is plenty of learning and skill practice going on and throw in a little creative and divergent thinking.
Mrs. Nix: That all sounds nice, but is it fitting in with the Common Core?
Joanna Page: Well, I haven’t exactly checked it word-for-word, but I think there is a standard or two that applies.
Mrs. Nix: How about posting your daily learning targets?
Joanna Page: Not exactly every day.
Mrs. Nix: Hardly ever, from what I can see. Remember that term we talked about as a staff–‘laser-focused’?
Joanna Page: Okay, I guess I could use a little work on that…
Mrs. Nix: Do you even want to be at this school?
Joanna Page: Whoa! Where did that come from?
Mrs. Nix: Well…
Joanna Page: No need to answer that. But yes, I love my kids and so, yes, I want to be here.
Mrs. Nix: There seem to be more times than not that you seem to be paving your own way.
Joanna Page: Which means?
Mrs. Nix: You’re hardly following our routines.
Joanna Page: Routines…
Mrs. Nix: I have another meeting, but think about my concerns and check in with Mrs. O’ Brien to schedule a short meeting for tomorrow.
Joanna Page: It will have to be after school. We have a field trip to Safeway tomorrow.
Mrs. Nix: Safeway…
Joanna Page: Yep, a little ‘math and writing in the real world’ activity. You should come.
Mrs. Nix: Thanks, but I’ll stay where I belong.
Joanna Page: Okay…anything I can pick up for you at Safeway?

The Next Page Entry 36: Class Book #1

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Okay, so here we go. I don’t have as much time to write right now because I have a meeting with Mrs. Nix. I can just imagine what’s on her agenda. She still hasn’t mentioned the after-school parking lot ‘event’, so I’m guessing that will be a top item.

More important, yesterday, I gave the kids a journal prompt of:  “I want to live in a world where…”

The responses were classic, so good, in fact, that I launched us into our first ‘class book’. They’re now almost done with their individual pages–simple in design with just their single sentence and an accompaning illustration. 

They had a head start right then, but they were expected to work on it at home, as well. I gave them plenty of choices for illustration. Hand-drawn is always preferred, but they were welcome to create a collage of words and pictures from magazines and newspapers or take their own photos to be printed out.

Some of their responses:

• I want a world where…
• My sister doesn’t always get her way.
• I’m paid to play video games.
• School ends at lunch time.
• My mom and dad are back together.
• Kids could drive.
• My dog gets to sit at the dinner table.
• All books talk to me.
• Older brothers aren’t so bossy.

The Next Page Entry 35: 100 Words

I threw them a curve today.
Journal time: I asked for a 100-word piece. Exactly.
Yes, a little cruel, considering most of the time I’m pushing fluency–even wordiness–so they can see what they’re capable of.
But this time, a little constraint.
I gave them ten minutes of first draft writing.
I wanted a beginning, middle, and end.
I gave them a sample of my own.
I told them my strategy was to write first, then cut back later.
They could work with a partner, especially if they needed a second pair of eyes to simply count the words.

As happens so often, I end up throwing me a curve. Almost immediately came the questions about hyphenated words and whether ‘a lot’ is one or two words. And they needed more time. Of course, they would, Joanna! What are you thinking?

I gave them ten more minutes and told them ‘Give or take five words’ and that calmed things down. A major ‘duh’ moment for me…give the kids some leeway. Otherwise, word count supersedes writing quality.

So, my little 20-minute challenge? It turned out to be a full-blown [is that one or two words? ;->] on-and-off [enough with the hyphenations!] activity to day’s end. Why was I surprised?

Desired results?
Experience working with constraints.
‘Editing for brevity’ skills. [I told the kids my first draft was 119 words.]

My prompts:
“I was 50 words from finishing my novel and the phone rang…”
He/she had only seconds to send her plea for help…
As the clock ticked away, so did my hopes for the million dollar prize…

My sample for the kids: [Side note: A ‘tech-win’…Later in the day, they watched me compose and edit via the projector. It’s becoming a pivotal part of my ‘act’. What took me so long?]

As the clocked ticked away, so did my hopes for the $1,000,000. I strangled the phone as I thought through the question.
“Name one of the more popular of the fluffiest cat breeds.”
Siamese. No way. Sphinx. No, you dunderhead. That’s the exact opposite! Tabby. Not even a breed!
The ticking continued.
I looked at Buddy. Think ‘cat’, not ‘dog’! Then it hit me…Buddy came in once after a grooming. The lady had gone a little nuts with the blow dryer…”Persian! Mom said he looked like a Persian cat!”
“Is that your final answer?”
“PERSIAN!”
“YES!”

The Next Page Entry 34: iPads? Really?

So, there I was in the workroom a week ago and I noticed an unlabeled box on an upper shelf. The true teacher in me knows to snap up loose, unattended boxes for, well, you never know—math manipulatives, projects to bring home for review [and 90% of the time return, unreviewed], science supplies, lost-and-found-and-not-yet-catalogued-for-corner-dust-collecting, you name it.]

When I swiveled the box in my direction, there was unexpected resistance. And a label appeared on the other side: Mrs. Snyder–iPads. I pulled down the box, opened it, and eyed a stack of eight iPads. Interesting. And tempting. But I returned the box. I mean, you never know if someone else had laid claim to them. I jotted a checkmark in the lower corner.

A week later, I looked again. Checkmark in place. The box hadn’t moved. The unwritten ‘teacher statute-of-limitations’ had lapsed. It was time to give these babies a home. As tech-deficient as I am, even I checked for the power supplies. Yep. And home they came for a recharge. 

Thank you, Bobbi Snyder. I hope you’re enjoying retirement. 

The Next Page Entry 33: Cameras in the classroom update

As long as Beth and her trusty sidekick Sanjay are handling the tech end of things, I’m sure our photographers will continue to thrive.

Recent eye-openers by the kids:

1. I asked the kids to draw various geometrical shapes. Two kids [James and Jennifer] asked if they could go out and take photos of shapes they find on the playground. Not one to steal thunder, but wanting all the kids to try it, I had those two announce their idea to the class. Within minutes, Room 36 had scattered across turf and blacktop in search of ‘real-world geometry’. And, of course, Mrs. Nix witnessed it the kids laying siege. I’m just learning to shrug and live with possible future grilling.
2. Sanjay created a screensaver slide show of those photos that the kids see when my projector-connected laptop shifts into limbo. [my non-techie term for locked/inactive mode]. ‘Locked/inactive’…at times applicable to me about 2:30 most afternoons. Problem: School dismisses at 3:00. ;->
3. Creating ‘Postcards from Room 36′ entries for the school newsletter. Rather than—to quote Beth Carson—’a boring old paragraph’, we’ve submitted a travel log-themed layout of four captioned photos.

The Next Page Entry 32: A Chat with Ms. Page [Traffic cop aftermath]

Milo the Muse: So, Joanna, your little foray into community policing…

Joanna Page: Yeeesh, I guess I was a little…how does ‘impulsive’ sound?. But I’ve seen a few close calls where attention-scattered parents are ending phone conversations, checking on fastened seat belts, and doling out granola bars while rolling their battleships-on-wheels through the parking lot.

Milo the Muse: Are you sure you’re not exaggerating a bit?

Joanna Page: Okay, not battleships. Let’s go with armored cars. 

Milo the Muse: Have you gotten any flak for your spontaneous career change?

Joanna Page: Not especially. Well, one teacher accused me of grandstanding, but I think she was talking about me in general and some of the other stuff I’ve been doing. Yeah, but from her, I wouldn’t expect any different. Wonder of all wonders, I haven’t heard from Mrs. Nix. I’m thinking she’s just adding this to her burgeoning ‘J. Page’ file.

From the others, just a few non-committal ‘I heard about…’ comments. But you see, this is the point…over the years, we’ve talked about this issue off and on, but we always kick the can down the road. So, it wasn’t my intention, but maybe this will be enough to make that battle zone a little safer.

Milo the Muse: Battle zone…there you go again with the exaggeration. 

Joanna Page: Call it what you want. I would just as soon see cars banished entirely during that time, but that’ll never happen. God forbid people have to leave their cars and walk a little and yeah, I know, some have kids in car seats and all that, so I know I’m dreaming, but still…

Milo the Muse: You have a gleam in your eye…

Joanna Page: It just hit me–Too bad we’re a public school. Otherwise, we could auction off monthly passes for after-school pickup. Great fundraiser, I would think.

Milo the Muse: Go back to your classroom. You’re getting a little wonky.

The Next Page: Beth’s Journal–Ms. Page fritzes out

So, I could have written this on my own at home last night, but I just *had to* save it up for my classroom journal. 

***

Ms. Page went a little zooey yesterday after school.

I was coming out the front doors and there she was marching past me and straight to the office. 

When she came back out, she was putting on one of the yard duty’s yellow vests and she had a whistle hanging out of her mouth and she was heavy-duty glaring straight ahead.

She stepped right in front of a big blue SUV, turned and faced it with her hand held up, and blew her whistle.

Then she waved kids toward her. They were frozen. She told them to move along, that it was safe. I kind of think the kids would rather have stepped in front of the SUV than to disobey her, so across they went, including a couple of kids who didn’t even plan to cross.

This went on for ten straight minutes. 

One of the moms actually honked her horn at Ms. Page. I wanted to cover my eyes, but I just couldn’t. 

Ms. Page blew the whistle even louder and raised her arm even higher. I saw the mom cover her face and look downward.

Ms. Page yelled, “Put your phone down and pay attention!” at another parent. 

And I heard her saying something to herself about ‘not part of the solution…part of the problem’.

It was all over in about ten minutes.

When the last car pulled away…slowly!…the few remaining moms and dads walking their kids home applauded Ms. Page, who by that time looked a little bedraggled [one of our vocab words of the week!] and embarrassed on her way back to the office.

Best. Show. Ever.

The Next Page Entry 31: Good lady, that Mrs. Helm

Staff meeting. Interesting. I sat down and the two colleagues at the table found reason to move elsewhere. I kept my head down in the Austin Kleon book I was reading and busied myself by taking out my wheel book.

Then our librarian, Sally Helm, sat down by me. I didn’t expect her to be staying for the meeting, but figured she had some quick announcement for the staff. I pulled out my Joy of Cooking chocolate chip drop cookies [hold the extra tablespoon of flour, thank you very much] and, after pulling out a couple for Mr. Taylor, plopped them between us. I shot her a glance and a smile, then nodded toward the cookies. She dove in.

A few minutes later, we both eyed the last cookie. I nudged it toward her. She chuckled and, with her notebook, slid it back toward me. Kate Smalley leaned forward and hissed [that’s really the only word that fits here], “Would one of you two eat it?” I scooped up the cookie and napkin and underhanded it to her table.

Was happy Mrs. Nix hadn’t shown up yet. It would have been just like her to pull the ol’ “And Ms. Page, did you bring enough for everybody?’ line.

After the meeting ended, it hit me. Shirley was not on the meeting agenda, but there she still was.

“Did you sit here just for the cookies?” I asked her.

“I can’t think of a better reason,” she said.

But it hit me…when she sat by me, there was no hint of chocolate chip drop cookies.

A highlight of my day, that lady was.