Pay It Forward

The end of the year is so busy, isn’t it? There’s an event for everything, tests to take, graduation ceremonies and, oh yes, learning. One of them most important piece of advice I can offer as a veteran is to keep the students engaged in meaningful learning right until the end. Finishing strong eliminates idle children and we all know what happens when they are unengaged. My students would always try to complain about having to work in my class because they claimed they weren’t doing anything in any of their other classes. We all know that’s not true and they try to play us against one another. Being engaged in learning is critical and besides, they will have the whole summer off to play.  This “tuesdays” is a look at a great concept that can be used in any subject and can help your students think big!

A creative website

The concept of Pay It Forward is not new. In fact, a strand of it can be found as early as 317 BC in an ancient play called “The Grouch,” and then rediscovered and described by Ben Franklin as a way to do a lot of good with little money. Most recently, it has been popularized by the movie, “Pay It Forward,” based on Catherine Ryan Hyde’s novel of the same name. She created a system that embraces three good deeds for others in response to a good deed that one receives. These deeds are designed to be something that someone cannot do for themselves with the practice of paying if forward to three more. The ratio of 3:1 creates a potential social network that can really make a difference.  The Pay It Forward Foundation has a new president, Charley Johnson, who is super excited and effective in getting the word out about this privilege of impacting others. He began a system of Pay It Forward bracelets that you pass on to your “3” and they in turn pass them on to their “3”. In just a year, over 1 million bracelets have been distributed in over 100 countries. Pay It Forward has also been known as the spirit of the reciprocal, but no matter what it is called, the concept is one of the best engaging activities to share with students at the end of the year.

An image to share

Graphical representation of the impact of Pay It Forward drawn during on of my presentations to students. (by far the most creative!)

A proverb

“A life lived for others, is the only life worth living.” 

Albert Einstein

An encouragement

Giving students a sense of something bigger than themselves is a great way to wrap up the year. Many schools are challenging their students to become part of a global project and Pay It Forward is definitely a perfect match. I have been privilege to present a Pay It Forward model lesson to students from K to college. It’s an ageless, timeless lesson of impact and making a difference that can touch even the hearts of the hardest critics. In the lesson, I have a portion dedicated to having the student draw the pay it forward concept of 3 to 1 in just 10 minutes. The profound visualization of exponential impact is never the same just as no two people will have the same Pay It Forward experience. It would be my pleasure to come and do the presentation for your students if it were in driving distance. There would be no charge because it would be your privilege to then pass on something to three others. This is actually my favorite presentation ever and if time and distance isn’t working out, I would encourage you to ask for a CD with the presentation that you can personalize and present to your students. 

How do you do that?

There are many ways to begin a Pay It Forward Movement in your classroom.

1. Visit the Pay It Forward Foundation website for suggestions.
2. Schedule a Pay It Forward presentation for your classroom. It’s free as long as you promise to do three nice things for others and keep the movement going.
3. Ask for a CD with the Pay It Forward presentation that I have developed for students and be sure to send your snail mail address.
4. Download the Pay It Forward FREE app. It’s really pretty amazing and one of the most user-friendly apps I’ve seen.
5. Watch Charley Johnson’s TEDx Talks – Simplicity in a Complex World.
6. Challenge the students to come up with their own version of Pay It Forward and see what they come up with. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Thank you Charley Johnson for taking the Pay It Forward concept to a whole new level.

As always, I am

Ubiquitously yours,

K

Because they deserve it

Deserve? Deserve what? While planning an event at the school level that gave students the opportunity to show digital projects that they made throughout the school year I began to wonder and doubt if anyone else would be interested, or if anyone would come. I almost stopped the plans.  One of the teachers caught the vision and said, “We have to do this because they deserve to show off their projects!”  That was it.  The students deserve a greater audience.  The students will rise up and add excellence to their creations when they know they have a wider audience than just their teacher.  I stopped doubting and started planning for a great opportunity to give our students an audience that just loved their creative influence.  This “tuesdays” is dedicated to venues for showing student digital projects.

A creative website

I attended a great training for presentations and digital media a few years ago and I was profoundly touched by a format for giving presentations called Pecha Kucha. It is the Japanese word for chit-chat and was developed to give new, upcoming executives the chance to present their innovative ideas in a format that made sense.  The basic premise is that each speaker gets 20 slides that last 20 seconds long to make their point. (That’s a total of 6 min. 40 secs.)  The impact has been so great that Pecha Kucha Nights are popping up all over the world to give an opportunity to share ideas through presentations.  I am jazzed to bring this to the school level.  The planning and condensing of student’s focus and ideas would help hone their presentation skills and make them much more aware of a potentially wider audience. I would love to model this on the school level to see its effectiveness.  Anyone game?

An image to share

The human symbol for presentation (pander) from Wikimedia

A proverb

The audience only pays attention as long as you know where you are going.  ~Philip Crosby

An encouragement

Student digital projects always present the dilemma of “How do I grade all of these?” or “How can we possibly watch the whole class of projects without getting bored?” Using the Pecha Kucha method of presentation, each student knows ahead of time that they have 20 slides with 20 seconds each to make their point.  When it comes time to present, students are more attentive when they understand a beginning and an end with a time limit.  They become well-versed at valuable content, humor, and presentation style. They can easily pick out introduction, body and conclusion.  All their writing process steps are met through the planning and design process. I would really like to encourage you to investigate this Pecha Kucha method.  I would like to begin with teacher autobiographies for the first day of school.

How do you do that?

How can you give your students a wider audience that is rewarding and engaging for everyone?  There’s always a web presence, classroom presentations and gallery walks but nothing beats the opportunity to bring parents and family in to let the students show the things they’ve created.  I am most fond of an evening event that I designed called The Digital Share Fair. Students are invited to bring family and friends to an evening of open sharing in three formats: Gallery Walks (12), Hubs of Learning (6) and a Sandbox.  The students and parents have a passport that is stamped as they travel throughout the 19 venues.  Gallery Walks were student digital creation projected on SMARTBoards which can includes all curriculums, animation, business and more.  The Hubs of Learning are mini-lessons taught by students and the Sandbox was a fun area to “play” with SMARTBoards, iPads, tablets, FLIP cameras or other technologies available.  Showing students digital projects is so rewarding because they deserve to have that wider audience.

As always, I am

Ubiquitously yours,

K

Teacher Appreciation Day

National Teacher Appreciation Day is today! It’s so awesome that so many people appreciate just how important it is to be a teacher. How do you show appreciation?  How do your students show their appreciation?  One of the most powerful ways to be grateful is to tell that person just how grateful you are.  It may be in the form of a card, a gift, a special hug or an audio recording. “Adding a Voice” to presentations is a great skill to teach children. Equipped with headsets and big imaginations, they record their messages in audio or video format and demonstrate their understanding of a concept.  Why not consider having them create an audio recording of what they learned this year.  That would be one of the greatest appreciation gifts because you can hear in their own voices what kind of impact you have made.  Have a great week and make sure you spread the appreciation to your colleagues also. This is a special appreciation card I made for you at the Jacquie Lawson website.

                         

A creative website

Discovery Education is celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week. Edutopia is celebrating Teacher Appreciation Day. Reading Rockets has some great ideas on how to celebrate Teachers. I really like Edutopia’s You Tube Channel with a variety of videos created for Teacher Appreciation Week. My favorite so far is Taylor Mali’s “What Do Teachers Make?” During this Teacher Appreciation Week, please be sure to celebrate by encouraging your colleagues, paraprofessionals and administrators on your campus also. Teaching is an incredible profession and worthy to have a national day of recognition. I am also hosting daily blessings on the 16-9 Movement blog in honor of all the great things teachers do.

An image to share

Ms. Stauble, ESOL/LA teacher in Miami-Dade Public schools, with permission

A proverb

“I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” Lily Tomlin as “Edith Ann”

An encouragement

I recognize that none of us go into teaching for the recognition or the salary, but it does feel great when your students come back and tell you how much they appreciated you.  There’s really nothing like it.  Have you considered letting your students know how much you appreciated them this year.  In these last few weeks, we tend to forget the gains and the progress made, the relationships formed and the intense amount of time we spent with them. Why not frame your last days around appreciation for them?  Why not tell them what you would like them to remember this school year?  If we don’t remind them of all the good things that happened, there is little chance they will come up with it on their own.  If you have a special way of showing appreciation to your students, let us know what you do by posting a comment on my blog.

How do you do that?

How do you make an audio recording for your students?  Think about the power of putting a message to your students in your own voice.  Even if you took time in class to remind the student about all the good things you did as a class, they are so ready to bolt out the door that very little, if any, may be absorbed.  What if you wrote out a heartfelt script, then recorded your message on an mp3, Smartphone, in Audacity or GarageBand and saved it as an mp3 file? You could give the students access to a website where they could download the file to their computer or mp3 players (don’t worry, they will figure it out) and then they can listen to your closing message whenever, wherever and as many times as they choose.  It may sound selfish to remind them of why your class was so important this year, but isn’t that our job?  Isn’t that the whole reason we poured our heart and soul into everything we taught them this year?  How could we not remind them?  Don’t worry about a professional format.  So what if it has a few bloopers in it?  It’s a message from the heart that they may treasure for years.

As always, I am

Ubiquitously yours,

K

Remind 101

Texting is one of the greatest communication tools created. It’s so simple, less invasive and short and sweet. I must admit that until I got a smartphone, I avoided texting because I was unable to type fast enough and figure out what letters went with which keys. It just wasn't worth it to me. Then I would watch middle and high school students be mad typist on their phones and was frankly awed. One of our girls even did a complete essay using text messaging! Now that I text, I am sold on this valuable form of communication. In fact, this past week, I have had more educational applications of texting that I just knew that this “tuesdays” had to be a text-messaging highlight of some type.

A creative website

Probably the safest and simplest use of texting for teachers is Remind 101. This intuitive and brilliant form of texting is one way: from teacher to students and/or parents. Most teachers would never consider given out their phone number by texting their students (if they are smart) because if they reply to your text, you could have 150 text a day just from students. (Never mind the invasion of privacy.) Two brothers from Chicago, Brett and David Kopf, created Reminder 101 to meet the need of teachers to “remind” their students of important school related items because it was frankly what one of Brett’s teachers did when he was in college. Remind 101 is so simple that any teacher (with or without a smartphone) can set up an account and begin gentle reminders of the most important things about class. Teachers never see the student phone numbers nor do the students see the teacher’s number. Brilliant!

An image to share

Table Top Texting from S.O.S – Spotlight on Strategies

A proverb

“The poem is a form of texting... it's the original text. It's a perfecting of a feeling in language - it's a way of saying more with less, just as texting is.”

Carol Ann Duffy

An encouragement

If texting with students seems off limits, Remind 101 is totally different.  This is texting TO your students, not texting WITH your students. I would like to encourage you to create an account and try it out. If that is not a consideration, why don’t you experiment with this special “tuesdays” class I’ve created as a sandbox for you. On your cell phone in the text messaging area, put this number in the TO: area – 234-517-7601. In the message section, simply type this: @tuesdaysk. You will receive a text message that says something like this: Thanks! Mrs. Seddon needs to know who you are before adding you to the @tuesdaysk. Please reply with your full name. Once I get your text with your full name, you will be part of my class and will be set up to receive text messages from me. (No worries, I have no plans for sending out class reminders!) Go ahead, give it a try.

How do you do that?

How do get stared with Remind 101?

Step 1: Go to Remind 101 and create an account. It’s FREE!

Step 2: Watch this helpful video to get started.

Step 3: Create a class. A unique number will be created with a unique code.

Step 4: Share the phone number and unique code with your students and teachers.

Step 5: Students will send the first text to the unique code and Remind 101 with send them a request for their full name.

Step 6: As soon as they send in their name, they are enrolled in your class.

Step 7: Return to your account online and enter a message and click Send!

Be sure you check with your students and parents to see if they have unlimited texting before they sign up.

You can even schedule messages ahead of time and Remind 101 will take care of it for you.  Thanks Brett and David for this incredible service to teachers!

As always, I am

Ubiquitously yours,

K