Reflection

Why I Love Summer…

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

First off, I love summer because it gives me a chance to rest, recharge, and basically get caught up on everything that I couldn’t get done during the school year. Second, summer is all about relaxing…napping, sleeping in…going to bed because I want to and not because I have to get up at 5:30 AM. Third, summer is about family and enjoying the little things. I’m lucky in that I get to spend the summer far away from home at our second home in a quaint little town located on Lake Michigan.

This summer has been different than others in that it’s not necessarily all about relaxing…it’s also about research, and learning, and writing, and revising, and reading, and more research. I hope my family doesn’t feel sorry for me when I have to read studies, research articles, write, and then rewrite my drafts. Because I love it. I love learning…and I can’t complain about the view. If I’m not in the kitchen looking at the East Bay, I’m on the deck looking at the East Bay, on the porch at our “farmhouse” (I’m using that term VERY loosely) overlooking West Bay, or as I right now, looking into the woods behind the house. Sometimes if I’m lucky a beautiful bright red cardinal will keep me company.

I’m taking a break from researching, reading, and writing to enjoy this moment because I’m thankful for everything that I have. The road hasn’t been easy, but even when I’ve had to traverse the gravel or unpaved path, cross rickety bridges, or leap from rock to rock over a madly rushing stream, life has been good to me. And I love that I get to work with children for the better part of the year, and I love even more that I get to learn along side of peers in this doctoral program. There are only two more weeks before Residency…and there is still much to do, but I’m excited. I’m excited that I am surrounded by nature while pursuing one of my passions–learning. I’m excited that I have the drafts of two assignments already done with still one more week before they are due. I’m excited that my Year 1 paper is coming along nicely and I’m excited that I finished the draft for my poster session presentation at Residency. I’m excited about the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights tonight (yay!). But most all, I’m excited (and super thankful) that I have the summers off so that I can enjoy being a “full-time” doctoral student yet still have time for a good book and a nap (both of which I plan to enjoy after I publish this post).

I’m excited that I am surrounded by nature while pursuing one of my passions–learning. I’m excited that I have the drafts of two assignments already done with still one more week before they are due. I’m excited that my Year 1 paper is coming along nicely. I’m excited that I finished the draft for my poster session presentation at Residency. I’m excited about the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights tonight (yay!). But most all, I’m excited (and super thankful) that I have the summers off so that I can enjoy being a “full-time” doctoral student yet still have time for a good book and a nap (both of which I plan to enjoy after I publish this post).

Whether you have summers off or not, I hope you find time to enjoy the little things because it’s most certainly the little things that count.

Always Room for Improvement

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

As this semester comes to a close, I do what I normally do which is take time to reflect on how I can make the learning process for my students more engaging and meaningful. Though I like predictability and routine, it doesn’t work so well for me in the classroom since I teach the same thing all day long. So when it comes to a new semester with new students, this is when I like to shake things up a bit.

What I liked from this past semester:

  • Using Flipboard a public platform for sharing student work
  • Using Recap as another means to check for understanding while also helping students to practice speaking skills
  • Finding readable primary source materials for The Crusades and then having students turn those into #booksnaps

What I need to work on or change for next semester:

  • Put together a reading schedule for students to ensure that all of the required readings are covered earlier in the unit
  • Create more opportunities for writing
  • Give students more opportunities for mastery learning

Most of these changes will not require a lot of work, but rather revising or tweaking current instructional practices. Though I believe I offer many opportunities for student-centered learning, I could…I must…I will do better.

#bringiton

#30daysblogging Jumping in With Both Feet

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

I love it when a plan comes together. I recently discovered Recap (@RecapThat) and by recent I meant just this past Monday…when I was poking around on a friend’s blog (http://comeongetappy.com). Thanks Jody (@peerlessgreen)!

My first inclination was…What the heck?!?! How did I miss this? And the reasonable answer is…it’s easy. There are so many awesome tech tools that appear on a regular basis that it’s hard to keep up. But that’s why it’s so important to develop a Professional Learning Network (PLN). But that’s a topic for another time.

Back to Recap.

We all know the importance…the imperativeness (is that even a word?)…of using formative assessments to check for understanding. We also know that some students need individualized help.  Recap does just that. Teachers can create a short video or text-based question and push it out to the whole class or certain students. Students then record a clip of their answer.

Teachers can choose the maximum level for the clips (e.g., 15s, 30s, 60s, or two minutes). This is helpful for students who like to talk because it forces them to be concise. It’s also comforting for the shy students to know that they don’t have to talk for too long. The videos are private (between teacher and student), students can rerecord their video if they’d like, and leave comments if they want.

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The videos are slowly coming in. Some students are choosing to record at home because they don’t want an audience. Others jumped right in today. Some used a cardboard barrier so that their peers couldn’t see their faces. My quiet classes asked for background noise so I softly played music in the background. And then there were the students who showed no fear…they clicked the chat button and recorded right in front of their peers and were done in no time. It was a sight to behold. I would have taken pictures but I sensed a heightened level of tension and anxiety after students found out that they were recording a video instead of typing or writing their answers. So I cut them some slack. For now.

I was so excited about this whole thing that in-between 2nd and 3rd period, I walked over to my colleague who teaches our ELD content vocabulary classes. These classes are for EL learners who are newly arrived to America. I couldn’t help but share my excitement about this app because I saw HUGE potential in helping his EL learners with their speaking skills.

We have about 76% EL learners at my school…so Recap is going to most definitely support speaking skills. And it’s doing it in a way that is different and though I don’t have much experience with this app (yet), I’m a fan. A HUGE fan.

This is why I love technology. There’s no need to subscribe to the status quo when there are so many cool tools and strategies that can make learning fun for students and teachers.