Summer is near! Part 1 (Classroom)

Well, the end of the year is almost here, and do you know what that means? No, not sleeping in, it means reflections. I am breaking-up this post into separate posts because if I didn't, it would be a book! So this post I am going to reflect on myself as a classroom teacher.

At last year's Digital Learning Conference, I got to talk to Todd Nesloney (@TechNinjaTodd) and hear about his flipped classroom model. I had already been toying with the idea of flipping my classroom, and with a new curriculum, I figured, why not? I made videos and posted them on YouTube/DVDs and assigned them to my students. The level of student success was huge! It showed my students that they needed to prepare for class. The level of academic success wasn't as obvious unless you looked a little closer at the data. The students who did their "homework" were, on average, scoring 15 points higher than those who didn't. Now those 15 points may have still resulted in a failing grade, but it was still higher than those who didn't.

This year I also wanted to make a big deal about exposing my classes to a world outside of their community. I partnered with other teachers from around the world (Canada, Australia, Argentina, California, and Colorado), to local meteorologists, and finally even astronauts aboard the International Space Station. I think the impact of this experience may be hidden inside of them, but eventually the seed will sprout and they will realize that if they want to connect to someone, it's absolutely possible. I just want to stay on this topic for a second to reflect about ALL of the things that my students were able to see:

• Schools in Australia - opposite side of the world, opposite hemisphere
• Schools in Argentina - native Spanish speakers, opposite hemisphere
• Schools in Canada - a different climate than what they're used to.
• Schools in California and Colorado - still in the United States, but they're also different than here.
• Phil Bildner - one of their favorite authors, and then he visited their school!
• Chita Johnson - a local meteorologist who shared her job, and we shared our projects.
• Astronauts on the ISS - astronauts.... enough said!
• The Google offices in Austin - yes while I was out at a training at Google, I shared with my students what the offices looked like, and that I could check on them even from afar.

What a list! I think it's easy to say that I did all of this because, "I'm good with technology" but I think that would be missing the point. The point is that I enhanced the curriculum by showing my students what is possible. I got my students in touch with experts when it pertained to our current unit of study. I hope that those seeds have a long lasting effect on my students. I hope that when they get old enough to have their own social media accounts (yes I'm totally ignoring the fact that most of them probably already do), that they use it responsibly, and for good things.

Another thing my students were able to do this year was pilot Google Classroom/Google Apps For Education for our school district. We were the first classes to get into our GAFE accounts, and were the only elementary to do so. My students had to learn how to manipulate a brand new system, how to be patient, and how to share with others. In fact when I asked my students what their favorite activity was this year, they replied, unanimously, "Google Accounts!" There were actual tears, from fourth graders, when I told them that they couldn't use them for this last week of school.

I honestly feel like I have had a huge impact on my students. No it wasn't the greatest academic impact, and the reasons for that could be a whole other post, but it was pretty big in other ways. I'm not sure who said it, but "Students are more than a test score" and I am pretty sure that I have shown my students that this year.