The Break Up

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Dear Edu 776: Integrating Technology Into Programming, Services, and Instruction,

      This is not easy for me to say, so I'm just going to come out and say it.  It's over between us.  Our relationship has run its course.  Our Wednesday and Sunday dates have to come to an end.  And I'm not Castanza-ing you, but it really isn't you, it's me.

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      I think our relationship is like most other relationships.  At the beginning there is so much wide-eyed excitement and liveliness.  We spent tons of our free time together blogging on Blogger, discussing on Wiki, learning through Prezi, presenting on Creative Commons, sharing on Lino It, tweeting on Twitter, blabbering on Blabberize, storytelling on iMovie and much more.  I have learned so much from you, and for that, I'll always be grateful.

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     And like most couples, we've truly had our ups and downs.  A relationship takes a lot of work to be successful; we knew that coming in.  Did you keep me up at night? Yes. Did you stress me out at times? For certain. But was it worth it?  Without a doubt.  

     I have never been afraid of technology. I was one of two teachers at my school who first volunteered to  have a Smartboard in my class.  I run my class through Edmodo and have a class website.  Explain Everything allows my students to create instructional videos and take assessments that allow them to explain their thinking.  Kahoot is a great way to formatively assess my students, keeping them engaged.

    I thank you for challenging me and forcing me to not be complacent.  I can honestly say that you've opened my eyes to a digital world I didn't know exist. Sure I could have spent my weekends watching hours of football or basketball, but I was exercising my mind and becoming a better teacher for it.  I would love to see where this relationship go, but my wife says I have to stop typing now and change this kid's diaper.  

Riley Madison Mann

    Don't be sad.  You'll be fine.  Heck, I'm sure in no time at all you'll find someone else to spend your time with.  



Fare thee well,

Sonny

     
     

Digital Tattoo

Permanence 

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       My mom told me when I was younger that I couldn't get a tattoo because it is against my religion. While that was effective in getting me to not eat ham before I was 15, it is not the reason I have never gotten a tattoo. The question always was, "What is something I would want on my body FOREVER?" The forever part is always the factor that has prevented me from getting a tattoo.  

       Would barbed wire still look "cool"  to me when I was 70?  What if I put a girl's name on my body, and things didn't work out? At one point I thought about getting a Scooby Doo tattoo, as that would remind me of my happy childhood, but I personally think a cartoon tattoo looks a little silly on an older person.  The other tattoo ideas I seriously considered when I was in my young 20's were the team emblems for either the Bulls, Bears, or Sox, a Chicago flag, as well as a picture I drew when I lived in Hawaii that resembled someone sitting on the beach staring out into the ocean.

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       The older I get, the less I desire getting a tattoo.  If I were forced to get a tattoo (maybe a madman takes people hostage, and the only way he lets us go is if I got a tattoo), I think I would tattoo my wedding date and children's birth dates over my heart.

       Digital tattoos are a different story.  In short, it is your digital identity. "Just like a tattoo, your digital reputation is an expression of yourself. It is formed and added to by you and others over time. Your digital tattoo includes things like websites or blogs you’ve created, tweets, blog comments, your account or screen names and everything else you’ve left on the Internet from your online activities. Just like a real tattoo, a digital tattoo is easy to create but extremely difficult to remove. But it’s also unlike a tattoo in that it’s not always in your control, since other people have the ability to post information about you online.

There is nothing wrong with having a digital tattoo – digital tattoos are not bad or dangerous, and positive posts can actually work to enhance your reputation. Plus if there is anything negative about you, it helps to have some positive information to counterbalance it." (http://www.bpl.bc.ca/node/2874)

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       So while I have no real tattoos, I have hundreds or even thousands of digital tattoos.  Every tweet I tweet, blog I blog, picture of me in Facebook, and video I post on YouTube, is forever out there in the digital world.  My first thought to this is, "Thank god there was no social media when I was in high school or college."  While I worked my butt off, I definitely had my fair share of fun along the way.  Now with 2 kids, and one more almost here, most of the "fun" I have involves brushing Barbie's hair and getting jumped on.

        As a teacher, I feel that there is a lot more scrutiny of your digital tattoo.  With students, parents and administrators, able to see what you post online, teachers need to be a bit more selective of their identity.  I have had both parents and students request to be my Facebook friend.  This is always a bit awkward.  For students, I always tell them that I will accept their friend requests when they turn 18.  As of now, only one student has remembered and asked me to be their friend.  For parents however, it puts me in the predicament of do I accept their request and allow them full access, or do I deny their request and make them feel neglected.  To be honest, I have never denied a parents request.

      Knowing that students, parents, and administrators can access my tweets and Facebook posts/pictures, I just make sure that my digital tattoo projects my image in a positive way.  While I would say that 99% of the photos I take would never be deemed inappropriate, there is an occasional one of me from high school or college, that I would probably rather not have my students, their parents, and administrators see.  To solve this problem, I just "untag" my name from the picture so my name and account are no longer attached to the picture.  My wife uses this feature when someone posts a picture of her that she does not find very flattering (which happens very rarely).

       As an educator and a parent, I feel there is a responsibility I have to educate my students and children about the permanence of what they put online.  They need to understand that once it is out there, it will stay out there forever.  Your digital tattoo is an opportunity to share your thoughts, feelings, and pictures with friends and family, but also to complete strangers, so they need to be selective of just how much they share.  Additionally, I will let them know that future colleges and employers are now looking at a candidate's participation in social media.  What will your digital tattoos say about you?

PIKTOCHART INFOGRAPHIC

 PIKTOCHART INFOGRAPHIC

When I first saw an Infographic, I immediately thought it would be great for my math class.  The illustrations reminded me of a book I love using with my class called The Book of Perfectly Perilous Math: 24 Death-Defying Challenges for Young Mathematicians, by Sean Connolly (not James Bond).

The book has a series of stories that requires you to solve a problem to save the day.  I love how it incorporates reading into math problems.  With this in mind, I decided to create a little story involving money for my Infographic using the web tool Piktochart.  I chose the format "The Startup Way" because it could function as a timeline for my story.

I found it to be not very problematic creating a Piktochart.  I was a big fan of how easy it was to search for images/graphics and add text.  I believe that students would be able to figure out how to use this Web 2.0 tool after a bit of exposure and practice.

Next for me was writing the story.  I decided upon creating a word problem involving money.  The protagonist would go through the timeline both making and spending money, and the reader had to keep track of the balance.  To add to the difficulty level, I included events where students would have find fractions and percents of whole numbers.  At the very end, the reader would have to know how much money the protagonist has.  

BLABBERIZE

BLABBERIZE

Does this picture look familiar?  If it does, then you must have read my last blog where I created a Wordle.  I decided to make a Wordle that would list all the prime numbers under 100.  I was pleased with my creation, but wondered how I could enhance it even more.

Enter Blabberize!!! "Blabberize is a photo editing tool that creates talking animations from a photo or other image. Browse the ready-made blabbers or create."(www.teachersfirst.com)

Ok, I'll be honest, one of my colleagues told me that this web tool was one of the easier ones to understand and did not take that long to create your own.

When I researched the web tool, I quickly saw the appeal.  It is doesn't take long to do, is easy to create.

Step 1: Pick an image to import

Step 2: Make a mouth that moves and place it where you'd like on the image

Step 3: Add audio

As always, I was looking for creating something that was practical, and since I had already created a Wordle on Prime Numbers, I decided I would add audio to go along with it, so now students weren't only exposed to the visual, they had access to audio, which provided them with a definition of prime numbers, composite numbers, and how the number 1 is neither prime nor composite.  The fact that the message is coming from a "talking" elephant only adds to the engagement level.  This an easy-to use web tool that teachers and students should be able to create with little difficulty.

WORD CLOUD with WORDLE

WORDLE

A Wordle I created on Prime Numbers 2-97

     I was excited to try my first Wordle. "Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to your own desktop to use as you wish." (www.wordle.com)

     My first thought was to create a Wordle that centralized Howard Gardener's Multiple Intelligences.  I always like to talk about this at the beginning of the year.  I tell my students that why I feel really strongly about some of my intelligences, there are definitely areas of weakness.  I then ask them to reflect on their own selves and try to identify areas of strength and weakness.

     I wanted my Wordle to have "I Have Skills" in the largest font.  From there, I wanted to include a plethora of action verbs that illustrated how we all have skills, even if it's not always linguistic or mathematical.  When I hit "Go" I was surprised how hard it was to get I Have Skills to line up horizontally.  Another surprise, was how little space all of the text I copied and pasted actually took up. It was tiny!  Dissatisfied, I was determined to start again.

    Being a math teacher, I wanted my Wordle to be not only math related, but something that was useful as well.  I thought about what math concepts would work well with Wordle and finally decided on "Prime Numbers". I decided to copy and paste "Prime Numbers" a ridiculous amount of times so it showed up largest.  From there, I did the smallest prime numbers the next amount (3,5,7,11,13,17,19...) The larger the prime number, the less I copy and pasted (71,73,79...)

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   After hitting "Go" and changing the Format a few times, I finally settled on Wordle that you see at the top of this screen.  I was satisfied with the size of "Prime Numbers" as well as all of the examples from 2-97.  I'm happy that I have created a Wordle that is aesthetically pleasing and informational at the same time.  This Web 2.0 Tool is very user friendly, so students should have no problem creating their own. Now, if only there was a way to add audio to it...(tune in next time for Blabberize).

DIGITAL STORYTELLING

Digital Storytelling

"Dolce Vita"

      When I was assigned to create a digital story for my Integrating Technology class, I at first was very excited.  I have always loved creative writing, yet find that with a teaching career and two young children, I rarely have time for anything creative, with the exception of how to get my children to put their clothes on in less than an hour or to stop fighting over the same toy.

     My first thought for a digital story was "Saturday".  It would start with me waking up, brushing my teeth, making my kids breakfast, and then going to play basketball.  I must admit, I did get teased by my friends when I asked one of them to record me for a movie I was making.  While I'm proud to say there were a few personal highlights recorded, I started to realize it was going to take a really long time to edit this digital story.  Unfortunately, time is not something I had a lot of.

Guess who made the game winner!

     I started brainstorming again.  Maybe I would write an ode to my lovely wife Jen.  Certainly I had enough pictures of her, and it never hurts to put your wife on a pedestal.  Since I already wrote her a song for our wedding and many notes of affection, I decided to go a different route. (Side note: It's amusing how few pictures my wife and I have been in the last 5 years, and of those, 95% are with our kids).

She's stealing my pose!

     My next thought was I would make a digital story about my son Trevor.  I was thinking that I would talk about what it's like to have a son who dressed up as Elsa for Halloween last year, loves playing with Barbies, and whose favorite show is "Sofia the First".  My message would be one that preaches loving your child unconditionally and allowing them to be who they are, no matter what others think. In the end, I decided against it, predominantly because I knew my 2 year old daughter Olivia would flip out that I didn't make a movie about her.

The Mann kids

     Moving forward, I considered a digital story about my dad who passed away 5 years ago.  I was thinking about reading the eulogy I wrote, as the basis of the story with a montage of pictures.  When I read the eulogy again, I realized that I didn't have enough pictures that would match with what I wrote about.

     After all this time spent brainstorming, I had nothing to show for it.  With the deadline quickly approaching, I needed to decide on something.  While doing some organizing in our house, I came across a story I had written while living in Hawaii.  It was called "Dolce Vita" which means the sweet life in Italian.

     It was story about a simple fisherman named Willy, who loved his simple life.  He would board his little ship, the Dolce Vita, every morning and see the most beautiful sunrises.  After returning to the market and selling fish tacos, he would play music with his friends, go home and dance with his kids, and then enjoy a romantic evening with his wife.

     One day a rich man comes to Willy's stand and is delighted by the wonderful taste of the tacos.  He proceeds to tell Willy that if he works longer hours, buys more boats, and focuses on making bags full of money, he would be able to retire to somewhere beautiful in 30 years, and spend quality time with his friends and family.  The story ended with Willy laughing to himself, because he was already living this sweet life.

     I find it funny that I wrote this as a wifeless, childless, 22-year-old.  Even back then, I knew that I would never define my personal success by what job I had, or how much money I had in my bank account.  I guess I have always understood that it is the people who you love and who love you back that make you rich.

     Reading this story for the first time in a decade put a huge smile on my face.  While I'm not living on a beautiful island, I do have a job I love, a group of amazing friends who keep me young at heart, and a family that makes that heart of mine grow bigger and bigger.  It reaffirmed that I do in fact have a Dolce Vita.

     After combining pictures of Hawaii I have taken over the years with some images artists have drawn, I had the visual component of my story covered.  Next came the sound track, which I wanted to feel "islandy", which is why I went with Bob Marley and Jack Johnson.  After adding narration, my digital story was complete.  If you have the time, I hope you get the chance to listen and watch it, and may you too have a sweet life.

Tweet Tweet

Tweet Tweet

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Click to View My Twitter Page

Getting Started

To be completely honest, my least favorite part of Facebook for years, was the postings.  It seemed odd to me that people would share so much, from the mundane, “Today went grocery shopping”, to the extremely intimate, “Got cancer again”, to the over-opinionated, “Don’t get your children vaccinated or your they will die,” posted right above, “Get your children vaccinated or they will die.”

When I heard there was an app, Twitter, that was only the posts part of Facebook, I thought, “There’s one app I’m sure to use…never.”  A few years ago, the tech specialist at our school made a big push to set-up Twitter accounts. Not being one to say no to people who have always said yes to me, I set up my account…and then literally posted nothing…ever.  

It wasn’t until I was assigned to introduce myself to the Twitterverse in my Integrating Technology graduate class, that I really started seeing Twitter as a resource for teachers.  After participating in an ICE Chat, I realized that there were teachers not only talking about their effective teaching strategies, but also sharing their resources.  Videos, articles, quotes, projects and printables were all available on Twitter. 

First up, ollow 20 people/organizations that are involved with education.  The first few were easy.  Friends of mine who are educators, the tech specialists in our district, and a few Professional Learning Networks like ICE and Edmodo.  The rest came via searching with #’s (#math or #5thgrade).  Even after all of this, I still found I needed a handful more to follow.  This would become much more manageable after I participated in my first twitter chat through ICE’s Personal Learning online discussion called an "Ice Chat". 

The Chat

I was a little nervous going into it.  How would I know if people saw my responses? What if my responses suggested I had no clue what I was talking about? Would I remember to tag #edu776nz?  

When the chat began, I felt like things were happening at blazing speeds.  By the time I read a tweet and hit “Live” there were 5 more tweets that I had to read.  I wanted to contribute to the conversation, so I decided I would answer the first of eight questions chatters were responding to.  I quickly learned I had to paraphrase as best as possible to be able to get my message across.  It made me wonder if in general I talk too much. Probably.

By the end of the chat I felt like my neurons were firing.  The questions posed led to introspective thinking of best practices.  This metacognition I feel leads to some of my best personal development.  The chat also proved useful in finding other people to follow.  I was able to recognize that there were some members of the chat who had experience executing personalized learning and could provide insight on how to achieve it.  I also found that if there is a person you follow who you find resourceful, chances are they follow people who also are resourceful too.

To view opportunities for upcoming ICE Chats click here.

New Resource:

PracTutor

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Do you know Hardik Parikh? Neither did I until he started following me on twitter.  Turns out that he co-founded a tool called PracTutor.  PracTutor is a program that customizes learning for each student based on individual skills and empowers them to master every concept of the Common Core Standards in grades 1 through 8.  They claim, “All kids - whether they need intervention, accelerated learning or career and college readiness, can achieve their goals.”  While I can’t say that I have used the program, I do like the concept behind it, and like how it addresses personalized learning.  While I wouldn’t use this as my only curriculum, I think it would be beneficial to supplement with this tool and use it as a Tier II intervention you could progress monitor with.  Another bonus is that the format mirrors PARCC questions so students could get exposure and practice to the types of questions they will see on their state assessments.

Program Components
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Click here to watch a tutorial on PracTutor

Not only does Practutor seem like a useful program, I also appreciate how they tweet articles and videos that are thought provoking and very relevant to the teaching profession.

Stages of Technology Integration

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     In the 1980's, Apple did a study on classroom teachers. "State of the Art" computers were given to volunteer teachers who were intentionally given little instruction, on the condition that they keep journals of their experience.  If a teacher was selected, their classroom received computers.  In addition, both students and teachers received computers for home use.  What were they hoping to find?  I'm not sure if even they knew.  I believe they just wanted to see how the technology would be used. What did they find based off of the teachers' journal entries? There were 5 stages teachers went through.

Stage 1: Entry

     I would describe this as the Anti-Technology stage.  People in this stage most likely don't have the technology, don't know how to use the technology, and as a result, don't like the technology.  It is of my personal belief that if the teachers understood the technology better, they wouldn't be as opposed to it.

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Stage 2: Adoption

      This stage is less Anti-Technology as it is not knowing technology.  Like Stage 1, Adoption doesn't use technology, but it is more due to a lack of knowledge rather than a negative viewpoint.

Stage 3: Adaption

      Now we're taking baby steps. We are seeing our first traces of technology, which most likely comes in the form of typing a document using a word processor.  Students are probably learning how to type, use grammar/spell check, save and print.  The Apple study described this phase as slow going and frustrating.

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Stage 4: Appropriation

     We're moving in the right direction! During Appropriation, the teacher has had the wool over their eyes removed and now see how much technology has to offer.  They start playing around with it and start to feel good about themselves.  Not only are they open to adding technology into their classroom, they now want their lesson and assessments to be embedded with technology.  While Apple obviously views this as a good thing, they noticed that teachers in this stage might go overboard and use technology just for the sake of using technology.

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Look at all these possibilities!!!

Stage 5: Innovation

      After spending time in Stage 4, you are now ready to move on to Innovation!  Teachers in this stage have been exposed to many different examples of technology and can be more selective in which technology works best for them and their curriculum.  They realize that not one technology tool works for everybody, and in some instances, students might feel better demonstrating knowledge without the use of technology.

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     Now that we have the 5 Stage of Technology Integration described, I need to figure out which stage I'm in.  It was very clear that I was well beyond the first 3 stages.  There were many things in Stage 4 that reminds me of myself.  Jerri G and I were the first (and maybe only) two volunteers to get a classroom Smart Board out of all the teachers at our school.  While I didn't know very much about interactive white boards at the time, I knew that it would make my life easier (typing/projecting notes vs using the messy overhead) and that it would engage students.  When I started using Open Education Resources (OERs) from LearnZillion, Khan Academy, Smart Exchange, and YouTube, my collection of resources went from a single textbook to a global collection gathered from experienced and innovative teachers.

     The other trait of Stage 4: Appropriation that I saw in myself was the "excess" or an eagerness to use as much technology as possible.   The good thing about this is that it exposed me to a wealth of technology resources, but perhaps it was too much.  Instead of really delving into just a few resources, I was scratching the surface of many, without realizing their full potential.  There were a few tools I would show my students, we would play around with it for a day or two, and then move on.  

    One major question I have is if it is possible to leapfrog Stage 4 and go right to Stage 5.  At first, I almost felt defensive when Stage 4 was described as the stage of "excess", but in my opinion, I think Stage 4 is a necessary step to get to Stage 5.  If the teacher doesn't have a strong desire to play around and use a wealth of technology, they will never be exposed to the many wonderful tools it has to offer.  How can you help your kids problem solve/ trouble shoot if you've never had to do it yourself? How can you become selective in your technology choices if you haven't thrown yourself out there and immersed yourself in technology?

MY STAGE: 4.5

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I hate to make it a .5, but I feel I'm not quite firmly planted in either.  While I still love exploring all the new things out there, I do believe I'm no longer using technology just to use technology.  The technology embedded in my classroom allows my students to access all my notes and instructional videos, provides me with immediate formative assessments, and allows my students choice when demonstrating knowledge, as well as authentic audiences for their work.  I'm not sure I will ever by completely in Stage 5, because there is always new technology I am seeking out.  Sometimes this makes it hard for me to hyper focus on one or two, but at least it exposes to me to all the wonderful things out there.

Greetings and Salutations!

   
 Let me introduce myself.  My name is Harrison Mann, but everyone calls me Sonny.  "Why?" you might ask.  Maybe because my parents realized everyone would call me Harry Mann, which inevitably starting happening in middle school.

Call me Batman, not Harry Mann

  Did you know what you wanted to be when you were younger? I sure did; I was going to be an NBA basketball player and make millions.  When I stopped growing, I soon realized that my dream was not going to become a reality, so I attended the University of Wisconsin to find another career path.

  After 4 years and a diploma, I still had no clue what kind of career I wanted.  If there is one place to be if you are unaware of your future, I strongly recommend Hawaii.  After spending a year hiking, swimming (surfing didn't pan out), reading and soul searching on the four main islands of the 50th state amended, I realized that I wanted to become a teacher.  It was a job I knew would challenge me, allow me to use my creativity, and most importantly help other people.  Sadly, I left Hawaii, but I had a new purpose in my life and attended National-Louis in Chicago to get my teaching degree and Masters.

  Picture your dream work scenario.  While most are not lucky enough to obtain that dream, I'm elated to tell you I have.  I got a job teaching 5th grade (my wish), took on a role coaching basketball (my passion), and quickly became the school's Speech and Drama coordinator.  Interesting fact: I use to act when I was younger and was in a commercial with Michael Jordan.

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   This is now my 10th year teaching and a few milestones have occurred along the way. I married my best friend Jen. We have an intelligent, kind, and loud son Trevor (5 years old), a beautiful and bossy daughter Olivia (2.5 years old), and coming in December we will meet our third child (gender and name unknown).

   As for my interests and hobbies, traveling has to be up there.  This past summer I was hiking up in the mountains of Estes Park, dancing in the streets of Austin, golfing the links of Lake Geneva, and swimming in Florida's gulf.  You can be sure to find a good book in my backpack, a soundtrack on my iPhone, and a smile on my face.

   Back to teaching. As mentioned before, I am in my tenth year of teaching.  The first eight years, I taught reading, writing, language arts, and math.  After the curriculum changes from Common Core, I asked my principal if I could spend a year just focusing on math, and luckily he agreed.  Last year was amazing for me!

   I fully immersed myself into math, attended a wealth of professional development, and read an article, "Why Do Americans Stink at Math?" in the New York Times, that greatly changed not only what I taught, but more importantly how I taught.  A few of the big changes I made were:

1) Instead of a "Me, Y'all, You" approach to problem solving I switched to a "You, Y'all, We" approach.  This means that instead of me showing students one way to solve a problem (Me), then have them try my method on a problem with a partner (Y'all), and finally by themselves (You), I switched to keeping my mouth shut and letting students solve a problem completely on their own (You), then compare answers and strategies with their peers (Y'all), and finally discuss the problem and variety of strategies used as a whole class (We).  This exposed students to other students' thinking, caused them to defend and support their answers, and exposed them to how there are many different ways to solve one problem.  It allowed me to do less lecturing, more facilitating, and a lot more learning.

2) I attended an ICE Conference (ICE Conferences) last year, and one of the seminars I attended was about authentic audiences.  The speaker discussed many different ways to expand our class outside of the classroom.  As a result, I created a website to display students' work, assigned projects on Explain Everything that were converted to YouTube instructional videos, and this year will be starting a shared math blog with other 5th grade students in a neighboring town.  I truly believe when students know that someone besides their teacher will be viewing their work, their engagement and effort greatly increase.

    Time to wrap it up.  I love my job.  I love my friends.  I love my family.  With a name like "Sonny", it would be wrong to not have a sunny disposition on life.  I'm having more fun than ever, while being more efficient than ever.  In other words, life is good.  Feel free to comment or reach out to me.  Thanks and have a beautiful day!