J.P. Prezzavento - The Bits and Bytes of Education:

Yesterday I went to see a new doctor about a stress fracture I got while training for the Go! St. Louis Half Marathon.  I am proud to say that while my time wasn't record breaking by any means, I accomplished a goal that I had set for myself several years ago, to run a half marathon before turning 30.  This doctor wanted to get another x-ray of my leg, so I followed the technician down a long hallway to the x-ray room.  While we walked, well, she walked and I crutched, the technician made small talk.  As we were entering the x-ray room, she complimented me on my watch, noticed my shirt and tie, and said, "you must work in business, huh."  It was more of a statement than a question.  She was more than a little surprised to learn that I am actually not a businessman or investment banker but a high school English teacher. After seeing the surprise on the technician's face I felt the need to explain why I dress the way I do for my job as a high school English...

Cale Birk, @birklearns recently posted a blog titled "My 10 Picture Tour" in which he encouraged members of his PLN take 10 pictures of their school to help others get a good idea of what their school situation is like. Enjoy the view of Seckman High School ! This is my workspace, complete with a second-hand chair from my sister-in-law, never-ending clutter, my morning juice (just because I skipped the Sugar Free Red Bull today), and pictures from students. This is the main hallway that lead to the academic wings from our lobby.  In between classes it is filled with about 1,850 students.  This is where I do my daily duty.   One of the walls of our lobby.  The shoes represent student donations to the JDRF .  Every morning students are reminded to roar down the Jaguar PATH. Students at Seckman begin their days in the cafeteria, waiting for the first bell to release them into the hallways.  Our cafeteria is decorated with banners donated by ...

What resources do you use while planning lessons?  Do you consult your Twitter feed?  Ask members of your digital or face-to-face PLN what works and what doesn't work?  What about your students?  How often do you ask them for input on instruction?  If your answer is "not often" or "not at all" I recommend that you start asking them now.  Student voice and choice is the missing piece of the academic puzzle.  Our students are starving to give us feedback on our lessons and how those lessons can better suit their needs.  All we have to do is give them a time and place to share those thoughts. I recently finished my freshmen research project.  For the first time, I decided to include a technology element to the project.  I had the students create a Glogster instead of a poster or PowerPoint presentation to share their findings.  Throughout the project I was constantly reflecting and thinking about how I will be able to improve the exp...

Trying a new lesson, new teaching method, or integrating a new piece of technology can be stressful. Thanks to my Twitter feed , I discovered GlogsterEDU earlier this year.    A Glog is an online multimedia poster.  This post is going to reflect on my first experience using Glogster.  There were a lot of positive aspects of this project for both my students and for me, but there were also a few road bumps that made caused a little frustration. Planning the Project If you are unfamiliar with my blog, I am relatively new to the world of educational technology.  Up until this school year, I was hesitant to incorporate much technology into my lesson plans.  After discovering the power of Twitter over the summer, I began incorporating technology whenever I could justify it.  One place I was sure I wanted to incorporate some sort of technology was my research unit.  Typically, I have students use the internet, library books, and online databases to...

After talking with a colleague recently at lunch and looking through my Twitter feed for the last six months or so, I started to wonder why more teachers don't supplement their daily lessons with technology.  I have found and implemented a number of new resources to help my students, and I'm surprised that more teachers haven't joined me yet.  Throughout our conversation and during my 45 minutes on the treadmill that afternoon I came up with a few reasons why teachers stray away from the integration of technology and possible solutions to get our colleagues on board with technology.  1.  Teacher Apathy I despise the thought that this is a viable reason for avoiding technology, but let's face it, some educators have been in the profession for that magic number of years that makes them believe that they have found the perfect way of educating each student.  Their perfect way happens to be lecturing for 40 minutes each day, but that's neither here nor there....

Before this school year started, a colleague I respect asked me to attend a training session with him for a new grade book program our district was going to roll out.  Little did I know that my quick response was going to trigger a metamorphosis in me. Before I go any further, let me provide you with a little background:  I have been a professional educator for the last seven years.  For the last six years I have taught freshmen and sophomore language arts.  I have always thought of myself as an educator who was able to get the job done with students, but I was light years behind most of my more experienced colleagues. Fast forward to the grade book training:  After two days of training provided by the school district, we were on our own to answer teacher, student, parent and administration questions about this new program.  While I never considered myself a building leader of any kind, I was quickly thrust into a leadership position in re...

The popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, coupled with high-tech video games and 21 st century entertainment for our students outside of school is necessitating a change in the way we as educators prepare and present information to our students.  Gone are the days where we can get away with 50 minutes of lecturing.  Our students are watching engaging Youtube videos and reading Facebook statuses to get their information instead of reading magazines and waiting for their favorite shows to come on TV.  Today’s students want their classroom experience to be as engaging as their lives outside of school.  The only problem is that most of us did not grow up in the same technological age as our students.  Integrating technology into your daily plans can be a very daunting task for an educator who is not familiar with Web 2.0 tools.  Here are 5 tips that will help you start using technology in your classes.  1- Get comf...