#there's also a slenderman video essay i have saved

[daydreamdoodles]

I need a good video essay on a decent analog horror while I make my soup

[brettanomycroft]

Help Triangle Mom Rule the Classroom!

Or, you know, the world. Whichever works.

As many of you guys know, I’ve been teaching middle and high school for the past 5 years. For three of those years, I’ve worked to build a triangle cult teaching English/Language Arts to 8th graders at a middle school with over 1100 kids (we’re the largest school in the district, and they keep cutting our teacher units!) and 76% free and reduced lunch (Title I. Don’t ask about the other 9 Titles. Seriously.).

This year, they’ve decided to move me from my long-time portable into the building like a real person, and this new-to-me room contains 18 computers that I’ve been lead to believe might work. However, I’m looking to make my classroom 1:1 this year, and with classes of upwards to 26 students (and accounting for inevitable tech issues) I am hoping to get more tech! I’ve set up a Donors Choose project, and am requesting support to purchase 10 inexpensive laptops so that my students can create digital portfolios, practice writing and typing skills, and learn how to responsibly navigate the murky depths of the interwebs. I went back and forth about reaching out to tumblr to support my IRL goals, but ultimately decided that this audience of giving, socially-aware people from all over was too important to overlook. 

Click here to go to my Donors Choose page! From now until June 21st, if you make a donation, you can type in LIFTOFF, and DonorsChoose will match your donation up to $50. 

Any and all support in funding my classroom is immensely appreciated - even if it’s a single dollar or a reblog! If giving is not an option right now, I would love if you could please spread the word <3

Donors Choose gave me a hard word limit, so here are some more details below the cut!

Why computers? Don’t you teach English? Like books and stuff?

Yes, which is why having access to technology is so important! Nowadays, English/Language Arts doesn’t just cover reading novels and teaching vocabulary - we’re out to teach our students how to read, analyze, and create all kinds of content, from novels, to blogs, to infographics, to podcasts and (yes) even tweets. With more access to technology, my kids will be able to engage and be challenged think critically about information and media on the internet. 

Additionally, our 8th grade Standardized Testing is all computer based (for better or for worse), but if kids don’t work with computers in the classroom, they end up going into the test facing a completely unrelated set of challenges: they have to work all of the tools and tricks of using the computer and typing in long responses (and no, we don’t have a typing curriculum) as well as taking the actual reading and writing test. 

Finally, with ever-increasing budget cuts (here’s looking to you, Slenderman Rick Scott), teacher access to print-based materials like student novels, text sets, and general copies and supplies, is becoming even more limited if teachers don’t pay for them out of their own pockets. By switching to computers, students can have 24/7 access to the paperless materials they need, saving time, money, and the environment.

Wait, you said you already have computers. And you want more?

Yup. This year, the room I’m moving into has 18 desktop computers. Thing is, the teacher who was in there before me... didn’t really monitor their kids to make sure the computers weren’t getting busted up. And tbh, our school-based tech guy is not always able to help in a quick and efficient manner. With 10 additional computers, I can make sure that each student can have access to a computer at any given time, even if one (or four) decide to act up.

Can’t kids just use their phones?

Yes, and no. This year, I let my students use their phones to supplement when the computer were all occupied... to mixed success. More often than not, I’d run out of computers, and end up with students who wanted to use the computers to complete their work, but didn’t have a phone or mobile data. That time ended up getting used pretty unproductively. I also have a number of students who don’t have consistent access to a computer/the internet at home. I have, and will continue, to provide paper-based alternatives, but they really want to use the technology, and I really want them to learn how to use it efficiently and responsibly.

What sort of things will they use the computers for?

Oh man, so many things. I am hoping to organize most of my lessons and assignments through OneNote. My classroom is a Personalized Learning classroom, meaning that I design a wide array of assignments and learning opportunities to meet my students learning styles, interests, and needs. For example, for one standard or skill, I’ll provide written notes with an accompanying lecture for students who learning aurally or through note-taking, find a video on the same skill for my aural/visual learners, and then provide an interactive tutorial for my kinesthetic learners. I’ll also take a single text and provide variations of it for different reading levels, and create options for alternate assignments. I do this for almost every unit, and being able to quickly stick these assignments and options in a digital binder for my students will be way more efficient for them, and me. I played around with this in some of my classes at the end of the year, and it worked out pretty dang well. 

Typing essays. Simple, I know, but most students don’t get a lot of practice typing on a physical keyboard. Still, at the end of the year, they’re expected to plan and type a 5+ paragraph text-based essay on the computer in about 2 hours. For students who don’t have experience typing and therefore type very slowly, they have to spend more time pecking at the keyboard than organizing their ideas. Seriously, I have students who hit the CAPS LOCK button every time they want to capitalize a word. But by having computer access and typing expectations from the start, all they’ll have to worrk about on test day is the test itself.

Creating a digital portfolio of essays, powerpoints, videos,  and other digital, multi-media content. Reading isn’t just reading an article in a textbook anymore, and writing isn’t just essays. I gotta train these folks up on how to do all sorts of things - creating a coherent, engaging presentation, organizing their ideas through a number of different mediums, and using their creativity for good, not evil. By the end of the year, I’d like them to have a portfolio that they can take with them to high school and beyond, and the kind of digital-era skills they’ll need to stay informed and competitive as they get older. 

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me! Thank you so much for your support!