Middle School Philosophy

It has been a long while since I was in my fundamentals of Education classes. That being said my class on Middle School Philosophy solidified me wanting to be in the middle school environment. Something about it resonated well with my personal philosophy of being. Somewhat a stoic. I am of the opinion that we are basically the same people we were in middle school. Who we were to become took root there and we react and act basically the same as we did then.

I personally do not remember much of my time in school. I have blocked out large chucks and that is just a time I do not recall. Middle school is no exception to that. I shared a locker. I think with Ed. It was by the door. It was a orange red color. I was on the A team in sixth grade. Not very inventive team names back in 1979. I had Ms. Cole and Ms. Beasley, I remember them more because I would teach with them when I joined Sequoyah.

Some things that drew me to middle school. The team concept. A holistic approach to sharing students. Small groups moving together, forming bonds or at least cohesion. Open classrooms. Not classrooms without walls but fluid classes. The ability to gather in common areas in the building. Walls that moved. Class outside, just because on a nice day. No worry or focus on grades or testing. Everyone does what they can. No fear or punishment for failure. Helping to step and not getting knocked down, success. In college we learned the brain of people of middle school age is growing and developing in such a way that really nothing that is taught is retained. I would have to find the studies but that is they way it is. Everyone gets to participate. There is no exclusion. If you want to play basketball there is space on multiple teams. There is not any competition. Yes, still there was the last one picked, the only reason I was on the winning sixth grade basketball team. Middle school was an adventure. It departed from the junior high school model on many levels.

I think the middle school model lost favor for a while. People stopped seeing it as a viable method of teaching and organization. We moved away from many of the core values of the philosophy. At my school the common areas were filled in and walls put around them for classrooms. The movable walls were torn out and permanent walls put up. Competition seemed more important in cohesion then the growth of the individual.

With technology I am seeing a resurgence in the middle school philosophy. One on one learning with time devoted by the teacher. Small group work in interactive settings. Divergent work not particularly dictated by a chapter in a book or a set time. Freedom to learn and explore independently.

I am interested is hearing what you all think about the middle school philosophy and technology. How do you see the two coming together or diverging?

TTT - Meme

Technology tips and tricks on a regular basis. View this email in your browser Meme Pictures with Wit  Greetings Sequoyah,  I downloaded the Aviay App (https://www.aviary.com/  ). It is an image editor application for mobile devices. One of the buttons is a Meme Maker.  I showed Link and he uses Mematic (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mematic-make-your-own-meme/id491076730?mt=8) to create memes. It is an Apple App and is great.  What is a Meme? Basically, an image with some witty text on top of it or below it. They are big on the internets. I thought it could be a great recap project for students. Get a picture of their math work and add some witty text. Find a historical figure and add a quote to the photo. Easy and fun.  Thanks and don't forget to be awesome,  Andy Stolen from the internet via a google search. Twitter Google Plus Instagram Copyright © 2015 Sequoyah Middle School, All rights reserved. The Sequoyah Email List Our mailing address is: Sequoyah Middle School 1125 E. Danforth Edmond, OK 73034 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Letter to the State Legislators

Here is the letter I sent to my state representatives. I think it is important for everyone to contact their Senator and Representative and let them know your views.

Greetings Senator Floyd,

I am a middle school and business owner. I teach middle school computing at Sequoyah Middle School in Edmond and I own a local glassblowing studio near MidTown in OKC. 

There has been a lot of discussion about teacher pay lately. Each year teacher receive a nominal step increase. This is the only raise I have received in over eight years. I believe one reason Oklahoma is having a difficult time in hiring and retaining teachers is the lack of a viable raise to keep up with inflation and cost of living. 

Pretend for a moment you were interviewing or conducting an interview for a job. At the end the candidate can ask questions. 

Q1) How often will I receive a raise and how much will it be? 

A1) You should receive about a 1% increase in pay each year. 

Q2) How much will my yearly bonus be?

A2) We do not pay a bonus.

Q3) What about health care?

A3) We do pay for a nice Insurance plan. The copay is $50 and the deductible is around $1000. If you add additional people on your plan expect it to be about $450 a month. 

Q4) What are my prospects for advancement?

A4) There is no advancement within our company. 

Q5) Many companies will help pay for an advanced degree. Do you offer any assistance for pursuing an advanced degree to help me in this profession?

A5) We highly encourage you to pursue a higher level of education but we will not assist you in that endeavor and the pay increase for having a Masters Degree over a Bachelors Degree is about $200. 

Granted, it is the field of education. We know these things. But next to the real world it is a very unappealing scenario for job seekers. 

I am attaching a copy of my most recent pay stub so you can see my take home pay each month. 

I do think there is a lot we can do to improve. Just let me know if you need any suggestions. 

Many thanks, 

Andy Boatman

TTT - Quick Jots

Technology tips and tricks on a regular basis. View this email in your browser Quick Jots Writing Bursts  Greetings Sequoyah,  I just stumbled across this writing technique via Twitter today. The author (Vivian Robert@vivianroberthe) posted a bit on jot museums with a photo spread of students writing. This sounded interesting.  I did a quick search of Jots writing and came up with a handful of results. The first article really defines the process (http://www.uen.org/utahstandardsacademy/elaelem/downloads/level2/2-3-2-QuickJots.pdf)  The second covers cross curriculum issues (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2015/07/using_quick_jots_to_write_across_the_curriculum.html) While the third goes into a variety of similar techniques. (http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/cms/lib09/UT01001306/Centricity/Domain/32/Stop%20think%20and%20write%20techniques.pdf) Take a look at Quick Jots. Let us know what you think.  Thanks and don't forget to be awesome,  Andy Twitter Google Plus Instagram Copyright © 2015 Sequoyah Middle School, All rights reserved. The Sequoyah Email List Our mailing address is: Sequoyah Middle School 1125 E. Danforth Edmond, OK 73034 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

TTT - Graphic Design

Technology tips and tricks on a regular basis. View this email in your browser Graphic Design Creating and Designing  Greetings Sequoyah,  In one of our sessions on Monday we talked about creating printables for class. Posters, infographics and the like. We have a great interface on our computers in PowerPoint. PowerPoint is much easier to use for text and graphics than Word. PowerPoint allows the user a greater variety of design layouts and choices as well as easier placement of images. Font, font size, color, backgrounds, images, and whitespace all need to be explored when designing works for public consumption.  Suggested Websites: Piktochart - http://piktochart.com/ it is an online infographic creator. Canva (https://www.canva.com/) is a great site for creating a variety of things from posters to presentations. It is somewhat limited but a great place to start.  Elearninginfographics - http://elearninginfographics.com/ is a repository of some great educational infographics. I really liked their article on implementing good graphic design at http://elearningindustry.com/10-tips-improve-visual-design-skills-non-designers?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter Do you have favorite websites for designing items? Please share. Thanks and don't forget to be awesome,  Andy Twitter Google Plus Instagram Copyright © 2015 Sequoyah Middle School, All rights reserved. The Sequoyah Email List Our mailing address is: Sequoyah Middle School 1125 E. Danforth Edmond, OK 73034 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Focus

With new things comes a change of focus. Working on a project and that blots out all the other projects for a while. All my thoughts go toward the new project. Obsession really. Nearly singular focus upon it. Realize that the other things that require constant attention are suffering.  How to seperate the thoughts and the devoted time to bring the focus back to the whole?

TTT - Google Docs

Technology tips and tricks on a regular basis. View this email in your browser Google Docs Saving, Editing and Access Greetings Sequoyah,  Google Drive allows online (and offline) access to a suite of tools similar to Microsoft Office. Docs, Spreadsheets, Drawing and more are available at Google Drive. Items can be created using the Google interface and files can be uploaded to Google Drive.  On Monday we got to experience one of the odd things about Google Docs. The schedule for the EdCamp was created in Excel. The file was uploaded and is accessible as a preview, more like a photo. By uploading as a .xlsx file it is limited to preview and download. Making for a great way to store files to go between multiple locations or serve as a backup. For the file to be editable by the author and shared contacts the file needed to be converted to the Google Spreadsheet format. The file can be opened for editing within Google Drive and a copy of it is created. Please be sure the correct format of the document is then shared for editing and viewing.  The image below shows the icons for a Google Doc and Microsoft Word when stored in Google Drive. Note the file names are the same. Thanks and don't forget to be awesome,  Andy Notice the icons representing file formats. Twitter Google Plus Instagram Copyright © 2015 Sequoyah Middle School, All rights reserved. The Sequoyah Email List Our mailing address is: Sequoyah Middle School 1125 E. Danforth Edmond, OK 73034 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list