Author: Carrie

I'm Carrie... momma, wife, mismatch sock wearer, Special Education teacher, author, doodler, idea Sharer, inspiration junkie and learning enthusiast! I think life and learning are HECK AWESOME!
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Bright Ideas #4: Gamification…Here We Go!

A strong behavior modification system with consistent structure and positive reinforcement is just as important as the academics I teach in my class.  After 15 years of teaching I bring with me each year a seasoned behavior system that will meet all students learning and behavioral needs.  As the school year goes on I tweek, modify and add to the basic system to ensure that all my students individual needs are met and the very best is brought out of each of them.  This year in addition to my basic behavior system I brought back my token ecomony Baughcum Bucks.  Initially students were motivated by the positive reinforcement that receiving the bucks gave them.  They loved earning the bucks, counting them up, depositing them and using them to purchase prefered incentives.  By the beginning of the second quarter the fun, the motivation, the reinforcement behind the system began to fade. The connection between the bucks and the incentives were fading…even lost for some. The bucks simply were not working the way I needed them to any more.

It was time for a change.  

I began to think back to 5….10 years ago when I used to use whole class, team based behavior systems…the memory of paper die cuts covering my classroom wall made me smile.

Suddenly I was filled with inspiration…finally after so many forced attempts at trying to come up with just the right idea to gamify my classroom.  The reminder of a system I had used years and years ago made it all come together.

Starting Monday my students will enter the world of Mario (you have to say it with the accent) and Luigi.

 

Gamification: Super Mario Brothers | Heck Awesome Learning
Each of my periods has been assigned a character of the game to represent their team

Gamification: Super Mario Brothers WallGamification: Super Mario Brothers Rules | Heck Awesome Learning

Gamification: Super Mario Brothers Homework Dice | Heck Awesome Learning

Gamification: Super Mario Brothers Game Key | Heck Awesome Learning

Gamification: Super Mario Brothers Power Up | Heck Awesome Learning
Challenges are posted are at the beginning of each week
Gamification: Super Mario Brothers 1pt Slips | Heck Awesome Learning
1pt can be earned by students, individually, by using great student skills during class. 100pts earned= 1 star for the class

I am so excited to start it with them I could bust.  I can not wait for them to play and see it all come together!

In the words of Mario,

“Here we go!”

Be sure to check my  Twitter and Instagram accounts for updates on how they are doing!

BrightIdeas: Gamification Using Super Mario Brothers

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#BlogPals

Blogging is and has been a long time passion of mine.  Having your own space.  Having a place to share your words, create and connect with other through stories is just the most incredible and fulfilling thing to me.

From my very first EdCamp I was hooked. The vision, the purpose, the structure it is an amazing and deeply fulfilling and energizing experience.

So this summer (yeah yeah…I’m a smidge late on the post but seriously you wouldn’t have read about it in the middle of July) when I heard there was going to be a EdCamp Home 3.0 organized by the uber amazing and leave you in technology awww David Theriault @davidtedu, Karl Lindgren-Streicher @LS_Karl,  Kelly Kermode @coachk and  Shawn White @swpax. I was all in (plus I just had to see how they were going to put together an EdCamp with Google Hangouts with educators from all over the United Stated). The session idea forms went out, completed by Edcamp Home attendees, collected and the session were formed….on the list of sessions…Blogging.  I really couldn’t wait to attend!  Any chance I have to talk blogging…creating, designing, theory, ideas, creative sharing, student blogging, teacher blogging … blogging …I’m absolutely and totally all in!

The session were held via google hangouts with other educators from around the United States (yes, it was incredible and yes I was still in awwww) It was more than I could have hoped for and just as equally powerful as the EdCamps I have attended in real life.  When I joined the session I expected to be chat about blogging formats,  commenting  theory, digital citizenship and ideas about what students should/could write about.  It quickly became more then that.  As quickly as we all could introduce ourselves…. Kevin Ashworth @SLOlifeKevin, Jedidiah Butler@MathButler, KOgden @KOgden97 and Ms. Fagin @msfagin share some of our ideas, the struggle to connect consistently with other classroom/student blogs came up and the idea of creating something that would help classrooms and student bloggers connect took over. #BlogPals was born.

. . .

Now that we are all well into the second half of our semester or into our second quarter, I figure my fellow educator peeps have fallen into their routines, know their students and are ready to get their blog on (see there was another reason for me waiting until now).  Classrooms and students are ready to share their voices with more than each other and four walls.  They are ready to connect with another classroom(s).

Are you a teacher with a classroom or students who are ready to connect with others?  Ready to build relationships with other classrooms?

Fill out the form, join the list, connect!!!

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The Lesson That Was The Problem

A Moment In My Classroom: Problem SolvingSkill building, structured, routine and direct instruction are the foundation of the instruction I provide.  My students flourish in structure, in the routine and the predictable. They excel because of the strong focus on student skills and consistent presence of tools to enable them to compensate for their weaknesses.  I spend everyday establishing routines, making my class predictable, working on student skills, building academic skills and teaching/training them to use technology to enhance their learning, help them compensate for their weaknesses and access to information.  I am excited for the moment when my students are ready to put down the books and start applying all of these skills to a project.

I came up with a project I knew they would love.  I gave a detailed expectation, the project requirements, shared  the grading rubric and I taught them how to use app I wanted them to use to produce the final product with (we even practiced using it).  I was certain that they would be able to independently make a great final product and finish feeling very successful about what they had created!

I handed out the iPads and sat in the front of the room ready to watch and relish in my teacher glory the awesomeness that I had set up for them to experience and feel about themselves.

One hand went up.   Then another.  The questions started.  One after another, after another.  How could this be?  I gave them all the tools. I had prepared them.  By the time the bell rang I slumped into my chair exhausted, defeated and wondering what the heck just happened!

As I drove home that day  I couldn’t help but think about that lesson what had gone so not the way I had expected.   How, what I thought was perfectly prepared lesson, a lesson I thought would empower them, enable them to be independent …how could it not have gone perfectly?  Then it hit me.  The one thing….the one part I had failed to remember. The part I had forgotten was that no matter how much I planned.  No matter how much I structured, organized, added visuals to things…it is still new.  This project had nothing to do with the project and everything to do with problem-solving.  This project wasn’t about creating a product but instead was about practicing and applying problem solving skills…this project was about them taking their problem solving skills to a whole new level!

Problem Solving Rubric
 ‘CLICK’ Here for Downloadable LEVEL 1 Problem Solving Skill Rubric

So I decided it was time to take a new approach. Continue reading “The Lesson That Was The Problem”

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More Powerful Than You Think

I first “met” Luis Perez while watching him on a Google Hangout session. He was sharing information about the iPad’s accessibility and switch features. I was in awwww….I was inspired…I wanted to know and learn more.  I started by learning more about him.  I quickly learned that not only was he an accessibility guru, he was an incredible advocate for universal design and accessibility, a presenter, a professor and he is also visually impaired.  I began to follow him on Twitter.  I wanted to learn from his philosophy, his ideas and the information he shared.  I started following him on Instagram and discovered he was also an amazing photographer….yes, photographer!  And I could not wait to see him speak when I heard he was presenting at ICE13 where his presentation did not disappoint.  His session was full of tips, information and knowledge about Apples accessibility and switch technology.  It was during this session that Luis introduced all of us to an incredible young man from Australia named Christopher Hills. Christopher is an Apple Certified Pro Final Cut Pro X, a Level One and an Accessibility Ambassador and he also has cerebral palsy.  To say the least these are two people who truly inspire me, challenge my thinking and make think differently.

I knew instantly when I read about and watched Luis’s More Powerful video and then saw Chris’s i Am More Powerful Than You Think video…

 

… that  I was going to take Luis’s  #iAmMorePowerfulThanYouThink challenge!

Everyday I am lucky enough to have access to accessible technology in my classroom. This technology is the same technology my students use.  It is the very technology that I teach with, use to model tools and strategies for my students with and teach them how to use.  It is because of this technology that everyday I am able show my students and that they are learning that they are more powerful than you think!  Here is my #iAmMorePowerfulThanYouThink video.

 

Do you know of someone or are someone who has a “More Powerful” with technology moment?  Share it online and then use the hashtag Christopher created #iAmMorePowerfulThanYouThink .

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Hacking Google Apps

It has been too many weeks since I have created on this space.  I have thought about it everyday and miss writing and sharing.  The school year is off and in full gear, which also means my daughters lives have also become equally as busy and also means I fall alseep on the couch about a half hour into my favorite TV show every night at about 9 o’clock.  BUT just because I haven’t been here doesn’t mean I haven’t been creating (you don’t actually think I could go a single day with out creating or writing something?)  For weeks…yes weeks… I have spent my evenings  (when I am not falling asleep) and weekends working on my newest conference presentations. The first one I finished was one that I have had an idea for since last spring.  I was an idea that I worried would not be special enough, innovative enough or meaningful enough to other educators. I worried it was not worthy enough to share.  Well, last Friday I had an opportunity to take a deep breath, a chance to keep stepping out of my comfort zone and I decided it was time to shared my ideas.

Last Friday marked the day…the official day.  It marked the day I stood in front of other educators and shared with them that I am a hacker and I decided to teach them how to be hackers too!!!

I know.  I know. When you think of hackers you think of something like this

but I am talking about EduHacking (a totally and official and very technical term I completely made up).  I taught and shared at two sessions at Quest Academy Mini-Con.  It was a small conference with intimate sessions. There were no crowded rooms, no hashtags and crazy streams of tweets about sessions… it was me and my session’s educators.  I spent the morning sharing and teaching them about Hacking Google Apps. I shared with them how to stop thinking about what Google Apps for Education are developed/made to do and how to start thinking about the individual and unique things each app can to, how to connect that with students individual strengths and weaknesses and use those tools to enhance student learning and their teaching.  It was an amazing morning!

By the time I left their school and could not help but smile as I drove home. They were exactly what I needed. They welcoming. They listened. They questioned. They learned. They reminded me…They reminded me of something I had not remembered  or owned for a long time.  This group of educators filled me up.  They had welcomed me.  They had welcomed my ideas. They had soaked up my passion and shared theirs with me.  They left me filled with a confidence.  It was a confidence that reminded me how deeply I love the incredible things technology can do for students, how much I really love learning and how deeply passionate I am about teaching not just my students but others too.

Here is a SNEAK PEAK at my Hacking Google Apps presentation.  It is an interactive and clickable presentation packed full of resources for a variety of EduHacker abilities and there will be more to come soon…I promise!

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Stigma Fighters: Especially You

{Ping}

I picked up my phone and checked my Twitter feed.  It was a private message.

“Hmmmmm I wonder who it is?” I thought.

I clicked it open and saw a kind message from a stranger asking me if I could share a message she was trying to spread.  I clicked on the link, wanting to look into it more before I put my name on a tweet for her.  The link took me to her Fund Dreamer site.  This woman, Sara Fader , is campaigning to raise money.  She wanted  her online series  about real people living with mental illness to  become more than just a place to swap stories. She wanted it to be what it was… a community of like-minded individuals. As a 501C3 non-profit organization Stigma Fighters would be able to take the next step in fighting this illness and supporting people that live with it.

I paused.  How did she know about me.  How did she know about my story?  How did she know about my mom? Did she even know about any of it or was she just trying to get her message out and was asking all her followers for help.  Like most of these moments online I wasn’t sure if I should trust that her message was honest or just click delete and get on with my day.

I started to type.

I started to cry.

I started to cry harder.

I knew in that instant that it was time for me to write about her again. So when Sarah asked me to share my story I knew I had to say yes.

Stigma Fighters

Today I am proudly over at Stigma Fighters sharing my story of love to honor my mother, to honor the strength of my family,  to share about my struggle and to give a more powerful voice to those who struggle with mental illness everyday.  I hope you will head over there and let me share my story Especially Love on Stigma Fighters.

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The Bulletin Board

I walked into my classroom.

The room seemed bigger than I remembered it.

I sat at my desk and started writing my to do list. It was filled with paperwork that needed to be organized, things that needed to be cleaned, materials that needed to be made. So like all highly efficient people I decided to start on the least important and the most fun item on the list…the creating and decorating!

I looked around the room skimming the walls and pausing to look at the bulletin board.  What was I going to fill that space with this year?

Would it be filled with the tech ninjas again?

Maybe a visual of gamifying my classroom behavior modification system?

or maybe…

I looked at the space some more. Nothing. No idea. No sparkle of inspiration. No use of idea….Nothing. Instead my bulletin board shouted, “Decorate me! Make me pretty. Make me inspirational.  Make it colorful… do something at shouted!!!”

I had nothing…

The first day of school arrived and the bulletin board hung, black space.

I spent the early days of the week, welcoming this year students to my classroom.  My students and I shared our first days of nervousness, new expectations, new routines and excitement.  The bulletin board took every opportunity during my plan time, during each time I had a chance to think, during each spare moment to whisper what about this idea or maybe it could be that.

Nope… Continue reading “The Bulletin Board”

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It Is Time

I sat curled up on my favorite chair.  The living room was blanketed in sun and I could see the faint steam floating from my coffee as it sat on the window sill.  I clicked to open my accounts, first Google+, then Twitter and finally Facebook.  I fell into what has become my usual morning summer routine.  I clicked through my notifications on my Google+.  I reshared a few, I pinned a few and those pinned resources would be tweeted out automatically.  I headed over to my Facebook page and did the same…like and reshare and maybe even comment on a few.  I opened my email and saw an email notification for one of the blogs I followed letting me know there was a new post.  I clicked on it and headed over to to read the post.  My bloggy friend shared a story about her daughter.  I smiled as I read her words.  This post reminded me of other stories and the journeys I had gotten to know her through.  I scrolled down to the comment section and I began to type. I shared with her my thoughts, my feelings, my words. I closed the tab and  headed back over to Google+ to read some more posts and collect some more ideas.

Suddenly I stopped and stared at the screen.

An emptiness sat inside me.

What the heck was I doing I thought?

What the heck have I been doing all summer for that matter?

All summer I had been consumed with gathering and sharing.  It left me full of more information than I had ever gathered and learned before.  My knowledge was deeper and richer than it ever before. And  I had even made a few really incredible connections with some amazingly educators.

I paused.

An emptiness was still there. Continue reading “It Is Time”

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Owning My Gutsy

A message pinged on my phone.  It streamed over my screen as a ran on the treadmill.  I glanced at it, read the first three words and thought…geesh who’s selling something now?

With my run done, my girls fed, I sat at the kitchen table, clicked on the message and prepared for my time to be wasted.

It was the GreenCouchProject.  They wanted to feature me…ME…wait me???  They wanted to feature me in their newsletter. I starred at the screen.  I knew exactly who they were.  I knew about their project and all their inspiring awesome through the  equally amazing Liza Hawkins of (a)musingfoodie who got to sit on the Green Couch and share her story.

As quickly as I could giddily respond heck YES!  I couldn’t help but check, make certain so I also replied… Me? Special education teacher and momma?  Me?

Yes you silly! A response pinged back.

I went right to their site and downloaded the pinky promise, filled it out and sent it off to them.
HeckAwesome Pinky Promise

The next morning they asked me two questions that would complete the story for their newsletter.  I sat for two hours thinking about what to write.  Dude, they asked me to answer the questions in 2 sentences…hello my name is Carrie and I talk a lot…I mean A LOTTTTTTT! But, it wasn’t the word limit that had me stumped.

When I filled out my Pinky Promise my mission was to share with others, with the world , that the students with disabilities I work with should not be undersold.  They are so much more then their disability.  They are capable of so much more when we look past their disability and enhance their strengths.

BUT

No matter how much I typed.  No matter which way I wrote it.  No matter which way I wove the words together…none of what I said answered the questions they asked about me.

I took a deep breath and searched for the words.

I repeated the questions over and over again in my head and searched for the answer. Slowly the answer came to me.  The words began to take form.

BUT

I didn’t want to type them.

I didn’t want to believe them.

If what I was typing was true it meant…it meant … it meant that deep down, way deep down inside of me it was who I really was, how I really felt and what I truly believed.  More than that, it meant that there was a strength that I had never owned, never recognized and never embraced.  And It meant it was time.  It was time for me to see, for me to believe, for me to own what the Green Couch Project already knew about me.

I was time for me to own my gutsy!

Green Couch Project Newsletter Piece. . .

I hope you will take a few minutes to visit the Green Couch Projects site.  Check them out and all the amazing work they are doing. Then I double dog dare you to take your own Pinky Promise,  share out your own awesome and  #SPILLYOURGUTSY  just like I did!!

 

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The Tale of #FlatLindsay

OnceUponATime

there were three sisters and a cousin (she’s really much more like a sister then a cousin but technically she was a cousin).  The cousin decided to pack up her coach and with her two boys she headed to the big city!  She was filled with giddy excitement as she traveled west.  Joy began to fill her as she anticipated seeing her wonderful, amazing and  gorgeous cousins and their perfectly adorable children!

When she finally arrived their first day together was filled with hanging out, spending time with each other and catching up.  They had all missed each other so!

Family Photo Fun

On the second day the sisters and the cousin decided that it would be fun to travel to a land of loop-d-loops where children and adults giggle and shrieking with fun!  They were so excited for all the fun that awaited them that day.  When they got to the land of loop-d-loops they decided they would start with a simple ride.  It was sit and watch a movie while your seat wiggles kind of ride. Nothing too big of a thrill, a nice warm up ride…YEAH RIGHT!

RollerCoaster

On the third day one of the sisters had to leave on a trip of her own.  It was a sad day. Continue reading “The Tale of #FlatLindsay”

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Moose and His Super Powered Coffee

It has been quite some time…too long… since I picked up my stylist and drew.

So when I stared into my coffee mug the other day and this fun piece charged my creative juices…

I knew it was time to dust off my stylist!

I give you one coffee drinking, caffeine charged, super powered Moose…

Coffee Meets Moose...Super Powers Activated

 

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Instagram…Its For More Then Just Pictures

“Look mom!  Look at all the people that liked my game!”

“Uh huh…cool! Do you know any of those people?” I question

“No. They are just people who played my game.  Look!  Look!”

“Can you comment on people’s games?”

“Yes.”

“Do you?”

“No mommy,” she answered looking away with a look that told me she wasn’t telling the truth.

“Olivia…do you? I won’t be mad.  Tell me the truth,” I press.

“Yes, mommy.”

“Show me,” I say as I move to sit right next to her on the couch.

Createrria had become an instant love, as soon as I showed it to her.  Make your own games.  Play your own games.  Share them with others. Get and give feedback on games.  Earn gems.  She loved it and I did too…but I was suddenly concerned.  I wasn’t concerned about her desire to connect with others or her desire to share or create. I was concerned with the medium in which she was going to start developing these skills.

I knew it was time.

“Sweetheart, come scootch next to me.  Mommy wants to show you something.”

I pulled out my phone and opened the app.  I showed her the pictures.  I showed her our family and friends that were on their too.  I told her I thought she was old enough, that I could trust her enough and that I thought she was ready to have an Instagram account (a private one).  We set it up, added her profile picture, we wrote her bio and I showed her family and friends she could start to follow. She was ready to start sharing pictures of her world.

“Olivia, you should share that on Instagram.  Mary so and so would love to see that.”

“No, that’s ok mommy,” she shrugged her shoulders, answered and skipped away.

“That’s such a great craft.  You should share it on Instagram,” I encouraged.

“Maybe later Mommy, ” she shrugged her shoulders, answered and skipped away.

This went on for a  few weeks. She had not found what I had thought she would….maybe I had been wrong. Continue reading “Instagram…Its For More Then Just Pictures”

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In The Morning…An Original Stop Motion Film By Olivia

“Mom watch this!!!” Olivia giggled.

She propped her iPod up on book so she could see the screen while she danced and sang along with the video.

“Mom watch! I’m dancing…isn’t it the cutest.  It’s so fun!”

“Uuuuuhuuuuuu, that’s nice Olivia,” I answered looking back at my computer screen (note to reader…it was like the bazzillionth time I’d heard /watched the beloved video)

“Mom watch! There just so fun!  Look at me dance just like them!”

“Olivia, how many times have you watched that JibJab?”

“I don’t know?!” she smiled and hit the play button again.

The singing, dancing, watch me momma seemed to go on over and over again.

I sighed secretly inside.  “Really!” I thought, “How many times do I have to listen to this? Do I let it go on? Do I stop it?  She does like the videos? How many times can one human being watch the same video over and over and over again?!”

I took a deep breath and breathed out trying to to summon an idea.  I turned from my computer at the kitchen table and said to her,” Oliviaaaaaaa, sweetieeeeeeeee,” I smiled big “You’ve watched that movie over and over again.  It’s been like a million times!”

“But I like it momma,” she smiled back innocently.

I kept smiling back at her, waiting for an idea, a thought, something I could say to kindly get her to stop watching the clip without letting her know how much it was truly driving me crazy (although I had some small inkling that she did know that already).

“What if instead of watching the clip and coping it,  you made your own clip to watch.  What if you made your own movie!  A movie you could watch, a movie others could watch too!” I encouraged. “I know this art teacher Ms.Fugelsted and she does all kinds of awesome movies and art with her students.  We could go to her website and learn how you can make some of your own!

She smiled back at me with a look of excitement and interest….her creativity, ideas and story gears were already turning.

Before we could dive into ways she was going to create her very own movie it was dinner time and once dinner time over that meant shower time.

Our post dinner and shower routine unexpectedly found Francine, Olivia and me in the toy room.  Francine really wanted the veterinarian Lego set  but she didn’t have the money to buy it….so she decided to use the pieces she already had and we would build it ourselves.  As Francine and I picked through a bucket of legos we picked out just the right pieces to put together her veterinarian hospital.  Olivia sat at the Lego table playing with her barn and two of her Lego friends.

Lego Search

Continue reading “In The Morning…An Original Stop Motion Film By Olivia”

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