Awesomeness Archives - Carrie Baughcum

May 4, 2013

Dear Jen

Dear Jen,
A year ago I was a passionate special educator who even after fourteen years still found incredible joy in working with students with significant disabilities, recognizing their strengths, tapping into them as learners and empowering them to over come their weakness and be amazing students. Still, with all this passion and the successes I was having in the classroom, there was a part of me that was left feeling empty. It was an emptiness I did not even know existed until this year.

As you know this whole blogging is nothing new to me. In fact, for the last three years I have blogged anonymously as a mom, a wife, a sister and a friend. I have learned about the power of words. I have been warmed by the amazingness of the connections that can be made through sharing words. I have been blown away by the incredible power of social media and the connections it offers. Most of all I have learned the power of my voice. My experiences in that space filled me, enriched my life and brought priceless amazingness to me … and yet these experiences never entered my classroom.

Then it happened…

In November you encouraged me to submit to present at the Illinois ICE conference. I remember thinking, who the heck is going to be interested in what I am doing in the classroom? What I am doing is not more interesting then all the other fantastic educators out there? You were persistant, encouraging and gave me the bravery I needed to submit my idea.

In December I decided it was time for me to start this blog. Not a blog as Carrie mom and wife. Start a blog as Carrie Special Education teacher. Not a private blog for only my parents and students, a blog for everyone to see. A blog that would be a hub of resources for my students. A place I would use to share lessons I was doing in the classroom, new ideas I was trying and things I was learning about. You listened to me as ideas brewed inside of me. You smiled and celebrated with me when I told you about the idea. You supported and cheered me on when I was ready to hit the publish button.

In February after a fantastically inspiring, energizing Illinois ICE conference I told you I wanted to my classroom to be a 1:1 iPad classroom. Without hesitation you took my idea and went to work looking for resources and creating a proposal for me. By March I had enough iPads to pilot being a 1:1 iPad classroom.

March came around and several classes in our building were piloting collaborative learning desks. I thought…Those would be great for my classroom. We are constantly collaborative. I want to pilot those desks too. You encouraged me to ask administration if my class could pilot them too.

April brought emails from our district technology department. Opportunities to be trained to use an iPad mini and an open call for teachers who want to present at our district technology academy. I completed the form and submitted it. Fingers crossed that I would be chosen to try the iPad mini. I filled out the presenters form for not just one session but two.

A year ago fear owned a part of me. Fear kept me asking. Fear began to limit my creativity. Fear keep me from sharing. Fear left part of me empty. Fear of kept me from using a skill that was a huge part of my life away from the classroom, a part that I am incredibly passionate about.

Jen, you brought energy, a joy, a giddiness, a passion for technology and all of its fantasticness into my life. You suddenly lit inside of me something I only shared with others outside, away from my classroom. You were patient as you filled me with information, new tools, new ideas. You listened to me as ideas brewed inside of me. You smiled, giggled and celebrated with me when I tried new ideas in my classroom and they began to work. Then you waited, listened and supported me when I was ready to take my fears throw them aside and begin to share more.

I can not begin to thank you for what you have given me. By giving me this you have not just given me a gift, you have given my classroom and my students all of this and so much more. You have opened a whole new part of me that was tucked away. I am a risk taker, an adventurer, a jump into the deep end without a life preserver, try new things…kind of a teacher. You have given my students the same teacher they have always had and so much more. Now they have a teacher who is also a global learner: learning from the world and not just from training sessions, my school or district, a global teacher: who doesn’t just teach them but all shares her lessons with others, a risk taker: who is willing to try new things, fail or succeed and then try again.

For all these things and just so very much more…

April 16, 2013

Week 4: Light Bulbs

Light bulbs were all the rage last week!

Ah ha moments, glowing eyes of aw and pride, oooo’s and ahhs, and glissening wide smiles…with teeth and everything and oh my goodness look at me filled each period!

My students continued to just rock technology and totally and completely rock being an iPad 1:1 classroom last week. They continue to become more and more proficient at using their technology. Lessons continue to flow and the pace of each lesson increases each day. Their knowledge of the basics is well ingrained… actually fluid! At only four weeks into being a 1:1 iPad classroom my student and the possible ways we will use technology have already exceeded my expectations.

You might want to put some sun glasses on. The glow of all the awesomeness could be blinding…

I find myself able to introduce them to new tools and new components of their technology. Baiboard has become not just a look what your iPad can do tool but a consistent tool…from sharing word lists during group Reading instruction to facilitating peers working together to sharing math notes and completing them as a class.

I find myself looking for ways to tweek and perfect our usage…looking for ways to be increasingly more efficient at changing paper to text form. The Jetscanner app has been an absolute god sent. Anything paper need to be turned into a PDF for sharing or use on the iPad. Take a photo, it changes it to a PDF and done!

‘CLICK’ for source

I find myself looking for that very last way to remove almost all paper from our daily use. We have switched my students from typing their daily events / daily narrative on a PDF type enables document to putting these events on their Google Calendar. Why not? I use my Google Calendar everyday to keep my day organized!

I find myself looking for ways to connect us more…. to show my students the power of technology and communication. Last week two of my students went on Edmodo (unprompted by staff or parents) at home seeking help on a problem they were having on their homework. That night after several replies from me and my student teacher they had the answers to their questions. In that instant they learned the power technology has to connect. It actually made me teary. As a direct result of this (it is actually something that has been on my mind for a while) I am exploring apps that would allow me and my students to chat when they need help on homework. This very moment was my most proudest yet! Technology does powerful good and connects them to resources. They learned that that night!

I find myself becoming a paper snot! I even lost the capacity to breath for a half second when I actually had to print something last week. You mean I actually need to have a paper copy…I need to print?! …Cue Back to the Future 2… What like you thought my geekiness really started and stopped here…

All of this awesomeness is just overwhelming wonderful!!! I just can’t say enough about what has happened to my classroom, to me, to my teaching and to my students!

April 8, 2013

Week 3: Juuuust Right

Remember in Goldie Locks and the Three Bears when Goldie Locks (that naughty girl she was, being in someone’s house without asking) sat at the table tasting porridge… this one is tooo hot…this one is tooo cold… this one is just right! That moment…The moment the porridge finally tasted perfectly warm, was exactly what happened this week!

This week things came together in awesome ways! So much awesomeness is happening. I simply can not contain it to a day by day account and feel the the urge to shout all of the awesomeness that happened this week!!!!

1) Students can independently upload documents from Dropbox to Goodreader

2) Students now complete all worksheets on the iPad (both in class and at home)

3) All class notes are taken on the iPad

4) Students know how to independently view documents side by side in Goodreader
ex. Students can complete their paragraph organizer on the iPad and view it on the same
screen while typing the paragraph using it

5) All grading is done at the beginning of each class (a huge change in routine for us)

6) Grading time is down to 5 minutes

7) Instant daily feedback of performance has significantly reduced the number of
corrections that need to be made to homework

8) Corrections are now done the day they happen, rather then on a specific day of the week

9) The overall pace of a class lesson has almost doubled,
     significantly increasing the amount of instruction given
     in a week

10) Students are starting to use their iPads to take notes on while looking at
videos / resources on the computer

11) We are almost a completely paperless classroom

12) WE… staff…myself and my Teaching Assistants…and my students are crazy
giddy happy and proud…WE ARE (almost completely) A PAPERLESS CLASSROOM!!!!

13) Students use all of our basic apps almost completely independently…
Goodreader, Dropbox, Google allowing me to begin to slowly introduce new tools

14) New fantasticness is emerging…Fantasticness I tell you!

15) We use the Socrative app once a week in two classes to record and document
student performance in Reading and Social Studies

16) We began using Study Blue to learn measurement abbreviations in Math class

17) Upon learning how to use Study Blue one of my students sat in his desk, stared at
me, stared some more and then said…

Student: Wait…this makes note cards.

Me: Yes, it does

Student: I make note cards for Science class

Me: Yes you do

Student: Can I use this to make note cards for Science

Me: You sure can

…and we set up a time after school to make the note cards together.

Can you just feel the sparks and connections clicking!!!

18) We discovered the app (during a day it was offered for free…bonus) Jet Scanner and a
      whole new world of independent awesomeness was opened. No scanner needed
      when you can take a picture of a worksheet, turn it into a PDF and then upload it
      to Dropbox, share it with all of your students and they can upload it into Goodreader
      and type and/or write on it

19) I am in the process of starting Assistive Technology
      Evaluations for three of my students. I have plenty of
      data already that these tools need to be a perminent
      part of their educational days

Next weeks technology and iPad goals…

Introducing, modeling how to use and using Baiboard to students…humongously huge deal…this means working in groups (something that is very challenging for my students and we rarely do)
Changing my thinking about how we are teaching measurement to my Math students. No more memorizing and memorizing and memorizing conversion facts. I am going to focus on teaching them to use technology as a resource to access facts and information.
Teach my students to use the Jet Scanner app, how to upload documents to our Dropbox and make them available to the class
Explore and test out ClassDojo behavior management system
Continue to our awesmomeness streak into the next week…because seriously..My StUdEnTs RoCk!!!!

March 11, 2013

Week 1: Unexpected Crazy Perfection

You know those weeks that you walk into your classroom thinking I have everything planned.

You’ve checked your ToDo list, your calendar, run through the second ToDo list in your head and think done, done and yes!

This week was one of those weeks….or so I thought.

This was it. THE WEEK!!! The iPads were going to be handed out. It was finally here. All my prep, hard work, planning was finally going to be unleashed on my class. Little did I realize that my giddy excitement had left me unprepared for one thing…. The one huge gigantic duhhhh thing you fail to remember. It was ISAT testing (Illinois State Achievement Testing)… Yep!! Happening this week. I had giddily waited for for three weeks. By the time I finally connected the dots all I could say to myself was uuggggggg what the HECK were you thinking Carrie!!! Introduce iPads to your students during ISAT week! (I was even totally prepared for the testing week). What can I say…I blame my giddy excitement.

MONDAY– It was THE day! It was the day I was going to pass out the iPads and start teaching my students to utilize all their technological goodness. Only I did not prepare for the entire tech team to be out at the ICE Conference for two days. That meant that the iPads were not going to be ready. UGGGGGGGG I thought for sure my students would string me up by my toes and give me a major guilt trip for not having them…. no one even asked!

TUESDAY– brought us a snowday… wooohooo

WEDNESDAY– State testing day for our school. An error in ordering had left students on my case load without testing materials, leaving me with a two hour block of time I needed to fill with my students while the rest of the building tested…ugggggg (that word is becoming my mantra) and seriously! I sat at my desk siggghhhing at the situation. Scanning the classroom as if it had answer, my brain tries to process what was happening. Suddenly, my eyes connected with the cart of laptops and iPads. The iPads were ready. They were READY. THEEEEYYYYY WERE REEEADY!!! Before I knew it I was explaining to my students that were we not having testing. After i answered all their questions about why and how and what if I told them that today was the day they were getting their iPads.

“You mean to take home and use all the time?!!!!!!”

“Yes!!! To take home and use all the time!!!!”

…Instantly this unexpected… this uuuugggggg moment became two hours of uninterrupted instruction on how to use, navigate and interact with the iPad.

It was unexpected fabulousness!

Those two hours gave me an opportunity to flow from one iPad lesson to the next. No interruptions. No passing periods, no announcements. I introduced them to Dropbox. Showed them how to load materials from our Dropbox into Goodreader (if you have iPads and do not use this you are seriously missing an incredible tool. It IS my student’s binder). We logged into their Edmodo and Google accounts. We explored and got to know each apps functions and ways. My teaching assistants and I smiled and giggled as we watched our students look at their iPads, realize what they can do, realize the new skills they had and see their eyes widen and their smiles over take their face. It was absolute awesomeness!!!

As we wrapped up the two hours by asking our students to fill out their assignment notebooks I looked at my class, smiled and waited for it. I watched as a couple of students start to stand to get an assignment notebook sheet.

“What ya doing?” I asked waiting for my student to make eye contact with me.

“Getting my assignment notebooks sheet.”

“Reallyyyy?!” I said, totally over exaggerating my smile. I held my smile waiting it to happen

{Wait for it}

“My assignment notebook is on my iPad!!!!!”

“Yep!! No papers!” I smiled!

{roaring infectious giggle}

“THIS IS SOOOOO COOL!!!!”

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY our tests showed up and testing happened. Now not having my usual instructional time began to once again make me think uggggggg what was I thinking. This is an awful week to roll out the iPads. As our testing sessions ended and our modified schedule played out I began to realize that this week could not have been more perfect to do exactly what I had done. The modified schedule coupled with the general expectation of reduced, if not any homework, because of testing gave me freedom. It gave me the freedom to break in all the apps I wanted my students to use without the pressure of a full on class lesson. It gave me the freedom to give a worksheet for my students to try doing at home on the iPad instead of a packet or complex assignment. It gave me and my students time to connect with the iPad, my new expectations, their new mind set and the freedom to work through all the ins and outs and what ifs.

It was quite a week! It was totally unexpectedly amazingly unplanned perfection!

I’m exhausted!!

March 4, 2013

Getting Ready…Pre-Week #2

Last week was my last week prior to {insert nail biting paired and gitty excitement geeeee} the big day… The day the students get their iPads.

I wasn’t the only one excited either! I heard at least once or twice a day, “When are we getting the iPads (insert blank stare at me… Light bulb going off) Oh yeah next week.” Followed by frown and shoulder slump.

We are all incredibly excited and the anticipation was high!!!

My goals for this week were pretty straight forward… prepare and change.

Prepare… I needed to label each iPad with names and numbers, collect the last of the permission slips/ technology agreements and finalize what apps I wanted on all the iPads.

Change…I realized needed to completely change how I took time to evaluate homework and my mindset about managing it. You see until last week the homework I assigned was collected at the beginning of the period it was due. The time left was dedicated to instructional time. If I was going to go all in and fully embrace being an iPad classroom, which to me also meant almost completely paperless, I needed to seriously change how I was doing things.

The Change…First, I developed a template. I needed to make a paper template I could use to record assignments on and that could easily be transferred into the grade book. It needed to be easy enough for the teaching assistants I work with to use and record assignments on for their groups. Second, I needed to change how and when we graded papers. I can’t exactly collect 11 iPads and grade the papers, nor did I want 10 PDFs times 6 periods plus a day being dropped in my Dropbox. So I had to compromise with myself and give up a bit of class time to grade papers. I didn’t, however, want grading to take more then 5ish minutes of any class period.

So with these very strong plan in mind, I ran my class as if it was a paperless classroom and prepped my teaching assistants for the changes to come and this mindset.

Here is how things went…
Monday– I payed attention to my habits, reminding myself of what would be paperless and what would not. I took note of places in our classroom routines I would need to leave time for corrections.

Tuesday– I was well aware of the changes I needed to make to my habits. I worked hard to grade papers on the spot. Grading them, collecting them and then…gasp! throwing them away… Paperless yo! I took mental notes of the routines in our day and the improvements I still needed to make.

Wednesday– By this time my students had become accustomed to having papers graded on the spot. I began to share with them their scores immediately and have them fix errors on the spot (if their was time). I began to realize that by collecting and grading homework separately, wanting to save precious instructional time I may have been missing priceless re-teaching and reinforcement opportunities. I was also missing chances to share with my students my recognition for their hard work and what they did well on in their work. I also realized that if I was allowing my students to make corrections for better grades (something I have always done, but usually as homework and after the score had been recorded in the grade book) I also needed to record the initial score of the worksheet and the score of the worksheet after correction. This would ensure I documented my students initial performance on work.

Thursday– Our usual stack of collected papers was next to nothing. My teaching assistants reported that the template made transferring scores into the grade book simpler then ever. I determined that all of our data collection in relations to my student IEP goals would be done on paper. We would continue to collect it, to ensure we had documentation and record of their performance as it relates to their goals.

Friday– We were excitedly on our way to a almost paperless classroom. I was happy and proud of the hard changes we made. I was embracing our new mindset and modeling that change can be exciting and well worth it! I was absolutely giddy with anticipation for the big week ahead!!!