Socrative

Last week I introduced my class to Socrative.  It is a website that you use as an interactive platform for your class.  You will find it at www.socrative.com.  One of my reading groups used it first to take a short quiz over a book we had just finished reading.  It was a great way for me to assess student understanding, at the same time that we wrapped up discussion of the book.

I first learned about Socrative last March at Edcamp Omaha.  The teacher sets up a virtual classroom.  Students enter the classroom by typing in the room number.  You can either have a single question activity or you can set up a quiz.

When you conduct a single question activity, the teacher asks the class a question verbally, and students respond in writing.  This is a great way to use an interactive whiteboard.  I don't have one, but by setting up my computer with my digital presenter, the whole class can see student answers.  It is a great way to keep students interested and engaged.  My students were eager to write and share their answers.  I narrate the answers as students submit their thoughts, which gives us the opportunity for additional discussion.

Here is an excellent tutorial by James Kapptie, which explains Socrative much better than I have.



I have got to try Space Race with my class. They are going to love it!

If you have not already tried Socrative, I encourage you to give it a try.  If you have used it, I am eager to hear some of the ways you have utilized it.  Please share your ideas.

Roll a Monster

We've done a lot of testing this year.  A few weeks ago the kids were test weary and so was I, so I tried this  activity that I found on Pinterest.  It originated from a website called Expressive Monkey.  Students roll dice to decide which body shape, eyes, mouth, etc. to draw to make their monster.  We played with it for a while. Then they chose one to draw for their book cover.  Next they wrote a story about their monster.  I had the happiest writers in town!

I posted the finished books on our Tiger Pride board.

Kidblog Changes

All of my students have their own blogs on Kidblog.org.  After writing and commenting on our paper blogs, we are now working on writing our very first on-line posts.  There have been some big changes to Kidblog this year!  Depending on the settings the teacher chooses, kids can now select an Avatar to display with their comments and in the directory.  They can also choose a background for their blog.

This makes Kidblog much more visually pleasing, and gives the kids an opportunity to have their blog be more individual.  We are going to give this a try.  I think it will make the whole blogging experience much more appealing.

Once we have made these blog design choices, I want my kids to leave them alone and focus on the writing.  Does anyone out there have experience with these new features?  Can you turn off the choices once they have set their avatar and design?  

Paper Blogs

During the last two weeks my students have been taking lots of tests.  Fortunately we have also managed to get some writing in.  We are trying to get our blogs up and running.  I use Kidblog with my students, so they will soon have their very own blogs.  Before they are ready to go on-line, however, we do our first blog post on paper.  

We have been working on personal narratives using our Being a Writer curriculum, so that was a great place to start with blogging.  After my students wrote their personal narrative, they mounted it on card stock.  We talked about how blogs use design to add interest and information to their writing, and to make people want to come back to their blog.  

After we have our first blog post ready, I hang them around the perimeter of our classroom.  Armed with sticky notes, students walk our gallery of blog posts, reading and commenting.  Before we get started, however, we learn how to write good comments.  To do that, I share a blog post and video made by Mrs. Yollis and her students in California.  Here is a link to that post.  

Students read blog posts, and leave their sticky note comments along the edges.  After about 30 minutes, we took a break and let students go back to their own blogs to read the comments.  Some wrote responses to the comments, before we moved back to reading and commenting on other blogs.

This is a really fun activity that clearly illustrates the interactive conversation that a good blog post can generate.  Let's face it, every writer wants someone to read and respond to their work.  I always learn more about the kids with this activity, and I love watching the excitement grow as they receive comments and feedback from the rest of the class.

The original idea for Paper Blogging comes from middle school teacher, Karen McMillan.  You can read more about it on her blog, Notes from McTeach.

We have Parent/Teacher Conferences coming up. I plan to hang our paper blogs in the hall, so parents can read and comment on our posts.  By that time we should have our first real blog posts published on-line.  I hope we can get more parents commenting on our Kidblogs this year.

Heart Maps

Our class is working on writing personal narratives.  We are using the program, Being a Writer, but on Thursday we took a break from that to create Heart Maps.  One of my colleagues made them with her students last year.  A Heart Map is used to inspire you as you are choosing a topic to write about.  I also saw the idea on Pinterest.  You can see that link here.

To make our Heart Maps, I gave each student a paper with the black outline of the heart already on it.  Then I modeled the activity as we added words and drawings for;

• 3 important people
• 3 hobbies
• 3 important places
• 3 memories 
• 3 important things

We made them colorful and interesting.  Then we cut them out and glued them into our Writer's Notebooks. We are referring to them when we need an idea to write about.  I like the way they turned out, and it's a great hands on tool for brainstorming writing ideas.

Class Dojo

Our school does PBIS, Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports.  We have done this for a number of years now.  You can read more about PBIS on the Iowa Department of Education Website if you are interested.  As one of our positive reinforcements we give out Tiger Paws for good behavior. We are the Tigers, thus Tiger Paws.  When students have 20 they turn them into the office. Their name is announced for their good work, and they are entered into a lottery for a special breakfast that is served in the conference room each Friday.  Most kids are enthused about them, even though we have done this for several years.  The problem is, I forget to give them out, especially when things are going well.

This week I began experimenting with a website called Class Dojo.  You can find it at www.classdojo.com.  Class Dojo is a tool for behavior management.  I learned about it from other educators on Plurk.  It is a quick way to recognize good behavior choices in the classroom, and provides a non-intrusive way to correct negative behaviors.  I saw a marked improvement in classroom behavior just in the four days I have used it.  It's easy to use and it's free.

The first thing I did was create a class list.  The website then assigns an avatar to each child.  I used a laptop and my digital presenter to project the screen onto my whiteboard.

Next I loaded the positive behaviors I want to see, and the negatives behaviors I sometimes see.  I am continuing to edit this each day as I see what works and what doesn't.

From there it's easy.  As I am teaching, whether it is whole group or small group, I click on a student's avatar as I see either positive or negative behaviors.  A box will pop up where I can click on the specific behavior.  Immediately afterwards a sign pops up recognizing the good behavior or reminding the student about the behavior that needs to change.  You can decide if you want a sound to go with this.

At the end of the day I give out Tiger Paws based on the positive points.

One of the things I like best is the data that is recorded on the website.  I like the way the website collects the data into circle graphs.  At the end of the day, I can let the class know how many positive points we earned that day.  These same graphs are available for each child, and show not only what percentage of their points were positive and negative, but also what behaviors they are using during the day.

It's a great way to share information with the student, parents, or other staff members. You even have the capability to e-mail reports to parents.

I liked the fact that I was able to use an iPad as a remote, so I could work with a group at my reading table, and as I observed behaviors, give points.  Students saw the reinforcement on the whiteboard.  You can also use a smart phone as a remote.

I don't know if I will use this for the entire year, but I'm definitely going to use it during this first term.  It will be great data to share with parents at conferences.  It was also an eye opener for me as to where my problem areas were in the classroom.  It was a great tool that reminds me to give lots of positive reinforcement, and it was fun for both me and the class.  If not for my PLN and social networking, I never would have heard of it.  Thanks Plurk buddies!

Creating Our Social Contract and Circle Poster

I really like the way our Circle Poster project came out.  We did this the first day of school, and it was one of the projects included in my post,  A Dozen Ideas for the Classroom and I Found Them All On Pinterest.  Each person in the class including teachers decorated 1/4 of a circle with their name and a design.  Then we put them together. It was an opportunity to talk about how we are each unique but we are each important to make up our whole class.

I combined this project with creating our Social Contract.  All the classes in our building create a Social Contract, as does the staff.  This is from our Capturing Kids Hearts training.  I asked the class "How do you want to be treated by others?" "How do you think teachers want to be treated?" "How do you want to be treated by teachers?"  and "How will you treat people?"  They created lists of words to respond to each of the questions.

I had students work independently and then in small groups, to brainstorm the lists of words.  I like to type their lists of words into Wordle or Tagxedo.  The more times a word is entered, the larger it becomes.  The most listed words like respectful, responsible, friendly immediately pop out. This year I used Tagxedo, which has more shape options.   This will now hang on our classroom door all year.

I like having a Social Contract.  It gives us a consistent set of expectations and consistent language, for the behavior in our classroom and school.  From time to time we review the qualities we expect and that we are working toward.

Blogging Our First Week of School

One of my goals for this school year is to be more consistent with our blogging.  It's difficult to keep up the kids enthusiasm about their own blogs, if the teacher is not setting a good example.

To simplify things, I decided to move our class blog onto our website.  I felt that I was spread too thin last year, and I had a lot of trouble keeping up with things.  Also this year, I went back to using students first names for their Kidblogs.  Last year we made up screen names in an effort to increase security, but the down side was that I was constantly confused about who was who.

I decided that the best way to teach about blogging was to model writing a weekly post on our class blog.  I had the students list things in their planners that we did during this first three days of school.  Then I blogged their ideas.  Their enthusiasm increased as they saw their ideas appear in the post.  There was one moment of anxiety when I thought I lost the post, but fortunately I was able to recover the draft.

We will do this again next week, and from there we will move to writing a paper blog.  More about that later.

Using an On-line Lesson Plan Book

Monday is the first official day back for teachers, and the kids will begin on Wednesday.  School may not have started yet, but I'm already beginning to work on my schedule and lesson plans.  For years I used a template that I had created on word.  It gave me my frame work.  All I had to do was update it periodically and type or hand write my plans into it and print it off.

Last year I decided to try out an on-line plan book.  I tried Planbook.com, and I love it. There are so many advantages to an on-line plan book.  If I'm at home and wondering what I had planned for science the next day, I can easily go on line, refresh my memory, and make changes to it, if need be.

Being able to bump or extend my plans to another day is one of my favorite aspects of Planbook.com.  I have a tendency to over plan, so there are many days that we didn't get to an activity, or I realize that it's going to take another day. Using the old fashioned method of handwritten plans, that meant a lot of rewriting of plans.  With Planbook.com all I have to do is hit bump, and I move the lesson plan to the next day, or extend it over as many days as I want.  I especially like the on-line plan book when it comes to long term planning.  I can easily lay out an entire unit at a time.

Having an on-line plan book, makes it easy to give my principal or colleagues access to my plans.  You can set up a code that students, or others can use to see your plan book.  If you teach and plan collaboratively, you can set it up so others can write plans as well.

If you need to include Common Core Standards in your lesson plans, those are built in and readily available.  If your state uses different standards or objectives, you can build a list of those.

For me the trickiest part was setting up my classes at the beginning of the year.  If you decide to try out Planbook.com, they have a series of 14 tutorials to help you get started.  You can create a template that provides the information that you need in your plans every day.  Here is an example of the tutorial for creating or editing a lesson plan.



Even though my plans are on-line, I do print a copy for a paper plan book.  I like to refer to it during the day, make notes, and check things off.  This also makes my lesson plans available to a substitute who probably would not have computer access.  You can choose to view your plans a week at a time, or daily.  At different times, I have printed them off both ways.

There is more than one on-line plan book.  This happens to be the one I use.  One of the reasons I chose it is that it is very reasonably priced, just $12 for the year.

I know this probably sounds like a commercial, but I don't work for Planbook.com and I'm not getting any compensation, though maybe I should try for a discount.  It's a product that has made lesson planning significantly easier for me, and I highly recommend it.

A Dozen Ideas for the Classroom, and I Found Them All on Pinterest

School begins on August 22nd, so I've been working in my classroom for a couple days each week. I like to work on projects at home and then go to school just long enough to install them.

As you can tell from other posts on my blogs, I am a big fan of Pinterest.  Over the past year I have been pinning lots of ideas, with the plan to implement many of them in the fall.    I've had a variety of projects to work on at home.  Here are a dozen ideas that I found on Pinterest.

1.  Classroom Rules

I've always had the standard list of numbered rules posted in my classroom.  They were succinct and to the point.  Permanent magic marker on a poster has made my expectations for behavior clear.  Then I started seeing some other ways of posting class rules.  Some were painted on wood, like this Classroom Rules Subway Sign on Etsy.  Or this one where you could download a PDF and print yourself.  But none of them quite met my needs.  Instead, I used the computer, scrapbook paper, and a poster frame to come up with my Classroom Rules.

2.  Welcome Sign

I also created this Welcome Sign to go outside my door.  This idea didn't come from any particular pin, but it was inspired by ideas to use picture frames from the dollar store.  It's a lot better and more welcoming than the piece of white paper that I had taped outside my door last year.

3.  Whole Class Journals

All of my students have writer's notebooks, as well as blogs, but I like this idea for Whole Class Journals.  Students take turns writing in a class journal on various subjects.  I set up one for Favorite Places, Family, Pets, Sports, Hobbies, Favorite Memories, the Weekend, and Wishes.  It's a great way to share writing, learn more about each other, and appreciate each other's work.

4. Partner Wheel

A Partner Wheel is something I used last year.  Our class does a lot of collaborative work, but taking time to assign partners can be a real time waster.  There are times that I let kids choose their own partners, but sometimes we end up with more play than work that way. A Partner Wheel can make this a quick process.  You can set the wheels up so you pair strong readers with weaker readers.  You could set it up so girls get paired with boys.  You could make it a random arrangement.  If you have students who are better off not working together, just put their names on the same wheel, and they will not ever be partners, no matter how many times you turn the wheel.

The original blog by Karen Moler has templates to easily make your own partner wheels.  They won't work for me, because I have 26 students, so I need to put 13 names on each wheel. That's proving to be a little tricky. I thought I had it done, but when I recounted I found there were 14 spaces.  Once I have it done, I'm going to make several copies, before I put the names on.  I'm going to make a few wheels, to pair partners in different ways.

5. Back to School Foldable

I like foldables, and we will definitely be using this memoir mini-book.  If you go to the original post on For the Love of Teaching Math, you can download the PDF and view Andrea's step by step directions for cutting and folding the mini-book.

6.  Class Jigsaw Puzzle

Last year, on the first day of school, my class put together this jigsaw puzzle.  Each person made and decorated a piece that included their name.  We assembled it, and it hung on the outside of our classroom door all year.  The original idea for this puzzle poster came from a blog from Germany.  While I had a year of German in college, it wasn't enough to enable me to read the blog post.  I managed to read the picture well enough to come up with this "getting to know you" activity for our first day of school.  It was a great way to show that everyone in our class is unique, and that without everyone, our class would be incomplete.

Hint:  If you decide to do this activity, mark the undecorated pieces so that kid know which is the right side, and where the top is.  Otherwise their work may be upside down or on the wrong side when the puzzle is assembled.

7. Circle Poster

This year, instead of the jigsaw puzzle, my class is going to make this circle poster.  It works on the same principle, and it should be easier to assemble.  This time each person decorates 1/4 of a circle.  I haven't been able to find the original blog post but here is a link to my Pinterest Pin so click on the link to see what the finished poster should look like.  Oddly enough, when you try to go to the blog, it appears to be from a German blog again.


8.  Top Ten Facts About Me Poster

This was another great way to get to know your students and we did this one last yeaar.  I saw a poster similar to this on Pinterest, and if you want them ready made, you can order them from Really Good Stuff.  I got out my scrapbooking "how to" books and designed my own, and then had 11 x 17 copies made.

I tied the project into our Writer's Workshop and grammar lessons.  It was a good way to review sentence structure and talk about writing complex sentences using vivid language.  I modeled the writing process and designed my own poster, demonstrating how to add designs that added meaning to the poster.  Each person presented their poster to the class a' la David Letterman.  We had a lot of fun with it.  I learned a lot about the kids, and it made a nice display for the hall.

9. Finished Work Cart

I've seen a lot of organizational posts about decorating and labeling the drawers on those rolling plastic carts.  I like this one for handing in work.  This has become a big issue for me, because lots of new reading materials were delivered to my classroom and I needed to find a place for them.  We have a new reading adoption, Houghton Mifflin Journeys, but we are not retiring the old one, Houghton Mifflin Reading.  That means lots and lots of little tubs of readers.  I needed the shelf space where I usually have my finished work boxes.

This project proved to be a lot more difficult than it looked, but I like the final outcome.  The blogger, Sue, from The Very Busy Kindergarten,  said that she used double stick tape, but I didn't have any, so I started out using clear contact paper.  That is a favorite beginning of the school year tool for me, but it didn't work very well in this case.  After the top two drawers, I switched to packing tape which worked much better.  I had trouble getting the paper to stick flat against the drawer front.  I was afraid the decorative paper would get torn by students turning in work.

Hint:  The next time I do this, I will probably only cut paper to fit the front panel and not curve around the edges.  Also, I just randomly chose paper.  I do like color, but next time I think I will coordinate the colors a little better.  It's okay for now.  I like the fact that I can just pull the entire cart over to wherever I am working in the room.

10.  Tiger Pride

I have several bulletin boards in my classroom, and I needed some new ideas.  I saw this idea for a Proud Wall.  Students decide what goes on this Wall of Pride.  I like the idea of letting kids choose work that they are proud of and would like to share with others.  This can also be a showcase for artwork and writing that is not necessarily the result of assigned work.  We are the Phillips Tigers, so I put together this Tiger Pride bulletin board.

11. Binder Clip Mailbox Labels

I have been using the same set of mailboxes for at least 8 years, and before that they belonged to a friend who has since retired from teaching.  It can be tricky to get the labels for the new class of students to stick on the mailbox slots.  I never would have thought of this solution on my own, but I saw it on Pinterest.  Label binder clips and use them as your labels.  Easy peasy!

Hint:  If you want to write the names with a permanent marker or use clear labels like I did, buy light colored binder clips.  I didn't think of this beforehand.  I solved my problem by putting a small piece of white paper under the student name, so that they could be seen.

I also used the same idea to label my file baskets.

12.  Owl Display

I like owls, and I have been wanting to make them part of a display.  I've seen ideas like this pin and this one.  I don't have this one together yet, but I am in the process of making owls.  Here's another opportunity for me to use my scrapbook supplies.  Each owl will have a student name on it.  My caption will be "4th Grade is a Hoot!"

So that's it;  a dozen ideas to begin my school year, and I found these, and lots more, on Pinterest.  I have been teaching for 25 years.  Twenty-two have been at the same school.  Things get old and worn out in that time.  I've had a lot of fun putting these projects together, and I like the fresh new look it has given my classroom.

Pinterest Hint

I have been bookmarking or pinning these ideas over the past year.  If you are on Pinterest,  be sure that you pin the actual blog post that has your information.  Sometimes it was the blog that got pinned and not the post.  This makes it hard to find the information when you want to go back to it.  That's something I've learned the hard way, as I've been looking through my boards.

If you would like to look at my Pinterest Boards you can find them at  http://pinterest.com/barbaraday/.  I have boards on lots of subjects besides education.  You are free to view or follow if you're interested.

School Supplies

These teapots arrived in the mail yesterday.  The little blue one is to take to school, and the lime green one is to keep at home to get me ready to go to school each day.  You have your idea of school supplies, and I have mine.

In all seriousness, it is important for teachers to take good care of themselves.  I hear lots of teachers in my PLN talk about giving up their teacher desks and moving their supplies out of the way to make more room for their students.  What do you do to nurture yourself in your classroom.  For me, it's having a nice cup of tea.

Welcome Cards

I just made a trip to the post office to mail Welcome to 4th Grade cards to my new students.  This is a tradition at my school. A few weeks before school begins, all the teachers mail a letter or card to their incoming class. We've been doing this for more then ten years, after our staff read the book Parents on Your Side by Lee Canter.

Sometimes I use my Stampin Up Stamps, but this year I decided to update a design I used two years ago.  I created a word mosaic using my students first names.  The word mosaic was created on the website, Image Chef.  I created the card using Print Shop, which is a software program.  I use Print Shop a lot to create name tags, labels, signs, and posters.  I will talk more about that in a later post.

Mailing the welcome cards is a sure sign that the adventure of a new school year is about to begin.

The Class List is in the Mail

This week, I received my class list in the mail along with the welcome back letter from my principal.  That is a sure sign that the beginning of a new school year is just around the corner.

I have really enjoyed this summer.  Over the summer I have enjoyed reading, knitting, and spending time with family and friends. It is the first time in a few years that I did not work a second job, and therefore I feel rested, recharged, and just a little bored.  The extreme heat this summer has kept me inside more than I wanted to be, thus the boredom.  A little boredom is a good thing, because I feel excited and ready to head back to school.

I really love this time of year!  August is a time of year that I get a little crafty, making things for my classroom.  The classroom and the school year are a clean slate.  I can continue things I started the previous year or I can completely change them up, so it's time to reflect on things that worked well, and others that didn't.  It's the time when I begin putting together my 4th grade learning environment in a room that is so spanking clean that the floors literally gleam.

One of the things that worked well last year was the book shopping days in our classroom library. On their book shopping days, students browsed our collection to select three or four books that they wanted to read during the coming week.  Prior to last year, my classroom library tended to be a place where some people hung out and wasted lots of time, but did little reading.  This approach was suggested by people in my PLN and I was amazed by how well it worked.

Last year I made the light blue curtains. On book shopping days we open up the curtains so people can browse the books stored behind them.  I really liked the clean look that it gave our classroom, so I decided to curtain off the messy shelves where I house my teaching materials.  I didn't have more of the light blue doggy fabric, but I remade these denim curtains from curtains that used to hang in my son's bedroom.

My desks are arranged, and some of the books have been passed out.  I'm sure this floor plan will be the first of many.  I change desks around frequently.  I like to have students seated in groups, but I don't like them facing each other.  Some kids need more personal space than table groupings provide.  Once I meet the kids, I will know more about what works for them.

We have brand new reading books this year, so I am excited about that.

My new class rules poster is up, and the welcome sign is outside our door, but there is nothing on the bulletin boards, nor do I have any of my computers set up.  There is lots more to do, but I am excited about the progress I have made.  Teachers officially report on August 21st, but I will be going in for a few hours a day, at least twice a week.  School begins for us on August 22nd and by the time the kids arrive, I will be ready.

A Knitting Disability

One of my hobbies is knitting.  I first learned how to knit when I was ten years old and in Girl Scouts. We learned to knit a pair of slippers.  I may have tried it a few times after that, but I didn't really knit again until January of this year, when I found and made that very same slipper pattern.  Since that time I've been enjoying taking classes, learning new stitches and improving my skills.  I am fascinated by how each stitch works together to create the fabric, and then finally a beautiful usable item.

Yesterday I took a class to learn how to knit a shawl.  The pattern is called Highland Fling.  I had met the instructor before. I knew her to be a very skilled knitter with a brusque style.  At that first meeting she asked me why "I knitted like that", and had I thought about "changing."  Last night she told me I knitted "funny" and again reiterated that "I should change."

You see, I have a knitting disability. I am left handed.  I didn't really know it was a disability until I began taking classes.  After all, I have been left handed all of my life, as are about 10% of the population, so it seemed natural to knit left handed.  Apparently, most left handers adapt and learn how to knit right handed.

Knitting left handed does have its challenges, because all knitting patterns are written for right handed people. The left hander needs to analyze and reverse all the directions.   When given time and quiet to think about things, I have been pretty successful in doing this.  This shawl is the most complex pattern I have tried.  Given time, I know I can do this, but being yelled at because I don't understand immediately was not very helpful.  Nor was being asked to change who I am.


While I did think about gathering up my things and fleeing, I'm glad I stayed.  It was a good experience for a teacher to have.  Every now and then, we need to be on the other side of things.  It made me think about what our kids go through, especially those who struggle. I want to become more sensitive to my students who process and learn differently than the majority.  We need to give kids the Quiet (see my previous post) and space to learn and think.  


How many kids feel secure in their own uniqueness at home, only to lose that sense of security once they enter a classroom.  Kids should not have to change who they are to be successful  at school.  Nor should they be humiliated because they don't learn or process in the same way or as quickly as others.  Increasing our time for small group work in both reading and math is an important way to respect this uniqueness.  Also providing students with a variety of ways to demonstrate their learning will be helpful.  


Most important, I need to slow down, listen, and monitor my own tone of voice as I am working with students.  How many kids withdraw and shut down because of the sarcasm or irritation in a teacher's voice.  Last night's experience was a reminder of that. When it comes to fight or flight, I always pick flight.  I'm going to make sure my kids don't have those feelings because of something I do.  I rededicate myself to making my classroom a safe place to learn.


There is room for all of us in this world, even those of us who are left handed knitters.  

Quiet

I just finished the book Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.  It is a book that I would highly recommend to others.  Here is my review from Goodreads.


Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I first learned about this book when I saw Susan Cain on a TED Talk. It got my attention, because like at least a third of the population, I am an introvert. I was eager to learn more about what she had to say. This is a really excellent book. It is well researched, and for me there were many times when I thought, "So that's why I feel like that when I'm in that situation."

She does a good job explaining the cultural attitudes regarding introverts and extroverts, as well as helping people to understand why others react the way they do. I thought it was very interesting to learn how western culture has transformed into a culture of personality, from Dale Carnegie on. Understanding the differences in the way introverts and extroverts function and think has implications for all of us, but particularly for me as an educator.

Jill Burruss and Lisa Kaenzig from the College of William and Mary state, "The truth is that many schools are designed for extroverts. Introverts need different kinds of instruction from extroverts. And too often, very little is made available to that learner except constant advice on becoming more social and gregarious."

As I set up my classroom and get to know my students this fall, I am going to keep the research cited by Cain in mind. One study showed that "College students who tend to study alone learn more over time than those who work in groups. . ." We do a lot of partner and group work in my classroom. I plan to offer more options for those who prefer to work independently. There will be two other teachers working in my classroom during parts of the day. As we collaborate to set up the room, I will make them aware that,

"Indeed, excessive stimulation seems to impede learning: a recent study found that people learn better after a quiet stroll through the woods than after a noisy walk down a city street."

Introverts and extroverts respond differently to rewards as well. Extroverts are more likely to seek reward, whereas introverts may be more interested in pursuing a personal goal or studying a subject because it is of particular interest to them. Cain refers to this as reward-sensitivity.

I liked the fact that Ms. Cain did not write this book to tell the introvert how to change, but rather how to be one's true self and cope more effectively in today's world. She states, "Understanding where we fall on the reward-sensitivity spectrum gives us the power to live our lives well."

I particularly like this quote from Susan Cain,

"If you're a teacher, enjoy your gregarious and participatory students. But don't forget to cultivate the shy, the gentle, the autonomous, the ones with single-minded enthusiasms for chemistry sets or parrot taxonomy or nineteenth-century art. They are the artists, engineers, and thinkers of tomorrow."

I highly recommend this book. Whether you are an introvert, or you know one, you will come away understanding yourself and others better.

View all my reviews  Check out Susan Cain's TED Talk here.

Pinterest: Professional Development From the Comfort of Your Couch

Since I first began using it, Pinterest has become a very popular social networking site.  If you have never checked it out, it's a social networking site with a twist.  Instead of carrying on conversations with other people, you follow their ideas and interests.  Pinterest works like a virtual bulletin board.  You create boards about things you are interested in, and when you find websites, blogs, ideas or photos that you like, you pin them to your boards.

Like other social networks you follow other people, but in this case you really follow their pins and boards.  In other words you see the things they are pinning to their boards.  If you like it, you can repin it to one of your boards.  At the present time, I have 29 boards.  My boards center around education, food, my hobbies, and a few other topics.

If you are a very visual person, like I am, you will love it!  It is sort of an on-line magazine. In this magazine you choose the topics that you want to see.

During the year or so that I have been using Pinterest, I have been inspired to try many new things in my classroom.  I have been introduced to blogs I didn't know existed, and astounded by the dedication and creativity of teachers from around the world.  Pinterest has also prompted me to be more creative myself, and to put my own spin on things.

Of my twenty-nine boards, nine of them are devoted to education topics.  I have a Math Board.  When we were learning about geometry, I found many great ideas including this lesson for using Cheez-Its to learn about area and perimeter.

I discovered the world of Foldables on Pinterest, and I have a board for that.  I saw an idea using a foldable to create a book report for biographies.  I addapted that idea, and when we studied the Middle Ages, we created Medieval Paper Dolls.  Each person chose someone from the middle ages to learn about.  They used a pattern that I had, leftover from my days of teaching first grade, to make the paper doll.  They wrote a story in third person, describing life for this group of people,  then they also wrote a story from the point of view of their character.  All of this was in the little book that their person is holding.  I was very happy with the way this project turned out, and I will definitely do it again.  We were also satisfying the requirements of one of our Iowa Core Standards.

Right now there are many ideas being posted for beginning of the school year activities.  Last year my class created a Name Puzzle, which hung on our classroom door all year.  The original idea for this puzzle poster came from a blog from Germany.  While I had a year of German back in college, it wasn't enough to enable me to read the blog post, but I managed to read the picture well enough to come up with this "getting to know you" activity for our first day of school.  It was a great illustration of the fact that everyone in our class is unique, but without everyone, our class would be incomplete.

Good ideas are always a catalyst for more creativity.  Where are you finding inspiration as you move toward a new school year?  If you haven't tried Pinterest, I highly recommend it.  My recommendation does come with a warning.  Pinterest can be highly addictive.  You can spend hours exploring one great idea after another.

iDeas for Our iPads

This week will be my fifth week of summer vacation.  Up until now, I have not wanted to think about school at all.  Now that July has begun, there is this tiny part of me that is beginning to plan, and longs for a little of the structure that is part of my school year. As I browse Pinterest, I'm starting to look at beginning of the year ideas with a little more interest.  Now don't get me wrong. I am in no way ready to go back to school just yet, but I am ready to do some of the creative planning for school that I really love.

Two weeks ago, when I was participating in professional development for math, we were asked to write some story problems for math.  I had one of my classroom iPads with me.  I started creating my story problems on the iPad using the app, Keynote.  This app was so easy to use and the slides looked fantastic.  It was easy to use the camera on the iPad2 and insert photos into the presentation.

I feel like I kind of missed the boat here last year.  While we used our iPads daily, we primarily used them to blog or research.  Next year my students are going to use Keynote to present their learning to the class.  There are countless ways that we can use this app.  I have no doubt they will be very successful.

Another app that we have on our iPads but have not used is iBrainstorm.  I plan to model using this app for class discussions.  After my 4th graders have seen it in use a few times, I think this is another app that will be very productive, especially for collaborative work.

My principal asked each of us to check out one of our iPads for the summer.  She wanted us to play with them and explore.  I have a feeling this was just what she had in mind.