Today I was told some wonderful news. This news is something i’ve wanted for my entire life. The news was delivered to me at the crack of dawn. When I received the news I nodded, shook some hands, put cream in my coffee and then drove to work to prepare for a wonderful day with my amazing kids. I kept the news in the vault, and never allowed myself to think about the achievement.  
And funny enough it took a post from Dave Burgess for me to take a step back. You can read his post here. Although it was something i’ve wanted my entire life it took 13 hours and a post from a PLN member and educational pirate for me to enjoy. A smile followed. The smile has still not left!

You see, I believe us educators devote every second awake to our practice and our children. We do it selflessly and never ask for anything in return. In a matter of fact I believe most of us even would say it feels awkward to be recognized. We have a “go, go, go” mindset. We look for celebrations in others and choose to overlook our accomplishments.

And I just realized that is unfair to... well me. Sooo….

This blog is my celebration post, and it feels great writing it. Now, what can you take time to celebrate? Do it!

Thank you! And I would love to hear about your celebrations! 

@rondorland

So you are updating your practice and running a classroom that more mimics the world we live in today. Kids are engaged in every day activities and you are proud of your evolving pedagogy. And then it happens, a parent storms into your classroom ready to knock you off your perch that you so proudly are sitting on as you finally updated your curriculum. We all have them. Parents, who for one reason or another, are against their child using technology in the classroom. So what can you possibly say to them to change their pre-conceived, possibly archaic, notion of what education should look like?
 
I run a twenty-first century classroom. The kids in my class use a lot of different platforms, and yes a lot are online. Over the years I have had my fair share of parents questioning my integrity and use of the digital world. But after collaborating with them on what is best for their child we both almost always leave satisfied. Here is how I do it.
 
I sit down with them and have grade objectives in front of me. Together we go through short and long-term goals for their child using the Understanding By Design (UBD) backwards design framework.  I then ask these three questions…

1. At the end of the year what do you want your child to know? (Refer to objectives but also discuss social emotional)
2. How together can we create structures that would support your child reaching those goals?
3. Then what tools do you think is best to accomplish this?

 
What this method accomplishes is that by the time we finish answering question three they start seeing the benefits of technology in the classroom. Technology is a tool that enhances the learning process. And after the parents see the benefits of their child using online tools, you should be able to climb atop that perch once again.
 
Hope this helps! 

​@rondorland

I am very excited for next week as on Tuesday I have a new student teacher joining my room. This is not my first student teacher and it will not be my last. This is a very exciting yet frightening time for these new and upcoming teachers. So the least we can do as mentors is give guidance to them to improve their pedagogy. Here are my five tips for student teachers to get the most out of the students they teach as well as their own emerging practice.
 
1.Look For Strengths
Too often teachers overlook what’s important and instead focus on behaviour that is less than perfect.  Remember each child is full of potential and make it a goal during your first week to find them all. From here you can use these strengths in building your curriculum.
2.Build Trust
I know you are nervous “swimming with the sharks” for the first time but guess what, they are nervous too having a new adult in the room. In your first week make sure you focus on relationships and build trust so the child can risk-take. This can be as simple as making sure you give them a high five in the morning with a compliment. And don’t forget to smile and have fun!
3.Reassess Your Lesson Plans
Innovation and stagnation can’t coincide. So if you are making certain lesson plans because you feel you need too to impress your school associate, teachers and administrators, then stop. Don’t put your focus on the dotting the “i’s” and crossing the “t’s”. The focus needs to be solely on the children and getting the most out of them. Make your lesson plans inquiry based and real world. Click the document below to see a quick and easy lesson plan I created for my student teacher last year.
4.Go With The Flow
So you’ve made your lesson plans and are focused on getting all of them in, three lessons before recess, two after recess and another two after lunch. Let me ask you, when is the last time you put a time line on your learning? Don’t make silo lessons but rather make lessons cross curricular and relevant without time lines. Use a “feel” based approach in your teaching. If a lesson is hitting home then don’t stop it, instead learn to go with the flow.
5.Get On Twitter
I know all the focus is on learning something new, which I know is scary. But it is also essential to develop your practice from seasoned veterans. Make a Twitter account and get involved in Twitter teacher chats. You can see a schedule of all the great chats here, created by Jerry Blumengarten.
 
Good luck to all student teachers out there! You are joining a wonderful profession! 

@rondorland

For you first timers to the Global Read Aloud Project (GRA) get ready to be blown away. If done correctly you are about to improve your curriculum a million times over. Pernille Ripp has always done her due diligence in choosing thought provoking, emotionally consuming books that keep you on the edge of your seat, glued to the plot and wanting more, more, more! This year is no different. No matter what book you choose (they are all wonderful) if you place your GRA curriculum around the competencies communicating, thinking and the student, then your room is a haven for literature loving!
 
The one thing that takes this amazing project to a whole other level is the ability for students to communicate.  Do not treat this read aloud like a regular 1980’s novel study. If you are using worksheets, pre-made tests then you are completely dropping the ball. Instead as a teacher, do your homework and make connections. Through platforms like Edmodo, Twitter, Weebly, Kidblogs etc… it has never been easier. Don’t wait for others to do the legwork for you in terms of connecting. You are capable, so start adding teachers and classrooms now.
 
Once the platforms are in place let your students connect with other kids and teachers around the world, and share information and ideas about the book. Engagement, understanding and enjoyment will never be higher.  In other words students will love reading and arriving to class in the morning.  Trust me!
 
Here are frameworks I have set into place so my kids can get the most out of the amazing Global Read Aloud Project:

• Connect daily reading to the child’s multiple intelligence. My grade 6 students are all in different stations throughout the room learning how they learn best…their way.
• Set up Edmodo groups to connect students globally who are reading the same novel. Have thought prompting questions for them daily, but also allow them autonomy to have discussions with their new global friends and PLN.  (Yes each kid, like us, needs a personalized learning network.)
• Blog, Blog, Blog. My students all have Weebly accounts where they share their learning. But what takes blogging to another level are the comments. Teacher you need to start a blog roll and have your kids comment on other blogs and vice versa.
• Skype often.
• Have a before or after school tea club. Kind of like a “Dead Poets Society”, where you open up in-depth novel dialogue. It is amazing how many kids will join in to talk literature. How cool is that!
• Use digital platforms to engage and enhance. Don’t tell kids the apps but rather let them choose. For example, some of my kids want to talk about plot through an Adobe Voice and Adobe Slade presentation.
• Have a classroom Twitter handle and hashtag. (Make sure you share the hashtag for others to see). If students have their own accounts let them tweet openly. They love it.
• Make time to be a part of the author’s novel concluding Google Hangout.

 
It is the eve of arguably the most important project you will run in your room this year. Please embrace the opportunities the great Perille Ripp has afforded us. I hope this post has given you some ideas. I will be reading “Fish In A Tree” as there is zero percent chance I would pass on a Lynda Mullaly Hunt novel. If you have not connected please don’t wait any longer. Write me a comment below or send me a message on Twitter @rondorland and I will add you to my novel contacts. The map above are the connections I made last year, and if you click here you can read a post I wrote last year on just how engaged my class was. Happy reading everyone!

​
A week ago I was asked to present at Ignite 35 in Langley. Below is my presentation reworked into paragraphs, and due to this it may be all over the place. But one thing it is for sure is me and my beliefs. Enjoy! 
 
Just a short few years ago, feeling unenthusiastic with my profession I found myself wanting out. I did everything teacher school asked of me except I was passionless. I was searching for something to run with. Now I am a grade 7 teacher. In other words, I have been bestowed the responsibility of steering the ship of hormone filled, media consumed, iphone possessed preteens. Yikes right! Wrong. Here is where I challenge myself. How can I get them so engaged in themselves, class culture and the learning process that they cant stop chatting about it to parents, friends, global peers and, if lucky, myself? I want them to love class so much that they almost need it like air.
 
I want to begin with a story. Alyssa, a grade 7 student in Coquitlam, and my niece. After failed forced commitment in both soccer and martial arts her heart led her to Track and Field, a choice that was fully hers. A year and a half later she is the provincial champion in 9 events and is the best in North America in 4. The choice of track was hers. Her passion, desire, need to learn and improve all stemmed from curiosity and is now evident daily in her confidence and voice. Her story captures what the learning process should look like, and mirrors what I attempt to accomplish. ‘Passionate, explorative, happy learner given every opportunity to follow his/her own chosen path.’  But when I tell kids that they have autonomy in their learning they love it, but then soon realize taking control of their own learning isn’t as easy as it sounds. The reason for this is a broken system.
 
From the moment a kid steps foot on a school ground they are bombarded with rules and expectations that promote and even encourage kids to blend in. Stripping the heart and soul from the student. Here is where we as educators can help.
We have the power to remove the trowel from their hands that willingly but not by choice they used to build up their protective wall. We can make them see that standing out is not a bad thing but rather an amazing one.
 
How do I accomplish this? I devote endless time and efforts getting into their heart. I know the importance of the informal moments so at recess and lunch I prefer to grab a tetherball rather than a sandwich. I coach so I can be present when they have stories that you need to see to believe and I even have tea with them after school discussing their hobbies, fingernail colours and even Caitlyn Jenner. Supportive autonomy needs to constantly be reinforced and that is why, just like the ’66 Coup de Ville that resides in my dad’s garage, I developed PRRR principles that underline my classroom. Passion, Respect, Relationships and Relevance.
 
Passion is a funny thing, as some find it easy to discover while others struggle to find it. It took me 5 years of teaching to find my passion and it may take kids that long too. All we can do is give opportunities daily while supporting their journey.
And when you give those opportunities magic can happen. Like Sage, the humanitarian, who wanted to better the life of kids in India, so during her Genius Hour project last year created a website, learned how to use her dads power tools to make wooden bracelets, created an Etsy account, advertise,  and after 1 month she wrote a cheque to an orphanage for $730.
 
Respect… respect comes in different forms but none is more important than developing an environment where kids respect and even celebrate other kids and their differences.  Ask Paul, a boy who stopped, in his words, trying to be “macho” and instead showed the class, that not like Zoolander, he can turn left on the catwalk.
 
Relationships… go with the mentality that you are never doing enough. Do something every day to improve relationships with every single kid. Meet them with a high five and a compliment. Never use a red pen and take time to hear those painful stories about nothing as funny enough that nothing is something to them. Be there for them when they fall and be present to hear them brag.
 
Relevance… I tell them to live your life, learn what you want to learn, and I will do all I can to make the classroom relevant for you. But I do tell them they need to do something for me. Don’t do anything to just fit in. I live by the idea that you don’t wait for change to happen if you can be that change. I also pass that message on to my kids. I don’t sugar coat what lies before them. I tell them life is hard and obstacles are everywhere. But passion, and I mean true passion, knocks down all barriers.
 
So building relationships and attempting to improve a child’s life is what I ran with.  It took me 5 years and around 150 students coming and going to realize that where the heart is the mind will soon follow. And simply, lovers of learning are lovers of life. This year I have 28 kids in my room and the classroom is theirs. Forget the question, would you buy a ticket to your own classroom, and instead ask would you buy a ticket to theirs? Put their education back in their hands where it belongs and ask them to run with it.

​Below is my Ignite35 PowerPoint presentation.