Once Upon A Teacher

I had to to do it. I've seen several blogs sporting their mosaic of twitter friends, so I know it's nothing new...but I love it because most of the twitter profile pictures are the faces of the actual people I'm connecting with on twitter.

I get lovingly ribbed from time to time here at work about "those twitter people" I talk to, but I couldn't professionally grow the way that I have in the past year without twitter. I learn from my "twits" through their "tweets" and I have over 300 people all over the world that I can ask questions.....AND get answers!

Thank you, twitter friends, for helping me grow as an educator. I hope that I can return the favor in the future. <3

Get your twitter mosaic here.

Last fall, we were involved in a mentoring project with preservice teachers in Dean Shareski's class at the University of Regina , in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. So, we were very excited to be able to participate again this term.

This time, Dean has teamed up with Alec Courosa to have even more college students mentoring classes across the country. The way it works is that Dean and Alec's students choose from a list of teachers/classrooms which blogs they would like to follow and mentor. The last time we participated, the college students left comments, exchanged emails with the teacher and posted a video online teaching the class about themselves.

Since most of our teachers only began blogging this year, the first mentorship project was a window into possibilities. Instead of just wondering how they could encourage parents to comment on the class blog, they became interested in what our global visitors might have to say about the work going on in their classroom. Watching clustermap hits was a much more personal experience and the students became much more interested in "who" was making the comments when they saw comments approved on a post. They enjoyed getting to respond to comments if it was needed.

We're so excited to be involved in this project again that we wanted to kick it up a notch by starting off with an introduction video from the three classes involved, Jessica Lipsky's 5th Grade, Cathy Daniels & Randi Timmons 1st Grade and Debby Cothern & Michelle Ellis' K class. Last time, the kids enjoyed getting to actually "see" video clips of their mentor, so we recorded a few quick things to introduce ourselves to the mentor. I hope it will help make the personal connections click with the college students. Give them a quick view of the little faces behind the blog and what they are hoping to get out of this experience. Here are the videos:

Kindergarten Mentor Video from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

First Grade Mentor Video from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

I can't wait to see what this term's project brings!

I was recently reminded by Clustermaps (as they notified me of the yearly archived map) that our Professional Development blog, LIVE from the Creek, has just turned one year old.

LIVE from the Creek began last January as the ten members of our leadership team headed out to a conference in Hollywood, CA. We wanted to share everything we were learning and doing with our teachers and decided the best way to do that would be starting a blog.

Since that time, we've made blogging a requirement for everyone who attends professional development. If they are chosen to attend and would like to continue to attend trainings, they have to be willing to share their work. It's been a huge success. Not only do we have over 90 teachers logging in to read about our learning, we have developed a global audience that gives us feedback through comments.

We just returned from a few days in Orlando, FL at FETC where we blogged our learning. Please jump on over and join in on the conversation!

I got tagged on the Seven Things You Don't Need to Know About Me meme by Anne Oro and Bill Genereux . Some of my office mates know me TOO well, so I had to really work on this! So Anne and Bill, here you go:

1. My best friend in high school was Kevin Bond. We used to sit on the bus together and share Walkman tunes. We lost touch after high school but he has recently moved near my brother so I'm sure we'll see each other and catch up again soon.

2. I am afraid of heights. I don't ride roller coasters, climb ladders or look out the window in airplanes. I can directly link this back to a bad field trip experience. When I was in second grade, I lived in Chicago, Illinois and we went on a trip to the Sears tower. I remember the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as the elevator climbed over 100 floors. When we got to the top floor the kids in my class all rushed to the ceiling to floor window/wall and I got caught in the crowd. I was unintentionally pushed face first into the window looking down on miniscule Chicago. My mother will tell you that when I brought home my drawing of my favorite part of the trip...it was a drawing of me sitting of the bus returning to school!

3. I love to draw and paint. I am very critical of myself and don't do well when being artistic on command, which is the only reason I did not choose some area of art for my college degree. I used to fill sketch pads with drawings. This is the last one I drew and it is dated '88 (I had my first child the next year). All of the paintings I painted were framed and hung in my dad's house until he died and now they are in my closet. I really can't look at them.

4. All of my family is from Kentucky. I was born in Lexington, KY. Every summer of my life I visited my mother's childhood home in Jenkins, KY on Wheaton Hollow. She grew up very much like Lorretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter, which is very nearby (same mountain). My grandfather was a coal miner. When I was little I remember him leaving for work before sunrise and arriving home covered head to toe in soot. The whites of his eyes were the only part that resembled the Papaw I knew. My father grew up in Bagdad, KY on a tobacco farm. My Mamaw always told me stories about having to "switch" my daddy. She said she had a peach tree in the yard that never did get to grow!

5. My favorite kind of music is Hip Hop. It all started in high school with songs like this and this. The top 3 songs in my Ipod right now are this, this and this. I know - I don't fit the mold...but that's the way it is. I also like Country music artists like Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley

and Little Big Town.

6. My hair used to be half blonde and half brunette. I was 15 and my favorite rock group at the time was Berlin. It was a interesting look that got a lot of attention, but I wasn't the only person in my high school sporting it. It didn't really suit me, as you can imagine. It didn't help that my hair is hopelessly curly and we didn't have flat irons back then.

7. My first and last car accident wasn't as amazing as Alec Courosa's but it was unusual. I lived in New Orleans, LA when I learned to drive at the age of 15 (you can get you license at this age there). One of the first things they teach you in Driver's Ed is to roll down your windows if you are going into a canal. (The canals run down the middle of almost every street.) The reason is because the water pressure can keep you from escaping. So...when I drove on my first wet road and my car went into a spin...I saw myself heading for a full canal with my brother in the car. I immediately began screaming for him to open the window. I found out that when a car goes airborne into water it will fill halfway up on impact. I watched my brother escape before I tried to get out and the water was up to my neck by that time. With the car in a vertical postion it was hard to wriggle free but I managed to escape with only a few scrapes and the lovely smell of sewage all over. Because the engine was on, the car was totalled. But even though it had just been paid off, my father never complained. Now that I'm a parent, I know why.

I tag the following people:
Susan Phillips
dayle timmons

Suzanne Shall

Jenny Nash
Alice Larson
Christine Cowan
Vicky Banks

As I logged in this morning to check in on my PLN, I saw a question that Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach was posing. Before you had a computer or used it as much as you do now....what did you USED to do? This really got me thinking.

I'm constantly trying to find a balance in my work and personal life. I am passionate about both

so it seems like just as soon as I get caught up I have gotten myself started into a new project or two....or twelve! So, what did I used to do before I worked on a computer?

#1 Needlepoint - I have a huge case of embroidery floss that has been waiting for a project. I started building my stock of colors when I was in 8th grade. The last project I did was several years ago. At this point, I plan on saving it

for my 12 yr. old. She seems interested in learning.

#2 I used to clean regularly - Well, this is self explanatory. Now I find myself looking at a dirty floor or counter and saying, "Oh! I need to clean! Better do that today." When I used to just do it regularly.

#3 Board Games - When my older children were little we played Candyland, Uncle Wiggly, Trouble and Chutes & Ladders. When my friends came over I was always the one to drag out the Trivial Pursuit game. Now, I log in to Webkinz or visit Starfall with my kids way more often than we play board games. I haven't played Trivial Pursuit in many years.

# 4 Write letters on paper - I cannot remember the last time I wrote a letter through snail mail. Part of me thinks I never will again. The other part of me thinks of the shoebox of letters

I have saved in my closet that were penned to me through the years from my Great Grandmother, my Grandmother and my father. All have since passed away and it is simply dear to me to see their handwriting with the words
... Dear Melanie,
Anytime I am feeling sad, I pull out one of these letters and read the sweet words written to me by these people. Their handwriting is unique and it makes me sad to think that I'm not sure my own children could pick my handwriting out in a group.

SO! Here's my New Year's Resolutions for 2009

#1 Write a handwritten letter to each of my four children at least once this year.
#2 Play board games with my children more often.
#3 Finish my last incomplete needlepoint project (my youngest daughter's Christmas stocking)
#4 Take better care of myself by losing weight and eating healthy.

I hope this post helps you ponder as I have, how your life has changed and where your year is going. Would love to hear your thoughts...

With my oldest child turning 19 this month and my youngest two being 5, I've had many years of practice reading books aloud at home. No one showed me how and I wasn't teaching yet when I became a parent, but my own love of reading made me anxious to share it with my children. There's just something magical about pulling your sweet little one into your lap or tight up beside you to share in a story.

Every parent should do their best to make it a priority in their routine. As stated on the Reading is Fundamental website:

Research and practice show that one simple activity — reading aloud — is the
best way to prepare children for learning to read and to keep them reading
as they learn and grow. Reading aloud helps your children develop the
language skills that they will use in school and throughout their lives.

I never really thought about parents not knowing "how" to go about reading aloud to their child, until my friend dayle brought it up. I asked her to remind me about our conversation regarding this many months ago and here was what she said,

"My mother did not read to me as a child so I didn't really have a model for reading for reading to my own child. I had read to the children in my class and had learned to give a performance to keep them engaged, but I had never really applied that to reading to my infant son. I had tried to read to him a few times because all the books said I should but he seemed so uninterested. About that time I happen to see a video of a mother reading to her child, drawing him into the book with voices and questions and conversation. It was so warm and safe. I remember thinking - "oh, that's what it looks like." That single video made all the difference."

dayle's brainchild was to create a bank of videos that demonstrate examples of parents reading to their children. We began thinking about our large faculty and realised that we had teachers with kids of every pre-school and elementary age to possibly use...and that is where I came in. See, my big joke around work is that my job is, "to do whatever dayle tells me" because basically I do! I'm very lucky to share an office with someone with such brillant ideas so I gladly do what she asks. We don't call her "the Queen" for no reason.

So after months of scheduling, taping, editing, posting, etc...the project is finally complete. I didn't always get the lighting and locations I wanted because we had to catch the kids and parents when we could, but the content is what is important. For my techie friends...I edited the footage in Pinnacle and then uploaded to Google video. We wanted to keep each video under three minutes, since this is just a sampling.

View all of the videos on our school website under the page on the left labeled "Read with your Child". dayle has added suggested ideas also, since the videos are just examples of things you can do with your child. I hope you will be able to use them or refer them to someone who may use them. Special thanks to the teachers who allowed me into that personal "magical space" with their child: Haley Alvarado, Meredy Mackiewicz, Randi Timmons, Angela Phillips, Debbie Rossignol, Cheryl Dillard, Rick Pinchot, Julie Johnson, JJ Ossi and Tammi Sani. Below, I'm embedding the most recent taping I did of Meredy reading to her daughter. Happy reading!

Even though I am now a Google Certified Teacher and a National Board Certified Teacher, I still have A LOT to learn. Sometimes I feel intimidated by how knowledgable other educators are, but it doesn't stop me from asking questions and learning! Keeping this in mind - I try to remember all levels of learners when I'm explaining something in formal training or deskside coaching.

One of my tasks as a Google Certified Teacher is to share what I learn from being a part of that group. I have some classes planned at my district training center that educators can register to take, but I wanted to provide some kind of regular, just in time learning for my faculty. For me, that means I can learn and tinker with something when it is a convenient time for me. Sometimes that is during the school day, but most of the time that is after my kids are all in bed.

So, as I explained in my December newsletter to the faculty, I'm going to be sending out an email with a link to a Google Site that will include "how-to", tips and tricks to use Google Tools. Twice a month I will mail out the link to the site which will include a new page each time. This site will be called - "Geek up with Google!" If you're interested in being a part of this mailing, I would be glad to include you. Just leave your name and email address in the comment section or email me directly at mholtsman@gmail.com I'd be glad to help you geek up!

For the last several years, I've made my Christmas cards online and mailed them out to family members with a newsletter enclosed. Unfortunately, there are many family members that we never see and this is one of the few times that we connect.

This year I wanted to kick it up a notch and do something online as well. I thought that I could include a note or a label that would direct the reader to a link to access something newsletter-ish. My first plan was to put together a video and embed it in the new Google Docs template for a video newsletter, but trying to get my family all together in the same room or trying to find a variety of video clips in my stock became too much... Then I thought I might use the newsletter template and just do an online version of what I normally do, which didn't excite me at all.

After several days of procrastinating, I came up with the idea of using a voicethread. That way, I was able to add what photos I wanted to use from the year and then record each child when I had time. As an afterthought, I grabbed a flip video and filmed a few segments too. I thought the flip turned out a little grainy...but I still used it. I consider this all an experiment anyway. I know some people will never visit the link, but those that care enough will. Here it is, if you care to watch. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!