Thoughts on nothing in particular
Students have completed this short project for my class over the last couple of years., This year they asked me to complete a copy. Here it is:
I think it is important to build connections and let the students see “behind the curtain” if you will. We as teachers are not perfect, we make mistakes, and we enjoy life outside of the classroom. Students need to see those characteristics in us.
So, another school year is upon us, and Summer disappeared in the blink of an eye, or so it seems. Every school year I try and add something new to my class in an attempt to keep up with current trends in education and prevent myself from becoming stale. This year is no different, there will be several new websites and apps utilized throughout my courses, however, my main addition is not a website or an app; it will be INTENTIONALITY.
Intentionality is completing actions with a specific and/or deliberate focus. This addition is not just meant for myself, I hope to instill the concept into my students. I made this the focus of my upcoming school year after numerous discussions with my PLN, Professional Learning Network, within PAECT and KTIs, Keystone Technology Innovators. The focus of a podcast I am honored to co-host, the PAECT Pod has been interviewing various members about our week-long KTI Summit at Shippensburg University in July, and the term Intentionality kept entering into the conversations.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized I need to not just introduce my students to new learning opportunities, new concepts, new ideas, and new tools to utilize, but I also have to help instill a purpose for all of this new information. The previous sentence seems like it is an overly obnoxious run-on, but so be it. I need to instill the thought in students that their actions, no matter how trivial they may seem, reflect back upon them and therefore are worth their best effort. Hopefully, this concept can then be carried forward after they move on through school and life. This post s not meant to be some sort of melodramatic declaration, it is more of a correction based n self-reflection.
My PAECT Pod co-host Eric Verno and I have mentioned the need to keep current and sharp since educational technology changes so quickly, think AI in Education. Eric has mentioned his efforts to keep from getting complacent. That is when I realized that in a way, I continually work to keep current with new ideas in education, but I do not always communicate the why f new tools and concepts to my students. I push out the information, but sometimes I lose focus as to why we are doing things or using various tools and websites. This year, I will do my best to not only communicate the why to my students, but to instill the concept of INTENTIONALITY into their everyday actions.
So, today is my last Saturday before school starts next week. I uploaded my last podcast for the Summer of 2023 and notified my students that it was posted. I am chilling on the deck with our puppy, Charli
while I take care of some school work and professional development to improve myself. 
Eventually today I will be a bit more active in the yard, but for now, I will complete some low-intensity activities and enjoy a sunny, but cool day before the upcoming school year begins.
Well, my first attempt at a StickTogether for my Honors class can be considered a success. It was completed quickly…by one student. I am rolling out another StickTogether, however this time I am limiting the number of attempts per day to give others a chance to participate.
Here is the image from the first StickTogeher.
So, this spring I was introduced to StickTogether, a puzzle/digital puzzle tool. The concept of digital puzzles and activities for my students intrigued me. I wanted to try out the tool in my classroom, however, the year was just about over and the students were worn down. The project trial did not get out of the gate.
This past week for two days I attended the PAECT, Keystone Technology Innovator Summit at Shippensburg University. The Summit is five days in length, but I was there Thursday and Friday. Once again I came across the StickTogether resource.
I decided by executive fiat that we will try one out over the Summer to see how it is received by the students. I signed into my account that was created earlier in the Spring of 2023. I perused the various premade digital puzzles and pushed one out as a virtual Stickerboard.
Since Schoology, our district’s LMS is not active over the Summer I am hosting my activity here on Edublogs. You can access the activity HERE.
I am hoping my students embrace the activity and I can build it into a component of the Choice Boards in my courses. I will keep you updated on the project as time goes on.
Here are the Directions on the Website:
Just click on a letter in the panel on the right to select a color. Then click on the corresponding letter in the grid to fill in that color.
To ZOOM click on the magnifier icon and then click again on a section of the image.
Let’s ALL StickTogether!
It seems that I have forgotten how to relax. I have somehow conditioned myself to not be comfortable just “chilling.” sitting back, doing nothing. When I try, I become anxious and antsy. My body rebels and tells me that I must do something, anything, time is “a-wastin,” get going. The all too precious time is a “blowin’ away in the wind,” to mash up the movie and the Bob Dylan classic.
I often try to enjoy espresso on the deck, sometimes while hanging out with family and friends, sometimes alone. 
But even that time becomes more of a race to the finish than a relaxing time of reflection and conversation. Slurping instead of sipping, clock watching instead of listening to friends, family, or even sounds of nature.
This new conditioning has become more than a nuisance, it has taken away one of the most important mental health tools people have, the ability to relax, clear one’s mind, then regroup and recharge.
I need to address this and soon. I do not know where the blame falls, probably on me, but the situation needs to be remedied. I have to re-train my brain and body that it is okay to do nothing at times, or just enjoy what I am doing in the moment, without planning the next activity or worrying about how much time I am spending on the current action or lack thereof.
Even as I write this, my mind starts chirping about me taking too long to type and review my post. My inner voice starts to run down the list of tasks that still need to be accomplished. It is like a movie or book that intentionally makes you uncomfortable, I am currently reading a Hard Case Crime novel by Ed McBain that sometimes has that effect on me. The heroin-addicted main character’s manic episodes push me to a place I do not favor. I toss out the description since I am not comfortable linking the book here. This is an educational blog, so…
The re-training will start soon, but not until after I have another cup of coffee, clear my head, and just sit for a few more minutes. After all, starting immediately in a rush only strengthens the bad habit I am trying to break.
So it is a dreary, rainy, Saturday afternoon. The weather forecasters said the rain was to have cleared out by now, but they were wrong. I have numerous activities and outdoor chores I wanted to work on today, but the weather is not cooperating. Both stations on TV that carry westerns are playing The Big Valley, which is not one of my favorite western shows, no offense meant to anyone, I loved it as a kid, but my preferences have changed over time.
Since I could not get outside to complete what I needed to do, I posted my classroom podcast, read part of a library eBook, enjoyed some espresso with frothed Half and Half from United Dairy Farms, played with Charli, our puppy, did some prep work for my Honors US II Summer Reading Project, and decided I needed a break.
My daughter started working on her blog again and asked about mine. I had to admit I do not write to this space much anymore with my podcast and the PAECT Pod taking up time, along with many life commitments. Due to my regret, embarrassment, or shame of not using this site, I thought what better way to take a break than to ramble on here.
We all need down days such as today. I have many activities and chores to complete outside, but sometimes we just need to take time to relax. Writing is one of the ways I relax, however, I have not made enough time to do so for a number of years now. I hope to get back into the practice soon. This is the first step. Now, time to turn off all electronics and spend some time with the family and hopefully see the end of the rain soon.
I am typing this a bit facetiously…I have not posted a blog in many, many, let’s just say an extremely long time. Chat GPT and other forms of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have sprung up for public consumption since my last post. This is my declaration that I will not be using AI to write posts on this blog.
I make this declaration since I have read online at Business Insider that many books are showing up on Amazon that have been written by AI. As a once-inspiring author, that does depress me a bit. I like the concept of the human mind and imagination firing up stories that excite and hold our attention. I may just be getting old and falling behind the times, or I may be a bit bitter that someone with a sentence or two into a website has completed a manuscript that I haven’t been able to complete as of yet. The jury is out on where I fall.
In the meantime, I want to reassure my dedicated readers, thank you Mom, that the words that appear here and on my personal podcasts will be my own and not those of any Artificial Intelligence entity.
This past week in class I had my students begin preparing for a Discussion Board assignment: straightforward, direct, rather basic discussion board assignment: they were going to respond to a classmates’ initial discussion board post.
There was one catch…they had to get approval from me as to whose post they would be responding to. As I suspected, they all wanted to respond to their best friend’s initial post. I shot that idea down and made them choose another student’s post to respond to. That is when CHAOS reared it’s mischievous head. Students asked for the same friend a couple of times, others asked for their “other BFF” from class, several tried to argue/debate the reasons why they should be allowed to respond to their friend, others inquired repeatedly as to why they could not respond to their friend, and other students went back to their seats and sulked.
The purpose for my not letting them respond to their “BFF’s” initial discussion board post was to get them out of their comfort zone and to have the interact with other students. Being able to comfortably, confidently, and appropriately interact and respond to others is a necessary skill. And in my not so humble opinion, it is becoming a lost art. I attempted to explain this to the classes, unfortunately my message was not making much headway.
A number of students then wanted me to pick the post they were to respond to. That was also something I did not want to do. The students were encouraged to read over the initial posts again and choose a post that they connected with. Just not a connection based upon being friends with the student. They were to focus on the message, not the author. It took some coaxing, but eventually they came around and chose another post to respond to, even if it was only grudgingly.
In the end the students overcame their angst and the CHAOS settled down. Students used this GUIDELINE to form their responses and overall did a great job for their first attempt at responding to others in a discussion board format.