Jitters? What Jitters?! - Ways to Ease Your Back-to-School Worries

Does this Scenario Seem Familiar?

Lesson Plans.  Check.
First Day of School Handouts.  Check.
Seating Charts.  Check.

Day Before School Starts Butterflies.  CHECK!

It's 8am on the Sunday before school starts and I'm nervously pacing my living room mentally checking off what I have to do tomorrow to create a positive learning environment for my students right from the start.  I know I'm not the only teacher who will do this at some point today.

Three Simple Ways to Ease the Nerves

• Think Positive. Tomorrow is going to be an awesome day! Your students are just as excited as you are to be starting a new school year. You have planned activities that will engage your students and answer their most pressing questions: Who is my teacher?, What will I learn in this class?, How will I be graded?  You are ready!
• Breathe. Take a few minutes to sit back and breathe.  Close your eyes, take a deep breath and then exhale slowly.  Imagine you are breathing in positive thoughts and exhaling anxieties and worries. This can have a very powerful and calming effect allowing you to return to your tasks feeling refreshed and less anxious.
• Visualize. Even though I've tackled the first day of school 10 times, I still get nervous.  Why?  Because it's new.  New students.  New requirements.  New curriculum.  Each school year offers something new. Practice visualization. Close your eyes and mentally go through the first day of school.  As you encounter moments you might not be sure about, mentally practice how you might react.  Continue visualizing until you reach the end of the day.  See the day as you would want it to play out.  Athletes use this technique before a big game or a big race as a way to calm their nerves and "see" the finish line.  By visualizing the first day of school, you take away the anxiety of the unknown and replace it with a feeling of calm.

 You are ready!  It's going to be a great year!  Take some time this Sunday to relax and enjoy.  Tomorrow will be here soon enough!

FERPA for Me! FERPA for You!

Back-to-School Joy

So excited was I, the techno-geek in cool teacher clothes, when I learned that my district had an Edmodo sub-domain and the Superintendent's Leadership Council was advocating using this most awesome of Social Learning Platforms in classrooms throughout the district.  I rushed to be chosen as one of the trainers for my school (I'm a bit of an overachiever if you must know).  To get the ball rolling, I asked if I could introduce Edmodo at our Welcome Back Faculty Meeting.

BAM!  (That's me hitting a brick wall!)

Surprised, I was, as Yoda would say, when I was told not to showcase this tool at our opening faculty meeting.  Well, I did a little digging to learn why.

FERPA Can Be Confusing!

It turns out, there's this law called the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act that governs when and what kind of information can be given out about students.

A FERPA Frenzy

Having no idea what FERPA is, I did what any good learner would do; I went on a searching spree.  

Here's what I found out:

• FERPA was first passed into law in 1974 - it has since had several revisions
• FERPA gives parents & students the right to access their educational records, correct any errors in the educational records and consent to the disclosure of information to third parties

 What does FERPA mean for educators?

• Any educational institution which receives money from the federal government must follow FERPA!  If not, they risk losing all federal funds!
• Information which identifies a student (race, gender, hair color, etc.) must be protected.
• "Directory Information" such as name, address and phone numbers can be made available BUT parents & students must be notified of such and have the right to refuse disclosure. 
• ALL student information must be given "due diligence" by educators in order to protect student information.
• Each state and/or district has different policies for protecting student information.  Be sure you check what your state/district policies are if you are wary of using any identifiable student information.  This is NOT a time where you ask for forgiveness after the fact!

A FERPA-ble Moment

So, before you begin using all of those cool tech tools you've been hearing and learning about all summer, consider having a FERPA-ble moment with your students - it is their information after all!

Best Practices for Protecting Student Information While Using Tech Tools:

• Discuss privacy issues with your students - cull Digital Citizens!
• If you are an educator who posts student grades (more middle/high school teachers), be careful of HOW you post grades.  Best practice is to first, post only by the last four numbers of a student's ID number and, second, be sure to randomize those numbers before posting.
• Send a letter home to parents outlining how you plan to use technology in the classroom to begin the conversation at home.
• For the elementary students, consider creating usernames and passwords that do not identify them.  For example, if a student is in the "Red Reading Group", give them the username of Red1, Red2 and so forth.
• For middle and secondary students, have a class discussion about the kinds of information they would want other people to be able to access.
• Digital Footprints are a very powerful visual to show how any information posted online, even by someone who shares the same name, can affect how someone is viewed.
• When having students create passwords, remind them to use a password that would not be obvious to others.  Passwords that use addresses, names and other identifiable information could be susceptible to hacking. Suggest they use symbols, numbers and capital letters.
• When having students create their own usernames and passwords, remind them to use a password that is unique for each application they use.

Save the Paperwork - Innovative Ways to Begin the School Year

A Confession...

Me with Rosemary & Harry Wong (2011)

I like Harry Wong.  I like his emphasis on routines and procedures, for even high school students need to know what's supposed to go on in each classroom they visit each day.

In fact, when the Wongs visited my school district last year, the Education Rock Stars wowed us all with their ideas for incorporating procedures from day one.  When we left the Performing Arts Center after the Wongs' presentation, we were all pumped for the first day of school and couldn't wait to start planning our PowerPoints to introduce what happens to make our classrooms run smoothly.

Each of the ideas suggested for implementation by the Wongs allow teachers to get to know their students but in a more traditional way.  What if we "flipped" the ideas with a technology or a collaborative twist?

Some New Ideas

For those teachers who may be of the more traditional mind, below are some ideas for getting to know your students. 

In her blog, Teacher Reboot Camp, Shelley Sanchez Terrell offers several ways of getting to know your students with a twist.  You can read Terrell's full post here.  Here are some ideas I like:

• Show & Tell with Technology - students choose pictures from their mobile device and then explain what the meaning is behind their choosing that picture.
• Speed Dating for Group Work- explain to students that they will work in groups for an upcoming class and they need to figure out who they will work most compatibly with.  Using the online-stopwatch, set 2-3 minutes and students find out as much as they can about the person.  At the end, each student writes down at least 3 people they'd be willing to work with.

Add in Some Technology

Aditi Rao offers some great ideas for incorporating technology into your introductory activities.  My favorites:

• Have students create a Pinterest Board that represents who they are and then present it to the class.
• Using Wordle, have students create word clouds to describe themselves.
• Using QR Codes, have students participate in a QR Code Scavenger Hunt to learn about others in the class.

A Whole New Twist

• Sandy Merz challenges the traditional idea to seating assignments.  You can check out his ideas for incorporating collaboration and engagement all by finding your seat.
•  Have your students solve a mystery to show what collaboration looks like in your classroom.  Here is Peter Pappas's twist on getting students thinking from Day One.  Intrigued?  Want to use this lesson on your first day of school?  Click here for Pappas's resources.

Keep 'Em Coming Back to Your Website

Teacher created websites have become a way to keep students and parents aware of what's happening in the classroom.

But...

Do students and parents actually have a reason to visit your website???

Making your website dynamic and engaging is an easy fix and will keep students and parents coming back to your website!

Using a little piece of HTML code (no, you don't have to know how to write code) called an EMBED CODE allows you to place content right into your website.

Sites many teachers already use that give access to an embed code:

• YouTube - embed educational videos right into your website
• Authorstream.com - embed PowerPoint presentations complete with animations and narration
• Animoto.com - showcase student presentations
• Google Forms - collect information without all the paperwork
• Photobucket.com - showcase student work and pictures through slideshows

Learn more about Embed Codes, where to find them and how to paste them into your website by watching the PowerPoint (embeded from AuthorStream) below.

Use Embed Codes to Create Dynamic Teacher Sites

More PowerPoint presentations from Vogelicious