Over the past few years, I have inconsistently shared the work occurring in my classroom.  Years ago, daily posts on my now-abandoned classroom blog, reflections on my professional blog, and posts on my students’ blogs kept invested adults current about the learning taking place in my classroom.  For the past few years, I have practically gone into hiding after moving my classroom from the blogs to Edmodo and then Haiku.  I have allowed ambiguous student privacy expectations of my district and partner agencies to discourage me from posting learning to an authentic global audience.  Before reading Show Your Work by Austin Kleon, I was only sharing my work through Instagram and practically stopped encouraging my students to share their work.  

I am still a little apprehensive about pushing my students to share their work with authentic audiences.  When I read about teachers seamlessly integrating social media into their classrooms as a way to have students provide evidence of understanding as in #InstagramELE Challenge by Pilar Munday and using it to support bonding over shared face-to-face experiences as in Instagram Scavenger Hunt by Caitlin Tucker, I felt a little envious. Part of me wants to just grab these engaging activities and incorporate them into my classroom.  But then, the reality sinks in. Less than half of my students have smart phones with data plans; of these, many are older devices with limited storage and low resolution cameras.  Currently, students are unable to connect personal devices to the student wifi and the guest wifi is turned off during school hours.  The residential agency does not provide students with wifi access.  Additionally, my partner agencies have contradictory and unrealistic expectations of students’ social media use. Currently, I encourage my students to photograph and post highlights from shared learning experiences, such as field trips, guest speakers, and hands-on activities, but I do not directly integrate the use of social media into the curriculum as Monday and Tucker model.

Reading Show Your Work inspired me to return to publicly sharing the work taking place in my classroom.  Since reading his book, I have created a classroom website titled Ms. Priester’s Classes.  Even though it is not perfect and finished, I have published it.  My students have already begun written posts documenting lessons and sharing reflections and work, such as this post “Sketchnoting by Diana and Imani.”  I am piloting this in my intersession courses, but my goal is to have a student write at least one post for each course during the traditional school year.  I can enhance this by adding a teacher’s toolbox to each posts containing links to copyable versions resources.    

As I look toward the upcoming school year, I hope to show the work of my students and myself by:

• Creating a webpage for each course I teach
• Posting weekly student reflections to each course’s blog

        -Summary of lesson
        -Reflection of experience
        -Student work
        -Student author profile
       -Teacher resources

• Posting evidence of learning to Instagram and Twitter @npriester
• Using the hashtag #sanpasqualacademy or returning to #spacad (a hashtag I invented years ago but failed to share with members of our community)
• Presenting at conferences 

Additionally, I am going to challenge myself to find a reasonable way for students to show their work on social media.  Minimally, I will have each student create and maintain a blog and guide them to use a consistent school hashtag when sharing learning using their personal accounts.

Last year, I established classroom goals at the beginning of the year: increase rigorous academic talk, support claims with evidence, and read and comprehend expository texts.  This fall, I am considering adding “show your work” to our annual goals.

Edtech leaders who are at the peak of their careers are prolific on social media.  These leaders are followed by thousands of educators. They share stories of how they worked hard to achieve success through keynote speeches and recorded talks.  Their tip tidbits and tiny insights zip around multiple Twitter though multiple hashtag circles.  They seem to have it all figured out.  Followers applaud their success through likes and retweets and send messages to seek their opinions and answers to problems.  Of course, the accomplishments of these educators deserves celebration and the sharing their learning benefits many teachers and students.  However, there is a danger to this “single story.”  

These trending teachers--Wait, no.--These trending educators set an unrealistic expectation for teachers who are just beginning to experiment with using technology in their classrooms.  There is a strong focus on sharing today’s best tools and best pedagogy.  Only hearing stories of success is overwhelming and intimidating.  Where are the stories of the schools who still share computer labs?  What about the districts without Google Apps for Education?  What about teachers whose administrators do not support technology? What about the students whose parents will not sign release forms?  These stories are not heard.  Instead, a single story emerging in the edtech community is a fairy tale--currently complete with a pretty blonde princess.  Even though current trends and social norms make it challenging to implement, the edtech community should taken into account the warnings Chimamanda Ngozi gives in her TED Talk, “The Danger of Telling a Single Story.”  As Ngozi explains, “When we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise." Instead of believing yet another fairy tale, we should be working toward creating a diverse, lively paradise filled with the stories of educators at varying levels of edtech integration.   

Fortunately, my current assignments are pushing my cohort mates and I to tell our stories.  But, before I created the Storify of my tweets for the #edl680ig project, I did not even realize I was telling a story.  I knew that I was sharing the learning taking place in my classroom--both mine and my students’.  As I began to piece my Instagram photos together, I noticed that I was telling a story.  I am telling the story of a teacher who is trying to implement current trends and novel ideas into my teaching, but I am also a student with hobbies that balance my academic activities.  I am not a rockstar, ninja, or pirate--nor am I seeking to be.  I just want to be a good teacher.  I know that by following the learning of others, sharing my learning, and taking advantage of opportunities to learn with other educators, I am becoming a better teacher.  

The single-story that is widely followed by educators on Twitter is a story that leads to notoriety, influence, and personal financial gain--not to the classroom.  Sharing the stories of classroom teachers who are still learning provides a collective learning environment--instead of one in which the learners follow an expert.

The fixed mindset often appears in my classroom, compounded by the fact that many students have significant gaps in their education due to their experiences prior to, and within, the foster care system.  Students are often resistant to even try to learn.  These students will eagerly will show what they can do but avoid the challenge of learning new skills.  The following are examples of how students’ mindsets appear in my classroom.  

"I don’t!”
As a simple assessment of my students’ experience in reading and writing, I often ask new students about their favorite books.  I occasionally I hear a simple, “I don’t read.”  John was one of these students.  But, he did more than just not read--he did not want to do anything in English class.  He said he did not “do English” and avoided writing tasks by distracting himself.  He refused to read aloud.  When pushed, he talked on and on about one novel he read in sixth grade.  When given an independent reading assignment, he purchased the same book and asked to re-read it for high school credit.  His behaviors clearly stated that he did not want to do the work because he did not know how, but he was unwilling to utilize the resources around him (including upperclassmen tutors and teachers’ assistants who offered to work with him in a private setting).  John’s fixed mindset convinced him that he was incapable of learning more.  He successfully read that one novel and clings to it.  He did not pass my class. Currently, I am attempting a new approach by asking John to read a graphic novel with a teacher’s assistant.  Even though, this reading task may provide some success, I can better support John by teaching him about mindsets and creating opportunities for him to grow.

“It’s hard!”
When Steven entered my class as a freshman, he was barely able to decode words.  When reading silently, he was able to comprehend at a fourth-grade reading level, but he would pout or walk out of the room if asked to read aloud.  A few weeks into the fall semester, I noticed that Steven would sneak into the back room during silent reading.  It seemed as if he was trying to focus, but I soon discovered that he was actually using technology tools to improve his comprehension.  He found audio clips of the novel that we were reading on YouTube and he was listening to them as he followed along in his text.  In cooperation with the campus literacy coach, his houseparents, and upperclassmen tutors, we were able to provide Steven opportunities to read aloud.  By the conclusion of his sophomore year, Steven was independently reading grade-level texts, especially teen romance novels.  This spring, he passed the California High School Exit Exam on the first try and earned a 4.0 grade point average.  He is open about his progress and loves to tell his peers about his improvement.  Stephen’s commitment to working hard to improve his skills exemplifies his growth mindset and is becoming one of the most respected students on our campus.     

“I won’t even try!”
The majority of my freshmen students have very little experience with expository writing--a few even claim to have never written any type of essay.  When Manny asked “Do you want me to include the counterclaim in this body paragraph or do you want me to make a new paragraph for it?” I was taken aback.  By inquiring about his educational experiences, I learned that he attended a middle school with high expectations.  His eighth grade English teacher had emphasized expository writing.  I told Manny that I was excited to read his work and challenge him to improve his writing.  But, within a few weeks, Manny shut down.  He stopped writing.  He withdrew from the class.  He became defensive when I attempted to help him.  I set up a meeting with his clinician after school one day.  Manny begrudgingly participated in the meeting, but became visibly upset after I kindly explained, “You are fortunate that you are entering high school with advanced writing skills. Your strong critical thinking skills are evident in your participation in class discussions.  The door to college will be open to you. I am looking forward to helping you get there.”  Sounds nice, but that conversation led to a six-month shut down.  Even after many meetings with campus adults, Manny refused to participate in class.  Manny has a fixed mindset and my comments about his innate intelligence and potential put too much pressure on him.  When he faced a challenge in class, he stopped trying because it caused him to feel like I had lied--if he was smart he would have been able to accomplish the task without support.  Fortunately, semesters end and courses can be retaken.  Currently, Manny is beginning to accept support from adults and is pushing himself to earn high grades.  However, I need to be mindful of his fixed mindset and praise his growth in skills instead of his talents.   

Impact
Even though many of my students seem to demonstrate fixed mindsets, the adults at San Pasqual Academy can help them to develop growth mindsets. As Dweck explains, “Every word and action can send a message. It tells children— or students, or athletes— how to think about themselves. It can be a fixed-mindset message that says: You have permanent traits and I’m judging them. Or it can be a growth-mindset message that says: You are a developing person and I am interested in your development” (2008).  This reinforced the previously mentioned practice shared by experienced campus adults; balance care with challenge.  To support the growth mindset, we need to emphasize development. By doing this, we help our students to overcome trauma and the fixed mindsets frequently instilled in them by their previous caregivers.

Works Cited
Dweck, Carol (2006-02-28). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Chapter 7: Knowing, Making, and Playing
Quote
“A lifelong ability to learn has given human beings all kinds of evolutionary advantages over other animals...homo sapiens, homo faber, and homo ludens—or humans who know, humans who make (things), and humans who play”
By explaining that play has given humans an “evolutionary advantage,” Thomas and Brown validate play as more than meaningless activity done by children and recreational breaks taken by adults.  It also leads the reader to believe that play can lead to success.  

Question
“Whatever one accomplishes through play, the activity is never about achieving a particular goal, even if a game has a defined endpoint or end state. It is always about finding the next challenge or becoming more fully immersed in the state of play.”
What types of challenges should educators create?  Is gamification and badging enough?  

Connection
“In a world where images, text, and meaning can be manipulated for nearly any purpose, an awareness of the play of context and the ability to reshape it become incredibly important parts of decision making.”
In my previous MA program, I explored research transliteracy. At the time, the term was being used among librarians and focused on helping students comprehend multiple forms of media, such as videos, websites, and audio files.  It was an appropriate issue to discuss at the time, but the term transliteracy has now been replaced with digital literacy.  Thomas and Brown extend upon the concept of literacy by explaining that students need to be able to do more than comprehended digital media-they need to be able to communicate using these mediums.  

Epiphany
“Learning content through making is a very different exercise from learning through shaping context.”
Making resonates more than shaping content.  Consider the questions “What did you make today?” Followed by, “What did you learn while making that?”  These are much different than a simple, “What did you learn today?”

Chapter 8: Hanging Around, Messing Around, and Geeking Out
Quote
“Geeking out provides an experiential, embodied sense of learning within a rich social context of peer interaction, feedback, and knowledge construction enabled by a technological infrastructure that promotes “intense, autonomous, interest driven” learning.”
When people “geek out,” they become the “lifelong learners” educators have been striving to create for the past few decades.  The social connections, tools, and access to information provided by technology enable learners to “geek out.”

Question 
“In essence, hanging out is a social, not merely technological, activity. It is about developing a social identity.”
Our students are already building these identities, but so many educators just look the other way. How can create and encourage hanging out experiences for adults? Is Facebook enough?

Connection 
“Experimenting with the familiar in terms of content and tools is apt to open up a gap between this first unfocused form of play and the potential that emerges because of it. The gap is between the way something could be—what a person begins to imagine she can accomplish—and the way it is.”
“I have an idea.  Hang on.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a surprise. Let me go try to make it. BRB”
This conversation regularly occurs between my cohort mate Jake Bowker (@jbowker88) and I.  We often share tools and discuss our learning, but sometimes he just completely disappears to immerse himself in play.  He will spend hours teaching himself how to use tools he already knows and/or discovering new tools needed to create his project.  Often, his vision of “way something could be” ends up evolving along the way as it is shaped by the learning that occurs as through play. This play leads to an increase his learning and the quality of his product.      

Epiphany 
“Ito and her team constructed a typology of practices to describe the way young people participate with new media: hanging out, messing around, and geeking out. We believe that these three practices could frame a progression of learning that is endemic to digital networks.”
Okay, Jeff! Of course, as soon I read the title to this chapter, I could hear Jeff Heil’s (@jehil5) proud chuckle.  The three badges we are earning in this class are named after these three practices.  Additionally prior to any exposure to this text, I already used the term “geeking out” in a way that aligned with this meaning. I often say that I “geek out” when I spend hours on my laptop building an invented project.  Lately my “geekiness” has been enhanced as I share and collaborate with my peers.  

Chapter 9: The New Culture of Learning for a World of Constant Change
Quote
“And where imaginations play, learning happens.”
In preschools, imaginative play is a part of the daily routine and integrated into many lessons.  As a result, the young children in these environments spend their days immersed in learning and chose to engage in imaginative play during free time, such as playground time.  This applies to the students in our classrooms and people in general.  The best way to encourage learning is to provide opportunities for students’ to play.

Question
“Only when we care about experimentation, play, and questions more than efficiency, outcomes, and answers do we have a space that is truly open to the imagination.”
Why do all of the academic examples focus on colleges and universities?  Are primary and secondary institutions really that far off?  What about schools like High Tech High?

Connection
“The team relies on everyone to understand that their success as individuals creates something that amounts to more than the sum of its parts.”
In my roles as ASB adviser, yearbook adviser, and volleyball coach, I support teams of students as they work together to create or accomplish something that is greater than what any individual student--or I-- could produce.  Even with all of this experiences, it is still challenging to provide similar learning opportunities in classroom lessons.

Epiphany 
“Maybe members of the new collective will provide an existing piece of information that makes the problem solvable. Or maybe they will inspire a player to find a new, unique solution to the problem and share it with the collective in turn.”
This is why we need more people in the edtech community!  Currently many vocal and visible leaders, or “educelebrities,” exist among this group, but many questions and challenges still exist.  By bringing new educators into the conversation, we may be able to find “unique solutions” that will benefit all of our students.

Works Cited
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, Ky.: [CreateSpace?].

Two weeks ago, I made my first conference presentation. I presented Writing from the Ground Up with Google Drive at the EdTechTeam Google Apps for Education (GAFE) Summit Riverside.  When the session began, I was excited.  The room was packed with almost fifty eager-to-learn participants.  I pushed them to begin with an activity instead of just sitting idly and taking notes. I sensed their reluctance, but they jumped right in and began exploring a shared Google Drive folder containing writing process templates and samples.  

Then, it all blew up.  

Suddenly, the template folder was missing and copies of documents began popping up by the dozen.  I attempted to just fix the problem by using revision history by identifying the folder thief and restoring the folder.  This worked, but as soon as I moved the templates folder back to the shared folder another participant took the resources folder!  And copies just kept appearing!  It was a mess. I kept my cool.  I smiled.  I enlisted the support of a colleague who was in the session along with a few of the more experienced participants.  But, it was too big of a mess to fix within a few minutes. And, every time I looked up someone was walking out the door!

I took a deep breath. I abandoned my hands-on session that followed an inquiry model.  I sat on a desk. I thanked the twenty remaining educators for their patience and began telling them how I use Google Drive to support the writing process. I showed examples and student work.  A few actually seemed relieved to learn by simply listening and watching instead of creating their own documents.  They were friendly and praised the tools and process I shared.  I promised to locate the stolen folders and send an email containing new folder and instructions guiding them to make individual copies.

I smiled as they left.  But, behind the smile, I was frantically thought about how I knew better. I have been using Google Drive since before it was even called Drive. I knew shared folders were messy. I knew I should have used file>make a copy, but instead I decided to try something new in an attempt to have my participants collaborate and share their work.  What was I thinking? Also, I hadn’t considered that many GAFE participants are complete beginners--even though I had labeled my session #beginner and #intermediate.  I failed. My presentation was a flop. (I was secretly grateful these beginning GAFE users were also not very active on Twitter!)

If this presentation had occurred a year and a half ago, it would have devastated me.  I may have even begun crying or become visibly frustrated. I may not have been able to salvage the session.  Even if I had pulled through, I would have been incredibly embarrassed. My mind and mouth would have been filled with frustrated criticisms and complaints. I would have felt like I was not good enough to present. I would have given up.  At that time, I had what Carol Dweck, the author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, explains is a fixed  mindset; I fell into the practice of “Believing that...qualities are carved in stone” (2008).  At the time of the presentation, I was halfway through Dweck’s book, but I had already been unintentionally transitioning from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset for more than a year. The growth mindset, according to Dweck, follows “the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts” (2008).  I  have already had a year and a half of change due to a growth mindset.  The growth began with small things like changing my eating habits, domestic routines, and exercise practices and intentionally returning to abandoned hobbies.  As I began to have small successes in these areas, my confidence grew.  I allowed myself to listen to the part of me that knew I was capable of growth.  This led to even larger changes, including decreasing my commitment to extracurricular activities at school, ending a long-term relationship, purging hundreds of items from my home, closing my eBay business,  and enrolling in a masters program.   Reading Dweck's book has helped me to realize that I have a growth mindset.

But, the way I handled this presentation flop showed more than just my willingness to learn.  I allowed myself to fail without being hurt.  As Dweck explains, “Even in the growth mindset, failure can be a painful experience. But it doesn’t define you. It’s a problem to be faced, dealt with, and learned from” (2008).  The pages of Mindset was not my first exposure to the idea that failures create opportunities for learning.  One of my close friends, Hunter Gluam (who has never even heard of Mindset) encourages growth mindset thinking.  When I discuss a challenging situation or relationship with him, he says, “But, what are you learning from this experience? What is this person teaching you?  If it hurts, identify the cause of the pain and be grateful for the pain.  How is it changing you?”  Without realizing it, Hunter has been encouraging me to seek challenges and take risks.  Additionally, I recently read Kevin Brookhouser’s book The 20Time Project: How Educators and Parents Can Launch Google’s Formula for Future-Ready Innovation.  Brookhouser encourages teachers to “set your students up to fail” because “Every student is counting on us to teach them failure so they can learn to persist, to get dirty, to take risks, to fail without giving up, to dust themselves off, and to keep making and producing no matter what.   Additionally, the idea of providing opportunities for failure in classrooms is currently trending among the edtech community on Twitter.  Because I have allowed myself to listen to the voices supporting a growth mindset, I was able to walk out of the session giggling as I sent a selfie to my friends to amuse them with news of  my “epic fail.”  

At lunch, instead of pouting or complaining, I began debriefing the experience with my friends. My colleague, Cheryl Lynch (@clynchjccs), who was also presenting for the first time and I decided that we will need to  practice presenting at small conferences before presenting at a larger local conference. We began immediately researching future conferences.  My colleague and current professor, Jeff Heil (@jheil65), laughed at the story about my presentation and said, “Didn’t I tell you?  Never share a folder. That’s like presenting rule number one.  Always use file>make a copy.  Next time.”  Instead of being mad, I just laughed and harassed him for not telling me sooner.  Later, an experienced presenter who I had just met that weekend, Jesse Lubinksy (@jlubinsky), advised, “You just need reps.  It takes awhile.  I was even nervous today as I began my large session today. Keep presenting.”  I did not completely realize that day, but the people I chose to spend my time with also posses the growth mindset; they were able to see my story as a learning experience--not a definition of my ability.  

As I drove home from the conference, I excitedly decided that I would apply to present at the next available GAFESummit.  I knew that preparation and time commitment would add to my busy schedule, but I wanted to push myself to improve.  As Dweck states, “People in a growth mindset don’t just seek challenge, they thrive on it” (2008).  I agree. My application to the GAFESummit Orange County was accepted.  I will present Writing from the Ground Up with Google Drive again. And, this time, I will use file>make a copy.

Works Cited
Brookhouser, Kevin (2015-01-25). The 20Time Project: How educators and parents can launch Google’s formula for future-ready innovation. Kindle Edition.

Dweck, Carol (2006-02-28). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.