Kaulbach's Modern World

I love librarians, I always have. I am old enough to remember a time when research was done without the internet. I literally drove to New York City in order to use the public library resources for a paper on the Hungarian Revolution and discovered the incredible world of library science. The staff there seemed to be of the category of super heroes and I contemplated joining their ranks instead of pursuing a career in teaching.  Ever since then I have spent many hours in libraries, with librarians. In fact, it isn't the reason I married my husband, but it is true, his mom is a librarian. It is my daughter's last day of school here in New Mexico and it is bitter sweet.  I had to withdraw her and check in with the librarian in order to close the account without overdue books. I was immediately drawn to the lighted candles on her desk. The project is so simple and sweet, I snapped a photo and stayed to swap praises for new takes on literary enchantments. The light

link to published article link to article- part one In this time when school securities are threatened by unmitigated attacks, technology in education serves to open campuses between distant communities. A recent pen pal project entered a second phase of practice with letter writing and Skype. It has served to distract us from tragedy and fears of being able to engage in meaningful, safe dialogue. Last week Flatdaddy and I facilitated a follow up session with the classroom to classroom Skype between New Mexico and Vermont .  Our first chat gave students an opportunity to see the face of their pen pal.  Each class enjoyed watching each other hear ideas and evidence pulled from past letters and visually seeing each other respond to questions comparing culture and geography. Our follow up chat would give students three minutes to converse with a penpal. Management was discussed and planned ahead of time with the decision to model a structured conversation deliberately related to C

link to published article I just read an interesting blog on  surviving teaching  by Cool Cat Teacher, Vicki Davis and John Kuhn's viral hit, The Exhaustion of the American Teacher .  Teacher burnout is a perennial problem. It is impossible to survive with idealism, purpose and dignity intact amid changing mandates, recessions, and media inflamed paranoia about American public education. Public schools do not advertise or lobby for their best practices and public school teachers tend to receive less praise, less attention the longer they stay in teaching. I guess this is why I feel so fortunate to not only survive twenty years of service in education but to look forward to my start in 2013 as happy and idealistic.  I am returning from a mini sabbatical in New Mexico to teach at my Vermont public high school and I have never felt so alive. A sabbatical is a true gift. I have been thinking of the spirit of giving this holiday season and I am grateful to have a school board and a

link to published article- mentoring Today celebrates a major breakthrough for me and Flatdaddy !  We successfully connected a Vermont public school with a New Mexico public school via Skype.  This is amazing for a number of reasons. First , our Vermont school seems to have more liberty with use of technology than New Mexico- for that I am grateful. But with perseverance and patience, the New Mexico school system gave approval for the video chat and once in place it went smoothly.  It is now a successful model for other classrooms to follow for improving student conversation, discussion and writing. We brought two schools in two different regions towards a common practice. Second - We are both teachers who view technology as a medium for connecting students' to regional similarities and differences that they can not extrapolate from reading alone.  It is painfully sad to observe high school students who make a common, nonchalant error in thinking that New Mexico or Vermont do

Flatdaddy just received approval to pursue  and to institute a one to one ipad program for each student.  I am out here in New Mexico persistently hoping to convince tech support in two different schools within the same district to allow access to Skype or Facetime.  I made this request in August, it is November and still no attempt to install it has been made.  I visited the computer labs and discovered that the computers do not even have web cameras.  And school wifi for personal devices is prohibited.  We live in different worlds. Flatdaddy's recent visit gave us an opportunity to meld the best of both worlds.  His gentle demeanor set a tone of assurance for the administrators who were reluctant to be assertive on behalf of teachers hoping to install programs on their computers.  One administrator was excited and nervous about allowing a video chat in an elementary classroom.  Do students need permission slips? Do they need parental approval and a media release?  In this part o