Kaulbach's Modern World

Did you know that  it was Digital Learning Day nationwide?  PBS offered a fantastic opportunity to connect educators.  I stepped up my enthusiasm for digital learning by telling students to SMASH APPS! and tweeted class totals (#dlday).  Smashing immediately connotes images of destruction but according to my twitter community it simply means using more than one app to create something digital.  My students had opportunities to using sketching apps with text apps, work flow apps with platform apps and as an added incentive, would be allowed to use class time for gaming or bonus points on past assessment scores. Guess which incentive won out? Our school launched our Follow Your Dreams project during DLD week. Every week a senior or alumni of has the opportunity to present their work towards a dream, TED Talk style in our library media center.  During a 20 minute advisory time students voluntarily choose to attend a variety of club activities, conferences ...

Like most teachers in New England I start the school year off sprinting and then lose energy at the same time the students do, right after high school playoffs and Halloween.  Our first report cards are sent home at this time and I only mention this because it is also timed well with our third annual haunted high. Kids scare the pants off each other and scream a little too loudly. It seems that they are not so much as frightened as they are releasing steam. Are they screaming at teachers? Screaming at low grades? Or is is teen angst, Nirvana style? What is important is that this tradition continues because it is engaging. Jumping off such enthusiasm is hard and "where to go from here" is constantly on my mind.  In my 20 year career I have seldom had an easy year. Every new administration has pushed for reforms that add hours to my work day. I am one of those educators who follows the rules and works as much as can be expected.  This push to prepare for the Common Core ...

Link to published article   At TER While it can't be said for all professions everyone I know remembers a teacher who changed their world in a positive way. It was a teacher who helped me love learning and who made me think I was going to fantastic when I grew up. For most people that teacher was someone they encountered in their youth but for me it happened to be my daughter's kindergarten teacher. She is organized, enthusiastic, creative and kind. She had a reputation of being a stable force in education because of her forty one years of experience yet was one of the first to embrace 21st century digital technologies.  I was questioning my own educational practices when I first met her and was struck by this thought:  while every child in kindergarten was excited to learn the same can't be said for every student in my high school classroom. Curiosity got the best of me so I studied my daughter's experiences. I took notes on how this teacher hooked students on math a...

Incentives are the reason people learn because incentives drive choices. I could never admit this to my fair trade coffee drinkers, but I love Starbucks.  Every time I buy a coffee I receive a free app or song download.  My app allows me to earn stars that eventually gain me a free coffee.  And when I am lost driving x-country the map app points me in the direction of the nearest Starbucks and the nearest wifi.  But this is not a blog about Starbucks, it is a blog about incentives.  None of these incentives are really amazing.  I could find those same apps for free on line, the free coffee never applies until I spend + $15.00.  And I live in rural Vermont with the nearest Starbucks 50 miles away. Incentives are fun, I take advantage of them which makes me a bit happier to take time to spend money on a cup of jo.   Education works the same way.  Most of my students attend school because they have to not because they want to.  If we...

My Wall of Discussion at    Padlet Outline of Presentation Introduction- What is Haiku?   (Peter) management structure for 24 hour access engaged from anywhere in the world (teacher & student) Why we use discussion boards in a learning platform Problems of Democracy Haiku- add responses to discussion posts assignment list Assessment-  AP US History Assessment retakes Usage Statistics Data Wiki Projects Common Core  RH.11-12.4  Craft & Structure  WHST.11-12.6  Production & Distribution of writing. selecting a topic- collaborating and writing-  RH.11-12.7  Integration of Knowledge & Ideas Assessment Rubrics- Zombies & Asynchronous learning Video Discussion- NAFTA, Peer Editing (no picture!) student input- the Pen Pal Project -Possibilities video chats while gaming (Google Chats)  twitter publish   ie- theeducatorsroom.com Overview- I am a social constructivist. I beli...

Cold War Studies- links to worksheets My students just finished a unit on WWII and a subunit on the use of the atomic bomb. While my colleagues were able to rush forward into another large and content rich unit on Cold War I chose to slow down the pace and let students alleviate concerns developed about nuclear war, unfinished studies of Japan's role in Korea and interest about Korea resulting from recent inflammatory rhetoric in the news. North Korea seems on the verge of attack so knowledge of what we don't understand seems relevant. Combined with a need to improve writing skills, vocabulary and reading, my hands are full. And I need to cater to the specific needs of these students. Their needs and interests are different from students I taught last year. When to find the time? Aha! April break. Many mumble that teachers have more breaks than other professions. But I concur that many waking hours, dreams and strolls on a beach are cut short by my mad scramble to write down ...

see published article at Educator's Room.  Normally March 2nd would pass without notice but this year I am embracing the 109th birthday celebration of Dr. Seuss in my high school classroom. Seuss is ageless and timeless. Many elementary school teachers and children's librarians have embraced Read Across America's promotion of "grab your hat and read with the cat"  but high schools tend to lose the connections to childhood things as we focus intently on preparing students for impending adulthood, college or career applications and many meaningful assessments. In our busy efforts to implement more literacy in 6 or 8 course specific areas of content each day teachers hope students will learn more. In the words of Seuss we are thinking "Oh the places they will go" instead of acknowledging how far they have come. High school students need more contact with childhood literacy. In reading Children's Literature Briefly, (Tunnell & Jacobs) I was expos...

My colleague, Jim, is a guidance counselor at my school.  From him I learned a few simple lessons about education.  I came to him with concern for a student who was unable to come to class on time or finish classwork. This student was refusing to learn or to pass.  Jim came to the classroom door and asked the student for a hall meeting.  The three of us stood there, Jim led the short conversation with three question, "Are you coming in late? Can you pass if you do the minimum in class? Do you want to graduate?"   That student mumbled yes and yes and yes.  Jim said, Now repeat for Ms. Kaulbach what you will promise to do."   The student looked at me, and repeated that he would come on time, he could do the classwork and that he wanted to pass. Jim looked him in the eye and reminded him that he said this in his own words, the responsibility was his and he would let himself down if he didn't do these three things. The student did graduate, he was on t...

ISEA promotes international interdisciplinary discourse and discovery. (x)trees Agnes Chavez & Alessandro Saccoia ( Taos, New Mexico & Milan Italy ) Add caption Dual Visualization, video mapping & social interactive projections on a wall. Virtual trees created from thoughts and messages.  (x)trees is an algorithmic drawing of tree forms generated from tweets and SMS (text) messages.  We walk into this space and become surrounded by the everchanging trees.  With each text, branches and leaves develop as a result of the text appearing and disappearing. The immersion helps us acknowledge interconnectivity between nature and technology and public opinion concerning tree planting worldwide.  Because anyone can tweet, facts, quotes and myth are published onto the space. How does this work? The program scans Twitter for  key words that appear as seeds under each tree.  Then the message appears as a leaf at that moment in time. I was...