Kaulbach's Modern World

No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main...                                   (John Donne) Celebrating our third month abroad today and it feels as if a lifetime has passed. We have a new appreciation for the geography of Santo Domingo, protected by its cliffs, its bay and its height above water since the visit with  Hurricane Matthew (September 28).   Living abroad reminds me daily of how insignificant I am, and a  hurricane speeds up that feeling like the double fast foward button on a remote. Days before it struck, we were partying on the Malacon and planning Marc's trip for a conference in Guadalajara, Mexico.  At the time, I embraced the independence but that week brought me closer to my reliance on the communities of Santo Domingo.  I reacted like everyone else and  stocked up on groceries. Here in Sa...

We are starting with the power of student voice not teacher voice. And a slide show of students put to a poignant hip hop song - all my life I've been struggling. Where do we go from here? Straight to the top. This is definitely something I'm not doing enough of in class. I give students a chance for voice but is it empowering? Not yet. This music is sooooo empowering This is so awesome. Why not start a day with just a bit more happiness? Here I am at @hightechhigh and we are starting the day with a teacher band

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 ...

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...

published links: E Literacy Changes Everything                   gaming                   gaming dialogue The majority of homework in elementary schools and high schools tends to be practice or preparation leaving less than 30% for integration, interpretation opportunities ( Brozo, 2010 ). The Common Core  is shifting assessment from a focus on skills and gains of knowledge to information analysis, critical evaluation, and expression of new understanding (CCSSI; www.corestandards.org). This means our standard practices in education are not necessarily preparing students for the Common Core.  Instead of causing great alarm this lead me to reexamine isolated practices in our literacy program that could be improved to promote information analysis and new understanding.   Review of our fall diagnostic testing allowed me to isolate inference questions as a common miscue.  5...

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...

Who would've thought that a simple homemade toy, promoted through collaborative effort online, would lead to.... The Imagination Foundation?   Caine's Arcade.  Or that simple, impossible design could be immediately useful.  This following blog inspired me to have my own students create housing based on our world studies of architecture. Design Tavern Cardboard Housing         Why not? Cardboard is accessible and free, so why not let students' base knowledge combined with imagination produce something real? In this case, no costs, no repercussions with the possibility of it something being put to real use. This led me to think- with so many possibilities being shared on social networks, what are high school teachers preparing students for?   At the ISEA conference (International Science, Electronics &Art) 2012 Albuquerque,  the theme, Machine Wilderness provided a forum for global discourse on the blending of art, technol...

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...