She wrote, “I was planning to send the kids to school tomorrow for the last day of the term but now I won’t get them there until noon. I figured they weren’t likely doing anything tomorrow except seeing friends and picking up homework, and going to the holiday party… So it’s still okay, right?”

Note: This was after she’s had her 3 kids pulled out of school for the past 84 days for traveling — “10500+ miles, 20 states, 4 birthdays, and 25+ national parks/monuments.”

So then came the litany of comments from others about how the teachers probably wouldn’t give the children credit for the attendance and how unfair that was.

Finally, it was this comment that put me over the edge: “Is it your son who doesn’t get ‘credit’, or is it the school that doesn’t get ‘credit’ ( ie not getting paid by the state for his daily attendance)?”

Um, WHA-?

How soon did we forget about teachers being national heroes, shielding defenseless children from a crazed gunman, and making the greatest sacrifice for those in their care? Is our memory of Sandy Hook Elementary so short that we throw it out the window the moment our schools don’t jump to our beck and call to meet our needs, no matter how unrealistic we are as parents?

What happened to our responsibility as parents? Our main job for school-aged children is to get them to school on time, ready to learn. I am all for family vacations, like the one my Facebook friend took, but didn’t this use to happen during the summertime?

As a society, we have demanded and then legislated that a teacher must be all things to all children: the one who teaches them to read, to add, subtract, and multiply, to think things through with problem-solving attack skills, to apply scientific principles, and to know where the capital of Russia is on a map.

A teacher must also be the one to identify children who are sad and depressed, those who aren’t eating or may be allergic to nuts, gluten, or are lactose intolerant, or even children who are neglected or abused at home. Teachers must be drug counselors, guidance counselors, mother figures, father figures, entertainers of the year. They must smile and use kind words at all times, discipline with love, and teach the moral and ethical responsibility the rest of society may or may not demonstrate today.

Teachers must be wizards, too, for they are charged with getting ALL children to learn and succeed in the classroom, even those who have no interest in being in school, those who may have limited abilities, or those who are hungry, bullied, defiant, angry, or violent.

And now, as many recent events have shown, teachers must also be first responders, body guards, and soldiers who are prepared to tackle men armed to the teeth with automatic rifles.

My mother has taught second grade for over 35 years and she loves her job tremendously. She is one of those who was fortunate to never have to work but has always chosen to because it is the one thing she truly cherishes… and thousands of parents and grandparents can testify how she is one of those teachers who has touched hundreds of children’s lives.

Inspired by her, I too have been a teacher for the past 17 years. I also strive to be one who makes a difference. I love the families of my students; so, when I read the gripes of my Facebook friends about their kids teachers, it is difficult for me not to comment.

These parents who write their snarky words and condescending comments about their kids’ schools need to remember this: Regardless of your misplaced disdain, your children’s teachers will still protect and love your child, even those whose parents complain too loudly about how unfair we are, how unreasonable we are. We will educate and keep your child safe, even those children whose parents think we grade too hard, that we favor one child over another, that we teach just for the paycheck.

Why? Because we believe teaching your child is the most important job in the world and we are proud to do it. So, the next time you want to complain publicly about how your child’s school isn’t giving your kid credit for a full day’s attendance when he only shows up for an hour or two, think twice.

Maybe it is time to take a long look at your own priorities!

Need an example? The website Do Something is dedicated to helping young people take action.

“We believe teenagers have the power to make a difference. We leverage communications technologies to enable teens to convert their ideas and energy into positive action. We inspire, empower and celebrate a generation of doers: teenagers who recognize the need to do something, believe in their ability to get it done, and then take action.”

24-Hour Thankful Project

Just like you wouldn’t allow your toddler to venture onto a playground without your careful supervision, you shouldn’t allow your teenager to wander unaided into the Teenage Playground, that digital world on the web where teens post photos, make comments, send private messages, and meet new people via social media.

And, if you are anything like I am, it can be incredibly terrifying trying to try and take it all in and keep tabs on where your teen is virtually visiting and what they are doing online.

Ignorance is not bliss; it is dangerous!

Whether you know it or not, your teen is already building an online reputation that will be with them for the rest of their lives… yikes! High schools are keeping tabs on their student’s social media postings. Colleges are routinely scouring Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to get a feel for their applicants, while businesses are hiring based on a person’s online reputation.

Become Empowered!

So, what’s your responsibility as a parent? The same as in other area of your child’s life: be there to guide them, point out mistakes, help them see the consequences of their actions, and then allow them to navigate the social media world safely and confidently.

I can help you do this – really! Several friends have asked me to create a workshop that deals with how parents can better monitor their teens and help their children navigate these social media sites safely and effectively. So, I have put together what will be a valuable evening at the Winter Park Civic Center on Tuesday, November 13 from 7 pm to 9 pm.

Just $20 per parent ($30 per parenting couple).

Register early to assure your seat: http://bessauer.eventbrite.com/

Click here to download a flier to see what will be covered during this important seminar.

You came home today from school walking on air. All smiles. Talkative. This is rare for a teenager, whose normal state is to grumble something unintelligible in my direction. Last week you complained day after day about how unfair your math teacher was, how much homework you had, how you were tired and just wanted to sleep. So, I’ll take this day, this perfect afternoon when you want to share with me all that happened at school. And I’ll smile with you because your good mood has made me happy. And I’ll hold my tongue, because I know how much you hate when I try to give advice.

Why? I’m a parent.

But on the off chance I suddenly regain some semblance of knowledge before you turn twenty or so, I thought I’d write a few tips down for you that I feel are important for you to keep in mind.

Enjoy these Good Days for All They’re Worth

Life is short. It goes by faster the longer you live. And looking back, there are far too few days that you can call “perfect.” So, when you have a day like today, bask in the perfect glow and let the feeling inundate your pores. Try to hold on to the good feelings for as long as you can, because like everything else, they are only temporary.

Endure the Bad Days Because They Too Will Pass

For the weeks like last week, when something seems to go terribly wrong each and every day, grin and bear it best you can. Because just like the good days, the bad ones will eventually pass by too, giving way to happier times. Remember the Japanese quote, “Fall down seven times, get up eight.” Believe that you have the ability to get back up no matter the darkness.

Keep Your Eye on the Big Picture

I know you’ve set some pretty big goals. You want to make the honor roll. You plan on taking some AP classes and structuring your high school curriculum to be advantageous for a good college. You want to swim in college. And I know I stress about you getting homework done, working ahead, reviewing for finals. But you know what? You’ve got it under control without me nagging, but thank you for letting me play the “mom” part. However, on the occasion when you do miss a homework assignment or fail a test, just keep your eye on the bigger picture. Your hard work day in and day out will overcome any of these little bumps in the road. Don’t sweat the small stuff as you’ve got plenty going in the right direction to make up for it.

Sing, Dance, and Laugh

Although you are only in tenth grade, college and a career will be here before you know it. You only have a few spring breaks left and a limited number of summers before youth is gone. Go to the beach and play in the surf. Stay up late talking on the phone. Play your music as loud as you want and jump on the bed while you sing at the top of your lungs. Really. (Just don’t do it every day.)

Revel in the Celebrations

Winning swim meets. Being District champ. Life doesn’t bless us very often, and so take those times when it does to celebrate and embrace them wholeheartedly. Recognize those times when your hard work has truly paid off and take a moment to pat yourself on the back and tell yourself, “I’ve done good.” Celebrate.

Take Responsibility

And just as you need to applaud your successes, you also must take responsibility for your  failures. Rarely is a mistake life-threatening, and owning up to the problem is important. Look yourself in the eye, recognize what you have done, and then determine how to avoid the problem in the future. And even more importantly, know we cannot control life itself, but only how we react to it. Sometimes you’ll react well, other times not. The key is to understand the only things you have control over are your own actions, no matter the situation.

Remember You Are Loved

My final piece of advice is for you to remember you are loved. No matter how much life lifts you up or gets you down, I am here for you and I love you. When you feel like nobody is in your corner and you have no where left to turn, I will be here.

Why? I am a parent.

I know that Rudyard Kipling had the greatest advice a parent could ever give their child when he wrote his “If” poem. You’ve heard me recite it to you before, and I probably will again.

Take it. Learn it. Live it.

Love,

Mom

RocketMath ($0.99) <–My students’ favorite!

Math Bingo ($0.99)

Splash Math (Free) <–available by grade level

Time Tables Warp ($1.99)

Tic Tac Math Universal ($4.99)

When getting into higher concepts, I’m thrilled the Khan Academy has finally come out with an iPad app!

Khan Academy (Free) <–My favorite!

Math App – Geometry I  ($1.99)

Take Math Back ($3.99)

Intellective: Calculus (Free)

Geeky Tech Teacher Note: New apps are coming out every day! So, be sure to search the app store on occasion to see what new apps are out!

Google is experimenting with Project Glass, a concept where we would see our social networks right in front of our very eyes!

Photo from Project Glass website.

So, imagine as a teacher, having a set of “glasses” that allow us to take roll, enter grades, send emails/texts to parents or students by simply looking and speaking out loud. Yep, that might be a game changer!  

And, while the technology is just an idea right now, with a little time and a lot of money, it surely could be a reality. (Of course, getting hit by a school bus because we our view was blocked by an advertisement showing on our glasses might be a reality, too!)

Take a look at this video further explaining Google’s Project Glass.

Now, before you stop reading because I just intimidated you with that “global scale” line, Twitter is very safe and easy as long as you use some common sense… so here’s your guide to understanding and beginning to use Twitter.

First of all, why should teachers use Twitter?

• Have a wealth of information at your finger tips–articles on teaching, shared tips, new ideas, lesson plans, etc. are being tweeted all the time!
• Ask other teachers for feedback–maybe you’re stuck not knowing how to proceed. Somebody out there has been in your position before and can help out with first-hand experience.
• Join group chats where the brainstorming just flies!
• Make connections! Chat with the authors of the books your students are reading, the artists they are studying, the creator of a new math program. Studying the Great Pyramids? Chat with a teacher who lives in Egypt and can tell you all about them!
• Develop friendships. (Really, it does happen!)

How do I get on Twitter?

• Go to http://twitter.com and follow the directions to sign up for an account. Yes, it is okay to use your real name or to choose a name that keeps your identity hidden.
• Don’t feel like you need to “follow” anyone yet… there’s always time to do that later. Just get the account set up.
• Unlike Facebook, where you have to request to be a friend, for Twitter you can just click “Follow” and you will get that person or organization’s updates.
• You can choose to have your account “private,” which means you have to approve anybody that follows you; however, I don’t recommend this. I assume you will always be tweeting professional, appropriate information, so you shouldn’t worry about who reads it, whether it is your principal, a student’s parent, your spouse, or even a total stranger.

How do I decide who to follow?

• Develop your own Personal Follow Policy. For example, my PFP is anyone in Florida who appears to be an authentic and engaged Tweeter. I unfollow anyone who appears to be an automated tweeter (meaning a robot tweets for them), anyone who uses profanity or vulgarity, and anyone who tweets meaningless tweets like what they are buying at the grocery store.
• Go to organizations’ websites, look for the Twitter symbol and then click to follow them.
• Search by keyword – such as “education” or “teaching.”
• Click on a Twitter account of somebody you know is related to education, for example the U.S. Department of Education, and see not only who they are following, but who is following them. You can click right then and there to follow several relevant accounts.
• Don’t be afraid to follow lots of people. I follow almost 2,000 people and it is very manageable. If you only follow a few people, it’s like only having 3 friends on Facebook who never post anything. Remember, you can always unfollow later.

Do I have to tweet?

• Nope, not ever. Unless you decide you are comfortable doing so. Then, remember, you only have 160 characters to write something, so be concise.
• You are welcome to simply sit back and read other people’s tweets and get information from them.

What does RT  and @ mean?

• RT stands for “retweet” and it means that somebody is copying and sending out somebody else’s tweet. It’s polite to give other people credit for the message, so simply type RT before the original tweet.
• @ is how Twitter identifies user names. For example, I am @Bess_Auer on Twitter. If you want to send me a tweet, be sure to put @Bess_Auer  in your 160 characters, or else I may not see it.  If you put @username in your tweet, then that user will see your tweet even if they are not following you.

For example, Lance Armstrong does not follow me (Sadly!) but if I tweet “Hey @LanceArmstrong I love the work you do for @Livestrong. You are such an inspiration!” then both Lance and the Livestrong Foundation will see my tweet and possibly respond to me. And this is what makes Twitter so amazing! Celebrities, professional athletes, Olympians, speakers, etc. do actually respond to what we, the masses, tweet at them. Pretty cool, huh?

To further illustrate the power of Twitter, my school’s art classes were studying the artwork of George Rodrigue and tweeted about it. Guess what? The actual artist responded via Twitter that he loved what we were doing! Now imagine setting up the ability for students to tweet the artist (or author or politician) questions and have that person actually answer them!

Learning in action via a social network! And that’s why you should be on Twitter, my friends.

(Follow me @Bess_Auer and I’ll follow you back!)

I cannot tell you how much I am in love with this iPad app, which is also viewable on the computer! *Squee*

So, if you have a Smartboard, you can throw up the images for the entire class to view at once! Or you can assign it as homework for students to explore, or even view the panoramic photos on iPad, iPod Touch, Android, or iPhone.

Imagine this… you are studying the Washington National Cathedral. Perhaps your students will be taking a field trip there soon, or maybe that’s not in the budget; well, TourWrist.com makes it possible to visit there virtually!

Take a look and use your mouse to scroll up and down as well as side to side:

Pros of TourWrist

• Lots of quality, professionally-done panoramic images being uploaded daily.
• Visit all over the globe before studying that place – great history, social studies, and science tie-ins!
• Filter provided to narrow down search of panoramics
• Practice map skills by finding continents/countries/cities/landmarks on the map
• Teachers/students can create their own panoramic if they have an iPhone 4 or better. (What a cool class project to show off your school or service project!)

Cons of TourWrist

• Too many panoramics for a teacher to reasonably screen – the “professionally-done” ones seem to be safe
• Lots of silly, meaningless tours done by amateurs – such as living rooms, etc.
• Lots of realtors use the TourWrist apps so there are many houses for sale

The most impressive of these attempts was @TitanicRealTime, run by the British publisher History Press, and they even added in differing points of view by using unique hash tags: #officer, #Carpathia, #firstclass, and even #BoatNo1. If you followed along the #captain hash tag, you saw tweets like this:

As you followed along, it was interesting to see the differing roles being accurately portrayed.

As the tweets went on–in realtime, mind you–you at first saw the civility of the passengers.

And then saw how civility slowly began to turn to desperation.

And then finally, you read tweets witnessing the final sinking.

Overall, Twitter presented a most compelling way to learn about the sinking of the Titanic.

So, we can take this example and turn it into a truly unique way for our students to study any event in history. Imagine students researching the first lunar landing, and then the students “live” tweeting from several different points of view: #neilarmstrong, #missioncontrol, #mrsarmstrong, #televisionviewer, #presidentnixon, etc.

What about the French Revolution? Imagine the tweets from the storming of the Bastille from a #guard or #prisoner point of view. Better yet, picture the tweets from somebody in the crowd as Marie Antoinette is beheaded… or even Marie Antoinette’s very last tweet: “#marieantoinette – Oh, I have stepped on my executioner’s foot; grace must prevail – Monsieur, I beg your pardon!”

Pretty neat way to get into the shoes of a historical figure and relive an event!

So, while you are exploring Twitter, be sure to be thinking in creative ways to further engage our students and bring history to life!