A special thank you to SLI

This past week I worked at a leadership camp in North Manchester, Indiana. The Student Leadership Institute, or better known as SLI, is a camp that is for high school students to explore curriculum around leadership, community, and self-exploration. The camp is ran and organized heavily by the contributions of individuals who represent the Indiana Association of Student Councils. Dan Graney of Warsaw, Dick and Linsday Bentz (Father-Daughter combo) of Kendallville, Brittany and Nicole Mazzola from Kendallville and Avilla. Thanks to their efforts and contributions, I got to play a small role in the lives of 72 amazing students from around the state of Indiana this past week.

As a high school student going into my Junior summer, I was asked to attend SLI by Dick Bentz, who was my student council advisor at East Noble. I only accepted because I had broke my foot and ankle on the first day of summer break and I had "nothing better to do". That would turn out to be a life changing blessing. I came back a different person and a different kind of leader. Ever since my experience at SLI in 2004, I have been wanting to pay SLI and the IASC back. So, in 2007, I began to work as a Junior Counselor (JC) at SLI, and in 2011, I was given the opportunity to become a Senior Counselor (SC).

I have been able to meet and get to know some of the most incredible people from around the state. It has been an absolute honor and blessing to help lead this camp with the various JCs and SCs. I wish I could just go through and name them all! All of them have made a significant impact on my life. Adam Gaff and Katie Hurckes were instrumental in preparing me to become an SC and also a better classroom teacher.

The thing about SLI is that it is indescribely magical. These campers come and are placed in groups of 12-15. They may only know 1 other person in their Council? That is was these groups have been called over the years. However, even through the first day... at the end of the first night... These campers never refer to their group as their council... They call it their family.  Its magical.

The hardest thing anyone who comes the camp can ever do is try to explain what the camp did and how it has changed them. It is nearly impossible to get someone to see the magic for themselves if they have never been to SLI. The only thing I can suggest to them whether they are a student or an adult is to come experience for yourself. Come be a camper! Come be a counselor! Come as a volunteer! Your world will never be the same. Your world will only get larger with the connections, opporunities, and love you were given during your brief stay at SLI. 

I am truly blessed and thankful for my experiences with the IASC and SLI. The changes I see in the 12-15 students that I get to work with in a given camp year are worth every ounce energy, missed hours of sleep, and time away from reality. I say reality becuase SLI and its magic almost seem to good to be true. I can only hope I make a difference in my students' lives in the classroom, but at SLI, I KNOW I make a significant difference. 

Thank you Directors, Counselors, Volunteers and most importantly the campers who have helped make SLI what it was, what it is, and what it will continue to be. 

Father's Day

By the time that I actually post this, Father's Day would have already passed. It has been a busy week as a dad! We just took part in our first North Webster Mermaid Festival Cutie Parade. It was a great experience being able to construct something from nothing for Quinny. (We just found out last night that we placed 4th in our division!)

Even though it has already passed, this was my second Father's Day that was celebrated as a dad. I am truly blessed to be a dad to such a beautiful little daughter and be a husband to a gorgeous, selfless wife.

I can reflect on a lot of the things that I have learned the past two years or even in the last year since being a dad. However, I want to reflect a little bit on the things my dad taught me that has helped me become the father that I am today.

My dad along with my mother of course has raised four boys. Now the four of us of all turned out to be a little bit different from one another. I became a teacher/coach. Prior to that I was blessed to go to IPFW, play collegiate baseball, and get a degree in Secondary Education. My brother Ryan went to college to play baseball is well. He would end up leaving college to come home to work at Steel Dynamics with my dad. Ryan has become one of the hardest working guys I know and a great father of two! Eric, who is probably the hardest working out of all of us, loves making money. He has been working since he was allowed too. Brayden is going to be a six grader next year and enjoys playing baseball. I would say it's probably a little bit like Ryan as far as personality. However, probably the bravest of all of us considering this weekend he just scaled our neighbors house to retrieve a wiggle ball.

Even though we are brothers and grew up under the same roof, we have chosen different paths. We have different hobbies, different jobs, but the core values that my dad has instilled in us remains constant. We are hard-working, we are disciplined, and we understand sacrifice.

My dad IS the hardest working man I know. He has worked at a steel mill since Steel Dynamics inception in the mid 90s in Butler, Indiana. Before that he was working in Albion a Parker Hannifin. Now with those jobs, the hours he had to work proved to be difficult for myself, my brothers, my mom, and of course my dad. As difficult as they were, my dad still made every effort to coach our Little League teams, travel teams, and come to school functions and activities that we were all in. He would do so sacrificing much needed sleep and rest that he would need in order to work again the next day or night. This is a sacrifice he is still making while coaching my youngest brother Brayden and his travel team.

It has been my dad's willingness to work and miss some games and school functions that is given us the opportunities that we have come to enjoy. Whether it was family vacations (most without my dad), playing baseball around the country, going to college, or even helping us in our various careers (Ryan with his job and myself with coaching), my dad has been there for us.

My dad's example has shown me the way to being a great selfless father. i would like to think that I have become a good man and if I have, its because of his tutelage. But I also hope that I can be at least half the father he was for my little girl (or other sfuture lil Risedorphs).

Thank you dad... I love you.

Summer Institute for Digital Learning Day 2 w/ Kristin Ziemke

Today was day 2 of Wa-Nee's meetings on digitial learning. We were honored to have Kristin Ziemke come present to us. She did an amazing job leading us through various tools to help guide understanding and critical thinking. It was great to see how various tech tools were used and at the same time be introduced to different instructional strategies. This was done flawlessly through her presentation. We were lucky to see a great teacher in action today.

Standards

I really liked how one colleague called these standards "Big Picture Standards". We were not focused on specific state standards but guided by standards that drive student learning through school and throughout life.

(As presented by Kristin Ziemke)

This was my doodlestration...

Picture Analysis Activity

This activity was by far the best activity of the day! We first looked at this image.

We were told to "See, Think, Wonder". We discussed out loud and in small groups about what the setting and theories behind what is going on...

We continued with a second piece...

We again discussed the picture using the "See, Think, Wonder" strategy.

Then lastly...

Again we discussed... along the way coming up with more questions than answers... even with the full picture. We would find out from Kristin the photo was taken during a protest of school integration in New Orleans. Many of the people pictured were angry that a young African-American girl named Ruby Bridges was going to be integrated into the local elementary school. We had no idea that we were about to get a knowledge bomb dropped on us! We were introduced to the story of Ruby Bridges. http://www.rubybridges.com 

Our activity and quest to find out more information about Ruby continued with a second picture. This time, however, we partnered up to help analyze. My partner would look at the picture and I would write down words that he used to describe the picture. 

("The Problem We All Live With" by Norman Rockwell)

After some time, we shared aloud what we thought was happening in this particular picture. We came to the conclusion very early on that this was a painting of Ruby Bridges being escorted to school by US Marshalls. However, we went from discussing the historical facts behind the picture and we headed towarded analyzing why Rockwell illustrated the picture the way he did.

Now the fun did not stop there. We had the opportunity to change roles with our partner. So it was my turn to analyze a picture. Now I think that I had an easier time with my picture but I didn't know the whole story either...

Obviously this is President Obama. I assumed correctly that he was chatting with Ruby Bridges. I assumed this becuase they were both standing in front of the Rockwell painting. What I didn't know was that they were meeting becuase President Obama requested the painting to hang in the oval office of the White House. http://youtu.be/BCsJ-24MdZc

We ended the Ruby Bridges story with a video clip from the Disney movie about her. It was a very powerful scene that gave us a live perspective of the protest (like the first picture) and of the US Marshall escort to the school (like the Rockwell painting).

Kristin did a phenomal job of taking us on a historical journey by having us analyze pictures and other media. Not only was the journey educational, we as teachers were able to see this strategy modeled for us by literally playing the role of the students. It was awesome.

Digital Citizenship

We did spend some time discussing Digital Citizenship. We focused on how we could model it for studnets in our classrooms and how we could integrate it into our lessons regularly. I feel it is a very important concept that we need to address more at Wa-Nee. We can't afford to wait until we put the device in their hands to teach how to be a digitial citizen. Most students already have a device they own or use at home on a daily (most likely hourly) basis. 

Real but Fake Websites

This activity entertained our table. We were given four websites to investigate and try to figure out if they were fake our not... They all were... but the moral of the story is don't beleive everything on the internet!

Here were the entertaining websites! 

http://www.thedogisland.com

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

http://www.buydehydratedwater.com

Sites that Peaked Curiosity!

We were also introduced to two websites that made it REALLY hard to follow along! There were so many great facts and videos! Expecially "The Kid Should See This" website! It was pretty awesome.

http://wonderopolis.org

http://thekidshouldseethis.com

Infographics

One of the last things we looked at were infographics. I love infographics! Students find them engaging and I agree. I have used a number of infographics with my students in my government classes. Thanks to Pete Morrey, I was introduced to an infographic builder! Can't wait to try it out.

(Provided by Kristin Ziemke from her presentation)

https://venngage.com

Doodles!!!

One of the last things Kristin talked about was Doodling. I read Doodle Revolution by Sunni Brown before school started last year nad it transformed my classroom. I have ran into some really impressive doodlers over the last year. I never tracked specifics but I know that my students who doodled vocab terms, excelled on vocabulary questions on assessments.

Here are some great Doodling tools and videos to reference. 

http://youtu.be/zDZFcDGpL4U

https://youtu.be/gY9KdRfNN9w

"Paper" by FiftyThree for iPad

We learned a great deal today and I am very grateful to have been able to collaborate with such great educators in my corporation. I am truly blessed to be where I am at.

To follow what was tweeted the last 2 days, go here https://www.twitter.com/hashtag/waneeSI4DL?src=hash

I will go through and embed my videos and clean up any errors as soon as I can!

Thanks for reading!

-Rise

Summer Institute for Digital Learning Day 1 w/ Richard Byrne

It may prove to be quite difficult to sum up everything I was introduced to (or reintroduced to). I am going to try my best to post the collages, videos, and notes that I took today. So here it goes!

I would say that just over 70 teachers were present for today's session on digital learning. We were introduced to Richard Byrne; who, in turn, introduced many wonderful tools that we could use in our classrooms. http://richardbyrnepresents.com/wa-nee-community-schools/ 

We were introduce to:

1. Strategies for Teaching Web Research

2. Informal Assessment Tools

3. Digital Storytelling

4. Video Creation

5. Building Blogs and Websites

Along the way, we followed the same pattern of learning... 

(This was created by me in Paper by FiftyThree)

Strategies for Teaching Web Research

We were told to go beyond Google. I saw the benefit of searching for class material by modifying the search filter. This is something that I can honestly say that I have never done. We were also shown how to use Twitter, Pinterest, and other social media outlets for information.

We were then tasked to find a picture in our content area and pose a question with it within Richard's Padlet section on his website. I will admit that I wasn't necessarily as engaged with the task as much as I was with Padlet itself.

Padlet allowed many of us to manipulate a "board" with pictures and text all at the same time. I can see many benefits to this tool. This leads us into our next section...

Informal Assessment Tools

I feel that all of these are useful when informally assessing students. Plickers and Get Kahoot are very similar, but Plickers uses QR Code Cards rather than student controlled devices. Depending on the setting of your classroom (whether or not you have tech for students within your room), either one is extremely beneficial. 

Digital Storytelling

This section of the day really excited me. I have always wanted to use Glogster in my classroom, but it is so ridiculously expensive. I used to have an active account long ago, but I have not paid for the subscription to attach my students to it. So out goes Glogster, in comes PicCllage! I or even my students can accomplish the same things but for FREE!

Our task was to create a story of sorts showing good learning... I don't know if I actually completed the assignment since my PicCollage wasn't necessarily a story. I had seen PicCollage before but I have to admit that I was naive and thought it was just another addition to making fancy picture frames for Instagram... I was wrong.

(I have added the link just in case you can't watch the video that is within it.)

http://pic-collage.com/_3xtq5wt4

I saw some great examples from other teachers using Canva too.

(Created by @MrsWolfeNes using Canva)

Some other useful tools were StoryBoardThat and Make Beliefs Comix.

Video Creation

This is when some of us started to have some real fun... maybe a little too much!

I have made some videos already with PowToon, iMovie, ChatterPix, DubSmash, Tellagami, etc. Many of these are on my Twitter page or on youtube. I will be sure to come back and post examples later!

Many were tasked to complete a video to introduce a lesson or themselves... I did this on PowToon.

https://youtu.be/mbKP8zmMCw8

This video was for the Miracle Minute - One Dime at a Time fundraiser we did at NorthWood and surrounding schools in the Elkhart. I completed this for student council.

https://youtu.be/A6Ikm00OcZw

These two movies or trailers I made on iMovie.

NWHS Homecoming ( http://youtu.be/G0KFOqOVADw ) 

IASC State Convention ( http://youtu.be/SZ9C7SJByro )

Tellagami just for fun... https://tellagami.com/gami/CPHNFE/

The dubsmash videos I will just keep to myself... too good to share with everyone haha

Blogging and Website

This is my blog and this is my website is http://teachrisedorph.wix.com/nwhs

Near the end of the session, Richard did talk about Remind. If anyone would like more info on that (or any PD on anything else), please let me know! I was just recently accepted as a Remind Connected Educator.

I am definitely looking forward to tomorrows session and I will be sure to update this post with fun and exciting videos shortly!

I'm Back

It's been awhile since I posted anything on my blog... Well, it's been over a year! Now I'm back... 

I am going to make an effort to post at least once every week. Please feel free to get on me if I don't... 

Needless to say I have been extremely busy this past year. Hopefully I can sum up my year in another post down the road for everyone.

So, why the sudden urge to write again? It's all because I was inspired at our Summer Institute for Digital Learning, so I am bringing it back. My next post will be a collection of things I learned or created from today.

#ThankATeacher

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all the great educators out there! As a teacher, I want to thank every single one of you. There is no doubt a great appreciation for the time, work, and energy you all put into molding the minds of young people every day.

I personally want to thank a number of teachers who inspired me to become one myself.

My journey to becoming an educator started when I was in 6th grade at Kendallville Middle School (now East Noble Middle School). I had three wonderful teachers that year! Mr. Blomeke, Mrs. Goldsmith, and Mrs. Combs are contributed to me becoming an educator. Mr. Blomeke with his great personality and ability to connect with any student made subjects like science and math fun! Mrs. Goldsmith made me fall in love with history. We did great projects on ancient civilizations in South America, Egypt, and Europe. I bet that I still have my Mayan Calendar somewhere. Mrs. Combs made reading enjoyable. She actually trusted a number of us to read on our own out of the general classroom during school. Our group was able to really dive into the literature and learn how to share our thoughts and opinions on what we were reading. 

A few other teachers worth mentioning at the middle school were Mr. Swartzlander, Mrs. Prokupek, Mr. McBriar, and Ms. Kemp. Mr. Swartzlander was always so enthusiastic during History of Rock and Roll. Without him, I would have never found my love and appreciation for The Temptations. Mrs. Prokupek was my art teacher who really let our imaginations go to work. Whether it was with clay, making stamps, or even painting ceiling tiles, we were always engaged and encouraged to think outside the box. My two favorite science teachers of all time, Mr. McBriar and Ms. Kemp, had so many fun projects to complete. Mr. McBriar had us tap maple trees and make our own syrup! Ms. Kemp orchestrated the greatest project known to man! She had us transform her entire room into a NASA Space Station! It was unbelievable. Elementary students would take field trips to walk and crawl through our space station. So much fun!

When I was in high school, I had a number of great teachers there who also inspired me. Mr. Bentz more for his great leadership with student council.  He spent so much time and energy with our council. Bentz is the reason why I love student council now and why I spend a week each summer at a leadership camp. The camp hosts at least 100 students each year who are in student council around Indiana. Mr. Rickey and Mrs. Bentz were amazing English teachers! The stories, projects, and essays were always worth writing. I still have the soundtrack that Mr. Rickey made for Huck Finn. It may be the best combination of music on one disc. Then there was Mr. Hoffer. This guy was electric! Literally. Mr. Hoffer had to be running on some type of electrical charge all the time. I had him for AP US History my junior year. Even to this day, there is rarely a day that goes by where I don't have the sudden urge to write on my walls. Mr. Hoffer was notorious for extending timelines onto the carpeted walls when he ran out of room on his chalkboard. If we were cold, he would draw a fire place for us on the wall. Even though those things didn't have to do with teaching per se, it was engaging! In all honesty though, Mr. Hoffer did help a lot by letting us argue and prove our answers. A lot of the responsibility was on us to make sure that we were correct. Learning how to explain and defend your answer and point of view is a practice I still use today.

I had a couple of great professors in college too. Dr. Lindquist for Curriculum Development who helped us create a unit over the Holocaust which is now a subject I love teaching. Also, Dr. Pat Ashton who's Conflict and Mediation Course was by far the best class I had ever taken. He was able to open my eyes on how to better handle conflict and become a better communicator with other people.

I would be remiss if I did not include my coaches. Coach DePew, Coach Johnson and Coach Pierce. They were all fundamental in shaping the man I have become today. Coach DePew always demanded our best and always pushed us to near breaking points. All of which proved that we could overcome anything. Coach Johnson was like a second father.  Coach Johnson was always honest. Some would argue to honest. However, it was this honesty that I admired. He was always going to tell me the truth, even if wasn't something I wanted to hear. Whether it was me not playing much my senior year due to the fear it may hurt my chances at continuing my path to play baseball injury free (had a back issue) or the advice given to me a couple of years ago during my first run as a coach, Coach Johnson was always honest. I love him for that. Coach Pierce, Head Baseball Coach at IPFW, was also influential. His philosophy on how to carry oneself resonates through me today. He always seemed relaxed and composed. Sure he showed emotion when things were going well, but he always had a "next play" attitude. I can still hear him telling us to "turn the page". Control what you can when you can; don't let the past dictate your future. 

All in all, I had some great educators! I wish I could list and name them all! You all have done so much to inspire me and help me find my passion. My wish is that I can someday excel as an educator as much as you all have during your teaching professions. You have all truly been an inspiration not just to me but many other as well. 

If you are a student, teacher, or even an adult well out of school, take a moment this week to really say thank you to a special teacher. Certainly, there is at least one out there that has made a profound impact on your life. Let them know today.

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teachers explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The GREAT teacher INSPIRES." - William Arthur Ward

Thank you for being GREAT TEACHERS. #RiseTalk

A Lesson to Be Learned

In a world where there seems to be advancements in just about everything from technology to medicine, we seem to still fall short of social tolerance and acceptance. How are we able to advance technologically or even medically but not socially? I honestly do not know the answer to that question but it is fairly simple to justify the latter. Social advancement relies on too many individuals to pull their weight. As a matter of fact, it relies on everyone to pull their weight. To get everyone going in one direction would be quite an accomplishment.

Now this is not a call for the advancement of any one social issue. It is not my place and nor is this the platform that I would use to express such beliefs. I am calling for an understanding of how, in this day and age, the Constitution and our rights of citizens work. 

Unless you have been living in a hole the past few days, maybe you have not heard about Donald Sterling, the most recent owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. It was reported last Saturday that Sterling was recorded on tape, without his knowledge, speaking harshly to a female friend about her affiliation with several prominent African-American people. The comments made were without a doubt racist in nature. The NBA as of yesterday officially banned Sterling from the league, fined him $2.5 million, and is now forcing him to sell the team. 

Very few people on radio and TV have expressed any objection to these consequences. However, I was quite surprised by the number people who have commented online or even called into various shows objecting to the punishment that he was about to receive. All of them were using the same argument. 

"It is his constitutional right under the first amendment to make those statements. He shouldn't be punished." The freedom of speech. This argument is one that I get often if a student says something that is inappropriate in class. 

What we need to realize is the context in which the Constitution and our Bill of Rights was written. The reason why many documents from our Bill of Rights to as far back as the Magna Carta was written was to protect the people from the government. Our Declaration of Independence from Great Britain made that perfectly clear. The list of grievances were long and most of the rights that were abused are now protected in the Bill of Rights. Again... these rights are protected so that government does not overstep their power.

If we understand why our rights are protected and from whom, then we should understand that we, as citizens, are without a doubt protected in the Court of Law. However we need to understand that these same rights are not protected in the Court of Public Opinion. The freedom of speech is protected so that no individual can be prosecuted by the government (national, state, or local). The freedom of speech is NOT protected from the opinions of others.

Sterling's comments will not be used against him in any way, shape, or form in a judicial setting, but we have witnessed the repercussions of those comments when it comes to a public forum. Witnessing consequences for comments made should not be unfamiliar to us. Right or wrong. What we say does have strings attached. Attached are other people's opinions (for and against) and possibly repercussions. It does not matter who we are, but obviously the bigger the name the heavier those repercussions can be. Just ask radio personality Don Imus, the home cooking Paula Dean, Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson, and now former Clipper's owner Donald Sterling.

Right or wrong. Agree or Disagree. 

We must understand and realize this truth:

What you say can and will be used against you in the Court of Law Public Opinion. #RiseTalk