R. Tyler Horner

Mac vs Microsoft

First let me start this off by saying that I am a firm supporter of Apple products. I have a Mac Mini, iPhone (since the beginning), Air, iPad 2, and Apple TV. My wife is a fan as well and I’m sure my soon to be born daughter will be begging me for an iPhone much sooner than I can take. I will not be changing from my Apple products any time soon and like having their products in my classroom. I just wanted to make this clear before you continue reading this post.

I was browsing through Twitter last night when I ran across multiple people tweeting about a landmark case for Apple in the classroom. I followed multiple links to this article from the Maine Sunday Telegram where Apple lost out on a substantial bid to provide laptops to the students of the State of Maine. I’ve come across two types of people when talking about the decision: 1) people who feel like Apple must lower their prices or 2) people who cannot believe that Maine would not choose Apple over HP. Both of these stances are non-sensical to me.

High Priced Apple

Ever since I was in college there are two main arguments with Apple products: they cost too much money and are not easily upgradeable. Both of these are true statements. Even if I apply either my educator discount to a new Apple purchase or shop the refurbished section (a great idea by the way) I could easily buy a comparable Windows based machine for much less. It is also very difficult to upgrade almost anything on a Mac other than their Mac Pro tower, but even then you have to make sure it’s compatible with their operating system. I added some RAM to my Mac Mini recently and I felt like I was playing the board game Operation. Speaking as someone who is sold on the Apple brand, these two weaknesses of Apple are not the reason I buy almost all of my computing products from them. I buy their products because I like their operating system, it all integrates together rather seamlessly, and they tend to stay on the cutting edge of technology. I fully realize that I will be paying a premium price for all their hardware, and so do the throngs of people who regularly crowd the Apple Store every weekend. The idea that Apple has priced-out their market is silly to me. There will always be people willing to buy an Apple product because they make quality hardware that just works.

HP Over Apple

While the state is changing their preferred vendor to HP, that doesn’t mean that every child in the state must have an HP laptop. It is not clear from the article what all of the laptop choices will be, but it is reasonable to think that districts could choose to stay with Apple since much of their network infrastructure is already Apple based. What shocked me was not that they opted out of an Apple contract, but rather that they did so with solid reasoning to back up their decision. The lowest priced bid was for iPads for every student, and while they are nifty I would choose for kids to have a laptop over an iPad in the classroom 10 times out of 10. I love my iPad and there are awesome learning experiences to be had on an iPad, but having a fully functional laptop is my preference. In my experience students prefer to have laptops as well, so I tend to agree with Mr. Hamlin in the article. If it came down to iPads or nothing of course I would choose an iPad, but I would rather have a laptop than an iPad. The state also backed up this decision by throwing out the statistic that the HP operating system is most commonly used in Maine businesses. You may not agree with their reasoning, but at least the state came at this from sound logic which was the desire to prepare students in school system for the working world around their state.

Conclusion

My first choice for my personal classroom is to have all Apple laptops. I realize that this is not only a pipe-dream, but a resource drain for the teachers around me in my building. For the price of a class set of Apple laptops we could outfit multiple classrooms with iPads or HP laptops, but in my utopian classroom I’ll have Macbooks. That being said, to say that Apple needs to redo it’s model for producing laptops is silly. Sure they lost out on a pretty massive contract, but I’m sure the impending launch of the iPhone 5S will more than make up for losing a contract. We tend to criticize school districts for not doing what is right for the kids under their care, but as far as I can tell Maine has done just that. They have chosen the most cost effective way to get full laptops into their students’ hands and that laptop directly correlates with the working world in the State of Maine. We might not agree out of personal preference, but kuddos for making an informed opinion.

Burdens

I was reading this article, and it seemed to be a perfect metaphor to what I can become if I quit pushing myself as a teacher. I run the risk of becoming stagnant in an ever changing workplace.

The bike in this picture was simply lost and left alone in the path of a growing tree. Fast forward a few decades and the bike has been swarmed by the rest of the tree and could now be considered a burden to the rest of the tree. In the same way if we do not continue to evolve and continue down the path of growth as a teacher, could we not be a burden to our occupation? I really hope that this picture never describes me as a teacher. I hope that I will have retired as an educator long before this depicts me. The children we have the opportunity to teach deserve better than having someone collecting a paycheck rather than do what is best for kids.

It’s the Final Countdown

We’ve done everything we’re supposed to by now. We have gotten the nursery together, had multiple baby showers, interviewed pediatricians, contacted relatives, made numerous visits to the hospital, and attended three classes through our hospital. I’ve read books, she hasn’t…which is a bit odd. We’ve done everything we can think of to get ourselves and our home ready for our baby to come home, so now we wait.

For the first time today it hit me that in not too much longer we’ll be a family of three. I’ve said that before, but this time it’s hit me hard. I think it’s because the other couple due right around us is on the maternity/paternity leave and that means ours isn’t much behind them. I’m nervous, scared, excited, lost for words…everything all at once, and that’s strange for me. Hopefully, everything works out as it’s supposed to and everything will go relatively smoothly. We have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow with a sonogram scheduled, so I guess I’ll know more tomorrow.

Survive and Advance

It’s getting to that time of the year that two distinct things happen to teachers: survive and advance. No, I’m not talking about the ESPN 30 for 30 film of the exact same name. Rather, I’m talking about the mindset of teachers during the last months of the school year. I’m finding more value in this state of mind this year because I’m trying to force myself out of what I’ve always done during this point of the school year.

Survive

In the past this part of the school year has been completely about surviving from day to day. The units that I’ve taught in my social studies classes haven’t been re-imagined in years. We do the same things as we did last year (which happen to have a higher number or videos in them than most units) and bank on the fact that its the end of the year and we all need a break before the final six-weeks madness. Generally speaking, there are fewer administration walkthroughs being done and less attention being paid to the details of the school day.

This school year I’m trying a new approach. I’m using this time to test out things I’m interested in using more for next school year. I’m creating differentiated lessons, trying new technologies, and reading more books than I ever have before and it’s caused me to stay on my toes. My kids enjoy the trial and error process of new things and aren’t beaten down by the way my class always operates. I’ve also been able to redesign the way my classroom will operate next year (thanks to a certain book given to me by my principal) and being able to connect with people who have tried something similar and incorporate similar attitudes has been refreshing.

Advance

To a point I am talking about moving on to the next school year. I’m looking forward to a number of changes next year. First my family will be growing by one in the next month. Second, hopefully I will not be coaching next year and can really embrace my role of history department head. Third, my wife will be transitioning to a stay at home mom role next year and all the changes that will bring along with it. I’m also planning on attending a conference this summer through an educator grant I may be getting and making myself aware of all the growth and learning opportunities available to me through Twitter, co-workers, as well as my local library.

All in all, I’m enjoying a season of the school year I never really have and I’m excited about the possibilities for what changes will occur in my teaching style in the coming months.

Reinventing Me

I’ve recently found out that when I became a teacher my head was filled with a lot of assumptions about the career of teaching. First was that this path for my life would be more stable than my previous life as a youth minister. That was quickly debunked when my district began laying off teachers during my second year. The next was that teaching “gifted kids” is easier than teaching lower kids. While there are fewer traditional behavior problems, I would say that I have just as much commotion in my classroom now as I ever did before…it’s just a different kind of nonsense. I’m just now getting to the point where my latest assumption is coming to the surface. I thought everyone who teaches was in it for the kids.

Let me back up a few steps before I continue. There are a lot of people in this world who teach and have their kids interests at heart. I appreciate teachers that genuinely want what is best for their students even if it makes them feel uncomfortable and isn’t what is easy all the time. Thank you so much if you are one of these people!

This week has felt like a whirlwind to me because people have been having conversations with me that haven’t normally been had. I’m going to be piloting a new program for our school next year, finishing up a re-evaluation of our G/T program on a district level, been informed that people are excited at the professional development I’ve signed up for this summer, and have been used as an example by multiple people in the district. I’m not saying all these things to brag about the job I’m doing. I truly feel that my teaching career is in its infancy and I need to grow into a better teacher on a yearly basis and I think this is where all the situations above stem from. I feel like most of my peers in the teaching world are fairly set in their ways and would like nothing more than for the district to leave them alone so they could teach in the same tired methods they have in years past. I understand that not every training (and there are a ton of trainings) that I’m told to go to are the most useable content in the world, but must we always prejudge the content of trainer before listening to what they say? For so long we’ve seen new ideas, opinions, and research as a means to “evaluate” us as teachers instead of seeing it as valuable feedback that can transform our classrooms into something so much more than what it currently is. Meanwhile the people in our schools who crave new best practices, evaluate their progress as a teacher, and seek differing opinions of what is good and bad practices are looked at as revolutionaries. Somehow we’ve gotten to the point where pushing ourselves to be better than we were last year makes us an ‘overachiever’ or ‘pushing the envelope’.

Hopefully I never get too old to learn something new.

Classes Are Done

Monday Haley and I finished our pre-baby coursework. Our hospital offers three classes for new parents, and while they aren’t mandatory they are recommended. At first I was a bit hesitant, but after going to them all we really learned a lot and feel better about the prospects of taking home our child in six weeks or so.

The first class we took was called “Prepared Childbirth.” Of all the classes we took, I feel like this was the most important because it at least gave me a basic understanding of what to expect when we motor off to the hospital. They went over hospital procedures, choices we needed to make, and generally got us to understand how you birth a child at their hospital. We also got to go on a tour of the pre-natal and postpartum areas of the hospital, which will come in handy.
The next class was the “Baby Care and CPR Class” which was super-helpful as well. They told us about basic baby care and when we needed to seek medical attention. We also got a crash course in infant CPR and what to do if the baby begins to choke (which is pretty likely). We also took another tour of the hospital during this class.
The last class was also the one I was most weary about going to, “Breastfeeding Class.” While I still maintain that I would have been fine not going to this class, the understanding of how everything needs to happen as well as how often it should be happening was very helpful. They offered another tour, but we declined.

Overall I wouldn’t say that I’m ‘prepared’ for the big day, but I feel like I have a better understanding than I ever had before. We’ve also gotten the nursery done (pictures to come) so now my only thing left to do is pack a backpack for our trip to the hospital.

Pediatrician

Today was definitely a first for me. I went to a baby related doctor’s appointment with no baby in tow (she’s not due for another two months) or my wife. I went and me with our soon to be pediatrician’s office to get information and see the office. Usually they have group meetings with the doctors and multiple parents, but today I lucked out and got to spend a few minutes one-on-one with one of the doctor’s at the practice. I was a little shocked when the founding doctor of the practice walked in wearing jeans and a very fashionable shirt, but I got over that very quickly. He wanted to know a lot about my wife and the details of the pregnancy. We spent a few minutes talking about the particulars of the practice and how they operated. I asked some very benign questions to him and he reassured me. Did I mention that all of this happened in an examination room? I walked out of the office with only one dilema, the fact that it had taken me around 15 minutes in traffic to make it about a mile and a half from my house. I decided to do some reconnoissance work going home and I figured out that there is a less traveled, very easy back way to the office from my house. I’m sure at some point I’ll have some sort of disagreement with their office, but for now I’m satisfied with our choice of pediatrician and it’s a good thing to have in my back pocket as we move forward in the pregnancy.

Gifted, Prepared, or Well Funded

Being labeled ‘gifted’ is always a desire for students as well as their parents. Who wouldn’t want to have their child labeled as gifted by their school district? It’s affirmation by the educated in your community that your child is ‘smarter’ than the rest of the children in their school. Often people focus on the good aspects of being gifted and not the difficulties, but that will need to be saved for another post. Is every child labeled ‘gifted’ truly gifted? And if they are truly ‘gifted’ at one point in their life should they be labeled ‘gifted’ forever, or does our gifted-ness change through time? By no means do I have answers to all these questions, but I’m starting to see some commonalities.

What is considered ‘gifted’?

There is a ton of debate over what should be considered ‘gifted’ versus ‘good student’ or ‘smart’. In the state of Texas, “no more than five percent of a district’s average daily attendance are eligible for funding”, but funding does not always equal the total number of students in a program. Currently I work at a school of approximately 800 kids, and I have 57 gifted kids in my classroom every day. Simple math tells you that I have seven percent of my school’s daily attendance in my classroom every day, and I teach one subject and one grade level. Does that mean that mean that there are an abnormally high number of ‘gifted’ students in my district or that we may have set the bar too low? Or could there be other things at work?

Other possibilities.

Is it possible that what we consider a test that measures the gifted-ness of our students is actually just another test that we can teach to? I would say yes. Teachers, by nature, are a breed of humans that strive to have their children succeed. We want our students to do the best they possibly can. We do this by researching both the tendencies of our students as well as the tendencies of the test. We know our students from getting to know them and by both formative as well as summative assessments throughout the year. The test will take us a little while to figure out, but sooner than later we figure out the heart of a test and better equip our students to conquer it. People call this various things like “teaching to the test” but who wouldn’t if your job was on the line? But while teachers are out for the best interest of their students, there are others that take advantage of the desire to see children succeed. In this case people are making serious money off the ability to teach to the test. In some cases, the same company who is producing the tests is also supplying the textbooks to teach the students as well as private study materials (see here). In essence these companies are making money three different ways and one of them is by teaching kids strategies to test as gifted! I’m in favor of gifted education and having tests that can measure giftedness, but I doubt the spirit of giftedness is being taught how to beat the test by the makers of the test. The other problem with this is that it caters to wealthier children. Only those who have disposable income can afford to have their children how to do well on tests or buy supplemental books or classes. While I would concede that your home life is the biggest contributor to success in school, is it possible that the size of your family’s check book is a contributor as well?

Summary

In the end this mini-rant is not going to change the process of how we label students as gifted. What it will take to have something like this happen is a generation of people who want what’s best for kids…all kids. We need to realize that just because our children are not labeled ‘gifted’ does not mean that we have failed them as parents. Is it possible that a kid can go through their life in regular education and live a happy, fulfilled life? Absolutely. Somewhere along the way we have misunderstood happiness and success as what level of classes my student is taking in high school. Hopefully, we can better understand our own kids well enough as well as the big business world looking to make a buck off of their situation in life and take a couple of deep breaths. Is being gifted an indicator or success, maybe on some small level, but there are a billion other indicators that matter just as much or more.

In Process

I like to pride myself in finishing what I start. I like to think that when I put my mind to it I can get things done in a timely fashion. You would think that having our first baby in April of this year would push me to get everything set and ready for her arrival in the swiftest of fashions, but I’m really not feeling like it.

I don’t mean to say that I’ve been lazy. We’re getting things done, but they just aren’t happening at our usual pace. For example, I spent a weekend during our Christmas break knocking out DIY jobs around the house, but restoring the house to a livable space still hasn’t happened. Our upstairs area is an absolute wreck, but we’re waiting on certain things to happen before we can really move forward. Another example is that the nursery is waiting to be painted. We’ve moved stuff out and even picked out a color to paint it, but that’s where it stands…bare room with paint swatches on the walls to compare colors. It’s about time to buckle down and get things done again and I’m hoping this weekend I’ll get motivated to at least start the painting of the nursery because I hate painting and would like to get it done.

The silver lining here is that I realize my laziness and thus my conscience will only let me get so far gone before it goads me into action.

Historically Significant Weekend

Most people I know talk about this weekend because it’s a three day weekend. I work as a teacher and my fellow teachers see this as one of the last school holidays we have before the dreaded month of February, feared the world over because of its lack of school holidays. In reality, this weekend is huge for two reasons. The most obvious reason is because of MLK Day. It is also the weekend where we remember the 40th anniversary of the famous Supreme Court Ruling of Roe vs. Wade. These two landmark dates as well as President Obama’s inauguration gave me time to pause and reflect on the weight of these events, so I thought I’d reflect on them.

MLK Day – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a huge figure in the world of a social studies teacher. Not only was he well spoken, but he was also putting into action the beliefs he held so dear. He was willing to put his life on the line for what he believed in and it’s a shame he was plucked from this earth in such a tragic way. My pastor at church talked a bit about the civil rights movement and he talked about how his grandparents were terribly insensitive to social justice when Dr. King was alive. He went on to wonder if people in that situation ever looked back on the outcome of everything and wish that they’d changed sides. I wonder if there’s an issue in modern day that I could be on the right side or the wrong side of. I’m sure there’s something revolutionary going on right now that I can’t see, but I wonder if I’m on the right side. My prayer this weekend is that I’m following God’s will and trusting that he will use me to aid in this change, whatever it may be.

Roe vs. Wade – The bottom line for this is that this landmark Supreme Court decision paved the way for legalized abortion in the United States. It’s hard for me to understand this decision for a number of reasons, but as I reflect on the topic, I’m wondering if this could be the pivotal issue of my generation. I’m wondering how this issue will effect people’s lives from here on and I wonder how opinions of what is right or wrong have changed since 1973 when the decision was made. My church spent the weekend talking about abortion and used both the Bible as well as statistics to outline it’s stance. It was for sure an uncomfortable sermon, but one that caused me to think long and hard about my beliefs on such a hard topic.

Obama’s 2nd Inauguration – I’ve grown up in a time where politicians have been fairly moderate. My recollection of both Bush’s presidencies as well as the Clinton administration is that they were fairly moderate in general. Their oppositions would rather have had their constituency in the presidency, but there was not outright hatred. I feel like with President Obama there is such polar opposites in opinions of him. You either love him or you hate him. I’m not used to this, so I’m still internalizing how I feel about it. I will say that I kept changing news channels today while watching the coverage of the inauguration and both sides seemed to be courteous toward the event, which I guess is all you can ask for.