Mass School Shootings: When Will They End?

Time Magazine
May 3, 1999

The world I grew up in was very different. I grew up with sever weather drills, not active shooter drills. Then, in April 1999 the world changed. Two high school students walked into their school and opened fire. To an eighth grader none of this made sense. I think it was even harder for our parents because most of them dealt with a fear of nuclear warfare, not home-grown dangers. Columbine was an anomaly. This type of thing didn't happen and it definitely wasn't normal.

Our school didn't change overnight; students came in the next day and while everyone was talking about the "news" in the hallway, classes continued as always. A week later a letter went home stating that due to an increase in scoliosis, backpacks would no longer be allowed in the school. No one even questioned the timing of this letter however the next year when we were suddenly allowed clear or mesh bags confusion set in. The letter turned out to be a way to ban bags where weapons could be hidden without scaring the community. The school board was beginning to take precautions to prevent the same thing from happening in our neighborhood.

Since Columbine, school shootings have increased at an alarming rate. Now, almost twenty years later school shootings are sadly a common occurrence. I currently work in a school building that was designed to be active shooter ready. The windows are bullet resistant and the doors are designed to let people out but not in without a key. Active shooter drills teach students how to search out the safest hiding place in the event of a shooting. Teachers are trained to help keep those students calm while we are honestly just as scared.

So what can we do? There is more than one issue at play and honestly I think we need to look at this from all sides. The two major issues that come to light every time a tragedy happens are gun control and mental health. I don't want to get political on this blog post so I won't write my opinion on the two topics but I do think they need to be discussed by the politicians. We can't just continue to ignore them and hope the violence ends.

I'm proud of the students in Parkland and across the nation for not just hiding but turning this tragedy into a catalyst for change. I support their efforts no matter what the end result becomes.

Hiding Behind a Screen: The Reality of Cyber Bullying

Did you know that there are people that actually have nothing better to do with their time and insult others on the internet? We are trying to teach our students about cyber bullying and how to prevent it, but the reality is we can't prevent it. Sometimes the cyber bullies are strangers that you've never met.

Screenshot of Wheel of Fortune
November 2, 2017

For example, I was recently a contestant on a national game show. Admit it, you've seen it by now. The show is not live and I had filmed back in August before the school year began. On November 2nd, I gathered my friends at the local Chili's (thanks for hooking my school with 15% back). We had a great party and even had the local news out to cover the fundraiser (sadly, it didn't air).

After the episode aired, my phone started going berserk with congratulatory posts on social media and text messages.

The problem is, while I won a good amount of money and was surrounded by family and friends, my brain decided to focus on the negative. I couldn't believe that people I never met before were saying such mean things about me and my fellow contestants. Here are just a few of my "favorite" Tweets from the night of my episode. I blurred out the names to protect the bullies, but this is what my mind focused on instead of the positives of winning.





First of all, anyone that knows me will admit I am a naturally loud person. That's just me in general and is helpful when I need students to hear me from the other side of the room. However, at Wheel of Fortune the contestant coordinators spend the morning pepping you up. "Loud" and "Louder" are heard may times during the practice rounds. It's their way of helping to encourage the excitement and reduce the nervous whispers. They remind you that when solving a puzzle, you need to read it loud, slow, and pronounce each word carefully.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized I wasn't enjoying my victory because of these complete strangers. I was allowing them to consume my thoughts, and why? This is what we are constantly teaching our students about but for some reason, the fact that it was strangers made it worse.

So how can we help our students deal with cyber bullying? Perhaps we should just be real with them. Students often look at teachers through rose colored glasses, not as actual human beings. We need to relate to students so that when we offer antidote stories and advice they understand where it's coming from. We can also teach students to think before they post. We are all guilty of it; posting in the heat of the moment and then looking back "why'd I post that?" Perhaps show students how to save in draft mode, wait a few minutes (or until the next day), and then re-read before posting.

I'm sure there are tons of things we can do to help the victims, accidental bullies, and actual bullies. The first step is opening the dialogue.

The Digital Divide

Screenshot of Google search results.

What is a digital native? I've been thinking about this recently as I prepare for the new school year. We're constantly hearing people talking about how our students are digital natives but have we ever stopped to think about what this truly means? A quick Google search reveals that a digital native is someone who is "familiar with computers and the Internet from an early age." Is that the whole definition though? Based on the definition of a digital native, all of our students should be familiar with computers and the Internet. However, this is not true.

While doing some reading on the topic, I found an interesting blog post by Geek Law Blog where he discusses a guest lecture at a law school. That's not the part of his post that interested me. I liked when he talked about his family:

"My wife thinks my sons are geniuses. One piece of evidence she submits in their favor is how well they use an iPad. I agree with her that the fact that my 1.5 year old can use an iPad is a testament to genius. But not his. For me, it is a testament to the genius of the designers at Apple who created a device so intuitive that 1.5 year old can use it. The kid touches a picture, it moves. Congratulations to him!"

Mary Jackson (NASA) one of the
first computer programmers.
Image Source: History.com

To better think about this concept, think back to the computers we grew up with. Remember DOS? How many of you reading this blog post are even older and remember what came before DOS? I don't, and I'm not going to pretend to understand the early computers but I did see Hidden Figures so I know that at one point computers were giant machines that read punch cards of sorts.



A dictionary entry on Techopedia does a much better job of explaining the concept of a digital native for teachers. The entry states that while children today are more likely to be familiar with the terminology of the digital world, it does not mean they will intuitively understand the processes and concepts. This is where teachers come in to play. We must guide our students.

I'm going to play a little devil's advocate for a moment and try to explain the importance of Computer Science by talking about a different subject that our students are required to learn in school. Biology.

From a young age, our students have interacted with living and non-living things. They understand there is a difference between plants and animals. They know that the fish they won at the carnival died and that mom flushed it down the toilet so it could go back to it's family in the ocean (alright, not really but you get the point). So why do we still teach Biology in school? Our students live and breathe Biology every day of their lives. They see it everywhere. Therefore they shouldn't need to learn about it, they already know it.

That is how we should feel about computer science. Yes, our students are growing up surrounded by it but that doesn't mean they have a true understanding of the concepts.

Google's Geo Teacher Institute 2017

The Google bikes are everywhere to get
Googlers from one building to another.

It finally happened. I made it to the Googleplex. This past week, I had the opportunity to join about 100 educators in Mountain View, CA with the Google Earth team. Here we learned about new and exciting ways to use Google's geography tools in the classroom. This annual conference has teachers from around the world hoping to attend.

The nice thing about this event, unlike other "space-limited" conferences, GTI tries to include educators of all skill levels. This allowed for a more diverse group of people. While I learned tons of new tricks, I also was able to listen to what other teachers are trying to learn. Often, as a digital native (Am I a digital native? I'm not positive from an anthropological stand point) I forget that not everything is as simple as it seems to me. Listening to the other attendees helped me grow my understanding of why some teachers are scared to try new things in the classroom.

Googlers taking time out of their
busy day to talk with us.

Another exciting piece of the conference was to talk directly with Googlers. We had a Q&A session with a group of Googlers where they answered most of our questions and also gave us suggestions of ways to motivate our students.

I think Goosechase was one of my favorite new resources. It's a virtual scavenger hunt that a teacher can setup for students. This can be used for a number of things but I like the idea of a field trip scavenger hunt. If you take your students to a museum, arrange a set of challenges so students have to actually look through the museum. They must then post a picture (check museum rules first on photography) to the app to receive credit. You can also use the app for homework in a similar fashion.

Group Selfie

I also really liked the idea of a group selfie. After our group shot we were all told to take a selfie at the same time as the main camera. The selfies are being synced with the group picture to create an interactive display. I can't wait to see the final project.

Some of the other tools we looked at:

• My Maps
• Classic Google Earth
• New Google Earth
• Street View
• Time-lapse
• 360 Cameras
• KML (language specific to Google Maps)
• Microblogging

Transitioning From the Classroom to Tech Coach

Image Source
Mrs. Mile's Technology Tidbits

Looking back at the past few years, my life's path has continued to change and grow. It seems that I add a blog post here specifically when something major happens. I started this blog after attending an Ed Tech conference. My next post was about being a Google for Education Certified Trainer. Fast forward and I've become a Google for Education Certified Innovator, Microsoft Innovative Educator, Apple Teacher, presented at ISTE, accepted a new job, finished my masters in Instructional Technology, and now the purpose of today's post... I am once again transitioning to a new position.

It's been many years in the making, but this year will be my first out of the classroom. I have accepted a technology specialist position with a new school where I will begin in a few weeks. I am very excited because in the few discussions I've had with the administration of the school, they are open to the ideas of teachers that help students.

My new role will be to help bring technology into the classrooms instead of bringing the classroom into technology. Confused? I was too at first but I am ready to rise to the challenge and have already been speaking with the administration. The school has decided that in its design, they will not have a "computer" class. Instead, they want each classroom to teach the skills students will need for the future. Learning to write and research? Add lessons on formatting documents and using Microsoft Word's built in research tools. Science Fair? Use OneNote to keep organized and Excel for data collection.

Additionally, I will be creating profession development and trainings to help teachers use the technology efficiently in their classrooms.

I'm excited and can't wait to begin yet another chapter in my professional life.

Pay Attention to the Details, Easier Said Then Done

The embedded YouTube video below has gone viral within the past 48 hours and for all the right reasons. Please watch first before scrolling down as the rest of my text might give away the storyline.

Did you watch? Now you can read the rest of my post.

Upgrading from the Outdated "Traditional" Notebook

An example of an "organized" backpack in middle school.
Image Credit: Ms. Beth Hughes

Every day when the final bell rings, I walk down the hallway to see tons of paper on the floor near the lockers. Students either don't realize they dropped things or just don't care enough at the time. When they do come to class, papers are crumpled at the bottom of their backpacks or missing. Even when I give papers with holes punched, students often forget that the holes make it easy to insert the papers into a notebook.

I think a digital notebook is a great way to help students stay organized. The article discusses using Blogger and making these digital notes public. I actually prefer a highly powerful but very underutilized software. Microsoft OneNote. Never heard of OneNote? It's understandable because it's not as widely used as the other Office Suite softwares but it's there. Think of it as the younger sibling of an over-achieving person. You don't pay attention to it but once you see it in the shadows you'll see it is amazing on its own. Another option is Evernote, but I like OneNote's new classroom features. If you've never seen OneNote, search your computer. I can almost guarantee you have it because it's part of the Office Suite.

I use OneNote in class instead of Smartboard software. Every class has their own notebook and I keep it organized for students. Each day I create a new page and give it a heading that is the objective. Unlike a tradition whiteboard, I never erase, I just scroll down. I can type, handwrite, and insert features. I love the insert feature because students can add images, videos, sounds, or print directly from websites and other files. When my students are working out of the textbook, I can insert the PDF of the page, then call students up to the board to answer the questions.

It's great because students have access via the cloud to the notebook from any computer. This is helpful for when students are absent or forgot their notebooks at school. Parents also like this because they can see exactly what students are doing in school. For language learners, this is helpful because I can also insert audio clips of the class period to payback. They can also easily translate the notes if needed because it's already on the computer. Another benefit is that if I insert video demos, students can rewatch the lesson to catch something they missed the first time.

A sampling of what my weekend might look like.
Image Source: Flickr

The feature I love most but don't actually use (yet)? Class Notebook. My students don't have Microsoft accounts so I can't use these feature in the classroom but it's amazing. Once we have access to this feature, students will each have their own personal notebook that complements the class notebook. Students with devices can use their notebook instead of a traditional notebook. If I assign practice problems in math, each student would get a copy to write directly on. As the teacher, I can see each student's notebook and leave them feedback directly in the book. Much easier than collecting and carrying 50+ notebooks home over a weekend.

Resource: http://catlintucker.com/2016/11/trading-in-traditional-notebooks-for-multimedia-blogs/