Truth, Tech, and Teaching

These thoughts have been swirling in my head for the last couple months and I finally have a chance to write them down. Let's hope this makes sense to readers on the outside. *Note: Name's changed for confidentiality. Earlier this fall, I was the Maid of Honor in my best friend Kristine's* wedding. Kristine and I have known each other since elementary school and we've been best friends since high school when we were both on the color guard together. We were co-captains our senior year and went on to do color guard together at Michigan State University. We were even roommates for our second two years of college. Needless to say, Kristine and I know each other very well and have been there for many important moments in each other's lives. I was actually present at the moment Kristine met her now-husband, Tim*, during our sophomore year of college. Tim played baritone and the baritone section happened to share the bus with the color guard that year. Kristine

When I'm asked, "Where were you on 9/11?" I find my story is very mundane and boring, at least on the surface. I was in 8th grade on September 11, 2001, going about my business like any other Tuesday that school year. Sixteen years later, as a teacher, I find myself imagining what it was like for my own teachers that day. What did it feel like to know the world as we knew it was changing and yet carry on with the business of teaching and learning as usual? What did it feel like to be the trusted adult face in front of a class of 13-year-olds, all looking to you as a source of facts, calm, comfort, and wisdom in the face of fear and confusion? The fact that my 9/11 story is boring to tell (although it was definitely not a boring day for me), means my teachers and administrators at Novi Middle School did their job well that day. And for that I'm forever grateful. So here is my "boring" story and what I learned about how to be a good teacher in the face of

I started back to school last Monday, August 28. (And I've neglected by blog for a while since I've been caught in the whirlwind of school preparations.) After 6 years of teaching I've noticed a pattern of workflow and emotions that takes place in the month leading up to a new school year. So here's my explanation of how I get ready for the school year, with some humor. (At least I hope you think it's funny.) Step 1: Get the back-to-school reminder email from the principal and start thinking, "Oh man. Summer is winding down. The new school year is getting real again." This year that email came on July 31st, exactly 4 weeks from the start of school. It mostly contained the staff orientation schedule and info on when we were allowed back in our classrooms. Step 2: Get a slew of other emails from co-workers making plans for the start of the year, asking opinions, and giving other news. It's as if everyone was waiting for the principal to break the i

Here is Part 2 of my recent life updates. The second half of my summer vacation has turned into a whirlwind of preliminary wedding plans. And on top of that I also had my wisdom teeth removed and had to take time to recover. It's been a challenge getting through it all, but by now a wedding date has been set, venues are booked, and my teeth are healing. Here's a window into what's been going on. David and I returned from our trip to New York/Niagara Falls (now newly engaged) on Sunday, July 16. It was kind of nice to get engaged while on a trip because David and I could enjoy being engaged all by ourselves for a few days without the pressure of starting to plan the wedding and answer a million questions from friends and family. We called and texted some close family and friends while on the trip but we waited until the night we came back to make it "Facebook official" and now public knowledge. (Social media has certainly transformed the process of announcing big

Some exciting news... I got engaged!! I thought I'd share the story here, along with some updates on what's been happening since the engagement. (This is going to take two posts.) But first some backstory on who I will be marrying... I met my fianc é, David, almost two years ago through CatholicMatch.com . (So I suppose technology had a pivotal role in my dating life too.) I had been on the site for about 10 months and I was feeling a little discouraged that all the guys I met were either a) not what I was looking for or b) not interested in me enough to meet me in person or go on more than one date. I had plenty of on-going conversations with guys through Catholic Match's messages, sometimes for 2-3 months or more, but I only met two of those guys in person. When David finally messaged me in late August 2015, I almost didn't respond to him. I was already having conversations with two others guys, and from his pictures he didn't look like the type of guy I'm

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to participate in an Alpha course at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit with other Catholic school teachers, catechists, DREs (directors of religious education), youth ministers, and others in faith teaching roles in the Archdiocese of Detroit. It was an amazing experience, one that gave me great hope for the Catholic Church and the efforts to revitalize it in Detroit. Alpha is a program for exploring fundamental concepts of the Christian faith. Their website explains it best, so I have quoted their "What is Alpha?" explanation here: "Alpha is a series of sessions exploring the Christian faith. Each talk looks at a different question around faith and is designed to create conversation. Alpha is run all over the globe, and everyone's welcome. It runs in cafes, churches, universities, homes - you name it. No two Alphas look the same, but generally they have three key things in common: food, a talk and good conversation

After navigating my first year as a K-8 computer teacher, I came to a new appreciation of just how many computer skills I take for granted. As adult (and a millennial) I'm so familiar with the vocabulary, workflow, and technique needed to use a computer that I forget how I learned all these things in the first place. (This is a phenomenon I've experienced many times as a teacher when I need to teach a subject I've never taught before.) I had some knowledge from using computers often in my previous job as a middle school math, language arts, and religion teacher. I generally knew what to expect from 6th-8th graders in terms of what they know and don't know. However, I now teach much younger students too and my first few months on the job were a steep learning curve in how to explain computer skills to young kids, and manage them on the machines - so they understood what to do AND nothing got messed up on the computer. Below are the top skills I discovered are definitel

Welcome to "Truth, Tech, and Teaching!" My name is Lauren and I live in the suburbs of Detroit, MI. Since my career is in teaching, that will be the primary topic of this blog, but I plan to bring in some of my other interests too - the Catholic faith, books, movies, TV shows, music, color guard/marching band, Michigan State University (my alma mater), youth ministry, and various other randomness. My life tends to be an eclectic mix, but somehow everything seems to connect. At least it does to me. Some background on me: I'm a computer/media/technology teacher at a K-8 Catholic school. I teach all grades in the school, from kindergarten to 8th, and students have computer class with me once a week. (I'm what you call a "specials" teacher, similar to music, art, or gym.) I had each of the 6th-8th grade students create a blog this year to serve as a portfolio for computer assignments and a place to write reflections on the tech concepts they learn. Their blo

These are my Easter computer projects for 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. All four grades did similar projects on the Easter Story, following the same list of events in the instructions, but with two different tools. 5th and 6th grade created presentations using Prezi , a fancier presentation tool than a simple slide show. 7th and 8th grade created short videos using WeVideo , a free online video editing software (similar to iMovie). These students were given the choice between an Easter Story event sequence I created or the Stations of the Cross (same as 4th grade). See instruction documents below for the sequence. All website links, instructions, and other documents were shared with students through  Google Classroom  and students learned to generate a "shareable" link to their projects and turned them in through Google Classroom also. I taught my 5th-8th grade students about the importance of copyright awareness and proper citation this year and they applied this knowledg

Continuing my Easter computer class lessons with the projects I did for 3rd and 4th grade. Starting in 3rd grade, my students are given Google for Education accounts, giving access to Google Classroom, Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Drawings, etc. (I'll have to write another post on Google Classroom sometime, but I'll say right now it's an awesome way for me to get assignment templates and instructions to students really easily. All my projects in 3rd grade and up are much more interesting because I have this tool.) The 3rd and 4th grade projects help them reflect on the Easter Story while becoming more proficient with some of the Google programs. 3rd Grade My 3rd graders used Google Drawings for the first time on this project and learned a little bit about the basics of graphic design - neatly arranging text boxes and images to convey a message and choosing eye-catching colors and fonts. They made small posters highlighting five important events in the Easter Story, a

I have written a series of posts describing the computer class activities I did this year for Easter. As a Catholic school teacher, I enjoy incorporating faith-based topics to teach new technology skills. This post will focus on the activities I did in my Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade classes - Easter themed games, videos, and word processing. Kindergarten At this point in the year, my kindergarten students have just begun to read independently in their regular class and can recognize all letters and many words. I try to give them many computer activities in the second half of the year to reinforce word recognition. But they do plenty of "just for fun" computer games as well to practice mouse control and let them be creative on the computer. Most of the games/activities I use for the younger grades come from  Abcya.com . Kindergarten did these three Easter games: Easter Word Search Easter Egg Hunt Make an Easter Egg Since their computer activities presented o