Connie and Amy both endorse this cause and hope you will consider ways to reduce your paper use each and every day.

Here are some ideas:
-Take a walking fieldtrip in the neighborhood or park (yes, permission slips are still required). The walk can easily be related to science, math, language arts, or social studies. Athenian children in Ancient Greece spent much of their school day learning outside.
-Use individual whiteboards (I think the math adoption came with them) or have kids use dry erase right on their desks – they wipe off easily! Kids can write poems, do a gallery walk, draw, practice math, make a diagram or timeline, etc.
-Hands on science experiments where all notes/observations are taken with digital cameras and typed onto a teacher laptop. Kids can discuss, hypothesize, observe, and draw conclusions orally as a group.
-Have a Reading Day/Time. As a teacher I always had one day per trimester that was dedicated to reading for pleasure. Kids brought in their favorite books, magazines, comic books, etc. It was a day just to celebrate and enjoy reading.
-Use technology. I know that we have limited access to projectors and elmos (the tech committee is working on this!), but there’s nothing wrong with finding a techie teacher and planning a classroom swap for a portion of the day. That way, you can plan a lesson that uses resources online (feel free to ask if you need ideas) or take a virtual fieldtrip. Of course, we also have the MAC lab and carts to use.
-Manipulative math – do an entire math lesson and activity with only manipulatives.  Great for geometry, algebra, number sense, fractions, computation, etc.
-Enjoy PE inside or out. You can do an activity with your buddies, with a neighbor class, or on your own.

While you are enjoying the paperless day, be sure to tell your students WHY.

According to the EPA:
Recycling one ton of paper would
•    Save enough energy to power the average American home for six months.
•    Save 7,000 gallons of water.
•    Save 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.
•    Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one metric ton of carbon equivalent (MTCE).
But not using the paper to begin with would do so much more.

Click here if you would like to take the pledge:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDhZa0lnUW0zeXZBa2xnRVZFSVdnU3c6MA&ifq

Earth Day 2010 Action Center
http://earthday.org/

He said (my paraphrased interpretation) that when I get there, I should just zip open my brain in the morning, let all of the goodness fall in, zip it up that night, and let it consume me. He went on, it’s not about the day, it’s about the network (I KNOW!!). I will become a part of an amazing community of educators with a common vision and drive and the opportunities are limitless. I may never be the same again.

I wish I could leave tomorrow, but I will wait (somewhat patiently) until March 5th and prepare my brain to be permanently altered. In the mean time, we are trying our best to connect virtually.

Here’s my video submission-

See you in San Antonio!

In the back of my mind was this notion that now I am an administrator (many of my friends would say that I’ve gone to the “dark side”). My first official administrative job will begin on August 4th – as the AP of the largest elementary school in my district. What struck me as I walked around the Apple campus yesterday morning was the energy there. From the lobby to the grounds, and the café, everyone seemed to be exuding energy, enthusiasm, creativity, and vitality. I couldn’t help but wonder why our schools don’t feel the same way. Am I the only one who feels this way? I certainly don’t mean to say this specifically about my new school – I haven’t spent enough time there to tell. I will report back on that later. But from my experience as a teacher and instructional resource teacher working in many of the schools in my district, I just don’t feel the buzz.

Of course, many individual classrooms that I have vistited  have this feeling, but I have never felt it from a school as a whole. How can an organization as large as Apple exude this feeling and a school campus full of energetic students does not? What is stifling the energy there? This is what I want to focus on during my year as a new administrator – how can we create a school that exudes excitement for learning and has a palpable energy that people can feel the minute they walk on campus? What are the roadblocks to this? How can people settle for anything less?

I’m hoping that my new school community will surprise me and be that school. If not, I’m willing to work as hard as it takes to try to make that palpable energy a reality. I hope my staff, students, and community will join me in that goal.

I also have to give props to our IT department in Cupertino. They do a terrific job of very selectively filtering out inappropriate content while allowing educators to determine what type of Online resources they can use in the classroom. Here in Hollister, one out of three sites I try to access is blocked by their firewall, including Blogger and news resources I was trying to access. Very annoying!

Laurel and I are excited about what we’ve been learning here and hope to use much of the information in our CUSD/CEEF board presentation.

As a middle school teacher, it was the rare tween who was not focused on the points. No matter how many soapboxes I stood on professing the power of learning and intrinsic motivation, it didn’t seem to matter quite as much to them. So when does this transition take place? When do kids stop caring so much about their own learning and start to worry more about the points?

Any ideas?