Want to know what sometimes happens when students blog? This: Hey, this week I decided to do my weekly blog post on the person I admire the most in the ENTIRE universe. My brother, Evan. Evan, my brother, is the person I most admire in my life because he has the biggest impact on me. Whatever he does, I secretly want to do the same. I always try to impress him so that he can be proud to have me as a sister. I always want to try to be involved in his life because I feel that if I stop trying to get involved, he will stop caring as much about me and I like hanging out with him.He teaches me how to play guitar (acoustic and electric) but only heavy death metal on electric guitar. The only song he taught me on acoustic is Blackbird. When he goes out with his friends I’m always begging him to come with, but only occasionally does he actually let me. The only reason that I want to come is so that I can be with Evan. Without my brother, my life wouldn’t be the same. I’d be lonely, sad, not very smart because he helps me with a lot of my work, and just… very bored. We used to play hockey a lot in the basement and on the road sometimes, but then he turned 13 and i was 9 or 10 and he became too cool for school. When we were little my mom bought us a pair of "Sock ‘em Boppers" which were basically huge foamy things that looked like marshmallows with straps on them that you’d put on your hands, and wrestle. But we went the extreme way. What we did was we put the Sock ‘em Boppers on our feet and kicked each other! Our mom would yell at us like crazy, but we kept going. Then he got me into wrestling. And he got me caught up in wanting to be the next girl version of John Cena. Well, look how well that turned out?! He is an amazing brother and one thing that I will never forget is when I was crossing a busy road, and he stopped me with his arm and looked both ways, then "allowed" me to walk across, but only if I held his hand. When I went to sleep away camp a few years back, I got a really nice letter from him saying how much he missed me and what they did while I was gone, and even though I had gotten a gazillion letters from my parents, and only that one from my brother, I only cried when I read his note. He is my greatest role model in life and I hope to turn out as funny, as nice, and as compassionate as my older brother. Here’s the screenshot version:

I gave my students a one line google survey at the start of the year asking one question. What should every teacher know about you? Here’s what they said: i learn best when the teacher can explain as much as she/he can about the subject in easy words. Or simply if they cant do that draw them in a way that is easy to understand! :) That I am were good in art, math and science!! i like trying new, different things With technology.  It doesn’t have to be very advanced stuff, but advanced enough so the equipment I’m using won’t make me lag behind the rest of the class. visually, i am a visual learner I learn best when the teacher talks and shows what they are talking about at the same time. I learn best when i communicate with peoples so i know more. i learn best on how the teachers teach the classes. I should concentrate and focus on what i do and listen attentively to everybody. i learn best with visuals i like lots of projects and things that involve me using my hands In picture and writing on the board whit others I like to learn when teachers are speaking in class because I can enjoy and understand the lesson more. I mean sure reading helps as well, but the question and exclamation marks just aren’t the same. i learn best when the teachers is positive and give positive feedback/comments too me I learn best through gadgets and games I learn best when I work in a group. I usually take i while to finish my projects so i need at least 2-3 weeks. computers and tech I learn best by experience. In my point of view i think that all teachers should make learning fun and easy ( pretty much like you, you are introduction technology which  most students find "cool" and makes the work more amusing) I’d say that working independently is easier for me but i also like working with other people. by working and having fun at the same time i learn best with others I learn best by getting detailed explanations of the work that will be provided and of me listening I learn best by getting detailed explanations of the work that will be provided and of me listening "I don’t like sarcasm that’s hurtful. I like hands on assignments." I like it when learning is creative or fun. . .If I sit for too long I start to daydream. i learn best when i discuss the subject with someone in my class to help either understand if i don’t really get it, read something that explains it or ask the teacher when I can experience it i learn if they don’t rush threw things so fast they should know how the student is good at working like i am good in small groups and using computers sometimes i like to work hands on and use things and get to learn with my hands I.. love Adam Lambert and… I’m funny and like to play basketball and ringette. Something every teacher should know about me is that LOVE to work in groups. I find other peoples opinions and comments very interesting. Another thing, is that I am a visual learner. I learn best with a patient teacher who explains tasks clearly and doesn’t give too much homework so I can think of what I’m doing clearly. i think that every teacher should know that i understand the unit better if they can use more specific details and drawing pictures ! it helps me understand better of the situation! visually, i am better at learning when people talk and do actions instead of just talking I learn better when I’m doing independent work and when the teacher shows us by example. "I work and brainstorm better when I am in a group with people I enjoy or have experience working with. i need things explained in detail i learn my best when a teacher lets us listen to music or the teacher is fun . I learn best by not overlearning and by having fun lessons. Not to complicated don’t be boring Every teacher should know that I’m funny that I’m a very visual learner like drawing and  really getting in to your work i learn my work better in pairs with a partner. I learn easiest by examples because I imagine myself being the one that’s doing whatever the work is with the example and that help’s me understand it more. I like it when I am being thought in a creative way by not just boring talking like examples, drawings, graphs act. I like to have a little time to think about what the teacher just said. I learn best when i like the subject and I’m interested in it. I learn best by someone showing me how to do the work like an example. That I’m good at arts I think that every teacher should know that students are new to this grade and try to put them in the students place. i learn best by stuff on the board I learn best when teachers explain things instead of leaving that to the textbooks. I learn best by working sometimes independently and sometimes in groups. i learn best when i have examples and ideas or suggestions i don’t know i think that if i have a project i will try to finish it as soon as possible so i can do it work hard and then enjoy the rest of my day or that i try to be very organized i think every teacher should know about how i learn best is i usually have to write notes about what we are learning. you explain well without me to writer notes, we play a game or to do something in a group. Every teacher should know that if mostly their participation active or not, and if they followed the teachers’ instructions. I learn best by reading texts about the subject. more visual Here’s a word cloud of the thoughts:

CC Licenced Flickr Photo by pedrosimoes7 [This is a guest post I wrote for Pernille Ripp's special Blogging Through the Fourth Dimension blog.] I am perhaps the luckiest teacher in the world. The thing that makes me so blessed is that I teach a group of 108 eleven and twelve-year-olds who I learn from on a daily basis. And I don’t mean this in the indirect way, as in, I am learning from my baby by changing their diaper that we all come full circle, or I am learning from my dog that we’re all a bunch of animals that need to be loved. I mean that I literally receive instruction from these kids. They are remarkable. Sometimes I listen to their responses to an open-ended discussion question in class and get floored. Or I read one of their blog posts and tears well up in my eyes. Aha moments? I’ve had a few with them. It was sometime during this past week where I felt that everything went *click* in my four classes. It was like the first month and a half with collaborative discussion, multiple understandings of ‘text’, iPads, blogging, and social networking were all a novelty and then, bam, everyone suddenly realized what the point of it all was. It was as though my mantra of Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Communication suddenly became normalized rather than unique. Preaching to practice. Lesson to living, breathing. This tipping point dawned on me over the span of the week. On Monday I read a post on one of my student’s blogs that levelled me. Then I witnessed the passion spread like wildfire. Seven other students read her post and wrote homage-worthy versions of their own. On Tuesday I had a student approach me after class: "Um, Mr. Lee, I have, like, this idea? You know how we’re, like, working on procedure writing in English and healthy living in Health? We should, like, do a procedural writing thing on how to live healthy!" Guess what their new assignment is? On Wednesday I mentioned to the students how astounded I was to witness their creative use of spelling, punctuation, and grammar on Buzz. I still wasn’t completely sure whether I was alright with them subverting the English language in this manner. Well, wasn’t I surprised when they so eloquently persuaded me that they wrote this way on Buzz because it was a completely different context for writing. One student’s words were: "It’s a place to talk like we really talk. As long as we know not to spell like that in a different situation, like on our blogs, or writing a letter to the principal, it’s OK." On Thursday I had a student ask if he could make a movie on his Mac in lieu of his procedural piece of writing on healthy living. "And don’t worry, I’m still gonna meet the success criteria." After hearing this, another student piped in to ask if they could use Google Docs to pen a collaborative novel. On Friday I was given what I now realize was a gift of a question from another student. "Mr. Lee, can I use my iPod to video our class sometimes?" I didn’t really know how to answer at first. I figured she wanted to make a movie about our class. I just asked her why. "I don’t know. I just wanna be able to watch it at home because it helps me learn." If you expect kids to lead, they often start leading. That’s what I notice. That’s my Aha moment.

Something to Remember by Royan Lee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at spicylearning.files.wordpress.com.

People talk of the 3Rs. Forget the 3Rs. How ’bout the 4Cs? 4Cs by Royan Lee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at spicylearning.files.wordpress.com.

Think before you post by Royan Lee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at spicylearning.files.wordpress.com.

How amazing is the blogosphere? Really, think about it. If you are reading this, you, like me, are probably immersed in this social media stratosphere. But, whoa, take a step back and realize how crazy unbelievable this whole scenario is. I blog, share it with the world. You read, respond, maybe write your own post inspired by it, share with world. Rinse, repeat. For instance, just yesterday my friend @thecleversheep gave me some great feedback on this graphic I created. While giving me props for the work, he also reminded me about the importance of licensing my work with Creative Commons, which I haven’t been doing at all. Why haven’t I? To be honest, I was a little lazy. I simply didn’t care if someone used my work. My thinking was, if someone was going to profit from it in some way, or pass it along as their own, I figured their own karma could deal with it. It took Rod Lucier to remind me that Creative Commons isn’t just about protecting my work, but also about making it easier for others to use it. I am so thankful that Rod took the time to give me this piece of feedback. We should constantly remind ourselves of the wonders of self-publication and content creation. Hopefully, it will mean we never take it for granted.

One of my students made this interesting Goanimation to illustrate something he was thinking about after attending the York Region District School Board’s Quest Conference: http://goanimate.com/go/movie/055UQkxz16nI?utm_source=emailshare&uid=0BZ7RwmO8qRc

I was just cleaning the toilet and got inspired to blurt out a quick post. This has been something on my mind for a while. We need to teach kids not to be boring. Yes, crass, I know. There are more eloquent and persuasive ways to put this, but, as my students would say, whatever. I think one of the biggest crises in education is that we perpetuate boringness at every turn. Boring, as in, in-one-ear-out-the-other. Boring, as in, the second I can flush this from my history of experiences, I shall. From our passing down of the Powerpoint Me To Death to our explicit teaching of standardized responses, there’s soporificness at every turn. We’re not just tacitly supporting it; we’re teaching it. Of course, this in no way implies that we need to make learning cooler or funkier. We don’t need to have an auto-tuned pop version of the national anthem in the morning, or have iPads and cool apps in every kid’s hands. Boring, certainly, is subjective. I’m simply talking about ridding ourselves of all moments where we explicitly and implicitly teach one another to be boring. I’m speaking of those huge ‘projects’ we outsource to students in groups that encourage regurgitation of facts and mindless script reading. I’m pointing at system initiatives delivered by people who don’t like questions being asked. I’m blaring at external accountability measures that essentially denounce dynamic and divergent means of communication. There are too many great books to read, blogs to write, music to dance to, video games to get lost in, for us to spend time being boring.

Thanks so much to @colinjagoe for getting these clips to the web for all of us to share.