This is something new that I am trying with my podcast. I am adding a new bit called Mini Thoughts where I will share an unedited, uncut idea from my iPhone. Often times when I drive I record my ideas to develop later on. I thought perhaps this could be something worthwhile to share as I work to polish these ideas. Additionally, I have shared these bits on YouTube as well. It is good to test out new avenues of growth. I will see how this works out.

Shownotes Music created by 8th grade student Dennibro Additionally, if you would like to be on the podcast and talk about a topic please let me know. As always, I welcome all ideas and feedback. Follow and Subscribe to my podcast on iTunes I finally made it to Stitcher so please follow here if you use Stitcher

I am seeking some feedback. I doubt many students and parents who will be in the crowd for the National Honor Society induction ceremony reads my blog.I am a bit nervous. Alright, not going to lie I am super nervous. Probably the most nervous I have been for anything. This is my first speech I have been asked to give and I really want to deliver. I want it to stand out and be worth the ten minutes I have been given.Perhaps I am overhyping this a bit, but this is a big deal to me for many reasons.So, I have recorded a rough draft of what I plan to say. I would love feedback about what is good, not good, things I should change, flow, direction, ideas, etc.I have a few days to cement my plans and then time to recite a million times before I go up on stage.

This episode is designed to do a few things. Talking with one of our guidance counselors here at Bettendorf Middle School we take time to discuss four simple, but very powerful ideas to help parents and students get ready for middle school. 1. Lockers 2. Locks and Combinations 3. Middle School Summer Class: Moving to Middle 4. PE Clothes Our goal here to help educate the people in our community. More importantly we want to share out the things that we do and the things we help families with as they transition from the elementary setting to the middle school setting. While listening if you have cool ideas that you implement in your building please let us know. If you are a parent and have questions let us know. We would love to continue to this conversation and help out as much as we can. Enjoy the show If you want to reach out and contact Coffeechug please go here Shownotes and Credits Masterlock Combo Pack Guidance Office at BMS Mrs. Sones email - gsones@bettendorf.k12.ia.us School Website: http://bms.bettendorf.k12.ia.us/ Music created by 8th grade student Dennibro Additionally, if you would like to be on the podcast and talk about this topic please let me know as I will be creating a follow up podcast on this topic. As always, I welcome all ideas and feedback. Follow and Subscribe to my podcast on iTunes I finally made it to Stitcher so please follow here if you use Stitcher

This episode is designed to do two things. 1. To showcase another amazing project created and developed by a teacher here at Bettendorf Middle School on the topic of courage. We hope that as we continue to share out our projects that it inspires others to develop projects, connect with us, and share out additional ideas and resources so everyone can improve. 2. The students have podcasts and they need an authentic voice. Below you will find a link to their blogs and podcasts. We would love it if you checked out their work and left them a few comments. If you have a class it would be awesome if your students left some feedback. If your students have work we would love to return the favor! Enjoy this episode. Let me know your thoughts. If you have any questions, ideas, resources, etc. please reach out to me at aarmau@gmail.com or Rachael Dierickx at rdierickx@bettendorf.k12.ia.us 6th and 7th grade: http://kidblog.org/BMSHonorsEnglish/ 8th grade: http://kidblog.org/8thGradeHonorsEnglish-2/ Here is a condensed document to give you a sense of their blogs and why they are writing what they are writing Enjoy the show Shownotes and Credits Music created by 8th grade student Dennibro Additionally, if you would like to be on the podcast and talk about this topic please let me know as I will be creating a follow up podcast on this topic. As always, I welcome all ideas and feedback. Follow and Subscribe to my podcast on iTunes I finally made it to Stitcher so please follow here if you use Stitcher

We have an 8th grade language arts teacher conducting a project right now around digital footprints. As students are navigating their way through their project I was asked to be interviewed by four students for their project. Their project is focused on helping to educate 5th graders about social media. During the interview I decided to flip the this run of the mill interview into a conversation. I love social media and I share and discuss my ideas and opinions on social media all the time whether it is here on this site, other channels, or at school. After talking with the students I realized that this conversation needed to be shared. Not because we have answers, but because this chat opens up a conversation that needs to be had. I love talking to students about social media. When you listen to the podcast you will gain a sense that the students were not sure how answer some of the questions or perhaps were not sure how they felt on the topic. I hope that as I flipped their interview into a chat we spark a movement. I am so excited to see what they develop for their project. Yes, I will be sharing what they create, but in the meantime I hope you reach out. What are your thoughts to these questions? What is your opinion abot social media? I would like to open this conversation up to other educators and students. I would love to run a Google Hangout and explore this in more depth. This podcast is the start, the catalyst. The rest of you are the ones that can keep the fire going. We look forward to hearing from you. I will share their work. While we wait what are other things they should consider? The more perspective the stronger their work will become. I guess in many ways this whole podcast is a social media test and campaign itself. Let us take a listen. Shownotes and Credits Music created by 8th grade student Dennibro Additionally, if you would like to be on the podcast and talk about this topic please let me know as I will be creating a follow up podcast on this topic. As always, I welcome all ideas and feedback. Follow and Subscribe to my podcast on iTunes I finally made it to Stitcher so please follow here if you use Stitcher I recently read a book about social media with teens by Danah Boyd Coffeechug Reads It's Complicated by Danah Boyd http://wp.me/p4covo-NV

http://coffeeforthebrain.com/coffeechug-cafe/   Our school has implemented project based learning throughout all grades 6-8 this year where we have asked teachers to develop and come up with four projects this year. As we have worked through the many ups and downs of changing a culture and mindset of learners we have started to see the true value in what we are trying to achieve. Coming up in a few weeks we will host three exhibition nights where we will be celebrating the hard work and learning of students. As we continue to promote their learning we realize that we need to help express what exactly this night is all about. It is something different for parents and community members. We want them to come to these nights excited. Even more important we want the audience to engage with our students. This podcast is designed to help provide some insights into what these nights are all about. We hope we share ideas that spark new ideas, new thoughts, questions, and excitement. As you listen if you have questions, want more information, etc. please reach out to us. We are planning on making a series of podcasts on PBL based on our experiences. Enjoy and we look forward to reaching out to you. We will be posting video and images of our exhibition nights in the next few weeks to follow up with this podcast. Please stay tuned.   Here are the teachers who spoke on the podcast. Feel free to reach out to them or you can reach out to me at aarmau@gmail.com Here is a link to our school website: http://bms.bettendorf.k12.ia.us/ Beth Laughbaum 6th Grade blaughbaum@bettendorf.k12.ia.us Kevin Roling 6th Grade kroling@bettendorf.k12.ia.us Susan Owen 6th Grade sowen@bettendorf.k12.ia.us Connie Jeschke 6th Grade cjeschke@bettendorf.k12.ia.us I leave you with the following questions to answer after listening to this podcast

I am so excited and proud to share with the world this podcast. I was pumped when I introduced everyone to Dennibro a few weeks back to help showcase the power of students and sharing the stories of students who have the courage to chart their own path. This episode is amazing and not because I am involved. It is amazing because this student continues to inspire me as I follow her journey. Today I share with the world the AWESOMESAUCE Frankie Ballard who is a high school student currently on work on her third book. What is amazing is that I never directly taught Frankie in my class, but she has been part of my blogging world when it first began and we connected that way as a Teacher - Student. Through my book reviews and various other things I would share on the blog and things I would offer in school it felt like she was in my class at some point. I still have my NANOWRIMO coffee mug that I sip my coffee from weekly. I had a chance to catch up with her to have her share some insights into the mindset of a young writer. Her story inspires me to get going and finally publish my book I have been working on for years. The goal of this podcast series is to bring more exposure to the students who are doing amazing things outside of the classroom. These might be the students that go unnoticed at school. They might not get straight A's. They might not have perfect handwriting. They might not fill in every blank on a worksheet. Frankie is exceptional. She actually does many of the things mentioned above, but what I love about her and students like her is the ability to be their own person and not for attention, but because they are strong in character and mind to see above the artificial world that exists as we try to figure out who we are. But what they do have is a skill set. What they do have is a mind that can take them places. I view them as entrepreneurs who have the world at their fingertips. As this continues I would love to chat and interview students from all over the world. If you have a student in mind I would love to have the chance to share their story on this podcast. You can reach out to Frankie through her Twitter https://twitter.com/frankiesername And you can check out the book referenced in the podcast that she has published on Amazon. You will read the book and  not believe it was written by a student! Rebecca                   Additionally, if you would like to be on the podcast and talk about this topic please let me know as I will be creating a follow up podcast on this topic. As always, I welcome all ideas and feedback. Follow and Subscribe to my podcast on iTunes I finally made it to Stitcher so please follow here if you use Stitcher

As I continue to push forward with the job of instructional coach at a school that has morphed into a PBL building I am looking for new ways to help out educators. One of the things I did to help my staff is give a short little survey asking two questions: What is something that you would like help with for this year? What is something that you would like help with to plan and prepare for next year? I received some really thoughtful replies from the staff. One of the ideas that came up several times was the need for teachers to see and hear from other teachers in our building about their projects, how they put it together, resources, etc. I know that to get a variety of staff together is very hard to do with our schedule. I opened up my podcast equipment and asked for volunteers to come in and record an episode. Stephanie Cleveland, 8th grade language arts teacher, was kind enough to give up a prep period to record an episode. Stephanie discusses her Fear Factor project. I hope you find the episode helpful. She has provided a ton of resources below to go along with the episode. If you want to know more or have questions contact me or reach out to Stephanie. I would like to continue to document PBL to continue to help educators learn from one another. If you would be interested in sharing your PBL please let me know. The more we have the better we can all help one another. Shownotes To get in contact with Stephanie Cleveland Blog: http://sclevela.wordpress.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsclevelandbms Below are some novel movie posters, trailers, and a few public service announcement links from the project.......... http://hndamewood.wix.com/child-abuse http://130306.wix.com/zweifel-westerkamp#!psas/aboutPage http://schizophrenia-depression.tumblr.com/ http://131834.wix.com/arrivealive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO2Cke869BY&feature=youtu.be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA4yBH_-iGY&feature=youtu.be    

I am so excited and proud to share with the world this podcast. I have wanted to add more student voice to the Living on the Edge of Chaos podcast series. I cannot be more proud to introduce to you Dennis Davis or as he is known on YouTube Dennibro.  I have had the honor to work/teach Dennis for the last five years as part of our ELP program and as of the last few years as a member of our robotics team. The goal of this podcast series is to bring more exposure to the students who are doing amazing things outside of the classroom. These might be the students that go unnoticed at school. They might not get straight A's. They might not have perfect handwriting. They might not fill in every blank on a worksheet. But what they do have is a skill set. What they do have is a mind that can take them places. I view them as entrepreneurs who have the world at their fingertips. As this continues I would love to chat and interview students from all over the world. If you have a student in mind I would love to have the chance to share their story on this podcast. Now it is time to go back to Dennis. I hope you enjoy this interview. He offers some really insightful ideas that I don't think he even realizes. I won't spoil it all, but I would love to hear some feedback to share back with him. I hope you enjoy this podcast. I hope you check out his YouTube Channel and like his music and if you feel like it, be sure to leave him feedback over on his channel as well. Dennis has made me the intro that you hear for my podcasts as well as several other little intros for some upcoming audio projects we have in production. Here is the link to the song he suggested on the podcast for you to check out   Additionally, if you would like to be on the podcast and talk about this topic please let me know as I will be creating a follow up podcast on this topic. As always, I welcome all ideas and feedback. Follow and Subscribe to my podcast on iTunes I finally made it to Stitcher so please follow here if you use Stitcher