Stories with Sophie

It's been a busy week. I intended to write a few blog posts about setting up my classroom, the first five days plan, a summer recap, etc. But my learning got in the way. Last Monday and Tuesday were my PD days. Our district has gone 1:1 this year, and every student from kindergarten through 12th grade has access to a learning device. Kindergarten through sixth grade all have an ipad that they leave in the classroom. Seventh grade through twelfth grade have MacBook Airs. It's a massive undertaking. We are the first district in the state of Iowa to be 1: K-12. During those two days we learned imovie, GarageBand, Safari tricks, screen captures, and put together projects. My brain hurt each day when I went home. I was more tired than I thought possible. But boy, did the ideas start coming! Even though I have always had access to technology, knowing that each of my students has that laptop at their disposal truly changes the way I am thinking about my lessons as I design the

In the past couple of weeks, I've seen a few tweets, talked to a few teachers, read a few blogs posts about people getting rid of their  "TEACHER DESK" Their principals were amazed.  Their friends were flabbergasted.  Their PLN applauded. I got rid of my teacher desk years ago when I taught seventh grade. It made me feel powerful (for awhile). It made me feel superior (for even a shorter while). It didn't make a difference in my room. It didn't change the way I interacted with students. It didn't change how I arranged the rest of the room. My desk is my space. It's my place to sit and work, or sit and rejuvenate, or just plain sit when there aren't students in my room. And sometimes, even when there are students in my room. I get it. I understand the liberating feeling of getting rid of your desk and basking in the glory of a teacher deskless room. It puts you up in front of your students. It doesn't give you a place to