Some of the Best Forty Bucks I Ever Spent

I was just going over another teacher observation review with my principal and it was concerning an end-of-nine-weeks reference review lesson with a group of fifth grade students.

She mentioned that while it was just a slide show review multiple-choice thing, she was impressed that I kept circulating and getting answers from more than the same few students raising their hands.  It seemed to keep the lesson light and fun while keeping talking and off-task behaviors to a minimum.

It's because I got myself one of these babies a couple of years ago.  I'm proud that I don't do many slide show presentation-type lessons but when it's needed, this is the best thing to have.  Makes you feel like you're giving a TED talk.  Actually, it's better than a TED talk that because, like she said, you can circulate around the room and not be tied to your keyboard (or worse, have someone else do it for you and have to spend half your time telling them to "go back," or "go on.)"

I'm not endorsing a specific product here.  Any of these type of pointer doohickeys will do the job. (Click the image in this post to see some options.) But it's one of those things that some teachers or school librarians might be hesitant to spend on for themselves yet I think if you do indeed use any type of presentation format more than a couple times of year, then you'll be more than happy you have this in your desk drawer.

It Takes Flexibility!

It takes more flexibility than you know to be the school librarian.  I posted about this topic earlier in the month for my monthly GLMA post.  The past couple of days have been shining examples of this as well.

What would you do if there was an unplanned morning morning meeting that ran right up until you had to run the morning broadcast/announcements show and then you have a slight window of opportunity to set up for an incoming class but as they are walking in the door you realize you can't do the lesson you've planned because of a technical problem.  You have a class of 4th graders patiently waiting (if you're lucky) and all you have is a cart with you lesson junk on it (including last week's almanac lesson with a stack of 25 almanacs on the cart).  If you're me, then you say, "You liked that almanac lesson so much last week, I've decided to extend it!"

This is commonly referred to as making lemonade.

Now what if it's Monday afternoon and an administrator says, "You always have good ideas. We're having choice professional learning sessions TOMORROW [my emphasis] and I'm short a presenter. Could you throw something together for TOMORROW MORNING? [again, my emphasis added]." You say, "Sure, no problem!" (Probably because you are nuts.)

What would you do?  If you're me you think of the most generic librarian presentation you can (hopefully something you've seen many times) and cobble it together quickly using ideas stolen borrowed from presenters you've seen in the past.  Web 2.0 it is!  Using a pre-made Prezi template, I made this presentation which focused on Google Docs (indispensable and always more to talk about whether the audience uses it or not), Prezi itself (because PowerPoint is evil and since they're seeing it in action, it's easy to show them how to use it), and some other little fun tools.  The part on Prezi led to other creative sharing sites like Animoto and Glogster.  We also talked about Youtube's new Education site.  There were a few more.

Then I made a quick and dirty website to share the links for those interested and...Wham!  I look like I know what I'm talking about, people seem happy, and I've already had three teachers in here asking me to show them some of this stuff in more detail for certain educational applications.  And not all of the visitors were even at this morning's presentation!

Whew!

You have any examples of working on the fly like that?  I'd love to hear how you handled it.

Morning Linkage

Jenny, one of the most insightful classroom teacher bloggers you'll ever read at Elementary, My Dear, or Far From It generously opened up her classroom for this series of short videos on how she is using VoiceThread with her first graders!  Wow.

When I used to run the children's section at a big box bookstore I would often have parents come in and actually consider dropping eighty to a hundred bucks on nonfiction books on like Lewis and Clark for a report their kid had to do over the weekend.  I'd ask, um, what about the public library? Often they would smack themselves on the forehead V-8 style.  I don't know what it is about people forgetting about the public library, but Linda Homes over at NPRs Monkey See blog has a great post up about rediscovering the joys of the library.

Roger Ebert has really found his writing voice since losing his physical one.  Here's a TED talk that was just released about his experiences.  He "talks" about how social media has saved his sanity because it's a kind of conversation he can still participate in.  He has even "met" many other disabled people who connect this way. He mentions one blog in particular that if you can laugh with a politically incorrect disabled person that calls his blog Smart Ass Cripple, than you'll love it. Enjoy!

And did you see that if you don't mind ads on your screensavers, you can now get a Kindle for $114!?  I read a theory online (sorry, didn't keep the link) that if their price decreases keep going the way they have since the Kindle first debuted that it'll be basically free with some bundled package of ebooks or Amazon Prime by November.  Nothing surprises me anymore.

Check out the "News & Blogs" stuff I share in the right column for more continually updated fun and interesting links.

How to Learn? From Mistakes - TED Talk

Nailed it!

Dragon*Con 2010

I shook hands with James Randi!  That was probably my highlight for the whole weekend.  He is also known as James "The Amazing" Randi, the magician.  He is probably the most influential skeptical activist ever and is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF).  It was truly an honor.

I also shook hands and chatted with Joe Nickell, a leading paranormal investigator for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.  He likes to joke that he's been in "more haunted houses than Casper" but of course has yet to find any compelling evidence for ghosts.  He's the nicest guy ever.

I met  Daniel Loxton and got him to sign my Evolution book. He's the editor of Junior Skeptic Magazine and does most of the writing and illustrating.  Ok, maybe he's the nicest guy ever.

I also interacted with George Hrab, got a hug from the amazing Kylie Sturgess of PodBlack Cat blog, Skeptic Zone and Token Skeptic fame and Rebecca Watson, among other awesome Skepchicks.

And I can't say enough good things about the Atlanta Skeptics who run this thing.  All volunteer and all amazing.

I sat in on another fun episode of the Australian Mystery Investigators.  This is great for getting ideas on just how exactly to teach critical thinking to younger kids.  Show them cool stuff and ask thoughtful questions.  Richard Saunders kept asking, "How could I test this?"  "Can we all be tricked?"  "So does that prove anything?"  A great show and great interactions for the kids.  The covered optical illusions, dowsing, psychic abilities, and even a bit of consumer protection with their Fabulous Amazing Kinetic Electricity device.  Adults need to see this too!

The highlight talk for me was "I Very Much Doubt That!" a talk from James Randi.  The ballroom was packed.  I don't think anyone knew what a huge draw Randi would be.  He got a standing ovation just walking into the room.  He just sat and talked and answered questions but he tells them so well and is so inspiring.  He reported doing well after his chemotherapy due, he winked, to "a little thing called modern medical science."  He discussed the particulars of his famous $1 million dollar challenge if evidence can be found for paranormal abilities.  At another talk he was involved in, the moderator asked the audience of skeptics to raise their hand if they would be happy if he had to give the money away--if compelling scientific evidence could be found for some paranormal ability.  All hands went up.

I also attended the talk "Spotlight on Adam Savage" which was one hour with the Mythbuster in a wide-raging, funny, insightful, and intelligent talk.  He said they had no idea that the show would be embraced by kids and teachers and that he's glad they didn't because if they were shooting for that audience they probably would have messed up.  Now there's a commercial free version on cable due to the STEM initiatives to get kids interested in science.  It's called Head Rush and is hosted by Kari Byron.

Another fun one was "How to Raise a Mad Scientist" put on by the National Science Center's Fort Discovery folks.  They did a number of explosive and fun science experiments you can do with kids using around-the-house or very cheap stuff.  Awesome.

I went to the Astronomy Cast Live! podcast and heard all about the funding issues at NASA.  I wish there was a way that the federal government could only be in charge of funding, but not how the money is spent.  Then we wouldn't have the change in administration whiplash we have to suffer every four to eight years.  Of course, I wish the same thing about education!  Just give us the money and let us figure out how to spend it.  Leave the politicians out of it.

A surprisingly moving discussion was the "Raising Skeptical Geeks" panel.  The panel included Jamie Ian Swiss, Daniel Loxton, Adam Savage, Barabra Dresher and more.  It also included Will Philips' mother.  He's the 10-year-old who decided to quit standing for the pledge in his classroom in Arkansas because until gay people can marry, he decided, then "we don't have liberty and justice for all."  There were some great comments on bullying and then she told her story.  He's now being home schooled because not only the kids but the teacher's and administrators were awful to him and his family for "all the gay stuff."  Nice.

The last big panel I just had to see was "Skepticism in Education."  It was moderated by JREF president D. J. Grothe and included Matt Lowry (The Skeptical Teacher), Daniel Loxton (Jr. Skeptic), Dr. Pamela Gay (Astronomy Cast), Barbara Drescher (ICBS Everywhere), Kylie Sturgess, (PodBlack Cat) and Michael Blanford (Director of Educational Programs at the JREF).  Matt and Kylie get extra points for mentioning the great work of school librarians!  Some of the main points they discussed will not be a surprise to anyone interested in teaching real critical thinking.  They talked of teaching students to use multiple lines of evidence.  They talked of there being more than one way to an answer.  They talked of letting students follow their enthusiasm and mess with things to see what they can come up with, that, as Drescher put it, "The natural world is discoverable."  My two favorite quotes:  "Kids dig monsters!" from Loxton and "I like to ask my students what is a unit of chi?" from Lowry.

A great, thoughtful and inspiring round of discussions.  Check out their sites for more.

Astronomy Cast

James Randi Educational Foundation

Joe Nickell

Junior Skeptic Magazine

Mystery Investigators

National Science Center

PodBlack Cat

Skepchicks

The Skeptic Zone

Skeptrack 2010

Token Skeptic

Professional Reading: More Wonder and Books!

I've read a couple of great teacher books recently that have no direct correlation with school librarianship but I'm going to be keeping them in my library and putting them under teachers noses, quoting from them and using some of their ideas as much as possible.

Georgia Heard and Jennifer McDonough's  A Place for Wonder grabbed me the instant I heard about it.  I set up a "Wonder Wall" bulletin board in my classroom last year and recorded some of the best student-generated questions throughout the year, some of which we researched.  Many of them were about science and astronomy along with some crazy 2012 mythology that was fun to find out the truth about.

Their book takes that idea and just adds more.  More question-generating, more research opportunities and more ways to connect it to the student's own nonfiction writing.  It's written for the K/1 crowd, but the ideas of pursuing an inquiry-based approach to student reading. writing and research are great for any age.

I completely agree that the best and most motivating research we do is from questions we have on our own.  Whether it be about buying a car, finding a suitable mate, or trying to find out if that myth about full moon fever is really true (it's not, of course but it's fun to read about).

Donalyn Miller takes the same idea toward reading in The Book Whisperer.  It's much more motivating when it's self-selected.  This is hardly a new idea.  Stephen Krashen, Frank Smith, Jim Trlelease and Nanci Atwell have argued in favor of it for years.  But Donalyn Miller pushes the idea even further and writes so well about it I ate the book right up.  She lets her students read read read and has them taking and giving book recommendations like nobody's business.  At the end of the year when the dust settles, her kids blow away the state test but that's not why he does it.  Her goal is to "show students how to embrace reading as a life-long pursuit" (p. 4) and this just happens to be the best way to create better readers, students (and it shows on the tests).

She bemoans the dry-as-chalk-dust way reading is taught in schools and the boring whole class novel approach.  She asks, "are we teaching books or are we teaching readers?" (p. 85)

Heck, yeah!  It's a highly motivating book.  I could go on an on about it, but I'll leave you with this quote, from page 112:

"Your love of reading is the best part of you."

The Book Whisperer book and blog

Lunar Effects (Full Moon)

A Place for Wonder

Critical Thinking Sunday: How to Teach

Notice I didn't name this post "How to teach math."  Dan Myer has a great blog that makes math fun.  This is how we should teach everything.  I've been trying to "be less helpful" to my own daughter's questions and it's amazing to see what she can figure out on her own with just some simple questions and prompts.  I gotta take these ideas and somehow leverage them into getting kids (and teachers) exited about reading...

Paperwork?

My wife's elementary school does something brilliant. Yesterday was the final day of their state-given standardized testing and they had a huge "Family Fun Night" to blow off some steam in the evening. DJs, face painting, inflatable playground thingees, and pizza. They even had a "Power Shower" where the kids could pay to throw balls at a target and get a chance to hose down staff members (including the principal) with freezing cold water. My daughter had the biggest smile on her face I've seen since Disney.

I got the chance, however briefly, to meet and chat with a couple of my fellow bloggers. They are brilliant and interesting and I only wish we'd had more time (and that I could hear better in an environment like that). While chatting with one of them, we were discussing the possible perks of my new job. "There will be less paperwork!"

I wondered aloud if that was true and was accused by my lovely bride of being a nattering nabob of negativism. Since she's always right, it has gotten me thinking. Is there really less paperwork? Or at least less of the onerous kind?

In my current job I have some grading but a whole lot of persnickety data entry and checking. I have to work on "modification plans" with teachers on all these students and create and maintaing "testing accommodation plans" and have everything signed and double checked and signed again and checked again and again. I also have to "code tests" which means canceling classes and spending an afternoon in the prison-like testing room bubbling in just the right mix of information on pain of losing my job if not correct.

So I'm thinking that once again, my lovely bride is right. I imagine being the librarian will have a lot of paperwork related to the ordering, but I've done that as a special orders person at a chain bookstore and I've even been the bookkeeper at such a bookstore. So that part doesn't seem too bad.

I'll be teaching two classes a day so will still have lesson planning but if I understand the schedule correctly, it'll basically be two lessons a week replayed five times, so that's not too bad. I don't know how much grading will be involved.

What other paperwork is involved in being a school librarian?

image:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/practicalowl/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

School as Reality-Free Zone

This essay showed up in my local paper this morning: 2 limit txtN, jst taK awy ph. (English Translation: To limit texting, just take away phone).

Here is the comment I posted:

"I think it would be far more interesting and useful to use the phones for instant polling, backchannel responses, and finding other ways to embrace and teach ethical use of a technology they are clearly excited about than to simply try to remove them. Why should school be a reality-free zone? Think of the phones as an opportunity in information technology teaching and ethical use. Plato made the same disparaging remarks about new-fangled book printing technology thinking it would lead to the inability of students to remember anything or to be indoctrinated with dangerous ideas. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future we will look as absurd for wanting to try to ban a ubiquitous communication tool in our schools."

Steven Strogatz

Have you been reading Steven Strogatz's column about math in the NYT? It's a lot of fun, especially for someone like me who was interested in math but hated the homework and missed the good stuff in school. His 28 March column was on functions. Sounds boring, right? Wrong.

Like the best teacherninjas, he makes it fun and interesting. There's a clip from Moonlighting, a gorgeous video of parabolas at play at the Detroit airport and a discussion if the amazing feat then high school junior Britney Gallivan who created a paper folding theorem (above) which put her in the mathematical history books. (When I was a junior I was taking Algebra II for the second time...) She proved it by folding 1200 meters of toilet paper in a mall. It was verified at Caltech, but even better it was replicated by Mythbusters!

Steven Strogatz is amazing and fun. You can find him often on Radiolab. A couple of filmmakers made this video based on a story he told on this episode of Radiolab. And this is also a cool episode about math and our number sense that he's in as well.

Check out all of his columns at NYT. They stat with muppets counting and will continue on through calculus, which I'm sure he'll find a way to make fun and entertaining.

Steven Strogatz: teacherninja.

Texas: Just Secede Already

The Enlightenment Goes Dark Carl Zimmer

The War On Facts onegoodmove

Dear Other 49 States,

There's an easy fix to this problem. Don't buy textbooks. I mean I could hardly teach from a history textbook with a straight face after reading Lies My Teacher Told Me anyway. And think of the savings! We could use the books in the library instead and have a much more interesting discussion. Remember, our job is to teach student how to think, not what to believe. That's the main thing those yahoos on the Texas BOE have forgotten.

Image created by Dr. Phil Plait, back when this same group of yahoos were trying to mess with evolution.

*update: Dr. Plait has his own reaction to the Texas BOE, with updated graphic!

More On Grammar (who knew this would be a hot topic?)

To clarify: I think grammar is wonderful. The proper use of the English language is one of the best things I know. I just think we go about teaching it wrong.

Remember, I referenced Stephen Krashen? The man has two Ph.Ds. One of them is in grammar for crying out loud. When a guy who has a Ph.D. in grammar says you're teaching it wrong, you listen.

I don't pretend to have all the answers. I definitely don't pretend to know enough about grammar!

And, for those who enjoy a good sentence diagramming, I give you this. It's a grammarian trying to diagram some words from the former Governor of Alaska. Good luck with that!

(click image to enlarge)

(image from here)

Don't Get Me Started On Grammar...

Too late. The Booking Through Thursday question this week is on that very topic.

I think grammar is important but I think we teach it in exactly the wrong way. I agree with Dr. Stephen Krashen that we shouldn't directly teach grammar at all until high school and then only in an open-book manner.

Right now we're in crunch time at our district, prepping for the infernal high-stakes test next month. The children were just given a benchmark test and our job is to focus on their lowest performing items and focus on those skills for the next month to try to help them do better on the big test.

Many of those items in elementary school are grammar-related. I'm sorry, but I don't think it's developmentally appropriate. Unless a child is walking around speaking in gibberish because they're switching nouns and verbs or something, then there is no point. So what if they can name an adjective or an adverb? Most people don't know or care what torque in their car engine is, but they can still drive. Certainly the students should be learning to express themselves in writing and some basic rules of grammar and punctuation are necessary, but testing them on names of things like adverbs, adjectives, homophones, etc. is just silly.

I won't even go into the dreadful practice of diagramming sentences they get into in middle school, except to say this: the only thing you learn from diagramming sentences is how to diagram sentences.

If you want to learn better grammar and writing style? Read as much well-written writing as you can and endeavor to write as clearly as possible.

The Thrill of Science

In my last post I gave a brief review of Neil Shubin's Your Inner Fish and it got me thinking about a few more things I wanted to mention. Even if you don't read the whole book, pick it up at a bookstore and thumb to the epilogue. It a great little essay on his love of science. He mentions a visit he and his son went on to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. They made their way to the Henry Crown Space Center and he realized he was looking at the actual Apollo 8 Command Module (see it in the link). It knocked him out. He remembered watching this same mission on TV as a kid and it was a big moment for him. It was "a symbol for the power of science to explain and make our universe knowable."

Did you see the 1995 movie Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks? Of course you did because it was awesome. One of my favorite bits is when we see a bunch of engineers put into a room and a box of stuff is dumped on a table in front of them. Socks, duct tape, instruction books, etc. This is everything that the astronauts have and these guys need to use it to design a new air filter so the men can make it back to Earth alive in their damaged ship. And they do it!

Later, Tom Hanks went on to produce the mini-series From the Earth to the Moon. It's pretty great, but two episodes in particular capture that same sense of science and engineering as cool and dramatic. In "Spider" we follow the New Jersey engineers contracted to design and build the lunar lander. It may sound dry, but it could make you cry it's so beautiful. Remember, no one had any idea how to do this or what they would end up with. They were basically like those guys with the socks and duct tape and just really good brains.

Then there's the episode entitled "Galileo Was Right" in which the mission of Apollo 15 was dramatized. You remember the 1971 Apollo 15 mission, right? Of course you don't. Even at the time people were a bit jaded about the whole men-to-the moon thing. Sure, we'd been to the moon and it was a fantastic bit of engineering and all but what about the science? Geologist Jack Schmitt made it onto the mission and convinced his former professor, Lee Silver, to teach his fellow astronauts geology. Again, what could be more boring than guys learning about rocks for crying out loud? I tell you, it's an amazing episode that shows off all the best things about teaching and learning and science all in one.

Just as the moon missions changed how we look up, Neil Shubin and the fields of biology and palentology change how we look at life in general. It really is quite a thrill, if you ask me.

"I can imagine few things more beautiful or intellectually profound than finding the basis for our humanity, and the remedies for many of the ills we suffer, nestled inside some of the most humble creatures that have ever lived on our planet."

--Neil Shubin

(I refreshed my memory with EpisodeGuides.com)

Roundup of Awesome Stuff

My Wonderful World is a fantastic site put out by National Geographic to give us parents and teachers better geography resources. Pass it on.

The Book Whisperer has a post on a great use on a Ning in a classroom. Ironically, Ning.com is blocked in my district. Oh, well. Maybe you can try it.

Awful Library Books was on TV recently and now I have another fun blog to follow.

I also just discovered The Moth podcast. Perfect for my commute. Now I have another podcast I can't get enough of!

Distraction Devices?

Doug Johnson would like to know: "How do we deal with the distractive qualities of technology in schools?" Go to his post and answer him if you've got a good one. I'm sure it depends on if it's elementary, middle, high, or college and beyond. Different ages and technologies would lend themselves to different distractions. I've noticed this is true even without technology.

There's also the worry that the internet and all this texting and chatting and tweeting are all cutting us off from the real live, face to face people and groups in front of us. We're old to "get a first life."

But check out this great nine minute video from TED talks. It's sociologist Stephana Broadbent on how technology actually enables intimacy rather than putting us in our own little bubbles.

Now I know this isn't the same as the school distraction issue, but I think if we were a bit more open to allowing the technological chips fall where they may, we might find it's not as bad as we think it will be. I'm sure there are students using their cellphones to buy or sell drugs or whatever. however, I don't think banning cellphones is the answer. Maybe banning that kid's cell phone. But I'm also sure s/he is clever enough to use another. You may be shocked to know that I was aware of the occasional drug purchase at my own high school back in the days before cell phones and pagers. It didn't seem to be a problem to the truly motivated.

Going to graduate school for me (this time around) has been an interesting experience. This is the first time I've sat through classes in which everyone had their laptops out. Some professors apparently ban this practice. But tell me, if everyone in the class has no laptop or cell or anything other than a paper and a pencil to take notes with, how can you tell they're still not tuning you out? I know I did. I don't need a laptop with twenty-eight tabs open on my browser to zone out when you start to drone on.

It's not a competition either. I hear that one a lot too. "We have to compete with_____" (video games, texting, social networks, etc.) No. Like Ms. Broadbent points out., most of the people are probably going to quickly check on someone in their immediate circle and get back to the business of class. Like I said, this is new to me as well. I was surprised to see someone in one of my classes checking the score of a college ballgame during class last year. Then I thought, hey, s/he's more likely to pay attention now that that itch of curiosity has been scratched.

What do you think?

(image cc wikimedia)

How to Teach a Sense of Wonder

From a wonderful Independent interview with professor Richard Dawkins:

He has a clear sense of his debt to a series of inspiring mentors. An old headmaster at his school, called Sanderson, had been enormously enthusiastic about natural history. "And his spirit lived on there. My old biology teacher Ioan Thomas had come to the school specifically because of it. There was one time he came into class and asked: 'What animal feeds on hydra?' We didn't know. He went right around the whole class asking. Everybody was guessing, and then, finally, we said, 'Sir, Sir, what animal does?' And he waited and waited, and then he said, 'I don't know. And I don't think Mr Coulson does either.' He burst into the next room, got Mr Coulson and dragged him out by the arm, and he didn't know either! It was a wonderful lesson, I never forgot it and neither did anyone else: it's OK to not know the answer."

(image cc flickr)

Open Wide, Look Inside

Trish has her students at it again, and we all stand to benefit. Among all the other amazing things she does, she has her future teachers round up and blog about K-5 books that can be used to teach across the curriculum. They're always great choices and there's always a few you wouldn't have thought of on your own. So head on over to Open Wide, Look Inside and see what they're up to.

Right now they've got a ton of books teaching science process skills. What a great way to start the year for all your classes. Combine reading, writing, and those essential skills like measuring, sorting, and observing.

I love a good list!

Reading Debates!

Did someone have something else to say about AR? Oh, yeah. Susan Straight did. And she said it so well. I'm sure you've seen it, but I had to keep it out there because it's so good. Another anti-AR article to add to my folder. I know, I know, for some kids it works. But that's the point. For some kids it works and for others its a drag. Don't force it.

And you've probably read this one on reading workshop too. It's weird how they talk about it like it's this radical new thing, but I look around and don't see it as much as I'd like, so we can't shove this kind of thing under too many noses. It's stirred up a bit if a debate with the "choice" people versus the "canon" people duking it out. I like Kelly Gallagher's take on it in his book Readicide. (Which is a great companion to Atwell's The Reading Zone.) He takes a 50/50 approach. Half the time the kids self select and read what they want. The other half is some standards from the list. He tells the that he doesn't necessarily expect them to like a novel like 1984 but that they need to learn to engage with that kind of academic reading and, if nothing else, they'll never look at their government the same way again.

It's all about balance, people. Now go out there, share these with colleagues and report back on any interesting discussions. I love a good debate.

(photo cc flickr)

Hit the Ground Running

Esme Raji Codell, professional "readiologist" has a new blog coming soon: Hit the Ground Running! The Educating Esme Teacher Blog for "new and high-spirited" K-5 teachers. You should listen to her because she knows what she's talking about:

"Anyone who says they care about kids and schools and doesn't read aloud is lying, or about to make the discovery of a lifetime. I'm a woman on a mission. Let me rock your pedagogical world."