Draft Day

Last year our 7th grade team created a PBL project for two schools that involved a murder mystery they had to solve, you can read more about it here.  We decided to do this again this year with just our 7th grade kids.  We went through and tweaked it to fit just our school since the first time we included two schools together.

The next part is one our favorite days in team.    It is called draft day.  We have a common team time where we get to create projects and collaborate. One thing we do in our grade is when we do a big project we do not include all the students.  We first go through and eliminate any one with F's, we let them use this time to get caught up on their work.  The other group of kids we eliminate are students that have proven to us they can not handle open ended projects and group collaboration.  This is the only time we do this. Since we do projects all the time, they do get plenty of time to have that experience.  Once those kids are picked out, this year we had 9 out of 127 kids, the draft officially begins

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 We put every kids name on the board and we then "draft" them and put them in groups of three.  We have found that is the perfect number for group work.  Each teacher gets a turn in picking a group and we just go around and draft all the kids until they have all been selected.  We group them by ability level and we try to put combinations of kids together that we know don't usually work together or would be a good combination to work together.

In our grade we give very few tests, because we want to "know" the kids so we have conversations where the kids explain what they have learned.  One of our favorite things to say is "you can't hide from a conversation."  We know the kids so much better than 4 years ago before we made the switch to 1:1 and project based learning. 

Since we mix up the kids throughout the year they are used to it.  It is definitely a culture that takes time to build, but it is without a doubt worth the fight in the beginning.  The kids are doing a great job with this project.  There is quite a bit of higher level math and the kids have tore into this project and they are really good. 

Since it is Istep week it is so interesting to see the kids in the morning taking multiple choice tests that have exactly one right answer working in silence compared to our afternoons where they are collaborating, sharing ideas, and solving a problem that has no one correct answer.  Our project has 9 suspects and we have created it so that 3 of them could be the killer.  How do we judge that?  It is based on their justification of their work, the way they connect the evidence to their suspect,  and how they present their information.

Today is our final day and I can't wait to see their final presentations.  I had one girl come up to me today and say " I am so excited today to present.  Normally I am so scared to present in front of people but not today.  Our presentation is awesome."  Wow, excitement about learning, can't argue with those results.

Going One-to-One: There Will be Blood

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Unless you have a master plan, incredible support, and more luck than a leprechaun at the end of a rainbow, sitting on a pot of gold, up to his ears in four-leafed clovers, going 1:1 can be painful.  There will be blood.  Its going to be bad (at times), but hang in there, it gets better.

Going 1:1 is like jumping on a moving train.  The jolt of inertia immediately puts you behind.  You're not even sure which direction you want to go.  The only thing that helps you progress is to constantly move forward. Rely on your leaders and PLN to help establish a direction, and just keep moving. You have to have grit.  Its the latest buzz word in education, usually applied to students, but teachers need to have grit to go 1:1.

There will be blood, but eventually, as you learn to work with the train and not against it, you will be progressing, growing, and learning at a pace commensurate with the advancements in technology and learning.

You have your local leaders, an ocean of resources on the web, and probably some tech Jedi's that just became superstars in your school in at 1:1 environment. Use them and may the force be with you.

Our 1:1 Story
Beginning
End of Year One
More End of Year One
Beginning of Year Two
Mid Year Two
End of Year Two

Candy Corn Contest

Have you ever competed in the "Guess How Much Candy Is In The Jar"?  We do it every year at one of the Xmas parties I attend.  I have wanted to do this activity with my kids for the past couple of years and I have just put it off.  So I was looking for something fun the kids could do after our long winter break and thought, why not, let's go for it.

My wife has many different sized canning jars at our house.  So I went and got some candy corn.  I filled up three different sizes of jars and my first project of the new year had begun.  I didn't make it a full blown project.  The kids did not create a presentation and present their findings.  This was more of a quick hitter.

I started by showing them a picture of candy corn in a jar and asked them how many pieces of candy are in the jar.  They were already in.  Then I showed them all three jars and told them whatever group in the 7th grade got the closest by mathematically solving it would get all the candy.  Smiles all around.  I posed the question, "Do you think you can guess closer or mathematically calculate and get closer?"  To my surprise most kids said mathematically.

So we dug in.  I love starting new projects and not knowing where they will end up.  We have learned volume and are pretty good at formulas so that was somewhat review.  Since we haven't had school for nearly a month it was good review.

We brainstormed what information we needed (essential questions), then we created a plan on the steps we would go about to solve this problem.  This part was just ok.  We definitely need some work on this part but it got us started.  Next was the fun part.  I passed out candy, rulers, and jars and the measuring began.  Two of the jars had changes in the sizes so there were two different size cylinders and one was just a straight cylinder.  Some groups saw it and some didn't.  They measured away.

The challenging part is that the candy corn isn't quite a cone and it is not quite a pyramid.  The kids had to analyze and decide which path to take (cone or pyramid) and how to measure it.  Then once they divided the jar volume by the candy volume they got the number of pieces in the jar, kinda.

Since the candy corn is filled up the jar with gaps their answers were the first time to big.  The kids had to guesstimate the percentage of air vs the percentage of candy.  Then as a class we learned how to take a percentage of a number.  Finally for the first part the kids wrote a paragraph on why we had to adjust their original answer and their logic on why they chose the percentage they picked.

After all was said and done we calculated that the candy corn took up about 40% of the jar.  I melted down a jar full of candy corn and it was very close visually to 40%.  The winners enjoyed eating the fruits of their labor, they even shared their winnings with the other kids in class.

MTV Cribs Math and Art Lesson.

This week in class we are learning scale.  We connect it to MTV Cribs since they love celebrities and all their rich stuff.  The kids really enjoy it and it is a fun way to learn and apply scale.  The links for each day show the Google presentation I used in class.

Monday = Intro to scale and practice, teased we would be designing our own "Crib".

Monday we learned scale, watched some interesting videos, and I created scale problems that fit what we were learning.  They love watching videos.  We did this in partners so the kids could talk out their thoughts.

Wednesday = Design and review.

I let them know that on Wednesday we would be designing our "Crib".  Their faces lit up.  We watched an MTV Cribs episode to give them some ideas. We used the website called Floorplanner.  I don't even mess with teaching them how to use these websites.  I just let them discover and ask questions.  Some kids come in with amazing houses already built.  I let them work for 4 - 5 minutes designing then they did a review problem.  As soon as the problem is correct, they get to go back to designing.  This really motivates them to be quick and efficient, something we focus on a lot in my class.

Friday = Scaled down our rooms.

How this works is for math they design their house and we scale down the measurements for our art teacher.  She then takes those measurements and has the kids build their bedrooms and connects it to her standards.  We have done this now for three years and the kids are really excited because as 6th graders they remembered seeing them sitting around the art room.  I honestly never thought when I started teaching that I would be showing MTV Cribs in my math class.  It's not my thing, but it's not about me.  It's about them and what they like.  Our job as teachers is to find a way to connect our subject to their lives, even if it means watching MTV.

Concise Professional Development with Diigo

Education is a busy business.  Ask your teachers to participate in a book study and watch the eyes roll to the sky.  Its not you, its not your book--it a time thing.  Educators feel slammed during the year, but Diigo offers a great solution.  With a Diigo account, you can annotate articles with highlights and sticky notes and share the annotated articles to your colleagues or have them create Diigo accounts and create a group, which makes sharing very simple.

The real beauty of of Diigo is the ability to just grab the most important sentences and paragraphs (using the browser extension), which allows you to share the most important, actionable parts of a given article.  The selected text can be emailed or shared in groups creating a concise, digestible form of professional development for departments, administrators, or the entire staff. Obviously, this tools can be used in the classroom too!

In addition, users can make comments on annotated parts of an article allowing virtual conversations to take place right in the article.  This video (courtesy of Will Richardson) shows user conversations about highlighted areas of an article.  We all need to learn and improve our craft.  Tech tools such as Diigo allow learning and collaboration to fit into our busy schedules by cutting the fat and getting right to the meat.

Remember When we Couldn't Know EVERYTHING?

I'm lucky enough to be a part of the generation that was pre-cell phone and pre-Internet and I like that.   It makes me appreciate the information-rich, communication-saturated world we live in.  I remember a time when four friends were sitting in a car and someone posed a question, 'is it farther to New York or Panama City from Indianapolis'... an no one knew the answer.  AND NO ONE COULD FIND OUT!  We just sat and wondered and continued to... not know.

Those days are gone.  Smartphones, 4G, WiFi, etc. have created an information atmosphere that blankets most of the developed world.  While there has been a lot of ink spilled on this in the last decade, I had a realization the other day.

"There is no excuse for not knowing something."  

It happened when Joey and I were designing the plumbing for some rain barrels.  We don't know anything about plumbing or rain barrels for that matter.  We read research online, watch videos, and looked at pictures--we could probably start a rain barrel consulting firm at this point.

There are some major implications for education in this new world.  Why do we stress memorization in school?  How much school-organized PD training do teachers  really need?  How can schools and libraries stay relevant in a world when all of the collective known knowledge is floating in the ether?

Whether you want to build rain barrels, learn French, or find a better way to teach fractions--all you need is a computer, a connection, and the motivation to explore.  There is no valid excuse for not knowing something that you want/need to know... besides laziness.  It sounds harsh, but its true.  In addition, ubiquitous information also raises the bar both professionally and personally.  We should expect excellence, especially in our professional lives.  The cliche' 'where there is a will, there is a way' has never been more true.  By the way, Panama City is closer to Indianapolis by 48.4 miles.  Thanks Google.

Our Summer Schedule

Last year the Indiana Department of Education provided a grant to 17 schools to host a professional development conference.  This summer has been dubbed the The Summer of eLearning.  As a professional development junkie, I was really excited and proud of my State.  I decided to attend everything within 2 hours drive and take as many teachers from my school as I could. In the end, 25 of our 87 teachers volunteered their time to attend at least one conference, saying loud and clear, 'I want to get better'!  I was pretty proud of my colleagues.

If you want to connect with Education Shift, we will be presenting and/or attending several conferences/workshops this summer:

• Edcamp Indy (Franklin) June 6th (over)
• Knight Time (East Noble) June 12 and 13 (over)
• Southern Wells Workshop (Poneto) June 18 (closed)
• e3 Technology (Warsaw) July 29 and 30 (open)
• eQUIP (Plymouth) July 31 (open)
• The Digital Shift (Lebanon) August 1 and 2 (open)

This was the second year from Edcamp Indy.  Edcamp Fort Wayne was in early May.  Edcamp is an amazing concept that we fully support and hope will continue to gain traction in Indiana.  The Knight-Time conference just wrapped up last week.  It was a great opportunity to learn and connect with other educators.  Richard Byrne and Vicki Davis were the keynote speakers, and the good people at East Noble did a great job organizing their conference.  Southern Wells is a closed Google workshop for their staff.  The remaining conferences promise to be amazing opportunities to learn and connect.  We hope to see you there!  

What????? The year is almost over?

Since we have been 1:1 for two years now, one major difference I have noticed is time.  Instead of counting down the days before breaks or vacations I am trying to squeeze in a couple more things before we reach the break. Before, I remember times just trying to fill a couple days to get to the end.

I teach 7th grade math and I can remember the year before we got computers I would complain because in May after Istep what were we suppose to do.  I had crammed in everything so the kids would be ready for the test, so what do you do after.

Now I have more projects that I can possibly cover in a year with the kids.  So now instead of trying to just fill time to get us to the end, we are doing projects up til the last day.  This is a rough time of year since we all know how close it is to the end and we are done with our standardized tests.

Normally in May I felt like I was in survival mode, not this year.  We are using the nice weather to get outside and do some fun things.  Two weeks ago we had our 1st Annual Charley Creek Race where the kids designed boats and we raced them down the river.  The next day the kids connected multiple shape perimeter and area, percentages, and speed to the boats they designed.  The final week of school we are designing our own squirt gun competitions and in between days of competitions we are collecting data on the guns so we can compare and contrast the guns by using central tendencies.

I can't quite put my finger on why my attitude has changed.  Is it that I really have a good group of kids,  the fact we are 1:1, is it that we do projects not worksheets, is it the really good relationship I have with the kids since we do project based learning, or is it a combination of all of the above.  Only time will tell, but my guess is our 1:1 initiative and using pbl is the main factor.

The Amazing Power of Google Apps for Education

This originally appeared as our guest blog at eLearning Industry.  

Its hard not to use hyperbolic statements when describing Google Apps for Education. Its that good and its free! The diversity of apps you get with a Google account is astounding. I’ve felt for years that Google is an education company and they don’t even know it, but after hearing that institutions like Notre Dame University and Chicago Public Schools have adopted Google Apps I think they are starting to catch on, especially considering the latter is estimated to save 6 million dollars by moving to Google Apps. Our small school saves thousands annually on servers and email platforms alone. Each of our students and teachers has a managed account that has access to dozens of incredible, reliable apps that can be utilized in every subject.

Gmail, Drive/Docs, Calendar, Sites, YouTube, Reader, and Blogger are just a few of the amazing apps your students will enjoy, but the hidden beauty of Google Apps is the sharing, security, and web-based platform. The days of “turning in” are obsolete when students can simply “share” their work with their teacher, and it totally changes the landscape of writing. I previously blogged about the power of writing in Google Docs. Inserting comments allows students and teachers to have a virtual conversation without marking up student work and gives teachers the power of real-time formative assessment. As a Google Apps school, you control and own your data, while letting Google handle storage and server maintenance. Google is totally web-based, so students can log in at school then go home on their own computer, log in to Google and pick up their work right where they left off. Their work saves automatically into the “cloud” and the revision history will allow them (and you) to review and/or revert to any previous version of their work. They have the same power on their phone or tablet anywhere, anytime.

With Google Apps there is no need to install, maintain, or update new software--its all in the cloud! This is a dream for anyone who has had to update hundreds or thousands of computers in a district. In addition, Google is excellent about introducing new updates with pop-up bubbles explaining the changes in a user-friendly manner. Our district has chosen to move away from costly office software for student computers. Google Documents, Presentations, and Spreadsheets are excellent office substitutes that offer exceptional functionality and a growing number of special features. I have heard some teachers suggest that students need to learn Microsoft Office software, but the Microsoft platform changes with every new edition and its more important that students learn to adapt to new platforms and broaden their skill base beyond the confines of one product.

Your Google Apps administrator has complete control of what apps are available to students and teachers. Each app can simply be switched on or off with a single click for individual users depending on the setup of the accounts. There are dozens of outstanding lesser known apps that are engaging and useful:

• Google Maps is well known, but many don’t know it is slowly becoming a web-based version of Google Earth. Google Earth is amazing, but its extra software that must be installed and maintained. You can create custom maps in Google Maps with your own place marks, shapes, and colors and everything is saved in the cloud. Students can insert images and text into the place marks and give a virtual tour of anything that can be found on a map--a great activity for social studies and English classrooms. 
• Google Forms are part of the Drive/Docs App, but they deserve a special mention because Forms have incredible utility. Basically it is a survey tool, but it can also be used for quizzes, polling, purchasing requests, service request, etc. The data entered into the quiz or service request is populated in a Google Spreadsheet. You can even set up email notifications to alert you to a new submission or use a “script” to grade a quiz. 
• Google Moderator is hardly known, even to Google gurus. This app allows users to submit and vote on questions about a lecture, video, or any event. Basically its a Google-based backchannel for discussion. Its similar to the web tool gosoapbox, which is great, but anonymous. Sometimes anonymity allows for abuse in digital discussion forums. 
• Google Voice gives users (probably best just for teachers) a free phone number that they can use to communicate with students and parents without giving out their personal information. You can call, text, and receive email notifications every time you receive a call or text. 
• Google+ is an emerging social network that may rival Facebook in the future. You can set up a controlled network within a school similar to an Edmodo environment. Another great features is the Hangout. Hangouts are one of the best ways to organize a video chat with up to nine other people! 

 
I could go on about the dozens of other apps and their potential uses in class because there are so many, they are so useful, and they are all free. I sometimes feel like an unpaid sales associate for Google. The web-based platform of Google provides anywhere/anytime access, which reflects the edtech landscape that is clearly moving to web-based applications, so when you go Google, you will be ahead of the curve. It can be argued that the glory of Google completely depends on an Internet connection, but the time of ubiquitous WiFi is approaching. Poverty greatly affects our community and our students rarely have trouble finding a connection. Oh, did I mention that Google Drive/Docs allows off-line editing? As a Google user and overall tech-evangelist I can easily say Google Apps is the most powerful tech tool available for the classroom and one I couldn’t go without.

ASCD Final Reflection

Its Monday night and time to wrap things up and reflect on the whole ASCD conference. Prior to the conference I shared my inclination that large expensive conferences might be an obsolete form of professional development. I always think about the scene in Goodwill Hunting where he tells the ponytailed Harvard grad-student that he 'wasted $150,000 on an education he could have got for $1.50 in late charges from the public library'. I think that situation has relevancy to the annual ASCD conference. Our district spent close to $10,000 (from a grant) on this undertaking. How many books could we have purchased? How many hours could we afford to pay our entire staff to collaborate? How many in-house training sessions could we have organized to set up each teacher with a high functioning PLN? Do large conferences like this simply subsidize teachers and administrators that are too lazy to self-direct their own professional development?  

The first half of day one was nearly a total loss partly due to the lack of organization, my mistakes, and poor presentation skills. If WiFi is down for more than 30 minutes someone should be fired. After we went without an Internet connection for half of the first day I was jaded. The long line to "register" was another immediate sign of disorganization.  I should give them more credit I guess.  There was 10,400 people attending over 400 sessions and it went pretty smooth.  I pulled an arrogant, idiot move by leaving during the introduction of the first keynote speaker Freeman Hrobowski because I thought the guy introducing him was Hrobowski--who I knew little about until I read about him that night. The introducer called a hashtag a “pound sign” and my nerd hackles shot up. Shame on me. I heard Hrobowski was fantastic. 

What was not fantastic was being read to in the next session. I call for legislation against reading text from a presentation slide, enforced by corporal punishment executed by the suffering audience. The highpoint of the entire conference luckily occurred at the end of the first day, so I ended on a good note.  Will Richardson’s session From Old School to Bold School was the total package for me. He is a fantastic presenter. His message was challenging and provocative--this is the draw of a national conference for me. I want to be blown away. I don’t want an idea to refine what I’m doing, I want an idea that forces me to completely rethink everything I’m doing. I don't want to spend this kind of money for incremental professional adjustments.

The second day was very similar to the first.  There was very little that I found useful with one saving grace--Maya Angelou. It was a great honor to hear her speak. Mother Angelou is a national treasure; a "rainbow in the clouds" for us all. Most of the garbage sessions (sorry, at this point my professional filter is getting thin) were about Common Core--they were sooooo boring. Mind numbing may be a better description. Common Core is all over the place these days.  ASCD surely wanted to delivery sessions on hot ticket items, but engagement has to be considered.  This isn't the tax code, its education for crying out loud.

Today (day three) I got a late start, possibly due to my overall lack of enthusiasm. I missed an early shuttle and arrived late to the session, which was full. I wanted to wait around and hear Van Jones talk about a green economy and educational opportunities, but we had to meet back at the hotel by 11:00 to check out, so the day was a total loss. 

 
Despite my muckraking negativity I did enjoy the conference overall, and I deeply appreciate being included in the group from my school that was fortunate enough to attend. As I reflect I realize that the real value in this conference were the great speakers/presenters, not the content.  I think a good deal of my sour feelings stem from the fact that I was not a good attendee of ASCD.  I had overly high expectations. I chose sessions poorly and more importantly I’m a self-directed learner with a huge appetite. It sounds arrogant, but I’ve heard many of these ideas before. I’m sure many of the 10,400 attendees experienced amazing growth, but the best idea I heard all weekend came over lunch with my principal, and was completely unrelated to any session (a whole other post).  I probably learned more on Twitter and Google Reader this weekend than I did from my sessions.  Did I just waste $1,000 on an education I could have got for free at home?  In the spirit of Will Richardson's book Why School?, I think I can summarize my feelings with "Why Conference"?

ASCD Reflection Saturday Afternoon

Redemption and mistakes.  I would first like to apologize for misjudging what I thought was the keynote speaker of the First General Session.  Turns out I walked out during the speaker that introduced the keynote speaker.  I heard Freeman Hrabowski was absolutely EXCELLENT and I missed him because I walked out during the guy who introduced him.  My bad.

My day was totally redeemed by Will Richardson.  His session From Old School to Bold School was so inspiring.  He pointed out that some people attend conferences like this to make their school better and some attend to make their school different.  The difference is significant. Are you simply trying to do the same old things better?  Will explained how school began in a time of information scarcity, but we now live in a environment of information abundance.  What are schools doing differently? What should they be doing differently in an era when every answer is a click away and you don't need to go to school to learn anymore?

Ubiquitous information has allowed individuals to pursue their own interests.  As our society becomes more self organized rather than institutionally organized, so too should our education.  Richardson gave 9 Qualities of a Bold School:

• Learning centered
• Inquiry driven
• Authentic work
• Digital
• Connected
• Literate
• Transparent
• Innovative 
• Provocative

My spirits are lifted and I'm looking forward to Sunday's sessions.  Some of my original feelings are being solidified,  but I want to keep an open mind and give ASCD a change.  More to come.

What is 1:1? Part Two

I still encounter educators who aren't familiar with the term 1:1, and thats understandable.  We lead busy lives and its hard to keep up in the rapidly changing world of education.  I see it as a failure of the general institution of education, not a failure of the individual.  For those who don't know or haven't experienced 1:1, lets talk about what it isn't (or shouldn't be):

• 1:1 is not just giving every kid a computer
• 1:1 is not just a method of increasing technology integration
• 1:1 is not just a way to save paper
• 1:1 is not a fad

Education has been stagnate for so long.  Its an institution that has proven difficult to disrupt.  Introducing a 1:1 initiative to an unchanging institution will produce the same results.  You have to change the institution.  You have to change the entire culture of your school. 

What is 1:1?  Its a springboard; a legitimate catalyst for big change.  Pedagogy, assessment, daily schedule, length of the day, faculty meetings, course offerings, community involvement, professional development--every aspect of education can be revolutionized by 1:1, and its a good excuse to start a long overdue change.  Obviously, all of these changes can't come at the same time, but a committee of stakeholders including teachers, students, parents, and administrators need to sit down, put everything on the table, and create a strategic plan to revolutionize and modernize their school.  

What other opportunity will schools have to make big changes?  I blogged about Greensburg Kansas who suffered an F5 tornado that destroyed their entire town.  They decided to rebuild a modern energy efficient town where every building would receive the highest rating (platinum) from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.  Its not complete yet, but they have a plan, and they had a springboard.  1:1 is your springboard.  Don't you want to have one of the schools that people talk about at TED?  Why not your school? What are you waiting for?  A tornado? 

Are Universities to Blame for Stagnant Teaching Practices?

University scholarship usually lives at the cutting edge of a given field of study.  The latest technology and the newest practices are often developed and promoted at the university level.  After having 3 student teachers in recent years, I would have to argue that several universities in my area are about 10-20 years behind in technology, pedagogy, and assessment.  I want to be clear, I have had excellent, motivated student teachers.  They are not the problem.  In my opinion the problem is the training and expectations of their university.  To support this accusation, I have observed several patterns over the last 2-4 years of accepting student teachers and student practitioners (those doing their shorter practicum).

1. An over reliance on the textbook.  When I tell visiting college students I don't use the textbook, they are often concerned about how to find content for the class and how to organize the class. Universities should prepare student teachers for life without a textbook.  Assume it won't be available.  Its an overpriced, obsolete, static resource designed for a time without Internet access.  Student teachers should be learning how to assemble and digitally curate their own content.  That should be a major component of their content education.  
2. Direct instruction as evidence of good teaching.  When the university comes to evaluate the student teacher, they are explicit about observing direct instruction.  Why is this the observable technique that demonstrates teaching competency?  Should a university really be advocating this so strongly?  Lesson design, disposition, and enthusiasm and far better indicators of effective teaching that out-of-the-gate skill at direct instruction.  
3. Pre-test and post-test is the main way to demonstrate learning.  I have personal experience with this at the Masters level at one of these universities. The only way I could demonstrate student learning was with a pre/post quiz.  Pre/post tests are such a futile joke and an insult to learning.  Its an attempt to find quantitative data from learning.  Learning, much like art can't be quantified, and most attempts to do so create validity problems and unreliable data.  Talk to your students!  Ask them questions!  Record the conversation if you must.  
4. What is a PLN?  Despite my student teachers' fantastic motivation to learn, their university hasn't provided the professional scaffolding of a diverse PLN (professional learning network) beyond myself and the university supervisor.  This should be another cornerstone of their methods courses.  Methods change and grow, but if students don't have people to stimulate and challenge them after their student teaching semester they may stagnate.  
5. Progressive pedagogy is under emphasized.  I have yet to have a student teacher who has any operational knowledge about project-based learning or other progressive student-centered education models.  They are taught (or at least this is what they remember) to use limited direct instruction, but beyond that they don't seem to have lesson structures beyond standing in front of the class.  A few students have found it hard to limit the direct instruction, therefore perpetuating  the same static, unchanging model from the last 100 years.  Why are the universities not the agents of change in education? 
6. Progressive assessment is not even mentioned.  Every student teacher and student practitioner always asks, 'how do students turn things in' in our 1 to 1 school.  They seem to have no idea about any other alternative.  They should be taught and expected to use authentic audiences and performance assessments.  They should be asking how to publish student work.  What are our presentation standards. What software we use for digital student portfolios.  They should have at least heard about oral defense practices (1 on 1 conversations).  Instead, its more of the same traditional assessment measures. 

Most people seem to agree that education is long overdue for a change, but what keeps this traditional monster from starving?  Some say teacher unions, some say standardized test, but I would like to shift at least a little blame to the universities that could easily influence the new generations of teachers they turn out each year to replace the retiring classes.  An infusion of true reformers every year would change education from the ground up.  I realize there are many leading universities such as Stanford, Harvard, and Vanderbilt, but lets be honest, 90% of the teachers who will be replacing the babyboomers are coming from smaller schools, community colleges, and less prominent teacher education programs.  I think its time to hold university teacher's colleges' feet to the fire.  In this last decade of misplaced educational accountability (not reform) universities seemed to have escaped unscathed.  We can't expect true education reform to come from politicians or testing companies (who usually drive "reform"), so we must focus on institutions who are capable and legitimate.

A One Day, 250 Student Project-Based Learning

Our school went 1 to1 last year.  We embraced project-based learning about the same time.  Since then, several schools have visited our school to see it all in action.  We aren't experts, but we are in motion and functional.  After a neighboring school came to visit, my principal approached me with a unique idea.  What if we took our entire 7th grade student body to the visiting school and did a one day technology-rich project to really show them what we do.  He charged the 7th grade team with designing a project to be completed in one day that would demonstrate how our classes operate.  Whoa.  With schoolboards, newspapers, and a school of teachers observing, participating, and evaluating our work, the pressure was on.

We decided to design a complex murder mystery project that would incorporate Common Core standards in mathematics and English language arts, as well as content from our state science standards.    For nearly a month we toiled away on a shared Google document designing learning activities, writing testimonies and biographies of the suspects, and finding a way to connect everything. We created a fictional narrative and 8 learning activities that involved an initial murder followed by a second murder that occurs mid-day.   The initial evidence pointed to the victim of the second murder, so students were going to be forced to reevaluate and revise the evidence.

Students were asked to create a short presentation of who they thought the killer was considering the evidence and motive in a clear, logical summation.  We created two rubrics--one to use while students worked and a second for their final presentation.  When the work time was over, students shared their presentation with multiple teachers to provide opportunities for revision.  Teachers discussed the results and chose 5 groups to showcase at the end of the day who then presented to the entire group of 250+ students, 20+ teachers, schoolboard members, and local media.

I built a website to host and organize the activities and provide information that students would need throughout the day.  The students were not given any direct instruction and only minimal guidance during our entry event.  We invited a local police officer to interrupt the opening statement on a fake project about topsoil to trick the kids and grab their attention.  The police officer came in yelling, "stop, stop, stop, I have to stop this project!".  We divided 250+ students into four main areas with at least 2 teachers per area.  The schedule for the day was completely loose and students worked through their lunchtime.

The nature of the project was unique.  Its was meant to be instructional to students and teachers.  We wanted to create an engaging, independent learning activity for students, but also a sound demonstration of a free-range, student centered approach to teaching learning in a 1 to 1 environment for the teachers to observe.  Our activities and overall concept was designed for two simultaneous audiences.  The school we visited plans on moving into a 1 to 1 environment next year, so they had an interest in seeing our simulated environment in action.

I think it was a fantastic success, and I think everyone learned something.  We had some major technology issues right at the beginning, which hurt our momentum.  We tested all of the material on our students computers at our school, but for some reason almost everything was blocked at the school we were visiting.  This was a great lesson to learn about technology--you must remain flexible and be able to improvise   Create paper-backups for critical parts of the project in case technology fails.  We also learned that if you are planning on having 250 students move around an area, there needs to be some traffic control to prevent groups of students from turning into herds.  For this project, 4 students was probably too many in a group--as it usually is.

I felt like there was a stark difference between the kids who were accustomed to an independent/project-based environment and those who were not.  Their use of technology also demonstrated this difference.  Some of the students at the school who didn't have experience learning with computers used their array of borrowed laptops, personal tablets, and cell phones for games and other time-wasters.  I only had to talk to 4 or 5 students all day about staying on task, but it shows that there is a learning curve to this style of learning and schools need to slowly foster a change in their overall culture.

Our 7th grade team took this opportunity to experiment with an open schedule.  Students didn't go to "classes".   We focussed on one project all day that was heavy in English and math.  We would like to do this more often in 7th grade and focus on other subjects. We are working on other projects similar to this and discussing new daily schedule options.  I will be sure to blog about it!

Status of Education in 2012

Technology has pushed education into a transition period on many fronts.  Our tech-based economy, ubiquitous information, the need for 21st Century skills, PLN's and the sharing of best practices, publishing to authentic audiences, and global competitiveness are just a few areas where technology has forced the education industry to question itself.  All of this questioning has led to, potentially, the most revolutionary period in public education's 100+ year history.  As in all revolutions, there are several interested groups pushing and pulling the revolution in the direction they think is best.

Generally, we have progressive education gurus such as Will Richardson, Alan November, and Sir Ken Robinson pushing school teachers and administrators toward a major paradigm shift.  On the other end legislators, politicians, and the high stakes testing industry hold school administrators and teachers accountable to standardized test scores.  The dichotomy of pushing and pulling has left teachers and administrators moving in two directions.  Teacher salaries and administrators jobs now depend on test scores, but we all nod our head in approval of people like Alfie Kohn.  We see the future, but we are still anchored to the past.

Some people feel there are not two different directions.  They would argue that progressive education will/should lead to higher test scores.  This can be argued and legitimized by data, but its new music in old ears.  I think it is safe to say the average teacher or administrator feels like they are being given opposing orders.  Mom says 'stay' and dad says 'go'.  The Google Story Builder video in this blog probably describes the general feeling across many school districts.  The polarized status of education in 2012 needs resolution.  A simple, well-framed resolution.  Opposing sides will need to come together, lest we live in pedagogical limbo, which will result in a low-profile maintenance of the status quo and continue public education's glacial slip into obsolescence.

DIY Education

I haven't cracked open a textbook in 2 years.  When I did use the textbook, I used it sparingly.  The Internet provided me with all of the content I needed to teach my 7th grade social studies class.  I would be willing to bet that ANY class's curriculum requirements could be met with FREE materials from the Internet.  I'd love to take that challenge.

Worksheets?  When I used them, I always used my own worksheets.  I don't even like to say the word. Worksheets are an artifact of an obsolete teaching method, especially in a 1 to 1, digital curriculum.  Engaging projects are easy to build and far more effective.

Most people love a good Do It Yourself project.  Why do we shy away from it in education and rely on stale, static resources (textbooks/worksheets) that everyone agrees are not best practice?  A DIY Education would be authentic, engaging, and cost effective.  A small district like mine can easily spend $90,000 on textbooks and related materials every six years.  EVERY SIX YEARS!  While we are reimbursed for that expense, the money has to come from somewhere.  It would be much better, in many ways, to pay teachers a higher salary and require them to create their own materials.  If teachers simply pass out textbooks, assign questions, grade, and repeat, we should probably be replaced by a computer program.

Encouraging Students to Have Pride in their Work Part 2

Being a teacher is like being a poker player.  There are highs and lows and sometimes you win big and sometimes you go all-in and bust.  Recently in my 7th grade social studies class I think I won big.  One of my standards is about international organizations, so I made a TIME Magazine template in the Mac program Pages, and student chose international organizations from a list by the acronym only.

Students researched their organization and tried to answer the basic questions: what does the acronym stand for, and what does their organization do.  The research phase only took about 1 day.  We spent another 1/2 day looking at TIME Magazine covers and looking for similarities and themes.  I gave my kids a few requirements:

1.  Design a TIME Magazine cover with 3 areas of text.  The text must describe the international organization.

2.  Use 1 main image on the cover to draw attention to your magazine help explain your international organization

3.  Use smaller images to give more details about your international organization.

4.  Use the logo of your international organization.

As students began to create their magazine I started to use the phrase, "would you pick up your magazine?".  Basically, was the cover gripping?  Did it make you want to read what was inside?  This became more important to most of my kids than anything else.

I think we took 2 days to create the cover, and at one point I had students do a gallery walk to take a look at everyone's work.  When students saw some of the covers like the ones I have on this blog they sprung into action and completely started over.  I told several students, "you don't need to start over--you've met the requirements, you are going to get full credit".   They didn't seem to care--they didn't even hesitate as they deleted their old work.  This was art, and the grade didn't matter.  They were on a mission.  To be fair, it wasn't all of the students, but somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of my students started over.

I graded this the same way we always grade--one on one conversations, what I have also heard called "oral defense" and presentations.  The day before we presented, I sat down with students who finished early and asked them content questions about their international organization. We then reviewed the requirements and negotiated a grade that seemed fair to both of us.

Now for the best part.  After I graded many of the students asked if they could make changes before they presented the following day.  I told every student it wouldn't change their grade, and yet every student made changes to their work before they presented the following day. About 1/4 of the students graded out early and made changes to their work without ANY encouragement from me.

 I was so proud of the the pride they had in their work that I honored each student who made grade-less changes during presentation day.  Each time, the class gave an unprompted round of applause to the student.

This was a big win, for all of us, but why?  What made these kids have so much pride in their work?  Why this assignment?  Maybe this assignment was not too hard and the tools to make it top notch were well within their control.

This is the goal--I want my students to have pride in their work.  They are engaged, interested, excited, and most importantly they are learning.  I couldn't believe how well students knew their international organization, and it seems to be sticking because we are doing a project about world conflicts right now and students have to come up with a solution to the conflict.  Many of them are relying on their knowledge of international organizations.

I try to emphasize learning--I don't mean this as a cliche'.  I say the words and reinforce the goal everyday in my class--LEARNING.  With every activity or project I encourage students to make something amazing--"blow everyone away", I tell them, "impress me"!  When students adopt this mentality, even for a few class periods, the learning naturally happens in an authentic and real way.  Imagine if an entire school took this approach!

I don't want to use fear of a bad grade to get students to learn or threaten that, "this will be on the tests" to force information into their short-term memory.  Learning is like love, you can't force it, and if you do, it doesn't last.  

Encouraging Students to Have Pride in their Work. (Part 1)

My 8 yr old (Aubrey) created a home design on floorplaner.com.  Her 6 year old sister (Sydney) was clicking around and switched to one of her previous revisions.  Aubrey was furious because she thought she had lost all her work.  She was yelling at Sydney.  As I tried to calm her down and said we don't need to yell.  She said "Dad I know, but you don't know how much hard work I put into that!"  It dawned on me, because she created it and had ownership of  it she was extremely proud of her work.

One of the biggest problems with my class was that to often kids didn't take any pride in their work, they didn't care.  Why would they?  It is hard to care about their 845th math worksheet in their academic career or their 397th math test.  There is no personalization, BORING. 

Now that we have switched to project based learning and have students create presentations and present them, I am seeing a change.  They get to create their own presentations.  We give them many choices and have very few requirements or restrictions.  They get to be themselves.  By having them present their work they take ownership of it.  I have had numerous students want to present their math journals to the other kids.  They put the time in to make it good.

The math teacher in me every once in awhile rears its ugly head and I wonder if I am doing enough "math" problems.  Then I see a presentation or have a conversation with a student who is interested in what they are doing and it reassures me of this, taking pride in your work and wanting to be their best can't compare with a repetition of problems.  Before they would leave their graded test on the floor, now they are asking to present work to their classmates. You can argue the old school way of teaching is better for standardized tests, but I'm not going back. Never will.

Middle School News Team

One of the many things I love about my school, Wabash Middle School, is that we offer something for every student.  I have never seen such a small school with so many opportunities for diverse student interests.  We offer everything from tennis to Spanish Club.  Our newest edition is the APAX News Team.  Since our school is 1 to 1 we have incredible digital potential.  We have about 20 students who do a variety of jobs.  We meet everyday in our after school Computer Club.  Some days we have several stories to cover, on slow days we just hang out and think of fun things to include in the next broadcast.  I work with another teacher-sponsor who was a journalism major at one point.  She writes or at least edits most of the script, and I handle the video editing.  We are planning to hand this off to the students eventually, but its middle school.  One the things I love about this is the diverse group of students who are involved.  We are attracting new members all the time and the APAX News Team is all the rage in Wabash.

This is a perfect example of the fantastic opportunities afforded to 1 to 1 schools.  This would be very difficult without our infusion of technology.  You can follow our broadcasts at our website found here.

Computer Club

The summer before my school went 1 to 1, we tried to prepare for any foreseeable problems our students, parents, or teachers might encounter.  One issue was Internet access. There are many in our community who suffer from unemployment or underemployment and roughly 70% of our students receive free or reduced lunch.  What are students supposed to do if they have homework and they need the Internet to complete their work?  While they likely have local hotspots, friends, or relatives who have Internet, as a school we can't ask them to "just figure it out" without a reasonable option.  My experience has been that students are efficient excuse machines, and if given any legitimacy, they, and their parents, will overrun you.

Thus, the creation of Computer Club.  Computer club is an after school, supervised place for students to  work on homework or just hangout and use the school's Internet access.  This is also a place to get help with computers.  Teachers often send student to me in Computer Club to learn how to use iMovie, iPhoto, or some web tool.  Teachers themselves regularly drop in to get tech advice or troubleshoot a problem.

To be fair, lots of kids come to Computer Club to play non-educational games like Minecraft, and hang out with their friends. However, one could argue this is a great alternative to having them walking around town getting into trouble or returning to an empty house because their parents are at work.  Last week I sat up and surveyed the kids in Computer Club.  There were several athletes using it as a pre-practice study hall, there were 2 kids discussing their new blog and how to promote it, our APAX News Team was planning their next broadcast, about 12 hardcore Minecraft builders hunched over their computer, and another 6 or 7 kids floating from group to group socializing and casually working on homework.  It was exciting to see kids engaged in what they were doing and having fun in school.  Computer Club has been an integral part of our 1:1 plan, it has also become a time for clubs to assemble like APAX News Team and the new upstart SWAT Team (Students Working to Assist Technology).  Great things are happening in little Wabash, Indiana, and like our announcements regularly say, "its a great day to be an Apache".