Hate School – Love Education

In the school division that I work in, for the past decade our teachers have collaborated, discussed and shared student assessment experiences. From these discussions came about our K-9 report card in 2012. This report card is designed to provide a broader snapshot of how students are learning. It also identifies ways to support student growth and development.
This approach focuses on the broader knowledge and skills that student should learning in each subject. Student performance is then report in one of four categories: exemplary, proficient, approaching proficiency and beginning. This report card emphasizes where student ARE in their learning. Multiple assessment tools, not just %-based tests are being utilized to assess student progress in skills and knowledge outcomes. (See our sample K, grade 4 and grade 7 report cards.)

The way I explain this approach to my non-teacher friends is:
• You go to your doctor for an annual check-up. He/she takes your blood pressure, weighs you, and asks about your overall health, takes blood and urine samples all during your visit. When the results come in from each of those “tests”, your doctor then adds up all these tests and gives you an overall health percentage rating of 81%. Does this then mean that each of these tests were equal in nature and measured the exact same thing? Are you healthier than your friend who received a 75% rating from their doctor the week before? Certainly NOT.
• In the classroom, teachers offer students a variety of assessment opportunities which are not equal in nature and do not ‘measure’ the same thing, therefore adding all of these together to produce a final percentage really doesn’t provide a legitimate picture. As well, adding in our Critical Thinking initiative and Inclusion focus allows students of any academic, behavior, cognitive, and physical level to engage in the learning environment. We want our learning spaces to be filled with exploration, creativity and imagination which make learning exciting and aspiring.

Watch the following video to see what a post-secondary student has to say about an education system that concerns itself with only the “what” of learning. 21st century learning can no longer be ‘sit and get’.

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Rules, Shmules – Engage Your Students with Top Secret Ideas

I enjoy a good book now and then. And I really enjoy using picture books in class when students are working on a particular concept. I came across these two gems over the summer and think that they would be a great addition to any grade 1-6 classroom.

Wisniewski, D. (1998). The secret knowledge of grown-ups. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard.

Wisniewski, D. (2001). The secret knowledge of grown-ups: the second file. New York: HarperCollins.

These books are a great read and resource for those teachers looking to talk about rules in a fun way. There’s lots of mystery and secrecy which gets the students hooked right away. The visuals and the format of the book also make it enticing to read.

The author, David Wisniewski, shares his undercover work with students as to the real reasons for why rules have been set up by grown-ups. Each of the stories that accompany the reason for the rule is so thoroughly described and humorous. Such as, in rule #61 where you shouldn’t play with your food since food doesn’t know when to quit when it gets riled up, of course. And rule #57 to not swallow your gum since without warning you could inflate and float away.   Point out to students, unless they guess first, that the author has a three-part pattern in the book.

Resources/Activities

• One activity could be to have students in small groups or individually write up their own grown-up rule(s) and then a spoof on the rule. Students could establish ahead of time some criteria for an effective spoof of the rule. Using the Draft Sheet, Graphic Organizer, Pre-Writing Sheet and Student Samples to target the writing process may be of good use for you in the classroom.
• Another activity could have students interview their parents about a grown-up rule that they themselves think is silly and see if they could come up with an interesting story to accompany it.
• Students could use the Draft Sheet and then share their new rule and story via video.
• Certainly, this will get students engaged and motivated but it also may get them to think critically about other rules in the community. Talk about some great dialogue both in the class and at home!

 

An EYE for Design: How Schools Challenge Students

I recently read an article in the Fast Company March 2011 issue. A Teen Eye for Design accounts how teachers, students, post-secondary design schools and design firms can connect together to provide an authentic learning and creative experience for students.

There are a number of similar projects such as:

• Rediscovering Creativity by Building It where Nueva School students collaborate with designers and educators at Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design.
• Project Interaction is a 10 week after school program for high school students that guides students in changing their communities through design. A brief intro video is found on their fundraising site.
• Sweat Equity Enterprises (SEE) takes place in a real professional environment where teenagers participate year-round for all four years of high school in the US. As SEE expands nationwide this year, it plans to reach thousands of youth, teachers, and professionals. Check out the intro video of SEE with founder Marc Ecko.

• Tools for Schools is fully integrated into the School at Columbia’s yearlong curriculum.

So really, what’s so important about having design enter into middle years and high school classrooms?

Whatever way teachers and students have the opportunity to be creative, to engage in authentic learning experiences, collaborate with each other and the community and build relationships in the process is a GREAT thing! In a province that continues to ‘shout out’ that we have an exceptional educational system, we really should look at bolstering up these opportunities as recorded above so that our students can regain their creative nature and our teachers can guide them through critical challenges (not filling in scantron sheets). I wonder how many middle years schools and high schools are able to connect this work and fold it into all aspects of the curriculum? This reminds me of the work that Chris Lehmann’s Science Leadership Academy and San Diego’s High Tech High groups are doing.

Anyone interested in sharing their experiences and/or ideas?

NOTE: The Fast Company magazine is filled with various articles relating to technology, design, ethonomics and leadership. (Ethonomics or ethical economics refers to businesses that are good for the world as well as the bottom line. They are practicing social change through urban revitalization, sustainable agriculture, green IT, alternative energy and online community-powered investing.) It may be one magazine that you’ll want to add to your RSS feed aggregator page!

photo © 2005 Cyprien Lomas | more info (via: Wylio)

 

How to Guide Professional Learning

I am always ready to receive, search or obtain professional learning materials/resources. One such resource that I have been receiving for almost a decade now has been the ASCD Educational Leadership publication. Originally only found through print via mail; over the past many years, ASCD has complimented the publication with online features for members. The articles presented are always engaging and easily discussed with teacher colleagues. Today, I find myself reading an ASCD SmartBrief email (must be an ASCD member) and at the very bottom of the scrolled page I see:

 

“Continue your professional development with the Educational Leadership study guide
Did you know that each issue of Educational Leadership is complemented by a free study guide? Delve into and discuss topics from this month’s issue on what students need to learn — from addressing common core standards to how to best teach reading — with the March study guide. Access the guide.”

What? I can have MORE of ASCD? I can GUIDE the conversations more effectively? WOW, what else can I say? I know that the EL Study Guide has been around for many years because I just checked the archives!

 

This gets me excited about using the EL Study Guide in:

1)     Continuing the discussion of a particular article with a PLC group.

2)     Sharing an article with administrators and creating a discussion question where they can either share their thoughts in a F2F environment or even an online forum.

3)     Inviting students and parents to share their thoughts on a specific topic published in EL with directed questions.

4)     Engaging subject-specific teachers in workshops to think deeper about an article.

 

What am I doing with this newfound professional learning? I will be taking time to either leaf through my EL print copies or online versions to see where I can further my understanding and direction on articles that I have ‘favorited’ over the past year (or more).

 

What are you doing in using the ASCD articles and/or the EL Study Guide? I would enjoy hearing from you about your experiences.

 

 

Enter the Webinar World!

photo © 2010 Ben Lucier | more info (via: Wylio)

C’mon, don’t be shy…you have that laptop all up and running smoothly, you’d like to find some good professional development online, but where to start? Let me ask you to consider WEBINARS as a way to get in some great PD!

A webinar is an online presentation where a presenter shows slides, websites and online resources through a web-based application like Elluminate, GoToMeeting, Bridgit, etc. Participants can interact with the presenter and with each other through chat, microphone, telephone and even video depending on the webinar set-up.

Webinars are a great way for teachers to attend to specific PD opportunities or even specific student learning needs. You can attend webinars live and in archived fashion. I find that not only is the webinar a great learning experience but the chat area is always chalked full of participant ideas, resources and experiences.

There are many educational organizations that offer webinars. I am focusing on TWO today:

1) ERLC

In Alberta, there are seven educational consortiums that work with school divisions to facilitate F2F, online VC and webinar PD sessions. Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium is one such organization that I am very thankful to associate with.

They host a variety of assessment to technology integration webinars throughout the year. Many of these webinars are archived – see HERE.

One such set of webinars that I am really excited about are the Making a Difference series. The Making a Difference: Meeting Diverse Learning Needs with Differentiated Instruction is an Alberta Education publication that works through an intro to DI to developing learning profiles to assessment and even leveraging technology in the classroom. It’s a comprehensive guide for administrators and teachers trying to understand how to effectively implement Differentiated Instruction in the classroom. From this publication, ERLC hosted several webinars and from these webinars, Conversation Guides were created. Check out the great resources for Making a Difference HERE. (I am excited to say that I was part of the trio that designed these guides.)

Within the archived webinars area, you will also see on the left hand side a “filter by focus” section. Please use this to further target a specific area of interest. Archived webinars are free and live webinars are reasonably priced.

 

 

2) SCHOOLS MOVING UP

In my role as Educational Technology Facilitator, I associate with a variety of educational organizations. I receive offers, RSS feeds, emails from a number of organizations on a daily basis. One such organization that I am impressed with is the SchoolsMoving Up group. They also offer a variety of webinars, resources and links.

SchoolsMovingUp offers live and archived webinars on key curricular concepts, RTI, Differentiated Instruction, etc. Check out their upcoming and archived webinars HERE. Whether it’s a live or archived webinar, the cost is free. They even offer Tips for Viewing Archived Webinars.

Overall, webinars offer another PD opportunity to enhance, engage and empower administrators and teachers in the important work with students. Whether you participate in LIVE webinars or in your PJ’s with ARCHIVED webinars, being able to effectively target your own PD needs using a webinar format is a good thing!

If you have any other educational organizations in mind that offer exciting webinars, please add them to the comment area below!

 

Are You Born to Run?

 

Today is the day before our two day Teacher’s Convention and I am busily finalizing various projects, emailing, updating, calling, attending webinars, etc., since I will be out of the office until Monday morning (well, physically, that it is…..I still have my BB and computer devices at my disposal .) Yet, throughout this organized chaos I took 15 minutes to watch this TED Talks video by Christopher McDougall. It wasn’t a link sent to me but in my work this morning, somehow it popped up in front of me and it intrigued be even before I viewed it. Perhaps it’s because I like to run – I enjoy it even when the cold weather hits (however the ice and snow really have stopped this for me and I don’t enjoy the feel of a treadmill below my feet.)

 

Chris goes on to explain about a marathon runner from Ethiopia and a tribe who partake in running for pleasure, for physical well-being, with compassion and for competition.

 

What has running got to do with education?

 

In our work with students, teachers, administrators and parents, we are indeed running an ultra marathon of sorts. We need to insert compassion, competition and a desire to do better in what we do in education not just run off or around in circles.

Running is a social activity, it can be a cooperative yet competitive opportunity for us instead of a solitary one where nothing is gained nor learned in the process. Running reminds me of a quote from a senior high school student that says, “I feel like I’m on a road at a huge intersection with thousand of streets yet I’m at a loss. There is no one to tell me the way, no “911″ in the real world. You can’t just call up and say, “Hey, I need a destination, I need a place to go.” Even if someone did tell me where to go, I wouldn’t listen. Sometimes I feel like I’m going nowhere. Sure I’m on the Santa Monica freeway, but where am I going in life?”

What are we doing to discover ourselves and our desires into increasing the sense of community within the school environment?

I continue to work on my commitment to listening, learning and teaching about my journey in education, in my community and in the world that surrounds me. Maybe this is why Chris’ video “popped” up at me today. I needed a break to reflect on where I have been going, where I am at and what I want to do.

How about you?

 

 

The Blogging Continuum

I really am in love with my PLN. Yes; my professional learning network on twitter is just the best. It’s amazing what you learn, share, analyze, create, connect, invent, collaborate, explore and even observe in the twitterverse.

Last week some of my PLN were discussing a blogging scope and sequence. Doug Pete was commenting on the importance of assessing student blogs and developing a criteria if blogging is part of the class. Kim Cofino also shows some wonderful teacher/student examples of rubrics, ideas and even a collaborative document for anyone to edit!  Further to this, make sure to check out Will Richardson’s book – Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom. I know our school division’s resource centre has a copy that I bought last year. It’s a great resource for teachers who are intimidated by integrating technology or those who would like more practice classroom examples so they feel more comfortable in integrating this into their classroom on a more regular basis.

After all of this reading, I wasn’t satisfied with the blogging scope and sequences that I had found. Although enlightening, and a reminder that I too, need to work at my ‘complex blogging’ status, I started to play with a Blogging Continuum. Here’s my visual in draft version:

Let me know what you think and for those of you who blog or work with students who blog, happy blogging and learning!

 

Technology Standards for Teachers – pt. 2

This is the second part of  five articles discussing the NETS*T from ISTE. We will be working through how we as educators can model the use of technology while simultaneously nurturing the student use of technology. It can be a scary situation however, there are opportunities for teachers to receive F2F PD, online PD….it just where and what to look for in the PD that is offered. In this article we’ll look at the second standard and work through each section giving some ideas and specific resources that one can use in their classroom.

Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences andAssessments

Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S. Teachers:

a.	design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
b.	develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.
c.	customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
d.	provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.

(Excerpted from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers/nets-for-teachers-2008.aspx )

Let’s look at some of the online resources available to teachers and students:

Relevant learning experiences will be different for every grade level so I am pointing out sites that I am familiar with for teachers to view and choose for their specific situation. Tools for a) include:

• ePals has 200 countries and territories connecting with each other
• Global School Net engages K-12 students/teachers in project learning exchanges
• TakingITGlobal for Educators have a variety of social impact projects worldwide
• The Centre for Global Education has many videoconference opportunities
• VC with 2Learn hosts Point2Point collaborations, VC events, VC PD and cyberprojects

Some resources can be as simple as an online collaborative form for students to work on while not necessarily being in the same room or school but have the simultaneous discussions and/or reflections. Google Docs – spreadsheets and TitanPad offer this opportunity.

In order for students to pursue their individual curiosities and setting of goals, I have seen a few great e-portfolios using Google, Blogging with either WordPress or Edublogs. A wonderful resource person is Dr. Helen Barrett found at http://electronicportfolios.com/. Vision boards are an exciting way to have students visualize their goals, they can use Glogster EDU or even an online  Vision Board.

Customization and personalization of learning really starts with a teacher understanding Differentiated Instruction. There are many books available on DI, but the few that I resonate with are:

• Differentiation From Planning to Practice grades 6-12 by Rick Wormeli
• The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners by Carol Ann Tomlinson
• Differentiated Instructional Strategies: One Size Doesn’t Fit All by Gayle H. Gregory
• How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms by Carol Ann Tomlinson
• Differentiation in Practice, Grades K-5 Tomlinson and Eidson
• Integrating DI and UbD: Connecting Content and Kids Tomlinson and McTighe

Providing students with multiple and varied assessments have teachers using tools like Smart Senteo response systems, Polleverywhere,SurveyMonkey, Voxopop (audiotalk discussion), Vocaroo (give a quick audio byte), Animoto (make a video), BigHugeLabs (use photos to show learning) and even Storybird (collaborative storytelling) which all offer different ways for students to demonstrate their learning and for teachers to inform their teaching.

Enjoy trying a few of this tools and resources!

Image: http://www.big6.com/go/wp-content/2008/03/20050301085111_66664640.jpg

 

Technology in Education Videos

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I just received the latest Tech News newsletter from Alberta Education. There are always great tidbits, resources, and the latest tech news found in this newsletter. Feel free to subscribe yourself at http://www.industrymailout.com/Industry/Subscribe.aspx?m=16941. The following videos were showcased in this latest newsletter and they are not to be missed!

Since May 2010, I have had the opportunity during various conferences, workshops and meetings to view each of the videos below. First off, they are quite polished and one is able to hear the thoughts from students, teachers, parents and research gurus. Secondly, they are short enough to share with a group of teachers who are looking to further engage their students.

21st Century Learning: Technology in Education Videos

Alberta Education has produced a series of videos to illustrate 21^st Century learning in Alberta. The five videos show how Alberta schools are currently using a variety of technologies for teaching and learning.  They include:

• Technology in Education: The Possibilities This video showcases a school environment that has fully integrated technology into day-to-day learning and teaching.
• Connection with the International Space Station This video shows the innovative learning and teaching that lead up to the question-answer session between students in Palliser Regional Schools and astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
• Flexibility in Learning Through Technology This video provides a glimpse into the lives of students who have chosen to attend virtual schools.
• Success for All Students with Technology This video showcases two schools that use technology to help students with complex learning needs and language barriers.
• Making Global Connections This video shows how videoconferencing is used to make student learning relevant and engaging.

Image: http://www.nwlincs.org/CompTech/images/LevelB4.jpg

 

Effective Teaching Practice?

I have been a Teacher List http://www.theteacherlist.ca/ member for at least ten years. Pete is a local teacher and married to a retired teacher-friend of mine. For the most part, I appreciate his thoughts and TeacherList member recommendations. Passing on websites and interesting links to other teachers has been a delight. Yet, there are times where some of the material presented has struck a chord or a reflective ponder:

“does this resource truly fit the vision,

needs and wants of our school/division initiatives?”.

There have been many a discussion of certain articles, blogs, software, etcetera. I believe, as an educator, we should critically question what we are reading. Look for resources that fit our needs, however we should also be aware of those resources that DO NOT fit our needs.

What am I really talking about? What is the ranting? This week, TheTeacherList promoted Doug Lemov’s book, Teach Like a Champion. I thought to myself – “catchy title” and decided it was worth a look. The URL:  http://www.uncommonschools.org/usi/aboutUs/taxonomy.php provided some basic information, but the nine page NY Times article gave me some really interesting points of thought. Ultimately, my stomach was in a knot about sharing this, yet I thought I would get some good comments from my Learning Services colleagues. I sent the TeacherList write up with these comments (I tried to stay neutral in my thoughts):

***Click on the URL and go to the NY Times article. Although it is 9 pages long, it is well worth the read!! I would welcome your thoughts on this. Should/Could this be a good resource that we share with teachers and admin?***

Diane was first with her comments -

My interpretation of the article and other thoughts:

What I have gleaned from this article is that the taxonomy offers ideas for improving “stand and deliver” techniques. Many of the suggestions offered in the taxonomy are strategies for improving classroom management (how to make the students listen better to the teacher, behave better, follow directions, look at the board…) as well as emphasis on the teacher as the content expert.

While the suggestions are definitely great strategies for a teacher centered approach, I wouldn’t recommend sharing this article with PSD staff. We want to endorse the shift to a more child centred approach, where the classroom is a community of learners, students understand the learning targets, and are engaged as a result of their ownership of the learning. There’s no question that classroom management is a huge component in a child centered approach. However, different techniques are required than those offered in this article.

…And here’s my soapbox (or more eloquently known as my “talking points”)…

The critical thinking approach we are working with is one approach that puts learning into the students’ hands. The teacher’s very important role is to pose the kinds of questions or problems that give students a purpose for learning the content, leading to deeper thinking about the big ideas by having students use predetermined criteria to support the judgements they make. Teachers scaffold the learning by offering them thinking strategies and differentiating instruction along the way. Students uncover the knowledge and understanding outcomes by being engaged in tasks that have them learn and practice the skills outcomes identified in the program of studies.

I added my thoughts and returned the discussion back to the group

First of all, I agree with Diane’s interpretation, thoughts and talking points. I was taken aback from the comments made in the NY Times article that this “taxonomy”/book is targeted to new teachers……they are a group which are more than willing to try anything to be effective and successful teachers; well, ALL teachers want to be effective and successful. My point is that, such as Diane has iterated, this book IS a teacher-centered resource n(according to the article). There is no thought to 21^st century skills which are student-centered in nature. Do I want to pick up this book to read? Not really, since there are so many better books out there. Yet, I believe it is important for us to be aware of other ideas/information targeting “effective teaching practices”.

Now, I believe it is time to let others have their chance to discuss…..and add my comments to Pete’s comment area. After all, he should know that he has spurred on some great discussion.

Image – https://icat.okcareertech.org/v3/files/lguilfoyle/m/bgArS1P5fI.jpg