As John Fogerty sings, “I’m ready to play” in my head while Day 2 of the Leading Our Way Forward Conference continues, I remind myself that Day 1 was about change, so here goes Day 2 all about purpose and support.

Joellen Killion, along with John Clarke, spoke about establishing a school site and school division wide instructional/learning coach program. As our school division is beginning the journey to engage in an instructional/learning coach program, (Yes, we’re ready to play!) this day of the conference is an important one. Many questions still are being asked and this day will allow us to answer a few and surely come up with more!

What kind of benefits are found in hosting a coaching program? Some shared group thoughts were:
- the idea of ‘We”; coming together for a common goal
- shared knowledge
- reciprocal learning
- security to take risks
- being able to push people beyond their comfort zones in a safe environment
- trust, positive collaboration
- accessibility of support
- time is planned to observe, review, refine
- build self-confidence
- just in time learning

What are /could be some of the challenges? Our group asked questions moreso than answer the question with:
- How do coaches invite themselves into a school/classroom?
- How do you build those trusting relationships?

More reflections:
1) We liked the discussion about a coach having ‘expertise’ rather than being an exert. Having expertise has a more positive connotation.

2) Joellen encouraged us to start with the willing/the early adopters, not the ‘rocks’. These ‘rocks’ will not engage themselves until pushed. Once they catch on they will roll on board.

3) See teachers as facilitators of information for all students. A collaborative mindset will successfully and effectively move instructional coaching ahead. Joellen spoke of a school which entirely adopted the instructional coaching model for ALL staff. This allowed all teachers to move forward in their pedagogy – great discussions, collective responsibility and success for both students and teachers. In this way, goals can be easily established school-wide (not just for individuals), interaction with instructional coaching is positive from the start and accessibility to administrators and staff is seamless.
Coaching Roles and Responsibilities
There are a number of roles that instructional coaches play. Joellen gave us time to review them and then place a % beside the roles we have in our own professional work. I liked this activity as it gave me time to review the roles, see which ones I truly fit and how much of my time/effort is placed in those particular roles. It would be a good activity for any instructional coach to complete in the Fall and Spring to tie in to their professional growth plan and the work they are doing in school(s). Below you will see an outline of the roles presented as well as my pie chart outlining where I see myself right now. I also will be comparing this chart to a Fall 2011 that I will be completing – I look forward to blogging about its similarities and differences then!

Resource provider – sharing resources (websites, articles, instructional materials, readings, lesson/unit plans, assessment tools, etc.) for teachers and students.
Data coach – leading conversations that engage analysis of student data and use this info to strengthen instruction.
Instructional specialist - implementing effective teaching strategies (such as DI, critical thinking) appropriate for the school/classroom and share findings with colleagues.

Curriculum specialist - understanding content standards, how various components of the curriculum link together and how to use curriculum in planning instruction and assessment.

Classroom supporter - working in a classroom to help teachers implement new ideas by demonstrating a lesson or co-teaching or observing and giving feedback.

Learning facilitator - facilitating professional development opportunities with colleagues.

Mentor – serving as a mentor for novice teachers.

School leader - serving on committee(s), acting as a grade level or department chair,

Catalyst for change - always looking for a better way through continual improvement; posing questions to generate analysis of student learning.

Graph was created from http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx.

Where is PSD going?
In my opinion, we need to start with answering three questions:
1) What is the purpose of a coaching program in PSD?

2) What are the goals of this program?

3) What are our plans for monitoring, reviewing and refining the program?

I look forward to the many conversations, reflections, frameworks and relationship building pieces that will come about within our school division over the next year. The research from Alberta Education, ERLC, our speakers from the Leading Our Way Forward conference and the sage advice from our colleagues will guide us to new support in how our school division guides the learning of its personnel and its students. It’s an exciting and challenging time in Education!

Put me in coach, I’m ready to play! (Are you too?)

photo © 2010 Robbert van der Steeg | more info (via: Wylio)

Summary of Making Every Minute Count

With the question of “Are you considering expanding learning time at your district or school site, or are you wondering about how to effectively use additional learning time?” on our minds, Ben Lummis and Sarah Gallagher from the National Centre on Time and Learning gave us a great deal of research, case studies, audit and observation tools.

During this time of year, school staff is reviewing timetables, looking at staffing, checking the upcoming year’s budget, etc. And whether they are interested in finding additional learning time or considering expanding it, the important feature is making sure that every minute of the school day is used to maximize learning, capitalize on critical challenges, develop solid relationships and lead learning within authentic experiences.
This webinar addressed:

• assessing the  use of time
• recapturing lost time
• making classroom learning time more effective

Some school examples were shared – check out the short or long powerpoint version. As well, on the SMU website there are two other case studies.

What did I like?

I came away with some research, case studies and tools that I can share with colleagues. The guiding framework for how to effectively expand learning time is quite simple and seems it will give schools that use it, a direct way to assess their current use of time in their schools.

For those students who fit a 92% attendance category, it was interesting to hear that in some of the case studies an “attendance coach” strategy was used. This coach could be a staff member, a retired teacher, and even a local community member. Another shared attendance strategy was using auto-texting – great way to use the technology that students/parents are already carrying with them. And finally, one school gave out alarm clocks that seemed to do the trick.

The checklist and discussion surrounding similar school-wide strategies peaked my interest. It was shared that students have smoother starts to their learning in class if each of the teachers that student sees in a day starts his/her class in a similar fashion. A suggestion was to have staff set up 2-3 “Do Nows” strategies for either start up, transition or end of class activities. As well, to see these strategies in action, teachers could observe each other through mini-coverage opportunities set up by an administrative team or colleague group.

The Quality Time Analysis Tool is an 8×14 sheet that works through academic support time, non-core time, and lunch, transition, homework, and homeroom times. Allocated and no purposed time is reviewed and if the staff see there is more “waste” than they would like from their initial analysis, then they can discuss how use their instructional time more effectively. Well set up and very easy to use.

Classroom Time Use Tool is a more in-depth one classroom resource that directly targets time on transitions, teacher-led learning, student work time and assessment. The example shared shows a two hour stretch of time – so it does/may be time consuming on the part of whomever is observing to use this, but it does/can give a good allocation output of how instructional time is being utilized.

If TIME is something you want to gain or assess, the above tools, especially the Quality Time Analysis Tool and the similar school-wide strategies would be great places to start the discussion.

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.

photo © 2009 Todd Barnard | more info (via: Wylio)

Using social media in class allows teachers stay in touch with students thoughts and understandings. For students, twitter offers another opportunity for them to express themselves, reflect and challenge each other.

I came across a tweet from @ipadeducators discussing a twitter matrix which really intrigued me. I looked over the matrix and instantly was excited to share it with educators as it’s a great way for teachers and students to see where they are at in using Twitter.

Here’s the matrix:

More resources:

1)   Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in Class by Tom Barrett

2)  Collect historical input such as that from the Twittering Grandma

3)  Historical tweets by Lincoln, Elvis, Anne Frank, Lewis & Clark, Lassie and even Black Beard!

4)  Every Monday, send out a critical challenge in tweet-form for students to complete by Friday.

5)   Summary – in small groups have students come up with a summary statement regarding a concept just learned in class.

6)  Inspirational tweet quote of the day – students could each take a turn finding a quote that matches up with content being studied for that day.

7)   High School ideas from TeachPaperless.

It would be great to have people share how they are using Twitter in their classrooms. Please add your thoughts!

photo © 2008 Infrogmation of New Orleans | more info (via: Wylio)

Wikipedia defines democracy as a:
“form of political organization in which all people, through consensus (consensus democracy), direct referendum (direct democracy), or elected representatives (representative democracy) exercise equal control over the matters which affect their interests.”[1]

Do your students know, truly know, what democracy REALLY entails?

In this age of global awareness, students and teachers have a unique opportunity to authentically understand democracy in action. They will be able to learn that not all countries think democratically in the same way as Canada and that even if a person has the most votes, they may not be elected.

What is happening in the world right now with regards to democracy?

The Irish general election will take place on Friday, February 25th, 2011. Basic facts about Ireland are found HERE, but specific sources of election-related information can be found at:

1) Wikipedia has a good overall explanation of this election.
2) The Irish Times have up-to-date information.
3) The Independent online Irish news.
4) Elections Ireland have the stats and details of this upcoming election as well as past elections.
5) Irish Examiner is another newspaper source found online.
6) BBC News
7) Twitter – IrishPolitics
8) Flickr – Irish Election posters
9) CBC News

In Ireland, democracy is said to protect the minority which is a different definition than what is found in Canadian politics. The most seats an Irish party can win in a particular constituency are 3 of 5 seats. Check out what each of the Irish parties are reporting:

1) Fianna Fail
2) Labour Party
3) Fine Gael

Enjoy this authentic real-time opportunity to discuss what democracy looks like in Canada in comparison with the Republic of Ireland. As well, it may be a good time to review the Irish political, social and economic climate, which lead up to this election!

photo © 2005 Curtis Palmer | more info (via: Wylio)

For this EPSB workshop that I was able to partake in (I’m from a school division on the outskirts of this larger one) listening to the sage advice from Dave Edyburn who gave us four items to think about:

1) How the use of technology can enhance learning, teaching and performance.

2) How UDL and DI can support teachers in meeting the needs of diverse learners.

3) How ATL can be part of the RTI process.

4) Connecting Setting the Direction to all of the above.

Last week, participants were sent two short articles to read in preparation of this PD session. I must admit that I had not heard of Dave Edyburn before this time, yet his work is so important to where Alberta is working towards that I relished in this opportunity to soak in everything he was to say and has said.

The first article was from JSET 2009 Volume 24, Number 1 entitled Hindsight, Understanding What We Got Wrong, and Changing Directions. It’s a brief article outlining 10 assistive technology thoughts that Dave revisits and recritiques. Overall I enjoyed this read since I am able to gauge Dave’s process of redefining his work with Assistive Technologies in the education world.

The second article is from Learning & Leading with Technology, September 2006, provactively titled ‘Failure is not an Option’. Once again, Dave speaks to the inadequate use of technology tools and cognitive supports for students in schools. The profession as a whole, Dave says, must design authentic learning activities (and in our school division’s AISI case – critical thinking activities) to ensure successful and deeper learning.

Dave’s a jovial guy and presented us with a variety of information, graphs, and topics. You can check out my full set of notes HERE if you wish to read further! A question he posed on the onset of his talk was that “if we are aware of learner differences, what will it take to ensure that diverse learners have the supports they need to be successful?” (Actually this sounds like a great #edchat conversation! And I focused my thoughts during this day on this overarching question.)
- Our students are all at different levels of reading abilities, handwriting legibility (keyboarding skills), attention spans, persistence, numeracy skills.
- One-size-fits-all teacher lesson plan books do not thoughtfully and deliberately respond to the needs of diverse learners.
- Looking at the performance level of a student (graph was shown), how much failure data do we need before he/she knows they cannot do it and when should a teacher intervene. (Discussion ensued and research abounds that there should be no more than 3 days of ‘failure’ for an intervention to take place or a re-direction in learning to occur. (Refer to Failure is not an Option article mentioned above.)
- In order to achieve high academic outcomes for ALL, we must understand AND RESPOND to the needs of EACH.

Several theories provide inspiration and insight on design tactics that provide access, choice, challenge, and engagement for diverse learners.

- Some initiatives explained were: RTI, AT, IT, UDL.
- Pedagogical intervations were: Goldilocks/Sone of Proximal Development, Tiered Instruction and Assessment, DI, Tomlinson’s Sliders.
- Instructional Design – some good practices for teachers looking to plan for diversity:
o TIC TAC TOE – populate the grid with products that you will accept to demonstrate the learning outcome. Assists teachers in thinking as an “instructional designer” rather than a lecturer or sage on the stage – good examples for various subject areas.
o 42 Explore – accessibility for all levels on various topics
o UDL Toolkit – an online resource for teachers interested in e-tools and online resources that can give flexibility and accessibility for all learners.
o Internet4Classrooms – has an updated website filled with subject area weblinks.
o KidsClick is a web search site vetted by librarians. Very neat.
o Wikipedia – did you know that on the left sidebar you can select SIMPLE English to make Wikipedia a little easier to read for struggling readers? Cool! As well, students themselves can populate the Simple English pages. Why not have them look up a topic on Wikipedia and see if there is a Simple English category already written up for it. If there isn’t, why couldn’t this be a written assignment for them? Talk about authentic learning!!
o Readibility is a great toolbar bookmarklet that allows students to customize their web reading experience. I wrote about this on our SLItech blog earlier last year so it’s nice to see that Dave and others like this too!
o TextCompactor is a cool instantaneous summarization tool that I definitely will recommend to teachers. It allows students to paste text into a box and the students slide between 0% – 100% as to the amount of text they want to read.
o VozMe was shown as a Text to Speech tool but I wasn’t impressed with its limited functionality and ‘ugly’ voice overs. We use Read and Write Gold as well as Natural Reader which sound more human-like.
o Google has a number of options like Google Docs for collaborating with others, Google Scribe which a very interesting tool that offers suggestions as you type (and you can use it as a bookmarklet to use anywhere there are text boxes.
o Hot Paper Topics was of interest to me where students (and teachers) can look at targeting their position or persuasive essays and research reports. Well worth the look!
o The Assignment Calculator is a really neat tool to keep you organized. Everything is laid in step by step fashion. Try it out!

A commitment to diverse learners results in the provision of tools that scaffold and support academic performance of diverse learners.

Fairness means that each student receives the supports they need to be successful.

How will you evaluate and report on the impact of new instructional design interventions?

I also appreciated the after lunch panel with school admin, teachers and students sharing their stories of learning with technology and customized instructional strategies.

As well, once I have a moment I also plan on viewing Dave’s recent webinar on UDL.

Overall, this PD day gave some good food for thought, some more reflection on how my school division can further intervene and invest a strategic effort into creating a learning environment conducive to all learners. More to come!

The use of audio in the classroom enriches the imaginative capacity of students. This ability to form mental images of abstract objects and events allows all of our other senses to assist our thoughts in connecting to a particular learning experience. It requires students to be able to discriminate between the audio stimuli, employ aural decoding skills and generate meaning of the specific message.

There are a wide array of audio materials for teachers to use. Here are a number of online resources that, when effective integrated, can contribute to the development of listening and interpretation skills.

Audacity

• This free software records and edits sounds. Instructions on How to use Audacity can be found or if you would like here is a video tutorial.

• Mini stories or student journaling can be recorded. These can then be linked to a class website, blog or wiki to showcase student learning or develop a theme being studied in class.

Drama

• Using a radio drama from 60 years ago in Language Arts class. They motivate students to write, read, listen, speak and collaborate more effectively. Some can be found for free on iTunes and the other places online where one can purchase a kit containing the radio program and class materials. Check out Raven Radio Theater for middle years students.

• Drama teachers can record the audio of their play and make it available to the actors so they can practice their parts without having to have the whole cast available.

Lyrics

• Have students rewrite and record newer lyrics to a famous song that fits with the content they are studying.

Music

• Using Music in the Science Classroom by Caroline has a phenomenal amount of ways that you can use music to introduce a concept, to link to a theme, to review lessons already studied. Well worth the time to read!!

• An online music jukebox allows you to have specific playlists saved on a wiki, blog or website.
• Grooveshark is a free internet radio station where you can set up playlists that can then be embedded into a wiki, blog or website for you to use.  For instance, a teacher can set up a Classical Math playlist which I can easily be played while students are working on various math word problems. Grooveshark has a variety of music styles, composers and artists.

• Check out Eric Whitacre’s Virtual choir “Lux Aurumque”. Have students first listen to the music, then show them the YouTube video. How could they collaborate to make themselves into a virtual choir to possibly present at the next school assembly?

• Clean up the Classroom can be made much more fun with music such as the Indian Jones Movie Theme. (YouTube has a great orchestra version.) If you want to spend some money, http://www.songsforteaching.com/transitions.htm has a variety of original songs and has core content songs as well.

• Play scenes of atmospheric music which establishes a certain mood or scene in a story. Have students reflect on how to describe a particular atmosphere (scary, sad, excited).

• Studying a figure from history? What music would he/she like to listen to? Would Napoleon Bonaparte be a closet rapper? How about John A. MacDonald? Justification of songs chosen is important to the discussion. What criteria are you using when choosing the songs for that historical figure?

• Noteflight is a free online music writing application that lets students compose, view, print and hear music.

Narration

• With PowerPoint 2010, you can record a narration of your lesson. This is especially great when you have a substitute teacher in your class or for students to review concepts studied or even for parents to understand while assisting their children in their learning. Check out Mike’s “how-to” video on this topic.

Podcasts

• This is a great way to host your audio for students to review concepts, be introduced to a particular theme or even record the weekly class newsletter. Using Audacity and then uploading to a site like Podomatic is a great way to have a place to host all the audio in one area.

Poetry

• Online recordings of poetry can be powerful. http://www.poetscoop.org/ and http://librivox.org/ are two great audio sources.

Sounds

• SmartBoard sound clips are easily incorporated into lessons to make learning fun and memorable. For example, Jane Yolen’s Owl Moon can be made much more authentic to students if you add in the howling wolves, steps in snow, and train sounds. Some free sound sites are: http://soundbible.com/, http://www.stonewashed.net/sfx.html, http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/soundfx/Weather.shtml, http://freesoundfiles.tintagel.net/Audio/, http://www.a1freesoundeffects.com/, and http://simplythebest.net/sounds/WAV/sound_effects_WAV/index.html.

Speeches

• Download famous historical speeches to use as a starting point to classroom discussions.

Timer

• Interactive timers are an easy and quick way to countdown an activity. Some even come with a soundtrack attached such as http://classtools.net/education-games-php/timer/.

Above all, enjoy your time with sound. I am sure your students will thank you for it! (And they may even have a few suggestions!)

Image – http://filmdirection.net/images/sound.jpg

Here’s my own path towards critical thinking:

1)      I have had various teachers and mentors who have facilitated my own immersion into critical thinking.

2)      The  definition of critical thinking from Dictionary.com’s 21st Century Lexicon cites that it is the mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion.

3)      With the above definition in mind, I have even had an opportunity to work on the newer Bloom’s Taxonomy by giving it a digital addendum. (See my SLItech blog.)

4)      I recently have been exposed to TC² which is part of our AISI (Alberta Initiative for School Improvement) three year project. Critical thinking, according to TC², is concerned with developing sound judgment. Teachers need to guide students to think critically through various forms of learning. Developing criteria to judge a particular project, instructing strategies to organize thinking and acquiring a vocabulary about thinking are some of the necessary activities to build critical knowledge and skills.

5)      Finally, let’s talk tech. Being a BIG supporter of the TPACK model, I believe that critically thinking will involve some form of technology. If this isn’t clear, check out Judi Harris’ wiki with learning activity types which offers a way for teachers to deliberately plan their lessons with technology if they so wish. Now, add some critical challenges, investigation of images, ask some powerful questions and you have started on your way! (Sounds easy, but take little steps like concentrating on one form of critical thinking first) As well, our own K-12 Alberta Social Studiescurriculum  is smattered with critical thinking possibilities to assist teachers.

Critical thinking is a lifelong learning process and I am certainly glad to be part of the experiences in our school division. I can thank Leah, Diane (our curriculum facilitators) and Wally (TC²) for that!

Image http://darcott.com/blog/img/Diana_06-04-12_AHrHT3.jpg

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