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.

Redskin Rule got them Talking!!!!!

I either heard this on T.V or I read it on twitter.  The redskin rule is a meaningless interesting stat.  Since 1940 there have been 18 Washington Redskins home football games the weekend before the election.  In either 18 out of 18 or 17 out of 18 (Bush Vs. Kerry, long story) this has rung true.  If Washington wins the home game then the incumbent party wins (Obama) and vice versa is if they lose then a new party takes over (Romney).  I showed this to the kids on Monday and had them vote, not on their personal views (which let's be honest is their parents view understandably), but on their thoughts whether this rule would ring true or finally be busted.      

The kids from the looks of it were split 50/50.  I had a couple of kids tell me today that they were looking forward to watching the election tonight to see which way it goes.  Our Social Studies teacher also let me know that the kids were asking him questions about it and he had a couple conversations on correlation vs. causation.

They are talking.  This means they are interested.  This means they are thinking and talking about......school stuff.  They are talking.  They are interested.  They are having fun.........they are learning.

Photo Credit: [Source] ibankcoin.com/rcblog/files/2012/11/Redskins-Rule.png

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.

Pick your poison!!!!!

Kids are kids.  Halloween is coming and kids love it.  I have two projects we are doing in my class within the next two weeks.  One is an individual project and the other is a group project.

Project #1 Individual Project
This week we are learning perimeter, area, surface area, and volume.  Simple concepts, but ones I have found kids mix up.  The first step in solving one of these problems is to know which one to choose.  How else would you know which formula to select?  I am going to create categories for each topic and let the kids dress up for Halloween and try to win that category.


Here are my categories.

Largest Perimeter
Smallest Perimeter

Largest Area
Smallest Area

Largest Volume
Smallest Volume

Largest Surface Area
Smallest Surface Area

Overall Most Creative = Student has to enter one of the above categories to be eligible.

On Halloween, Wednesday the 31st, we will take pictures of each costume and calculate the category they choose.  I will put the winners on my website, they love that stuff.

Project #2 Group Project
This project I stumbled upon at the end of last year and have been waiting to try it.  There are artists that create "canstruction".  Can sculptures of ever day things and drawings.  They are usually used in relation to a food drive.  Just so happens our student council is having a food drive.  I offered to help collect from the other classes if we could have the food for a week later to let the kids create "canstruction".  I think after we make them we will either connect the shapes to the above topics or have the kids ask their own question and solve it.

I have no delusions of grandeur. I know my kids projects won't look like this, but I do know they will turn out great.

So pick your poison and have some fun with your kids.

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".

Group Project, Individual Grades

Collaboration is a 21st Century skill, and despite the social nature of today's youth, it doesn't come easy.   Leaders need to learn how to delegate work and direct people in an effective way.  Shy students need to learn to speak up.  Socialites need to learn to stay focused on the task at hand.  Group projects are a great opportunity to learn collaboration skills, but they can also be disastrous, especially when it comes to grading.  Its inevitable--someone doesn't pull their weight in the group, the group gets a low grade, and suddenly its 'not fair'.  While the old adage is true, life is not fair--group grading should be.

Last year I experimented with a grading style that helps to avoid this.  Rather than grading the entire group at the end of a project, I grade the students individually based on their contribution.  I formatively assess throughout the project, and by the end of the project I usually have a pretty good idea of who has done their work.

In addition, I like to design my projects so that each group member is responsible for an independent part of the whole final product.  In the end, the group must find a way to put all of their work together into one presentation.  Its important to make each independent part so that the other group members don't rely on the completion of another student's work.  For example in my recent project Exploring the World Project, students had to research the most amazing physical features in the Eastern Hemisphere.  They each had to make several presentation slides, create a map, and create a written explanation of how each physical feature formed.  The group had to combine their work into one presentation, map, and written paper.  Of course Google makes this very easy.  When the group presented, each group member presented their independent parts.  When they were finished, we graded out individually.  Life was finally fair.

K-12 Alignment

Districts have made attempts to align their curriculum from kindergarten to grade 12 for years.  Common Core standards and state content standards before them furthered this idea.  I reflected on this idea recently with a colleague and we had an epiphany. It shouldn't be K-12 alignment, it should be H-12 alignment.  The "H" stands for home.  The inclusion of parents has been the missing link in curricular alignment.  It has been pointed out recently by a great video produced by NBC that students who come to school behind their classmates fall further behind every year especially during the summer.  Why have we never seriously addressed this?

There are no easy solutions, but schools must make a revolutionary effort to bring parents into the schools, not just in elementary, but through student's senior year.  It seems parent involvement wanes as students work their way through school.  Parent-teacher conferences twice a year is a paltry attempt to involve parents in their student's education.  Parents need to be in the school, have knowledge of and participate in learning activities, and also be held accountable to their student's education.  Teachers are held to the highest order of accountability for a student they have for an hour each day.  Isn't there some kind of incentive we could offer parents?  Clearly the incentive of a better education is not enough.  What about free textbook rental?  What about a tax credit?  If we want to revolutionize American education and compete in a global world, education must begin and be sustained at home.

Why Chrome is the Most Amazing Browser

People don't like to talk about religion and politics because people are generally set in their ways and emotions gets high.  This is how I feel towards web browsers (nerd alert), and like any religious zealot, I am completely convinced I am right!  However, this is no leap of faith.  Google Chrome is, by any measure, the best web browser available and anyone who doesn't agree simply doesn't know what Chrome can do. This is especially true for educators and students.

Speed is thought to be a major issue with web browsers, and you can find speed tests that favor just about any browser, except maybe Internet Explorer.  I personally think Chrome is faster after using IE, Firefox, and Safari on a fairly regular basis, however, Internet speed is more linked to your Internet connection and computer processor than it is to your browser.

The real beauty of Google Chrome is the apps and extensions.  For those who don't know, web extensions (also called add-on too) are essentially mini-programs that work within your web browser.  Some of my favorites are Evernote Web clipper, Diigo Highlight/bookmarking tool, Explain and Send (screenshots), Black Menu (for easy access to all your Google Apps), and Aviary image editor for Google Drive--this is important when working in Google Presentation to edit and crop images.  The Google Chrome Store is full of thousands of other extensions and apps such as Ancient History Encyclopedia--and they are almost all FREE.

There are many other benefits too.  Google Chrome automatically updates, so there is no need to ever update the software.  Do you ever leave your browser open so you don't lose the tabs you have open?  Chrome allows you to close your browser and continue where you left off.   Possibly the greatest benefit is the fact that it is 100% web-based.  What does that mean?  I can log into Chrome (Google account) on my desktop and have the same apps and extensions I have on my laptop. I can log into my account on my friend's computer, library computer--ANYWHERE and have all the same apps, extensions, web history, bookmarks, etc. as I do on my personal laptop.  Not to mention the incalculable value of all the other Google Apps, which I've blogged about before here and here.  I don't want to live in digital world without Google.  You won't either when you discover the glory of Google.

Sugar as a math lesson.

This Friday we had a really fun day in class.  This summer I stumbled upon info graphics and I love they way show information.  They are usually filled with numbers.  Here is the one I used in class.  The kids worked in partners.  One student had the info graphic open and the other student had this powerpoint open.  In class we did the first two slides together and had good conversations.  The kids were allowed to bring in pop and candy.  I used those numbers to teach ratios and proportions.  Then the partners worked at their own pace.  They got to eat snacks.  We had a blast.

The End of Homework

I emancipated my students from the shackles of homework nearly two years ago. I began to realize that the burden of homework fell heavy on students and teachers. I had been reading and listening to abolitionists such as Alfie Kohn, Joe Bower, and Mark Barnes for a few years. I began to realize that students had lives outside of school, they learned outside of school, and homework was alienating them from an education they already saw as obsolete and meaningless.  

Homework is not worth it.  Its not worth enforcement measures, disciplining noncompliance, increasing hatred of "learning" and school, or the TIME.   Students come to school for 8 hours.  How can we realistically expect them to do 2-3 hours of homework after 8 hours of school work.  Sports?  Job?  What about family time or hobbies?  In our culture?  Sure, we can fight it, but where does it get us?  On the other side of the coin, how many students succeed BECAUSE of homework?  How many would not learn without homework?  It can be argued that repetition assists memorization.  While that is sometimes true, I have very little interest in memorization.  Besides, this type of learning is temporary.


I haven't regretted my decision for one second. Students do my work in class. If they waste their class time, they may have to make it up at home. My students are learning at least as much, probably more, as they ever have. I don't believe that assigning students additional work away from the person that can facilitate the learning behind that work is a good way to increase learning. Thanks to Joe Bower, I have a great new saying, "homework should be inspired, not assigned". Many of my students now voluntarily work on their project at home. Others look up related information and we discuss it in class.

Math journal days are my favorite days in class!!!!

I am in my 14th year of teaching and the one thing I have realized is the more I talk the less they get.  Maybe this points out a weakness in my ability to teach, but I always thought there was a better way to teach math.  My class is project based and there are three major components: math journals, dailies, and group projects.  As the title states my favorite days are math journal days.  Now you are probably wondering.......what is a math journal?

I teach 7th grade math and our school is in its 2nd year of 1:1 with Macbooks.  I always wanted to do a better job of connecting math to the world around us and making math fun.  I wanted to build a bridge from math to kid's interests.  In my class there are no tests, worksheets, or busy work.  Two days a week my kids have the entire period to work on their math journals.

A math journal is where the kids learn a math lesson and create a presentation over a concept they learned.  The presentation covers the math (which they make up the problems and answer it) and a connection to a topic.  The kids can relate them to anything they want. The kids create their own due dates and get to pick any math journal they want in any order.  Sounds crazy and chaotic doesn't it?

The kids love it.  They get to create their own learning journey and get to make a connection to their lives.  The best part is as a teacher I get to have one on one time with each student and have a personal conversation with each student.   I let them listen to music under two conditions, they have headphones and they get their work done.  Teacher secret:  It keeps them in their own world and cuts down on the off task talking time. 

Here are links to my math journal pages. 
Math Journals A - D
Math Journals E - G
Math Journals H - Q
Math Journals R - Z

If you click on the title it teaches the lesson, if you click on the picture it gives the project for the kids to do.

When they are done they "grade out", which means I look through their presentation and they explain the concept without looking at their work and answer questions I have.  My favorite beginning of the year comment to the students is "You can't hide from a conversation."  They learn it quickly.

Creative vs. Mechanical Intelligence

Last week my students were learning how to read charts and graphs.  We were identifying the parts of a  graph and learning how to approach complicated charts before we created our own infographics next week.  I prepared a few graphs for the students.  I cropped the title and X and Y axis labels off of one line graph.  I asked the students to suggest what the title SHOULD be based on the available information on the graph.  Obviously, there wasn't a specifically right or wrong answer, and most students chose something related to the key words still on the graph.

To my surprise, there were a few students who struggled with this.  There were several more that left it blank because they couldn't "find" the answer.  One student in particular really blew my mind and opened my eyes to different types of intelligences.  This student was a straight "A" student last year.  The conversation went something like this:

student-"I don't get the question"
me-"Based on what you can see, what SHOULD the title be?"
student-"I don't know because you cut it off"
me-"I know, I want you to use what you do know and create a new title that is appropriate."
student-(frustrated)"How can I get the right title if I can't see it?"
me-"I don't want you to guess the original title, I want you to be creative and write a totally new title that explains what is going on in the graph"
student-(looking away from her computer, sitting in silence, visibly frustrated now)
me-"Don't worry, there are lots of right answers"
student-(no response, bell rings and she leaves)

The next day, I sat down with her to "grade out" as we call it.  She had left the question blank.  I told her that I expect every question to be answered.  I tried to explain that there won't always be a clear answer this year, that she will need to be creative.  She seemed to accept it, but I could tell it bothered her.  This is a fantastic student, clearly very smart, but befuddled when a clear answer is not presented in the text.  I think this situation is a symptom of traditional education.  For too long we have told students there is only 1 answer.  This has created students that are mechanically intelligent, but lack creativity when given more open ended questions.  The world demands creative thinkers, and this student is not being served by an education that tells her there in only 1 answer to every question.

Balancing Fun and Rigor in Education

I understand the argument that meaningful content and student choice can facilitate both rigor and engagement (fun), but lets be real, not theoretical.  I teach middle school and the main way I get students engaged is when activities are fun, but not everything can be fun.  Fun doesn't always work with some of the rigorous skills and difficult content of my curriculum.  However, too much rigor will burnout the kids and they won't buy-in to the class or the content.  On the other hand, too much fun won't accomplish enough and will set a bad precedent when I try to introduce rigorous material.

So, what is the right balance of fun and rigor?  10/90 (Fun/Rigor)?  40/60?  90/10?  To be honest, there probably isn't a magic number.  Besides, things are not necessarily fun OR rigorous.  I can attempt humor during a rigorous activity, and we can take a difficult topic and try to have fun with it.  There isn't a golden ratio of fun and rigor in learning--it has to be a careful blend at all times, and one of the most difficult jobs of a teacher is knowing how to read your students to see when they have had enough, especially in middle school.

Rigidity and rigor only go so far, especially with underprivileged students who have very little to lose.  If there is no one at home checking grades, fielding calls from the school, and enforcing punishment at home, stern efforts are only going to push these student farther from an education they already undervalue.  Besides, my students will forget 90% of the content they learn in my class--its much more important that they enjoy learning and coming to school.  Therefore, I think we need to error on the side of fun learning.

Writing in Google Doc's

This year I have really embraced the fact that literacy is the foundation of everything we do in school.  I  am trying to inject more non-fiction reading and formal writing into my social studies class.  As students write, they need formative feedback.  Assigning a paper and waiting a week before we cover it in red ink is assigning students to failure.  Ideally, I would like to sit down with every student, everyday while they write.  With classes as large as 28 this year, I would need to budget 1.7 minutes for each student as I guide them toward better grammar, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, vocabulary, summarizing, etc. 

Luckily, our school has Google Apps for Education.  Every student has a Google account, so when they write, they do it in Google Docs.  They share their paper with me and I have 24 hour access to their work.  I sit down face-to-face with as many students as I can during class, but I look at every paper, everyday.  For the students I don't sit down with, I insert comments into their paper.  Comments are great ways to have a discussion without marking up their paper.  Students can respond and you can easily have a conversation about their work.  I keep track of who I talk to in person and who I comment on to keep balanced and keep track of formative progress.  By the time the paper is due, I rarely need to do any "grading" and there is no need to turn anything in.   Another major benefit is the "dog" can't eat it, they can't forget it at home, and since it's saved in the cloud any online device can access it.  Revision history is another tool that allows you or students to recover their work in case of a problem.  You can also do research without leaving your doc. 

Managing all of the paper is an issue for many teachers.  If you have several hundred students it can be difficult to manage that many docs.  Its important to use collections/folders and be proactive in managing your files.  I would also recommend teaching student about email notifications.  Every time someone shares a document with you, they can send an email to notify you.  If you are expecting their work, you don't want to clear several hundred email from you inbox. 

The way I manage my student work is by having 2 Google accounts.  I have my school account and my personal account.  When I'm online, I usually operate out of my personal account and forward all my school mail to my personal account.  I have students share their work to my school account, so 90% of the documents in my school's Google Docs account and my personal account isn't cluttered up by other people's work.  I really don't know why every school doesn't take advantage of Google Apps for Education.  Docs and formative assessment is just the tip of the iceberg.  

Friday Fun In Math.

www.getwebmedia.com

What did you do last Friday in class with your kids? We played darts!!!!

Some of my classes learned prime and composite and after hitting the dartboard each kid told the class whether his/her score was prime or composite. We also kept track of kids that hit the board and those who did not. We figured our class's percentages of hits and misses. With partners, the kids did calculations on the chalkboard and white marker boards in my room.

My other classes did the prime and composite when we threw the darts, but we cranked it up a notch after that. We kept track of four categories: (1) Was the hit prime? (2) Was the hit composite? (2) Did the throw hit the board but scored no points? (4) Did the throw miss the board altogether? Then we found the percentage of each category. Finally we learned percent increase and decrease and applied it to the score of each throw that hit the board. For example, what is the percent change in this set of scores; 7, 20, 9, 9, and 12?  Every kid was involved. . . up and writing the info on the boards. Every kid got 3-4 throws in class and worked on calculations in between. We even got on our digital portfolios and created the tabs for what we learned. Monday we are going edit our portfolios. We are collecting our info in a LiveBinder.

Even though we are in our second year of one to one, I still think it is important to stick to the basics of what works best for our kids. I teach 7th graders. They are social and like to be active. They are a different animal and sometimes we just have to do something fun. There is always a way to find some math in anything. Kids need to learn to think on their own and not rely totally on a computer!

1 to 1 Experiment: Year Two

On August 14, we began the second year of our 1 to 1 initiative at Wabash Middle School.  This year we expanded from grades 6-8 to grades 4-12!  Our K-3 rooms are nearly 1 to 1 with iPads.  As you may recall, I'm not one to rely on quantifiable data, however it's the most reliable evidence to some people, so let me throw some hard data at you.  Our enrollment is up over 2% for the 2nd straight year--in a town with a declining population.  Our middle school had the highest standardized test scores we've had in our history.  Our math scores alone went up over 3%.  Our middle school enrollment increased over 10%, and not from students moving in from far away areas.  Most of our new students came from neighboring districts--districts that are ALSO 1 to 1.  There is much more, but we know real learning can't be quantified.  However, these numbers have created quite a buzz in our community.

We held an open house for students and parents the night before school started.  We distributed computers, setup computers, signed papers, gave basic instructions, and communicated classroom information.  Over 90% of our parents and students came (for the second year in a row)--in a district with historically low turnout for open house and parent/teacher conferences. 

We are a fully integrated Google Apps for Education school now, so every student has a secure CIPA friendly email address and access to Google's amazing apps.  My 7th grade team began a digital portfolio this year we are calling a Museum of Learning.  I would like to see our museum extended in both directions, and eventually be K-12.  This type of authentic assessment could actually be useful to students in future endeavors, be it college or career.

We have discussed including students in our technology team.  What a great opportunity for a students to leave high school with 4-7 years of experience in Apple repair, support, and troubleshooting.  Our teachers are assembling authentic content and initiating exciting creative projects.  Of course, this is not true of every teacher or every building.  Each building is at their own phase of implementing a 21st Century class.  Hopefully, time and professional development will help foster a break from traditional education--creation rather than consumption, publishing rather than "turning in", presenting rather that submitting, conversation rather than quizzing, authentic rather than canned, and inspiration rather than obligation.  So, here's to a poverty stricken small midwestern town of 11,000+ breaking a 100 year old mold of public education with our feet dangling off the cutting edge of education and technology!

Failure and Success in Learning

Failure is bad.  Failure is rejection.  Failure is the end.  These are the messages we sometimes receive from society.  This is how we often feel when we "fail".  Carol Dweck recently wrote a book called Mindset.  In her book she explores two divergent mindsets that often define learners: fixed and growth mindsets.  Obviously, there is enough detailed theory and data behind this concept for an entire book, but one major theme she touches on is our response to failure.

A person with a fixed mindset sees failure as I describe it above--a final judgement of inadequacy.  A growth mindset takes failure in stride--a bump in the road on the way to their destination.  For a growth mindset, failure is not an end but a minor learning experience that guides them in a different direction. Edison is a perfect example of a growth mindset. 

I found this information to be so powerful that I wanted to share it with my kids.  I made a How We Learn activity to start our year off.  I want my kids to embrace "failure" as a guidepost to redirect their learning.  Today, I gained the final piece of the puzzle. 

About a month ago, I applied to the Google Teacher Academy.  I wanted in.  I really wanted in.  I love Google--their technology runs my classroom and they inspire me.  Me applying to Google is like Rudy applying to Notre Dame.  I really, really wanted to be a part of the team.  I filled out the lengthy application including a 1 minute video that I made about motivation.  I learned today that I failed.  I didn't get in. 

Initially, I was pretty disappointed--I really thought I would be chosen.  My family was quick to console me.  As I reflected on my feelings, I was reminded of my How We Learn activity.  I took a shot and failed, but this is not the end, and I certainly wouldn't want my students to be devastated and give up.  I'm going to share this experience with my students.  I'm going to tell them how I plan on learning more and applying the next time the Google Teacher Academy is geographically near where I live.  I will be a Google Certified Teacher.

Flexbooks as a Transition to Authentic Content

In my home state, it seems like nearly every school is in some phase of moving to a one-to-one learning environment where every student has some type of computing device.  While this is certainly a giant leap forward for education, the leap has left many teachers feeling uneasy.  The wealth of information online clearly makes the textbook obsolete, but how can teachers harness Internet resources in a manageable way?

A new website call ck-12 has developed a nice transition step for teachers.  In 2008 ck-12 introduced "flexbooks".  Open source textbooks that teachers can mix and match.  Basically, these are digital textbooks that are divided into modules.  Teachers can mix the order of chapters and content from different books.  Flexbooks are a educational content buffet and teachers can create a plate that fits their needs.

I want to be clear.  I only advocate the use of flexbooks as a step for teachers to transition to more authentic content.  Free and fair use licenses teachers a great deal of freedom to use nearly any resource on the web.  We should be discovering content, editing it for our needs, and collecting it as a chunk of content.  Our curriculum end up being a collection of chunks that are easy to edit, update, or change compared to the static textbook. 

Textbooks are a multi-billion dollar industry.  They won't go quietly into the night.  They will continue to sell us things we don't need and are free online.  This is an undertaking that is necessary for education as an institution and teaching as a profession. 

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Are you Ready for some Football??????

I know I am, and last year I found out how much my kids loved it.  Last year our schools went one to one. Every Monday and Tuesday during our passing periods a handful of students checked their fantasy football stats.  They loved it and couldn’t get enough.  There was even the occasional, shall we say “debate” about whose team was best.  Sometimes their checking of scores would spill into class.  I would have to ask them to wait until later on to check them.  Why?  If they are motivated to do it, let’s run with it.

Here is an examplethat I copied from teacher (Mr. Hagen).  My kids are going to create their own, but this will show you how it could be used.

1/8(T) + 1/24(V) +1/48(P + R + C) - 1/12(I) - 1/16(F) = W              Copyright NFL Image

T = number of touchdowns scored by passing, rushing, or receiving

V = number of two-point conversions scored by passing, rushing, or receiving

P = number of passing yards divided by 25, then rounded down to the nearest whole number

R = number of rushing yards divided by 10, then rounded down to the nearest whole number

C = number of receiving yards divided by 10, then rounded down to the nearest whole number

I = number of interceptions thrown

F = number of fumbles lost

W = total points scored for one week for one individual player

This will be an optional activity in my class. My class is layered so the ones who don’t care for it will have other options.  First we are going to look at different leagues and their scoring systems.  Then we will create our own equation to find each team’s score. Every class will probably create a different equation to use. I am thinking about making the equation change from week to week between fractions, decimals, and percentages.  Surprisingly, I don’t play or even like fantasy football so as a group we will have to figure this out together.......problem solving, teamwork, cooperation. 

The great thing is this activity could cover a ton of math.  Think about the possibilities.  You could graph the different weeks scores and cover slope, rate, central tendencies, fraction, decimal, and percentages.  Not to mention the algebra of creating an equation, substituting, variables, coefficients....wherever you want it go or where the students take it. 

Hopefully I can find pockets of students who will want to do this for different

sports. I have even heard of fantasy NASCAR. The possibilities are only limited

by the number of sporting activities and the imaginations of my students.

If you have a question about this activity or if you have something to add, just join

in the conversation in the comments below, or you can also email me at tilljapache@gmail.com.

What's Bad About Education Technology

I want to start by saying that I am a huge advocate of technology in education.  I work in a one-to-one school and infuse technology into every activity and project in my class.  That being said, all great power can be wielded positively or negatively There are definitely some negative outcomes that can occur as technology floods into education.  Here are a few that a can lead educators and districts down a bad path.

Sorry Apple, but tablets that don't have full computer capabilities are are mistake as a one-to-one device.  You can try to make this square peg fit into the round hole of education, but you will have to jam it in to make it work.  I love my iPad, but I find it increasingly difficult to use compared to my Macbook when I do school work.  Problems with typing, moving from app to app, file management, compadibility, etc. can doom a one-to-one initiative if it becomes more cumbersome than paper and pencil.  I understand the cost prohibitive of a Macbook, but by the time you buy an iPad, accessories, apps, and other required equipment, you can nearly afford Macbooks, considering Apply will knock down the price on a large education purchase.  Don't go one-to-one because all the cool kids are doing it--with some device that "is good enough"--it will end up costing you more in the long run.

While we are talking about technology devices.  I have to get in a few shots at SMART Boards (SINO--smart in name only).  Spending valuable tech-dollars on SMART Boards is not a good investment of money or pedagogy.  These are a gargantuan waste of money for most classroom applications.  I can see the usefulness in a small elementary or special needs classroom, but in a classroom of 20+ students from middle school up--the only real purpose SMART Boards serve is a $8,000 projection screen.  Technology needs to be used for creation--student creation--not content delivery.  This leads me to my next point.

Using technology to replace or support traditional methods of direct instruction is a misuse of technology.  Computers are tools of creativity.  Schools are not going one-to-one to save paper.  Running worksheets through the Xerox machine to turn them into PDF's and digitizing multiple choice quizzes, based on a boring lecture are tech-crimes that should be met with corporal punishment at the very least.  This is bad and students will know it right away.  This stale method is not engaging to say the least, and it will lead to cheating and other discipline issues.   

Webinars are the absolute worst form of professional development and should be avoided at all costs.  If the video and audio feeds actually work, which is rare in my experience, a webinar is one of the most disengaging forms of learning I have experienced.  Short tutorials are useful, but a 5-person, conference-call-styled presentation is awkward and borderline absurd as a learning methods.  I understand if it is the last possible option, but it too closely resembles traditional direct instruction, only you're not in the same room--a method most effective teachers would laugh at.

When Google Search Doesn't Work

There are certain topics that are very difficult to "Google", which has been declared a verb for searching the Internet.  Maybe you have had this experience.  Your students choose a volatile topic for a paper such as abortion, religion, or guns.  You and/or your student are getting very partisan or unreliable search results.  There are some steps you or your students can take.

Step One:  Search Google better.  The operation and functions of Google Search is as unknown and mysterious to people as a microwave.  Most people are accustomed to pushing a button to make food hot or in the case of Google, typing in a single word or group of words and clicking search.  Just as your microwave has mini operations for thawing frozen vegetables, Google has thousands of "operators" and options that help you modify your search.  (don't include the brackets below, these enclose the search I would enter.

• [filetype:pdf gun laws]--this search will only show PDF files that contain hits on the keywords "gun" and "laws"
• [filetype:pdf gun laws site:.gov]--this search will only show PDF files that contain hits on the keywords "gun" and "laws" from state and federal government websites.
• [filetype:pdf ~"gun laws" site:.gov]--this search will only show PDF files that contain hits on  "gun laws" as a phrase and similar phrases such as "firearms" "automatic rifles" from state and federal government websites.
• [filetype:pdf ~"gun laws" site:.gov OR site:.edu]--this search will only show PDF files that contain hits on "gun laws" as a phrase and similar phrases such as "firearms" "automatic rifles" from state and federal government websites or university or education websites. 

I could go on about Google search operators here are a few others.  Here is a nice inforgraphic about how to get more out of Google.  Really, the steps could end there.  I firmly believe if something is on the web, Google can access it.  It is up to you to create the right query/search.  Obviously you could try other search engines such as Bing or Yahoo, but you will find similar results as Google.  

Step Two: If you have a divisive topic, you might also want to search a reliable database such as a curated library. One place to look is ipl2.  This is a  public service organization with thousands of resources devoted to teaching and learning environments.  Another virtual library is infomine.  This library is "relevant to faculty, students, and research staff at the university level".  You will find databases, journals, books, articles, and many other types of information.  

Step Three: Repeat step one.

Step Four: Go to the physical library in your area and ask a librarian.

Step Five: Give up and pick a new topic.  Seriously.

One-to-One Allows More One-on-One

Before my school went one-to-one I remember many teachers voicing a concern that we would lose the personal contact dynamic between teacher and student.  As many of us championed the benefits of email, distance learning, differentiation, digital resources, etc. others succumbed to fears of teacher obsolescence and digital barriers to human contact.

Unfortunately, computer-based classrooms can take a bad direction that gives legitimacy to some of the teachers' initial fears.  If the teacher assigns work to students and he or she simply sits at their desk, those fears may be realized.  This "method" works completely against the opportunities allowed by one-to-one computing.

I've realized after having a year of one-to-one under my belt that there are two major benefits of one-to-one.  Obviously, the wealth of resources and creative possibilities are probably the main benefit.  The second main benefit is less obvious, but potentially more powerful.  I spend WAY more one-on-one time with my students when everyone has a computer.  It is a resourceful, interactive, creative, and fun tool that keeps students engaged, giving you more time to freely move around the room.   I consciously spent less time using direct instruction, which is one factor that allowed more one-on-one, but I also learned to layer my activities and projects.  I would provide an additional challenge, educational game, or fun application related to the activity.  Another way to layer is to have a few weekly activities that students do on their own time, a learning journal, or a digital portfolio.  Layering can be very difficult without a computer, but with one it is effortless.

The added one-on-one time allowed me to formatively assess my students in a authentic and meaningful way. I was also able to efficiently address major gaps in understanding.  I tried to touch base with each student at least every other day.  To help me keep track I carried a clipboard with my roster for each class.  The roster also listed the content questions and/or skills I was looking for in that particular activity.

I think my teaching method would work without computers, but it would be very hard to keep 25-30 kids engaged if they only had paper and pencils.  I couldn't have the focused, genuine one-on-one time I now enjoy.  The only discipline issues I had last year were kids who didn't finish their work (probably too engaged in other things!).  I truly believe one-to-one is the first domino in a series of changes that will shift education to a new paradigm.

My Favorite Web Tools Part 2

About a month ago, I posted some of my favorite web tools.  I wanted to mention a few others.  Of course, there are bloggers who make a living reporting and reviewing web tools, but as a teacher who actually uses these on a regular basis I hoped to provide a different perspective.

I can't say enough about Twitter.  I learn more on Twitter in an hour than I do at most 2-day professional development seminars.  This is not just another social network.  Too many people hear Twitter and they think Facebook.  They couldn't be more different.  I once heard, if Facebook is the mall, Twitter is a specialty store, especially when you use it strictly for professional purposes.  For people who are reluctant to join, you don't need to "tweet" anything.  You can just sit back and learn.  I recommend using TweetDeck.  It allows you to follow the topics you are interested in.  In case you don't know, topics are organized by "hastags" (#).  Since I am a social studies teacher I follow #sschat and #socialstudies, but I also love #edtech, #elearning, #edchat, #educoach, and a few others.  Tweetdeck allows you to view the "tweet stream" of all of these topics simultaneously, where as the Twitter site allow you to view one stream at a time.  Twitter is a great first step to building a PLN--professional (or personal) learning network.  This is the professional development of the future--personalized, individually driven, and organic. 

Thinglink is a fairly new site.  It allows users to make images interactive by adding "tags" to selected areas of an image. You can see an example I made of India here.  This is a great way to bring content to your students, or better yet have them create content. These can easily be embedded into a website or blog and Thinglink lets you create 50 for free.  Last year, my students struggled reading complicated graphs and charts, so this year I want them to upload the chart/graph image into Thinglink and explain the various parts with tags.

Students could also create a basic timeline in a spreadsheet (one of my favorite ways), then take a screenshot, and tag it with information, videos, and webpage links to annotate the timeline and bring it to life. You could also take a screenshot of an assignment and give instructions through the interactive tags.  The same idea could work for teaching students new technology.

PaperRater is a great website.  Unlike other similar sites, PaperRater will evaluate the vocabulary level and "grade" the paper.  When you copy your text into PaperRaer, you can select the type of writing and intended grade level.  The spelling and grammar do a nice job of explaining why something might need changed, so students learn some basic mechanics in the process.  I sometimes use it for this blog--probably not often enough.  I always use it when I put together text resources for my class--it can help identify the reading level.  Next year I plan on encouraging students to use it too.  This way they can focus on the content of the paper and get some feedback aside from me. 

Flipped Class: A Second Look

Last year I did a Flipped Class experiment.  The Flipped Class model seems to penetrate every corner of my PLN (professional learning network).  I had to have a taste of the model that I was admittedly skeptical of.  The main question I tried to answer was, "Would students actually do their homework if it was engaging instructional material rather than practice work?".  The clear answer was no.  Using anonymous surveys to encourage honesty, I never had more than 70% of students who had watched the instructional video before coming to class.  Some commenters on my blog suggested activities (worksheets/quizzes) in tandem with the videos, which I saw as traditional homework and an eventual enforcement issue.

Ok, full disclosure--I was very skeptical of this model to begin with because I have completely divorced my class from traditional homework.  My homework now follows one simple rule, inspired by a quote from Joe Bower: "homework should be inspired, not assigned".  Eight hours at school is enough, homework has little to no effect on comprehension, and it's not worth the enforcement and grade damage that often follows.  I want my class to be so engaging that kids want to go home and learn more or work on their project because they are invested in it--not because I make them.

Photo--http://www.republican-eagle.com/ 

However, I continue to read about the Flipped Class, and I have a new perspective.  I still won't use this model in my class, but now I understand the draw.  The popularity/effectiveness is less about the instructional homework as it is about the change in classroom dynamic.  As a class moves from a traditional model to Flipped, the teacher spends class time working one-on-one with students as they work through class activities.  The teacher tutors and formatively assesses all at the same time.  Teachers become more of a facilitator than the sage on the stage.

I think this one-on-one environment is the major draw for the Flipped Class and its the primary reason for any success it enjoys.  This is how my class works too, but without the homework instruction.  I mainly use the project-based model or a simpler version I call PBL-Light.  I remain very skeptical of any homework, especially instruction without facilitation.  In my opinion, the Flipped Class model could work if you ignited a fire of interest before class ended and provided an engaging video for students to find out more at home if they are so inclined.  All that being said, to each their own--we all need to find the method, combination, or mutation of methods that works with our own philosophy and personality.  I just had this epiphany about the real power behind the Flipped Class and thought it was worth a second mention.

Cognitive Dissonance

If you read this blog, you know I love technology and the possibilities it has to offer a 21st Century Education.  Over the last year, I have participated in a sustained series of professional development workshops to introduce project-based learning in my school.  We have been trained by the BUCK Institute, and I deeply believe in many (not all) of the essentials of PBL.  In addition, the name of this blog clearly proclaims my adventurous spirit in the classroom.  I have an eye for the future and usually on enjoy traditional education when it's in the rearview mirror.  I think that sets the scene.  

A few weeks ago, I attended a talk by Mike Schmoker about his book Focus.  For a more comprehensive book review you can read here.  I sat next to my superintendent, who I have the utmost respect for, who brought me to the talk, who seems to be buying into much of what Schmoker is saying.  Basically, Dr. Schmoker calls for a return to the basics.  His main contention is that education has tried too many new things before we mastered the basics of literacy--reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking.  To say he has an ill view of technology would be an understatement.  He cites well respected education researchers such as Robert Marzano and frankly makes a solid case for turning back the clock.   


So, I walked away with some serious cognitive dissonance--probably more than I have ever suffered.  It isn't often someone makes me deeply question my core educational beliefs.  It stung a little, but after CONSTANT reflection... I feel like that is all I do, I have come to some important conclusions.   

1. I think Dr. Schmoker is right about the basics--there is value to carefully analyzing a common text with the entire class, picking it apart, taking notes, and writing more papers about what we read.  I used to do more of this, and I need to bring that back more often, but NOT all the time.  I think his favored activity will work nice of outlier standards that I can't efficiently wrap into a PBL.  
2. To promote literacy and deny technology is to promote walking as exercise and deny going to the gym.  Technology reaches and engages so many learners and differentiates (which Schmoker is also against) literacy in ways beyond a teachers ability.  
3. PBL is a fantastic method to engage students and make learning relevant, but basic literacy often stands in the way when students don't have skills to engage the content.  So, I want to use Schmoker activities to build the skill sets to make PBL more effective.  
4. Schmoker's methods are designed for the 20th Century and don't promote creativity.  We live in a different age in a different economy where test scores and text literacy are not completely sufficient.  

I could go on because I did learn a great deal from this experience.  I think its good to challenge your views, even those we hold closest to our core identity.  Last year I swung my pedagogy pendulum to far out and it needed to swing back a bit.  If we remain too locked into one mindset we ignore the natural evolution of ideas, and no one want to win the Darwin award.  

Unprofessional Professionals

Professionalism is an important issue in many fields.  Every profession seems to have a different definition of what professionalism means to their particular job.  Generally, people expect a certain dress, language, and work ethic.  However, I think the most important aspect of professionalism is often overlooked.  Professionals should embody the core of their profession.  For a true professional, the line between personal and professional life should be completely blurred, meaning their profession should soak into their personal lives, like an estuary of fresh river water and salty sea water.

Police officers should abide the law and serve and protect even when not on duty.  Nurses should care for the health of people and themselves on and off the clock.  Teachers should be learning and instructing outside the classroom.  Professionals living their profession--this is the most important measure of professionalism.  Unfortunately, unprofessional professionals are pervasive in so many parts of our economy, from crooked cops and nurses that smoke cigarettes to undemocratic politicians.  The one that really bothers me, the one I could rant about for pages and pages are unprofessional teachers.

Anyone who works with me will tell you I don't tuck in my shirt, I'm a little loose with my language at times, and I stray from other minor facets of "professionalism".  However, I learn at an exponential pace and I share my learning with my colleagues, students, and community members.  I pains me to sit and listen to teachers complain about having to learn something new.  how antithetical can a person be!

We have all experienced it.  Teachers can be worse than students.  I remember being addressed by our superintendent and awkwardly watching him having to wait on teachers to stop talking while he was talking.  Its hard to count on my fingers all the times I have been in professional development sessions where teachers are not paying attention, playing on their phone, or not participating at all.  How about all the negative comments about school in general?  We all need a break and comic relief is necessary in  a stressful job, but teachers complaining about school and learning new things does irreparable damage to a school's culture. This is a fundamental part of professionalism that needs a shift.  We need to live our profession and expect from our teachers at least what we expect from our students.

Objectivity, Science, and Other Silly Notions in Education

Warning: Rant Alert
I once read that scientific studies of the brain were, in large part, excluded from teacher instruction curriculum in the early days of teacher training because teaching was thought of as an art.  Science and scientific study was once thought to have very little impact on a profession that as heavily based in the arts.  During the last century of public instruction, the profession of teaching has moved toward science.    While there has been positive outcomes such as including neurology into teacher instruction, politicians and administrators need to remember that teaching is an art.

I have noticed this shift toward science in two ways.  I recently read about a married couple of teachers who teach math in a unique way.  The article said these teachers spend much of their summer teaching other teachers their methods, but the article questioned how much of their success could be transfered without their personality to support it.  Would their methods work if someone else was teaching?  ITs a valid question.  Some politicians and administrators think teachers can scientifically take a process that worked for one person and simply replicate it.  While that may be true in science, it doesn't always work in the arts.  If Da Vinci instructed other artist on his art-creation process I don't think we would be enjoying a Mona Lisa in every museum.   I think we can learn from other teachers, but I doubt the success of any method or process in the classroom that 'can work for all teachers'.  It's an art.  There are no silver bullets in education, and sometimes learning is in the eye of the beholder.

Another place where science has become more evident is in the push for objectivity.  People want to take subjective assessment completely out of education.  Clearly there does need to be a fair amount of objectivity, but the world we live in is awash in subjectivity.  We don't award jobs based on the most qualified application, the interview plays an enormous part and lets not forget personal connections.  We don't buy houses based on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms--curb appeal and the "feel" of the house usually wins out.  There are many parts of our lives where we don't necessarily trust the objective numbers; we want to look at it ourselves and make a subjective judgement.  My question is who better to be subjective in education than a board certified, professionally trained educator with years of experience?  I want to remain objective, and I strive for it when I can, but I am not afraid to be subjective in the classroom.  Students need to be prepared and know how to maneuver through subjective judgement.

I'm not against objective assessment, I just think we shouldn't be afraid of subjectivity.  I heard so much recently about removing subjectivity from education, as if that is possible.  Granted subjectivity is bound to create some conflicts, but conflict resolution is a good skill to have as well.  An "objective" rubric can be nice when students or parents over-value their work, but sometimes you just have to make a judgement call--a student may claim its an elephant, but my experience tells me its a hand.  I'v been doing this for a decade, so this ain't my first rodeo.

Grading Scale

Recently a large school district in my area made a major change in their grading system.  Its not the kind of major shift I would like to see, but its a step in the right direction.  I read an article about their change, and in the article they had a picture of the school's old grading scale (below).  I began to look at the "rigorous" grading scale.  A 69.4 is a failing percentage.  What?  How can we call it failure if a kids completes nearly 70% of the material?

A 69.4% is labeled as failure!  This really got me thinking about how and what we grade.  There seems to be this unwritten rule that teachers should grade everything students do.  Why?  Why does every action students take in class need to be documented with a quantifiable score?  I talked to a teacher recently that had 50+ grades in a 9 week period.  There are only 45 school days in 9 weeks!

This whole system, the traditional system of grades, seems to be so punitive.  We seem to use the threat of a low grade to force students to do our work.  Isn'at that all grades really tell you... completion percentage?  Wouldn't you like to know more as parents?  Even if a student does the work, tries hard, but doesn't get it, we still penalize them with a bad grade.  Why?  Don't we learn more from failure than success?  Punishing failure causes a fear of failure, which erodes critical thinking, creativity, and divergent thinking.

I'm curious about other evaluation systems schools are using.  I've heard about standards-based grading, but I don't know much about it.  I've heard of narrative feedback, which I really like.  What is the best system that evaluates in fair way, is manageable by busy teachers, usable to parents, and applicable to higher institutions?  I would love to hear some feedback.