Middle School News Team

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

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

Computer Club

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Tech Lag

It has always been obvious that a massive chasm exists between technology innovation and the average user's knowledge.  From phones to computers, most users are aware of 1/10th of a given gadget's capability.  This same phenomenon is rampent in the education world.   Every time I am involved in professional development, I am surprised to see people who don't know the basics of general computer literacy and troubleshooting.  Even technology people work too hard and spend too much in counterproductive ways.  To be fair, many teachers are too busy learning their content, pedagogy, professional requirements, building requirements, coaching obligations, not to mention trying to balance a personal life to keep up with the constantly changing landscape of educational technology.  Edtech moves so fast its hard for technology people to keep up, make good decisions about what to commit to.

However, there are countless web tools and gadgets to make their life easier for everyone.  The question is how can we professionally develop teachers in a way that is efficient, meets their needs, doesn't overwhelm, and is cost effective?  I don't think there is a silver bullet that can span all school districts systematically.  Just like our students, each school corporation, each building requires a unique plan of professional development.  However I think there are a few things like Google Reader that make learning easy and fast, but that is another post.

http://www.mylot.com/w/photokeywords/computer+frustration.aspx

All too often teachers are given some technology, such as a SMART Board with very little training, so the technology actually ends up more frustrating than their older paper and pencil methods.  This is an example of the problem with efficiency and bad tech decisions.  "SMART" Boards can cost from $4,000 to $8,000 or more if you get all the bells and whistles.  However, for the way most teachers use SMART Boards the same technology is FREE online--all you need is a $300 dollar projector, a wireless mouse, and a bed sheet to project on--I can guarantee it will work more often too.

Technology in and of itself is not the answer for education--that is not what I am saying.  It is a tool... actually it is a massive warehouse full of millions of tools and if we don't let teachers in the warehouse and give them a guided tour, they are going to walk the other way.  This is going to have negative effects on their classroom and school corporation as a whole.  Education is moving quickly into technology, we have to equip or teachers with the tools and support they need to embrace this movement, not fear it.

21st Century School Culture

In Changing Education Paradigms, Sir Ken Robinson discusses the habits of institutions and the habitats they occupy.  While his intelligence exceeds mine by a factor of 10, I think what he is talking about is creating a collaborative culture of learning among all stakeholders of a school or institution.  Among other things, this culture must be truly collaborative--from top to bottom, or better yet, from bottom to top.  There are so many aspects to explore within this thought, but one that struck me recently is the general disjunction of professional development between administration and staff.

Office Space (1999)

It seems administrators attend one type of professional development and teachers a completely separate type.  There is rarely a crossover and it leads to groups moving in new directions separately.  This leads to a disjunction in collaboration, learning, and general sense of community within a school's culture.  This is a bad habit of many schools.

The trigger of a new direction may be out of the hands of some administrators, or it may be a choice, but it can come from many places.  A conference they attended, choices of a rival school, a recent book they read, an article in a publication only they receive, etc.  Either way--the problem is not a new direction.  The problem is a lack of collective community learning.  This problem is facilitated by a lack of communication.  Even in the best schools, communication between administration and teachers can usually be vastly improved.  

So how do we bridge this disjunction?  How do we foster a better school culture?  I think it can start with two simple habits.  Teachers and administrators attend the same professional development and fully participate (obviously not everyone, but at least representatives).  They don't sit in the back and play with their phone (teachers and administrators), they model the engaged participation they generally expect.  The second habit is weekly idea sharing among the entire community in one way or another.  An exchange and discussion of meeting notes, a shared digital "wall" online, regular staff meetings--something where new ideas are shared, reflections by the above mentioned representatives are shared, and new paths are chosen or at least discussed by the entire group of professionals.

Its about collaboration, its about community, its about buy-in.  If the soldiers don't buy-in to the battle plan of the generals, they won't execute it properly--then we are wasting time on enforcement and discipline.  This analogy applies to whole schools and individual classrooms.  Schools and educational institutions are really encouraging 21st Century skills, but it starts at "home".  A school's culture must employ 21st Century skills, build collaborative learning habits, and create the cultural habitat Sir Ken Robinson mentions--a model of what we expect in the classroom.

The Next New Thing in Education

It seems like every time a new thing is introduced in education you hear one of the following:  "No. not another new thing to learn... its always something".  "We just learned (insert thing), now we have to learn this"?  "TTSP--this too shall pass".  We have all heard it.  I have said these things myself in the past.  I understand the feeling, but we have to change our attitude as educators in the Digital Age.  From the time of John Dewey until the Digital Age, changes in education were relatively small and incremental.  The Digital Age has caused an explosion of exponential change that is rippling chaotically through all facets of education--often from the bottom up.  Progressive educators now have a voice and an ability to assemble---digitally.

Content, pedagogy, assessment, professional development, classroom management, communication, administration--everything is rapidly changing.  The tremors of change have not shaken public education uniformly, but its only a matter of time.  The question is, are you going to do the shaking, or will you be shook?  I would rather do the shaking.  With an expectation of change on the horizon, I want to be a part of the changing, not sit idle and wait for someone to change me.

Our school has used Moodle in the past, then Google sites was introduced this year along with a few other web hosts, now Edmodo is becoming popular.  Some people are just now getting really comfortable with Moodle, and we are off to a new thing.  Fear not; this is a good thing, and its something that will never go away--change.  Do we need to radically shift our class with every new shake in education--of course not.  We should all maintain a general style, but we can never stop.

In fact, education is very similar to our wardrobe.  We all have a general style.  New fads are always springing up--we don't buy everything, but we must buy something.  We can't be afraid to change out of what is comfortable.  We risk the metaphorical style of cousin Eddie.  Is this how you want your teaching to look?

It never stops.  We are never "there".  We ask our kids to keep learning more, push themselves, go farther, sharping their skills--shouldn't we?  Our classrooms are learning laboratories, and we must be educational scientists, lest we find ourselves in a leisure suit.