Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
"To what base uses we may return..." OR Shut up and read
As of today, Philly's got one month left of school. It's starting to show. I'm fine with that.
In retrospect, I probably wouldn't have saved Hamlet and Othello as the last texts for my ninth and tenth graders respectively. Still, I did, so we're here and there's nothing to be done about it now.
I co-teach my freshman sections with an equally energetic teacher whom the kids dubbed Ms. WaWa before I arrived.
We've made it to Act V Scene i and this is where the good stuff starts, right? I mean, daggers are drawn, poison is discussed and NO ONE is reading.
When reviewing the plot as it relates to the main themes in one section of today's class, I did one of those teacher pauses and noticed that thing that happens sometimes where a teacher asks a question, gives the appropriate amount of think time and then in the absence of eager hands, answers the question with an energy level that would make the Micro Machines Man winded.
Direct questions to the more aloof members of the class resulted in the bewildered stare I remember giving to my mom where I hoped I could wait out her interest in an answer rather than offer something self-incriminating.
My sails a bit wind-deprived, I stopped WaWa and asked a question to which I already knew the answer.
They hadn't read. Well, to be fair, four of them admitted they had completed the required reading. The rest of the class was either sitting idly hoping to go unnoticed or proffering up answers that belied a less-than-complete knowledge of the text.
I got my ire on.
"If you've read, that's great, get started on tonight's reading and you'll be ahead of the game. If you haven't read, start. Tomorrow, there will be a reading quiz asking for detailed answers to what happened."
I was met with the requisite, "oh-geez-we-ticked-him-off-feign-shame" silence. A minute or so later, shame had passed, a laptop was opened. "What are you doing?" says I.
"I'm going on sparknotes to read the No Fear Shakespeare version."
"No, no you're not. We're keeping technology out of this one and we're just reading and making notes where we don't understand things, so that we can ensure a rich class discussion tomorrow."
Yeah, I used the teacher "we" when I was talking about them - that's how ticked I was.
Now, I'll admit to faking my way through many a class discussion (I like to think it's a part of why they gave me my degree), but I also knew the classes where actually reading the text was key to survival:
Tomorrow's class will be better for it. They will feel smarter because they will actually be smarter. They will know which questions to ask and how to ask them. At least that's the goal. No computers, no ActivBoards, no wifi, just kids, books, teachers and the occasional stickie note.
Here's hoping.
More later.
In retrospect, I probably wouldn't have saved Hamlet and Othello as the last texts for my ninth and tenth graders respectively. Still, I did, so we're here and there's nothing to be done about it now.
I co-teach my freshman sections with an equally energetic teacher whom the kids dubbed Ms. WaWa before I arrived.
We've made it to Act V Scene i and this is where the good stuff starts, right? I mean, daggers are drawn, poison is discussed and NO ONE is reading.
When reviewing the plot as it relates to the main themes in one section of today's class, I did one of those teacher pauses and noticed that thing that happens sometimes where a teacher asks a question, gives the appropriate amount of think time and then in the absence of eager hands, answers the question with an energy level that would make the Micro Machines Man winded.
Direct questions to the more aloof members of the class resulted in the bewildered stare I remember giving to my mom where I hoped I could wait out her interest in an answer rather than offer something self-incriminating.
My sails a bit wind-deprived, I stopped WaWa and asked a question to which I already knew the answer.
They hadn't read. Well, to be fair, four of them admitted they had completed the required reading. The rest of the class was either sitting idly hoping to go unnoticed or proffering up answers that belied a less-than-complete knowledge of the text.
I got my ire on.
"If you've read, that's great, get started on tonight's reading and you'll be ahead of the game. If you haven't read, start. Tomorrow, there will be a reading quiz asking for detailed answers to what happened."
I was met with the requisite, "oh-geez-we-ticked-him-off-feign-shame" silence. A minute or so later, shame had passed, a laptop was opened. "What are you doing?" says I.
"I'm going on sparknotes to read the No Fear Shakespeare version."
"No, no you're not. We're keeping technology out of this one and we're just reading and making notes where we don't understand things, so that we can ensure a rich class discussion tomorrow."
Yeah, I used the teacher "we" when I was talking about them - that's how ticked I was.
Now, I'll admit to faking my way through many a class discussion (I like to think it's a part of why they gave me my degree), but I also knew the classes where actually reading the text was key to survival:
Understanding of plot points - necessary
Main ideas of article on a New Historicist understanding of text - unnecessary
They don't know how to honor these differences yet. Today's class pulled back the curtain on a rather befuddled All Powerful Oz. Tonight they will read. They may not like it, but they will read. Such is life in compulsory education.Main ideas of article on a New Historicist understanding of text - unnecessary
Tomorrow's class will be better for it. They will feel smarter because they will actually be smarter. They will know which questions to ask and how to ask them. At least that's the goal. No computers, no ActivBoards, no wifi, just kids, books, teachers and the occasional stickie note.
Here's hoping.
More later.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Untitled
My tenth graders created podcasts in the vein of This American Life. The results were varied, but by-and-large, impressive.I'm speaking of the quality of the work, but also of the investment of the students. For the first time, truly, my students were engaging in work that meant something to them and a larger audience. We've blogged before. We've used wikis. Blah, blah, blah.
This assignment, however, was something else. They owned this. I took my hands off the wheel and trusted they'd know where to go.
One student who moved with his family to the states from Bangladesh five years ago interviewed his family on the decision to move an entire household. He interviewed his family in Bengali and had another Bengali student record a translation over the speaker. The work was fantastic and he put more time into getting the story right than I've seen him put into any other assignment this year. As an emerging language learner whose mastered the conversational vocabulary, but is still developing his academic vocabulary, he found a voice in this project that that has continued to augment his contributions to class discussion.
This quarter, a new project is at hand - Change the World. Admittedly, it didn't start out with that charge. After explaining to my first section of 10th graders that they were to pick a problem in the world, work to talk to a possible change agent and present that change agent with a feasible action plan, one student raised her hand and asked, "So, basically, you want us to change the world in 9 weeks?"
I paused for a beat and replied, "I guess so, yeah."
We're two weeks in and their first blog posts are due at midnight tomorrow. Each student is using his or her SLA Drupal account to document the process and information. All the posts are aggregated on the class pages. Their topics are wide-ranging and sights are set high.
If you've got a second, drop by Gold or Silver and leave a comment. They're finding feedback invigorating. Heck, I'm finding feedback invigorating.
More later.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Off the Road Again
Back in the classroom after a week in Long Beach working with the Freedom Writers Foundation to engage, enlighten and empower a group of 30 educators from across the country. It was my first extended absence from SLA, and I wasn't sure how things would play out with my sub.
Moodle was helpful in automating my class, but the substitute was, shall we say, "colorful."
While that could be seen as working for me in that my students heralded my return, the loss of face time, of structure, of concrete learning in my absence was worrisome.
While I'm uncertain of the degree to which I should accept the truthfulness of their statements, my students reported the substitute teacher said that iPods were outlawed in the city of Philadelphia, that working in groups was not allowed (I left a group assignment and outlined it as such in my lesson plans) and that moodle was off limits.
I hate leaving my kids with anyone else. It comes with the vibe of teaching the "Classroom of Love." Still, I should be able to. The tools exist. In many lessons, I approach the goal of facilitating self-directed learning over simply teaching.
Why, then, does leaving the room to a substitute create the havoc it does? The substitute teacher was a former full-time educator, she has had her own classroom. As such, the execution of the lesson plan should have been simple and effective. Though across the country, I was still facilitating. And yet.
The system was broken somewhere. That's my initial response. Further consideration pushes me to think that perhaps the teacher, the actual person, is of more importance than thought. The tools, the collaboration, the self-direction - all tied up with the presence of the teacher.
Is this true? Poke holes.
More later.
Moodle was helpful in automating my class, but the substitute was, shall we say, "colorful."
While that could be seen as working for me in that my students heralded my return, the loss of face time, of structure, of concrete learning in my absence was worrisome.
While I'm uncertain of the degree to which I should accept the truthfulness of their statements, my students reported the substitute teacher said that iPods were outlawed in the city of Philadelphia, that working in groups was not allowed (I left a group assignment and outlined it as such in my lesson plans) and that moodle was off limits.
I hate leaving my kids with anyone else. It comes with the vibe of teaching the "Classroom of Love." Still, I should be able to. The tools exist. In many lessons, I approach the goal of facilitating self-directed learning over simply teaching.
Why, then, does leaving the room to a substitute create the havoc it does? The substitute teacher was a former full-time educator, she has had her own classroom. As such, the execution of the lesson plan should have been simple and effective. Though across the country, I was still facilitating. And yet.
The system was broken somewhere. That's my initial response. Further consideration pushes me to think that perhaps the teacher, the actual person, is of more importance than thought. The tools, the collaboration, the self-direction - all tied up with the presence of the teacher.
Is this true? Poke holes.
More later.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Grrr and Argh
I sent a package to a friend of mine yesterday. He's heading into his first year of teaching and I want to give him all of the support I can. It wasn't until I jumped online and read a column from the
paper back home that I realized the package I sent was intellectually racy.
Inside, it held a copy of The Essential 55 by and Life's Greatest Lessons by Hal Urban. Both are books that saw me through my first years of teaching and to which I continue to turn. According to the column, though, one of the leaders of my district worries that The Essential 55 could be taken as condescending. Ron Clark is white, his students when he taught in Harlem were mainly African American and Latino.
Apparently, Clark was on the shortlist of keynote speakers at our back-to-school meeting. Last year's speaker was Willard Daggett and the year before that was Erin Gruwell.
According to the column, and I'm not taking any of it as gospel, the district administrator had reservations about Clark speaking because he thought it could be taken as condescending to listen to stories of how Clark took his students from Harlem on horizon-expanding field trips. Clark's efforts to teach etiquette in preparation for a trip to a formal restaurant reportedly found a particular sticking place in the administrator's craw. Lyons implies the administrator believes Clark's speech is condescending because he is a white teacher who was working mainly with students who didn't look like him. I'm not sure what to make of it or how those beliefs would reflect on my own teaching.
Two things are happening here that have me frustrated.
One, I'm none-too-impressed with Lyons' reporting. The column could have been held for next week in order to include the asst. superintendent's side of the story. As it reads now, the column is another in a growing collection of pieces that makes teachers and the school district feel as though they are at odds with the press.
The other element of contention is with the idea that the central office wasn't immediately forthcoming with the details.
Again, all we have to go on is what Lyons saw fit to print, but the idea that the district's spokesman tried to sidestep the issue at fist blush isn't exactly going to make any inroads toward a strong relationship between the district and the press. This is to say nothing of the fact that the column was going to run with or without the administrator's quote, so it makes more sense to be open on the front end than to have to clean up after the parade has passed by.
From both sides, we (community members and district employees) need sincerity over spin.
More later.
paper back home that I realized the package I sent was intellectually racy.Inside, it held a copy of The Essential 55 by and Life's Greatest Lessons by Hal Urban. Both are books that saw me through my first years of teaching and to which I continue to turn. According to the column, though, one of the leaders of my district worries that The Essential 55 could be taken as condescending. Ron Clark is white, his students when he taught in Harlem were mainly African American and Latino.
Apparently, Clark was on the shortlist of keynote speakers at our back-to-school meeting. Last year's speaker was Willard Daggett and the year before that was Erin Gruwell.
According to the column, and I'm not taking any of it as gospel, the district administrator had reservations about Clark speaking because he thought it could be taken as condescending to listen to stories of how Clark took his students from Harlem on horizon-expanding field trips. Clark's efforts to teach etiquette in preparation for a trip to a formal restaurant reportedly found a particular sticking place in the administrator's craw. Lyons implies the administrator believes Clark's speech is condescending because he is a white teacher who was working mainly with students who didn't look like him. I'm not sure what to make of it or how those beliefs would reflect on my own teaching.
Two things are happening here that have me frustrated.
One, I'm none-too-impressed with Lyons' reporting. The column could have been held for next week in order to include the asst. superintendent's side of the story. As it reads now, the column is another in a growing collection of pieces that makes teachers and the school district feel as though they are at odds with the press.
The other element of contention is with the idea that the central office wasn't immediately forthcoming with the details.
Again, all we have to go on is what Lyons saw fit to print, but the idea that the district's spokesman tried to sidestep the issue at fist blush isn't exactly going to make any inroads toward a strong relationship between the district and the press. This is to say nothing of the fact that the column was going to run with or without the administrator's quote, so it makes more sense to be open on the front end than to have to clean up after the parade has passed by.
From both sides, we (community members and district employees) need sincerity over spin.
More later.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
NSDC Breakout Session 2: Closing the Male Literacy Gap
[Live Blogged]
Kelly King, Principal
Dawn Ryan, Teacher
Boulder Valley Schools
Doing personal intros. Just got a tease of brain research. I'm feeling a little excited.
Showing a cartoon, "I need you to line up by attention span."
Telling a story by grown men to illustrate differences between boys and girls. I'm engaged. Boys throwing darts at each other in the dark.
Using cooperative learning to share brain research. My fact, "Boys get bored more easily than girls, requiring more varied stimulation to keep them attentive."
Just talked about the use of music as a buffer between conversations.
Stress hormones "coritzol(sp?)" go up when you're low on the pecking order.
"PET scans show the resting female brain is as active as the male brain working on a problem."
This creates different tendancies in motivational patterns between male and female brains.
Going to talk about male and female brains definitively for the purpose of making points.
"There are actual physical structural differences between the male and female brains."
Obj:
1. "at-riskness" among boys
2. understand chem. and struc. differences between male and female brains.
3. learn about effective inst. practice for addressing brain needs of both boys and girls.
Girls are outperforming boys in all industrialized countries in reading literacies.
(me - exam Phoenix's writing scores by gender)
Showing data on improvement of boys' scores since the school began focusing on boys.
They were in the Newsweek article "The Boy Crisis."
"With Boys and Girls in Mind" Education Leadership, Nov. 2004. - great stats. on boy achievement.
Collaborative investigation of a fact that we find interesting. Partner is "take the answers down 5 'whys'." (me - I want this slideshow)
For every 100 girls...
...suspended from school, there are 250 boys.
...expelled from school, there are 335 boys.
...who earn a masters degree, there are 62 males.
"Just the Facts" cards?
Sit and Get is tolerated by the neurological make-up of girls.
Biology is for cavemen. Sociology is advanced.
Key Brain Differences Impacting Learning:
New Yorker cover with "make-up" of teen brain.
Verbal-Spatial Difference: females have more coritcal areas in brain for verbal thinking. More resources for putting emotions into words.
Males more spatial thinking cortical areas. Males may need to prime pump before jumping in to descriptive writing. Females may need to hold model to get to thinking about concepts like rotating things in space.
Memory and Sensory Difference: Girls sing in tunes 6x more often. More boys are prone to color-blindness. Females see sharper more vivid color, more sensitive touch and acute sense of taste. This goes back to survival. Male better are depth perception, tracking objects through space, better at navigating through spatial areas. You recall an event using the senses you collected it with. Prime the pump differently to get more detail.
Frontal Lobe Development: develops in mid-20s for females, early 30s for males. Suppresses impulsive behavior. This is part of writing and risk-taking behaviors.
Cross-Talk Between the Hemispheres: Females have 20% more thickening between corpus colosum than males. More nerves, more communication between hemispheres. Male brain compartmentalizes and lateralizes brain activity. Female brain disperses activity around the brain to solve the same problem. When there's a learning problem, it's more difficult for the male brain to delegate problems. This points to stroke recovery and females regaining speech function better. Males tend to operate more in the left hemisphere, females in right hemisphere. Right side thinks more about problems and anxieties. 75% of divorces are initiated by females. Male brain is more learning fragile (disabilities). Female brain more emotionally fragile (anxiety, eating disorders, depression). Compartmentalization can lead to boys focusing on one thing and blocking other input out.
Natural Aggression: Testosterone (males), Oxytosin (bonding hormone) (females), oxytosin spikes in males during sex then goes back down again. Oxytosin inspires girls to want to be liked, fit in, belong. Boys have less oxytosin which creates a disconnect between boy investment in school.
Neural Rest States: Boys are gone when they go there. Girls can still be intaking a little bit. Might as well be talking to a wall at this point with boys.
Need natural light for good brain chemistry.
Book Suggestions:
Action-Packed Classrooms, Summerford (K-5)
Learning with the Body in Mind, Jensen
Action Strategies..., Wilhelm
Asked fourth grade writing students to act out the differences between "editing" and "revising" without speaking. Leader was responsible for interpreting movements.
What a complete sentence is: Took sentence strips, color coded nouns, verbs and finishers. Gave each of 5 groups a bunch of possibilities with a "Bank of Punctuation." Gave kids 5 minutes to build complete, perfectly-punctuated sentences. Had to explain, "why they needed a comma or an exclamation point instead of a period."
(me - audience is entirely engaged!)
Boys have less access to sensory details. This makes it more difficult for them to integrate those details into their writing.
Inverse relationship between quality of illustration and volume (quality?) of writing.
Bring in music to create a mood, think of colors that would create a mood and THEN put that mood into words. Need to do more priming of the pump for boys.
Putting vocab. words to music. Spelling words with elbows and then backsides. (hilarious!)
Too many words make the ideas too difficult. 8 purposes of writing simplifies things. Give them right visual-spatial tools to kids for the job you're trying to get them to do. Visual construct must match intended verbal output.
Video games give things a better safety for pecking order movement.
Throw gender grouping into small grouping every once in a while. Expand topics that appeal to boys. Stop censoring boys interests.
"A good book for a boy is one he wants to read." (Moloney, 2002)
In writing classroom, use "crappy prompts" to get kids to make writing their own.
"If the bum is numb, the brain is the same."
I'm Glad I'm a Boy, I'm Glad I'm a Girl (1970)
"Me Read? No Way!" - Ontario Provincial Government
Kelly King, Principal
Dawn Ryan, Teacher
Boulder Valley Schools
Doing personal intros. Just got a tease of brain research. I'm feeling a little excited.
Showing a cartoon, "I need you to line up by attention span."
Telling a story by grown men to illustrate differences between boys and girls. I'm engaged. Boys throwing darts at each other in the dark.
Using cooperative learning to share brain research. My fact, "Boys get bored more easily than girls, requiring more varied stimulation to keep them attentive."
Just talked about the use of music as a buffer between conversations.
Stress hormones "coritzol(sp?)" go up when you're low on the pecking order.
"PET scans show the resting female brain is as active as the male brain working on a problem."
This creates different tendancies in motivational patterns between male and female brains.
Going to talk about male and female brains definitively for the purpose of making points.
"There are actual physical structural differences between the male and female brains."
Obj:
1. "at-riskness" among boys
2. understand chem. and struc. differences between male and female brains.
3. learn about effective inst. practice for addressing brain needs of both boys and girls.
Girls are outperforming boys in all industrialized countries in reading literacies.
(me - exam Phoenix's writing scores by gender)
Showing data on improvement of boys' scores since the school began focusing on boys.
They were in the Newsweek article "The Boy Crisis."
"With Boys and Girls in Mind" Education Leadership, Nov. 2004. - great stats. on boy achievement.
Collaborative investigation of a fact that we find interesting. Partner is "take the answers down 5 'whys'." (me - I want this slideshow)
For every 100 girls...
...suspended from school, there are 250 boys.
...expelled from school, there are 335 boys.
...who earn a masters degree, there are 62 males.
"Just the Facts" cards?
Sit and Get is tolerated by the neurological make-up of girls.
Biology is for cavemen. Sociology is advanced.
Key Brain Differences Impacting Learning:
New Yorker cover with "make-up" of teen brain.
Verbal-Spatial Difference: females have more coritcal areas in brain for verbal thinking. More resources for putting emotions into words.
Males more spatial thinking cortical areas. Males may need to prime pump before jumping in to descriptive writing. Females may need to hold model to get to thinking about concepts like rotating things in space.
Memory and Sensory Difference: Girls sing in tunes 6x more often. More boys are prone to color-blindness. Females see sharper more vivid color, more sensitive touch and acute sense of taste. This goes back to survival. Male better are depth perception, tracking objects through space, better at navigating through spatial areas. You recall an event using the senses you collected it with. Prime the pump differently to get more detail.
Frontal Lobe Development: develops in mid-20s for females, early 30s for males. Suppresses impulsive behavior. This is part of writing and risk-taking behaviors.
Cross-Talk Between the Hemispheres: Females have 20% more thickening between corpus colosum than males. More nerves, more communication between hemispheres. Male brain compartmentalizes and lateralizes brain activity. Female brain disperses activity around the brain to solve the same problem. When there's a learning problem, it's more difficult for the male brain to delegate problems. This points to stroke recovery and females regaining speech function better. Males tend to operate more in the left hemisphere, females in right hemisphere. Right side thinks more about problems and anxieties. 75% of divorces are initiated by females. Male brain is more learning fragile (disabilities). Female brain more emotionally fragile (anxiety, eating disorders, depression). Compartmentalization can lead to boys focusing on one thing and blocking other input out.
Natural Aggression: Testosterone (males), Oxytosin (bonding hormone) (females), oxytosin spikes in males during sex then goes back down again. Oxytosin inspires girls to want to be liked, fit in, belong. Boys have less oxytosin which creates a disconnect between boy investment in school.
Neural Rest States: Boys are gone when they go there. Girls can still be intaking a little bit. Might as well be talking to a wall at this point with boys.
Need natural light for good brain chemistry.
Book Suggestions:
Action-Packed Classrooms, Summerford (K-5)
Learning with the Body in Mind, Jensen
Action Strategies..., Wilhelm
Asked fourth grade writing students to act out the differences between "editing" and "revising" without speaking. Leader was responsible for interpreting movements.
What a complete sentence is: Took sentence strips, color coded nouns, verbs and finishers. Gave each of 5 groups a bunch of possibilities with a "Bank of Punctuation." Gave kids 5 minutes to build complete, perfectly-punctuated sentences. Had to explain, "why they needed a comma or an exclamation point instead of a period."
(me - audience is entirely engaged!)
Boys have less access to sensory details. This makes it more difficult for them to integrate those details into their writing.
Inverse relationship between quality of illustration and volume (quality?) of writing.
Bring in music to create a mood, think of colors that would create a mood and THEN put that mood into words. Need to do more priming of the pump for boys.
Putting vocab. words to music. Spelling words with elbows and then backsides. (hilarious!)
Too many words make the ideas too difficult. 8 purposes of writing simplifies things. Give them right visual-spatial tools to kids for the job you're trying to get them to do. Visual construct must match intended verbal output.
Video games give things a better safety for pecking order movement.
Throw gender grouping into small grouping every once in a while. Expand topics that appeal to boys. Stop censoring boys interests.
"A good book for a boy is one he wants to read." (Moloney, 2002)
In writing classroom, use "crappy prompts" to get kids to make writing their own.
"If the bum is numb, the brain is the same."
I'm Glad I'm a Boy, I'm Glad I'm a Girl (1970)
"Me Read? No Way!" - Ontario Provincial Government
Monday, July 16, 2007
NSDC Concurrent Session 1: Breaking Barriers to Learning
Live Blogging: Norwalk Community School District in Iowa
Starting off the presentation by showing Karl Fisch's "Did you Know? 1.0" I wonder how many people in the room have seen this before.
I wonder how many presenters will be using this. I wonder how many presenters will be making their own. Why not?
Just got through the "Name this country..." I always want to shout out the answer.
In under a year, how much of this information is outdated? Not to mention how many schools and districts will be presenting it at back-to-school events this year as though it's new?
Presentation Beginning:
How am I going to prepare students for a world that's not in existence now?
Quoting Pink's A Whole New Mind and three essential questions.
1. Can someone overseas do it more cheaply?
2. Can a computer do it faster?
3. Am I offering something that satisfies the monmaterial transcendent...
Prereq. Friedman quote: There are no more "American Jobs." There are only jobs.
Only 1/3 of school districts in Iowa are growing.
Not sure our mission statement is different from many others. What's different is how we act on them.
They have 7 student learning goals.
1. Communication Skills
2. Thinking and reasoning skills
3. interpersonal skills
4. personal and social responsibility
5. learning to learn (warlick happy?)
6. Technology
7. Expanding and integrating knowledge
Goals drafted after community input and search for a theme.
Referencing: Indicators of schools of quality.
We, as a district, were starting to form what's important to us. Modified indicators to align with parents, community and staff. Printed NSCC as their own.
Complete survey every 2-3 years.
Ask where students are and where they want to go next.
Referencing PLCs and Rick DeFour. Mission statements look alike. Vision statements look alike. Belief statements are special to schools/districts. (me- does SRQ have belief statements?)
Guided by values in decision making.
SLCs are very important. Have looping and traditional. Full-inclusion model.
Belief 5: Common knowledge base for students. (me - who decides knowledge base?)
Speaking on teachers saying they didn't think they did anything special.
Systemic issue.
Parent approached one of them and said they didn't live up to belief statement.
Talking about Iowa Professional Development Model and how it is a collaborative effort including ALL stakeholders. Even high ed.
IPDM:
Focus on curric., instruction and assessment.
Shared decision-making
leadership
Simultaneity.
Constant Cycle of PD.
Simultaneity is a growing requirement in education (me - are our kids there already?)
6-year curric. assessment evaluation cycle.
Curriculum will provide success with 80% of students.
Years 4-6 work to find out what curric. did do for other 20%.
No state standards in Iowa (me - !?!?!?!)
8 Iowa Teaching standards made up of 42 criterion: build teacher portfolio (NGT?)
Their content areas rotate to ensure constant curricular reform. There's a systemic cycle built in. (me - replicable on a larger scale?)
Data is imperative. (me - are we measuring what's going to matter?)
One word to describe Norwalk - collaboration.
They have 26 School Improvement Advisory Committees.
Quoting Gardner on Transformational Leadership.
Quoting Marzano's School Leadership that Works.
Assessing administrators not just teachers. Marzano's 21 administrative characteristics. Did a time audit in 15-minute increments.
Pausing for reflection. Back to work.
(me - we've been sitting for over an hour, I'm sitting and getting.)
Discussion State Accreditation process
"MetaAnalysis" is a smart-sounding word that engenders much unquestioning reverence.
(me - is this good teaching?)
NSSE - Survey of Goals for Student Learning.
End-of-Year report required for each SIAC for website and newspaper.
Out-of-School programs effective for lower elementary and high school according to McREL.
Acknowledging errors in last year's summer program and addressing how they are corrected.
Teacher talking now about moving back to Norwalk because of collaboration. Saying the program didn't make sense at first, but now has a better understanding of the big picture.
Also referencing Gardner's Five Minds for the Future.
Starting off the presentation by showing Karl Fisch's "Did you Know? 1.0" I wonder how many people in the room have seen this before.
I wonder how many presenters will be using this. I wonder how many presenters will be making their own. Why not?
Just got through the "Name this country..." I always want to shout out the answer.
In under a year, how much of this information is outdated? Not to mention how many schools and districts will be presenting it at back-to-school events this year as though it's new?
Presentation Beginning:
How am I going to prepare students for a world that's not in existence now?
Quoting Pink's A Whole New Mind and three essential questions.
1. Can someone overseas do it more cheaply?
2. Can a computer do it faster?
3. Am I offering something that satisfies the monmaterial transcendent...
Prereq. Friedman quote: There are no more "American Jobs." There are only jobs.
Only 1/3 of school districts in Iowa are growing.
Not sure our mission statement is different from many others. What's different is how we act on them.
They have 7 student learning goals.
1. Communication Skills
2. Thinking and reasoning skills
3. interpersonal skills
4. personal and social responsibility
5. learning to learn (warlick happy?)
6. Technology
7. Expanding and integrating knowledge
Goals drafted after community input and search for a theme.
Referencing: Indicators of schools of quality.
We, as a district, were starting to form what's important to us. Modified indicators to align with parents, community and staff. Printed NSCC as their own.
Complete survey every 2-3 years.
Ask where students are and where they want to go next.
Referencing PLCs and Rick DeFour. Mission statements look alike. Vision statements look alike. Belief statements are special to schools/districts. (me- does SRQ have belief statements?)
Guided by values in decision making.
SLCs are very important. Have looping and traditional. Full-inclusion model.
Belief 5: Common knowledge base for students. (me - who decides knowledge base?)
Speaking on teachers saying they didn't think they did anything special.
Systemic issue.
Parent approached one of them and said they didn't live up to belief statement.
Talking about Iowa Professional Development Model and how it is a collaborative effort including ALL stakeholders. Even high ed.
IPDM:
Focus on curric., instruction and assessment.
Shared decision-making
leadership
Simultaneity.
Constant Cycle of PD.
Simultaneity is a growing requirement in education (me - are our kids there already?)
6-year curric. assessment evaluation cycle.
Curriculum will provide success with 80% of students.
Years 4-6 work to find out what curric. did do for other 20%.
No state standards in Iowa (me - !?!?!?!)
8 Iowa Teaching standards made up of 42 criterion: build teacher portfolio (NGT?)
Their content areas rotate to ensure constant curricular reform. There's a systemic cycle built in. (me - replicable on a larger scale?)
Data is imperative. (me - are we measuring what's going to matter?)
One word to describe Norwalk - collaboration.
They have 26 School Improvement Advisory Committees.
Quoting Gardner on Transformational Leadership.
Quoting Marzano's School Leadership that Works.
Assessing administrators not just teachers. Marzano's 21 administrative characteristics. Did a time audit in 15-minute increments.
Pausing for reflection. Back to work.
(me - we've been sitting for over an hour, I'm sitting and getting.)
Discussion State Accreditation process
"MetaAnalysis" is a smart-sounding word that engenders much unquestioning reverence.
(me - is this good teaching?)
NSSE - Survey of Goals for Student Learning.
End-of-Year report required for each SIAC for website and newspaper.
Out-of-School programs effective for lower elementary and high school according to McREL.
Acknowledging errors in last year's summer program and addressing how they are corrected.
Teacher talking now about moving back to Norwalk because of collaboration. Saying the program didn't make sense at first, but now has a better understanding of the big picture.
Also referencing Gardner's Five Minds for the Future.
NSDC Summer Conference Opening Keynote
[live blogging the session]
Encouraging us to take every minute to learn from others.
Make a committment to actions. Every teacher needs to stand up to the plate of teacher leadership.
Sue McAdamis - NSDC Board PRes.
Mentioning sponsors.
Recognizing organizers.
There were 19 organizers on the stage, all educators - one man.
Sharing meals, networking and engaging in reflective conversations.
Encouraging us to be risk-takers. Sit with people we don't know and take reflective thoughts.
Avoid side conversations, turn off noisy stuff and give full attention.
Today's take-away is a bookmark made by 4th-grade students.
Another take away at lunch to inspire conversation at lunch.
The practice of deep reflection leads to knowledge and ultimately increases student achievement.
Denver public schools innovative teacher compensation program.
Welcome Phil Gonrey (sp) of the Rose Foundation
me - I wonder if "Rocky Mountain High" is played at every Colorado convention.
Denver first to make cheeseburger.
2nd producer of lamb
1st producer of millet (small seed grain grown in a difficult environment - sounds a lot like a school)
Introducing - Joellen Killion and Stephanie "Nikki" Rivera
It's not about choice, structural changes or market reform.
We understand that education is a human capitol issue.
Smart, dedicated well-trained people with the right incentives and the right support can do amazing things with kids.
Our grant-making has been focused on the simple fact that there si a tremendous genius in teachers and given the resources teachers can do amazing things.
Killion - Deputy Exec. Dir. of NSDC "taking the lead: new roles for teacher leaders..."
Rivera - clinical prof. in Adams 12 district, master teacher who assumes a leadership role in the dev. of pre-service and novice teachers.
Killion/Rivera:
Importance of aligning actions with beliefs. Beliefs are what we stand for. Beliefs challenge and facilitate work. Give courage and direction. Help take a stand. Re-assessment of beliefs increases integrity. beliefs Riv. now holds are not the same ones she held when she started as a coach. Started by giving resources. Stopped doing that because it created dependence.
Talking about the importance of not creating dependence as a coach. Haven't integrated beliefs until we experience them in a real-world setting.
Each experience provides us an opportunity to discover beliefs.
Admitting difference between what they believe/say they believe and what they actually do.
Two kinds of beliefs: beliefs in action and espoused beliefs.
"Reading my life as a textbook is a good way to discover if my life reflects my beliefs."
focus on student assessment that are true to accomplishment.
Fundamental beliefs of teacher leaders and coaches:
1. Let Go
2. believe in possibilities.
3. keep promises
4. do you best always
5. check perceptions
1. Let Go: Talking about difference between espoused/action in reference to imposing answers or letting community find solutions. Did not act on espoused belief. "What do you want?" "To be right." What did you get? Frustration and resistence. What did you learn? Being right didn't matter...they mattered. Let go of the need to fic and heal and rescue and repair others. Work rather on yourself. - Scot Peck "A different Drum."
(me- this is a basic tennet of improv)
2. Possibilities: (me, using narrative to show points) Lesson Study Protocol. Rolled out LSP with one team with no new teachers. Debriefing went well. Three years ago, school still using LSP. By believing in poss. these students and teachers are growing. Support and scaffolding gave every chance for success.
3. Keeping your Promises: Promised to send protocol when she got home. Did not send as she promised. Didn't remember. Got call Tuesday of the next week. Disappointment that the protocol didn't show up. Horrified. Made promise and didn't follow through. Sometimes not conscious of the promises we make. "See you later. Meeting starts at 3:30. Meet you in the library. I'll send that when I get home." (me - Four Agreements: Be impeccable in your word.) Loss of integrity leads to loss of trust leads to inability to engage with others. no objection can be read as a promise. Failure to keep promises is a choice that endangers the relationship.
4. Do your best, always: (me - Another Four Agreements: Always do your best.) Using story to explain points. She's a biking enthusiast. Went on trip to France. Promises of travel company's website didn't come through. People on buses were acting horrible. Coordinators listened to clients and wrote down complaints. Explained circumstances but didn't make excuses. On the last day, asked coord. how he was doing with near mutiny. On the bus. sitting in front of her, turned and said, "Life, is 10% what happens to you. 90% how you react to it." What a beautiful example of doing your best, always. Guiding belief was getting him through difficult situation. Often faced with visible and invisible mutinies.
5. Check your perceptions: Sometimes I make up explanations of things that I don't understand. Assumptions from wonderings. Andrea (teaching 3 years, tapped to be a coach). Doing observation of teacher. Andrea was conscious of butterflies. More severe than normal. Teacher she was observing had been her teacher. Facing a severe case of role reversal. How was she going to be able to give feedback to this teacher? Anxiety grew as lesson continued. Assumed feedback session would be horrible. Teacher sat, put hands on top of Andrea's. "Andrea, many years ago, I had the pleasure of being your teacher. I look forward now to you being my teacher." Andrea dissolved into tears. (me - etymological difference between "perception" and "assumption"?) "If I don't know something, it's best to check, clarify or hold curiosity about it." Withhold the drive to make up stories to explain what we don't know. (me - this is Covey "Seek first to understand and then to be understood.")
When we stand for what we believe, we are more authentic. When we take a stand for our beliefs, we make a difference for teachers and their students.
NSDC's new purpose statement - Every educator participates in effective professional development everyday so that every student learns.
Encouraging us to take every minute to learn from others.
Make a committment to actions. Every teacher needs to stand up to the plate of teacher leadership.
Sue McAdamis - NSDC Board PRes.
Mentioning sponsors.
Recognizing organizers.
There were 19 organizers on the stage, all educators - one man.
Sharing meals, networking and engaging in reflective conversations.
Encouraging us to be risk-takers. Sit with people we don't know and take reflective thoughts.
Avoid side conversations, turn off noisy stuff and give full attention.
Today's take-away is a bookmark made by 4th-grade students.
Another take away at lunch to inspire conversation at lunch.
The practice of deep reflection leads to knowledge and ultimately increases student achievement.
Denver public schools innovative teacher compensation program.
Welcome Phil Gonrey (sp) of the Rose Foundation
me - I wonder if "Rocky Mountain High" is played at every Colorado convention.
Denver first to make cheeseburger.
2nd producer of lamb
1st producer of millet (small seed grain grown in a difficult environment - sounds a lot like a school)
Introducing - Joellen Killion and Stephanie "Nikki" Rivera
It's not about choice, structural changes or market reform.
We understand that education is a human capitol issue.
Smart, dedicated well-trained people with the right incentives and the right support can do amazing things with kids.
Our grant-making has been focused on the simple fact that there si a tremendous genius in teachers and given the resources teachers can do amazing things.
Killion - Deputy Exec. Dir. of NSDC "taking the lead: new roles for teacher leaders..."
Rivera - clinical prof. in Adams 12 district, master teacher who assumes a leadership role in the dev. of pre-service and novice teachers.
Killion/Rivera:
Importance of aligning actions with beliefs. Beliefs are what we stand for. Beliefs challenge and facilitate work. Give courage and direction. Help take a stand. Re-assessment of beliefs increases integrity. beliefs Riv. now holds are not the same ones she held when she started as a coach. Started by giving resources. Stopped doing that because it created dependence.
Talking about the importance of not creating dependence as a coach. Haven't integrated beliefs until we experience them in a real-world setting.
Each experience provides us an opportunity to discover beliefs.
Admitting difference between what they believe/say they believe and what they actually do.
Two kinds of beliefs: beliefs in action and espoused beliefs.
"Reading my life as a textbook is a good way to discover if my life reflects my beliefs."
focus on student assessment that are true to accomplishment.
Fundamental beliefs of teacher leaders and coaches:
1. Let Go
2. believe in possibilities.
3. keep promises
4. do you best always
5. check perceptions
1. Let Go: Talking about difference between espoused/action in reference to imposing answers or letting community find solutions. Did not act on espoused belief. "What do you want?" "To be right." What did you get? Frustration and resistence. What did you learn? Being right didn't matter...they mattered. Let go of the need to fic and heal and rescue and repair others. Work rather on yourself. - Scot Peck "A different Drum."
(me- this is a basic tennet of improv)
2. Possibilities: (me, using narrative to show points) Lesson Study Protocol. Rolled out LSP with one team with no new teachers. Debriefing went well. Three years ago, school still using LSP. By believing in poss. these students and teachers are growing. Support and scaffolding gave every chance for success.
3. Keeping your Promises: Promised to send protocol when she got home. Did not send as she promised. Didn't remember. Got call Tuesday of the next week. Disappointment that the protocol didn't show up. Horrified. Made promise and didn't follow through. Sometimes not conscious of the promises we make. "See you later. Meeting starts at 3:30. Meet you in the library. I'll send that when I get home." (me - Four Agreements: Be impeccable in your word.) Loss of integrity leads to loss of trust leads to inability to engage with others. no objection can be read as a promise. Failure to keep promises is a choice that endangers the relationship.
4. Do your best, always: (me - Another Four Agreements: Always do your best.) Using story to explain points. She's a biking enthusiast. Went on trip to France. Promises of travel company's website didn't come through. People on buses were acting horrible. Coordinators listened to clients and wrote down complaints. Explained circumstances but didn't make excuses. On the last day, asked coord. how he was doing with near mutiny. On the bus. sitting in front of her, turned and said, "Life, is 10% what happens to you. 90% how you react to it." What a beautiful example of doing your best, always. Guiding belief was getting him through difficult situation. Often faced with visible and invisible mutinies.
5. Check your perceptions: Sometimes I make up explanations of things that I don't understand. Assumptions from wonderings. Andrea (teaching 3 years, tapped to be a coach). Doing observation of teacher. Andrea was conscious of butterflies. More severe than normal. Teacher she was observing had been her teacher. Facing a severe case of role reversal. How was she going to be able to give feedback to this teacher? Anxiety grew as lesson continued. Assumed feedback session would be horrible. Teacher sat, put hands on top of Andrea's. "Andrea, many years ago, I had the pleasure of being your teacher. I look forward now to you being my teacher." Andrea dissolved into tears. (me - etymological difference between "perception" and "assumption"?) "If I don't know something, it's best to check, clarify or hold curiosity about it." Withhold the drive to make up stories to explain what we don't know. (me - this is Covey "Seek first to understand and then to be understood.")
When we stand for what we believe, we are more authentic. When we take a stand for our beliefs, we make a difference for teachers and their students.
NSDC's new purpose statement - Every educator participates in effective professional development everyday so that every student learns.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
A cellular classroom?
I've been thinking recently about what technology I can expect my kids to have next year. We're still not at a place where Internet access is at 100% (my kids tend to hover around 80%).
What I can almost always know my students (last year it was 95%) will pos
sess is a cell phone.
Of course, my school has the posted "Use your phone and the world around you will come crashing to a hault" policy. We can work around that.
So, here's the question, what are you doing in your classroom to integrate/embed cell phones into instruction? Where are the resources built around cell phones in education?
Does a wiki already exist with this info.? If not, it does now. If you've got anything you can contribute, post away.
More later.
What I can almost always know my students (last year it was 95%) will pos
sess is a cell phone.Of course, my school has the posted "Use your phone and the world around you will come crashing to a hault" policy. We can work around that.
So, here's the question, what are you doing in your classroom to integrate/embed cell phones into instruction? Where are the resources built around cell phones in education?
Does a wiki already exist with this info.? If not, it does now. If you've got anything you can contribute, post away.
More later.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Who needs data?
Next week, I'll be flying to Denver to present Phoenix's story along with our new principal and the director and supervisor of Professional Development for the district. We 4 will be telling our story at the National Staff Development Council's annual conference.
In looking at the session descriptions when registering a few months ago, I was struck by the lack of variety. With perhaps 4 (and that could be pushing it) exceptions, every breakout and keynote session is centered around data and the amazing things different districts, schools, departments and teachers have done with it. Data, I've realized, is the Silly Putty or Little Black Dress of education.
Our presentation will not be about data. It will include data. To be sure, data has its place in the structure of success at Phoenix. We use it to inform our instruction. We use it calculate projected success on the FCAT. We use it to understand "academic needs."
Data will not drive our presentation. It does not drive our school. I should clarify my use of the term "data" here is meant in its clinical sense.
What drives our school and will, in turn, drive our presentation are relationships.
Formative and summative, high-stakes, formal and informal - assessments in the hands of teachers will not decide the success or failure of that teacher's students in the academic year.
Relationships are key.
As such, our presentation will reflect this.
Here's the funny thing. As I write this, there's a tinge of wonkiness at the thought of the heresy of downplaying the importance of data. My first experience with PD as a professional teacher were on things like data walls and the drafting of common assessment meant to synthesize the state assessment. My indoctrination started early.
Let me put the argument to you another way: Do you want teachers who know data or teachers who know kids?
"This is Mr. Chase, he can compile interpret a great Data Wall." vs. "This is Mr. Chase, he finds ways to reach and motivate some otherwise lost students."
I know my argument has holes. Poke at them. Push this. Push me to think. Anyone?
More later.
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixieclipx/414065100/
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Wiki for Thought
I put it down about a month ago and hadn't had a chance to pick it up until this weekend. That said, I just finished Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. A chunk of the information was not new and had been encountered in Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture and other readings, but there is something to be said for ingesting these ideas on the heels of finishing Pink's A Whole New Mind.As per usual, I read pen-in-hand marking the margins as I went. Though the book touches only briefly on education (and even then only to speak of university research), it's implications for education are far-reaching.
More importantly, it's expectations and assumptions of education are universal and flawed. Tapscott and Williams make statements about the Net Generation that leave out variables like access and experience, claiming Net Genners are entering the workforce with expectations based upon their time using and exploring the tools and tactics allowed to learners through web 2.0 access. Unfortunately this is not the reality for many.
At the risk of sounding as though he's the only blogger I read, I point to David Warlick's comment that "[c]hildren without personal and unfiltered access to contemporary technology are alone — and there is no power in that."
While the truth of this statement is a sad one, that sadness is only compounded farther down the road for those children.
They will not have the tools to connect to the world Tapscott and Williams describe without serious effort and a presumably monumental learning curve.
In describing the "perfect storm" leading to a collaborave world, the authors count "a generation that grew up collaborating" as one of the contributing factors. What of the members of that generation who did not grow up collaborating or who were part of an educational system that was not yet plugged in to the flattening world?
I realize I'm making the case for the need for expanded collaborative efforts. Before that case can be made in full, educators must be mindful of those students standing at the edge of the digital divide.
More later.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Stressed? Maybe a little
Since school let out, I've been uber-busy. I know, I know, the busy-ness is supposed to slow down when the year's over, but it hasn't. I'm a different sort of busy now.
I've three presentations to prepare for this summer.
First up is next week's district conference on Differentiated Instruction. My presentation is on building community and an environment for risk-taking in the classroom. I've been whittling away at an outline over at my wiki, but hadn't realized the true work ahead until I sat down to put the actual presentation together. I'm facilitating the session once each day of the conference and a little tense.
I don't want to be that guy at the conference who gets people to say, "Oh, don't worry about that one, I went yesterday and it't not worth your time."
The main source of stress is finding a way to put everything together in a way that's accessible and succinct. I called Ms. Dunda after one long go at putting the presentation together and voiced my frustration at wanting to show how all of the pieces fit together but also feeling like I have to introduce all of the pieces.
I also want to truly facilitate and not merely present. I value the experiences of each teacher who's going to walk through that door and want those experiences to be shared and incorporated.
I've set the bar mighty high for myself. I've got a few days to prepare to reach it.
As for the other two conferences, they can wait until this one's done.
More later.
Photo from www.psychologycoach.com/
Sunday, May 20, 2007
IWBs as a Panacea?
In the rush to prepare students for finals and make sure everything is in order for end-of-year celebrations, I've been inattentive to the blog. The number of posts waiting in Google Reader from Miguel Guhlin is mind-boggling.
Still, a story appeared in our local paper a bit ago and it worried me a bit. You can read the whole story here.
Two aspects of the story me worry me.
Sarasota County has spent an estimated $12 million on purchasing an interactive white board for every classroom in the county. The intent was to roll out the first wave of installs to those teachers who most wanted the boards so that they could then assist those teachers who were more resistant to the new tool. This was mostly how it worked out. To be sure, there are some boards out there in the classrooms of teachers still hesitant to post their attendance online let alone give up their overhead projectors.
The fact that the newspaper took notice of what's going on in the classrooms excited me.
What worried me, made me cringe really, was this:
More frustrating still was our union exec's quote a few paragraphs later "...the fact of the matter is, technology so far has not been shown to have a tremendous impact."
I'm fairly certain we can't blame the technology.
Doug Gilliland, a tremendously inspiring high school science teacher and a colleague of mine, is quoted later in the article saying, "How well will they use it? I don't know. I think it will be like other teaching tools. Some teachers will grab on and run with it, and others will do the bare minimum."
This too worries me. It worries me because we are part of a system where Mr. Gilliland's prediction can come true.
The answer is an uncomfortable one for those in education who see the roles of teacher and student as mutually exclusive - we must raise the expectations for teachers.
Expectations for teacher, not just student, achievement must be higher than ever before if we are to serve our communities well.
I do not mean this in the context of standardized testing or any of its ugly stepsisters. I mean this in the context of personally guided exploration. Or, as Will Richardson put it a while ago, "It's the Empowerment, Stupid!"
Teachers must take the reigns and begin to direct their own learning. While it would be easy to let an IWB sit in a classroom unused and complain about a lack of training, it is also lazy.
How do you motivate teachers to own their learning? Anyone?
More later.
Still, a story appeared in our local paper a bit ago and it worried me a bit. You can read the whole story here.
Two aspects of the story me worry me.
Sarasota County has spent an estimated $12 million on purchasing an interactive white board for every classroom in the county. The intent was to roll out the first wave of installs to those teachers who most wanted the boards so that they could then assist those teachers who were more resistant to the new tool. This was mostly how it worked out. To be sure, there are some boards out there in the classrooms of teachers still hesitant to post their attendance online let alone give up their overhead projectors.
The fact that the newspaper took notice of what's going on in the classrooms excited me.
What worried me, made me cringe really, was this:
What is not clear is whether the Activboard will be a panacea for public schools, boosting the graduation rate or closing the achievement gap.Let me solve the puzzle. Under no circumstances will the mere presence of ActivBoards act as a "panacea" for lagging test scores or troubling graduation rates. That is similar to implying that students' ability to read will improve simply because there are new books in the classroom. As with any other tool, the ActivBoards' potential will only be reached when teachers explore their own potential to utilize the boards as educational tools. Implying otherwise is frighteningly wreckless.
More frustrating still was our union exec's quote a few paragraphs later "...the fact of the matter is, technology so far has not been shown to have a tremendous impact."
I'm fairly certain we can't blame the technology.
Doug Gilliland, a tremendously inspiring high school science teacher and a colleague of mine, is quoted later in the article saying, "How well will they use it? I don't know. I think it will be like other teaching tools. Some teachers will grab on and run with it, and others will do the bare minimum."
This too worries me. It worries me because we are part of a system where Mr. Gilliland's prediction can come true.
The answer is an uncomfortable one for those in education who see the roles of teacher and student as mutually exclusive - we must raise the expectations for teachers.
Expectations for teacher, not just student, achievement must be higher than ever before if we are to serve our communities well.
I do not mean this in the context of standardized testing or any of its ugly stepsisters. I mean this in the context of personally guided exploration. Or, as Will Richardson put it a while ago, "It's the Empowerment, Stupid!"
Teachers must take the reigns and begin to direct their own learning. While it would be easy to let an IWB sit in a classroom unused and complain about a lack of training, it is also lazy.
How do you motivate teachers to own their learning? Anyone?
More later.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Freedom Writers Weekend Take 2
What a day.I'm not entirely sure where to begin. I'm successfully in Long Beach, CA. I got in two nights ago and haven't stopped moving yet. Yesterday was spent mainly catching up with Freedom Writers Teachers I met when I was here in October. Each has such exciting stories to tell about his or her students.
I also spent a sizeable portion of yesterday in iMovie cutting and pasting a short video from last Monday night when my six students who participated in the Young Screenwriters Program through the Sarasota Film Festival were honored and got to watch a staged reading of their screenplays.
How fitting that last night's event here in Cali. was to go to Paramount Pictures for a private screening of Freedom Writers.
We also ate dinner in the studio cafeteria where the famous Taco Cart from the last Freedom Writers Weekend made a triumphant return.
What was best about the screening, though, was having a chance to watch the movie with an actual Freedom Writer on my left and one of the guidance counselors from Wilson High School who worked with the FW on my right. This was their truth, told on film and I got to share in experiencing it with them. Brilliant.
Today, we'll be on the Cal State, Long Beach campus workshopping how to teach the film with the book and getting our hands dirty helping to revise the teacher's guide due out this fall.
I cannot wait to collaborate with this dynamic group of teachers once again.
This trip is different because groups 1 and 2 of the pilot FWT are here.
Before meeting the members of Group 1, some of the other Group 2 members and I discussed our wonder at how the two would mesh. Ours was such a tight group that achieved cohesiveness so quickly, what if we didn't have the same chemistry with this other group?
I'm due to meet some of them in a few minutes for breakfast if that answers any questions.
I'll be sure to post again tonight with a more thoughtful reflection.
I'll also be starting a Flickr feed with the tag FWW0407 along with posting the screenwriters movie to Revver.
Monday, April 16, 2007
1 of 12
This past weekend was an interesting one.
My little sister Rachel was in town for her spring break. Always trying to be the cool big brother, I was able to get tickets to the Opening Night Gala for the Sarasota Film Festival. As parties, nay, events go in Sarasota, this one's a biggie.
One might imagine that, for a young lady of 17, the food, the people, the music, the fancy clothes would all be the memorable parts of the evening. Not so.
In fact, they were not the memorable parts of the evening for me either.
One unassuming man in a full tuxedo made the night.
His name is Edgar Mitchell. Sadly, it was not a name I knew before Friday night.
He is one of 12 men in the history of our planet to walk on the surface of the moon. 1 of 12!
For those of you familiar with film or photos of an astronaut throwing a javelin on the surface of the moon, that was Mitchell.
Now, here's the thing, the thing that really stuck - he gets it.
Listening to Mitchell speak to some VIPs at the party, I heard him mention the need to improve education in America. The mention of such a topic by anyone will catch my ear, much to my friends' chagrin.
When the VIPs moved on, I leaned in to Mitchell and said, "Do you mind if I ask you a question that doesn't have to do with the moon?"
"Not at all," he replied.
"I heard you say you thought more needed to be done with education. Can you explain that a little?"
Well, we were off. He gets it. He really does. Not often do I meet anyone outside of education who truly understands the need to change the way we do business. Mitchell did. "What we're doing, the way we're teaching these kids, it's criminal. And you know I'm right."
He is right.
Our time together was Swiss cheesy due to Mitchell's frequent calls to be interviewed or meet VIPs, but here's the short list of where we need to be looking:
- creativity
- problem solving
- throwing away the old model
- science
Let's hope it doesn't take the same kind of perspective to which Mitchell was privy before other outsiders start to see what's important in education.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Spring Break
The bell ringing at the end of the day today marked the beginning of our spring break. I've got travel plans as usual and will board a plane tomorrow afternoon to start a much-needed vacation.
Still, I'll miss my kids and my colleagues. I feel like I'm in a good place right now. As I last posted, that doesn't happen much this time of year. It's that golden quarter where you get to be a real teacher and not have to worry about whether or not what you're teaching is preparing your students for a standardized test.
In fact, the social action unit I started this past week is one I'm convinced is preparing my students for a more important test - when faced with a chance to act on a social issue about which they feel strongly, will they participate?
First period was interesting today.
A reporter came to speak with 6 of my kids who have been participating in a pilot young screenwriters program through the Sarasota Film Festival. Beginning in January, these students have shown up Tuesday and Thursdays after school and crafted their ideas in to real and true screenplays.
What's funny is the fact this group does not follow the traditional 20%/80% rule where 20% of your students account for 80% of your school organization membership. This is a cross of students with stories to tell.
Screenplays complete and the festival fast approaching, these students will soon be recognized for their work.
Today was a taste of that. They sat in my classroom and were asked questions about their creative process and whether or not they wanted to write another screenplay. The thing is - in the course of participating in this program - three of them have decided to write books. One of them has decided he would like to produce his screenplay as well as star in it.
It's a connection that could not have been made in a traditional test-prep classroom. No 5-paragraph essay would fit these students' visions. They worked without complaint, some taking their journals home to sculpt their ideas on their own time.
This is the spirit of learning I hope to foster and cultivate in all of my students in the Golden Quarter. I feel we're well on our way.
Any week where you get to begin to explain communism to 8th graders, examine the meaning, causes and effects of bigotry, and hear students point out the much stronger case for non-violent vs. violent social action, it's a good week to be a teacher.
More later.
Still, I'll miss my kids and my colleagues. I feel like I'm in a good place right now. As I last posted, that doesn't happen much this time of year. It's that golden quarter where you get to be a real teacher and not have to worry about whether or not what you're teaching is preparing your students for a standardized test.
In fact, the social action unit I started this past week is one I'm convinced is preparing my students for a more important test - when faced with a chance to act on a social issue about which they feel strongly, will they participate?
First period was interesting today.
A reporter came to speak with 6 of my kids who have been participating in a pilot young screenwriters program through the Sarasota Film Festival. Beginning in January, these students have shown up Tuesday and Thursdays after school and crafted their ideas in to real and true screenplays.
What's funny is the fact this group does not follow the traditional 20%/80% rule where 20% of your students account for 80% of your school organization membership. This is a cross of students with stories to tell.
Screenplays complete and the festival fast approaching, these students will soon be recognized for their work.
Today was a taste of that. They sat in my classroom and were asked questions about their creative process and whether or not they wanted to write another screenplay. The thing is - in the course of participating in this program - three of them have decided to write books. One of them has decided he would like to produce his screenplay as well as star in it.
It's a connection that could not have been made in a traditional test-prep classroom. No 5-paragraph essay would fit these students' visions. They worked without complaint, some taking their journals home to sculpt their ideas on their own time.
This is the spirit of learning I hope to foster and cultivate in all of my students in the Golden Quarter. I feel we're well on our way.
Any week where you get to begin to explain communism to 8th graders, examine the meaning, causes and effects of bigotry, and hear students point out the much stronger case for non-violent vs. violent social action, it's a good week to be a teacher.
More later.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
It's about ideas
Boy, have I been reading lately. There's so much going on out there that I can't seem to focus any kind of critical thinking for too long. I suppose this is an attempt to get some focused thought out on what's been bumping around my brain for the past few weeks.
First, Miguel Guhlin posted an interesting thought on the job of education and the type of product we tend to manufacture. I use those words because it seems as though that is the way the thinking is turning. Many posts I've read as of late are concerned with the outputs of education - as we all should be.
Before getting to Guhlin, David Warlick commented briefly on NCLB, and had this to say:
The roots of many of my students' problems with education can be found not in inability to do work but in unwillingness to play the game.
I was luck when growing up to have teachers in a small rural school who could press against the rules in order to find ways to educate that met students' wants, needs and (I hesitate to suggest a link between education and this last one) passions. My English teachers knew what they were talking about and made their classes maleable for those of us who had an interest in words and their role in shaping society.
Equally available to me, but something I chose not to avail myself of was a top-notch agri-science program. I could be certain that the students in my English class who did not find the same artful beauty in the words we read would be enriched by...whatever it was that happened in the ag classes. Because each of us had a place where we could do the learning that interested us most, we were more willing to do the learning that interested us least.
Without any outlet, I would be extremely weary of letting anything in. My students have, by and large, lacked an outlet.
While my class may not be the outlet of choice, I'm working to do all I can to help them align themselves with whatever they need to unstop their creative impulses.
This isn't an argument of tools; it is an argument of ideas. I don't think a blog, wiki, podcast or laptop is required for a student to find the best opportunity for developing passion. It is about ideas. I remember when those were things we were encouraged to have and investigate.
More later.
First, Miguel Guhlin posted an interesting thought on the job of education and the type of product we tend to manufacture. I use those words because it seems as though that is the way the thinking is turning. Many posts I've read as of late are concerned with the outputs of education - as we all should be.
Before getting to Guhlin, David Warlick commented briefly on NCLB, and had this to say:
...I believe that No Child Left Behind has done far more harm to education in the U.S. than good. It is an industrial age solution to an information age problem. But NCLB is correct in that schools, teachers, and students must be accountable to their communities.Warlick's is a thought I'm running into more and more frequently. It fits nicely with Guhlin's post:
To teach real life problem-solving in schools would result in children becoming aware that their work in school lacks authenticity, only brainwashes them to trust authority without question, make them dependent on consolidated, controlled media sources that filter the news, even censor it if you believe some alternative sources to protect the ruling elite, and serve as the lower caste of people who must do the menial jobs. The creative class of people--those who populate our private and charter schools--also are indoctrinated in specific dogmas and ideologies, allowed freedom on a rope only after, like baby elephants whipped since childhood, restricted by a heavy chain, achieve freedom of movement, but not of mind.Decidedly, Phoenix is part of the former system. This is not say I haven't any experience in the latter. Being able to recognize both models and identify their products leads to a better understanding of the problem. It is a problem.
The roots of many of my students' problems with education can be found not in inability to do work but in unwillingness to play the game.
I was luck when growing up to have teachers in a small rural school who could press against the rules in order to find ways to educate that met students' wants, needs and (I hesitate to suggest a link between education and this last one) passions. My English teachers knew what they were talking about and made their classes maleable for those of us who had an interest in words and their role in shaping society.
Equally available to me, but something I chose not to avail myself of was a top-notch agri-science program. I could be certain that the students in my English class who did not find the same artful beauty in the words we read would be enriched by...whatever it was that happened in the ag classes. Because each of us had a place where we could do the learning that interested us most, we were more willing to do the learning that interested us least.
Without any outlet, I would be extremely weary of letting anything in. My students have, by and large, lacked an outlet.
While my class may not be the outlet of choice, I'm working to do all I can to help them align themselves with whatever they need to unstop their creative impulses.
This isn't an argument of tools; it is an argument of ideas. I don't think a blog, wiki, podcast or laptop is required for a student to find the best opportunity for developing passion. It is about ideas. I remember when those were things we were encouraged to have and investigate.
More later.
Hungry for morsels
After what I imagine to be one of the longest brainstorming session ever (he created the thing last Fall) Principal Cantees has made his first blog post. I even got a shout out. I've been on him for the last few weeks to post again and comment on the blogs of others. His worry is that he doesn't have anything to say, that he wants what he writes to be important.
Ironically, it's one of the problems I've seen over and over again with my beginning writers. They're so worried that their first drafts won't be Pulitzer-worthy that they never get anything on the page or screen.
Luckily, I think Principal Cantees is starting to come around to the idea that it's about the conversation that comes after the posting - the one that refines your thinking and makes you do more of it - that counts more than the original post.
I suppose we'll have to wait and see if post #2 is still months in the making.
More later.
Ironically, it's one of the problems I've seen over and over again with my beginning writers. They're so worried that their first drafts won't be Pulitzer-worthy that they never get anything on the page or screen.
Luckily, I think Principal Cantees is starting to come around to the idea that it's about the conversation that comes after the posting - the one that refines your thinking and makes you do more of it - that counts more than the original post.
I suppose we'll have to wait and see if post #2 is still months in the making.
More later.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Something to Mull Over
Classroom Distinctions - New York Times
A friend and fellow teacher sent me the above link to a Times op-ed piece on the relationship between movie teachers and real world teachers. Seems they are two different animals.
Tom Moore, the writer of the piece, is a teacher in the Bronx. He writes:
Films like “Freedom Writers” portray teachers more as missionaries than professionals, eager to give up their lives and comfort for the benefit of others, without need of compensation. Ms. Gruwell sacrifices money, time and even her marriage for her job.
Her behavior is not represented as obsessive or self-destructive, but driven — necessary, even. She is forced into making these sacrifices by the aggressive neglect of the school’s administrators, who won’t even let her take books from the bookroom. The film applauds Ms. Gruwell’s dedication, but also implies that she has no other choice. In order to be a good teacher, she has to be a hero.
It's difficult for me to read this piece objectively. I know Erin and the Freedom Writers. I have seen the effects of their work and the effects Gruwell's methods can have when implements in the classroom.
I smirked when reading, "Many of the students I’ve known won’t sit down unless they’re repeatedly asked to (maybe not even then), and they don’t listen just because the teacher is speaking; even 'good teachers' are occasionally drowned out by the din of 30 students simultaneously using language that would easily earn a movie an NC-17 rating."
These things are true in my own school, in every school I've ever scene since joining the profession.
Admitting Moore's understanding and knowledge of the subject, I disagree with his premise. Yes, educators need more support, trust and pay. We need hope too. While I do not expect my teaching to have the same effects or results as Gruwell's, I need movies like Freedom Writers, Blackboard Jungle, Stand and Deliver, etc. to remind me of what education has the possibility of becoming.
I've sat through enough parent-teacher conferences to know that is the true business to which we've dedicated our lives - realizing potential.
To succeed in a system where much of the old guard wishes to maintain the status quo and the new recruits are focused on keeping their heads above water, sacrifice is often the best way to accomplish what is most important - getting through.
Perhaps movies like Dangerous Minds are dangerous to the profession, planting false expectations in new teachers and a critical public. I acknowledge they could lead to an attitude of "see, a real teacher will forsake love and personal happiness to save the students she teaches."
When we reach the precipice of this mindset, though, the same key is necessary as I use when calming a hot-blooded student - perspective.
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