Talk About It

There are times that having vibrant student discussion can be like climbing a mountain. The overt questions are fairly forgiving, if not scalable for most learners. Conceptually there is little rigor, and kids often feel fairly safe responding. Why? Because being wrong is on a lack of knowledge, a gap in their learning.

But there comes a point where the climb becomes difficult- make that the proverbial snow line, or perhaps a little further up when you start to feel the work load increase. Often this is when students need to analyze information, evaluate it, and maybe even offer an explanation for their evaluation. The fear is no longer that you don't know information, but that you won't see the information the way your peers do.

This week we had a discussion session about explorers. I crafted four slides for my Activboard flipchart that one might feasibly see in a "Best Explorer Presentation." This was spun to the kids as "These are slides that were created last year, but have been touched up to make their look more presentable." In actuality they were the result a mental compilation of slides I have seen in PowerPoint presentations in my two years of teaching. I handed out the slides, reminding kids that we were going to only be looking at the Ideas/Content column on our rubric. We then examined slides one by one, scored them based on the rubric with NO half scores. Kids needed to look at the criteria and make an evaluation that they would explain to a peer (and potentially the whole group).

The result: Fantastic student discussion focused on characteristics of a good presentation. I pulled popsicle sticks for who would respond, telling what they chose and why. The next people to respond needed to state if they agreed or disagreed and why. Kids did a fantastic job being respectful of each other, but also pointing to specific things in the rubric and slides that helped them make their evaluation. Beyond that, they then were working on their presentations and had great success integrating elements of the Level 3 (at standard) and Level 4 (exceeding standard) presentation into their work. Hopefully this yields a great set of projects, and some great learning around comparing, contrasting, and evaluating!

Discuss Amongst Yourselves

One of the things I really want to do is get kids having a variety of discussions. Kids need to talk to each other, arguing their points of views at times. They aren't vessels to be filled with knowledge by me, as I'm certainly filled with a variety of faults of my own. Instead I want them to exercise far more abstract skills, like analysis, prediction, and evaluation. If you can take information and use it appropriately (leveraged if you will) for the purpose of your argument, then I am definitely doing my job.

A comment earlier mentioned how technology had largely been used for a test taking purpose. I have an Interactive Whiteboard. I could teach without it, but am fortunate to have it. One of the tools that come with my Activboard is an Activote. In short, it is a device that is shaped like an egg, and can transmit voting information to your IWB. You can use it to do an informal comprehension check. You can use it for more formal assessments. You can simply use it for opinions.

Last year in my first year, I was fortunate to observe in a few different classrooms. One in particular had been doing some novel study around the book "True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle." With that, she had a variety of opinion questions that students responded to. The whole group discussion was one of the more powerful things I've seen. Everyone participated in voting with each question. But the teacher then acted as moderator as kids debated responses, agreeing and disagreeing with each other. Kids were able to respectfully disagree with each other, pointing out ways that each other's arguments were flawed. It was a fantastic way to see kids interacting and learning together. There was incredible power in seeing kids talk together, and seeing a myriad of kids participating. I can't emphasize how useful the activote was in that discussion, as kids were inspired to act based on the results- seeing it as vindication (or a challenge) to/for their argument.

Poor Examples

One of the big things I found out this past year is that you need to provide multiple examples in your teaching. These examples need to adequately show what it is you are trying to teach. Examples certainly can be powerful and influential.

I say all of that because of an article I read in the NEA Go! (new teacher magazine). I have had it sitting on the kitchen counter for a while now, only flipping through it today as my coffee finished brewing. One of the articles was about Technology, and whether some of the "gadgets" were necessary in our current economic times. I certainly understand the question (Are expensive tech gadgets necessary?), and believe it should be asked in conjunction with the question, "how will it be used/integrated in (into) my practice?"

Where this particular article fails is in the examples it provides. Certainly a Smartboard/Activboard is an ineffective, and overpriced tool if you only use it to go around the Internet with your kindergartners. Instead, how about talking about the big book that is typed on your activeboard? Kids can then recite with you, they can search for words (or words with particular letters/sounds) and highlight them, or they can draw a picture in the margins to show what they visualize. What about shared writing where kids handwriting is turned from scribbles into print (yeah, it can do that).

There are a myriad of things you can do. I use mine to manipulate maps, play video prior to having kids to analyze text (and highlight/note in margins), create shared writing, demonstrate non-fiction reading strategies, and a variety of other things. Sure you can teach without technology, but I'm not sure that fully prepares students for the world they are going to be a part of.

Smartboards...Whiteboards...Chalkboards

Over on the Tempered Radical, there is a conversation around Interactive Whiteboards. The general gist of the Radical's argument is that IWB's are a fairly expensive waste of money, with this post being the case in point. He sums it up well in the latest post saying that you add technology to enhance the learning process, which should focus on kids working socially to address meaningful issues to them or show their expertise (largely pulling from issues of justice/fairness). In that regard, I couldn't agree more and have stated so (although far less succinctly here or in depth)

I've followed from the outside, not being a participant for a myriad of reasons. First is that my school district is equipped with Activboards (Smartboards, IWB's, what have you). My room didn't have one when I moved in, but they ensured that I had one prior to day one. Second is that my district is in a technologically savvy area, and the expectation is that technology is being used. We have a tech stipend around different tech tools that we can use to enhance instruction or professional collaboration. An example of that would be learning to use Microsoft's OneNote, which we use as our team meeting notebook and I used to track my reading conferences with students. Third, I just haven't gotten up the courage to post comments of late. There is a degree of self-consciousness that I've had around my practice, and I've been more comfortable processing independently (perhaps soon).

I agree with the idea that IWB's aren't essential to instruction but they can be helpful. In social studies, I've been able to have students manipulate maps, or draw on maps to illustrate understanding from a text. I've also scanned in different pages from texts or readings, and had students highlight important passages or sentences. Students have been able to illustrate how they've determined importance, and how it connects to main ideas. Instead of using butcher paper, or paper flipcharts, I can save those things and return to them later. We also use Activotes (voting device) to do informal assessments. Granted they are multiple choice, but they allow for you to check student understanding and return to them later if they need follow up. I've also seen teachers use activotes where kids are responding to text, and the discussion that follows allows for students to defend their position. While on exemplary teacher visits, I saw robust student-led discussion around books as students discussed their positions, and tried to counter the arguments of their peers. It was incredible and quite powerful. Do you need an Activboard for that? No. But it certainly can be useful.

Social Studies CBA

As we prepare to finish our MSP testing, my focus begins to turn towards the Social Studies CBA. A CBA is a Classroom Based Assessment, and is rooted in the standards. It allows students to use the skill based sections of the standards to address content of their choice. In our case we will be using the "You Decide" CBA, which should be really neat.

What is You Decide? Essentially kids will be selecting an issue, with some teacher direction, and creating a presentation of some sort about the issue, different points of view, and possible outcomes they would propose. An example would be: Public Spaces/Parks. A student could say that more space is needed for public parks. Society at large has a vested interest in ensuring that empty land is developed into parks so that people can enjoy the outdoors and live a healthy lifestyle in their community. Those opposed might be real estate developers who want to create a retail space for a small/large businesses. In the end, the students will research the issue, form an opinion, and then create some sort of formal presentation (poster board, poster, powerpoint, Photostory, essay, etc). Essay or Powerpoint seem the easiest and most likely, but I am sure a few will opt for the more complex method.

My approach? Well I've found myself inspired by Dan Meyer and his math teaching. In particular, I've been struck by the idea of using multimedia to help kids generate their own ideas and questions. We'll use the example above, and I'll show a picture of an open space near Marymoor Park. The start will be, what do you see in this picture? The question I have in mind to bridge the gap between usage and observation is, How do you feel about this land? I have an inkling that from those feelings will come something like "I think it should be ______," which is precisely where I want them to go (without me telling them to).

Since we have Activboards, and I have a digital camera, I can also bring over some pictures of a park and a mixed-use shopping facility. They can be dragged in to fit with the image, likely evoking a mixture of emotions, which (again) is exactly what I am looking for. The point is that issues have multiple points of view with a variety of stakeholders, and all ideas must be weighed (a concept we have talked about).

I think it will be really successful, and largely student-driven. I'm excited to get started on it.

Professional development and technology

I'm fortunate to be working in a district that values professional development, collaboration, and technology. Mesh those together and you have half of today's non-student day. Our learning centered around OneNote from Microsoft, essentially a digital version of a binder with assorted tabs. Using OneNote will hopefully allow for more transparency in collaboration, keep people engaged when they aren't able to meet in person, and increase productivity. How? Ideally your team would meet, talk about students and goals, and establish a to-do list for what you are going to implement in your classroom. From there you can revisit those goals and to-do's, and see where your team is with respect to meeting them. That is the ideal of course, and I'll be interested to see how that works out over the course of this year.

I also stumbled across this post on This Week In Education. It started me thinking about a statistic that I heard at today's training: if you were to use your Activeboard (or SmartBoard) during 70-80% of your instruction, and couple that with good pedagogy and best practices, then you'll increase student achievement. I forget how much, but I was more than a little surprised (and I'd also like to see who funded the study, always important). The statistic came from Marzano, so I'll try to find it.

On one hand I was excited. I have a ton of tech resources at my disposal such as computers, an activeboard, digital cameras, hi-speed internet access, a document camera, video cameras and my laptop. I need to find ways to better integrate technology into my teaching, and ensure that I am NOT letting the tech be the focus (Note: I use it daily, but not as efficiently as I could... lately using the activeboard to have kids highlight main ideas in texts was fantastic). But what I wonder is how much tech exposure kids need to have in order for technology to really have an impact? Would those schools with less technology, such as my student teaching site in Seattle, have the same result? Or would the lack of tech exposure (and the newness of it) circumvent those gains? Maybe it would simply slow the statistical benefit. All very interesting.

Chunky Chunky Chunky

Everything feels chunky right now. My instruction doesn't seem to have much flow to it, and the content seems to be blocked out instead of fluid and integrated. Compounding the issue is having two different curricular materials to utilize from two different curricular areas. I am using a social studies text as well as a reading text (basal reader), not to mention my plan to integrate some realistic fiction and primary sources. As a whole, that leaves me with a big mess to make sense of.

Where am I at? Well I am finishing an initial social studies unit on geography (maps, landforms, nonfiction features). After this I will use the reading text for some reading comprehension strategies, with the first "theme" (re: story and accompanying supplements) is Nature's Fury. The story is earthquakes, and we'll be able to look at where these events happen (I think later themes, stories involve volcanoes and tornadoes). They don't flow effortlessly, and I have been unable to really use both texts simultaneously (perhaps a social studies center as well as running reading centers, that sort of thing).

I need to figure it out, and soon. We have curriculum night on Thursday. I'm excited to talk about what we are doing, and what we will be doing. In the broader context, we'll be learning about early American settlements, the American Revolution, and American Government. What the sequence is, and how the reading comprehension is integrated (and when) is a little up in the air right now.... but at least my projector and Activeboard are now wall/ceiling mounted!

Meet Gort

Before school started I had all sorts of trouble trying to get my room setup. Each "classroom" has an activeboard, a projector, and a whiteboard. Mine, being a shared space, was not technically a classroom. We had converted a space that was mutually used by the 4th and 5th grades into a classroom in order to lower class size in the 5th grade. Since it was a conversion room, it didn't have all of those amenities.

After searching around, we moved the activeboard from another shared space into mine. We then located the computer that hooks into it, as well as the projector. Being the techno-geek that I am, and having a father that was in IT, I figured "no problem," I'll have this setup in no time.

One minor issue... I couldn't get power to the board. So I searched around, I had power to everything BUT the activeboard. No juice. So I called the helpdesk on my newly setup phone (setup in that it was attached to the outlet, not that I had voicemail etc). They give me direction, and tell me I need to get it hooked into the network, as well as attach a power cable to my I/O port where the activeboard and the computer meet....

I did that, I was moving right along... until I met Gort. Who is Gort? I'm still not sure. But I called the helpdesk, I was cursing inside as well, and I say "well... I've met Gort, and I feel like I should.." and I hear a giggle. If you've met Gort you aren't on the network, and you need a IT support person to come out... At the time it was funny in the most frustrating of ways. Now it is just funny. My computer's name is Gort, a techie person's inside joke. Apparently I'm not techie enough.

Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck

My space finally looks like home. I have a Welcome sign that I made out of construction paper. I have a number line up on the wall. I've also got a map of the US and a map of the world up on the wall. The walls have some character, and the remainder of the wall space (and there is quite a bit) will be filled by student work.

My activeboard is up and running too. All in all, things are coming along. Tomorrow is my day to get a schedule together, actually committing some of the items I've got in scattered note pages into a matrix/table. It is coming along.

Wrapping my brain around it

I'm five days away from day one with kiddos. We had our Meet and Greet today, and it was great to finally see some kiddos, and get a chance to interact with them and their families. Since I am working with two other teachers, and we are teaming together, I got a chance to see many of the families on our team. It was fantastic, and made me really excited to get started. Additionally, the experience brought home who I am doing all of this for: the kiddos!

Now the room isn't complete yet. I feel like it feels a bit empty. I have cleaned out the excess furniture, and have desks that are in table groupings. I have books on shelves, and have my teacher library setup (which makes it look far more professional, and a little less empty). Beyond that I don't have much. No sayings, no posters, not much of anything. I need to think a bit about that, and think about what I want to put up that is intentional while also adding my own spin. I want to help create a culture of learning and high expectations, while also bringing out some of my personality (for example I've thought of bringing in my race numbers from the Boston, NYC, and Chicago marathons as I'm very proud of them and they are a significant achievement).

Even more, I need to get my first week put together. Thankfully the new teacher program has a checklist of things to think about pre-1st day... things like bathroom pass, homework recording system et al. They are little things that help keep things organized, and give you a heads up before you get there and are in the midst. Alas...

Last note... got my activeboard setup, at least partially. When I was nearly all the way done, which it isn't, I came to the windows login. It was the user "Gort" which blew me away... Who is Gort?! And why can't I login? They'll be in, it'll be fixed. Bring it on.

More Than Just Keyboards

Today was the start of technology training. Two sessions, one to get familiar with policies and the second to get familiar with navigating the staff portal etc. The days of just using a computer and a projector are effectively over (at least for me). My student teaching featured a presentation computer attached to a document camera and projector. Together I was able to beam images, show copies like the old school ditto machine (transparency and all). That was effective for me, and it was a healthy amount of technology, but certainly not overly abundant.

Well, technology should be fully integrated this year. First off is having a whiteboard with an Activeboard on top if it... right in the middle. The expectation is that you will use the activeboard, make flip charts, and use it as a way to engage your kids. For example you can do the instruction you would do with a whiteboard, but you can then have kids writing onto the activeboard- and save it! Plus you can add in small checks for understanding that give you more information to assess where your teaching is (did I teach that concept effectively? do I need to spend a little more time with that concept or idea?). Additionally you still have your projector and document camera.

There were tons of other things learned today, not just how to use activeboards and create flip charts. The question I circle back to is: how am I going to teach what I want to teach AND integrate technology into it? That will be unsettled until I learn my grade and school. Much to look forward to.