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I had an interesting conversation with our pre-service teacher this morning concerning a make up quiz she had given to her chemistry class. In short, the learner used “ammonia” for her answer to the prompt “NH₃.” In chemistry, this is perfectly acceptable as “ammonia” is used regularly, even though it is a common term for a substance. It is widely recognized and the learner demonstrated her knowledge.

The teacher was not planning on giving credit for the answer because it “was a lucky guess.” I asked this teacher if she gave instructions not to use common names or other synonyms, and she said no. This, of course, led to a discussion about what we’re really trying to assess in classes.

Are we asking kids to take in and repeat a specific response? Or are we asking kids to demonstrate their knowledge? If we are pushing for freedom in learning, there should there be freedom in demonstration. Changes in a system cannot be isolated from one another. We cannot expect kids to think freely and creatively when learning the content and then try to stifle the creativity or independent thinking when it comes to assessment.

I don’t know if she’ll take my advice or even think about what I was trying to get across. Everything we do sends a message to learners, parents, and other teachers. Think about the message you are sending in everything you do and continue to work hard for a better system.

I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy. I think to be a teacher, you have to be. If I didn’t have the ability to look on the bright side, I wouldn’t want to go back the next day. Part of that is because of the stories I see and hear each day. Some of my kids go through heartbreak and deal with bigger issues than I’ve ever had to. I do my best each day to give wisdom and good advice and I try to encourage and build as much as I can. Another reason to be optimistic is to combat the fear of failure. And I fail. A lot. But, I recognize that I fail a lot because I try new things. A lot.

I’m always looking for new ways to do things in my classes. I’m never satisfied with what we were able to do…I want something to go more smoothly, to wrap up nice and neat. But, whenever you’re working with other people, especially young people, perfection rarely happens. In fact, I’m not sure I think it should ever happen. There should always be a loose end that drives learners to want to know more than what you gave a taste of. We are, after all, trying to spark curiosity and a desire to learn more.

When we hear about new ways to do things, we tend to look at barriers. It’s in our nature. What can go wrong? How can we avoid failure? How can we prevent x or y from happening? That’s good planning and it is good to exercise prudence. But, when you’re at the front of any group, physically or metaphorically, there is risk involved. We may be planners, but we’re not prophets…we cannot see the outcomes of our risks. We can only effect change as much as we’re willing to put into taking a risk.

Is risk inherent in the changes we’re trying to make? For example, is a change in methodology or practice risky because of the pedagogical change? In some cases, yes. I am not going to start letting my chemistry learners play with flame and gas to learn about the rapid expansion of hot gases. There is inherent risk in that change because of burns, property damage, etc.

What kinds of changes are we afraid to make because of the change in school culture that would be required? It is risky enough to change a small piece and the risk factor increases as it begins to challenge the culture more directly. You will be an outlier, but that is the risk that is appropriate when trying to change an established system.

Schools are cultural hubs and to change education, we need to change the culture of schools. Every day, we bring in millions of young people that will be changing the world before we know it. Are we teaching and demonstrating willingness to take risks? Are we embracing and learning from those risks? Far too often, we are discouraging and even punishing risky learning behavior.

I am not a master of risk-taking. I probably won’t ever go skydiving or learn to wrangle alligators. But, I am willing to dive in and try new things. Sometimes, the experiments and changes are a spectacular failure. Other times, they are spectacular successes. Either way, we learn together from the outcomes. But it takes a willingness to accept either outcome.

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This post stems partially from meeting Stephen Harris, principal of the Sydney Center for Innovation in Learning in Sydney, Australia. Also, from following the Anastasis Academy in Lone Tree, CO, outside of Denver. Both of these schools pushed for change in the face of great failure and have become two of the best examples of learning done right. Thank you.

A few weeks ago, I came to Twitter lamenting the abysmal grades from a quiz I had given. You’d think I had learned my lesson at that point…well, I didn’t. I gave another quiz today and I didn’t even finish grading the stack of papers. That got me thinking about what I’m really running into problems with.

Having spent significant time overseas, I feel like I have a better appreciation of culture now that I’m back in the United States. I also see the American school culture through a new lens. I am convinced American schools have not only trained kids not to think, but also to resist thinking as much as they can by the time they graduate. I would even go so far as to label it as one of the greatest failures of this nation. Our schools are not set up [allowed] to foster true independent thought. I am having such a hard time teaching this year because I am asking every one of my learners to un-learn the previous eight to ten years of their lives. That’s a lot of un-learning that needs to happen.

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I had a discussion with my Honors Biology classes today. Many of them are frustrated because they continue to struggle in the course. To be fair, I do ask a lot of my honors classes. But, these are also highly-motivated learners that need to be pushed. Many of my learners feel that my quizzes are unfair because they don’t look like what we studied or the worksheet we did in class to start learning the content.

This is question two from the quiz I gave today:

There are several organelles that are involved in the packaging and movement of proteins through the cell. Name two or three and defend your choices.

Again, my ultimate goal is to turn these learners into independent thinkers.

* * *

I read a post during lunch today by Becky Bair called Baby Steps: Growing Self-Directed Learners, and I am very grateful for whoever tweeted it out. It spoke to my problems and frustration and I was reminded that I am not the only one facing this fight right now.

Culture is partially defined by the “scholarly ambitions” of a group of people. Right now, the American culture of education is not in a good place. There is a cultural battle over a variety of changes and interests. We must remember that amidst all of the debates and policies, we spend every day with the most important part of a school: the learners.

Our responsibility is not to the test. It isn’t to the principal, the superintendent, or even Congress. Our responsibility is to the learners that come through our doors and to the communities we work in. Our responsibility is to change the culture from one of making the grade to one that centers on creativity, innovation, and novelty.

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This is my 75th post and I want to sincerely thank each member of my PLN for the encouragement and advice you have shared with me. I can truly say that if I wasn’t connected to such an amazing group of educators and advocates of education, I wouldn’t be the teacher I am. I feel blessed to be a part of a culture of change in the schools.

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending EdCamp: Grand Rapids hosted by the extraordinary Ron Houtman. About 100 educators from all over Michigan (and a couple from Indiana) came together to talk about current education practice, major shifts in policy, and pretty much anything else under the sun.

At the conference I had the chance to listen to Ira Socol lead a discussion on his views of technology in schools today. While Ira and I don’t agree very much on some ideas about technology, we both agree that technology should not be implemented in blanket fashion across the board.

I tweeted this during the session:

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/bennettscience/status/132804061748662273″]

I rarely include my own tweets in my blog posts, but I’ve really been thinking about this a lot since Saturday.

Ira is 100% correct in the fact that schools should not be spending thousands of dollars on blanket technology integration plans if there is no meaningful technology training plan that comes with it. School leaders are investing in technology to save their schools rather than investing in a competent, professional, highly-supported and highly-trained staff to implement the use technology effectively. I think the most egregious example of this is the rise [and fall] of interactive white boards. With tablet availability and handheld power in each of our learner’s hands, what is happening with these boards that are supposed to revolutionize our teaching? Nothing. They hang on the wall as the world’s most expensive piece of whitespace.

The problem isn’t with the technology. Technology is a thing…it can’t help or save a school. For that matter, it can’t make a school fail. What it can do is give teachers a chance to do something better than they used to. But, in order for that to happen, the leaders in our school systems have to recognize that meaningful and innovative use of technology only comes with the proper professional development and investment in staff learning resources.

I am not the first person to write about this, nor will I be the last. But, as we move into a more technological society and a more polarized society over education, we as teachers and administrators must recognize that an investment in technology only has supplemental value. The innovation that technology is so often heralded for for is already in the building, waiting for its investment.

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You can read more of Ira’s thoughts and research on his blog, SpeEd Change

I spent some time this afternoon updating my grade book. Like most of us, grading is my least favorite part of teaching and I have a nasty habit of putting it off for longer than I should. I end up having marathon grading stints after school and it usually seems to coincide with other things I would rather be doing.

Anyways, I was putting grades into the book and I began thinking about what I’m going to call “count down” grading and “count up” grading. Very technical.

Currently, my grading is quasi-standards based, where learners are rated on a one to four scale for each learning objective based on an evaluation of some sort. Each person starts with a zero, for no experience, and can progress at any time to a four, which is a class expert. If they are at a level four, they know that they can be called upon to tutor small groups and teach others. It works really well and I have reliable people to help foster collaboration in the class. Learners have told me that it is encouraging to work this way because they can see their learning increasing through the chapter (or quarter, etc) as they gain new skills. This is “count up.”

That all sounds great, but the grade book can cause some concerns for people that aren’t familiar with the system. Until the learner attempts the concept, they are a zero. As a zero, they are not being punished for incompletion or missing work. It is simply a place holder until something is put in there. It helps them keep track of where they are and what they need to be working on. At times, though, there are mild panic attacks because of the number that is associated with their names.

I began thinking about some other books I’ve seen, where learners all begin with full credit (the proverbial “clean sheet”) and are then whittled down over time through testing, homework, or whatever other assignments are put in. I haven’t used a system like this, but I have known teachers that make sure everyone starts at 100% and then works down by artificially setting the grades at the start of each new quarter. This is “count down” grading.

I know this narrative is painfully biased, but I think it is an important questions for practicing teachers to ask themselves (constant evaluation and adaptation) as well as for teachers in training to ponder before they hit the class. Are you using grades to show the learning process? Or are grades simply an average of scores through the year?

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On a side note, I would abolish grades if I could, but that’s not the system we live in. Until that day comes, I’ll do the best I can.

I went to Kentucky this weekend to visit my parents. It was a great weekend and I’m glad I was able to spend some time away from thinking about teaching or grading. We all need refreshers…make sure you take them periodically.

When I returned home Sunday afternoon, I had a stack of exams waiting to be graded. We have just finished a chapter on biomolecules (proteins, carbs, lipids, etc) and I gave a test to check their understanding. Typically, I give a few multiple choice as a quick check over some basic content, but the rest of the test is written, applied knowledge that asks for reasoning and defense. The questions are open-ended and allow for varied responses based on their interests and personal growth.

These tests had more blanks in responses that I have ever seen. Needless to say, I was pretty frustrated with the results. I finished the grading, threw the number at the top of the page, and put them away. Where had I gone wrong? They got it in class when we played games or discussed…why the disconnect?

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Fast forward to Monday morning. I saw this tweet from Stacy Roshan when I got to school:

"Education system is not designed to cultivate our natural talents" via @SirKenRobinson keynote

—Stacey Roshan (@buddyxo) October 31, 2011

I love the RSA Animate video of Sir Ken Robinson’s talk. I watched it earlier this year, but I went back and watched it again. My problem is that I’m continuing to teach and assess in linear fashions. I have missed the inherent genetics of learning.

Learning is not linear. Learning is not prescribed. Learning cannot be pigeonholed into separate chunks of discrete knowledge that are measured by tests alone.

Learning is dirty. Learning is exciting. Learning should be personalized, varied, and integrated.

The greatest struggle I have is changing my own teaching paradigm, not getting kids to write on a test. I try to challenge myself to think outside of my box of training, but I still struggle to actually work outside the box. We are doing a disservice to learners by continuing to test and use those scores as gauges of their learning. My kids didn’t fill out my test because it was boring…it didn’t ask for relevance and it certainly didn’t give any chance for creativity.

Do they get a free pass on this one? No. I need to correct my mistakes, but learners also need to recognize the fact that leaving a blank does not help the situation. We’ll spend some time remediating and then move forward.

So, how do we reconcile the dichotomy? I have no idea. I am still responsible for preparing them for the state exam in May…but, I am not going to worry so much about the single exams. It is a struggle and it is the reality of education today. But if we give up and give in, then we’re not helping anybody in the long run.

I wasn’t planning on writing this afternoon, but I saw a post on Twitter from Steven Anderson,

and it really got me thinking. What is innovation? I can see what Steven is getting at. What happens when everyone is innovating…is that not innovation anymore?

I thought for a minute and sent back this reply,

As I teach longer, I keep finding that I think the best practices in the classroom are not necessarily putting the class agenda on the whiteboard or using a word wall to help teach vocabulary or literacy. Those are things…they aren’t at the root of doing what I do. When it comes down to it, I think best practices are really a combination of how we think about teaching and what that thinking causes us to do.

I can dream all day long about how I can innovate in my room…I do that every day. I think that is part of the Achilles heel of technology. There is always something new that we want to try, but we have to have the tech to make it happen. Would I turn down a class set of iPads? No way. But is not having them going to stop me from trying new things? Absolutely not.

Innovation isn’t always thinking about new ways to do things. We aren’t in the business of thinking…we’re in the business of doing. And that includes failure. I am an innovator because I am willing to try those crazy ideas. I may never use them again and I may not change the world with it, but that doesn’t make me any less of an innovator. It’s all in your mind.

The flipped class has been coming up more and more in discussions and blog posts recently. My guess is that it has something to do with Salman Khan’s lucrative relationship with Bill Gates and the media’s attention on their speaking tours. I feel like a broken record with this post, but it is something that needs to be written again.

The flipped class is not about the videos.

Popular media sees the flipped classroom as video being used in the classroom to teach children. I would like to state again that video can be used in the classroom to help differentiate for all learners. The flipped classroom started this way, but it has evolved into so much more than using videos in the class when implemented effectively.

Video itself will not help kids achieve more in your class. The flipped classroom is about making connections with learners and differentiating your instruction. If videos are a part of that multi-faceted plan, great. If they are not, still great. The flipped class is an ideology, not a methodology.

Personally, I use video because it is a tool that helps me meet remediation needs for learners that have missed class or for learners that just need more time with material. For chemistry, I am in my second year using a flipped class, and the video has taken a huge jump to the backseat as I have more time to work on engaging class activities and labs. Again, video is for remediation and review rather than content delivery.

There has been more positive news coming around about the flipped class being used in great ways across the country. For instance, Troy Cockrum was featured in an NPR article that looked at YouTube being used in the classroom. I’m glad Troy brought it around to the connections made with learners, because that is the true power of the model. Another talks about everything except the videos, again, because they are the least important part of the model. Earlier this month, Aaron Sams wrote a fantastic piece of theimplementation styles of a flipped class. Again, none of these methods rely solely on video or even use video at all. It is an idea, not a method.

The video isn’t important. The relationships, the discussions, and the experiences matter. We know that already. Regardless of what methods or ideas you use in your room, let’s continue to focus on what helps learners learn best.

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This is mainly in response to the #edchat discussion on October 11, 2011 and David Wees’ blog post about using Khan Academy as content delivery in his class. Both the chat and David are great and I appreciate the challenges and direction they’ve both contributed to my growth.

First quarter drew to a close this past Friday. I, along with the rest of the school, have been frantically working to find missing assignments, compile grades, and try to provide meaningful feedback with the pre-determined statements given to us. Such fun.

I’ve been reflecting a lot over how the quarter has gone and I must admit, I have mixed feelings. I feel like there have been some successes to celebrate, but there are still some glaring holes (glaring to me, at least) that need to be filled in.

Foremost, I am not happy with my grading policy. It worked well for me last year, but this year it is far from adequate. As I looked through my grade book, I was not happy with the number of routine assignments that found there way in as the quarter progressed. To be quite honest, I’m disappointed with my lack of diligence in grading only the meaningful assignments. This has led to inflated grades for the learners playing the school game, and deflated grades for the kids that are trying hard (in many cases) but falling short of the “standard.” I need to redefine the standard. To rectify and move forward, I’m going to:

1. Focus on assessing skill-based, multi-faceted work that truly displays their understanding.
2. Using varied assessments to check learner growth.
3. Providing meaningful feedback on everything and anything that affects their grade.

As I was walking back to my classroom this afternoon, I passed a couple of learners in the hall talking about their grades. I don’t have either of these individuals in my class, nor do I know what class they were discussing, but that is beside the point.

What stuck in my head is when the girl said, “I’m afraid to look at my grade…I don’t even want to know.”

I began to wonder if kids talk about my class that way. How am I using grades? Are they punitive and discouraging, or is it a report of current progress in the class? I would hope that it is the latter, but I’m not sure.

Something to chew on.

As some of my followers noticed near the end of last week, I had a moment of weakness after my toughest class. I’ve been very frustrated with having to micromanage their learning using a flipped model, and it really has made me think hard. Long story short, I’m not giving up on a flipped class or a standards-based model, but I do need to make some major adjustments.

Scott MacClintic was great enough to take some of his afternoon to talk with me directly, and he strongly suggested that I read Daniel Pink’s Drive as it has to do with motivation in a variety of settings.

I bought the book that night.

I’m only about 1/3 of the way through right now, but I’ve learned some very important lessons already.

1. I use too many “carrots and sticks” with my learners. I ask for creative, insightful work, but then I slap a grade on it, taking away all meaning of the work they’re doing. I’m trying to use bits and pieces from two conflicting worlds. No wonder I’ve been having problems.
2. Grades and extra credit cannot be used to push learners forward. I find myself defaulting to the “you’re being graded on this” line to “motivate” my kids to do the work they’re supposed to be doing at the moment. Again, external pushing does not lead to higher thinking from learners. If they don’t see the value in it, why am I pushing it?
3. Resist the urge to tighten my grip. I need to stop micromanaging the class and learn to co-manage with the learners. I want them to be self-directed, but I’m giving fewer and fewer opportunities rather than more and more. Learning from mistakes is important, but I need to give them chances to make mistakes in the first place.

I’m sure this will be sparking more posts in the future.

I’ve been struggling to find time to write recently. This has been a good and a bad thing. For one, I’m busy with learners during the day and I’m spending more time planning new activities and recording new and updated podcasts. I’m also doing multiple presentations this month and next, so I’ve been working on planning for those as well.

But, on the other hand, my head is about as full as it can get. I haven’t had much time to process any one thought from the past week, so I figured I would do a “systems purge” or sorts to start some thoughts and see where they go this week.

1. I’ve felt convicted about grading lately, and it usually comes around when I open my grade book to put more marks in. I really need to take some time to sit down and think through my philosophy of grading, because I think I am most unhappy about that right now. I don’t think the grades are representative of learner progress, and that is a major problem. I’m reading a lot of Frank Noschese’s writing on standards based grading as well as Audrey McLaren‘s writing on using Google Docs as checklists and tracking of learner progress. I want to use both bad, but I can’t find the time to do my own learning.

2. The fall conference season is upon us and I have one of the busiest schedules I’ve ever had. I’m travelling to the Indiana Computer Educators Conference in Indianapolis next week to do a Flipped Classroom workshop with Troy Cockrum and Brett Clark. This will be my first “panel” presentation and I’m looking forward to the new dynamic.

Then, on October 26th, I’m doing an in-service session for new teachers in the district on some of the Flipped Classroom basics each of us can use to move toward a more engaging class.

Thirdly, I’m going to EdCamp: Grand Rapids, and to be totally honest, I’m more excited about that one than any of the other. I’ll get to work with Dan Spencer again and I’m excited because he’s always got good things to share.

Oh, then there’s the ISTE proposal I’m still mulling over. Can’t forget about that.

1. I wish I had more handheld devices in my room. Learners interact better with touch-interface now rather than computer interfaces. Still trying to figure out how to solve that problem.
2. I’ve started using Andy Schwen’s Google Documents assessment templates to collect data and I’m amazed at some of the numbers coming through. If you don’t click on any other links today, click this one…it will blow your mind.

I think that’s it. I have another post [STRIKEOUT:fermenting] ripening in my notebook and hopefully, I’ll be able to put that up this week as well.

Thanks for mishmashing with me today.

I borrowed an idea from John Spencer about using a photo writing prompt to get some creative juices flowing in learners. There is a Tumblr page that has a collection of writing prompts to help start that process. Tumblr is blocked, so I hopped on to compfight.com and searched the word “quiet.”

I got this image. I put it up, gave some brief instructions, and said “go.”

“Do we describe the picture?”

“No.”

“Should we explain it?”

“No.”

“I want you to look at it, settle your head, and then just write.”

“Can I write a poem?”

“Absolutely.”

I’m trying to show my freshman that the world is not “right” and “wrong.” There is no black and white. Each of them is a lens into the world and they need to 1) be given a chance to share that lens, and 2) know how to articulate what they are seeing.

Here are some excerpts:

I used to play in a park near my house; there was a huge (or at least it seemed huge) tree in the park with old wooden steps nailed to it, so I could climb it. I always ended up getting too scared; I would stop halfway up and come down.

I think the picture is kind of mysterious in a way, because it leaves people thinking and wondering about what it is supposed to mean or if it is even supposed to mean anything. Maybe it doesn’t have a meaning or a point. Maybe someone just wanted to take a picture.

Even though you are grown, everyone has their own place of peace, their own place to be still and quiet. This is the place they go to, to get away from the crazy lives we live and go back to those days of our childhood.

Who says you can’t teach writing in science?

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You can read more of the excerpts above by Laura, Dannie, and Erin.

Here is what I’m look at for the middle steps of The Ladder I’m trying to build up for my learners. You can read Part 1 here.

Obviously, before we begin these steps (3 and 4), we’ve given them the learning objectives for the chapter we’re moving to and they’ve taken some form of pre-assessment that will give learners the information they need to make informed decisions. This will also allow you to make sure they’re targeting the correct objectives for learning and not just taking shots in the dark.

In a straw poll, about half of my learners said they liked paper copies of materials, while the other half said they liked being able to do their work digitally. I’ll be keeping paper copies of these forms on hand if a learner needs one, and they’ll also be available for download to their computers or Google Docs if they want to go that route.

You can see the document here.

I have spaces for each of the standards they need to improve on and they systematically break down the content based on their needs.

In order to track each learner, they will be using a couple new forms. First, they’ll have to fill one out that mimics their weekly planning. I can keep a digital copy for quick recall each day if someone loses their paper, or if I need to get someone back on track with their learning. The second is a daily “What did I learn” form. They simply tell me what they learned…whether they did a lab, looked at some videos, ran a simulation…they need to articulate specifically what they worked on and how it applies to their learning plan.

As an added layer of tracking, I’ll also be initialing their work each week. So, it’ll take away the opportunity for excuses to be made for not progressing.

Again, this is all very fluid right now and I haven’t begun implementation yet. I’d appreciate comments and thoughts on this middle part as to how I could improve or tweak this to help learners progress through the content.

It’s been a week since I’ve written. That is both good and bad…I got a lot more work done this week, but now I have about 1000 ideas flying through my brain, and I have to organize some of them in order to keep functioning. This is my grandest idea out of all of them, and it will be a short series on how I think it will flesh out once I try it out.

First, some background: I’ve felt very convicted lately about what a true mastery class should look like. Right now, it is learner-centered in the sense that I am not standing up front and teaching everyone at the same time. But, I am still dictating the learning and the achievement by giving the assignments and expecting certain outcomes (ie 75% to move on). In Korea, this worked well, mainly because all of my learners were driven to do well in school. Here, in the US, I am having more of a battle with learners about their learning. I’ve come to grips with the fact that I cannot direct everyone’s learning.

But, I can help them direct their own. That’s what really spurred me to think this through a little more thoroughly. I’m calling it The Ladder.

Step 1 – Objectives. We still live in an objectives and standards-based world. I have certain topics I have to cover in my curriculum. My first step is to translate these standards into English for my learners and scaffold for them for each topic. This will be a generic form where they can see individual learning objectives that all connect back to a given state standard. This step is more for me and book keeping, but it is still good to expose the learners to standards and objectives.

Step 2 – Pre-Assessment. I am a bad pre-assessor. If I want to see changes in education that move toward measurable gains, I need to begin modeling that philosophy in my own teaching. This will simply be a multiple-choice Google Form that will give them a baseline score against the standards in the unit. I’ll be using Andy Schwen’s templates that he’s shared on his blog. Extremely powerful tools there. Again, this will be a baseline assessment to help the learner pinpoint what areas they need to focus on in their planning phase.

Step 3 – Improvement Plan. This is where the learner really begins to take control. Once they have the feedback from their pre-assessment, they can begin to craft (with guidance from me) their improvement plan to fill in the gaps. The goal here is for a personalized education for each learner that is focused on their own benchmarks and allowing for more freedom to incorporate their interests. They already have their own blog, so I’m also thinking a blog post hashing out their learning goals and strategies will help them think through the process a little bit more and add another layer of accountability.

Step 4 – Learning. This is the nitty gritty. Learners are focusing on the individual skills and benchmarks they have identified as learning goals. As long as they are hitting their objectives, it is up to them how they learn it. If they need a podcast, I am willing to help that way. If they want to find a simulation to walk through, I’m fine with that. I’d be even more fine with them finding someone that works in the field they are learning about and talking with them. This is the broadest step on the ladder and because they have the plan in place, should be the exciting part of the learning. Ultimately, I would like to learn along with them, rather than direct the learning.

Step 5 – Re-assessment. As the learner progresses through their material, re-assessment is paramount in making sure they are hitting each objective and that misconceptions are caught quickly and corrected. This is where the mastery component comes into play. Assessment, reassessment, and reassessment until the concept is well-developed and understood. I’m picturing this as a lot of conversations with me and their peers as they work to put the icing on the cake, so to speak.

Step 6 – Summative Presentation. Not necessarily a stand-up-front-and-talk presentation, but something where they demonstrate their skills. I already have tests written, so that could be one method of demonstration. They could also put a comprehensive unit (content created solely by the learner) to be used in the future. Again, I want the learner to play to their skills and show me what they have learned in one concise, comprehensive fashion.

I realize that this is an extremely ambitious plan. I’m not planning on using it for another 2-3 weeks so I can get the details and the forms put together. I would really appreciate comments and thoughts on the plan above and what you think could be done better or differently.

Update: You can read Part 2, “Planning and Implementation,” here.

This morning I’ve been reflecting on the last year of teaching and what growth I’ve had and what growth I still need to accomplish.

My first attempt at blogging was called Mastering Chemistry and I tried to reason out what it meant to build chemistry students. I wrote mainly about my classes and the blog was usually a space for me to post overflow from my head. But, I didn’t have any way to connect with other chemistry teachers to give thoughts or help. It was stagnant and one-dimensional and as a result, didn’t grow. I didn’t improve much from maintaining it and it fell into the blogging purgatory of marginal and sporadic use.

I realized that to become a better educator, I needed to find a way to continue my own growth. I needed to be a consistent learner. I would participate in monthly PD meetings (run fantastically by our wonderful and talented HR director) that would push me, but it was difficult to find follow-up time to get feedback on the skills we were trying to master in our fields.

Up until March, I had toyed around with joining Twitter to see what it was all about. I tried once or twice to sign up, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. On the third time around, I committed and joined the conversation. I met some fantastic people right away and I’m continuing to meet amazing educators doing innovative and inspiring work in their schools. More importantly, I went from being an educator to a learner, and I realized that the two must go hand in hand if we want to be the best we can in our schools.

I began blogging more and I built my PLN as fast as I could. I wanted to learn more so I could become a better educator. As I built my identity and learned more about myself, I was hesitant to “name” this space because I didn’t want to pigeon-hole it into one genre of writing like I had done with the first one.

Looking back, this space has really been integral in defining my identity. I am an educator. I am also a learner. The two are intertwined and growth comes from embracing both of those labels.

I hope to continue to lead my learners by example over the next six months and for the rest of my career.

Before I begin, I want you to know that this post began as one thought, turned into a second, and by the end, had gone through a third, fourth, and maybe a fifth…I’m not sure. I think I have it written well, but please forgive me if I don’t.

Most of you know that I practice in a flipped classroom and that an integral part of my class is that learners are given the opportunity to pace their own learning. Now, I do offer guidance and give them more freedom as the year progresses, but the basic idea is that Student A will not always be working on the same thing as Student B, which is fine. I think it is extremely important that learners be given the freedom to take more time when they need it and less when they don’t for any given topic.

I’m also okay with “busy” learning spaces. I like learners up and moving and I like discussion and collaboration. When you have a room full of freshman, the volume can get pretty high, but as long as they’re being productive and challenging one another, its music to my ears. Managing a busy class is tiring, but I’m in there, learning with them.

My blood pressure really begins to build when a learner makes a deliberate decision not to participate in their learning. To me, they are not only halting their own progress, but they are also hurting other learners in the room by omitting the contribution they have to make.

Is it my job to make the learner learn, or is it my job to help the learner want to learn? Unfortunately, I still feel a twinge of the former.

I am not an entertainer. I do not stand up and do a song and dance routine in an effort to keep learners engaged. Rather, I am focusing on providing dynamic learning experiences where each individual can be an integral part in someone else’s learning…not just their own. Just today, my biology classes were working on density. It was fantastic to see small groups collaborating and pulling from one another rather than diving to a computer to look up the “answer.” A snippet of conversation I heard:

_Student A: What’s a regular object?

Student B: I think it’s something you can measure.

Student A: Can’t we solve for volume? How do we calculate that?

Student C: It has something to do with area…I remember this from algebra last year.

Student B: Why are we doing this? This isn’t math…_

…and on it went. They eventually figured out, through discussion and without computers, that you can find volume of regular objects by finding the area of one face and then factoring in a third dimension…depth.

Without the cooperation and engagement of every individual, this conversation would probably have gone much differently. If Student A, B, or C hadn’t participated, would they have been successful in the task? I would like to think so. Would it have been okay for them to have failed at the task? Sure…that’s part of learning.

But, that story changes when one individual drags the group down because of a refusal to progress. It would have been much more difficult pulling from only two experiences. Student C led them down the right path and by working together, they were able to solve the problems and complete the task at hand.

Now, I could have stood up front and taught density. In doing so, I would have effectively removed the influence of those refusing to progress, but it would have been at the expense of true learning. That is not a compromise I am willing to make.

Our learning spaces should foster learning communities. We need to become parts of those learning communities by standing back and encouraging those outsiders to share what they know.

Angela Maiers TEDxDesMoines “You Matter” talk has exploded on Twitter and the internet in general. It is one of my favorite TED talks…ever. She focuses on showing every child that walks through our rooms that they have an important contribution to make and that we want to hear it. Their thoughts matter.

Building learning communities is a great way to help that quiet/shy/defiant/confused/whatever learner embrace the fact that they matter and will promote a culture of learning and collaboration. How can you change your class to incorporate this?

Failure is an option…but don’t forget about progress.

I missed the first half of the Republican debate last night due to a soccer game. I caught the second half, and was a little frustrated that Brian and John focused so much on the four popular candidates, but that’s neither here nor there.

What caught my attention was in the blogs after the debate was over. I saw this blurb as part of a larger article on EdWeek’s website:

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, said he doesn’t think that schools should have to educate the children of illegal immigrants.

This got me almost as upset as Newt Gingrich’s agenda to increase charter school allowances and broader choices in schools and Rick Perry’s massive budget cuts to education to help close the state budget deficits.

The precedent that would be set by teaching only certain, qualified children is staggering. America is built on opportunities, including opportunity to improve education, livelihood, and safety. I completely understand that there are other major issues with illegal immigration, but I can guarantee you that the solution is not to begin barring these children from our schools. We cannot begin to divide children into “haves” and “have-nots,” least of all along educational lines.

I am a taxpayer. I understand that my taxes pay for public services as well as my own paycheck. I also understand that my taxes are covering (in part) for those individuals that can’t (or don’t) pay taxes. I have students in my class that fall below the minimum tax bracket…yet, they have the opportunity to come to school. When we refuse to teach children of immigrants that don’t pay taxes, we should also refuse to teach children of Americans that don’t pay their taxes.

Both ideas are ludicrous.

When I signed up to teach, I didn’t do so with a caveat that said “I will teach children of parents that pay taxes.” I agreed to teach every child that walked into the school to the best of my ability, regardless of race, religion, economic, or immigration status.

If we are teaching these children, we have an opportunity to build the values of truth and lawfulness while they are young. We have an opportunity to teach them lessons that their parents may or may not be living out. We have an opportunity to be a very powerful, positive influence on their lives. Like it or not, immigrant children will be future leaders along with ours. Should we refuse to build them up?

Every child has the capacity to do something positive in the world. I, for one, will continue to serve every student with that hope in mind.

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As a sidebar, the article about Gov. Perry’s cuts in education was written by a high school student.

This past weekend my wife and I travelled up to South Bend, IN to spend the weekend with her family. Her youngest brother turned 16, and with both of his older siblings out of the house, we wanted to shake it up a little bit for such a large milestone in his life. My in-laws live out in the country on the west side of the city, and the cold front that blew through the midwest this weekend pushed us outside for the majority of the weekend. It was a great time of relaxing and just enjoying the outdoors without sweating for the first time in months.

Sunday evening, we decided to go bowling as one last birthday fling before my wife and I had to head back to Evansville. The alley we like to go to has 12 lanes and usually less than 10 people. Its a nice, quiet place that we usually head to when we get the urge. By no means am I an accomplished (or even mediocre) bowler, so I’ll leave my score out of the discussion…and to be totally honest, I really didn’t even begin thinking about this post until the end of the day today.

If you’re like me, you go bowling once a year…maybe. We all pretend we know what we’re doing, carefully picking out our ball, lacing our shoes, and testing the hand dryer on the ball rack. We spend time preparing and visualizing bowling strike after strike while our friends and family cheer and give us high-fives as we strut back to the benches.

What really happens, is we throw gutter balls for the first couple of frames as we get our feet under us. The weight of the ball is strange and that lane begins to look a lot wider and narrower as we struggle to find a rhythm.

Teaching can be just like that, especially in our first few years. I’m only in my third year, and while I feel much more comfortable in the classroom now than I did when I started, I still struggle to find my rhythm.

I can plan my game all I want, but when it comes down to it, the best way to throw a strike is to relax and let the weight of the ball do the work.

My experience, albeit short, will guide my curriculum, my relationships, my decisions, and everything else that comes along with teaching.

So, what about those of us that have very little [no] experience? That’s when we find the pro in your department or school. They can guide you, give tips, and help keep your aim true while you continue to find your rhythm. There is no shame in asking for help, as long as you ask with humility. Be willing to take some criticism and realize that they have seen just about everything. We can learn from their experience and grow continually into better teachers.

Don’t expect a perfect game your first, second, or even third time out. Continue to work, learn from mistakes, and keep looking down the lane.

Each month, I go to “New Teacher Training” run by our district. It is a monthly meeting for anyone new to the school district, regardless of age or experience. Many of the teachers are new teachers and we spend time discussing many of the “little things” that can come up during your first year that they don’t necessarily teach you in college.

We began yesterday with a couple questions, one being: “What was your biggest disappointment thus far?” Responses varied from parents not coming to open house to being cussed out by a student. I was talking with one of the teachers near me when I heard one person in the group say, “I was very disappointed when I found out that some of my 3rd graders have Facebook accounts.”

Without getting into a major debate over lying about your age to get one and what role the parents play, this comment really made me sad because I think there is a learning opportunity that is being missed by teachers, just because it is Facebook. I do understand the age requirements and the issues that can arise from signing your child up (or the child signing themselves up). Those issues aside, my question is why shouldn’t 3rd graders (or any learner) be exposed to social media in the classroom?

The reason I asked myself this question stems from the truth in that children will learn about social networking _some_where…why shouldn’t it be in school? That way, a responsible adult can help them work through things like their digital footprint, social etiquette, and the responsibilities associated with being a digital and global citizen. If we don’t take the time to teach or even model social networking skills in our classes, learners will be left to navigate the jungles of the web on their own, and maybe even make some mistakes that will follow them for the rest of their lives. I don’t mean to be heavy or alarmist, but that really is the nature of the world today.

Inevitably, there is the question of how to expose learners to social media without asking them to sign up for an account? I don’t mean showing them your Facebook page, I mean actually bringing learners into the social media world and giving them an opportunity to be active participants and contributors.

The easiest way to expose learners is to take a day or a couple of lessons to set up a class Facebook or Twitter account. It becomes a window to the rest of the world, where the sky is the limit. Bring in other classes, create virtual pen-pals, learn a new language…in short, show learners how to use the web as a resource and not a destination. The younger we expose them to this idea and help foster responsible use, the better off they’ll be in middle and high school when they have their own accounts and are on their own.

Social networking can also be used to build literacy skills. I find, many times, learners are too “wordy” in responses. You can use a class Twitter account to help them communicate concisely, with vibrant and descriptive vocabulary while following a 140 character limit. Another idea I had is a problem solving activity of sorts…maybe set up a mystery in which someone can only send clues through tweets, and the class has to solve the problem using the short clues they get. You can ask them to consider context, the audience, tone, word choice…again, the sky is the limit.

There is more and more evidence showing there is no such thing as a “digital native.”(1, 2) No one is born knowing how to interact and connect using the web…it is a skill that is learned as you use it more and more. Further, learners are great at “cutting and pasting, texting, Googling, and Facebooking, their range of skills does not necessarily extend to more complex technological tasks, such as creating and publishing digital stories or websites.” (3) If we don’t take the time to teach them these skills in school, I can assure you, they will take the time to teach themselves.

Don’t be afraid of using social media in your class. Embrace the connections that can be made. Model good citizenship and networking skills. Encourage children to actively participate and contribute to digital learning networks. Who knows…you could very well be learning something from them someday.

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Update: Thanks to Deb Wolf for passing along another article I had a hard time finding: Open University research explodes myth of ‘digital native’