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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?

—–

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.

——

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.

—————

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

I began thinking about punishment when I was notified yesterday that one of my students would need some work to do as he served in school suspension for two days.  I quickly grabbed an article, wrote down some questions and prompts for him and walked down to the ISS room.

I’m assuming most ISS rooms are the same…students sitting separated from one another, silent, staring at a blank wall or whiteboard.  Not being counseled, not allowed to talk, and not allowed to do much of anything other than work with paper and pencil or sit in silence.  It really made sad, more than anything else.

I understand teachers are busy, and that it isn’t always easy to get work down to the students serving their punishment.  What made me more upset is when I took a minute to talk to my student.  He is a bright kid and pleasant to speak to.  He is responsive and aware of his actions.  I asked him, straight out, why he landed in ISS.  His shy answer told me that he understands what he did was wrong and that he needs to serve the consequences of his actions.  I encouraged him, explained his assignment, and then promised to swing by and check on him during my plan period.

Honestly, I didn’t expect him to actually complete the work that I had left.  When I went back later in the day, he excitedly hopped up and showed me what he was able to get done.  I should also mention that he didn’t just do it…he did it well.  He showed depth of thought and explained his opinions well.  He answered each item fully and accurately.  He also reminded me that I cannot pigeon-hole students serving punishments into a group that doesn’t care.  Yes, he made a mistake, but he is still a learner that needs to be nurtured and encouraged.

I took some time to chat with him again about some more questions his responses could bring up.  He was thinking hard about what I was asking and he did it well and willingly.  I’m so, so proud of his work today, even if it was an isolated incident.

I really got thinking about what punishments learners serve in the school…and what result of their consequences might come around.  Is total segregation during the school day the best way to help these kids progress through their mistakes?  Shouldn’t we be talking and dialoguing with them about the reasons of their actions and the results of that decision?

I would love to see mediated sessions between teachers and students that land themselves in hot water.  Discuss where the tension is and we might, if we embrace cooperation and learning opportunities, be able to build better student-teacher relationships that will reach far beyond the school walls.

What are your thoughts?

Our internet was out at school today (it’s okay, it came back on around lunchtime) and it gave me a chance to slow down a little bit during my plan period to re-arrange my thoughts and take a few deep breaths.  I met Jeff Utecht at a conference last March and at his workshop, he gave us a code to download a free copy of his book, Reach.  I had all of my lesson plans done and nothing to copy, so with no internet to browse or Twitter to lurk, I took the time to read the book that has been sitting on my desktop since March.

It’s a short book on building professional networks…only about 100 pages.  Most of it is about different types of social networking (ie Twitter vs Facebook or Wikis) and how each can play a role in our PLNs.  A lot of it I’ve already done, but there were still some good tidbits and thoughts about tools available to build and augment my learning network.

The part that really stood out to me was in Chapter 2 when he writes about building our communities and networks for learning.  He used three different terms: print literacy, digital literacy, and network literacy.  As I thought about it, I had realized that I knew the difference between print and digital literacy, but my continuum stopped there.  I had never thought about what each of those meant.  Jeff’s words:

By these definitions digital literacy looks at understanding technologies and their uses. It’’s everything from understanding folder structures on a computer to being able to successfully use e-mail to communicate with others (Reach p 29).

I had always thought digital literacy was so much more, but when I read that, it made a lot of sense that today’s kids are already digital literate.  They are probably more literate than me in most cases when it comes to new technology coming out.  The problems I see when we’re using the computers are definitely in the network literacy.  I’m even more glad now that  I decided to go with class blogs this year.  Again, Jeff’s words:

Networked literacy is what the web is about. It’’s about understanding how people and communication networks work. It’’s the understanding of how to find information and how to be found. It’’s about how to read hyperlinked text articles, and understand the connections that are made when you become ““friends”” or ““follow”” someone on a network. It’’s the understanding of how to stay safe and how to use the networked knowledge that is the World Wide Web. Networked Literacy is about understanding connections (Reach p. 30).

I am network literate.  I have learned how to use Twitter, Google+, blogs, and other tools to build my learning network into something personal and useful for my work.  This is what we need to be teaching kids now.  They know how to use a computer, but that doesn’t mean they know how to connect with a computer.

Today in class, students were amazed that people from other countries had read some of the blogs.  To me, that’s totally normal because I have built that global perspective for myself.  The change in perspective is a good reminder that to accomplish my goals this year, I need to be teaching networks and not just focusing on the “digital.”

You can read more of Jeff’s thoughts on network literacy here.

Today I finally had the chance to get my students their blogs.  After weeks of trial and error getting the site to work and email after email with IT people to allow my blog through the network, they were finally ready to go today.

A little about my blogs.  I had decided from the start that I wanted to host my own blogs on my domain.  I figure students already have enough login information to worry about, I might as well be the one with their blog information.  I also like that I can set parameters I want and be sure that each student is acting responsibly and appropriately.  I can also help them customize it more than the available options if they want.

I've got a few major take-aways from this experience that I think are important things to realize if you're planning on using blogs.

1. Take time during class to show them where major controls are.  Show them how to log in/out, how to change a password, etc.  Make sure they physically watch what you are doing or else you will be answering the same question multiple times. Once I got their eyes, I showed them those major portions, and everything went fine.
2. Dialogue with students about the purpose.  I teach freshman and my class is definitely already using more technology than most of these students have ever used.  We talked about what the purpose of a blog is or what it should be, and I found that many of them just didn't have the experience that I expected.  The majority of responses centered around the “fact” that blogs are just diaries.  Once they began to think outside the box, they began to take ownership a little bit more.
3. Expect slow internet.  I tried doing this with 35 kids in my room at once.  My server was not happy with me nor was the wireless router in the room.  Try to find a way to do half of the class at a time to make sure you have their attention and that the internet is working relatively well.  Next time I sign kids up for a blog, we will definitely be doing it in groups rather than all at once.
4. Let the students play.  Through the class, they kept on asking “what next?”, which is appropriate at times.  There was a sequence we needed to go through to get everything done correctly.  After that, however, they were a little afraid to do something “wrong.”  Take a minute to explain that while we will be using them for class projects, this is their space and it is up to them what it becomes in the long run.  I will be giving assignments, but those should not dictate what they use the site for.  The freedom scared some, but as they got on board, I saw more excitement than trepidation.  Hopefully, some will be posting more than when I ask them to.

I'll be figuring out a way to post a directory for the blogs over the next week so you can check them out if you're interested.  Feel free to ask if you have other thoughts and questions.

Today during my plan period I happened to see a tweet from @ThalesDream about today’s Diane Rehm Show being focused on charter schools and education reform.  I like the show and I feel like most of the time, it is balanced and includes many experts and good commentary.

Not today.

I was (I hope) one of the public teachers across the country that was trying to call in and e mail about the current state of education and the true effect charters and vouchers are having on education in America.  It was heartbreaking to hear an unbalanced, one-sided explanation of charter schools in American education.  I’ve tried to break my thoughts down into three parts.

1. Charter schools are not the solution to the American education problems.  Charters are being heralded as the golden bullet for education with stories of soaring test scores and student achievement.  Let me say that there are good charter schools out there.  There are schools that are using innovative methods to teach every child and to teach those children that need different challenges to learn.  I am not against the idea.  What really irks me is that charters are never put in a bad light.  There are stories of schools that raise scores on tests by kicking the low-performers out.  Artificially raising grades is a disservice to students and parents and is probably the lowest form of education, if you ask me.  If you are funded by public funds, you must be public! Test scores cannot be the basis for admittance and retention.  Charters were designed to give different opportunities…but not for limited times.
2. Teachers do not have absolute job security with no evaluation process.  With the changing economy, I hear this more and more, and it made me extremely sad to hear it again this morning with no rebuttal.  I am evaluated every year.  It isn’t a union thing.  If I am not performing my job as required, I will be fired.  Teachers are under just as much pressure to perform to the best of their ability as much as the next guy.  There are limited situations where teachers “are completely safe, even though they are terrible.”  But, that is a very narrow window in the public education system.  States are evaluating teachers in a variety of ways, one of which (unfortunately) is leaning more and more on student test scores.  We are evaluated.  We do not have absolute security.
3. Education and corporations are not the same and cannot be treated the same.  Education management has been shifting more and more toward a corporate model under the guise of “no-nonsense management” to improve schools.  The problem is that corporate goals and education goals are on opposite ends of the spectrum.  Corporations deliver products for profits.  Education is trying to produce learners that are independent and dynamic.  If we begin to produce products that think, talk, and work the same, our society is going to be even farther behind globally than we already are.  Schools need good management but from professionals that are educators.  Not former CEO’s that took their companies to the Fortune 500 level.  The goals are different and until that is realized, education will continue to struggle.

I’ve heard a lot of information in the last week, especially since moving to a new district. They had district-wide staff training for those of us that are new to the district. The meetings were fine, and the district really has a mindset to lead the state in utilizing and implementing 21st century learning techniques. I’m going to be able to continue using a flipped classroom and that involves re-writing the biology curriculum so we can roll it out school-wide (hopefully) during the 2012-2013 school year. It’s a long-range plan, but I’m happy and proud to be able to work with the district in moving classes forward.

One thing that stood out to me over the last week was the constant discussion of data and the collection of data in the classroom. Every example used had to do with student testing and performance, which in some situations, is completely appropriate. But, as the sessions moved on, the testing theme continued.

I know the state of the American education system right now is totally on testing and I’m working hard in my classes not to emulate that model in everything I do. Yes, I still teach the importance of “testing,” but it isn’t with a do-or-die mindset. Tests, when written correctly and designed to meet specific learning objectives, can give valuable information about learning and misconceptions. I am not against testing as a method of collecting data…I am against testing being the only method schools are using to collect data.

I was fortunate to be employed before this position, so I understand that data comes from a variety of sources, not just from test scores. But, there were also 70 brand new teachers in the room that don’t have that experience and the presentation they got was one side of the coin. We cannot pigeon-hole learners into a one-time performance. Allow me to use baseball as an example:

Ty Cobb is still credited with the highest ever batting average. He averaged 0.366 (or 0.367, depending on the source) with 11,429 (or 11,434 based on source) at bats. So, that means, for every 10 pitches he saw, he would hit almost 4 of them. That’s really good. But, he also had games where he didn’t have any hits at all. Looking at one game is not representative of his batting skill…we shouldn’t do the same thing to students by quantifying their entire learning experience on one day of testing.

The data we collect should be continuous and diverse. There is numeric data and there is emotional data; formal and informal.

I want to implore all of the veteran teachers that read this…please take time to talk to a new teacher in your building this year about collecting meaningful data from students. Don’t focus on testing alone…construct a base that is built in personal interaction and questioning, successes and failures, and then some testing. Let’s find balance in our learning spaces this fall.

Have a great first week of school!

I got a tweet from Dan this morning:

“Good news! @bennettscience @tebotweets @missscott CitPat letting me run full version of my article online. Only print has to be < 500 words.” It looks like the article should be online soon. I’ll post a link when its up.

Today’s post is actually from Dan Spencer, a technology coordinator in Michigan. Dan was recently asked to write an article for a local newspaper about student literacy in the digital age. Dan was kind enough to let me post this on my blog as well because it is that good.  This is longer than what I usually post, but please do take time to read the entire article.

Alright gang! Here’s my article for the Jackson Cit Pat.  It was supposed to only be 500 words (it’s currently close to 900) but I can’t think of what to cut without losing important details.  Please tell me what you think.

I was blessed with a phenomenal English teacher in high school.  Mrs. Wilcox had a gift for pushing us beyond multiple-choice tests and regurgitating lines from Macbethor mindlessly churning out five-paragraph essays about For Whom the Bell Tolls.  Her focus was to have us take those works and create something that applied to our world.  The common medium of expression at that time was pen and paper, but we were content with that because it was all we knew.  Given the explosion of social media and other Web 2.0 tools available today, I wonder what Mrs. Wilcox would have inspired us to create to express our ideas if we had tools like podcasts, blogs, YouTube, and even Twitter or Facebook at our disposal.You see, many view literacy as simply being able to read and write, but it’s really much more.   At the very least, literacy means being able to communicate clearly regardless of the medium.  But in a world where effective communication is so vital, literacy should imply being able to take an idea or message and understand, critique, and explain how it effects you and your world.   However, with the recent boom in social media, the way we communicate with others is permanently recorded and available for all to see at any time.  Because of this, social media sites and texting are easy targets for those who want to label the rising generation as lazy, ignorant, or out-of-touch.  While examples of people (and not just students) using social media poorly are plentiful, we need to be very careful to not confuse “correlation” with “causation”.It would be foolish to suggest all students were mini-Hemmingways in waiting until Facebook, Twitter and texting wandered onto the scene and corrupted them.  Social media didn’t cause those deficiencies, but it does display them for all to see.  Those are the sites many students visit and interact when they aren’t in school.  Which is what makes the supposed tension between learning, literacy, and social media so intriguing.  The frustration many students express with school is that it doesn’t apply to their world.  In my opinion, schools have an obligation to make learning relevant to the real world.  If we choose to pretend that these forms of communication and media don’t exist or aren’t important to them, we force students into a dichotomy of choosing between “School World” or “Their World”.  If students have to pick one or the other, “their world” wins every time.  But why can’t educators find ways to promote literacy using the tools that are already shown to engage students?  Why can’t we help students see how “school” prepares them for the “real world” by using “their world” to engage them?  Now let me be blunt. There are appropriate and inappropriate ways to use social media in schools just as there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to use a paper and pencil.  What I am advocating is using the social media tools available today in a monitored, educational setting to help make literacy relevant for students.

Here are a few examples of educators and students using social media tools the right way to promote literacy.

• Texting in the Classroom
  • There are many free tools like http://www.polleverywhere.com which allow teachers to poll students during lessons through text messages. Rather than basing whether students understand or not on one person raising her hand and answering questions, this allows a teacher a glimpse at what the whole class understands in a matter of seconds.
• Facebook in the Classroom
  • With parent permission, Michigan Center chemistry teacher Matt Withers set up a Facebook group for his chemistry class where they could go for information about the class after school.  The student-to-student collaboration and communication that resulted were great examples of how social media can be used the right way in education.
• Sylvia’s Super Awesome-Maker Show
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xCY2K9kQz4&feature=channel_video_title
  • I’m sure elementary-aged Sylvia could have easily written an essay on arduinos, but would she have wanted to? This YouTube video is a fantastic example of kids using a new medium to demonstrate literacy in a medium that has only recently become available.
• Mathtrain.tv – Kids Teaching Kids
  • http://mathtrain.tv
  • Want to see if a student really understands math? You could assign problems 1-25 at the end of the chapter or have them create a video (aka “screencast”) showing how to work out a math problem in their own words.  They can then post it on iTunes or a classroom blog so their classmates can access them whenever they need help outside of school. The 6th graders who originally began creating these tutorials struggled in math before they started doing this.  Now they pour their heart and soul into creating their mini-lessons outside of class because they know their work will be available for the entire world to see.
• Shakespeare in 140 characters
  • Did you really understand Shakespeare?  You can’t paraphrase what you don’t understand.  Have students use Twitter to paraphrase what is happening in 140 characters or less.  You’ll be amazed by their increased interest, level of understanding and creativity when they get to use a social media site that is normally reserved only for outside of school.

Can students learn to read, write and express their ideas without social media – of course!  But schools have an obligation to be relevant for students and social media is an important part of their world.  In the second decade of the 21st century there are amazing tools available that, when used the right way, can inspire students to see how their world really can prepare them for the real world.

I saw this update from Dan today:

[Sigh] CitPat “kindly” asked me to change the article they asked me to write for them on student literacy and social media to focus on the traditional definition of literacy (being able to read and write). I felt like I had made a great argument that with so many digital tools out there now for people to express their ideas that digital literacy is a type of literacy. Guess that wasn’t what they wanted.

Personally, I think the newspaper is nuts and I’ll probably write the editor an e mail.  They’re missing the big picture and this is one of those things that really pushed my buttons.  I’ll post the editor’s contact information if you’d like to send a letter as well.

Dan Spencer is currently the Educational Technology Coordinator at the Jackson County ISD.  Before that he taught chemistry and physics and coached cross country and track at Michigan Center High School.  He can be reached by e-mail atdan.spencer@jcisd.org or on Twitter at @runfardvs.  Feel free to continue the conversation on his blog www.techtoolsforteachers.edublogs.org <http://www.techtoolsforteachers.edublogs.org/>.

As I've been playing with Google+ over the last day or two, I've been figuring out some of the nuances reading articles from other bloggers and even from the Google discussion boards.  One thing I've come across is that only webpages you +1 show up in your profile's +1 feed.  Comments, posts, etc that you +1 in your G+ feed don't show up on your profile.

After I realized this, I began looking for the +1 button on articles and blogs.  Some have it, some don't.  I've found a couple of solutions to do this…

For WordPress, this article explains step-by-step how to modify your theme to include the button.

If you edit posts in HTML, you can simply do the following:

• Copy and paste the following code just before the body close tag in the HTML editor of your page.

• Then, paste this simple HTML tag in the post where you want the button.

There are also different sizes you can use and you can see more about how to tweak your button here.

Unfortunately, this isn't a native sharing feature for most blogs yet, but I'm hoping some developers will release some simple drag-and-drop widgets that include the +1 button soon.

I know there have been a deluge of Google+ blog posts written in the past 3 weeks or so, but I’m going to hop on the bandwagon this morning and give a couple of my initial thoughts about its use as a professional and in the classroom.

1. Google+ will let educators across the globe collaborate more easily.  With their “Hangouts” feature and the selective publishing to different Circles of people you are associated with, I can easily connect in real time with someone across the country.  I don’t need third-party software (which, granted, is usually free, but I’ve seemed to have had more connection issues with those third-party downloads than Google Talk) and you don’t need any special equipment.  Plus, you can talk with up to 10 other people at the same time, a feature not available on most other programs.  Educators should be chomping at the bit to get at this tool…I expect to see more impromptu “webinars” popping up, where people have more freedom to chat about the latest thing they’re doing in their class or to talk about common problems with something.
2. Since its Google, we know integration is coming.  The one drawback, I believe right now, of Google+ is the lack of integration with other Google software from what I can find.  Once GoogleDocs is integrated with the G+ service, I think there will be an explosion of collaboration and connections even more than there are now.  I would love to be able to hop on to G+, start a Hangout, and then work on an article, lesson plan, project, etc. all through the same social platform.
3. More people will move to Google+ as they think about online professional networking.  Facebook is great, but it is becoming more and more childish every day with a focus on games, apps, and casual connections between people.  Twitter is also great, but it is confusing at first, and the pace may be prohibitive for some people to really grab hold of.  Google+, on the other hand, combines the power and strengths of both Facebook and Twitter and then adds some more on top of that.  It is more professional looking and has more professional controls we all wish Facebook had.  I see professional networks, especially in schools and businesses (once Google Apps accounts are enabled) flocking to G+ to serve their connectivity needs.

Since April 18th, I have been sending out job applications all over the midwest.  Few options were panning out as July rolled around.  I was starting to get extremely nervous about the coming school year and if I would even be teaching this fall.

I got an e mail from Brett Clark (twitter @Mr_Brett_Clark) asking if I would Skype in to a webinar with Jonathan Bergmann about the Flipped Classroom.  Of course, I’m always looking for ways to talk to teachers interested in using a flipped approach, so I readily took the offer.  As I was talking with Brett and Jon about the webinar, I mentioned that I was looking for work.  Jon had already been a huge help to me, sending my name out to his contacts, and Brett was eager to help as well.  His district also happened to have a couple of science openings available, so he got in touch with those principals and they ended up sitting in on the webinar session.

Long story short, after the presentation, I had an interview with the principal and a job offer that night to teach biology.  I’ve just accepted the position and I’ll be the new biology teacher at Harrison High School in Evansville, IN.

As I was talking with the principal, she really stressed that I was hired to help push the science department with technology use and designing meaningful, technology-integrating instruction.  I’m extremely excited about not only having a job come August, but also having the freedom to continue what I’ve done in the last year and the freedom to refine and push the flipped classroom strategy.  Now that I’m teaching biology, I’m excited to begin to move away from the videos and more into guided inquiry, POGIL, and other tools that can be used in a flipped setting.

Thank you so much to everyone that has helped in my job search.  It wouldn’t have been possible without people taking time to send my name around and to send names to me.  Its just another example of how having a PLN can really come through when you need it.

It is the morning of July 8th and I just now have time to sit down with some coffee and put some thoughts down that have been flying through my head for the last 10 days or so.  This will be more like a “digest” blog post with some half-started thoughts on a few different topics.

1. While visiting my family last week in Kentucky, we decided to go out for dinner at the Cracker Barrel.  My parents love the Cracker Barrel and its turned into somewhat of a tradition for us when my wife and I are in town. We were chatting and waiting for our food when my wife nudged me and pointed to the table next to us where all three people were sitting silently, engrossed in their games on two iPhones and an iPad.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done my share of gaming while waiting on the train or bus in Seoul, but it made me kind of sad seeing a family out, but not enjoying each other’s company.  Technology can really do a lot to bring people together…but this showed me how powerful it can also be at isolation.  I’m all for using technology in schools, in parks, in libraries, wherever.  But, as a teacher, it is my responsibility to teach learners that technology is a tool and it should not completely take place of face to face interaction.  I have to model the ability to put the phone away when I’m with another person.

Technology can bring two people together from opposite corners of the world.  But, it can also separate two people just as far even when they’re in the same room.

1. My in-laws got me a new pair of binoculars for my birthday this year, which is great.  I’ve never really owned a good pair and I’m excited to be able to start doing some new things.  I’ve always been into astronomy and I’m planning on doing some more amateur stargazing with the binoculars.  As I get better, I want to get into some small telescopes and then even hooking those up to my computer to do some nighttime photography.  I inherited a 300mm Nikkor zoom lens a couple of years ago from a job and I took it outside last night to play with it a little bit.  I took a picture of the moon that I’m really proud of and I’m afraid I’m already addicted to this new hobby.

As always, learning something new pointed two things out to me: A) the pride of discovery and creation that I felt last night with that photo is exactly what I want my students to experience throughout the year, and B) when I had no idea how to photograph the moon, I went to YouTube and looked it up.  We all like the chance to check out tutorials online when they’re learning new things…the same goes for me.  There is a great blog post from a follower I have on twitter, @MrSchwen about how the flipped class is not only beneficial to students, but that it can benefit teachers as well.  I would write more on this, but he covered it really well…I suggest you go check it out.

1. I need to be outside more.  I miss Seoul and being in the city, but being home in the country has really helped remind me how much I appreciate open spaces.  Being able to walk around barefoot in the backyard has done wonders for me this summer.  Having the summer off is a blessing for teachers.  If you’re like me, you don’t like being idle.  I do have an itch to get back to work, but I do appreciate and enjoy the break.  Take some time today to go outside and get some  grass stains on your knees…you won’t regret it.