Reflections of a Techie

How do you help students improving the quality of their questions?

Practice and processing of that practice....is the simple answer.

We practice it a lot. 

We take a topic and start thinking about questions that are interesting...and then they start brainstorming a big list.  Topics trend up and down...and the longer the brainstorming goes the better the questions get.  Students hear a good idea and use that good idea in building their question.

We process a lot.

Once we have a pretty long list and everyone is just repeating, we start processing.  I ask them what are questions that are easily Googled and which ones are ones that will require more thought.  It's a simple filter...but a good one.  It's actually a skill that is sort of invisible but very useful if you stop and think about it.

Ususally the processing ends up with min-conversations about what they think or where they'll go to find out more.  I believe it's a great way to incorporate vocabulary development....just slipping the words that I know as their teacher that are relevant to the topics.  Sometimes we leave it there. 

Sometimes we save the list because we use it throughout the set of lessons.  Answering them.  Keeping them on the unanswered list.  Using them for inquiry projects.

Practice and process.  The simple keys to getting better at asking quality questions.

 

Finding collaborating classrooms--Skype and other possibilities

I'm always thinking about the next unit even if I'm in the middle of another unit.  Projects can take time to setup and especially if you're trying to anticipate where you'll find collaborators.  I've been searching for classrooms that seem to be interested in weather and/or who has experienced weather different from  the Midwest USA.

Watch this amazing video...I'm calling this my inspiration video.  Now to find a partnership classroom somewhere to do this kind of work.  Earthquakes are always a challenge since we don't have many in Kansas, but I think this kind of learning exchange would make it more relevant to my classes for sure.

 

USA to Chile: a classroom exchange on earthquakes from Skype in the classroom on Vimeo.

Congratulations to Villa Maria Academy's Lower School in Immaculta, PA for this amazing example of creative learning.  Not only was the work you did very rigorous, but also the video you made was very professional.

Have you done a Skype Classroom exchange?  How did it go?  I've done a couple of students were excited and very interested.  One of my biggest hurdles is lining up enough interactions.  I have 4 sections of science classes....while I could combine some, it seems impractical to try and do this with 120 kids.  How do people find multiple classes with whom to Skype? 

Do you have tips you could share with me?  I did an exchange last year and it was fun..some audio problem....but I thought it would have been even better if it had last longer than the 20 minutes we had and I almost wish students could have been sharing small group to small group.  While we prepared and had questions, I'm just wondering about optimal size.

Most of my exchanges have been with classrooms where the timezone difference was huge.  But I'd love to venture out further.  I know, though, trying to Skype with folks from Australia was tough because when it's 5am in Kansas it's 8pm in Australia.  I don't see how we could Skype with classrooms there because they would have to stay up all night to see us during the day or vice versa.  How have you worked around time zone problems?

Love this video and yet I have so many questions.

Students may give Al Roker a run for his money as weather casters

"Katia's a tropical storm."  And so the conversation goes as we look at what the National Hurricane Center is posting for their advisories.

"No, she's not.  She was just upgraded to a hurricane."

"Mrs. Ratzel did you know that last night Katia was upgraded?  The winds got faster and stronger and she turned into a hurricane."

"Where do you think she'll hit?  Irene just went right up the coastline, but she first went over Puerto Rico and Cuba.  Katia's still out at sea...do you think she's going to miss the Carolina's.  That's where Irene came on shore, isn't it?"

"Mrs. R....Katia's been downgraded to a tropical storm."

"Yeah, the winds are as strong as they were so she was downgraded."

"I think we should look at the sea surface temperature.  Where do you find that?"

"I'll bet that the NOAA place has something...that's where we get most all of our satellite data.  Let's look there."

So they go and find sea surface temperature maps.  They settle in on the filled contour maps that NOAA has posted.  Guess what they find.

"Look at these temperatures.  I don't know about Katia, but right where Tropical Storm Lee is happening is the warmest water.  It does make a difference doesn't it?"

Immediately because they're following the news, they know about the Tropical Storm Lee and connect to the bright orange areas surrounding Louisiana.

You have to know that most of my 6th graders knew nothing of hurricanes and tropical storms before the 1st of August.  They never watched the weather news with such rapt attention and they certainly never used sea surface temperature maps to understand why these kinds of storms were progressing as they are.  But now they are.

It has been a no-brainer to get them interested in the science of weather since we are watching it happen before their eyes.   As Katia and Lee progress, I think they will only have more and more questions to ask.  Katia has gained strength and is now listed as a Category 2 Hurricane and it looks as though it will become a major hurricane by tomorrow.  They'll be buzzing when I see them in the morning

Most of them don't believe that Katia will come ashore even if it causes large waves and rip tides.  But their experience doesn't include lots of hurricane observations yet.  We'll see how accurately they have interpreted and predicted the path of Katia.

Wonder what they'll say when I ask them why the sea surface temperatures drop right after the storm passes?

 

PBL, question asking, and infusing core content knowledge

Questions, questions, questions....they're full of them.  Here's how it went down as students and I documented it on our class Twitter account @ratzel66.  I'm using Storify to put it all together in a running narrative...or at least as much as I can remember.

 

People have been talking about how doing PBL is like peeling an onion with all it's layers, textures and flavors. Well, I've taken the plunge and so far the parts that I'm see are wonderful for my students and their learning. Engagement is high, excitement is higher and their smiles say it all. That said along the way I'm pouring in the content.

That's the part that keeps so many of us in falling in love with PBL. How to get the content inside these engaging activities?   As we processing these questions, I'm weaving in the steps....refining our questions so they'll be testable as well as reviewing other parts of the scientific method we've already worked on.

We're building a class focus question by discussing what we're trying to find out as well as defining what information we expect to obtain. One of the big questions yesterday was if we were going to collect qualitative or quantitative data. You know they didn't ask this one on their own, right!!! I definitely prompted the initial question and asked them if they knew what they'd collect to answer the questions on the post-its. But they took the conversation over...and I gently kept reminding them to look back at their notes from our penny drop lab...to find relevant things we've already done and reviewed. It wasn't long before they were doing much better on this differentiating between data that was measured vs data that was described. And as we looked back on our steps of the scientific method, they were quick to point out that we were engaged in the first step of posing a question that is related to the problem and that can't be answered with a "yes" or a "no".

So I'm beginning to see how to interject my required content knowledge inside this engaging scenerio. It's working pretty well and if I can just stay on course with remembering what I will need to infuse, it will continue working.

First PBL steps...great for kids & hard for the teacher

It felt very different in my room today....although I've always done inquiry science it has been more teacher-directed than I wanted.  This summer I took a class in "Unleashing Student Passion" hoping to find a better way....isn't that what you always do in the summer?  Look back at what worked well and what you could improve....I picked developing more independent and critical thinkers.

This class, led by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach (@snbeach)  has been hard for me because it exposed so many places I want to be better.  Not just a little better.  A whole lot better.  Unleashing student passion for learning and specifically for science is my targeted area.  I needed to stop holding students back from becoming the learners they will need to be as they grow up....I have always helped them learn the science and be curious.  Now I feel like I need to take another step....help learners not need me anymore.

Today I took a plunge with implementing what I've been studying all summer.  It was hard because I wanted to be roaming the aisles looking for kids who needed help and encouragement.  Instead I chose to sit back and let them do all that for themselves using the skills we had been talking about in these weeks of defining and building teamwork and being a communicator.

So we're working on those opening school skills making observations and data collection....yawn!!!!  Oh no....no yawning if you please.  I decided it would be the perfect place to test out some of these ideas Sheryl's been teaching.  Besides we've spent hours talking about teamwork and defining what it takes to be a good teammate.  Beyond being a team member, they're also working on communicating clearly....becoming a communicator.  We've practiced body language and communicating with how we listen to each other.  So it was time for me to step back, hold my breath and watch them put all they've been developing into action.  While I've done inquiry before, this time I really , really let go.  I helped set them up with the background knowledge and then I let them go....and they posed questions that seemed to interest them.

I also purposefully let them do it without me hovering.  I told them I was strictly an observer of them today.  I tried to empower them by not just telling but showing them  that I trusted them to do the work.  Although it was hard, I sat at my desk, never strolled the aisles, asking questions or answering questions.  I sat there, intently concentrating on what they were doing and how they were interacting with each other.

Being present without being there

They knew I was present.   That's been a big point of the learning I've done this summer.  I was there without being depended on.  Does that make any sense?  But I think they were shocked at how well they were capable of doing and I learned so much about my students.  I was able to spend almost the entire 45 minutes making notes about who were the leaders, who struggling, how they worked with their partner.....an enormous cache of information about each of them I can use to do my lesson planning.  This valuable data will be the basis for the next lesson I teach.  Many thanks to my wayfinding teachers---Lani and Dean---for showing me this lesson.  I still have a long way to go but I think I'm getting it.

Ah.....how do I know they got anything out of the experience?  By the questions they asked.  Turned loose from teacher expectations, they investigated their own questions and then started exploring other things that were of interest to them.   We started at the typical dropping water on a penny and counting them up

they started asking better and better questions....

They worked and worked at all these questions...some of which I was very dubious about when they proposed it.  I'll admit that some worked and some ran into the troubles that I expected.  But here's the big ah-ha for most people....they learned it for themselves now.  It wasn't the teacher telling them "no" and here's why....they tried it, it didn't work, they re-grouped and formulated another question to test.  It wasn't a big deal.

I'm hoping that builds up their learning muscles so when we get to bigger topics, they'll feel the same way about roadblocks they encountered that will be harder.  This was the beginning steps students needed under their belt with a very simple activity.

Unexpected pleasures are usually the best ones just ask Sam and Ian

My biggest joy today was one of those goofy boy groups who you love and stresses you out all at the same time.  They finished and sat there just seeing what would happen if---mostly making a mess until....

    they discovered you could get a drop of water to "stick" to the penny even if you turned it upside down

 

Then everyone had to try and replicate the results....with that success under their belts, they starting firing off amazing questions. It was contagious.   Success breeding success everywhere that hour. They measured the bulge of the water bubble over the side of the penny concocting amazing ways of using rulers!!!  They conferred and shared and suggested alternative ways of doing everything.  All the while they were engaged.

I wish you could see their faces beaming and shouting across the room..."Hey Mrs. R look at this!" and then moving onto the next thing and the next.  I sent a big air high five across the room to congratulate them.  These were their questions, their experiments and they owned it.  Big time.

All because I got out of their way, and let them struggle a bit, so they could find their passion for learning science.

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7327560@N06/4307378745/ licensed under CC

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68134711@N00/3172441452 licensed under Attribution CC

 

Using Twitter to help students connect to earth science

Lelia walked into my classroom this morning, now a worldy 7th grader, and said,

"How are you going to pick what to show the 6th graders with the hurricane and earthquakes happening pretty much on the same day?"  She smiled.  I think she was cracking up that she still remembered doing this in my class last year.  I smiled back and said....

"Well, I'm going to show them how to track hurricanes first...that story is still developing and the earthquakes are already finished.  Nothing will change with them, so I'm starting with Hurricane Irene.  What do you think?", I said. 

I didn't know what she thought about doing all this so called work to learn science and she was with one of my more enthusaistic new 6th graders.  I was hoping for an encouraging answer.

Again she smiled and looked at her friend with that "I told you so" kind of glance....

."I think that's a good one.  I liked tracking the hurricanes and learning about them.  Now I even notice when they're on the TV news and still remember all the stuff you taught us." 

Yep...that's my science curse....remember a little bit about how the earth works and I think I've done my job as the 6th grade science teacher.

Mother Nature always provides a rousing start to my science class every year...

2011 is no exception.  With Hurricane Irene upgraded to a Category 3 and threatening the East Coast, I thought we would have more than enough to engage my student.  Low and behold....the double earthquakes occurred yesterday in Colorado and in Virginia.

Today we plotted our first data point on the Atlantic tracking maps.  Using the NOAA data, I showed students how to find the data using the computer, how to draw the hurricane symbol which is a rounded "6" with another tail, and helped them plot their very first data point.  We're concentrating on becoming excellent communicators....so learning how to create graphic pictures of the earth's operation is critical.

The only challenge to all this is that my school makes it darn near impossible to use any of the communciation tools to stay abreast of what's going on.  I use my class Twitter account to monitor the up-to-date hurricane happenings at @ratzel66  Every night I curated all this into my newspaper format at the Ratzel Room66 Daily.   In between issues, we monitor the Twitter feeds using TweetDeck.  Or at least we did before this year.

Here's where the real world interferes with the learning

We've gotten a new filter and now many more things are blocked.  We can't have access to them.  So while the Smithsonian is publishing these fantastic tweets with all sorts of terrific info about the earthquake, I can't even access the hyperlink because it's blocked.

Is this really what they need to block?  Why is it that computer hackers can do all sorts of amazing things and the programmers of school filters can't tell the difference between the Smithsonian Magazine and porn?  Apparently using a URL shortener makes it fall into the category of blocked content....ugh.

Wouldn't it have been nice to be able to read the Scientific American article about Category 6 hurricanes?  Category 6?  Yep....atmospheric scientists seem to think that the "ferocity" of this century's storms may warrant adding a new category.  Would that have stirred up loads of excitement when we read

But we could read this one either....because it uses the URL shortener again.

I've asked for help from administration in getting these unblocked so we can use Twitter to stay up to date and follow the tracking data.  I'm not hopeful because I don't seem to ever find an ear that sees it the same way. 

I could tell you the whole tale of woe in how TweetDeck is now blocked, so I can save searches.  I won't because you've heard it all before.  Normally we create a hashtag search that we save and then use TweetDeck to follow any tweets that meet those criteria.  Blocked can't do this anymore either.  Sigh......

This is how to keep students interested in earth science

Make it relevant to what they see happening in the world around them.  Help them to see the connection between science in a classroom or textbook and the world.  This is what makes science exciting and makes my former students still "notice" hurricanes and earthquakes and tsunamis and flooding and.....on and on and on.

 

Changing classroom roles--21st century literacy takes over

Trying to get students more involved in the classroom conversation...so I've been thinking about re-defining student jobs/roles.

I don't see that students feel attached to the class or to each other, so I'm going to test out this role

Social Chairperson-- person(s) who is in charge of making sure everyone in the group feels comfortable, participates in the conversations, is in charge of introductions, and publicizing who is in your group.   There are also mingling responsibilities that include finding ways for people to get to know each other, thinking of conversation starters and planning activities for everyone to get to know each other.

I'm not going to define it very clearly so that students help me really craft a better picture of what they need and want.

Reporter---person(s) summarizes what the group has learned that day and at the end of the week.  They will post this information on the class blog as part of their homework.  At designated times, the reporter will take photographs which they must upload onto the class blog.  Finally, the reporter is responsible for maintaining a shared calendar for their group that also links to the class calendar.

I'm wanting to do a better job keeping parents in the loop and creating a digital footprint for our class.   This role will be one way in which to do that....students being the ones to do the work with me in the background managing it.  Again they'll help me refine/improve these ideas.  This is also where I plan on embedding mini-lessons about Google Doc functions---teaching them how to create/share documents and calendars.  Hopefully they won't even know that a 21st century tool just hit them!!!

Twittererererer---person(s) responsible for tweeting each day about what has been learned.  The Twittererererer may coordinate with the reporter.  The Twitter must also read tweets/blogs to find out what other groups have posted and report back to the group.  Our class Twitter account is @ratzel66

I love the title.  Much like the reporter but a different medium.  We'll do it first using the classroom door so they can develop their tweeting skills....then they'll graduate to the real deal.

Next I want to emphasize with a classroom role that students are in charge of looking up information....acquiring those precious literacy skills and critical thinking skills.  Here's where I'll embed the social bookmarking mini-lessons using Diigo.

Researcher--- person(s) that keeps track of anything that needs to be Googled by creating social bookmarks and lists of other resources that were used by anyone in the group.  The Researcher develops and manages the group project.  They start any team document and teaches the group members how to use software and websites, especially Twitter, Google and Diigo.

 

I think the roles will change over time...but this is my starting point.  As I move into more content based stuff, the roles will adjust to be more aligned to science.

Why hashtag meetups are important to building Twitter colleagues

Building a personal network of trusted colleagues is not as easy as some make it out to be, for me.  I've struggled to find Twitter friends and just now I am finding success.  Patti Grayson wrote an article that put words to something that I've found but never knew how to describe. 

Hashtag meetings???  What???

Patti talked about hashtag meetups.  I had never heard that term before ( go ahead and roll your eyes because I'm sure I'm the last person to "get it".  But I'm considering it a victory that I now know it.  What a descriptive piece....because I am building my personal network from the folks that I meet in these meetups.  Not the other way around.

It works...the proof is in the pudding...I found success

And I have found powerful connections....you can see my story of how Twitter helped me find scientists with whom to collaborate in my classroom. 

Using Lists to find Colleagues for my Personal Network

Then I use Lists to assemble the various names I've met and connected.  When I have time to check Twitter, I go to the Lists view and see what the people have been saying.  Or I use TweetDeck and just keep it visible all the time.

For me, just going out into the Twitterverse was very much like stumbling around in the dark.  I never knew what I'd find and got lost all too often.  Finally I found the Science Chat #scichat on Tuesdays and the 6th grade teacher chat  #6thchat on Thursdays.  Both of those chats were full of like-minded teachers who had some basis in what I liked and wanted to learn.  Both are moderated by some pretty incredible people who are very dedicated to helping others learn...I give them all kudos and respect.

 

Democratically Run PD

I love the way that the topics are selected.  Polls are circulated and people vote on what they would like to learn about....participation is encourage.  For example this week, #6thchat is going to talk about blogs and people are asked to bring forward ideas on how to start and to post examples for the evening's discussion.   At the end of the session, all the information is gathered into a wiki, so that if you miss the discussion (as I will this week because I'm traveling), you can scan thru the conversation and still benefit from "hearing" the conversation.  I think many of the #hashtag chats do that.

 

Is this how it's happened with you?  Have I missed something that was important?

 

 

 

Choice and student ownership: Takeaways from gaming & passion-based learning

Why are students so busy learning things at home?  They are huge into video games, basketball, clothing and so many other things.  They are what Sheryl Nuessbam-Beach calls passion based learning.  I've always wondered how a student can remember the millionth level of ___________ name the most recent video game.  They can map every twist and turn of how to get to the "nth" level and they will know everything they need to have in order to magically open the door.

So why can't students remember their math facts?

There's a huge gap between what I want them to learn and what they want to learn.  Duh. 

One of my biggest ah-ha's of thinking about gaming is that it keeps kids constantly challenged with rewards they've picked that are just out of reach.  They need to learn something in order to gain that reward.  I know part of it is choice...they picked the reward not me.

So that's a big question with which I need to wrestle.  How to use this idea of passion-based learning and what I think I sort of know about gaming....and merge them into designing units and lessons which gives students ownership and choice...and pushes them to more rigorous places of learning.  So they'll know the "nth level" of earthquakes and density and convection currents.

Check out how Constance Steinkuher talks about the pedagogy of gaming.  It's amazing.  I loved the way she thinks that "teaching should be more like community organizing".  Right on.

 

 

Online Games and Interest-Driven Learning are Transformative for Today's Young Learners from DML Research Hub on Vimeo.

Update: Accumulating a digital footprint...what students should know

via teachingtechie.typepad.com

I was writing about this important topic about a month ago because it's been on my radar of things to do. Since then I found out every student will have a gmail account now, so it's become even more important.

Digital citizenship can and should mean more than staying safe. It should also be about letting students know they can make a difference by invoking the power of communication. UNICEF must feel the same way.

Here's their video on how the web can make a positive impact by leveraging digital footprints of issues.