Reflections of a Techie

How is a Kansas middle school like a California high school?

Sometimes you read a blog and it feels like your story too.  That happens to me occasionally and today I made a wonderful discovery...Leslie Moitoza is someone I've never met but we have the same quandry.  Don't you love that word.....it's what she used to describe the decision she had to make.  She said this...

It started with a quandary. As a veteran writing teacher, I was struggling, feeling caught in the middle between my responsibility to prepare my high school students for the traditional academic demands of college and the prevalence of compelling technology in their lives. Although, I recognized the need for computer literacy, I was not willing to trade rigorous academic work time for frivolous computer projects. So, my quandary led to my inquiry: Is it possible to teach academic writing as digital composition? What happens to writing instruction and student learning when we go digital?

I don't teach academic writing but I worry all the time about how to use digital resources wisely.  I worry about not taking on frivolous digital projects with my science classes so I can say that "I'm doing technology."

As I read about Ms Moitoza's journey, I had a sense that she was going to find value in changing up the way she taught writing.  I have found that same value in many of the digital revisions I've implemented in my lessons.  I couldn't imagine teaching weather without using real-time updates, for example.

She said it this way,

I can now answer my question, “Is it possible to teach academic writing as digital composition?” with a resounding YES! --with the caveat that the focus needs to be on the “teach” in the question.

And that is the word that makes all the difference in the world.  Teach.  Digital tools are great.  They come and they go.  But the teaching that makes those tools powerful is the real key to integrating technology well.  Thanks to Ms Moitoza for writing about her journey and you should read everything she wrote and the wonderful artifacts she's posted to document what happened along the way.

So how is a suburban Kansas middle school science teacher like a large urban California high school English teacher?  We both use our teaching expertise to focus on the learning not the tool.  Connectedness allows me to read about her journey halfway across the country and see my own classroom....it allows me to draw strength from what she learned and to inform things I need to do in my own practice.

 

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.

 

Connectedness...what does that mean for a school leader?

Almost from the first sentence, I'm hooked on these ideas that school leadership is complex and that it can be an enigma.  Lyn Hilt then proceeds to discuss how skillful use of digital tools can improve and expand the way in which we interact with our communities.  Her post called "Successful School Leaders Today Need to Harness Technology and Social Media" was a wonderful early Christmas present.

As a teacher, I jumped for joy as I read one of the first suggestions how to improve the daily staff email....

Use a staff blog to highlight resources, ideas, and post important informational items; help staff subscribe via RSS to be notified of blog updates. Send out weekly “must-reads” posts to inspire your staff. Create a Diigo group for your school to fluidly share resources – all staff can contribute.

I know that if other teachers are like me this would be shockingly revolutionary.  I can't imagine having weekly or daily tangible examples of resources, being encouraged to build my professional skill set by subscribing to RSS feeds and/or social bookmarking.  Imagine if you were a struggling teacher who was afraid of technology.  Sure this would be intimidating, but if you were given the adjustment time to "lurk" and just absorb and watch this example unfold everyday, it has to creep into professional conversations and that conversation builds ways for us to help each other.  Also wouldn't this be a terrific living example of what you could turn around and use with your students....creating this epistle of student work, announcements about class happenings and collecting important resources?

If I was jumping before, I'm turing cartwheels at this point when Lyn says "Establish meeting norms that include “banning the use of computers or phones during meetings” (p. 37)".  Oh my gosh....do you know how many meetings I last through because I am expected as a fully functioning adult to sit quietly and be a pillar of inactivity.  Usually as someone speaks, I'm thinking about how what they are saying does or doesn't work for my classroom....and how I could customize the information to make it even better.  I can't imagine how rapidly ideas would be disseminated if, during these meetings we could be 

Encourage relevant use of technology during meetings. Establish backchannels  for discussions during meetings. Consider the use of Today’s Meet or the chat features of Google Docs to capture the flow of ideas. Empower your teachers as part of the conversation.

I know this is scary for the people holding the meetings.  But honestly if you can't keep their attention, commanding obedience isn't going to work.  Just like kids, adults will look atttentive on their outsides while inside their heads they are making their grocery lists, thinking what's for dinner, their workout routine at the gym or any one of a million things.  How much more a meeting convener could determine if people were "getting" the idea by seeing who was engaged with the idea and who might have questions from reading a backchannel conversation.

Really, go and read Lyn's post and see if you aren't ready to sign onto a school where teachers are pushed to learn more technology....where tried and true leadership techniques are evolved into even better tools....where the use of digital tools is modeled for teachers and stakeholders. 

With a focus on learning how could something like these ideas not elevate a faculty...being inspired by their leadership and gently encouraged to do more and to be better?

School newspapers...hard work, big payoff

Students have worked tirelessly on this first edition of the newspaper.  As a new newspaper sponsor, I can honestly say that I don't know much about how to do this...but it seems to have worked out.  Thanks to one of my PLN folks @NoelineL's blog post, I found a terrific way to turn the newspaper PFD into a flipbook using Youblisher.

Now to conquer Adobe's InDesign.  I'll keep you posted on how that goes.  In the meantime, see what you think of our first edition.  Click on our front page and it will take you to the flipbook.

 

Makes me want to teach pre-engineering again

via blog.makezine.com

Love this project for students...and so wish I had a laser cutter to use with them. This is how STEM could come alive.  It connects to the Engineering process and it requires students to come up with a design, test it out, re-design the idea to improve it and continue on until they find a design that really works.  Gosh that makes a lot of sense to me.

The MAKE and Maker Fairs really know how to engage people and the imagination.  Do your students get this kind of chance where you teach?  I'm hoping that at some point they'll have a project that I can do in my science classroom that doesn't require a huge piece of specializied equipment.  We have scissors, cardboard....well, I guess that really isn't much is it?  But we have lots of desire and heart!!!  Will that do?

Scientists @ the Smithsonian & Middle School PBL

All kinds of people become scientists. And scientists do all kinds of things. Watch and read about these scientists at the Smithsonian. What kind of scientist would you like to be?

via www.smithsonianeducation.org

By any chance did you see this Scientists @the Smithsonian online exhibit?  I've been wondering how to get my PBL on the scientific method started and this will be a great hook.  I know they'll be intrigued by all the different disciplines represented in this Hall of Fame.  The introductory videos are captivating and I'd imagine that students will be completely engaged listening to these people describe their areas of passion.  Things I've never heard of, and yet, vital to the healthy functioning of our world.   This will tweek their emotional connection to the topic of the scientific method.

My introduction for the unit is

for the bookkeeper to arrive in my room, very exasperated that she has all these kilos of dirt being delievered to her for processing by the UPS man.  She has no idea what to do with them because they've come without an invoice and no addressee.  Since she knows we are young scientists in the making, they will be asked to investigate the dirt, develop any conclusions about what it is and then report back to her.  She's promised to be quite aggrevated and plead for our help.  Luckily we'll have enough kilos delivered that she can repeated this scence every hour...hopefully getting more dramatic with each hour as ANOTHER package is delievered.

My thought is that we'll talk about how to develop an investigation method....and tie it to their knowledge of the scientific method.  We'll have to come to her aid and help her figure out who might have ordered "dirt".  In the act of doing this, they will discover that it's more than dirt.  There's something in it...and I will help them come to understand how to process it.

We're going to participate in the Mastodon Matrix Project . There are very clear directions on how it's to be processed and I will help students discover this kind of scientific inquiry based on the Museum's protocols.  They've really done quite a bit to help a classroom teacher know how to do "real" science.  Right now I'm just waiting for our kilos of matrix to arrive from the Museum of the Earth.    As part of the Science for Citizens Network,  @Sci4Cits    I'm very excited to use this as the entry into 6th grade science, PBL and the start of school.  Love Science for Citizens motto

"Science you can do."

Just today I was brainstorming with a new f2f colleague who is going to be the art teacher at my school next year.  She was sharing "The Creative Process" with me...steps outlined on her bulletin board that students should follow in working on their projects.  It looked remarkably akin to the scientific method and the historical inquiry procedure. 

We decided that it would be great fun to teach this at 100,000 feet so students could see that inquiry projects---be they from science, art or social studies---all start with a question.  And then someone goes about this general methodology for answering and testing out their conclusions about the answer.  We're going to weave into the lesson parts of her curriculum on relief, scultpure and maybe even try to help them build a plaster mold of the mastadon's footprint.

I've been learning in my Unleashing Student Passion class to release control to students and this will be one of the first lessons where I'm focusing.  I've learned so much from the course instructors (Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Shelley Wright) as well as other teachers who are taking the course.  I love this kind of learning....relevant, hard hitting, making you feel uncomfortable because you know you can be better, and satisfying.  It's been hard to make time to do this but it's going to be a huge forward step in my professional practice.   I've had all the pieces but not such a good framework on which to hang them...so the organization of this has been the biggest help to me in thinking about the work.

I have brainstormed a conceptual map of all the learning I know is required by my district for the scientific method, communciating about scientists, the history of science and process skills.  I will repeat this with my students...and then merge those two maps into a mindmeld concept map where I will teach the parts where I'm required to cover and leave huge gaps for students to fill in with areas surrounding this topic about which they are passionate.

I can't tell you much about what they'll pick but with the whole subject of scientific inquiry and mastodon's available to them...well, I'm imagining they'll find something about which they can be passionate.

One thing is very disappointing about the Smithsonian's website, though....while there is a good split between men and women...there's a lack of diversity in the people. Even the NYTimes had trouble only finding 2 non-Caucasian looking faces in their test-yourself..."Name that Scientst".

Maybe my students will remedy that.  Maybe that will be their area of passion....and a way to connect to the world!

 

Open badges & digital footprints; Will these shake the mortar loose on our schools?

Everywhere I turn these days I see more and more about digital footprints.  Manage it.  Know what it is.  Maybe this idea needs a bit of refinement.  Maybe it doesn't realize that a person's digital footprint may soon be the credential you craft to be more than a reliable image of your digital self.  It will become something bigger.

An idea that is similar to footprint and probably has tools that will make sure the footprint you leave behind is a good one.....I've been working on this idea of a digital passport so students can demonstrate their mastery of basic skills so that I can trust them.  Yes I said trust them. I've been writing about this idea and how to develop student roles that support this new kind of responsibility that goes beyond knowing which toolbar to use.

Related to the idea of earning digital passport stamps, I read that Mozilla is developing Open Badges that document the mastery of content, too.  The writer tells us that the badges won't be stamps...they'll actually contain metadata which documents the institution that is certifying the knowledge that the bearer has.  That's a pretty interesting idea....because it heightens the idea that learners are in charge of their own destiny; deciding where to go to find what they need, learning it and convincing the institution that they've "got it". 

I really like this notion.

It does have implications for me as a middle school teacher.  Maybe well beyond the basic idea that brought me to Open Badges....more than digital footprints, students are going to have to be self-directed, motivated by their own questions and capable of sustained work apart from a formal brick and mortar building.  That idea gives way to the idea of flexible learning groups and spaces....joining together with a set of people to accomplish something everyone deems as desirable until it's done.  Moving onto another set of people and defining a new space....possibly keeping some people you meet along the way as part of your personal learning network.

How will our traditional K12 schools cope this idea that learning is not constrained by spaces and by having sole authority of keepers of the knowledge?  Not to dwell on the footprint much longer....but really will it become more like a trail of footprints that mark the journey someone has been through that leads off into the sunset?

 

Photo used under CC license and original can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/33267113@N08/4367204563/

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.

How much is that tree, please?

I've been on the lookout for ways to engage my students in science that's outside the walls of our classroom.  And for the past couple of years, I've driven past price tags on trees which have piqued my interest because who has ever heard of price tag on a tree?

Turns out I found out where those price tags come from...The Heartland Tree Alliance.  This seems like a fantastic project to raise awareness in the community about the value of trees.  And it makes me wonder fi this wouldn't be a perfect way for my students to become interested in things within our neighborhoods, parks, backyard and playgrounds.

One of the outreach projects I read about was a Twitter feed from Penny Oak. 

Everyday this tree tweets about what is happening to it and in the park where it lives.  Wouldn't this be another great seed of idea for the kids to use?  I know they'd turn it into something even more than this...don't know what, but I know it's be terrific.

 "How much is that tree, please?" could be the start of our very own citizen science project.  I've been inspired by Science for Citizens @Sci4Cits and think this might be our entree into that kind of learning.

Keeping up with new developments without loosing more time

Do you have all the topics and things you're interested in and just never seem have time to monitor/surf/find what's happening?

I do.

It's frustrating because I'm very interested in so much and have too little time to persue it.  I've always used Google Alerts....but now that my time becomes more and more precious....Alerts are becoming essential.

Here's a good example.  I know that one of our community colleges is going to open a fabrication lab that will be accessible by the public.  I've been collecting tons of junk machines for my students to reverse engineer and I'm wanting them to use Google Sketch-Up to document/draw what they discover along the way.  So I've created an alert to summarize the news once a day.

The drawback is that takes a while for info to hit the search engines, I know.  But I feel like this will be a better way for me to manage my info than I'm doing now.  Oh yeah....I don't get around to it.

I will also say that I'm having more luck with the Google Search engine....what do you love?  When I typed in Fab Lab and the initials of the community college, it returned lots of possibilities plus news from other FabLab sites around the country.

 

All of these tools are just ways of watching info out there on the web....and we all know that it's exponentially mutliplying.  You have to have a way to fight back, find the stuff that's relevant....time efficiently.

These are some of my tools to make more time out of nothing.