1. “Try” - What I say I’m doing when I can’t do something, and am unwilling to put in any more work or step out of my comfort zone. Productive people don’t try, they do.
2. “Can’t” - The first time I tried to do something I was not successful, so I have moved this skill to the “Can’t do” pile. This is much easier than doing things to become successful. Also, by saying I “can’t” I am actively recruiting someone to do it for me.
3. “He/She Doesn’t Teach” -I believe my instructor is soley responsible for my success. Since I am not being successful, then my instructor must not be doing their job. I hear this sentiment from many former students regarding college professors. A few former students have shown amazing resilience in being able to design their own learning. These students often become valuable resources for their fellow college classmates.
4. “Do you give extra credit?” - I am looking for a shortcut to success.
5. “I don’t get it” - Can you sit right next to me and do it for me? This way, it looks as if I’ve sought individualized attention from the instructor, when it hasn’t been a learning experience for me at all. Also a technique used to solicit sympathy from an instructor for a student not holding up their end of the deal as a learner. See #3.
Our learners have become accustomed to being passive, and assuming that as long as you trade some time, you’ll get a nice grade. Our learners need to become ACTIVE, and I daresay teachers should become more passive. Make them start “doing”.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Real Quick Thought on Standards Based Grading
I can hear my phone ringing off the hook and my Outlook email notifications flooding in from parents.
"Why does my student have a B? a C? an F? They're a straight A student."
Parents and community members alike want teachers to do things the right way and the best way...as long as their students get A's. Now that my grading system is an honest reflection of what's been learned, I'm grading in what is a non-inflated, best-practice grading system. I have a premonition that parents are going to be irate about this. Can anyone speak from experience?
Now off to draft a template for a response letter that begins with "Your student's grade may change at any time, for better or for worse..."
"Why does my student have a B? a C? an F? They're a straight A student."
Parents and community members alike want teachers to do things the right way and the best way...as long as their students get A's. Now that my grading system is an honest reflection of what's been learned, I'm grading in what is a non-inflated, best-practice grading system. I have a premonition that parents are going to be irate about this. Can anyone speak from experience?
Now off to draft a template for a response letter that begins with "Your student's grade may change at any time, for better or for worse..."
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Ideas from November 10 Interaction with Elementary School Teachers
Had an excellent meeting on Wednesday 11/10 with more elementary school teachers. I love working with these people on technology integration. I think it’s because they are so tech-starved and under-equipped that they NEED technology. What happens in my class when there’s a great need? The students turn into sponges. They start every conversation with, “I need some ideas” and not, “Can you show me how to put a link on my Schoolwires page?”(last Schoolwires bash I promise*). We have moved our elementary teachers forward in technology integration more in the past 2 months than high school teachers have budged in 3 years. I’m extremely proud of us and those elementary school teachers for the work we’ve put in.
So the ideas that have fallen out of Wednesday’s meetings...
1. Comic Life - kids create comic books and use photographs of themselves to build their own digital story. Without futzing around in movie maker, iMovie, or some other Web 2.0 tool that is blocked. I rarely see a need to purchase software (save Fathom) but can see potential here.
2. Google Earth - I want to find pre-created maps for every possible subject area that uses Google Earth. Then we’ll compile them all into one location, let students/teachers use them once, then never let them use them again. You want them? Make them! What better way to learn ancient history than to create a map about what you think is important. Not just a concept map...a real one!
3. Grade Level Sharing - A common place (wiki) for every grade level to share ideas, links, resources, etc. I'm thinking that when something good comes up (blogging a Heritage project, podcasts/movies of students reading, games created in SMART notebook) we can add it to the appropriate grade level. Now, if we could just get people to actually go to the Tech Tools Wiki...wait, not yet, I need to have the Diigo feeds show links more recent than August.
4. Networked Learning - There's no reason to isolate students, be it individually or by classrooms. Every kid in Grade 6 should share learning experiences with every other kid. To a further extent, it should be shared to all other grades above and below. More to come on this subject as I explore and completely ramp up this idea in the future...like an online AP Stat textbook being created from my Class Wiki. If every Stat student had a hand in organizing, adding, and filtering information found on an endless homepage we could make a sweet textbook.
Smartboards are something that comes up frequently in my elementary school interactions. Every teacher wants one, no teacher needs one. Your students need it, so let them use it.
*This week
So the ideas that have fallen out of Wednesday’s meetings...
1. Comic Life - kids create comic books and use photographs of themselves to build their own digital story. Without futzing around in movie maker, iMovie, or some other Web 2.0 tool that is blocked. I rarely see a need to purchase software (save Fathom) but can see potential here.
2. Google Earth - I want to find pre-created maps for every possible subject area that uses Google Earth. Then we’ll compile them all into one location, let students/teachers use them once, then never let them use them again. You want them? Make them! What better way to learn ancient history than to create a map about what you think is important. Not just a concept map...a real one!
3. Grade Level Sharing - A common place (wiki) for every grade level to share ideas, links, resources, etc. I'm thinking that when something good comes up (blogging a Heritage project, podcasts/movies of students reading, games created in SMART notebook) we can add it to the appropriate grade level. Now, if we could just get people to actually go to the Tech Tools Wiki...wait, not yet, I need to have the Diigo feeds show links more recent than August.
4. Networked Learning - There's no reason to isolate students, be it individually or by classrooms. Every kid in Grade 6 should share learning experiences with every other kid. To a further extent, it should be shared to all other grades above and below. More to come on this subject as I explore and completely ramp up this idea in the future...like an online AP Stat textbook being created from my Class Wiki. If every Stat student had a hand in organizing, adding, and filtering information found on an endless homepage we could make a sweet textbook.
Smartboards are something that comes up frequently in my elementary school interactions. Every teacher wants one, no teacher needs one. Your students need it, so let them use it.
*This week
Monday, October 4, 2010
The "Achievement Gap"
I'm curious as to what educators would define as "Achievement". One of our building goals is in line with increasing student achievement. Just what is achievement?
We can define student achievement as making sure that we have less students failing this year than we've had before. Also, we can look at the number of students that have earned straight A's and compare it with last year. These would all potentially show increased levels of student achievement, thus, our building has met its goal, and we can proceed with business as usual. If I go into my Gradebook tomorrow and change all the C's to A's, I have generated an amazing level of student achievement.
Schools becoming all about achievement undermines them as institutions of learning. Is this a result of the demand placed on schools (by stakeholders) for some type of result that justifies the increased contribution of resources? By demanding accountability and results, we aren't demanding higher levels of thinking and learning.
I'm in a school for at least 7.5 hours each day, approximately 180 days a year. I NEVER hear a discussion about learning.
We can define student achievement as making sure that we have less students failing this year than we've had before. Also, we can look at the number of students that have earned straight A's and compare it with last year. These would all potentially show increased levels of student achievement, thus, our building has met its goal, and we can proceed with business as usual. If I go into my Gradebook tomorrow and change all the C's to A's, I have generated an amazing level of student achievement.
Schools becoming all about achievement undermines them as institutions of learning. Is this a result of the demand placed on schools (by stakeholders) for some type of result that justifies the increased contribution of resources? By demanding accountability and results, we aren't demanding higher levels of thinking and learning.
I'm in a school for at least 7.5 hours each day, approximately 180 days a year. I NEVER hear a discussion about learning.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Challenge to Myself to Start the School Year
The greatest outcomes that I achieve in my room are realized through challenging myself in an oftentimes extreme way. Past challenges include...
1. Never lecturing
2. Stop using paper
3. Move your desk to the back/middle of the room
What these have all done is forced me to think in a different way. They are a risk, and while most educators are risk averse, I will take every risk that I feel can benefit my students, my classroom, or my teaching style.
So I'm beginning this year with a challenge that hopefully improves a cooperative learning environment that I have maintained for the past 5 years. I want to turn up the volume on generating a small-scale crowdsourcing classroom.
I'm going to challenge myself to allow my students to sit wherever they wish...every day. I'm doing this because I want to create more opportunities where I facilitate creation of different student groups many times within one classroom.
Ideally I will accomplish this by having my students walk in, sit wherever you like, in 5 minutes you'll be grouping with people that are learning what you are learning. When that activity is done, you'll be in another group/partnership with a student you've NEVER worked with before. Let's hope this model creates an environment where every student is comfortable having a conversation and learning with every other student in the class.
Classroom management enthusiasts(is there such a thing?) are cringing now telling me that I won't be able to maintain order in my classroom. Good, I don't like order. Neither do high school students. I guess students will need to be working on some pretty engaging activities that keep their interest in order to keep those management enthusiasts at bay.
Yours in organizing chaos for the sake of cooperative learning.
P.S. I've already thought of another challenge I want to embark on...not referring to students in my classroom as "my students".
1. Never lecturing
2. Stop using paper
3. Move your desk to the back/middle of the room
What these have all done is forced me to think in a different way. They are a risk, and while most educators are risk averse, I will take every risk that I feel can benefit my students, my classroom, or my teaching style.
So I'm beginning this year with a challenge that hopefully improves a cooperative learning environment that I have maintained for the past 5 years. I want to turn up the volume on generating a small-scale crowdsourcing classroom.
I'm going to challenge myself to allow my students to sit wherever they wish...every day. I'm doing this because I want to create more opportunities where I facilitate creation of different student groups many times within one classroom.
Ideally I will accomplish this by having my students walk in, sit wherever you like, in 5 minutes you'll be grouping with people that are learning what you are learning. When that activity is done, you'll be in another group/partnership with a student you've NEVER worked with before. Let's hope this model creates an environment where every student is comfortable having a conversation and learning with every other student in the class.
Classroom management enthusiasts(is there such a thing?) are cringing now telling me that I won't be able to maintain order in my classroom. Good, I don't like order. Neither do high school students. I guess students will need to be working on some pretty engaging activities that keep their interest in order to keep those management enthusiasts at bay.
Yours in organizing chaos for the sake of cooperative learning.
P.S. I've already thought of another challenge I want to embark on...not referring to students in my classroom as "my students".
Thursday, August 12, 2010
First Day of School Lesson Plan
So here's my contribution to the slew of first day of school posts in the edu-blogging world.
I want to start my year by creating a climate of collaboration, friendliness, INFORMALITY(in school? you're crazy!). From day one, I want my students to begin to take ownership of the class. There is more than one person to learn from in the room, in fact, there's 30...and millions of others easily reached online, but that's for another day.
Something I will definitely do differently this year is not go over the grading policy immediately. My main reason for this is that I want to set a tone of a collaborative environment, not that of a teacher saying, "This is the way it's going to be, there's the door if you don't like it." Why would we want to start a year believing a class is difficult, instead of developing that conclusion on our own?
So, yes, you will havehomework an assignment given the first day of class. It's not going to be Read pgs 1-100 and do ALL odd exercises once you've completed your outline. Your homework assignment will be to read my grading policy (Standards-Based all the way!) and be prepared to discuss it with your group members and with me. If you're not going to read it or formulate ideas, how (more importantly, why) should we allow you to contribute to the class discussion?
So, what will we do the first day? Probably get to know each other. Once we're all comfortable with a learning community instead of a classroom, then we'll start with the content. AP exam in May you say? If you're not worried than I'm not.
I want to start my year by creating a climate of collaboration, friendliness, INFORMALITY(in school? you're crazy!). From day one, I want my students to begin to take ownership of the class. There is more than one person to learn from in the room, in fact, there's 30...and millions of others easily reached online, but that's for another day.
Something I will definitely do differently this year is not go over the grading policy immediately. My main reason for this is that I want to set a tone of a collaborative environment, not that of a teacher saying, "This is the way it's going to be, there's the door if you don't like it." Why would we want to start a year believing a class is difficult, instead of developing that conclusion on our own?
So, yes, you will have
So, what will we do the first day? Probably get to know each other. Once we're all comfortable with a learning community instead of a classroom, then we'll start with the content. AP exam in May you say? If you're not worried than I'm not.
Monday, June 28, 2010
SBG Anxiety - 8 Questions
8 Questions about SBG(Standards Based Grading)
My anxiety about implementing SBG next year manifested in the questions I've asked myself over and over as I am creating my grading policy.
1. What will the administrator who is reviewing my grading policy think?
I've run it by the administrator in charge of my observations, and he has given it the okay. We turn our grading policies in to another administrator at the end of the year. Admittedly I'd love for it to be questioned/discussed, but would it be suggested that I revise it to a more "traditional" grading policy?
2. What will parents think? What will students think?
I'm hoping that it is a completely new and different experience for them. A lot of guidance, explanation, and information will be key to making this transition for them. There will probably be a large amount of resistance at first ("Where's the homework grade?"). I'm going to speculate that most will feel empowered to take control of their own learning once they have grown comfortable within the system(I don't enjoy that word). They may be uncomfortable as it is much more difficult to work this system(yuck) than a points based grading system. If the only positive outcome is that students stop asking "How many points is this worth?" I will consider my switch to SBG a total victory.
3. Is it possible to raise or lower a "grade" at any time? Should it be?
The raising part I understand and I'm looking forward to students being continuous learners. If the mastery level can improve at any time, it should also be able to decline at any time (an indicator of a lower level of mastery than originally thought). See Question #2.
4. How will I ever manage to keep up with assessing students skill levels?
Idea #1: Share a unique Google Document with each student and have that serve as a running record. Update gradebook at the end of the week upon looking over that student's running record.
Idea #2: Excel/Google Docs...Google Docs to keep notes to self about conversations/insights with students. Use a Google Form to update a mastery level on any skill at any time (Name - Skill - Mastery Level). I don't know enough about it, but I feel like Microsoft Access may be better equipped to handle this. Summer project: Learn Microsoft Access.
5. What defines an "A"?
Schools tell us that at least 90% of the material learned would be "A" work. By this thought process under SBG, it would be impossible to have an A for the 1st or 2nd marking periods (I can hear the college-obsessed kids freaking out). Using 4 mastery levels (advanced, proficient, basic, below basic), could you define an "A" as a majority of skills mastered at the advanced level? What if that student was below basic in everything else? To wrap some numbers around it, here are my thoughts...
Advanced - 1
Proficient - 0.8
Basic - 0.6
Below Basic - 0.4
Some Excel simulations I've done have led me to this assignment of points for skill levels. Anything in the "A" range must be earned through Advanced and Proficiency with MINIMAL basic/below basic. I'm not sure I want students to be even thinking about how to get an A, as this just creates a climate of "Do the minimum required to get an A". Also, I am totally going to change those levels of mastery to something less Pennsylvania Dept. of Ed to something much more Mr. C
6. Will kids do their homework/assignments?
This is a huge concern. If you didn't do it, you're going to have trouble learning it. On the other hand, if you already get it, why do another 30 exercises just because a teacher told you to do so? Just like any homework assignment, it'll get done if it's worthwhile.
7. Will it lead to higher scores/achievement on the AP exam?
I'm thinking that on the whole, content coverage and a frequent revisiting of old knowledge should be very conducive to high AP exam scores. I will need to periodically do some focusing on AP exam type exercises and a more traditional classroom setting. It'll be a welcome change to an open, self-directed learning environment :)
8. Quizzes/Tests...what role will they play?
I think I answered this already. See #8. I know I am definitely going to give a quiz and have students grade it immediately. Also going to give quizzes with Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced questions.
Whew, that's all...for now.
P.S. I end a ton of sentences with prepositions, and use quotations a lot more frequently than I should.
My anxiety about implementing SBG next year manifested in the questions I've asked myself over and over as I am creating my grading policy.
1. What will the administrator who is reviewing my grading policy think?I've run it by the administrator in charge of my observations, and he has given it the okay. We turn our grading policies in to another administrator at the end of the year. Admittedly I'd love for it to be questioned/discussed, but would it be suggested that I revise it to a more "traditional" grading policy?
2. What will parents think? What will students think?
I'm hoping that it is a completely new and different experience for them. A lot of guidance, explanation, and information will be key to making this transition for them. There will probably be a large amount of resistance at first ("Where's the homework grade?"). I'm going to speculate that most will feel empowered to take control of their own learning once they have grown comfortable within the system(I don't enjoy that word). They may be uncomfortable as it is much more difficult to work this system(yuck) than a points based grading system. If the only positive outcome is that students stop asking "How many points is this worth?" I will consider my switch to SBG a total victory.
3. Is it possible to raise or lower a "grade" at any time? Should it be?
The raising part I understand and I'm looking forward to students being continuous learners. If the mastery level can improve at any time, it should also be able to decline at any time (an indicator of a lower level of mastery than originally thought). See Question #2.
4. How will I ever manage to keep up with assessing students skill levels?
Idea #1: Share a unique Google Document with each student and have that serve as a running record. Update gradebook at the end of the week upon looking over that student's running record.
Idea #2: Excel/Google Docs...Google Docs to keep notes to self about conversations/insights with students. Use a Google Form to update a mastery level on any skill at any time (Name - Skill - Mastery Level). I don't know enough about it, but I feel like Microsoft Access may be better equipped to handle this. Summer project: Learn Microsoft Access.
5. What defines an "A"?Schools tell us that at least 90% of the material learned would be "A" work. By this thought process under SBG, it would be impossible to have an A for the 1st or 2nd marking periods (I can hear the college-obsessed kids freaking out). Using 4 mastery levels (advanced, proficient, basic, below basic), could you define an "A" as a majority of skills mastered at the advanced level? What if that student was below basic in everything else? To wrap some numbers around it, here are my thoughts...
Advanced - 1
Proficient - 0.8
Basic - 0.6
Below Basic - 0.4
Some Excel simulations I've done have led me to this assignment of points for skill levels. Anything in the "A" range must be earned through Advanced and Proficiency with MINIMAL basic/below basic. I'm not sure I want students to be even thinking about how to get an A, as this just creates a climate of "Do the minimum required to get an A". Also, I am totally going to change those levels of mastery to something less Pennsylvania Dept. of Ed to something much more Mr. C
6. Will kids do their homework/assignments?
This is a huge concern. If you didn't do it, you're going to have trouble learning it. On the other hand, if you already get it, why do another 30 exercises just because a teacher told you to do so? Just like any homework assignment, it'll get done if it's worthwhile.
7. Will it lead to higher scores/achievement on the AP exam?
I'm thinking that on the whole, content coverage and a frequent revisiting of old knowledge should be very conducive to high AP exam scores. I will need to periodically do some focusing on AP exam type exercises and a more traditional classroom setting. It'll be a welcome change to an open, self-directed learning environment :)
8. Quizzes/Tests...what role will they play?
I think I answered this already. See #8. I know I am definitely going to give a quiz and have students grade it immediately. Also going to give quizzes with Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced questions.
Whew, that's all...for now.
P.S. I end a ton of sentences with prepositions, and use quotations a lot more frequently than I should.
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