Time flies when you are engaged and learning a lot! Where did I start....as an Academic Specialist much of my job is focused on data, foundational skills and assessments. My job is to make sure teachers know how to give assessements, make sure data is being looked at, organized professional development around assessments and data. Rarely do I get to talk about student engagement, creativity or what motivates students to learn. In fact, much of my job revolves around what teachers percieve to be "carrots and sticks". Teachers often see data and assessments as a reward and/or punishment...instead of a check point, or a tool to drive instruction.
What has changed?.....I know that my job will always be tied to data and assessments. The district and state needs accountablitity to prove that teachers are teaching and students are learning. I think the big shift for me is that while we still need data, assessments and foundational skills....that should not be the basis for our instruction. Kids do not aspire to have amazing foundational skills. They aspire to be scientist, inventors, artists and creators. It is our job to make learning so engageing that they want to learn those foundational skills because they need them to do the tasks. They want to see their own data and feedback to see how much they have improved. They enjoy taking the assessments becasue it allows them to show off their learning. I think that this transformation will take time. Moving people away from assessments being the focus, to assessments being a by product or a measurement of exciting learning will not be easy. I think we can learn from schools that have already started this transformation. I think that the tools and resources from this class will help me plan meaningful professional development.
0 Comments
The Flipped Classroom Infographic was very informative and was a great source of basic background knowledge. I found it interesting that the Flipped Model was organically created out of a real need for students to access lectures after being out sick. This makes sense. I was also impressed by the data produced by by Clintondale High School outside of Detriot. In the traditional model, 50% of freshman flunked English. After using the Flipped model only 19% failed English. The data alone makes a strong case for using the flipped model. April Tucker's Website gave a good overview on how a teacher might implement the Flipped model in their own classroom. I really like the 10 Do's and Don't of Flipped teaching. I still have some confusion on the different types of "flipping" Traditional, Explore-Flip-Apply etc. I think I would need to watch some actual observations to see the difference between these styles. I think this would be a go-to resource for teachers looking to try the Flipped Model. I enjoyed exploring Dr. Ramsey Musallam's website, although I did not ever find the Resources link. I love his passion for inquiry and curiosity. I thought he brought up a great point that providing boring content in a Flipped model is still a boring lesson. Just because you use a flipped model, does not mean the instruction, learning or engagement improves. I think moving to a Flipped model is the result of changing your core instructional practices. The link to the ISTE Special Interest Group (SIG) on Interactive Learning and Teaching Webinar on Flipping Your Classroom did not work. So I google ISTE flipped learning and found this article . What I found interesting about the article is that it talked about using screencast in Flipped model and traditional models. The article discussed using screencast as a way for traditional classrooms to provide additional supports for struggling students. Students can watch the content repeated times, or work at their own pace. If a few students need reteaching or extension, teachers can use screencast as a way to differentiate instruction. I can also see this as being of great use in PBL projects. Teachers could post screencast or othe video content for students to access repeatedly or as their group gets to those tasks. Challenge Based Learning Video- I really enjoyed seeing the empowerment of children. These kids felt like a valuable member of society that was able to contribute and make a difference. This is what PBL would call true Authenticity. This is a real world problem, not a simulation or pretend situation. I think kids were very engaged because it was real. Their success or failure affected real people. Several of the links did not work (I requested access). I did read the Challenge Based Learning Guide. This is an over view of the components and guiding practices of CBL. I did see a lot of similarities between CBL and PBL. I liked the greater emphasis on Authenticity. I can see how it leads to better engagement. The authenticity piece is one that PBL teachers at my school struggle with. I think the examples in the video are "doable" even in an elementary school. I liked their process in planning the units starting with Big Ides, then Essential Question and then Challenge/Action. I liked the structure of mini projects within the greater project. My immediate response is this sounds great...but how will it fit with mandatory assessments. In the FAQ section I took a Jing screenshot of their answer: I liked exploring the Challenges and seeing how they would incorporate the standards into their units. I can tell that students communication, creativity, collaboration and engagement would be very strong in CBL. I am interested in exploring the challenges further to steal ideas to incorporate into PBL projects.
Reflection: Daniel Pink argues that "carrot and stick" motivation has been scientifically proven not to work. Curiosity and meaningful experiences motive people to learn. Both Flipped learning and CBL provide better opportunites at meaningful experiences. CBL engages students in real world problem solving. Students are engaged in helping others. Their solutions matter to real people. I think that my current experience with PBL in elementary school has always been more of a simulation than real authenticity. Teachers uncomfortable with the change from traditional insturction still teach PBL projects in the same manner (teacher driven instruction) as traditional. I think using some aspects of the Flipped Model in PBL projects might allow teachers to release control of "content" and leave some room for voice and choice for students. A major complaint about PBL in an elementary school is that the teacher ends up doing all of the research. If students can't read, they can't research. Using the flipped model, teachers could link videos and articles to teach content. This would give some choice and differentiation students in a controlled manner. I think I could use the CBL challenge resources to create more authentic projects for students. I plan on sharing these resources with my teachers at our next professional development. "Now more than ever, high quality education for all is a public good that is essential for the good of the public." Linda Darling- Hammond
I love this quote because it sums up the need for educational reform. Every child that falls through a crack will cost tax payers money. The cost of reform is nothing compared to the cost of dropouts, prison and fad reforms. Our future depends on the quality of education we provide our children. I am happy to see that some of these reforms that Linda Darling-Hammond wrote about in 2010 have already taken root. Not that this reform process is complete, or easy and it is still quite controversial. But change is happening. Hopefully we can continue to look at her work as a guide to reform process. 1.Meaningful learning goals- move a way from knowing facts and move towards 21st century skills. Darling-Hammond believes in a some National standards, but curriculum should remain at a state level. Assessments should school based with a heavy focus on performance tasks, testing what students can do, not what facts they can recite. 2. Intelligent, reciprocal accountability systems- Schools, teachers, administation, districts and state need to have an accountability system that goes beyond providing data from a standardized test. Systems for encouraging and monitoring good teaching needs to be in place. If students are asked to achieve higher standards, teachers, schools and districts need to model those higher standards. Reflection and a stance of continued improvement needs to be adopted by the school system. 3. Equitable and adequate resources-Allocate more funds to schools with at-risk populations. Funding on all levels needs to be based on need. Provide incentives to attract high quality teachers to struggling schools. Require testing data to also include quality of teachers and opportunity indicators to level the playing field when looking at data. Ensure that students have the opportunity to learn using equitable resources. For example: if the standard states that students need to research using multiple sources and technologies. Students need to have the opportunity to use those sources and technologies. 4. Strong professional standards and practice- Create a system that encourages quality teaching and continued growth and learning. Darling-Hammond thinks that this can be accomplished in 3 steps. First, teachers need to be encourages to continually refine their practice. Service scholarships should be offered to help teachers continually improve. Incentive should be offered to attract expert teachers to high-need school. Mentoring should be provided for all new or struggling teachers. Next, the teacher preparation and professional development needs to meet 21st century standards. Teacher preparation needs to be performance based, assessing the actual teaching. Teaching candidates needs to spend more time in classrooms practicing with expert teachers. Lastly, expert teachers need to be rewarded and encouraged into school leadership. An infrastructure of expert teachers working to improve the school as a whole. Schools need to build capacity in expert teachers to help guide novice teacher, create collaborative learning opportunities, lead PLC's and lead learning walks. Having expert teachers have a voice in school decisions and sharing leadership roles strengthens the school as a whole. 5. Schools organized for student and teacher learning- School leaders need to be able to redesign a school to meet the need of the students. Schools do not have to look the same. Project Based Learning, International Baccalaureate or STEM schools, each school should be able to use a research based method to reorganized the way students learn to fit the needs of the community it serves. Reflections: I am happy to see a lot of these reforms taking place. Some more than others. I feel that NVUSD is a fairly progressive district, many of these reforms are in action. My job as an academic specialist was created to meet strong professional standards and practice. My job is to work as a peer coach, lead learning walks, facilitate professional development based on my schools' needs. Change is hard. And not everyone meets change with open arms. I feel like we are in this very awkward growth spurt. Many teachers are excited about the new standards, curriculum and assessments and many feel like we are changing too much. So far this year we have worked on revamping reading intervention, ELD, academic language, math and piloting a new language arts program. I float in this odd position of being out of the classroom, but NOT administration. I notice that in our need to reform the entire educational system, we are not giving teachers time to reform. The above plans for reform are great, but the all require a lot of time. I fear that if we reform everything with a sense of urgency, and a lack of planning time for teachers, we will turn reform into another failed educational fad. 1. Notes from A New Culture of Learning- John Seely Brown
|
Teaching Channel Video: Taking a Leap into Blogging with Maria Laureate. |
Taking A Leap Into Blogging
The teacher in the video is by her own definition, not tech saavy. She feels that being able to use technology for learning, not just socially, is important for her 6th graders. She researches how to start a blog, and takes the class on a "blogging journey" with her.
She teaches 6th grade literature and uses the blog as reading reflection and as a way for students to explore point of view. The students write a blog as if they are a character from the book, Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli. I was impressed that she jumped in and had students blog as a character. She was having the students work on ELA standard 6.1 citing evidence & standard 6.3 understanding character and plot as well as 6th grade writing standard.
I learned that you don't have to be an expert. She figure out this process with the students. I think that is a great lesson to teach kids. It is okay not to know the answer, but she showed her students the process she went through in learning how to blog. She used the internet, and skyped with other teachers to learn how to set up classroom blogs. I also like the blog requirements she created, along with the response guides she gave her students. Students knew the protocol of self reflection. How can they improve their writing? Does it make sense to others?
I would love to have a classroom blog. I think that blogging give the students an authentic audience. Their writing is real, it goes out into the real world. Students can share these blogs with family and friends, who can comment on their blog. Students can read each other's writing. Students can comment on each others writing. I think classroom blogging has the potential to cover many standards and all of our district's 6 C's- collaboration, critical thinking, communication, creativity, global connections and character.
I loved everything about this video. I love the way the kids collaborated on their blog posts. I can see students exploring other types of blogs on topics they are interested in, and possibly commenting on those blogs. Blogging has the power to allow students to see their words and ideas in the real world. It gives their voice power. I will give this film a 4 out of 5. My only wish is that the video had a lower grade example as well.
The teacher in the video is by her own definition, not tech saavy. She feels that being able to use technology for learning, not just socially, is important for her 6th graders. She researches how to start a blog, and takes the class on a "blogging journey" with her.
She teaches 6th grade literature and uses the blog as reading reflection and as a way for students to explore point of view. The students write a blog as if they are a character from the book, Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli. I was impressed that she jumped in and had students blog as a character. She was having the students work on ELA standard 6.1 citing evidence & standard 6.3 understanding character and plot as well as 6th grade writing standard.
I learned that you don't have to be an expert. She figure out this process with the students. I think that is a great lesson to teach kids. It is okay not to know the answer, but she showed her students the process she went through in learning how to blog. She used the internet, and skyped with other teachers to learn how to set up classroom blogs. I also like the blog requirements she created, along with the response guides she gave her students. Students knew the protocol of self reflection. How can they improve their writing? Does it make sense to others?
I would love to have a classroom blog. I think that blogging give the students an authentic audience. Their writing is real, it goes out into the real world. Students can share these blogs with family and friends, who can comment on their blog. Students can read each other's writing. Students can comment on each others writing. I think classroom blogging has the potential to cover many standards and all of our district's 6 C's- collaboration, critical thinking, communication, creativity, global connections and character.
I loved everything about this video. I love the way the kids collaborated on their blog posts. I can see students exploring other types of blogs on topics they are interested in, and possibly commenting on those blogs. Blogging has the power to allow students to see their words and ideas in the real world. It gives their voice power. I will give this film a 4 out of 5. My only wish is that the video had a lower grade example as well.
Author
Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.
Archives
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016