These kids made a differerence #pbl

I am really excited.  All of my groups seem to have made a difference in the way that they look at intersection safety, impulse, and momentum.

The kids have met with the mayor, the City Streets board, the Superintendent, called two board members, and met with the Director of Transportation, Facilities Manager and the City Engineer.  The kids have done calculations and figured out the likelihood of injury in different situations.  As a result, they have each come up with ways to reconfigure the parking lot.

Today, at 10 am, three representatives will meet with the city engineer and the facilities manager to see what the next step on the table.

THIS is #pbl

Interest your kids and Move the Learning Paradigm

 I am SOOOOO tired of hearing all the people telling me that kids lack critical thinking skills and then trying to use book to move them to a better place.   

Yes, reading is important.  My students do it every day....digitally.  We critically analyze a small amount of text as we complete the task at hand.

My students do amazing things.   Really.  But that's because project-based learning has revolutionized my classroom.   It matters to some of my students because they like to build something, move around, and THEN think and apply the concepts.   Even if you are unfamiliar with project-based learning, you probably know about 4H, which is PBL in a microcosm.   Get an idea.   Do something to learn about it.  Make something.  Reflect on it in a write-up.  Explain what you did to others. 

So, in the spirit of a picture being a thousand words, think about these kids and your classroom.   How can you interest and inspire them?  They're waiting.





'

State fair projects in origami (math) and drawing (spatial relationships)
should show us that STEM is a critical part of the arts.

How much force can your bridge hold without torsioning?

Stop motion movies created and analyzed to see constant velocity and acceleration.

Group analysis of text relating to the life cycles of variable mass stars

Teamwork and collaboration required

G-forces on a Barbie experiencing a crash with a seat belt

Official for the November 2012 election

Different ways to solve a similar problem

Mechanical advantage can ramp up distance in a mousetrap car

All learners succeed, male and female.

Student presentation synced to a performance at a local concert

Really, do we realize that the future is in these kids' hands?   It is a different future then we had.  They need to be able to analyze, to think, to dance, to learn.   Memorization?  Not so much.   The world is waiting with enormous challenges to be solved.  That is not simply slapping things together.  It's about thinking before, during and AFTER the project.   And they can do it, if you give them an opportunity, rethinking your classroom time and design.

He's waiting.   How do you tap his genius?!

ITEC 2012 Presentation

Science Student Snake Oil ?

Bradley Gordon / CC BY 2.0

I had a conversation with my daughter's principal and counselor this week.   They were helpful as we tried to work out the kinks in a schedule that needed physics for a future STEM career. She had two choices:  an introductory college course or a remedial college course from a local community college.  Where was the high school class, I wondered?  I didn't hear an option.  This is not a post about pointing fingers; I don't know who approved the curriculum or made those decisions, and it would have done me no good to argue.   I left unsatisfied and unsettled, and that made me start thinking.

Don't get me wrong, here.   Community colleges play a vital role in giving access to lifelong learning opportunities.  I don't want to come across as blaming community colleges, but I do want to call attention to the fact that we are not partnering with them the way I think the Senior Year Plus intended .    I support dual-credit courses that are taught by qualified masters' teachers at their local high schools.  I even teach two of them...astronomy and environmental science classes...that transfer as science electives for students going on to business.  But that is after my students have had preparatory work in chemistry, physics, earth science, and biology.

Points to Consider:

• In my own child's school is a teacher with a physics and chemistry certification.  However, the school is small, and assigning him chemistry or physics would require extra pay because of budget cuts.  The district has been able to cut a half-time employment because of this strategy.
• My child heard that endless mantra,  "but you'll get college credit."   This is a snake oil bait-and-switch for many of the kids.  While it is true that many community colleges do give credit, often, the parent doesn't have the background to know if that class meets requirements, in science, humanities, math or general education at the colleges that have a RAI score required for entrance.  Often, the student ends up with a load of credits that do not meet school requirements that have anything to do with the major s/he picks and have to take the classes over again.
• College teachers do not need to be certified in teaching K-12 students but have a Quality Faculty Plan.  As a high school teacher, I am licensed and have over 30 credits in educational theory, grading, and strategies. This brings up a frustration potential for instructors who assume the kids have the necessary level of maturity to act like adults, and are uncertain about strategies for struggling students.  This is not fair to the instructor or the student.
• The student lacks background knowledge. This is a real concern in science, especially physics and chemistry.   These courses usually take a full year of high school curriculum and compact it into a semester.  Without appropriate formation, we compound the misconceptions of kids going into STEM careers and set them up for possible failure.
•  These classes appear to violate the intent of Iowa.  When PSEO was put into place, we allowed kids to take a college class if they were in the top half of the class in 11th and 12th grade and had exhausted the classes offered at the local level.  In legalese, "a comparable course must not be offered by the school district or accredited nonpublic school which the pupil attends."  In Chapter 22 for Iowa schools it says the schools must offer chemistry and physics each at least every other year, and the Iowa Core says that ALL STUDENTS should get this formation. My interpretation, then, is that the schools were supposed to provide local instruction, contract with Iowa Learning Online, or provide an option like Angel Physics.  In this era of blended learning, we also could be sharing teachers between two districts or creating regional science academies like the Oelwein RAMS Center.   .  

Guidance counselors are coming back to school in a few days.  Parents have registered kids, but are awaiting that first week for schedule changes. I would love to believe that we will check with each kid and see what is right for them.

We keep talking about kids and STEM futures.  It's time to step up in and ask if we are doing what is right for kids or what is easy financially.

The Pente Challenge: A STEM activity

Today, I had the privilege to present at the #KeystoneTIC conference, Day 1.  It was a gorgeous day on Upper Iowa University campus in Fayette, IA, and there were teachers there from all over northeast Iowa.  Many of the people in my  Twitter PLN were also there, so it was an exciting day.

My presentation built on an earlier blog post I wrote this year:  STEM:  It's the Process, not the Product.   In that post, I stated my belief that districts need to find ways to integrate STEM without necessarily adopting a canned, expensive program.

Since that time, the National Resource Council Science Framework has been expanded into the Next Generation Science Standards, which are currently in draft form.   Concurrently, funding has been procured six Iowa STEM Hubs have been decided and an Iowa STEM Council has been established as an outreach of the Iowa Math and Science Partnership.  This is a great first step, under the capable leadership of Dr. Jeff Weld.  It will allow for many of the programs that are out there to be built with support from local AEA staff, and will help winnow some of the choices administrators and teachers face when they decide how to spend limited dollars.

Discussion with my peers in elementary and middle school, however, leads me to think we need to look at practices of science and engineering across the curriculum.   In the same way that all teachers must be teaching reading, or literacy strategies, or integrating technology, all teachers will need to be looking at practices of science and engineers.

The group of educators I met with today were up to that challenge.  In it, I outlined the six STEM connections found in the National Resource Council Science Framework, as well as a recent article by Roger Bybee.

1. Asking Questions and Defining Problems
2. Developing and Using Models
3. Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
4. Analyzing and Interpreting Data
5. Using Mathematical and Computational Thinking
6. Constructing explanations and Designing Solutions

While scientists and engineers both use these process tools, they use them in very different ways.  For example, a scientist might use a hypothesis and control variables to check the validity of an idea, while an engineer might brainstorm many different ways to solve a problem, and use different variables to determine factors such as a durability.  Understanding the difference between the practice of scientific inquiry and the process of engineering design is a critical skill for both teachers and informed citizens.

To check out understandings of the differences, we went on to what I called the PENTE challenge, which is a great way to teach students of all ages the process of engineering design.

Many games in the world are based on the concepts found in the game Pente, which allows a win when you get five in a row.   Can you think of some of them?

Hint 1

Hint 2

Hint 3

Task:  Design a game that builds on the concepts or materials in a Pente board to create a new game that is portable enough to fit into a sandwich-sized plastic bag to be used in a place where no electricity is available for video games.  You will pitch your prototype to others.

Materials:  a bag of odds and ends of pony beads, some assorted foam shapes, 5 balls of various colors of yarn, and a scissors

Process:  Assign a recorder to document your design process and record in a shared google doc.  A second author should record the rules.  After playing your game with others, rate the fun factor of the game and how well it connects to the Pente assignment.

Time Limit:  40 minutes.

THIS WAS AMAZING. Some of the groups designed boards made of yarn.  Others made bracelet-types of structure.  They negotiated rules.  Teamwork was apparent.  Collaboration was necessary to record information in a Google doc.  Presentation skills were used when they shared their ideas.  (Note that acting as a design engineer did not require power tools, but it did require critical thinking, looking for loopholes and a willingness to design for a large variety of age levels. The activity could be shifted in many different directions)

Here's some questions that we discussed that are worth thinking about if you use this activity with your own staff.

1. Do engineers engage in inquiry, or is design something entirely different?
2. How much guidance do you give kids in this activity (open vs guided structure)
3. If the students don't take the time to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the project, what  are they really learning?
4. Is durability (which can be measured in terms of averages, standard deviations, or product fail rates) a measure of mathematics?
5. Is the process of rule-writing actually science or language arts?
6. Would the vocabulary of engineers be introduced before or after the activity?
7. Is this a student-centered teaching activity that teaches universal constructs?  
8. How can we teach all the standards in the common core, including the upcoming standards, if we don't integrate?
9. Was this more about science, or engineering, or was it an even split?

A summary of the presentation, as well as links to the games designed can be found here.   I'd love to hear your comments or questions.

Ideas to fix an intersection: Physics #PBL learning project

Teacher Note:  As a final project after the seniors graduated, 10th and 11th graders looked at the safety of the back parking lot behind the school.  This area has a tremendous amount of daily traffic,and several fender-benders, as well as a two-vehicle collision, have occurred there in the past year.  Fortunately, no one has been hurt.   We had a variety of opinions as to whether this was due to operator error or safety.  Students went out to observe the locale and made measurements between 10 and 12:45 pm on a school day.

Students then needed to create a physical or digital model, think of sample situations that could happen at the location, and make recommendations as to whether or not the intersection, in their opinion, was safe enough, or if it needed changing.  Their work needed to be scaled and supported by physics equations that demonstrated their understanding of the term.  The project below summarizes their results.

Due to the time frame of the project, we were unable to contact board members or present to school personnel, but student opinions have been forwarded onward.  Verbal discussions indicated common errors were noted (for example, speed limits in a school zone are 25 mph) but not necessarily changed in the videos that were uploaded.  Some calculation errors may be present. 

Google Sketchup Model of Intersection by Gage K.

To Whom It May Concern:

As students of West Delaware High School, we have created a proposition to make the travel around the school a safer environment for students and faculty. We are addressing this to the school board and hope the information provided will be used to conclude whether or not we should redesign this intersection to make it safer.

It has been previously asked if the intersection involving Prospect Street, Sherman Avenue, and the faculty parking lot is unsafe for the school community. After research, we have concluded this intersection poses a threat to the safety of the West Delaware students. Our findings have enabled us to create a list of options to make this intersection a safer place.

Due to the lack of speed limit signs, stop signs, and curbs, it is known that people of the community are moving at speeds higher than fifteen miles per hour in a school zone. This in itself is a threat to students coming to or leaving school by walking or driving in a vehicle. We are addressing this situation to the school board mainly because this intersection is near school property, but it will involve many others in the town of Manchester. The community will also need to address the situation. If costs become unreasonable or more needs to be done, we should also address the rest of the community and town officials to ask for financial help.

When we study a situation such as this and find we need to make a change, there are costs involved. Our current plan is to add an 80 foot curb along the faculty lot connecting the lot to Prospect. Our research suggests this curb will cost between 350 and 400 dollars. Other calculations are still in the process to find additional costs.

Multiple concerns with this intersection directly affect the school community.

• Last fall, an accident involving two students occurred at this intersection. After speaking with students, many complain of low visibility of this intersection. 
• The main concern is difficulty seeing cars driving on Prospect Street from the stop sign on Sherman Avenue. 
• We are concerned a crash with more physical and community impact may occur here if nothing is done to review the safety of this intersection. It may take many years for this accident to occur, but we believe it is important to look at this as a hazard to safety now, and then decide whether or not something should be done to create a more protected intersection. 
• Summer break begins soon, which means there will be significantly less people using this area and it could be the best time to reconstruct this intersection. 

We hope you will review the information and decide whether or not this intersection should be changed. As students, we understand that this intersection could be deemed “safe,” but we want to be sure this intersection is “safe enough.” 


Sincerely,


Team B














Is this the BEST project-based learning effort ever?  Perhaps not, because our presentations were videotaped, rather than presented to the administration and board.  But it IS timely, relevant, based on real-world data, and filled with application.  And to my students, who asked me to forward on our data to the superintendent/grounds people/school board for safety reasons, perhaps it was the best way for them to use their ideas, talents, and abilities to remember that physics can matter.

It is my hope that the someone in the District will take some time this summer/fall to look at the intersection between 7:45 and 8:15 in the morning, as well as between 2:50-3:20 in the afternoon.

Signs and curbs may be the result of this process, and we can certainly put a dollar sign upon them, but the fact that students can do a critical analysis bodes well for their futures.  What will you do as you reflect and plan for next year to help your students with new ideas?  The answer to that, of course, may well be priceless.

It's not personal....

(licensed under a Creative Commons attribution)


It's seven days from the end of my online course, twelve days from the end of my traditional classes.   Two of my own kids have just finished online coursework as well.  I've been frustrated, impressed, distressed, and ready to shout, "Enough Already."  The majority of my students have done a great job.  But 10 are on the cusp.  The last week or two of effort will push them up to C or drop them to a F.

Then it hit me.   Just like the Tom Hanks character in the old rom-com,  "You've Got Mail,"  these kids were telling me,  "It's not personal, it's the way I do business."  So, in the midst of online procrastination, where I was seeing missed opportunities, the kids were seeing "Git-r-DUN" as a mantra for their success.

It irritated me.  I had worked hard all year to develop relationships with kids: didn't that translate to them doing their best on the courses?  No, it turns out, it doesn't always. It did, however, mean that they would try to pass the class, and move on....even if they had to come in after school, or work until 11:55 pm when the test closed at midnight.

So what do I see? Is this 21st century effort?  Is 6% an acceptable at-risk rate?  Are 90+% of my kids passion-driven or just compliant so I only had to deal with a few stragglers? Are these kids finding that the knowledge I have to offer isn't worth the cost?  Is the Project-Based Learning I am doing with kids valuable?  I will be reflecting on this during the summer, but I also will have the kids evaluate me before the end of the year to try to get the data.

My own children tell me that they are always running, and that it comes down to the ultimate purpose of what we are learning.  If learning is applicable to something else (a project, an application for the future, or even for graduation credit), it's worth trying on.  Learning facts, however, is easily tuned out because Reddit, Facebook, and a thousand other digital diversions take their place.

"C'mon, Mom," says one of my kids.  "You know I'll never use this stuff again.  I just jumped through the hoop to get the credit."   And it would appear her view echoes many students.  In my own classes, passing all the summative assessments, and passing equals high school credit; I always have a few kids who only aim for that goal.

But I want the classroom to be a dynamic place where kids are excited and challenged, rather than a place where they listen half-heartedly or put their heads down.   How can I translate that excitement?  How can I get better at what I do? Where does student interest finally trump student procrastination?

Judging from discussions with teachers this week, I am not alone in this frustration.  But I am grateful I have resisted the urge to be angry, as I know that will get me (and more importantly, my students) nothing.  Deep breath.  Go on.  Gather data you can reflect upon later.  But it's hard not to be upset.  We are in a profession built on relationships, on connections, and were were trained as content experts.

After all, in "You've Got Mail" Kathleen Kelly responds to the jibe,  "Not personal?  What is that supposed to mean? ...it means it wasn't personal to you.  But it was personal to me."

Is Disruptive Innovation Compatible with Education?

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to listen to Ray McNulty, the president of the International Center for Leadership in Education, commonly known as Daggett's organization.  We spent a lot of time discussing innovations in education, and especially how those innovations affect the work of organizations as they define and refine their #rti process.   This was our capstone meeting for the IRIS/RTI pilot project in Iowa.

***
McNulty spoke last year, and was the first person to introduce me to John Hattie's book, Visible Learning, which was a meta-analysis of research into education efforts with a large effect size.  Grant Wiggins also highlighted this research on  best practices in a recent post, and Hattie's latest book is Visible Learning for Teachers, which tries to highlight ways to implement these ideas in the classroom.   Ray reminded us that socio-economic status and home environment were not on the list, in spite of our assumptions and misconceptions to the contrary.  That gave me food for thought immediately on helping all students achieve.

Then, we discussed turnaround schools, including the successful literacy initiative at Brockton High school.   Not surprisingly, McNulty pointed out the need for a systemic change, which led to this insight:

If you could get teachers in your school to do only 3 things well and consistently, what would you ask of them? 


How simple is that?  Three things, done by all on a staff, perhaps proposed by different cohorts of stakeholders who came to consensus.  They need large effect sizes, and perhaps are the things that @jasonglassia referenced in a tweet earlier today.  That's the job of the system.  CHOOSE WISELY.

***
But then, Ray pulled a rabbit out of his hat.  I felt like he was channeling Steve Jobs as he described his 'one last thing'.  Here it is:   In order for us to move to the next level, we must value innovators, and realize that innovation is what we must accomplish, rather teachers who produce deliverables.

Deliverables are lessons, lectures, papers and tests.  They include presentations, discussions with the board, and newsletter posts. They are important.  They form the backbone of our system, but they do not encourage the types of questions that promote innovation.  In education, we have traditionally valued deliverables over innovation, so entrepreneurial ideas and educational outliers are often discouraged or pushed out.


Five points to consider (Ray's McNulty's statements in brown, followed by my questions):

• Innovators practice associational thinking.  
• When was the last time your staff members connected to other disciplines, businesses, and countries?  
• Does your staff look for global change, or stay focused on their own buildings?
• Do staff members have charge of their own networking and PD, or is the role of your administration to design and control such experiences?
• Innovators have the ability to experiment. 
• When was the last time your staff got to try something just to see IF it worked? 
• Is there a  'fail-forward' reflection policy to innovation? 
• Does your system adopt 'programs' or 'best-practices', and how is stakeholder input maximized?
• How are experiments in the system communicated with your other stakeholders?
• Innovators have the ability to observe from an outside vantage point.
• Does your system look at other successful systems to see opportunities and potential pitfalls?
• Have you encouraged your staff to visit other successful systems to see different points of view?
• Do you value staff comments and questions, or squelch them?
• Innovators have the ability to question.
• Does your staff include questioners? 
• Is there a systemic process to encourage questioning?
• Do staff feel safe in asking questions or making observations?
• Are questioners of value, or are they 'loose cannons' to be marginalized?
• How does questioning move from the stakeholder to the administrative level?
• Innovation doesn't occur in an entire system; it grows in unexpected pockets, with an administration that then builds capacity.
• What innovation pockets exist in your system?
• Does your system allow for disruptive innovations?
• Are staff members who passionately and effectively pursue an unexpected innovation rewarded?
• Are system structures formed to encourage innovations to be shared and mentor others?

I find myself, after working in quite a few systems, reflecting on how very hard it is for a CEO or system expert to welcome disruptive innovation.   After all, the expert has large amounts of training and theory in setting vision, developing budget, and setting goals for the management of their organization and employees.   They make reasonable statements like, "We should  consider that next year," or "We've always done that and it's worked alright," or "I didn't expect you to do that."   Such comments work well for loyalists who want to produce deliverables and work within the company framework.  Our industrial model is built on such leadership.

But that is EXACTLY the problem with innovators.  They are intrinsically self-motivated, and driven by passion rather than a company vision that operates on a 3-5 year time frame.  They will do things without being asked, and often succeed at possibilities that are remote.  They are frustrating because they want new challenges and challenge traditional structures of top-down leadership, and they offer advice that is unsolicited.

How do we balance the needs of the system, which places its focus on stability and deliverables, with that of transformative learning, which encourages the value of innovation?  It is tough.  Excellence is not mandated, it is coaxed, like a fragile flower, out of soil that has been well-prepared and watered.

If They're Succeeding Why Do I Feel Bad?

Tomorrow morning is quarter grading period time.   All information must be posted by 8:30 am so it can go out to parents, and interested students.  I always find myself waiting until the last night to enter in those final grades, reluctant to finalize the process we've attempted in the last 9 weeks with a grade.  My rationale?  In the end, most of your grade will be represented by that little 'dash' that forms the spaces between the moment you were born and the moment you moved on beyond this life.

I hate grading. Honestly, I don't let kids go on until they show me competence in an area.  They must, for example, be able to show me mastery of vectors in more than one way, explaining the concept using scaling of golf courses, personal discussion, and Google forms.   And they must do a great deal of personal reflection on their tasks, which I grade for understanding.  The projects are the main part of the grade, and the assessments at the end are to make certain that they have been successful.  If they have not been successful, I pull them out, and reteach, and let them retake the test.. That means that I pull them out DURING my class, usually, and then work one-on-one with them.  And then I give them the score they earn on the retest.  Then I give them an alternative way to make up the project work, which includes setting up the lab, for example, at home and then bringing in their data, or their edible race car, or whatever it is.

So if I fast-forward to the end of the semester, I have kids who 'normally' get Cs and Ds but who have worked hard for me and have scored As and Bs.  And if they retested and 'got it', so what if I don't have low scores? But when I post grades, that nagging self-doubt of argument works like this:

"Is learning about trying to weed out the As from the lower levels, or is it about checking to see for their understandings?  Am I giving out As because I believe in their competence?  What does an A mean, anyway?"


The content I teach kids is deep and focused on the essential concepts found in the Iowa Core.   The ideas I want my kids to have are based first in relevancy, grounded in project-based learning, and evidenced through daily work, collaboration, and honest dialogue.  It should be designed to help kids to think about their thinking as well as helping them to succeed.

If what I am doing is right, most kids SHOULD be succeeding at an A level, at least in a definition where A translates from competency.  I should be reveling in the idea that my kids know what is expected, I work with them to get it, and I check for their understanding.  But not many people do it this way. Perhaps that bothers me most of all.

And that question haunts me:   Am I doing it right?

Plan B: The Google Form

My students' needs are evolving, and one of the things that I have found is this:  not all of my kids appreciate uploading assignments through Moodle   Honestly, many of them would rather have a tooth pulled, and so I have gone to Plan B:  the Google Form.  They can cut and paste their work and quickly enter things in.  I can take a look at the form and easily see the problems, the answers, and the misconceptions.   This seems to me to be a win-win, as I have created a mini-database of questions and answers without entering a plethora of data responses.

As I reflected on this in my physics classes, I began a new experiment.   A requirement of my class is now a Google account.   Assignments, graphs, and logger pro data forms are uploaded and shared with me for assignment credit.   My biggest challenge is simply sorting the data into the right folder in my documents.

This process does not allow the deep, rich discussion present in an online forum, but it does have advantages.  For example, I am able to share the entire data set with my students and have in-class discussion that is focused solely on the data reported, or the metacognition that students share with me.

In this example, I have the following form:

Here are some of the comments to be shared with my kids as we prepare for group discussion in my face-to-face or reflective time (perhaps this could be used as a backchannel prompt?):

What kind of a discussion would this lead to in your classroom?

Self-Differentiation Project on Stellar Evolution

My students often self-differentiate, adapting their skill sets and their interests to share their knowledge.   This is a one day project that my upper level astronomy students completed on stellar life cycles.  They were given three options for showing me their understandings, and many ideas resulted.

One thing I noticed was that these kids need some copyright attribution work.  Pictures, and music, are subject to copyright, a fact which many of them seem to have missed.  So while I am comfortable with the work, I see a chance to improve my craft, and that of my students.



Toon Doo

carnahan

The Stellar Evolution of Sonny by carnahan | Make your own at www.toondoo.com

Shared Google Docs https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=ddmzdjgh_30hhnthkdd

PowerPoint 

VREP Blender Movie 

Creative Writing


How do you differentiate in your classroom without a lot of stress?   I'm thrilled to see ideas AND hear about teaching kids responsible copyright use.

11 keys for online/blended learning

I talked to someone in passing last week who asked me about the blended learning I've done this year with Oelwein.  They asked, "when should a teacher start becoming a blended learning or online instructor?" It's critical that we ask this as we look at Iowa's need to accelerate online opportunities for all kids in a way that doesn't outsource all Iowa dollars.  In particular, many smaller districts might find value in sharing a world languages teacher, or a science educator, or a special mathematics course with another adjacent school.

A week later, I still find that to be a really intriguing question, but my gut tells me it's not a matter of time as a teacher, it's a matter of skill sets.   Think of this as a competency-based education check for teachers; if you don't have the skills, you're not ready for online facilitation.

Skills I've found to be critical this year include:

1. Flexibility:   This is my #1 caveat for an online instructor.   You must Must MUST be flexible.   Technologies will fail.   Documents will get lost.  Kids will get ill.  A family relative will pass on.  And if you don't adjust, work with the kids, and restart them when they shut down, you will lose a lot of kids.  My own children have benefited from ILO instructors who reset activities, reworked unit deadlines, and substituted alternative assessments.   The caveat from RTI (student learning is the constant, but time and pathway are variables) is particularly valuable here.   Online learning is about helping kids to learn the topic at hand, NOT about helping kids to learn about deadlines imposed by you without their input.   Please, teach them about the need for thinking, for understanding and constructing meaning, and leave the punch-clock to someone else.
2. A belief that all kids can learn:   I really, really believe, as several sets of national standards have proclaimed, that we all have an ability to learn if the conditions are right.   This is not about telling kids that 'online classes are for smart kids' or 'online only works for honors,', because the reality is much more simple.   You have a toolbox as a teacher and that number one tool inside of it is relationship.   If you establish that relationship with kids, you will find a way to help them learn the material in a way that is meaningful to them.
3. A sense of humor:  Really, this goes hand-in-hand with relationships.  I make mistakes.   So do kids.  And when you have a hiccuping bandwidth, this can result in garbled posts, or failures in uploads, or a txt message to a wrong number.   A good giggle in moments like these has made things better.
4. A 24/7 mentality:  It is NOT ok to turn off contact with your kids on the weekends.  And they need more than one way to reach you.   Kids can contact me on twitter, via Google, Skype, a message on Facebook, email, or you can one of the many online apps or services that allow kids to text to an online number that you set up.  If you don't want to talk on Adobe Connect, set up McDonald's study dates, since they have free wifi.  Plan times that are convenient for the student into your overall course time and structure.  Ask them with a Doodle calendar Why?  Because it's about their learnings.
5. A smart phone:  This digital Swiss army knife allows me to view my various email accounts, check my messages on the various platforms at lunch (valuable if you have a social media block at a building), check the weather (in case I need to cancel for a snow day), and even check my blog or Moodle to see what my students need in the online realm.. I really feel like I need to quote Princess Vespa from Spaceballs here, "It's my industrial strength hairdryer  Android and I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT."  It is the communication tool I need.
6. An understanding of what's important:   Here, I am talking about your content standards and your pedagogy, not a textbook.   If you, as a teacher, aren't sure what's important for your kids to learn, it's likely that you need to wait a while before becoming an online instructor.  Everyone has their own journey, but the principles of Understanding by Design, (Wiggins and McTighe) and the work of Rick Stiggins helped me figuring out how standards and assessment went hand-in-hand.  My online classroom is student-centered, using elements gleaned from constructivism and learning cycles, project-based learning, and the tome "How People Learn."    I have a background in content, but more importantly, I am a teacher who helps kids construct meaning in content.  Big difference.
7. Models:  If you are not able to hang the topic at hand on a model, the students will struggle.  The good news: there are teaching models available in every content area, from the 5E learning cycle to the six-way paragraph to an excel spreadsheet to the research process.  There are analogies.  There are simple representations.   The model, which many people teach as the afterthought, is a critical shift for student engagement and concrete representation for online students..  Students can construct their own models, and you can provide them with examples to engage their critical thinking.  Students can connect their own models to prior knowledge and new learnings.
8. Student reflection and formative assessment:  It is especially critical in the online arena to find out what your students do and do not know.   I use threaded discussions, group discussions, linoits, note checks, and Google forms as a way to gather information in a non-threatening way for formative assessments and to see where the common misconceptions are located. Page Keeley is a wonderful resource for setting this material up.
9. 1. A willingness to learn and struggle with technology:   This is more than a teacher who likes to learn the latest version of a presentation package.   To know if this teacher will be effective, look to see if the technology is being used as an end product, or if a project is present that appropriately uses the technology as a tool.  Does the teacher offer multiple ways of completing an assignment, and does s/he encourage the use of web authoring tools?  In addition to teaching kids, the teacher who is an online instructor must have basic troubleshooting skills.   Students may need to learn about uploading documents, attaching files, or placing things in a Dropbox.   Teachers will need to construct quizzes, and unit outlines.  If you want your teacher to use Moodle or another LMS, have your teacher demonstrate their mastery through an online class or through self-study.
10. 1. A passion for learning:  Teachers who are good online instructors are people who want to have a conversation with others and be lifelong learners.  They learn from collaboration, from their own PLN, and from their students.  They share out their ideas with others, but they also ask others for feedback.   The online arena is not meant to be a place for an egocentric content master.   It's meant to be a place where learners can engage materials and questions in new and different ways...so they can learn, in the end, without us.
11. 1. A mentor:  I'm grateful to the people who have mentored me and helped me grow as a teacher, but in the past year, I am especially grateful for the support of the people who have helped me when I needed to bounce ideas and figure out what was working.  Find a mentor for your teacher, and both the mentor and the teacher will benefit.

If you look back on this post and you say,  "Wow, this means I need experienced, talented, totally committed teachers to become part of the blended learning process," you have gotten the point.   Good real world teachers make good online instructors because they have transferable skills and a love for learning with and teaching others.   We get out of online education what we put into it, so we should be building coursework that we would like to deliver in-person to all our students as well as in the online arena.

While Iowa has a 98% graduation rate, the world is changing, and Iowa is behind the curve in the number of online or blended offerings it has available for all students.  Iowa Learning Online has lead the way, but there is much still to be done.  Blending, as in the #iacopi project, benefits current learners as well as currently disenfranchised students.  Growing our own online offerings needs to happen in Iowa, and a sustainable approach can help teachers grow as professionals as well as helping our students.


I would love to hear your thoughts or questions on this approach.  Contact me at @marciarpowell on twitter or comment below.

Evaluations Should be an Annual Vitamin

I remember being told at my first job,  "Evaluations are valuable, because they point out what you do well and how you can grow.  Consider them a vitamin for your soul."  I was 14, and my evaluator was a camp director, evaluating my ability to relate to kids, my peers, and my content knowledge in the area of camp skills. While I didn't agree with all she had to say, her words and her method of looking for evidence with rubrics seems valuable thirty years later.

Why is this so hard for the education community to grasp?  What is it about this conversation that is so difficult in Iowa?  I'll admit that the current dog-and-pony binder that makes up the Charlotte Danielson  model for Iowa teachers is not that arduous, but it's not that effective for a career level teacher, either.   I can see the value of this type of evaluation for a teacher in the first few probationary years, but Iowa teachers should have something different beyond that.

And I enjoy completing my Individual Career Development Plan, because its the place where I can experience additional growth in a manner that matches personal goals.   But I can also see how some people would like to jettison this part of the evaluation, as it can be completed within hours--just another report to write and for the administrator to sign off on.

So how do we redo this system?   I know what I'd like to see, and it is not a once-every-three-year show; but it also is not meant to be bigger, longer, and more difficult for administrators.   Hey, let's look for simplicity:

• a student evaluation of the teacher.  This is standard practice in most colleges, so why not ask kids?   Survey monkey or google forms can make this less arduous to compile.
• a personal reflection on a videotaped lesson with my administrator.   I'm not necessarily convinced that I need to have a 10 page written paper, ala NBCT, but I do need to talk about what I am good at and what I think I'm working on.   I would think that an evaluator could schedule one of these per week in about an hour, and it would be less cumbersome than the 5 page narratives that accompany my current 3 year evaluations.   A standard rubric could be used for this purpose.
• evidence of personal growth and learning for the year using my ICDP framework and my efforts to grow professsionally.  This could be a myriad of things:  presentations to colleagues, authentic intellectual work, Japanese lesson study, work with the science writing heuristic, KU notetaking strategies, tech integration, STEM integration.   Since most districts are already meeting in PLCs, this allows for peer conversation that focuses on the strengths and efforts of the teachers.   A rubric would again be able to highlight the strengths of the teacher, but the documentation in the personnel file would be the current IDCP report.
• evidence of assessment for and of learning.   Here again I would say this discussion is work of the PLC and a necessary component of RTI that will be helpful as we identify and help all learners.  A database of sorts is a necessary artifact of this process, and one that will naturally follow RTI implementation.
• a culture of wanting to learn and get better.   Frankly, I don't know how to measure this.  But I know that it will be reflected in the way teachers, parents, admin, and community treat their kids, as well as how they interact with one another.  It's a sense that says,  "we do this for the kids, we want to keep learning, and we'll do whatever it takes."  I do know that if educators can't do this, we need an exit strategy for those teachers, not a long-developed tenure system. When we focus on anything else:  personal glory, living through our children, feeding our need for kudos, or believing that one subgroup matters more than another, we set our children up for failure.   We all know we do this at some point ...we just hope that we can quickly get re-energized and regain our passion.  

What are your ideas about how to evaluate teachers, administrators, and the effectiveness of the job we do?  Are we headed in the right direction with the Iowa Ed Blueprint?  I'd love to hear about it on the QuickTopic below.

Discuss How do we conduct meaningful teacher evaluations?

STEM Products vs. Process

Straight from the top, I can tell you that I love it when my kids think like scientists.  And while scientists don't always share the same language as engineers, they use many of the same practices.   They generate an idea, they try to test for the idea, and they try to adapt the idea.   While engineering goes further than science does in its application, ICLE would call engineering a Quadrant D application of a scientific concept.

The difference here is critical.   Scientists are trying to generalize an idea by looking for models and patterns, and engineers are trying to develop the general idea into a specific application or direction.  This language became separated as we spoke of inquiry in the original science standards, and led to separate technology standards for the 'tech prep' arena of a decade or two ago.   Elementary science started developing kit science (FOSS, VAST) while high schools began looking at models, Iowa career and tech education developed separate standards, the first career academies flourished, and we started duplicating efforts all over the place in Iowa Schools.

While I believe in spiraling curriculum, sometimes we have been so quick to jump on a program bandwagon that we lose sight of the overarching ideas.   Spiraling tech ed, science, and agriculture should be intentional.  Instead, after personally teaching in seven different districts (yikes!) I have often seen underutilized, if not wasted, resources.   Back in the early nineties, one district spent $30000 on a curriculum for Principles of Technology that served 12 kids per year while the high school science budget for a high school of 300 was $200/year.   Another nineties district in which I taught poured money into its AP curriculum while the business teacher had difficulty getting replacement ribbons for typewriters.   By the end of the decade, I had moved into teaching in a school that had CORD curricula and a CISCO Academy, but no plan on how to build capacity in case a teacher left.  The cycle appears to repeat every ten to fifteen years with the latest and greatest program.

It's not that I am personally against any of these initiatives; I'm not.   I've taught CORD curriculum, I've been an instructor in a local Kirkwood academy, and served for many years as a technology director. If we had unlimited resources, I would love to have all sorts of great curriculum options without financial restraint. Unfortunately, we are bound by the limitations of our checkbooks, and we often jump on-board to new ideas without looking for a cost-benefit ratio.  Not all STEM initiatives are equal, but just as true, not all classes cost the same to teach.  Were all of these STEM initiatives well-meaning?  Absolutely!  Well-planned and executed, including stakeholders from CTE, science, and technology integration?  Probably not.

That leads to one simple conclusion:  It's not about the program. It's about the process.    Districts need to define the skills they want their kids to be able to have to be successful in the local economy, in the state of Iowa, and indeed, in the global economy.  And then they need to invest in their teachers to develop those skill sets as practitioners. 

Based on that criteria, we might look at what's already working for almost nothing.  Local districts might consider an investment of $1000 towards a Lego League using the Lego NXT robotic controller, especially considering the payoff of last year's Ames' Girl Scout troop prosthetic hand invention.   Open-source environments like SCRATCH programming or Kodu  teach coding and problem-solving in game-centered environments without exorbitant yearly fees.  These efforts are also STEM-driven, but they require the teacher to develop the rigor and the relevance.   This difference focuses on people, rather than technology, because regardless of the rigor of a curriculum, it is only as good as the pedagogical practices of the instructor.

Perhaps the best piece of reform on the spectra of STEM efforts in the last five years is the development of the science writing heuristic.  Rather than spending money on a canned set of widgets, teachers are given professional development to learn about practices of science and engineering, applied to all the processes that go on in a normal classroom.   It's holistic, and kids develop habits of mind that are beneficial everywhere, including engineering.   These skills include reflection, backing claims with evidence, and negotiation and collaboration.  Students are writing to learn, and gathering data in ways that meet their individual insights and illustrate their understandings.  The rigor and relevance are demonstrated by students using the method to show their understanding, and by the reflective educator who is able to unpack misconceptions in the areas of conceptual science and engineering.

As the nextGen Science Framework hints, we are closer now to teaching kids about BOTH science and engineering, and the Framework replaces vague definitions of 'inquiry' with 'practices of scientists and engineers.'   In this soon-to-be-released set of standards, those practices appear to be an integral discussion.   Wise practitioners and curriculum leaders would do well to discuss these standards with all stakeholders in the building, so we can spiral effectively towards helping students learn those skills of problem-solving, creativity, and analysis in ALL our classrooms.

Online Learning: Which Way to Go?

Well, it's been a big week.   Apple debuted it's new i-texts, and the Anita District is one of the schools in the state exploring online learning for its next year of offerings.  Several others are contemplating the idea.

And yet...I hesitate about these types of corporate blended learning.   In all honesty, I don't see that this new form of education is much different than the 'old' form of education we've had for years, and which has met the needs of top-level, highly-motivated** kids for a fee.   (**emphasis mine)



Traditional Online Options 

Quite honestly, if all your student does is read online, do simulations online, and take a traditional test online, I'm not certain that the criteria of rigor and relevance is being met in their education; more likely, you are letting the book or the canned curriculum dictate what is best for your students.  This seems to me to be what is happening with the big online programs being pursued by Iowa School Districts.  It's an easy fix, especially since about 80% of the general fund goes to teaching salaries.  What if you could replace a teacher with a digital curriculum that meets 24/7?  Should your district do it?  I'd suggest doing some homework before saying yes to one of these schools, especially when you look beyond their intro videos to the meat of the content. Shoehorning kids into a class only for the purpose of checking the curriculum off a list of to-be-completed requirements is not the best reason to choose one of these classes.

Version 2.0 of these classes, replacing the correspondence courses of old, often has a flash applet or two that 'talks at your kid' and a chat feature at a specified (usually evening) time.  If you are fortunate enough to have a fast internet connection, your kids may benefit from these sessions, but the rest of this coursework is content, not relationship.   I can get content from a myriad of sources, but creating understandings, forging trust and confidence in a child--that is a much tougher task, and the real reason we have teachers..  What will you do for the struggling learner?  The one who has difficulty reading or articulating the content?  The one whose parents are going through a tough time? What about those haptic learners who need models to hang their hats on?  What about the kids who need RTI intervention?  And if....a million other questions your district needs to answer.  Our biggest nod to reform in the online environments will be requiring the BOEE to go through and make sure teachers teaching them have an Iowa License.

Does this mean we will have Iowa teachers leading these classes in a manner that meets the needs and interests and Iowa kids?  Probably not.  I can get a license in most states already because of my current teaching experience, but that doesn't mean I will understand  kids who are so far away.  Imagine if I were to teach the students in a Maine class about a water ecosystem, focusing on my experience (the freshwater Mississippi) instead of theirs (a saltwater estuary).   The misconceptions that would arise would be immense.   Additionally, classes being taught this way don't always have teachers available on the weekend...at least in the experiences my family has had.

At this point, it's fair to ask why I have an opinion on these type of experiences.  Simply put, my own kids have taken several online classes (due to extended illness and anxiety). And as a teacher of 20+ years, I have seen many students work with everything from the Kentucky Migrant Worker Project to APOnline options to correspondence courses to A+ credit recovery.  The courses have ranged from acceptable to awful, and some of them were proctored by a person you could email for questions.  Very few of them had a quick turnaround time for students with questions; some required as long as 3 days.

Here are three local, home-grown options that are worth a closer look.


#ILO, or Iowa Learning Online

Again, two of my older children and some of my students have had experience with the Iowa Learning Online curriculum.   The instructors who are involved in this project have been recognized nationally as Milken educators, and have given back to the local community, regional AEAs and state initiatives to build consensus.   Why do I think it's superior to the online curricula others are looking at?  Here are a sampling of the reasons.

• The work that they have created in courses such as biology and chemistry is project-based in nature.
• It's relevant and rigorous, based on the Iowa Core, and hits on topics ranging from the Manson Meteorite to the chemistry of hard and soft water.  
• Students are given partners and must complete their work, their presentations, and their collaborations using online tools and gradual release of responsibility, rather than passive set-and-get modules.
• Chats are again held to answer questions, but simulations are augmented with regional labs, ICN or Adobe Connect discussions, and meta-cognition that is focused on student questions, rather than simplistic end-of-the-chapter work.  
• In science, with which I am most familar, effective science and engineering practices (to use the language of the National Science Framework) are integrated as inquiry labs, done as homework, and processed through the efforts of experienced teachers.
• Teachers in ILO have extensive training in online facilitation. I've seen them adjust timelines, reschedule meetings for sick kids, self-pace kids.   This caring and flexibility is critical for online education.

In short, ILO has done quality online and distance-learning for more than 8 years with Iowa teachers using best-practices and local collaboration.  This is part of the 'online learning' portion of the governor's proposed blueprint 2.0 and a better learning environment because it's been proven through time.

#iacopi, or Iowa Communities of Practice

Iowa Communities of Practice, or #iacopi, has taken a decidedly local approach.  Here, it's not about removing teachers from the kids; it is, however, about creating learning environments by allowing teams of teachers to collaborate.  Teachers meet and work to develop a quality curriculum that allows differentiation and collaborations between classes in different schools.  This is very valuable because

• The work that they have created in courses includes the areas of English, social studies, math, and science.
• The teachers use each other and the Iowa Core content standards as a platform to suggest ideas of covering a topic.
• It's relevant and rigorous, and allows students to create, synthesize and collaborate with others in the room and those who are in similar classes across the state.
• Students are doing minds-on work.  Because the instruction can be simultaneously online and in-class, multiple modes of learning are happening simultaneously.   Activity, technology integration, and processing are happening in groups.
• Assessment can be compared from school-to-school, giving new possibilities for the end-of-course options.
• While the content concepts are the same, different schools use different focal points for their projects, and share among peers.
• Teachers can employ a gradual release of responsibility as differentiation and collaboration increase.
• Teachers are given training in online facilitation. 

Iowa Communities of Practice is truly revolutionary in the sense that it is developing a collaborative culture in Iowa.   It's helping to stitch 140 individuals in buildings across the state into a "system of schools," rather than a silo approach.  It's reSOURCE Iowa content is evolving, and communication wikis, twitter and regional meetings change the ideas of rigor and professional development for participants..  One of the outside observers at the last meeting remarked,  "The true strength of what you are doing is in the teacher collaboration.  There's not much like this out there."  

Oelwein Chemistry Project...right in the middle

This year I have been involved in the Oelwein project, which puts this concept of local blended learning right in the middle of ILO and #iacopi.  Let me take a second to recap.

In May, I received a tweet from an online colleague commenting that Oelwein had not been able to find a part-time chemistry teacher.  #ILO was not an option, because the classes were full, and #ILO was not designed to handle an entire district of kids.  Rather, it was focused at helping schools offer curriculum for a small number of students in each district (for example, if there are 2 or 3 kids in a school who need physics) Those who have tried to locate a teacher in a shortage area know that this difficulty arises more commonly than we would like to think.  

I already teach full-time during the day, but I was ready for an experiment.  After a series of conversations with the principal,  superintendent, and AEA consultant, and the Oelwein School Board, I presented a vision that would combine elements of both types of blended learning.  My thought:  the curriculum would be online, but I would be available on text, chat, phone, and the kids would meet weekly for a modeling/lab session, with a followup on missing homework.   I would be employed by the district as a part-time teacher in a different capacity than a normal 8-4 classroom. I've been compiling my successes and challenges from this experiment, but that's another post.  What I will tell you is that this model is:

• flexible for kids, as they have a choice of meeting times and contacting me.  Their school day schedule has a built-in 9th hour study hall they can use for online access at school, and I have met with kids to meet their needs using any number of communication techniques.
• uses online learning as a tool, and is aligned to the Iowa Core, the Oelwein Districts, and also adapts the ILO chemistry outline. 
• It's project-based, with modeling and reflection built into the course.   
• It's flexible for me as an instructor, and has allowed me to collaborate with a master teacher.  I find myself day-dreaming about the possible applications here.  I spend a chunk of time in Oelwein each week (including several Sunday night McDonald's sessions),  but more importantly, I'm able to connect with the students wherever they are at in terms of content. There are tons of possibilities, but perhaps the biggest change of all is that my perception of teaching is no longer time-based and industrial.   It's instead, competency-based, based on what the students still need to be successful.

I hope you have a million questions about online learning, but before you jump to a total K12 solution, get them answered! And I hope the Legislature looks at the benefits of local vs. corporate solutions.  Try following #iacopi on twitter, or sending a few of your district teachers to the next #iacopi meeting on June 19 (contact @nmovall on twitter or email), or visit with some students who have taken ILO classes already or contact me (@marciarpowell on twitter or email)

Isn't this model what we envisioned when we first debuted the ICN?  The idea that we could have a teacher of German in one locale, reaching out to students across a local region?  And another teacher who could be responsible for another subject area, building up possibilities for students in remote locations?  The future is here.  But it's our decision as local districts.  Will we build on Iowa relationships, strengths and teaching or outsource our kids to the cheapest bidder?