Blog Archives

Shadowing Students & Redefining Teaching

2/23/2015

"A veteran teacher turned coach shadows 2 students for 2 days – a sobering lesson learned"

I have read this article before, and I remember when I read it the first time, I just nodded. As I read it the second time, even with knowing what was coming, I nodded. I remember my high school experience being extremely similar; I would show up, listen to lecture, take notes, sit (and sit), and keep my head down so that I would not be noticed. - I cannot say if the school that I am at is similar to the article, because I have only experienced a few classrooms.

SPEAK - Within my main classroom, I try to make sure that my students have opportunities to speak (although 98% of them don’t unless I use the random name system). This is so troubling to me, because I know students have thoughts and opinions, but something has hindered them from sharing. I was one of those kids.. I kept my head down, even if I had something valuable to contribute due to fear of being reprimanded for a wrong answer by my peers or teacher. When my kids DO decide that they want to say something, I make sure that I give a positive response, no matter what (THANK YOU! AWESOME! GREAT THOUGHT! I APPRECIATE YOUR PARTICIPATION!). The positive reinforcement shows the students that I CARE and that I WANT TO HEAR what they have to say. FEELING heard is extremely important.

I also try and let my students work in groups as much as possible. Of course, there is time for individual work, but teenages are social beings. Understanding that is crucial! Classrooms need to be filled with the voices of many, not the voice of one.

MOVE IT - Kids are forced to sit all throughout the day, and I completely agree that sitting is exhausting! The classes that I have now are 55 minutes, so I can see some issues arising with getting kids to move around. Getting them into groups is one way to do so for a brief period of time, but that can also waste valuable time (sometimes it takes 10 minutes+ to get them into groups and calmed down enough to actually work). In a school with a block day, I think I would try to incorporate more movement, in the form of stretching (like the article suggested) or an activity involving movement.

"Redefining Teachers with a 21st Century Education ‘Story’"

“and today as under-empowered participants in a stagnant system designed to broadcast standardized information.” This quote is speaking about teachers today! OUCH!

Sadly, I do agree with the author’s portrayal of schools today. I feel that schools are so concerned about ranking in regards to standardized tests, that what truly matters is lost. Schools should be STUDENT centered, focusing on what the students will need to be successful outside of the classroom. In order to do that, the author offers some “remedies” to help with creating schools that focus on the futures of students.

Appreciate the power, beauty, and challenge of the present moment.
In this section, it talks about teachers being GRATEFUL. Be grateful for the opportunity that you have to influence the lives of the future generations! Grateful people make for HAPPY people. Bring joy into the classroom = creating a successful classroom.

Contribute to a global vision
Classrooms should not be totally, 100% focused on standardized tests. Focusing on testing is not going to help students in the future - after reading so many articles stating that companies are not looking at what the future employees KNOW, but what they can DO with what they know. Don’t teach students to the test, teach them towards life OUTSIDE of the four walls.

Redefine smart
Smart is no longer about WHAT you know. It’s about what you can DO with what you know. Students should be learning to express themselves positively, be empathetic, be curious, be open, and be critical thinkers.

Live the collaborative reality
Let’s face it. Information is everywhere, and people had to produce the information in some way. Collaboration is literally everywhere. We should be teaching our students how to work together and share their discoveries. Companies want their employees to work together, so why shouldn’t we be teaching this as early as we can?

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20% Project - Let the Rock n' Roll Commence!

2/23/2015

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For my 20% project, I have decided to learn to play the song “Play Crack the Sky” by Brand New. I started learning the guitar a few years ago, but never got far enough to actually play any songs in their entirety. Just strumming random chords on the guitar is extremely calming to me, so being able to play an entire song will be extremely exciting to me! Learning how to play this song will be a process: I will need to first learn how to:

Change my guitar strings

Play the chords for this song
Switch between chords quickly and smoothly

My end goal (and successful outcome) will be my ability to play the song “Play Crack the Sky” by Brand New in its entirety, with little to no mistakes. The tools I will be using include:

GuitarBot (app)
YouTube
justinguitar.com

In thinking about playing guitar, I came up with the following inquiry questions that I believe will help me be successful:

Do I need specific tools to be able to change guitar strings?

What is the process of changing the strings?
How often should I change guitar strings?
Do I need to clean the guitar? How and how often?
Are there any techniques that I can use to strengthen my fingers?
What exercises can I do to help learn how to change chords quickly?
What are the chords that I need for the song “Play Crack the Sky?”
What is the best type of guitar pick to use for a beginner?
What chords are the most used chords?
What is the best way to tune a guitar?
Is there a way to learn to tune by ear?

Let the rock n’ roll commence!

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Wagner Ch. 3 & 4

2/18/2015

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Chapter 3

“If the MCAS test requirement is increasing the dropout rate and a passing score is not a reliable indicator that a student has mastered skills needed for college (or for work), then what purpose does the test serve” (89)?
I have been asking myself this question since I entered the credential program. Why are we even requiring students to take these “high stakes” tests when there really is no evidence of actual learning that can be used outside of school? I believe that another huge issue with these tests is that some students do not see a purpose in actually taking the tests seriously...
I vaguely remember testing when I was in school. I remember having to have number 2 pencils, scantrons, filling in the bubble exactly this way... But one thing that I vividly remember about those tests was students asking, "Is this going to be grded?" (because, of course, that was all that mattered). Some of my teachers said no, that the tests were for the state but everyone should do their best. The students then rolled their eyes and began filling in the bubbles to create pictures (some were actually pretty brilliant). But I remember other teachers saying that the tests would be reflected in final grades, so students would put their heads down and work their fingers to the bone filling in those little bubble.
How really do these tests affect the STUDENTS? Most students only care about grades, because that is what colleges care about. So when they are required to do something for no seeable benefit to them, they really could care less, causing schools and districts to suffer due to low test scores (scores that really do not reflect on the teaching, but the motivation of the student).
Wagner states that “the fact that schools and districts are now being held accountable at all - and accountable for the success of their students - is a new and very important concept for public education” (90). I agree that it is extremely important for schools and districts to be held accountable for the success of students, but what is the best way to do this? This testing thing doesn’t seem at all plausible, and yet we are still administering tests that have no true significance in the progress of students.

Chapter 4

“What we don’t yet know is whether American taxpayers and our government care enough about the future to pay educators a more professional wage and to provide them with the working conditions they need to succeed: smaller classes, teachers organized into teams with shared responsibility for groups of students, more effective coaching for continuous improvement, better and more frequent local assessments of students’ progress, and more time to work and learn with colleagues” (165).

What I really focused on in this quote was the last part, “smaller classes, teachers organized into teams with shared responsibility for groups of students, more effective coaching for continuous improvement, better and more frequent local assessments of student’s progress, and more time to work and learn with colleagues.” I truly believe that the implementation of all of these things would bring success to not only teachers, but students as well.

Smaller class sizes - Having smaller class sizes would lead to more personal instruction for the students, and would allow the teacher to get to know the learner styles and personalities of each student (plus the workload would be less, too!).

Teachers organized into teams - At the school site that I am at now, there is extra emphasis put on teachers of the same subject and grade level to get together in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) on a weekly basis. I have attended all of the meetings, and have noticed that getting into this group helps me with ideas for my lessons (as we are all required to teach the same thing...) and piggyback on what I am hearing that the other teachers are doing (the group consists of 6 of us, so it’s not overwhelming).

Effective coaching - I went to a Common Core training, and let me tell you, it lasted literally all day and it was wicked boring. I cannot tell you what I really took out of it. In an ideal world, teachers would be able to CHOOSE the type of professional development they go to - based on what they think they need and what they think their students need. We’re being taught to give our students choice when it comes to their learning, why shouldn’t teachers get the same opportunity

Better local assessments - Honestly, I do not know how this would look. Perhaps changing the testing so that students are required to explain what they have learned instead of filling in bubbles. I think this is what the Common Core testing is all about, but since it is so new, there are huge gaps in the testing (for one, having computers correct answers looking for “buzz” words).

Time to work with colleagues - I love the idea of PLCs, but I also think that teachers should have a choice of who they would like to work with outside of their PLCs. Since Common Core is cross-curricular, shouldn’t teachers from different subjects be collaborating too? Teachers should be given time within their working day to have meetings with colleagues both in their subject and outside of their subject.

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Re-Thinking Education!

2/15/2015

2 Comments

Caine's Arcade

Shannon Deegan: How Google's 20 Percent Time Fosters Innovation

I really love this idea. It not only promotes innovation, but also collaboration. In the video, Shannon Deegan says that there are places to post ideas and get feedback, which sparked curiosity from others and connected people to other people that were interested.
An example of a 20% project that took off was Google Sky. Google Sky is an app that allows the user to hold their phone to the sky and the phone will tell you what you’re looking at. How totally neat is that?!
I would absolutely love to incorporate some sort of 20% project in my future classroom. I would want to figure out a discussion forum so students can share ideas, get feedback, and collaborate on potential projects. I think this would be a great way to get students collaborating, researching, and learning something new! I believe that this would get students more interested in their learning, because they will be in total control of what they are learning and how they are learning it.

“What the heck? He figure out how to make a claw machine with a string and a hook!”

I have to say that this is such a heartwarming video! Watching made my heart so happy...
Caine, a 9 year old boy, decided to dedicate his time to creating his own cardboard box arcade. In doing so, he was using math for his fun passes and money collecting, engineering for the creation of his games, and business for pulling in customers. I started watching the follow up video (Caine's Arcade 2: From a Movie to a Movement), and it shows how much attention Caine’s Arcade has gotten (enough to get him on the news and to get him a scholarship fund). I truly believe that this kid is going to get somewhere, just by being passionate about something and following through with it!
I believe that this video ties in well with the idea for a 20% project. If students are able to dedicate their time to doing something that they are passionate about, I think that it can be truly rewarding. As you can see with Caine, he found his purpose and pursued it with passion! Although he had very few customers at the beginning, he continued to run his little cardboard arcade, and it paid off in the end! `
I would love to incorporate activities that involve the passions of my students and that encompass creativity. I think that students feel that school has no place for their ideas, passions, and creativity. As a new teacher, I would like to prove that idea wrong, and encourage my students to bring in their minds into the classroom.

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The Global Achievement Gap Storify!

2/11/2015

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The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner, chapters 1 & 2.

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20% Project Ideas

2/10/2015

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I have two ideas for my 20% project. Any comments/ideas/suggestions would be great!

Idea 1:
I was thinking that I could continue learning guitar. In 2011, I bought an acoustic guitar during a crazy Black Friday sale. I was stoked to be able to let my creativity ooze through music. As you can tell by this blog post, I didn’t get very far (life gets in the way sometimes). I had several friends give me lessons, but only got as far as learning a few basic chords that I could combine to make simple music. I would like to go further, with actually being able to change the strings on my guitar (because in the four years of having it, I’ve never changed the strings myself...I had other people do it), being able to change chords quicker, thus enabling me to play more complicated music. Through the 20% project, my goal would be to learn to play the song Play Crack the Sky by Brand New (see video below). If I master that song, then I will move on to a song by Jack Johnson :)

I would use different tech resources, including YouTube and an app called GuitarBots.

Idea 2:
Sprechen sie Deutsch?

I surely don't. At least, not totally. I started learning German in 2012, when I happened to meet my current boyfriend Alex (who is German!). He speaks perfect English, but I would love to continue learning German so that I can communicate better with his family and impress him with my German skills.

I can say extremely basic things, including a few colors, counting to about 12, and (of course) bad words (because Alex thought it was hilarious to teach me those words first). I bought Rosetta Stone in 2013 so that I could learn the language, but ended up only completing half of one lesson (do you see a pattern here?). My goal would be to complete three out of the five lessons. Doing this would help me gain a basic understanding of the language, and would help me with basic communication.

The tech resources I would use include: Rosetta Stone, YouTube, and an app called Babbel. Below is a video of a song that I think is absolutely hilarious... I learned the chorus :)

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From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-able

2/7/2015

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A good question is something that leads people on a quest.

How many points is this worth?
I’ll think about it. It shouldn’t be all about the points, it should be about what you gain from the assignment. Not gaining points, gaining knowledge!

How long does that paper need to be?
As long as it takes to get your ideas down, making sense, and worth it.

What do we need to know for this test?
Everything. You need to know everything for this test.

To be “knowledgeable” is to know a bunch of stuff. I feel as though people are considered “smart” when they are able to recite the entirety of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet from memory or being able to tell someone every random law each state has. Impressive. But what are you going to do with that information?

Being knowledge-able is the ability to find, sort, analyze, criticize, and create new information. It’s pretty awesome if you’re able to memorize information on a dime, but to be even more impressive, tell me what you’re going to do with what you’ve learned.

Instead of teaching students to find the right answer, we should be teaching them what they can DO with that answer. Students need to learn to be critical thinkers instead of answer-seekers. We should be teaching them how to make connections, organize their thoughts, share ideas, collect a vast array of information, collaborate with the world, and publish something new!

I believe the first step is to embrace real problems - help the students make connections so that they feel a part of what they are learning.

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Why School?

2/2/2015

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In his essay “Why School,” Will Richardson states that we should be “preparing students to be learners who can successfully wield the abundance at their fingertips.” As teachers, it is our job to teach students how to be successful outside of the four walls of a classroom. We need to focus less on what students will know, and more on what students will DO with what they know. Information is literally everywhere - if you’ve got fingertips, you’ve got access.

As teachers, we need to be teaching students how to think for themselves, find answers on their own to question they are forming, and share what they have found in meaningful ways. Instead of having students suck in a vast array of knowledge with which they must later regurgitate in order to pass a test, we must teach them how to THINK.

With technology literally being a center in the lives of most, it should be included within a classroom. How to use technology, how to find sources that are reliable, how to communicate in healthy and positive ways - we live in the technological era, everything we do seems to connect to technology in some way, so we must educate based on this trend.

I believe that I would not have trouble using any of the six unlearning/relearning ideas:

SHARE EVERYTHING (or at least something) - I think that it is extremely important to collaborate. We are teaching our students to collaborate, so why shouldn’t we? One of the highlights of my week (professional development-wise) is going to my PLC meetings. I am stoked to hear what my fellow colleagues are doing in their classrooms. It helps me figure out where I can go next, build, and... I love the idea of sharing - of course each individual will put his/her own spin on things that will make that his/hers.

DISCOVER! - I believe discovery is a great way to get students interested! If we allow students to have a say in what they are learning, they will be more interested in actually getting it done. Let the students ask the questions to be answered, let them discover their own answers.

TALK TO STRANGERS - Strangers are everywhere... the people who write the books we read are strangers!! Teaching our students to interact with media strangers in a healthy way is great... ideas are out there!

BE A MASTER LEARNER - “The world doesn’t care what you know. What the world cares about is what you can do with what you know.” There is literally information everywhere. Knowing how to access it, and what information is reliable, is important. Teaching our students how to access and test for reliability is even more important. We must be models for our students.

REAL WORK - Have students do something meaningful! No one really, honestly cares about how many historical dates you have memorized. People care about what you do with that knowledge - if you’re great at history, show it! Write a book for all to see, create historical cartoons that can be understood by the masses... be creative!

TRANSFER THE POWER - Be a guide, not a know it all. Give them the skills they will need in the future to solve problems. Teach how to do something instead of teaching something.

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Shadowing Students & Redefining Teaching

20% Project - Let the Rock n' Roll Commence!

Wagner Ch. 3 & 4

Re-Thinking Education!

Caine's Arcade

Shannon Deegan: How Google's 20 Percent Time Fosters Innovation

The Global Achievement Gap Storify!

20% Project Ideas

I have two ideas for my 20% project. Any comments/ideas/suggestions would be great!

From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-able

Why School?

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