Overwhelmed in Autumn

Well, here it is… November. Last blog post was well over a month ago. Where am I?

A little buried. 

I’m trying to create lesson plans that are engaging and exciting, complete assessments (yes, report card windows loom in my future), keep up with staff meetings and professional development, meet district obligations… 

I’ve hit that mark where new teachers start to wonder how they’ll make it through, except I’m not a new teacher. I’ve been here before. Yes, it’s been a while, but it is all somewhat familiar. That doesn’t mean I don’t struggle, though. 

Perhaps it’s time to look to my PLN for inspiration… but what I’ve found is that I built a PLN of people who were more like my previous job. I haven’t actively searched out another group of people who are like my new job. That’s probably one of the next steps. I’m sure there are other strategies, but my mind isn’t finding them all that well these days. 

When you are struggling with your teaching or maybe just feeling a little overwhelmed, what strategies do you employ to recharge?

Technology to Transform

As a classroom teacher with a technology staff development history, I often heavily stress to other teachers that we don’t use technology in teaching simply for the sake of using technology.  We should use technology to TRANSFORM our students’ learning.

An example from my own classroom:

Currently, my 4th and 5th grade students are setting poems about autumn to music they compose in small groups. We are learning about different types of scales (note patterns) in music and how the words of poems naturally have their own rhythm.

In a typical, non-tech lesson, I would distribute staff paper to my students (assigned to small groups), ask them to record the rhythms they discovered in their poems, and then creatively decide what the melody should sound like. They do have rules- they have to stay within the scales we’re learning about in class, and certain notes are more “important” within the scale than other notes. Other than that, they don’t really have any boundaries. After they finished, we would all sing the poems together, but I would probably have to play them on the piano first.

It’s a good lesson– they learn that there are many options for their melodies, and there isn’t one “right” answer. Additionally, they have problems to solve. Within their scales, the melodies have to flow together, and the end of the song has to sound like it’s “finished.”

To transform this lesson, I ask the small groups to continue this process using Apple’s GarageBand software. Students can input their melodies through multiple modes, and then play them back to listen and revise. There is immediate feedback about their choices for notes. Also through this method, they can choose nearly any instrument they want to hear play their melodies (not just me playing them on the piano). These are more problems to solve- what instrument would be the best to “tell the story” of their poems? After this option is set, they can then go into the instrument bank and add additional instruments to accompany their melodies.

Finally, we can save their final compositions and burn them to CD, send them to iTunes, or use them as background for a podcast. These students have taken a simple paper and pencil exercise that could be played and sung in a classroom setting and transformed it into something they can use again and again.

Do you have to be a music teacher to use a lesson like this? Absolutely not. What if your social studies class wants to record a podcast about this week’s topic of study? Some of your students might be writing the script, some might be the podcast recorders or producers, and some might compose the background music that is appropriate for this podcast.

What I love about teaching and learning with technology is that our lessons can become so much more than they were before, allowing students to make decisions, be creative, and find answers no one else knew existed.

What are you doing today to TRANSFORM your students’ learning?

Cultivating Students Who Produce

We all talk the “21st century talk” about helping students become more engaged and take ownership of their learning. I doubt anyone would argue the need for that.

However, how many of us design lessons that allow students to really be PRODUCERS, and not just CONSUMERS?

What percentage of your lessons asks your students to sit and listen to you for information? What percentage asks them to find the information themselves and then demonstrate their understanding to you?

When I was in school, we were inundated with reports: book reports, science reports, persuasive essays… you name it. While I wholeheartedly believe in the power of writing for kids, I don’t think the standard report is always the way to go.

What if I asked my students to read a book, and then design their own projects to tell me what they learned and understood? If I provided them a set of objectives/parameters, as well as the rubric I would use to grade the projects, would that be engaging? Would they have ownership of their learning?

How about a persuasive essay? Maybe I could ask my students to work in groups and create a PSA (public service announcement) instead. I could require a script, a recorded version on iMovie or MovieMaker, or maybe a live performance, as well as  anything else that would allow the students to make some decisions, solve some problems, and be creative.

What kind of lessons would you design to:

a) engage your students more,
b) incorporate 21st century skills (I follow http://www.21stcenturyskills.org for a definition of those skills),
and
c) move your students from CONSUMERS to PRODUCERS?

Please contribute an idea or two in the comments section… I’ll follow up with another post with some of the highlighted ideas, or even a wiki where we could continue to add lesson ideas.

Thanks in advance!

Time Sure Flies

timefliesWow, I can’t believe how busy this summer was. This is my first post since the end of June! Unfortunately, blogging became one of my lower priorities, and I had to force myself to do the things that needed done immediately. [image credit] 1

I’m back in the classroom now, and I’m hoping to start another blog soon to ‘chronicle the journey back’ after eight years at the district level: my expectations, surprises, joys, etc. In another week or so, I think I’ll have my groove going and will be able to start that.

One thing I do notice is how quickly the day flies. I see 10 music classes of students a day– grades 3-5 for 30 minutes, and grades K-2 for 25 minutes. I’m grateful to have that much time with them, as I know other specialists don’t get that much. When it comes to preparing and teaching, though, that time flies by so quickly.

First observation- very few classrooms in general (not just mine) are arranged to allow adequate instructional time with technology. I need to really think how I can best RE-arrange my room to facilitate using a computer as a learning tool (I have one desktop in my classroom). Knowing that many schools were built at least 15-30 years ago (or even longer ago than that!), I know there wasn’t even a glimmer in anyone’s eye to consider classroom design for instructional technology. My internet drop is in the farthest corner of the class. Can I make it work? Sure.

I’m not whining… not at all. Now is the time to be creative and innovative.

Will I use technology to teach EVERYTHING? No. More importantly… should I? I don’t think so. If the instructional technology does not elevate or enhance how and what the students need to learn, I’m not going to use it for the sake of using technology. Example: students will accompany themselves while they sing– if we’re learning to play the xylophone and sing, it’s best to use actually play the xylophone. And I DO have enough of those for every student! However, I can share some online links for enrichment and further study for my students to view later.

So, I’m putting on my thinking cap about what I can do with my kids in 25-30 minutes that is relevant, meaningful, part of the district curriculum– and uses technology to enhance and elevate the lessons I teach.

Suggestions?

1 Marc Smith. “Time flies in Leiden.” Marc Smith’s photostream. 10 September 2007. 26 August 2009. http://www.flickr.com/photos/marc_smith/1356589634/

NECC 2009- Part I

NECC is always such a whirlwind for me. I plan to blog it all, get too ambitious, and then never follow through. I think what I need to do is think in bullet points, post, and then go back and reflect after the fact.

EdubloggerCon 2009- Saturday, June27

  • learning through conversations is one of my favorite ways to learn, and EBC is all about this. Small groups, one or two people agree to moderate, and the discussion carries us all.  People share their opinions, agree/disagree, and we’re engaged.

Volunteering for ISTE- Sunday, June 28

  • this was my 2nd year volunteering for ISTE, and I really love the opportunity to a) give back to ISTE, b) meet new people, and c) learn more about the conference during my shift. Met two new dinner friends, too… thanks for the conversation, Pam and Fern!

Malcolm Gladwell, Keynote- Sunday, June 28

  • I think I may need to reserve the right to a follow-up post on this one, and there are also several others posting their thoughts. Will have to link them as well.
  • Points he made I liked: 1) when we think of success stories, we need to remember that many of those successes came after years of hard work and little to no success–effort counts; 2) some people who become successful do so in spite of obstacles- they compensate in other ways; and 3) to be successful, one needs the opportunity to fail.

The best thing, in my opinion, about conferences like NECC is meeting new people and carrying on conversations outside the conference sessions. Dinners and tours can be just as meaningful- sometimes more- than the ‘working’ sessions. Thanks for the dinner discussion tonight, Ryan, Deven, and Donnelle!

The only bad thing for me about conferences like NECC – when should I sleep?

Back to the Classroom

I’m heading back to the classroom for the 2009-10 school year. I’m excited and nervous all at the same time! Starting in August, I’ll be teaching K-5 elementary vocal music.

I’d really like to blog about the experience… going back into a classroom after working for eight years at the district level is going to be an adventure! I don’t think, however, that this blog is the place for that. SO, I’m toying with the idea of starting yet another blog (that’s 3, if you’re counting!). I really think there’s much to learn about going back, and blogging is a great learning and reflection tool. I hope to reflect, report, question, and resolve through my classroom blog. Hopefully, I’ll have that set up soon and will be able to link it here.

In the meantime, I really don’t want to give up this blog! I’ve grown a lot as an educator through writing posts here, reading comments, and reading other similar blogs. The bigger question will be – do I have time to do that all… especially considering how much there is to do as a newly recycled classroom teacher? I guess we’ll wait and see.

A Policy Quandary

Do we need to protect ourselves from… ourselves?

I’ve been doing a lot of research with colleagues in the last few months in the realm of public school district policies, especially pertaining to internet, web 2.0, social media, filtering, etc.

What we’ve found is many schools who have vague language in their policies, and who rely on either a person or a committee to make decisions on a case by case basis. I can’t imagine that this protocol would be immediately responsive, as I’m sure the individuals or committees have other job responsibilities.

We’ve also found quite a few districts that insist upon the strictest control possible. In many cases, the justification is “we need to protect the students and/or staff from themselves.”

Internet safety education is federally mandated in all schools, but even those guidelines and requirements are somewhat vague.

I think it’s fairly obvious where I stand (if you’ve read any of my previous posts on the subject). I’m very much in favor of educating the masses about productive use of web tools, as well as discussing the inherent risks and learning about productive and responsible online behaviors. Personally, I think “control” is an illusion- and locking students and staff away from everything at school teaches them nothing when they leave those school boundaries.

However…

  • where can schools draw the lines without making those lines too fuzzy?
  • how does one decide if a “tool” is truly too risky for students to use within the school setting?
  • if something “bad” happens as a result of using a specific web tool, what are the legal ramifications?

What are your thoughts?

  1. How do your schools manage these issues?
  2. Who makes those decisions?
  3. When was the last time your policies were re-written to reflect the changing nature of what kids do and learn online?
  4. Do you have an AUP that works well for staff and students? Why or why not?

I’m hoping for a lot of responses here, as I think it would be helpful to us all!

Also, if you haven’t seen this wiki started by educators in Missouri, take a look!
http://socialmediaguidelines.pbworks.com/

Gearing Up For NETA 09

Tomorrow is the first day of the 2009 NETA Conference.

After preparing all day, I’m really excited for this conference, as well as meeting and re-connecting with other educators.

Day 1: Looking forward to Hall Davidson’s opening keynote.

Also, NETA is providing a Bloggers’ Cafe this year. If you’re attending, plan to stop in and see us. You can find us on Wikispaces at http://netabloggerscafe.wikispaces.com.

If you’re on Twitter, you can follow http://www.twitter.com/NETA2009, and of course, you can always follow me, too: http://www.twitter.com/michellek107. If you’re looking for more people to follow, there is a microblogging page in the Bloggers’ Cafe wiki that lists several educators on Twitter.

The best part of these conferences for me always comes from the conversations had with the people I meet… I always thoroughly enjoy the sessions and speakers, but I think I personally grow more when I participate in the discussions about what we all experience in those sessions. Really looking forward to that!

Knowledge vs Know HOW

As schools struggle with standardized tests, ensuring students know whatever it is they need to know to be successful in their world, I feel “Education” is missing the target.[image credit]1

No longer can we focus merely on what our kids KNOW. We need to focus on what they know HOW TO DO. Those are two very different things in my book, yet most of our assessment and measurement tools only gauge the knowledge piece. Knowledge (minus skills) isn’t very useful to anyone, except the occasional game show winner.

I know a small business owner who is struggling with finding quality employees. When they interview with him, they seem like they understand the business very well. They are ‘equipped’ to answer all the right questions, and they can demonstrate what they already know very easily.

Yet, when left on their own, these same “highly qualified/knowledgeable” employees can’t take the initiative to do any work that wasn’t on the task list they were given. Troubleshooting is easy for them, but ONLY when it matches experiences they have already had. Anything new or different is completely beyond their capabilities. Plus, for those situations that have more than one right answer… I’ve seen some employees literally wring their hands in despair when there is more than one correct answer to a problem.

This is how they were taught in school:

  1. Do only the tasks I’ve set before you.
  2. Solve this problem, but use the exact method I’ve taught you.
  3. Circle the RIGHT answer (A, B, C, or D).

I don’t think everyone out in the workforce is like this, but employers are all seeing a trend… and for once, I’m truly seeing it firsthand and not simply hearing about it. This is the same trend we all discuss in our education circles about where is education going, are we preparing students for their world or ours, etc. What are we doing about it, though??

When we focus on giving kids answers, all they will be able to do is regurgitate those same answers back to us.

IF we could focus our efforts on allowing kids to FIND their own answers…

Imagine how much more they would learn!

Imagine how much more engaged they could be!

Imagine how many answers might be out there that we didn’t even know were there!

I know more than a few employers who would be very happy to have some independent and critical thinkers who could problem-solve with little to no guidance. And really, isn’t that we want for all our students?

1 malavoda. “Missed the target.” malavoda’s photostream. 28 March 2008. 25 March 2009. http://www.flickr.com/photos/malavoda/2369876508/

Laptops vs Handhelds

Cross-posted as a comment on Scott McLeod’s blog, Dangerously Irrelevent, as a response to a request from Russ Goerend, who blogs at TAGMirror. I posted the comment, and thought, “That sounded more like a blog post than a comment. Hmm… I haven’t posted in a while. Maybe I should cross-post.” So, there you are.

When people ask questions about what kind of technology to include in today’s classrooms, there will be the issues of cost, space, practicality, feasibility, and (hopefully) most importantly- LEARNING capabilities to consider. But if I could choose anything to have in my classroom, I would jump at the chance to have a classroom set of the iTouch (perhaps 30 of them).

The inevitable response usually goes something like this: “Why would you spend that much money on an iTouch when you could have a laptop for just a little more money?”

And here’s the response I left as a comment on Scott’s blog today (with a few minor revisions for clarity):

Adults see cost and then think that they could have a laptop for that same amount of money. Kids see the iTouch (and other similar handhelds) as a more convenient “laptop” without all the bulk.

If I need to sit down and hammer out a 25 page paper, I want a laptop. If I want to look up an answer on a webpage, download a small application that will enhance my learning, view a map, listen to a podcast or music, play the piano/guitar/drums electronically AND record my composition, play a learning game… you name it: I want a handheld device.

WHY? A few quick answers in no particular order:
1. Battery life is better, lasts longer (long-term), and charges more quickly.
2. More options for applications than on laptops… OS is not as big an obstacle as a laptop OS (think about the time and energy spent on field-testing applications on school computers for compatibility with the OS).
3. iTouch vs. iPhone- removes the “should students have access to cell phones in school” debate. No calls coming in or out, but many of the same apps available.
4. Storage for classroom sets of handhelds is a cinch, compared to laptops.
5. Collaboration with these tools is more easily facilitated than trying to organize a bunch of kids with laptops, especially where space is an issue. Plus, laptops are heavy for smaller kids.
6. Handhelds are more kid-friendly where accidents are concerned. If I drop my iTouch, chances are it’s not going to break. I can buy a cheap protective ‘case’ for it that still allows me to see and touch the screen. If I drop my laptop, there goes $500-800. I can’t use my laptop when it’s in its protective case.

I’m sure there are concerns with smaller devices, such as the fact they’re easier to steal; but I think the benefits/positives far outweigh the negatives.

Tony Vincent has been singing the praises of handhelds in the classroom for years. I was able to see first-hand what he did in the classroom with handhelds: how engaged the students were, the LEARNING opportunities students had in the palms of their hands, etc.

So, what’s your opinion?