Quantcast
Channel: Cooper on Curriculum
Viewing all 60 articles
Browse latest View live

Challenge Based Learning Presentation

0
0

My district starts off every school year with two days of staff professional development, which takes place at the building level. This year, my principal asked me to share with the other teachers what I had learned at this summer’s Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) Summer Institute in Arizona. My presentation took place during the second day of our professional development, and it lasted for about an hour.

The majority of my presentation focused on Apple’s Challenged Based Learning (CBL). CBL is similar to project-based learning, and within a CBL unit students are issued a challenge in which they are asked to solve a real world problem. The process is inquiry-based, student led, and very open-ended. Students gain in-depth knowledge of the targeted content, as opposed to the other extreme, which would be the simple memorization of vocabulary and facts through direct instruction. Most of my time in Arizona was spent alongside six other educators as we created educational content for iTunes U that will help teachers to become more comfortable with the implementation of CBL in their classrooms.

My presentation started with a video in which students are challenged to improve the quality or consumption of water in their community. Such a video would be presented to students at the beginning of a CBL unit. After the video, we took a look at the framework (page 2) that teachers can use to structure CBL units, and the staff talked about how they would complete the form if they were to design a unit based on the water video. Next, we viewed another video that helped to familiarize the staff with the CBL process, and then I presented a completed framework for one of the projects that I plan to carry out this school year. Finally, the staff was separated by grade level, and they were given eight minutes to design their own CBL units, which were then shared with everyone.

As the teachers shared their work, it was obvious that they had quickly grasped how to outline a CBL unit. Many of the teachers incorporated authentic problems, along with multidisciplinary approaches that could be used to solve them. One teacher commented, “It’s amazing what can be accomplished in just eight minutes if you just put your head down and get to work!” I also believe that people were excited to see a way to structure a process that can sometimes feel chaotic and time consuming. Many teachers commented on how much they appreciated the simplicity of the CBL framework. After the planning, I talked about how to make CBL work for all types of students through differentiated instruction, referencing the work of Carol Tomlinson and Jay McTighe in Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design: Connecting Content and Kids.

I also spent time showing and talking about the work of Colton Shone (a journalism student at Arizona State) and Dan Meyer (an ADE from the class of 2011 who is also a doctoral candidate at Stanford). Dan Meyer’s inspiring TED Talk had to wait until later in the week when we talked about differentiated instruction in math class.

I genuinely feel that the presentation helped to familiarize everyone with CBL, to the point where nobody would be afraid to give it a try this upcoming school year. Also, everyone is now aware of a handful of resources that can help to support this process, a process that aligns beautifully with the current Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) initiative in our district.


Adobe Educators’ Choice Awards

0
0

Adobe Educator's Choice Awards

Recently, my Pinball Wizard project was chosen as the Grand Prize winner for the Primary/Secondary Cross-Curricular category in the Adobe Education Exchange 2011 Educators’ Choice Awards. This is a contest that features innovative teaching and learning materials, which are created with the help of Adobe products. Many of the teachers in my district and students at my school helped to support me in this endeavor, and I cannot thank them enough. As a result of the contest, I have won a 15-inch MacBook Pro (which I am typing on right now) and the Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection (which I am still waiting for in the mail). Also, after the contest, the PR manager from Adobe contacted me about doing an interview with one of their bloggers. The interview can be found here.

Below is a description of the Pinball Wizard project. This description was a part of my entry, along with the project’s website, student samples, and a video of students playing on their pinball machines. 

————————————————————

This is an interactive website for a STEM unit in which fourth grade students learn mainly about electricity & magnetism and force & motion. Learning is accomplished through the building of pinball machines. The website was designed to be embedded into a WYSIWYG editor. The white space surrounding the website would not be seen by the viewer.

Last year, Pinball Wizard was completed by all 5 fourth grade classrooms (about 140 students) at Willow Lane Elementary School, East Penn School District. The project was created as a part of the district’s STEM initiative, which started last year. Pinball Wizard will continue to be implemented by all fourth grade classrooms on a yearly basis.

For the website, everything is interactive, from the bumpers to the flippers. To familiarize yourself with the project, start with the Overview. Then, take a look at the Directions, followed by the Research and the Pinball Packet.

This website functions as a one stop shop that supplies teachers and students with everything that is needed to feel comfortable with the Pinball Wizard project. All that is missing is the science textbook! Also created for the project are two formative assessments, one summative assessment, and certificates for students who build the best machines. (Contact me if you are interested.)

This project has been a part of multiple presentations, both on a building level and a district level.

Thank you for checking out Pinball Wizard!

Project-Based Learning: The Easiest Way to Get Started

0
0

PBL

As mentioned in a previous post, one element of effective professional development is taking into consideration who is on the receiving end of it (in regards to their experiences, beliefs, attitudes, current practices, etc.). On a recent webcast I listened to Daniel Pink claim how the project-based learning label is constantly overused and misused by educators, and this is a statement with which I can easily agree. As a result, when presenting project-based learning professional development it could be advantageous to not just discuss best practice, but to take educators from where they might be (projects) to where we think they should land (project-based learning).

We will compare and contrast the two columns on the chart, one step at a time, while also discussing how the transition could be made from projects to project-based learning in a way that is transparent and simplified.

1. Projects: By providing students with a polished and finalized rubric, the teacher has essentially taken the inquiry and sucked it out of the project. Although it might seem like a good idea to begin by letting students know what advertising features they must include in their work (especially if one is “pressed for time”), this approach ensures that the students are robbed of the opportunity to uncover these features through the use of authentic examples.

1. PBL: The students analyze advertisements (possibly selected by the teacher), in order to determine the effective features of advertisements based on evidence. After spending time evaluating authentic products, students have a clear vision of what needs to go into their work in order for it to be successful, and they are able to better understand the teacher’s expectations. At the same time the students see that their creations will have “real world” appeal. (The rubric creation process can be as simple as, students work in small groups to come up with a list of effective features > the entire class gathers in order to create a definitive list > the teacher takes the definitive list, transforms it into a rubric or checklist, and distributes it to the students.) Under Charlotte Danielson’s Domain 1 – Planning and Preparation – a teacher has reached the highest level (distinguished) when “Students participate in designing assessments for their own work,” and “Students develop rubrics according to teacher-specified learning objectives.”

2. Projects: This situation sometimes happens when a teacher thinks, “I’ve found this great program and I just have to get my students on it!” While this practice is acceptable from time to time, especially with short-term learning experiences, this approach should be avoided with long-term project-based learning units. When we say, “Use this technology, and use it like this,” we are more or less telling students to simply follow a series of overly contrived steps that do not leave room for creativity and problem solving.

2. PBL: For the creation of product advertisements, students could realistically call upon programs and/or apps that include Google Presentations, Google Drawings, Apple Pages, ThingLink, iMovie, Green Screen by Do Ink, Action Movie FX, Layar, Qrafter Pro, Snapseed, Doodle Buddy, and more! While a few demoes would provide students with a comfortable starting point, it is vital that students define the learning process by determining for themselves how they are going to satisfy the given requirements. In the end, if all products are the same, the teacher has failed.

3. Projects: The majority of project time will most likely be dedicated to this step, as this is when almost all of the student work takes place. As a teacher, one option is to tell the students, “Work hard. Follow all directions. I will take a look at your work when it’s done.” Even worse, most of the work could be done at home, where the teacher does not have access to it until its completion (without any cloud based solutions such as Google Apps for Education).

3. PBL: According to James Popham (2008), “Formative assessment is a planned process in which teachers or students use assessment-based evidence to adjust what they’re currently doing,” and independent work time is the perfect opportunity for the teacher to circle the room in order to meet students at their various levels with individual and/or small group instruction. Every learning experience should contain at least one or two “checkpoints” at which students need to have their work reviewed by the teacher before moving on. Depending on what the teacher sees during these checkpoints, instruction could then be adjusted accordingly. On a personal note, the majority of my time with my students is spent strategically walking around the room while students work independently or in groups. In Sugata Mitra’s TED Talk he refers to a version of this approach as “broadband + collaboration + encouragement and admiration.” In other words, Let go!

4. Projects: At the conclusion of the project the teacher distributes a final grade that is based on the rubric. In this instance, the rubric is useful because it was given to the students ahead of time and therefore both students and parents cannot argue with the final grade since everyone was aware of expectations.

4. PBL: By the time the teacher fills out the rubric there should be almost no surprises for all parties involved, as student progress has been monitored throughout the duration of the learning experience. In order to maximize the chance that students actually consider and utilize teacher feedback, the teacher can leave written feedback and leave out any type of letter grade. According to Dylan William (2011), students ignore comments when they are given alongside scores, both high and low. As a result, written feedback is far more effective when it exists on its own.

5. Projects: Parents must sign their child’s rubric. This way, the teacher is ensured that parents are aware of student progress, and the teacher could also use the signed rubric as evidence (just in case any parent should claim lack of communication on the teacher’s part).

5. PBL: While it does not hurt to have parents sign rubrics, the conclusion of the project is spent on student reflection and resubmission. Here the rubric can be leveraged as part of the formative assessment process, as students are provided with opportunities to improve upon their grades. Once again, it is about the learning, not the grade. Also, students are given time to post their work publicly through their blogs, portfolios, classroom websites, etc. (“Why write for your teacher when you can publish for the world?”)

According to the Buck Institute for Education’s 8 Essentials for Project-Based Learning, all eight essentials are satisfied by our project-based learning example (or the right-hand column of the chart). While I do not believe that all of the essentials must be used in order for learning to be categorized as project-based learning, I do consistently refer to these elements during the planning and preparation of my units as they can serve as reminders that help in enhancing instruction and therefore student learning. Finally, as we can see, incorporating these features into our instruction is not very difficult at all.

Making Waves: Student Radio Broadcasts

0
0

Making WavesRight now, one of my classes is finishing up their current Language Arts project, Making Waves. This project, which was inspired by Colton Shone, a journalism student at Arizona State, requires students to create a radio broadcast through the use of Apple GarageBand. Everything is wrapped in the essential question, “What is an effective radio broadcast?”

Students complete the project in groups of two. The majority of their work is done in a Google document, and I created a template to provide them with a starting point. (To save a Google file as a template, access your files > right-click on your file of choice > Submit to template gallery. After, copy the template’s link and share it with your students.)

A PDF version of the template is here, and below is a shortened version of these directions:

Rubric Creation

    1. Each group listens to three radio broadcasts from Colton Shone, one at a time. For each broadcast a table is filled out in which students (1) list features that should be included in an effective radio broadcast, and (2) describe how the broadcast has included each one of these features (evidence).
    2. Students call upon all of their information (from the previous step) in order to create a definitive list of features that should be included in an effective radio broadcast. Once each group has shared their information with the class, the teacher synthesizes all of the work in order to create a project rubric.

As a class, we decided that broadcasts should include such features as:

    • broadcasters speaking in a way that fits the mood of the story
    • guest appearances from at least two different people from the event
    • questions and answers that are thick, relevant, and realistic
    • music and sound effects, which add to the broadcast’s realism and enhance the story being told

Script Creation

    1. Each group chooses a historical event and then finds two noticeably different written accounts of the event. The teacher must approve of both the event and the accounts.
    2. Students synthesize the information from the two accounts in order to create an on location radio broadcast of the event, while referring to the project rubric for requirements.
    3. Before recording their broadcasts in GarageBand, students create a script (with the help of a few mini-lessons and a sample script). The teacher must approve of the script prior to its recording.

 ——————————

While creating an effective radio broadcast, students apply many Language Arts related skills. These include, but are not limited to:

    • researching for two different, yet credible written accounts of the same topic
    • dissecting the important information from two written accounts, by distinguishing the significant information from the trivial (summarizing)
    • synthesizing select information from the two accounts, which is a vital research skill
    • creating a polished script through the use of details, strong word choice, varied sentences, and proper spelling and grammar

Students have chosen such topics as the Giants beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl (the first time), the release of the original iPhone, the opening of Harry Potter World, Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit, and the sinking of the Titanic. At this point in time, the majority of the groups are working on polishing up their broadcasts in GarageBand, while I show them how to download free sound effects from websites and import them into their work. I look forward to wrapping everything up and providing students with the opportunity to publish and share their creations.

Questions From a Reader: Part 1 of 2

0
0

In case you are wondering why I have not blogged in awhile (and I know you are), I have been in a state of transition as I accepted a job as an Elementary Assistant Principal with the Williamsport Area School District. Right now I am working between two primary K-3 schools. I have reached the point where I am settled down enough to start blogging and reflecting upon my current job. But first, I thought I would answer some questions from a reader of my blog. (I promise that I did not make up these questions!) In order to keep my posts shorter in length, I will answer the first half of the questions now, with the second half of the questions and answers coming later this week.

1. If you had a million dollars and 4 weeks to train someone to teach like yourself, what would the program look like? What if you had 8 weeks?

I really do not think a great deal of money is necessary for quality professional development to take place. However, at the minimum I would want (1) each teacher to come with his/her own laptop, (2) access to Google Apps for Education to share and/or collaborate on resources, and (3) access to Apple Keynote to create my slides.

In a nutshell, the professional development would focus on the following topics. More time would mean a more in depth study of each one. When applicable, we would review technology tools that would help in redefining our instruction.

    • Unit design – The Understanding by Design framework would serve as the basis for this portion. My teaching drastically improved when I started to primarily focus on unit planning through backwards design, as opposed to tedious day-to-day planning.
    • Rigor and letting go – We need to spend our time letting go and allowing students to be at the center of the learning process through productive struggle. In order to “meet teachers where they are,” start with the current series (from any subject) with which teachers are familiar and work on reinventing it in order to make it more inquiry-based.
    • Formative assessment – In short, “How do we know if students are learning what they are supposed to learn, and how are we responding to this evidence?” Professional development would include explicit strategies that teachers could use with their students.
    • Professional learning communities – Everyone benefits when teachers collaborate with one another, but defining “effective collaboration” is not easy and as a result it does not often take place. We need to open up discussion in regards to what an effective teaching team should look like.
    • Close reading – When I first started teaching the biggest mistake I made was thinking that reading comprehension consisted of not much more than students reading stories and then answering questions. We need to focus on what great readers do while they are reading through such strategies as inferring, visualizing, questioning, etc.

2. What are the biggest errors teachers make in your opinion, and in what way can they be fixed?

Here are three common teaching errors. Admittedly, I was guilty of all of these at one time or another. Also, not surprisingly, some of these mistakes tie into my answer from Question 1:

    • Teachers working in isolation – Make a conscious effort to get into the classrooms of other teachers, both in your building and throughout your district. Go ahead and schedule these appointments in your calendar to make them a priority. I am sure your administrator(s) would be more than happy to cover your classroom so you and your colleagues could learn from one another.
    • Avoiding the less is more approach – True inquiry-based learning is based on thinking routines in which students are forced to grapple with information in order to uncover and develop deeper understandings. We must not only create this environment for our learners, but also understand how to promote problem solving by providing students with just the right amount of information. Also, do not try to “cover” everything in your curriculum. If you have taken 85% of your curriculum and taught it in depth (and then covered the remaining 15%), you are fine.
    • Consistently giving students “one more chance” – When it comes to classroom management it is easy to remember to praise in public and correct in private. At the same time, we must also remember to deal with problems, quickly and efficiently. The “one more chance” approach rarely works, and all it does is lead to further distractions.

3. If you had to boil your teaching style down to 20% of your “toolkit” that produces the majority of your fantastic results, what would the tools be?

    • A positive attitude and genuine care for students – It all starts with relationships. If your students know that you care about them, everything else comes that much easier.
    • An ecosystem that is used to communicate with students and parents – Tools can include a classroom website, a classroom Facebook page, Twitter, blogs, Google Apps for Education, a learning management system (LMS) such as Moodle or Edmodo, the Remind app, etc.
    • The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units – The original Understanding by Design book is long and could be somewhat difficult to consume. The Design Guide summarizes the main points with simplicity and clarity.
    • Strategies That Work – From my experience, no other books comes close in (1) breaking down the importance of close reading and (2) providing teachers with resources and lessons to immediately get started with close reading in their classrooms. Everything beautifully ties into the explicit reading comprehension strategies that are touched upon in Answer 1.
    • Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics – Three different versions of this book are available: K-2, 3-5, 6-8. In the district in which I used to work, every teacher at the elementary level was provided with a copy in order to support our transition to the Common Core and inquiry-based mathematics. Go buy this book now!

The remaining four questions and answers will be posted later this week.

Questions From a Reader: Part 2 of 2

0
0

Recently I received several questions from a reader. My last post answered the first half of these questions, while this post answers the second half.

4. What would your top 5 “tools” be to ensure lessons are engaging and interactive?

Up until now I have purposefully avoided mentioning technology, for the most part, as I believe teachers must have a firm grasp of best practice before they could possibly attempt to mask any potential shortcoming with “technology pizzaz.” Nevertheless, technology can help in making lessons engaging and interactive. So, here is a list of my top five educational technology tools, in no particular order. Also, I will avoid hardware, such as the MacBook, iPad, Chromebook, etc.

    • Google Apps for Education – In my opinion nothing comes close. When it came to word processing, spreadsheets, and PowerPoint-like presentations, my fourth graders had not opened up Microsoft Office in roughly five years. All work is automatically saved to the cloud, students and staff can access their work from any device, and anyone shared on a document can synchronously work along with any other collaborators. This suite is a must have for any school district.
    • iMovie, or another video editing software – These tools are so flexible in that video production is something that can encompass pretty much any subject area or topic. With a little creative thinking, students could potentially create a video for just about anything. Furthermore, websites such as YouTube allow for students to easily publish their work for a public audience.
    • Kidblog – All students should be blogging. While websites such as WordPress and Blogger are more authentic, Kidblog is ideal for school in that a teacher could select almost any type of permission level for his/her class. For example, my students’ work was made public, but only the students had the ability to comment. Blogs can be made as public or as private as a teacher chooses.
    • Twitter – Although students might not be the ones interacting with the program, teachers can use Twitter to connect with other educators and/or discover countless resources. Social media can help to ensure that professional development is ongoing, rather than only taking place on “professional development days.”
    • A technology-based ecosystem – All teachers should have a “one stop shop” that contains student resources, study materials/games, a way for students to collaborate with one another and with the teacher, etc. My ecosystem was a classroom website that contained links to student blogs, our two learning management systems (Moodle and Schoology), student photographs and videos, curriculum-related materials, and more.

5. Could you describe your creative process of designing engaging lessons? Do you have a database of these maybe you could share?

My database of lessons would be this digital hub. While it does not contain everything that my students and I have done, it is the place where the most of our content can be found (aside from my MacBook’s hard drive).

Here is a brief outline of what my creative process might look like for a particular lesson or project. Please keep in mind that this process is always subject to change depending on what I am working.

    1. Start with the enduring understandings – Of what should my students possess a deeper understanding at the end of the project?
    2. Brainstorm “cool” ideas – Not only must an idea be engaging, but it must also “fit” with the enduring understandings and any standards that would be encompassed by the project. Ideas may or may not involve technology integration.
    3. Enabling knowledge – What must my students know in order to (1) develop these deeper understandings, and (2) “create” a successful project that demonstrates these understandings? Also, how will I deliver this content to my students?
    4. Assessments, formative and summative – Assessments should mirror the rigor of the instruction. In order for students to prove their deeper understandings they should be grappling with questions and information in somewhat unfamiliar contexts (transfer of knowledge).

6. What resources would you recommend someone wanting to become the best teacher they can be?

    • Your colleagues – Colleagues can include other teachers and administrators in your building or district, your students, parents, community members, etc. Remember to keep on asking questions, even as you become a veteran.
    • Amazon.com – I am of the belief that with a little bit of research on Amazon, you can find the definitive book on pretty much any topic. Do not wait for the professional development to come to you!
    • Twitter – I cannot stress enough the importance of “getting connected.”
    • Yourself – This may sound silly, but remember it is so important to be self-aware. Take the time to reflect upon your practice, be critical of yourself, and constantly try to improve across all areas. If you feel overwhelmed, drill down and work on bettering yourself one area at a time.

Common Core Math: Putting the “How” Before the “What”

0
0

This past Monday, Williamsport Area School District held a professional development day and I was asked to conduct my first presentation for the district, a one-hour kindergarten session on the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice.

At the time of the request I had already led several presentations on inquiry-based mathematics, but none of them had been geared toward kindergarten. I needed some kindergarten specific materials to accompany the materials I already had, so I leveraged the power of my PLN (personal learning network) in order to acquire quite a few outstanding resources. With a few tweets, Facebook posts, and phone calls I had what I needed to fill in the gaps. A special “Thank You” to Michele James (@echo432) and Brad Currie (@bradmcurrie) for truly going out of their way to help me out.

One hour was not a lot of time for the kindergarten team to have their first exposure to the Standards for Mathematical Practice. As a result I ended up going with a bit of a flipped classroom model, in which all of the resources were uploaded to a Google Drive folder and shared with the participants so they could access them later on at their convenience. Also, the majority of these teachers received the link to the folder a few days prior to the professional development day. In other words, I did what I could in order to “extend” the hour of face-to-face time (which is just good professional development practice in general).

A brief outline of the presentation was as follows:

    1. Illustrating why instructional shifts are necessary while (1) respecting the work that the teachers are already doing and (2) emphasizing changes because they are best for the students, not just because the Common Core says so.
    2. Discussing the relationship between the Content Standards and the Practice Standards, and why the “how” (instructional delivery) can be more important than the “what” (content).
    3. Unpacking of the Practice Standards – “For each Practice Standard, write one student friendly ‘I can’ statement that clearly and concisely ‘summarizes’ the standard.” Participants worked in small groups, and all groups recorded their statements in the same Google document. This method promoted collaboration between kindergarten teachers from different buildings, and now they can easily access each other’s work for use in their classrooms.
    4. Discussing productive struggle, problem solving, and what is means to have a deeper understanding of content. An emphasis was placed on doing problems vs. problem solving. The former approach has students apply already learned content to word problems, while the latter technique has students learning as a result of word problems and activities that often precede more direct instruction. We also looked at a few specific examples of how problem solving could be done, and also how teachers could reconfigure basic problems in order to make them more rigorous.
    5. Discussing instances in which drill and practice is appropriate.

Roughly three hours worth of content was planned, so not everything made it into the presentation. The day after the session I emailed to all participants a survey (created with Google forms), asking for feedback. The link to the survey is below, along with the link to all of the materials from the presentation. It should also be noted that I distributed only one paper handout, the Standards for Mathematical Practice, while the rest was available electronically. Whenever I present I try to include as few physical handouts as possible, which sends the message, “This is what is important!” and then educators are more likely to utilize what they have been provided.

Presentation Resources

Feedback Survey

My Top 10 Education Books

0
0

BooksWhile on holiday vacation in Florida, a friend emailed me and asked for my top ten education books. Here is how I responded, verbatim. Please keep in mind that this list was created off the top of my head (so I may have missed a few), and the books are presented in no particular order.

    1. Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics by John Van de Walle, Lou Ann Lovin, Karen Sharp, Jennifer Bay Williams: There are versions for grades K-2, 3-5, and 5-8. In East Penn (my former district) we purchased a version for every teacher at the elementary level. It beautifully combines research with practice while clarifying the expectations of Common Core Mathematics.
    1. Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis: This was my go to book for reading comprehension instruction, as the explicit strategies were frequently the focal point of whole class instruction and guided reading. This book defines what close reading should look like in the classroom. A comparable book for the primary level would be Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller (which I have not read).
    1. The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe: While the Understanding by Design book is an indispensible resource, it is lengthy and very difficult to consume. This book does a great job of highlighting its main points in a much shorter format.
    1. Learning by Doing by Richard Dufour, Rebecca Dufour, Robert Eaker, Thomas Many: While the Dufours have written several books on Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), this is the one that is the most actionable, helping districts to determine where they are and then guiding them to where they need to be.
    1. How to Grade for Learning by Ken O’Connor: This book really encompasses pretty much any vital question that can arise when looking at standards-based grading procedures. It can be tough to get through, but different sections can be called upon as needed without reading the entire book. Many books touch upon different aspects of grading, but this has it all in one spot. The best resource for creating standards-based reports cards would be Developing Standards-Based Report Cards by Tom Guskey and Jane Bailey.
    1. Rigorous Curriculum Design by Larry Ainsworth: If you are going to use one book to assist in redesigning your curriculum, this has to be it. While your district does not have to adopt everything here, you can certainly adapt as needed in order to fit your specific needs.
    1. Creating Innovators by Tony Wagner: Everything by Tony Wagner is just awesome. This book takes a look at people who are innovators, and then explores their history in order to uncover what inspired them and what made them who they are.
    1. Embedded Formative Assessment by Dylan Wiliam: Probably the definitive book on formative assessment by the subject’s top researcher. Wiliam does a crystal clear job of explaining why formative assessment is so vital to student learning, and after reading this book I could not imagine any teacher not changing his practice in one way or another. Checking for Understanding by Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey (which I have not read), would probably be a nice follow-up read, supplying teachers with instantly usable strategies.
    1. Leading Change by John Kotter: As much as I like Michael Fullan, John Kotter’s work is easier to read and is just more “fun.” This is his most notable book. As an administrator with autonomy, I could see myself always keeping an extra copy nearby and referring to it often, especially when promoting change.
    1. The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo: Last year, I read this book along with John Kotter’s Buy-In, and they both have helped me in reimagining the ways in which I provide professional development, deal with resistance to change, etc. The Jobs book does get a bit repetitive after a bit, but it is easily a worthwhile read nonetheless. 

What are your thoughts on any of these books? Also, are there any books that you would add to the list?


The Problem with “Formative Assessment Tools” (part 2 of 2)

0
0

The Problem with %22Formative Assessment Tools%22 (part 2 of 2)In the previous post (part 1 of 2), we explored the fact that student response apps (Socrative, Kahoot!, Plickers, etc.) are often mislabeled as “formative assessment tools.” What makes them formative depends on the context in which they are used. Formative assessment is a process, and in order for a tool to play a part in this process the results/data it produces must be leveraged to differentiate instruction or learning.

The Problem

Now, let’s explore a second problem with these apps, which is the belief that they are not generally associated with higher-order thinking.

From what I have experienced, we are largely stuck in this rut when it comes to using student response tools, and there are two main reasons why:

  • For the most part, old school “student clickers” included only multiple-choice questions (and maybe a little something else), which is a format that tends to result in lower level questioning. It has been easy to copy and paste these inadequate practices (or questions) on to our newer technologies, even though these apps are capable of a whole lot more.
  • When it comes to classroom instruction, I also think it is easy to view student response tools as an all or nothing decision. Either the entire lesson is centered around their use, or they are not used at all. From what I have experienced (and have been guilty of as well), if these tools are the focal point of a class, chances are the students are simply answering one multiple-choice question after another (which aligns with the education world’s current fascination with hard, quantitative data). This means more lower level questions that travel in only one direction, from teacher to students. There is no encouragement of dialogue, collaboration, inquiry, etc. Everything is black and white, when we all know that higher-order thinking and inquiry-based learning are all about shades of grey.

The Solution

I do feel that multiple-choice and lower level questions have their place in the classroom, as higher-order thinking and inquiry are built on top of solid foundations and basic understandings. After all, you can’t think critically about nothing.

At the same time, I firmly believe that the majority of the questions asked in school, at the very least, should promote thought, curiosity and some level of exploration.

Here are two ideas as to how to encourage higher-order thinking with student response tools:

  • Flipped Clickers: Tony Wagner defines critical thinking as “the ability to ask the right question, ask really good questions.” In Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching, the Distinguished level for Domain 3b (Using Questioning and Discussion Techniques) says, “Students formulate many questions, initiate topics, challenge one another’s thinking…” So, let’s flip the way student response tools our used by having students ask the questions. Overall, this shift can be accomplished by (1) the teacher promoting activities in which students have to respond with questions that they formulate (questions that can then be used creatively by the teacher to extend these activities), and/or (2) providing students with both student and teacher/administrative rights for as many tools as possible (for example, think small group literature circles in which students take turns leading the discussion). Just when you think you have all the answers, the students ask the questions.
  • Fewer Questions for a Deeper Understanding: One of the components of Danielson’s Domain 3b reads, “When teachers ask questions of high quality, they ask only a few of them and provide students with sufficient time to think about their responses, to reflect on the comments of their classmates, and to deepen their understanding.” This quote addresses head-on what needs to be done in order to promote cultures of thinking in our classrooms. Many lower level questions (such as those that accompany stories in basal readers), should be converted to only a few higher-order questions (with the help of something like Webb’s Depth of Knowledge), and around these questions thinking routines should be formed (in which student response tools do not serve as the focal point, but are used to assist in facilitating discussion and increase opportunities to respond). Additionally, teachers need explicit professional development on how to shift from lower level questions to rigorous thinking routines, rather than just focusing on converting questions from lower level to higher-order. A bunch of higher-order questions asked in the same exact way (with or without technology) as an equal number of lower level questions will do very little to deepen students’ understanding of what they are learning.

For both options, it is not an either/or decision regarding whether or not the response tools are used, but rather finding the appropriate level of technology integration to enhance or redefine student learning experiences.

In the End 

Once again, we need to emphasize pedagogy over technology by starting with the end in mind – higher-order questions and thinking routines – and then leveraging the tools that we have available to us in order for our students to arrive at the appropriate destination.

At the same time, we should keep in mind that although all educators are at different points on the learning curve when it comes to effectively integrating technology, the last thing we want is for instruction to be consistently inferior because technology just has to be included. Don’t try to cram a square peg into a round hole.

What are your thoughts on these apps? What are some unique ways in which you have seen them used to promote high-order thinking? Do you think there is a place for “flipped clickers” in the classroom?

Connect with Ross on Twitter.

Why I Refused to Flip My Classroom

0
0

Why I Refused to Flip My ClassroomA handful of years ago I was teaching fourth grade when the whole idea of the flipped classroom entered my radar. The Educause definition of the topic states:

The flipped classroom is a pedagogical model in which the typical lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed. Short video lectures are viewed by students at home before the class session, while in-class time is devoted to exercises, projects, or discussions.

In short, get the direct instruction out of the way so class time can be dedicated to problem solving.

The Problem

Front-loading direct instruction goes against everything that I believe in as an educator, and therefore, so does the way in which most classrooms are flipped.

For example, let’s take a look at adding fractions with common denominators. For homework, students can watch a clunky Khan Academy video, or something comparable, and be force-fed the proper formula (add numerators, denominators stay the same). Then, at later points in time, these students can complete numerous problems that are identical to what was shown in the video (with just the digits changed, of course).

Students may be able to get all of the problems correct, but does it really mean anything?

In what has been called parrot math, “this approach suggests that children mimic mindlessly what teachers [or videos] model with the hope that somehow the mimicry will lead to learning. Do parrots understand?”

Furthermore, will the ensuing exercises, projects, or discussion (on which the majority of class is spent) actually matter to students when they already have the “right” answers?

The Solution

According to John Van de Walle, “It is important to understand that mathematics is to be taught through problem solving.”

To clarify…There is a considerable difference between students learning as a result of problem solving vs. word problems that are thrown at students after they’ve already memorized the basics.

Let’s examine another approach to teaching fractions with common denominators. When I taught this concept my students interacted with several pairs of electronic fraction bars through a paint program, and each pair of bars was already divided up for them into equal parts (to signify common denominators). Students were able to manipulate or electronically fill in parts of the bars in order to come up with equations (e.g. 1/5 + 2/5 = 3/5, 4/10 + 3/10 = 7/10, etc.). After generating several equations, the students looked for patterns, and based on these patterns they were able to “uncover” the proper formula for adding fractions with common denominators while also being able to explain why it “worked.” After, students practiced using the formula by applying it to basic problems.

Although a decent amount of time was allocated to students uncovering the formula, it was time well spent as they developed a conceptual understanding of the content. Less time then had to be devoted to “drill and kill.”

As Van de Walle declared:

Then, by allowing students to interact with and struggle with the mathematics using their ideas and their strategies – a student-centered approach – the mathematics they learn will be integrated with their ideas; it will make sense to them, be understood, and be enjoyed.

In the End

First, I cannot recommend enough the books of John Van de Walle, as his work explains in the most concrete way possible what it means to facilitate inquiry-based mathematics. In my previous district, when we made the Common Core shift, every teacher across all seven elementary schools was provided one of his books.

Second, although there is definitely more than one way to flip a classroom, this post reflects the one method that I have most commonly seen and experienced throughout my career. Also, while I have used math as an example, I do believe that the same overall ideas apply to all subject areas.

Finally, no matter what the approach, I cannot help but think that flipping a classroom is developmentally inappropriate, especially for students at the elementary level. If we want our students to engage in productive struggle, inquiry, and the uncovering of formulas, I have a hard time believing that these objectives can be fulfilled by watching of videos in isolation (no matter what the videos contain).

Nonetheless, I realize that these beliefs reflect my teaching style and my experiences, and I would be willing to be bet that there are educators who have flipped their classrooms in ways that benefit their students. So, if you are one of these educators, please feel free to contact me/leave a comment with your approach, as I would love to include your work in a follow-up post.

What are your thoughts on the flipped classroom? How have you seen it implemented effectively? Was it just a passing fad that’s already had its day?

Connect with Ross on Twitter.

Yes! Flip Your Classroom!

0
0

Yes! Flip Your Classroom!Dissonance.

According to dictionary.com, dissonance can be defined as “lack of agreement or consistency.”

From my research, it is one of the hallmarks of any successful organization.

In Good to Great Jim Collins declares:

Indeed, one of the crucial elements in taking a company from good to great is somewhat paradoxical. You need executives, on the one hand, who argue and debate – sometimes violently – in pursuit of the best answers, yet, on the other hand, who unify fully behind a decision, regardless of parochial interests.

As Ed Catmull states in Creativity Inc.:

It isn’t enough merely to be open to ideas from others. Engaging the collective brainpower of the people you work with is an active, ongoing process. As a manager, you must coax ideas out of your staff and constantly push them to contribute.

We most provoke, actively try to understand all contributions, and ultimately do what is best for “business.”

My Last Post

In my last post we took a look at the reasons why I refused to flip my fourth grade classroom. However, rather than speaking in blanket statements (which is something I have been warned not to do), I encouraged dissonance and contributions from others by asking readers to respond with opposing points of view. I then promised to include these ideas in a follow-up post.

After all…Blogging isn’t always about declaring yourself the expert, but rather leveraging your platform to provoke thinking and promote collaboration.

Here are the dissenting/somewhat dissenting responses, verbatim: (I should also mention that there were several blog comments and tweets that agreed with what I had to say…but that is not the point for this particular post.)

5 Responses

I am in my 3rd year of flipped learning and the thing I like best about it is having more meaningful relationships. When I lectured I talked to maybe 4-5 students per class, you know, the same ones that would always answer or ask questions while the others sat there passively. Now I am happy to say I have the opportunity to connect with all 24 students each and every day. The video is just the beginning, it is what goes on in class that is most important and flipped learning has given me that opportunity. – weltyteaching

——————–

4 years ago when I was under a strict pacing calendar, I found flipping to be my best bet. I was expected to cover a topic a day and assess on Fridays. I did not have time for exploration etc. Flipping afforded me the time in class to have conversations and target areas of need by placing students in ability groups to make good use of instructional time.

After two years of Common Core, my flipping looked very different and aligns nicely with Kyle’s thoughts. I would teach an exploration and make students struggle in class. Next I would send them home with a video that explains the algorithm and makes meaning of the math they struggled with in class. The next day, I would provide practice with the skills learned through the exploration and flipped video.

The in-class practice would be determined by a formative assessment where I would first see what students understood from the exploration and formative assessment then put students in ability groups. The formative assessment helped me group students based on need and target instruction accordingly. I don’t think anybody truly flipped their entire instructional practice. Just like good teaching, we assess what needs to be taught and find the best means for delivering that learning experience. – Julie Garcia

——————–

I teach math also and found that I love having a flipped classroom. Each day I am afforded the opportunity to teach my students to struggle with a concept they vaguely know about. This dynamic allows the kids to develop so many skills, mostly the 4 C’s. I spend a lot less time lecturing and a lot more time exploring. Almost every day I get to talk about gathering evidence and where can we go to collect evidence to help us with this concept. After piquing their interest, they can go home and watch the video and instructional piece that may be useful to them for solving the concept. – Chad

——————–

I have used the flipped classroom model when teaching IGCSE physics. However, I would not recommend this model as a general rule. In my case, I only flip the classroom when I feel it makes sense: when there is something that is not conceptually hard but requires extended practice. For example, when theory is extremely simple but problem solving can get complex. On the other hand, I prefer a more hands-on, inquiry-based approach when tackling more abstract concepts, for example that of the electric field. Unfortunately IGCSE coordinated science leaves very little time to cover an awful amount of content, which does not let me spend time developing things the way I would like.

I also find that the way problems are chosen is extremely important. I try to introduce two or three key ideas in the videos (which I record myself), which then get developed and extended by problem solving. It makes no sense to ask the same question over and over again with different numbers: questions have to challenge the students’ understanding and make them think. For example, if I were talking about Newton’s first law, I would make students consider situations where intuition and physics seem to give different answers, such as the fact that when you’re riding a bike at a constant speed forces are balanced, despite your feeling that you are making an effort: you’re just using all this energy to cancel air resistance, not to “move” the bike.

I also use hinge questions both at the start and at the middle of a lesson, where students use colored cups to show their answers. This helps me clarify common misconceptions before they take root.

As a corollary to your post, I would say that the model itself is less important: what’s important is being thoughtful about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. This is not an all-or-nothing affair: you can flip some lessons and not some others or you can flip part of a lesson. You can also use flipping as a redundant source of information for students who missed class or who need to constantly review.

PS This is the first time I comment here, but I find your blog a constant source of enjoyment. – Eduard Arroyo 

——————–

Ross,

I commented on the Steven W. Anderson’s post that you reference here, and I will try to “sell” the idea of flipped learning in a similarly here as I did there.

In the beginning of flipping, the general idea of making videos as homework is what started, and that still is where the majority of people start. However, the term “flipped learning” has morphed into more of a focus on pedagogy. After writing a 30 page literature review for my Master’s work on flipped learning, I would say a better definition of flipped learning would be, “A teacher’s effort to critically analyze the content in their classroom and how it is taught. The teacher then makes the BEST effort to push lower level Bloom’s outside the classroom for students to self-explore/digest, in order to make MORE room inside the classroom for the upper levels of Bloom’s.” The lower levels consumed outside the classroom do NOT have to be videos (readings, discussion forum set up on an LMS, etc.). Where teachers will “fail” with flipping is by pushing lower levels out in order to make more room in class for more lower levels (skill and drill). The example you reference where a math teacher makes videos and then does word problems in class is an example of this. Students never get beyond the applying level of Bloom’s. Students need to work through Bloom’s in order to learn, period. How they work through that, and how LONG they work at each level is up to the teacher.

One key fact that became apparent in my literature review is when teachers pushed out lower levels and worked in MORE upper level activities (that is, activities where students are analyzing, evaluating, creating) INSIDE class time, students perceived the class and content to be more valuable. As a result, attendance went up as well as classroom achievement and cognitive engagement.

I have created a website based on my research. It is designed for teachers to self-lead a change from traditional teaching to flipped learning. Maybe it will also help paint a better picture than what I am doing here (http://jardo3.wix.com/flippedlearning). I co-teach a course for grad credit based on these same principles.

I run into people who failed at flipping and then absolutely reject the notion. If a teacher says videos followed by skill and drill is bad pedagogy, then I wholeheartedly agree and stand with them. But teachers must be willing to change this misconception in order to see what research has proven HIGHLY beneficial of flipped learning.

Love reading the other comments posted. Hopefully we can come to a common definition that reflects the true effectiveness of flipped learning.

Let me know if any of my resources helped. I’m considering putting down the money for a domain if teachers find it helpful and useful. – Jarod Bormann 

——————–

In the End

The end game is not trying to prove what is right and what is wrong. The end game is what is best for students. In order for our objective to be reached, often times we must provoke each other’s thinking, be candid, and embrace dissonance.

In short, according to one of the pillars of Google culture, “Consensus requires dissension.”

What are your overall thoughts on the significance of dissonance at work? How do you generally react when others do not agree with you? How do you encourage dissonance from your colleagues? Your students?

Connect with Ross on Twitter.

Challenge Based Learning Presentation

0
0
My district starts off every school year with two days of staff professional development, which takes place at the building level. This year, my principal asked me to share with the other teachers what I had learned at this summer’s Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) Summer Institute in Arizona. My presentation took place during the second […]

Rigor vs. Relevance…Who Wins?

0
0
Daggett’s Presentation A week ago I had the privilege of attending a full-day presentation by Bill Daggett. If you ever have the opportunity to work with him, do it! Highly recommended! Prior to the presentation I had heard so much about his ability to engage an audience. So, I was as interested in watching a […]

6 Stages of Personal Tech Integration

0
0
Here are the 6 stages of personal technology integration, which I devised based on my experiences as a teacher and administrator. The “lowest” step starts with educator unwillingness to use technology, while the “highest” involves being able to leverage these tools to promote inquiry-based learning (through project-based learning, 20% Time, etc.). These stages were part […]

Literature Circles – Are Role Sheets a Necessary Evil?

0
0

In a recent article for Edutopia – (Almost) Paperless Literature Circles – I wrote about how I facilitated this process as a fourth grade teacher. The Problem An earlier draft of this article focused primarily on the predetermined jobs/role sheets students completed on a weekly basis: connector, passage picker, wonderer, predictor, etc. Upon reviewing this […]

The post Literature Circles – Are Role Sheets a Necessary Evil? appeared first on Cooper on Curriculum.


Inquiry is King. Here’s Why…

0
0

What is Inquiry? Inquiry-based learning can be defined as learning that “starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios – rather than simply presenting established facts or portraying a smooth path to knowledge. The process is often assisted by a facilitator.” In short, through some form of productive struggle, students “uncover” material, as opposed to content […]

The post Inquiry is King. Here’s Why… appeared first on Cooper on Curriculum.

How to Transform Step-by-Step Directions into Inquiry

0
0

In a previous post we explored a potential problem with prepackaged STEM products (or STEM in a box). In short, the problem is when schools and districts invest more in them than they do in their teachers. Because, if the ultimate goal is to leverage these resources to promote inquiry-based learning (which it should be), […]

The post How to Transform Step-by-Step Directions into Inquiry appeared first on Cooper on Curriculum.

Here’s a Can’t Miss #GeniusHour Opportunity…

0
0

Here’s a can’t miss #GeniusHour opportunity… My good friend A.J. Juliani (@ajjuliani) – who is widely considered the go-to educator for Genius Hour – recently launched this course, which literally contains everything you’ll need to implement Genius Hour with your students! (And, if you contact me directly – or if you’re on my mailing list […]

The post Here’s a Can’t Miss #GeniusHour Opportunity… appeared first on Cooper on Curriculum.

Busting 5 Myths of Inquiry-Based Learning #HackingPBL

0
0

This post was written by Erin Murphy (@MurphysMusings5) and was originally published on her blog. Over the next few months I’ll be publishing 5 posts as sneak peaks for our upcoming book, Hacking Project Based Learning, which was written with Ross Cooper (@rosscoops31) and will be released this winter. A major tenet of project based […]

The post Busting 5 Myths of Inquiry-Based Learning #HackingPBL appeared first on Cooper on Curriculum.

5 Ways to Avoid Project Based Learning Fluff #HackingPBL

0
0

Over the next few months I’ll be publishing 10 posts as teasers (not spoilers) for the 10 chapters in our upcoming book, Hacking Project Based Learning, which was written with Erin Murphy (@MurphysMusings5) and will be released this winter. For book updates, sign up for my mailing list (and also receive a free eBook)…This post is a sneak peak for […]

The post 5 Ways to Avoid Project Based Learning Fluff #HackingPBL appeared first on Cooper on Curriculum.

Viewing all 60 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images