I have often talked to other teachers about an interesting phenomenon - that I could tell you a student's final grade within a few percentage points about 1 month into the semester. A student that had a 60% after the first month was likely to submit work on subsequent units that were about the same quality or showed the same level of understanding and would end up with a grade in the neighbourhood of 60%. This was true for students at every level - not just those getting 60%. Other teachers noticed the same thing and agreed that all of the marking and assessing we do is a bit of a waste of time considering we already know where the student is likely to end up in the end.
It occurred to me three days ago that I have been a horrible teacher! I had data suggesting that specific students were struggling, and were likely to continue to struggle and yet I did nothing about it. I continued to teach the same students in the same way - and, brace yourself for the shocker here - they continued to perform at the same level.
I have been involved in an education initiative over the past few years that is all about gathering evidence, adjusting practices, and really focussing on students that we can see early on are likely to fail, seeing what works for them and sharing those practices with other teachers to help them reach the same student and hopefully broaden their success. It took me three years + 1 conversation (that ironically had to do with data we were collecting not being reflective of what we see happening in the regular course) in order for me to open my eyes and see that I was failing my students.
Friday, June 10, 2016
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Read What You Wrote -- Write What You Mean
I've noticed that students like to give answers to their homework problems.. well, the kind that ask "What do you think of this phenomenon?" or "Why do you think the thing does that interesting thing?" The problem is, they can't represent their thoughts in writing.
Without fail, students will begin to read their response, and then slowly but surely their heads will begin to lift and then they are just talking. While I certainly don't mind the conversation (and I know that a lot of the time we are developing our world view as we talk about what we think), I sometimes (and more importantly they often) need them to write down what they mean. In today's world of high-stakes testing and written assessments, being able to write, instead of say what you mean is increasingly important.
I'm thinking of starting a routine where I ask fairly simple questions (simple to answer -- not uninteresting though). Questions where there is no fear of being wrong since there might not even be a right answer, and having students just read (and only read -- verbatim) their answers to their partners. I might even introduce a second part where the partner has to summarize (in writing) what was heard and share that out to the class, again by reading.
Any thoughts?
Without fail, students will begin to read their response, and then slowly but surely their heads will begin to lift and then they are just talking. While I certainly don't mind the conversation (and I know that a lot of the time we are developing our world view as we talk about what we think), I sometimes (and more importantly they often) need them to write down what they mean. In today's world of high-stakes testing and written assessments, being able to write, instead of say what you mean is increasingly important.
I'm thinking of starting a routine where I ask fairly simple questions (simple to answer -- not uninteresting though). Questions where there is no fear of being wrong since there might not even be a right answer, and having students just read (and only read -- verbatim) their answers to their partners. I might even introduce a second part where the partner has to summarize (in writing) what was heard and share that out to the class, again by reading.
Any thoughts?
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
What is 3% and Why Grades Don't Matter
I hate this time of year. This is the time of the year when, all of a sudden, every kid is keenly aware of their GPA (though many of them couldn't care less about it only 3 weeks ago). It is exam time. I hate it because of the finality of it all. This is the time when a student, officially at least, will pass or will fail.
There are many problems with the system, and I don't have the energy to get into all of them right now, but fundamentally, I don't believe that grades are the way to go. I follow (but don't yet use) the SBG model as I think it is vastly superior to the current way Ontarians conduct evaluation. (Ed problem #1? Teacher unwilling to change even when they know it is to the benefit of the learner).
I am currently (and constantly) faced with the decision - pass or fail? And with that decision comes two questions:
1. What is 3%?
2. What will a failing grade for this student accomplish?
When I reflect on the first question, the answer is painfully obvious; I don't really know. Especially when that percentage mark is a combination of marks from a variety of strands that are themselves unrelated. Isn't it better to be able to say (to the student and the parent and the next teacher) "This student understands Topic A very well and can do these things within that topic, but has difficulty with these other aspects, and still requires a lot of work with these other concepts."? (SBG helps with that)
The second question relies a bit on my answer to the first. Is a student with a 50% really well prepared to move onto the next topic? 50% does not scream mastery. In fact, I'd go out on a limb and guess that the 50% indicates a profound lack of mastery in most areas. BUT 50% is a pass. Forty-seven percent on the other hand is a failing mark. Three lousy percent. In reality, this 3% probably means that one topic, rather one part of one topic, was done slightly less well than the person that got the passing mark. (In many classes it may even mean that a student didn't hand in that atomic model in chemistry or didn't colour the title pages) Is the student with the 50% going to be that much better prepared then the student that had 47% eight months from now (minimum) when they move on to the next science class (in a semestered school)? Neither of them will likely have the tools or background that they need to really and truly succeed at a competitive level. I am certainly not suggesting that high marks are indicators of future success; but low marks don't scream future success either.
As I reflect (in writing), it appears to me that perhaps the problem lies with me. Perhaps my grading system is unjust or inaccurate. Perhaps the 50% student (if I truly believe they aren't prepared) should not have been able to achieve the 50%. Fifty percent should indicate readiness to move forward; competency. If however the problem does indeed lie with me, I am not alone. I co-teach, and co-plan. I have taught with many different teachers at 6 different schools. I am not that different (if I am different at all) from many of the other teachers out there. This seems to me to be a very big problem, one which I clearly do not have the answers to. Your feedback and suggestions are most certainly welcomed.
As students are (hopefully) reflecting on the habits they have that may have led them to less then desirable results, so too am I.
There are many problems with the system, and I don't have the energy to get into all of them right now, but fundamentally, I don't believe that grades are the way to go. I follow (but don't yet use) the SBG model as I think it is vastly superior to the current way Ontarians conduct evaluation. (Ed problem #1? Teacher unwilling to change even when they know it is to the benefit of the learner).
I am currently (and constantly) faced with the decision - pass or fail? And with that decision comes two questions:
1. What is 3%?
2. What will a failing grade for this student accomplish?
When I reflect on the first question, the answer is painfully obvious; I don't really know. Especially when that percentage mark is a combination of marks from a variety of strands that are themselves unrelated. Isn't it better to be able to say (to the student and the parent and the next teacher) "This student understands Topic A very well and can do these things within that topic, but has difficulty with these other aspects, and still requires a lot of work with these other concepts."? (SBG helps with that)
The second question relies a bit on my answer to the first. Is a student with a 50% really well prepared to move onto the next topic? 50% does not scream mastery. In fact, I'd go out on a limb and guess that the 50% indicates a profound lack of mastery in most areas. BUT 50% is a pass. Forty-seven percent on the other hand is a failing mark. Three lousy percent. In reality, this 3% probably means that one topic, rather one part of one topic, was done slightly less well than the person that got the passing mark. (In many classes it may even mean that a student didn't hand in that atomic model in chemistry or didn't colour the title pages) Is the student with the 50% going to be that much better prepared then the student that had 47% eight months from now (minimum) when they move on to the next science class (in a semestered school)? Neither of them will likely have the tools or background that they need to really and truly succeed at a competitive level. I am certainly not suggesting that high marks are indicators of future success; but low marks don't scream future success either.
As I reflect (in writing), it appears to me that perhaps the problem lies with me. Perhaps my grading system is unjust or inaccurate. Perhaps the 50% student (if I truly believe they aren't prepared) should not have been able to achieve the 50%. Fifty percent should indicate readiness to move forward; competency. If however the problem does indeed lie with me, I am not alone. I co-teach, and co-plan. I have taught with many different teachers at 6 different schools. I am not that different (if I am different at all) from many of the other teachers out there. This seems to me to be a very big problem, one which I clearly do not have the answers to. Your feedback and suggestions are most certainly welcomed.
As students are (hopefully) reflecting on the habits they have that may have led them to less then desirable results, so too am I.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Sound and Waves
It turns out that we had it right when we were 8; a cup and a string make for an excellent telephone, and for one hell of a physics lesson on sound, waves, and resonance.
If you get the chance, procure some really thin wire. You know, the kind that those movie tough guys are always strangling people with. If you have two Tim Hortons coffee cups, and one really long hallway, you can demonstrate so many of the wonderful aspects of sound, waves, and vibrations it is unbelievable.
Note, some old coffee cans work a bit better, but are a tad harder to come by. The perk (sigh) of the coffee cans, is that you can (after poking small holes in the bottoms and tying knots in the wire to prevent it from coming out) get some pretty good tension in the wire, making it work a bit better. The coffee cup bottoms (cardboard) tend to rip when you pull hard.
Materials and Set-up:
Two cans/cups with bottoms that you can poke a small hole in (without bending the bottom -- try using a drill or screw if using metal coffee cans. With a cardboard cup, the wire may do the trick -- if not, use a pin)
Thin wire (I used 30+ meters)
Long Hallway
Radio (not required, but cool)
Some crazy cool things you and your students (or children) might observe:
1. The sound is AMAZINGLY clear over such a long distance
2. You can talk fairly quietly. The cup you hold amplifies your signal, and the one at the other end boosts it again
3. You can hear the person through the cup WAY before you can hear them through the air (if you can hear them through the air at all!)
4. You can hear the radio clearly through the apparatus as well (yeah, I know, not groundbreaking, but who doesn't love a little Katy Perry)
5. You can have students stationed along the wire (which I recommend so people don't walk into it) and have them pluck the string producing guitar like sounds on both ends. Pluck at different places or at multiple places at once.
All of these things can lead to rich observations and discussions about:
transmission of energy through a medium
the nature of sound waves
the speed of sound (solid vs gas)
resonance (in an air column, on a string, or in general)
the human ear
interference of waves
intensity of sound and the decibel scale
whether Katy Perry is better than Michael Jackson, or if her parallel success to his is a sign of the times and speaks to a lack of true artistic talent
and maybe lots more that I am missing
This upcoming semester, I plan to start with sound so I don't have to rush through anything and we can explore these ideas to our ears content.
If you get the chance, procure some really thin wire. You know, the kind that those movie tough guys are always strangling people with. If you have two Tim Hortons coffee cups, and one really long hallway, you can demonstrate so many of the wonderful aspects of sound, waves, and vibrations it is unbelievable.
Note, some old coffee cans work a bit better, but are a tad harder to come by. The perk (sigh) of the coffee cans, is that you can (after poking small holes in the bottoms and tying knots in the wire to prevent it from coming out) get some pretty good tension in the wire, making it work a bit better. The coffee cup bottoms (cardboard) tend to rip when you pull hard.
Materials and Set-up:
Two cans/cups with bottoms that you can poke a small hole in (without bending the bottom -- try using a drill or screw if using metal coffee cans. With a cardboard cup, the wire may do the trick -- if not, use a pin)
Thin wire (I used 30+ meters)
Long Hallway
Radio (not required, but cool)
Some crazy cool things you and your students (or children) might observe:
1. The sound is AMAZINGLY clear over such a long distance
2. You can talk fairly quietly. The cup you hold amplifies your signal, and the one at the other end boosts it again
3. You can hear the person through the cup WAY before you can hear them through the air (if you can hear them through the air at all!)
4. You can hear the radio clearly through the apparatus as well (yeah, I know, not groundbreaking, but who doesn't love a little Katy Perry)
5. You can have students stationed along the wire (which I recommend so people don't walk into it) and have them pluck the string producing guitar like sounds on both ends. Pluck at different places or at multiple places at once.
All of these things can lead to rich observations and discussions about:
transmission of energy through a medium
the nature of sound waves
the speed of sound (solid vs gas)
resonance (in an air column, on a string, or in general)
the human ear
interference of waves
intensity of sound and the decibel scale
whether Katy Perry is better than Michael Jackson, or if her parallel success to his is a sign of the times and speaks to a lack of true artistic talent
and maybe lots more that I am missing
This upcoming semester, I plan to start with sound so I don't have to rush through anything and we can explore these ideas to our ears content.
Modern Physics
I know that universities and the Perimeter Institute would love it if we (high school physics teachers) spent more time on modern physics. You know what? I would too, but is it really possible?
Today we spent some time at the zoo looking at the strange (if you can pardon the pun) things living there; bosons, leptons, and hadrons. We looked at the quarks, and even had some fun building protons and neutrons, along with a meson or two. It was great, and I think everybody really enjoyed it, but did they enjoy it for the pure academic exercise and the weird look into the bizarre quantum world, or for some other reason?
I have my students trust. I can lead them through time dilation and length contraction, and even though I get my fair share of 'but really's, they go along with me. Better still, they revel in the mysterious. They love the quantum weirdness of it all... but could they do it for half the semester? Could it keep their interest if I dealt with things so outside of their ordinary realm of experience? I doubt it. This could speak to my lack of ability or creativity. I've tried the cloud chamber and looked for particle tracks... but beyond that, and the many computer simulations, what am I to do? I spend one month (approximately) in modern physics and for now, we all like it that way.
Today we spent some time at the zoo looking at the strange (if you can pardon the pun) things living there; bosons, leptons, and hadrons. We looked at the quarks, and even had some fun building protons and neutrons, along with a meson or two. It was great, and I think everybody really enjoyed it, but did they enjoy it for the pure academic exercise and the weird look into the bizarre quantum world, or for some other reason?
I have my students trust. I can lead them through time dilation and length contraction, and even though I get my fair share of 'but really's, they go along with me. Better still, they revel in the mysterious. They love the quantum weirdness of it all... but could they do it for half the semester? Could it keep their interest if I dealt with things so outside of their ordinary realm of experience? I doubt it. This could speak to my lack of ability or creativity. I've tried the cloud chamber and looked for particle tracks... but beyond that, and the many computer simulations, what am I to do? I spend one month (approximately) in modern physics and for now, we all like it that way.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Shake Off The Rust
Okay. Two fold purpose - one, to shake off the rust. I've been avoiding coming back here due to the content of my last entry. I'm moving forward.
Lastly, to make a confession. It turns out that I (unfortunately) link the performance of my students to my self-esteem. Like all educators, I change things up in order to improve. I thought I did a real bang-up job recently. In fact, I gave myself the proverbial pat on the back. Then I looked at the results of the assessment directly tied to that lesson. Ouch. I know that this time of the year is tough for students, and I should roll with the punches and all of those other tired cliches, but man, did I take it personally.
Each day is a fresh start and another opportunity to learn and to help others learn. I went over the material with them again today, had kids jumping onto and off of lab benches to various levels (simulating electron stimulation and emission of photons), and this time, hopefully, they got it.
Lastly, to make a confession. It turns out that I (unfortunately) link the performance of my students to my self-esteem. Like all educators, I change things up in order to improve. I thought I did a real bang-up job recently. In fact, I gave myself the proverbial pat on the back. Then I looked at the results of the assessment directly tied to that lesson. Ouch. I know that this time of the year is tough for students, and I should roll with the punches and all of those other tired cliches, but man, did I take it personally.
Each day is a fresh start and another opportunity to learn and to help others learn. I went over the material with them again today, had kids jumping onto and off of lab benches to various levels (simulating electron stimulation and emission of photons), and this time, hopefully, they got it.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Full Circle
It was eleven years ago, when I started my next life
We had bought our first home
I was more boy than man, but I didn’t know it
I thought I could do everything, and proceeded to try
We found a dog. Just a puppy. My dog.
Black fur, grey eyes, warm eyes.
He rode home on a blue blanket in her lap
I think she fell in love with him too
I played with him in the cold garage
We spent time together, the three of us, my next family
He helped around the yard, raking leaves and building
snowmen
He was dirty and happy and I loved him.
When Brandon was
born, after so much worry, he was sick.
Not seriously, but new parents, scared parents don’t know
Ambulances are not meant for a 1 day old baby.
Especially at 2 am .
I thought about a lot of things. My parents. Their strength.
My life; my wife; my baby. I tried to be strong.
I sat in the garage, and I told you of my fears.
I cried, and you licked the tears from my face.
You made me smile when I didn’t think I could.
When Brandon
came home, the two met.
I flashed forward to the boy he would become
At how lucky you both were to have each other.
Built in best friends. A boy and his dog.
You both sat on the sidelines at my soccer games.
I saw the two of you grow together.
I saw you playing together. Becoming friends.
I saw you talking to him when you were upset.
I remember you taking him for a walk on your own for the
first time
He was so strong that he pulled you off of your feet.
You were never afraid of him, and you never mistreated him.
You sat together in his house, and he licked your face all
over
He wouldn’t stop, and you laughed until you cried.
He is tied into my memories of your childhood.
You found him. Shovel to earth, I laid him to rest.
Tonight we talked.
Shared our memories and shed our tears.
Tonight, you wiped the tears from my eyes.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Moving Forward Together
About twenty years ago, my wife said "You have to meet them where they're at." I'm not sure if she was referring to teaching, though I suspect she was, but the thought has stayed with me ever since. It may have been my first introduction to D.I. Educators are keenly aware that students come to them with completely different capabilities and attitudes toward learning. I'm not sure that anybody in education today could successfully argue for a 'one size fits all' education system.
Once again, I find my thoughts (and words) drifting toward the topic of professional development. A few days ago, I was one of a group of 10 people involved in a full day P.D. session where we were examining research (Fisher and Frey - Reading Comprehension Strategies) in order to address a student need in our building. The group was trying to come up with a strategic plan to put in place so that the entire staff would be able to help our students make meaning from what they are reading. No small task! A couple things jumped out at me.
First, there is always the nagging "90%" statistic in the back of my mind. No real student gains are realized until 90% of the staff are well beyond the beginning stages of use for a specific task/practice or strategy.(1) With that in mind, we are always trying to come up with something for the entire staff to do, and furthermore, something easy to implement. The Panama Canal was a solution to a problem. Solutions to difficult problems are messy and require a lot of work and effort. I'm afraid that by trying to find a quick and easy solution (to ensure staff participation) that we are digging a moat rather than a canal. At these meetings, we will all agree to try something new, and report on the success of the initiative. Ten staff members out of 80, working on something new for 1 week (or even one month) flies in the face of the research. How can we inform our practice based on statistically insignificant findings?
Secondly, there is D.I. (Didn't think I was going to tie it back in, did you?) Only this time, I'm NOT talking about students. Each staff member has different ideas, skills and attitudes when it comes to teaching (especially when talking about trying new things ESPECIALLY when those things are based upon research that doesn't agree with your own personal view of how things work!) We talk about each staff member being at a different place in their 'continuum of learning', yet we try to come up with a one size fits all policy toward educating students. P.D. funds are spent on the willing and eager - people that are less likely to need the P.D.
I believe in what we are trying to do. I don't believe that anybody is at fault. I am confident that what I am engaging in is making me a better teacher, and that my students benefit from it (at least in a limited capacity while in my class -- are they transferring their skills to other environments?). I do not regret the work, but I don't want it to be in vain either. I am afraid that we are in over our heads.
So, here is the crux of it all.
i) How do we, as a school, keep from spinning our wheels?
ii) What do we need to do to collectively move forward?
As always, your suggestions/comments appreciated.
(1) Adapted from Fixsen, D. L., Naoom, S. F., Blase, K. A., Friedman, R. M., & Wallace, F. (2005). Implementation research: A synthesis of the literature. Tampa, FL: University of South Florida, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, NIRN (FMHI Publication #231).
Friday, March 16, 2012
Interesting Update from TD
I was shocked today to find the following statement on my TD Visa bill --
I find it a little odd that a company I choose to support through use of their product is telling me where I can use it. There must be huge governmental pressure on these companies.
COUNTRY SANCTIONS AND FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS ON YOUR CARD. YOUR CARD CAN BE USED ALL OVER THE WORLD EXCEPT IN CERTAIN COUNTRIES WHERE THERE ARE ECONOMIC AND TRADE SANCTIONS. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY TD CANADA TRUST CREDIT CARDS (TD US DOLLAR CARD INCLUDED) CANNOT BE USED TO PROCESS TRANSACTIONS FROM IRAN, MYANMAR (BURMA) AND NORTH KOREA. IN ADDITION, TRANSACTIONS ON TD U.S. DOLLAR CARDS CANNOT BE PROCESSED FROM CUBA, SYRIA AND SUDAN.
I find it a little odd that a company I choose to support through use of their product is telling me where I can use it. There must be huge governmental pressure on these companies.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Technology in the Classroom
My school purchased 14 iPads. The principal asked via email that if anybody wanted to use them in their class, they just let him know how and what for. I strained my brain and couldn't think of what to do with one (aside from projectile motion analysis in angry birds -- thanks @fnoschese), so I didn't respond. You see, I am one of those rare individuals, that though I love technology, don't have a laptop or even a cellphone. Why? I am unfortunately one of those common individuals that is basically broke.
Now that it is summer, and I've been doing a lot of work trying to think of ways to get students to use a blog or multimedia for labs, and poll everywhere etc, I thought I'd ask people (I know I should use a poll actually), "How do you use iPads for education?"
I took two home for the summer and I have been fooling around with them, getting a feeling for their usefulness and capabilities. I love them, but I am just starting to see ways to incorporate their use in class, and to be truthful, it is in more of a novelty fashion than in a learning fashion. For instance, I have a digital periodic table app installed. I have some mind mapping software on there (as readers of my blog might have guessed I would), and some drawing apps that could replace (in some ways) a smart board. I've also installed some digital info banks on the solar system, the particle zoo, and things like that. I also have some digital textbooks installed in the ebook reader. Not much that is truly interactive.
I am very eager to learn how to use them and how you are using them. So please, respond and share this blog post with your friends so we can all help one another out!
Thanks.
Now that it is summer, and I've been doing a lot of work trying to think of ways to get students to use a blog or multimedia for labs, and poll everywhere etc, I thought I'd ask people (I know I should use a poll actually), "How do you use iPads for education?"
I took two home for the summer and I have been fooling around with them, getting a feeling for their usefulness and capabilities. I love them, but I am just starting to see ways to incorporate their use in class, and to be truthful, it is in more of a novelty fashion than in a learning fashion. For instance, I have a digital periodic table app installed. I have some mind mapping software on there (as readers of my blog might have guessed I would), and some drawing apps that could replace (in some ways) a smart board. I've also installed some digital info banks on the solar system, the particle zoo, and things like that. I also have some digital textbooks installed in the ebook reader. Not much that is truly interactive.
I am very eager to learn how to use them and how you are using them. So please, respond and share this blog post with your friends so we can all help one another out!
Thanks.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Misconceptions Assignment -- part 2
So, I believe my last post (about a month ago) was in reference to an assignment on misconceptions. It was quite well received, but thanks to google and the 'quicker is better' mentality that is prevelant today, about half of the reports dealt with the infamous "penny from the CN Tower" misconception.
I'll summarize the results of my little misconception assignment experiment.
I'll summarize the results of my little misconception assignment experiment.
- The students enjoyed it, and so did I (in theory)
- In practice, the students didn't challenge their preconceived notions. They tackled items that they had already come to understand and didn't really include any personal commentary about what they used to think about the concept or why they found it challenging originally.
- Also in practice, kids love to see themselves on video and think quality video editing and stylish end-titles make for good physics.
- Lastly, and this is to be expected but is still unfortunate, students just don't know how to ask the right questions. They really led their subjects. Sometimes, the question was posed in such a manner that there was only one answer possible, or the question itself was so confusing that the subject couldn't fairly answer it.
- Outline my expectations more clearly and build success criteria with the students instead of handing out a rubric and hoping against hope that I get some real gems. In short, I didn't specifically outline my wishes for the assignment, and not surprisingly, I didn't get what I was hoping for.
- I will definitely have students write anonymous critical analyses of one another's work, with focus on questioning technique and on the explanations offered to the subjects afterward.
- They will comment on whether the misconception was clearly introduced and whether sufficient evidence was offered to challenge the misconception.
- Finally, I might have to do something about assigning specific misconceptions to students. I originally avoided this because I wanted students to be passionate about their personal selections and to choose something that had personal meaning to them, but that didn't seem to work.
It's been too long
Where have I been and what have I been doing? Too much educational reading can get in the way of one's passionate writing about education it would appear.
I have much to say, but I don't have the desire to say it all at the moment. What inspired me to write today is the current buzz about physics education, modeling, and inquiry. I guess I'm upset about the all or nothing approach to educational practices. Is there no value to socratic lecture, or investigation, or guided inquiry? Of course each method of instruction has some merit, and yet people want to overload and employ a single approach to accomplish a complex task. Did you know that if one breathes pure oxygen at depth while scuba diving it is toxic? The answer isn't always 'more of a good thing is the best thing'. Perhaps a new way to look at differentiated instruction is to actually differ instructional methods for everybody regularly. Newton was a genius because he could decipher observed phenomena without the benefit of instruction. I am not so lucky. Are your students as gifted?
This sounds like I am defending lectures, and maybe I am, I don't know. What I do know is that all of my students, without exception (and there have been some potential Newtons amongst them), have at some point needed some help and a direct explanation of the concept with reference to some real life examples of where the concept could be seen and/or is useful, has helped them.
Blech. Edited out some garbage at the end there... Some of you are wondering 'How bad must the drivel he edited out be if this is the stuff that he kept!?'. Touche.
I have much to say, but I don't have the desire to say it all at the moment. What inspired me to write today is the current buzz about physics education, modeling, and inquiry. I guess I'm upset about the all or nothing approach to educational practices. Is there no value to socratic lecture, or investigation, or guided inquiry? Of course each method of instruction has some merit, and yet people want to overload and employ a single approach to accomplish a complex task. Did you know that if one breathes pure oxygen at depth while scuba diving it is toxic? The answer isn't always 'more of a good thing is the best thing'. Perhaps a new way to look at differentiated instruction is to actually differ instructional methods for everybody regularly. Newton was a genius because he could decipher observed phenomena without the benefit of instruction. I am not so lucky. Are your students as gifted?
This sounds like I am defending lectures, and maybe I am, I don't know. What I do know is that all of my students, without exception (and there have been some potential Newtons amongst them), have at some point needed some help and a direct explanation of the concept with reference to some real life examples of where the concept could be seen and/or is useful, has helped them.
Blech. Edited out some garbage at the end there... Some of you are wondering 'How bad must the drivel he edited out be if this is the stuff that he kept!?'. Touche.
Friday, April 8, 2011
How twitter changed my plans for the week
Wow. Where does the time go? And why does it seem like just when things are slowing down, they ramp right up?
Oh well, I'd rather be busy than bored.
So last week as I was perusing my twitter account, I came across a much RT'd post about the Khan academy and numerous pedagogical arguments behind demos and videos and student learning. I spent about an hour or two reading through posts and watching 1Veritasium's videos on YouTube and it reignited my passion for misconceptions.
I showed some of the videos to my Grade 12 University physics students, and I tried to put them in the most meaningful order. We talked about each, and I paused a lot during them to check their ideas. I talked with them (at great length) about preconceived notions and the difficulties in convincing them of something that they already know to be true, but really isn't of course. When the class was just about to let out, on a whim I posed a question to them with strict instructions that they were forbidden to look up the answer or discuss their ideas with anybody. Their only homework was to <prepare to gasp> think <gasp> about the answer and be prepared to share it. The question was "Why are there phases of the moon ie full moon, quarter moon etc?"
Immediately a couple of students dismissed it and wanted to just tell me their answer. "Sir, that's too easy, I already know why." One even got so far as to mention shadows before I shut him down. Another student suggested that they do a video project debunking some misconception.
That night I wondered what I was going to do to challenge their ideas. You see, I knew most (if not all) of them thought that it was Earth's shadow playing across the moon in various amounts. What I had to do was figure out a way to present some evidence that they were easily able to understand and that they knew to be true that could challenge their preconceived notion and force them to come up with an alternate theory. I think I came up with some good ideas. You can be the judge of that by checking out the work sheet I gave them the next day by clicking here.
At the end of the "lesson", I prompted the students to see who had maintained their initial hypothesis. Only a few did. I didn't really provide them with sufficient time to come up with an alternate theory (though I did ask them for one), which I know could have been a valid learning moment for them, but I did not do nevertheless. Instead, we went through the sheet, we shared some answers, and in the end we modeled the moon orbiting the Earth, with the Sun (me with a bright spot-type light) shining ever forward.
A few interesting things happened. One student shared that even though he could not use his shadow theory to explain a single discrepant event, he wouldn't abandon it and kept trying to make it fit instead of coming up with an alternate solution. Students were eager to discuss their wrong ideas and why they held them. They weren't embarrassed or timid about being wrong; being wrong was the point of the exercise. It has taken me a long time to convince the students that being wrong is o.k., and that learning from the process or even figuring out why something is wrong is way more important than the result.
Their project due date is May 2nd (other stuff is going on and I didn't want to rush them). I'll write about the results then.
Oh well, I'd rather be busy than bored.
So last week as I was perusing my twitter account, I came across a much RT'd post about the Khan academy and numerous pedagogical arguments behind demos and videos and student learning. I spent about an hour or two reading through posts and watching 1Veritasium's videos on YouTube and it reignited my passion for misconceptions.
I showed some of the videos to my Grade 12 University physics students, and I tried to put them in the most meaningful order. We talked about each, and I paused a lot during them to check their ideas. I talked with them (at great length) about preconceived notions and the difficulties in convincing them of something that they already know to be true, but really isn't of course. When the class was just about to let out, on a whim I posed a question to them with strict instructions that they were forbidden to look up the answer or discuss their ideas with anybody. Their only homework was to <prepare to gasp> think <gasp> about the answer and be prepared to share it. The question was "Why are there phases of the moon ie full moon, quarter moon etc?"
Immediately a couple of students dismissed it and wanted to just tell me their answer. "Sir, that's too easy, I already know why." One even got so far as to mention shadows before I shut him down. Another student suggested that they do a video project debunking some misconception.
That night I wondered what I was going to do to challenge their ideas. You see, I knew most (if not all) of them thought that it was Earth's shadow playing across the moon in various amounts. What I had to do was figure out a way to present some evidence that they were easily able to understand and that they knew to be true that could challenge their preconceived notion and force them to come up with an alternate theory. I think I came up with some good ideas. You can be the judge of that by checking out the work sheet I gave them the next day by clicking here.
At the end of the "lesson", I prompted the students to see who had maintained their initial hypothesis. Only a few did. I didn't really provide them with sufficient time to come up with an alternate theory (though I did ask them for one), which I know could have been a valid learning moment for them, but I did not do nevertheless. Instead, we went through the sheet, we shared some answers, and in the end we modeled the moon orbiting the Earth, with the Sun (me with a bright spot-type light) shining ever forward.
A few interesting things happened. One student shared that even though he could not use his shadow theory to explain a single discrepant event, he wouldn't abandon it and kept trying to make it fit instead of coming up with an alternate solution. Students were eager to discuss their wrong ideas and why they held them. They weren't embarrassed or timid about being wrong; being wrong was the point of the exercise. It has taken me a long time to convince the students that being wrong is o.k., and that learning from the process or even figuring out why something is wrong is way more important than the result.
Their project due date is May 2nd (other stuff is going on and I didn't want to rush them). I'll write about the results then.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
A little help from my friends
In the interest of students becoming more self sufficient, a group of us at work have decided to implement an idea that Barrie Bennett mentioned in passing at a p.d. session we were involved in. He talked about a homework circle. I don't know about you, but I get really frustrated taking up questions in physics class for the first 30 minutes of class, especially when it only benefits the couple of students that tried that question. The other zombies just watch and hope to learn through some miracle.
Barrie Bennett suggested that you have students form homework circles and the instructions to them are that for the first 10 minutes of class, they are responsible within their own circles to catch everybody up on the homework and to make sure everybody within their group understands it. If a student in the group consistently isn't pulling their weight, the group may impose sanctions and the offending student may be jettisoned from the group for non-contribution. The decisions are made by the group with regards to their own welfare without teacher intervention.
In the event that multiple circles haven't been able to figure out a particular problem, that problem can be done on the board by the teacher to the benefit of all in the room and perhaps additional instruction in that area is required.
I put out an email to about 15 people, and 7 responded saying that they were eager to try it. Other than me, the breakdown is 1 science, 1 history, 1 english, 1 music, 1 family studies, 1 business, 1 math. Interesting eh!? I intend to do this with my 4U physics, but not my 1D science. 4U is more consistently homework heavy and I think they have the maturity and are responsible enough to handle it. Others are trying it with all grade groups.
I informally introduced it to the students on the first day of the semester, and they didn't even bat an eye. It seemed to them to be the most natural thing, especially when I framed it with acknowledging their collective capabilities and university implications. Now, this will take some getting used to for them, but I can see it working really well. Just yesterday, in way of reviewing concepts and mechanics of problem solving that they should have retained from their previous foray in physics, I put some problems on the board and told them to try to work out the solutions, either individually or in groups. At one point, their was a dispute between two groups regarding the correct answer. Their first course of action was to ask me to referee and tell them which was the correct response. Of course my response was to trade solutions with one another and look for the mistake in the other groups' work. They did it instantly and within moments had determined where the mistakes had been made (in this case, only one group had made an error, but it would work well even if both groups had the wrong answer). Once they get used to this idea, I can see it really benefiting them in a few ways and clearing up a bunch of time to examine the curriculum a little deeper.
One final note, I learned how to, and subsequently added an RSS feed to my class website for the students. I was getting tired of constantly reminding them to check the website for updates and hopefully this will encourage them to use it more frequently. Since mentioning it to them, I've had about 30 hits. It was at just below 1000 hits and I told them that whoever was the 1000th hit, if they took a screen shot would get a heartfelt congratulations from me ;)
Barrie Bennett suggested that you have students form homework circles and the instructions to them are that for the first 10 minutes of class, they are responsible within their own circles to catch everybody up on the homework and to make sure everybody within their group understands it. If a student in the group consistently isn't pulling their weight, the group may impose sanctions and the offending student may be jettisoned from the group for non-contribution. The decisions are made by the group with regards to their own welfare without teacher intervention.
In the event that multiple circles haven't been able to figure out a particular problem, that problem can be done on the board by the teacher to the benefit of all in the room and perhaps additional instruction in that area is required.
I put out an email to about 15 people, and 7 responded saying that they were eager to try it. Other than me, the breakdown is 1 science, 1 history, 1 english, 1 music, 1 family studies, 1 business, 1 math. Interesting eh!? I intend to do this with my 4U physics, but not my 1D science. 4U is more consistently homework heavy and I think they have the maturity and are responsible enough to handle it. Others are trying it with all grade groups.
I informally introduced it to the students on the first day of the semester, and they didn't even bat an eye. It seemed to them to be the most natural thing, especially when I framed it with acknowledging their collective capabilities and university implications. Now, this will take some getting used to for them, but I can see it working really well. Just yesterday, in way of reviewing concepts and mechanics of problem solving that they should have retained from their previous foray in physics, I put some problems on the board and told them to try to work out the solutions, either individually or in groups. At one point, their was a dispute between two groups regarding the correct answer. Their first course of action was to ask me to referee and tell them which was the correct response. Of course my response was to trade solutions with one another and look for the mistake in the other groups' work. They did it instantly and within moments had determined where the mistakes had been made (in this case, only one group had made an error, but it would work well even if both groups had the wrong answer). Once they get used to this idea, I can see it really benefiting them in a few ways and clearing up a bunch of time to examine the curriculum a little deeper.
One final note, I learned how to, and subsequently added an RSS feed to my class website for the students. I was getting tired of constantly reminding them to check the website for updates and hopefully this will encourage them to use it more frequently. Since mentioning it to them, I've had about 30 hits. It was at just below 1000 hits and I told them that whoever was the 1000th hit, if they took a screen shot would get a heartfelt congratulations from me ;)
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
What I meant to say
You know how somebody insults you and you come back with "Oh yeah, well ... you suck" only later to come up with a real zinger? Or perhaps somebody puts you on the spot and asks you your thoughts and you pop out some answer in the spur of the moment since everybody is waiting to hear what you have to say, and right after you are done talking you figure out what you really want to say but the moment has passed?
That happened to me Monday. Somebody put me on the spot at a meeting and asked me about something I had taken away from camp and used in class and I focused on one small component, an activity, and that was the least thing I left with (as readers of my blog can attest to). Less than 1 minute (literally) after I had finished my response, I began furiously writing my TRUE response. While I couldn't share it with them, here it is for posterity.
"Before break, Jenni asked what I 'did', what I took away. I tried a limited number of teaching tools which focus on a few comprehension strategies. But more than that, I changed. I changed my focus to one of increased understanding and deeper more meaningful connections. I changed my expectations for students and the degree to which they were involved in their own learning.
I maintain a class website with some literacy links.
I signed up for twitter and I blog, both of which have increased my contact with others in a PLN and exposed me to a wealth of knowledge both through conversations with those people and the resources they have put me in touch with AND have forced me to look at what I do and why I do it and to be able to put it in writing.
I've joined the PLC at school. I'm on the SIT and am in the 'book club' for instructional rounds. I work WAY more with the TLTT's and other staff and the STUDENTS see me collaborating, and I'm here."
That is what I meant to say.
That happened to me Monday. Somebody put me on the spot at a meeting and asked me about something I had taken away from camp and used in class and I focused on one small component, an activity, and that was the least thing I left with (as readers of my blog can attest to). Less than 1 minute (literally) after I had finished my response, I began furiously writing my TRUE response. While I couldn't share it with them, here it is for posterity.
"Before break, Jenni asked what I 'did', what I took away. I tried a limited number of teaching tools which focus on a few comprehension strategies. But more than that, I changed. I changed my focus to one of increased understanding and deeper more meaningful connections. I changed my expectations for students and the degree to which they were involved in their own learning.
I maintain a class website with some literacy links.
I signed up for twitter and I blog, both of which have increased my contact with others in a PLN and exposed me to a wealth of knowledge both through conversations with those people and the resources they have put me in touch with AND have forced me to look at what I do and why I do it and to be able to put it in writing.
I've joined the PLC at school. I'm on the SIT and am in the 'book club' for instructional rounds. I work WAY more with the TLTT's and other staff and the STUDENTS see me collaborating, and I'm here."
That is what I meant to say.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Life Gets Busy
So much has happened since the last time I wrote. Let's take stock:
1. Some fool ran a stop sign without even slowing down and crashed into my car. End result: all passengers and the other driver are perfectly fine and I have a bit of a bum knee. The doctor wants me to get a scope done, but I'm hoping for the less intrusive MRI. Honestly I'm hoping the anti-inflammatory medicine he has me on will do the trick. Hopeful, but not holding my breath.
2. I've had some interesting PD and I've been heading up a team at work regarding feedback in classrooms. It is definitely a different role for me, and not one I am entirely comfortable with. The moment you speak up about something, all of a sudden you are the expert in that area. I certainly don't feel like an expert. The bonus to the whole thing I guess is that now all of my colleagues talk to me about using feedback; their successes and failures and so I am learning a lot through other people's experiences. It helps me in my own teaching, and also gives me more information to help others with.
3. The literacy camp that I attended and talked about at the onset of this blog is of course happening again this summer, and I've been looking forward to it. A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to be one of the facilitators for the science break-out sessions as one of last years facilitators cannot make it this year. I tried and tried to come up with reasons to turn the offer down, and aside from a lack of self-confidence and a terrifying feeling that I won't be able to contribute (ever get that feeling like 'who the hell am I to tell people anything?!'), I couldn't come up with anything concrete, and humbly (and worriedly) accepted. I think this ties back into that blog entry LONG ago about our fears of being discovered as frauds. Well, here it is folks. I'm about to lay all of my cards on the table.
4. Things in my classroom are still slow-going, and of course wrapping up for the semester. I worry about some of my students, but in the end, they have to do the work and there is only so much I can do for them. I've done quite a few things this semester, most of which I will repeat and try to incorporate more into the classroom. I have completely fallen in love with Think - (write) - Pair - Share, and of course, I'm digging various forms of feedback. Can I invent a new term here? Let's call it pre-back. I love (and so do my students) giving kids the entire outline of what they are doing, why they are doing it and how it will be evaluated. When they can look up at a chart and have steps to follow, each of them knows exactly what they need to do in order to get a perfect answer all the time, regardless of the type of question. We are having our walk-through visit with a bunch of superintendents and principals etc and we've been told that they will be asking students questions like "What are you doing?", "How will you know when you are done?", "What will you do if you get stuck?", "How do you know if your answer is right?"... things of that nature. On a whim, whilst my class was being video-taped for some presentation on moderation (I had them doing peer-feedback on a literacy piece from an article they read about static electricity in our science class using success criteria), I decided to start asking those questions. Their answers were awesome. I think I am going to post those questions around my room so I remember to ask students them more often, and so hopefully they will think about that stuff and ask themselves those questions also.
5. I still have to start up this year's incarnation of the robotics club (which I am really looking forward to). I figure I can get the advertising going now, and start up right after exams. I received the kit for the Guelph roboticon and my team is looking to build upon their success from last year's competition.
5. On the home front, my wife has booked a Disney trip for us and the kids and that has occupied a lot of our time with planning, but it has been fun. Busy? Yeah, you could say that. Off to mark some mind maps...
1. Some fool ran a stop sign without even slowing down and crashed into my car. End result: all passengers and the other driver are perfectly fine and I have a bit of a bum knee. The doctor wants me to get a scope done, but I'm hoping for the less intrusive MRI. Honestly I'm hoping the anti-inflammatory medicine he has me on will do the trick. Hopeful, but not holding my breath.
2. I've had some interesting PD and I've been heading up a team at work regarding feedback in classrooms. It is definitely a different role for me, and not one I am entirely comfortable with. The moment you speak up about something, all of a sudden you are the expert in that area. I certainly don't feel like an expert. The bonus to the whole thing I guess is that now all of my colleagues talk to me about using feedback; their successes and failures and so I am learning a lot through other people's experiences. It helps me in my own teaching, and also gives me more information to help others with.
3. The literacy camp that I attended and talked about at the onset of this blog is of course happening again this summer, and I've been looking forward to it. A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to be one of the facilitators for the science break-out sessions as one of last years facilitators cannot make it this year. I tried and tried to come up with reasons to turn the offer down, and aside from a lack of self-confidence and a terrifying feeling that I won't be able to contribute (ever get that feeling like 'who the hell am I to tell people anything?!'), I couldn't come up with anything concrete, and humbly (and worriedly) accepted. I think this ties back into that blog entry LONG ago about our fears of being discovered as frauds. Well, here it is folks. I'm about to lay all of my cards on the table.
4. Things in my classroom are still slow-going, and of course wrapping up for the semester. I worry about some of my students, but in the end, they have to do the work and there is only so much I can do for them. I've done quite a few things this semester, most of which I will repeat and try to incorporate more into the classroom. I have completely fallen in love with Think - (write) - Pair - Share, and of course, I'm digging various forms of feedback. Can I invent a new term here? Let's call it pre-back. I love (and so do my students) giving kids the entire outline of what they are doing, why they are doing it and how it will be evaluated. When they can look up at a chart and have steps to follow, each of them knows exactly what they need to do in order to get a perfect answer all the time, regardless of the type of question. We are having our walk-through visit with a bunch of superintendents and principals etc and we've been told that they will be asking students questions like "What are you doing?", "How will you know when you are done?", "What will you do if you get stuck?", "How do you know if your answer is right?"... things of that nature. On a whim, whilst my class was being video-taped for some presentation on moderation (I had them doing peer-feedback on a literacy piece from an article they read about static electricity in our science class using success criteria), I decided to start asking those questions. Their answers were awesome. I think I am going to post those questions around my room so I remember to ask students them more often, and so hopefully they will think about that stuff and ask themselves those questions also.
5. I still have to start up this year's incarnation of the robotics club (which I am really looking forward to). I figure I can get the advertising going now, and start up right after exams. I received the kit for the Guelph roboticon and my team is looking to build upon their success from last year's competition.
5. On the home front, my wife has booked a Disney trip for us and the kids and that has occupied a lot of our time with planning, but it has been fun. Busy? Yeah, you could say that. Off to mark some mind maps...
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Sea of Talk
"People who know everything are silent; people who know nothing are silent. In between, there is talk. Literacy floats on a sea of talk." This quote comes from a guy by the name of James Britton. He said it (or wrote it) in 1970. This quote can be found on page 4 in the Ontario "Think Literacy" document (along with a bunch of other really good stuff by the way).
Let me point a couple of things out that I find funny.
1. The quote is older than me. I didn't become aware of it until a literacy camp guest speaker said it this summer.
2. I didn't begin to understand it (though I remembered it clearly enough) until this school year. Now I get it.
"Talk is the foundation for thought and understanding, and the key to literacy learning. Research demonstrates that powerful meta-cognitive strategies can be taught to help students self-monitor their comprehension when reading print and digital texts." This is the abstract for a book by Kathy Mills. It is part of what I believe the quote by Britton to be talking about.
I know I've mentioned it in earlier posts and I've talked about it a few times with some of you, but I wanted to put it down here, if only to document it. I really feel like I am getting to the heart of matters concerning student learning and achievement and becoming better at what I do, not only in practice but in purpose. The reason for this is the number of small talks I am fortunate enough to have with other people that are caring and passionate about education. Every time I get together with just 2 or 3 other teachers and we engage in constructive talk or debate, somewhere along the line, after bouncing ideas off of one another, a collective light bulb goes on. It is inspiring. It happened to me twice today and I had to do two things as a result. You are reading one of them now... the other was the nap I had to take. I was exhausted!
I received a couple of emails that spoke to the idea I am expressing here.
"I wish we could engage in a big 'think tank' from time to time... I bet that is what people like Marzano and Reeves do to move their thinking forward.... get like minded people together (like a kind of retreat) to sit, talk, and think."
and "Maybe we should do away with formal meetings and have the informal meetings more often. That's where the progress seems to happen."
Isn't that just incredible! I don't think there is anything more I can say on the topic right now except that if you aren't involving yourself in professional dialogue, you are really missing out!
I promise, next entry will have more humour/wit and less worky blechness.
Let me point a couple of things out that I find funny.
1. The quote is older than me. I didn't become aware of it until a literacy camp guest speaker said it this summer.
2. I didn't begin to understand it (though I remembered it clearly enough) until this school year. Now I get it.
"Talk is the foundation for thought and understanding, and the key to literacy learning. Research demonstrates that powerful meta-cognitive strategies can be taught to help students self-monitor their comprehension when reading print and digital texts." This is the abstract for a book by Kathy Mills. It is part of what I believe the quote by Britton to be talking about.
I know I've mentioned it in earlier posts and I've talked about it a few times with some of you, but I wanted to put it down here, if only to document it. I really feel like I am getting to the heart of matters concerning student learning and achievement and becoming better at what I do, not only in practice but in purpose. The reason for this is the number of small talks I am fortunate enough to have with other people that are caring and passionate about education. Every time I get together with just 2 or 3 other teachers and we engage in constructive talk or debate, somewhere along the line, after bouncing ideas off of one another, a collective light bulb goes on. It is inspiring. It happened to me twice today and I had to do two things as a result. You are reading one of them now... the other was the nap I had to take. I was exhausted!
I received a couple of emails that spoke to the idea I am expressing here.
"I wish we could engage in a big 'think tank' from time to time... I bet that is what people like Marzano and Reeves do to move their thinking forward.... get like minded people together (like a kind of retreat) to sit, talk, and think."
and "Maybe we should do away with formal meetings and have the informal meetings more often. That's where the progress seems to happen."
Isn't that just incredible! I don't think there is anything more I can say on the topic right now except that if you aren't involving yourself in professional dialogue, you are really missing out!
I promise, next entry will have more humour/wit and less worky blechness.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Another PD post?
Yep. It turns out that this upcoming Friday I will be involved in presentation during a PD session for the first time in my career. I've been thinking about it for about a week now and I've got a rough idea of how I'd like my section to go. Basically, I want to get teachers to help me present individual strategies that have worked for them regarding effective use of feedback. Bottom up or grass roots stuff that teachers in the school are already using that can motivate and encourage other teachers to try it out.
Feedback is a practice that I have been working on improving in for a few years. There are a few things that I do to ensure that students benefit from feedback and see assessments as yet another way to learn. I recently tried something I hadn't done before and while I'll admit it needs some tweaking, I did like how it went. Instead of having students just correct their answers, I had them write out on a separate piece of paper the reason(s) why they didn't get full marks for the question (ie 'my explanation didn't have an example like the question asked for', or 'I defined/listed the terms instead of explaining their connection' or a big one 'I only did the first part of the question and not the second part'). Mostly, their comments were based upon the feedback I'd left them on the test. I held individual interviews with the students and we went over their reasons, modified them if they were wrong, and made sure they understood everything before moving on. In addition to the learning benefits to the students, this was a good way for me to see if my feedback truly let them know what was lacking from their response, and students appreciated the one-on-one time. The only problem I have with it is that it was FAR too time consuming.
Last night I had an idea. I belong to a wonderful group of teachers (a PLN if you will) on twitter and I posed a question to them: 'Looking for the most effective strategies for giving feedback to students. Ideas?'
Within moments, I had three responses. That started a chat involving about 8 people. I've received 5 good ideas that I hadn't thought to try on my own, and 1 unique way to accomplish something that others have tried that works for them. Many people show a sample of responses from each level so kids have an idea of what they need to do in order to move up to the next level. Some post it on their wall, others do it via overhead and discuss each. @fnoschese suggests posting them on the internet. I already have a website that I refer kids to daily, and I think this will be a great way for me to share content with the kids. Few ever hang back or come after class to check the posted solutions or study the responses at various levels, but perhaps, from the privacy of their homes, students will be more inclined to check them out. Others have suggested using individualized googledocs or wikis to track when students access the material (and more importantly, who does not access it). While I can see that this is a great thing, I'm not confident enough in that technology to be able to do it. I can see this working for me in the future when I have a bit more time to fool around with it though.
If you have any suggestions or would like to share ideas that work for you, you can leave a comment here or email me with them. Better yet, get on twitter and join a PLN. Don't forget to let me know you are there. Just send a tweet to @glevack.
Feedback is a practice that I have been working on improving in for a few years. There are a few things that I do to ensure that students benefit from feedback and see assessments as yet another way to learn. I recently tried something I hadn't done before and while I'll admit it needs some tweaking, I did like how it went. Instead of having students just correct their answers, I had them write out on a separate piece of paper the reason(s) why they didn't get full marks for the question (ie 'my explanation didn't have an example like the question asked for', or 'I defined/listed the terms instead of explaining their connection' or a big one 'I only did the first part of the question and not the second part'). Mostly, their comments were based upon the feedback I'd left them on the test. I held individual interviews with the students and we went over their reasons, modified them if they were wrong, and made sure they understood everything before moving on. In addition to the learning benefits to the students, this was a good way for me to see if my feedback truly let them know what was lacking from their response, and students appreciated the one-on-one time. The only problem I have with it is that it was FAR too time consuming.
Last night I had an idea. I belong to a wonderful group of teachers (a PLN if you will) on twitter and I posed a question to them: 'Looking for the most effective strategies for giving feedback to students. Ideas?'
Within moments, I had three responses. That started a chat involving about 8 people. I've received 5 good ideas that I hadn't thought to try on my own, and 1 unique way to accomplish something that others have tried that works for them. Many people show a sample of responses from each level so kids have an idea of what they need to do in order to move up to the next level. Some post it on their wall, others do it via overhead and discuss each. @fnoschese suggests posting them on the internet. I already have a website that I refer kids to daily, and I think this will be a great way for me to share content with the kids. Few ever hang back or come after class to check the posted solutions or study the responses at various levels, but perhaps, from the privacy of their homes, students will be more inclined to check them out. Others have suggested using individualized googledocs or wikis to track when students access the material (and more importantly, who does not access it). While I can see that this is a great thing, I'm not confident enough in that technology to be able to do it. I can see this working for me in the future when I have a bit more time to fool around with it though.
If you have any suggestions or would like to share ideas that work for you, you can leave a comment here or email me with them. Better yet, get on twitter and join a PLN. Don't forget to let me know you are there. Just send a tweet to @glevack.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
PD
About 5 years ago I vowed to quit being involved in any committees and to just focus on my job and on becoming the best teacher I could be. I changed schools (three times now actually), and I found that I was pretty happy just being a teacher. I can't tell you the reasons (since I don't know them) but people at my new schools would sometimes nominate me for some committee or union position or some other thing (I guess upon reflection it might be because I tend to be a bit vocal), but I would politely decline. I might go into the feelings of powerlessness (and the feeling of being belittled) I experienced the last time I was on a staffing committee in response to the declination of the nomination, but the end result was the same: I was a teacher and not involved in any other way. Except that was never really true either. I coached or supervised all the dances, or just would show up to sporting events and even pop my head into other teachers classes on my prep. I guess not being involved (in education -- I'm no politician!) is not my way.
Anyway, fast forward to the present. I am a department head now, and I actually call monthly meetings whether we need them or not. I am on 3 committees (though the dividing line between them all is quite blurry to me) and I'm doing some extra-curricular stuff. So much for not getting involved. So, what has made the difference, and how does the title of this blog fit in.
Two things. I have an administrator that, as I've mentioned to many of you in private, (or as private as online forums or twitter can be) is supportive, energetic and committed to the students AND the staff, not just to the advancement of their own career. Also, my board has been working really hard to provide us with useful and meaningful professional development. A few years back, when I took a course through Queens, the prof encouraged us to reflect on all of our posts and one of the major things I talked about throughout the course was the lack of meaningful P.D. That has changed.
Today, I was away (and so were about 12 other teachers from my school -- and get this so was one of the administrators and a person from the board!) from school for the afternoon and had the opportunity to participate in a pd session designed to help us become better at what we do by witnessing other teachers and trying to learn from what they have done. That doesn't explain it well, but it is quite forward thinking in my opinion, and it was worthwhile. More importantly is what followed. After the session, a few of us hung back and really talked about things. In the last month or so, I have had more meaningful discussions following regular meetings of the staff than I think I've had in the last 5 years. We get together, talk about what happened during our group sessions, and then we get to the real nitty gritty. The meat and potatoes of the discussion. We bounce ideas off of each other, and we get to the heart of what we need to do in order for our students to do better. There isn't any complaining -- just productive (and sometimes creative) talk. Better yet, the talk leads to something. We are actually implementing change (ok, planning on it currently -- but individually, I'm doing things differently!).
I really think openness and exchange are the key missing ingredients in education today. I forget the name of the schools those two teachers began in the US (featured in Waiting for Superman), based upon their study of the teacher 'across the hall' that was accomplishing something with her students, but those schools wouldn't be possible without talking and exchange of ideas that work. Unfortunately, we don't have that exchange model embedded in current educational practice. We need to change that. Of course, most of my readers are twitter followers, and so here I am preaching to the choir.
My son just came down to talk to me and I seem to have lost my train of thought (always assuming there was an end point or logical progression to this entry), so I'll end here for now.
Anyway, fast forward to the present. I am a department head now, and I actually call monthly meetings whether we need them or not. I am on 3 committees (though the dividing line between them all is quite blurry to me) and I'm doing some extra-curricular stuff. So much for not getting involved. So, what has made the difference, and how does the title of this blog fit in.
Two things. I have an administrator that, as I've mentioned to many of you in private, (or as private as online forums or twitter can be) is supportive, energetic and committed to the students AND the staff, not just to the advancement of their own career. Also, my board has been working really hard to provide us with useful and meaningful professional development. A few years back, when I took a course through Queens, the prof encouraged us to reflect on all of our posts and one of the major things I talked about throughout the course was the lack of meaningful P.D. That has changed.
Today, I was away (and so were about 12 other teachers from my school -- and get this so was one of the administrators and a person from the board!) from school for the afternoon and had the opportunity to participate in a pd session designed to help us become better at what we do by witnessing other teachers and trying to learn from what they have done. That doesn't explain it well, but it is quite forward thinking in my opinion, and it was worthwhile. More importantly is what followed. After the session, a few of us hung back and really talked about things. In the last month or so, I have had more meaningful discussions following regular meetings of the staff than I think I've had in the last 5 years. We get together, talk about what happened during our group sessions, and then we get to the real nitty gritty. The meat and potatoes of the discussion. We bounce ideas off of each other, and we get to the heart of what we need to do in order for our students to do better. There isn't any complaining -- just productive (and sometimes creative) talk. Better yet, the talk leads to something. We are actually implementing change (ok, planning on it currently -- but individually, I'm doing things differently!).
I really think openness and exchange are the key missing ingredients in education today. I forget the name of the schools those two teachers began in the US (featured in Waiting for Superman), based upon their study of the teacher 'across the hall' that was accomplishing something with her students, but those schools wouldn't be possible without talking and exchange of ideas that work. Unfortunately, we don't have that exchange model embedded in current educational practice. We need to change that. Of course, most of my readers are twitter followers, and so here I am preaching to the choir.
My son just came down to talk to me and I seem to have lost my train of thought (always assuming there was an end point or logical progression to this entry), so I'll end here for now.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Waiting for Superman
I went and saw the movie last night and it reminded me of a couple of my students, made me aware of some of my practices and did everything a good movie about education and education reform should do.
There were parts I found extremely sad. Others made me angry; angry at either the filmmaker, or at society. Other parts still were inspiring.
Seeing this movie was one of many steps to becoming a better person, and a better teacher. Thank you to my board for bringing Geoffery Canada in to speak with us, and also for subsidizing the cost of the movie.
There were parts I found extremely sad. Others made me angry; angry at either the filmmaker, or at society. Other parts still were inspiring.
Seeing this movie was one of many steps to becoming a better person, and a better teacher. Thank you to my board for bringing Geoffery Canada in to speak with us, and also for subsidizing the cost of the movie.
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