Friday, August 01, 2014

Reflections from the Leyden 1:1 Symposium

I was lucky enough to be one of the 400 participants at the Leyden High School District 212 1:1 Symposium from July 30-August 1. Honestly, this was hands-down, the best PD I have received in years. From the moment I arrived and was greeted by the exceptional Leyden students, I could sense that this event would be special. You cannot help but feel #LeydenPride just by walking through the hallways. The leadership team behind the 1:1 Symposium truly tailored this event to every individual in attendance from teachers to administrators. The entire experience left me feeling motivated and inspired, which is exactly what you need on August 1st when the upcoming school year is staring you dead in the face.

Since the event was capped at only 400 participants, I feel a responsibility to share my major takeaways with others. (Seriously, if Jason Markey, Bryan Weinert or Mikkel Storaasli are reading, you guys are going to have to open this up to more people next year!)

So, here are my four favorite takeaways that I am borrowing from the brilliant minds that came together to share their passion about 1:1 learning in today's classrooms.

1. Start Small
This idea was really well stated by Jennie Magiera who suggested to start with one focus for the school year instead of trying to do everything all at once. Jennie also reminded participants not to "put the technology ahead of the pedagogical horse." In other words, the way we teach is more important than the device alone. If we start small with only one focus that is about teaching rather than the technology, we will be more successful in our classrooms.

2. New is not always Better
This was another idea by the inspiring Jennie Magiera, who shared that just because you have all of those shiny new devices in your classroom does not necessarily mean that you need to use all of that technology 100% of the time. Sometimes the old tech-free way you teach students is even more effective than with tech in hand. I think this is very poignant for any teacher who is about to begin the school year teaching in a 1:1 Learning Environment. 

3. Listen to the Students
At Leyden, the students have a voice. Whether it be through Twitter, blogging, or by asking students to share their thoughts during the Leyden student panel at the closing session, those students have an opportunity to share what's on their minds. Naturally, when you give students a voice, those voices are heard. This is an important reminder to all educators that students want to be heard and we have a responsibility to listen!

4. Find Joy
The opening keynote speaker at the Leyden 1:1 Symposium, Dean Shareski, shared how important it is that we all cultivate a more joyful experience in our schools. One of the ways for us to make this condition possible is for all of us to be a little more grateful. I think we need to keep this in mind as we all prepare for a new school year. Let's be grateful and remember to say thank you to acknowledge the greatness within one another. 

Getting started on a 1:1 journey will surely be filled with roadblocks and speed bumps along the way, but after spending three days at Leyden and hearing of their successes, I am certain that anyone going 1:1 in their school district is on the right track!

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

A New Beginning...

Twelve years ago, I was hired to teach fourth grade at an elementary school in the northern suburbs outside of Chicago with barely any teaching experience whatsoever. The principal at the time told me that he saw something in me that would make a great teacher. It was a ridiculously rocky first year. I was young, idealistic and an outside-the-box thinker. As the year went on, I made lots of mistakes, but I learned many lessons about how to hone my teaching skills, communicate effectively, and build relationships with those around me.

After five years in the elementary classroom, I found myself craving a leadership role and wound up as a technology coordinator in my building. When I applied for the position, I imagined this role to be a dream job for me. My passion for technology and instruction would blend into a perfect role, one where I could help teachers integrate technology into their teaching and still have interactions with students. Unfortunately, the structure of the position and the culture of the district were not quite ready for my vision for what I believed the job could be. Instead of coaching teachers and sharing how technology could be used as a tool to elevate student learning and engagement, I was called upon to fix interactive whiteboards and teach cyber safety classes that were completely scripted. While I loved my school as well as the many relationships I had cultivated throughout my years in the building, I was completely deflated each night when I would come home from school and reflect on how my education and classroom teaching experience felt wasted. After giving it four years and considering a career change, I decided to do the unthinkable in the eyes of my colleagues...return to the classroom.

Thanks to a few administrators who recognized my passion for teaching and desire for change, I was granted a job transfer over to the neighboring middle school to teach 6th grade ELA. Even though I had nine years of experience in the same school district, I felt like a brand new teacher. I had to learn about the middle school model, common core standards, MAP testing and standards-based grading. Overwhelmed does not begin to describe my emotional state, so as soon as I stepped foot back into the classroom, I called upon my building's literacy coach as well as my building administrators to help me learn as much as possible. I was constantly challenging myself to learn, grow, and redefine the classroom experience for my students. My goal was to make learning meaningful for my students, and I made it my mission to serve as a model classroom where technology was a vehicle to assist in student engagement and academic growth. By my second year back in the classroom, I participated in a 1:1 Chromebook pilot, took on the role of team leader, and did whatever I could to become better at my craft. My two years as a middle school teacher have been the best years of my teaching career, and I am grateful every day that I took the risk of leaving my comfortable position at a school that I desperately loved for a position that would uproot me, challenge me beyond my wildest expectations, and work me to the bone. 

Yet just two years into teaching 6th grade ELA, after I had fallen in love with my new school and built wonderful relationships with my new colleagues, an opportunity came knocking. This time it was an administrative role, and my heart told me I was ready to take on this new challenge. Today, after serving my district for eleven incredible years as a teacher, I began my first day as a district administrator, charged with the responsibility of leading teachers toward innovative teaching practices in 1:1 learning environments. My experience as an elementary and middle school teacher along with my background as a technology coordinator will provide an invaluable perspective as I take on this new role, and I am eager to share my passion with such incredible teachers and leaders in my district as we embark on this exciting journey together.

If you have been following my blog (all three of you), I hope you will visit me over at directorforinnovativelearning.edublogs.org. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers!



Thursday, May 22, 2014

Technology for Technology's Sake?

Are we using technology for technology's sake?

I ask myself this question often, especially as a teacher in a 1:1 learning environment. Striking the balance of using the technology in a meaningful way while teaching and guiding students effectively can be a challenge. I often stop to ask myself if the technology is truly necessary to enhance the learning experience for my students.

This past week, my students wrote a short research paper. (In case you were wondering, this covers common core standard W.6.7: Conduct short research projects to answer a question drawing on several sources.) To help students organize their research, we used tabbed folders with library pockets stuck inside to hold their research that was written on good old-fashioned index cards.

(Our pretty green research folders.)

"I can't believe you are not using technology for this project," one of my colleagues commented.

But my students were using technology. They were using their Chromebooks to access a webquest, which was guiding the research process. Students were accessing different web resources and taking notes on their findings. Students were also using technology to publish their final paper, which they shared with their classmates. Finally, students will be using all of this wonderful research to collaborate on a multimedia project that answers our guiding question.

Here's the thing. It's not about the technology. It's about teaching students to think, to ask questions, to organize their thoughts, to make revisions, to write. Could we have found a way to do all of the pre-writing, planning and note-taking using some web tools? Definitely. Would that make the experience any better for my students? I am not so sure.

When I asked students if they liked using the note card system for their research, the majority of my students said that they preferred doing research this way. One student even told me she thought it was fun and that she felt "more organized and prepared."

As many school districts embark on their own 1:1 journey, I think it is important for teachers to ask themselves, "Am I using technology for technology's sake?" We need to remember that it is not always necessary to use technology 100% of the time. A hybrid approach to using technology along with effective pedagogy is our ultimate goal as teachers, facilitators and guides in a 1:1 learning environment.


Saturday, April 26, 2014

Stationary Stations

Literacy centers (or literacy stations, as I like to call them) are a fantastic way for students to practice various reading and writing skills as they rotate through different activities. In many elementary school classrooms, students can often be seen moving in and out of literacy centers when they are not meeting with their teacher for guided reading instruction.  Students themselves recognize how fun it is to participate in the different activities, which also provide important opportunities for students to work collaboratively with each other. Even though I teach middle school students, I decided that literacy stations had wonderful potential with my sixth grade students. Because of our 1:1 Chromebook pilot, however, my bigger challenge was finding a way for students to utilize the power of the technology while still experiencing the different literacy activities.

This week, I set up a handful of stations for my students to practice various reading and writing skills, using a shared Google doc as a guiding document that would encourage collaboration between students. One keenly aware student pointed out that even though I set up "stations," she did not technically need to rotate or move throughout the classroom anymore since all the activities were either web-based or recorded using Google Docs. She declared them "Stationary Stations." 

The more I watched students participate in the Stationary Stations, the more enthusiastic I became about the possibilities of these types of activities in a 1:1 learning environment. The stations were all challenging and meaningful, which kept students engaged throughout class time. Even more exciting to me was the quality of work that the students were producing since they were able to collaborate with each other and practice the skills that we have been focusing on in class. Maybe even more importantly, I was able to provide immediate feedback to my students as I kept tabs on their Google Docs and circulated the room to check in with each group of students frequently. 

Below are the activities and web applications that I used with my students, each of them aligned to the Common Core State Standards. 


Task: Create a timeline to analyze chronologically structured text. (RI.6.3)

Review: Students were able to create a timeline without any trouble and save it as a PDF to their Google drive. The saved timeline will be used as a reference when students are asked to analyze the events within the text. This site is very user-friendly and students can easily save whatever timeline they create. I highly recommend it!

Task: Create a flowchart to analyze a section of text to see how it fits into the overall structure of a text. (RI.6.5)

Review: Draw.io builds very simple diagrams online that can automatically be saved to Google Drive. Two big thumbs up!

Task: Write a narrative while incorporating figurative language into the story. (RL.6.3, L.6.5)

Review: Story Cubes were loaned to me by a student who was just dying to try them out in class! The students loved the challenge of writing a story collaboratively on Google Docs using all nine story cubes and then incorporating the types figurative language that we've been studying this year. These awesome sets of story cubes are perfect for classrooms, road trips or moms who may need to entertain a family before mealtime!


I am always looking for suggestions. If you have any ideas for literacy stations for middle school students, please comment below! Thanks for checking in. 

Monday, April 07, 2014

It's Not about the Device

As a culminating project for my students' self-selected lit circles, they all made book trailers using iMovie on the iPads that we borrowed from our LMC. Someone asked me, "Why didn't you have the students use their Chromebooks for the final project?" Interesting question. While yes, we are in the midst of a 1:1 Chromebook pilot, that does not mean that Chromebooks will work for us 100% of the time.

Think about yourself for a minute. How many devices do you use on a weekly, daily, maybe even hourly basis? For me, I use a laptop or Chromebook for lots of web-based applications, an iPad for larger projects that require multimedia apps, and an iPhone for just about everything else. If I were limited to using just a Chromebook, I'd be without a camera, photo album, day planner, ...the list could go on! So, how can we limit our kids to just one device?

The fact is that 1:1 is not about which device. It's about having a device. In today's classroom environment, the chosen device, whichever it is for the moment, should foster the four C's of 21st century learning: creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration. For my students' book trailer projects, they worked creatively and collaboratively using iPads, yet a lot of their planning and critical thinking was done using a Chromebook. And when it came time to communicate their final projects with each other, the device was obsolete, thanks to Google Drive and YouTube.

As you can see below, iPads are a powerful tool for the students to create their own book trailers. I think you will be impressed by the performances of these sixth grade students!




Saturday, February 22, 2014

Handing Over the Reins

Several weeks ago, I blogged about the magic of lit circles and how motivating this strategy can be for middle school readers. To stay faithful to the lit circle model, my students have selected their own books for our next round of lit circles.  With the help of my school librarian, my students learned about six different books from which to choose. Students filled out a Google form with their book preference, and then I was able to sort my trusty spreadsheet to create the lit circle groups.

Because the books were student-selected, I decided that the students also needed to pace out the reading for themselves. We need to hand over the reins to the kids in our classrooms more often anyway, and I figured this was a perfect opportunity for students to practice their self-directed learning skills. I provided a pacing calendar with designated lit circle meeting days, but my students had to work together in their groups to reach a consensus on their pacing schedule. The activity of going through a book and pacing out the reading was, by far, the BEST problem-solving and team-building activity for kids that I have ever witnessed!

Here is a short video of a group of students discussing how much they planned to read in between lit circle meetings:



Here is a link to the document that the students were all using to pace out their reading between each lit circle. (I used Doctopus to share the pacing calendar with each group.)

I love the ownership that this experience has given the students. After they finished pacing, the students also began a group blog to post their reflections and lit circle jobs instead of using a folder with paper handouts. Students are eager to get started and I am equally as excited to watch the process!


Saturday, February 08, 2014

Reshaping the Language Arts Classroom

With all of the crazy weather we've been having this winter, my students have practically forgotten what it feels like to be in school for a full week! As I reflect on the teaching and learning that has been taking place in my classroom, I see more and more how the 1:1 devices can truly elevate the learning experience for students. Most of my current lessons and activities in the areas of reading, writing and language study were impossible before going 1:1. To capture these shifts, here is a little taste of how the Chromebooks have reshaped my language arts classroom.


Reading
This week, students read a passage and came to class ready for a discussion, but the 1:1 devices played a large role in how I incorporated each student into the activity. I used a discussion strategy known as Socratic Circle, where students in an inner circle discussed the text, while the outside circle observed the discussion. Instead of students passively watching the discussion, all participants in the outside circles held their own discussion using a real-time backchanneling site called Todaysmeet.com. Todaysmeet also provides a transcript, so after the discussion, students could reflect on what ideas were discussed and how actively each student participated. Today's students cannot take a back seat in class; the technology gives a voice to all.


Writing
A recent writing assignment asked students to create a graphic narrative either by hand or on a comic-creator website of their choosing. After students reviewed the CCSS for narrative writing, we worked together to develop a set of criteria to include in their creation. In just one assignment, students reviewed narrative writing elements, found a way to produce the assignment, and then began publishing their work to their blogs for feedback from peers and outside observers. Take a look at Emma's blog for an example of her graphic narrative. Today's students write for a greater audience and they want their work to be worthy of the public's eye.


Grammar 
My days of teaching grammar at the board and handing out worksheets are over. Thanks to 1:1 Chromebooks and a website called NoRedInk.com, students practice grammar skills at their own pace and then take quizzes which are graded immediately to provide instant feedback to the students. My favorite features of this program include a student customized profile so that sentences are tailored to the individual interests of each student, a color-coded progress screen that shows areas requiring the most practice, and most importantly, it is absolutely free! Students love the program and many keep practicing just to try to beat their score. Today's students see the relationship between practice and performance, finding motivation from within.


This is such an exciting time in education as we transform teaching and learning in our classrooms!  Ever since putting devices into the hands of each learner, the level of engagement and motivation is unparalleled. If we continue to push the bar and reshape the way in which we teach our students, today's students will be ready for an unknown future that is full of possibilities.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Reflecting on Then and Now

My students have had their Chromebooks for nine days. Although they were already accustomed to using the Chromebooks in my classroom, somehow it has become an entirely different experience since going 1:1. Now the device is theirs.

In the first couple of days, all students wanted to do on the Chromebooks were the same two activities: customize the wallpaper and play online games. So, after a little bit of thought, I decided to let them. I figured they needed to get it out of their system.

After a few more days had passed, the Chromebooks were no longer viewed as a shiny new toy. Students started coming to my class asking if I would post homework through a site called Teacher.io, which integrates with an app appropriately name "myhomeworkapp." Usually teachers beg students to use an assignment notebook, so I got a kick out of listening to the students beg me to use the app with them. I love how organically this all occurred, but I knew my students needed to begin viewing their device as more than just a homework organizer.

By the end of this week, something changed. The learning began outshining the device, because the device was helping students participate in activities that were previously impossible. I've even overheard students recall the days before we went 1:1, and they recognize how different their learning experience has become.

As I reflect on today's classroom as compared to my years of teaching before 1:1, it fascinates me to see how much has changed.

My students used to write in journals with a one-person audience, today they blog for the world.
My students used to collaborate by crowding around one computer screen, today they collaborate using online tools such as Diigo and Google docs.
My students used to brainstorm by raising their hands until I called on them and wrote their ideas on the board, today they collaborate in real-time on sites like Padlet and everyone is involved.
My students used to take paper and pencil assessments that sat in a filing cabinet once they were graded, today every assessment is given online so that I access student data at any time.
My students used to watch videos as a full class while furiously scribbling notes, today they watch videos online at their own pace, stopping whenever necessary to take down something of importance.

Amazing how much can change with one little device and this is only the beginning. If you are using 1:1 devices with your students, what changes are you noticing in your classroom?


Sunday, January 05, 2014

How Should We Grade Our Students?

As the grading period comes to a close, I am faced with the challenge of entering grades into report cards. What makes this process particularly challenging for me has a lot to do with the fact that we are still using a traditional grading tool in my district, where we assign letter grades to students to demonstrate their performance in each class. While this grading tool works well for many teachers, it is not very meaningful once educators begin delivering a standards-based education to students.

I have a couple of choices when it comes to student grades:

  • Option A: I can give a grade showing whether or not students have mastered the learning targets being taught.  Keep in mind that mastery of most of these targets is not expected until the end of the school year, so earlier in the year, the grades may look alarmingly low to students and parents.
  • Option B: I can give students higher grades, and then explain that the grade is a reflection of student performance at that particular point in the school year, and expectations for students will continue to rise. Essentially, Optional B is saying that earning an A later in the school year is harder to do than earning an A earlier in the school year.

Here's the problem with both options...what do these grades even mean!?  So, Johnny got an A and Susie got a B this quarter. Great. What can Johnny do that Susie can't do? 

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer about how this should be handled. I want to accurately report what my students can or cannot do at a particular point in the school year, but right now, I am stuck assigning a series of point values that are automatically calculated into a percentage value which then gets converted into a letter grade of A, B, C, D or F.  

So, when Susie gets 8 points on a 10-point rubric showing mastery of certain skills while others still need development, Susie's grade gets calculated into an 80%, which is a B- to most people. Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could just report that "Susie is progressing at an appropriate rate for a 6th grade student and is still developing the skills taught in class. She has shown mastery of  __________ and will continue to work on __________ as the year progresses." 

As I wait for a standards-based grading tool to make its appearance in my district (which I suspect will happen in the very near future), I have decided to pilot a standards-based report card in addition to using the report card already in place.  Although it is a lot of extra work, I want to be as transparent as possible about student performance in my class.  

What do you think? Are you in favor of keeping traditional grades or ditching them? Share your thoughts!