Right now I am not teaching. I left a teaching position at a private high school to take a position in the IT department of a public school district. I hope to go back into the classroom next year and as I mosey around my PLN I am collecting ideas that I may want to implement in that classroom.
The most recent idea I came across that interested me is the idea of standards based grading. I have heard this term before but I became interested when I noticed a grade book service named Active Grade claimed that their entire grade book hinged on standards based grading. As I began to research the idea further I became interested for several reasons.
Most importantly I consistently ran into a problem with grading where students were not receiving grades I felt they deserved. I found myself playing with averages and tweaking numbers in order to get students to a grade I felt they deserved. One instance was a student I will call Jim. Jim struggled with testing as well as writing out his ideas. He did however generally understand the material (computer technology) presented in the class. Because of this Jim was unable to receive a high mark in the class but was actually passing as far as knowledge is concerned.
According to what I have found standards based grading would have remedied this problem. I am actually genuinely excited to get back into the classroom so that I can begin to implement these ideas. I am even willing to keep separate grade books for the first couple years in order to be sure I have the methods down before jumping in.
Standards Based Grading Resources:
The Challenges of Standards Based Grading
7 Reasons for Standards Based Grading
Active Grade
Active Grade FAQ
Active Grade - Starter Kit
Rethinking Professional Development
An idea came to me today while reading through the blog roll of David Jakes, specifically a post titled Words Matter | Professional Development. David questions the current popular definition of professional development. Professional Development carries with a sort of negative feeling. It is something that is required of you in order to continue doing that thing you enjoy doing, teaching. He recounts a colleague that begin each of his presentations with something he learned the night before. Something that may be completely unrelated to the topic but still sets him up as a learner, someone who strives to learn something new every day. He goes on to talk about creating a "learning culture";
I couldn't help but think about a recent conversation I had with a middle school principal I know. He explained that in addition to PLC and grade meetings, the teachers at his school are given weekly "reflection" time. Time that they were to use to look back on their week, think about what changes they need to make, or learn something new. When I asked how they made sure this time wasn't wasted he explained that each teacher needed to write out what they used their time for and explain what it was they did. I accepted this answer at it's face but I have continued to think that maybe this time was still being wasted. Maybe the teachers were simply making up the things they said they were doing. Really, who is going to take the time to read these essays? Are they graded? Do they get put into the teachers personnel file for later review? What real consequence is having them write it out besides busy work that we all hate assigning to students. I feel that this falls into Davids current definition of professional development and could be changed.
Instead of having teachers write out their learning experiences for review by administration, why not have them post something they have learned each week to a school blog? Or have their learning experience emailed to a random colleague or posted on a board for the rest of the faculty to read? Why not hold a monthly "unconference" where teachers can get up individually or as a group and present a tool, technique or revelation they had during this time?
Don't get me wrong, what this middle school is doing is definitely on the right track. I think however that it can be taken to whole other level. I think that while they started correctly by encouraging teachers to learn, they reinforced the notion that learning happens while studying alone. Learning happens as part of a group. If there is nobody that is challenging or adding to what you are learning then how are you going to grow?
Model it, live it, make it visible. Do this, and you'll take some significant steps towards developing a learning culture...and that's the real prize.
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| image credit: JMSmith |
Instead of having teachers write out their learning experiences for review by administration, why not have them post something they have learned each week to a school blog? Or have their learning experience emailed to a random colleague or posted on a board for the rest of the faculty to read? Why not hold a monthly "unconference" where teachers can get up individually or as a group and present a tool, technique or revelation they had during this time?
Don't get me wrong, what this middle school is doing is definitely on the right track. I think however that it can be taken to whole other level. I think that while they started correctly by encouraging teachers to learn, they reinforced the notion that learning happens while studying alone. Learning happens as part of a group. If there is nobody that is challenging or adding to what you are learning then how are you going to grow?
"What-If" Answers Ridiculous Questions with Science
If anyone has not yet found the webcomic XKCD do yourself a favor and read all of it! Written by former NASA roboticist (seriously) Randall Munroe the comic is covers a wide range of themes including forensics, social networking, politics, weather and teaching. The comic even has a website dedicated to explaining the meaning behind some of the topics. I wouldn't hesitate to say that this may be one of my favorite comics of all time, including Calvin and Hobbes (XKCD is #2 and the first 20 years of Garfield would be #3 in case you are wondering, your not are you?). I have even posted one of XKCD's comics on this blog.
While I believe XKCD itself deserves recognition in a classroom (pre-read the comics before showing your students) Munroe recently started a new section on his site where he answers what-if questions with science, math, physics and a hefty dose of humor. The section is called "What-If" and more often than not leads to an "oh, wow!" moment. While reading some of the recent entries I realized what a great discussion some of these questions could start in a science or physics class. Questions like
While there are currently less than 20 What-If's answers to new questions are posted every Tuesday. You could even have students come up with their own questions and submit them to the site. Take a look around and see what your could use to liven up the mood in your classroom. You can even purchase posters to hang in your classroom. Be sure to give XKCD lots of attention. He makes physics look awesome!
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| image credit: What-If logo |
While I believe XKCD itself deserves recognition in a classroom (pre-read the comics before showing your students) Munroe recently started a new section on his site where he answers what-if questions with science, math, physics and a hefty dose of humor. The section is called "What-If" and more often than not leads to an "oh, wow!" moment. While reading some of the recent entries I realized what a great discussion some of these questions could start in a science or physics class. Questions like
What if everyone who took the SAT guessed on every multiple-choice question? How many perfect scores would there be?and
What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?These could make great thought experiment questions to end units on statistics, conservation of energy, weather systems, lightning or photosythesis. Imagine giving students an extra credit question that asks them what would happen if you detonated a nuke at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Or put the students into groups and have them attempt to come up with an equation for how long it would take Michael Phelps to swim to the lowest point of the ocean and back if he could hold his breath indefinitely?
While there are currently less than 20 What-If's answers to new questions are posted every Tuesday. You could even have students come up with their own questions and submit them to the site. Take a look around and see what your could use to liven up the mood in your classroom. You can even purchase posters to hang in your classroom. Be sure to give XKCD lots of attention. He makes physics look awesome!
Cross Curricular Awesomeness
Maybe it's because my first teaching job was in a vocational school. Maybe it's because I have always enjoyed learning about every aspect of everything I possibly can (I love Curiosity on the Discovery Channel). Maybe it's because I believe that a school should be a community, with teachers, administrators and students sharing and helping each other out. Whatever it is I have a strong belief that when designing a curriculum it should cross over through as many different subjects as possible.
@anainvancouver tweeted this great link to a custom marble run with ways to utilize it in a math class. The link also includes instructions on how to build the marble run. The first thing I thought of was the use of this in a math class after being built by a woodshop class. Then I started thinking;
Not only would it get even more students involved in the lesson you could draw from each individual students knowledge from the other subjects to scaffold to greater understanding for all students.
I am sure that it would be difficult to get all of these subject to time out just right to make all of this work but imagine how long this lesson would stay with the students. A lesson like this could hit on all of the major cognitive levels and hit from all learning styles. Not to mention the fact that it shows students that knowledge from all subject is required to make an informed opinion or hypothesis on something.
One of the most important lessons I have ever learned is in order to truly understand something you must have a foot in so many different areas. I have always enjoyed working with computers, but until I learned a little about programming, engineering, production and marketing I never really understood anything about computers. Curriculums that touch on as many subjects as possible will show students that true understanding requires knowledge, and true knowledge requires a willingness to always learn more.
@anainvancouver tweeted this great link to a custom marble run with ways to utilize it in a math class. The link also includes instructions on how to build the marble run. The first thing I thought of was the use of this in a math class after being built by a woodshop class. Then I started thinking;
- Science could use this as a entry to a discussion on cell distribution
- Computer science classes could program a digital pascals triangle
- Art classes could create designs based on the fibonacci sequence which is mathematically related to pascals triangle.
Not only would it get even more students involved in the lesson you could draw from each individual students knowledge from the other subjects to scaffold to greater understanding for all students.
I am sure that it would be difficult to get all of these subject to time out just right to make all of this work but imagine how long this lesson would stay with the students. A lesson like this could hit on all of the major cognitive levels and hit from all learning styles. Not to mention the fact that it shows students that knowledge from all subject is required to make an informed opinion or hypothesis on something.
One of the most important lessons I have ever learned is in order to truly understand something you must have a foot in so many different areas. I have always enjoyed working with computers, but until I learned a little about programming, engineering, production and marketing I never really understood anything about computers. Curriculums that touch on as many subjects as possible will show students that true understanding requires knowledge, and true knowledge requires a willingness to always learn more.
The College Creep
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| Is there a college degree for "Fireman"? |
When I saw that banner my first thought was "Oh thats nice". Then I realized where I was. I was in an elementary school. A school where students as young as 4 walk through the halls where apparently they should be thinking, "What do I want to do with my life?". At 4 years old they shouldn't be weighing the options of Harvard and Stanford. Elementary school students should not be learning in order to write so they have a perfect college essay they should be learning to love writing. They shouldn't be learning that 2+2=4 so that they can eventually know how to solve 2x+4=10, they should be learning to love math. These kids should be learning to love learning.
In middle school we did a project where we were required to present on what we wanted to do when we grew up. I wanted to be an animator. I got it into my head that I wanted to go to the Art Institute and learn to make cartoons. The problem is that I began to idolize the school. I understood what I needed to do to get into that school and really didn't put forth much additional effort. My young mind had made the decision that I was going to this school and it was so set in my head that I didn't even think to deviate from it. If I had I may have realized that there are very few animation jobs in or around my home town (which I was very happy to remain in), or that Pixar hires almost exclusively from a select few colleges (not the one I was attending), or that I would be vastly better at another field entirely. How can I be okay with asking children under 10 what they want to do with their lives when I didn't now until I was in my early twenties?
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Tweak Your Student's Environment
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| Image from HackCollege |
There have been several very popular studies done showing that a person's environment has a direct effect on their personality. A classroom is a student's environment for learning. Studies show that you can have a very powerful effect on learning by tweaking the environment. From desk arrangement to lighting and color there are many things that into affecting how a student acts in a classroom. Are you not getting the reaction you want out of your students? Tweak the environment. You can even have fun with it. Turn all of your student desks 90 degrees and watch what the students do when they come in to find this small change to their normal environment.
Don't be afraid to experiment with your students. Keep them on their toes so that they never know what to expect next. Doing this will make sure that your classroom does not become stale and that you always get the reaction you need from your students.
Teach Kids to Program?
I ran across this article on Gizmodo about a book funded by Kickstarter that attempts to get young kids (ages 5-12) to think like a programmer. The book is called Lauren Ipsum and you can read the first chapter here. The article on Gizmodo links to an article from Jeff Atwood titled Please Don't Learn to Code in which he claims that trying to teach everyone to code is unnecessary.
Programming is an excellent subject to teach in schools for a variety of reasons:
Cost
Resources to teach students to program are plentiful on the web. From free e-books to online resources, there are so many ways to introduce programming to students that are low-cost or free. The software required to run most introductory programming languages is often provided free of charge. Since so many schools already have computer labs installed (and more often then not a 1-1 initiative in place) this means that the material cost of introducing a programming course is small.
Critical Thinking
It has been argued that critical thinking is difficult to teach in schools today. With standardized testing and race to the top it has become difficult to fit in time for students to be able to think outside of the box and create something new. Programming provides this opportunity.
A Gateway Subject
You can't learn to code until you understand the basics of what makes a computer work. File structure, directory information, memory vs. storage; all of this is necessary to create a program that does what is intended. With computers invading every aspect of our lives it is now necessary for the students to understand what they are doing. Just like students learn to not play around with electricity by learning the basics of electricity, they can learn to better computer users by learning how it works.
Get Them Young
When most people hear "programming" they think of a fat slob sitting in Dorito crumbs surrounded by empty Mountain Dew cans. They expect it to be nearly impossible to learn without a degree from Stanford or MIT. If show kids that even things that seem difficult can be learned gradually they may be willing to take more risks and branch out to learn other "difficult" things.
While I believe that teaching programming is important I don't think that the skill of programming should be the final goal. The goal should be to make students think like programmers. Today's technologically advanced society was not brought about by people simply making things better one step at a time. It was made possible by people who can think like hackers. People who can look at a problem and break it down to manageable parts and then reassemble those individual parts into something better. Programming teaches this skill better than anything we have currently found, and once we find something better we will be pushing to teach that instead.
It is obvious to me how being a skilled reader, a skilled writer, and at least high school level math are fundamental to performing the job of a politician. Or at any job, for that matter. But understanding variables and functions, pointers and recursion? I can't see it.He obviously fails to see the overall point in teaching students how to code however. The point is not to create an army of programmers marching out of school, the point is to create students that understand how to logically work their way through a problem and repair issues as they go.
Programming is an excellent subject to teach in schools for a variety of reasons:
Cost
Resources to teach students to program are plentiful on the web. From free e-books to online resources, there are so many ways to introduce programming to students that are low-cost or free. The software required to run most introductory programming languages is often provided free of charge. Since so many schools already have computer labs installed (and more often then not a 1-1 initiative in place) this means that the material cost of introducing a programming course is small.
Critical Thinking
It has been argued that critical thinking is difficult to teach in schools today. With standardized testing and race to the top it has become difficult to fit in time for students to be able to think outside of the box and create something new. Programming provides this opportunity.
A Gateway Subject
You can't learn to code until you understand the basics of what makes a computer work. File structure, directory information, memory vs. storage; all of this is necessary to create a program that does what is intended. With computers invading every aspect of our lives it is now necessary for the students to understand what they are doing. Just like students learn to not play around with electricity by learning the basics of electricity, they can learn to better computer users by learning how it works.
Get Them Young
When most people hear "programming" they think of a fat slob sitting in Dorito crumbs surrounded by empty Mountain Dew cans. They expect it to be nearly impossible to learn without a degree from Stanford or MIT. If show kids that even things that seem difficult can be learned gradually they may be willing to take more risks and branch out to learn other "difficult" things.
While I believe that teaching programming is important I don't think that the skill of programming should be the final goal. The goal should be to make students think like programmers. Today's technologically advanced society was not brought about by people simply making things better one step at a time. It was made possible by people who can think like hackers. People who can look at a problem and break it down to manageable parts and then reassemble those individual parts into something better. Programming teaches this skill better than anything we have currently found, and once we find something better we will be pushing to teach that instead.
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