Why Tech?

Great article about just jumping in and trying tech in the classroom by Kathy Cassidy, “Technology in the Classroom: Embrace the Bumpy Ride.”

Her point to teacher who are reluctant or overwhelmed is to take it slow, try something, and the real point: to use tech to teach better. Don’t just have it as an add-on, or something more to do.

Technology should help us to teach better and in more meaningful ways. It should be used to connect us. It should give us choice and allow us to share.

 

Use technology when it allows you to do something in a better way than you have done before or to do something that was formerly impossible to do.

 

Examples include using blogs to give student writing a broader audience and communicating with families in an immediate way.She suggests using Skype to connect with another classroom in another state. Use video and photography to allow for a non-textual representation of a learner’s thought process and to demonstrate their learning.

She also reminds us that an iPad or computer is just another tool, like a pencil or crayon. You can have problems with these tools, too!

We use technology not just because it is technology, but because of what it can do. It engages us and helps us to learn.

Teaching History

Wonderful article about the art and philosophy of teaching history from The Atlantic, “You Have to Know History to Actually Teach It” is an interview with Eric Foner by David Cutler.

I taught history many years ago – before the internet, before Wikipedia, before this testing craze. Even then, I told my students it wasn’t the goal to memorize a bunch of dates and facts. The goal was to know how to find the information (remember, pre-internet) and analyze. In my current work, we promote the analysis and critical thinking about historical resources — not the memorizing of dates/facts to spit back on a test.

So you can imagine my glee in reading this interview with Foner.

I’m strongly in favor of students knowing the facts of history, not just memorizing or having it drilled into their heads. I’m certainly against this testing mania that’s going on now where you can judge whether someone really understands history by their performance on a multiple-choice test.

My daughter’s history classes have pretty much been multiple choice tests. That’s about it. Her AP history last year? Read 10+ pages of dry text, take notes and take a huge test. She (wisely) chose to not to AP U.S. History this year to avoid more of that slog. Her “regular” U.S. History course is still filled with multiple choice tests (although not as bad) but is so stuffed with content and the need to cover all the standards that there is no room for analysis and thinking.

Yet, my daughter chooses to watch historical documentaries on her own. After watching one on the Dustbowl (such an uplifting topic), she’s been finding connections all over the place. It’s stuck with her.

Foner encourages the teaching of history to teach students the skills they need to be citizens. Funny how the skills he identifies are the skills we promote in the concept of 21st Century Skills.

We try to teach people the skills that come along with studying history. The skills of evaluating evidence, of posing questions and answering them, of writing, of mobilizing information in order to make an argument. I think all of that is important in a democratic society if people are actually going to be active citizens. Teaching to the test does not really encourage emphasis on those aspects of the study of history.

 

I also really appreciate his sense that it’s the teacher that matters — the ability of the teacher to convey their passion for history:

the training of the teacher, the ability of the teacher, the knowledge of the teacher, and the teacher’s ability to inspire students by conveying his or her own enthusiasm for the subject.

 

How can tech integration help with this? It has tremendous potential. The ability to find information and sources. The opportunity to create projects that allow students to think critically (analyze) sources and information. Moving towards the use of visual sources, not just text. The opportunities are endless! Is it as easy to assess as putting a Scantron test through the machine? Nope, but it’s far better.

The 5 Most Dangerous Creativity Killers – 99U

Interesting post: “The 5 Most Dangerous Creativity Killers” from 99U.

I saw this in an email for museum professionals, but how does it apply to learners in school — both the adult and kid learners?

The five “creativity killers” sound very much like the traditional school system:

  1. Role Mismatch: the post uses the Einstein quote about judging a fish on its ability to climb a tree, comparing that to the workplace. While we need to be sure to challenge learners to new things, we also need to be sure that they are in a place and role where they are comfortable. Why can’t we allow students to do different types of projects? Why do they all have to take the same assessment? Some learners might be better suited to writing while others are better suited to visuals.
  2. External End-Goal Restriction: wow, that sounds like school to me! The “end goal” is almost always restricted by an external source – whether it’s a state telling teachers what to teach or what tests to give, or a teacher telling learners exactly what to learn and exactly how to demonstrate that learning. According to the post, “external restrictions are almost always a bad thing for creative thinking.”
  3. Strict Ration of Resources: in this case, mental resources, especially time, is the most important resources. Schools are always so crunched for time because are required to get through and extraordinary amount of material for the “standards.” Learners are overloaded with homework from a number or classes, and the perception is that college admission requires a zillion hours of extracurriculars, volunteering and a full slate of AP classes. There is no time remaining to be creative or do much beyond rote. Schools also have a very set time schedule: be here at 8:10, do algebra until 9:05, etc. Why do we expect all learners to need the same amount of time?
  4. Lack of Social Diversity: Yup, let’s put all kids who were born in this set time frame together because that means they’ll be at the same place. Well, no. Why do we assume that just because a child is 7 that they should be at point A in reading, B in math? While I do feel that it is often – not always – important for learners to be with others who are at the same place (e.g. learners who need to move quickly through content or those who need a different pace or approach), it does not mean all of the same age.
  5. Discouragement/No Positive Feedback: Wow — can we say schools? Testing? While some students may get positive feedback from scoring 95% on all the tests, there are far more students who get negative feedback from testing and just being in school day after day. Why not allow for mastery of content with assessments that allow for redoing tests, doing projects that fit or challenge, or doing real world projects that have real impact?

I’m going to go looking for the post about the 5 Things that Encourage Creativity.

Parents

At TIES#13 last week, George Couros presented an amazing session, “Involving Parents in the Process of Learning.” He just posted a blog post, “5 Ideas to Bring Parents into the Learning Process” that sort of summarizes his session.

I was too busy listening to take notes in the session, but am so impressed by what he has to say and by his attitude towards parents:

Parents are a great untapped resource in our schools…

George talks about how he communicates regularly with parents, how he invites and involves parents into the school on a regular basis. Five points from his blog:

  • Use what the kids use: use communication tools the kids are using. He blogs regularly to communicate with parents.
  • Have an open mind: he shared a story of a time he was explaining the plans for the tech rollout. He expected a pushback from parents — when instead they asked why he wasn’t moving faster!
  • Tap into parent leadership: he encourages school leaders to bring parents in to honestly listen to the feedback and input, then work with these parent leaders to teach other parents.
  • Focus on open communication: he shares what he’s learning and what he’s doing with parents as well as teachers.
  • Create Learning Opportunities: Couros talks about modeling the tools, teaching parents how to use the communication tools the kids use.

I was so encouraged after Couros’s session. His attitude is certainly not the one I see from the administration at my kids’ schools. Parents are tolerated, but not really listened to. There is little openness, little embracing of trying new communication technologies.

In his session, Couros had an amazing way of stating the reasons why schools need to adopt digital tools — basically, you need to do what’s right for kids. Using examples like the need for a positive digital footprint, Couros shows why kids need to learn using digital tools. He gave incredible examples of the power of using blogs, Twitter, and more.

This post doesn’t do his session justice. I wish it had been recorded. I’m hoping he repeats it at ISTE so I can see it again.

And, he asked the question I’ve been asking for a couple of years — where are the parents at these tech conferences??

TIES Day 2, Many Days Later

Over a week later, here are the highlights of TIES#13, Day 2:

Session 1

Great session on “The STEM of Social Studies” by Elk River teacher Ron Hustvedt. Ron teaches 6th grade social studies in a STEM school, and I was overjoyed to watch him compare the work of historians to the scientific method! Ron said, “Inquiry is the scientific method” and showed how doing the work of a historian mimics the work of a scientist. It is an important perspective to share in this world that values tested subjects over the humanities.

My session

I presented a poster along with Craig Roble on our favorite topic, digital primary sources. Here’s our poster description:

A win-win situation: museum curators + creative educators = great digital content for your classroom. Learn how collaborating with local history organizations can benefit you and your students.

This is my second poster session, and I think I’ll stick with that format for awhile. It is tons of fun to talk with people, rather than talk at them. We had 15 people or so stop by, and had some really good conversations.

One teacher asked if MNHS will translate primary source documents into other languages. This is not something we can do, for a variety of reasons. (It’s expensive, way too many documents, and then the document is no longer actually a primary source!) We suggested she use visual primary sources with her students learning English. There are many powerful activities you could do with students using photographs or objects that don’t rely on strong English reading skills. For many native English speakers younger than high school, reading primary source written documents is a challenge. Use visuals! This seemed to be a new idea to many of the teachers who were talking with us. Hopefully they’ll try it! We definitely see teachers focusing on written primary sources.

Image

Pinterest Board with links to Digital Primary Source resources

We know teachers want new sources and places to find digital primary sources. Craig and I started a Pinterest board linking to various resources. It’s not a perfect solution, but we really liked the visual nature of Pinterest vs. a Google doc with a list of links.

 

Parent Session

George Couros presented a session, “Involving Parents in the Process of Learning.” See next post for a more detailed discussion of this powerful and motivating talk.

TIES#13 Day One

TIES is off to a great start! As usual, I’m both exhausted and invigorated by being at an edtech conference. Here’s a brief summary of what I learned today:

Connecting

I fully intended to go to a session right off the bat, but ran into my co-presenter for tomorrow’s poster session. We had a great conversation about the session and about other ways of delivering content using iTunesU. This is what TIES is about – the connecting and sharing ideas.

I also connected with a few other folks that I’ve been meaning to contact. It’s always easier to send that email after seeing them at TIES. I missed a few too, so hope to connect with them tomorrow.

Inspiration

The keynotes are usually more inspiring that full of new things. This was a bit of both. Marc Prensky introduced his new idea, “Future-cation” as opposed to “Past-ication.” He talked about the need to teach to the future – not the past. “While we need to honor the past, we do not need to repeat it.” Even though I am a historian, I agree! We need to learn about  the past, but we do not need to learn as if it were the past. We need to learn for the future. Prensky argues that content areas (math, science, English, etc., even social studies!) aren’t necessary if we teach “verbs.” (Details on this were in a later session I wasn’t able to attend, sadly.) I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from Marc about this.

Research

I talked to a few vendors about the project I have at work. Seems we’re still seeing the same issues in delivering digital content that is beyond a pdf…..  I did see a booth about an interesting site, facts4me.com, that was built by a couple of early elementary teachers who were frustrated that they couldn’t find safe, appropriate, leveled content online. They built curated content with images and information about a number of subjects. I was intrigued because it’s exactly what we’ve been hearing from teachers!\

Confirming

My favorite session today was by Scott Barry Kaufman talking about redefining how we measure intelligence. As he talked, I had a feeling I’d heard some of it before… turns out I had seen an article about his book and had blogged about it. Must read his book!

Overwhelming

One session today went through 50 websites to try! I wrote down a few that I’ll test, including Google Tour Builder, a couple of free image sources.

 

Video

RSA Animate — Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Daniel Pink’s talk on Motivation doesn’t address education at all. But it should. It applies directly – and it’s all the things we don’t see in the traditional school model.

Pink says three things drive motivation:
1. Autonomy
2. Mastery
3. Purpose

Are any of these three things currently honored in the traditional high school model? Nope. Not in my experience.

Autonomy: kids aren’t even allowed to go to the bathroom when they want. Bells tell them when to go where. they are penalized for not being in a certain place at a certain time. they are heavily penalized for not memorizing the type of content the school tells them they need to know. they often have limited choice of classes.

Mastery: how can you possibly master a subject when you skim over content in a big hurry to get to the next unit? When you teach all of World History in two trimesters, spending 12 minutes on slavery? (My daughter’s example.) When you teach math separately from science, when you teach all subjects as separate entities?

Purpose: Ask any high school student why they’re learning what they’re learning. Is it for the betterment of society? to improve themselves? Nope – it’s likely for a good test score, to get into college, or for those already disengaged, it’s to get through school. Wow. That’s real purpose.

Smart, intelligent, motivated kids get disengaged from school. They are smart enough to see that playing the game of working for a standardized test score isn’t enough. The game of college admissions isn’t enough. We’re making them disengage by forcing them into a setting void of purpose.

Hopefully they make it through high school with enough self-esteem left to find a place that allows them to reach their potential.

Video

▶Teaching Science

Love this video. What a great thing to use to teach. How could students be assigned a project to demonstrate this principal (or any scientific principal – wouldn’t want them to sink in quicksand!) and make a video?

What Happened To This Car? – YouTube

Do kids have a voice? The power of choice | Connected Principals

Just ran across a great blog post: Do kids have a voice? The power of choice | Connected Principals by Sam LeDeaux.

Mr. LeDeaux recently attended an EdCamp and experienced the power of choice learning. I applaud him for doing this training with the staff at his school!

I further applaud him for this thought:

Do we provide our kids these same learning opportunities?  Do we allow our kids to have a voice?  Do we grant our kids the power and responsibility of choice?  Do we empower them to take ownership of their learning and be active participants?

 

That sure isn’t what I see happening in my daughter’s experience. She’s funneled through a system with some choice of classes, but not much. Classes are structured for what sometimes seems the ease of teaching (multiple choice, machine graded exams that are reused every trimester), not for student exploration of content or student directed learning. There’s more rote memorization than content creation. It’s not engaging to her, it’s suffocating and defeating. She does not feel successful and by this age, she and her peers totally see through the game and the test score hamster wheel. They deserve more.

 

Don’t Use that Phone!!

Just got the following notice about cell phone use at my son’s school. (He’s in 8th grade)

Question: Is it okay for my child to bring a cell phone to school?
Answer: Yes, if they DON’T USE IT!

We do not allow students to use phones for any purpose (including texting) while at school. If they need to communicate with home, they should ask a teacher and use the school phones. If we see students using personal phones, we may keep the phone for a parent to pick up.

Wow. I hardly know how to react to this. Have an 8th grader ask a teacher to use the phone to call parents? First of all, I am rarely by a phone. I strongly prefer my son text me. Please. I can be reached by text anywhere.

Let’s teach kids how to use these tools. I bet the vast majority of kids have those phones in their pockets, and many have iPhones or Androids. My son doesn’t have a smart phone – just a phone phone. He has an iPad and is allowed to use that. Why is he allowed to use this when others can’t use their phones? It makes no sense.