This past Saturday, I attended the first (I think) ever GEGNZ Sparkshop at Ormiston Primary School. Over the last few weeks and months, I've slowly started becoming someone who shares a lot, and it seemed like a good idea to come to this prepared to share. Smorgasbord
The conference (or rather, unconference) started with a smorgasbord of ideas that people voted on. I put two ideas in. The first was sharing mystery hangouts (or skypes, depending on where your loyalty lies) by myself. The second was a collaboration with Angela Lee on makerspaces and robots.
I was pretty much the first person to share and it was quite nerve-racking to go up first, especially since I was trying to sell what I was sharing. I spoke quickly and tried not to be too imposing. I think I do give off a very nervous air, but that's ok. It was then a lot of sitting and listening to other people share their ideas before we voted.
When all was said and done, both of my ideas were booked into places to share. I figured they might be. I'm not being full of myself, but they were interesting things. Luckily I was in the last two sessions, so I had a chance to go check out another session while I fretted away.
Forms (Sarah Allen, from Riverhills)
My one and only session that I participated in the audience was based around using Google Forms. This is something that I've done a lot lately, so I figured I might get some new pointers (there's always something new to learn) or at the very minimum be able to contribute something.
Among other new ideas, we were introduced to Poll Everywhere, a very quick way to get feedback from students and to get them to share. Like other tools (padlet comes to mind) it has some specific uses, but it was also extremely useful in that it can embed into slides (unlike so many other things).
We discussed reasons for gathering student voice (none of which were really earth shattering, but it's important to note that I do think it's important for a variety of reasons - I wouldn't be focusing changing my practice towards increasing this if I didn't), and also wondered whether or not Kahoot! can do similar things (I'm going to try this at some point in the near future).
We discussed various other uses of forms and some add-ons to use. I particularly liked the add-ons Choice Eliminator and Email Confirmation (it may be called something else).
A random idea that came up in the discussion (I actually brought it up) was to use a form to make a choose your own adventure story. I actually got so excited about this that on Sunday I went home and started making an example so we can do it as a class in the upcoming weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to write about that.
MakerSpaces
Next up was my joint presentation with Angela. We shared a few makerspace ideas, but in the end, it was the robots that were the most popular. Several other attendees loved playing with my Dash and Dot (I may, in fact, be one of the only - if not the only - classrooms in New Zealand that have these robots). I think Wonder Workshop may owe me a bit because I'm pretty sure I've convinced some people to buy them. I'd like some more myself.
We did have a lot more out - Squishy Circuits and Makey Makeys. The circuits got some attention, but I was naturally drawn to the robots and I think a lot of people followed me. I guess people can easily get overwhelmed.
Mystery Hangouts
The crowd for my second presentation was much smaller (6 people) but it was nice to have an intimate setting. I briefly talked about how a mystery hangout works and then we practiced it. I quite enjoyed watching adults have a go at figuring out different strategies for guessing. I think I sold the idea to them though as at least one had already booked a call for the week coming up!
Here's the slideshow I shared during that presentation (in case anyone else wants to try it).
All in all it was a good day. I had lots of interesting conversations about coding and got to know some more people (though to be honest, it's getting to the point where a lot of people know and remember me, but I can't remember them - at least I'm pretty good with faces, but it could make for an awkward meeting in the future. If you're reading this, I have't forgotten you on purpose, I'm sorry).
I do enjoy this presenting thing, though I do sometimes feel like I don't actually know what I'm talking about (ok, I don't actually know) but I think that's part of it. I don't ever want to feel like the expert, but rather I want to constantly be learning an improving.
That being said, apparently I've been included on a proposal for part of the pre-conference things (I think?) at ULearn this year. Should be fun.
In my quest to give students voice and control over their education and learning, I've started giving real-life problems for them to solve. For example, when we had repeated problems with picking who got to get the milk or the chrome books, I asked my students to come up with a solution so that no one would ask me (I have some issues with being crowded and this seemed like something that didn't need approval).
The first two discussions we had were somewhat productive. I was quite impressed that many students gave ideas and spoke out for what they thought was a good solution. They came up with ideas (not the ideas I'd have come up with) and they effectively owned those ideas. For these first two discussions I didn't intervene. I listened but didn't even have to join the circle.
Then we tried a third problem: Making sure the class was tidy. They quickly decided they wanted jobs, but a few other issues came up. One student was dominating the whole discussion and in essence was trying to bully (not really, but that's the closest word to what was going on) the other children to agree with him. The second was that the discussion very quickly descended into chaos as side discussions started happening
So I had to intervene. Even though there were some (most of my students, really) that were genuinely trying to have an open discussion there were some who weren't.
I had a think about it and decided that each of these discussions would have certain students playing roles in order to move things along.
Today we tried out five jobs:
Moderator - chooses who speaks, stops others from interrupting, makes sure everyone has a say
Challenger - puts forth an opposing viewpoint (if it hasn't been already)
Recorder - writes down/types anything that needs writing down
Questioner - asks people to explain their thinking more
Monitor - makes sure we are not taking too long, saying the same things over and over and that students are not disrupting the discussion or wasting everyone's time
I actually had to appoint two monitors today because a lot of students were being silly, BUT the two were pretty good at keeping the students focused. I still needed to add some input, though. They kept on suggesting ideas and then asking: "Who disagrees?" That led to us pretty much going in a circle, saying the same ideas over and over. So I got my moderator to list the ideas and they took it from there - sort of. They have decided to make some pictures to print out for jobs and they want me to laminate it
Was all this hassle worth it? I could have solved the problem quickly myself and come up with pretty much the same thing. But I think that I've planted several seeds in these students now and they will be given more opportunities to have a say. The problem has not been solved, but we have a potential solution.
I do think I'll try these jobs with other aspects of group work and we can develop more roles that will be appropriate to different situations.
It's week three for my school's Code Club, though we're only up to Activity 2 after our tech issues in week 1. After getting an email from cs-first telling me I haven't been using the showcase selector, I thought I had better get onto it. Trying to fit an hour's worth of activities into 50 minutes (more like 45 when you count the transition time) is difficult and sharing was one of the many casualties in the first week. Many students didn't really get it and having some success stories to share might help. So I made a point of getting students to share their work at the end. The selector wasn't actually working, but by playing around with the site, I was able to find a way to find the students' work (provided they had pressed "share") and put it up on the board. Though as I type this I realize that my projector has just been taken out of my room (we're moving classrooms this week) and I won't actually be able to share with my second lot of students.
I've also noticed that several children have come to me and said they want to quit (with a few more just quitting and not telling me). I'm OK with this. I don't want to force anything on anyone. I want to have students who want to code. I'll let them come back if they want (and perhaps some of them left due to my unpreparedness), but for now, I'm happy with some smaller numbers.
This week there were a larger number of students who weren't lost in scratch, so I did actually have a few examples I could share. Here's one from one of my own students. She was really focused on the videos, and asked lots of good questions (she figured out, before the video told her, that the words were being said at the same time, and then watched the next video to figure out how to do it). This is her project (she has asked to come back today for the second session to finish it - gotta love the enthusiasm!):
What is it?
Passion Projects (also know as Genius Hour or 20% Time) is a concept where students (or employees at a company) are given a sizeable chunk of their time to explore ideas and learn about things that interest them. Many tech companies do this and some amazing innovations have come out of this. Schools have also been doing this a lot lately, allowing students more choice in what they learn (which, if you haven't figured out by now, is one of main themes driving the transformation of my teaching practice). Most are underpinned by three main rules, or ideas: 1) Everything must be driven by a question or questions, 2) Research must be involved and 3) Results must be shared.
My F(irst)A(ttempt)I(n)L(earning)ure
Last year, after seeing a lot of people discuss and share how Genius Hour worked in their classroom while at ISTE, I decided that I would try this with my year 2 students. I took a lot of the advice from the teachers that I heard and found a lot of resources. We made an attempt. My students came up with some topics that they wanted to learn about and then they chose groups to be in. We thought about what we already knew about those things and then tried to find out new things. But the enthusiasm died out. The children didn't seem to get anywhere and due to lots of other things going on, the projects were all forgotten and abandoned. I didn't give up, but at the time, I was unsure of how to move forward.
GAFE Summit
At the GAFE summit in Auckland this year, one of the first presentations was about Genius Hour, or 20% Time. Seeing as I had tried this before I thought I should go along. I'm glad I did. It helped me see some of the mistakes I made in my first iteration: not properly setting up driving questions, overly planning things, allowing students to be less accountable/responsible for their learning. So I made some changes before I tried it the second time.
Version 2.0
This time around, we discussed questions a lot more in depth. We didn't start with a topic, but rather, I had students ask lots and lots of questions. We worked on phrasing these as open ended questions. I also stole may ideas from Simon Ashby's presentation at GAFE: having children display their questions in class, on their blog, etc, having students fill out a slide to keep track of their weekly progress and the aforementioned time spent on what he called ideation. I have also been trying to not give templates or much direction to students beyond telling them they need to record what they do and keep track of what they learn. A further addition from the presentation was that a fourth thing was needed for all of the projects: A purpose. So why are the students wanting to answer this question.
So far, I have had a lot of success with the initial stages for my students. They have spent a good amount of time making questions that are big and that need to be researched. Here are some of their driving questions:
There is already quite a lot of buy in and the students all seem genuinely excited. I've had some interesting conversations with some students and it has actually led to real-world applications of things they need to learn (for example, one group wants to test which car shape is the best and that has led to a discussion of what a fair test is, and no doubt, we will be discussing whether or not their test was fair as they progress). So I'm quite pleased. This has also opened up the door for some other types of learning (for example, some students will be contacting some experts and I will work with them on their letter writing skills).
More Information
I'm obviously not the only one advocating for student choice. I've done some very quick digging and found some other articles online that discuss the benefits and give some advice. There are many more and I'll share them as I share how this process goes. Try these for starters, but if you know any others, please share).
For a while now, I've been wanting to find a way to get to the Google Innovator Academy. A few years ago, a colleague of mine was selected to be a part of one of the cohorts in Sydney. I was intrigued about the whole thing and over time I got into the mindset that I wanted to be an Innovator (since I feel like an innovator anyway). I did my Google Level 1 and 2 certifications and waited. I tried new things, and continue to try new things. I'm not satisfied when anyone tells me: "This is the best way to do it." I believe we live in a constantly changing world, which requires constantly changing attitudes and ideas.
I didn't apply for the first academy (in California, in February) because I was just starting at a new school (though in retrospect, perhaps the experience would have helped), but when the second one was announced for Colorado at the end of ISTE 2016 (where I am presenting) I thought, why not? I almost didn't apply and left the actual application until the last weekend.
I didn't really think much of my chances, since there would likely be a lot of applicants (apparently there were 900 videos on YouTube) and lots of people who, like me, had been waiting for a long while for this.
So it wasn't a massive surprise when I woke up this morning to find that I had indeed, not been selected. Looking at the map of selected individuals, I'm not really that dismayed. There were only four people selected outside of North America. I'm glad that I at least tried. Seeing some reactions of the people selected on twitter, did make me feel better (it's hard not to be disappointed when you put yourself out there and are rejected). At least two tweeters referenced the fact that they had gotten in on their third application. AND there will be another academy announced in July.
On one hand, I can look at this rejection as a good thing. It gives me time to innovate more in my class (directives from above notwithstanding), it gives me more time to work out what I actually want to change and accomplish (admittedly, it's still pretty rough, and maybe not the most clear vision at the moment), but it also (and, yes, this is important) allows me to take a little break after ISTE on my way back to New Zealand - I don't have to cancel my mini 2 day/1 night vacation in San Francisco. So lots of positives.
It does sting a bit, because I was in the need of a pick-me-up at the moment, but at least I know and I have 35 successful videos and projects that I can check. It gives me time to improve. If I would hazard a bet, I'd say I was in the younger range of applicants, so there is time.
What this rejection will NOT do is stop me from wanting to change. My efforts have been cast in doubt lately (and this has lead to a lot of self doubt), but at the end of the day, I am doing all of this for my students and to give them an opportunity to control their destinies.
This tweet was particularly relevant to me today:
New #GoogleEI? It means nothing if you don't make your world better.
Didn't get accepted? It means nothing if you make your world better.
Find my slide deck and video below. I'm open to any constructive criticism (though I have my own thoughts about what I need to fix) to help me get there next time.
So here's to second chances and that the next academy will be a bit closer to New Zealand (Sydney anyone?)
After sorting out all of our problems (the videos were being blocked by something or other) we were finally able to have a genuine code club this week.
I was feeling a lot less stressed about the club this week as the attempted club last week helped me wrap my head around how the day works. That being said, I realized that there was no way I could talk in front of everyone as much as the script said and still get through everything.
Over two days we had about 40 or 50 students (it was tough to find time to count, as you'll see below) coming from Years 3-6 and with a varying degrees of coding experience. Generally, I was pleased with how things went (how could it not be an improvement from last week?), though there were still some issues that will require some ironing out (or at the very least, perseverance).
One thing that was obvious from the get go was the level of independence that some students had (or rather, lacked). Most of the year 3s were constantly asking questions about what to do next (even though there was a button on the screen that literally said "next"). This learned helplessness is one of the things I'm battling (I should give myself a superhero name: Captain Independence, helping children become independent learners), so this is a fantastic opportunity let children have a go at it alone. So if you're doing a code club, be prepared for this potential time eater if you've got younger children. I'm not saying don't have them - far from it, they need to learn these skills and this should help them.
The second issue is a bit more worrying. Many students (both experienced and inexperienced) would put up their hand and tell me: "I'm finished watching the videos," as if to say that they were done. None of them had actually listened to the videos and done the activities. Others would watch the video, start the project and play around with things without trying the actual activity. I guess this is two sides to the same coin, but both are essentially the same problem: they don't follow instructions. They want to play (or just know how to do something) without the knowledge that will help them. It's about instant gratification vs delayed (by something like 2 or 3 minutes) gratification. I need to help teach the students about using the resources they have to learn something AND THEN having a play and discovering.
These are thoughts I will be pondering over the weekend. Do I want them to play? Yes. But not at the expense of learning a skill. Perhaps that will one day be the focus of my code club, but right now, they're not experts (is anyone, really ever an expert?) and they could benefit from learning how some of the blocks work, rather than just doing the same thing (usually just changing the avatar of the character) over and over.
Yesterday I helped coach my school's year 5 soccer team at a fun day. The teams were mixed - boys and girls - with every team needing to have at least 2 girls on the field at all times. Over the course of the day, I was at times dismayed and impressed by the interactions between the boys and the girls. Some boys were trying to include the girls, and to their credit, the girls were working hard. But more often than not, the girls would be tentative, and the boys would just charge on by.
Whenever I've seen girls play together, I haven't (always) seen this tentativeness (I'm not going to call it timidness because that's not what it was). After some reflection and discussion with some mothers who were there, it seemed obvious what the problem was/is: the boys have their own misconceptions about what the girls can offer to the team. What got to me even more was that the girls seemed to accept not being involved in the games as much.
So I decided to try something. I told my year 5 team (at the beginning of the last game they played) that if one of the girls scored, I would get them some sort of food treat. The team immediately started trying to help each other get better at passing and scoring. When the game started, the boys were trying to involve the girls more and it did (rather quickly I should add) lead to one of the girls scoring. I was happy that this led to a small success.
I wonder though, was this just making the problem worse? Is me offering this incentive saying to the children (both the boys and girls) that I don't think the girls could score on their own? Is this a means to an end? I was thinking that if they managed to get a goal, then the boys would see the girls as equals and not just run past them without passing. The mothers there seemed to think it was a good idea when I asked that question, but I'm not completely convinced.
I do need to figure out (and quick) what I'm going to share with the children, but I am wondering if anyone has any advice or opinions. I'm very aware of these issues in schools and gender roles that seem to drive a lot of what students do (i.e. boys are good at sports, girls are good at reading, etc) and want to do what I can for all of my students so they are not limited by what "society" says they should like and do. I think that starts with young children, but I'm not always sure I'm helping.
Overview
Last year and this year, I've been experimented with no ability groups in both Writing and Mathematics. I've gone through ups and downs in this process. One thing that needs to be clear that having no ability groups does NOT mean that you don't differentiate. It just means that ALL tasks are accessible to ALL students and expectations are high for everyone. In my mind there is no acceptable target for meeting standards that is below 100%. In reality, you might not meet that, but that should absolutely be the goal. By teaching to levels, students don't always have the chance to make accelerated progress to catch up and the task can seem extremely daunting.
Earlier this year, I was involved in a Facebook conversation about mixed ability groups in Reading. I was getting a bit overwhelmed at the work I was putting in to try and make my reading program work, so I thought over the last holidays: Why not try something new? Can I mix ability groups in Reading and get better results? So I thought about what I had read and looked at some learning tools the school has in place currently and came up with a plan.
What it Looks Like Now
During week 1 of this term, I spent some time, developing a language of questions with my students. We talked about SOLO taxonomy as well as Bloom's Taxonomy (I am aware of the criticism against Bloom's but I still think it has some value). We worked through coming up with (or at least deciding on the level of) questions for our shared book.
At the end of the week, I picked 6 novels from the reading room and gave a brief introduction. Students choose their 1st, 2nd and 3rd preferences for the books and I put them into groups based solely on their choices.
During week 2, students first read the book with their group. They then filled out a chart with questions based on SOLO. With me, we discussed what happened, the questions (and answers) they came up with and we used a SOLO map to describe one of the characters, using evidence to support our claims. Students also spent some time filming their reading, as well as a cloze activity. One of the days, I asked the students to come up with a create question (Bloom's - this is my main use of it) and they had to make, write or do something. Observing this was interesting. The students were all 'in' the book. They were interacting with it in ways that I couldn't structure.
Reasons for Change:
I don't think I'm an unreasonable or reckless person. As I wrote previously, I think we need to be careful of not focusing on doing the wrong thing right, but rather doing the right thing, even if it's not perfect. I have reasons for making these changes and they are not simply because it's easier (it's not, for the record), I want to cause trouble (trouble is a byproduct of trying to change and do the right thing) or I'm defiant (only to people who are being oppressive). Here are some of the main thinking points I had to guide me:
Student Choice
Over the course of my career, I've noticed that many students are disengaged, not only with reading and writing, but with school in general. Most of what we have students read are not necessarily things they find interesting. Yes, many of the school readers attempt to be interesting, but you can't force a student to want to read something. I think back to my days in school. When I HAD to read books, it was much harder than when I had a choice. I would read tons in my summer. University was a killer. All the readings, and though useful, they were not a choice, so I was not very motivated to read them - and I'd describe myself as an avid reader. I wanted to give my students more control over what they read. Though this choice is limited by the books we have, at least they got to choose something.
Quality of Texts
Most of the books we read with students are not books anyone would take out of a library. They are either short stores that aren't particularly well written or they are short information texts. I know most libraries have these kinds of books, but I don't think I've ever seen a child near them (I guess this is also part of student choice). I wanted to read good books with the students that they would not only enjoy, but that had some sort of structure to them.
Depth of Understanding
I really wanted to incorporate SOLO into my reading program. I think it is a great tool to get students thinking about what they're reading. Could I have used this in the way I previously did Reading? Certainly, but this way of running a reading program allows for more continued discussion and helps manage the mixed ability groupings.
Sense of Accomplishment, Growth Mindset
I want to give students the opportunity to do something that lots of other teachers would say they can't do. My question to them would be: why not? I'm there to support those readers whose levels might not be as high as the others (and for the record, a number is just that, a number, it does not tell nearly the whole story). If a student wants to try a difficult book, I want them to try it and not be phased. If they struggle, then that opens up the desire to improve. We have been fostering a growth mindset in our class lately and this is an extension of that. You can do it, don't listen to the naysayers. Differentiated, but in a different way
Not differentiating learning wouldn't be good practice. No matter where you aimed your teaching, students would be getting bored because they either were being challenged too much or not enough. This way, students have different ways of challenging themselves with the same material. They support each other, but not in the way the "more able" students are tutoring the "less able" students. With fast readers developing questions (which helps their understanding and gives them responsibility) as well as creative tasks which they can do they get a challenge (Can you think like a teacher? Can you be creative in your questioning? Can you ask questions that you need to find out) while at the same time supporting the slower readers, who have a great set of student generated questions to help their understanding. With my guidance as well, students get a chance to answer those higher level questions and get answers that they may not have thought of. Plus, the oral language that can come out of these groups has proven in other subjects and areas to be quite rich.
Related Article and Videos
The following article from Mindshift, discusses some ideas of how to motivate students in reading and writing. It identifies some key ideas that should be addressed: Autonomy (choice), Relatedness (can they discuss this in a non high stakes way with peers and adults), Interest and Value (to goals, lives) and Competence. Competence is very important. If a student does not feel competent in something, it will be hard for them to enjoy it. How I am addressing that is with the SOLO maps as well as the questioning and differentiated support from me and their peers. The others seem to match up quite well with the other things I have explained above.
This video, while focused on Math, explains a lot of the reasons (backed up by research) for not ability grouping, which is relevant across all subjects. Note that this does not mean you do not differentiate, but you do so in a different way (by support, for example).
This second video, from John Hattie, goes on to explain that tracking has a 0 effect for teaching. He then explains an idea that I've had (and used as justification for not ability grouping): that students, particularly (but not limited to) in Mathematics, are not given the chance to change tracks (groups) because they are not given the content (or strategies) that 'higher' tracks receive. How could they possibly bridge the gap?
First Week Observations
I'm noticing students seem more excited (How do you quantify that? Being on task?) and are seen in tight-knit groups discussing the work. Several groups have jumped ahead (awesome!) to fill out the SOLO map without me and we were able to discuss this in more depth. One group I work with was very good at finding evidence within the book and some students who would have been classed as "low" were able to explain their answers coherently. Another student, when asked why he felt that one character was bossy was able to articulate that he just had a feeling. We discussed how we could find evidence for this, but I was impressed with how he articulated himself and wasn't worried that I would be upset with his answer. It was a good moment.
I also liked how I had shared the documents as a group rather than make a copy for each student. This took the emphasis off of individual responses (because, really, what's the point of all of them writing it down). The groups I worked with were very good at sharing these jobs.
The creative activities created what I would call chaos, but the good kind of chaos. Students were "in" the books, thinking about how the books related to their lives. They were being creative and making things. But most of all they were focused on what they were doing. Besides one student, every child knew what to do and was doing it.
Where to Next
Obviously I'm not perfect and neither is this reading program. As I've been getting things up and running, it has been hard to find time to focus on specific children (though I have managed to work with target students at times). I need to make sure that I am spending more time with target students to check their understanding. This could be as simple as them sitting beside me when we discuss the book, or just sitting down with them to listen to them read their pages. Time constraints, as always, are an issue. Perhaps dialling back the amount work to be done (e.g. cloze and filming) would be beneficial for students.
The noise is obviously an issue, which makes it hard for me to work with a group when it's too loud. Part of this could be solved by using our breakout room (sadly, not in existence until I move classrooms in a few weeks) for either my group sessions OR for the loud activities (our Makerspace/Lego).
I will need to read up a bit more on how to make this work, but at the moment, I think the most important criteria is being met: students are enjoying reading time and are actually reading during that time. From here on, it will be a series of tweaks (which, depending on time) may or may not be fully documented here.
As part of my role as eLearning Leader (though, to be perfectly honest, I would do this regardless of roles or responsibilities) I have attempted to start a Code Club at school this past week. I sent out a form to get students to enrol and got about 60 students who were interested! With such a huge number I decided to split them into two days.
This has been a thing I've wanted to start for a while, but until recently I have not been sure how to go about it. Then, with the help of a presentation at the GAFE summit, I was introduced to cs-first.com, a google resource. I had heard of this before but never really gave it a chance (so many other things going on, and Code.org was pretty awesome for me at the time - still is, in fact). So when we tried a sample lesson a few weeks ago, I was blown away by how simple it was to a) run the club and b) learn new concepts. Google has really done a great job at preparing these coding sessions.
So I went through the process of setting up two clubs, sorting out the children (which still, will need to be changed) and getting everything ready. When we initially checked that the site was working, we did get most of the videos to play. I assumed (does this phrase ever end good?) that that meant that all the videos would work. The morning of the club, I was checking out the day's plan and couldn't get the needed videos to play. We tried on other computers in the class. No dice. So frantically, I emailed our tech support. They looked into it. They fixed something. No change. They fixed something else. Still no change.
The one bonus was though, that most of the children came late on the day. I had 7 students. I was able to help them through a part of the lessons to work on their code. But the next day, things still weren't working, so the second session was postponed.
It took almost a week, but the tech guys figured out the problem (by that time, I was interested in what it was, I was just super relieved that it was fixed. So code club will be on next week. Which is good, because the small group I had helped me get a trial run of what it's supposed to look like. We'll still be crunched for time, but that's better than nothing, I think.
I guess the moral of this story is: When you assume....
Most people who have known me for a while will probably think that I'm an extrovert. But that's not the truth. I'm definitely an introvert and exhibit all the signs that one would expect: shy in new situations, I don't like crowds (or small talk) and I enjoy (and need to) spend time by myself to recharge and decompress.
Every now and then, I see another article about introverted people and how others can understand us more. The one thing that has always stuck in my mind was that while extroverts get their energy from interactions with others, introverts spend a lot of energy when interacting with others. This is definitely something that happens with me. As a teacher, this can present a lot of challenges (I have 26 students who take LOADS of energy out of me on a daily basis).
I recently found this article, by John Spencer, Re-imagining School for Introverted Teachers. The articles shares several ways in which schools can support those of us who are introverts. I do find it hard when school leaders or managers ask me to go to the staff room. Often, my dislike for that trip is misunderstood. I need lots of time to recharge and spending time with adults in my 10 or 20 minutes of break. That recharge time makes me a better teacher.
My introvertedness also affects how I can best deal with students. There is tons of talk about finding the best way that students learn, but rarely do people talk about the best way for teachers to teach. We are all different and should be allowed to show our strengths in the classroom. I'm personally trying to find that balance between what's best for everyone (a lot of MLE/ILE spaces can help with this, though unfortunately, we are in a limited space for a few more weeks).
There are also a lot of issues around nervousness (I've been called a worry wart several times, but different principals) and a lot of times my motives are questioned. I often feel that I'm put on the spot and not allowed to explore things. This creates a lot of stress and makes it harder for me to be effective.
So what do I do with all this knowledge (that I'm not alone). Well, it gives me a way to start discussing the issues with leadership and to explain what works best for me. I'm hopeful that given this perspective, it might help others support me in a way that allows me to grow.
Introduction
This Saturday morning, I woke up early to run so that I could go to the first Educamp Science unconference. Luckily for me, it was local, so I was able to enjoy the sunshine before the conference. Having been a chemistry major before I went into education, science has always been something I enjoy. I got to meet several of my twitter friends early in the day and there were lots of choices for breakout sessions.
Data Logging with Stuart Hale
The first breakout session I went to was about Data Logging. The first bit of the talk was about using pictures, since they are a large part of collecting data in science. Stuart showed us how to share between devices when no wifi is available (through airplay on the iPads) as well as showing us how you can use a loupe (a magnifying glass for jewellers, if I'm not mistaken) to make a really cheap digital microscope. In fact, I was able to find loupes online for even less than what he shared. All you need beyond that is some blue tack.
Another neat thing he showed us with the iPads is to use the built in Time Lapse feature on the camera app. You can put it on things, such as leaves, construction sites (I'm trying that now in class, with the builders behind our room), tides, etc to see how things change over time. He suggested putting a sticker in the corner of the iPad where the camera is, to help children who might put their finger in front of the lens.
Digital Microscope with Wooden Blocks as a Stand
He then went on to show us some really cool things that iPads can do. Most iPads have the ability to measure things such as vibrations (a seisometer), magnetism (telsameter) and acceleration (accelerometer). These things can be use to make graphs and conduct scientific investigations (he used an iPad to test what makes a bike ride smoother as well as to see how to make sturdy buildings).
On top of that, there are loads of sensors that can be purchased (temperature, movement, etc) that can be used to make graphs. PASCO was the company he suggested, though I imagine, a quick internet search will provide other, cheaper options.
Fischertechnik Makerspace with Jacqui Kao
The next session I went to showed us about some makerspace tools that you could use. The company that makes them is called Fischertechnik. They have reusable parts, which can be really useful in a classroom or for companies that don't want to spend money on something that might fail and be very expensive.
During the presentation, there was an interesting discussion on buying kits vs. buying parts to make things with. Both have things that can make using them prohibitive. Kits can be quite expensive, BUT buying parts can be a very daunting task for someone who is just learning how to use these things in a classroom. It was a good discussion, but I think the answer is a lot more grey than it is black or white.
An interesting website was shared during this presentation, that I hope to look at later: Thingiverse. The site contains a lot of pre-designed things (for lack of a better word) that can be printed out using a 3D printer.
Maker Spaces with Chris Clay & Mark Mack
The last session I went to was a discussion about maker spaces and maker clubs. One of the teachers from Elim shared with us a project one of his students completed: a word clock. The student came and they discussed the process and challenges they faced in making it. The one student alone put about 60 or 70 hours into the project (which was quite impressive, as shown below). One thing that did come out of this discussion was that the original club had a lot of members and they all were working on the same project. Over time, the numbers dwindled until it was just the one boy who ended up finishing it. The teacher spoke that perhaps it was too difficult of a project to START with (not that it was too hard, there is a difference). So, big ideas are great, but aim for them one small step at a time.
Then Chris Clay (of Mind Lab fame, when I was in their course) spoke about making robots out of recycled materials which could cost less than $25. He uses Arduino boards and imports most of his parts from China (like I've started doing recently). He showed us several models he had made and discussed the challenges. He is one to keep following for tips about this as he has spent the last few months, testing and prototyping lots of different things and is in the process of helping schools along their journey. He spoke of a new way to program Arduino (I haven't learned the original way yet!) which is much like Scratch. It's called Snap.
Another thing that Chris (briefly) showed was Lilypad Arduino. I have heard of this before and was considering it. It's a small arduino board that can be sewn into clothing to make wearable technology. I've ordered some of these parts to have a play with so hopefully that will be another post on this blog in the near future.
Overall, it was an interesting day. Most of the things we talked about I had some knowledge of, but each session helped me build on that knowledge and has pushed me even further on my journey. I've got some more confidence to try some new things.
Also, I find that spending time in the real world (as opposed to the virtual world of twitter and blogs) is quite beneficial for my thinking process. People share ideas, ask questions and challenge me. I'll definitely keep attending more of these unconferences!
I've recently read another online article that was shared on Facebook (why look for things when I get a million posts daily from that group?). This one also rang true to things I believe in, but is actually backed up by research. Yay for research!
I also had a great picture of this (think Bart Simpson) but it was not labelled for reuse on Google Image Search, so I didn't use it. Boo for lawsuits against teachers!
The article in question explains that 25 years of research by Harris Cooper suggests that homework has no positive effect on students at the primary level (though it does have a bit for Intermediate and more for High School).
The article talks of negative effects that homework can have on elementary aged children: creating a dislike of school, straining parental relationships, it takes time from sleeping, it takes time from kids being kids AND it does not necessarily help with responsibility (because children often have to be reminded to do it, which isn't teaching them responsibility).
That being said, several alternatives are suggested. Children should be reading as often as possible, but they should get to choose what they read (comic books, books on their favourite topic,etc). Chores are also a great way to teach responsibility. A third option would be visits to a museum, etc (or anything to expand their experiences). It is also important for parents to realize that students are constantly learning so even playing games can be discussed as what they learned (e.g. strategies to win at a game).
Though there are a lot of "experts" saying how much homework is necessary. I have several reasons for selecting this one as a more valid point of view:
1) 25 years of research is a lot
2) The statements given are not exactly in the extreme, nor are they specific (two things that things tend not to be)
3) It fits nicely in with my prior knowledge and passes the "common sense" test.
4) It offers up alternatives to accomplish the same goals that homework claims to.
I haven't given my students homework this year (except for sending home the homework books I had to at the beginning of the year) and do not plan on changing that (this article will be shared with the naysayers).
Also, I should point out that I shared the article with my students and we had quite the interesting discussion. Good times!
Today, like everyday, I saw an interesting article shared on one of the many teaching Facebook groups I belong to. Usually, I just save it and say "I'll read that later" and never do (the life of a teacher). But today, after skimming the first paragraph, something caught my attention, so I read the whole thing. Amazing eh?
The article, HERE, discusses how as teachers, we often work extremely hard to get things right, yet we never ask ourselves if those things are the right thing to do. The author, Will Richardson, talks about another great mind, Russell Ackoff, who was able to explain that even if we do the wrong things and do them well, we're doing a worse job that if we do them poorly. He said that it's more important to do the right things wrong than to spend all our time trying to perfect the wrong things.
And why does he say we do the wrong things? Because it's easier. I'm not so sure about this part of the article/argument, but I'm fully in agreement about trying to do the right things even if it's not perfect. Perhaps we do the wrong things because that's what we've always done (TTWAD is a popular acronym I believe) and that's what we were told.
I don't like to be told what to do. Ask anyone who's tried to do so. I don't listen. I see a good idea, I roll with it. So this speaks quite true to me. Am I doing things perfectly? Heck no! Am I trying to do the right thing by my students? For sure! If I make mistakes along the way, it's better that they get pushed in the right direction poorly than I push them super hard in the wrong direction.
Here's hoping I can stay true to my word (after a long day of planning, I feel that I'm trying to do the right things - though no doubt I'm doing it wrong). And maybe if I get some free time, I'll watch the video in the article.
