We have to stop pretending...

Dr. Scott McLeod issued a challenge a few days ago to post five things that we need to stop pretending in education.  I am taking on this challenge with my five things that we need to stop pretending.  Please visit Scott's blog and please take the challenge yourself, but most importantly you need to share and share again!  So here it goes:

We have to stop pretending...

• ...that if we made more money we would be more motivated to teach and educate students better.
• ...that students are digital natives and automatically know more than us (about technology) just because they were born more recently.
• ...that any type of structural change will fix education.
• ...that poor kids, black kids, Hispanic kids, kids from broken homes, special education kids, or any other kid who has been dealt a difficult hand doesn't want to learn or can't learn.
• ...that a clock, calender, or room will dictate learning.

Please feel free to comment below and happy posting!

A Call for Response from Elie Wiesel, Harper Lee, and JK Rowling

Disclaimer to Begin: If any teacher is offended by this post take a step back and reflect on why it is being written.  Don't be offended, use it as constructive criticism on a system that may be flawed.

I recently read the book Night by Elie Wiesel.  I had never read the book previously, though I was supposed to in high school.  In a recent blog post about the book I stated that I am glad I waited to read the book, as I feel like I got more out of it now than I would have in high school.  The book, to me, was much more than a book.  It evoked emotions I didn't really know a book could evoke.  At times I was angered, saddened, depressed, enlightened, inspired, and frustrated.  More imporatantly though, Night is not just a book, it is Wiesel's life, his account.  The book itself is horrifying, but the story is real.  I found myself thinking about how this book would be great to discuss and share, so that is what I did.  I discussed my reading with people and shared my reading and new-found learning with the world.  I felt it was the best way to honor such an important book from where I sat.  That is, until I spoke with Erin Olson.

Erin works as an instructional technology consultant with a background in English language arts.  We have similar backgrounds and current occupations, though there really is no comparison to the genius of Erin.  If there is one ELA person out there I would love to teach with more than anyone it's Erin.  I could go on and on, but let's get back on track.  Erin and I were discussing how certain literature is taught in schools and were laughing back and forth, as well as sharing horror stories.  We were specifically talking about the book Night, as I had just finished reading it.

Now, it's no surprise that copy machines still run constantly in schools, printing off worksheets, packets, quizzes, and tests.  Learning that schools are teaching novels like Night is great, until you find out how many teachers are teaching the book.  Night is arguably one of the most powerful works ever written.  The imagery and symbolism are enough to brag about, but it's so much more than that.  Upon seeing the way teachers are subjecting their kids to this book, well, is an injustice to the book.  I am by no means saying there is a right way to read a book, but when you strip down something, like Night, to vocabulary, quote memorization, and simple recall of facts/events I feel students may miss the point.  The students are not to blame though, it's the design of the learning experience.  Take a look at this unit plan for Night: Unit Plan.  That unit plan, and many others that you find on sites like TeachersPayTeachers are reading checks.  It's the illusion of engagement,  The one linked above, in particular, has some discussion (only for the sake of a unit test though), zero extension outside the book, and at one point has an activity labeled "Interpretation" with questions that are not really open to interpretation.  At one point a question is asked, "Did you enjoy reading Night? Why or why not?"  I can only imagine the many students responding to this question having been told how to read this book through the lens of endless vocabulary, memorization, and recall.

I remember in late elementary school starting to read the Harry Potter series.  Those books will forever mean a lot to me.  They inspired me to continue reading and are one of the main reasons I am an avid reader today.  They were powerful books for me, and still are to this day.  I dread the day when an English teacher begins stripping those books down to vocabulary definitions, memorization, and recall.  Erin and I fear that day has already come, though, as seen by this unit.  What are we doing to students?  What are we doing to literature?  I fear Shakespeare would scream Elizabethan profanities if he knew how a majority of the nations English teachers were teaching his works.  How do students see meaning in works like Night when this is how they are taught it?  What does their perception become of a man like Elie Wiesel and of an evil event like the holocaust?  You are limiting their perception of these to words with dictionary definitions and questions like: "What was the setting and the year for the first section of the book?", or having them complete activities like: "Use words from the word jumble page and have students spell them correctly".

I wouldn't be so critical if this was a minority of what we are asking students to do, but that's not the case.  And that's not the case with many novels.  Whether it is Night, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harry Potter, Of Mice and Men, or "Romeo and Juliet" these works are being taught in a way that takes away meaning, purpose, emotion, and power and replaces it with recall.  How sad.  I know so many great teachers, and I hope they recognize their strengths, and I am not saying a teacher who teaches this way is a bad teacher.  I am simply saying, it might be time to change our methods and start honoring these authors better for their works of art.

Erin and I have a plan (it was her idea though).  We want to try and see what Elie Wiesel, Harper Lee, and J.K. Rowling think about how their works are being taught, or better yet, what are their hopes, wishes, requests, and desires for the teaching of their books?  What do they hope students get to do with the reading of their books and what do they hope these students might gain?  I know this post has centered around Night, but it goes much farther than that, which is why we put the calling out to the other two incredible authors.  We need this post shared, re-shared, and pushed out all over to spread the word.  We know this may end up a complete failure and we may forever wonder what these great minds think about this issue.  Perhaps they don't care.  I think this issue is deeper than their books though, because it really is about education and how we are potentially failing our students.  So, if one of those three, or any other published author is reading this, please weigh in on the conversation.  My email is schmiaah@gmail.com and Erin's email is eolson@aea8.k12.ia.us.  We would love to hear from you and potentially set up some sort of virtual meeting to discuss this and how we can start to change this.  Our voices are small, but collectively we can be heard.  And what English teacher wouldn't love hearing from Wiesel, Lee, or Rowling?  Even it is to bash on their teaching methods.  Happy reading folks and please leave a comment if you feel so inclined.

The Complexity of Confidence

"Kids these days" is a phrase uttered almost annoyingly when a kid whips out there smartphone, logs onto twitter, or even decides to avoid eye contact and a good old fashioned handshake.  I am not a fan of the phrase as it implies there is something wrong with this generation of kids and they are to blame.  It's an excuse to just give up on them and let them suffer in the realm of social media and bulky headphones.  There are certain behaviors that need to be reinforced and taught to this generation of students, ones that are not defined by the Common Core, Universal Constructs, or any text book in any class.  One behavior in particular is confidence.  Now before I get rolling I am going to give credit to Dane Barner for accurately defining confidence as a behavior as I potentially started to misidentify it as a skill or trait.

I see kids walking hallways hugging the walls, awkwardly shying away from any sort of interaction with another human.  I will talk to kids who fill their sentences with nerves and umms.  I see kids who cannot carry on a conversation, wont shake a hand, and feel like no matter what they do they will fail.  Some of these can be attributed to poor communication skills, potentially poor collaboration skills, but I think at the heart and soul of it is lack of confidence.  I think to accurately define how to foster confidence we need to figure out why kids are not confident.  People lack confidence because they have not experienced success.  You can have differing levels of confidence for different skills and activities.  People lack confidence because failure was an end point.  People lack confidence because they were never given the opportunity or chance to redeem themselves.  Knowing why people lack confidence therefore can give us insight into what needs to change.

Is there a recipe for confidence?  I argue, maybe, but it isn't easy.  I think it could bei a flow chart of sorts.  We have to acknowledge the "function of failure and the role of success" (thank you Dane).  We have to separate cockiness from confidence.  In many cases and conversations confidence is defined by success, but I argue that success is, perhaps, determined by failure, or an individuals reaction to failure.  My argument is simple, success does not happen without failure.  More accurately, success does not occur without application of new learning.  And new learning doesn't occur without failure and feedback.

Failure has such a negative connotation, so let's focus on that word.  The Titanic failed because it sunk, the Green Bay Packers failed because they lost to the Patriots on Sunday, I failed this Sunday when I ran 50k with a slower pace than I did the year previously.  Failure varies, it's that simple.  It can be labeled as an error, a mistake, or even the harsh "failure" but all of these words have something in common when it comes to performance.  They can be fixed.  I can run a faster pace with more training, the Green Bay Packers can come back next year knowing how they could have won that game and tweak their style of play, and the Titanic...well it gave us ideas on how we can potentially prevent such a catastrophe in the future.  You can't erase the past through fixing the failures, you can only prepare for the future.  Preparation, coaching, teaching, learning, doesn't guarantee success though.

The individual who "failed" must take that new learning and apply it, change, tweak things and then maybe success will happen.  This may take awhile, and contributes to perseverance (likely another behavior that needs some fostering).  Preparation takes success and failures, and perfection can never really be achieved.  Meb is not a perfect marathoner, he still needs training, he still needs coaching, and he will always have areas to improve.  Our kids need to know this.  We pump it into our kids' brains early that "practice makes perfect," when in reality practice makes us better when we are given the tools and skills necessary to make us better...but that doesn't roll off the tongue.

So let's say that success is equal to application plus new learning, and new learning is reliant on failure.  Written out in math terminology, success = application + new learning, and new learning = feedback + failure.  Then what is failure equal to?  Failure is not equal to anything, but results for a multitude of reasons.  It could be lack of preparation, lack of knowledge, execution issues, missed opportunities, misinterpreted feedback, etc.  All need to be handled with care.  So let's say, for example failure was result of lack of knowledge.  Then the proper feedback would be that the individual lacks knowledge, guaranteed it has to be more specific than that.  Next that feedback needs to be taught or coached and then applied.  Only then can we reach success.  Any scientist will tell you that success cannot be determined by one experiment, it needs to be repeated multiple times.  I outline this with a specific equation here relating to running (that's the cross country coach in me): Confidence Equation Thoughts.

The biggest thing about all of this is we won't see overnight results in behavior, more than likely.  Behavior needs to be repeated and acknowledged.  In classes that students take they may lack confidence because they failed an exam or performed poorly on a project.  It is up to the teacher at that point to give specific and meaningful feedback so the students can apply it later.  Without the chance to reapply their new found skill or knowledge they miss the opportunity for success, and after all success determined by preparation equals confidence.  That preparation is so meaningful and it takes persistence and application of necessary skills.  The best coaches point out failures and assist with fixing those failures, and they also reinforce the positive behaviors.

We need to foster confident behavior in all students and in a vast array of areas.  Whether it is communication, math, art, writing, running, or building.  I want confident communicators, confident mathematicians, confident artists, confident writers, confident runners, and confident builders.  Imagine the alternative.  We get trapped into thinking that confidence is only defined by success, which at the surface might be true.  Underneath that surface lies the truth though, that confidence is much more complex than simply success, because success is much more complex than we perceive it.    

Being a Connected Educator

Being a connected educator means a lot more than simply having a twitter handle, blogging from time to time, or even participating in voxer chats/twitter chats.  No, being a connected educator, to me, means a lot more than being online connected to thousands of individuals.  Being a connected educator is about knowledge, relationships, sharing, and collaboration.  I think there is so much power behind being connected, and many of the resources that are out there remain untapped by a lot of educators.  That's a lot of wasted potential I think.  It's like going out to buy the latest iPhone and only using it to make phone calls.  This post is a sort of reflection on being a connected educator and how I handle the power, after all, being online can be a rewarding and dangerous place.

1. I am on Twitter, Voxer, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Blogger, Google+, and Pinterest.  I use some of these often and others not so much (Pinterest often sits idle).  I use these social networks for a variety of reasons too.  Instagram is typically reserved for selfies, impromptu family pics, and random things I find that are cool.  Facebook is reserved for my personal life with the occasional (good-natured) rant.  Twitter, Voxer, and Google+ I use primarily for education related jargon and connections.  I use blogger to reflect on my career and post on my running blog.  Snapchat is easy/quick communication with friends and yes I use it appropriately.
2. Sometimes I regret what I post.  I always wonder how people are going to perceive what I post and sometimes regret posting certain things, regardless of a response.  I think this is smart, because I am always aware of  what I am posting, and it has made me more aware as time has gone on.  I don't ever post anything vulgar or inappropriate, but I always wonder how someone may take what I post and interpret it another way.
3. I have to have a filter with social networking (and life in general).  I am passionate about education, and every once in a while someone on my feed (usually Facebook) will post something that I feel strongly against when it comes to education.  I have learned to control my anger and frustration (a sort of digital Bruce Banner) and turn the other cheek.  Every once in awhile I engage in a lively debate, but when I sense things are getting out of control I simply close the computer down and potentially grab a snack (no hulking out for this guy).
4. I recently read a blog post by Scott McLeod where he talks about how perceptions can change about people you may meet online.  How well do you really know those people on twitter you engage with every week on a twitter chat?  I think this is intriguing, because I have met some amazing people through Twitter and Voxer (or have I?).  Yes, it is true that sometimes I follow someone only to find out, they are not the person I truly intended to follow based on their tweets I read, but that's the beauty of being connected I guess.  It's a lot easier to delete a follower on twitter you can't stand with than a friend in real life you can't stand.  That sounded harsh, but in today's world, it's easier to get rid of unwanted baggage.
5. Last, but not least.  The amount of knowledge that is out there is incredible.  There is no way to harness all of that knowledge using any tool (maybe there is, but I wouldn't know how to use it), so we do our best.  I can sit in a meeting with 5 people and have the minds of 5 people working together.  I can also throw a question out on twitter to the 600 people following me and get a wide variety of responses.  I can participate in a twitter chat and be exposed a whole new world of information, insight, and connections.  It's incredible (sometimes confusing and overwhelming too).

The 5 things above are only some of the takeaways I have from being a connected educator.  I could go on and on about what it means to be connected, what to watch for, and what to embrace, one might say you could teach an entire workshop on it (thanks Leslie and Erin).  Being connected is important to me, as it is another way for me to grow and learn.  I like what Kevin Honecutt says, "I don't have time not to be on Twitter."  I think this says a lot.  With so much information today, we can't afford (as educators) to continue in isolation.  

Preparing Students for the 21st Century is Not Enough

It's the end of 2014, which means in a few weeks the calendar will turn over and it will be 2015.  It seems like only yesterday year 2000 hit us.  We made it to the 21st century and with the turn of the century, many advancements were being made and the development of new technologies is constantly getting better and better.  Google has developed the first driver-less car.  3D printing is becoming more and more accessible with brands like MakerBot.  I can solve math problems by taking a picture on my smartphone using PhotoMath.   USB drives have gone from 128mb to becoming obsolete with cloud based storage.  It's amazing what is happening.  The crazy part is...the technology referenced above is the technology of the present, not the technology of the future.  So it begs to question, what is next?  When the year 2000 hit we entered the 21st century and sadly, many of our schools didn't and still haven't and we have been living the 21st century for 14 full years.  The first graders of right now will graduate high school a quarter of the way through the 21st century and what opportunities are we giving them?

So what is this post about?  In a sense it is about 21st century skills, but more importantly, it is about throwing 21st century skills out the window and relabeling it.  We are 14 years through the 21st century and we are still pushing 21st century learning...?  Don't get me wrong, I agree that our students need to be prepared for the 21st century, but before we know it the 21st century will be half over and what then?  I propose we simply start saying we will prepare our students for the future.  There is the term "future ready" which has gained a lot of attention, but what is the definition?  Can we define it?

By saying we are preparing students for the 21st century, we are essentially telling ourselves we are preparing kids for the present.  Is that enough?  I think of the changes made with technology within my own teaching career (4 years).  It is incredible and that's just 4 years.  By the time those little 1st graders graduate what will they be faced with.  Wearable technology?  Think about the amount of schools that ban cell phones and think about the fact that we are not too far away from cell phones just being a part of what we wear on a daily basis.  Are we ready for the change?  How are we preparing our kids for that now?

It's tough to predict the future and things change constantly, but I cannot help but think that we might not be doing enough now.  I know there are great schools out there that arguably are doing well, but what about the schools that are not?  When elementary students are coding and creating robots and connecting with people all over the world, I think that is a start.  What the students who are still getting worksheets to prove their learning?  What about the schools who block twitter, YouTube, and cell phones?  What about the schools who are not providing students with access to an outside world through technology?  What about the schools that are still using textbooks from 10-15 years ago?  This is only the tip of the iceberg.  Giving students access is not the end all, be all.  The system needs a big change.  Why reinvent the wheel?  Becuase the wheel doesn't fit the road we are on and I would argue that it hasn't for a while.

Sorry for the amount of questions in the post.  I accept criticism of these ideas, but think about and take it and ask these questions about your instruction, your school, and your district.  What are doing to prepare your students for the present, but even more importantly, what are doing to prepare your students for tomorrow?

MakerSpace Update

Opening up a makerspace in a school can be as difficult or as simple as you like.  It all depends on the types of materials you want to offer students.  When I went to the drawing board for the makerspace here, at the school I work for, I wanted to offer students a wide range of materials, so it took a while to fully implement.  We are a little over a week into implementation of a makerspace at our high school, so I thought it might be appropriate to give a little update on how things are going so far.

Our makerspace is small and already I am noticing that the space is too small and quite cramped.  I would like to see our space develop and grow, but that will take more space and I envision this space to be a little more open.  With a green screen, MakerBot, embroidery machine, and plenty of other material to go around, it is difficult to for everyone to work in true comfort without bumping into one another.  With that all being said, the space is being utilized, more than I ever expected.  A few years ago I organized a 5k and expected about 30-50 people to attend and was very overwhelmed when about 300 attended.  The makerspace is similar.  I expected about 10-15 students utilizing the space per day, at least until word spread more.  We have seen a consistent 40-50 students in and out of the makerspace daily.

With the space being utilized a lot, I have had to rethink a lot.  One of the things I didn't expect was how often I was going to have to replace material.  We purchased two 3Doodler pens along with 50 filament sticks for the pens and we are already out of them.  Other materials are quickly being depleted due to this issue.  Don't get me wrong though, this is an excellent issue to have.  I have students ready to create early in the morning.  I typically get to school at about 7:40, and I have students waiting for me to open the doors.  I have to kick students out at the end of the day when I have to leave.  I usually leave at about 4:15, and students have shown frustration if I have to close down any earlier, and most show frustration even if I keep the door open until 5:00.  Once again, this is a great issue to have.

I have seen students light up with curiosity when confronted with a new piece of equipment.  Students using Arduino kits, makey makey kits, the embroidery machine has yet to actually be fired up, but students are working on it.  I dropped off a broken DVD player and within an hour the DVD player was dismantled, and pieced back together...oh and it was fixed.  This was without any prompting.  Students are accessing YouTube videos and Google to search for answers...without anyone telling them to.  Kids are using popsicle sticks, 3D printing pens, and toothpicks to create what their mind tells them to create.  I envisioned putting weekly challenges on the board and before I could, students were writing their own challenges on the board.  Students are requesting material, requesting time, and telling me this is the most fun they have had in school.

I am seeing authentic learning taking place and it is so hard to document, because I am right there with the students.  You ask the students what they are doing in the makerspace and they might be creating a replica of an atlas vertebra on the MakerBot to give to their anatomy teacher.  They might be building a fortress out of Legos because it's cool.  They might be crafting a duct tape wallet, because it's an art form they picked up in middle school and has slowly faded.  They might be painting because they don't get the opportunity because their schedules are too packed full of honors classes.  They pick up a snap circuit kit and start building a circuit because they are curious about how things work.  They might actually be learning in a way they feel comfortable learning.  They won't tell they are learning though, they will simply tell you they are having fun.

It has been amazing to watch these students and my only wish is that we had more to offer and we could have done it sooner.  Speaking after a week of implementing a makerspace, it has been a success.

    

Why is Freedom Hard?

In the state of Iowa we have the option or choice to drop the Carnegie Unit and embrace competency based education (CBE).  No more worrying about credits to graduate...we write our competencies (easier said than done), and base college and career readiness on mastery of those competencies.  This would open up avenues for PBL and student voice.  So why are more schools not making this shift?  

Freedom is hard.  Bottom line, we don't know what freedom feels like in education.  With so many mandates and parameters to follow in the past (and still some today), it's hard to open up because the creativity has been beaten out of us...hmm sounds familiar to our students.  We first need to embrace CBE.  Then we need to understand the freedom we have and be willing to take a risk.

We still need standards, we still need indicators, but imagine the possibilities of allowing kids to travel from class to class or subject to subject without the stress of "I need this class to graduate."  Instead we base their graduation on competency not completion.  We know completion doesn't work, because the spectrum of completion is so wide.  I want to see schools embrace and utilize the freedom they have, because it may not seem like much all the time, but when you are given an inch sometimes you can go a mile.