This is a blog about my life, education, challenging discussions and what I learn. The mission and goal of this blog is to promote the sharing of ideas and resources to improve student performance.
3. Merit pay, assessment improvement here's a white paper on Teacher incentives and student achievement evidence from New York city public schools...huh, makes you think.
A colleague of mine challenged me today and asked me:
"How would you feel, Mr. Administrator, if a teacher in your building had 10 D's/F's?" (out of a team of 100 students)
After a long pause, surprised by the question, my response was: "Where did they start? Are they ready for this content? Are they finished learning?"
(A little background here: I am a 6th grade teacher and I am a proponent of standards-based grading and use it daily in my classroom. A D/F is reported based on student knowledge of specific content or objectives scoring at the beginning level of a rubric.)
Where did we start?
Considering the gain in students is so much more important to me than the final product shown on the report cards. Although every teacher and school is evaluated by the standardized assessment and the final product on the report card, considering where a student began and charting student growth throughout the quarter is what is so important to me. Seeing these students as "D/F students" is missing the point.
Understanding a few things about them is key: (Isn't this indicative of every student?)
1. They each came in to my room with a very different starting point than other students.
2. They each have VERY different needs.
3. They each have shown tremendous growth.
4. They each are receiving VERY different services and interventions, none of which support my content.
5. They are all wonderful, motivated, and successful students at what they do. It's a shame they are all measured by the same stick.
6. Grouping them as a D/F student right now is a disservice to them.
Bottom line, have these student's shown growth...Yes!
Is it as much as I would have liked, No...But we aren't finished....
The beauty of SBG
That's the beauty of standards-based grading. We're not finished yet so there is ample time to make that D or F (the beginning range of our rubric scale) higher. The most important question is not, how would I feel about it as an administrator, the more important questions are.....
True differentiation
1. What am I doing about it as a teacher to continue to care for and nurture learning in my classroom to continue to see growth through the last three weeks of the quarter?
2. How can I connect with these 10 (and the other 90) students to propel their learning past the beginning stages?
3. What support can I ask for outside of my classroom to make the gains necessary in these students, while of course, never losing sight of the other 90?
4. What tools can I tap into to personalize their learning?
Let the last three weeks of 2nd quarter continue...
So I've been working on revising our "Reading Strategies" class. Our district has charged us to increase the use of technology in the classroom and is starting this process through this class.
I stumbled across this resource on "A new way to lecture" outline a number of web 2.0 tools. I thought it was great! I hope others find this resource helpful.
Where will I use this? I would use it to host review discussions around various topics in preparation for an assessment. I would use it to interact with students/parents around specific topics. I see great things here!
Just ran across this resource from Tom Barrett called interesting ways. It is a list of interesting ways to use items/ideas/resources in the classroom.
You HAVE to check these out!
http://goo.gl/EvRv
Here's what's there, I am using a couple from the "get to know your new class list."
We have been battling for years on homework. To assign it, not to assign it, to count it, not to count it, what to assign, how much to assign, etc.
There are many new books and resources about homework practices. My opinion, right now because it will probably change 20 time sin the next year, is that if it's meaningful and has a purpose, then it needs to be assigned, if not, don't assign it.
Here is a great article on how deadlines can be "fair and unbalanced" when it comes to homework and projects: http://goo.gl/HGWg
I don't know if I'm excited about these movies or scared to see how bad the education system is. One thing I know, these movie will be the talk of educators around the world. I'm excited to be a part of the discussion on how to "fix" education to best meet the ever changing needs of our students. Movie due out in the fall.
So I've been agonizing about what I'm going to do on the first days of school differently than I have done in the past. I research many ideas using a number of blogs (here are two of my favorites:http://goo.gl/jgmd and http://goo.gl/G9Vf) and came up with two solutions.
1. We're going to start a facebook page. But only for our parents. Since I teach 6th grade I have a little bit of hesitation about getting 11 year olds on facebook when the minimum age is suppose to be 13. No worries. This did not come without some resistance from staff members. Funny. Our administration is 100% for it, our teachers are not. But that's for another blog post.
Check it out here: http://goo.gl/vDbY
2. I'm going to use a paper pencil True False assessment to teach kids about me. Then we're going to flip that and they are going to teach me about them.
3. I'm also using wallwisher to have students collaborate online by brainstorming ideas to name their class (see every year my students name their class, this gives a sort of team mentality that helps make the year run smooth.).
"I sell a product to a market that doesn't want it. I'm a high school math teacher!" Says Dan Meyer.
Mr. Meyer talks about computation and problem solving. We, in american education, focus so much on the computation that we lose sight of the ability for our students to solve problems. We give students so much information that we lose the ability to step through a new and unique problem more like what students are going to see in their future.
The 5 symptoms Mr. Meyer says you are teaching math wrong can actually be expanded to all classrooms and contents. Check for these symptoms in your classroom. I know I've seen them in mine.
They are:
1. Lack of initiative - "students don't self-start."
I see this everyday in class whether it is students afraid to start and fail, afraid to take risks, poor hook into the topic of the day, or just simply a problem that doesn't interest them. Initiative in students today across america is lacking. Sometimes I feel the key is not making problems in the classroom relevant to the students' lives.
2. Lack of perseverance - Students give up at the first sign of difficulty.
How many times have you get started on something and no less than 2 minutes later students are asking you if they are on the right track or they showed that they have lost interest in the problem?
3. Lack of retention - Students forget right after you instruct a lesson how to solve a problem.
See lack of perseverance again. Also, through many discussions in curriculum writing I have learned to better determine what topics are good to learn through the 40/40/40 rule (what do we learn for 40 minutes/40 days/40 years). The topics that are the 40 minute topics there is no wonder students would omit that and not determine that information and valuable. The ability to solve problems and show patience in doing that lasts for a lifetime.
4. Aversion to word problems - Students are scared to solve problems that are not straightforward.
I was this way back in school. As I teacher I am constantly thinking about how are we presenting the word problems to make the students so afraid of them? Why are they afraid of them? Also, isn't life just one big word problem?
5. Eagerness for formula - Simply wanting to find the easiest way to solve the problem, not revel and enjoy the process.
Mr. Meyer speaks on how there is a philosophy of students today in the 21st century that seek for the immediate gratification and the "Two-and-a-half Men" type thinking. An "impatience with irresolution" denotes the neural pathways we create within our brain that seek only the surface level problems. That surface level, 7 minutes and find a commercial, sitcom sized problems, instant feedback type of thinking will not permit our students to be successful to problems in the real world.
How do we fix that?
1. Don't rely on the textbook - We revise textbooks and problems that we use within our curriculum to make the curriculum more rigorous and relevant.
2. Get creative - Create our own problems that are unique to our student population and mask the different levels and text so that way students can explore problem solving using the information they learned from class discussion.
3. Create buyin by creating personalized problems - By that I mean relevant to students lives.
4. Create real-time solutions - By using real solutions to real problems and using those solutions that were actually found out through experimentation.
5. Enjoy the sources of error - Be okay with a range of answers and be passionate about sources of error. Discuss with students what could have affected the answers, discuss it, enjoy it, find as many possible places you went wrong as possible. Remember that life brings about many factors that affect the outcome of situations.
6. Use multimedia - Every school is aligning itself to new technology standards so don't be afraid to use things such as the web, laptops, cameras, phones, etc. to help solve and document the problem. It will become a great source of discussion and reflection as the year progresses and the problems get more difficult.
7. Encourage student intuition - Create a climate where students can take risks, propose solutions, and outline their process to solve a problem.
8. Ask the shortest question you can - Stop giving the students all the information they will need to solve every problem so they can simply plug-and-chug the information into the
9. Let students build the problem - work with them to find the information they need and solve the problem with them.
10. Be less helpful - stop giving them everything, let them find the information, stop telling them they are on the right track, make them defend their thinking, stop telling them they have the right answer, make them tell you why their answer is correct. Defend it.
As I learn more about life in the 21st century I think more and more about how the role of teacher is changing from Sage-on-a-stage to mentor and advisor, these thoughts will be good for me as I enter my next school year.
Daniel Pink's book called Drive is fascinating to really seek to understand the core of what motivates us. Through numerous interviews I often hear a question about working with a student or teacher who is underperforming. Truly understanding how motivation works would help all managers, leaders, teachers, etc. get more out of the people we work with. In other words, check the book out!
Chec out Daniel pink's talk on motavation as animated by RSAnimate. I liked the talk before the animation, I like it even more with it....
This question has been asked of me in every interview I have had as I am seeking new employement as an educational leader. My answer is always short and susinct. But I have to say my ideas of professional develpment are constantly changing.
When I first started teaching I use to attend professional develpment one special days or half days. I would be, through this structured activity, encouraged to learn and grow during those times. The porblem was they were never long enough, they never met everyones individual needs and they were always planned by someone who has been out of the classroom for a while, leaving me often wanting so much more.
In the past few years my image of professional development is no longer something that is done on certain days of the year. My professional develpment happens every day, mutliple times a day. I use my google reader and my twitter account to find more resources that I ever would have from a workshop, conference, or half day inservice. Twitter, when used for this purpsoe (and not just following Shaq and John Mayer) is a powerful tool in interacting with other educators around the world. I've grown more and helped students more through these interactions and I'm a better teacher and leader for it.
All thanks to Al Gore for inventing this crazy thing called the internet :-).
To find out more develop your PLN through twitter:
