Category: Data Collection

Noticing Works Too

I’m currently in the process of reviewing a study that examines motivation through a lens of students’ and teachers’ perceptions of classroom instruction in various ways.  In part, the study addresses students’ views of their teachers’ perceptions of them, students’ perceptions of themselves, teachers’ perceptions of their classroom practices as they relate to “Learner Centered Practices” (LCPs), teachers’ beliefs about the effectiveness of LCPs, and how all of it combines to promulgate (or diminish) positive learning and growth.  It’s an interesting study, and in my opinion, worthwhile for several reasons, including the articulation and modeling of an extremely thoughtful and extensive developmental process for generating and testing survey questions for effectiveness.  However, as I examine it, I find myself thinking about the relationship between practice and research.  Being both a practitioner and a researcher, that thinking led me to the relationship between time value.

Mini, Informal, & Ongoing Research Projects:  Are They Happy?  Are they Learning 

First, and in no way to diminish the benefit of the study, I want to touch on a concept that was brought up in the learning theory focused organizational leadership philosophy class I completed last week.  We were contemplating brain-based learning theory.  The question at hand was:  Does scientific, empirical research enhance learning outcomes, and/or our ability to intentionally achieve them?  What if classroom teachers, building administrators, and district leaders were constantly engaged in informal, but targeted research projects?  What if it were easy to collect and analyze data?  What if an informal collection and analysis process were generally accepted as suitable practice for learning about learning?  What if it’s actually good enough to think about our target learners (be they adults or children), ask ourselves if they’re happy and if they’re learning, follow that with a “why” and/or a “why not”, scratch our thoughts down on legal pads, record them in iPhones®, or scribble them on sticky notes, bubble gum wrappers, or cafeteria napkins, then use those scratches, recordings, or scribbles for continuation, adaptation, and positive forward progress?  Maybe it is.

Scientific research takes time.  Educators are really busy people.  Educators are typically engaged and passionate learners.  Thousands of grueling, detailed, and intense hours have been spent digging into how the brain works (not by me).  Even so, we know relatively little about the subject.  What parts of the brain are firing when our emotions take over?  Where are students generally working from during moments of engagement, excitement, and truly penetrating focus?  Can we design instruction/communication that directs learners to access those parts at any given time?  All valid questions, but how complex do we need to make the asking process?  What if we could transform time consuming, complex research methodology into a very basic, and widely accessible system for practitioner application?  Maybe we should each design our own.  Maybe if it works, it is good enough.

If you know a classroom teacher, you know that the myth of extensive down time is just that…a myth.  While the much needed and well-deserved vacation structures are an important part of recharging for everyone involved, most teachers work day and night, winter and summer, rain and shine.  When they’re not developing plans for instruction, they’re implementing and adapting them.

Teachers talk about the professional challenges they face over dinner and in the dentist’s chair (even with food and cleaning tools in their mouths).  They are the kind of folks who can’t turn it off, even when they want to…which they typically don’t.  Teachers teach because they’re passionate about doing so.  Teaching is a calling.  They want to be doing research, but they need that research to be doable within the constrained time frame in which they work.

Noticing what you need to know.  The idea is that we don’t necessarily need to know the neuroscience behind happiness to know that we learn better when we’re happy.  We don’t necessarily need further evidence suggesting that supportive teachers affect the parts of students’ brains that allow those students to take risks, because we see it happening in real time.  If we’re thoughtful about our interactions, we can simply notice effective interactions, reproduce them, implement them, adapt them, then notice, reproduce, implement, and adapt them again and again (and even again if we’re so inspired); O.K., maybe not “simply,” but with dedication and hard work.

Try something like this (if you’d like).  In my experience, some form of integrated record keeping system helps.  What records are you keeping already?  Maybe add a key to your record book or other student files that you already keep.  Maybe keep a notebook or a binder with lists or pages for individuals and groups of learners.  One key might be as simply as this:

H=Happy

U=Unhappy

E=Engaged

D=Distracted

Maybe you mark a letter by each student’s name as you take attendance or record notes during a directed reading conference.  Maybe you write a sentence or two about your observations and reflections.  As time goes on, you can use the key to identify students who might need interventions in one or more areas that you’ve identified as important (“happy” and “engaged” are two of many possible attributes to look for in your students – you should decide what works for you at any given moment, with any group of learners).  I have found that simply (there’s that word again) keeping track of the things I do while I’m trying to achieve particular outcomes enhances my ability to achieve those outcomes.  In doing so for several years now, my systems have changes many times.  Less and less as they become increasingly refines, but still changing nonetheless.  I recently found a notebook that I kept in my first few years of classroom teaching.  It looks pretty different from the one I keep today.  However, there are threads of commonality.  In keeping my thoughts, recording my experiences, identifying landmark attributes that seem to contribute to growth and development for any individual or group of learners/stakeholders, I have found a relatively simple path to my own positive progress as a learner, and educator, and a leader.

Give it a shot.  Do it in whatever way feels comfortable to you.  Change it when the wind blows in a different direction.  Let me know if you discover something cool!

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Dream Big.  Work Hard.  Be Well.

Digging For Details Via Thoughtful Questioning

I was looking at a leaf yesterday.  It was the big, broad leaf of a hosta plant.  It had rained that morning.  The world was mostly dry by the time I got to the leaf (the part of the world that I was in anyway).  The leaf was in the shade.  As a result of being in the shade, it was still covered with water droplets.  The sun had not evaporated them.  Now I’m no science guy, but if I’m not mistaken, I think that it rains because water evaporates into the air.  Hard to imagine, but true (to the best of my knowledge).  I know what you’re thinking; it seems like magic, but water does transition between various forms.  One of those forms is gas or vapor.  Stop me if you’ve heard this one.  Water vapor’s molecules are spread out, and as a result, it doesn’t weigh much.  If I understand it right, water becomes vapor when it gets hot enough.  Believe it or not, when it does that, it actually floats up into the sky and meets more water vapor that’s gone through the transition already.

As if that’s not wild enough, all of that water vapor meets in the cold sky and its molecules slow down, connect, and form clouds.  Eventually those clouds get saturated with the water vapor.  The vapor molecules slow down again, they connect even more, the clouds buckle under the increasing weight and size of the water vapor transitioning back into liquid, they can’t hold it, and the liquid water falls back to the earth as rain.  Incredible…right?  Are you with me so far?  Do you know what this means?!  Neither do I!  But I do know what it reminds me of.  It reminds me of learning.

It’s raining somewhere right now, and that’s because a process has been happening for some time that’s prepared it to do so.  Nature doesn’t leave much to chance.  Our world is constructed of intricate and complex details.  Each detail matters uniquely to the intricate and complex outcomes it contributes to.  Essentially, everything happens for a reason.  If you think about it, things are happening right now that are contributing to an outcome which might be significant to you later on today, next week, or even in a month from now.

When you trace outcomes backward, you can often highlight many of the details that contributed to them.  Some are easier than others.  For example, I know that I have to lose fifteen to twenty pounds.  I know that it’s at least in part because I am magnetically drawn to Slurpee® machines at Seven Eleven.  This equals that.  Drinking large volumes of crystalized sugar water on a daily basis (and washing it down with bags of potato chips) makes me have to lose fifteen to twenty pounds.  Strategically planning my commutes based on where the local Seven Elevens are, is quite likely another contributing detail to the same outcome (sometimes I’m magnetically drawn to multiple Slurpee® machines).  Those are some pretty easy breadcrumbs to follow.  I can adjust the details in an effort to change the outcome to a more desirable one.  Details however, are not always as overtly connected to outcomes.  Sometime we have to pay closer attention than we are accustomed to, and even then, we aren’t always able to discern the pieces to any given puzzle.

Furthermore, even when we do see the details with clarity, we can’t always influence outcomes in ideal ways.  However, when we pay close enough attention to the details, we are more likely to know, and have some ability to guide what’s happening…as it is.  I believe that thoughtful questioning helps, in fact, I would argue that it might be our best shot.  Being an educator, educational leader, and a parent, I find that kind of exciting.  I need to be careful to not get to enthusiastic though.  Detail identification is a tricky ambition.  The details are often so intricate and complex that it’s often easy to be wrong, especially because in education, we’re working with people.  People, as you may have heard…are complicated.

I once heard a comparative anecdote featuring blueberries that laid it out pretty well.  Those of you in the blueberry business can fairly easily figure out where and when blueberries grow best.  You can narrow down soil nutrients, watering times, sun and shade ratios, and pretty well get at ways to produce consistently positive outcomes (when it comes to the blueberries).  Also, when unsavory blueberries make their way through the systems you have in place, you simply need not put them on the shelf.  You might even use them for jam, syrup, or ice cream flavoring.  Those of us in the people business are able to rely much less on generalization about what works.  We serve diverse populations of people, we are charged with moving each of them forward, and we are strictly prohibited from doing so in form of jam, syrup, or ice cream flavoring (which would be very Willie Wonka-ish).

The point is, we must pay attention to the details.  Give yourself a break when you get it wrong.  Keep working to get it right.  Educators, educational leaders, parents, and anyone else who is in the business of serving human beings as they learn and grow, must be attentive.  We have to realize that it’s all happening all the time.  We have to constantly ask ourselves what outcomes we’re looking to achive, then remind ourselves again and again.  Even before we get close to any particular ends that we’re aiming for, we should always be aiming.  We also have to be ready to shift and adapt at any given moment.  We should be every questioning, and the questions have to target the individual and collective goals we have in mind for our school communities.

Are the students we serve tired?…Are they hungry?…Do they feel valued?…Are their voices heard?…Do they have autonomy?…Are their unique interests and abilities considered as they progress along any given instructional pathway?  Are our teachers well supported?  How is their work-life balance?  In what ways do we communicate with our parent population?  Are we modeling our core values?  Are our core values congruent to those of our students’, faculties’, and other stakeholders’?

What questions do you ask yourself as you make decision and act them out?  How closely do you understand the detail of how things are unfolding in your district, your school, and/or your classroom?  Lately I’ve been thinking about what type of structures I can put in place with my students, their parents, and my faculty to perpetuate the asking of essential questions…maybe something digital?  We could keep and ongoing Google Doc, or open a regular Twitter chat.  Maybe one-on-one style meetings with key stakeholders would work.  How about an old-fashioned “essential question” box in the office, or casual/informal conversations.

I don’t know yet.  I can’t quite put my finger on the connection or how it will play out in real time.  What I do know is that, like rain and the water cycle, things are going to be happening during this upcoming school year.  I’m going to want to affect those things with positive momentum, enthusiasm, and forward progress.  One of my goals this summer is to consider possibilities for digging into the details that will help me do just that.  I’m looking for strategies and systems that might assist me and all of my partners in learning to stay ahead of the rain, to be ready for it, and to celebrate the positive aspects of the outcomes we are certain to achieve.  I’ll keep thinking about it and report back with reflections as those thoughts unfold.  Please let me know if you have any ideas!

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Dream Big.  Work Hard.  Be Well.

Collect Data, Build Relationships, Affect Positive Progress

This post loosely, and in very general terms, explores some prospective functional implications of various learning theories on daily education and educational leadership practice.  It matches what educators (and others concerned with learning) think about doing with what we actually do, and is intended to illustrate a few ways in which what we do works in favor of positive growth and achievement for learners across a spectrum.  In and among the following paragraphs I attempt to illustrate merit in various constructs while maintaining the assertion that no singular theory holds holistically true for any given learning scenario; instead, that educators and educational leaders are well served to consider compound perspectives and boundless possibilities as we work to enhance the experiences of all stakeholders in our school communities.

Behaviorists theorize that conditioning mechanisms such as positive and negative reinforcements, along with punishments, are primary catalysts to learning, and that the underpinning of subsequent habitual developments enhances and perpetuates learning pathways.  Through Social Cognitive Learning Theory, the ideas of interaction, perceptions, attitudes, and environment add to the conditioning argument, while Constructivists suggest individualized, multifaceted, and unique developmental pathways, based on additional factors like readiness, experience, and aptitude.  In the next sections I will briefly relate those concepts to my practice, reflect on where I’ve found continuity, and suggest connected ideas for continued application.

Varied Pathways to Learning & Growth

Learning theory offers multiple lenses through which educators and educational leaders can think about and develop systems and strategies for, and attitudes toward learning and growth.  I would argue that to focus on one particular theory as a tell-all for effective practice diminishes the notion of personal development.  While human beings are similar to one another in many ways, it is our individualized and unique characteristics that determine our individualized and unique learning patterns and pathways.  Through my lens as an administrator, it stands to reason that we are each subject to a distinctive combination of traits and experiences, which allow us to each progress with inputs and outputs connected to those traits and experiences.  We seem to be ever growing, ever changing, and in turn, our learning and communication needs seem to vacillate over time.

Data Collection & Feedback

Having served in multiple roles during my decade as an educational leader (both as a teacher and an administrator), I’ve found data collection to be an essential ingredient in positive progress toward student achievement.  In fact, I would argue that along with subsequent feedback, it might be the essential ingredient.  In a recent conversation with a colleague, immediate and connected feedback was identified as “the most important aspect of effective teaching practice.”  Immediate is relatively easy, it’s the connected part that takes some elbow grease.  That’s where the collection of data in its many forms comes in.  Arguably, any professional whose intended outcome is the growth and development of those he serves (children and/or adults) should be consistently collecting data in both formal and informal ways, with the intention of translating that data into connected, relevant feedback.

Informal.  When considering growth, even through a comparative rather than targeted theoretical lens, we need to have a starting point.  Individuals might very well learn some things best by way of consistent and repetitive conditioning, and, it is certainly possible that the learning might be enhanced if those same individuals were given information and instruction to aid in a developmental process by which they could find meaning in whatever outcomes the aforementioned conditioning is meant to achieve.  Furthermore, I have no basis for denying that connections to individual growth pathways, social paradigms, and established skill sets would further enhance, solidify, and integrate the learning for meaningful application and the scaffolding of continued development.  However, I do believe that in the light of any theoretical inclination, effective data collection is essential to progress.

Suppose your goal is to have students walk in straight and quiet lines.  To that end, an understanding of the kind of lines they are already accustomed, and/or able to walk in would be important.  There would be no conditioning, enhanced depth of understanding, or development of new skill sets necessary if they are meeting the mark at the onset.  A quick dig for informal data, even by simply being observant while walking with the targeted group of students, might work well.  The same would be true if your intention was to have students participate in sustained silent reading for twenty minutes each day, partner on research projects, or function in rotating workshop-style math activities.  Informal, observational, and intentionally collected data sets are wonderful contributors to instructional design for both classroom teaching and adult programming.  They allow educators an enhanced depth of understanding of learner needs, and can support developmental analysis through multiple, and even combined theoretical frames.

Setting & clearly communicating expectations, gathering data, and then using that data to reinforce those expectations through directed practice, ongoing instructional adaptation, and targeted communication is one process by which educators can truly support those they serve.  It’s an informal process that can be repeated and adapted to consistently meet the needs of a diverse population of learners.  In practice, it is simply about remaining deliberate and aware, while focusing on integrated short and long-term learning goals.

Formal.  The formal collection of data has also proven effective for me in working with a range of stakeholders, including students, teachers, and parents.  Among multiple other methods, surveys are efficient ways to collect, organize, and distribute data.  Whether I have intended to affect behavior or guide groups in constructing and integrating knowledge, the use of surveys has allowed me to step back and thoughtfully organize data.  Feedback from a survey may be less immediate than feedback from an observation or a conversation; however, it can often times be more complete. 

How are learners in any given situation progressing through varied phases of instruction or communication?  What are some important aspects of the backgrounds of individuals in a group?  How do those aspects contribute to, or stifle learning?  In what ways might thoughtfully modified instruction and/or communication enhance learning?  The formal collection of data gives educators an enriched ability to think through these types of questions while removed from the learning environment, rather than submerged in, and possibly distracted by it.

Relationship Building

As with the collection of data, the building of relationships has proven essential to my development as an educator and my thinking with regard to learning theory.  When done well, it has afforded me a heightened understanding of the population that I serve.  Also, I unfailingly continue to realize that effective relationship-building efforts result in enriched individual and collaborative learning experiences, while failed, or overlooked relationship-building efforts/opportunities result in diminished individual and collaborative learning experiences.  Whether through behavioristic conditioning or more complex developmental processes intended to access growth-related patterns, readiness, and/or environmental influences, the effective building of relationships can help bring educators, educational leaders, and learners together with collectively agreed upon outcomes.

The Bottom Line

 The bottom line is that my buy-in to various learning theories changes with my experience.  It doesn’t simply progress in a straight line.  It goes forward, sideways, and even backward.  I am at a place where I believe that there is one consistency in learning among all people, and that consistency is inconsistency.  There is no doubt that patters and connections exist.  In that, we have to recognize likenesses and move forward with systems, structures, and strategies that prove effective with uniformity.  However, educational leadership offers wonderful surprises around every corner.  It is essential to keep at least one eye on the ball at times, while be open to and excited about adaptation.  In no moment can we ever afford to lose sight of our collective mission, which, while articulated in many ways, boils down to the health, wellbeing, and achievement of our students (and the various others that we serve).  As it stands, by way of the varied learning pathways I’ve strode, I believe that the intentional collection of data and authentic building of relationships are two non-negotiable practices in effective educational leadership, regardless of theoretical leanings.

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Dream Big.  Work Hard.  Be Well

Using Scissor Skills as an Inroad to Positive Student Growth

Recently, my four-year-old procured a new sheet of temporary tattoos.  Angry Birds.  Couldn’t he want to play with something called Happy Birds, or even Mildly Frustrated Birds?  “Angry” is just so harsh.  Anyway, I think that the sheet may have come from a birthday party gift bag.  Regardless, yesterday was tattoo day.  After a long morning of rotating between Tickle Monster & Daddy Jungle Gym, I was ready for a bit of rest.  We climbed the stairs and headed for the Lego drawer in the living room.

Part of my great love for Legos is that they’re awesome!  My kids love to create.  They reach deep into their imaginations to construct things that one might not think would be possible to construct with Legos.  While all of their architectural masterpieces don’t exactly resemble those “impossible” things, they always seem to make some sort of sense with creative explanations and close inspections.

The other reason Legos are cool is because when we play with them, no one is jumping on stomach, stomping on my face, beating me in the head with a Styrofoam hockey stick, insisting that I pick them up by their feet, swing them around, throw them up in their air, and repeatedly chase them around in small spaces for hours on end, or sneezing directly in my face at close range (incidentally, I’ve experienced some relatively productive sneezes in that fashion, but that’s beside the point).

As the Lego play ensued, a look of pure joy came upon my big guy’s face.  He remembered the sheet of tattoos sitting on the kitchen counter.  One of those tattoos was just waiting to be adhered to the back of his hand.  Jumping up and down, he declared, “Daddy, we need to do our tattoos!”  He and his little brother grabbed each other and bounced around as if they just connected on a game-wining touchdown pass.  Little sister and I looked at each other and smiled.  Those goofy boys!

Here’s the rub, when we got to the kitchen I asked which tattoo each of the brothers wanted, then I proceed to cut the specified tattoos out of the sheet.  My four-year-old looked at me in amazement.  He said, “Daddy…you are a great cutter!”  At the risk of lacking humility, I must admit, I am a bit of a tattoo-cutting wizard.  I never go over the lines, I leave plenty of space in between tattoos, and I can get the one right in the middle without damaging any others.  I know…impressive.  Seriously though, it’s a skill that he admires.  While it’s nothing to most adults, four-year-olds find cutting that way pretty challenging (and not just because their rounded, plastic, scissors don’t work as well as ours).

When I put this in the context of education, I remember that we have many opportunities each day to connect with students around growth and development, simply in the ways in which we model and respond to their perceptions of us.  One of the things we’re looking to do as educators is help these young people function with increased automaticity in progressively more ways as they advance through school, into college, and eventually independent adult life.  When our students look at us with amazement, whether it’s because of something relatively basic like our expertise with scissors, or something relatively complex, like our ability to negotiate consensus through conflict, we need to be aware, take note, and make a plan.  Those moments are ripe for learning, connections, and delivering a sense of value to those whose positive growth is our charge.  Take the time to follow up with students who express interests in learning things that you know.  A few sessions of “Scissors 101,” can go a long way in showing a kid that he/she can, and that we care!

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Dream Big.  Work Hard.  Be Well.

Being A Toddler Stand-Up

I Learned

What works for one person does not always work for another.  As a parent and an educator, part of my job is to figure out what works for my children and my students, and then incorporate that into the learning/growth experience.

Here’s How

Today I found out that I’m really funny…to a toddler.  In fact, if I were a stand up comedian, I would bring the house down at a preschool!  The problem is, the silly nonsense that engages my two-year-old is not always the most engaging stuff for me.  This morning, I was doing some adlib at the breakfast counter.  Little man was feeling cranky (a slow wake-up).  There was a steady whine emanating from his mouth, which fluctuated in pitch and volume depending on the his message.

Responses came in the form of high-pitched, shrill, eardrum numbing, noises accompanied by wriggly, off balance, occasionally jerky, full bodied motions that repeatedly threatened to propel him off the counter chair he was barely hanging on to.  That would have been a disaster.  When not responding to anything, the whine was dull and droning.  Like the ever-present hum of florescent lights combined with an extended run of fingernails across a never-ending blackboard.  My eye was twitching.  Something was going to have to give.  I decided to pull out my most authentic Cockney accent (mediocre at best) complimented by a monster hand, a squinty eye, and a half raised lip, “Aw-right,” I began, “it’s time foe me to tickle yaw tummy!”

The toddler stand-up routine was working.  The whine slowed to a stop and became a giggle.  The long face scrunched up, his mouth became an ear hammock of a grin.  It was working!  The problem was that he wouldn’t let me stop.  “Do it again Daddy!”  He must have said it twenty times.  It got to the point that the sound of my own voice doing that silly accent was more distasteful to me than the whining I was working to get rid of.  But then a light bulb went off.  This kid was happy.  He was engaged.  We were enjoying time spent together.  We were pretending and being creative.

Like a flash, an idea popped into my head.  I decided to parley the fun we were having into an extended activity.  We got the pirate ship, we populated the couch with dinosaurs, dolls, and giant stretchy lizards.  We grabbed big brother and some blankets to build a fort.  The next couple of hours unfolded quite naturally from there.  Each incarnation of the game we were inventing built upon the previous one until it was time for naps.  I learned a bit about how to transition with these guys.  More importantly, their interests and needs guided the play this morning.  Good times for all!

Application

It’s not easy to get excited about every experience we have as parents or as educators.  However, our excitement (while arguably important) is not always as important as our children’s and/or our students’.  When we find moments that learners are enthusiastic about, we should work hard to capture and build upon them.  This morning I noticed that the joy my boys were experiencing through my silliness and pretend-play made it all right that the games were repetitive and not inherently engaging for me.  I was having fun because they were having fun.  I was engaged because they were engaged.  Consistently, when I focus on keeping the joy and engagement of those I’m working/spending time with in mind, that the work/time we spend together will be more rewarding and meaningful for everyone involved.  This is turning into another “being present” lesson for me.  It must be worth my continued attention.  I’ll keep working on it!

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Dream Big.  Work Hard.  Be Well.

Support & Encouragement Can Foster Enhanced Self Esteem

Active listening is a wonderful way to collect information about those we teach.  Using that information to support and encourage our learners makes it extra wonderful, in that it values the information, and can encourage enhanced ownership of the learning process and outcomes.

It is well documented that leaners’ motivation and engagement is enhanced when they’re able to take ownership over their learning.  I’m regularly seeing some amazing classroom teachers make great efforts to understand their students.  In turn, I’ve been seeing them take that understanding to the next level by incorporating students’ needs, abilities, learning styles, background knowledge, and life experiences into account as they plan for and implement instruction.

I’ve seen these incredible educators:

– Confer with individuals and small groups

– Observe and take notes during class

– Check for understanding with regular/quick written and oral assessments

– Take interested inventories before instruction

– Use backchannels and other digital tools to generate data during instruction

– Facilitate a variety of Visual Thinking Strategies to unlock potential

Data collection is critical in any learning context.  More importantly, what is done with those data makes all the difference!

We are busy.  We are beholden to standards, stakeholders, policies, and plenty of other forces that guide our planning and prioritizing.  It is difficult to consider the individual needs of each of our learners.  It is arguably even more difficult to weave those needs into the systems and structures that serve to connect those learners to content through their needs.  However, we are sometimes gifted relatively easy pathways.  We have to take advantage of those gifts when they come along!

The other day I had a conversation with one of the organizers of our school’s computer coding club.  The conversation was about a piece of persuasive writing that she composed for another purpose.  It was stellar!  She wrote with passion, she expressed authority, she was thorough and clear with her intentions, and it was among the most engaging pieces of writing I’ve ever read (certainly from a middle school student).  It was truly exceptional!

The connection to data collection and application was extremely poignant to me.  During the summer, this student expressed an interested in creating the coding club.  She developed a plan and was given that opportunity to do so by our Principal.  She was listened to, and her voice was expressly valued.  It was a great example of a student offering information and an educator having the foresight and wherewithal to incorporate that information into the student’s learning paradigm.  Kudos to my boss!  Incidentally, it’s a great way to learn for the adults in our building as well.

During our conversation, this student told me that before she had the opportunity to develop the club, she would have never written the letter I referred to above.  She told me that she did not have the self-esteem.  She went on to tell me that the experience of being encouraged and supported in doing something that she was passionate about was powerful and transformative.  How cool!  This student brought a great idea to the table, she was given the green light and some essential guidance, and she took off running toward what became a life altering developmental experience.

Sometimes we have to work hard to understand and build relationships with our learners.  Students do not always come to us with such explicit ideas.  However, when they do, it’s essential that we listen, process, support, and encourage.

What is it that your students are looking to get involved in?  Listen closely, find out, and then make sure that they have opportunities and assistance.  It may contribute to their learning in ways that are truly meaningful and go well beyond the moment!

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Dream Big.  Work Hard.  Be Well.

 

Digital Backpacks: From Learning Experiences to Experiencing Learning

Last week my partner Joan Roettenberger and I facilitated a workshop focused on DIGITAL BACKPACKS (DBs) or e-portfolios.  We worked with an incredible group of k12 teachers who came with a variety of backgrounds, and who are currently teaching in a range of classroom situations.  The session was structured around building a group DB of our own to illustrate its potential for learning and give participants a sense of what students experience when working with this engaging tool.  I was thrilled with the result.  More importantly, I was thrilled with the process and our ability to think critically about it…before, during, and after.  Check out some of our learning artifacts from the 2 ½ hour session at http://tinyurl.com/c2tbh9n.

Using DPs allows learners to chart their progress over time.  One of the key concepts that came out of the great article we picked apart at the workshop (linked to our DB under “3 Exploring Some Info”) was assessment of learning vs. assessment for learning.  Thanks to Brad Wilson (@dreambition on Twitter) for tipping me of to the article and a bunch of the other great resources listed on the wiki space linked above (see “Resource Links” in the menu on the left).  Traditionally, learning is assessed at the “end.”  DBs allow teachers and students to think critically about the learning before they engage in it, at all stages of development, and as they deal with outcomes.  They are also great for engaging parents and other critical learning partners in the process as well.

ONE REALLY COOL APPLICATION:  Laurie Cooper and Patty Solomon, two of the incredible teachers I collaborate with sent home QR code refrigerator magnets that link directly to each student’s DB.  Parents can scan the code at their convenience.  It allows them to view their student’s developmental artifacts at they’re posted.  It has parents asking their students about that development at home.  It encourages families to play active roles in the curriculum.  It gives them an invitation into their child’s daily life at school and opens pathways to enhanced learning.  Visit the site, check out our session and the resources, and let me know if you have questions, further input and examples, or want to collaborate on some DB developmental work…it’s something I’m excited to continue exploring!

Cool School Tool: Wikis For DIgital Backpacks

The following video comes from the incredible instructional design of Barbie Sansone who is building Digital Backpacks on her class wiki so that she, her students, and her student’s parent’s can think critically about their development over time. Please let me know if you have questions about wikis or digital backpacks and join me on twitter @bergseyeview to share more collaborative learning.  Have a great week!

Digital Backpacks: Student Portfolios Enhanced!

Digital Backpacks are on-line portfolios that teachers and students can use to collect and communicate learning artifacts.   Come spring, a well maintained digital backpack tells the story of any given student’s developmental journey, and, with a bit of frontloading, prep, and practice they’re easy and fun to maintain!  If you’re at all interested in exploring Digital Backpacks – do it!

A few reasons why:

  1. Digital Backpacks become a great data source to inform instruction.
  2. Digital backpacks give student ownership over their growth and the communication of that growth.
  3. Digital backpacks can be engaging and truly reflective of each student’s individual interests and abilities – they can each shine in their own way.
  4. Digital backpacks help keep parents informed and involved by giving them the ability to stay connected to the learning process.
  5. Digital Backpacks provide an authentic opportunity to teach digital citizenship.

Below are multiple Tool Tip clips.  Each are labeled with the skill they address.  If you intend to peruse Digital Backpacks using Wiki Spaces I would send the clips home with your students to ‘flip’ instruction.  They can learn how to do this stuff outside of the classroom, practice at home (with their parents), and become experts outside of school…maximizing learning time in class.

Toot Tip:  Adding Documents to a Wiki Page http://tinyurl.com/bx2ewqo

Tool Tip:  Inserting Images into Wiki Pages http://tinyurl.com/bdmvepp

Tool Tip:  Using Widgets and Tags to Organize Wikis http://tinyurl.com/a6po8oc

Also, the wonderful Jen Wind (Quarton 2nd grade), Laurie Cooper (Harlan 3rd Grade), and John Kernan (Pierce 4th Grade) are exploring QR Codes.  Laurie came up with the great idea of creating QR refrigerator magnets for her parents to stay connected to her students’ Digital Backpacks at their convenience.  It’s really cool!  Talk to Jen, Laurie, John, (or the many others using these tools) for some other great ideas.  See below for some ‘Connected Tool Tips’ and a resource link from Jen Wind – Thanks Jen!

Connected Tool Tip:  Creating QR Codes on Desktops and Laptops http://tinyurl.com/akwq9dv

Connected Tool Tip:  Other QR Code Ideas http://tinyurl.com/b9nvh4e

QR Resource Link from Jen Wind: http://tinyurl.com/a38pcyz

Contact me at sb20bps@birmingham.k12.mi.us for more information and collaboration.  Pick the brain of your ignite facilitator.  Share ideas…spread the word!

Have a great weekend,

 

Seth