My Squirrelly View of Education

Image by ohmann alianne via Flickr

I am a huge fan of summer vacation. Lots of time for me to read what I want, enjoy the peace a quiet of home, bother the son and the husband…. well, you get the ideas. I always begin the summer with all sorts of ideas of what I want to get done. This usually includes one or more home improvement projects and a desire to actually exercise and lose some weight.  Along with these personal desires, I always want to plan ahead for the next school year.  Ahhh…June is so filled with possibilities.

Come Labor Day, I look back and realize that while I started out with enthusiasm, I gave in to my ADHD and only accomplished what had my attention at the moment. I ignored most of what I had set out to do.  This summer, I once again vowed that the summer of 2009 would be different, but I had no real plan of action; I just had determination.  Then one of the members of my Twitter PLN came (albeit unknowingly) to my rescue.

Clif Mims (@clifmims) developed the following meme and posted it to his blog. I decided to participate and tag a few lucky folks to join me.  Clif notes that you don’t have to be tagged to participate, so I encourage you to do so.

Professional Development Meme 2009

Directions

Summer can be a great time for professional development. It is an opportunity to learn more about a topic, read a particular work or the works of a particular author, beef up an existing unit of instruction, advance one’s technical skills, work on that advanced degree or certification, pick up a new hobby, and finish many of the other items on our ever-growing To Do Lists. Let’s make Summer 2009 a time when we actually get to accomplish a few of those things and enjoy the thrill of marking them off our lists.

The Rules

NOTE: You do NOT have to wait to be tagged to participate in this meme.

1. Pick 1-3 professional development goals and commit to achieving them this summer.
2. For the purposes of this activity the end of summer will be Labor Day (09/07/09).
3. Post the above directions along with your 1-3 goals on your blog.
4. Title your post Professional Development Meme 2009 and link back/trackback to http://clifmims.com/blog/archives/2447.
5. Use the following tag/ keyword/ category on your post: pdmeme09.
6. Tag 5-8 others to participate in the meme.
7. Achieve your goals and “develop professionally.”
8. Commit to sharing your results on your blog during early or mid-September.

My Goals

1. Become a PBworks Certified Educator by attending PBworks Summer Camp. (FYI -PBworks used to know as PBwiki.)

2. Read, study and implement the strategies discussed in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works by Harold Pitler, et al.

3. Rework my 9th, 10th and 11th grade English classes (using the Michigan Merit Curriculum/Macomb Units) to include technology so that this college prep curriculum is accessible and meaningful to my resource room students.

4. Develop the following tech skills: screencasting, using my digital video recorder, and podcasting.

Cover via Amazon

5. Participate in a online book study of: Grown Up Digital by Don Tapscott

In addition, I also want to read the following books this summer:

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson

Teaching Writing Using Blogs, Wikis, and other Digital Tools by Richard Beach, et al.

Web Literacy for Educators by Alan C. November

Cover via Amazon

How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms by Carol Ann Tomlinson

I know it sounds like a lot, but I am a fast reader.

Tag Your It:

I tag the following people

Joe Wood Burt Lo Jim Dornberg Linda Clinton

Deven Black Ira Socol Cathie Wigent Lisa Flanders Dick

Now it’s on to some summertime learnin’

I just asked my students to write their final blog post for this semester. I am having them reflect on what they have learned and what they would change about this class. So I thought I should do the same. Here I

Image via Wikipedia

go:

• I learned that JW is physically attached to both his hat and his cell phone. Removal of either item seems to result in physical pain and mental anguish. However, if I want to hear him whine, I now know how to get him to do it.  (Yes, Jay, I wrote that just for you.) (PS. I just discovered that Jay knows how to use the spell check feature on this site. Will wonders never cease?
• My Sophomores strengthened my belief that they can accomplish more than they think they can when given the proper tools. Each and every student writes more than he/she did in November. That in and of itself is a victory.
• I discovered that once my students started using technology, they easily saw how these web 2.0 technology could and should be used in every class.
• I learned that having laptops in my own classroom is more effective than having to traipse to a lab.
• I learnedthat the Michigan State Department of Education doesn’t have any understanding of the challenges faced in high school special education programs with the Michigan Merit Curriculum and the contradictory documentation and other requirements of IEPs and IDEA.
• I rediscovered my passion for learning new things, new gadgets, and new ideas.
• I learned that I need to ignore the minutia of education and concentrate on the kids.
• I learned to love my job again.
• I learned that even though my Aspie son is a legal adult and in college, he still acts and reacts like a middle school kid. He will continue to need our support and guidance for quite a while.
• I rediscovered my friendship with my husband. He may not believe it, but I truly revel in his presence. He is doing a wonderful job with his consultant business in these tough economic time.
• I learned that teaching with technology is not passive. It requires more energy and more of my focused presence than the traditional “sage on the stage” style of teaching.
• I learned that ongoing professional development via the web is necessary for both my personal and professional development.
• I learned that blogging is necessary for me to reflect on my life and my profession.
  Image via CrunchBase
• I learned that having a real audience of educators truly helps clarify my thinking and helps me to formulate new ideas.
• I learned that I’d rather “tweet” on Twitter than update my Facebook page.
  Image via CrunchBase
• I also learned that regardless what I say or do, my dear husband will never see the benefits of Twitter.
• I learned that the more I write, the better I get. Go figure?!

What would I change?

• I would learn how to really multitask so that I could accomplish more.
• I would make the day twice as long.
• I would blog at least twice a week.
• I would have one laptop for every student in my class.

This is just a partial list. I learned so much more, and I have more things I’d tweak.

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A few of you have been following the Denny’s Grand Slam debacle at my school (see previous posts if you want the details). I kept searching for a way to make this a teachable moment.  Fortunately for me (but not for the school) the local newspaper published an article about what occurred.  The article itself was innocuous but the online comments……   Just  let me say that I was embarrassed for our community and our school. The impressions left by the commenters were by in large negative.  I’m not sure I would want my children to live near or attend school with these people.  Fortunately, I know that the people who commented are not typical of the community as a whole.  This is still a good place to raise kids.

At the end of that week, I printed out the article and the comments, giving a copy to each student. I asked them read and respond to the comments in a blog post.  The post was to focus on the impression that a reader was left with after reading the comments. They also had to examine the quality of the comments using our criteria for commenting on blogs and to discuss what effect anonymity has on the content of posts. (I gave them more details/directions in the assignment post. I’ve linked it here for your examination.)

This assignment caused a lot of discussion in class.  Initially, they wanted to respond to what was said, but as the hour progressed most students got the point. The assignment was really about how you present yourself online.  They came to realize that making hateful comments adds nothing to the discussion and ends up making the writer look bad.  They were able to see real life examples of how some people misuse technology and the harm this misuse causes.  I think they started to appreciate why I expect them to clearly identify and truthfully representing themselves online.

Not all of the students got their posts finished. Some are still working on them. Still, I invite you to read their responses. This trimester ends on March 6th, so all posts should be done by then. I get a new group of sophomores on March 9th and I plan to repeat this assignment for them.  I’ll keep you posted.

Evidently the reason the VP went was because Denny’s called him.  Evidently not all of the students were being well behaved.

The incident made the paper. The comments are appalling. Here is the news article.

In my pre-web 2.0 world Professional Development (PD) could be basically be broken down into three categories:

Image via Wikipedia

• Local Professional Development:

A boring sage-on-the-stage, supposedly “inspirational,” district inservice. My main accomplishment was getting lots of papers graded.

• Countywide Professional Development Day:

More conference like. Some years great, some years terrible. I got many papers graded.

• Conferences:

If I wanted to go, I’d have to pay my own way. Also, time away from class not necessarily approved if district didn’t think attendance “fit” with their PD plan.

None of these had much impact on what went on in my classroom. Sadly, I lost interest in gaining inspiration and new ideas for my teaching. I began to do just what my administrator and the state told me to do. My teaching suffered. I couldn’t wait to retire, but I still have 12 years to go. I was becoming the type of teacher that I despised. My love of teaching waned. I learned the technology and programs the school said I hadto and figured out ways to use these for my personal benefit, but that was it.

I became more and more frustrated with the politics of education. NCLB and the State of Michigan no longer seemed to care about anything other than test scores. They had lost the focus on the student. Flexibility gone. Creativity gone. Teach the “programmed” curriculum. My learning disabled students were left to struggle through curriculum that was (and still is) not appropriate for them. I locked myself away from other teachers to avoid the politics. I just wanted to be left alone in my classroom. I was suffering from burn out. I knew something had to change or I might as well quit and go do else.

Then a miracle occurred. I discovered iTunes, podcasts, and Wesley Fryer. I started listening to Wes’s Moving at the Speed of Creativity podcasts. As soon as I began listening, my world began to change. Wes inspired

Image by Wesley Fryer via Flickr

me to do more. He inspired me to start using technology as something other than a replacement for the typewriter. I began to think and care again. Ideas started sprouting. I began to figure out what I needed to do to become the teacher I wanted to be. The joy of teaching returned. (I hope Wes understands how much he’s improved my teaching and my life. Thanks Wes. Okay, enough with the fangirl stuff.)

I began to seek out more and more resources. I took charge of by PD for the first time in my almost 30 years in education.

I started using my twice a day 40 minute commute to learn from a number of wonderful educators. I’ve become so addicted to my PD in my car. I actually missed commuting over the Christmas break. I just wanted time alone in my car to learn. It has been a long time since I wanted to learn new things. (When I become passionate about something I develop an obsession-like focus. I must master whatever I am doing. It’s been years since that focus was my teaching. Now if the Special Ed paperwork would go away, my world would be idyllic.)

I started signing up for PD opportunities that were offered through the Monroe County Intermediate School District (MCISD), signing up for just about anything that Jim Dornberg presented. He mentioned this 23 Things class to me and I quickly signed up. I didn’t need the carrot of 20 PD hours, but is was a very nice bonus. I just wanted to know more!

This year when the Countywide PD Program arrived in my inbox, I quickly chose to attend Leslie Fisher’s gadgets session. (I’ve always loved gadgets.) In that session she formally introduced me to Twitter and the Professional Learning Community (PLC) that thrives there. I was hooked. During that session, I met Cheryl Lykowski (on Twitter she’s @clykowski) another Monroe County educator and I began to follow her. I also stared following Jim (@jdornberg on Twitter). From there my PLC has exploded. Twitter is an amazing resource to help locate some of the best resources on the web.

So this is my new definition of professional development:

Web 2.0 PD is a personal, flexible way to invigorate both teaching and learning. The learner controls what is learned, when it’s learned, and where it’s learned.

This definition is what I have adopted as my personal philosophy for my own, ongoing PD.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
(What follows is part of the Thing 22 assignment. This stuff didn’t really fit the the rest of the post.)

The main disadvantage is that there is so much material available that it can be difficult to locate and determine the most effective personal development plan. Carefully selecting your colleagues for your PLC is probably the best way to go about this.

As for future PD Offerings: I would love see another class like this offered through the ISD. I found it very helpful. The only thing I would change is to allow the end date to be more open ended. A few of the people taking this class dropped out because they ran out of time. Maybe this could be an continually ongoing PD opportunity.

Also I would think that offerings on each of these and other specific web 2.0 topics (Jim – like those on your Google Doc), would be another way to go. I would love an entire day devoted to face-to-face web 2.0 networking would be great.

Bringing Wesley Fryer in for the Countywide Inservice would be fantastic.

Now on to Thing 23

Of all of the web2.0 tools I’ve explored in this class, developing a wiki has taken the most time.  But before I ramble about my experience, like any good English student, I will answer the three questions that Jim Dornberg posed

The main difference between a wiki and a blog is in the way the posts are listed.  Blogs list posts in reverse chronological order (the most recent post is at the top of the page.)  Wiki pages are static. This means that the order of the information presented doesn’t change unless the author deliberately moves it. While wikis and blogs are both great tools, their different organization and editing styles means that they lend themselves to different tasks.

Blogs are perfect for journaling tasks. Each author makes a dated entry on a given topic.  Professional blogs may include research and links but the thoughts of the author are the primary focus. Likewise, student blogs are focused on the student’s thoughts and how he/she expresses them.  They are also a good place to have students practice giving constructive comments/feedback on other writers’ work.  Along with journaling and commenting, I like to include “net etiquette” lessons. I do this through modeling (students see my comments) and direct instruction. Finally, blogs, as anything else driven by time, are fleeting. As more posts and comment are added, earlier posts disappear farther and farther into the background.

Wikis lend themselves to the to more permanent projects. I use my class wiki to post assignments, directions, and information that students will continue to need throughout a term.  Wikis can also be used for class projects. Rather than have a group project end with a presentation and pieces of paper which only teacher will read, student groups can post what they learned on a wiki page and others from around the world can benefit from what they learned and build from there.  With wikis there is no need for student groups to continually gather the same information about a topic. Once it is posted, the next group can find different information to add to the sum of knowledge already created.  Groups no longer need to be limited to one class. Students from a number of classes studying the same thing can collaborate on the same topic.

As with anything new, having students develop a wiki takes some practice. You have to watch closely for plagiarism to make sure all material has proper attribution and does not violate and licenses. This is especially true with images gathered from the web.  This is a good opportunity to teach about copyrights and Creative Commons licenses.  Also, you need to monitor what is being posted and edited. It helps that the students know that you can and do view the revision history for each page.  For this reason it is important that each student have an unique login so that it is clear who is posting what. Accountability is key to quality work. Individual student accounts are why I like pbwiki so much.

Now, before I selected a host for my wiki I played around with wikispaces and pbwiki. I found that I preferred  the look and ease of use of pbwiki. They offered an free upgrade just by completing some tasks for them.  Pbwiki allows a teacher to create classroom accounts for those students without email addresses. It also allows me to set individual access permissions for each page. This way I can set up a page for each student  that only that student and I can view and edit.  This comes in handy when I need to list all of the missing work for a given student.  I can upload media and other resources so that they can be easily accessed. I haven’t uploaded any podcasts yet but that is in my plans.

One of my favorite bloggers and podcasters is Joe Wood, a middle school science teacher who loves Web 2.0 and struggles with the most effective ways to use this technology in his classes. I really like that he doesn’t have all of the answers. Through his attempts at using technology to become a more effective teacher, he has inspired me, a graying, old veteran of the classroom, to reinvent my classes (Oops, my inner fangirl tendencies slipped through.)

On his blog, Joe Wood Online, Joe posted the following:

Have you ever asked your students why they think they’re attending school? Try it. You’ll get some interesting answers. Yesterday I posed this question to one of my classes, curious what their responses might be. I found my students had great scripted answers, such as “to get an education” or “to make my parents proud.” I even received a few “because its the law.” Interestingly though, as we dug deeper into these responses few students could explain why attending school today is important to their future goals.

I thought about this and posted some thoughts as comments to his post. I also asked my students to blog about this (Mrs. Chi’s Classroom Blogs). Not all responded, but most did. Their unedited responses are posted on their individual blogs. Please read their thoughts if you are interested, but I digress.

I’m not sure that most teachers could answer that same question with more than the same well rehearsed answers. I am sure that each of us believes that we are giving each student what he/she needs to live a successful adult life. We “prepare” them for the future. In my case I also add that I help them develop the skills they need to work around whatever challenges they might face along the way.

As I read that back I think that sounds a little bit pompous. As teachers do we really prepare them? Is everything we present in class really needed in the “real world?” Can we clearly explain to yourselves, colleagues, parents and students how our course content will apply to each individual student’s future? I am not sure that I can.

In this day of high stakes testing, most of the content that we teach, we teach because it is on the state test. Assessment is our reason. I find this to be very sad.

I agree that every student should be able to read, write, and calculate at the level necessary to succeed in their chosen post-secondary training/education programs and in their chosen professions. My emphasis here is on the individual student. While all students will need some additional training/education after high school, not every single student will need (or want) to attend a four year university, nor do I believe that society wants them to do that either.

We still need auto mechanics, millwrights, chefs, merchants, construction workers, and computer hardware specialists. We still want actors, artists, and athletes. So I ask the question, “Do all of these professions require the same preparation?” Clearly, the answer is “no.”

In Michigan, all students (regardless of disability, gifts, or career goals) are required to take Algebra II, Chemistry or Physics, and a Foreign Language. Also the major increase in the required courses severely limits the amount of time a student has to take auto shop or band. While a applaude the state’s desire to make our workforce the most highly qualified worforce in the nation, I don’t think this rigid curriculum is the best way to go about it.

To be fair, there are provisions for Algebra II content to be taught in industrial arts classes in an applied fashion. The parents of a general education student can request that their student can be placed on a “rigorous” personal curriculum after the student has failed the first semester of Algebra II. This will be after the first semester of a student’s junior year. Seems to me that we’re setting these kids up for failure.

The most important thing that we can give our students is the love of learning. Forcing them to take courses that they can barely pass doesn’t do this. Where in this curriculum is there time for students to gain the love of life long learning when they can’t specialize in areas of interest? I got into education to help each of my students reach his or her potential and goals. Since “the test” trumps everything else, it seems to me that we have lost sight of the student as a learner; they are just test scores.

Is it any wonder that given this environment that our students can’t see any other reason to attend school than “It’s required by law?”

Well, I’ve been derelict in writing about what I’ve done in my “23 Things I should Know about Web2.0” professional development class taught through my ISD. (Hi Jim).  I will also be posting the updates on Twitter so …..

FYI. I’m jumping around. I have lots to blog about so I am waiting for some quiet time to do them justice.

Okay. I get it. Using Web 2.0 tools and concepts in our classes will make students better thinkers, collaborators, team members, global citizens, yadda, yadda, yadda. My concerns come in implementation:

1. To make most effective use every student in our class needs to have a laptop at his/her disposal 24/7 at school and at home. I don’t see my district moving in that direction. My greatest hope is that I can convince the powers that be to get a COW for the Special Education Department. I would love to have it for just my classes, but realistically …

2. Students need to be taught from a very young age what “appropriate use of school technology and resources” means. I spend too much time policing my students’ use of the few laptops I’ve borrowed. I would like to be able to spend my time coaching collaboration rather than continuing to redirect wayward youth. These are tools that can be used for either “good or evil.” Let’s teach them the difference.

3. A system for technology troubleshooting must be in place in every class/school so that when weird things happen, someone can fix it. I can handle most of the problems that erupt in my room, but the teacher next door doesn’t have the knowledge or skills to handle it. (I just taught her how to attach a document to an email a couple of weeks ago.)

4. Schools need to rethink their policies on web filtering. Yes, some sites should be blocked forever more, but at least an intra-school social network should be developed to aid in communication/collaboration. (I want my Twitter!) While we’re at it, rethink cell-phone and iPod use too. (I want to be able to explore Second Life with my classes. The possibilities of taking virtual field trips to the Globe Theatre are mind boggling.)

5. All teachers who actively use this stuff should have more PD on implementing these tools effectively.

6. We need TIME to process and develop quality lessons and use for these tools.

7. We all need smartboards, podcasting equipment, iPods, digital video camers, etc.

I’m clilmbingdown off of my soap box so that I can go to OfficeMax and have my inkjet cartridges refilled. (Only $10.00 for black!)