Category Archives: Field Trips

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An Education Summit Meeting For Change!!!

Possibly the most recurring theme that makes the rounds of the edbloggosphere is why the nation, states, school districts, schools and teachers have not been more open to change. Change in how schools do school, embrace technology and project-based, problem-based learning among other possibilities. Is it because things are going so well?

Doug over at Borderland picked up on a post by Clarence Fisher about a “grid” that would apply to classroom change. I threw in my response and Doug replied, but the gem is Marco Polo’s reply. I think he frames the issue magnificently:

a) you have to get agreement or consensus from so many different people, and b) so many of those people never meet or talk to each other.

And

The changes suggested may make perfect pedagogic and psychological sense, but be rejected because parents, teachers and other stakeholders are concerned that the changes may make the school appear “wacky”, and therefore seriously impact the employment chances of students who attend.

I know business people that feel things need to change – as well as some parents, administrators, teachers and obviously the edtech “gurus” who are also spreading that notion ad naseum, – but when does that diverse group ever get together and hash this out? We should probably add some enlightened politicos (is that an oxymoron?) in the mix too. Did I leave an important group out? Students – DUH! Anyone else?

So we’re talking about an Education Summit Meeting for Change! Any ideas? How do we pull this off? I might even talk my wife into letting me pay my way to something like this!

OK – so who’s going to organize and invite and make this happen? I would … but … umm … my plate is full this summer. But I’ll be there, promise! (Was that too obvious a dodge?)

Learning, AND CHANGE, are messy! Too messy?

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CELL-EXLL, SFA, GLAD Are Too Much and Not Enough

Since a few years before NCLB really raised it’s head, standardized testing was already a fact of life for “Title 1” schools (law for “Improving The Academic Achievement Of The Disadvantaged”) and we started to have mandatory “Research-based literacy programs” thrown at us. In my area the big programs have been CELL/ExLL (Comprehensive Early Literacy Learning and Extended Literacy Learning), SFA (Success for All), and GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Design)

These programs focus on literacy and English language skills for students that are behind. One positive outcome of how these programs were implemented was that a lot of money and time were spent to train teachers in implementing and utilizing them. Training models included 5 or more days of initial training, ongoing observation in classrooms where the program had already been implemented, and ongoing peer coaching/mentoring. Before, whenever we were given a new program to implement we were given fly-by-night training and support and then to everyone’s surprise the new program failed to live up to its lofty expectations – not the case with these programs – time and money were invested heavily.

So have our test scores gone up as a result? At first yes, but they have not even remotely kept pace with NCLB’s requirements with too few exceptions. Schools, teachers and students have worked hard, the programs were implemented well overall, but we have hit somewhat of a wall as far as raising test scores (and note I’m not even questioning here whether test scores and especially the kind of test scores we are pursuing are the end all we should be held accountable for anyhow).

So why have these programs and the hard work put into them failed to be the savior of our schools? For lots of reasons, and I’m not going to suggest I know all the reasons – but I will suggest what I feel are some of the most telling and worrisome ones.

Number one is that the way teachers are trained to implement these programs makes them WAY too time consuming. Teaching kids to be literate has to be a top priority for sure, but these programs take up the entire day to the exclusion of REAL science and social studies and art and the list goes on. Proponents of these programs will argue that you “integrate” those subjects into the program. Students read about those subjects as the reading material students use to learn to reflect on and write about and discuss – and by reciting poetry and shared reading and looking at pictures of those subjects students learn the science and social studies and whatever. I agree, to a small degree. Integrating those subjects into the literacy program makes nothing but sense – unfortunately it is not close to enough.

For reading and learning to really be accessible and meaningful students have to possess the schema necessary to make sense of what they read and learn about. In my experience, and in my opinion students need real experience like that gleaned from field trips, experiments, projects, art, sports programs, recess and PE – the very things programs like those mentioned above often cut from the curriculum (none of these programs cut these vital pieces by design – it just usually happens – although many Success For All schools either completely cut field trips or schedule one or two a year because of how the program works). The program designers would say you can still do those things – hence the problem. During my own training in these programs I would raise my hand and bring up that we had just seen a “typical” day’s schedule that a model teacher presented and I didn’t see REAL projects and other hands-on minds-on pieces. And every time – every single time the answer was the same – “Oh…you can or could do those things.” NOTE – not you SHOULD do them – you COULD do them. And every single example they presented NEVER included any active learning project, art, etc. – so the message given and received – NOT IMPORTANT!

My point here is that THOSE SCHEMA MAKING PIECES ARE AS IMPORTANT AND NECESSARY A PART OF LEARNING TO READ AND LEARN AS ANY THERE ARE because without them you might as well be reading word lists instead of a book. How long would you last reading a list of words the length of a book?

Learning to read without having those experiences is like learning to fish in your swimming pool – you can cast and bait your hook and reel in a lure and row a rubber raft around a little and maybe even fall in (not that that has happened to me mind you…) but you don’t really catch fish and you don’t spend time in a natural setting or deal with weather or rough water or smelly bait or catching a bunch of fish or none or any other actual aspects of fishing – good, bad or otherwise. In other words you totally miss out on the experience. Too many of the students that attend schools that use these programs have already missed the experience, that’s a big part of why they are behind – they need the experience to make meaning and to get excited about what they read and write about.

Again, these programs are solid programs, I’m not questioning their merits. It’s just that they are not enough and the way they are used now they take ALL the time necessary to get to the hands-on experiences. Not totally on purpose, but that’s what happens. They would be stronger programs if they included much more room for field trips and REAL projects that might go over the scheduled time (oh my!).

Learning has to be messy!

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Can Computers Help Schools?

Jay Mathews, Washington Post Education Reporter, delves into the topic Can Computers Help Schools? Mr. Mathews immediately shows his lack of background in educational technology or best practice use of technology when states:

“School districts have embraced the computer age with the fervor of a mother welcoming a new baby. I don’t want to seem like a wet blanket by pointing out there isn’t much data yet showing these new machines and software are helping more kids learn.”

Hmmm … it seems to me that schools and home schoolers invest a lot of money in many tools to help students access learning. Where is the data that shows that pencils or paper help kids learn? What about data showing textbooks are helping more kids learn? We spend more money on textbooks than technology – where’s the data? Is there data showing chairs and desks help kids learn? Chalkboards? Whiteboards? Crayons? Rulers? Compasses? Paint? Blocks? Playground equipment? Copy Machines? … No data? … Then no important learning happened. (Don’t I remember something about not everything important gets tested?)

And then he states:

“In the classes I visit, plenty of students are working on computers. I am happy they are mastering the essential tools of modern life. But I wish there were more evidence that those hours tapping keyboards are making them better at reading, writing and math.”

So students shouldn’t be “…mastering the essential tools of modern life…”? They’re essential tools, but essential tools aren’t important enough to spend time or money on in school? How did teaching handwriting (an essential skill at one time) make students better at reading and math? Any data? What “more evidence” are we talking about here? Could it be standardized test results again?

Why is it that some seem to believe that project based learning and utilizing technology as a tool to get at and enhance learning is antithetical to teaching reading, writing and math? (Echoes of if you’re against the war you don’t support the troops disconnect).

Don’t you love it when people say they’ve “visited classrooms” and that has led them to some great understanding of everything going on there? Like kids are widgets that are all essentially the same and learn the same and have the same issues and that walking through or checking test results gives a clear picture of what’s going on?

Mr. Mathews and way too many others don’t get it that one of the biggest reasons students are behind in reading is because of their lack of understanding of the world around them and the people and events around them. Most of my own students have their phonics and word attack skills down. What makes reading difficult for them is it is boring to read and near impossible to get meaning from what you read when you don’t understand the significance or humor or horror or sadness or history or science behind what you read. And we don’t test the subjects that build that schema and vocabulary the best – science, social studies, art, PE, projects, field trips, in fact we cut them out of the curriculum to push the “basics” for the very students that need them the most (thanks NCLB).

Mr. Mathews is correct – reading, writing and math are essential skills that most students need to master at a certain level to be successful. However there are other skills, competencies and experiences that are both part of mastering those subjects and part of the basic “toolkit” of knowledge we each need to make sense and enjoy and understand life. Besides having strong programs in reading, writing and math, students also require and deserve to have strong programs in the other essential skills of life – you can’t have one without the other.

Learning is messy!

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Response to: Is Experimentation Ethical?

Doug Johnson over at The Blue Skunk Blog made me write this post in response to this:

Questions that come from the dark side of the force…

  • Why should a teacher be given any more latitude to be “creative” with a computer than an accountant? Why should a teacher not be required to use district adopted software, much as they are required to use district adopted reading series or textbooks?
  • Should a teacher experiment rather using established best practices? (A medical doctor who “experiments” on his patients would be considered unethical – that job is for specially trained research scientists.)

I am especially interested in the last question. So much of what is being written about in the educational blogosphere (at least what I read) promotes the experimental use of technology with students. At what point do we need to ask ourselves is this healthy for students?

These are not “experimental” practices. They are tried and true, research based, best practices and techniques used with new media, technology and applications. It’s research (librarians should like that), quantifying data, brainstorming, gathering and organizing data, synthesizing information, designing a method for dissemination, editing and more.

The leverage comes in many forms, but include: being able to print pictures from primary sources (could we cut pictures from your books or periodicals?) and change the size and crop out unnecessary, distracting areas and enhance others. It’s being able to ask questions from experts here-to-for that were very hard to access (email, blog requests, ask-the expert sections on many web pages). Instead of writing a report and delivering it in a report folder that the student and the teacher and maybe the student’s family will see and learn from and so who really cares, students can deliver in a web page/blog, Wiki, slide show, digital video and more – and have the report become an international resource instead of a folder in a drawer (which just might mean we are more motivated to polish and rework and rethink and revisit and polish some more and even update at a later date – I can just see someone pulling their old report folder on the Revolutionary War out of their drawer and updating it).

The experimental part comes in having to think out of the box (we wouldn’t want that!) to think about which media or application or venue should be used or not used or is appropriate to use (you mean think about, discuss and debate ethics and best use?). One of the best parts is that when things go wrong it is often an opportunity to problem solve and learn from mistakes and learn to deal with mistakes (unthinkable) in a relatively safe environment when you’re not going to get fired from your job.

Why should teachers be creative? Hmmm, boy that’s tough. Think about your best, most memorable learning experiences in school. Come on really think. Did you list reading groups or working a sheet of math problems or doing a state report? You may have thought of one of those, but if you did it was probably because the teacher had you do that in a creative way! Most likely however, you thought of a project or field trip or activity or science experiment.

Blogging is akin to journal writing (journal writing is a big waste of time?).

Doctors would be liable if they “experimented” on their patients – but I guarantee that no two doctors do the same procedure exactly the same way (except of course for the most absolutely critical parts). I’ve had doctors try new approaches and methods on me a few times – and I’m Ok, and I’m Ok, and I’m OK. Teachers may use the district adopted textbook or reading series – but use it the same? – excuse me I’m still recovering from my laughing fit – and of course I can see your point. When teachers use the district adopted textbook or series they are always successful and teachers that try new ways usually fail. (Sorry, I’m bent over laughing again – or at least trying not to cry).

Student motivation is one of the keys to teaching and learning. New approaches are often intriguing. Many students are not served well by traditional methods, but there are many examples of unreachable, unmotivated students being caught up in a new approach.

Communication is intriguing – and blogging and Wikis and publishing and presentation applications are all about communicating.

I’ve gone on long enough – I’ll ask others to add to and enrich my thinking and comments (dang! there I’m pointing out an advantage to blogging again – I hope no one notices this publicly published post). : )

Learning is messy!

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Learning Is Messy – A Modest Beginning

There’s a lot more to do, but at least I finally got some of our “Messy” work archived on our Learning is Messy web site. I have a backlog of video work to add as yet – 4 more geology videos – several Community Service / Public Service announcements and some recent projects, and I hope to get most of it up in the next week or so (maybe sooner!).

We used to have an award winning web site we designed for a local animal sanctuary/zoo called Animal Ark, but it was more than showing its age so we took it down 3 weeks ago. It had 21 student made web pages about each of the animals made with a free web based software called Filamentality. Its a fill-in-the-blank and make your own web page format. They even house your page for you which is very exciting for many students and teachers that don’t have FTP knowledge or access – but you can also page source your page, capture the coding and house it on your own web site. Some of my students were asked to come testify in front of the Nevada State Assembly Education Committee about their experience.

The committee wanted to know how using technology had effected their education (this was in 1998). It was a hoot. We didn’t have internet access in the chamber, so I downloaded several of the pages on a friend’s laptop and we projected them up on a blank wall. My 2 students explained the process they went through and all the writing and editing and research they had done – and showed their pages. They got several questions and they handled them fantastically. The highlight was when they explained that they had done this all on their own, “Mr. Crosby wouldn’t help us at all… we had to figure out everything ourselves!” Which brought the house down … from the mouths of babes! : )

Check out the videos and come back when we’ve put more up. We are working on several videos now and a few other projects between now and the end of the school year.

Learning is messy!

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An Important Part of the “New Story”

Let’s face it, one of the biggest obstacles for elementary school teachers to overcome to feel safe teaching and doing much outside of language and math instruction, is the notion that students have to have mastered those subjects to be successful in school and in life. Many teachers don’t feel that they have permission to do anything else as long as their students lag behind in those important subjects. Many feel their professionalism is at risk if they do more, and at many schools teachers are under the thumb of administration to not go outside language and math except where other subjects can be covered by reading about them, and writing keyword summaries about them, and other similar activities.

Teachers want what’s best for their students, and the predominate thinking now is that this focused language and math instruction is what is best – especially for struggling students and second language students. If you observe in classrooms where this kind of focused teaching is going on, you see very good stuff happening. You don’t see techniques or lessons that make you think, “This is bad teaching,” or “This is bad technique.” In fact you come away impressed because it is effective, good teaching. In primary grades especially, test scores are often very good or on the rise, which fuels the belief that this is the right path.

OK, what’s the point? The point is that the fly in the ointment is that science and social studies and art, PE, and REAL project based work and learning are part of literacy and being literate. You can’t leave them out and expect literacy to come into full bloom any more than leaving out phonics or vocabulary or fluency or comprehension skills. Those subjects and all they entail are actually part of learning to read and do math because they are the schemas and substance that makes language and math make sense. You can make great strides temporarily without them, but at some point (about 4th grade from my experience) students hit the schema and analyzing context wall (and a few other walls too) without the knowledge of the real world and the understanding of accomplishments and defeats and what they mean and are like to experience.

Students that have never played sports or participated in hard physical work like running can’t imagine how great or difficult the feat the character in the story just managed is. They don’t understand the joy of winning, or the frustration of losing, or the feeling of trying your best, or many other experiences involved. If you never made the flour/salt relief map of the country or state, or put the soda can that you have boiling on the hotplate upside down in cold water and watch and hear as it collapses under the weight of our atmosphere, how do you appreciate or relate to things like that that happen in books? On a less academic note – it’s just too antiseptic and boring and wrong without those experiences and some common experiences that help relate everything.

This isn’t a choice between doing science and the other subjects and experiences and learning to read and do math. You can’t do one without the others. And here’s the really bad news … it is probably going to cost more to do a good job of it. Because to do it you can’t cut the time spent on those great literacy lessons mentioned earlier, we’ll have to add time to the year and possibly the day (like most of the rest of the world already does) and that will cost more. We will need to provide the learning tools needed to leverage and magnify and present that knowledge, technology, which students need to master if the U.S. is going to compete in this “Flat-World” anyways – and that will also be a money investment – as will the physical education and sports programs we should put back into elementary schools and all schools nationwide. This would be just about the best money our country ever spent.

Learning should be messy, not antiseptic.

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Sticklebacks, Diatomite, and a Whole ‘Lotta’ Learning

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At the same time we are working on our trip to Mars (see below) we are making a digital video about stickleback fish fossils. About 35 miles east of Reno is a tiny town called Hazen, Nevada. Hazen is one of those places you miss on the highway if you blink while going through. We took a trip there in November (90 sixth graders) to a diatomite mine. Diatomite is used in filter systems (diatomaceous earth) and scrubbing cleansers – it’s really the shells of diatoms. These prehistoric dried lake beds that 9 million years ago were down near sea level but now sit above 4,000 feet are literally full of stickleback fish fossils. There are so many fossils that we were only there for about an hour and all 90 sixth graders came back with 3 to 15 fossils. The lakebed is pure white and when you first spy it you would swear some freak snowstorm dropped about 4 feet of snow just there.

The students scrambled off the bus and after a required safety speech from a mine employee about rattlesnakes (I’ve been here about 10 times and never seen one) and getting lost … they did just that. They become lost in their fishing trip. More than 80% of these students receive free lunch and a group in the back of the bus asked me if we were going to pass through Las Vegas on the way (Las Vegas is well over 300 miles south of here) so watching them picking up hunks of diatomite and splitting the layers with a butter knife was awe inspiring. Students constantly run up to you smiling broadly to show you their “catch”. I took turns with various students in shooting video of the goings-on. One student found an especially good specimen that split to show both sides of the same fish. We put it back together and shot video of a student demonstrating how to find fossils – of course the second rock they picked up split to reveal its treasure.

Since we got back we have done research on stickleback fish and fossils, but we also got involved in test prep and all that that entails so just last week we finally got back to brainstorming the scenes that each group will be responsible for in our video – What is a fossil? – What is a 3 spine stickleback? – What is diatomite? – What is a diatom? Etc. When done we will edit it and voila! We have gotten feedback and assistance from biologists at Stanford via email questions (they bring classes to this same mine during the summer so they were blown away that we were making this video). Several years ago the University of Nevada, Reno Geology Department scanned some of our fossils with their scanning electron microscope (it will magnify images up to 300,000 times!) and we will include some of those images in our video – way cool stuff! (Note the photos in my Flickr account displayed on this same web page)

And most importantly it is one of the messiest field studies we do. Little flakes and powdered white diatomite are everywhere – in shoes, pants, pockets, the buses (which we spend 30 minutes cleaning out when we get back) and our classroom. Now let’s hope that the stain of learning doesn’t wash out as easily as the diatomite!

Learning is messy!

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Just Do Reading and Math?

The New York Times reported today that schools have been cutting back on science, social studies, art, PE, and other subjects to push reading and math.

Like where have these people been? This is just coming to light? They don’t mention technology and field trips directly, but I’m guessing (not really guessing – I know this for sure) that tech literacy is one of the victims of this push for “literacy.”

I understand if to many this seems a no-brainer – students that are not literate in language and math should focus on those subjects. How can you succeed in life, in society and in the work world without being literate in those subjects, and with few exceptions I understand this thinking,,, and mostly I agree with it.

Where I diverge is here. You cannot produce literate students if you cut them off from the rest of the curriculum and experiences. You cannot produce students that will compete in an information rich, science rich, global view rich society if you cut them off from those subjects from an early age. If you want to give them more time in reading and math I don’t disagree. Add days to the school year and some time to the school day for those students – I’m fine with that. Most students that are that far below grade level in reading and math are also usually not students that are engaging in activities during the summer that enhance their learning and schema and understanding of the world. My own students mostly fit that description and they usually spend their summers watching their younger brothers and sisters (4th – 6th graders providing day care for 1 to 8 year olds) and their highlights usually involve trips to the supermarket. They are thrilled when school starts in the fall and they can do something besides watch TV. Spending more time in school would be a good thing.

Most of the students I have that are not doing well in reading by upper elementary are missing the vocabulary, schema and knowledge of the real world that would allow them to make sense of what they read. They generally have phonics down pat, but sounding out a word only works if the word is in your vocabulary and schema. Books are only interesting to read if you understand why something is interesting or exciting or sad or not. Otherwise you are just reading words – how long would you last reading words that did not relate meaning? – although you might be feeling that way while reading this – : ) . So by cutting the subjects and field experiences that contain and convey that meaning and are paramount to obtaining schema and information we are actually stifling their reading and possibly subjugating them to only the lowest level jobs. Is that what school and this country are supposed to be about?

In my class of 31 sixth graders only 4 have access to the internet, and none of those use it for much more that emailing relatives in other countries. I’ve pointed out in earlier posts how many of my students think there are sharks in Lake Tahoe (30 minutes from here) and ask questions like, “Is Florida in Nevada? Is France in Nevada? And have no idea how we get electricity, water or how most things are made or come from. How will they fill in those enormous gaps if they continue to focus on JUST reading and math.

On the other hand, every time,… every single time I have these same students go on a field trip and/or integrate technology and engage in gathering and thinking about and processing and presenting information in science or art or whatever, they start asking questions. Questions like: What does this mean? How do you do this? How can I find out more? Can you explain this to us? AND, “Hey we just learned that…”… and “Did you know that…?”… and “Look at this!!!” and “Can we go here? And students are mostly excited and motivated and willing to do more and learn more. I bet if we take them there maybe they will make the push we are looking for to change how we do school. Or at least help drive that change.

Learning is messy!

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Learning Is Messy

“Messy” learning is:
Maybe not being sure where to start or how to start.
Trying and failing and trying again.
Frustration, focus, idea, arguing, agreeing,
experimenting, glue, paint, string, cardboard, scissors,
what else could we use? not quite, better, worse, adjust,
analyze, communicate, synthesize, mistakes, inquiry,
research, that won’t work… or maybe it will,
asking questions, getting answers,
What tools could we use? How can we find out? OUCH!
How can I help? How can we help? WHOOPS!
Let’s try this, How did you do that?
How will we show what we learned?
How much time is left? I can’t do this!
Can’t I work on this alone?
We did it!

What else makes learning messy?

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Why Field Trips, Technology and Project Based Learning?

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Why Field Trips and technology and project based learning? They build schema and experience many of our students don’t have.

School mission statements have revolved around developing students that know how to learn or teach themselves for many years.

“Students will develop the skills required to become lifelong learners,” has become almost a mantra in education. Then we go about this by doing what we have been doing forever – just more focused, organized and, “research based.” NCLB added “the stick” because obviously what was missing was strict accountability.

Language and math “literacy” have become the focus because the thinking is that underachieving students will never make it without the “Basics” – OK, fair enough – and some of those programs have made a difference – especially in primary grade reading and math test scores. However, as soon as students get to 3rd or 4th grade those scores drop and continue to drop more each grade level thereafter.

Why? Partly because the programs being mandated are so time consuming that there is no time for anything else (field trips, real science, real social studies, art, technology, PE, etc.) where students might experience at least some of the vocabulary and background knowledge required to make sense of what they read – and make it interesting. When students hit upper elementary, reading and math questions stress more and more analytical skills and vocabulary and students often just don’t have the schema in those areas to be successful. Reading then is too often meaningless and boring.
Technology has become a new tool of literacy – like it or not. Just like long ago:

At a teacher’s conference in 1703, it was reported that
students could no longer prepare bark to calculate problems. They depended instead on expensive slates. What would students do when the slate was dropped and broken?

According to the Rural American Teacher in 1928,
students depended too much on store bought ink. They did not
know how to make their own. What would happen when they
ran out? They wouldn’t be able to write until their next trip to
the settlement.

We are not doing our students justice by not giving them experience with the new tools of literacy because we don’t feel they know the old ones well enough. Technology is a gateway to learning that without the knowledge of its use students will be at a disadvantage compared to those that do.
Don’t believe that yet? We will continue to convince you.