Category Archives: Technology

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Uh-Oh! We Might Have Messed Up School Reform! (I Told You So)

From “Are We Fixing the Wrong Things?” By Yong Zhao, – University Distinguished Professor of Education and Director of the U.S.—China Center for Research on Educational Excellence, Michigan State University:

“Creativity—and not standardization—may be the driving force behind an effective education system.”

Just 8 years ago 2 school principals and 2 superintendents from Singapore visited my class. They sat in the back while I introduced a math lesson on sorting, data collecting and graphing M&M’s by color (AIMS activity). As the students got to work in groups of four, the visitors in the back came to their feet and started talking and pointing. Next came the video cameras and a few quick clarifying questions. 50 Minutes later the students went home and for the next 90 minutes I was barraged by questions about the observed lesson. Next they wondered how they could get their teachers to teach that way.
I stopped them at one point and told them I was a bit confused by their interest in how things were done at my school. I reminded them that just the week before their country had, for the second year in-a-row, scored the highest in the world on the TIMMS and my school was rated as “Inadequate” per our ITBS scores. Shouldn’t I be asking them questions? They laughed and explained that their students were good at testing but not at being creative. “America invents almost everything,” they explained, “all we’re good at is taking those ideas and making them cheaper. We want our students to invent and create like that.”

That’s why this section of Yong’s article smacked me in the face:

“Whereas U.S. schools are now encouraged, even forced, to chase after test scores, China, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan—all named as major competitors—have started education reforms aimed at fostering more creativity and innovative thinking among their citizens. China, for example, has taken drastic measures to reform its curriculum. As the United States raised the status of standardized testing to a record high in 2001 with No Child Left Behind, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued an executive order to significantly minimize the consequences of testing (2002). As the United States pushes for more centralized curriculum standards, China is abandoning its one nation—one syllabus tradition. As the United States moves toward a required program of study for high schools, China is working hard to implement a flexible system with more electives and choices for students. As the United States calls for more homework and more study time, China has launched a battle to reduce such burdens on its students.”

And this:

Sim Wong Hoo, founder and CEO of Singapore-based Creative Technology, pointed out this very fact.

“The advantage is we come from a very conscientious culture. You tell our people what to do, they’ll follow the rules, they’ll do it. The downside is they are not as creative. We fixed that by having a U.S.-based R&D team that’s doing more advanced research.” (Levy, 2005)

I mean is this the best example (or worst, depending on how you look at it) of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence? While the decision makers here suffer horrendous test score envy, the countries we are the most envious of are trying their best to be us. Who’s winning? Certainly not our students.

There are several other articles available on Challenging The Status Quo on the ASCD web site.
I guess we were right: Learning should 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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Legislate Or Educate?

In response to the Deleting Online Predators Act, or DOPA legislation being considered by congress and that is burning up the edublogosphere:

30,000 people are killed by in auto crashes each year and many more injured.

Air crashes kill and injure hundreds or thousands each year.

People die or are injured by the thousands in swimming accidents (50,000), and playground equipment alone causes over 200,000 injuries to children each year.

What would those statistics be like if we did no training on safe use of cars, planes, swimming, guns, playground equipment and everything else we receive safety training on?

Why do we even still allow people to drive? 200,000 playground injuries a year is almost 4 times the number of students in my district’s 93 schools. So why do we not cut student access to playground equipment? The equipment at my school is also considered a city park available 24/7/365. The reason we don’t cut access to these resources is because they are deemed too valuable to give up even though people are killed and injured by them. Without training these statistics would go off the charts. To keep our kids as safe as possible we teach them how to cross the street but that doesn’t guarantee they won’t get hit by a car.

The reason this DOPA legislation has a chance is that so few people and so few teachers understand the value of these technology resources or even know what they are so they might not put up a fight. Otherwise we would be reaping the benefit of receiving more money to offer students an education in proper and ethical use of valuable educational resources instead of blocking something that people wonder “What do you even do with that kind of technology that’s valuable educationally? I don’t perceive value, but I see evil, so yes let’s block it to protect our kids. Umm… excuse me for a moment while I call my kids home from the park. Or maybe I should run down and pick them up in the car.”

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Are We Safer In The Dark? – REDUX

In light of today’s Dopey… I mean DOPA legislation I’m resurecting a recent post:

You have a toddler at home. The street in front of your house could be dangerous. They could get hit by a car or picked up by a stranger. You’ve seen news stories about it on TV… in the paper … kids injured and kidnapped and killed in the street. Maybe it would be safer to not tell them about the street. Put a wall up outside so they can’t see it from the house – if they don’t know about it they won’t go near it you reason. At first it’s easy. They’re young and you keep them distracted from the street with toys and games and stories.

As they get older they see and hear about “the street “ on TV shows and from playmates. You continue to not talk about it or teach them about it – just avoid it…they’ll be safer. They begin to notice the street when you go places in your car, they even see other kids riding their bikes and sometimes playing games in the street. You explain that our family doesn’t do that or talk about that… we just don’t do the street… and you turn up the radio or put a DVD in the car player and distract them. They’re safer if we just avoid it and stay away from it. You’ve even talked to other parents that feel the same and heard talking heads on TV – some that are supposed to be “experts” that seem to agree with your tactic … stay away… stay away. The talking heads even have stories about what has happened to some that have ventured into the street. You are reassured in your decision.

You were right all along. The street could be a dangerous place. But Tommy’s mom didn’t know that your child had never been in or around the street before when he came over to play … was unaware of the dangers. The kids just went out to ride their bikes in the driveway. She said your child didn’t seem to know where the driveway ended and the street began. She had told them to stay on the driveway … only ride where it’s safe … but he didn’t seem to know what the danger even was. Like a flash he was in the street and the car just came along … he didn’t even seem to know to get out of the way, or what to do … or what might happen … or how to make a good decision about the street. You were right… it was dangerous… we should have done a better job of keeping him away.

Does this have implications for Flickr, Myspace, Classroom blogging? …. Are we safer in the dark?

Learning is messy!

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Being Different Is A Solution, Not A Problem!

Beingdifferent.JPEG

Another example of our “Messy” learning. Being Different Is A Solution, Not A Problem! is a 60 second Public Service Announcement we made for our local PBS station KNPB.

Each group of four students designed a scene in the video after we brainstormed ideas as a class. The ending scene we designed as a whole class. We had Being Different Isn’t A Problem! as our working title, but several students voiced an opinion that it “didn’t sound right.” We spent almost 45 minutes haggling over ideas until one student … a usually quiet, shy student raised their hand and suggested the title we used. It was an amazing moment. He gave his suggestion, I wrote it on the board, the class read and re-read it to themselves and the haggling was over.

5 minutes later I was climbing a ladder onto the roof as they wrote the title in colored chalk on the playground. They love that down angle shot – they put it in every video they design (see the Don’t Laugh At Me video) – I think they also like seeing me struggle with the ladder and climb up there (since they’re not allowed to climb on the roof). 3 takes later we were ready to edit our final draft.

Learning is Messy!

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More Assessment On The Run

makingglass.jpg

In my post Project Learning – Assessment On The Run I talked about how when you do project based learning you plan the projects to teach specific standards, but students are exposed to and learn a bunch you didn’t plan. I also talked about assessment happening continuously as you observe and listen to your students as they work.

My students have started to build the systems that will support them while they live on Mars (food, communication, oxygen, transportation, recycling and waste, water, recreation and environmental control). As they discuss and design it is interesting and amusing to note errors in thinking and planning. I passed by a group designing a Mars rover and noted that the student making the seats and the person putting the body together weren’t thinking about scale.

I asked the whole group to look at the seats and the body and they really thought they looked good. I had them measure one student in their group sitting in a chair to see how tall they were (about 42 inches). I showed them that if I doubled that height it would be just short of the ceiling in our classroom. “Is your Mars rover supposed to be taller than our classroom?” I asked. They answered that no it would be about the height of a jeep. I asked them how big the seats they had already built would be compared to a student chair and they answered it would be about the same. Then I asked them how many “seats high” was their current rover body and from that they saw how out of proportion they were. By using the seat as a unit of measure they figured out that the rover the one student was making would have been about 35 feet tall (without the added height of the wheels).

Another disconnect was a greenhouse the size of a school gymnasium that was powered by a solar panel the size of the hood of a car (hadn’t considered how much electricity that would make or how much might be required). They did a web search and found a solar panel about 35 feet long and 10 feet wide that said it generated 1000 watts. I explained that would run about 10 one hundred watt bulbs but that a microwave oven might use 750 watts all by itself.

The main difficulty many groups were having was not thinking through the order they should construct things in. What great learning as they would realize they should have painted something before putting it together or just the opposite problem they should have painted after they put something together. I stopped the class at one point and had them note this seeming conundrum.

Learning is messy!

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Are We Safer In The Dark?

You have a toddler at home. The street in front of your house could be dangerous. They could get hit by a car or picked up by a stranger. You’ve seen news stories about it on TV… in the paper … kids injured and kidnapped and killed in the street. Maybe it would be safer to not tell them about the street. Put a wall up outside so they can’t see it from the house – if they don’t know about it they won’t go near it you reason. At first it’s easy. They’re young and you keep them distracted from the street with toys and games and stories.

As they get older they see and hear about “the street “ on TV shows and from playmates. You continue to not talk about it or teach them about it – just avoid it…they’ll be safer. They begin to notice the street when you go places in your car, they even see other kids riding their bikes and sometimes playing games in the street. You explain that our family doesn’t do that or talk about that… we just don’t do the street… and you turn up the radio or put a DVD in the car player and distract them. They’re safer if we just avoid it and stay away from it. You’ve even talked to other parents that feel the same and heard talking heads on TV – some that are supposed to be “experts” that seem to agree with your tactic … stay away… stay away. The talking heads even have stories about what has happened to some that have ventured into the street. You are reassured in your decision.

You were right all along. The street could be a dangerous place. But Tommy’s mom didn’t know that your child had never been in or around the street before when he came over to play … was unaware of the dangers. The kids just went out to ride their bikes in the driveway. She said your child didn’t seem to know where the driveway ended and the street began. She had told them to stay on the driveway … only ride where it’s safe … but he didn’t seem to know what the danger even was. Like a flash he was in the street and the car just came along … he didn’t even seem to know to get out of the way, or what to do … or what might happen … or how to make a good decision about the street. You were right… it was dangerous… we should have done a better job of keeping him away.

Does this have implications for Flickr, Myspace, Classroom blogging? …. Are we safer in the dark?

Learning is messy!

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Working, Breathing, Reproducible, Intriguing Models

Students blogging, creating content, manipulating text, graphics and video, designing and producing projects and all that technology and Web 2.0 has to offer – Wow! It’s so obvious what dynamic, mind stretching and engaging platforms technology, problem-based and project-based learning are!!! Or is it so obvious?

Who gets the most excited and visionary about this stuff? – Probably anyone that might actually be reading this post. I’ll bet few if anyone that isn’t already doing “Messy” learning is checking out this or any other blogs that teach, preach or discuss it. We hear about “The New Story,” or “The Read/Write Web in the Classroom,” but who else but the choir reads, hears or cares about any of it?

The gurus trip around the country and the world physically and virtually to spread the word, but who goes to these conferences or subscribes to these podcasts (or even knows what a podcast is?)? The masses of teachers and administrators looking to be enlightened? No! (well maybe a few, but VERY few) The early adopters that see and saw the implications straightforward are the few and the brave. So the questions have been asked and numerous and various answers have been proposed about how to change how school is done and how using these “New Tools” fit into that scheme and how do we get the message out?

Do the gurus continue to guru? (How do you guru? – don’t ask just try to follow along) Yes, that is certainly part of the equation. Do we continue to blog about it? Absolutely! The conversation is the point! What is missing are the models – the working, breathing, reproducible, intriguing models. We need ongoing models of all the power of what this looks like or we get nowhere.

Yeah I know there are examples out there – but my staff and my administrators and my congressman and senator and school board probably aren’t jetting out to Maine to observe Bob Sprankle’s class or any other of the teachers and students doing this kind of school.

YOU IDIOT!!! – You’re thinking or maybe yelling at your monitor – you and your staff can go to Bob Sprankle’s class or any of a list of teachers using blogs and video and web 2.0 applications – via the web!!!! Yes, yes I know… cool down … I know that. I can pull up one of Bob’s productions – for example his class made a recent vodcast about how they produce their podcasts – way cool – I GET IT!

BUT – (notice I made it a big but) I GET IT! I could run around my school and district showing teachers and administrators Bob’s kids’ vodcast and I might even get a few people excited – but most WON”T GET IT! You can’t just show most people – you have to show them and explain it to them and then answer their questions and then show it to them again and then explain it to them again and then show them how this relates to things they already do – takes the place of this and makes it even better and does this and this and this! I’m telling you they will think the vodcast was kinda cool… would be an interesting thing for their kids to do once if they had the equipment and the time and someone to show them how to do it. But they won’t get it until they experience you doing it and getting them to do it…several times … and talk about it and have them notice their students’ reaction and learning and how they talk about it and how excited their parents get about it. Wes Fryer talks about Face 2 Face – that’s it… that’s what I’m talking about.

So where is everyone that does this? Are there whole schools that do this? Districts? Where’s the list? – we should all post it and send it around – where will people see this that is as easy and as accessible as possible? Is there DATA that goes with any of these teachers or schools or districts that do this? (yeah, I don’t need the DATA but some will require the DATA). Maybe there’s downloadable video of some of this – I know where some is… where’s a lot more? Better yet, are their teachers – “Old School” teachers that have come to this that can speak about what their experience has taught them? I think that would be a powerful “New Story.”

We need working, breathing, reproducible, intriguing models available in many places for many to see and experience to leverage the gurus and the online examples. Should we build the clearinghouse – any volunteers?
Learning is messy!

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Response To: Powerful Beyond Measure

Miguel Guhlin posted a great piece today Powerful Beyond Measure that is a must read. In it he states:

“The words of Isaiah, as Bonhoeffer shared them, are, “He who believes does not flee.” The words strike home as I reflect on education today. For those who can, have fled schools. They have fled our schools and abandoned their colleagues, the children, and moved on to greener pastures. And, who can blame them that they chose to take advantage of the active exit strategy to deal with slow death?”

Those who can have also fled to within themselves, their classrooms – quietly doing what they’re told. Many teachers take on the good little girl or boy persona that they learned as students – it’s how they got their positive strokes, how they were acknowledged – by being good, not rocking the boat. They want to do what’s best for their students, but too many can’t or won’t make that decision on their own. So now in a time that they are being told that what is best is accountability (per NCLB) they fall back on being good little boys and girls – not entirely because they agree with the method, but because they haven’t thought about or discussed what might be better and they wouldn’t be “good” then and that is scary. What if I’m not considered good? When your pay isn’t acknowledging your work then having your work acknowledged is what you hang onto. Not being considered good for any reason then is scary.

This might sound too strong, but it is a similar reaction to terrorism or what Bonhoeffer witnessed in Nazi Germany – don’t rock the boat and draw attention to yourself. Don’t have a public opinion about anything because that might come back and be used against you.

What are the examples many teachers have to follow? Are they being in-serviced and trained and encouraged to use problem-based/project-based learning? Not in my experience – so why would they even think about going that way if they don’t understand or know it? When they read headlines like last weeks – “Computers May Not Boost Student Achievement” – Why would they find themselves pondering changing paths?

The early adopters of project-based. Educational technology driven learning are like those that Bonhoefer saw disappear early on in the Nazis rise to power when they questioned things. They saw the power of changing paths but were swept out of the way as an impediment to progress. Wasn’t NCLB promoted that way? I know, invoking Nazism as an example almost always goes too far – no one is disappearing in the same sense as what happened under the Nazis – but that sense of being swept aside professionally is a very scary line to cross.

Learning is messy!

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Tech Reluctance

One of the differences between teachers that consistently use technology in their classrooms and those that don’t is the reaction when things don’t go smoothly. Many teachers at my school and that I’ve had in trainings give up after something doesn’t work right now. They’ve decided to try something they’ve never done before – they start setting up the equipment, it doesn’t work as they intended, they call me or someone else to make it work, you try one thing (once they hadn’t plugged in the power cord on the hub – it was working within 1 minute of me walking in the room and they were done, forget it) – and often their reaction is that, “Well I won’t be doing this again until it works every time – and maybe not even then. I just don’t have time to have to tweak things or problem solve or learn more and the fact that this didn’t work right now really puts me off tech.”  Its not just me either, other teachers that use tech have the same story.

Part of the issue is that they want to use tech and have a really cool lesson, but spend next to zero time prepping the tech part of the lesson – they just want it to happen. We have had a wireless iBook lab at my school for 6 years and except myself and maybe 2 teachers – almost no one else uses it. I’ve done numerous trainings on using the lab, and I always stress how if you are going to use it with your class you probably want to plan a lesson from me to refresh your memory on its use and to hook up the wireless hub in your classroom (about 20 minutes). Also if it is the first time you have used the lab with your class you probably want to do a 30 minute lesson where you just teach the students how to take the computers out of the cart, turn them on, how to treat them, get on the internet and do a quick search and shut them down and put them away. I’ve had teachers right there say – “oh, never mind then, I just wanted my kids to do some quick research on polar bears – I was hoping to be done in 20 to 30 minutes tops.”

The thing that kills me is that these same teachers will come in on a Saturday and spend 4 hours copying and cutting stuff out and stapling. When we have students use any manipulative we have found that the first time you use it you probably want to give the students time to just play and get that somewhat out of their system – things usually go more smoothly then. But somehow that is only a good idea with inter-locking cubes not technology. Has anyone else out there found this to be true? I have my own thoughts on this, but I’d like to hear from others. Is this part of the culture that holds so many back from using tech and project based learning? What kinds of experiences have you had?
Learning is messy!