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With all the talk about how much we value teachers, and especially great teachers …

In the past few weeks we have witnessed Winter Olympic medal winners and participants receiving their medals and much deserved national media coverage, parades, expanded media interviews, front page articles and lengthy news reports. When they arrive home they are met at the airport by more media coverage of all kinds. The Academy Awards or Oscars were recently held and the media was more than obsessed with all the award winners and attendees and what they wore and didn’t wear and on and on. I could note other award broadcasts for music and other entertainment and sports stars of just the past few months.  Of course we should be honoring these people, they have worked hard and practiced hard and have been singled out as the best in their profession.

Many of these award winners not only win their specific awards or medals, they are often  invited to meet the President of the United States, other high ranking politicians, receive lucrative endorsement contracts and are generally venerated by the general public and ad nauseum by the press. Again, they have earned these accolades.

These award winners are plied with questions so we learn about their hard work, what great things they have done and obstacles they have overcome. What makes what they do rewarding, difficult … do they ever think of giving up? They are presented as examples we should all follow … of what is great about being human, going the extra mile.

On the other hand, we hear from media, politicians and others about how vital and important education is. How teachers, especially great teachers, are vital to society and that we should honor and celebrate them and support them whenever possible. Additionally, we hear now about how vital STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) teachers are. The perception, at the very least, is that we are behind in producing teachers that are well versed in STEM and STEM fields, so much so that there are editorials, speeches, rants, and more about how we need to do all we can to attract teachers that have these backgrounds to teach. It has even been stated that this could be a national security issue!

Were you aware that a bit more than a week ago 101 of the best teachers in America were flown out to Washington D.C. because they are the Presidential Award Winners in Math and Science from the past 2 years? They have been singled out as the best in their profession. They are so honored that they met with the President of the United States! Yes! The President, Barack Obama, as did teachers when George Bush was President and before that. Wow! So I don’t know what happened where you live … but did you see front page or any newspaper coverage? National and local TV interviews? Did the press meet them at the airport? Probably not (but please share in comments if that happened where you live).

Where I live education is SO important they even have reporters for the local newspapers and TV news that specialize in education. Their whole job as reporter in some cases is just covering, or includes reporting news about education. So of course we’re sick of reading about and seeing TV interviews about these great teachers … STEM teachers … that are so honored they were flown out to the White House to meet the president! And of course we should be understanding of that coverage … we need more great teachers and so honoring them and giving them this attention is part of attracting more talented folks to teaching … Right?  … Um … NO …. I’m sad to say that at least where I live barely a mention besides a few weeks ago along with school fundraisers and the like in a “What’s Going On In Our Schools” kind of column.

And understand, The White House, the US Department of Education, the governor, the state superintendent of schools, the school district where BOTH winners locally teach, all issued, or were quoted in press releases about the awards where they expressed their support for these great teachers. The response from local and national media? A collective YAAAAWN! … not worth covering, much less making a big deal about apparently … even though education, and specifically STEM education, as I mentioned above, is SO important and vital to our nation and community’s future and our economic development.

Education is SO important that one of the national networks even devotes reporters to an ongoing focus on education. So of course their reporter devoted time to cover the awards and interviewed these incredible educators. They had stories on their national news broadcasts singing the praises of these honored and valued teachers  … right?

No .. as far as I saw, not a mention on any of the networks, including the one that prides itself on education reporting.

As a nation we are just short of obsessed with the value of education and great teachers because education and teachers are so essential that we would not let this opportunity to celebrate them slip away …. right?

Learning is messy.

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Interview on Wes Fryer’s “STEM seeds”

Today I connected with my friend Wes Fryer, a fellow STEM teacher, to have a conversation about STEM learning and to share some of the projects my students have participated in in the past. We also touched on the definition of STEM and what it is NOT. Wes has started up what he calls “STEM seeds” – he describes it as, “A Community of STEM teachers sharing lesson ideas.”

Wes is definitely more well known for his blog “Moving At The Speed of Creativity” and his numerous writings, books and speaking engagements.

Here is a link to STEM seeds and another to the YouTube channel Wes uses.

Learning is messy!

 

 

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Who Gets Noticed? Telling? Or Not So Much? You Decide

A few weeks ago I noted to a local education reporter here that their Twitter follows included basically zero (or only VERY few) educators – almost all politicians and other media people and  neo-reformers (Rhee, Broad, Students First, etc.). To their credit they not only acknowledged that, but followed me and then asked me for other educators to follow, which I obliged (although I did promise more which I’ll have to follow up on – Geez!)

That leads to today when, as I was cooking dinner, I noted through another media person I follow,  that a very high state education official was on Twitter. I clicked on who they follow and noted … wait for it … that they followed basically zero educators – mostly politicians and media people. Now this person has been on Twitter for like 2 weeks or so and perhaps doesn’t get the 2 way street that is Twitter (well or their PR person doesn’t), but for someone in charge of setting education policy … it does raise my eyebrows a bit.

Next I started checking various school board members, school administrators that have Twitter accounts, and state “education reporters” from media outlets. Guess what I found? … Yep about the same story. Mostly (really almost ONLY) followed other media types, politicians, the neo-reformers (not sure they understand or care the issues there), and various others, but almost no, or literally no actual educators.

Now to be fair, I’m not saying its a conspiracy to keep teachers down (mostly, 🙂 ), but I do think it shows a basic … um .. “unawareness”, …. a not even thinking about getting a balance or inputs. Also, it takes some time to search around and find people (in this case educators) on Twitter, but still … really?

I think mostly it demonstrates how many get a Twitter (or other social presence on the web) because “you’re supposed to,” without understanding how its supposed to work … that its actually supposed to be a 2 way street … you’re supposed to read the Tweets of those you’re connected with, and learn from them, and interact with them too. Just sending out your thoughts to seem “connected” is actually pretty (actually, very) lame … really like using everyone else. It’s condescending really … we should hang on every one of your Tweets (thank you, thank you, thank you!) but you don’t have time to interact with ours (I’m looking at you @arneduncan – but also many others).

Again, I’m not surprised by this … I just think, maybe, it is a part of what the media and others don’t get about what teachers / educators see as a deck stacked against them when it comes to coverage of education issues. Those with money, power and a high media presence (see above) get their views reported … others … not so much.

Learning is messy!

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6 Year Anniversary – If A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words, What Is A Video Worth?

This snuck up on me this year.  THIS happened 6 years ago now when we Skyped a classmate into our class most days … a student that had leukemia and couldn’t attend school because of the chemo therapy. We still get contacted about it. 4th graders sharing their experience – they are 10th graders now. Whoa!

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Writing Experience Made In The Heavens

NASA just announced that the Mars rover Curiosity has made an important discovery. “One for the history books” they say. So what is it? They’re not saying for a week or more. Why aren’t they saying? NBC News,  Space.com,  NPR

Think of the writing pieces your student could experience based on this real world opportunity. Oh, and the research possibilities too. They could write just total guesses based on having no background knowledge of space, the planets, Mars, – just fun (maybe they found Elvis? SpongeBob? Your sock that disappeared in the dryer?) – you get the idea. Students could also conjecture based on their own experience(s). OR they could do some, to a lot of research – what was the original mission of Curiosity? What are scientists looking for on Mars? Why? Why are we spending all this money to send spaceships and rovers to Mars? What other questions fit here?

So based on your research, what do you think the Mars rover Curiosity has found? What makes you think that? – share your sources.

If your students blog they could share their ideas or just plain creative pieces with others… this kind of writing is ripe for getting and leaving comments. But if your students don’t blog there are plenty of quality writing possibilities here. The kind that students might even talk about at home. The kind that get students asking questions or doing their own research just because they want to know more. You really can’t go wrong.

So what do you think Curiosity found? And PLEASE leave other lesson ideas in the comments. This is a great “messy learning” opportunity so go for it!

Learning is messy!

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Great Day For A Flight!

Click on the image below to watch the video (about 1 minute in length). My wife and I took our dog for a walk in the Tahoe Meadows above Lake Tahoe (about 8,500 feet elevation) – (see the Flickr Set of the photos and more videos HERE) We decided to stop in the parking lot to check out the view on the Slide Mountain side of the Mount Rose Ski Area on our way back to our house in Reno, Nevada, when we came across a group of pilots launching and landing. Some were taking off from the peak above and landing in the parking lot, others were launching from the parking lot and landing in the valley below by Washoe Lake. Note the yappy dog nipping at the pilot’s heels as he is taking off. Enjoy!

Learning is messy!

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Really? – LAUSD considers making arts education a ‘core subject’

Is this a sign that some level of common sense has returned to education? From the article in Southern California Public Radio:

“The L.A. Unified school board will vote on a measure Tuesday that would make arts education a “core subject,” prohibit further cuts to the arts, and ultimately restore some money to arts programs. “

Only hope this becomes the norm nationally!

Learning is messy!

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What Happened To My Pedagogy?

Several classroom teachers in my PLN have decided to share out our experiences this year with “educational reform”. Here’s one that published so far. And I’d encourage others to share as well (let’s hear the “Good” too!)

I’ve continued to come to terms with my lack of blogging and other writing/sharing this school year. In the past so much of my blogging was motivated by what was happening in my classroom and the classrooms of others that we were collaborating with. As we continued to develop this new pedagogy around connecting and becoming active learners, excitement continually built and collectively we felt part of a community that was onto something very special.

We had moved even further from the “sage on the stage” kind of teaching and learning, to becoming what could be described more as “co-learners” or maybe “learners-in-chief” … still in charge to keep things running smoothly, and to be there when guidance was needed or it became apparent, through observation or other assessment, that a lesson was needed on a concept or skill for a small group or the whole class. Learning involved every subject and students were more self motivated to do quality work because the work was more creative and was usually published online for all to see … so it better be good. (And note that direct instruction was not and never will be abandoned, just more opportunities for students to build knowledge, use and share what they know and learn in creative ways).

A few things have happened recently in my classroom that brought this into focus for me. One is that we have been involved in a project we mostly had to “sneak in” around required programs and policies. I saw the magic again as my students collaborated using Skype and Google Docs to write non-fiction pieces with a class across the country. Their excitement, focus and requests to work extra outside of school on their research reminded me what we had been onto previously. We didn’t have this new pedagogy down to perfection, but we were well on our way, and with some support we would be even closer to being there now (not that you would ever get to perfection mind you).

Another situation that has happened has been that my students have become excited about several topics that have come up because of reading about a subject or a current event and they have wanted to learn more about them. In the fairly recent past, because we had learned to research in more focused, safe ways, those self guided learning opportunities would have been embraced. But because we have done almost none of that kind of work this year, AND because thankfully my school district leaves the web pretty wide open, I have not felt safe letting them do searches for information, photos and video when there has been even a smidge of time to do so.

Why? For years now, part of using these powerful learning tools has involved lessons and projects in their safe and ethical use. There is no time or real support to do that now. Therefore it would be like setting  your class loose in woodshop without teaching them safe use of the power tools. I’m not doing that- I’d be setting my students, parents, myself, my school and my school district up for a load of problems.

The upshot is I have few examples or experiences to share from my classroom this year. The almost total lack of autonomy because of a daily schedule designed by my administration that only includes reading, writing and math … and most taught with prescribed programs or specific direct instruction pieces that MUST be included literally leave no time. I have managed to begin squeezing things in here or there, but “squeezing in” means things are not done comprehensively and there is no time to learn from mistakes, redesign, or even just re-editing well to improve. I have to work hard to keep an enthusiastic face on things and my students aren’t developing as deep an appreciation for and enthusiasm for learning.

The worst news is that I’m hearing a similar story from other teachers I used to collaborate with and from others in my PLN that work with teachers. I have refrained from sharing this woeful tale during the year beyond a few Tweets, because I hoped to find ways to overcome the restraints and did not want to discourage others by my experience. I’m reporting out now because we need to get these stories out there. I would say even more, but don’t feel safe in doing so in a public space.

Things are not all lost however, I’m optimistic. We blog some and I will be writing about a recent project we are finishing up soon. I have learned some effective direct instruction pieces I will use in the future. Most of all I’ve learned that this new pedagogy that many of us have undertaken really works, and not being able to access it much has been a real detriment. I keep hearing that the pendulum is past due swinging back towards teacher autonomy and less testing and test prep pedagogy. I keep hearing  (but I’m not totally convinced yet) that the move to common core standards implementation will drive us back that way as well. Perhaps, we’ll see.

At the end of the year I’m hoping to have made some changes that will help get things back on track, and I’ll report back if those things happen.

Learning is messy!
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Should kids’ grades call the shots on who teaches and who goes home?

I was interviewed awhile back for this article on “TAKEPART” about teacher evaluations. My school district is struggling with this issue right now since our legislature jumped on the bandwagon to tie teacher evaluations to student test scores.

In the article I’m quoted saying:
“No one says that poverty means that these kids can’t learn,” he added, “but that is the meme that is promoted. Instead, we need to recognize the problem, and like America has always been admired for, take it head on and solve the problem.”

Check the article out and leave your feedback.

Learning is messy!

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Digital Learning Day

Here is my contribution to Digital Learning Day. From the web site:

“Digital Learning Day is a nationwide celebration of innovative teaching and learning through digital media and technology that engages students and provides them with a rich, personalized educational experience.”

In this video from TEDxDenver 2 years ago (which has been posted here before) I give examples of what this new pedagogy can look like and how it changes pedagogy.

Learning is messy!