This morning in one of my favorite Twitter edchats, #sunchat, the topic was "Tough Love". Now, we all seem to have a different definition of "tough love", especially when it comes to dealing with students. Some of the comments read something like "When kids miss deadlines, they don't get to turn the work in late. Maybe they'll learn to meet deadlines next time." I know that this seems to be a natural consequence and we're all about natural consequences, but I don't agree with this type of "tough love".
Our objective is for the kids to learn. We want them to learn good habits and behaviors in addition to the skills and content that we try to teach them. However, punishing bad habits does not further learning. We have to separate the learning from the behavior. Do we want the kids to learn the material? If we do, then telling a student they cannot learn it and turn the work in late for a grade does not further learning. Ideally, we want the kids to learn the material and the good habits. Unfortunately, kids sometimes only get one or the other. One clear example of our mindset is whether or not we allow redos. If we do, then we are furthering the learning. We are also teaching kids that learning is not a one-shot deal. That's okay because in most places in the "real world", learning is NOT a one-shot deal. If I hold a child accountable for the habit and do not allow late work or a redo, how can that child be held accountable for the learning? Either we want the kids to learn the material or we want to punish the kids for bad habits. The latter, it seems, is "tough love".
In our minds, we think that if we penalize a child for a bad habit (not turning in work on time, bad test-taking, etc) then they will feel the urgency to perform better next time. Never mind that they didn't have a chance to repair their learning this time and now will skip that learning to move with the class to the next topic. For a few kids, this penalty may motivate them for next time. For the majority of kids, it does not. Instead, we teach them that the work they didn't do, or didn't do well, really wasn't all that important anyway. If it were important, we would make sure they did the assignment for a grade, even if it came in late. Since we don't, the learning must not have been that important after all. This is the message that kids are learning from us. This is what "tough love" teaches kids.
"Too bad. Should have turned it in. Maybe next time." We think this type of statement is motivational for the students but, in reality, it turns them off. They realize that the teacher really doesn't care about them and the assignment didn't really matter except as a number in the grade book. If the learning is so easily skipped, why do it at all? As adults, when someone says something like "Too bad. Maybe next time" to us, we usually think, "Fine! See ya!" Kids feel the same way. They know that the teacher is not out for them. They know that they are just a number in the grade book. They know that the teacher is really not there to help.
As frustrating as it is sometimes, I give as many chances as kids need in order to learn something. I know that I have as many different learning styles as there are kids in the room. I know that some will get things quickly and some will struggle. I know that kids need different kinds of help. I also know that all kids want to succeed. I can choose to be the barrier to their learning by exercising some "tough love" or I can be helpful in their learning by giving them the support that they need. I choose the latter.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Sunday, February 7, 2016
EdCampSTL, the Granddaddy of Them All
The EdCamp movement is global. These PD days are popping up all over the world. EdCamp is a relatively new way of delivering relevant, quality educational professional development. While there is a national EdCamp organization, edcamp.org, each individual EdCamp is a grassroots effort put on by a group of committed educators.
In St. Louis, EdCampSTL started five years ago. A few area educators, including Chris McGee @cmcgee200, Bob Dillon @ideaguy42, Rob Lamb @lambchop1998, and Patrick Dempsey @midscoolsci started building this PD organization into the largest EdCamp in the world. Literally. I attended EdCampSTL a few years ago for the first time. I was blown away by how many teachers were invested in their own professional development. These were teachers who gave up their Saturday to learn and become better teachers. These were the kind of teachers I wanted to be around. Immediately, my teaching partner, Melissa Hellwig @melissahellwig4, and I asked to join the EdCampSTL planning committee. We wanted to do anything we could to help make this event even better.
This year, EdCampSTL was the best edcamp I've ever been to. Hadley Fegruson @hadleyjf, the head of the National EdCamp Foundation, even came! There were over 600 educators who came on Saturday to learn and share. These were educators who were not there to complain about their situation, their students or their school. They were there to learn, find solutions and share their learning. These teachers were all about growth and are the kind of educators who will continue to learn, grow and succeed. Melissa and I presented about our 20% Time program, but otherwise, we were there to help fellow teachers find sessions, solve logistic problems, make sure everyone was having a productive PD experience and networking to make sure that teachers who needed to see or learn from certain teachers, connected with those certain teachers. So many new professional relationships sprang from EdCampSTL yesterday and those relationships will be fostered during the rest of the school year and beyond.
The name of EdCampSTL's parent company, called Connected Learning STL, says it all. We are all connected and should be learning from each other all of the time. The hard work of those in this organization often goes underappreciated by the education community at large but for anyone who has attended one of these first-rate events, they know what quality professional development should and does look like. Hats off to Connected Learning STL and EdCampSTL, the granddaddy of them all.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Chrome Camp - A Great PD Experience
Connected Learning is an education professional development organization here in St. Louis. It was created by a few progressive educators and built into a real force in the region. The goal of Connected Learning is to disrupt and hack PD so that educators can lead and get the PD that they want and need, not what others deem "appropriate" for them. The motto I hear from the organizers is "Be greedy in your PD. Get what you need." It is a great rule to live by.
Yesterday, Connected Learning put on an event called Chrome Camp (#ChromeCamp). It was a morning of professional development centered on technology, Google and learning. It was run "edcamp" style. After an introduction, teachers signed up for sessions they wanted to talk about or had questions about. From those sign-ups, a schedule was made and teachers were off to the sessions they wanted to attend. Simple and smart, this is a great way to share the expertise of everyone in the room. There are no "presentations". Rather, teachers meet and share. They get to have conversations about teaching and learning while also discovering dozens of tools and tricks that they may not have known before.
I went to three sessions during Chrome Camp. During each session, the conversation was easy and natural. It was very much like when teachers congregate in a room during their planning period. The conversation might start with one question but within fifteen minutes, a half dozen technology solutions, some new ideas for classroom design, a raft of new apps and three or four ideas about how to acquire materials are all thrown into the discussion. It is unreal how much ground a group of teachers can cover when they are left alone to learn and share together with no rigid agenda. Teachers are naturally curious about their art and always want to improve. Connected Learning gives teachers the opportunity to find others who can help them do just that and trusts that these teachers will aspire to become better. After all, if teachers didn't want to get better at what they do, they would not have shown up to Chrome Camp.
The mission of Connected Learning is one that everyone should embrace. Educators are the experts on education. Through sharing, teachers can solve the problems in their classrooms and make the learning experiences better for all of their students. There is no longer a need for pre-planned, canned, top-down PD for teachers. The real learning occurs when we empower each other and draw on the expertise of all. When all PD is run like Chrome Camp or EdCamp, then education professional development will be more relevant, more immediate and more effective.
Yesterday, Connected Learning put on an event called Chrome Camp (#ChromeCamp). It was a morning of professional development centered on technology, Google and learning. It was run "edcamp" style. After an introduction, teachers signed up for sessions they wanted to talk about or had questions about. From those sign-ups, a schedule was made and teachers were off to the sessions they wanted to attend. Simple and smart, this is a great way to share the expertise of everyone in the room. There are no "presentations". Rather, teachers meet and share. They get to have conversations about teaching and learning while also discovering dozens of tools and tricks that they may not have known before.
I went to three sessions during Chrome Camp. During each session, the conversation was easy and natural. It was very much like when teachers congregate in a room during their planning period. The conversation might start with one question but within fifteen minutes, a half dozen technology solutions, some new ideas for classroom design, a raft of new apps and three or four ideas about how to acquire materials are all thrown into the discussion. It is unreal how much ground a group of teachers can cover when they are left alone to learn and share together with no rigid agenda. Teachers are naturally curious about their art and always want to improve. Connected Learning gives teachers the opportunity to find others who can help them do just that and trusts that these teachers will aspire to become better. After all, if teachers didn't want to get better at what they do, they would not have shown up to Chrome Camp.
The mission of Connected Learning is one that everyone should embrace. Educators are the experts on education. Through sharing, teachers can solve the problems in their classrooms and make the learning experiences better for all of their students. There is no longer a need for pre-planned, canned, top-down PD for teachers. The real learning occurs when we empower each other and draw on the expertise of all. When all PD is run like Chrome Camp or EdCamp, then education professional development will be more relevant, more immediate and more effective.
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Student-Led Conferences
In most aspects of our teaching, we have tried to give more control of the learning over to the kids. We want them to be more autonomous, more driven by passion and more in control of their own learning. Most of the projects that we do in class has various elements of choice and autonomy built in and some even have an element of student creation and planning in them. We feel that this is the best way for kids to learn. When they make the decisions, hit the roadblocks, solve the problems and emerge a more well-rounded learner, then we have all succeeded.
One of the areas where we have fallen short of student-involvement is the traditional parent-teacher conference. We enjoy meeting the parents during the fall and learning all about the kids from the parents' points of view. These sessions are incredibly valuable for us because we learn so much about the kids in such a short period of time. The kids are always welcome to come to the conferences but very few do. It is a night reserved for conversation between the parents and teachers.
During our spring conference schedule, we are changing things around. We will be conducting student-led conferences for our kids during our spring conference in March. We want the kids talking to the parents about their learning. We want the parents to see the awesomeness that the kids show us everyday in class. We want the kids to see themselves as autonomous, intelligent, creative, problem-solving learners. All of these goals are accomplished during student-led conferences.
Our planning for these conferences begins now. We have chosen Google Sites as our vehicle for students to create their learning portfolios. Over the next two months, they will be beefing up their sites, choosing projects, papers and other learning activities to display on their sites. We have worked a bit with Google Sites this year so kids have enough skill to navigate the app and learn it even better. They will add some math, social studies, science and English work that they want to showcase and they must be able to talk to their parents about their learning during these assignments. They should also be able to talk about goals for the rest of the year and how they see themselves as learners.
We will ask parents to give authentic feedback to the kids, both on the content of the conference and on the process as well. The kids learn the entire conference process from greeting their parents at the door to seating them to introducing the conference to thanking them for coming. The kids learn the etiquette that goes into having a productive meeting and showing their learning portfolios.
During the course of our preparation, we give the kids several handouts (actually we make them available online). They get the step-by-step instructions and the framework for the conferences. We note specific projects or learning experiences that we want them to showcase and also give them the opportunity to choose some of their own projects to include. By the time we are ready to conference, they have gone over much of their learning and decided which things to showcase and also produced a slick, eye-catching digital portfolio of their work.
Student-led conferences provide a great way for kids to be in charge of their learning. It helps them hone some of the soft skills that they will need to succeed in life. Often, it also helps them see themselves in a different light, as productive, intelligent, confident learners.
Student-led conferences provide a great way for kids to be in charge of their learning. It helps them hone some of the soft skills that they will need to succeed in life. Often, it also helps them see themselves in a different light, as productive, intelligent, confident learners.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Harmony Team Collects $2,253.82 for our Holiday Family!
Once again, our Harmony Team kiddos astounded us by collecting $2,253.82 for the family we adopted for the holidays. We were able to provide a wonderful holiday season for our family. The kids were amazing, collecting from friends, family and neighbors. Some kids even did fundraising events. We like to incorporate service into our team culture and this is our big service project for the year. We will also be doing some smaller service projects as the year progresses. Harmony Team is indeed "the little team that could".
This total is not unusual for Team Harmony. In the ten years that Team Harmony has been in existence, we have surpassed $1,500.00 every year. That is our longstanding goal. In the ten years that we have been collecting for Holiday Families, we have raised a total of $20,765.26. Incredible! How does this year's team rank against all of the other Harmony Teams in terms of Holiday Family collections? Below is a chart of all Harmony Team Holiday Family collections including the all-time rank in parentheses. Congratulations to all of the students and families that helped make this possible.
This total is not unusual for Team Harmony. In the ten years that Team Harmony has been in existence, we have surpassed $1,500.00 every year. That is our longstanding goal. In the ten years that we have been collecting for Holiday Families, we have raised a total of $20,765.26. Incredible! How does this year's team rank against all of the other Harmony Teams in terms of Holiday Family collections? Below is a chart of all Harmony Team Holiday Family collections including the all-time rank in parentheses. Congratulations to all of the students and families that helped make this possible.
Holiday Family Collections by Year
2015 - 2253.82 (2)
2014 - 2068.68 (5)
2013 - 2243.53 (3)
2012 - 3228.82 (1)
2011 - 1847.03 (7)
2010 - 2197.16 (4)
2009 - 1686.35 (9)
2008 - 1733.24 (8)
2007 - 1996.40 (6)
2006 - 1510.23 (10)
Total - 20765.26
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
The Day of Code
For the past two weeks, we have been planning the Day of Code as an extensive iteration of the Hour of Code. Our entire seventh grade floor participated so about 350 kids were involved in coding and coding-related activities for much of the day. Running six 25-minute sessions, kids could choose from thirteen different offerings. Sessions ranged from Fun with a Sphero to Programming a Virtual Robot to Star Wars Coding to Minecraft. The choices were plenty and the kids could have a taste of anything that interested them. The day was set up to be a huge success.
After distributing schedules, the kids were off. My session was Tinkercad and 3D Printing. All year long, kids from other teams in seventh grade expressed interest in 3D printing. Many never had the chance to learn about the tools we use to 3D print. Today was their chance. Most of what I did was give a five minute introduction to Tinkercad and narrate the workflow of our particular 3D printer. It was easy to grasp. After my mini-lesson, kids were able to design on Tinkercad. They loved it. Some used templates, some designed freehand, and some used a combination of shapes that were provided in the program. When the period ended, many of the kids stayed on for another session so that they could design more. During each session, I had between 30-60 students crammed into my room. Many were in chairs but many were on tables, on the floor or anywhere they could find some open space. They came in large numbers and they came to learn.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Our Epic Fail
The kids came to school today knowing that we were going to participate in #stucamp, the first annual national student edcamp. Schools from Iowa, North Carolina, New Jersey, and Missouri were participating. We were going to use an app called Unhangout that leveraged the power of Google Hangouts with a breakout session model. It looked great.
I took a couple of days this week to prep the kids, show them how the app worked and show the #stucamp promo video about why education needs to change. Most of the kids were stoked to participate and some were thinking of sessions that they would lead. The #stucamp would run from 12:00-1:00pm CST. We were ready!
Noon struck and the #stucamp went live. The first 20 minutes were for introductions and proposing sessions. While a few of our kiddos took it upon themselves to be immature in the chat room, most of the kids were awesome! After the first 20 minutes, we were ready to launch our Hangouts and get into those sessions. As we hit the "connect" button......nothing. We could not connect because our filter at school did not allow video calls on the student Chromebooks. A half dozen kids immediately realized the problem. "We can't get on!" they cried.
Once we knew what the problem was, I said, "Okay, let's try to find a fix!" Many of the kids tried their phones, going off the school wifi and using their cell networks. Other kids thought that our school Google Cloud e-mail addresses might be the problem and tried to sign in under their private Gmail accounts. Both worked! As more kids transitioned over to their personal Gmail accounts and switched to their phones to bypass the filter, something happened. Suddenly, without warning, the system crashed. All of our kiddos started getting "504 Error" and "Gateway Time Out" messages. The program, for us, was dead. It was an epic fail.
While it was a disappointment that we could not fully participate in #stucamp, we were able to troubleshoot the problems we faced, up to a point. Many of the kids were intellectually agile in solving the problem. They asked, "Okay, how do I solve this? I'll try this." They tried, failed and tried again. That is the essence of learning. We did not learn what was intended today, but we did learn. If we see every situation as a problem-solving learning opportunity, the kids will too. We have to constantly reinforce that approach and show the kids that we all fail, but we all must try again. Picking ourselves up is one of life's great lessons.
I took a couple of days this week to prep the kids, show them how the app worked and show the #stucamp promo video about why education needs to change. Most of the kids were stoked to participate and some were thinking of sessions that they would lead. The #stucamp would run from 12:00-1:00pm CST. We were ready!
Noon struck and the #stucamp went live. The first 20 minutes were for introductions and proposing sessions. While a few of our kiddos took it upon themselves to be immature in the chat room, most of the kids were awesome! After the first 20 minutes, we were ready to launch our Hangouts and get into those sessions. As we hit the "connect" button......nothing. We could not connect because our filter at school did not allow video calls on the student Chromebooks. A half dozen kids immediately realized the problem. "We can't get on!" they cried.
Once we knew what the problem was, I said, "Okay, let's try to find a fix!" Many of the kids tried their phones, going off the school wifi and using their cell networks. Other kids thought that our school Google Cloud e-mail addresses might be the problem and tried to sign in under their private Gmail accounts. Both worked! As more kids transitioned over to their personal Gmail accounts and switched to their phones to bypass the filter, something happened. Suddenly, without warning, the system crashed. All of our kiddos started getting "504 Error" and "Gateway Time Out" messages. The program, for us, was dead. It was an epic fail.
While it was a disappointment that we could not fully participate in #stucamp, we were able to troubleshoot the problems we faced, up to a point. Many of the kids were intellectually agile in solving the problem. They asked, "Okay, how do I solve this? I'll try this." They tried, failed and tried again. That is the essence of learning. We did not learn what was intended today, but we did learn. If we see every situation as a problem-solving learning opportunity, the kids will too. We have to constantly reinforce that approach and show the kids that we all fail, but we all must try again. Picking ourselves up is one of life's great lessons.
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