'Create' Change

I just started reading, "The Advice Trap" by Michael Bungay Stanier, and I would like to share a quote: "Easy change tinkers with present you, while hard change builds future you."

 

In education, we are in the middle of HARD CHANGE.  As we approach the one year mark of a change that was / is out of our hands, think about what your classroom looked like this time last year.  Specifically, what were you asking students to do to demonstrate their learning? How were you leveraging digital tools to help facilitate that?  

No matter where you were at last year (avoiding change or leading the charge), no classroom looks the same as it did in January 2020.  No teacher is teaching the same as they did in January 2020. This is hard change, we are building our future - the future of education, the future of our own classroom. What changes do you want to hold on to and what changes you want to let go of?

 

Student Engagement is tough right now. Period.  There is not a magic wand quick fix. We have to try new approaches, and keep trying and learning when it doesn't work.  

As we work to engage our students, examining what we are asking to students to do to show their learning is a great place to start.  I am fairly confident that if I connected with a former student there is a 0% chance they would say, "that worksheet we did in 2002 changed my life".  Worksheets, paper or digital, are passive learning.  The more opportunities we can give students to create a product to show their learning, the more agency we give them.  Today's "4C" is Create, and I have many ideas to share!

 

If Learning was Texting: What if George Washington and Benjamin Franklin could text each other during the revolutionary way; what would they say? What if the main characters in a story had a threaded conversation? Students can use a texting tool as a way to create a conversation and examine multiple perspectives.  Whether your focus is on character vs character conflict or analyzing scientific discoveries, put the thinking in their hands.  For students on Chromebooks, checkout iFake Text Message. For students on mobile devices, checkout Texting Story (iPhone link here, Android link here, and additional directions linked here). 

Graphics: Think timelines, info-graphics, resumes, flyers.  Analyzing the plot sequence - have students create a timeline.  Reviewing the water-cycle - have students create a flyer with everything they already know. Create a resume about anyone, or maybe even anything.  If the corona-virus had a resume what would it look like? Let the students create and do the heavy thinking. You might already be familiar with Canva as a great place to find templates for all of this ideas (and more), but you can also upgrade your account to Canva for Education for additional features!

Communication Nation

Last week we started a deeper dive into the 21st Century 4Cs - Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, and Critical thinking.  Continuing on that journey and suggesting ideas that can be used right away in class, let's focus on communication:

Google Hangouts: I feel like this is a loaded suggestion.  Google Hangouts may be can be a student distraction.  But the reality is, if the kids weren't on Hangouts it would be another platform, see this article from The Atlantic on the hottest chat app - Google Docs.  So what are the wins of Google Hangouts?  If you were a kid in the 90s you may have passed paper notes hoping they didn't get taken up.  Google Hangouts leave a digital footprint - if a student is sending inappropriate information or bullying another student, a digital trail is easier to track than a paper one. More than just the digital footprint, Google Hangouts offer students the opportunity to connect with one another whenever and wherever they are working.  Do you divide your students in (table) groups? Great!  Have each group setup their own Hangout.  If a student in the group is going to be out, has a question about an assignment, or wants to study with others the chat is a great place to start.  As with all digital tools, we can work to shut it down or teach students how to use it constructively.

Publish:  In last week's blog I talked about the four walls of the traditional classroom having come down.  This can be leveraged in having students publish their work.  It could be a website, a blog, a podcast, or another medium that a student feels connected to.  A lot of times we (teachers) feel that we have to be the 'knower' of all tech tools and recommend those tools to students. Meh.  Kids have all kinds of platforms, tools, and apps that probably aren't on our radar.  Instead focus on development of the content!

Portfolios: I thought a lot about the title of this category, and I settled on portfolio but I am not married to it.  Maybe it is a journal, a learning log, or a collection of the student's work to show growth over time.  In art it might be a digital collection of the student's work in various mediums.  In math it might be a photo collection of "math in real life" (ie. snap a photo of 3 right angels) - I'll also give a plug to Denis Sheeran's work on relevance in the math classroom.  Students can write, students can script, and students can communicate their thinking.

Daily / Weekly / Monthly check-ins:  Have you ever spent hours pouring over and putting together a great lesson to only have it fall flat? Are you struggling to get your students to turn on their cameras in Zoom meetings? Are you struggling to get your students to come to Zoom meetings?  Check-in with your students.  What part of that great lesson didn't work? How is your work load at school right now? What would make the Zoom session more valuable to you?  It's tough to put ourselves out there, but students words are powerful.  Wondering where you might start on student check-ins, check out this great blog post by Catlin Tucker.

Collaboration - How We Bring Students Together

🎵🎵 Stop. Collaborate and Listen.  🎵🎵

Now that I have put that song in your head for the rest of the day, let's dive into student Collaboration.  I am a big fan of the 21 Century 4Cs: Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, and Critical Thinking.  If we bring in digital learning for digital learning's sake, it is just a digital pencil (to paraphrase Alan November).  The 21st Century 4Cs are a powerful way to articulate what students can "do" in class and these four descriptors aren't limited to technology / digital tools - technology can often times make leveraging these actions easier. 

Today we'll focus on student collaboration.  How do we bring students together to share ideas and work?  In our current learning environment it is easy for students to feel isolated, separated.  However, there are some great things we can do to facilitate collaboration in learning.

1. ABC Affinity Chart: Using a Google Doc with a table / box for each letter, students can brain storm ideas, concepts, questions, things that stuck out to them, etc.  Each student uses a unique color to input their thoughts in the coordinating letter box. For example I would use orange and put "evaporation" in the "e" box if I were thinking about the water cycle.  This document can be completed by synchronous students and asynchronous students together.  I recommend keeping the group sizes to 5 or 6 students. Check out the template for this activity linked here. 

2. Pen Pal Class: The four walls of the traditional classroom have come down during this time of virtual / crisis / blended learning.  We are no longer limited by devices or campuses.  This is a great time to pair up students for a virtual conversation - it might be pairing your 3rd period with your 5th period, paring your students with students from the teacher across the hall, or connecting students across campuses.  It doesn't have to be every class every day, and it will need structure. Ahead of time (maybe in class or during a live Zoom) have students come up with questions they want to discuss with their group (what did you think of, how did you feel when, what surprised you).  The first time your groups meet (via Google Meet, Zoom, Flipgrid, Go Synth, or whatever platform you decide to use) expect them to spend some time getting to know each-other.  As they continue meeting their conversations will become more succinct. Depending on where you are in the lesson cycle, students may discuss what they already know about the topic or unit, how they are progressing in their learning, or what has stuck with them through-out the unit. 

If you're already brainstorming about how this might work in your classroom, let's connect for a coaching cycle!  You can use this form or my youcanbook.me link!

Also, this month's Potluck PD will connect to the 21st Century 4Cs.  Flyer linked here!

New Year, New Focus

 If you are like me you were happy to say good-bye to 2020!  A majority of the year was spent managing crises - health crisis, family crisis, economic crisis, crisis learning, crisis teaching.  While our current teaching environment be static or unchanging, you may feel that you have your legs underneath you in this new year with a better understanding of online platforms and a solid understanding of what is and isn't working for your students.  

Thinking about 2021 as a new year with new focus, what is keeping you up at night?  What do you keep circling back to when you think about your students, your classroom, and learning?  It might be something broad like, "I would like to see more of my students turn on their camera" or maybe something more granular like, "I would like to incorporate a collaboration activity once a week". 

If you have "something" you have a goal!  And, here is where I would like to make a plug for coaching.  If you are ready to explore that goal and collaborate together I would love for you to sign up for a coaching slot (form linked here).  The slot is a starting place for us - it might take a week to work on your goal or it might take a little longer.  This form will stay open and new slots will be added, but if you're ready now is the time!