Dallas Takeaways

The past six days I was in Dallas, TX as part of the National Teacher of the Year program sponsored by CCSSO. It was amazing to meet and learn with outstanding teachers from nearly every state in our country and many of our territories abroad. As with any such experience it takes a while to unpack all of the experiences and learning that takes place. I know in the days and weeks the follow I will continue to reflect back and revisit those experiences. However, I have some initial takeaways that I am sure will apply to any teacher.

Know your message:

We had an entire session aimed to help us craft and deliver our “message” about education. Now, I know that as teachers of the year, we will be asked our opinions about a great many things and always need to be ready to provide a response. However, any teacher should be prepared with their message. What do you stand for? If you had to sum up what education is about or should be, what would you say?

Tell our own stories:

If you follow me on twitter you might have seen my venting tweet the other day.

I was sitting in a session where the presenter was advising us all on how to deal with the media. When talking about social media, he used some pretty heavy scare tactics and exaggerated stories. He mentioned teachers that had been fired or dismissed for inappropriate use of social media and blogs that said bad things about the teaching profession. As politely and professionally as I could, I stood up and pointed out that yes, teachers have been disciplined for activities on social media. However, that is not a product of social media but rather of poor decisions of a human. I also pointed out that social media such as twitter and blogs is the one true place teachers can tell the stories they want. It is here that we share our successes or failures without the bias or slant of a journalist. I strongly urge all teachers to use all tools of media to share their stories and be a positive face for our profession. Don’t fear it, but embrace it.

Perspective:

In our final session of the week we did a small group activity with some role playing. We were discussing the topic of teacher evaluation and were using the roles of parent, teacher, administrator and policy maker. Through our discussions it was easy to see how we often only see things from the perspective of a teacher and maybe a parent. We rarely take into consideration the decision making process of an administrator or a policy maker in the government. That is not to say that we now agree with every decision that has been made in our collective states in regards to education. However, it gave us a perspective that I know I never really think about. In moving forward I am going to attempt to keep that in mind and look at the decisions in education through all lenses and not just that of a teacher.

All in all it was a great trip and learning opportunity. With that being said, I did have one tremendous disappointment. When I stepped outside of the airport I yelled, “The stars at night are big and bright…” but I didn’t get a reply. So bummed… 

Kids Are Not Cookies

I spent last night meeting and talking to teachers of the year from states all over the country in my opening event for teacher of the year program. As I went back to my room I reflected my first impressions as well as the vigorous conversations.

Throughout the evening I met passionate and dedicated teachers. I know that is a phrase tossed around pretty loosely and many people roll their eyes when they hear it. However, I truly mean it. I was speaking with a teacher from Ohio who essentially started his own school within a public school system on many of the same foundations of learning that good teachers believe in. Another fascinating conversation was with the teacher of the year from Alaska and the struggles of teaching in a rather remote environment. I was also pumped to meet the teacher from Italy who taught military students overseas in a region that my class read about in a novel. All of these stories and many more showed me the true passion these individuals have in their jobs on a daily basis. It was incredibly encouraging knowing the number of like-minded teachers out there. I also love hearing different perspectives and a way of looking at teaching and learning in a variety of classroom settings.

If I took anything away from my discussions last night, it is that we cannot take a cookie cutter approach to teaching and learning. Yes, student’s success in the classroom is determined by a teacher’s ability to teach. However, to deny home life, background knowledge, life experience, cultural uniqueness, geographic considerations or the whole host of other factors in a child’s life is a failure to see them as a whole child. In the handful of discussions I had last night, it really brought to light my belief that we cannot standardize education on a massive scale. Just hearing the variety of stories and nuances within each of these teacher’s communities was eye opening as well and left me with a question. Why would my approach to teaching a suburban child in Illinois be the same as a teacher working with a remote village of children in Alaska? Even within my own classroom, I have a range of variables that impact every child differently. The kids across the country are not cookies and yet I feel as though we are trying to force them to be…

Defending the Retake

In the past two years I have changed my thinking on test taking and retakes. I used to give kids one shot on a test and they better not blow it. If they could not demonstrate their comprehension on the day I delegated as “test day” they were out of luck. It was a one attempt deal…unless their parents called and complained real loud. J

Over the past couple of years I have reflected much on the approach I take to teaching as well as evaluating learning. I am tasked to teach a certain set of learning standards in my classes every year. At this point in time I am not told how to teach these standards, or how I go about assessing them. Typically, I would give an assessment, grade it, hand it back and move one. End of story.

Now, students are given an unlimited opportunity to retake any assessment or any portion of an assessment. If my goal is to make sure students understand the learning standards, then should it matter how many times they need to do this? I grew up a basketball player and know that if I was assessed on my shooting ability before I was warmed up, I would fail miserably. If a student can get themselves to a point of understanding, then why does it matter how many times or how long it takes them to do this?

With all that being said, many skeptics claim students will just memorize the test and take advantage of this retake policy. Yes, if I were to just give the same test back to a kid every single time without any additional prep work that would be true. However, that is not what I do. If a student wants to do a retake there is a reflection form they fill out that asks them some questions pertaining to their failed attempt and what they will do to prepare for a second try. As part of this additional work I have a series of screencasts students can watch as well as numerous re-teaching opportunities. They must prove to me they have gone and done something differently to prepare for a second assessment attempt.

In addition to the prep work a student will do prior to a retake, the assessments themselves are not always the same. Depending on the student, I will often just do an oral retake at my desk. I will just have a conversation with the student and ask a series of questions aimed at assessing the student’s comprehension of the concept. Most of my students prefer this method as it is quick, easy and a natural form of communication. If students prefer to write their answer I might give them the same assessment, a new assessment, or ask them how they want to show me they understand the concept.

Bottom line is learning happens all the time but rarely at the same time. With that in mind, I do offer retakes and will continue to do so. If I don’t offer a retake or re-teaching, then the learning stops the moment the student hands in the test. 

I Don't Know

Recently, my students took a test in our Social Science class. The assessment was a few short answer questions about a variety of topics in Ancient India. As my students turn them in, I typically have a follow up activity for them to be working on while other students are finishing up. Then I will start on grading the assessments in an effort to give them some instant feedback. There are always some answers that leave me scratching my head and asking myself, “where did that come from.”

However, as I was reading through the student’s work I came across one comment from a student that took me back initially. The question she was answering had two parts to it. She answered the first part well but clearly struggled with the second part and simply wrote, “I don’t know. L”

Now, I know some teachers that would simply give this student a marked down score and move on. I do not do that. Personally, I look at this as an opportunity for both me and my student to learn and grow. Rather than moving on, I provide re-teaching opportunities as well as retakes. For most students, as soon as they turn in a test or assignment their learning ends. I would rather have a student write down, “I don’t know” so I can look at a different approach to help them understand that content. On a regular basis, I tell my students that it is ok for them not to know the answers but to constantly be looking for them. Once they give up on finding answers, I have failed them.

If I am truly a teacher, then I must teach. That doesn’t mean just teaching up until the test, but beyond. If a student “doesn’t know” then it is my responsibility to help them “know”. Learning should not end when a piece of paper is turned in.

Choice

I am a big fan of allowing students the ability to choose how they want to show me evidence of their learning. Yes, most students prefer to do this in written form because that is what they are used to. However, every once in a while a student will produce something that really blows me away. While studying Ancient Greece we were discussing various forms of government. One of these was an oligarchy which is simply a form of government in which the decisions are made by a small group. My students typically giggle at the sound of oligarchy because they think it is something the can order off the menu at Olive Garden. During one of the activities students wanted to draw pictures of what they thought oligarchy would look like if it was a dish on the menu. Here is one of these pictures.

Oligarchy

It is clear to me that this student understands the concept of an oligarchy through this picture. She clearly illustrated the small group of decision makers as the olives on the top of the dish. Then there is the “sauce” that represents the decisions that impact the rest of the population which she used noodles for. I don’t need her to take a test or write me an essay. The abstract manner in which she illustrated her understanding is more than adequate. As I plan my lessons and subsequent assessments, I try to constantly be looking for opportunities for students to show me their comprehension in a variety of ways.

How often do we allow students the choice to show us their learning in a different way? Must all learning be shown in the same manner? 

Greece Grouping Activity

This is a post I was asked to write many weeks ago and have finally gotten around to doing it. In a prior #sschat on Twitter there was a conversation about groups and how to organize groups in classes. I shared a way in which I do a “creative” grouping activity in conjunction with introducing some early forms of Ancient Greek government. I tried to write it out, but was struggling to have it make sense in writing…so, I made a screen cast instead. Enjoy!

A Conversation With...Me

This is a recent interview I did for the Illinois Education Association in response to my Illinois Teacher of the Year Award. I wanted to get across some key ideas and I feel that they did a nice job with the video. However, I have to admit an error in my statements in regards to the Collaboreyes Project. The two good friends do not work in Kansas but in Nebraska. I am not sure why I goofed that up in the video...must have been the pressure of the camera. :)

Be There

The other day I took my son to his swim lesson. This is something I have done numerous times with both of my boys and they really love being in the water. Their lessons are thirty minutes long and I normally bring a book, the iPad, or laptop to get some work or reading done during the boy’s lessons. However, as I sat there this week I looked up from my game of Words With Friends to notice my son looking up at me. He said, “Daddy, did you see that?”

I did what every father would have done in that situation. I replied with an enthusiastic, “Of course I did buddy, good job!”

For the remainder of his lesson I put my phone away and ignored my texts, emails, games, Facebook and Twitter updates. I just watched my son swim and noticed just how many times he looked up to me to see that I was watching. It was clear that every time he looked at me, he was checking to see that I was watching and seeking my approval.

As I was watching my son swim, I looked around to the other parents in the pool area. Nearly every single one of them had their heads buried in a device of some sort. Mom’s checking their phones and iPads or dads reading books and checking emails. Kids were looking up for an approving look and were instead greeted by the top of a head or the back of a device. I made my mind up then that I would, “be there” when my sons look up for that approving thumbs up or nod of the head.

With this idea of being there in mind, I reflected on my work in the classroom with my students. How many times are my students working on something and I sneak to my desk to grade something? When my students are struggling and look up to me and my head is in a computer updating a grade book, what message am I sending? If a student is doing something they are proud of and I am replying to emails, how do they feel?  My goal is to return to work next week and be there…less time doing the managerial work that I need to do, but be among the kids more. I want to watch them work and be there to encourage them, support them, and give them the thumbs up when they look to me.