Lessons in Education, Featuring Gary Larson: Part VI

By Ed Tech Maniac, Darin Anderson

Gary Larson often used his The Far Side comics to prey upon the inhumanness of animals to make us actual humans laugh. The joke here is not so much the entrance of the border collie to help edge off the uncertainty of the sheep, but rather it is the sheep themselves, unable to piece together enough collective intelligence to make their party a hit.

Throughout time sheep have been marked with the stereotype of being blind, dumb followers, and/or unable to have independent thought. Even though this label is not entirely true, society still uses the species to define anyone who follows the crowd or bows to the whim of any kind of mass grouping. (See Animal Farm...or political rallies...or any show on MTV.)

See, sheep instinctively flock together when predators are near as a means of safety. The rattlesnake has its venom, the porcupine his quills, and the teacher her detention slip. What does the fuzzy white ruminant have?

Students, and even teachers, are typically no different when it comes to sheep-like behavior - at least in certain arenas.

Here are two education examples:

1. A teacher assigns his students to complete a project and then commences to scouring the internet for insight into his upcoming NFL fantasy draft. A worthwhile cause to be sure, but meanwhile his "little flock" is wandering aimlessly through fields of academia without any knowledge of where they are or what they should be doing.

2. Staff members show up to their assigned location for professional development delivered by a consultant from parts unknown. Before long the teachers are confused wanderers, continuously watching the clock in anticipation of lunch at Cafe Rio.

The point of this comic strip is NOT to illustrate the rather unfunny idea that border collies are bred for the specific purpose of herding sheep and chasing cattle. Such thoughts are identical to pointing out that teachers are supposed to teach their students.

No, the key takeaway here is that, left to their own devices, sheep are often incapable of pursuing outside objectives, or sometimes their own desires, without some guidance from competent, trained professionals.

As we approach our work with students, PLCs, or content departments, let us always remember these few NOTs:

• Not all children and adults are capable of going off on their own, rudderless
• Most people do not intentionally sabotage proceedings without having at least some reasoning
• We cannot assume that students or staff know what to do, but are simply not willing to do it
• When asked to do independent work or engage in self-guided inquiry, not all kids and adults will be able to have success just because they are expected to
• Individualized learning is not equal to on-your-own learning
• Do not attempt to build a lasting edifice without first laying a solid foundation and then putting up strong walls

Conversely, here is a list of DOs to keep in the foreground:

• Provide individualized exploration opportunities combined with just-in-time instruction - just beyond the ZPD
• Teach, model, and practice methods of working individually or in collaborative groups
• Guided scaffolding is an irreplaceable aspect of education
• Pre-teaching with constant check-ins is timeless strategy
• Exercise gradual release of responsibility, with constant observation (think of a child learning to ride her bicycle)
• Show patience and understanding, knowing that not all travelers reach their destinations at the same time

Certainly, no teaching will always result in the kinds of outcomes we want. But avoiding these pitfalls and following the path of DOs will help us get our schools where they need to be.

What can a single sheep teach us about #independentlearning? Follow the crowd on over to learn more. #edtech #edchat pic.twitter.com/ksQUG4MlhN

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) August 19, 2015

Technology and Entitlement: A Recipe for Success?

By Ed Tech Maniac, Darin Anderson

Life is not to be graded like a standardized test, as is evidenced by the kinds of opportunities available to some but out of reach for others.

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers: The Story of Success, puts forth the theory that people do not attain success in spite of their circumstances, but because of them. For every inspiring rags to riches story that we hear, there are thousands more success stories that are nowhere close to folklore.

The fact is, Gladwell claims, talent and ability notwithstanding, most successful people simply took advantage of the fortuitous bounces that came their way, while their less unlucky counterparts were left behind. Superior intelligence, for example, is less a factor in one's ultimate success than is where they were born and what advantages were proffered to them.

The son of a farmer in rural Kansas and the Doctor's son from Los Angeles may well have equal intellect and ability, but the two will have vastly different opportunities that will shape them and help determine where they end up.

Or so the theory goes...

While there is much truth in that line of thinking, there is also a much more level playing field in the world today, as each and every one of us strives for our own brand of success. And it is thanks, in large part, due to technology.

To help put this in perspective, in Outliers Gladwell writes about the characteristics of a typical middle-class upbringing:

"The heavily scheduled middle class child is exposed to constantly shifting set of experiences. She learns teamwork and how to cope in highly structured settings. She is taught how to interact comfortably with adults, and to speak up when she needs to. ...the middle-class children learn a sense of 'entitlement'."

Even as Gladwell admits that the word "entitlement" carries with it a negative connotation, in its truest definition it actually makes sense. As humans we are all entitled to certain unalienable rights, among those being the ability to acquire information and to learn,

The gift of technology has allowed all of us, where able, to reap the full rewards of entitlement. Let me illustrate my idea with this example: I was born and raised in a small farming community in Idaho. While I was no stranger to knowledge - I had access to all the books I would ever want to read - my opportunities were limited compared to those my same age who grew up in more urban areas. For several years, we received our newspaper two days after printing. And since we had only two TV stations via our rooftop antenna, I never knew who won Sunday NFL games until the Tuesday after.

Now, with the marvels of ever-advancing technology, such a scenario is rather unheard of. Since that time in the 1980s we have evolved from catching NFL scores and highlights on cable TV programs, to anytime access via the Internet, to now being able to watch live games on mobile devices from wherever we are.

Simply stated, we are now in a culture where we feel entitled to getting whatever information and content we want at the touch of a screen. We don't even need the proverbial button anymore!

If I want to learn how to fix my wife's kitchen mixer, I look it up on YouTube (true story). Similarly, if a kid wants to play guitar or put her hair up in a crazy new braid, there are unlimited resources online to help her do so. If by chance there is not a YouTube tutorial, there are literally millions of discussion threads out there full of all kinds of advice and suggestions. Honestly, at least as far as popular culture goes, there is not an original question out there. By and large, we do not have to wait for our inquiries to be addressed.

However, it is not all good. There are two sides to this tale of entitlement:

1. Access to knowledge has long been the cure to abolishing ignorance, which has been and still is the fodder for tyranny. Ask Hitler or Stalin if they would have liked the Internet in the hands of their citizens.

2. Immediate access to knowledge creates a generation of lazy, me-first citizenry who will grow accustomed to having their brains filled with little to no effort of their own.

These two different roads can and do run simultaneously. What's more, they often intersect with one another, sometimes several times on any given day.

This is where we can make significant and meaningful differences as teachers of our emerging and curious students. We can show them how to navigate the two diverging and converging roads to best make use of the talents and abilities they have. We can help inspire them to pursue their greatness while also teaching them to temper their desires and take purposeful baby steps.

Technology offers our young people opportunities that we could never have imagined even a decade ago. Here are a few examples of what technology can do for our kids as they practice their cultural entitlement to knowledge:

• Encourage them to serve - Knowledge is useless unless it is put into action to better someone. It is even better if what they learn is used to make the lives of others easier. So many students have received acclaim for doing good works; our kids need to see that they can make a difference - and not in some cliched way - but a real impact on their community and their world.
• Connect with others globally - The world is a smaller place because of technology, but how many of our kids use their knowledge of social media to its fullest potential? More than just talking about sports or cute boy bands, discussions of cultures and traditions and beliefs are just a matter of bringing them up.
• Teach them to create - From what we learn comes products and services that make life better for all of us. With all of the creation technology available at little or no cost, our students can be coding and creating new apps, designing and printing useful 3D models, or building robots that perform otherwise mundane tasks for people. The difference between learning and doing is often just access to some basic creation tools.
• They learn to improve their own station in life - Knowledge is power and now more than ever that power can be used for entrepreneurial endeavors. The path from poverty to comfort can be a short one with today's capacity to produce something and market it for little to no cost. E-commerce is not going away, and will continue to flourish in new and unimaginable ways. Many teenagers are taking advantage of the possibilities entitled to them simply via Wi-Fi access.
• No more blind acceptance - In the past hearing something from a reputable source made it as good as true. Now there are so many more avenues for students to explore answers to their questions beyond a classroom. Not only that, there is typically a massive network of students across the world with similar aspirations. Meeting up with them is, well, something our kids take for granted; it's entitled to them.

All recipes must follow a specific order with predetermined amounts of ingredients. Success with technology and entitlement is no different. As Gladwell puts it, we are, to a large degree, products of our environment. Rather than squandering our fortuitous circumstances, we must take full advantage of what we've been given.

Growing up in a world with so much technological ease is a perfect scenario for success for our students. They just may not know how to put the ingredients together correctly.

Are we helping them?

#Breakfast with #EdTech. Using #technology and our #entitlement culture as a #Recipe4Success pic.twitter.com/6dmKFOTsyx

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) August 11, 2015

Lessons in Education Featuring Gary Larson: Part IV

Written by EdTechManiac, Darin Anderson

In the latest installment of our comical series, we will explore the concept of idea exploration in schools. Let's just hope that no one gets hurt in the process. ;-)

Among other things, Gary Larson is noted for using prehistoric figures to represent modern kinds of thinking. In this comic, we see a group of neanderthals exhibiting modern scientific principles (note the clipboard-holding caveman near the bottom) by conducting a controlled experiment.

What we also have before us is a comedic look at the sheer idiocy of tying a living being to the outside of a rock wheel.

Whether or not he has studied science, modern man understands the basic principles of physics, through experience mostly, and knows what is about to happen to the unsuspecting man...and so we laugh. (Granted, it shows how demented we can be as a society, but that is another story for another day.)

Looking at the paragraph above, which is the most important word to you? Science? Physics? Demented?

I contend that the single most important term is "Experience."

Now, look back at Larson's creation and ask yourself this question: 

Is it not true that the only reason we find humor in this comic is because these men do not have the background knowledge necessary to see an otherwise obvious tragic ending?

We are laughing at them because they do not know what we know. In that light, maybe it is not as funny anymore.

When put into educational terms, how many of our students walk into class knowing as much as WE know? How many of them have had the same depth of experiences as WE have had? The younger they are the less likely it is that they are aware of much of the content they learn about.

Schools often claim that they allow their students free range of exploration and experimentation - that they are free to make mistakes because that's how we learn. But then they are effectively held hostage by mandated testing that does not honor them for experimenting with the 4 answer choices. No standardized assessment that I know of allows students to make a choice, determine that it was the wrong option, and be able to go back and try again.

Or even worse, school and classroom environments create situations where risk takers and trendsetters are laughed at when they fail. Or ridiculed for trying to be "better" than their peers. Or told that being excellent makes others feel bad. Their experiences are controlled, to a certain extent.

Under similar environments would the airplane exist? Indeed, no one makes fun of the Wright Brothers for crashing plane after plane because society now takes advantage of their ultimate triumph everyday all over the world. We are grateful for their experiences and what their failures amounted to in the long run.

What about the kinds of technology we use on a daily basis? Would we all be pulling out our smartphones and strapping on wearable devices if developers around the world were given one single shot to create the touchscreen interface?

The trouble is that legislation and funding and school accreditation are all tied to some extent or another on static, one-shot assessments.

However, not all aspects of education revolve around standardized test scores. That which we do not control, we cannot change. So what can we do?

With educational technology, and many other teaching tools and strategies, we can create environments that foster creativity and exploration and that encourage experimentation. All of these serve to give our kids experience. Here are just a few ideas:

• Learning Logs or Journals (Written or Audio) - In whatever format they may be, these student-created products provide so much more than just a running commentary of the process of learning. When used to their full potential, logs or journals can become a student's personal portfolio, full of examples of what works and what does not, reflection on successes and failures, and key understandings related to any academic experience. Some of the entries can be teacher recommended, but by and large, log content must be student-generated reflection and analysis. Digital formats, such as a Google Doc, allow for anytime access, which is a stark advantage over paper notebooks. Further, the written word is a vital component of learning, but no one is saying that the logs must be word-processed. Let your students record themselves over a series of PodCasts or audio messages available on most mobile devices and laptops.
• Grading and Assessing Processes not Products - If all a teacher sees is a student's final product, which may or may not be a success, he is missing out on the whole story. Comparatively speaking, if someone only reads the final 15 pages of a novel, she is left with confusion and an uneducated opinion of the story as a whole. With the advantage of the above-mentioned logs or journals, that same teacher can get a snapshot, aside from classroom formative assessment, that helps give her a better understanding of the students' complete stories - she gets the whole picture.
• Legal Hacking - The new definition and function of hacking is nowhere near the same as its predecessor, although many of the same skills are used. Today's hacking (aptly called hackathons) refers to brainstorming sessions put on by businesses across the world. Employees and other interested parties come together to code, with the intent of improving, creating, and/or exploring business software programs and other operations. Some companies sponsor time for employees to develop ideas for and work on new apps. Schools, and a few corporations, have taken the concept a step further and provide structured time for "hackers" to brainstorm solutions to local or regional problems, or to come up with ideas for improving, well, anything.
• Bad Idea Factories and 20% Time Projects - Sometimes the best ideas come from horrible beginnings. The old saying goes that there is no such thing as a stupid question. The same can be said for bad ideas. Even if the result is worthless and/or dangerous, there is something to be learned from the process - if not the product. While I do not condone students burning down random structures to test Freud's Theory of Psychoanalysis (now THAT"S a bad idea), I am a advocate of the process of separating good ideas from not-so-good ideas; the thinking and creativity involved cannot be replicated any better. When classrooms across the country kick off 20% Time Projects, many of them begin with bad idea factories as a way to brainstorm and get ALL ideas out on the table. From those bad ideas grow fruitful endeavors - think manure as food for fruits and vegetables. The 20 Time projects speak for themselves as far as creativity, sustained reflection & analysis, and dealing with setbacks are concerned.
• Teacher Modeling - This is far and away one of the best teaching strategies out there. Especially when it comes to the concept of learning from mistakes, when a teacher is willing to put him or herself out on the line and authentically "screw up" in front of a group of kids, an environment is being established. However, messing up and laughing it off is only step 1 of the process. From there teachers must explicitly model the additional concepts of reflection, revision, and the good ol' fashioned second try. Or third. Or fourth. It is this almost systematic grit and determination that we wish all kids develop and cultivate in school. Any of the above suggestions will work only if students and teachers are fully participating in the entire process of learning, not just checking in at the end of a unit or at test time.

After Grog gets mowed over by the stone wheel, instead of laughing at him or scolding his cohorts for a poor product and their "what-on-earth-were-you-thinking?" moment, we must revisit the occurrence in terms of what it would look like in the classroom.

Aside from stopping Grog and his buddies before they hurt someone, we should be praising the initiative and ingenuity of the group as it tries something new, or something more revolutionary that has never been done, if that's the case. All of these mini moments - micro-experiences let's call them - add up to create authentic macro-experiences that make a huge difference in the lives of our students.

Quality daily #microexperiences in school allow our Ss to build #Macroexperiences in the long run. #Neverwasteaday #Italladdsup #edtech

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) August 7, 2015

Lessons in Education, Featuring Gary Larson: Part II

By EdTechManiac, Darin Anderson

In Part II of our comical series on education reform, we examine two different ideas of education in need of some reform. Oh, and ducks...there will be lots of ducks.

Like most of Gary Larson's The Far Side comics, this particular frame offers both a superficial humor as well as a deeper, more philosophical meaning. In this post, I will offer my thoughts on both levels of understanding as they relate to education reform - or altering behavior in any aspect of our lives.

The initial humor is found is the obvious fact that ducks fly, but for some reason or another, this particular brace (look it up) has not yet lifted its wings to the air, so to speak.

Here, Bugs Bunny offers up a cruel bit of irony, at least where Daffy Duck is concerned. In order to save himself from disaster, all the duck has to do is flap his wings, or take advantage of his natural abilities. But he doesn't.

So too, we laugh at the blatant irony of the lead duck looking up at his peers with the sudden epiphany that they too could fly. In educational terms, it is similar to a student (or teacher) who observes his own peers completing any certain action and then thinks, I can do that too. Before long they are simply soaring.

Sometimes all it takes to leverage change is for an interested party - often it is an impressionable child or teenager, but it can be an adult as well - to closely observe the behavior of others and then mimic it. While it is not always that simple in actuality, many behaviors (movements, actions, procedures) can be reproduced on the basis of mental images  - let's call them mind-made movies - alone.

In his book entitled The Inner Game of Tennis, tennis pro Timothy Gallwey speaks of the battle between Self 1, our mind and ego, and Self 2, the part inside of us all that knows what to do if not interrupted by the conscious brain.

Gallwey explains his theory in the context of a tennis lesson he once gave: 

"My next lesson that day was with a beginner named Paul who had never held a racket. I was determined to show him how to play using as few instructions as possible; I'd try to keep his mind uncluttered and see if it made a difference. So I started by telling Paul I was trying something new. I was going to skip entirely my usual explanations to beginning players about the proper grip, stroke and footwork for the basic forehand.

"Instead, I was going to hit ten forehands myself, and I wanted him to watch carefully, not thinking about what I was doing, but simply trying to grasp a visual image of the forehand. He was to repeat the image in his mind several times and then just let his body imitate. After I had hit ten forehands, Paul imagined himself doing the same. Then, as I put the racket into his hand, sliding it into the correct grip, he said to me, "I noticed that the first thing you did was to move your feet." I replied with a noncommittal grunt and asked him to let his body imitate the forehand as well as it could.

"He dropped the ball, took a perfect backswing, swung forward, racket level, and with natural fluidity ended the swing at shoulder height, perfect for his first attempt! But wait, his feet; they hadn't moved an inch from the perfect ready position he had assumed before taking his racket back. They were nailed to the court. I pointed to them, and Paul said, "Oh yeah, I forgot about them!" The one element of the stroke Paul had tried to remember was the one thing he didn't do! Everything else had been absorbed and reproduced without a word being uttered or an instruction being given!"

Most of us self-identify as being visual learners, and this anecdote fully supports that idea. Our students and teaching peers can and do learn so much by closely watching those around them. I imagine that these ducks will be joining their brethren in the sky in no time...as long as no one intercedes and tells them they cannot or should not be doing so. Or worse yet, over-instructs to the point of confusion and discontent between Self 1 and Self 2.

Gallwey put it this way:

"...it is the constant "thinking" activity of Self 1, the ego-mind, which causes interference with the natural doing processes of Self 2. Harmony between the two selves exists when the mind itself is quiet. Only when the mind is still is one's peak performance reached."

While I do not know if anyone told these ducks to walk south instead of fly, it appears that their minds were indeed getting in the way. The old adage, "Spread your wings and fly," is more truth than fiction, at least in a philosophical sense.

How many children enter Kindergarten having been told over and over to not do this or to stop doing that? And once they gain entrance to the school walls do they not still hear the same tone on a daily basis?

Ask a duck. He knows the answer.

If a child wants to experiment with something new, whether it is a new piece of technology or simply a new way of completing a task, is she honestly given the freedom to do so? Educators preach ingenuity and creativity, but how many of us are actually willing to not just lighten up on the reigns, but to take off the halter all together?

Furthermore, how willing are we as educators to model the same kind of behavior by integrating something new into our respective classrooms? Technology. Behavior Management. Student Engagement.

If you think of the flying V formation as a peer you respect and admire - and yourself as a ground-bound duck - does it seem silly to you to NOT try and reach for higher climes? Of course we would make an attempt.

The capacity to excel exists in all of us  - even as most of us will never become as talented as Serena Williams or Roger Federer are at tennis. We do not all have to be given teacher-of-the-year awards to be considered great. But like hitting 9 out of 10 balls in the court is amazing, so to is believing in the children we teach.

You can learn a lot from a duck. #EdTech #EdChat #EdReform (Stay tuned for the next @edtechmaniacs post.) pic.twitter.com/fa9DIFTpFb

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) July 31, 2015

Summer Fun and Fall...Boredom? - One Education Reform Topic

To monitor a teacher's Twitter feed during the summer months is to see a steady supply of posts and pictures showcasing himself or herself at locations far and wide participating in conferences, edcamps, and trainings of all shapes and sizes. They are learning new concepts, partaking in motivational keynotes, and collaborating with peers from across town and across the globe.

In short, they are having a ball doing what they love.

What's more, many of these teachers also spend hours with their kids throughout the pivotal mid-year months in what has become a popular way to help close learning gaps and/or provide much-needed exposure to academic content:

Photo: Albuquerque Public Schools

From what I can gather, many of these "summer school" opportunities hold very little resemblance to traditional "school" environments. Since many of the kids involved are what we call "at-risk" students, most of the programs operate under a different vision compared to their September-June counterparts.

Traditional schools spend the fall-spring months talking about engagement and innovation and catering to students' wants and needs; however few of them ever deliver the kind of opportunities that summer programs do.

This begs the question...If the structure of summer programs is engaging and effective, why does school not look that way year round? What is the disconnect?

(Before I get too far, let me address the notion that summer programs close all gaps and level the playing field for all students. Simply put, it is not necessarily true. Researchers have found no definitive correlation between summer learning programs and increased student achievement. As is the case with most learning, it seems, student motivation and high quality instruction are the bedrocks of academic achievement. In other words, good teaching is good teaching and kids who want to learn will do just that.)

This blog post is written to neither support nor condemn summer programs as they affect kids' learning. Rather I am writing it as a way to shed light on a summer philosophy, let's say, that seems to imply that summer learning is fun and innovative, while fall-spring learning is meant to maintain its more traditional structures.

Stop me if you've overheard this at a summer school planning session:

"These kids did not get it the first time, so it's pointless to teach it the same way twice. Let's try reaching them another way."

Therefore summer programs all the way from preschool to fifth-year seniors treat their students to field trips, hands-on projects, live performances, and exposure to resources and software normally unavailable during the normal school year. With grants and funding from federal, state, and local government - as well as generosity from regional and local businesses and corporations - participating students experience a rather posh academic lifestyle for a few weeks out of the summer.

However, when September rolls around again, these same "at-risk and struggling" students are back to sitting in rows being subjected to mind-numbing lectures and grappling with tedious and often pointless worksheets.

To steal a phrase from the classic movie Grease:

Oh, oh those summer school days! (fanpop.com)

"Summer Schoolin'

Had me a blast.

Summer Schoolin'

Happened so fast."

My plea is meant to be added to the chorus of others wishing for a particular aspect of education reform. That is, if innovative and fresh ideas are what the doctor orders for summer school participants, why are similar structures too often met with resistance from teachers and administrators alike?

The means of perpetuating the idea of "cutting-edge" and "Student-Driven" instruction is found amongst the current supply of education buzz words:

Student Voice and Choice

Project-Based Learning

Inquiry Learning

Hands-On Activities

Real World Problems

Creation and Production

Etc

My contention is less about the implementation of these or any other kind of program or learning framework. Rather it is more about the answers to these (and many other) questions:

• If Maker Spaces, for example, are great for kids in summer programs (or after-school environments) why are more districts not taking steps to incorporate them into weekly school schedules?
• Robotics programs (and others like them) are valuable for teaching math and science, along with any number of success skills, but why are they not found as regular options for kids during the school year?
• Summer School students often get to go on relevant field trips as a major portion of their summer learning, but why from September to June does it become problematic to send kids out into locations both local and regional?
• Cross-curricular units are all the rage in summer programs, but once September hits, why do teachers revert back to closed-door, I'm-the-expert proceedings?
• Genius Hour or 20 Time give students free, yet scaffolded time to explore their own interests and passions, but where do those hours (well more than 20%, most will say) go during the school year?

While the answers to these questions will continue to evade some educators, there are select groups across the academic landscape that have found success - at least to some degree - in making them work within whatever confines they operate under. If the issue is time and schedule, there are plenty of institutions that have adjusted and tweaked to make things work. If funding is the hangup, there are plenty of examples of places doing more with less. There is no excuse for writing it off as unfeasible.

Interested parties must continue to keep the conversations alive with administrative personnel, community members, parents, peer teachers, and - most importantly - the kids.

"Summer Schoolin' Had me a blast. Summer Schoolin' Happened so fast." The Ode of ESY kids who lament going back to "old school" #EdChat

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) July 21, 2015

Anti-Social Media: Are You an Offender?

Here's what got me thinking about this:

Recently, Mike & Mike, a highly popular sports radio show on ESPN, announced on Twitter that it is now a full-fledged member of Snapchat.

Guess what? We're now on Snapchat! Add us to see everything you missed from Mike and Mike's night with the @Indians! pic.twitter.com/w86QmHBJhH

— Mike & Mike (@MikeAndMike) July 10, 2015

While this may not seem like a big deal to most folks, the producers of Mike & Mike felt the need to add the show into the increasingly popular social media format. Already boasting a Facebook page and Twitter accounts, it seemed that Mike and Mike either jump into the foray of Snapchat or leave behind an opportunity to connect with an even greater audience.

It is marketing at its best...and it is free.

Take note of just a few popular companies that have taken to social media to shop their wares and services. Here is a short list:

Ummmmm...ALL OF THEM! (Long report, but an interesting skim.)

There is not really a single entity - from Fortune 500 Companies down to the mom-and-pop stores found on Main Street, USA - that does not utilize social media in some way or another.

And yet when students enter classrooms across the country they are directed to turn their phones off. Or they find that social media sights are blocked by the school security firewalls. Or they are told that Tweeting is a waste of time. Or that SM use will put them in danger of being subjected to awful material.

I get the sentiment. Many teachers feel that if students are browsing SM pages or staying busy "liking" stuff, then they are not paying close attention to highly academic lectures on "Past Participles" or the "Endocrine System."

Therein lies one of the most fundamental problems with education. While lecturing is a necessary part of one's academic experience, too many teachers head straight to the podium and neglect the power and benefit of tapping into what is a major chunk of our students' world - social media.

Just like Internet searches, social media can indeed subject our kids to the ills of pornography, indecent language, and objectionable advertisements, but for those of us worried about little Johnny and Suzie seeing something they shouldn't, I argue that that is not enough reason to ditch the SM avenue all together. After all, how many of us still have TVs and computers in our own homes - despite the threat of offensive content entering therein?

iStock Photo

So much of what we teach to our students is available Online in the form of content/concept-related resources, discussions, and other means. As we continue the work to shift education from "Sage-on-the-Stage" to an environment of student examination and discovery, allowing our kids to engage more with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. (while we model the appropriate use of them), social media acts as both the instructor and the "textbook" or our students.

All the while, under direction from knowledgeable teachers and other experts, students are simultaneously learning content and skills while also learning and practicing appropriate digital citizenship, i.e. how to use social media for good and not for nefarious purposes.

It seems that if the companies and businesses that will ultimately employ our students are embracing social media, then so should we as educators of the future workforce. How ironic it is that most school districts have Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter accounts to market their own schools, but the kids they serve are not allowed to utilize the sites while in the building!

This must change. And this is our charge:

• Engage our kids in rich discussion with their peers - and "friends" from far away places - via hashtags. #Amazing!
• Teach them how to connect with others from around the world. Who can be the first to get a "follower" from another country?
• Model how to reach out to experts far and wide for advice and resources. Hey, if folks are on Twitter, they want to be reached out to!
• Explain both the advantages and the snares of using social media, especially with younger students. #nevergivepersonalinformation
• Show them (or have them show you) how to publish content on SM and how to market themselves to mass audiences. How is THAT for an authentic academic experience??
• Model digital responsibility and monitor students' academic activity to ensure their safety. Garbage is everywhere, but we can avoid it with simple strategies.
• Embrace the fact that teachers are no longer the sole source of information. Rather guide your students to consume and create properly and effectively.

An ISTE 2015 Ignite Session presenter had this to say about the way we educate students:

Old Projector without a Twitter Page

"What are the contents of their backpacks today compared to years past?"

To be sure, handing our kids a textbook that is at once outdated and irrelevant, is akin to us receiving a projector reel to show film strips to our classes. Who among us would stoop to such levels? (But hey! it worked for our moms and dads, right?)

While taking the leap towards allowing - encouraging - social media use in your classroom might be a major professional risk, the benefits of structured SM activity in your classroom far outweigh the potential damage.

Plus your kids will love it.

#SWAG

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) July 10, 2015

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ISTE 2015 Notes and Takeaways

Here I am in Philadelphia at the annual ISTE Conference. Yup, just me and 20,000 of my closest friends from across the globe.

Honestly, there is entirely too much to take in especially given that I am flying solo on this trip.

To ensure that my #notatiste friends can take part in a small slice of the conference, I here provide a few of the nuggets of information and inspiration that I have gleaned from Sunday's pre-conference activities.

Take. Use. Enjoy.

Ignite #1 (notes are raw)

Twitter even at young agesLearn along with the world
What if they could show mastery in many ways?
What are the contents of their backpacks? Today compared to years past?iPads as mobile film making devices - use the camera, dang it!!!
Students can and should engage the worldCulture of CreationConsumption should lead to creationCreation requires influence. What is the influence we provide for kids?YouTube as a creation deviceAre all students expected to create using the same technology? Expand their toolboxes."I am making the future"Opportunities and Options
They did it all...because they could. They want a challenge. A challenge to do good.Teachers need more tech training. Their websites suck!Hacker 2.0Your students are hacking with or without you.Start a tech club
Students need to move in school.
Student voice
Be an exemplar of what mass sharing of products looks likeSing like you don't care who's listeningI want to start a YouTube channel!Monitor action on their own youtube channels
How can kids brand their own work? How can they advertise it? Hype it? How can they get their own message "out there" for all to see?How can teachers do the same?Live streaming of events, science projects, parent nights, etc.

Plan for the outcome, but be prepared for the journey :-)
Steer our kids away from the "race to erase" and create digital citizenship.What does our digital footprint say about us?

Stay tuned for more from #ISTE2015

Show Me the CCSS Part IV: Explain (Almost) Everything

Riddle me this, Batman:

Why is it that I can give an"explanation" but I cannot "explan" my reasoning?  Or vice versa?

Okay, so perhaps you cannot explain everything to your students.

But with an amazing app called Explain Everything, you can have your students come as close as possible to explaining what they know about any given topic.

Those of you who have 1:1 or a classroom set of tablets can certainly take advantage of the app that is in every way worthy of the $2.99 price tag.

With EE, students have the capacity to create high quality slideshows complete with videos, pictures, and annotation tools including text, drawing, and scribble features. What's more, your students can create, edit, and upload their finished video products directly to the device picture roll or any number of cloud storage sites including Google Drive. It is even compatible with YouTube and features easy uploading to a public or private channel.

EE also allows students to record themselves talking about any kind of classroom content, from describing the literary elements of "The Most Dangerous Game" to explaining (there's that word again) why the area of this irregular object is approximately ___ cm.

The best part of Explain Everything?

Unlike several other whiteboard apps, EE lets students record, edit, and save presentations for use from day to day, or even week to week. Such a feature makes the app perfect for quick formative assessment or for formal summative presentations. EE can either augment or take the place of classroom speeches.

It is widely accepted that having students talk their way through solutions and reasoning yields higher achievement. Additionally, many kids find it much easier to explain their thinking verbally than they do trying to make sense of it in writing. (Nationally-renowned educator and speaker Dr. Wesley Fryer said it this way: How much more could students accomplish if writing skills were not holding them back?)

Indeed, do a quick Web search of business presentations. You will be inundated with sites touting "10 Tips for a Killer Presentation" but would be hard-pressed to find the same advice for writing a top business essay. While quality writing skills are and always will be an integral part of success, the truth is most of what is defined as victory in the world of business centers around the ability to master the spoken word.

Finally, one of the biggest advantages of EE is that it saves valuable grading time. Instead of dragging an entire ream of papers to your son's soccer practice, you can simply open up YouTube on your phone and assess an entire class set of presentations while also working on your tan. Try catching some rays with 50 or so loose sheets of paper flying around.

Need more evidence? Consider these hints and ideas:

+ Use EE to flip your classroom - in conjunction with a YouTube channel or Google Drive account

+ Do a YouTube search for Explain Everything videos - see what other schools are doing with it

+ For those students with device access outside of school, make homework come alive with EE assignments

+ Use looped EE presentations to showcase student work at parent/teacher conferences or school open houses

+ Download a free e-book with several lesson ideas for students through junior high school

+ This website offers an informative tutorial along with some teaching ideas

+ EE offers the capacity to annotate videos (John Madden, anyone?)

How have you used EE in your classrooms? Please comment below. Or better yet, share your creations with us on Twitter: @EdTechManiacs @coachdarin22 @blaireinfeldt

Go ahead. Pony up the $2.99 and download Explain Everything. You will not be sorry.

The Play's (Not the Only) Thing: Taking Your Students to "Why"

"It is not just about playing, it is about asking why things happen. Design your lessons around questions to be explored and analyzed."

If the above line sounds like something you heard at an instructional design training, you are not alone. But it certainly is more difficult to implement such a concept on a day-to-day basis than it first appears.

This is what we know: 

The "play" engages and hooks the students. The experimentation and trial runs are much of what they experience in the world of computer gaming consoles and tablet apps. Failure, to those in this realm, is of no major concern because they just try again and again until the elusive prize or final level is attained.

This is where it perhaps gets a little fuzzy: Why the struggle and why the joy therein?

Discussions of why certain aspects of games result in (most often) failure and (ultimately) success are the bedrock of learning. Think about it: within each video game exists rich academic content including physics, algorithms, patterns, and more. Those, combined with authentic problem solving and critical thinking opportunities, make game play in classrooms an almost too-good-to-be-true learning environment.

Photo courtesy of ww2.kqed.org

Obviously, there is an extensive amount of research out there about the positives of game play, simulation activities, and the like. It is engaging for students, and for the most part, they like it. It represents an escape from the typical lecture-style classroom and it brings authentic activities to the forefront of learning. I mean, who does not want to show up and play games in class?

However, if game play ends there, keeping the kiddos engaged and busy, yet only assuming they are learning something, we are doing our students a monumental disservice. And too often, any planned discussion that accompanies game play is either irrelevant or entirely superficial in nature.

As far as CCSS and best practice are concerned, here is the charge: Instead of just assuming gamification will lead to deep student investment and academic discovery, educators must ensure students have an opportunity to discuss/analyze/determine why things worked as they did.

“We should be careful not to view learning technologies as a replacement for deep teacher and student interactions. We see effective technology supports as enabling the opposite,” said Stacey Childress, deputy director of education at the Gates Foundation.

The idea is to lead students in identifying, defining, and clarifying the processes that are naturally occurring in their minds as they navigate their way through games or simulations. With concrete terms and concepts out in the "cognitive wide open," it becomes easier for teachers and students together to hone the skills necessary to analyze and critique situations and become better problem solvers in all walks of life.

Topics to cover when working towards true classroom gamification:

After beating your high score

The psychology of gaming - or why certain computer-generated conundrums elicit specific and real human responses and actions. Examination of these responses would lay a foundation for meaningful classroom discussion in science and psychology courses about the power of brainwork.

Game Mechanics - there is more to playing a video game than just mindless shooting or searching for lost treasure. Indeed an entire battery of psychological, physiological, and social factors come into play as students become involved with a game. Discussing what make a gamer tick could result in some interesting theories to explore.

Determination and Grit - two qualities that are highly sought after in both the academic and business world. For sure, teachers and employers alike demand that students/workers exhibit strong work ethic and "stick-to-it-ivness" and repeatedly say that those two characteristics are at least as important, if not more important than, previous learning and experience.

Decision Making and Morals - researchers suggest that playing certain video games can in fact increase a person's capacity to make better moral decisions as he or she encounters "real world" situations. The jury is still out on the overall mental and spiritual gains to be made with gaming, but the fact that the topic is out on the table suggests that more and more people are recognizing that game play is not all bad.

Of course, the major miracle that is the human brain always has been and will continue to be a focus of study. For every child who increases cognitive capacity in part due to game play, there will be another whose failures are attributed to too much wasted time with a gaming console. The debate will rage on and on.

But here and now, this is what I content: No amount of meaningful and deliberate discussion about what is occurring in students' minds and why it affects thoughts and behavior will ever be wasted.

Simon Sinek so adeptly described this idea in his TED Talk "Start with Why."

As students are led through opportunities to determine not only WHAT is happening in and around them but also WHY, they will be building and honing the skills necessary to tackle whatever life throws at them.

So go ahead and game on!

My thoughts exactly.

Click here for a link to real-life simulations

And follow us @edtechmaniacs & @coachdarin22

Using Tech to Foster Student Inquiry

 

Pop Quiz: How many times has any given student, upon admitting defeat, exclaimed, "Just give me the answer!!"?

The answer is...well, all of them.

I see 2 problems with this kind of response. First, this given student has probably not been taught true self-inquiry and/or self-advocacy. Perhaps he or she has no grit or determination to see things through. 

Secondly, the questions themselves may not lean towards a spirit of inquiry. Too often the child is asked to find the single "correct" answer in the abnormally sized haystack. And the teachers take great joy in devising questions that are so "rigorous" (read: tricky) that only one person in the world knows the answer to it. How fair is that?

I understand that students will be students and laziness does exist. But what good does it do to send anyone on a wild goose chase for answers to close-ended questions?

Enter the edtechmaniacs' solution.

#1) Ask them an inquiry based question. In PBL it's called the driving question. A good DQ will open the door to their own answers. (See video)

#2) Teach them how to use technology to seek answers. Have them find a professional or expert on Twitter or Facebook. Scour Wikipedia (yes, I said it) for sources to scour even more. Use Skype to conduct a live chat with someone in Europe. Get everyone involved with Skype Classroom. Students and teachers from all over are itching to get together via Skype's new education program.

Please take some time to visit or acquaint yourself with these websites and programs. Teaching responsible use and turning students loose, will go a long way towards the students finding their own answers.

No Needle. No Haystack.  No upset students.