Doodlecast Pro: A Whiteboard App Perfect for Teacher Feedback

By Ed Tech Maniac, Darin Anderson

Work smarter, not harder...with Doodlecast Pro Among many other benefits, This app makes providing teacher feedback a breeze! #edtech

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) August 28, 2015

cocteautwins.deviantart.com

If you are like me, you love a good whiteboard and set of colorful markers. Like Picasso and a blank canvas, I see before me endless possibilities of words, shapes, and meaningless scribbles and diagrams (or highly meaningly, depending on the person taking it in).

Now that modern technology has entered the picture, the same concept has made its way onto iPads, tablets, and Chromebooks that, while not as messy or fulfilling as an Expo Masterpiece, provide opportunities for users to design, produce, and publish their creations to a wide audience.

Certainly, there are several whiteboard apps on the market, and they all provide nearly the same features and capabilities. However, there is one particular app that I came across recently that does something intriguing to me. As a Google Drive advocate and undying supporter, I am always on the lookout for apps, add-ons, and programs that are Drive ready.

So I introduce to you Doodlecast Pro, a whiteboard app that offers drawing, video, voice, and photo capabilities with nearly seamless integration with one of several cloud storage services - Google Drive being the best, IMHO - and YouTube, if that meets your fancy.

Aside from some obvious student uses - explanatory videos, non-linguistic representations, or realtime math solutions, to name just a few - Doodlecast Pro offers teachers the ability to provide meaningful feedback about student learning is a very efficient and effective manner.

Traditionally, educators have given students static paper assignments - worksheets, math problems, writing prompts, etc - and provided feedback in much the same way. That is, formative feedback has normally been written on paper, and, quite honestly has been less that helpful. After all, what teacher can spend the hours it takes to write constructive and helpful comments on 123 papers and return them in a timely manner?

Who are we trying to kid? The comments they do write have been largely ignored by the very audience they were written to help. Certainly, we expect our students to take an active role in the revision process, but if THIS is the feedback they get, who can blame students for feeling confused and frustrated?

What possible help could this feedback provide
to help a student improve?

Look closely at the circled comment on the middle bottom of the paper. What does it say? "See me after class," so the teacher can assumedly tell the student what he cannot put into written words in the margins.

The solution?

The power of Doodlecast Pro is the power to provide digital feedback in the form of visual and auditory content. We know that face-to-face communication is one of the most effective methods of providing feedback to students. We also know that meeting one-on-one with students on a consistent basis is very difficult and time-consuming given the mandates of assessment and large class sizes.

Doodlecast Pro can help alleviate some of those constraints. In effect, after a teacher provides verbal AND written feedback on an assessment of some sort, via this amazing app, simultaneous feedback sessions for any number of students can be built into each and every class period. While watching personalized videos, students can all take part in the revision process as the teacher moves about the room providing specific instruction to just those who need it versus spending an entire class period conferencing with only a limited number of kids.

Compare the following example of teacher feedback - created with Doodlecast Pro - posted to YouTube:

44 seconds of video explanation can be so much more effective that writing feedback on the paper, especially for a struggling reader or an ELL. What's more, the feedback is available at all hours of the day, not just when kids are at school.

Here are just a few suggestions for implementation:

Worksheets: Take a pic of the completed worksheet and talk your way through specific feedback on any or all of the questions/problems. While worksheets are not necessarily the best option for students (especially if you are reading this EdTech post), the act of turning the feedback into digital form is a great leap towards 21st Century Education.

Constructed Responses & Essay Draft Assistance: As shown in the video above, talking and annotating over a student's work has greater effect than written (and often vague and confusing) comments.

Math Problems: Both students and teachers benefit with the capacities of Doodlecast Pro. Kids can talk their way through math problems/concepts while afterwards, teachers can respond with verbal and visual feedback of their own.

Fine Arts: Verbal feedback given over a still photo of a student's painting, sculpture, design, etc is a snap with Doodlecast Pro.

Physical Education: While Doodlecast Pro does not support video annotation, still photos of form during skills performance can easily turn into auditory and visual feedback.

Keep the feedback flowin' with Doodlecast Pro!

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Lessons in Education, Featuring Gary Larson: Part III

By EdTechManiac, Darin Anderson

Many of Gary Larson's comic strips from The Far Side tell so much of a story without so much as a word of dialogue. With his brilliance - no matter how off-the-wall it might be - Larson can indeed draw a picture that is worth well more than a thousand words.

In Part III of the EdTechManiacs comical Gary Larson series (see Parts I and II here), we will discuss how the "delicious" dish of liver and onions relates to the kinds of products we deliver to our students in the classroom and to teachers in schools across the country.

Compare this comic to a classroom
setting from your past. What did you learn?

This Larson offering is both playing off of the innocence of youth and preying upon the insecurities of all of us. Remember, ages ago, when you would clamber outside at the very sound of the ice cream truck rolling down your street? Do you also recall the opposite emotions upon finding out that your mom was making your least favorite meal that night? (Mine was goopy and neon green split pea soup.) This cartoon sums up both the elation of summertime treats and the gloom of unappetizing fare.

Honestly, most of us are fairly competent at sniffing out each kind of opportunity. As the old adage goes, if it looks like liver and smells like liver, it's probably liver, no matter what lengths a person goes to in order to make it seem otherwise. Our students, on one hand, are especially keen at this - and the younger they are the better they are at it.

Kindergartners enter their first year of "official school" having gone through six years of questioning and inquiry and curiosity. Many times, they also lack a filter that typically comes with maturity and age. (This is why a 5-year-old can get away with calling a man fat, while a teenager would get scolded for not knowing better.) All of this results in groups of children who know what they want ...and also what they do not want.

Our students come into our schools with preconceived ideas about what they want to learn and what they will attempt to avoid at any cost. Granted, so much of their desires center around content that schools cannot offer directly, but the students still show up with that yearning to learn more about them.

Even as traditional school may be a chief contributor to killing that creativity and inquiry, this Larson comic speaks volumes about changing school culture at fundamental and actionary levels.

How can we better gear our kids towards reaching standards outside of their control while also allowing them to achieve their own learning goals? This becomes the $68.6 billion question that educators must try to answer.

Let's begin jumping into the answers to this deep and broad subject by posing a few more questions.

• How many educational opportunities are packaged as something inviting and cutting-edge, but really offer only outdated or irrelevant information and content?
• Or worse, why is something viable and meaningful too often delivered via a vehicle designed for carrying disgusting meats?
• How can we do it all without adding anything more to our already heavy plates?

To me, any response to this question begins with some analysis of your constituency - students, parents and/or staff. You may think you know what your kids need, for example, because of mandated testing, curriculum maps and such. But DO you really have a finger on the pulse of your kids? Or your staff?

Like the kids in the comic, you might be approaching them with some scrumptious liver...when they are actually looking for a dreamsicle. I mean, who would do that, right?

To a certain extent, our hands are tied when it comes to the WHAT in education. However, we have a multitude of options when it comes to the HOW. With that in mind, we can better serve others if we know more about what they like (ice cream) and what they do not (liver).

To begin, here are a few "Livers" (things that were once cool, but are now like the 8-Track) that might be better left behind:

• Introducing and delivering content via PowerPoint - They are essentially the same as paper, but you can't doodle on them during classes or PD days.
• Sit-and-Get lectures and PD offerings - Today's generation is mobile and agile; sitting is the new smoking
• Pencil and Paper worksheets, graphic organizers, and, well, anything - While I understand that pencils will never become obsolete, ummm, neither will technology.
• One-at-a-time student presentations - Not only do these take up valuable instruction time, they also take up way too much time. Did I mention that they are time-consuming as well as lengthy? Oh, and it's boring, too. 
• Teacher-Assigned Products or Projects - Honestly, the world does not need any more landfills full of dioramas and tri-fold posters.
• The Archaic "No Cell Phones" Poster - Nowadays, it's the same as telling folks to leave their textbooks and such at home. The mobile device is a powerful tool that can be used for good AND evil. The choice is up to you.
• Speaking of Textbooks... - With constantly changes research landscapes, textbooks are almost outdated the moment they are published. Up-to-the-minute information is available at the touch of a screen. Why fight a losing battle when learners will head to Google anyway?

Rather than rolling down the street in our Liver-Mobile - even with the catchy trolley-style music - we could approach our Cell Mitosis unit or Standards-Based Grading PD (or whatever) from a different perspective.

Try these on for size:

• YouTube - Your kids use it...so should you. Perfect for flipping or blending instruction and for anytime learning.
• Social Media - Of course, this is a biggie for most of us. So brainstorm ways to get your kids and/or peers discussing and collaborating on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
• 3D Printing - What if your 2D doodles could come to life as tangible 3D objects? This is a current craze that will only gain more ground as the products advance. What was once untouchable technology if now fairly standards in most schools.
• 4D Augmented Reality - Programs like Aurasma, Augment, and DAQRI have taken interacting with content to a whole new level. Once limited to just consumption, AR programs are now beginning to allow kids to create and publish their own 4D designs.
• Green Screen Technology - What used to be sophisticated and expensive is now available on laptops and tablets alike. Going green allows for creativity and expression while also producing quality content that is digitally shareable. Did I mention that it also saves valuable instruction time?
• Making the World a Classoom - Whether it is connecting with someone from abroad on Twitter or sharing resources with a classmate from across town on Google Drive, people are no longer limited to what they can see from their own location.
• Gamification - On the heels of the recent Microsoft purchase of Minecraft, the EdTech world is all the more abuzz about combining what many kids already know - gaming - with what they "need" to know (in an academic sense). With some creative thinking Clash of Clans can indeed become a viable curriculum.

As we look to advance our field and hone our craft, we will be in a constant state of research and reflection. Change is certain. No longer should we disguise liver and onions as quality education. One taste and they'll figure it out. 

As #educators do we provide #relevantinstruction for our schools or R we delivering #liverandonions? #EdReform pic.twitter.com/CSsavE6bHa

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) August 3, 2015

10 YouTubing Uses that Align with Common Core Part 1: Speaking and Listening

By EdTechManiac, Blair Einfeldt
*update* For anyone interested, our family YouTube Channel can be found here.

For the first time in quite a while, I have had an abundance of time to spend with my children at home. Chalk that up for my first true teacher summer or living substantially closer to the high school where I teach. Regardless, upon spending this time with my kids I have learned one very important thing:

MY KIDS LOVE YOUTUBE!

Like Lays potato chips, it's impossible

They watch YouTube non stop. They watch gaming videos, they watch cat videos, they even watch videos of people watching videos. You read that correct. I observed my children watching a man who was making a video of himself watching a TV show. And they aren't alone. Sixty thousand other people have watched that same person watching that same video.

I pulled out my phone for quick research (there is extreme value to this which I will discuss later) to see how much this man, who watched a TV show, mad for watching said TV show. It was a bit vague but I came to a general consensus that through ad placement, YouTube pays out around about $1.50 per thousand views. So looking at that, I realized that this man made about $90 to sit and watch a 20 minute video of Steven Universe. While that is not a ton of money, if I made $90 for every Steven Universe episode I watched...OH GEEZ!

Anyway, in an offhanded comment I mentioned to my children that they could do something like that and probably even better. I did not realize that I had opened up Pandora's Box. I could not unsay that statement. My children went crazy, jumping around at the possibilities of being YouTube famous. So I, being that Arms-Race-Parent, followed by upping the ante with "Of course, let's do this, and we are going to be the best YouTubers EVAH!" I tend to fall into the world of Hyperbole. 

We soon found ourselves purchasing microphone headsets, video cards, digital film editing programs. I'm a bit ashamed at the amount of time and money that followed that first statement, however there have been some awesome things that come about and while I am an educator, I gave reflection to how YouTube and our current foray into viral video distribution has many parallels and uses in the world of education and especially Common Core. And yes...you should have a class YouTube Channel.

Many of you know this, but Core Standards build upon each other. With that said, I intend to focus on the 11th/12th grade standards as our end goal. If you would like to downgrade the standard to fit your particular grade level, have at it.

Let's Start with Speaking and Listening:

Standard:
Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

The traditional way of hitting this standard is a typical class discussion. However, the standard talks about having the students come prepared to the discussion. Class discussions do not generally create that need of preparation as it should.

Try this:

Google has an app called Hangouts. It is essentially Skype for Google. Google, which owns,YouTube, automatically saves a Google Hangout sessions as a video on the YouTube accounts of the people within the Hangout. Put your students in small groups, give them a topic to discuss, but make the discussion a Google Hangout. Give them a 10 minute limit. Spend some time prior and have the students create an outline or even rudimentary script for their hangout.

Being that it will be posted on YouTube, watch the level of quality drastically increase as they are held accountable to the internet (trolls and non-trolls alike).

My children are a perfect example of this. They have created their own standard of creation based on the videos they watch. We have had to create intros, channel art, written scripts, added effects and editing because they were afraid to put poor quality out in the event that the YouTubers that they admire were to watch. They are 5, 7 and 9 years old. Imagine how a 11th grader would improve their quality with that type of internet positive peer pressure.

Standards 2 and 3:
(2) Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data.

(3) Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.

Many of the YouTube videos my pre-double digit aged children watch are Theory Channels. The Gamer Theorists, Cartoon Theory, Film Theorists, Cartoon Conspiracy channels, to name a few, put different ideas and hypotheses in place about relevant (to them) topics. Today, my children are being tasked to take a particular theory and evaluate it for accuracy. This is forcing self driven inquiry and research and will culminate in a 7 year old response video disputing or supporting the thesis of someone else. Again, my 7 and 9 year olds are doing this.

Have your students create a response video to another popular video and provide links to their sources in the description. Or provide your students a debated topic like the validity of the moon landing and have them create a YouTube video breaking down their opinion with sources.

On presentation days, rather than your typical stand-in-front-of-the-class presentations, provide your students links or even QR codes to scan with their iPods or personal devices to watch the videos of their choice. Have your students comment on the video for feedback.

Using YouTube in this way will provide the following things for your classroom:

1. Real-world audience

2. Real-world accountability

3. Engagement

4. Transparency

5. Evidence of Use and Implementation of Standards

6. Evidence of Integration of Technology

7. Self Driven Activity

8. Peer review

9. Possibility of Immediate Feedback

10. Increased Level of Ease in Assessment

My Virtual Summer Vacation: Bringing the World to the Classroom

By EdTechManiac, Darin Anderson

Some kids are raised in huge metropolitan cities full of sights to see and countless "things" to do. Others are brought up in Everytown, USA in places that represent what the American way of life is all about - not too big, not too small.

I had the wonderful fortune of growing up in the mountains of Idaho near a small town named Mackay, a classic example of the smallest of the small. A few days ago, I was able to visit my hometown for a family reunion. The results, in part, are seen below...

My front yard is prettier than yours 😉 #MackayIdaho pic.twitter.com/05CRWDx8pi

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) July 29, 2015

Now that I live on the high plains of Wyoming (still considered small, but Rock Springs is actually 48 times bigger than Mackay) I tell people about what it was like growing up on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Certainly many folks in Wyoming can relate to the remoteness of towns like Mackay, but the truth is, most people cannot fathom what it is like to live in such a place.

Much like me visiting the concrete-laden locales of Philadelphia or New York City, until a person sets feet on the ground of any particular location, he or she cannot really "know" what it is like.

Enter, education.

Teaching students - no matter what age they are - is largely about exposing them to material and content and then letting them create their own experiences.

It has long been the desire of educators to take their students on field trips and give them authentic contact with landmarks and locations rich with learning opportunities.

While we cannot climb aboard with Ms. Frizzle and transport our kids directly to places of interest, we can, with technology we have available to us, do the next best thing.

Here are a few ideas to help all teachers bring the world to their kids:

1. If your school is fortunate enough to have a pair or two of Google Goggles, making any location come alive is as easy as looking around. Available for both ios and Android devices, the Goggles app allows kids entrance to anywhere from Yellowstone National Park to the inside of an operating room. The possibilities are endless.

2. Another app for virtual reality is Google Camera, which lets users create their own photo spheres and panoramic landscapes. Capturing 360 degree views is a snap with this free app. Photos automatically upload to one's Google Drive account and are thus sharable with the world.

3. Newer smartphones have similar capabilities as Google Camera. As always, new mobile products offer a wide variety of photo options that are easy to share with others via multimedia messages or social media outlets.

Using either camera option, teachers can take their own shots to share with their students or request family and friends of other locations to do the same. Going on a late summer trip? Take sphere photos of the beach, the mountains, or the world's largest ball of twine.



4. Speaking of Google Maps, it is not only a great place to find still and panoramic pictures of popular attractions, but users can also upload their own photos of places maybe not so well known. It is a fairly easy way to see the world from the relative comfort of a school desk.

5. Along with 360 degree photography, self-made videos are also an effective way to show off your own neighborhood, as well as sights along the road to, say, Macon, GA. Shooting videos and posting them to YouTube is almost an instinct among today's youth. Taking advantage of that "ingrained" habit would serve a teacher well when trying to engage her students in unfamiliar locations and cultures.

6. It is no secret that social media is a viable learning tool. Using the same philosophy that we did decades ago - pen pals - sharing all of the above with students in various locations with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc makes for an authentic and engaging experience.  Under a hashtag like #FrontYardSphere, kids can reach out to peers from across the globe to simply step outside and sphere their neighborhood. What a great way to make connections and learn about other places and cultures.

Here is my #FrontYardSphere #EdTech #VirtualLearning #MackayIdaho pic.twitter.com/KCEtnPKKpZ

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) July 29, 2015

Students of this generation have a desire to be recognized that was unfathomable a decade or so ago. Andy Warhol talks about 15 minutes of fame, but with all of the technology they have at their disposal today, kids not only can achieve a certain notoriety with their posts and musings - they almost expect it.

Connecting our kids with folks around the world via engaging, interesting, and quality tasks makes an already small world become even smaller.

If you cannot take your kids to the world...bring it to them.

Join in the fun and post your own #FrontYardSphere on Twitter. Can we go worldwide??

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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A Story of Assessment and Evidence: NBA Edition

Stop me if you've heard this one:

Two teachers walk into a school, and the principal asks them where their student data is.

___________________________________________________________________

Let's face it. As educators we live in an assessment-heavy, data-driven world governed by the results-indicator division of academic law enforcement (legislation). There is no way to escape without measuring our students with some form of data or another. However, while I understand the necessities of curating and monitoring students numerically, there are more ways to gather meaningful evidence than simply giving our kids "common" assessments and sharing spreadsheets with one another at staff meetings.

Let me put it to you this way, in the language of the National Basketball Association:

In 1984, the Chicago Bulls drafted Michael Jordan, who went on to become arguably the greatest player in the history of professional basketball. Jordan's 6 World Championships, 5 league MVP awards, 6 NBA Finals MVP awards, 3 All-Star Game MVP trophies, and 2 Olympic gold medals make him every bit the part of a high school valedictorian. In comparing His Airness to a student, Jordan's "academic" record would make him the model pupil who aced every test given him and graduated with high honors.

Now compare Jordan to two other former NBA players also selected in the 1984 NBA Draft - one named Sam Bowie and the other Landcaster Gordon. Bowie, a 7-1 skyscraper, had a stellar basketball career at the University of Kentucky, while Gordon, a 6-3 guard, starred at Louisville. However, neither of them has the same NBA portfolio as does Michael Jordan (see below). Given that their college "evidence" was relatively similar (see below) we would assume, given educational analysis, that all three would be relatively successful in the professional ranks.

College Stats - Source: Basketball-Reference.com

NBA Stats - Source: Basketball-Reference.com

Here is the kicker. Bowie was chosen second overall by the Portland Trailblazers, and Gordon went to the Los Angeles Clippers as the eighth overall selection. Jordan - the best player the world has ever seen - was picked third. Bowie has become the punchline of several Jordan jokes while no one really has ever heard of Landcaster Gordon. (And no, it is not this guy to the right.)

The data, in this case, did not tell the entire story.

Granted, selecting players in the NBA draft is no easy science, anymore than that of predicting the academic achievement of students - or what they might accomplish as the venture into the world of employment.

Gordon, #4, never fulfilled
his NBA potential

In the case of Michael Jordan, he was pegged (based largely on data) as a future superstar and lived up to the hype. Bowie, who had impressive numbers as well, was a marginal pro with a lackluster career. Gordon? Well, he was the kid with data-proven "potential" who never quite measured up.

Despite all of the assessment data we gather on our kids, there are obviously several untold stories that combine to make each and every student who they are - individually.

I argue that data - be it from common assessments, standardized testing, or any number of other formats - only tells a part of the story. If college success unilaterally foretold professional achievement, then life would be so much easier for the highly-paid executives, coaches, and players in the NBA. However, like education, success on one assessment (college play) does not mean "proficiency" on another (professional performance).

To help all students complete their own stories, educators need to provide opportunities for them to give performances in the realm of any given content or concept, but on stages of their choosing. Michael Jordan was an amazing basketball player and proved as much against the best the work had to offer. Bowie was also a stellar player, up until he faced the cream of the crop. NBA stardom was just not in his cards. (To be fair, Bowie suffered from foot injuries that were beyond his control and those kept him from reaching his true potential; ultimately, he was never anything more than a serviceable player.)

The point is, each and every college player with aspirations of playing in the NBA is given ample opportunities to show his talents against some of the best prospects in the world. The NBA has a summer league devoted to giving young, unestablished players chances to impress coaches and front office personnel. There is also a developmental league (the NBDL) for not-yet-ready players that serves as the minor league system for major franchises.

Manute Bol was 7-6!

Do we do the same for our kids? If they struggle in one aspect of learning do we write them off as Landcaster Gordons who will never cut it in "real world" environments? Are they cast off from consideration because they do not show the proper "academic" prowess that we'd like to see? Honestly, if Sam Bowie was only 6-7 instead of 7-1, would anyone have paid him any attention? And thus do we intentionally leave kids off "the team" because of what they don't possess?

Give Michael Jordan a basketball and he would absolutely amaze us with his abilities on the court. Put a skateboard under the feet of Tony Hawk and he'd leave us in awe. Place Missy Franklin in a pool and she'd leave us shaking our head in disbelief. Hand a mic to Aretha Franklin and be prepared for an all-out show. Conversely, if we gave them all a standardized test, would we be equally as satisfied?

Aside from the obvious and mandated assessment that permeates our academic landscape, look to find other ways for kids to truly show what they know. Here are just a few tips:

• Student-made videos: These creations can let student personality and ability shine through. Upload to YouTube or share with social media.
• Video game creations: Programs like Minecraft have become viable avenues to let students create and explore ideas. Another example of letting them use the tools they already have.
• Cartoons and animation: From the advanced (Scratch) to the intermediate (PowToon) to the basic (Google Slides), students can tell a story in so many different ways. Let them do it in their own way.
• 3D modeling: Tinkercad is just one way kids can create any 3D image imaginable. It's great for learning math and science especially, but works with any content. Integrates with 3D printers perfectly.
• Interactive whiteboards: Apps like Explain Everything allow kids to talk their way through concepts and knowledge without the nervousness of speaking in front of the class.
• Music, poetry, and other forms of art: These modes of expression are so much of our students' world right now. Let our kids be artistic and creative and fresh. Even the most timid personalities will bloom.
• App creation: There are several free programs that provide app creation services - everything from basic features to advanced functions.
• Ask the students: It might surprise us adults to know that our kids do possess actual talents and abilities that do not fit into the traditional mold of academia. Let that archaic philosophy go. After all, we are preparing them for THEIR world, not OURS. Sure, we know how to excel in today's world, but don't we go about our lives differently than our parents and grandparents did?
• Genius Hour: Set aside a few hours a month for kids to explore and do what they want. The results from GHs are astounding.
• It is no excuse that WE don't know all about these options. What's more, it is unacceptable if our students do not know about them. We are doing our kids a disservice - academic malpractice even - if we do not expose them to these options and let them explore and create.

Think about this:

What will be the basketball...the skateboard...the microphone...the computer program...that turns your kids into Michael, Tony, Aretha, or Mark.

What will they do to complete their story?

Will we let them?

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