Do You Teach Like a Five Paragraph Essay?

In regards to effective lesson delivery, there is much to be said about strategies, structures, and seating arrangements - and such - being the road to quality.

The notion - a partially correct one - is that better instruction will yield better student results. While it is true - remember, I say it is partially correct - that being a better deliverer of content does help students grasp that content, I firmly believe that it is just the entrance to a vast corridor of potential knowledge, skills, and opportunities - for our students.

Let me offer up two examples to help illustrate my point:

1) My family physician is very good at analyzing my vitals and symptoms and then prescribing a medicine for me that will have positive effect. I correctly assume that he not only memorized medications and body parts & functions and flaring symptoms but that he also had extensive practice in applying that knowledge to my medical needs.

2) Chris EveryStudent sits in a classroom day after day and is exposed to the most engaging, vivid, and innovative instructional strategies available to mortal mankind. He watches videos and participates in Kahoot presentations and straps on his Google Cardboard everyday. Through VR devices, he is exposed to life outside of his city and into unknown parts of the world full of mystery and intrigue.

Then, at the end of it all, he is asked to write a five paragraph essay that details his experiences and learning. (I grant that this is a blanket statement, but, for the sake of my argument, work with me here.)

So my question is this: While innovative instruction is a vital part of every teacher's daily life, why are they all so quick to assess students in an environment largely devoid of STUDENT INNOVATION?

Few teachers would ever design instruction that is akin to a five paragraph essay. So why are we asking our students to "show what they know" is such ways?

Something to think about...

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @coachdarin22

Seeing the Forest AND the Trees: Student Exploration Time

By Darin Anderson

Picture this: You arrive for your first painting lesson from a renowned local artist. Before you lay all the materials you need to begin creating your first masterpiece.

As you settle in with your surroundings, in walks the artist, who begins visiting with each participant about the beauties of art and painting.

You simply cannot wait to get started.

Monsieur Paintbrush walks to the front of the room and begins speaking to the group about the endless possibilities of paints and palettes and prisms of color. He continues into very interesting dialogue about purpose and passion, and you become even more excited to fill your empty canvas with wonder.

However, as the minutes pass by, you notice the instruction, while incredibly valuable and inspiring, has left you no time to do what you came for.

As the artist bids you a find adieu, you leave your still blank canvas and pristinely clean brushes behind, hoping for a chance - next time - to work wonders with them.

_______________________________________________

Would you stand for such circumstances? Regardless of whether or not you paid a fee for the class, I'm certain you would be disappointed with the outcome. Why, you never even got to open up the paints!

Imagine the thousands of students who walk in and out of thousands of classrooms each school day with the same emotions - "Sounds cool, but I never even got a chance to try it out!"

Now, imagine yet another situation - similar and just as frustrating to our students:

Monsieur Paintbrush walks to the front of the room and instructs you to follow his lead in painting a red flower. He takes you step by step through the process, even stopping the class to ensure that each participant neither speeds ahead or lags behind. "We all must build the red flower as I do," he says.

Since you are a decent painter who has done his or her share of flowers, bushes, and trees, you begin to become antsy and annoyed at the teacher for not letting you "do your own thing" and paint what you want. But in the interest of staying with the group you decide to just remain silent and paint your red flower.

_____________________________________________________

While I understand the need for direct instruction and scaffolding in classrooms, I believe that we often go overboard with controlling the scenario in the interest of classroom management and, honestly, making our own lives as teachers easier.

However, many of our students leave classrooms each day without having had the opportunities to explore and design and create and tinker with (insert content/skills here).

Think of the tools we have in our classrooms that are metaphorically represented by the canvas, brushes, and paints in our story:

Computers and laptops

iPads and other tablets

Video cameras

Student Smartphones
3D Printers (perhaps)
CNC Machines (perhaps)

Not to mention these:
Glue
Scissors
Cardboard
Paper
String
Plutonium (according to Dr. Emmett Brown, it should be readily available these days)

But those "standard issue" tools are only the beginning. Think of a computer (or other device) as a box of toys. In and of itself it is a container with little practical use. However, the inside holds the wonders of the world (and I'm not talking about word processing programs).

For example:
+ Google Hangouts or Skype allows staff and students access to content area experts all over the world.
+ 3D programs such as Tinkercad and Thingiverse make design and creation easily accessible for users.
+ Video and audio creation programs allow students to express themselves as never before.
+ 24/7 discussion and collaboration are a snap with Google Drive and a wide variety of social media outlets.

But here I am preaching to the choir. Or am I?

Please take to heart the memes inserted in this post. Ensure that on a daily basis you are having your students explore, create, design, and tinker with content, skills, and - most importantly - their own thoughts and ideas.

Our world - and their - will be the better for it!

There is Plenty of Room for Fun in Education

Perhaps the most powerful quote in this video is that it is okay to have fun while learning.

______________________________________

While too many educators these days eschew fun and enjoyment in their classrooms for the opportunity for students to complete wind-numbing worksheets, endure boring lectures, and pore over selected response items, it appears that some places have it about right.

Ron Clark is famous for two things:

1) Being portrayed by the dreamy Matthew Perry in the movie The Ron Clark Story.

2) Being an innovative, unstoppable, and ever-caring educator.

The video attached above is just one shining example of Clark's ability to cultivate a culture of love and caring and respect among students and staff at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia.

While this particular post refers to Clark's ability to foster greatness where it would otherwise be nonexistent, it is really a message to all of us about working with kids and being a mentor and guide to their own greatness. All through an avenue of "meeting them where they are" and having some fun!

Here are four key points to keep in mind (while they are not necessarily new, they all need to be re-remembered):

1. Be prepared - Fun does not just happen. Okay, well it does. But if you want to engage your students in purposeful fun and games embedded into content, you must have a method to your madness.

2. Be real - Make mistakes in front of your students and, more importantly, show them how to properly react to mishaps. If you get bent out of shape at the onset of a problem, guess what? Instead, have fun with mistakes and make them learning experiences for everyone.

3. Be genuine - If you merely pretend to care about a kid, he will see right through you. Genuine caring is palpable, just as a bull storm is. Make it work with your personality. Not everyone can dance like Ron, but we all have some way to inject fun into our daily routine.

4. Be there - Even when you have a bad hair day, you have to give your best effort to your students. Woody Allen once said, "80% of success is showing up." As a teacher, however, this is only true if you follow the advice above.

Plotagon: A Simple Coding App for Your Students

By Ed Tech Maniac, Darin Anderson

Coding in classrooms is becoming a wildly popular educational endeavor across the world. And for very good reason, as we are surrounded by apps, and smart devices, and software that effectively runs our daily lives.

While it is not necessary for the average user to understand the ins and outs of coding, those with even a basic knowledge can be led to jobs, careers, or just hobbies that can become revolutionary.

For students to get involved with coding, oftentimes schools or community programs find the need to purchase expensive programs that are sometimes beyond what young students can comprehend.

https://twitter.com/plotagonedu

I recently came across a program called Plotagon that allows students to dabble in the basics of coding without having to get too heavy into the backstory. And all the while they get to play, be creative, and - most of all - tell a wonderful story.

Here is just one short example about a possible water cooler chat that may have taken place this morning somewhere in the greater D.C. area. Oh, by the way, I put it together in about 10 minutes this morning. (Call me the Friday Morning Quarterback.)

Overall, Plotagon is simple to use yet has unlimited potential for teacher and students use. Here are just a few examples of what Plotagon could do in your classroom:

• Summarizing a fictional story or play or a piece of non-fiction such as an article or textbook chapter (not that anyone uses a textbook anymore :-) )
• Providing a response to literature or non-fiction.
• Re-enacting a scene from literature or an historical event in order to check comprehension.
• Re-enacting a personal narrative 
• Takes the place of smaller, more informal class presentations - saving you and your students' time.
• Teachers can easily create introductory learning material (hooks) with Plotagon videos.
• With the capability to upload directly to YouTube, teachers can use Plotagon content to flip instruction.
• Allows personal creativity and expression while also providing opportunities for students to develop rich content and demonstrate understanding.

But don't take it from me. Let the crazy bearded man tell you what's up:

If you haven't seen @PlotagonEdu you need to check it out. https://t.co/pXJKDr1kO7 #edtech #edchat

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) September 25, 2015

Lessons in Education Featuring Gary Larson: Part VIII

By Ed Tech Maniac, Darin Anderson

On the surface, this particular comic seems to be making fun of the perceived ineptness of this man to carry out a meaningful life. To be sure, what kind of buffoon finds it necessary to physically label each and every person, place, or thing on his property??

We waste no time in taking shots at this man, but are we really being fair to him?

For example, how many students do we come across each day that are in similar stations in life? Of course, the Chemistry teacher knows his periodic table from top to bottom and the Social Studies teacher can recite the Civil War from beginning to end without breaking a sweat. The Computer Tech instructor can code with the best of them while the Geometry teacher has a ruler on speed dial.

But do our kids show up with the same knowledge? Of course not!

It thus becomes imperative to have high expectations of learning with an understanding that we will have to lay things out very explicitly to most of our students, no matter what the content might be. "I taught it and they should have learned it," attitudes and assumptions are just not good enough.

The counter to the above statement is that the "real world" does not wait for us to learn before it asks us to perform. "I'm just trying to prepare them for when they get a job," they say, as they refuse to explicitly teach students skills and content.

While it is vital that our future workforce can problem solve and think independently, the fact remains that 14-year-old kids are not gainfully employed...and for good reason. They are not ready. They need to be taught explicitly the skills necessary to function in the world.

(The other counter? "They should get those skills at home. My job is to teach _________ ."

If the statement above were true, then why would kids need to go to school at all?

Truth is, a K-12 education is a necessary part of a child's development. It fills gaps, provides opportunities for growth and enrichment, and gives them environments to excel in their own areas of interest. Or it SHOULD, at least.

So instead of harping on those students (and co-workers) who may not have it all together, let's be patient and commence to spelling things out literally. It makes learning better for all of us!

Do we #teach this way? Should we teach this way?#EdChat #EdReform #Education pic.twitter.com/cX4Q0WW7Ib

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) September 22, 2015

Earbuds Overload: Making the Most of Societal Escapes

By Ed Tech Maniac, Darin Anderson

If you work at or near a school (or airport or mall or anywhere else), you perhaps have noticed a disturbing trend amongst the youth - and many adults - of the world today.

http://www.plumbeddown.com/2012/10/summoned-to-principals-office-short_1.html#.VgBOeOdBCu4

I'm not talking about the styles of clothing, hair, and makeup that would make our grandmothers simultaneously shudder in fear and weep for the future. No, what I am referring to is the popular practice of earbuds being used as a recidivist devices.

From my observations in schools specifically, I have seen phone files firmly inserted as a divide between teacher & student and even student & student. While there is an appropriate time and place for music streamed through Beats by Dre, the idea of students retreating into themselves will not yield positive results in the long run.

The science behind the addiction to music provides insight into why helping students break away from earbuds will be both imperative to their wellbeing as well as an entirely difficult process.

Consider this generic scenario: A student leaves her house at 7:15am to board a bus that takes her to a place she does not necessarily want to go. Immediately she pops in her earphones and traces a path of social removal into a world that she both understands and enjoys. The music speaks to her and she lives her life accordingly even as she is surrounded by friends, peers, and copious amounts of school work that she may or may not find irrelevant.

Her teacher either allows her to be half-in during instruction (as is evidenced by the one ear-bud placed in her ear) or he has given up trying to get her involved in daily activities.

Knowing that the human brain, the frontal cortex in particular, cannot process more than one stimuli at a time, it is nearly impossible for hum-drum instruction or even interaction with peers to consistently win out over her undying interest in Fallout Boy or Major Lazer.

http://www.rock.com/p/fall-out-boy-stencil-logo-magnet

The concerns among teachers, of course, are the disengaged student and competing against what causes students to retreat. In years past, the devices were sufficiently large enough (think 80s style boomboxes) to not be practical, while the concept of connectivity was not even an issue. But now, in our connected society, educators must balance the use and the banishment of Personal Isolation Devices, or PIDs.

But now that the problem has been laid out, here are a few suggestions for either lessening the desire to sink into the world of earbuds or to temporarily abolish it:

• Understand that retreating into music can be a signal of something good. Music can help inspire and motivate students to greatness. Just as a weightlifter uses tunes to push through a workout, students may also benefit from the extrinsic stimulus music provides. 
• Quality student-centered instruction is often the remedy for most anti-cooperative behavior. If status quo content delivery renders the same results time after time, maybe those teachers need to re-evaluate their practices. Interesting content can take away the temptation of a student to wind away the minutes with Metallica.
• Music can help remove distractions. If the student can indeed complete quality work with the aid of music to keep peers' antics at bay, then the ends justify the means. 
• Relationships with others trump the need for music-induced dopamine. The chemical dependency on music often fills the gap left by social interaction with others. Dopamine offered by laughing with friends can replace the need to wander through crowds in extrinsic silence.
• Engage students in high-interest peer discussions. Explicitly teaching young people how to properly interact with others, while dissecting relevant content, can invite them away from playlists and into the world of meaningful human interaction.
• Let kids be kids, with parameters. Outright bans of headsets will most likely result in an unwanted battle of wills. If music is their thing, let them go for it, while providing constant situations to practice real communication with peers. If the kids know they will have opportunities to rock out during math, they will not be as likely to obsess over connection to music.

Truly, with the wide variety of personalities and backgrounds amongst the students we see everyday, there are a few commonalities shared by the human race.

1. The need to be entertained (or find intrinsic motivation)

2. The need to be involved and accepted

http://bodyonept.com/2015/05/whats-your-motivation/

When #1 is present, the need for music (or Instagram, etc.) subsides. When #2 is present the need for extraneous stimulus subsides. When neither is present, humans search for them both in other places, and often music becomes a simple stop-gap escape mechanism.

If our classrooms provide environments that serve to entertain, at least mildly, in order to activate the students' intrinsic motivation, we have greater odds of helping to alleviate their fixation on earbuds and streaming music.

Not that it is possible to successfully engage every student every hour of every day...but it is a step in the right direction.

Is it possible to engage every learner, every hour of every day? Or is just enough to just keep trying?? #EdChat #EdReform #Edutainment?

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) September 21, 2015

Lessons in Education, Featuring Gary Larson: Part VII

By Ed Tech Maniac, Darin Anderson

Life is full of questions. It is also full of the search for answers. Knowing that, a question unasked is an answer unfound.

So here is a pop quiz:

#1) How many questions does a teacher average over the course of a typical school day?

Click here for the answer

#2) How many meaningful questions does a typical student ask throughout a normal school day?

Click here for the answer

#3) What needs to change?

Here is an alarming graphic taken from Warren Berger's book, A More Beautiful Question:

As our students increase in age, the amount of questions they ask decreases significantly. While this is not a post about the causation of such a dramatic drop (children are naturally curious, while older students read and write to find answers, for example), it should serve as a wake up call to educators about, first, the disparity between teacher and student questions, and second, the types of questions asked.

Certainly, students of all ages have a zillion questions during a school day, but most of them revolve around rote tasks or procedures:

When is this due? How many points is it worth? Or, May I use the bathroom?

And teachers are often no better, posing such though-provoking inquiries such as

"Who can tell me the circumference of earth? What is the answer to #2? Or, Why do you all act like second graders?

Humans are curious. We want to know things, especially when they pertain to us directly. Students are certainly no different. And yet, educators repeatedly herd them into rows, subject them to mind-numbing facts, statistics, and concepts, and expect them to respond correctly at the drop of a hat.

Anyone who has spent considerable time in a classroom knows that the cycle described above works for only one person - the teacher. However, ritual compliance and fearful injections of knowledge only go so far. We have created, by and large, a culture of kids who expect to show up to school to be given what they need to know "for the test" but who otherwise have no personal connection to the material.

Here are five simple techniques to help involve students in the inquiry process and thus help them become self-directed learners:

• Non-Linguistic Representations - Using pictures, images, memes, and video clips help engage students in material by activating their schema and curiosity about a topic. For example, introduce a lesson on hurricanes with this picture, and wait for student questions and subsequent discussion: 

  

  Give students opportunities to create and explore their own
  questions after examining pictures, images, videos, etc.

• Text Annotation - Most every teacher asks their students to mark up text, but how many educators take it a step or two further and give the kids time to examine, on their own or with guidance, some possible answers to their questions? More than just summarizing or responding to TEACHER-made questions, when kids can formulate their own inquiries, the likelihood of personal attachment increases.
• Closing the Diamond - Laura Lipton and Bruce Wellman, of Miravia-Leading Groups, talk of getting everyone in the game by starting with the individual and working out. The Diamond Pattern starts with an individual response or inquiry based upon any given teacher prompt. Starting this way gives each student a chance to formulate thoughts in the same window as his or her peers. Then, before going to whole group responses, as is the ages-old custom in schools, the students respond in pairs or small groups, allowing for safety in the intimacy of small numbers. Once responses and questions are verified, then the entire class can jump in to share ideas. To complete the diamond, it goes back to the individual who has a quiet moment to reflect on his or her initial thoughts and make adjustments as needed.
• Research Notebooks - Like a personal diary is only good if it spurs reflection and growth, a research notebook can be a place where students write questions and comments about their learning. If, during a lesson, a student concocts a serious question that cannot be answered then and there, a simple notebook can become of vast importance. So often kids have great questions that simply cannot be dealt with in the time and space provided. As long as the kids have sufficient opportunity to revisit their inquiries, the learning will go deeper than class time discussions. The key is to set aside time for personal discovery without the teacher being the sole source of information. It is unfeasible for 1 adult to sufficiently answer the questions of 25+ students in 50 minutes. Let research notebooks, and sacred exploration time, handle some of that load.
• Making Inferences and Activating Schema - Two longstanding skills can also be valuable questioning tools, as students engage in discussion about the validity and plausibility of their inferences and the depth of their schema. As learning begins where base knowledge ends, teachers must take full advantage of that intersection. The ZPD theory (or the "flow" idea of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) states that students learn best when challenged at or near the end of their knowledge rope, so to speak. Beginning too deep, or too shallow, is a certain way to lose kids' interest.

Now, here are two difficult and often overbearing barriers of involving students in the questioning process...

1. Students are conditioned, in so many ways, to not take an active role in their own learning, even though we know it works. John Hattie, of Visible Learning fame, assigns substantial effect sizes to instructional strategies that explicitly involve students in their own learning, yet we have students who ask an average of 1 meaningful question per day.

2. Teachers, under the gun from local, state, and federal authorities, are not willing to loosen the reigns in fear of an out-of-control horse careening into their otherwise enjoyable world. If I can keep them under control, I can make them learn, the thought goes.

Exacting change in anything takes time, especially when federal dollars and age-old habits are so heavily embedded in the mix.

Be willing to invest the time necessary to instill a culture of inquiry and exploration with your Ss. #EdChat http://t.co/67X35HZpfX #FLOW

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) September 4, 2015

As educators, students, and parents continue the fight for a more viable educational experience for all, we will see a widespread change that will be better for everyone!

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

Lessons in Education, Featuring Gary Larson: Part V

By Ed Tech Maniac, Darin Anderson

With his cleverly constructed The Far Side comics, Gary Larson has a knack for bringing out the child in all of us. In this particular strip, Larson shows the fun side of even the starchiest of professions - the lab coat-wearing research scientist (and perhaps his close relative - the plaid-donning school teacher).

Here, one of the simplest reminders of childhood, the ice cream truck (not to be compared to the liver and onions version) serves to break the monotony and stress of applied research and allows the scientists an opportunity to let loose and leave the microscopes behind. The exuberance in their faces - the waving arms and fist pumps - all signify that the otherwise stuffy and subdued docs are going to pound some Klondike Bars and live life, if even just for a few moments.

As thousands of us educators and students head back to school for another year of rote testing, tedious homework, piles of papers to grade, and staff meeting after boring staff meeting, let us really take this Larson gift to heart.

Find time to have fun with your peers, your family, and especially your students. In the midst of yet another common assessment or what-does-this-have-to-do-with-me PD day, look for ways to liven up your experience. As your students struggle through another rough unit in science, take moments to stop and go outside and smell the roses (literally). Keep your kids off balance with an impromptu accordion polka in the school parking lot (I have personally witnessed just such an occasion).

While the pressures of education are ever-increasing, remember that first and foremost we are in the business of people - and people need laughter and fun and spontaneity.

Here are a few ideas, many with a technological flavor:

• Send your kids (or fellow PLC members) on a scavenger hunt.
• Try the wide variety of brain breaks available at GoNoodle.
• Incorporate music into transition time or during seatwork. Music works wonders for kids and teachers.
• Turn a writing assignment into a mobile video assignment.
• Organize a class food outing. Say, pizza on the football field. Many restaurants will donate for a worthy cause.
• Supply ice cream sundaes with a different topping for each skill or concept demonstrated.
• Book walks, where you literally take your book for a walk...with the pages open, of course. Or use the Kindle app or free public library e-books.
• Hold goofy hat days, or silly socks, or dress like pirates for no other reason than to laugh.
• Most of all, invite the students to come up with their own ideas. After all, aren't they the reason behind all of this?

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periScopeOut: Showcase Your Students and Your School

By Ed Tech Maniac, Darin Anderson

Pop Quiz:

What do these photos have in common?
    

A: They all illustrate the lighter side of education
B. They all use education to entertain us
C: They all remind us of our school experiences
D: They all portray a negative image about schools

(Answer at the bottom of this post)

When I was growing up, I had the notable schedule, as did many of us, of watching Saved by the Bell every Saturday morning and then catching The Simpsons on Sunday night. Throw in the Fresh Prince during the week, and I was hooked up with all the teenage humor and drama that I needed.

Without a fully developed frontal lobe, of course I could laugh at the hijinks and timely zingers delivered in each of the episodes and not even bat a questioning eye. I especially chuckled at the good-natured jabs at public and private education. I mean, who doesn't love a joke at the principal's expense? It was funny television, and that was okay with me.

Now that I am older and wiser (the ol' prefrontal cortex is just about there, folks!) I can see the errors of my ways. Sure, there is still plenty of humor to be found in shows like this, but with my ability to "know better," I can see the shows I used to love for what they were.

Think of what we learned about education from each of these sitcoms:

• Principals and teachers are fools and should be made fun of whenever possible
• Breaking rules was not only okay, it made one legendary (See: Bart Simpson & Will Smith's School Jacket)
• No teaching ever went on; it was all dating, drama, and detention
• Making fun of teachers and classmates was also an easy way to achieve legendary status (see: Screech, for the end result of that.)
• Bright and hardworking students (Lisa Simpson) were made the brunt of jokes - because who needs smart people, right?
• As for nerds, well, it was always open season on them. Right, Carlton?
• Above all, school was a place to goof off, while actual learning was unheard of 

The ultimate result, perhaps, was a generation of students who hated going to school because it did not fulfill their Saved by the Bell fantasies. Now these same folks are sending their own children to school decades later. (Yes, it HAS been that long.)

Many parents have a poor taste in their mouths when it comes to their own kids' education in large part due to the many many changes that have taken place in schools over the past couple of decades. Increased Federal Bureaucracy, No Child Left Behind, Common Core State Standards, Performance Based Pay, Instructional Technology, and Flavor-of-the-Month Professional Development, to name just a few.

Add in occasional physical or sexual assault charges, unfair educational practices, rants on social media, or a major television series, and you have all kinds of negative PR about the otherwise wonderful schools across the world.

All of the noise has caused a small but growing firestorm about American education that seems to portray a system that is broken and with no redeemable qualities. To hear some tell it, the teachers of today are lazy and don't care about their students. They are less apt to teach, and more likely to complain on Facebook about their lousy, worthless students and how underpaid they are. They deliver subpar instruction while planning the next teacher's union protest...or lunchtime potluck.

To be clear, there are many instances of schools, administrators, and teachers being up to no good. As educators we know going in that there is a different expectation on us than on other professionals. Don't believe me? When was the last time you visited with your dentist about bicuspids and the quality of dental floss while chatting in Aisle 5 of the Piggly Wiggly?

If we cannot do much to overcome the national trashtalk about education, how do we go about controlling the message that goes out about OUR OWN schools and OUR OWN kids?

Most schools invite parents and community members to take an active role in their schools, from volunteering in classrooms to viewing performances and presentations. Further, school districts and individual schools have a solid social media presence. With Facebook messages or the occasional Tweets, we can keep stakeholders up on the latest announcements and happenings in our schools.

But how many times do schools combine the concepts of visitors and broadcasting outside the building? Check this out.

Up, Periscope.

Periscope is a relatively new app that lets users broadcast a live video feed from almost any smartphone or tablet, and it happens immediately. Since it is linked to Twitter, Periscope will automatically post a link to your live feed to make it accessible to anyone who follows your account. In an instant - just give your broadcast a name and tap the start button - you are live to the entire world. One the broadcast is ended, the entire video is automatically saved to your Periscope account. And it is all for free!

Here are some practical uses for Periscope:

• Classroom lectures and presentations can be viewed at home by students who are ill or just as a refresher from kids who were in attendance.
• Parents who are unable to attend their child's class presentation can still join in on the fun.
• A proactive principal or teacher can broadcast school activities or innovative class projects as they happen.
• Students can Periscope each other completing components of a project. (think: PBL)
• Back to school night, or math night, can go worldwide as a principal scans her building in search of positive comments from staff, parents, and students.
• Extracurricular activities can unite a community when put on Periscope.
• Opening a new or building or wishing to show off major renovations? Periscope it!
• Field trips remain more than just a memory when they are broadcast to the world. During and afterwards, students and parents can watch the feed and relive the experience.
• Seamless integration with Twitter, expands an already powerful educational tool.

These and many other uses combine to make Periscope a viable resource to control your school's message. Sure, core groups of parents know the goods and the bads of your school district, but with Periscope, you can stay on top of the best parts of what you do for your kids.

As for the answer to our questions...

LIVE on #Periscope: The Answer to Our Question https://t.co/gNFEoNFCsz

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) August 8, 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

How Technology Can Foster Divergent Thinking in Our Students

By EdTechManiac, Darin Anderson

In his book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell lines out the differences between convergent thinking and divergent thinking by discussing two different types of questions.

raventest.net

The first question type, Gladwell explains, is the convergent kind, often used by prestigious universities and high-powered corporations to measure intelligence and aptitude of potential applicants and employees. Convergent assessments, such as the Raven's Test (or Raven's Progressive Matrices), developed by psychologist John C. Raven in 1939, are typically used to determine a person's IQ.

Raven's assessment gives users a series of multiple choice questions in the form of patterns, and they are to identify the shape that will complete the pattern. Simply stated, the convergent mind will be better able to decipher the patterns and ultimately end up with the single correct answer. From the total number of questions answered correctly, the test-taker is given a final IQ score. If it is high enough, Gladwell notes, he or she receives a free pass to Harvard, Cambridge, or another such institution. If it is too low...hello, State U!

Gladwell also touches on a second question type - those of a divergent nature. This style of questioning opens up opportunities for creativity and imagination, as well as analysis and cognition (landmarks of convergent tests). Outliers describes just such a question:

"Write down as many different uses that you can think of for the following objects:

1. a brick

2. a blanket"

The testing subject is then given a fixed amount of time to provide as many responses as possible. There are no "right" or "wrong" answers...just answers. Thus whatever direction(s) the test-taker chooses to go, the results are divergent.

A quick comparison between the two types of questions may lead to some of the following conclusions:

• Only Smart people do well on convergent tests
• Average and Below Average people do not excel on convergent tests - they're too hard for them
• Smart people can also do well on divergent tests...because they are smart...Duh!
• Average and Below Average people can do well on divergent tests because there are no wrong answers; they are fail-proof
• Convergent tests are a better method of assessing intelligence than are divergent tests
• Analysis and reasoning are more important to intelligence than creativity and imagination

I suppose in the world of "logical" thinking, these theories might pan out. However, before you draw your final conclusion, take a look at the divergent test responses of two people tested by Liam Hudson, a noted British psychologist:

1. High School Student named Poole: (Brick) To use in smash-and-grab raids. To help hold a house together. To use in a game of Russian roulette if you want to keep fit at the same time (bricks at ten paces, turn and throw—no evasive action allowed). To hold the eiderdown on a bed tie a brick at each corner. As a breaker of empty Coca-Cola bottles. (Blanket) To use on a bed. As a cover for illicit sex in the woods. As a tent. To make smoke signals with. As a sail for a boat, cart or sled. As a substitute for a towel. As a target for shooting practice for short-sighted people. As a thing to catch people jumping out of burning skyscrapers.*
2. High School Student named Florence: (Brick) Building things, throwing. (Blanket) Keeping warm, smothering fire, tying to trees and sleeping in (as a hammock), improvised stretcher.*

*Source: Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. 1st ed. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008.

Given the choice to associate with either student, which of you would pick Poole and who would chum around with Florence?

Now, how about a closer look at their respective aptitudes?

Poole is defined in Gladwell's book as a student "in a top British high school," while Florence was described by Hudson himself as "a prodigy, with one of the highest IQs in his school."

Both able and willing, but, as Gladwell poses it, which student is more likely brilliant and creative enough to win a Nobel Prize?

Looking back at some of the most successful people of our time, we see names like Walt Disney, Martha Stewart, Steve Jobs, and Oprah Winfrey. Certainly, these folks, and hundreds of others, have exhibited a certain creativity and innovation along with astute cognitive abilities that helped them on their path to greatness.

But what about this list of similarly successful folks?

(L-R) Taylor Swift, Rhonda Rousey, Kevin Hart, and Lionel Messi (Highlights here!)

While this group exhibits notoriety in pop culture arenas, they each certainly display the same kinds of creativity that we look for in sports and entertainment figures. Those qualities and ideas have even crashed their way into the corporate world. Enterprises like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook are famous for offering - even requiring - their employees to spend time being creative. This freedom to explore and create without fear of failure has led to some groundbreaking technology that most of use daily without so much as a cognitive thought.

It is this kind of philosophy that should permeate each and every school system across our country. So much is said in education today about creativity, imagination, and risk taking...but nothing ever really has happened on any kind of large and meaningful scale. There is so much resistance to change.

However, the ball is rolling and it is gathering steam (S.T.E.A.M. - get it?) as is evidenced by the huge movement towards education technology and associated programs such as Ed Camps, Maker Movements, and Hack-a-Thons that pop up all over the country on an almost daily basis.

And that is the crux of my argument. Technology use - in and out of the classroom - can help foster divergent thinking in a way that was unheard even 5-10 years ago. Divergence has typically been seen as an anti-societal norm, especially by the so-called establishment. Going against normalcy was met with detention, suspension, or expulsion when in fact it could have been an opportunity for exploration and development. (Understand I am not talking about malicious behavior in school, although such is often exhibited as a result of boredom or irrelevancy of content in the classroom.)

Now that divergent ways of teaching, learning, and thinking are becoming more mainstream, educational technology is poised to make an even bigger splash.

Here are a few examples of how technology can help foster divergence in the classroom:

• Collaboration with other like-minded users via social media. No matter how big or small one's location is, a student cannot always rely on having someone nearby who shares the same ideas and interests. With the ease of social media, students of all ages can find and reach out to others with similar goals and aspirations. In the case of October Sky, for example, how much would those boys have benefitted from social media contacts outside of West Virginia?
• Access to various points of view. With careful and calculated consumption, our students can learn as much as they want about nearly any subject and from all angles. A wolf protector in Chicago, for example, may learn how the predator affects the very way of life for a farmer in the Intermountain West. Or an avid hunter might understand how some Native American cultures view certain animals.
• Access to material that was once only available for the social elite. No longer must the teacher or the textbook be the sole sources of information. In fact, we have more access available to us in digital format now than ever before. In Good Will Hunting, there is a famous line that goes as follows: "You dropped 150 grand on a (expletive) education you could have got for $1.50 in late charges at the public library." First uttered in 1997, the words seem to be even more true now, and we don't even have to leave our couches!
• Avoiding functional fixedness with online gaming. Growing up, you perhaps thought that your mother's sauce pan was made for just one thing...a drum, of course! Then one day, you had a crazy idea - what if you could make macaroni and cheese in the inside of your drum?? Viola! Functional fixedness destroyed. Daniel Pink is well known for his book Drive, in which he offers this set of pictures that depict and experiment conducted by psychologist Karl Dunker in 1945. The task was to attach the burning candle to the wall with only the thumbtacks. With some creativity, it becomes possible...as long as the box is seen as more than just a container for holding tacks. This kind of divergent problem solving is on display in a game called Limbo, available here. It's a bit dark, but it does get the job done. As do many, many other games.

The notion of divergent thinking is nothing new. However, encouraging our students (and teachers) to think that way has often been viewed as a bit of rebellion at worst, or non-compliance at best. Changing the perceptions of "it-worked-for-me" parents, community leaders, and legislators has been a struggle as well.

The fact is, while some aspects of traditional education are irreplaceable, so many others are outdated and irrelevant with 21st Century teachers and learners.

In the early 1900's, Robert Frost penned words that turned out to be well ahead of his time:

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." #EdReform #EdTechChat #EdChat

— Darin Anderson (@coachdarin22) August 4, 2015

What if Frost's teacher had told him there was only one road to take?

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