All Are Invited to RISE on November 7th!

I would like to personally invite you to the third annual Iowa Student Learning Institute RISE Conference on November 7th from 10 am- 4 pm at Waukee High School. Formerly the ISLI Fall Conference, RISE will be filled with many opportunities for students to learn and grow. RISE is unique it that it is organized by students, for students. Our organization firmly believes that students can do much more than sit in a desk and “receive” an education. We are asking students to rise to the challenge of creating change on issues they are truly passionate about. The conference will kick off with keynotes featuring local students from the Dowling High School walkout that embraced their right to free speech, the inspiring story of Yesenia Ayala who traveled across the country to pursue her dream of a quality education, and Benjamin and Amanda Yao from Kids Change The World who are working to empower students globally. For the remainder of the day, students will attend breakout sessions led by students and bootcamp workshops led by professionals. These sessions will enable students to collaboratively explore their passions and gain practical skills about how to be agents of change in their schools and communities. After the conference, we will also host the first screening in Iowa of the debut film Most Likely To Succeed, a documentary about the potential schools hold. These stories will push thinking, tug on heartstrings, and encourage students to take action! Best of all, the day is free and includes complimentary lunch and giveaways for all attendees. So, what are you waiting for? Register a group of students from your school today, check us out online at iowasli.org, and feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. Hope to see you on November 7th! Remember, the world needs you! Ian Coon Co-Founder & President iancoon@iowasli.org 515.822.8834 @iancoon

#IAStuChat: Why Do Students Have to go to School?

I haven't published anything in nearly an entire year but am excited to be writing (more like ranting) a little to start off the first ever #IAStuChat being hosted all day on Friday, May 1st 2015. Iowa Student Chat will be one of the first of it's kind for students to discuss their passions and vision with other students. Be sure to follow @IaStuChat for news and join in the conversation using #IAStuChat. I attempted to answer the first question, "Why do students have to go to school?", from my perspective below. 

The all encompassing and never easily answered question, “why do we have to go to school?” It seems like it would be a great life without it, and think of all the free time not being stuck in four brick walls covered with a metal roof and internet that blocks all outside exposure from leaking in and contaminating young brains. But seriously, why?

An average adult and any college spokesperson would spit out instantly that it is to “Become a well rounded person”, but I thought Michelle Obama didn’t support obesity. #badumpshh. A kindergarten teacher herself would exclaim that it teaches social skills that all students need for any job. And the history teacher says that it’s so we can learn from other’s past mistakes without repeating them again. All are right, but what is the true reasoning that schools were created? I once heard it was for creating compliant children able to be overtaken by any future dictator in desperate times.

School is for learning. As a student, I see school as being able to be done in a much better way though. In a way that promotes thinking outside of the box, embraces changing the world, and creates problem solvers by putting students in a situation to be solution creators. As students, school today should be designed, and is generally in the right path, to do more than just consumption of information. The missing piece is action and agency, and that is what I believe will tie together the passion gap of the true spirit of learning and the education received from schooling. Though the first step, it is not the final step for students to just talk and be voices of what should happen but to be change-makers of that talk.

I am by no means saying that consuming and learning information is bad, it is definitely essential, but the way about doing this can be changed a lot. We should go to school to learn information, and once an interest in that is sparked, have flexibility to start taking passionate action steps concerning that topic. Even when performing the action oriented component, there is no stop of consuming information because humans are always taking in everything around them and experiences that are had. By molding the system to be flexible and intertwined like so, a fixed mindset is impossible to maintain because students no longer attend school for nearly 20 years of their life to get an education and THEN go into the workforce to utilize it. To make school relevant, that timeline is accelerated and twisted around to include a life of that.

The part that failure plays in all of this: enormous! Learning can fail and failing is learning, and the faster and more often a student fails, the better off they will be in any endeavor as long as a growth mindset is encompassed alongside. Today’s schools are what they used to be, and that is exactly the problem I have. Students, society, and businesses today are demanding more than ever at a faster rate than ever that within the confines of the current system cannot be met. The true solution can be found simply by truly listening to and working hand-in-hand with students, merging business and industry thinking with the school environment, and surrounding everyone with networks that care. When it all comes down to it, “Learning is life. Education is a system.” and students stand at the diverging forefront of these two opposites.

"How Much More Real Do You Want?!"

Today was a great day. The only class I went to was PE in the morning and then served food at our Student Council Senior Picnic and after that had the pleasure to be able to visit one of our middle schools and one of our elementary schools today in my district. Observing students that were ecstatic to have graduated yesterday all the way to kindergarteners that can't wait to come to school the next morning within such a short time span presented the opportunity for some sociology.

Our last stop of the day was Walnut Hills Elementary to view students Passion Fair Projects. This building has such a close knit family connection between teachers, students, and administrators. Heck, the principal was the one that gave us visitor badges when we walked in instead of being back in her office. We stopped in and talked with Ali Locker who was in a 1st grade room today and upon even the door handle opening they all turned, stared, and waved. The 5th graders eagerly shared with us their philanthropy-based Passion Projects they've been working on. The idea was designed along Angela Maiers' Genius Hour concept. 5th Graders presented to us and never hesitated on any of the questions we threw out at them. When I was in 5th grade I don't even think we knew what trifold stands were!

"I like to go on vacation but I don't like to see the people without homes. It takes a long time for that to get out of my mind and I just want to fix it." -Student

Topics for these ranged from recycling to littering to animal abuse to
homelessness to special needs students and many more! 

Before that we visited the middle school and talked with Mrs. Reinhold, who was helping kids in the library as they came in from study halls and various classes. Mr. Goerend's students were creating business plans of their own choice to argue that one bakery is needed more than a Javascript coding app that all gets trumped by the necessity for a new sports store on the block. And, the best part, they were all able to answer why they were doing this and how it related to English, and that we got different answers from every group. These students were working in their own spaces, corners, desks, groups, and with the technology that they needed to work. There wasn't an "Okay kids, let's all go to the computer lab and sit in rows and work as individuals on this project that you have to present" feel about it at all.

Walking into 7th grade math students recognized me from Instagram and said hi before they went back to their test. Let me remind you that there is a difference in age of 4 years, 3 grade levels, and 2 school buildings between these students and myself. Wouldn't you have cringed if a high schooler walked into your class in middle school?

Throughout the building the Speech and Drama class was writing plays in groups taking over their room and the hallway while 8th graders were practicing their job interview skills with our district Superintendent, the Executive Director of the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners, and the Director of the Department of Education in the lunchroom. It was hard to think that that morning they had a BMX bike show come as a prize from the Fall fundraiser.

Now, we come to the post-seniors, the one that are so thankful that over 12 years of school are over and they get to enter the "real world" now. Even as a sophomore I'm guilty of this as I opened the post with "what a great day of skipping school". :)

But I question...

• Will these same students in elementary and middle school think the same thing when they become high schoolers?
• Is all the work I just described not a part of the "real world"?
• Where does this gap between love and hate of school happen?
• Where did the fun in learning go?
• Why did learning become separated from the real world as students got closer to entering into it? 

Education has changed so much in the past four years I've followed it from when I entered middle school to today. Not only has it changed within my district but in the state, country, and world; no matter what people may say. The real world is only a stones throw away and our students are already yearning and reaching for it if we haven't already opened up the classroom door and told them to go find it.

Not In School These Days

I'm not here to bash common core, demand different forms of assessments, redefine the instructional strategies of teachers, or nag about the lack of technology use, or anything else one can find argued about on Twitter. I'm just sharing some food for thought today on how I see students view their own learning everyday.

Teacher: "You need the sheet back in order to get any points back."

Student: "Yeah, the most important part."

Teacher: "No, learning is the most important part."

Student: "Not in school these days."

The real question is, is learning the most important thing happening in your classroom? Your school? Your district?

School Shouldn't Suck - Support #SBAR

You learned to read. To write. To speak. To stick up for yourself. But, when you entered high school you had to start waking up at 6:30 five days a week. Going to school after relentless studying, cramming, and assignments from the night before. Having to take standardized tests to prove that you are competent of basic skills.

Where did the learning end up at in this evolving school scene? Where did you end up?

Standards Based Grading is a compilation of “I can…” statements that give students a guide to the expectations of their teachers and their courses. Standards Based Grading should be incorporated throughout all of our education system because students know what they have learned, successful motivation does not come from a grade, and students are prepared for a life full of learning outside of their primary educational institute.

Students know where they stand on what they have learned and what’s ahead of them to learn. Each standard is a different skill that should be understood and, at a point in time, be able to be demonstrated. Students knowing the skills they are being taught by doing work in critical thinking problems, reading, and writing to get rid of the “I don’t do anything in that class” phrase students often use. Oh, and the infamous dinner question when your parents ask “What’d you learn today” and you reply “Nothing…” Standards Based Grading allows you to know exactly what you know, accurately, not just based off of one test score.

Along with enabling students to see their own learning, Standards Based Grading allows for more learning to occur. A teacher giving a student a zero on an assignment is not going to motivate that student to try harder. It’s going to show them that a number matters more than their learning does. It won’t make them try to re-do and relearn the content, it will make them give up. If the teacher doesn’t believe in the student, why should the student believe in themselves? It is not the numbers that matter but the people and ideas that associate them. Therefore, grades being used as an ineffective motivator would be eliminated in a Standards Based environment.

Chiefly, Standards Based Grading is the most opportune system in preparing students for life. A student will very rarely ever be given a grade with an A, B, C, D, F in the working world. They will be given a task, points, or standards, to cover in a project, presentation, or paper. Upon completion, they won’t be given a score. They will get all kinds of feedback: constructive, negative, positive all based upon whether it met the original outlined standards. The performance of that employee is not only clear to the teacher, but the employee and other supervisors.

Because Standards Based Grading enables students to know their position in what they have learned, motivation does not exist in letter grades, and it prepares students for a life enriched with constant learning it should be implemented throughout our entire education system. It is based on people, not in numbers. Don’t become a letter or a number. We are not a world of synonymous robots performing laborious tasks in uniform. Standards Based Grading is the future of our nation and workforce. The numbers don’t matter; it’s you that matters.

Student Voice Opportunity - Iowa Student Learning Institute

School is changing. With No Child Left Behind and Common Core combining with new types of standardized testing and the integration of technology, straight row school is no longer a viable option. With all this change shouldn't we be listening to the voices that are affected most by change?

We are proud to announce the Iowa Student Learning Institute. Designed to give a stage to the voice of our students with the support of our educators. ISLI will be a combination of a variety of sessions. A keynote from Duane Magee and Scott Mcleod along with breakout sessions in the morning with a time for face to face collaboration carried out by students throughout the afternoon. We welcome students of all ages across Iowa to come and make your voice heard in this 1st annual student education conference.*

Register to attend with your students on Eventbrite.

View more details on our Smore website.

*Composed for the ISLI campaign by Dane Barner.

Consider...

Consider....

1. Teachers learn to teach the same way.
2. Students perform and learn in different ways naturally.
3. Where did these two get mixed and lost?

Dogs are individuals and different beings. We get it. Then why does our education system not treat our own students like this?! Our work and life are self-paced and "real" but our schools that lead us up to that point are not "real".

All the dogs and your students do have one thing in common: they all had guidance from their instructor. As a teacher, you have the power to change. I urge you to do so because we have a serious epidemic to solve here.

*This video is creative commons licensed, so please, use it to your needs in spreading the word!*

Top 10 Reasons that GPA's Suck

Though not endorsed by David Letterman, grade point averages do suck (really).

10. It shouldn't matter what number you or everyone else is. It's all a part of your own personal growth.

9. Someone who was not great at a required selective course is seen as a bad student even though they are excelling in every other class.

8. Assessments don't always know what I know.

7. Numbers are passionless. People aren't.

6.  Inaccurate until the semester ends. Feedback twice a year doesn't help continuous learning.

5. It should be considered a form of bullying by unfairly comparing students to one another.

4. It's completely irrelevant when left standing by itself. What does it represent: A sneaky cheater, a well behaved studier, or a 5 minute study crammer? It's an assessment taking score, not one of learning.

3. It takes the natural learning out of school. If it truly matters, you will know. A number won't.

2. Where is the data to even back up this number? Stored in more numbers ranging from 0-100%?

1. "It's not the number that matters, but what got you there" -Angela Maiers.

That Excuse is Invalid

I went on a tour of the John Deere ISG facilities this past Thursday and noticed a drastic difference in the way we think of jobs and the reality there. The office buildings were filled with programmers, developers and testers. These are the jobs of the future we try to prepare students for today.

Collaboration stations: These individuals don't work in square cubicles with high walls in rows with no windows. This is a thing of the past. They work in no wall environments with desks and tables pushed to the edges so that collaborative tables can be in the middle.

So, why do our students sit in separated rows?

Brain vomit walls*: Every interior wall they had was covered in Wink Wall Whiteboard paint. It's a product that allows you to paint a wall whatever color you choose then use the Wink clear coat over top to make it a whiteboard surface. They also utilize the outer sides of cubicles to stick all kinds of post-its on progress through various stages.

So, why do our students use lined paper?

Minimal Mass-Audiences: There were little to no conference rooms or large meeting rooms. I counted 3-4 projectors in total on our tour. They collaborate personally not in mass consumption PowerPoints.

So, why do our students "learn" from lectures?

Comfortable: There were all kinds of chairs and conversation areas throughout the building. The tables lifted from sitting height to standing ability which you could change in a matter of seconds based on your preference. They had a break room with ping pong tables and a cafe style food area, not a lunchroom.

So, why do our students function in factories?

The excuse of preparation for "the working world" is no longer valid.

Let Them Learn... For Pete's Sake!

This picture speaks a thousand words but here are five key points I got from it.

1. Physical Space: It's not a rectangle room* with tan walls and 30 desks oriented in rows facing a whiteboard. There is overwhelming space to create, craft, discovery and work with their hands. The room is comfortable, green** and personalized. How we work as educators and life long learners not in factory schools.

2. Eager Smiles: Do you see the excitement and focus in their face? It's not compliance driven. Enough said.

3. Use of technology: It doesn't overwhelm and take over their life. The importance of crafting and creating is stressed just as much online as in "the real world". The Chromebook was used when she felt it necessary and let go of when it wasn't important. It doesn't consume her. May I also point out that she found it on the desk on her own, turned it on and found the website all by herself. And she's in 1st grade. Can this be stressed enough? These kids will out learn all of us and that's awesome!

4. Information Consumption: The books are open. Being read, analyzed and then used. Drawing cats from them and planning their future art projects. Where does this dreaming get lost in our system?

5. Let them create: A majority of the desk is covered in paper and markers and fun stuff. This is HUGE metaphorically. Nowhere is there lined paper and #2 testing pencils. These girls come down to this desk all the time and create***. They work towards their future career goals, not towards their future high school and college. They are architects when drawing houses, fashionistas making American Girl Doll outfits online and CEO's when they run Target and various other companies. But, most importantly, they are teachers sharing their passions with pretend students because the opportunity to share isn't present in school.

Presentation from Jeff Utecht.
Photo reused with permission
from Kristina Peters.

The divide between school and life is too big. A student said today****, "I don't learn in school. I memorize stuff. And then I forget it all after the test because there's more to learn after this." This isn't life and it shouldn't be school. Not even close.


*Okay, it really is physically, but not mentally.
**The color of learning.
***I don't do anything but monitor the use of glue and glitter.
****Perfectly quoted because I wrote it down today.

Questions are the Basis of Progress

Upon submitting an application to be a part of the student shark tank answering questions from teachers, I had to compose a brief essay on the two questions below. The Bacon Wrapped Lesson conference is a great professional development tool, leaving you with over 60 new lesson plans at the end of two days. Considering registering for the event here.

What do you think makes for a good and engaging class in school? Why do you want to be a part of this?

The role of educators in and out of the classroom has shifted recently from containing all of the information in the classroom to being guiders of knowledge in our 21st century global community. The physical space needs to enable students to gather, collaborate, research and then create at their own level and pace. When you allow the students to guide their own personal learning, differentiation and assessments come naturally. Teachers are still leaders and students will take after how they compose and function their own learning as educators.

I have witnessed the change of teachers handing over the reigns to students and have only seen success stories. My blog is focused on “Live to learn, learn to live, then teach others” (Horton) by sharing my stories and daily observations. If one does not apply or do anything with the knowledge they contain there is no meaning in even possessing it.

As our system becomes more dynamic than ever, I challenge educators to not only question and accelerate their students, but question themselves on how they empower students in their room and curriculum.

It is important for everyone to make time to reflect and change because “the power to question is the basis of all human progress” (Gandhi). The future of thousands of lives are in your control and the power lies within everyone of us to make that difference. I am asking to be a leader at the forefront of this revolution in the name of lifelong learning.

Cycles in Assessments

In speech we finished up the communication model of a message being sent, received, feedback given, cycle goes on and repeats. Everything is a cycle, right? A day does not go by that we don't communicate or do anything besides a cycle. Life in general is a cycle. Work is a cycle. School is a cycle, even though it shouldn't be. But we can bust out of cycles, right? We can break habits and routines and the society we have to conform into. After talking with Angela Maiers last week I started to question. I don't think on the spot, I need time to ponder most everything. Here's what I came up with:

Is a process and a product different than a cycle?

• I see a definitive difference between the two. A process and a product is thought of as a static unchanging occurrence  They are extremely similar in the fact that you have to put in work during the process to get a product and outcome you like. A cycle is viewed as taking it a step higher and taking that process and product and doing it again. Tweaking and changing it, but in essence doing the same thing again justifying it as a dynamic occurrence. 
• Example: A student taking notes, participating in activities, and studying to get the outcome they would like of passing the assessment. If they are satisfied, is it done and over? Move on. If they did not get what they wanted it could be retaken and reassessed making it a cycle.

Was the process different than the product? Which was more important?

• This is tough. In every instance there is a process and product as a result of it. Quality of the product is dependent on the process. But what if the process is more important? A student can demonstrate their critical thinking skills amazingly but the essay they wrote was not typed or well written. It had grammatical, spelling, and organizational issues. Is it still a good piece? What part matters most: the thought process or the end result? Too often I feel like the end result is being looked at too heavily. As the famous saying goes, it's the thought that counts.

Is there a point where you can stop and call it good enough?

• Even in a cycle there must be a product generated at some point. It may just be revised numerous times. But now the question comes back to the definition of a cycle? No where is it stated that a cycle can stop. If it is not done regularly it is not a cycle. It could be referring to the overarching idea of reassessing work until an end point is reached where all parties, teacher, student, parent, are satisfied. 
• Going back to my example of the student being assessed from question number one, how do you know when you reach this magic end point? Is it when they get an A+ on a multiple choice assessment? They most likely did not reach the highest level of understanding and certainly did not demonstrate it in that form. 

Angela stated plain and simple that "It's not about the number [product] that matters but what got you there [process]". Though this was referencing clout scores and online digital footprints it can be applied in every situation. That is where reflection comes in, to think about your thinking and the process behind where you are.

Summing up this debate with myself we can conclude that:

• cycles have a process and generate a product
• Often the thinking and skills used in the process can be poorly represented or poorly assessed in the product.
• Cycles are more of an overarching term of a repeating revision in the process and product.

Instead of leaving questions unanswered at the end of the post I am trying a new format of answering them during the post. Pretty smart, huh? ;) I would love to discuss and hear what parts of your thinking were pushed farther from my intense questioning whether it be in the comments or on Twitter. Game on.

Say no to the Syllabus

The first week of school are filled with them. Colored sheets of paper, wasted ink, overstated content, obvious self composure rules and precious time thrown down the drain. All this comes in the form of a syllabus which is completely unneeded in a learning environment. I may have just shattered your world into little tiny pieces but bare with me on this idea. It’s not the entire syllabus I hate, just a majority of the content and the way that it is presented.

In a rapidly growing district that is striving to go green and cut down their paper consumption, there isn’t room to print thousands of unneeded restatements. By my rough calculations, I received six syllabuses and I’m sure 600 other kids in the building did too. Just in the 9th grade that is 3,600 pieces of paper and ink plus, don’t forget those inevitable multipage syllabuses. There is still unaccounted for syllabuses in the middle and high school which has a lot larger student body population.

What is being printed on these wasted pieces of paper but standardized content. They all mention the teachers name, phone, email, and blog address. That is great that these are mentioned but the point of those DIGITAL ways of communication is that it doesn’t have to printed on a piece of PAPER. They are all located in one spot on our school website. We went green and invested in online resources, and now they are just duplicates of what we’ve been doing for years? That isn’t real change at all.

The district wide Positive Behavior Intervention System and letter grading scale is always noted somewhere too. Did I mention district wide? Enough said. Retake policies are different for every class making everyone’s tasks more complicated. Which, is not how I believe it should be in any school but that’s another topic.


The worst part is that most of them had spots for parents to sign and initial, a syllabus that was intended to notify the students of what they are to expect in a class, not forced parent interaction. When you want your students to interact with their parents, it shouldn’t be a simple signature. There should be meaning and depth behind it. Something to discuss or create. It should be something enjoyable and authentic I’m sure John Spencer has my back on that.

I’m not bashing any teacher, school, or district because I know these horrid syllabuses are found in many schools. The overarching stereotype and push that this is the material we NEED to cover to be successful is just plain wrong. The real definition of a syllabus is the subject content of a class, not overstated rules. Instead, change your first day plans to an engaging activity. Ditch the syllabus because the website and handbook has already got you covered. If there really is new content your students need to know do you think a piece of signed paper is going to do the job? Hold an assembly, create a skit(s), use a video and discuss afterwards quickly during advisory. Teach them how you would want them to teach you. Because, letting a piece of paper run the room isn’t what anyone wants.

What does your first day of school consist of?
How do you introduce your classroom expectations and subject content?

1908 Prairie Hill (Poetry)

I wrote this during writers workshop last Thursday and thought that it needed to be published somewhere. It is not intended to describe the Waukee Community School District in any way, shape, or form but stands as an eye opener to anyone willing to read.


As I sit here
in this class
I wonder how everyone can pass.
The world is changing,
and we're sitting still
in this static class,
from the Prairie Hill.


Nothing is new
it will all break down soon
for the new is too new,
for this One Room Retention House.


The lectures are long
the learning is little.
No one gets nowhere,
in this Brick Bomb Shelter
stuck in the middle.



Just because
we were taught
the same stuff from years ago, like
science
math
and how to bake cookie dough,
you won't give us a job
anywhere but the old Prairie Hill?




I walk through the halls
and can't help but wonder,
if its a new century.
I can't really notice
inside of this
perpetually
stalled
and darkening 
place that they call school.


-Ian Coon

Differentiation Divided

During study hall a while ago we had a discussion about differentiation. I know, study hall is that class where students sit around and stare at the wall for 40 minutes (complete stereotypical sarcasm). The teacher said "It's really hard to get used to this differentiation junk. It's all one on one." She's right, math is hard to differentiate because it's all equations and steps. She stressed, "If you don't follow the steps you will not get it." It isn't conceptual like social studies, language arts, or science is. There are steps to take and you won't get the right answer without doing those steps.

She's tried differentiating on the same topic, it is hard to do when we only spend one to two days on a subject. The way she has been doing it is having 1-2 table groups that got their independent practice problems correct and have a secure understanding of the subject, do more challenging problems on the same concept while she reviews with the rest of the class. For example the class may be reviewing linear equations for the second day, while the advanced group gets introduced to linear inequalities a day earlier than the rest of the class.

We also talked about quality versus quantity of work. "I'd rather have them work their way through two homework problems and get them right, not do all 20 assigned problems wrong." she said, "Technology has turned kids into instant learners. If you don't get it right the first time quickly, you give up easily."

How do you differentiate your math room? What were your attempts at differentiation to get you where you are now? Is independent practice mandatory or optional? 

Classroom of the Future or of Today?

Walking into the classroom door students would do a warm-up pre-assessment for the teacher to base stations and help for the day. The class period would be dynamic to the sense that stations would be chosen by the student on where they think they need help and a combination of where the teacher sees a fit. I picture a room with 3-4 stations happening either on different topics and students rotating between them, or where the stations are differentiated to different levels of the same topic, or a little of both. The teacher would float back and forth between stations while being ubiquitous and still monitoring the whole room. Having the station function gives students the freedom to move to a different leveled station if they need more than their current station is offering. It would be a mini version of a "vote with your feet" conference, if a session isn't working for you then find a better one. All of the stations would coincide with a theme for the day or relate to a project based learning activity later on. At the end of the class time students would do a formative assessment of what they learned that day to show what they retained and to let the teacher know where some clarification and instruction may be needed.

Does this look like your room? What do you do differently that works for you? I'm interested to hear how the style of your room works.

Wouldn't Everyone Have a D?

Some of you may remember the post from last February, #SBAR Thoughts. A post from last February just got a new comment today from Meg, nearly 9 months later. The post was in response to our district switching 6th grade to standards based reporting that they had been craving for a while.

I would argue that English is the best subject that it works in.  The reason that this works is because of the standards, if your standards are too general or too hard to accomplish then it will not work.  If a standard for Grammar Punctuation was "Places periods in appropriate spots after sentences" that would be a piece of cake for a normal 6th grader to do. If the standard was "Uses proper quotation and comma placement to structure a quote" that would be more leveled for 6th grade. 

I can't speak for other schools but middle school teachers in our district use standards behind the scenes for their own purposes of tracking student knowledge and understanding. But they have to then take those standards and form a rubric that converts them into points to put in the grade book. Not only does that take more time but the simile I like to use with it is that you have to measure in inches and report it centimeters, kind of pointless.

Language Arts is subjective at times. For example, last year we studied the holocaust for a month. It wasn't social studies so the standards weren't to understand and grasp what happened in the holocaust but to understand the social effects, and dive through writing from the time period. In the grammar example I gave above you could grade them on a worksheet and give 5/5 points for secure,4/5 for developing. The issue with that is they got an 80% because they slipped on one problem and in the grade book that's the only thing that is reflective of that. Where when you use standards you take into account that worksheet, group work, independent practice, formative and summative assessments to decide what they receive on that one concept.

Everyone puts their own little spin on standards based reporting but it still comes back to the standard. In a standard of "understand and use the 201 concepts of grammar" everyone would be developing. Standards are sorted and specific and that's what makes them work.

I hope I didn't throw you under the bus too far Meg. :)

Six Standards, That's It

Last Wednesday the Kee Squad group at our middle school taught Google Calendar to all the teachers in the building to incorporate into their new blogs, I think(look at how much I knew what I was doing.  We split the teachers in half: advanced & beginner.

Life got in the way earlier that week and all I had going into that presentation was a list of 6 items to teach.  I thought this would be easy to do and I tried my best to flow with it.  I thought, "All I had to do was go through a list of six things to teach, six standards, that's it."

Within the 10 minutes (I went into this not knowing how much time I would have) I feel like we completed one of those standards.  Maybe I had over scheduled that session, maybe I didn't prepare enough, maybe it was more difficult to teach 25 people SIX things in 10 minutes than I thought.  What ever it was I felt like I crashed and burned while my co-pilot was dead in the passenger seat.

I had planned on doing live demonstrations on the projector step-by-step while they followed along on their laptops.  I had planned on letting them explore that for a minute or two before we moved onto the next.  The two times I attempted to do live demos on sharing a calendar and subscribing to a calendar the page wouldn't load, the dongle came unplugged three random times in the presentation and the ELMO wasn't even set-up yet.
After I fiddled around for 5 minutes we got into Calendar labs. Everyone turned on event bling and I individually helped people.  That one thing was finally going so good I thought I could bring this crashing jet back on track when my ten minutes (that I never knew I had) were magically up and 25 people were out of sight in 30 seconds.

What I learned from this is that live demonstrations barely ever work when trying to do them with a crowd, screen shots are the way to go.  Coming right in and getting right to the point without daddling will give me more time to teach.  The projector needs to be set-up and turned on before everyone comes into the room.  Next week I get a chance to repent my sins.  I have an attack plan and only five standards to cover this time with about 15 minutes.  I now have a new understanding for teachers having to make these lesson plans daily and having to teach it six times a day, all though I would rather do that than have to do the work.

Just One Tweet: My Narrative

Shaelynn Farnsworth and Erin Olson invited me to contribute to the Just One Tweet narratives that they used during their presentations at #TICL11 and #BLC11 on the benefits of Twitter in education, below is my narrative.

I joined Twitter in May of 2010 after hearing Russ Goerend talk about his PLN of 1,000 all of that year.  For the first month I added lots of people and a majority followed back.  It was a great way to learn about new social media and web 2.0 tools that I use on a daily basis.

The first people that I interacted with that I’d never met before are Ron King and Northern Lights Pizza last summer.  The most eye opening and inspirational person I know is Beth Ritter Guth.  We met this spring when she was the winner of a video camera contest I hosted.  I sent two cameras to Mouth of Wilson, VA where they planned on using them to make podcasts to share with the public schools in the county and use QR codes to organize them.  What makes this so inspirational is that she works in a private boarding school and is using them to help out the rest of the poorer community and open up kids to their remote world.  Most kids in their county drop out and of the ones that don’t, only 4% go onto college.

It has also been a great way for me to connect with people even WHILE I’m attending conferences like #itec10 and #i11i.  They are state level education conferences hosted annually in Iowa.  I presented with a classmate and Russ Goerend at ITEC on “Breaking Down The Walls Of Our Classroom”.  At the Iowa 1:1 Institute I was one of the few students who attended and went to sessions the whole day.  I find these conferences fun not only because it’s a big tweet-up but because I like involving myself in everything.  It’s that moment of honor when you reach the end of the tunnel and can say I was part of that 10 years ago that put the U.S. back on top.

This summer I followed Robin Phares because truthfully, there was an iPad in her profile picture (Apple fan boy in your presence).  She sent a tweet about wanting Google Sites to show in one of her classes she is teaching this summer. I gave her a link to the three I made to represent learning using Project Based Learning this year.  There were many tweets to come and another awesome student to meet on Twitter, Ivan Shires.  I plan on hanging out (Google+ instead of Skyping) into her class and talking to these teachers in Ohio when I live in Iowa.  The class is on how you can use PBL to improve learning instead of the 100 year old lectures.  We will blow their minds apart, all because of Just One Tweet.
- Ian Coon @Waukeestudent

I Failed

This afternoon the 5 year-old was playing Angry Birds on the laptop when she told me, "I failed this level".  So I took the laptop and restarted her level and told her to do it again.  30 seconds later, "I failed AGAIN."  So I took the laptop and did the level for her.

On Angry Birds it may not matter but in life or education would you have done the same thing?


Would you as a teacher taken their math book and done the assignment for them, NO. 
Would you give them another test without teaching them about what they did wrong. NO.

You would've helped them through it and made sure they mastered the concept/level/assignment before you gave them harder tasks.  Are we as educators making sure that our students master the concept before we challenge them with more difficult concepts.

How do you conference with your students?  Are you accurately assessing?  Do you do any proper reteaching of the skill?  How do you know when it clicks in a student?