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.

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.

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.

#DYF Should Students Be Allowed To Bring Computers To School?

@Russgoerend and @Amyquam 's kids are writing #DYF Posts about the same topic and I was inspired by them to write my own.

Student's should be able to bring a laptop, mobile device, iPad, or any other technological thing.  I think this because it would be a great benefit to their learning.  At this point at Waukee we would not be able to go 1:1 like this but it would be a nice start. 

The people that didn't have a laptop or mobile device could "borrow" one from the school for the day (not being able to take it home, it's not officially their property).

People also think that maybe it will get lost or stolen. My opinion is that they won't be stolen because everyone else will have one too so why would they want yours?  Plus I keep at least $400 (retail price) of items in my locker most of the day.  If nobody steals it now, they wont in the future.

Visit www.kidblog.org/2017purple to read others #DYF Posts.

Reading Reactions

At the beginning of each quarter we make reading goals.  I wanted to be a higher thinking reader.  In order to do this I ask 2 questions, 1 connection, 1 prediction and a summary of each chapter.  I also try to read MORE often, to be truthful though I've found myself reading LESS because I don't like taking notes. 

Here's how I take notes now:

Whenever I started a new book I put 20 sticky notes in the front of my book.

As I read something that interests me I write on it and put it over that area of text.

At the end of the book I take all of my sticky notes and make them into a more formal reading journal.


There is one thing that I don't like about this system; my questions, connections, and predictions are too short.  I don't feel like I'm pushing myself enough and I'm not using my full brain capacity.

I'm going to try and solve this problem by using bigger sticky notes so there is more room to write.  Instead of using 4 little sticky notes I'm going to use 1 big sticky for that chapter.

I am hoping this will work for a few reasons:
     1. I have a lot of these I want to use up.
     2. I'll be able to go above and beyond my quota for the chapter.

Do you have a different way of taking notes?  What works for you?

Evernote

I have recently started using Evernote in Language-Arts to take notes.  It is easier because I can access them anywhere, it saves paper, and it makes me look smarter than I am. :)

As we read we take Cornell notes (format) on our books.

Evernote is nice because of it's great organizational methods.  I've made an "English Notes" section and tagged it notes, and Devils Arithmetic so I can find it later on.

I make each chapter a different note with the same tags.

It's also easy to edit them anywhere you need to.  In Language-Arts I type them on my iPod Touch that is brought along where ever I go.  And then later on when I need to type an essay, reflection, or paper on the book it's all at my fingertips.

Middle School Reflections

I am starting a new segment here on the blog.  I have asked classmates if they would want to help me blog about middle school or other topics they like or we decide on as a group.  I suggested to start with a middle school reflection but it can go anywhere they'd like!  They all have Google accounts so I can just put them as a writer of the blog.  I would keep watch and reign over all things happening but like @russgoerend has done with his english blog that I am a student/part of.  In order to keep track of who is writing what I would pre-create all posts and label them with their name and as I please.  I am doing this to suck more people in and get them thinking about learning.  Please let me know if you have any suggestions as what you might do in this situation or stand point.  I will keep comments of how many email responses or interests I have.  Please keep checking back to see how this is working.  Thanks!
P.S. I sent an email to 8 friends tonight and can guarantee at least 2 of them will like this idea.

Macintosh Meltdown

I have always wanted a Mac Book. I'm not sure how the obsession started but it did.  @russgoerend suggested to earn money over the Summer to buy one next Fall using education discounts from Apple. I am now stuck on what to do to earn money. I am thinking of some how mowing lawns and during the winter shoveling driveways.  I now do not know which to buy. I could either get a Mac Mini or a Mac Book. If I buy the Mac mini I'm not sure if I will get wi-fi reception in my room and there's no phone line. I would also use a Dell monitor I all ready have and a Logitech wireless mouse. I would get an Apple keyboard just because they are sweet! That total would cost me $677. If I buy a Mac book it could go anywhere in the house, always have wi-fi, built in keyboard and mouse, and no extra costs. That is at the flat cost of $999. I'm not sure if the $330 difference in price is worth it. I'd love to have a Mac book but it's still kind of hazy.  Please share your opinions.

School communication with technology

Today someone was sick and was looking for the homework assignment. She texted a friend in her class and got that. Later on while I was chatting with her and she had a question. I told her to send me the message. This is what she sent.  Instantaneously after I said that I thought, "Let's look online for the textbook!" After visiting www.classzone.com I found a very helpful math page with quizzes and test prep. It even had an online book.  Sadly it needed a password. Then I started wondering if even the math teacher knows that this website is here. Anyways I helped her with the pages by sending her a picture of a study our math teacher gave us. I'm still just wondering what it would be like if she had contacted the math teacher? Would she get a reply? Would she get help on Monday? Who knows... Leave your comments about what you think!

Book club Reflection #4

Effort is slacking in people while others are getting a hang of it and putting forth more effort. Our discussions were very powerful and meaning. (without the help of Mr. Goerend). This was a pretty good group time.

Book Club Reflection #3

Everybody had their stuff ready again. This group wa. Not very good today because me and Lachlan finished up our one question we had left. We were supposed to share tomorrow but since that's all that was holding us back we went ahead and we finished as we went. It also felt very rushed. If it would have been my decision we would have met tomorrow but atleast now it's done and over with for now!