Project Based Learning - Learning For All :)

It's been an adventure in my Math and Science 8 classrooms.  PBL is in full swing, and I'm learning just as much as the kids in terms of what needs to be done.

The first - my gosh is submission management important.  While I have great rubrics that allow me to assess pretty much any type of submission, because there are so many different types, I'm having trouble figuring out the best way to keep them all.

Videos are too big to email, written things have to get integrated with computer generated things, pictures have to be sent and then stored somewhere (or printed?), etc.  You get the idea - I'm longing for the ability to post things to an online repository, and as a school we're moving towards that....

I also have to make sure that everyone is able to demonstrate their knowledge in the group - it's been eye opening to ask a student a fact that their group has put down and see them draw a complete blank.  Even students who make amazing things (cell cake?  Awesome labs?) still have difficulty fully explaining the concept they just showed me.

Perhaps there is something to the "lecture for a bit", or perhaps I'm just too hyper vigilant about the curriculum.

Overall, I've been getting fantastic feedback from all stakeholders in the projects, and it's coming along nicely.

Science 8 is going to start putting together Chapter 1, so hopefully I'll have something more concrete to share later.

PBL - 2 Weeks In

Wow - what a fantastic two weeks of school it's been.  I started with my year long PBL projects from day 1.

My Math 8's are completing a "Mathematics in Life" project where they have been given a persona (accountant, making 45k, married) and are now making important life decisions.

Our first assignment was a blast - they got to write the biographies for their "characters".  They had a blast coming up with what they did as children, where they met their husband, their parents, etc.  Some very creative juices are flowing!

The next thing we focused on was the preparation for creating a monthly budget.  First, they had to figure out what their income is - we talked about RRSP's, government tax, etc.  They had quite a bit of fun working out just how much to save in order to NOT give it to the government!

In science we started creating our digital textbooks.  The first topic - characteristics of living things!  Most students chose to "start off easy" and create a nice table with some pictures, examples and descriptions of the characteristics, but I did have one adventurous group - movie making!

After gathering costumes, the "news report about a lion and a unicorn" went into full swing explaining just how that lion and unicorn interact to both be living things - and it's hilarious seeing Grade 8 students wandering around in a unicorn costume, especially in a uniformed school!

The second textbook topic jumped into cells.  More students got creative with their "explanations" - I have two labs being created, and a cell made out of cake being constructed at the back of the room.  It's debatable which has more icing - the students, or the cake - but we're all having a blast and learning a ton.

I'll be compiling the various creations (pictures, videos, written submissions, etc) into an ePub or PDF format (depending on how serious the formatting gets) and providing it to the students to use on their e-readers.

Overall, I'm thrilled - the only minor hiccup was an initial reaction of "but we really like it when teachers stand and give us the notes" - but after some initial one-on-one work with a brief "lecture", those complains quickly subsided.

On to week 3 - budgetting and more work with cells!

Probes, Pads and Pods

Doesn't that sound like the beginning of a bad B-Movie involving an alien abduction? :)

I've been facilitating and helping out at Touch'N'Go this week and it's been fantastic.  I got to meet lots of great people, and really worked closely with some fantastic educators.

The two workshops I actually facilitated were using iPads and iPods in a UDL environment and using Vernier Probes, iPads and iPods in a science classroom.

A brief summary of both:

We split the UDL session into three sections - Writing, Photography/Video and Sound.  Major apps were:

Writing:

Pages - $10
-nearly full featured word processor.  It has some limitations, but in a school environment, it's pretty good for producing nice looking work.
Keynote - $10
-Nearly full featured presentation creator which is really easy for students to use to create quick presentations of learning.
Bamboo Paper - Free
-Great, simple "use your finger as a pen" tool.  It's a blank piece of paper.  The possibilities are nearly endless :)
Idea Sketch - Free
-Mind mapping

Photography/Video

Collabracam - $6
-VERY cool multi-camera editor.  It takes the feeds of up to four iPod or iPhone cameras and allows a single director to manage recording from devices, send messages to users, etc.
iMovie - $5
-A limited, but still viable, movie creation app.  Limited in that the editing is a bit of a pain on an iPod but still doable.  It's great for quick hits of "what did I just do" or summarizing learning.
PS Express - Free
-Photoshop lite (more like Piknik) with some basic editing and neat filters.

Sound
Quick Voice - Free
-Easy voice recording for the iPad.  Used to record in the field, or use for descriptions of events to replay later.  Other possibilities are huge
Dragon Dictate - Free
-Decent text-to-speech app for quick annotations and some special ed use.

I accept that there are TONS more apps, and many that I use often, but we only had a limited time, so those are what we focused on :)

My vernier presentation was a blast - teachers performed two labs - a friction lab by dragging objects and a heart rate lab - and then contributed their data to a collaborative spreadsheet on Google Docs.  It worked really well - everyone got to play with the probes and see the graphs being created.

Many of the above apps were touched on with specific science uses, and we added LabTimer (16 simultaneous timers) and Numbers (nearly fully featured spreadsheet program).

Overall - a fantastic week with lots of learning!

My Ambitious PBL Plans

So I'm going to try and go full PBL this year in most of my classes.  I've dabbled with it before, and it's worked, but only as a "this is a one unit PBL" or even worse, a single project based on learning (which isn't PBL, but it's closer than not).

Math 8:

Students will be going through "lives" as adults with a specific income, job, spouse, family situation, etc.  They will be making various life choices all including math - choosing the best buys at a store, picking a cell phone plan, planning a party, designing a garden.  I've managed to put them entire BC curriculum into various projects.

Science 8:

Students will be creating a digital textbook of all the required learning outcomes this year.  They'll get given an outcome at the beginning of the week, and within (I think) about two weeks need to have a summary, definitions, a lab, some problems, diagrams, etc.  All the things that would go into a textbook section on that outcome.  I'll then have them create an ePub version with all their content (including video!) to show parents on iPad's and eReaders.

My biggest concern about both of these will be the "this is what is happening all year" type of approach - I'm not sure how students will respond to both having one "project" for the year, and having the freedom to work on their own or with groups, at their own pace (within reason) and without the daily grind of lecture->homework->submit->test.  Essentially, it will be new for everyone!

If anyone has done anything similar, I'd love to get in touch!

The Many Uses of Angry Birds

Angry Birds has been making the rounds as a fantastic physics app, and I completely agree.  I've come up with a few more uses in math for different age levels that I wanted to share.

Classroom practice/study time:  I recently had a group of ESL students come over who were practicing English - specifically, a few sentences they were going to deliver for a powerpoint presentation.  I pulled up Angry Birds and each student said their sentences and then got to fire one bird - as a class we worked through about 4 levels, everyone having a blast.  This can work with any "step" type problem - someone comes up to put the next step on the board, recites a fact they learned, something from a book, etc.

Estimating:  At all levels estimation is important, but specifically at the younger ones where it is taught.  How long will the bird fly if it's this angle?  How far?  How high?  Where will it land?  Justification is great for these as well - "Why do you think that"?

Measurement:  Projecting onto a whiteboard means you can measure off specific distances, and measurement is really at all levels.

Volume/Surface Area:  Determining the volume or surface area of the blocks broken is great for the middle school age groups.  Competitions between groups could include who can break the most surface area, volume, both, etc.

Just a few quick ones - any more?  Please share!

Student Owned Devices

Student owned devices, and their use in the classroom, are becoming a hot topic on Twitter and in education circles that I'm part of.  Generally speaking, the people I talk to tend to be in favour of them.  That being said, however, thats possibly because the people I'm talking with tend to be of a similar mind to me :)

There have been some reasonable arguments against allowing students to bring in devices into the classroom which I would like to explore.

First, my position:  I firmly believe that, issues aside, allowing student devices to be used in the classroom will better promote a technological literacy in students, as well as better engage them in their own learning.

Now, the issues "we" have to work out as a school and education community:

1.  It's too hard to manage.  This issue has popped up the most of any and I can totally see the perspective of the people commenting on it.  It's usually network administrators or IT support people who say this and they absolutely have a point.  Having managed two school networks before I can understand the difficulty of having to deal with different configurations, abilities, settings and systems all the while keeping everything working.

Possible solution:  Set a standard for your school - we will support XYZ for this task, and XYZ for that one.  Then, when teachers want to use another device, have them implement and support it themselves.  Of course, offer support when it's convenient and continue working towards improving the "standard", but for heavens sake don't tell everyone "You can't use this because we can't support it".

2.  Not everyone has a device.  This gets sticky because it can show obvious levels of wealth and split students into categories.  It also causes students to go home and say "Mr. Campbell says we HAVE to have a cell phone in class" when that's certainly NOT what I said.

Solution:  Other than the obvious piece that everyone already KNOWS the have's and have not's in the classroom because students share and use cell phones constantly outside of the classroom, I have found that when devices are used grouping students tends to work best.  I will say "Okay, I need 5 phones, who will volunteer to use their phone to be part of a group".  This allows students to hide behind "I don't want to use my phone" rather than "I'm the only one in my group that doesn't have one."

3.  PD issues.  This goes along with "we can't support it" in that teachers can begin to expect that they HAVE to use these devices without any training, and then get upset because they aren't used effectively.  A very valid concern and one that needs to be addressed quickly after initiating a student owned device program.

Solution:  Provide very simple activities for the less "techy" amongst the teachers that doesn't require any serious support.  Also make it clear that this is not an expectation (yet?) in the school and therefore, to try what they want or ignore it completely.

Hopefully we can work past these (and other) complaints so as to utilize the tools that most of our students already have...

So How Important is Math?

I can't believe I'm writing this :)

Other than my still held belief (here) that learning for the sake of learning is important, I've began wondering just how useful the high school math we teach is.

I have been working on a whole-year PBL approach to my Grade 8 math class.  The basic premise is that students are given a scenario (you're an accountant, you make 60k, you're married) and then asked to perform a bunch of "everyday" tasks.  Things like doing their taxes, making a budget, getting a mortgage, choosing the best items to buy at the grocery store, etc.

All of these tasks involve math, and all are what I would call "legitimate" tasks in that people actually DO have to make these decisions (no trains leaving stations, for example).

What I encountered, however, is how much our society has gotten AWAY from the math of these basic things.

When I started to have students work out how much tax they would be paying, it dawned on me that I never had to do those calculations because QuickTax did it for me, and better than I ever could.

When I set up the assignment to chose the best items at the grocery store, I remembered that all the work is already done because the store puts unit prices on everything already.

You get the idea.

So while I've created, in my opinion, an interesting program for the year and I think the students will enjoy it, I really haven't opened anyones eyes to the uses of math.

I enjoy math a lot, and I'm struggling to think about where I've used it.  Granted, I've had to do rate and distance calculations on trips, or calculate basic equations when planning events, but that's all pretty straightforward.  Perhaps it's because I KNOW how to do this stuff, but I struggle to think of daily math use.

So, other than knowing for the sake of knowing....how much math do we really use?

Dressing for the part

An interesting conversation on Twitter arose about professional dress.

The conversation went on about how some teachers feel that dressing more relaxed allows them to connect with students, while others suggested that we need to dress as professionals.

Personally, I think it's all about dressing professionally for both students and teachers.

I've worked at two uniform schools and one non-uniform school, and while every school is different, there is a distinct and noticeable difference in the uniform schools.  I firmly believe that dressing for what you intend to be doing subconsciously changes your behaviour.  This is very evident on "non uniform" days, and even students will notice this.

Just as you wouldn't wear gym clothes to a fancy party, there should be an expectation that students and teachers dress appropriately.

Does this mean uniforms?  Personally I think it does - it means that everyone is dressed appropriately, and furthermore, it removes the issues with clothing being a differentiator.  Uniforms don't have to be super formal, however, to work - a nice golf shirt and business-casual pants are all that is required for students to "act the part" and dress for a purpose.

Some teachers suggest that dressing for the part doesn't change how professional they act.  While in the larger picture I would agree - clothes don't make the man (or woman), but I firmly believe that dress affects how we behave, subtly.

Another very large issue is how we are perceived - far too often the public has a negative view of teachers, and I think that if we want to start being treated more as professionals, we need to start dressing and acting that way.

Every job has a dress code, why shouldn't school?

Show me the money...

I'll start this post by saying that I'm a huge fan of private schools.  I think they're a better form of education, and part of the reason I'm a fan will hopefully be revealed here.

Now that I've turned off probably 80% of my readers...my topic for today :)

It's nearing the end of the school year here in Alberta, and budget cuts are being seen across all programs.  I was curious one day just how much money is spent on children's education in Alberta.  I was quite shocked at the result - a little over $12,000 (that's education budget divided by students).  That includes everything to do with education in Alberta - all the administration, all the school upkeep, all the salaries, all the supplies...everything.

I then looked around and remembered that I worked at a fantastic private school last year that charged a grand total of $9,000 per kid.  Since the government gave them some money as well, it worked out to about $13,000 per child, or about a thousand more than the Alberta government is spending on education.

The differences are huge, I accept - managing an entire province costs money, managing multiple schools costs money, and helping all the kids we have to help costs money too...but, can't we spend it a bit better?

My proposal - treat every public school like a private one.  Give them the money per kid - all of it, minus a few salaries at the ministerial level - and say "go forth and teach".  Trust the principal, trust the teachers, and trust the parents to keep it all running.  There doesn't need to be a district, there doesn't need to be special funds to various schools for this or that...there just needs to be money, per child, in the hands of the people who are actually doing the teaching.

It works for some FANTASTIC schools in Canada - there isn't any oversight for the private schools in Canada - they sink or swim based on their ability to deliver quality education.

Some would argue that the parents donate huge sums of money to these schools - yes, they do, but not for programming.  Check for yourself - all their books are public because they're charities, and you can see that every dime they receive from parents and the government is spent on salaries and yearly programming - nothing capital.  In addition, parent donations are spent entirely on capital projects or scholarships, not yearly programming.

So really, what would go wrong?  If we hire a good principal, back them up with a volunteer board of appropriate business and education professionals in the community and run it like a business delivering education...what's the trouble?  The school would be accountable because the parents would have total choice over where their child went to school and the money would follow the child.  Schools that weren't using the money well and delivering bad programs would be simply put "out of business".

If a private school can deliver the kind of education they can on about the same as the government spends....where's the money going?

"Sounds" good

A quick share on what I've done recently in a "media arts" themed Options class (like an elective for Junior high kids).

I found some pictures on the internet that displayed an obvious emotion - a girl running through a field, a man sitting lonely on a bench, a goal being scored in soccer, etc.  Using Garage Band I had the students create a 30 second "theme song" to go with the picture - the criteria was "if someone heard your song without the picture, could they describe the same emotion as when they see the shot?".

Some lessons learned:

Any loop software works for this - Aviary was a close second choice in terms of using their instruments to create, but they don't have "loops" like Apple does.

Showing students some "good" music/clips can be really helpful - especially pointing out which instruments are generally used for which emotions.

Talking about beats per minute (here's a great math lesson!) can also help get students into the idea of creating music for a mood.

"Less is more" tends to be good for my kids - they want to put 6 tracks of loops all at the same time, completely drowning out the idea.  Three or four max would be better.

Showing them how to "space" their tracks so that instruments and beats come in and fade out at different times can be an easy way for them to discover "creative" song production.

Try it yourself!  You'll have a better understanding of some of the struggles the kids are about to go through if you've tried to create a mood using some sort of audio program.  Some things I found were the difficulties in not being too repetitive, as well as the challenge of finding instruments to match specific moods.

Overall, it was a fun class, and the kids came up with some really neat songs to go with the pictures.

Yes, you have to...

As part of pretty much every teaching professional body/union/licensing agent/other "thing", teachers agree to ongoing professional learning.

It's a hot button issue around contract time (oh, we need more PD!)

In fact, one of the biggest things I keep hearing from my colleagues is that they aren't trained on xyz equipment.

Okay.....so why do we have to wait for someone else to teach us?  I suppose it's because we're teachers who are used to guiding students slowly but surely towards a "lightbulb moment".

Here's the problem....ask most teachers, and they all want their kids to be more independent, more able to solve problems, more able to "figure stuff out", and yet, some people will sit idly by and say "I don't know how".

Here's my solution - tell them to learn!

We're not allowed to be "bad" teachers - we need to have criteria to mark with, we need to ensure that we have an orderly class, we need to ensure that our assignments are more than simply stand at the front and lecture, and we need to ensure that our students learn things.  These things are professional obligations that, rightfully so, are enforced (or could be enforced) through our contracts.

Why then are we allowed to simply say "Sorry, I know all this research says that using this idea or that idea or this thing or that thing is a great tool for learning, but no thanks, I'll stick with what I've got".  This is the response given far too often when teachers are asked to implement this idea, or this technology, or this lesson.

So I go back to it - tell them to!  My first VP was fantastic, and a major innovator in educational technology.  He told the whole staff "You will use Twitter and you will use a blog roll.  We're going to talk about what you learn at monthly staff meetings".  This was my first job - I didn't know that, in the culture I see now, he apparently wasn't "allowed" to tell teachers this.

So brand-new-me learned how to use Twitter.  I learned how to set up a blog roll.  It didn't take long, and it still doesn't - he wasn't expecting the moon, he wanted us to get into it.

And I thank him for it every morning when I use these tools to better my learning.  I didn't know what it was at the time, but I went along with it, and it's really made me a better teacher.

So really folks - why CAN'T we be told to learn something?  That's just one example - I've taught myself how to edit videos, shoot photographs, use twenty-three million online tools, and generally how to be a better teacher.  It didn't take forever - 20 minutes here, 15 minutes there.  I see it as part of my professional obligation.

Doctors and engineers and pilots and the like (appear) to have done it right - they subscribe to journals, they talk to colleagues, they stay up on the cutting edge stuff because they're required to by their professional obligations.

So a message to administrators - please, force us to learn!

The Power of PD

As some know, our school won $20,000 from Best Buy this year for new technology.  With the money, we purchased 15 Macbooks and 5 video cameras, along with the various accessories.

The primary users, thus far, have been myself and a colleague who helped create the videos.  This wasn't by design - we advertised that the equipment was available for everyone to use, and we'd be happy to provide some help.  No one had taken us up on the offer...

Yesterday, however, we finally got some PD time with an external presenter.  The content wasn't hard - indeed, as my colleagues sat down with the Macbooks, they were easily following along or moving ahead of the presenter.  Nothing incredibly complex was presented, but an amazing thing happened - teachers who had before shied away from using the laptops were getting very excited to try things in their classrooms.

It was interesting to see because more and more I'm discovering that it's not a lack of ability to use technology that is causing some teachers to avoid it, it is a lack of time to explore it.  Our very valuable 30 minute preps a day tend to be taken up with mundane things like marking and photocopying, and while I believe all teachers should spend some time on PD, it's not always the case.  Therefore, providing two hours of dedicated time was fantastic for my colleagues as they had the excuse to explore a technology they haven't had the chance to yet.

I encourage all "teach leaders" in schools to set aside some time for teachers to explore the technology - time they wouldn't have usually gotten, so time they wont feel like they should be using to mark or photocopy - you'd be amazed at what could happen!

In Defense of a Middle Ground

I've been spending more time on Twitter, and a bit more time reading blogs lately.  I've noticed something about everyone crying out for change - it appears that in their minds that it's all or nothing.  There is no partial solution - either completely remove (or implement) something, or bust.

Some of what I've seen lately...

Homework is evil!

Tests destroy learning!
Competition is bad!

It all has to be relevant!

The internet should be unfiltered completely!

Math has to be real!

The thing is?  I agree with all of that - but all to varying degrees.

Why can't people (and I'm guilty of this as well, although trying to change) accept a middle ground.  Are there really that many issues in education that have total rights or total wrongs?  I can't name too many, and certainly, in my opinion, none of the ones I've listed above are black and white.

Where do I stand?

I think some homework is important.  It allows teachers to provide some practice for students that they didn't have time for in class, and it provides students with an opportunity to learn a valuable skill of completing work for a deadline.  Not 50 questions, not 2 hours, but a few questions to reinforce a lesson.

I think tests are necessary, as I said in a previous post, to prepare students for the next stage of their education.  I also think that it allows for some learning to be displayed in an efficient manner.  I don't use them often, and I don't place a huge weight on them, but I certainly don't think they should be removed completely.

Competition is bad?  Really?  Competition where someone feels bad, I suppose.  Competition that's unfair, yes.  Competition with kids who can't understand winning and losing - sure.  Competition to teach a concept with a bit of fun?  Not a chance.  My kids LOVE playing math Tic-Tac-Toe, and I've used a dozen other "competition" games before as well.  What game do students play on the playground?  Competition tag games, football or basketball, etc.  Winners and losers aren't bad, it's how we react to them.

As I spoke about previously, relevance is important, but not always vital.  Learning for the sake of learning is valuable, and learning to learn is important.

I'm a huge fan of unblocking most websites, even some of the questionable ones, because students have to know what to do when they encounter something inappropriate.  Sometimes, however, age plays a factor - we rate movies not necessarily because we don't think children should understand the topics being covered, but because we believe them not to be ready to deal with it yet.  Therefore, most of the internet should be unblocked most of the time...but there are cases when some filtering is necessary.

As a math teacher, I get the question all the time about "What's the point".  Usually I have an answer, because most of our math really does have a point.  Sometimes, it's simply for the love of learning, or for the act of solving a challenging problem.  Sometimes, math doesn't have to be completely relevant.

I would simply ask everyone screaming for education reform to think about perhaps considering the other side of the coin...consider that perhaps there is a middle ground.

It's rare that there are decisions that have absolute rights and absolute wrongs, there are too many factors and too many situations that we have to consider when we scream for change.

Social Networking in 10 minutes or less

So one of the many complaints from colleagues that they "just don't have time" to use Twitter/Blogs/other PD opportunities is they just can't find the time.

And who can blame them?  It all looks like WAY too much reading, if you're not used to the idea.  Twitter has gotten a bad wrap - "It's about people posting what they ate for breakfast" is the most common comment I get.  I also get "I don't care what Beieber thinks" is a close second.  Showing teachers without a good explanation, however, also harms them - they see my stream updating every second with something new to read, or look at, or respond to, and get seriously overwhelmed.

I explain to them that I get my PD in 10 minutes with a morning coffee.  They act surprised - "10 minutes to read all that?".  Nope.  Only what I feel like.

It's so important to remember that good resources keep popping up in multiple places, and if you miss something, it's probably going to come back.  It's also important to note that if you HADN'T looked, you wouldn't get ANYTHING, so getting one thing is better than the alternative :)

I explain to them that my morning works something like this - I open up my blogs, and skim through the various education/math/science titles - call it 15 posts.  I'll probably read one, and save one for a prep or the next morning (remember, 10 minutes or less!).

I'll pop open twitter and read the last 5-6 tweets in case someone has an interesting discussion happening right now, and then scroll looking for links.  I might click on 3.

They start to see what I'm talking about - I get one or two things a day, which adds up to a LOT in a week and even more in a month :)  The rest?  It will either resurface, or I'm not any worse off than not looking.

I'll be making a post about why I think we need to require more continuous PD, but I've converted a couple of people to spend 10 minutes learning something new.

Using Video to Engage

After our school won the Best Buy Best In Class award we made sure to purchase some basic video cameras with our money, in addition to 15 Macbooks.  We chose a basic Kodak flip type camera, and I'm really impressed with both the quality (1080p) and the ease of use (any of our students can figure them out instantly).

This has caused me to start using video creation as a major assessment during each of my math units.  Students are asked to create a teaching video which must include both definitions learned in the unit, a real world example, and a good use of manipulatives.  I'm pretty impressed with the level of engagement that I'm seeing from my kids!

The more "mathematically inclined" students are happily making two or three problems and going off to create their own manipulatives to use in the video.

The students who are less capable in math are still able to create a good video with the basics of what I've asked for.

Each unit tends to involve at least one video, sometimes more if there are lots of unique concepts.

Everyone is really happy with their results.  Because of a CRAZY amount of FOIP paperwork required by my school division, I can't show you the videos...but I can at least share a bit about the process.

-I tend to assign one or two topics that mesh (we're doing single and two step equations right now)

-I use groups of 2-4, depending on the kids who are forming the group.  Less and you don't have a camera operator, more and you have too many people and not enough tasks.  4 is actually a rarity - that's usually too much.

-Tripods are nice - we have two, and they're always in use.

-I broke down how I teach some basic lessons.  The students noted that various stages that I went through when I talked about a topic (introduction, a real world problem, some key terms and ideas, an activity, practice, etc).  This was really helpful for when they started to make their videos, as I quickly discovered.  Before we did the "lets see how we teach a lesson" lesson, the most common question was "Where do I start?" or, for some "Can I have a camera to record 'stuff'" :)

-I always make sure to be very specific with my kids - mine need it, yours will perhaps need less.  Things like how many shots they need to take (minimum 3 for me), which definitions to include, who has to be in the video, etc.  I find it really helps with focusing either the less mathematically or multimedially (new word I just made) inclined.

-Students don't have to do a formal storyboard for my videos, but they do have to have the basics done.  Usually that requires them to actually have the manipulatives they want to use out, have the worked problem they're going to show us, and be able to not only define the words, but also have some sort of visual representation of what they mean (this is a video, after all...).

-Locations can be difficult - I've taken over the paper and photocopy room, quiet hallways, gym storage rooms, etc :)  Make sure if you have lots of groups that you have somewhere to put them for filming.

-We use iMovie and Garage Band to create everything, and it generally only takes about 2 classes after geting their footage together to make it into a decent finished product.

Overall, I'm really happy with what they've made, and they're able to show me some good understanding through both the process (I'm marking anecdotally) and the final product.

Education Reform - Can It Harm Students?

Teachers like to try and change the system.  We all have great ideas about what is wrong with education, and some people actually try and implement these ideas in their classrooms.  Most of the time, I think it's a great idea to try and do something new - teach differently, use different tech, try and explain something in a better or different light.

But, through conversation, I'm wondering if we're doing some of the "reform" wrong.

I've always had issues with teachers who are going to "change the whole system, one classroom at a time." Let's use tests as an example, but know that it's only an example.  Some teachers have suggested that all tests are evil, they should never be used because they don't teach anything and they're poor assessment tools.  I tend to agree with them - probably not in such strong language, but I rarely use tests to assess major concepts and I don't think that they really show learning.

But, and it's a big but, students have come back and thanked me for giving them tests - and showing them how to study for them.  The reason for this is because other teachers don't agree that tests are bad - they happily give a unit test at the end of every unit, and then a final exam, and that's 80% of your mark.

So my question is - if we think that tests are bad, and we stop using them as assessment tools, what happens when students get to teachers who use them?  Haven't we done a complete diservice to the students sitting right in front of us by NOT preparing them for what they may face?

It was suggested that the teacher giving the tests could teach them how to study - yes, and well they should, but it's not a one off thing.  It's not a simple lesson on studying - it's a habit, and a skill, to be able to study and prepare for a test.  And, I know far too many teachers who simply expect students to know how to write a test and have little sympathy for those who don't.  Incorrect attitude?  Of course it is!  But, don't we owe it to our kids to prepare them to deal with something that while unfair is still possibly going to happen?

I've used tests, but lots of other ed reform movements can cause the same problems - anything that a single teacher, or group of teachers decide needs to be done away with or changed that students MAY need seems to me to be something that we CAN'T get rid of.

The question then becomes - where does the change get made?  For certain it needs to start at the very least at a principal level - if a whole SCHOOL does away with tests, at least I know I wont be sending my students off next year to a teacher who is going to use them.  They still have to face them in the next school, or University/College, but perhaps they're going to be better prepared.  Or the school could really focus the last year on writing them.

Better still is a system - the minister of education in Ontario decided that there would be no more late penalties on assignments - no more "10% off per day".  It's a fantastic pedagogical idea - we shouldn't be marking students on when they hand something in, we should be marking them on what they know.  Teachers all over the province freaked out - "How can we get students to hand things in on time, this will destroy my classroom, etc etc etc".  It didn't, and the policy is humming along quite nicely.  The reason that it didn't hurt anyone is because EVERYONE had to do it.

So...education reform - I'm all for it, but it needs to be sensible, and it needs to start at a place where we don't penalize kids next year.

Knowledge worth knowing

I suppose my first "real" post shouldn't be so controversial, but I figure that things that aren't worth debating aren't terribly interesting in the first place.

It seems that everywhere I look there is this idea that we need to decide "what's worth teaching".  Many other bloggers have written articles about changing the way we teach to allow students to enjoy what they see, or only do things that they like, or teach like your class is an elective.  Twitter is alive with people commenting that education needs to allow more freedom, more choice and more "exciting" and "interesting" learning.  I recently had a conversation with a teacher that suggested that all mathematical theory should be immediately relevant to students.  There have been arguments that various authors are not "in touch" with students, and why should we bother reading them.  Entire sections of science have been deemed "irrelevant to middle school students" during conversations.

I disagree.  Not with many of the ideas, but with the idea that it has to be this way all the time.

The phrase "knowledge is power" wasn't created by accident.  Knowing things makes us better able to interact with each other, better able to understand our world and, I believe, better people.  Being able to use things I've learned in school has been nice for me.  I can have a conversation, knowledgeably, about most topics.  I learned how to think, and to learn, even when it wasn't fun.  I learned that sometimes, what I'm being told wont be useful for a few years, but man am I thankful when I get to where I needed it.

Content in school doesn't have to be relevant all the time because sometimes it builds upon itself.  Sometimes what you're learning in Grade 6 is later used in a real application in Grade 9.  Content also doesn't have to be immediately relevant because we can't know where our students are going to end up.  We don't know if the Grade 9 student is going to go into mathematics, or English, or art, or any of the hundreds of other professions, and I bet they don't either!  Therefore, learning how to calculate the value of x in a quadratic equation or learning how to write a five paragraph essay is important regardless of how little you actually use the skills.

It doesn't always have to be fun.  Sometimes, in school, as well as in life, we have to do things that aren't fun but it's still the best way to learn.  Some concepts just require notes, or a teacher talking.  Some assessments are best completed with a pen and paper test.  School should be entertaining, most of the time. I would say that 90% of my classes are "fun" or at least engaging to students and beyond the traditional talk->memorize->test formula.  That other 10%?  That's the stuff that can't be taught effectively or efficiently through the use of "fun" activities.

Furthermore, there's a skill (and it is a skill that is important) learned to be able to take something "not fun", complete it acceptably without complaining and do a good job at it.  We all have to do it, in every job.

It's not all about student choice.  Perhaps other educators have these amazing super motivated students, but I haven't seen an entire class of them yet.  Sure, some kids I can say "What do you want to learn today in Science" and they'll actually come up with reasonable topics, and good project ideas.  But another entire group of them will simply, and consistently, say "nothing...can we go outside and play?" or "Nothing, I don't care about science".

I expect some will say that therefore they shouldn't be learning about things they don't care about...but really?  That's your argument?  Where do we draw the line - how old does a kid need to be to "choose" what they want to learn?  It's a real question - we, as a society have decided that expect for English and Math, students get choice when they hit Grade 11.  Where should it be, if not there?

I'm not against most of what others have said.  I believe that school should,  most of the time, encourage thinking, be "fun", allow student choice as much as possible, and generally move in the direction that many want to take it.  I  just don't think it should be all the time, in every circumstance.

What's in a name?

We like to name things.  We give each other names, we give objects names, we give ideas names, and then we use those names to share understanding with each other.  If I say "Rabbit" you know what type of animal I'm thinking about.

I've been thinking about names a lot lately - I recently attended a conference where I become convinced that I needed an education blog.  I have one that I'm (admittedly) not very good at keeping up with, but I wanted one to share my education related thoughts, and things I find, with others.

So, the name of my new blog...is three words?  I tried to chose the words that I felt most applied to how I teach and live my professional life.

Learn - I'm always learning.  Every morning I happily take a cup of coffee and read my blogroll, or Twitter, or both.  I learn from my students, and happily let them know it.

Teach - My profession, and why I love going to work in the morning.  I enjoy "turning on the light bulb" of learners of any age, and try to share my knowledge and skills.  I also want this blog to be where I can have others teach either through sharing ideas they have, or applying what I've learned from others to a new idea.

Lead - Leadership in education can come from everywhere and anyone.  Leadership happens in my classroom when I provide my students the opportunity to lead each other and myself.  I try and take leadership roles with others to share what I have learned, thus starting at the beginning of the cycle again of learning, teaching, and creating leaders.

So, on to new adventures in education, and sharing my (many) thoughts with the world.