As Project-Based Learning (PBL) grows, it's nice to see resources that help teachers implement a curriculum structure that helps kids think critically, gain depth, and find context to their lives. I had the chance to read the book prior to publication. Preorder it when it comes available. Well worth reference.
This article at face value was startling. An organization of direct descendents from the Mayflower colonists are denied a spot in the Thanksgiving Parade? Definitely grabbed my attention. The organization made 4 separate attempts to know what was wrong with their application or other reason why they were not included. While they received no response, the news writer included this quote from Anthony Michaels, president and ceo of the MI Thanksgiving Parade Foundation, who runs the parade:
"We get hundreds of applications from groups and people — all kinds that want to be in the parade," Michaels said.
"We're setting this up to be an entertainment-oriented parade, so we want to make sure everything has entertainment value."
Among the new entries this year are floats from DTE, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Strategic Staffing Solutions. DTE has been a financial backer of the parade for years. The utility's entry this year will be titled "Energy and Our Future."
Hmmm, the red highlights show part of my thinking. Mr. Michaels' comments might be interpreted as saying that Cultural history has not the value of say, Utilities and Insurance companies. One wonders what Project Inquiries students could do around this topic, or perhaps for public understanding of the relationships between culture, politics, and business. When or how should the three be intertwined for effective decision making.
There is another lesson in this experience. I wondered what might be the reason(s) for Mr. Michael's foundation to reject the group. May be the group has a political agenda which its presence might overshadow the focus of the parade--like a protest that they'd spring during the parade. So I did some digging.
1. I googled their name to find their website.
2. Reading through the website, I searched for the organization's agenda, both public and hidden.
3. Searched for links of other groups that are linked to the organization.***
4. Searched for similar groups.***
I couldn't find anything underhanded or subtly sinister. My point for this research reaction is that knee jerk posting creates lots of contentious statements (rants?), which denies a substantive dialog. Having students do due diligence prior to responding is a good tool to hone, especially in this digital age.
*** One place to do this is at Google Advanced Search. Open "Date, usage rights, numeric range, and more". Under "Page-specific tools:" are two options to choose from:
Find pages similar to the page
Find pages that link to the page
Paste a website in either and find out who they are referenced and related too.
My kids do a lot of problem solving in the games they play. They play online games such as World of Warcraft and Wizards 101 where they work in teams with other players to complete quests. Often the tasks can only be done through collaborative strategy, problem solving, and communication. Lack these skills, a player is mercilessly booted from the team to make room for someone who can fit in this group concept.
They play Farmville with their grandmother. The Facebook game is about growing crops and raising livestock, and selling products for "money" to expand the farm. They barter and exchange goods. They tutor their grandmother in the nuances of the game to gain the most output from their farms.
My youngest used the Nintendo DSi to record podcast stories with friends, sometimes grabbing the digital camcorder to shoot video tales. In Little Big Planet, they create new levels, which are uploaded via the PS3 to share with a global user group.
Many schools politely tell children to leave these tools and skills outside the building.
In unstructured time, they use 21st Century Skills but lack deep understanding metacognitively. How can anyone hone expertise if they don't know the structures for what they do? In school, where they spend 7 hours a day--almost half of their waking time, these skills are little practiced. Often instruction is the conversation between teacher and student, or content is delivered by the teacher with few opportunities for students to discover the content themselves through inquiry. Students need "mucking about" time with concepts. Traditional teaching tends to be a "I told you about xyz". Telling is theoretical. Doing is permanent.
Here are a variety of tools that can support students practicing communication, collaboration, and critical thinking with in a learning context, which benefits them for academic achievement and life skills in a global community.
Students need practices in these skills, especially communication and collaboration. Teambuilding and icebreakers can be effective when students do multiple experiences, and reflect after each session.
Voice or video chat: Now students and outside experts and mentors can have conversation around the work anywhere, anytime, and for free. Students can maintain collaboration experiences while not in the same building or country.
Rubrics are excellent tools for assessing students' growth in 21st Century Skills. It's important that students are part of the evaluation process, both of themselves and their team members. A good rubric brings clarity to expectations.
Blogging is a way for students to comment to a broader audience, publish works and ideas, and engage in relevant dialog. Blogger integrates well with users of Google tools and apps. WordPress also has great functions.
Students need avenues to voice their opinions. Shape and express ideas to a general audience based on their learning of the current curriculum and learning targets.
During inquiry, students need tools to more efficiently gather data from peers and other audiences who can inform their explorations of study. All are online.
There are social network tools that students use to exchange ideas and develop content such as Twitter and Facebook. Wikis are great for developing a Social Education site where students and teachers can share ideas, develop content, and problem solve. All within an environment used for learning and exploration through the 21st Learning Skills. (Example would be this very site)
Grading has one of the most impactful influence on students' progress and learning, yet the skills for formative and summative assessment practices remains under trained, and often glossed over by teaching programs. While assessment practices tell teachers what students need and levels of understanding, the results influence lesson planning to best support students in a variety of forms. Differentiated Instruction is based on a clear reading of data that is unencumbered by human bias and flawed calculation processes.
Essentially, to assess and grade effectively, educators must let go of personal experiences "when I was a student", which perpetuates the broken model, and become a pioneer, exploring new territory with an open and fresh perspective.
There is good literature available that focus on engaging educators to reflect on the quality of current practices, and explore new ways of thinking--with an open mind.
Two books that make for a strong reflective exploration of grading are by Rick Wormeli and Ken O'Connor:
Wormeli, Rick. Fair Isn’t Always Equal: Assessing & Grading In the Differentiated Classroom. Stenhouse Publishers: 2006
Address quality elements of good assessment and grading practices based on getting an accurate understanding of student learning. Provides strategies and different views for thinking and methods for effective assessment and grading. Great for teachers and administrators. Makes for an excellent book study for schools and districts looking to build clarity in assessing student learning.
The author shows how to link grades and standards. His eight models assist teachers in designing and conducting grading practices that help students feel more in control of their academic success. This eye-opening dialog remains an exceptional way to begin a journey with even the strongest skeptics.
Ken O'Connor wrote a book that is my personal favorite because it tackles the most difficult issues. Many of the challenges that educators have difficulty digesting tend to be more about control then the deeper issues that need addressing in a constructive, positive, and clear intend for what is best for clean assessment and the development of the learner.
Teachers and school/district leaders gain a deeper understanding of the issues involved in sound grading practices. Includes: practical strategies and alternatives to help change how students are graded.
I intend to explore some of the concepts in this last book with the hope to encourage a rich dialog about where grading needs to play an effective role for student achievement.
Tonight I watched the movie, Waiting for Superman. Prior to viewing it, I've heard criticism about it as promoting charters and bashing teacher unions. Interestingly, some of the criticism came from people who had not yet seen the movie. The buzz or the hype had a skeptic flavor for what can a "movie" tell, except the agenda of the film's producers.
Having watched the movie, and being a school improvement consultant in a county containing 34 school districts and many charter schools, I found the issues and message compatible. An education system based on a 1950's model with an 1890's philosophy has a complexity of problems and multiple stakeholders that share in the responsibility for the perpetuating failures. The movie focuses on three issues:
1. Many public schools are failing to develop students to be competitive with kids from other developed countries.
Sure, the movie throws out a lot of statistics about failing public schools where students' chances of success is depressingly small. These Dropout Factories create hopelessness for students before they enter the school. There's a site that allows you to search your local schools and see how they rate.
Whether we take the movie at face value, or rather lets' be skeptical that the claim might, just might, be exaggerated, the real perception exist by parents who feel their kids are under served by their local schools. Unfortunately, school culture tends to be mystifying to parents and community, which does little to ease concerns. Just ask a child on 3 consecutive days, "What did you learn in class today?" The answer is predictable. When students, the major source for promotion of what schools accomplish, can not describe in depth what they are learning and why that learning is important to know...the negative perceptions are unsurprising.
How do we change the perception? Break the teaching and learning mold while simultaneously changing school culture to one of learner collegiality.
2. Charters serve as an alternative choice for students
The movie acknowledges that only 1 of every 4 charter schools achieve outstanding success. One could point to the 75% that do not do any better, sometimes worse than traditional school systems. Or, we can ask, What makes the 25% so good? It's not money. They get no more than traditional systems. In fact, having fewer resources is a challenge. It is the professionals in the school that reinvented themselves into a school that truly is "student first" focus. Criticize charter schools, and there is much to critique. Even point out that charter schools have flexibility that traditional schools do not. The reality is that good charter schools are successful. Student results prove this out repeatedly.
Yet what charter schools do with limited resources, traditional school districts should be able to do effectively given their greater resources. How can such resources be harnessed so that dropout factories become achievement oasis?
Charter schools must hold a lottery when there are more applicants than there are student spaces. It seems cruel to turn away students. Perhaps the bigger question is why did so many families apply for the limited spots of a charter school, instead of attending their local school district?
3. Unions need to become part of the solution
The movie does critique unions. It sites an example of the teacher's union in Washington D.C. along with the NEA and AFT. Unions serve a purpose to ensure teacher work conditions. There is nothing inappropriate about such a responsibility. Whatever side of the argument about tenure and work conditions, when it comes to children--everyone is on the same side. We, the adults, want all students to be successful. There are many issues for why not all students achieve. There are multiple stakeholders that help or create obstacles to learners learning--parents, administrators, communities, students, organizations, and teachers. Assuming that the responsibilities for support is equally held by all, or even slanted to parents, students, and communities, there are teachers who are ineffective, and should not be in classrooms.
How can the teachers union be a leader for other stakeholders to improve quality teachers are working with our children? It's not just the unions' responsibility, but far better that they lead so as to find that balance for bringing into the fold good teachers, and then keeping them in the profession.
If we agree that the purpose of education is to develop students so that they are all growing developmentally and achieving appropriate academic success, then there is little that can not be achieved in a 21st Century Global Society.
We are living during a time of culture change. Remember this day, this Summer, as when ebooks and books lurch to a tipping point. This author interview from J.A. Konrath's blog A Newbie's Guide to Publishingis an intriguing illustration. In this case it looks at the evolution of print media (books) to eBooks from one author's perspective.
It's also a slice of life about the Change process, from idea to implementation, to CULTURE Change, and then Permanence.
Here is an intriguing article that opens the premise that there is no ceiling to what a person can do. Genetics can play a role in inherent advantages such as growing over 6 foot to make dunking "easier." Yet there are those like Spud an NBA point guard who once WON the dunking contest.
The 6 keys seem interconnected. What stands out to me are how several of the pieces are recognized as part of effective teaching practice such as "Seek expert feedback" and "Pursue what you love" which I interpret in the classroom as making learning contextual to what students view as relevant.
