Calling for Examples of Best Teaching Practices

So the other day… I was trying to find video clips illustrating best teaching practices.  You know, examples of actual educators in front of actual students in an actual classroom modeling a best practice (in my case example of a math classroom in a 1:1 learning environment).  I assumed a quick Google search would give me pages of results ….  should be pretty easy in our media rich world where we as educators are ready and willing to work on our craft.  Apparently I was mistaken in this assumption. 

I did find page of videos with an adult talking through wordy PowerPoint slides to an audience of adults taking notes about best teaching practices.  I did find videos of newscasts with talking heads discussing the merits of one educational paradigm over another.  I did find vendor advertising explain why their product would make a practice feasible based on statistical data they collected at a school.  What I did not find was an actual classroom teacher, in a real learning environment modeling a teaching practice.  No wonder legislators under estimate the value of a professional educator in the classroom – we’re creating very little evidence of our work.

This sharing becomes more important with the burst of innovative practices - Flipped Teaching, Project Based Learning, Discovery/Inquiry, Paper-less Classrooms, BYOT/D.  We can talk about new paradigms but what do they look like?  What are the students doing in these classrooms?  How is the space arranged?  What resources are needed?  All excellent questions that someone out there can answer with a phone video camera and YouTube (Teacher Tube, Posterous, Google Video, Vimeo) account.

It’s time to start intentionally sharing and modeling best practices with one another.  Not behind a pay wall or vendor product, but really engage and share what works with fellow educators.  I know in our little world of Bring Your Own Technology/Device that @MyTakeOnIt (aka Jeremy Angoff) is creating a wiki of shared resources here.  This would be a great place to post pictures, videos, lesson plans of Bring Your Own Technology in the classroom.  Even feel free to use the comments section and post something on this blog!  I challenge us all to look at the context of our learning environment and pick one best practice to  document in some manner of media to share with other educators, parents, students and legislators.  I know I am challenging myself (and of course @jdferries) to do the same - thus the new pictures in this post of actual students in our actual school building going about their actual business as students.  

**** And if anyone has a good video of a high school or college math classroom in a 1:1 learning environment please send the link to @40ishoracle or post below :-)

The BYOT Boot Camp

As Brebeuf Jesuit moves forward in 1:1 Bring Your Own Technology (see other posts from @jdferries  blog on topic too), I thought I’d share with you all our next level of Professional Development:  The Boot Camp.

Those of you who have followed us on the 1:1 BYOT journey know one of our most successful BYOT professional development activities has been the tech petting zoo.  This is a time for individuals to stop by and try out new devices and play for a bit.  But as we get closer to 1:1 BYOT, we needed to get our hands a little dirty and thus the Boot Camp was developed.  We are working with departments as discreet learners for Boot Camps (last night was our Religion Department’s turn).  

BYOT Boot Camp Agenda

Introductory Strategies: 

• Context activity with Stages of Integration “Where Are You Now?”

• What can you expect students to bring to class and other details

Practice Maneuvers: 

• Tech Petting Zoo 

• Department Specific Applications, Web 2.0 resource, electronic environments etc…  

Special Ops:

• BYOT Reflection Graphic Organizer

• Round Table Brainstorming

The Crucible:

• Teamwork and Support

• Exit Ticket

• Graduation

We begin with a Context setting activity.  The focus here being for the individual and department to reflect on “Where are you now?” with regard to technology use in the classroom.  Right now, I am using this integration rubric created by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in 2004 as a jumping off place.   Campers are then asked to reflect on concerns and questions they may have regarding BYOT and jot them down on a piece of paper.  This context activity centers the group on the topic at hand… visualizing BYOT in their classroom learning environment.   We then move into logistics of what are the requirements of 1:1 BYOT that have been articulated to families.

Practical Maneuvers would be considered Experience in Jesuit terms.  Now we look at specific tools, resources, devices but frame them within current academic learning objectives.  This is when the conversation shifts.  I find the first 30-45 minutes of the Boot Camp is focused on the nouns of BYOT – expectations, devices, requirements, websites, supportive readings…. But when we turn the corner to the academic learning objective (I use a graph organizer like the one below) then the conversation shifts away from the nouns and on to the verbs.  

Now it gets fun!  The conversation last night shifted to the importance of factual memorization and timelines versus analysis of concepts.  We discussed question writing to promote critical thinking.  We discussed what would happen if we really reflected on the learning objective of the lesson rather than just assign some reading and hope it flushes out in the assessment.  We discussed essential concepts in light of curricular learning outcomes.  Most importantly, we discussed good teaching in a collaborative, supportive environment (that's the Teacher Resource Center below...teacher included).

I haven’t had to resort to an Exit Ticket yet … people do engage and pay attention.  As one of the teachers reflected yesterday (he was much more poetic than my woeful recreation here… but the sentiment is the same) – BYOT may push us beyond our comfort range but it’s in the best interest of the students to create learning experiences in the context of their time, skills and technologies. 

We call that point the way and get out of the way …

Payoffs and Pitfalls

I am taking advantage of the generosity of Stanford University and professors Matthew Jackson and Yoav Shoham by participating in the free Game Theory course currently being offered.  While the course is well outside my comfort zone and admittedly passing it may be a challenge – I am enjoying the mental stretch.  At its most basic level, game theory looks at payoffs of action.  The action a player takes will result in positive or negative payoffs making the likelihood of the action predicable via some math that I have a very tenuous grasp of… but I digress.

While the Prisoner’s Dilemma and Predator/Prey games are interesting, I find myself applying the idea of payoff versus pitfall to my world of educational technology - particularly the recurrent discussion that students will use technology to cheat.  The previous post on Block Down focused on blocking due to uncertainly of change in a new educational landscape.  But what about those who block for the seemingly nurturing reason of providing honest education?  Venturing into the waters of assessment here…

Let’s think of it in terms of game theory.  Student A is assigned to write a paper on the thematic elements of Moby Dick.  Student A has choices of the actions she might take: she can read the novel or read the summaries found online; she can annotate the novel indicating thematic elements or Google “thematic elements of Moby Dick” and pick three of the 496,000 entries that come up; she can write the paper or she can copy/paste information found in those 496,000 entries…

The perceived payoffs are what will determine the ultimate action.  The basic way payoff is often looked at is getting caught or not getting caught.  Educators love to focus on the crime and punishment element of cheating, but that’s only part of the issue.  I would argue criminal intent is not the immediate consideration of Student A.  What is - is the payoff of better use of time.  If the assessment is perceived as a waste of time, inconsequential to personal context, then why put any time or energy into the product?  Assessments which ask for responses easily Googled are just as easily brushed aside as a waste of time.  The payoff of taking the shortcut is suddenly shifted in the favor of cheating.  Softball practice, friends, heck – even science homework on frog dissection is a better use of time!

What can educators do? 

·         First, take a look at the questions we ask. 

True synthesis occurs when Student A is asked to take a concept (say the thematic elements of water in Moby Dick) and propose new 21^st century concepts that could replace or replicate the theme (create a new thematic element of human helplessness in a 21^st century landscape).  Listing thematic elements, even if one is asked to briefly describe, are low Comprehension Bloom’s and it’s time to move on.

·         Second, take a look at our crime and punishment model.

Take a deep breath and really reflect on the crime of cheating.  The harm done is personal to the student.  They have missed an opportunity to learn and explore their world.  That is sad, unfortunate… insert descriptive noun here.  It’s not a personal affront to you the educator.    

·         Third, it’s not about the technology used.

We never banned an encyclopedia volume when Student B copied the entire “Volcano” entry in 1976.  The encyclopedia was not to blame and neither is Google. Blocking sites in the name of cheating prevention helps no one and limits valuable educational experiences (collaborative Google Doc anyone?).

Rather than blame technology, engaged educators need to look at our assessments.  Are we asking questions that can easily be answered in a Google search?  Are we assessing skill and drill content knowledge or challenging our students with synthesis and evaluation level work?  Reflect on the payoff to the student for really engaging the assessment material… and share that payoff with the students. The payoff for time, effort and care should not be a secret.  When we stop blaming technology for cheating… and look at payoffs and pitfalls of action – I truly believe our assessments will improve and student learning will improve along with it. 

Now I need to go an finish my Game Theory quiz….

Block-Down

Over the past week, I have had the privilege to join meetings of independent and public K-12 and high ed  IT types gathered to discuss new initiatives. All discussed similar topics involving 1:1 initiatives, learning management systems and faculty development.  Who better to vent, joke and problem solve with than those who share your context and experience? In a Jesuit vision, gathering to reflect is a great thing.

                                      (These are real teachers reflecting ... their site was not blocked)

What disturbs me enough to blog is the continued mentality of "block-down" in schools.  IT departments are still obsessed with blocking student access to web and now apparently even hardware in 1:1 plans.  At both meetings, I heard of iPads with cameras intentionally deactivated; YouTube and other video blocked and apps removed from devices; dashboards used to filter every search engine, tool and resource a student can use. I actually heard, "We don't let them do what they want to do."

Really?

We wonder what happened to student curiosity and sense of inquiry... Well, we blocked it. By the time student reach 4th grade they have been blocked so many times they simply stop trying. We ask ourselves why students aren't inquisitive.  They were, about 3000 blocked web pages ago.

We wonder why students only do what we explicitly tell them, step by step. I'll tell you why...We gave them a device meant to open the world and we blocked video, browsing and communication tools. We gave them cook book activities with all the ingredients mapped out (we called it a digital curriculum) and required them to go step by step to create the uniform product for a grade. Of course they want step by step directions...we've trained them well.

But what if... Taking into consideration the context of student lives, we give them the freedom to experience knowledge on their own terms? What if we allow them to access tools freely, evaluate the tool best suited to meet their learning need and let them use the tool? What if we allow them to take photos of pollution in a stream? What if we allow them to type their paper in Word, Pages, Google Docs, Open Office, Notetaker HD?  What if we let them watch a YouTube video on the water cycle on their phone during lunch? What if we let use a pencil, pen, stylus to take notes?

If you are considering handing out devices for learning... I beg you...let students use them for learning. They learn in a myriad of ways. Do not block-down and crush that sense of inquiry. Allow students the freedom to access, evaluate and use the tool most appropriate for them. The idea of access, evaluate, use is the heart of BYOT. And once I made that leap, I can't imagine a learning environment that operates any other way.

Driving Bring Your Own Tech (BYOT) Forward

This weekend I loaded up Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris and curled up for 94 minutes of escapism.  It’s a good movie to meet the escape objective.  I will try not to spoil the end for those of you who haven’t seen the movie, but toward the end, the protagonist, Gil, explains how people glorify the past in order to escape the uncertainty of the present.  Well, in a much more poetic way… but that’s basically the point of the conversation.

Glorifying the past to escape the uncertainties of the present is not the solo purview of an angsty writer in a Woody Allen film.  Look around education and you can see the same glorification of the past inflicted on the uncertain present.  Just this year, Indiana House Enrolled Act 1003, focusing on school voucher program, also slipped in a variety of golden age requirements a school must incorporate in order to receive voucher funding. Reading HEA 1003 is like time traveling to the classroom of the 1950’s (scroll to Chapter 4 about half way through document).

On a smaller scale, the same past/present tension can be seen in educational technology.  I saw a tech discussion board just this week where a technology director recommended Device A because of the ability gives IT departments to block students from loading apps, accessing the web and the general ease of admin control over user experience.  Another listserv recommends Dashboard A because the entire user experience is controllable…created by adults who can grant or block any given website, app or tool student might access.  Even those of us in March 1^st #BYOTchat had to be reminded to let go of the concrete tools (nouns) and get back on track with how we encourage students and teachers to explore learning regardless of device.  Facing uncertainty does send one running back to what we know.  And in educational technology, what we know is a CPU with local hard drive, Word/Pages, attached to a printer, in the safely monitored, staffed by adult. in a computer lab.  Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) rocks this image to its knees… and that is more than a little unsettling.

Brebeuf Jesuit’s mission reads in part “Students at Brebeuf Jesuit are called to discover and cultivate the fullness of their God-given talents as a responsibility and as an act of worship.” Our determination in moving forward with 1:1 BYOT was in response to our responsibility as educators.  Cultivating choice in OS, app, web tool, word-processor creates innovation and creativity.  Christian Long advocates a comfort level with failure.  Through failure we learn divergent thinking and problem solving – the learner grows and society moves forward. Through safe, controlled environments where failure is not an option, we are comfortable, but static.  Learners guided by a sense of uncertainty make discoveries more powerful because THEY are the one’s making sense of their discord.  We have planned professional development, redesigned infrastructure, tested and retested tools and devices.  And yet, I lost some sleep in anxiety ridden restlessness pulling the trigger on 1:1 BYOT.   There will be failures – how can there not?  We’re only human.  But to cultivate individual talents, how can I do anything but move forward?

It is comforting to look back on the solid past of bulletin boards and overhead projectors and desktop computer labs… but as Gil learns in Midnight in Paris, every Golden Age looked back on the age before… reflecting on the safe glory of a time where we know how it ends.  Living looking backward will not help our students today.  So take a deep breath, let go and move forward.

BYOT Lesson Example: Biology Fish Bowl Activity

The other night on #BYOTChat, we were sharing lesson ideas for Bring Your Own Technology environments.  I mentioned the Fish Bowl activity completed in Freshmen Biology that week.  A Fish Bowl is a discussion activity model involving one group of students looking in on another smaller group.  The smaller group is participating in a discussion where they have researched a topic.  The outside group (picture watching fish in a bowl) observes and takes critical notes on the observed discussion.  Groups then flip roles.

Here's a better description

In a BYOT classroom, the teacher has more tools available to facilitate collaboration and research.  In this case, the teacher chose Google Docs and Google Chat (we are a Google Apps for Education school).  Images below are from the various activities (not complete - just snapshots).  So try out a Fish Bowl...

Focusing on mitosis and blood typing, students collaboratively researched given topic via Google Docs...

During the Fish Bowl activity, a Google Chat back channel was open for those observing.

PD - or the post that almost stayed a draft.

I said I wasn't going to post this... but it was sitting in the DRAFT box looking forelorn... so here it is.


So push button training is dead in a BYOT school.  Even with universal products (Edline and Google Docs) the individual use of these products allows for at best small group sessions (usually based on department).  With the multitude of devices, operating systems and apps we are seeing used everyday... the thought of trying to teach everything to everyone in a lab makes my head hurt.

Bringing teachers to me, in a training lab, is not what they need.  Going out to the teachers... to the classroom... to the students and being present in the moment of learning ... shifting sands of professional development means getting out of the training room and into the classroom.

So what does my day look like related to professional development?

1. I have an office in the school building and an open door. Being part of the school life, in the school when needed is critical. We like to call this "present in the moment" (literally and figuatively).  I log roughly 5400 steps a day on my pedometer.

2. As Director of Faculty Development, one of my "hats" is teacher evaluation.  Formal and informal observations allow me to see what is going on in the classroom.  I can then take all the wonderful practices I see and spread them out in the building.  No longer are the great strategies hiding in one room... I can facilitate collaboration because I have seen great lessons... and I have seen areas where new ideas for great lessons are needed.

3. I curate my Scoop.it! BYOT for EDU page for faculty.  I realize most teachers do not have time to sift through lists of tools, apps and websites so I do this for people. Skim the page to see a daily report of trends and tools.

4. I facilitate a lot of Tech Petting Zoos.  Time to play with devices is critical.  Try them out, "pet" them (most don't bite as long as they aren't dropped) and see what they can do.  Thanks to matching funds from Title IIA we'll have more devices soon and the time to work with them.

5. I'll be hosting 1:1 BYOT Boot Camps for departments.  Agenda will include context activities surrounding stages of integration moving to experiences with devices, tools and resources.  The 2 hour session will end with reflection activity on 1:1 BYOT using a current lesson plan and round table brainstorming.

6. Oh and there's a professional development library of BOOKS, email, Twitter, webinars, conferences and first/second year faculty formation groups which meet monthly.

Being present in the building, sharing and observing the moments of learning, interacting daily with students makes my job work.  Being present is the clearest example of paradigm shift I can offer.