What follows are the transcribed comments from questions on the survey. I'll edit them insofar as the formatting, but the words will be theirs, typos and all... "winner, winner, chicken dinner."
If yes, what type of tasks did it help you to accomplish with greater efficiency?
contacting people or looking up information right away
Homework, test studying
it helped me keep all my notes in one place and i would always have my ipad with me so i would always have my notes with me too. it was easier to organize my notes when it was on one app like evernote. it was also easier to type and i could make bullet points and outline things faster than writing it all out.
Doing homework was so easy. Before doing homework was the hardest thing to accomplish. Now I do homework so much faster.
Writing papers, doing research
Just writing notes or watching videos to understand stuff and also just to use the web in order to find out ore info.
Keeping all my homework and notes in one place so I can remember where they are and to do them.
Note Taking, sending certain emails right in class
Notes, recording,
In a way maybe. I was able to take notes much faster on my iPads, and taking pictures were easier with the iPad. I could use these pictures to study.
Group projects and foreign language assignments
Voice recording or videos
Writing essays, homework, the whole kitten-kaboodle.
Worksheets, review, presentations, research
The iPad helped me to be able to prepare for tests. I could go over my notes, which were all in one place, and then go on the internet and take mini quizzes.
Research, and taking notes by typing
Yes, looking up more modern articles, showmen
Notetaking
Research, note taking
Taking notes.
Blogging. Note taking.
Note taking, oral assignments
Getting to websites, communication with teachers.
Typing up reports instead of having to do it at home, looking at things on the Internet that pertain to class
Sme note taking and projects
If you answered yes it did help you to recall facts better, how did you use it to do this?
Vocab, cuz I can use the flash cards app anywhere
Flash cards and notes taken on the iPad.
I would look up facts online with ease
Wikipanion, safari, google
I could use the Internet for research
I would just save stuff using the main idea and added tags so I could find it later on easier.
Instead of flipping back and searching through a notebook, I was able to click one thing in the iPad and have it all come up
Notes were easier to access due to easier format
Flashcardlet app, noterize
Not sure about this. I definitely used more media to study this year -- Khan Academy, Youtube videos, self-made Educreations. I think I'm a visual learner, so this likely helped, but I can't be 100% sure.
I could either use wikipanion or evernote to find anything I needed to refresh my memory
I was able to search for topics in my notes
It didn't make it any worse, or any better. I feel recalling facts is more about me no any tools.
Yes because I took notes
If you answered "yes" to any of the above 5 questions, please provide examples of how this happened for you below. (Analysis, visualization, understanding, concepts)
#3 - we used so many different apps that were capable of different things that we were able to do something other than just read a text book. For example, using showme we were able to create presentations to share with each other to simplify concepts for better understanding.
Easy to find videos, visuals, and info to understand complicated concepts and analyze them
A lot of educational apps would show me visuals and animations and I think that helped me the most because I am a visual learner.
It was easier to directly compare things instead of in notebooks
You could always look things up
Just being able to use the web and everything else allowed me to find out a lot more and helped a lot.
I was able to google information and see other viewpoints that made analysis easier.
I often found myself exploring google as soon as we talked about different lessons and concepts in class
The iPad provides a lot of different viewpoints for learning, and learning styles. But it can also be easiest to assume you know something just because it's on your iPad.
It helped me get a new perspective because I was able to do showmes and quick voices. It helped me with visualization becuas of pictures.
With many apps and information at my fingertips on one iPad, it was easy to make connections between people and ideas
I could research thins and get different perspectives if I didn't understand and it gave visuals on websites, google, etc.
Able to use more apps that's helped a lot with seeing different things such as the google search, the ap world app
Sometimes when things were difficult, it helped to search online to find a helpful resource.
Being able to look things up on the Internet and watching videos that other people made helped me see other perspectives. Being able to look up difficult topics and have them explained to me on children's websites ws very helpful. And, being able to look up pictures helped me visualize what I was learning and then be able to solve problems.
The iPad, I think, was most useful for math. Using my stylus and Notability or Penultimate, I could sketch out problems, almost as if I had my own whiteboard. For a person who hates clutter, this approach allowed for an entire page dedicated to one difficult problem. Cleaner notes probably helped me grasp topics better and visualize solutions. If I were a better note-taker, I probably could have fashioned my notes in a way that "connected concepts/facts/events" better.
The iPad helped give digital perspective using Showme
It was easy to look up questions online and to access the the Chapter outlines
I could use the internet and evernote in class search my notes and research online to find hazy subjects, and in the process, make connections between subjects.
Wikipanion have more detailed, modern information. Sowme helped with interactive projects.nFast access to interwebs
iPad was good to write essays
You have easier assess to media and graphs, primary sources
Was able to research things online and gain a greater understanding.
If I wanted to look anything up I had the iPad in front of me to look them up.
I feel like if there was an issue I had to clarify I could always rely on the iPad for help
Did the iPad help you to articulate answers in a different way than you had before?
Indirectly, less embarrassment
different apps were more hands-on and visual rather than just notes
Posterous/videos
We could post answers to things online
Because instead of just using notes you could use the web or anything else.
ShowMe, Quickvoice
Using showme helped me show and explain what I was talking about at the same time
Well, it was all online so thats different.
Through blogs, videos, extranormals, and other such things.
Doing stuff like the voice thread because normally I didn't like hearing myself talk but the project turned out good.
Show me (unfortunately for Spanish)
I was able to use show me other apps that have good visuals
I could view all the different viewpoints by looking at my neat notes and internet
Interactive presentations
Using different apps such as Showme and scanning different documents offered a different way to do things.
Because its an iPad and it is a different way to answer as before.
Blogposts
Through a class blog and personal blog
Did the iPad help you to participate in class more than you did before?
I could take notes on it more efficiently so I had all the information I needed to engage in class discussions
I could get information quicker and easier.
If we did iPad activities in class, I participated because they were more interesting,
More participating on the iPad to make up for my lack of speaking.
Teachers have activities online
If I didn't know what was going on I could look it up and then participate in the discussion.
Research class discussion topics
ShowMe app
no, I was distracted by the iPad in class.
If you answered yes to any of the above questions (making the content more real/tangible/show that you understand it), please give an example below.
#2 - it just provided me with mediums for the facilitation of learning other than simply paper and textbooks. We created maps, we created presentations, etc. it allowed for me to expand my horizons and use different tools which created a totally different experience in school.
Ipad did help me show my teachers that I understood the material because there are such apps known as Showme or Educreation, in which we have to make presentations and email it to teacher. This shows my ability to understand the material. Also, not only in this class, but in my spanish class, we did some random recordings at random days on showme or educreation or quickvoice, in which either we had to teach the teacher about a specific topic or just give a presentation. Yes, this presentation was graded so we had to make it better. Doing presentations within a class period puts us under pressure, thus, by doing this, I did learn things.
Videos and visuals
we emailed assignments to teachers so they could check if we knew it or not. and it wasmore tangible because we could do different things rather than just ttakenote
I could email my teacher the work I've done and show thm how I understood the material and then she could email me back with feedback.
It was easier to do work in school without the need of going home on the computer
I was able to have material more readily
I was able to do projects and work in different ways, showing my understanding in ways I could not without the iPad.
The ability to access the internet allowed for more in depth studying of facts, I was more organized due to Inclass, and the internet allowed me to talk about history and then google it
There are lots more ways to learn and present info.
With google earth, history felt more tangible and real life
Winner winner chicken dinner
Easier to organize
The material became more tangible as we wrote blog posts and did projects with the ipads.
With Dropbox and such apps, it makes working with material much easier
With ShowMe I could show teachers how well I understood the material and use the material in a more tangible way.
In general, there was more immediacy to classes. Something in class might remind us of an example, that we would promptly Google and gain information about. In AP Bio, we would Google any taxonomic group that the book mentioned.
Understood the material = show mes
It was more interactive
I could type and revise responses to show my teachers how my opinion
Being able to interact with other classmates and such, and fast access to the Internet.
Online work
More hands on with media
I was able to write notes on worksheets that were emailed
You could view actual images of the places or people you were talking about, it varied the way you could do assignments
In what way did it impact your attention, positively or negatively?
It was quite distracting with constant msgs being exchanged through my friends and the notifications that I kept recieving.
"Positive- better organization
Negative- less focus"
technology is always distracting just because of all the games and opportunities to lose focus.
It depended on the class. In a class where I understood the material and was not engaged enough by the teacher, it lurked in the corner of my desk, tempting me to explore its vast social networks.however, in a class where the teacher was engaging and conducting an interesting or important activity I wouldn't think of touching it.there were some classes this year that I couldn't tear myself away from the iPad during. There were also some classes in which I never thought of touching it.
At the beginning, I used to get distracted but I learned my lesson very quickly. In fact, most of the times the class work is so busy that I do not have time to do some other things such as facebook or twitter on ipad. The only time I had time would be between the periods or during lunch. By taking AP classes, I made use of ipad in more of positive way rather than getting distracted all the times. I did pay attention in class with my ipad in front of me and I took notes on my ipad. It just has helped me more with being organized with notes and everything. Really, to be honest, it is in a person's hand about how to use ipad in class. It is their choice and it does pay off if they choose not to pay attention in class.
iBooks distracted me
Because there are games, and messaging apps, and yeah, I get distr- ohhh shinyyy thingie!!!
i was always on reddit or facebook or imessage and teachers just don't know / care
The iPad is and iPad. It is educational piece of technology, sure, but it is also a music player,a video game, a time passer. So no matter what u use it for, it will always distract you in some ways.
I was sometimes distracted by Reddit, Facebook, and games. But I realized that these affected how well I paid attention so I learned to do it on my own time.
Negatively, would get distracted by games or facebook very easily
I was on social networking sites, games and espn occasionally.
Games were disttactions
It impacted my attention mostly positively, there were times when it was negative but otherwise it was ok
The negative way in that I would zone off so days and just play games which was not good
iPad activities helped me pay attention more, but games did distract me.
Negatively, because even if I was surfing for something educational, my attention is still taken away from the teachers and the lesson
Twitter, Facebook, tumblr, reddit...
It allowed all of the students to access the teachers documents though google docs, etc. This in particular was useful to the class.
Twitter, facebook, reddit, email, google,
It was a distraction because some apps are hilarious
In some ways, it did keep me organized, however I often got distracted by it.
Negatively because when you have games on your ipad and the oppurtunity to waste time on the ipad....you get distracted from learning and participating in class
It made me appreciate winner winner chicken dinner
It was positive when I could research different things, but social networks distracted me
It didnt affect my attention in this class because I love this class and was never bored!
It was both positive and negative because we could use the iPad for work in class but at the same time it was a huge distraction at some points
Well, if you did not want to pay attention is class the iPad made it easier.
Negatively, because it provided a constant distraction.
The games at the beginning of the year hurt me because I was distracted. Some teachers did send class materials through email which helped.
In some cases I would take notes on it and focus more, but in other cases I would play games and not pay attention.
I cannot deny that I was more distracted. Though, personally, my grades didn't suffer. My distraction was never from playing games (except for that nightmarish week of Scramble with Friends) but usually from reading articles. At the same time, I think it really affects the morale of a class when a teacher desperately tries to keep students off their iPads.
It was hard to listen to topics I found boring when there was a plethora of interesting things right in front of me
Negatively because it would make me want to check things like twitter or my email.
It didn't really impact my focus unless I was in a class that I just couldn't pay attention in (chem) ; I think a part of this was that i took notes in a notebook
Somewhat positively
Games, facebook, twitter
Rather neutral, since I never got reddit. It was really useful for notes and being able to interact with what we were learning.
I got more essays done on time and better hw grades than last year
It was the most distracting thing I have ever had. Games were the worst thing ever
Slightly negatively because when I got bored I would just check my iPad which would take my attention away from the class.
Negatively, I was always distracted but i don't feel like it negatively impacted my grades
Negatively.
It took my attention away.
It took me away from paying attention because I was distracted by games and social media.
Negatively
"It helped because there was different material that could be shared, but it hurt because of ga,es and other apps that we're distractions"
I wasn't forced to pay attention anymore as I as able to distract myself with the iPad
Positively cause Im not distracted by games
Negatively
Monday, June 25, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
iPads in the Classroom--The student perspective; data!
The student responses to the iPad survey are as follows. I'll just give the raw numbers in this post, then talk about what I think it all means in a subsequent one, and pull together some of the non-number responses (i.e.: app suggestions and commentary).
A total of 50 students, all juniors at BHS enrolled in AP World History, responded to the survey.
1) Did the iPad help you to accomplish tasks more efficiently?
Yes 25
No 11
Neutral 14
2) Has the iPad helped you to be more organized?
Yes 32
No 10
Neutral 8
3)Did you use the iPad to help you keep track of assignments?
Yes 26
No 19
Neutral 5
4) Did you find that the iPad helped you to recall facts better?
Yes 16
No 20
Neutral 14
5) Did the iPad help you to make connections between concepts/facts/events better?
Yes 14
No 15
Neutral 21
6) Did the iPad help you to analyze concepts better/easier than before you had an iPad?
Yes 14
No 20
Neutral 16
7) Did the iPad help you to explore different perspectives in new/better ways?
Yes 25
No 9
Neutral 16
8) Did the iPad help you to understand difficult topics?
Yes 17
No 17
Neutral 16
9) Did the iPad help you to visualize solutions/answers when confronted with academic problems?
Yes 18
No 16
Neutral 16
10) Did the iPad help you to express yourself clearly?
Yes 11
No 17
Neutral 22
11) Did the iPad help you to articulate answers in a different way than you had before?
Yes 19
No 14
Neutral 17
12) Did the iPad help you to participate in class more than you did before?
Yes 8
No 36
Neutral 6
13) Did the iPad help you to show your teachers that you understand the material?
Yes 16
No 20
Neutral 14
14) Did the iPad help you work with class material in a more tangible way?
Yes 26
No 11
Neutral 13
15) Did the iPad help you feel the course content was more "real" or authentic or applicable to your life?
Yes 9
No 25
Neutral 16
16) Did the iPad impact your attention in class: 1 it hurt my ability to pay attention, 10 it made it more possible for me to pay attention
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7 1 7 5 16 7 3 2 1 1
A total of 50 students, all juniors at BHS enrolled in AP World History, responded to the survey.
1) Did the iPad help you to accomplish tasks more efficiently?
Yes 25
No 11
Neutral 14
2) Has the iPad helped you to be more organized?
Yes 32
No 10
Neutral 8
3)Did you use the iPad to help you keep track of assignments?
Yes 26
No 19
Neutral 5
4) Did you find that the iPad helped you to recall facts better?
Yes 16
No 20
Neutral 14
5) Did the iPad help you to make connections between concepts/facts/events better?
Yes 14
No 15
Neutral 21
6) Did the iPad help you to analyze concepts better/easier than before you had an iPad?
Yes 14
No 20
Neutral 16
7) Did the iPad help you to explore different perspectives in new/better ways?
Yes 25
No 9
Neutral 16
8) Did the iPad help you to understand difficult topics?
Yes 17
No 17
Neutral 16
9) Did the iPad help you to visualize solutions/answers when confronted with academic problems?
Yes 18
No 16
Neutral 16
10) Did the iPad help you to express yourself clearly?
Yes 11
No 17
Neutral 22
11) Did the iPad help you to articulate answers in a different way than you had before?
Yes 19
No 14
Neutral 17
12) Did the iPad help you to participate in class more than you did before?
Yes 8
No 36
Neutral 6
13) Did the iPad help you to show your teachers that you understand the material?
Yes 16
No 20
Neutral 14
14) Did the iPad help you work with class material in a more tangible way?
Yes 26
No 11
Neutral 13
15) Did the iPad help you feel the course content was more "real" or authentic or applicable to your life?
Yes 9
No 25
Neutral 16
16) Did the iPad impact your attention in class: 1 it hurt my ability to pay attention, 10 it made it more possible for me to pay attention
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7 1 7 5 16 7 3 2 1 1
Thursday, June 14, 2012
iPads in the classroom--The student perspective part one
There's lots of buzz out there about iPads, going 1:1 and technology in the classroom. I've just completed a school year of having my students using iPads in my classroom on a damn near daily basis, and I wanted to know what they think this tool was good for. Did it help them? hurt them? make them better students?
Below is the survey I gave to my classes to try and find out. You should know that the students who completed it are all juniors in high school who completed my AP World History course. They represent, by and large, the top 20% of students in my school, and include the likely valedictorian and salutatorian. They are "good" students, in the parlance of my school. The reliable, the steady, the strong students. I have found them to be thoughtful, clear thinkers, and I value their opinions. I do not always agree with them, and there are things that they do not know about how they should learn; their training as capital S-students is admittedly poor, and they still have a ways to go. Still, they are the reason why we embarked on this experiment, and their perspective must be heard too.
They are filling out the survey now, so the next entry will be results.
Below is the survey I gave to my classes to try and find out. You should know that the students who completed it are all juniors in high school who completed my AP World History course. They represent, by and large, the top 20% of students in my school, and include the likely valedictorian and salutatorian. They are "good" students, in the parlance of my school. The reliable, the steady, the strong students. I have found them to be thoughtful, clear thinkers, and I value their opinions. I do not always agree with them, and there are things that they do not know about how they should learn; their training as capital S-students is admittedly poor, and they still have a ways to go. Still, they are the reason why we embarked on this experiment, and their perspective must be heard too.
They are filling out the survey now, so the next entry will be results.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
The textbook-less mentality
Here's the thing: tell a social studies teacher to go textbook-free and you are not going to be hailed as a hero. Mostly you are going to get a whole lot of push back. "I need a narrative to teach history." "The materials are all there." "There are great maps on the textbook that I can't find anywhere else." "I need the expertise of the authors of the textbook." And on and on and on.
The Borg were wrong: Resistance isn't futile, it's fertile.
What's needed is a different approach to teaching history. As I've said before, I believe that history is a good story. But the learning that comes from the study of history is not how to tell a good story. It is how to examine that story for perspective/point of view/bias. It is how to see how cause and effect occurred within that story. It is how to place that story within a context. It is hypothesizing about how that story could have unfolded differently if events were changed. It is what patterns emerge from looking at the first story and the ones that came later. It is how the circumstances around the story made it happen that way.
Textbooks do none of this well, but they are seen as irreplaceable because they provide organization/structure, and they come with extra materials, embedded images, maps, charts, graphs, tables and sources. And teachers are creatures of habit, who, when left to their own devices, are reluctant to re-visit something that works, and who lack the time to fully tear down their curriculum and re-build it better. Or worse, teachers aren't given the ability to tear down the curriculum, because it was handed down to them from on high and they aren't empowered to make changes.
A fundamental shift in thinking about the role of the teacher vis a vis his or her materials is needed, and the shift is this: I, the teacher, need to become the curator of the story. I know the story, and I can share the story. But in order to share it and encourage the habits of mind that make the study of [fill in the topic] valuable, I need to go out and find the materials that will enable my students to build those skills and habits. I, the teacher, need to recognize and give myself permission to say that I know my students better than the person who compiled the textbook. I know their strengths and I know their weaknesses. Therefore, I, the teacher, need to gather the materials that will do the job.
That act is where teachers balk. No time. Too hard. I'm not an expert. I've designed the class around the book, and I need their unique materials to do my job.
The notion of the materials in the book being important and irreplaceable is just crap. All the primary source documents, pictures, maps, graphs and charts any teacher could need are all available with the click of the mouse from the interwebs. They exist in digital form and are easy to replace, project and distribute.
Supplemental materials. Worksheets are the bane of my existence. I hate them. But many teachers rely upon them and think that they help students to extract, refine and remember information from, you guessed it, the textbook. They are unique to the textbook contents, and thus can't be replicated. So, do away with textbooks and you can do away with worksheets, which means some teachers feel they don't have a way to occupy the students in class. A more charitable view is to say that perhaps the teachers don't feel qualified or confident enough to ask their own questions about the document/image/chart/graph. In which case they need leadership that will help to build this confidence. Though really, if you don't feel as though you can guide a group of teenagers through the Mayflower Compact on your own, I'm not sure you should be in the classroom...
The narrative.... Why do we need to have a narrative? Narratives are, by their very nature, impacted by the perspective of the narrator. Part of what makes the teaching of historical events interesting is filtering through to find "truth." But whose truth? What truth? If you read the late Howard Zinn's A Peoples History of the United States, you get his version of the truth of American history. It isn't "right," it is biased, and it doesn't pretend to be otherwise. If you read A Patriots History of the United States you get another truth...it isn't "right," it is biased, and it doesn't pretend to be otherwise. But in both cases you know what you are getting when you open the cover. If you read the textbook The Americans, it attempts to present us with a non-biased, even-handed narrative of American history. It is scared to have a point of view, because to do so might alienate future customers who don't agree with that point of view. So the story is presented in as blandly vanilla a way as possible, and as a result, it kills all the habits of mind that make the teaching of history so valuable to today's society.
We, the teachers, should be about curating documents and materials that meet the needs of the students we teach for the course that we are teaching. We, the teachers, should not be presenting our students with information filtered through the textbook company to please the state board of ed in the state that is the largest purchaser of the textbooks. (Yeah, I'm talking to you Texas...)
The Borg were wrong: Resistance isn't futile, it's fertile.
What's needed is a different approach to teaching history. As I've said before, I believe that history is a good story. But the learning that comes from the study of history is not how to tell a good story. It is how to examine that story for perspective/point of view/bias. It is how to see how cause and effect occurred within that story. It is how to place that story within a context. It is hypothesizing about how that story could have unfolded differently if events were changed. It is what patterns emerge from looking at the first story and the ones that came later. It is how the circumstances around the story made it happen that way.
Textbooks do none of this well, but they are seen as irreplaceable because they provide organization/structure, and they come with extra materials, embedded images, maps, charts, graphs, tables and sources. And teachers are creatures of habit, who, when left to their own devices, are reluctant to re-visit something that works, and who lack the time to fully tear down their curriculum and re-build it better. Or worse, teachers aren't given the ability to tear down the curriculum, because it was handed down to them from on high and they aren't empowered to make changes.
A fundamental shift in thinking about the role of the teacher vis a vis his or her materials is needed, and the shift is this: I, the teacher, need to become the curator of the story. I know the story, and I can share the story. But in order to share it and encourage the habits of mind that make the study of [fill in the topic] valuable, I need to go out and find the materials that will enable my students to build those skills and habits. I, the teacher, need to recognize and give myself permission to say that I know my students better than the person who compiled the textbook. I know their strengths and I know their weaknesses. Therefore, I, the teacher, need to gather the materials that will do the job.
That act is where teachers balk. No time. Too hard. I'm not an expert. I've designed the class around the book, and I need their unique materials to do my job.
The notion of the materials in the book being important and irreplaceable is just crap. All the primary source documents, pictures, maps, graphs and charts any teacher could need are all available with the click of the mouse from the interwebs. They exist in digital form and are easy to replace, project and distribute.
Supplemental materials. Worksheets are the bane of my existence. I hate them. But many teachers rely upon them and think that they help students to extract, refine and remember information from, you guessed it, the textbook. They are unique to the textbook contents, and thus can't be replicated. So, do away with textbooks and you can do away with worksheets, which means some teachers feel they don't have a way to occupy the students in class. A more charitable view is to say that perhaps the teachers don't feel qualified or confident enough to ask their own questions about the document/image/chart/graph. In which case they need leadership that will help to build this confidence. Though really, if you don't feel as though you can guide a group of teenagers through the Mayflower Compact on your own, I'm not sure you should be in the classroom...
The narrative.... Why do we need to have a narrative? Narratives are, by their very nature, impacted by the perspective of the narrator. Part of what makes the teaching of historical events interesting is filtering through to find "truth." But whose truth? What truth? If you read the late Howard Zinn's A Peoples History of the United States, you get his version of the truth of American history. It isn't "right," it is biased, and it doesn't pretend to be otherwise. If you read A Patriots History of the United States you get another truth...it isn't "right," it is biased, and it doesn't pretend to be otherwise. But in both cases you know what you are getting when you open the cover. If you read the textbook The Americans, it attempts to present us with a non-biased, even-handed narrative of American history. It is scared to have a point of view, because to do so might alienate future customers who don't agree with that point of view. So the story is presented in as blandly vanilla a way as possible, and as a result, it kills all the habits of mind that make the teaching of history so valuable to today's society.
We, the teachers, should be about curating documents and materials that meet the needs of the students we teach for the course that we are teaching. We, the teachers, should not be presenting our students with information filtered through the textbook company to please the state board of ed in the state that is the largest purchaser of the textbooks. (Yeah, I'm talking to you Texas...)
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Helping Parents Go 1:1; Lessons from PBL a decade ago
Back in my former school, we made a serious effort to embrace PBL (Project-Based Learning). Of course, we also included Problem-Based Learning (the "other" PBL) as a matter of course. But the basic idea was that rather than spend our time skimming through the forest, we would stop to examine in depth the trees that represented vast swaths of the forest, so that students could then apply their deep understanding of a limited amount of issues to much larger numbers later in life. I enjoyed teaching this way, but I encountered a problem then that is echoing in a problem I'm encountering now: what words represent to people changes depending on the audience.
I discovered that in talking to parents of freshmen (the grade I mostly taught at the time) about PBL, they arrived at the discussion with a mental definition of the word "project." Want to guess what it entailed? Too bad, I'll tell you anyway...
Construction paper, crayons, glue sticks, scissors, string, beads... Some dads had Scouts on the brain, so they thought sawing, nailing, sanding, painting, knot tying... Regardless, they all thought nothing associated with intellectual, academic, rigorous thought. They thought: making hand turkeys. Or turtles. Or model cars. So they were skeptics from the jump. And as a result, they could not understand why their child wasn't getting an A in this, the process of making a hand turkey. Of interest is the fact that none of the conversations were bathed in a nostalgia of, "Oh, I remember when she was little she made projects. How cute!" It was all frustration of the mess, the pointlessness, the crowded refrigerator, the failed pinewood derby, etc., etc.
So the parent perception of PBL was negative from the word go, and as a result, I spent the better part of a year's worth of parent-teacher conferences working against that association to help the parents understand exactly what we were doing. So was my administration. It worked, but it was a long haul to get there, and new parents needed to be brought along into the process each year, so I was constantly in a position of defensiveness, not partnership, with the parents.
Now, fast-forward 12 years, and I'm in the classroom talking with parents about technology in the classroom, in this case the 1:1 iPad initiative. Want to guess what the parents' views are? Too bad, I'll tell you.
Games. Facebook. Frivolity. Sex. Wasting time. Surfing the web. "Twittering." Silly pictures. Sex. Crashing. Losing files. These are not happy associations. Parents associate the technology with frustration (they don't know how to do these things/their technology in their job sucks), disconnection (my children don't talk on the phone, they text, so I have no clue what's going on in their lives--I can't even eavesdrop!) and fear (the internet is full of pornographers, perverts and creeps waiting to snatch my child). They do not associate technology with intellectual, academic, rigorous thought. Sure, they get the idea of Google as a massive library of information, but they don't know how it works, so they see the crap they get when they search and assume this is what their children are experiencing too.
So I'm spending this year's worth of parent-teacher conferences and back to school nights and parent-teacher meetings and emails working against this association to help the parents understand exactly what we are doing. So's my administration. It seems to be working, but it is a long haul, there are some deep skeptics out there, and at this point I'm not sure if there is actual buy-in or just resigned acceptance of the process. Either way, teachers are constantly having to defend their practice, not partner with the parents.
To be fair, there are large numbers of parents who also use technology in their workplace and in their lives, and so have some appreciation of it as a time/labor-saving device, a presentation tool, or for organizational purposes, so it is not all bad, it's just that the overwhelming impression is that of expensive entertainment.
In hindsight, if a school is considering bringing technology into the classroom, I'd strongly encourage them to spend some time pondering the technology from the other side, the popular culture side, the parent side. Then take the time to explain, carefully and clearly how the device will enhance the culture of rigor and intellectual inquiry already in place in your classroom. Show them, don't tell them. Have the parents come to your open houses and conferences with the device, and guide them through an activity you do in class with your students. Understand that you will have to demystify it for them, for though their children may or may not be digital natives, they are definitely not, and they deserve to be brought along too. Otherwise, the teachers are in a position of constant defensiveness, not partnership, with the parents, who are in a constant state of bewilderment, disenfranchisement and apprehension about what their children are doing not only up in their rooms, but also in school.
I discovered that in talking to parents of freshmen (the grade I mostly taught at the time) about PBL, they arrived at the discussion with a mental definition of the word "project." Want to guess what it entailed? Too bad, I'll tell you anyway...
Construction paper, crayons, glue sticks, scissors, string, beads... Some dads had Scouts on the brain, so they thought sawing, nailing, sanding, painting, knot tying... Regardless, they all thought nothing associated with intellectual, academic, rigorous thought. They thought: making hand turkeys. Or turtles. Or model cars. So they were skeptics from the jump. And as a result, they could not understand why their child wasn't getting an A in this, the process of making a hand turkey. Of interest is the fact that none of the conversations were bathed in a nostalgia of, "Oh, I remember when she was little she made projects. How cute!" It was all frustration of the mess, the pointlessness, the crowded refrigerator, the failed pinewood derby, etc., etc.
So the parent perception of PBL was negative from the word go, and as a result, I spent the better part of a year's worth of parent-teacher conferences working against that association to help the parents understand exactly what we were doing. So was my administration. It worked, but it was a long haul to get there, and new parents needed to be brought along into the process each year, so I was constantly in a position of defensiveness, not partnership, with the parents.
Now, fast-forward 12 years, and I'm in the classroom talking with parents about technology in the classroom, in this case the 1:1 iPad initiative. Want to guess what the parents' views are? Too bad, I'll tell you.
Games. Facebook. Frivolity. Sex. Wasting time. Surfing the web. "Twittering." Silly pictures. Sex. Crashing. Losing files. These are not happy associations. Parents associate the technology with frustration (they don't know how to do these things/their technology in their job sucks), disconnection (my children don't talk on the phone, they text, so I have no clue what's going on in their lives--I can't even eavesdrop!) and fear (the internet is full of pornographers, perverts and creeps waiting to snatch my child). They do not associate technology with intellectual, academic, rigorous thought. Sure, they get the idea of Google as a massive library of information, but they don't know how it works, so they see the crap they get when they search and assume this is what their children are experiencing too.
So I'm spending this year's worth of parent-teacher conferences and back to school nights and parent-teacher meetings and emails working against this association to help the parents understand exactly what we are doing. So's my administration. It seems to be working, but it is a long haul, there are some deep skeptics out there, and at this point I'm not sure if there is actual buy-in or just resigned acceptance of the process. Either way, teachers are constantly having to defend their practice, not partner with the parents.
To be fair, there are large numbers of parents who also use technology in their workplace and in their lives, and so have some appreciation of it as a time/labor-saving device, a presentation tool, or for organizational purposes, so it is not all bad, it's just that the overwhelming impression is that of expensive entertainment.
In hindsight, if a school is considering bringing technology into the classroom, I'd strongly encourage them to spend some time pondering the technology from the other side, the popular culture side, the parent side. Then take the time to explain, carefully and clearly how the device will enhance the culture of rigor and intellectual inquiry already in place in your classroom. Show them, don't tell them. Have the parents come to your open houses and conferences with the device, and guide them through an activity you do in class with your students. Understand that you will have to demystify it for them, for though their children may or may not be digital natives, they are definitely not, and they deserve to be brought along too. Otherwise, the teachers are in a position of constant defensiveness, not partnership, with the parents, who are in a constant state of bewilderment, disenfranchisement and apprehension about what their children are doing not only up in their rooms, but also in school.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Ah, the end of vacation
There are many great things about being on vacation, not the least of which is catching up with reading.
I've been spending some time perusing what numerous sites have to offer and alternating between horrified laughter and lots of hmmm-ing...but through it all, I think there is a point that is being slightly missed by many people who are writing about the use of technology in the classrooms.
Not all of y'all are missing this point, but some are, and it is showing up in the slightest of ways. It's a simple phrase, but it makes my hackles rise, so I'll put it out there to get it off my mind. (So I can turn to wondering exactly what a "hackle" is...)
The phrase as is generally put: "In order to interest students in learning, give them an iPad (or laptop, or tablet or whatever device)."
NO!
What interests human beings in learning is not the presence or absence of the latest technology! Students didn't become more interested in learning because of the creation of erase-able ink, nor did the advent of the typewriter suddenly make learning sexy. My students don't get pumped for class because they are going to get to use Noteability, Twitter or Evernote. To assume that in order for students to be engaged they must have a gizmo is to display a stunning lack of understanding about why we learn.
Students of all ages want to learn because learning is stimulation for the brain. Students of all ages are turned on to the act of discovery of something that feels new, different, and thought-provoking to them! While we adults may have settled on answers to life's big questions, our children have not! Ask a group of 16 year-old young men and women to define and demonstrate the word "Truth" or even better, "Justice," through different scenarios and watch them go! Have a group of 9 year old boys and girls discuss what makes a baseball pitcher (or any athlete) great and require that they use statistics to back themselves up, and step aside. Ask a group of 12 year old students to write an opinion piece about the latest hot book/movie/song and then comment on each others' works, and they are off and running.
What's great about the iPad (or any piece of technology) is that it can help with students IN THE COMPLETION of all of the above. It is a tool for expression, organization, and information gathering, but it, in and of itself, does very little to attract students to the task nor does it complete the task for them simply by existing.
Want to make students interested in learning? Ditch standardized tests that require only one right answer. Shred scantron sheets in favor of actual writing, drawing and figuring. Abolish practices that reward teachers and administrators for teaching monkeys to throw bananas in barrels. Foster and reward risk-taking, innovation and creativity in every discipline of school life. Bring back recess, music, art and P.E. into all of our schools at all of our ages; balance matters!
Want to make students interested in learning? Hire a good teacher. Give that teacher access to the tools for students do articulate their understanding. Then get out of his or her way.
We need to stop throwing gizmos at the problems of education, and start dealing with the real gremlins that hold our schools back and keep our children from being excited about learning.
I've been spending some time perusing what numerous sites have to offer and alternating between horrified laughter and lots of hmmm-ing...but through it all, I think there is a point that is being slightly missed by many people who are writing about the use of technology in the classrooms.
Not all of y'all are missing this point, but some are, and it is showing up in the slightest of ways. It's a simple phrase, but it makes my hackles rise, so I'll put it out there to get it off my mind. (So I can turn to wondering exactly what a "hackle" is...)
The phrase as is generally put: "In order to interest students in learning, give them an iPad (or laptop, or tablet or whatever device)."
NO!
What interests human beings in learning is not the presence or absence of the latest technology! Students didn't become more interested in learning because of the creation of erase-able ink, nor did the advent of the typewriter suddenly make learning sexy. My students don't get pumped for class because they are going to get to use Noteability, Twitter or Evernote. To assume that in order for students to be engaged they must have a gizmo is to display a stunning lack of understanding about why we learn.
Students of all ages want to learn because learning is stimulation for the brain. Students of all ages are turned on to the act of discovery of something that feels new, different, and thought-provoking to them! While we adults may have settled on answers to life's big questions, our children have not! Ask a group of 16 year-old young men and women to define and demonstrate the word "Truth" or even better, "Justice," through different scenarios and watch them go! Have a group of 9 year old boys and girls discuss what makes a baseball pitcher (or any athlete) great and require that they use statistics to back themselves up, and step aside. Ask a group of 12 year old students to write an opinion piece about the latest hot book/movie/song and then comment on each others' works, and they are off and running.
What's great about the iPad (or any piece of technology) is that it can help with students IN THE COMPLETION of all of the above. It is a tool for expression, organization, and information gathering, but it, in and of itself, does very little to attract students to the task nor does it complete the task for them simply by existing.
Want to make students interested in learning? Ditch standardized tests that require only one right answer. Shred scantron sheets in favor of actual writing, drawing and figuring. Abolish practices that reward teachers and administrators for teaching monkeys to throw bananas in barrels. Foster and reward risk-taking, innovation and creativity in every discipline of school life. Bring back recess, music, art and P.E. into all of our schools at all of our ages; balance matters!
Want to make students interested in learning? Hire a good teacher. Give that teacher access to the tools for students do articulate their understanding. Then get out of his or her way.
We need to stop throwing gizmos at the problems of education, and start dealing with the real gremlins that hold our schools back and keep our children from being excited about learning.
Friday, March 30, 2012
QR Code-based Amazing Race
So this week as part of a review for a test, I came up with 12 review questions, put each one individually into a Google document, then generated a QR Code using qrcode.kaywa.com that linked to each document/question. The QR codes were then posted in different places around the building. (some are still there...I need to take them down!...)
Students were placed into teams of 4 or 5, with one person designated as the contact person--he or she was the only one who would email me during the competition; I would not reply to others. (That person happened to be the one with the weakest grades on prior tests so he or she would have the reinforcement of writing answers...) Teams were made up of students with mixed ability/performance levels.
All teams began in my room with the first QR Code. They had to email me the correct answer to the question, at which point I emailed them a little bit of doggerel poetry that was a clue to their next destination and they were off. (Each team had a different first clue so the teams wouldn't bunch up). Every subsequent correct answer generated a clue to the next location. Incorrect answers got a response that included a hint or a suggestion if their answer was headed in the right direction. Each team that completed the 12 questions and returned to the classroom before the end of the period would receive 5 extra points on the test. But the last team to check in, as Phil says, may be eliminated and not get any points.
I've never seen students run so fast... ;)
So I would do it again, but I'd change a few things.
1) 12 clues all over the building was too many to complete in a 45 minute period. 10 would be better, or closer placement of codes.
2) Some teachers are upset by students running in the halls...
3) I wouldn't use email, I'd us the iPad's messenger system. It's faster, believe it or not... but it also helps with the next point...
4) It was logistically tough to keep track of what teams had gotten which clues via email, in part because they tended to create a new email for each question, rather than build a thread. So the messenger feature might or might not help with that by keeping a threaded conversation going, or I would require that they respond on the same thread if I were to use email again.
5) Some clues for the locations were hard and some were easy...they all got the front statue clue, but were flummoxed by the newspaper stand in the library clue...I'm not sure if that is good or bad, but the varying degrees of difficulty of the clues also slowed them down, so if the point is to review the content, I'd streamline that part of it.
But it was fun! I'm not sure how valuable it was as a review tool in the end, but as an activity, it was great. The student feedback was that they enjoyed themselves a great deal, but felt it was too limited in terms of content. We followed it up the next day with a game of baseball for further review. (Draw a baseball diamond on the board, I create questions that are worth a single, double, triple or homerun--harder questions for more bases--split the class into teams and play innings.)
Students were placed into teams of 4 or 5, with one person designated as the contact person--he or she was the only one who would email me during the competition; I would not reply to others. (That person happened to be the one with the weakest grades on prior tests so he or she would have the reinforcement of writing answers...) Teams were made up of students with mixed ability/performance levels.
All teams began in my room with the first QR Code. They had to email me the correct answer to the question, at which point I emailed them a little bit of doggerel poetry that was a clue to their next destination and they were off. (Each team had a different first clue so the teams wouldn't bunch up). Every subsequent correct answer generated a clue to the next location. Incorrect answers got a response that included a hint or a suggestion if their answer was headed in the right direction. Each team that completed the 12 questions and returned to the classroom before the end of the period would receive 5 extra points on the test. But the last team to check in, as Phil says, may be eliminated and not get any points.
I've never seen students run so fast... ;)
So I would do it again, but I'd change a few things.
1) 12 clues all over the building was too many to complete in a 45 minute period. 10 would be better, or closer placement of codes.
2) Some teachers are upset by students running in the halls...
3) I wouldn't use email, I'd us the iPad's messenger system. It's faster, believe it or not... but it also helps with the next point...
4) It was logistically tough to keep track of what teams had gotten which clues via email, in part because they tended to create a new email for each question, rather than build a thread. So the messenger feature might or might not help with that by keeping a threaded conversation going, or I would require that they respond on the same thread if I were to use email again.
5) Some clues for the locations were hard and some were easy...they all got the front statue clue, but were flummoxed by the newspaper stand in the library clue...I'm not sure if that is good or bad, but the varying degrees of difficulty of the clues also slowed them down, so if the point is to review the content, I'd streamline that part of it.
But it was fun! I'm not sure how valuable it was as a review tool in the end, but as an activity, it was great. The student feedback was that they enjoyed themselves a great deal, but felt it was too limited in terms of content. We followed it up the next day with a game of baseball for further review. (Draw a baseball diamond on the board, I create questions that are worth a single, double, triple or homerun--harder questions for more bases--split the class into teams and play innings.)
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