It's all over except the shouting now. As I write this, I'm about 30 minutes away from needing to get appropriately clad for graduation this evening. As one group leaves, my thoughts turn to the next group.
What can I do to better prepare for them? How can I improve upon the mistakes of the past year? What is my action plan?
First, I think I need to take a little time for relaxation and refreshment. I have two weeks until I travel to Salt Lake City for the AP reading. In that time, I plan to do a little decluttering and organization at home, read for pleasure and reacquaint myself with my yarn and needles. Knitting has been sorely neglected this year and I feel it in my stress levels. I have also found this year that I am a bit more refreshed if I'm surrounded by a decluttered environment. My bedroom is in desperate need of cleaning and decluttering and that is a chore I plan for this very weekend coming up. My eldest daughter and I have started going to the Y a few nights a week to exercise. While I walk about 1-1/2 miles on the treadmill, she manages about 6 on the elliptical - oh to be 18 and in great physical condition!
I made movement this week toward planning some positive professional development at the reading beyond that which I gain from scoring exams. I reached out to other AP teachers through the forums and asked if anyone was interested in an informal gathering to discuss ideas for flipping the classroom and delving deeper in class. The response has been gratifying with about a dozen positive responses already. As soon as the schedule comes out for our evenings, I will plan a specific time and place for us to meet. I'm looking forward to the experience and hope that I can come away with some new, fresh ideas.
Another goal I have this summer is to write a textbook for the regular Government classes -- yes, you read this correctly. I plan to write a textbook. I cleaned up my Mac hard drive this past weekend, backed up all my documents and photos to an external hard drive and then upgraded my operating system to Mountain Lion. This allowed me to download iBooks Author. I've spent a little time this week playing with it, finding video tutorials on youtube, etc. I've made a start with the organization of it. I believe my colleague, Amy, is going to help me write, leaving me the task of finding video clips, pictures, creating interactive widgets, and pulling the project together. We plan to publish to an internal network which will download it only to our students' iPads. This will help us update the information from our last (2005) textbook adoption and put it in a format that is readable on the students' iPads. I'm both apprehensive and excited by the possibilities in this one. I wish there was an easier way to build the works cited. Even though I'm only using creative commons searches, I know I still have to keep up with the citations, and iBooks Author doesn't do it automatically...pity that. I hope to have at least a good first working copy available by the time school starts, which we can tweak as necessary along the way.
I am trying to decide whether I want to participate in a professional book group this summer with my colleagues. Two of our administrators are hosting book groups on one of two different books: Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess or Do Your Know Enough About Me To Teach Me? by Stephen G. Peters. I'm most intrigued by the "pirate" book and have downloaded a sample on my Kindle. I think I need to give it a little more thought before I jump into yet one more endeavor this summer. I really should consider some of that relaxation part as well!
To finish up and get out of here for the school year, I need to spend some time tomorrow doing my filing - it's amazing how much of it there is considering I went almost completely paperless this year. I feel a purge coming on! I also need to transfer my personal video library and reference books back into the closet for summer I think, and do some general straightening up. My desk has stayed pretty organized this year, so that part is done - hooray! We can't "check out" until Friday morning, and I hope to have everything complete tomorrow so that on Friday morning, I can go and check out and then just clock my time once it's done. Summer is almost close enough to taste it - yippee!
Time to go and change clothes, I guess. Till next time...
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Moving toward blended learning...
After my last post, I started thinking about professional development and targeting my mis-steps with some professional development. I started by looking at what was being offered by the State Department of Education this summer in Moodle. After logging in, I looked through the courses I've taken in the past (including those I didn't finish because of lack of time) and was reminded about a series of free courses offered by Intel called "Teach Elements." These are free and very well designed. If you take them seriously and really fill out the action plan as you move through the modules, you can design the changes you want to implement. There was one on "blended learning" and so I started working through it. It is helping me focus on what "blended learning" really is, and includes more ideas on flipping the classroom, designing projects that move students toward more collaboration, and it includes lots of ideas about apps, websites and programs that help you do just that. I'm now in Module 4 of 5, and I'm gathering lots of information that I will then sift through as I plan this summer.
The other step I've taken in this direction involves talking a little more with students. I can't ever seem to get them to fill out a survey on Survey Monkey or on paper, but today I had the opportunity to talk with some students. Seniors were essentially finished yesterday and very few are here today - if they were able to exempt their exams, they are finished until graduation. I asked for some informal feedback this morning from the students who were present. There is lots of irony in this scenario, mind you. The ones who were present are those who have to take my exam, mostly from failure to complete assignments. That is probably exactly the right demographic to ask about assignments and their effectiveness, right? They would be the ones to tell me why they didn't do any work and/or which assignments were most difficult, etc. That is not the feedback I got. Essentially, I got the feedback that much of what I'm doing is precisely what I should be doing to move them toward independence, collaboration and critical thinking - however, they just didn't want to do it. On the one hand, that is encouraging - and I really don't think they were saying it because they thought I wanted to hear something like that - but on the other, it strikes exactly where I'm most vulnerable again. If I'm designing things that are meant to engage and encourage buy-in, why aren't they buying in? I really struggle with the idea that they are just too lazy and/or too disengaged in general to make the buy-in.
My exam isn't until Friday and I'm considering coming up with a written survey between now and Friday (basically tomorrow) and sliding it into the folders for them to fill out after they finish their exams. It would be anonymous and could be turned in to me in a box separate from their exam. I think that might be a good plan - need to get on writing it.
The other step I've taken in this direction involves talking a little more with students. I can't ever seem to get them to fill out a survey on Survey Monkey or on paper, but today I had the opportunity to talk with some students. Seniors were essentially finished yesterday and very few are here today - if they were able to exempt their exams, they are finished until graduation. I asked for some informal feedback this morning from the students who were present. There is lots of irony in this scenario, mind you. The ones who were present are those who have to take my exam, mostly from failure to complete assignments. That is probably exactly the right demographic to ask about assignments and their effectiveness, right? They would be the ones to tell me why they didn't do any work and/or which assignments were most difficult, etc. That is not the feedback I got. Essentially, I got the feedback that much of what I'm doing is precisely what I should be doing to move them toward independence, collaboration and critical thinking - however, they just didn't want to do it. On the one hand, that is encouraging - and I really don't think they were saying it because they thought I wanted to hear something like that - but on the other, it strikes exactly where I'm most vulnerable again. If I'm designing things that are meant to engage and encourage buy-in, why aren't they buying in? I really struggle with the idea that they are just too lazy and/or too disengaged in general to make the buy-in.
My exam isn't until Friday and I'm considering coming up with a written survey between now and Friday (basically tomorrow) and sliding it into the folders for them to fill out after they finish their exams. It would be anonymous and could be turned in to me in a box separate from their exam. I think that might be a good plan - need to get on writing it.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Let's start at the end and work our way forward
Welcome to my whirlwind of a life. I teach high school seniors at Hoover High School in Hoover, Alabama. I am blessed with a rich diversity of young people daily, all of whom are a blessing in some way (some when they arrive and some when they leave). We are staring at graduation in about 2 weeks and they are getting more and more antsy with every click of the clock.
As we wind down this semester, I am already anticipating the next semester, and turning my thoughts to ways to improve my instruction. We just finished a pilot year with 1:1 iPad implementation and it has been stressful and fun, in turns. I have intensely examined my practices and put myself under a magnifying glass this year as I worked through how to harness the power and promise of these wonderful new tools we were given. It has been a year of experimentation - some things worked really well and I will repeat them - others not so much. Failure in itself isn't a bad thing - not learning from those failures is the problem. The practices and activities that didn't work won't be back!
To focus on changes that did work:
Shifting to a paperless classroom - I have fully implemented the LMS (learning management system) of Moodle for all of my classes. All assignments and resources are posted in the Moodle classroom, and all assignments are turned in through that portal as well. It also gives us the flexibility of taking quizzes online, engaging in online discussions and collaborating more easily outside the classroom. It's a winner and it's staying!
Flipping the AP classroom - I have taught AP US Government & Politics for about 6 years now. My scores are good, but it is a sprint through the entire semester. At the end of the semester, we are all breathless and frustrated at the lack of time and speed at which we must move. While my scores have been great (ranging from 83% to 89% passage rates against a national average just about 50%), my enrollment numbers never increase because of the perception that "it's too much work." A lot of my reading at the beginning of school was about flipped classrooms. I decided it was worthy of trial and in we jumped. The kids were great and were willing to try it with me, with the understanding that we'd quit if it wasn't working. It worked SO WELL! We found an introductory PSC class on iTunesU with a professor who was interesting and engaging (and competent) and we all downloaded the lectures. Students watched this professor's lectures and read from an online textbook which we rented from Coursesmart. Other than readings and lectures, almost all of the assignments that might normally have been done at home flipped back to the classroom. This allowed for more collaboration and discussion amongst peers, time for simulations and games, and lots more time for DISCUSSION which we all loved. My students enjoyed it as you can see from this video:
The really good news is that enrollment is up for next year! These students really bought into this program and recruited for me. I can't wait to implement even more simulations and collaborations. A lot of this year was done "on the fly" - my summer will be spent tweaking and improving on those assignments for the next group of students!
So, what didn't work?
Classroom Management of Technology - I tried to trust students with this major distraction in their hands and didn't set firmer guidelines from the beginning on its appropriate use. I will do a better job of that next year, although I am not going to set all the rules myself. I want to guide students into the rules and consequences for breaking them. I think they will be more effective if they are part of that process.
Engagement and Motivation - I made the mistake of thinking that students would instantly be engaged with the iPad and harness its potential as an educational tool the way I did. WRONG! They immediately saw it's entertainment value, but educational value....that was slower in coming for many...and not at all for some. This ties back to the first mistake, but it also reflects my failure to adequately redesign my activities to get this buy-in. I will be working on this mistake over the summer as well.
What's next?
Beyond what I've already mentioned, I want to introduce more reading and writing as we implement the common core standards. Blogging is one method I want students to use for authentic writing...so practice what I preach. Here is my attempt at building this habit in myself as well.
I also want to give more control of learning to students. I'm tired of being the "sage on the stage" and so are they. We have literally placed the world in their hands with these iPads and a robust Wifi network. I want more student-directed learning along broad curricular parameters. Figuring out how to make that happen effectively is bound to be an ongoing process for the rest of my career, but I want to make some positive strives in planning this summer so that we start off stronger (and end stronger) next year! My regular students can expect more "blended learning" this upcoming year, including more flipped lessons.
Come along on that journey and we'll see if I can teach them all to fly (figuratively speaking, of course!)
As we wind down this semester, I am already anticipating the next semester, and turning my thoughts to ways to improve my instruction. We just finished a pilot year with 1:1 iPad implementation and it has been stressful and fun, in turns. I have intensely examined my practices and put myself under a magnifying glass this year as I worked through how to harness the power and promise of these wonderful new tools we were given. It has been a year of experimentation - some things worked really well and I will repeat them - others not so much. Failure in itself isn't a bad thing - not learning from those failures is the problem. The practices and activities that didn't work won't be back!
To focus on changes that did work:
Shifting to a paperless classroom - I have fully implemented the LMS (learning management system) of Moodle for all of my classes. All assignments and resources are posted in the Moodle classroom, and all assignments are turned in through that portal as well. It also gives us the flexibility of taking quizzes online, engaging in online discussions and collaborating more easily outside the classroom. It's a winner and it's staying!
Flipping the AP classroom - I have taught AP US Government & Politics for about 6 years now. My scores are good, but it is a sprint through the entire semester. At the end of the semester, we are all breathless and frustrated at the lack of time and speed at which we must move. While my scores have been great (ranging from 83% to 89% passage rates against a national average just about 50%), my enrollment numbers never increase because of the perception that "it's too much work." A lot of my reading at the beginning of school was about flipped classrooms. I decided it was worthy of trial and in we jumped. The kids were great and were willing to try it with me, with the understanding that we'd quit if it wasn't working. It worked SO WELL! We found an introductory PSC class on iTunesU with a professor who was interesting and engaging (and competent) and we all downloaded the lectures. Students watched this professor's lectures and read from an online textbook which we rented from Coursesmart. Other than readings and lectures, almost all of the assignments that might normally have been done at home flipped back to the classroom. This allowed for more collaboration and discussion amongst peers, time for simulations and games, and lots more time for DISCUSSION which we all loved. My students enjoyed it as you can see from this video:
The really good news is that enrollment is up for next year! These students really bought into this program and recruited for me. I can't wait to implement even more simulations and collaborations. A lot of this year was done "on the fly" - my summer will be spent tweaking and improving on those assignments for the next group of students!
So, what didn't work?
Classroom Management of Technology - I tried to trust students with this major distraction in their hands and didn't set firmer guidelines from the beginning on its appropriate use. I will do a better job of that next year, although I am not going to set all the rules myself. I want to guide students into the rules and consequences for breaking them. I think they will be more effective if they are part of that process.
Engagement and Motivation - I made the mistake of thinking that students would instantly be engaged with the iPad and harness its potential as an educational tool the way I did. WRONG! They immediately saw it's entertainment value, but educational value....that was slower in coming for many...and not at all for some. This ties back to the first mistake, but it also reflects my failure to adequately redesign my activities to get this buy-in. I will be working on this mistake over the summer as well.
What's next?
Beyond what I've already mentioned, I want to introduce more reading and writing as we implement the common core standards. Blogging is one method I want students to use for authentic writing...so practice what I preach. Here is my attempt at building this habit in myself as well.
I also want to give more control of learning to students. I'm tired of being the "sage on the stage" and so are they. We have literally placed the world in their hands with these iPads and a robust Wifi network. I want more student-directed learning along broad curricular parameters. Figuring out how to make that happen effectively is bound to be an ongoing process for the rest of my career, but I want to make some positive strives in planning this summer so that we start off stronger (and end stronger) next year! My regular students can expect more "blended learning" this upcoming year, including more flipped lessons.
Come along on that journey and we'll see if I can teach them all to fly (figuratively speaking, of course!)
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