guest written by Nicola Petty

Lectures were invented before print was available for the dissemination of information. One person talked and other people listened. It was the best they could do at the time.

However, today we can do better. Lectures are a cost-minimising way of presenting information to a large group of people. Note I didn’t say cost-effective. The universities of the world love lectures, and their buildings reflect that. However all the research I have ever read says that lectures are not an effective way to teach. They can do a wonderful job of inspiring and even converting, and sometimes entertaining, and they can be really fun to give if you enjoy that sort of thing. (Which I do.) But sadly, they are not really a very good way to teach.

When I first started work as a “Lecturer” of Operations Research, I read up about the whole process of lecturing in order to do the best I could. I was an experienced highschool teaher, but knew that a class of 250 differed from a class of 33. I was a trifle dismayed to find that the method that I thought had served me just fine as a student wasn’t really very effective. I read that you shouldn’t talk while people are copying notes down. So I prepared my overhead transparencies (which were modern and innovative back then) and worked out my timing. Within two or three lectures I realised how boring this was for me. I would talk a bit, expose some notes, and wait for the students to copy them down verbatim. This was self-delusion – the copying process leaves much to be desired, and is especially fraught when involving mathematical formulas. In fact I brought in an unnecessary level of error.

I started to photocopy my transparencies and distribute them at the start of class. I left gaps for working problems. This definitely left much more opportunity for interaction and participation from the students. But it was still “statistical methods as a spectator sport.”

Fast forward a bit over a decade and things have changed with regard to what is available. Let me tell you about my course now. Thanks to a natural disaster, last year I have been able to abandon real-time, face-to-face lectures entirely. The course is delivered using a learning management system known a Moodle. There are eight sections, with material in various forms. Each section has open tests which the students take repeatedly until they master the material (defined as 80%). There is a bank of questions so that the tests are different each time. Then they sit through a similar test in a supervised setting, to ensure the student has done the work. Again they must gain a mark of 80% or better, but may have multiple attempts.

The most important part of the course is the tests. This is where the learning takes place. The support materials include lecture notes with audio (podcasts), lessons with step-by-step instructions, links to outside material, notes, videos of lectures from pre-earthquake, and carefully made videos which are hosted at www.youtube.com/creativeheuristics. You can read more about how the videos are made at www.learnandteachstatistics.wordpress.com. We provide daily opportunities for students to get one-on-one help, though surprisingly few take it up. The material is very carefully designed to build skills, confidence and learning strategies as the students progress through the course, so that at the end they are tackling difficult material that they would have balked at at the start of the course.

I could write much more about this course, and the success it has had, particularly for students who are not mathematically inclined. And I will – soon!

About the author: Dr. Nicola Ward Petty has taught business statistics and operations research at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand for over twenty years. She was awarded a university teaching award in 2006 and has mentored other faculty, and developed innovative and successful courses to help people who find quantitative subjects difficult. You can read her blog here and follow her on Twitter here.

guest written by Lauren Scheller

10% homework, 40% quizzes, 20% participation….. sound familiar?

The result seems to be students working to achieve a grade as close to 100% as they can, while being confused about how they can even calculate their own grades. Teachers want students to realize the power of a strong work ethic and develop intrinsic motivation necessary for deep learning, however, we often use an enigmatic grading system rather than meaningful feedback. The focus is on the grade achieved rather than the learning. This is problematic and all too common. Learning is not simply an end goal but a process as well.

I use portfolio assessments in my world language classroom according to the following general guidelines.

1.     Change the vocabulary to assessment and performance-based assessments. It more accurately describes what we, as teachers, should be doing.

2.     Start with the end in mind. The ultimate goal for our students is to develop a certain skill or content knowledge. Therefore, we need learning targets, both a mixture of skills and content, in relation to which we can assess a student’s current ability and progress towards their goal.

3.     Assessment needs to happen early and often. Students need feedback immediately to know where they stand and specifically where they can improve.

4.     We don’t need to “grade” everything. If the purpose is to give feedback, then everything does not need to be recorded. Nor is it practical to record grades as much as they could be given.

5.     Not all grades need to be numerical. What’s wrong with “meets standard, approaches standard, exceeds standard” with narrative to go with it?

6.     Informal assessments are as useful as formal assessments. They often take less time, and specific feedback can be given quickly and easily. They serve to guide instruction and student work.

7.     Grades should be disaggregated. What do you do if a student turns in a project that completed all the requirements and has acquired all the content but turns the project in one day late. Some teachers would take 50% off the total score. So instead of a 95, that student now has a 47. What does that tell the student when factored into the 20% category of projects? When a parent looks at the 45%, is it clear what the student could or could not do? Instead, have categories that represent specific skills: work ethic (turning assignments in on time and completion), collaboration, content, critical thinking, etc.

8.     Metacognition should be a part of all major assessments. Students need to reflect on the quality of their own work and the contributions they made to a project.

9.     Open-ended performance assessments that show what a student can do rather than what they can’t, perhaps given freedom to display their achievement of skills as content through the platform of their choosing.

10. Involve your students in the grading process. They can help to choose the wording of the rubrics or alter the categories. They can also peer and self-assess. Rubrics and feedback should be put in kid friendly terms, so they know what they can do to improve.

Here’s an example:

My French II students were doing a unit on French cinema. The goal was for students to gain an understanding of the place the cinema holds in French culture and how that differs in products, perspectives and practices of Americans. The main project was to create a whole class blog for the local community to encourage the viewing of French films from the library. The performance assessments were as follows. They had a conversation with a friend deciding what movie they wanted to see that night and why. They took a description about the movie Les Misérables (which we watched) that was very short and choppy and made it made it more complex using object pronouns. They chose their own French movie to watch and created a blog post about it, including brief synopsis, general opinion and recommendations. Each student then had to choose one other movie to watch based on the description of their peer and leave a comment to their review.

Each assessment was designed to show what a student was able to do with the language in order to elicit meaningful feedback. I also designed smaller assessments along the way to be informally assessed by peers or the teacher in order to check for progress.  All assessments used the same or similar rubrics with shared vocabulary. Each had component of proficiency, content and, if it was a group task, collaboration. The language of the rubrics were put in student-friendly terms, and modified based on student feedback. Each item that was formally or informally assessed was numbered and placed in the portfolio with a note from the students about the success they achieved and an area of improvement to focus on.

At several points along the way, we as a class stopped so the students could reflect generally on where they were in the process and write something longer than they did in the quicker checkpoints. This reflective process was also assessed using a rubric. These reflections can be used to create individualized work for students or serve as a general temperature check for the teacher in scaffolding the work. The half-year reflection point is especially useful for setting goals, and involving parents. With the use of rubrics, students stop discussion around topics like “getting As instead of Bs” and move to using specific language about their own proficiency and work style. This does have to be modeled in the beginning.

Portfolios give students an individualized targeted method of focusing on what they can do with the language. They analyze their own strengths and weaknesses with the help of the teacher and peers to continually improve on specific areas. They can be either housed in a paper folder in the class or digitally on-line. In my world language class, I prefer the digital version, so we can include speaking, writing, and tech-based assessments, like Voicethread, podcasts or blogs. The students are excited to have, virtually or physically, tangible evidence of their success.

My ultimate goal would be for reported “grades” to be a narrative and based on meeting a standard. This however is a larger school or district decision.  Therefore, when using a portfolio assessment, a teacher will have to decide for themselves what it would look like as translated into a numeric grade.

I hope we can all begin to contemplate the power of this type of assessment.

Think about when you were in school and received grades you did not understand, that did not in actuality assess what you knew or were able to do with the skills and content that were acquired. In most classes, grades are an end result. Learning should be the end result with grades a way to focus the students and give them direction on how to create an individualized implementation plan.

About the author: Lauren Scheller graduated from Rutgers with a double major in Biological Sciences and French. As an elementary and secondary science teacher, Lauren became the initiator and foremost authority in inquiry and project-based learning and differentiated instruction at her school. Upon transitioning to teaching French, Lauren’s student-centered approach contributed to the development of thematic-based unit plans with a focus on 21st century skill development and performance-based assessment. Check out Lauren’s blog and follow her on Twitter @Lauren_Scheller.

Topic: Depending on whose research we read, class size does or doesn’t matter. Why does class size matter to you?

I hadn’t thought about class size in a very long time. In fact, I can’t remember a time when I devoted the issue any serious thought. As a student, I think we don’t really question it. We have to accept classes of whatever size we get placed in, so we might as well just roll with it. And now that I’m out of school and only reading/discussing education from afar, I must confess that the issue is not one that often rises to the forefront.

Is that a bad thing? Maybe. Perhaps the issue deserves to be brought up once in a while – and luckily it was this week!

Right off the bat, it seemed like the actual topic for this week’s discussion was discarded in favor of a more specific one. Very few people were making the case that large classes were not a problem for teachers (and even the ones that were had to qualify it by saying “certain subjects/lessons lend themselves to large classes at certain times”), and so the topic really turned to: What is the optimal class size and how do we achieve that number while balancing shrinking education budgets?

This is something that happens in #edchat sometimes. Either the question has too many parts and we spend the entire hour discussing only half of it, or it’s too general and we spend a few minutes in the very beginning answering the specific question before moving on to weightier (but related) issues.

Main themes from the discussion:

• Classes are definitely too big! No doubt about it, teachers are pretty stressed about the number of students assigned to them each year. Classes of 30-45 students are hard to control and make providing each student with individual attention quite difficult. Not only that, but having 3-5 sections each semester means that each teacher is responsible for grading hundreds of assignments each week! This puts huge strains on a teacher’s free time and on the time that they have available to plan lessons. Less preparation means less effective teaching, and that’s a problem for everyone.
• There is a such thing as “too small.” But before we start a revolution and demand that all teachers have no more than a dozen students under their care each year (so they can really get to know them and help them individually as much as possible), we need to remember that sometimes larger classes are beneficial. After all, it’s not just factual learning and understanding we want. It’s cooperation and teamwork too. Larger classes do present more opportunities when managed properly. So what is the optimal size? It seemed to me that it ranged from 10 (for special needs and very high level courses) to about 25 (for average courses), based on the tweets this week. Some teachers can handle more; others prefer less. It’s often a question of experience.
• The real problem is teaching methods, not class size. One thing is certain: you can’t teach a big class the same way you would teach a small class. The dynamic is totally different. And while it may be optimal to campaign for smaller classes overall, right now we’re sort of stuck with what we’ve got and we might as well make the most of it. This means taking the time to adequately prepare lessons that are appropriate for the number of students that you are teaching. Doing that is actually in our sphere of influence, after all.
• To properly prepare teachers, we need to set aside more time for preparation. Good preparation takes time, and no #edchat would be complete without plenty of reminders about how busy teachers already are. Still, lesson prep is one of those things that you need to make time for, one way or another. It might mean giving up some free time or cutting back on the number of assignments that you grade, but it needs to happen – especially if you find yourself with classes that are just a bit too big. I saw one tweeter propose higher salaries for teachers with more students. I think that makes sense, since it clearly is more work. Another suggested slowly increasing class size (to a point) based on experience levels. That also seems wise.
• It’s always about the budget. In the end, though, the final deciding factor is always the budget. After all, it’s entirely possible that the higher-ups already know that the optimal class size is somewhere between 10 and 25. They’re probably just bound by the budget (and the size of their school building) to form classes of 30, 35, and 40. It’s just the sad reality. Accepting that, it really does make sense to search out other ways of effectively reaching each student, because that’s the bottom line goal. And I think, if you go through the archive of this week’s #edchat, there are plenty of good ideas for doing just that.

My favorite tweets from the discussion:

<> Classes are too big!

CTuckerEnglish I hate feeling like I am scrambling to keep my head above water with huge classes. It tends to suck the creative energy out of me!

mikevigilant We only have 30 comps per lab but some classes with 35 kids have 5 who don’t know what to do!

jguarr Budget increased our class sizes this year. Went from 30 student max to 35. HUGE difference.

michellek107 in large classrooms, children with dominant personalities can “monopolize” teachers’ time. Quiet children fade.

katetheteacher For my job, I pull out struggling students for individual attention. 1:1 time is crucial for some kids, & lost in larger classrooms.

JasonFlom If the goal is a #wholechild education, class size definitely matters. If “student achievement” is test scores, maybe it doesn’t.

tomwhitby Increasing class size is a way to reduce cost. It has nothing to do with quality education. Larger classes cost less, so we deal with it.

<> Class size isn’t the end-all, be-all…

lemino I’m not a teacher, but as a mom I can see class size doesn’t matter. The method does.

MertonTech  I feel like as experience increases, class size can increase as well. But there is a top limit.

drdouggreen We need to be flexible with class size. For movies/lectures, fill the auditorium. For other activities, small groups/1:1.

chlupa Why does a student need tons of teacher attention for personalized ed? Isn’t the point collaboration and sharing?

QZLPatriotHawk It’s not that larger classes can’t learn; it’s that classroom management is more difficult if you approach teaching the same way.

davidwees Is a focus on reducing class size the wrong place to focus? What about sufficient time to collaborate, learn, and prepare?

RogoNic A class can also be too small in my opinion. You lose the energy and opportunity to learn off others. Gets a bit intense.

AGMichal I used to teach at a very small school. Often had classes of 6-8 for some activities; I wished I had more students.

<> A few resources:

cybraryman1 Can infusing some Self-Directed Learning http://t.co/I5nudKaG in a large class help teachers?

politicalteach EdWeek article on class size laws: http://t.co/ZK4IuNtf.

vanroet A blog about 1:1 schools: http://t.co/nBWxYq9b.

politicalteach Looks interesting, regarding class size effects on achievement: http://t.co/mcR0T1R1.

politicalteach Reducing class sizes was one of Finland’s moves toward improving their education system:  http://t.co/tTacVOlX.

cybraryman1 I had success in large class when I used Cooperative Learning projects:  http://t.co/oHX8gZBR.

To follow the complete discussion, look for the full archive here.  They’re usually posted up by the end of the week.

Looking to discuss #edtech in depth? Check out the LinkedIn group: Edutech Trends, Visions, Passions.

###

New to #EdChat?

If you have never participated in an #Edchat discussion, these take place twice a day every Tuesday on Twitter.  Over 400 educators participate in this discussion by just adding #edchat to their tweets. For tips on participating in the discussion, please check out these posts:

• Edchat: Join the Conversation
• Using TweetDeck for Hashtag Discussions

More Edchat

• If you would like to join others in transforming the discussion into action, please feel free to join the Edchat group on the Educator PLN ning.
• Jerry Swiatek does an incredible job of posting each archived transcript on the #edchat wiki created by Steve Johnson. This way you can look back at your favorites!
• Find previous summaries here on this blog – see #edchat category on right sidebar
• Follow other Edchatters and make sure you are on this Twitter list if you participate in #Edchat!
• Read summaries of the 7pm EST/1 am CET Edchat discussions.

Challenge:

If you’re new to hashtag discussions, then just show up on Twitter on any Tuesday and add just a few tweets on the topic with the hashtag #edchat.

What do you think? Leave a comment! We would love to hear from you.

Topic: How do we consider time differently to rebuild school schedules and calendars to maximize learning?

Sometimes, when I’m out and about on the roads early in the morning, I see a school bus and think to myself, “Why on earth do we make kids start their school day so early?” It wasn’t too long ago that I was one of them, I can remember how torturous it was to get up before the sun rose and try to get my brain out of hibernation mode.

Many times I’ve wondered what it might do to our education system if we just pushed back the beginning of school by an hour or two. I suspect it would improve focus and, by extension, learning and knowledge retention. I’m sure there have been more than a few studies on the subject, although the fact that we still are doing things the same way suggests that either the correlation between later start times and better student performance just isn’t there or that we just don’t care to change the status quo.

Either way, my thinking on adjusting school schedules never extended beyond pushing the start of the day back a bit. This week’s #edchat, however, went much deeper than that. It was amazing how quickly the community spat out more suggestions in a single hour than I would have been able to come up with in a week. Of course, that’s what I expect when I sign on to #edchat these days.

Ideas ranged from the realistic to the radical; from the small tweak to the complete overhaul. I fear that even some of the simpler suggestions will go completely unheard thanks to the rigid administration that seems so prevalent in public schools these days. But at the same time I have some hope that teachers can make some of these new ideas work on their own – or maybe they can bring them up in a private school setting, where things aren’t set in stone.

Change may come slowly, but it is encouraging that there are so many good teachers (and other school staff members) out there who are working on it every day.

Main themes from the discussion:

• What do we want to do: extend the school day or restructure the current school day? This is a central question that needs to be answered, and carefully. Do we think that we need students to spend more time in school (kids in other countries often do go to school longer and for more days every year) or do we think we can do better with the time we have? We also need to consider how homework plays into this. Do we want to effectively extend the school day “unofficially” by giving more homework or by flipping the majority of classrooms?
• Should we extend the school day? It seemed like there were a good number of teachers who favored extending the school day. Most of these folks admitted that they wouldn’t just focus on academics if they had more time, however. They wanted more time for extra-curricular activities, sports programs, and tutoring to help those students who were falling behind. There was some discussion over whether participation in “after hours” activities should be mandatory or optional. I think convincing cases can be made for both sides.
• If we extend the school day, won’t that cost us more money? No #edchat discussion would be complete without a discussion about how we plan to pay for all these brilliant ideas. It certainly seems logical that if we extend the school day we’ll have to be paying a lot more salaries and hiring quite a few more people. But what about volunteers, such as parents or older students? What about private tutors who wouldn’t get paid by the school system but would be compensated by the parents who decided to enroll their kids in their programs? And what about renting out the school building during off hours to various organizations as a way to defray some of these extra costs?
• Restructuring the school day is the way to go. There were just as many folks who preferred to rearrange the school day as wanted to extend it. I think that makes sense (and is itself an argument in favor of making an extended school day optional). Tom Whitby had an interesting idea to teach students five subjects per semester and to have each subject meet once a week all day long so that teachers could go really in-depth. David Wees suggested making the school day more “fluid,” allowing teachers to bargain amongst each other for extra time when necessary. And Jerry Blumengarten (better known as the Cybraryman) wondered if we should try to combine subjects a bit more. Each of these suggestions is a way for teachers to have the time to go deeper into their subject matter, and I think each one deserves some consideration. Unfortunately, they’re all a bit on the “radical” side.
• What about just focusing on not wasting so much time? This, I think, is one of the best and simplest suggestions from this week’s conversation. Every school (and teacher) should, on an annual basis, reexamine their general practices to see where time is being spent inefficiently or completely wasted. For example: do all students need to sit and listen to the announcements for every grade level every morning? Or couldn’t announcements be made via email or other social networking services? The possibilities are probably endless.

My favorite tweets from the discussion:

<> Great questions:

birklearns Is there a need for a longer school day, or is the solution restructuring the day that we have?

cybraryman1 How do you feel incorporating more self-directed http://t.co/HtLsFiGC and blended learning? http://t.co/cgTtePy9

cybraryman1 How do you feel about combining some subject areas?

<> In favor or rearranging the day:

davidwees We need to examine our school schedules and ask ourselves, where does this schedule come from?

bjnichols Time cannot be segmented into blocks. It should be around projects or problems. Life is integrated, not isolated.

mikevigilant Just let each team decide–if nothing’s going on in science and math is blowing up, shift a little time around.

davidwees @drdouggreen Ever been in the middle of a deep learning activity with students and been interrupted by the end of class?

tomwhitby Teaching 5 periods a day for 5 diff classes: How about each class one day a week for 5 periods? Result: more continuous project time.

<> In favor of integrating the school day more:

DoeMiSo As a music teacher, I’m integrating other subjects all the time. Why should it be so hard for others?

MertonTech @rliberni @TestSoup Give the kids social time with their emotional peers, and learning time with their intellectual peers.

stumpteacher @cybraryman1 There are so many natural connections in learning that teaching in isolation no longer makes sense.

<> Challenges to integrating the school day more:

mikevigilant @cybraryman1 Combining subjects would be great IF we weren’t accountable for test results on *our* subject. Would you give up time?

<> In favor of a longer day:

Loldsteach My son’s high school stays open three hours after dismissal to allow students access to the resources. It’s a start.

rliberni Think of all the art, drama, and sport that could be done at school!

cybraryman1 @rliberni I would like to see more choice given to students after academics of areas (arts, sports, etc.) to explore.

mr_isaacs Open the school for more activities. Let students stay because they want to stay.

MertonTech @TestSoup Keeping the building open can be a revenue generator.

<> Challenges to extending the day:

birklearns For students who are not fond of school, more school would be awful. Eating more brussel sprouts doesn’t make me like them…

davidwees @PrincipalPC @tomwhitby ’It will cost too much’ is an excuse to continue to do what we always do; it keeps us ‘safe.’

rliberni Does an extended day need to have teachers? What about parents? They have expertise too. I think we often underestimate the skills that others have (parents and other people attached to school).

<> Great miscellaneous comments:

tsocko @jswiatek I’ve found that time isn’t wasted if teachers are properly prepping and recreating lesson plans, not just extending old ones.

PrincipalPC @drdouggreen @ShiftParadigm We should not worry about gaps — we should worry about maximization of capacity.

TeachPaperless One problem is that we tend to think that if a student isn’t learning in our classroom, they aren’t learning.

Mamacita My own memories of elementary school are mostly of waiting, waiting, and waiting. And being punished for working ahead.

To follow the complete discussion, look for the full archive here.  They’re usually posted up by the end of the week.

Looking to discuss #edtech in depth? Check out the LinkedIn group: Edutech Trends, Visions, Passions.

###

New to #EdChat?

If you have never participated in an #Edchat discussion, these take place twice a day every Tuesday on Twitter.  Over 400 educators participate in this discussion by just adding #edchat to their tweets. For tips on participating in the discussion, please check out these posts:

• Edchat: Join the Conversation
• Using TweetDeck for Hashtag Discussions

More Edchat

• If you would like to join others in transforming the discussion into action, please feel free to join the Edchat group on the Educator PLN ning.
• Jerry Swiatek does an incredible job of posting each archived transcript on the #edchat wiki created by Steve Johnson. This way you can look back at your favorites!
• Find previous summaries here on this blog – see #edchat category on right sidebar
• Follow other Edchatters and make sure you are on this Twitter list if you participate in #Edchat!
• Read summaries of the 7pm EST/1 am CET Edchat discussions.

Challenge:

If you’re new to hashtag discussions, then just show up on Twitter on any Tuesday and add just a few tweets on the topic with the hashtag #edchat.

What do you think? Leave a comment! We would love to hear from you.

guest written by Kimberly Joki of Grammarly.

That writing is a necessary professional and life skill is universally accepted.  Interdisciplinary approaches to teaching writing are key to giving our students the necessary experience to grow into confident writers. However, despite increased writing-education efforts, many students are entering into and graduating from university with weak writing skills or are anxious and unsure of their writing abilities.

Topic: Which should we support first for the best result? A reform in student learning (teaching methods) or a reform in teacher learning (professional development, or PD)?

Back into the swing of things with the first #edchat of the new year! The gang didn’t waste any time getting back in the saddle, either. I saw most (but not quite all) of the regulars joining in the discussion at one point or another, even though some (like myself) were a little tardy to the party.

This week’s discussion was an interesting one for two reasons: 1) it asked educators to choose which is more important for a teacher to do: teach or learn, and 2) it treaded on ground that we had already covered before (recently), making for a slightly more in-depth conversation than I think would normally have been possible.

Last time we talked about professional development for teachers, we had to spend a lot of time just bringing those of us (I was a newbie at the time!) who didn’t know much about teacher PD up to speed. A lot of good information was given out by the old hands, and if you missed the discussion on EdCamps and UnConferences (or simply would like a refresher) I strong encourage you to go back and read my summary post.

This time was different. This time the conversation focused more on how to improve existing PD and implement new/better ideas properly. Why? Because everyone seemed to agree pretty quickly that obviously the most important thing to improve is teaching – but that you can’t improve teachers if you aren’t training them to constantly improve themselves!

So this week’s discussion boiled down to a great chat about how to both improve educator PD and how to speed along implementation of all those great ideas floating around out there. And all of this in service of the students.

Main themes from the discussion:

• Is it possible to improve one without the other? The consensus seemed to be: probably not. And it was universally agreed that, even though the ultimate goal was to help students learn, focusing just on teaching and ignoring the PD side would be attacking the symptoms and not the cause. Teachers can only teach as well as they are taught to teach. Thus, to improve student learning, you must first improve teacher learning.
• What kind of PD are we talking about here? Right away it was decided that we weren’t even going to waste our time talking about “bad PD.” By that, I mean single sessions where some “expert” gets up and talks to a whole bunch of teachers about what they should be doing to accomplish X, Y, and Z goals set by the administration, the state, or the federal government. That’s useless. So when we use the term PD, remember that we’re talking about “good PD.”
• What is “good PD?” That’s a good question (and one that we sort of answered last time we talked about it in November 2011). But to simplify things down and summarize a bit, it seemed like most educators agreed that good PD was an ongoing process initiated by the teacher, guided by a mentor, and facilitated by administration. To get more specific than that, you’ll have to look into the transcript of the conversation when it’s available.
• Teachers need to take responsibility for their own PD. This was a major theme; perhaps even the biggest theme of the discussion. Teachers are supposed to be experts in their field. Experts never stop learning. They can’t, because if they do they’ll get overtaken. Of course, administrators need to remember that it is their job to help facilitate this process (and to push, when necessary), but the bulk of the responsibility falls on the teachers.
• What about students? This wasn’t really discussed, but I think it’s a legitimate point so I’m sticking it in here. Almost everyone seemed to agree that teachers should have at least some role deciding what they learn about. This will help them care more about what they’re doing. So I wonder: does the same apply to students? Or can we not trust them to pick and choose the important stuff? Maybe that’s a topic for another week.

My favorite tweets from the discussion:

<> Initial reactions:

drdouggreen This is a chicken and egg issue.

tomwhitby @drdouggreen I don’t see it as chicken/egg. I believe the emphasis must be on ongoing teacher training in order to impact student learning.

birklearns What are we calling PD? One-time events that happen during the year, or ongoing? I believe we can significantly impact ongoing PD.

USCTeacher Probably can’t do the first one before the second. Student learning is the priority, but if teachers can’t facilitate that, we need PD first.

<> Ideas for Improving PD:

1st4ceu RT @ebonstorm: Professional development should not be considered a punishment. Done right, it should enhance the teacher’s abilities and options.

John_DAdamo Professional reflection is what makes PD worthwhile. Dialogue about what consists of good PD can in/of itself become good PD.

CTuckerEnglish So often I leave PD sessions with a million great ideas but hit hurdles implementing them. An ongoing support network would be awesome.

CTuckerEnglish So much money is spent bringing people in for PD. RT @CriticalSkills1: Mohr said “The wisdom is [already] in the room.”

hadleyjf We need to model “Active Learning,” and no more “Sage on Stage” in PD.

tomwhitby In NY every school is required to have a mentoring program for new teachers as a form of PD. Is that true for all schools in the country?

vpigreenie @tomwhitby No, it is not true for all schools in the country. I would guess it is actually a rarity more than a norm.

<> Who should be in charge of PD?

jonbergmann What if PD was for teachers to learn ANYTHING they wanted and we supported their learning. I bet this would change the way they teach.

John_DAdamo @love2learningp @tomwhitby How do we build a culture that values self-directed PD? Including when admin may not support?

ghostexecutive RT @doctorjeff: Dictating what a learner should be curious about is a huge mistake right out of the gate, and you reap what you sow.

mikevigilant A tweet scrolled by too fast for me to get to, but I like the idea of teachers dictating what they do (and don’t!) want PD for.

drdouggreen @tomwhitby If you are a professional, shouldn’t you be responsible for your own development?

tomwhitby Left solely to their devices, teachers may not be leaving those damned comfort zones. Little reform can result. PD needs direction. Guided and directed PD should be the priority for reform.

cheflincoln Should implementation of PD be included in teacher evaluations?

mikevigilant @tomwhitby Nobody trains me because I’m the only one at school who does what I do. If I waited for instructions, I’d be fired by now.

<> A couple links:

inquirebook @testsoup Check out how @amydawnpark had her 4th graders create their own rubrics for a decomposition lab. http://t.co/lQvNRmqt

drdouggreen @amykfmurphy I find tons of sources for quality PD online. Take a look at http://t.co/DMYqOAZP to see what I find.

To follow the complete discussion, look for the full archive here.  They’re usually posted up by the end of the week.

Looking to discuss #edtech in depth? Check out the LinkedIn group: Edutech Trends, Visions, Passions.

###

New to #EdChat?

If you have never participated in an #Edchat discussion, these take place twice a day every Tuesday on Twitter.  Over 400 educators participate in this discussion by just adding #edchat to their tweets. For tips on participating in the discussion, please check out these posts:

• Edchat: Join the Conversation
• Using TweetDeck for Hashtag Discussions

More Edchat

• If you would like to join others in transforming the discussion into action, please feel free to join the Edchat group on the Educator PLN ning.
• Jerry Swiatek does an incredible job of posting each archived transcript on the #edchat wiki created by Steve Johnson. This way you can look back at your favorites!
• Find previous summaries here on this blog – see #edchat category on right sidebar
• Follow other Edchatters and make sure you are on this Twitter list if you participate in #Edchat!
• Read summaries of the 7pm EST/1 am CET Edchat discussions.

Challenge:

If you’re new to hashtag discussions, then just show up on Twitter on any Tuesday and add just a few tweets on the topic with the hashtag #edchat.

What do you think? Leave a comment! We would love to hear from you.

guest written by Wim Coleman of Chiron Books.

In my previous post, I wrote about introducing storytelling techniques (especially dramatic ones) as an aid to teaching literature. In my fourth and final post as a guest here, I’ll to share some ideas for using storytelling in the classroom to teach history.

I’ve got a powerful personal memory along these lines from my senior year in high school. (It was in 1971-2, so you can do the math and figure out how old I am!) I had a brilliant and innovative American History teacher, whose assignments were, to put it mildly, dramatic. For example, he had one class break up into two groups and act out the American Civil War, using the entire high school campus as a stage.

But to me, his most memorable assignment was a less flamboyant one. My group was assigned to write and perform a play portraying the ideological conflict between the African-American Civil Rights leaders Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois. A former slave, Washington advocated a “go slow” strategy to achieving racial equality; a historian and sociologist, Du Bois’s advocated a much more aggressive approach. The play was framed as a debate between the two.

Our group divided up tasks, ranging from research to typing. The actual writing and directing fell to me. It was a formative experience. I’ve been around theater since before I can remember, but it was the first time I’d really written a play. I’ve gone on to write more plays than I can count, many of them published and/or performed, and some of them award-winners. So really, this assignment was the beginning of a quasi-career. Also, exploring the polarity of thought between Washington and Du Bois helped form my own political worldview, especially concerning approaches to social activism.

Over the decades, I’ve kept a yellowed, mimeographed copy of this play, which lies in front of me right now. It’s no masterpiece, but it’s not bad for a high school student, and it brings back memories of one of the most stimulating intellectual experiences of my youth. It’s no small testament to the strength of classroom storytelling that an assignment like this can still resonate in one’s mind after 40 years!

Now we’ll get down to specifics. Let’s say that you’re teaching a unit on the American Civil War. Students quickly (and understandably) get bored learning by rote the names of generals and the dates of battles. Besides, such inert facts don’t give any sense of the issues, philosophies, agonies, and passions involved in that cataclysmic conflict. Dramatic storytelling can be a key to deeper understanding. I’ll toss out just four possible basic situations:

• War breaks out in April 1861. Soon afterward in Philadelphia, a congregation of Quakers (The Religious Society of Friends) struggles with matters of conscience. On one hand, Quakers have long devoted themselves to the abolition of slavery and have actively participated in the Underground Railroad; on the other hand, Quakers have always been pacifistic. What should Quakers do now that the country is waging a war to end slavery—adhere to pacifism and resist conscription, or compromise their beliefs and join and support the Union Army? Write and perform a scene in which members of the congregation debate these choices.
• While the war was raging, the publisher and abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison condemned the U.S. Constitution as “a Covenant with Death, an Agreement with Hell” because it allowed the continuance of slavery. Meanwhile, the former slave and journalist Frederick Douglass contended that the Constitution offered the surest means for abolishing slavery. Write and perform a scene in which Garrison and Douglass meet in a public place. Garrison is there to burn a copy of the Constitution; Douglass is there to pass out copies of it hot off his own printing press. They debate their positions to the crowd while engaged in these activities.
• In Union-occupied South Carolina, an African-American family hears news of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863. The family now finds itself free. Write and perform a scene in which grandparents, parents, and children discuss dreams, dilemmas, possibilities, and choices. Have them consider both the Emancipation’s promises and limitations. While they are now “freedmen” encouraged to join the fight against slavery, the Emancipation does not yet end slavery altogether.

This is just a sampling of scenarios. Needless to say, the possibilities for the Civil War are practically unlimited. Also needless to say, it is easy to dream up endless assignments for any episode, period, or era in all of human history. Here I’ve suggested scenes that range from the intimately personal (the slave family) to the political and philosophical (Garrison and Douglass). I think it’s good to seek out such a range for greater resonance.

But I should caution that the instructions above aren’t really sufficient. They’re just a starting-point. Without a lot of clarity, this assignment won’t fully deliver the goods. My high school teacher, for example, was extremely specific about setting, story, and themes. He also took care that my group was prepared with a great deal of background information, making research part of the assignment.

I like ending this series of posts with one about history. It hints at how storytelling in the classroom encourages critical thinking, a vital but elusive goal in whatever subject you might be teaching. And it hints at the power of having students step into someone else’s shoes, relating even experiences of long ago and far away to one’s own contemporary, everyday life. Storytelling makes teaching and learning up-close, personal, and real.

About the author: Wim Coleman is a playwright whose works have won national awards and have been presented in New York and Los Angeles, and he is an award-winning poet. He has also been a teacher, and has degrees in Theater, Literature, and Education. He usually writes in collaboration with his wife, Pat Perrin. Together, they have well over 100 publications. They publish independently for young people through ChironBooks. Wim and Pat lived in various parts of the United States before spending thirteen years in San Miguel de Allende, where they created and administered the San Miguel PEN Scholarship Program for at-risk students. They also adopted their daughter, Monse, there. All three of them now live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  You can learn more about Wim and his work at his website.

Topic: Will the idea of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) help or hinder education?

It’s Thanksgiving week, so I thought that this week’s #edchat would see a much smaller and more intimate group of regulars.  Wrong!  Yesterday’s conversation was just as frantic and bursting with insight as every week.  I guess that’s what keeps us coming back for more.  I saw one tweet saying that this was the best break; the best way to recharge your batteries, and although I can’t exactly describe #edchat as relaxing, it definitely gets your education motor running strong.

In the interest of full disclosure here, I figure I should remind readers that I am not an educator.  I don’t teach students, and I have very limited experience being in charge of even a small group of them.  And, of course, I work for a company that feels very strongly about integrating mobile devices into education.  So naturally I approached this conversation thinking that BYOD can definitely help education.

What I found is that I am not alone in thinking this.  That’s no surprise, of course.  Those that participate in #edchat are a progressive bunch, generally far ahead of your average teacher on the tech curve.  They’re here because they already know that new technology makes some amazing things possible.  So would we waste an entire hour congratulating ourselves and agreeing with each other?

Again, the answer should be obvious. Of course not!  Nobody does #edchat for the glory.  They sign on every week to share insights and increase their own supply of knowledge and great ideas.  In other words: they get down to brass tacks, and that’s what we did this week.

Very quickly, it seemed, the overall topic was already decided, and the discussion turned to what difficulties might arise when instituting a BYOD policy in a classroom or in an entire school.  There were three main objections raised, and I will go through each of them in the next section.

Main themes from the discussion:

• How do you handle all the tech issues that will inevitably arise?  This one was brought up almost immediately.  Probably in the first few minutes.  You see, some teachers are already dealing with classrooms that are BYOD, and they know that when students have electronics in front of them they will naturally have questions and need help.  How is one teacher supposed to plan lessons that are compatible with every conceivable platform?  How is one teacher supposed to find the time (and the expertise) to solve every conceivable problem?
• Fortunately, many of these teachers also proposed solutions.  Some had found that students could generally solve problems on their own if instructed to do so.  Others found that putting student groups in charge of troubleshooting specific devices freed up valuable time.  A few admitted that they were quietly trying to learn everything they could about all the most common devices.  I think a combination of these approaches could go a long way.  The important thing would be to make it a school-wide strategy.  We can’t have some teachers holding students’ hands all the way and others expecting them to walk on their own.  It needs to be consistent.
• How do you level the playing field for those students who can’t?  This was another issue that was brought up rather quickly.  I think it’s a valid one, but also one that can be misleading.  Sure, we want to equip all students the best way we can, but the fact is that schools have differing resources at their disposal.  And so do students.  But do we handicap everyone in a class because some people can’t afford to bring in their own iPad or smartphone?
• Again, many teachers chimed in with some great suggestions.  It was pointed out that for every laptop, smartphone, or tablet that one student brings, that frees up one from the school for a student who needs it more.  I think that’s an important point, and one that should not go understated.  Every little bit helps.  It’s also easy to forget that many of these resources can be shared by several students with little loss in productivity, as long as they can work effectively in groups.  But the bottom line is that some money will need to be spent by many schools to provide resources for those students without them.  That seems inevitable.
• How do you keep your classroom safe and on track?  This point didn’t get made until a little later in the discussion, but it’s still a valid one.  How does a teacher, looking out at a sea of faces behind computer monitors, tablets, or smartphones, know who is working and who is playing?  How do they keep everyone focused and productive?  And how do they make sure that those “distracted” students aren’t digging around on the internet for illicit material?  Both these questions are ones that I, personally, am unequipped to answer.
• I do know, however, that both tech people and teachers are pretty darn smart.  Sure, a student here or there might be able to slip through the cracks and play solitaire instead of participating once in a while.  But students will always find ways to zone out – and teachers will always notice.  Similarly, I’m sure that a school’s tech team could find a way to police what gets accessed online by multiple devices if they put their minds to it.  Every problem has a solution, even if its imperfect.

My favorite tweets from the discussion:

mikevigilant: LOL that’s today’s #edchat topic? In my state it’s *illegal* to BYOD to school! Might need to fix that first!

bhsprincipal: @cybraryman1 I believe we have a moral imperative to allow access to more resources for staff and students. #edchat

 teacherdebra: #BYOD implies teacher is not the expert in the room; this is a shift teachers have to make. #shifthappens #edchat

jasongraham99: Teachers also need some lessons from the kids. Got a G10 teaching me about iMovie at the moment. #edchat

TestSoup: I wonder why it becomes the teacher’s responsibility to help a kid with whatever tech he brings? Why not let them figure it out? #edchat JJW

TestSoup: In HS, I could bring in any calculator I wanted, but my teacher told us that he could only troubleshoot TI-83s. It worked. #edchat JJW

davidwees: @TestSoup One of our students does much of the support for Mac users, for example. #edchat

jasongraham99: @davidwees @TestSoup So in a way its good learning experience. Still frustrates teachers though. Teachers need more skills? #edchat

MertonTech: I am constantly amazed at how few people, even with the internet, learn to do small things for themselves. #edchat

davidwees: @MertonTech @TestSoup I’m developing a culture of “you need to know how to do this too.” Also, have supportive and driven staff. #edchat

MertonTech: Imagine how much less you’d have to pay people to do simple things if you had 2 more hours a day for #education. #edchat

ShellTerrell: RT @TestSoup Assignment idea: Solve this problem using tech. Then make a presentation of how you solved it. Teach the rest of the class. #edchat JJW

(Sorry if I seem like I was a little self-serving this time with my favorite tweets.  This week’s discussion was so fast and frantic that I fear I missed some of the best tweets that weren’t directed my way or a response to a conversation I was following.  I strongly recommend looking up the archive, when it’s up.)

To follow the complete discussion, look for the full archive here.

Looking to discuss #edtech in depth? Check out the LinkedIn group: Edutech Trends, Visions, Passions.

New to #EdChat?

If you have never participated in an #Edchat discussion, these take place twice a day every Tuesday on Twitter.  Over 400 educators participate in this discussion by just adding #edchat to their tweets. For tips on participating in the discussion, please check out these posts:

• Edchat: Join the Conversation
• Using TweetDeck for Hashtag Discussions

More Edchat

• If you would like to join others in transforming the discussion into action, please feel free to join the Edchat group on the Educator PLN ning.
• Jerry Swiatek does an incredible job of posting each archived transcript on the #edchat wiki created by Steve Johnson. This way you can look back at your favorites!
• Find previous summaries here on this blog – see #edchat category on right sidebar
• Follow other Edchatters and make sure you are on this Twitter list if you participate in #Edchat!
• Read summaries of the 7pm EST/1 am CET Edchat discussions.

Challenge:

If you’re new to hashtag discussions, then just show up on Twitter on any Tuesday and add just a few tweets on the topic with the hashtag #edchat.

What do you think? Leave a comment! We would love to hear from you.

Topic: More and more Edcamps are springing up nationally. What are the advantages/disadvantages of edcamps/TeachMeets vs traditional PD?

This was a challenging #edchat for me, mostly because I am not a teacher and so don’t have much experience with traditional professional development in the education sector.  Still, it seemed like all the standard complaints about “traditional PD” are present for educators: from boring and irrelevant sessions to instructors who actually have no idea how to do the job themselves.

Enter EdCamps and TeachMeets.  I had to read between the lines on these a little throughout, but from what I gathered, these are response movements to the ineffective PD that teachers have been subjected to for far too long.  There are best described as conferences set up for teachers, by teachers.  If you want to learn more about them, the always-helpful Cybrary Man has a page devoted to both.

The major advantage to these events is that they are put together not by some bureaucratic team who thinks that education should work this way or that way, but by those on the front lines – the teachers themselves.  Teachers create the sessions, teachers lead the sessions, and teachers give feedback on the sessions.  And from the sound of it, they do a great job keeping teachers motivated and providing them with great ideas for improving their classrooms.

Main themes from the discussion:

¨       Frustration with traditional PD was a definite one in the beginning.  Teachers complained about being told how to do their jobs by people who had never taught a real class one day in their lives (or who had forgotten what it was like).  They felt like the PD that they got wasn’t always the best, even if their school support system was generally fairly good.

¨       Many teachers, it seemed, had never heard of EdCamps or TeachMeets – and still more had never attended one.  I think a lot of teachers approached this discussion viewing these two relative newcomers to the PD scene with skepticism.  They were supposedly disorganized and chaotic.  That’s a myth the experienced hands took great care to dispel.

¨       EdCamps and TeachMeets got rave reviews from those that had attended.  Most people in the discussion seemed to have more experience with EdCamps, perhaps because TeachMeets are more prevalent abroad.  As well, EdCamps can be scaled down to the level of an individual school, which can make them much more affordable to attend and much more focused on a school’s local issues.

¨       An inability to attend worthwhile events (like EdCamps and TeachMeets) was another frustration voiced semi-regularly.  Teachers who want to attend often have to pay their own way entirely (non regretted it).  These movements are not quite strong enough for schools to recognize their value and pay to send teachers to them.  But they are certainly getting there.

My favorite Tweets from the discussion:

JamesLizamore RT @tomwhitby: Edcamps are student centric, but the students are teachers. #Edchat

rliberni RT @tomwhitby: @mdmcneff The sessions [of EdCamps] are determined by volunteers comfortable leading a discussion on the topic. It could be anything. #edchat

cybraryman1 @alainphaneuf EdCamp programs happens spontaneously. The Teach/Meet model is more structured so you do know in advance. #edchat

CTuckerEnglish Edcamps feel like a true coming together of people who want to learn & share their knowledge. It feels like a celebration. #edchat

rliberni RT @CTuckerEnglish: Edcamps give people what they want. You put an idea up & vote with your feet. So easy. No applications. Just great ideas. #edchat

cybraryman1 @alainphaneuf I learned so much from attending edcamps & TeachMeets and wish they were in existence when I taught #edchat

CTuckerEnglish After attending EdCampSFBay, I was energized, excited & ready to share what I learned. http://t.co/7pf99aiN #edchat

tomwhitby Anyone can Join the Teachmeet/Edcamp Organizer Group They will help you with questions on edcamps. http://t.co/Wt9wQYVR #Edchat

CoachB0066 Nice to have presenters lead discussions when they are not getting paid! Provides a level of integrity to the discussion/learning opportunity. #edchat

Yrdsblib I have yet to find board-offered PD that really gives me what I need. That always comes from other teachers. #edchat

blairteach @mattguthrie Next time you see an #edcamp, find out if it will be streamed then encourage district decision-makers to watch sessions. #edchat

tomwhitby PD at Edcamp is driven by need and interest and not what is trendy, although it could be trendy as well #Edchat

rliberni RT @drdouggreen: @cybraryman1 You should try the 140 character format where all presenters get ten minutes and there is only one room. #edchat

cybraryman1 @MissKellyTeach TeachMeets are more popular overseas. Teach Meet page (lists overseas ones) http://t.co/eM87KlGv #edchat

mikevigilant RT @tomwhitby: People who attend Teachmeets and Edcamps come away with an enthusiasm to do one of their own, or at least to return to another. #Edchat

cybraryman1 Smackdown session which is a 2-minute show and tell happens at most edcamps http://t.co/mzEcVyNH #edchat

Mamacita Sessions of nothing but sitting passively still don’t work for kids – & they don’t work for us, either. Are you listening, admin? #edchat

cybraryman1 I have attended 7 #edcamp/TeachMeets & there is no doubt to me they are far superior to the PD I got in my 32 yr teaching career. #edchat

cybraryman1 Another great advantage is that these events are free (thanks to sponsors). See #edcampFoundation http://t.co/rrkjk9Td#edchat

Mamacita The main problem I have with a conference isn’t the content – it’s the cost. I simply can’t afford most of them. #edchat

cybraryman1 @rliberni Sponsors pick up costs. Many schools host site for free. Sponsors pay for food (in many cases), door prizes, handouts #edchat

drdouggreen @Mamacita Conferences should be fee or cheap. The 140 conferences are a great model. #edchat

mritzius The real vision of #edcamp is to have it happen at the school level. Events are just step one #edchat

To follow the complete discussion, click here.

New to Edchat?

If you have never participated in an #Edchat discussion, these take place twice a day every Tuesday on Twitter. Over 400 educators participate in this discussion by just adding #edchat to their tweets. For tips on participating in the discussion, please check out these posts!

• Edchat: Join the Conversation
• Using Tweetdeck for Hashtag Discussions

More Edchat

• If you would like to join others in transforming the discussion into action, please feel free to join the Edchat group on the Educator PLN ning.
• Jerry Swiatek does an incredible job of posting each archived transcript on the Edchat wiki created by Steve Johnson. This way you can look back at your favorites!
• Find previous summaries here on this blog – see edchat category on right sidebar
• Follow other Edchatters and make sure you are on this Twitter list if you participate in Edchat!
• Read summaries of the 7pm EST/1 am CET Edchat discussions.

Challenge:

If you’re new to hashtag discussions, then just show up on Twitter on any Tuesday and add just a few tweets on the topic with the hashtag #edchat.

What do you think? Leave a comment!