by Andrew K. Miller | Mar 14, 2014 | Blog, Edutopia
This post originally appeared on Edutopia, a site created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by using digital media to document, disseminate, and advocate for innovative, replicable strategies that prepare students. View Original >
It’s been many years since I went through my teacher certification and student teaching, and wow! A lot has changed. And yet, there are still some stories of the journey to become a new teacher that remain the same. I recently reached out to my alma mater to speak not only with old professors, but also with current teacher candidates to ask them what it has been like for them.
Certification
There is a new teacher certification, the edTPA, that is being used in many states. It is a high-stakes exam that requires teachers to plan for engaging students and reflect on practice, and it focuses on intentionality of that plan. I had a similar assessment, which was more of a performance assessment of my teaching that included unit plans, reflection, and observations by a teaching supervisor. However, the edTPA is a writing exam, and not really a teaching exam like the National Board certification assessment.
There are also some other pieces that make educators skeptical. It is a privatized exam through Pearson, costs $300, and is scored outside of the context of the teaching practice. In other words, the people scoring the exam are not familiar with the context in which the teacher candidate is teaching. In a blog last year, Diane Ravitch summarized these and many other concerns about edTPA. Amy Ryken, Professor of Education at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington (my alma mater), also mentioned that smaller schools seem to be doing fairly well with this assessment, while larger schools are struggling. In fact, she has this to say:
For the past two years, our faculty scored our candidates’ TPAs, and our scores were consistently lower than Pearson’s scores — meaning that Puget Sound already had a higher standard for our candidates.
Teacher candidate Madeline Isaacson echoed many of the positive thoughts and concerns about the edTPA. She currently is K-8 candidate.
For years, the art of teaching has been within the confines of the four walls of the classroom, and I see the TPA as an opportunity for collaboration within the profession and inducting novice teachers into a professional community where reflection and experimentation are normal. However, I also find the enormous workload inhibits my ability to fully take over planning and teaching in my classroom. The university has adjusted its student teaching plan to the enhanced model, which has elementary candidates take over one core subject and one other subject at a time to support the time commitment of the TPA. Due to not being able to commit the time to taking over full days, I often still feel like a student and not a learning professional.
During my own student teaching, I was able to take over the entire day after a gradual release. I too am disheartened to see that this was no longer the case.
Student Teaching
I also reached out to Grant Ruby, a teacher candidate for secondary mathematics education. Like many of us, he was inspired by a great math teacher to pursue a career in teaching, and he also comes from a family of educators. He articulated many of the same challenges that all teachers go through, and reminded me of my challenges when I first started teaching (what I like to call baptism by fire).
I feel that I am facing two large challenges. Neither is more important than the other, as they go hand in hand. One is lesson planning and bringing activities to the classroom that are inquiry based. Rather than giving my students definitions and practicing problems repeatedly, I want them to explore mathematical concepts and come to their own conclusions before introducing the core definitions or theorems. This can be tricky with students who struggle with some of the basic concepts of algebra. My other main struggle is part and parcel of student teaching: classroom management. By this I mean both working to keep students engaged with the lesson and behaving in a non-disruptive manner, and involving all students in the learning process.
During his candidacy, Grant has a structure that many are familiar with. He has a mentor teacher who has really helped him by observing and giving specific feedback that has pushed him. He can also rely on a cohort of teacher candidates to reflect with and collaborate regularly. I remember how important it was to have colleagues to work with, professors that are nurturing and available, and an awesome mentor teacher, Keri, with whom I still keep in regular contact.
Aspirations
Grant and Madeline inspired me with thoughts about what it means to be a great teacher, and really showed me that we can always learn from each other, regardless of years of experience in education. Madeline said:
As an organizer of students’ learning, I want to create a learning atmosphere that radiates diversity and facilitates high academic achievement for all students. I will place students at the center of learning and turn their personal interests and strengths into opportunities for academic success.
And Grant said:
I believe a successful teacher is one that can awaken the curiosity of their students, illustrate the intrinsic value of the subject matter, and foster understanding rather than memorization.
Teachers, what are your strongest memories from your training period? And candidates, does your current experience match Madeline Isaacson and Grant Ruby’s observations? Please share in the comments section below.
by Andrew K. Miller | Feb 28, 2014 | Blog, Edutopia
This post originally appeared on Edutopia, a site created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by using digital media to document, disseminate, and advocate for innovative, replicable strategies that prepare students. View Original >
Late in 2012, I wrote a blog for the Huffington Post that articulated what I really feel should be and is a role of great teachers. Great teachers are “learning designers” who seek to create a space where all students are empowered to learn. I was further inspired to rearticulate this idea when I saw this video from Sir Ken Robinson:
Empower Yourself
For so long, teachers have been disempowered to design. With prescribed curriculum, overly strict pacing guides and the like, teachers have been given little to no opportunity to innovate and design for learning. Personally, this was and is my favorite part about teaching — the opportunity to design and be creative, to design learning that meets the needs of my students, to try new things — and perhaps the opportunity to fail. Great learning models and structures have the space for teachers to design for their students while still remaining within the framework. Whether it’s a driving question for a PBL project, a mini-task in an LDC unit, an instructional scaffold for a UbD unit, or a assessment for a GBL unit, teachers still have — and must have — the space that empowers them to design. If we want our students to be empowered, then we must model this empowerment to be a learning designer. If you haven’t designed or been given the space to, this will be difficult. Look for spaces that can challenge your design thinking about what a learning space can be.
Stop Blaming Kids
There is one pitfall in Sir Ken Robinson’s metaphor of teachers as gardeners and students as fruit. If you misunderstand this metaphor, you might think that it puts a heavier onus on students. It does not. If your students, like plants, are struggling to grow, perhaps it isn’t them. Most likely it’s the conditions that are being created for students. Now of course, there are many conditions creating opportunity for growth that may be beyond our control. In fact, you might conduct a Realms and Concern Influence protocol with other staff members to see what you can influence about a particular student. That being said, there is always something that teachers can do or design to create the seeds for growth. Look for opportunities to design rather than fearing roadblocks.
Revise and Reflect
As I mentioned earlier, if students are struggling, it’s a great opportunity to revise and reflect on the learning design. Ask yourself:
Are more voice and choice or self-directed learning needed?
Should there be some differentiation?
Perhaps there could have been more formative assessments?
These are just some of the questions I ponder when students are not successful, but there are a whole lot more. These are also some of the questions that colleagues ask me, which goes to show that revision and reflection is a collaborative process as well as an individual one. Related to this, don’t be afraid to fail. Consider it “failing forward,” and continue designing amazing learning experiences for students. Also consider using protocols to help you reflect on your work in a safe space with colleagues.
Teachers, be empowered to become learning designers for all students. We need to look for these opportunities to design, but we also need to reflect on the current learning designs in our classrooms. Just as our world and our students are always changing, so must our designs for learning!
by Andrew K. Miller | Feb 14, 2014 | Blog, Edutopia
This post originally appeared on Edutopia, a site created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by using digital media to document, disseminate, and advocate for innovative, replicable strategies that prepare students. View Original >
Recently NPR did a story that had the general title The Online Education Revolution Drifts Off Course. And yet the article was focused solely on MOOCs (massive open online courses). Let’s be clear that MOOCs are just one part of the so-called online learning revolution. (Don’t forget blended learning, the flipped classroom, etc). The story was a strong critique on MOOCs and their effectiveness. For instance, the article cites one case at San Jose State University in California:
But by all accounts, the San Jose experiment was a bust. Completion rates and grades were worse than for those who took traditional campus-style classes. And the students who did best weren’t the underserved students San Jose most wanted to reach.
Even Udacity’s co-founder called their MOOCs a “lousy product.” Obviously MOOCs are not as successful as was previously hoped. In fact, much of this was not a surprise to me. MOOCs can run into the same pitfall that swallows other iterations of online education. Let’s use this iteration as an opportunity to improve practice for online learning.
1. Retain the Human Element
Education is about relationships. We know this, and the creators of MOOCs have started to adjust based on this. Course mentors are being added, as well as more 24/7 support specialists. We can no longer continue with the “factory farm” model of online education and push students through it without the close relationship and coaching of a teacher. Online and blended-learning teachers need to continue building relationships with students to truly personalize learning. You can’t personalize learning with a 100:1 student:teacher ratio!
2. Foster Focused Collaboration
While MOOCs have had a lot of tools for open collaboration, engagement in these spaces may be hit or miss. Participation in discussion boards can in fact be a good metric to gauge a MOOC’s success. In order to increase participation, give students authentic issues and problems to address. In addition, create affinity or project groups, or have students self-select for these groups. This will create not only a focused cohort of colleagues, but also a focus on topics and problems.
3. Provide Ongoing Feedback
If students receive needed and timely formative assessment feedback, learning can be more personalized, and they will be getting the attention they need. There can of course be self, peer, expert and teacher assessments, along with assessment by other agents, but it must be ongoing. We need to build more of this into MOOCs and online education in general.
4. Blended Is Best
I would make an argument that one of the best ways to work on all the above recommendations is to take on some sort of blended model. There are many of these models and implementation methods. When a course is blended, ongoing feedback and assessment can happen more readily, relationships can be strengthened, and collaboration can happen in varying spaces that meet student needs. Even Coursera is seeing this as important and is building “learning hubs” that include weekly in-person instruction. Anant Agarwal makes the case in a recent TED talk that MOOCs, despite the issues we’ve discussed, can still be used to supplement instruction. In fact, Anant pairs online instruction with face-to-face, creating a blended environment.
We know these strategies and recommendations work! Another important thing to consider, however, is how we are measuring the “failure” and “success” of MOOCs. Perhaps MOOCs are disrupting the traditional mold of education and are still being measured using the quality indicators of Education 1.0. In fact, the Atlantic recently published an article that explains how “tricky” it is to measure the success of a MOOC. In addition, Anant Agarwal believes that MOOCs can still be a useful component of blended learning. And so, regardless of this rough patch, we can still learn from some of the bumps and, in learning, we can improve digital education for all.
by Andrew K. Miller | Feb 12, 2014 | ASCD, Blog
This post originally appeared on Edutopia, a site created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by using digital media to document, disseminate, and advocate for innovative, replicable strategies that prepare students. View Original >
I am of course a huge project-based learning (PBL) nerd and advocate. I am also an advocate for the flipped classroom, yet at the same time I also have my concerns about flipping a classroom. This model still hinges upon great teachers, and engaging curriculum and instruction. So why not combine PBL and the flipped classroom? It can be an excellent match when you consider some of the following tips. Even Salman Khan believes that the flipped classroom can create the space for PBL.
1. Short Content Videos
The key piece here is short. Kids do not want to be watching hours of content. However, short five- to ten-minute videos could be used to replace lectures in the classroom and free up space for more PBL time. These videos might be introductions to learning the content, or possibly content review. Students who enjoy the flipped classroom often comment that their favorite part is being able to watch videos over and over again as needed. Find or create these videos, and make sure to align them to the significant content you intend to teach and assess in your PBL project.
2. Collaborative Virtual Work
I love it when students assign their own homework. Many times in a PBL project, the team might not quite finish all they want to do in class, and some of this work relies on collaboration. There are many digital tools out there that allow for collaboration, and this could be your chance to “flip the collaboration,” whether it’s joint research and documentation, or even reflection as a group. This virtual work can also be great documentation for assessing collaboration as one of the 4 C’s in the 21st century learning aspect of a PBL project.
3. Virtual Labs and Games
Flipping isn’t just videos, because — let’s be honest — videos can get boring after a while. As you go through the PBL process with students, use other types of virtual activities as both components to learn content and a means of formative assessment. For example, if students need to learn about parts of the body, use an interactive digital lab for them to do a dissection. Or, if students are learning about some math component, have them play a math game outside of the brick-and-mortar setting that still allows you, as the teacher, to check on how they’re doing.
4. Product Production
If you are concerned with students taking an excessive amount of time in actually constructing the PBL product, give a technology choice or choices as an element of the final product. These products can be produced and edited in the cloud, where individual students and teams can have access to them 24/7. You can ask students for these links and give them your feedback to help improve their work.
5. Consider Tech Equity
Not all of our students have access the technology. Some of us are lucky enough to have 1:1 classrooms, but not all. Because of that, you need to truly consider equity as a core issue if you intend to flip your PBL classroom. It’s difficult for students to collaborate digitally, for example, if some have access to the technology while others do not. In cases like this, consider your flipped components as optional for those students able to use them.
PBL and the flipped classroom model can play well together. In fact, PBL can make it better when students are engaged in authentic work and given voice and choice in how and what they want and need to learn. What are some of the ways you’ve used both the flipped classroom and PBL? How do you see them complementing each other?
by Andrew K. Miller | Jan 17, 2014 | Blog, Edutopia
This post originally appeared on Edutopia, a site created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by using digital media to document, disseminate, and advocate for innovative, replicable strategies that prepare students. View Original >
The word “grit” suggests toughness and determination. The question is how do we get students to value struggle, failure and perseverance in our classrooms? ASCD recently published Thomas Hoerr’s short but great book on this subject, Fostering Grit. The subtitle “How do I prepare my students for the real world?” reflects the fact that our students will encounter challenging work and problems to solve. If this is the case, our classrooms should mirror that process and prepare our students to be successful in meeting these challenges. You might consider this a critical 21st century skill, which means that we need to scaffold the related skills we’re teaching our students.
Model Grit
Modeling is a crucial component in teaching skills to students. Many teachers use modeling to teach reading skills, which will be crucial as students encounter more and more complex text. Try modeling grit by leading students through a think-aloud explicitly about grit. Reading and navigating a complex text is challenging, so make sure your that think-aloud talks not only about how to navigate, but also about mistakes made and the thought process of perseverance. This can build trust in the classroom that grit is valuable and natural.
Don’t Grade Formative Assessments
In a previous blog, I wrote:
Why don’t I grade formative assessment? For one, a grade is supposed to answer the question: “Did the student learn and achieve the learning targets or standards?” If this is the case, then the summative assessment primarily represents achievement. Formative assessment is practice. It is part of the journey.
If you punish students in the learning process, then they are less likely to engage with it. Grit requires that there are multiple stages in the learning process and that the journey of learning is valued. You can read the above-mentioned blog for strategies on how to use formative assessments more effectively if this is challenging for you. If you want grit, then you can’t punish students for making mistakes.
Authentic Products
In another blog, I wrote about the importance of bringing authenticity to the classroom. One piece of this is having students create authentic products. When they create real work that has value, they are more likely to create high quality work. And students are more likely to improve their work when they know there is an authentic audience for the authentic work.
Ongoing Revision and Reflection
Build in sacred time to revise work and reflect upon the learning. If we want students to value grit, they need to see learning as a journey, and we need to give them time to reflect about the challenges they’ve faced, and the mistakes and revisions they’ve made. To start, watch the “Austin’s Butterfly” video for advice on how good critique and feedback can scaffold and support grit in the classroom
Celebrate Success
When we persevere, we need to celebrate the success. We often don’t take time to celebrate the challenging work we’ve completed. Sometimes we feel that our schedule forces us to immediately move on with the next unit of instruction. If you want students to value grit, then you must celebrate in your classroom. This is part of the reflection process, but again is explicitly about celebration. Have students celebrate their own grit as well as the grit of others with a strategy like Your Shining Moment.
These are some practical steps to foster grit in your classroom. If we want our students to find joy in grit, then they need to find that joy in our classrooms. Seek a balance of challenge, reflection and authenticity to create a culture of grit.
by Andrew K. Miller | Dec 30, 2013 | ASCD, Blog
This post originally appeared on InService, the ASCD community blog. ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) is an educational leadership organization with 160,000 members in 148 countries, including professional educators from all levels and subject areas––superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members.
View Original >
We often send teachers and teacher leaders to attend professional development workshops to learn best practices and share ideas—to become part of larger conversations in order to ensure innovation in instructional practice. This is a great intention and a great way to build collaboration, cultivate teacher leadership, and build reflective practice. However, there is a major pitfall that can occur even with this amazing intention. It goes something like this:
A teacher is asked to attend a workshop or training to become an expert in that area. The expectation is that the teacher will then train teachers in that practice, and that, in turn, will lead to good implementation at the team, school, or even district level.
I can’t be kind about this. This is one of the most unrealistic and ineffective practices for professional learning. The intention of providing good professional learning gets lost in translation as it is implemented. Here’s why this doesn’t work:
– There’s an expectation that the teacher, after one dive, is an expert. Teachers will become experts, but only after time—time devoted to their own implementation, design, reflection, and, of course, mistakes. Learning is a process, and to become a master, there must be an extended process of revision and reflection. The teacher must be given additional support and cultivated by a leader of that instructional practice.
– The word “training” comes with baggage that often looks like the “sit and get” type of learning. There is a time and place for a lecture, but good professional learning needs more. It needs collaboration, revision, protocols, data analysis, and the like. Expecting teachers to simply relay the content will not ensure effective implementation.
– Professional learning is being instituted in a “drive by” manner. When a teacher comes back and teaches that content in a short period, the one being taught isn’t provided with ongoing processes and protocols to learn, make mistakes, and grow in practice. Instead, schools should commit to ongoing conversations in professional practice where teachers are given the freedom to fail but also to grow.
– Teachers may or not have “the chops” to facilitate good professional learning. If the intention is to build teacher leaders, then teachers need to be given support and professional learning IN professional learning.
– This type of professional development may just be “another thing.” Often when we ask teachers to come back and share the learning, this is on top of many other initiatives. Imagine that a teacher comes back from one workshop and teaches the staff, and then another teacher comes back and teaches the staff. This could go on and on. We know that “bombardment of initiatives” does not work. Instead a deep dive into targeted learning is needed to ensure reflection, growth, and change in practice (Fullen, Michael. Leadership for the 21st Century: Breaking the Bond of Dependency. Educational Leadership. Volume 55, Number 7. April 1998. 6-10).
Sharing ideas and reflecting is different than expecting effective implementation. It is totally appropriate to have teachers come back from a professional learning experience and share their learning and growth from it. But to expect them to arm their fellow teachers with all the tools needed for effective implementation? That isn’t feasible. Let’s instead commit to professional learning best practices, where the learning is focused, ongoing, reflective, and collaborative. This will lead to sustainable improvement!
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