After I had put together a 25-slide powerpoint detailing two lessons (one technology-based and one non-technology based) I eagerly uploaded my handiwork to YouTube. I had taken me the better part of six hours to put together the powerpoint and create an iMovie out of it. The effort was my first attempt at an iMovie. I experienced several setbacks. I was given some aid by our tech help aid, Patty, a lady who will drop anything to help you...She was on her way out the door and still spent twenty minutes getting me started on iMovie; she is a Mac guru in our building. After she departed however is when I ran into trouble with the audio, the clip lengths and then editing the file. I finally managed to "share" the file and downloaded it onto my thumb drive. After I felt a brief few hours of accomplishment following my first upload to YouTube, I was quickly alerted by a Masters class colleague that my video was too long. At about 10:23 it was twenty-three seconds too long. Lesson learned. Ten minutes is max and now I have to go in early on my personal day to delete a few seconds and make it fit.
Ahhh...technology!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Personalizing Learner Objectives
According to McREL (Mid-continent Research for Education & Learning) "setting objectives establishes direction for learning. We have so many sets of "objectives" in the classroom: state standards, district curriculum standards, teacher objectives, learner objectives and intangible classroom behavioral ojbectives. Trying to address these objectives can be a daunting task and can leave a young teacher just shrugging their shoulders every time someone says "How does the lesson match-up with the state standards? How do you know the learner has met the objective?" It's such a nebulous topic. How do you measure learner outcomes, understanding?
How do you measure understanding while giving differentiation (addressing & engaging different learning styles) a fair shake? Does one student who can sketch a detailed picture of an African slave's voyage in the 16th century understand the lasting effects of the Triangular trade & Middle Passage over a student who can write and essay on the topic? How do you measure that? How do you quantify differentiated assessments?
Every day my target market gets more tech-savvy. Each day they rely more and more on technology. It is the lense through which teenagers see the world. Those in my age range (late 20s, early 30s) blog and text and facebook and twitter (I'm not quite there...yet), but we are on the archaic end of the Millenial generation. When attempting to meet objectives (whether they are state standards or lesson objectives) I find a tenuous struggle between using the "stick & the sand" philosophy (Big Dan Teaching Law #1: "All a good teacher needs is a textbook & a chalkboard, the best teachers just need a stick and a clear spot of sand") and teaching through a conduit of technological resources. Some days I am at the whiteboard with different colored dry erase markers and other days I am whiz-banging through a touch screen interface on my Polyvision board. Both have their advantages, both have their pitfalls. Finding and balancing a good blend has been the task of my fourth year...How do you keep the attention of the Millenials, cover/deliver/teach the content and then effectively and accurately assess the learners...?
What I have humbly learned is this: you can always teach without technology, there is no shame in it. BUT, I have found that technology allows for, as McREL studies point out, "narrowing student focus, personalizing learning goals, flexibility in personalizing learner goals and communicating learning objectives to students and parents." Technology, as long as it is up and running, is a juggernaut in the classroom experience. The model of a teacher at the chalkboard is not obsolete, it's simply something that should be done in small doses. Afterall, some things still need to be modeled face-to-face in front of the class: instructing students on developing a 5-paragraph essay, outline note-taking skills, answering class questions, illustrating concepts in impromptu discussions, etc. Technology allows for varied experiences quickly and also allows for the personalization of learner goals.
Today, while working an assignment a student, who needed to look something up on the internet, took his new Drone phone out his pocket. I usually nab phones in a fun "me versus them" game...I even keep a tally mark on the bulletin board behind me...It's not that phones bother me, it's simply school policy and I have made a game out of it with the kids...But, this kid asks "Mr. Anderson, can use my phone to look for flags of the Netherlands & Spain?" I stopped, looked down and he had already navigated his way to the "Bing" decision engine. And, there on his phone were images of flags from the Dutch East India Co.
I just shook my head, smiled and said, "I guess so."
How do you measure understanding while giving differentiation (addressing & engaging different learning styles) a fair shake? Does one student who can sketch a detailed picture of an African slave's voyage in the 16th century understand the lasting effects of the Triangular trade & Middle Passage over a student who can write and essay on the topic? How do you measure that? How do you quantify differentiated assessments?
Every day my target market gets more tech-savvy. Each day they rely more and more on technology. It is the lense through which teenagers see the world. Those in my age range (late 20s, early 30s) blog and text and facebook and twitter (I'm not quite there...yet), but we are on the archaic end of the Millenial generation. When attempting to meet objectives (whether they are state standards or lesson objectives) I find a tenuous struggle between using the "stick & the sand" philosophy (Big Dan Teaching Law #1: "All a good teacher needs is a textbook & a chalkboard, the best teachers just need a stick and a clear spot of sand") and teaching through a conduit of technological resources. Some days I am at the whiteboard with different colored dry erase markers and other days I am whiz-banging through a touch screen interface on my Polyvision board. Both have their advantages, both have their pitfalls. Finding and balancing a good blend has been the task of my fourth year...How do you keep the attention of the Millenials, cover/deliver/teach the content and then effectively and accurately assess the learners...?
What I have humbly learned is this: you can always teach without technology, there is no shame in it. BUT, I have found that technology allows for, as McREL studies point out, "narrowing student focus, personalizing learning goals, flexibility in personalizing learner goals and communicating learning objectives to students and parents." Technology, as long as it is up and running, is a juggernaut in the classroom experience. The model of a teacher at the chalkboard is not obsolete, it's simply something that should be done in small doses. Afterall, some things still need to be modeled face-to-face in front of the class: instructing students on developing a 5-paragraph essay, outline note-taking skills, answering class questions, illustrating concepts in impromptu discussions, etc. Technology allows for varied experiences quickly and also allows for the personalization of learner goals.
Today, while working an assignment a student, who needed to look something up on the internet, took his new Drone phone out his pocket. I usually nab phones in a fun "me versus them" game...I even keep a tally mark on the bulletin board behind me...It's not that phones bother me, it's simply school policy and I have made a game out of it with the kids...But, this kid asks "Mr. Anderson, can use my phone to look for flags of the Netherlands & Spain?" I stopped, looked down and he had already navigated his way to the "Bing" decision engine. And, there on his phone were images of flags from the Dutch East India Co.
I just shook my head, smiled and said, "I guess so."
Sunday, February 21, 2010
It's TIME
This time of year, the January-February stretch, is easily the busiest time of year for a wrestling coach that also teaches American History & World History. It's an up early and to bed late kind of time...Friday I let my team out a little early from practice and one of my wrestlers jokingly commented to me "Coach, did you know there is daylight during the winter?" And I replied, "I didn't think the sun came out between November & March." Two things have made my existence during this time of the year much easier: the recent purchase of an Asus Eee netbook that I can take into my wireless wrestling coaches office and also the introduction of my TIME Magazine project (described in my last blog post).
The use of the netbook, which I purchased Monday at a sale on Valentine's Day, in just a few short days has helped me bring home work (wrestling and school work) that otherwise I would leave at school and do either in the early morning or after practice. We enter our grades through the CIMS grading system which I can now do at home at great convenience to me and my marriage.
The best development of the past two weeks was my introduction of the TIME Magazine project. At first the students were a little leary and frankly I think they thought it was corny. But once they got started they started asking questions about the TIME format, about the content and about the meaning of terms they didn't quite understand. They also felt the crunch of a deadline. On the Friday is was due you could see the publishing day rush of adrenaline. In some cases, group members chose to not show up (high school students think that it is quite acceptable to take their liberty of personal days on a Friday, especially during first hour) leaving the rest of the group without a cover page or a feature article or "Verbatim Page". The question came up "Mr. Anderson can we just hand this in on Monday?" They pleaded, begged and put on their best puppy-dawg faces but the answer each time was simply..."No! Improvise, Adapt & Overcome!" Their individual and group responses to the time crunch and the deadline were great to watch. Some groups withered on the vine and handed-in work they probably weren't proud of and some groups excelled in the face of adversity.
In the end, some of the covers, stories and pages that were handed-in were phenomenal. Some of the magazines actually looked and felt like real TIME Magazines. The time period we were studying, "The Renaissance & Reformation", was a great topic for the first edition. Leonardo Da Vinci graced the cover of one magazine and his Vetruvian Man was featured on another. A beaked doctor from the time of the Black Plague (1300s) was eerily hand-drawn on another cover. Inside the editions were fantastically laid out quotes on the Verbatim page from the likes of Martin Luther, Baltasar Castilogne, Niccolo Machiavelli, Michelangelo & Jan VanEyck. The World Page featured such events as the arrival of the Black Death @ Marseilles, the posting of Luther's 95 Theses and the painting of the Sistine Chapel. The page back of each edition is home to advertisements of cultural items from that time period but with a modern marketing spin. Some advertisements hawked such items as the Gutenberg bible, the Printing Press, "The Last Supper" and others invited audiences to watch Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet" or to visit the Tower of Pisa. I was impressed.
What the TIME Magazine has done is that it has provided me with a system for class that I was searching for. The new state curriculum has presented an enormous task of addressing so much history and so many benchmarks in such a short amount of time. The system that the TIME project provides (informational powerpoint, class notes, reading the text, online research and then developing the TIME edition) is invaluable as it allows for the top levels of Bloom's taxonomy to be implemented (analysis, synthesis & evaluation).
Where do I go from here? We did a follow-up issue this week on the beginning of the Global Age (Prince Henry the Navigator, the Triangular Trade, the Columbian Exchange & the Dutch East India Co.) and it worked well again despite a shortened work week for the students. Next week we will take a break and the students will develop Explorer Business Plans (next blog post) before engaging in a full class issue of TIME. In this edition, students will interview for their desired position as editor-in-chief, cover artist, advertisement creation, feature article author, political cartoonist and so on...We will create a full edition using a total class effort. Hearts will race and tensions will be high. I cannot wait!
Finally, if all goes as planned, each student will first develop their own edition on the Age of Absolutism complete with a feature article, verbatim page, the world page, editorial and cover page. And in the end they will get to choose any magazine they want to use as a template...I imagine I will see "People", "National Geographic" and "Us" magazines that detail the Age of Revolutions. It will be fun to Martha Washinton or a Napoleonic Age French soldier on the cover of an 18th century "GQ"!
The use of the netbook, which I purchased Monday at a sale on Valentine's Day, in just a few short days has helped me bring home work (wrestling and school work) that otherwise I would leave at school and do either in the early morning or after practice. We enter our grades through the CIMS grading system which I can now do at home at great convenience to me and my marriage.
The best development of the past two weeks was my introduction of the TIME Magazine project. At first the students were a little leary and frankly I think they thought it was corny. But once they got started they started asking questions about the TIME format, about the content and about the meaning of terms they didn't quite understand. They also felt the crunch of a deadline. On the Friday is was due you could see the publishing day rush of adrenaline. In some cases, group members chose to not show up (high school students think that it is quite acceptable to take their liberty of personal days on a Friday, especially during first hour) leaving the rest of the group without a cover page or a feature article or "Verbatim Page". The question came up "Mr. Anderson can we just hand this in on Monday?" They pleaded, begged and put on their best puppy-dawg faces but the answer each time was simply..."No! Improvise, Adapt & Overcome!" Their individual and group responses to the time crunch and the deadline were great to watch. Some groups withered on the vine and handed-in work they probably weren't proud of and some groups excelled in the face of adversity.
In the end, some of the covers, stories and pages that were handed-in were phenomenal. Some of the magazines actually looked and felt like real TIME Magazines. The time period we were studying, "The Renaissance & Reformation", was a great topic for the first edition. Leonardo Da Vinci graced the cover of one magazine and his Vetruvian Man was featured on another. A beaked doctor from the time of the Black Plague (1300s) was eerily hand-drawn on another cover. Inside the editions were fantastically laid out quotes on the Verbatim page from the likes of Martin Luther, Baltasar Castilogne, Niccolo Machiavelli, Michelangelo & Jan VanEyck. The World Page featured such events as the arrival of the Black Death @ Marseilles, the posting of Luther's 95 Theses and the painting of the Sistine Chapel. The page back of each edition is home to advertisements of cultural items from that time period but with a modern marketing spin. Some advertisements hawked such items as the Gutenberg bible, the Printing Press, "The Last Supper" and others invited audiences to watch Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet" or to visit the Tower of Pisa. I was impressed.
What the TIME Magazine has done is that it has provided me with a system for class that I was searching for. The new state curriculum has presented an enormous task of addressing so much history and so many benchmarks in such a short amount of time. The system that the TIME project provides (informational powerpoint, class notes, reading the text, online research and then developing the TIME edition) is invaluable as it allows for the top levels of Bloom's taxonomy to be implemented (analysis, synthesis & evaluation).
Where do I go from here? We did a follow-up issue this week on the beginning of the Global Age (Prince Henry the Navigator, the Triangular Trade, the Columbian Exchange & the Dutch East India Co.) and it worked well again despite a shortened work week for the students. Next week we will take a break and the students will develop Explorer Business Plans (next blog post) before engaging in a full class issue of TIME. In this edition, students will interview for their desired position as editor-in-chief, cover artist, advertisement creation, feature article author, political cartoonist and so on...We will create a full edition using a total class effort. Hearts will race and tensions will be high. I cannot wait!
Finally, if all goes as planned, each student will first develop their own edition on the Age of Absolutism complete with a feature article, verbatim page, the world page, editorial and cover page. And in the end they will get to choose any magazine they want to use as a template...I imagine I will see "People", "National Geographic" and "Us" magazines that detail the Age of Revolutions. It will be fun to Martha Washinton or a Napoleonic Age French soldier on the cover of an 18th century "GQ"!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Common Thread
Ever since I began teaching I have looked for my own common thread that I can weave into the content and through the semester. I teach American History and in our study of periods such as the Age of Innovation & Industrialism, The Age of Empire-Building, and the Great Depression I usually measure up the decisions of Americans against the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence. It works great for essays but usually draws blank stares after about the tenth time I ask them to tell me which ideals were expanded and which were impeded. The ideals are a great way to stir debate and get the students thinking but it lacks the concrete over-arching thread that I've been looking for. I have also tried trading cards for each unit, where students developed a large set of two or three trading cards (examples include WWI Doughboys, Teddy Roosevelt, Rough Riders, settlement houses) and then traded with classmates to complete a unit set. It is time-intensive and not so printer friendly. It only took a couple of gentle emails from parents about the draining of their computer ink wells for me to realize the cards were a great once-a-semester project...I was back to the drawing board.
At the end of the semester the World History teachers (I also teach World History) put their heads together to think of some creative and technological ways to connect the kids and the content. What we found were a number of ways that were fun, learner-centered and linked the content and technology. Among the ideas were a Renaissance "Talk Show" that students would film and place on youtube, a Facebook page for a World Explorer (like Magellan, de Sota, Christopher Columbus), and an Enlightenment blog. Great ideas for each unit, admittedly, but still not the overarching connection that I can lean on to culminate each unit. And then I remember how a veteran teacher down the hall ties-in each unit. He uses the free online publishing site lulu.com to help the students author a "stories through-out history" book of third-person historical accounts. The students spend time in the lab every other week and work with a partner to complete a two-page story that includes at least five key terms from the historical period and a story that weaves the author into that particular time in history. Apparently, after talking to him, the project is a great way to connect concepts and gives the class some finality at the end of the year. Students also come back to look at the finished product the next year and can even order their own edition from the lulu website.
I believe that each teacher needs to find their own niche. My veteran colleague has obviously found his system that works. And after listening to him and then connecting the dots I came up with an idea that just might work...
When I am not either teaching, coaching wrestling, lesson-planning, scouting or grading I enjoy reading either historical non-fiction and TIME magazines. I have "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin and a copy of "High Hopes: From Purple to Pasadena" by Gary Barnett on my night stand. I trade off each night between the two. But my guilty pleasure when I have a moment edge-wise is a good old TIME magazine. I like that I can either read it cover to cover or I can pick and choose tiny articles on "the World" page or read about interesting perspectives in the editorials or just take-in the excellent, worldly photography. One night, while lamenting my need for an over-arching thread to the class my wife Amanda suggested have the students create a TIME magazine for each historical time period. That was a "light bulb" moment.
Immediately I took out a pen and paper to write down the basics...They would create a headline & cover page, a "Briefing Page", and my favorite the "Verbatim" page, provide editorials and feature articles detailing the large concepts of each time period. They would also create artistic renderings of the historical figures, battles and technological advancements of the time period.
The TIME magazine approach would allow individuals to work towards a team outcome. If I wanted to take it one step further, I could have the students interview for positions in their groups (this would include resumes, cover letters and references). The TIME magazine approach would integrate several classroom technologies including online textbooks, the use of internet resources, Microsoft Word & Publisher and if I wanted to take it to the next level, each group could maintain their own blog/website much like www.time.com. Tomorrow is the launch of this project that I hope will engage the students, draw upon several learning styles, encourage higher-order thinking like application, analysis, synthesis & evaluation (Bloom's taxonomy). I would create a literal library of TIME magazines through-out the ages. It would also serve as a great source of review for the students at the end of each semester. They could grab the issue from the time period they need to review and simply read the articles, look at the spotlight page or peruse verbatim.
I hope this is it. It looks like I might have a winner. I just might have my common thread.
At the end of the semester the World History teachers (I also teach World History) put their heads together to think of some creative and technological ways to connect the kids and the content. What we found were a number of ways that were fun, learner-centered and linked the content and technology. Among the ideas were a Renaissance "Talk Show" that students would film and place on youtube, a Facebook page for a World Explorer (like Magellan, de Sota, Christopher Columbus), and an Enlightenment blog. Great ideas for each unit, admittedly, but still not the overarching connection that I can lean on to culminate each unit. And then I remember how a veteran teacher down the hall ties-in each unit. He uses the free online publishing site lulu.com to help the students author a "stories through-out history" book of third-person historical accounts. The students spend time in the lab every other week and work with a partner to complete a two-page story that includes at least five key terms from the historical period and a story that weaves the author into that particular time in history. Apparently, after talking to him, the project is a great way to connect concepts and gives the class some finality at the end of the year. Students also come back to look at the finished product the next year and can even order their own edition from the lulu website.
I believe that each teacher needs to find their own niche. My veteran colleague has obviously found his system that works. And after listening to him and then connecting the dots I came up with an idea that just might work...
When I am not either teaching, coaching wrestling, lesson-planning, scouting or grading I enjoy reading either historical non-fiction and TIME magazines. I have "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin and a copy of "High Hopes: From Purple to Pasadena" by Gary Barnett on my night stand. I trade off each night between the two. But my guilty pleasure when I have a moment edge-wise is a good old TIME magazine. I like that I can either read it cover to cover or I can pick and choose tiny articles on "the World" page or read about interesting perspectives in the editorials or just take-in the excellent, worldly photography. One night, while lamenting my need for an over-arching thread to the class my wife Amanda suggested have the students create a TIME magazine for each historical time period. That was a "light bulb" moment.
Immediately I took out a pen and paper to write down the basics...They would create a headline & cover page, a "Briefing Page", and my favorite the "Verbatim" page, provide editorials and feature articles detailing the large concepts of each time period. They would also create artistic renderings of the historical figures, battles and technological advancements of the time period.
The TIME magazine approach would allow individuals to work towards a team outcome. If I wanted to take it one step further, I could have the students interview for positions in their groups (this would include resumes, cover letters and references). The TIME magazine approach would integrate several classroom technologies including online textbooks, the use of internet resources, Microsoft Word & Publisher and if I wanted to take it to the next level, each group could maintain their own blog/website much like www.time.com. Tomorrow is the launch of this project that I hope will engage the students, draw upon several learning styles, encourage higher-order thinking like application, analysis, synthesis & evaluation (Bloom's taxonomy). I would create a literal library of TIME magazines through-out the ages. It would also serve as a great source of review for the students at the end of each semester. They could grab the issue from the time period they need to review and simply read the articles, look at the spotlight page or peruse verbatim.
I hope this is it. It looks like I might have a winner. I just might have my common thread.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Improvise, Adapt & Overcome
My students usually always prove my "rule of 75" almost a scientific fact. You see, I would like to think my world and American history students, long after their June departure from Room 112, would remember the details of the all of the Amendments, the hajj of Mansa Musa, the great battles of Alexander the Great and Charles Martel, the spirited national debate over the Scopes Trial or Sacco & Vanzetti or even the legacy of FDR's New Deal. But the reality is that they will forget 75% of what they learned in the 180 days we have together the moment they walk out the door. I like to think that they will remember a few over-arching themes like "American Ideals" and "Empathy" and the difference between primary & secondary resources. But, as I have found over the last five years of teaching and coaching wrestling is that students have a few of my sayings wood-burned into their psyches.
On the first day of school during my syllabus/welcome/procedure spiel I tell them that all papers & assignment are due on their assigned dates. Furthermore, I tell them, even in the case of Lake Michigan tidal wave, an al-Qaeda virus that renders all Forest Hills Public Schools computers powerless, or even if their printer (wait for this...) runs out of printer ink, that when "faced with an obstacle, they are to improvise, adapt and overcome!" The students get a chuckle and I get to make a point and then use it as a refrain anytime a student gives the "my computer crashed last night, I swear" excuse. The saying is one of about five or six sayings that I think will be my legacy...Most of them are barrowed (a couple of them are actual originals) from either my dad, who taught in city schools for thirty-five years, my host teacher at Rockford High School or one of my wrestling coaches.
Every now and again however, I am forced to make the announcement to my students, "I have some bad news, the smart board is not working today so we will have to 'improvise (they chime in here), adapt & overcome!" It's nice, because they understand and I understand that things do happen and when you have thirty or more eyes on you to expose every bead of sweat and frustration over an otherwise awesome lesson plan gone awry, that you can and must move on to the infamous "Plan B".
Technology, among the many tools in my teaching tool box, is perhaps the tool that fails me most. It never ceases to amaze me that when I find a fantastic 2-minute clip about the Aztec capital city Tenochtitlan that the school district's streaming video is down. Or, I get ready to use my polyvision board (a smart board) for an interactive lesson and then it freezes up. I love technology...I host two websites (one for my wrestling team and one for my classroom), I frequently scout wrestling on a popular video site call flowrestling, I post youtube videos and I have even tinkered with online radio/podcasts, but I know that technology is best when it is treated as a luxury, not the bedrock of lesson or curriculum. We depend on an online grading system in my district and that too will fail and "go down" from time to time...It is the source of much ire in our building.
The more I teach, the more I realize something my father said when I was bragging about all the cool, new technoclassroom items I was being awarded, "The best teachers only need a chalkboard and textbook, the really good ones," he continued, "just need a stick and clear spot in the sand." And you know, he's right. My textbooks never fail me, my whiteboard and markers rarely fail me (sometimes the caps get left off by students writing greetings on my boards) and the good old college-ruled outline notes (although unpopular) never let me down. I've gone full circle, professionally, envisioning a paperless classroom full of online student learners and wise facilitator (me) directing and urging the learning all the way to saying "we're going old school--take out your map hand-outs, coloring pencils & notes packet." I have yet to find an appropriate happy medium that meets the needs of a technology centered "Entitlement Generation" while giving them a framework for basic content knowledge. I welcome technology but am always skeptical of its innate ability to fail me at the worst moment...
Technology can be a bastion of inspiration in the classroom or a source of irritation...It just depends on the day. If I were really smart, I'd find a stick and some sand.
On the first day of school during my syllabus/welcome/procedure spiel I tell them that all papers & assignment are due on their assigned dates. Furthermore, I tell them, even in the case of Lake Michigan tidal wave, an al-Qaeda virus that renders all Forest Hills Public Schools computers powerless, or even if their printer (wait for this...) runs out of printer ink, that when "faced with an obstacle, they are to improvise, adapt and overcome!" The students get a chuckle and I get to make a point and then use it as a refrain anytime a student gives the "my computer crashed last night, I swear" excuse. The saying is one of about five or six sayings that I think will be my legacy...Most of them are barrowed (a couple of them are actual originals) from either my dad, who taught in city schools for thirty-five years, my host teacher at Rockford High School or one of my wrestling coaches.
Every now and again however, I am forced to make the announcement to my students, "I have some bad news, the smart board is not working today so we will have to 'improvise (they chime in here), adapt & overcome!" It's nice, because they understand and I understand that things do happen and when you have thirty or more eyes on you to expose every bead of sweat and frustration over an otherwise awesome lesson plan gone awry, that you can and must move on to the infamous "Plan B".
Technology, among the many tools in my teaching tool box, is perhaps the tool that fails me most. It never ceases to amaze me that when I find a fantastic 2-minute clip about the Aztec capital city Tenochtitlan that the school district's streaming video is down. Or, I get ready to use my polyvision board (a smart board) for an interactive lesson and then it freezes up. I love technology...I host two websites (one for my wrestling team and one for my classroom), I frequently scout wrestling on a popular video site call flowrestling, I post youtube videos and I have even tinkered with online radio/podcasts, but I know that technology is best when it is treated as a luxury, not the bedrock of lesson or curriculum. We depend on an online grading system in my district and that too will fail and "go down" from time to time...It is the source of much ire in our building.
The more I teach, the more I realize something my father said when I was bragging about all the cool, new technoclassroom items I was being awarded, "The best teachers only need a chalkboard and textbook, the really good ones," he continued, "just need a stick and clear spot in the sand." And you know, he's right. My textbooks never fail me, my whiteboard and markers rarely fail me (sometimes the caps get left off by students writing greetings on my boards) and the good old college-ruled outline notes (although unpopular) never let me down. I've gone full circle, professionally, envisioning a paperless classroom full of online student learners and wise facilitator (me) directing and urging the learning all the way to saying "we're going old school--take out your map hand-outs, coloring pencils & notes packet." I have yet to find an appropriate happy medium that meets the needs of a technology centered "Entitlement Generation" while giving them a framework for basic content knowledge. I welcome technology but am always skeptical of its innate ability to fail me at the worst moment...
Technology can be a bastion of inspiration in the classroom or a source of irritation...It just depends on the day. If I were really smart, I'd find a stick and some sand.
What's a lame teacher do? (Wikipedia post)
Wikipedia is a double-edged sword for educators. As a world history and American history teacher I know all too well the conveniences & pitfalls of the user-friendly (albeit circuitous) buffet of information. There truly is something for everyone and anything. Many a sophomore and junior, that have graced the windowless cave called Anderson's room, have not-so-skillfully executed the "cut-and-paste" from Wikipedia strategy. My sixteen year old students are no different than anybody elses...Give them an assignment on assessing the current status of American ideals (set forth in the Declaration of Independence) and you will get an artfully crafted together work of wiki-magic. If you're not careful (or not paying attention) as a teacher, students can get away with papers that are almost purposefully a little flawed so as to get away with the Wikipedia generated paper. Even better, tell a student to read "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich-Maria Remarque (or heck, even watch the movie) and they go straight for old faithful, the source that never disappoints...an online Mecca of information, factoids & questionable chronology at their fingertips.
Even this past week I squirmed in my chair as I read two separate essays from two different classes that tastefully lamented the struggle of Dustbowl farmers and the boys of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Word for word, line by line, I wasn't reading a Johnny Q. Student original treatise, I was reading a printed out wikipedia article. It was right before the holiday break when students tend to slide a little and my guess is, a few key strokes and mouseclick was the solution to my assignment. I do tell my students to "when faced with an obstacle, improvise, adapt & overcome", but I think they added a corollary "when its midnite before Mr. Anderson's essay is due and I have been played C.O.D. (Call of Duty to us lame teachers) all night, visit wikipedia or facebook for the answers." It's scary how the students walking the halls of my school (not unique from those walking the halls of Cadillac or Farmington Hills) are out-pacing their teachers in knowledge, know-how and literacy of technology. And they know it too...
But, like I said, wikipedia is double-edged sword. It can and does provide a convenient, cursory look at some basic content. With the correct instruction and preparation, students can use this online source with a discerning eye and compare & contrast prior knowledge and learned content. For instance, this week in American History, my students are filling out charts on the heroic and nefarious historical characters of World War II. I do allow them to cross-reference their info on Benito Mussolini, Francisco Franco & Omar Bradley with wikipedia, primarily because they are only given two or three paragraphs (or maybe only a small blurb) in the TCI History Alive text we use. They can also use it to help them fill-out timeline sheets that I assign and develop a basic schema of cause & effect during the late 1930s and 1940s...They can read a little more about how remilitarization of the Rhineland and the invasion of the Sudetenland happen, cross reference it with other suggested & teacher-approved sites (like http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/). Sometimes my students who ate their Wheaties for breakfast can catch the inaccuracies. That then provides a teachable moment. We line up the TCI History Alive book, another credible website and then wikipedia. It is usually a two sources to one victory for the secondary source & the other valid source. I don't have to say a word. Except maybe a few minutes later I do say,"When you go to college and write a paper, make sure that wikipedia.com does not show up in your works cited."
I never see them really, but I know that comment is greeted with more than a few eye rolls. What's a lame teacher to do?
Works Cited
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/
Even this past week I squirmed in my chair as I read two separate essays from two different classes that tastefully lamented the struggle of Dustbowl farmers and the boys of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Word for word, line by line, I wasn't reading a Johnny Q. Student original treatise, I was reading a printed out wikipedia article. It was right before the holiday break when students tend to slide a little and my guess is, a few key strokes and mouseclick was the solution to my assignment. I do tell my students to "when faced with an obstacle, improvise, adapt & overcome", but I think they added a corollary "when its midnite before Mr. Anderson's essay is due and I have been played C.O.D. (Call of Duty to us lame teachers) all night, visit wikipedia or facebook for the answers." It's scary how the students walking the halls of my school (not unique from those walking the halls of Cadillac or Farmington Hills) are out-pacing their teachers in knowledge, know-how and literacy of technology. And they know it too...
But, like I said, wikipedia is double-edged sword. It can and does provide a convenient, cursory look at some basic content. With the correct instruction and preparation, students can use this online source with a discerning eye and compare & contrast prior knowledge and learned content. For instance, this week in American History, my students are filling out charts on the heroic and nefarious historical characters of World War II. I do allow them to cross-reference their info on Benito Mussolini, Francisco Franco & Omar Bradley with wikipedia, primarily because they are only given two or three paragraphs (or maybe only a small blurb) in the TCI History Alive text we use. They can also use it to help them fill-out timeline sheets that I assign and develop a basic schema of cause & effect during the late 1930s and 1940s...They can read a little more about how remilitarization of the Rhineland and the invasion of the Sudetenland happen, cross reference it with other suggested & teacher-approved sites (like http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/). Sometimes my students who ate their Wheaties for breakfast can catch the inaccuracies. That then provides a teachable moment. We line up the TCI History Alive book, another credible website and then wikipedia. It is usually a two sources to one victory for the secondary source & the other valid source. I don't have to say a word. Except maybe a few minutes later I do say,"When you go to college and write a paper, make sure that wikipedia.com does not show up in your works cited."
I never see them really, but I know that comment is greeted with more than a few eye rolls. What's a lame teacher to do?
Works Cited
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Economic Innovation
About two weeks ago I asked the question..."How are we going to kick-start the Michigan economy?" Using my class website and other technological resources the students were to present a 12-15 minute proposal complete with a Social Studies proposal paper & professional brochure.
I became a computer lab hog. I signed up for projectors and lap tops. It was all consuming. Last year when I would take my students to the computer lab it wouldn't fail that at least 5 students would end up playing an internet game or "Halo" before the end of the hour. After five days in the lab not a single game was played...
The ideas these young minds have are amazing. The "Whirlmill Company" designed and manufactured small, efficient, environmentally friendly hydroelectric generators using the old water mill technology of centuries past. Another team, "AutoTracks", designed a Grand Rapids subway system complete with data on cost analysis, jobs created, & gross domestic product effects. "Grand Rapids Energy Entrepreneurs" decided to use Finevera AquaBuoy technology along the Lake Michigan coastline to power cities like Grand Haven, Saugatuck, & Ludington thus reducing carbon emissions and cutting electricity costs. They were using small business, alternative engergy, health care, revival of the auto industry, and mass transit as modes of operation. If only our political and social leaders were as bold and imaginative. The students, without much direction, saw two things...A planet in peril and an economy become a wasteland. Unlike their adult counterparts, they actually seemed concerned that nothing was being done about either.
Within the classroom and community my politics remain hidden save this fact (one that I remind my students of often): On either side of the aisle, why are we concerned with millionaire baseball players and their steroid use? Why did it take a year to finalize a state budget? Why are we more concerned with what is going on in Iraq than with what is going on in our schools? Why are we eliminating physical education in schools and placing pop machines in the hallways when the childhood obesity rate is sky-rocketing? The ineptitude my students see is clear. They are poised and ready to solve these problems.
In front of a panel of judges and their classmates the student presented movies, powerpoints, slide shows, brochures, data, and concept technology. To say I was both exhausted and impressed is an understatement. However, the learning and growing that took place during the last two weeks in undeniable. I have a more efficient, engaged, self-advocating body of students in class where once there were deer in the headlights and dust-collecting text books.
I became a computer lab hog. I signed up for projectors and lap tops. It was all consuming. Last year when I would take my students to the computer lab it wouldn't fail that at least 5 students would end up playing an internet game or "Halo" before the end of the hour. After five days in the lab not a single game was played...
The ideas these young minds have are amazing. The "Whirlmill Company" designed and manufactured small, efficient, environmentally friendly hydroelectric generators using the old water mill technology of centuries past. Another team, "AutoTracks", designed a Grand Rapids subway system complete with data on cost analysis, jobs created, & gross domestic product effects. "Grand Rapids Energy Entrepreneurs" decided to use Finevera AquaBuoy technology along the Lake Michigan coastline to power cities like Grand Haven, Saugatuck, & Ludington thus reducing carbon emissions and cutting electricity costs. They were using small business, alternative engergy, health care, revival of the auto industry, and mass transit as modes of operation. If only our political and social leaders were as bold and imaginative. The students, without much direction, saw two things...A planet in peril and an economy become a wasteland. Unlike their adult counterparts, they actually seemed concerned that nothing was being done about either.
Within the classroom and community my politics remain hidden save this fact (one that I remind my students of often): On either side of the aisle, why are we concerned with millionaire baseball players and their steroid use? Why did it take a year to finalize a state budget? Why are we more concerned with what is going on in Iraq than with what is going on in our schools? Why are we eliminating physical education in schools and placing pop machines in the hallways when the childhood obesity rate is sky-rocketing? The ineptitude my students see is clear. They are poised and ready to solve these problems.
In front of a panel of judges and their classmates the student presented movies, powerpoints, slide shows, brochures, data, and concept technology. To say I was both exhausted and impressed is an understatement. However, the learning and growing that took place during the last two weeks in undeniable. I have a more efficient, engaged, self-advocating body of students in class where once there were deer in the headlights and dust-collecting text books.
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