Technology Pursuit

Blending Technology Into the Language Arts Classroom

Tag: teaching

Can Struggle Lead to Autonomy?

Last night, I participated in a lively #whatisschool Twitter chat.  The discussion topic at hand:  Autonomy.

One of the questions puzzled me: “How do you develop a culture of autonomy in the classroom?” Right now, I feel autonomy is a weakness in my classroom.  In my school for that matter.

So I’ve continued pondering this question. Why do I want autonomy? Because I want my students to have investment in their learning and search for answers on their own, so they can better problem solve in the future.

But how do I encourage student investment?

I circled back to a recent Cult of Pedagogy podcast with Make It Stick co-author Peter Brown, where he talked about generation: the idea that students try (and struggle with) a problem/concept/challenge first before learning from a teacher/coach/mentor.

Brown gave the example of when he learned about short story writing.  Sure, he could have gone to a writing class first, learned the basics, and then went home to draft it. Instead, he drafted a story first, then went to a writing class.

The difference? Brown says he gained much more from the class. He already had some experience and encountered some problems in his writing. In the class, he was able to immediately apply his learning to the draft he’d already worked on.

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Make It Stick is a fantastic book (I highly recommend!) about making learning stick with students, but I also think this plays into student investment. Instead of starting with direct instruction, letting kids “get their hands dirty” first is more effective both in learning–and in investment. If students struggle with a problem, they gain background knowledge and develop questions in their minds–questions you can then answer through direct instruction. Without the struggle, students don’t retain the direct instruction as well, and you’ll likely end up answering questions that you already addressed in the direct instruction.

Think about some real life examples where we let kids struggle.

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Swimming. We don’t keep kids on the pool deck until we go over all parts of swimming.  We put them in the water, let them get the feel of movement, watch them struggle with trying to float and swim on their own.  Only when they have that background knowledge, we start teaching them how to swim.

Web Apps. When testing out a new web app, I’d much rather play around first, test different buttons, and then watch some of the tutorial videos and read the FAQs. Only then will I tweet or email others with questions.

-Sweeping. My own kids just wanted to jump in and sweep the kitchen floor without any instruction.  You can imagine the result: tons of crumbs and dust in the corners and crevices. But when they finished and I showed them the detritus they’d missed, they see that their own technique wasn’t good enough and were willing to add on my suggestions.

One of the keys is safety–both literal and figurative. A shop teacher wouldn’t allow students to play with a table saw before they learned the safety rules. Nor would I expect a struggling writer to complete an entire research paper before teaching them the guidelines to research.  Doing so would result in such frustration that I’d likely never rebuild rapport with that student.

To practice generation–this idea of giving kids a chance to experience and struggle before learning from a mentor/teacher/coach–we need to build sandboxes that are safe and provide the right amount of struggle. Instead of letting a table saw rookie to cut wood without practice, maybe–with the table saw unplugged–the teacher gives the rookie the task of finding all the safety features.  Instead of forcing struggling writers to write an entire paper without assistance, ask them to write the best thesis statement they can.

Find a right-sized task that will build background experience in their brains but not make them feel so overwhelmed that they give up.

Here are some possible classroom applications:

ELA: Above, I already mentioned writing thesis statements if that’s the objective you’re teaching. But what about reading? If your objective is teaching students to find the main idea, give them a short article and tell them to do it.  Then discuss what they think the main idea, and more importantly, why they think it’s the main idea. Then comes to time to present any direct instruction (as needed) that will help those struggling or refine the main idea for those whose answers are too general.

Math: Present a “try it” problem for students based on the day’s objective. Make it just beyond their reach–but not too hard that they don’t know where to start. Strengthen the investment by making the problem based on a real-life problem. Before students get too frustrated, have them talk about methods they tried to solve and directly teach them any new techniques or methods they still need to finish solving it.

Science: Instead of a 30 minute lecture, give students a (safe) experiment or hands-on task based on the objective first, such as “What causes a substance to dissolve in water?” Let students try different substances for a few minutes and then discuss what worked, what didn’t, and why.  Of course, make sure the experiment is safe–no handing over caustic chemicals to rookie chemistry students without thorough instructions.

This isn’t a one-size-fits-all for any lesson. You have to know your students, their ability level, their frustration level, and adjust accordingly.

11422490305_4eb2cddb2f_oBut if we want students to be more invested and gain more autonomy, we have to release our control as soon as possible, let them struggle, and maybe most of all, let them get used to the idea of struggling, and that it’s okay. Then the direct instruction becomes more applicable to them.

We have to let our students get their hands dirty as soon as possible. Direct instruction doesn’t need to be the first activity of a lesson. In fact, by putting it later in the lesson, the concept of generation (and the struggle students experience with it) not only cements student learning better but will increase student investment–and as a result, student autonomy in the long run.

 

Lights, Camera…Inventory

The other day during lunch, I lamented that I still needed to update my inventory for my classroom. That’s when our industrial tech teacher shared how he did inventory.

Photos.

I can only imagine the nightmare of trying to inventory a woods shop, like him, or a science lab, or an equipment room for physical education. His solution, however, was to take a photo of each area of his shop, knocking his inventory time down to mere minutes.

So I adopted his brilliance and did the same:

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My one regret is that I didn’t take the  photographs before two of my marvelous students boxed up my library; having the books all shelved rather than in boxes would be much more effective and time-saving. In the past, I’ve only put a $ estimate on my library books, not wanting to spend the hours it would take to inventory each on individually.  Taking a photo of each shelf would give me evidence of all my titles should a catastrophe strike and I needed to reorder my entire library.

But doing this saved me the time of counting, counting, counting textbooks. And if I do need an exact number, I can go to my original photo and zoom in.

Thanks to my colleague, Devin Muirhead, for this teacher hack.

 

Can Teachers Manage Time Like Google? (And Should They?)

 

google-clock-250pxThis week Noah Weiss published a provocative blog on Medium.com about Google’s management of time.  Essentially, he suggests that professionals manage their time with a 70/20/10 method:  70% of time is dedicated to the now and the imminent days ahead; 20% of time is dedicated to this quarter; and 10% to the future beyond that.  Weiss suggests that we spend “30% of our time in the future.”

Sure, there are instances where this time is “lumped” up, Weiss suggests.  He gives the example of a week where you have your future goals or roadmap due.  However, Weiss warns to avoid these “spurts” because great ideas need time to marinate and develop.

And from what I’ve read and know about creativity, I agree.  When I plan units for teaching, or even just methodology for next year, I can’t simply sit down on the day after the last day of school and write down all the amazing ideas I’ve had for the next year.  I have to write them down as they happen.  I evaluate constantly, revising in my mind how I would change or do lessons differently.  Bits and pieces come gradually, not full-fledged units landing in my brain all at once, tied up neatly with a bow.

Yet that 30% remains in my mind.  Can–and should–teachers spend 30% of our time in “the future”?

During the school year, it’s impossible.  Over 70% of our day is spent with students in the classroom, and we most decidedly need to spend that time “in the moment.”  Giving feedback and grading papers are activities I’d also classify as “now or the near future,” so there goes even more of that blessed “30%.”  If you coach or sponsor activities, well, there goes some more precious time.

That doesn’t mean that Weiss’s theories are completely off-base for teachers.  Unfortunately, we have to do some “lumping” of “working on the now” some weeks.  During the summer, I certainly spend nearly 100% rather than 30% “in the future.”

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But we should strive for more balance.  More “daydreaming” about the future.  I need to do better at forefront planning, so that I can spend less time with the “immediate needs” and think more about improvement of my teaching.

What does this 30% look like for me?  Listening to podcasts such as Bam Radio.  Watching webinars at edweb.net.  Reading professional books from Heinemann, Stenhouse, ASCD.  Tweeting and exploring others’ tweets about blogs, new apps, new theories, and just enjoying professional fellowship on Twitter.  Working on my multimedia grad class.

During the school year, it’s nearly impossible to spend 30% in the future.  Would it be ideal?  I’d say so.  But I don’t look for that to be a reality in my teaching career.  I’ll have to spend most of my school year “living in the present” at least 90% of the time.  If I spend 10% of my time thinking about the future, I’ll be doing well.

Perhaps that’s the way it should be.  My future students are important, but the students that I have right now–they deserve every minute that I can give them.

 

Making Visual Aids with Pic Monkey

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It’s been a crazy busy week.  Lots and lots and lots of essays to read and give feedback and speeches to coach and gamification quests to approve, and the snow keeps skirting around us and refuses to bless me with a snow day, even though Mother Nature has been generous with giving lots of other schools with plenty of days off.

Anyway.  I made a thing last night.  To be specific, a collage in PicMonkey.  And to be honest, it looks pretty cool.

Our assignment this week in my multimedia class was to create a photo collage that was connected to our content area.  Since my Brit Lit class started Macbeth today, I thought, “Is there a way I can integrate this into the Macbeth intro?”

So tomorrow, I will.  Today we discussed the anticipation guide in groups, and tomorrow they’ll make predictions about the play based on the collage (which is in chronological order with the story.)

PicMonkey was so easy to use–my students could use the web program for their own projects.  In lieu of the typical essay or report about a book, they could create a photographic storyboard.  To display poetry they’ve written or poems they’ve loved, they can create photo collages using photos that evoke the mood, tone, and symbols in the writing.  Students can create a biography about an historical event using a collage.  The more I use it, the more I’ll come up with more ideas.

Individualize Grammar with NoRedInk.com

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My newest find–and one I can’t wait to start using, maybe even yet this year–is NoRedInk.com.  This is more specifically geared to us ELA folks out there who teach grammar.  But for you language arts teachers, if you’re like me, I’ve always struggled with students being on different levels in their grammar and conventions.  I have seniors in college composition–some who are still plagued with the comma splice virus and others who are ready to take on advanced punctuation with the dash.  Yet how do you gear individualized lessons and still stay sane–and then I’ve still got the other 85-90% of my writing curriculum to teach.

Until now, my students have taken diagnostic grammar tests, and then they’ve submitted their “weaknesses” via a Google form.  As a class, we look at the overall results and made a plan from there of the 5-6 key grammar issues they thought we should focus on this year.

And it’s worked well.  I’ve used a lot of Pear Deck and interaction.  But sometimes I have students who are ready to move on and other students who need more review.  Plus, I’ve always feared that I was “shorting” the students who could benefit from more of the basic grammar lessons, but just when and how was I supposed to fit that into the curriculum?

With NoRedInk.com, teachers can build classes where students take a diagnostic pre-test, and then teachers can program individual or groups of students into grammar lessons ranging from commas to hyphens to subject/verb agreement.

I’ll probably still add some of my own videos to my website for them to watch in conjunction.  I think hearing the teacher’s voice that students are used to often helps them learn faster and easier than simply reading the screen.  But I love the accountability of the website and how well it can track student mastery of different areas of grammar.

Find Interactives for Any Class at ReadWriteThink.org

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In my continuing assignment for my multimedia class this week, I’ve researched and annotated five of my favorite OER sites.

The ReadWriteThink website, created by the National Council of Teachers of English, may have a plethora of resources for ELA teachers, but it also contains dozens of interactives such as timelines, Venn Diagrams, and webbing tools that can be used in cross-curricular activities.

Younger students and struggling older students can use some of the interactives to write letters and summaries.

The site covers language arts-related lesson plans and interactives for K-12 students and has accumulated so much over the years that it’s nearly impossible to not find something related to any type of ELA content.  Even for other curricular areas, tools are available to help students synthesize content.

Material can be searched by grade level, curricular goal, or theme, but even browsing through the interactives can inspire plenty of new uses in your classroom.

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