Tag technology

The deal with homework

Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

What Is Homework, Anyway?

There are so many conversations happening every day that focus on homework. The benefits, the purpose, the best way to give homework and if it should be given at all. I used to assign homework almost every night in almost every class.  For years, a big part of my practice involved assigning, grading and going over homework assignments. But then I started to think about how much time was being used in class going over the work, how many times it was not completed or only partially completed, and sometimes copied as well. So I shifted my focus to evaluate the types and the frequency of assignments I was giving.  Over the past few years, I changed my thinking and moved away from a “one size fits all” assignment and moved toward a more personalized, authentic form of practice, that students can choose and that is kept open for them.

Talking with other educators at conferences and through Twitter chats, gathering feedback from my students, and because I am a foreign language teacher, I also had to find ways to eliminate student use of translators for their assignments. A combination of these experiences and even a little frustration from homework not being completed, led me to try some new methods in this area.

I first considered the types of assessments I use in my classroom. Looking at the needs and interests of my students, the overall frequency of homework completion, the type of homework, and even more closely, a look at the individuals within each group of students that I taught.  I thought that I had to assign homework and it had to be the same. But after reflecting and trying new ideas, I now ask myself one question: Why? Why do I need to assign something, what is the purpose and what are the benefits for student learning? Will the task help the students to build their skills, in a meaningful and authentic way? Or is it just busy work.

Why I Decided To Do Something Different

I recognized a pattern when teaching a concept and I get that feeling like I just taught the exact same thing, in the same way, the day before. My “déjà vu” experience leads me to then consider the progress I am making with the curriculum in the current school year, and how I have paced my instruction based on covering the curriculum throughout the year. I emphasize the word “curriculum” because it was driving my instruction for a long time. But what I have come to realize is that I need to focus on the students, their needs and providing the best learning opportunities for them. The goal should not be to be at the same point at the same time each year, because students are not the same, and the daily class progress is not the same either.

I have had people tell me that being a teacher is easy after the first few years because the same plans are used, the lessons are taught at the same pace with the same assignments and tests each year. If that was true, then teaching would seem to be a rather easy and predictable profession. However, we all know that is not an accurate description of life as a teacher.

One of the times that I had this conversation with someone inspired me to closely examine my own teaching practice.  What kind of materials was I using in class? How was I providing instruction for each of my students and did I use the same resources each year with each class? I wondered if I truly had been doing the same thing in my classroom every year for 20 years?  Had I simply pulled out the folder and make copies of what I had used during each of the 19 years prior to that one?

Honestly and unfortunately, sometimes yes. I had. I used the same worksheet, or a similar part of a test in my classes over the years.  Not because I was too lazy to create something new.  Sometimes it was to provide a quick activity or assessment, and others it because I thought the materials were valuable for student learning.

Think About Homework In Your Classroom

Are you wondering about your own practice? If so, ask yourself the same questions and then reflect on your responses.  If you have been doing the same thing, then it is time to make a few changes.  What would work best for and help your students?  We need to do more than just look at each individual class, we need to really look closely at the needs of each individual student.  And this means that we must get to know our students and that comes from building relationships. We must understand where they’re coming from and what their individual needs are.

Do a homework experiment

I took a chance and did an experiment. We know that students often have a lot of homework.  It is the way teachers have helped students to practice and figure out what they know and what they don’t know. It is only one of the many ways that teachers can assess students, provide instruction and valuable feedback.  But do they all need homework every day?  I used to think that I had to give students the exact same homework every day.  My methods were a result of the experience I had as a student.

My experiment was to give students an opportunity to create a lesson, using their material, and become the teacher for a class period.   One example was having the students decide on a  verb tense to review and to simply come to class the next day with a way to teach the verbs.  I said it could be something tangible like a written activity, or an activity that they found on a website, a video, a game, or another resource. I believed that with choices, the students would learn more and develop collaborative learning skills in the process.

What did they think?

While the students taught their lesson or led the activity, I interacted with each group to see what they had prepared. Some were using worksheets they had found online and added more vocabulary to it, there were some worksheets that students had created, handwritten pages of notes, sets of flashcards, a few had found websites with games or videos. The next time, a few students chose to create a game of  Kahoot or Quizizz game, which was really helpful when it came to the vocabulary words and verb forms. They felt that the learning experience was personalized and they enjoyed the change.

Of course, I was nervous about doing this.  It felt uncomfortable to not specify a particular format. It was a risk, but it was well worth it. Based on their feedback, the input I received was that they enjoyed being the teachers, the learning was more personal, they felt valued, and it was a more meaningful learning experience.

I have not given nightly homework in over a year. Instead we practice in class, work in stations, and students write a blog post once per week. They choose the topic and I simply read and give feedback and try to incorporate some of their work into our class activities. When they have time outside of class, I suggest some different learning tools or activities. I would rather that they spend time doing something that meets their needs and time, rather than everyone doing the exact same thing.

Take a chance

Don’t worry about now having the whole plan thought out. Sometimes we just need to take a risk and go with it.  Giving up some control in the classroom is not always easy, but it is necessary. We need to step out of the way more and be okay with students taking the lead. It creates more opportunities for us to be the facilitators of learning, and we can provide more individualized instruction to our students. Step one is building relationships which are the foundation of education. When we have a solid foundation for learning in place, amazing things can happen.

 

What are your thoughts on homework? Please share!

Why students should blog

Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth 4 Comments

 

What Are The Benefits Of Student Blogging?

What are some ways to assess students and engage them more in conversation? How can we help students to become more confident in expressing their ideas and more comfortable in sharing their ideas in and out of class? Good question.

As I have reflected more on my practice over the past couple of years, I have realized that I needed to make some changes. One of the most important areas has been finding ways to better differentiate and personalize my instruction and to empower students to take responsibility for their learning and have an opportunity to express themselves more.

Teachers have so many options to choose from when it comes to technology, and it can be a challenge to decide where or how to start. The best advice I can share is to find one area that you feel like you can improve upon, or maybe there is something that takes a lot of your time or does not offer students enough opportunities to participate in class, just to name a few.  A couple of years ago, I started to have my students blog. I had read blogs for several years, had only recently started writing my own, and thought they offered a great opportunity to learn about a lot of different topics in short passages.

While tremendously beneficial for the reader,  it seemed like a great way for the “blogger” to share ideas and even helpful hints to anybody who wanted to learn just a little bit more about a topic. Blogs are great for those who do not have time to read a book and want to follow or learn about specific topics.  It is also a great way to express oneself. With this in mind, I started having my students write blogs in Spanish and I chose Kidblog for them.

Choosing A Blogging Platform

There are many blogging platforms available, depending on your grade level, the specific platform needs and also funding if needed.  On a personal level, I have used Blogger, Word Press and Edublogs. These are great options and there are many other ways to share a blog, and depending on what your personal needs are and how you would like to incorporate blogging into your classroom, you may decide to use any one of these. But for my students when I started, I began with Kidblog in my Spanish II, III and IV courses.

At first many of the students were quite apprehensive about writing and worried about who would be reading their work and there was the fear of writing correctly and making mistakes. These are all common concerns for anybody when confronting something that’s new and different than what has been the traditional way of doing things, especially when it comes to the classroom setting.

I had never written a blog myself until I was asked to write one for a few Edtech companies and share how I was using the tools in my classroom. I was apprehensive at first, having no experience writing a blog at that time.  I was not sure where to begin nor how I would write so many words. However, it’s true what they say, once you take that first step you can keep moving. It’s just that getting started is the most difficult part, finding the right words, learning about your writing style, it’s all part of the process.

What Are The Benefits Of Student Blogging?

The blogger has the benefit of improving writing skills whether in basic grammar structures in English or learning foreign language skills as is the case for my Spanish students, or for other courses, learning to write in a specific way whether it be persuasive text or narrative for example. And the theme can be relevant to any course or personal interest topic. An additional benefit is the ability to share ideas and experiences, enabling people to learn from each other.

Blogging enables you to write freely about your ideas and thoughts, and you can choose to share them or you can keep them private, but the end result is that you have a way to express yourself, be creative and can then use it as a means for personal growth and reflection.

All of my students in Spanish II, III and IV have accounts for blogging and sometimes I will give them a prompt and other times I leave it up to them to write about whatever they feel like writing about. I do set guidelines for the blog to be a certain length, a number of words, or specific verb tenses, but I really want it to be a way for them to express themselves, be creative and have it be more personalized.

Getting Started

Before we begin blogging and throughout the year, I continue to emphasize that it’s really important to remember a couple of things. The purpose of the blog is to work on writing skills and that means their own skills and not those enhanced by trying to use a translator. They need to put forth the effort and try to write in Spanish, in my case, while keeping in mind some of the grammar, vocabulary, and verbs that we have learned in class. And finally, they need to read the feedback from me, or if they are paired with a classmate, peer-review and not worry about any errors.  I reinforce that we’re all in this together to help each other learn and grow and that it’s okay to make a mistake.  While my experience is with students studying a foreign language, you can apply these same parameters to any course.

I use the blogs as a way to have them work with a new vocabulary unit on their own. I let them get into small groups and take turns writing and then commenting on blogs, but either way, I read them all. I can learn more about what their needs are in terms of language skills, but I also learn more about them as a person and it helps to build relationships with them as well.

Final Thoughts

Blogging can be used for many purposes and can be a regular activity or maybe it’s something that you would do occasionally, depending on your class. It could be a great way for students to write their interpretation of something they read in English or in a history course for example. I have written blogs for graduate coursework and at times, I am still apprehensive because I am putting my ideas out there for somebody else to read and I think it’s natural to feel a little bit afraid of expressing yourself openly, but that’s what the purpose is.  We need to feel free to share our thoughts, to communicate with others, and to build connections.  These are all important parts of the learning process.

So think about blogging.  Whether it means you find a blog to read, start to write your own blog once a week, once a month or try it out in one of your classes. I will tell you that it can amount to a lot of reading when you have your students do it, but it’s completely worth it for you and for them. And don’t be afraid to take a chance with it, we learn from our experiences and we reflect and continue to grow.

Among the benefits of students blogging?

  • Student autonomy and student engagement
  • Promotes student choice and builds confidence in writing and in communicating
  • The natural “cognitive load” of the writing process. Writing is hard and writing that will actually be read by someone outside the classroom is another thing altogether. Students need to share their work.
  • 21st-century skills, collaborating, thinking critically, and publishing ideas with authentic audiences.
  • Opportunities to practice digital literacy and citizenship, very important to include in our classroom.

If you have any questions or comments I’d love to hear from you, happy blogging!

A better way to track growth and promote reflection

Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Published on Kidblog

Assessments used to track student progress are certainly not new to teachers. However, it is important to consider that if you consistently use the same tool for assessment, these materials should be curated and referred to throughout the year. This ensures a conversation can happen between teachers, students, and guardians, reviewing  progress and growth.

Kidblog offers extended options for promoting student choice, giving students ownership in learning, and facilitating communication between home and school (family engagement in learning is critical for student success).  Over the years, I have tried to encourage students to keep prior assessments or writing assignments as artifacts of their work to share with families. It wasn’t long before these papers were misplaced and the opportunities for review, reflection and growth disappeared. Using Kidblog’s built-in digital portfolios empower students to self-regulate learning and develop their metacognitive skills. It also allows a conversation between student, teacher, and families happen.

Tracking growth in a more accessible way

There are many benefits of using safe student publishing that go beyond simply blogging and improving communication skills. Through Kidblog, students gain the tools necessary to prepare for their future with the skills they need to be successful.

  • Promotes digital literacy and citizenship: Blogging engages students in building their writing skills whether it be basic English grammar, practicing foreign language skills, or learning to write in a specific format such as a persuasive text or narrative. Students can share their posts with classmates and provide feedback to one another. Peer assessment builds student collaboration skills and promotes digital citizenship and the responsible use of digital tools.
  • Track their growth: Students build their online presence and create their own space unique to their needs. They develop confidence as they become more creative in their expression and learn to self-assess with each blog post they write. Because Kidblog offers a safe learning space, students can get started by writing posts that are private, visible by the teacher, and then continue to grow their audience, sharing their work with classmates, connections, and beyond. Using Kidblog across multiple courses provides students with an even greater opportunity to track their progress across the course of a semester, school year, or even year-over-year.

 

  • Build relationships and become confident learners: Receiving feedback throughout the learning journey is critical to student growth. However, some students may be hesitant in sharing their thoughts with their peers in the classroom. Through blogging, when students create their own online space, they can comfortably begin to develop their voice, express their thoughts in a personal space, and become more confident learners. The relationships that form by sharing their work at first with their teacher and then by publishing it to a larger community have a tremendous impact on student growth. Publishing work to a wider audience benefits the student through the additional feedback that can be provided. Students know their work is having an impact on readers.
  • Goal setting: When students consistently create through blogging, they can use their history (in digital portfolios) as a guide to push forward with goals. Each student can use Kidblog as a space to set personal learning goals. By publishing their goals in the class, they are held accountable and, in turn, will be motivated to hit those goals. Preparing students for their future requires that we provide opportunities for them to learn responsibility, to work within a schedule with different tasks and timelines.

 

  • Personal expression and growth mindset: Kidblog provides a space for students to explore their passions, be creative, and reflective. Students have the opportunity to share these passions with the world, and hopefully, make a connection with another student based off of these passions.

 

Consider adopting Kidblog as your tool for promoting student growth and formative assessment. Teacher premium memberships are a great way for an individual teacher to pilot Kidblog in all their classes, with benefits like automatic digital portfolio curation for your students, a class page, moderation tools to customize your audience levels per post, and so much more.

Making Global Connections: How and why it matters

Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

 

by Rachelle Dene Poth

It is amazing today what we can accomplish through the use of technology. Past methods we relied on for communicating with friends, family, other schools, and abroad were limited to telephone calls, letters, meeting in person (if geographical location afforded this), for a few examples. When it came to learning, our opportunities for connecting students with others were limited to classrooms within the same school or a nearby school. These interactions had to be set up in advance either by making a phone call or even sending a letter in standard mail. (This goes way back to  my own elementary and high school experience, we did not have cell phones or the Internet and I am not sure about fax). Finding ways to create diverse learning experiences, took a good bit of time and collaboration for everyone. Schools needed to set up transportation, plan the schedule and other logistics, and of course the purpose had to be for a beneficial learning experience if it meant disrupting the school day.

We can provide so many more activities and learning experiences for students today, and they can be carried out with little to no real pre-planning, because of the diverse tools we have available through technology. Whether we use a form of social media or connect with a member of our PLN, and try using a tool like Voxer, or Slack, we can have a quick conversation instantly. Differences between time and place do not matter anymore, there is not even a need to move groups to different locations. We can simply talk, share images, livestream videos, use web conferencing, collaborate to add resources, (anything is possible) for us to quickly connect our classroom and our students, with another classroom and students somewhere in the world.

How we can open up these opportunities

There are many options for encouraging and supporting our students as they become globally connected. We should promote these connections so that students can develop a broader understanding of diverse world cultures, perspectives and have an appreciation of different experiences. With so many resources available, we have the ability to truly bring learning experiences to life, immerse students into different cultures and parts of the world, by simply connecting. It just takes one step.

Some examples of how easily this can be accomplished are by using some of the web-based tools available to teachers and students today. Through the use of video tools, many of which are available as free platforms, classrooms can connect with others throughout the world, regardless of differences in time and place. You can truly see what others experience in their day-to-day learning and living, and engage in conversations in real time.

Students can participate in activities like a mystery Skype or collaborate through a discussion, by using tools such as  Padlet or Flipgrid or use something like Appear.In or Zoom, for a live interaction or even Google Hangouts. These are just a few of the many options available to classrooms today. To promote conversation without video, we can use collaborative tools such as Padlet, Gecko or even a class Twitter account, (depending on grade level), as ways to have students connect through writing. In addition to learning about different cultures and establishing global connections, we can build other critical skills like communication and collaboration, digital citizenship and help to engage students more in the learning environment.  Imagine being able to have a conversation with people from 80 different countries at the same time. Regardless of geographical location or time zone, everyone can connect using one of these forms of technology and the many others that are out there.

Getting Started

Connecting globally requires that we as educators be connected. It always starts with us to set an example for our students. We have to build our own professional and globally connected network so that we can provide these learning opportunities to our students. It is worth the time, the risk, and the effort to seek out learning communities and build a community of support. We become stronger and better together, and when we collaborate to provide opportunities for our students to learn from other students, to gain new perspectives, to experience the multitude of ways of collaborating and communicating globally, we take their educational experience to a whole new level. Become a more globally connected classroom today.

 

Start by joining in on Global Maker Day!

It’s not too late to take advantage of the summer for learning

Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Rachelle Dene Poth

While it’s true, that most teachers do have their summers “off.”, I know that the reality is quite the opposite. Being involved in a few different PLNs,( #4OCFPLN , #EDUGLADIATORS, #EDUMATCH) the talk has been about our ongoing pursuit of learning, with the benefit being that we have the extra time to spend on personal and professional growth. As for myself, I had a tremendously busy but awesome June, several conferences and so many opportunities to make new connections and learn.  I know many educators who participate in some form of professional development or get involved in teaching summer classes, working at camps, or find other temporary employment. Summer is a great time to learn, explore and seek out new opportunities. It’s also an excellent time to continue to build PLN!

 

It is the end of July, (I cannot believe it!), but there is still plenty of time for PD, and the best part is that so much of the PD is available any time, through Twitter, Voxer, learning communities through ISTE, Google Communities, as well as the different edtech companies that offer webinars and podcasts for educators.   We all need a break, time to relax, reflect and recharge, but it is really nice to be able to learn over the summer and create our own schedule for learning and growing as educators. And also to come up with a few new ideas to get the year started.

Some ideas for summer learning

As has been the case the past few years, this has been a summer full of conferences (Superior Tech 4 Teachers, Summer Spark and ISTE), as well as virtual events including EdChange Global and EdCamp Voice on Voxer. There are ongoing book studies, Twitter Chats, Voxer groups, Google Hangouts, Podcasts, Webinars and more. There are also some great blogs to read, see the side of my page for those that I follow).  So many choices, but where to begin? My advice?  At least what has worked for me, is to think about an area that you would like to improve upon or something maybe you have been wanting to try, and make that a goal in the upcoming school year.  

 

Twitter chats and Voxer Groups

There are so many chats going on, some nights are difficult to keep up with Tweetdeck because you don’t want to miss the conversation. But the nice thing is that you can always go back and read through, see the resources shared and add to your PLN. If you are not on Voxer, I highly recommend that you give it a try. You can read about it in my prior post linked above, but it is so helpful for engaging in conversations with educators from around the world. Groups are available based on interest areas such as Blended Learning, ARVRinEDU, BreakoutEDU, PasstheScopeEDU, and there are some for PLN/PLFs such as Edugladiators, Edumatch and the #4OCFPLN !! Interested in a book study? There are those too. I have been in an Innovators Mindset, Four O’Clock Faculty, What School Could Be, Let Them Speak, LAUNCH and a few more. Let me know if you want to join any that I belong to, or I can share a link of groups as well.

4OCFPLN

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Matt, two Spanish Teachers!

FOUR awesome opportunities! (online and on your schedule!)

Going on now is the Ditch Summit, hosted by Matt Miller! Different speakers each day from July 25-29, awesome way to learn. Sign up here  You will receive an email each morning and you have until August 10th to watch the videos, so plenty of time. Don’t forget to get your Badges!

Coming up next week, there will be a few virtual learning events that might be of interest. Quizlet will be holding an “unconference” on August 1st and 2nd. Join in to see what the new topics are and the ideas for using Quizlet. Register here .quizletlive

The Hive Summit kicks off on August 1st and goes for 14 days of learning, great speakers and promises to be a fantastic opportunity for adding to our toolkits. And there are live chats each day as well #HiveSummit,  lots of ways to learn and connect. More information here. 

The following week is EdmodoCon, a two-day virtual event held on August 6th and 7th. I was fortunate to speak at EdmodoCon last summer and brought back so many new ideas, so I definitely recommend checking it out.

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Celebrating our time speaking at Edmodocon 2017

Last few weeks of summer

Sign up for one of those virtual learning events, jump into a Twitter chat, or read a book (See BookCampPD) for some recommendations or join in the chat on Saturday mornings, 9:00 a.m. EST. Meredith Johnson has a great lineup of authors.

Lots of ways to learn, on a relaxed summer schedule, and have a little extra time for the PD that you need. You don’t have to leave the comfort of your home, move away from the pool, or be anywhere specific. Find something that you are curious about and make some time for it now, before the school year arrives and time starts to disappear quickly. You might find that these experiences will get you excited to return to school and feeling refreshed! 

And if you have extra time, check out the upcoming conferences(EdSurge 60+) and see where your PLN might be headed! Let me know if you will be attending iNACOL, FETC or ASCD Empower

 

 

Giving it a go: Only thing to lose is the possibility for learning

Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth 1 Comment

I decided to give Podcasts a try, and by try, I mean do my own. I really started to learn more about how to create one by looking into Soundtrap to use with my students. But with the end of the year coming up so quickly and the mix of tests, changed schedules and other events, it just did not happen. So I decided to do my own, without any real direction to go in.

I have been a listener of podcasts for a while and have been fortunate to be a guest on some as well. Last year I was a guest on Vicki Davis’ show, which was an awesome surprise and great experience.. Dr. Will had me as a guest last spring and I had the opportunity to talk with Andrew Wheelock, Coffee With a Geek Podcast creator as well.

I have many friends who have podcasts and they are amazing, the sound, so professional and so well done. I know that I am not going to be at that level…at least not yet.  I have not found much time lately to write, and will also be very limited in writing in a few weeks once I have shoulder surgery, so I guess the time is now for me to try this podcast thing out.

It will be random, it is unnamed, and the episodes vary in length. I am and will always be a work in progress. Still learning as I go, definitely room to grow, but just excited to try something different, even though it is a bit scary.  It is one thing to put your words and ideas out there in writing, but another to speak openly through a podcast.

Episode 1 is here, very brief, very random, but hopefully will entertain, or give an idea, or even lead you to give me some feedback or even be a guest on my show, once I figure out how that works! Now if you want to listen, see if you can find the widget….

ocean under blue sky

Photo by Artem Bali on Pexels.com

I am a work in progress

Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth 2 Comments

**this is a work in progress

Things on my mind: Self-awareness, Competition,  Failure, Focus

During the last couple of weeks as the school year was winding down, the demands on my time were increasing exponentially. While this may seem a bit exaggerated,  there really is no other way to describe it. Granted, I take a lot of extra things on personally and professionally, when most people meet me, they ask if I sleep. I do, some. So why do I, or educators take on so much? For me, the reason is because I truly am a lifelong learner. I don’t want to miss opportunities, especially when that might mean I miss out on creating opportunities for others.  I don’t want to say no to someone that needs my help, because I realize that for some people, asking for help required that they be vulnerable and step out of their comfort zone. So I will always try to help someone else, even if it means delaying my own goals or veering from some path that I am on. And I am good with that, but I also realize that there is only so much that I can do. 

 

Self-awareness

Being self-aware means you recognize your strengths and weaknesses, emotions, thoughts, and have a deeper understanding of what motivates you, at least this is my way of defining it. I can somewhat identify my strengths, but it is uncomfortable to openly admit my weaknesses.  I have no problem admitting mistakes and failures in front of my students. The more that I can do this with them, will help to dispel that misconception that failure is final. Personally or among friends, for me, admitting weakness is tough, but the first step in trying to improve is acknowledging that there is a something to improve upon.  I’m well aware that I have certain areas that I need to devote some time to in order to become more effective and consistent and possibly attain some level of balance. If balance is really a thing. Maybe it is because I set demands on myself that are too high or overly ambitious, but I have reached a point in my career and my life, where I feel I need to engage in activities that I am passionate about being involved in. Even while I was in law school,  my friends would often laugh at my ability to multitask and my methods of over-preparation for class. I did then what I try to discourage my own students from doing now. I would take notes on the computer, write notes on paper, listen to the lecture and grade papers all while sending text messages throughout the class. And somehow while doing all of that I still managed to answer a question when called upon. I survived the four years of teaching full-time and four nights a week of law school. When I think back and compare schedules of then and now I feel so much more out of balance now than I did back then. It just does not make sense. 

 

While this post has started off as random thoughts,  they do have a point, which will present itself sooner or later. (perhaps not even in this post, as I am between a few projects).  These random thoughts are my reflections, and how I become more self-aware. As some of my friends know, I tend to not sit and type but rather speak my thoughts into a document and then go back and revise and reflect in the process. It simply works for me and it makes me more productive, at least I think that it does.  We don’t need to make big gains each day, it is in the small wins, ongoing progress that we achieve more. Reading this post yesterday, reminded me of this fact.  I got away from reading the posts by Thomas Oppong, and this quote helped me through some of my reflections. “It’s so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small gains on a daily basis.” 

But lately, I have not felt as productive as I would want to be. Yes I’ve made lists, checked items off as I completed them, kept up with email only to have two or three emails pop in as soon as one is sent. I have opened Voxer to find four or five hundred messages waiting and many other notifications from other forms of social media. So how does one find balance? How does one keep focus when surrounded by and consumed by so much “connectedness.” In the pursuit of learning, how much is enough and how much is too much?

What I mean is I think as educators we need to involve ourselves in a variety of learning possibilities. We no longer need to leave our homes to go out for professional development, nor be limited to that which we have at our schools. There are so many options available that meet our needs as far as goals and time and passions. But it seems that more and more time is consumed by social media like Voxer or Twitter, just for a few examples. Don’t get me wrong, these are tremendous tools for becoming a connected educator, for breaking away from the isolation that can happen. But how do we keep up with everything and everyone?  If you know, please share.

 

Competition

It is tough “keeping up” lately. I read a lot of blogs, books and stay active through Twitter and Voxer, and have a pretty good routine for keeping up-to-date with information. Reading has never been a problem for me. The area in which I need to improve is with my own writing. Some days I feel like I just can’t keep up. I feel like I’m falling behind, that I’m not meeting the goal, not pushing myself enough to accomplish things. But today I had a moment to pause and think, and it came after reading  some of the The Path to Serendipity , by Allyson Apsey and also “What School Could Be,” by Ted Dintersmith.  After reading these, it occurred to me that I am doing the exact same thing that I try to stop my students from doing which is push myself so hard, judge myself so critically, to the point where my desire to work and to get things done becomes consumed as soon as my eyes focus on that ever-growing list of goals. I put up a wall and that inner voice tells me that I will never get things done. The inner voice convinces me that I can’t, so I don’t even try.  And then I remember the quote  “the only thing standing in your way is you,” so I need to get out of my own way. 

My list is full of things which are not part of my daily work as a teacher, but rather tasks that I have voluntarily pushed myself into becoming a part of. Maybe it’s my fear of missing out, maybe it’s my drive to keep doing better, to keep pushing myself to do one more thing, take one more step, to see how much I can handle and how much I can learn. But in recognizing this, I realize that my students do this as well. I’ve seen them push themselves and worry that they won’t finish something in time, that they won’t get into the college that their parents want them to, that they won’t get the highest grade, that they won’t be as smart, as quick or as good as somebody else in the class.  Pressure.

How many times this year I have said to them “You don’t need to worry about anybody else. You only need to worry about yourself because you aren’t in competition with anyone else but yourself.”  I came across an anonymous quote a while ago that said “I’m in competition with no one but myself.” The power of this quote really hit me. These are the reminders that I give to my students, but yet are ones that I have failed to be cognizant of within myself.

In reading “Path to Serendipity”, so much of what Allyson says resonated with me, especially when thinking back to when I first started teaching. And in reading “What School Could Be,” I am thinking about the structure of school, the “game” of school and all of the pressure that exists. Pressure which is placed on students whether by the school system itself, the testing, parents, teachers or the students themselves. How do we break this cycle? Wanting the best for someone should be more about supporting them with whatever decision they make, and being there if they find out that it was not the best decision to be made. That’s the risk we take when we step out of our comfort zone, when we go against the grain and do something that is different, that may not be the traditional way to do something but it’s the way that we want, it’s personal to us, it’s our passion.

 

And I know I have derailed a bit in this, maybe more than a bit, but sometimes it’s good for me to just sit with my computer, and thanks to the voice to text, I can close my eyes and talk through what has been going through my mind, and then edit the writing. Lately it’s been that I just can’t get enough things completed. Countless presentations, proposals, webinars you name it, I am doing and experiencing the same thing that many other educators are experiencing as well. However the difference is that my perception of others is that there are no struggles. Blogs are being published, podcasts are being recorded, books are being written, speeches are being given, and my question is where do you find the time? How can I find a time? And I am so impressed and inspired by the work of my friends and my colleagues who share their stories and seem to have a lot of balance, but then again how do I really know? My perception is not necessarily their reality.

A good friend of mine Mandy Froehlich has written a book which just came out today, called “The Fire Within”, in which she shares personal stories as well as stories of educators who talk about the different struggles that they’ve gone through. We don’t often hear of the struggles and the negative experiences that we as educators may have, but there are a few things that I’m sure of. We need to start with relationships. We need to be open and vulnerable. We have to tell our stories. It is from these stories, whether they are stories of great innovations or epic failures, where we can connect and provide the inspirational redirection that someone else may greatly need. And while telling our story makes us vulnerable, there is great power in vulnerability. Vulnerability does not mean weakness, as defined by Brene Brown in her book “Daring Greatly”. It is “uncertainty,risk and emotional exposure.” My favorite quote from Brown is that vulnerability is “the courage to  show up and be seen even when you have no control over the outcome.” This quote is one I read last summer, and I kept in the back of my mind while preparing for different events in which I felt completely out of control. I didn’t think I had the courage and was ready to back down, but this served as a reminder to me that it was better to try and fail, than to never try at all. The interesting part about this book is that she came up with the title after reading a quote by Teddy Roosevelt from 1910, where he spoke about the man who enters into battle valiantly, and at best he has success and at worst he errs while daring greatly.

 

Focus

So there is nobody pushing me to get things done but me. Nobody adding more items to the list but myself. And there is nobody that I’m in competition with. I have to accept that I will accomplish the things that I need to accomplish in my own time and in my own way. Pushing the publish button on this was definitely out of my comfort zone, but I’ve been thinking a lot and decided to put my thoughts out there. 

comfort

No-tech, Low-Tech or All Tech: 5 new ideas to try

Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

 

**Slightly updated from an earlier post, but some ideas to get that energy back up

Ending  the year with 5 random ideas: Going back to basics 

The end of the school year is a great time to try some new ideas. With summer approaching,  we have time to reflect on methods used this year and to seek out new ideas and tools, to come up with creative and innovative methods and ways to welcome to students back in the fall. Hopefully these new activities will help to keep students more engaged in learning.

Here are 5 ways to have students connect, collaborate and create. These are also helpful for building peer relationships and for reviewing content or assessing skills at the end of the year. These ideas can be no-tech or using something suggested by the students.

1) Random games or icebreaker style: There are tons of ways to create icebreakers, whether by using paper and pencil or even with digital tools. For example, with Buncee, Piktochart or Canva students can come up with four statements about themselves to share with classmates. These can be in the form of three truths and a lie, as a way to help students learn about their peers and for the teacher to learn about the students. It is beneficial for making connections with one another, finding things in common, but also to appreciate the different perspectives and backgrounds students bring into the classroom. It will be a great way to enhance communication and comfort in the classroom and also, if tech is used, to start teaching students alternative ways to present information.

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2) Categories:  Create a template with 4 or 5 different categories related to the content area and grade level being taught. After deciding on categories, select 5 or 6 letters of the alphabet, or use numbers, that students must use to come up with a word, topic or date, that ties into each category. Students can randomly be assigned to small groups and can then share what their group came up with. This activity will promote communication between peers and provide an opportunity for collaboration and some fun as well. It can also be a good way to have students review, be creative and brainstorm new ideas even. It will provide time for teachers to assess student needs and decide the next steps in the lesson, as we keep moving toward the summer break.

 

3) Word art: Students need different ways to practice the content and one way that helps some learners is through visual learning. Students can use vocabulary, verbs or any content material to generate word art. Students can create a word cloud using paper and marker or try using a digital tool like WordCloud, or WordItOut, or other similar word cloud generators available. After the word clouds are created, teachers can build on the learning potential by having students post their work in the classroom, having a gallery walk where other groups can discuss the terms, brainstorm new ideas, define or translate them (if a foreign language) and increase the authentic learning materials in the classroom.

 

4) Music: Music can really liven up the classroom and be useful for helping students remember the material. One idea is to have students create rhymes or a song using a vocabulary list, names of famous people, state or world capitals, monuments or anything related to the content area. Students can work in pairs or a small group and create a song which can be used as a mnemonic device, to help them retain the information in a more meaningful way. For presentation purposes, students can then have the choice of sharing live in class or perhaps trying a tool like Flipgrid or Recap to record and share with classmates. It can even be followed up by posting the video on a Padlet and encouraging students to comment in writing, or leave a reply on Flipgrid. These student creations will add to the authentic classroom resources and engage students more in learning.

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5) Creating games: Students can create a game as a way to help themselves and their peers practice the material. It can be a game made up using paper or any materials the students decide on or created using one of the digital tools available like Kahoot, Quizlet or Quizizz. Students will have a more authentic learning experience when they select the specific vocabulary they need to practice, which will will give more personalized learning opportunities.

In trying one or all of these activities, it presents an opportunity for the students to work together, to build their relationships, to collaborate and to engage in more authentic learning experiences. And it provides the teacher with an opportunity to step aside and become a facilitator, and to use the time as an opportunity to not only assess student learning but to interact more and provide feedback for students.

 

There are many ways to practice the content material and engage students more in learning, these are just a few of the ideas that I have tried in my classroom this school year, and they are a work in progress. Knowing that something works takes reflection and student input, and one thing I have noticed in the few short weeks we have been in school, is that students are asking more questions and thinking of new ways to extend their learning. I have more time to move around and work with every student and provide more individualized instruction and really understand each student’s progress.

They are asking, “Can we…?, What if…?, Is it okay to…?” and adding their creativity into our activities. They are also suggesting improvements, “Maybe we could…, It might be better if you…, and This has helped me to remember…can we keep doing these activities?”  And my answer to all of these has been “Yes, I think we should try it.” If it works, then great. And if not, we will try again!”

 

12 Tools to Try…before summer break!

Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

Updated from the Original Post on Getting Smart, January 19, 2018

Looking for new ideas to try before the end of the school year? If you have not tried some of this, now is the time!

There are so many digital tools available today that offer opportunities for promoting student creativity, student voice, and expanding where and how students learn. I had my own list of the tools that I found made a big difference in my classroom, but decided to ask students for their input.

Here is a list of tools to try in 2018, (or to try before the end of the year, let’s keep learning!)

Each of these offer multiple ways for students to create, connect and engage in more authentic learning experiences.

Promoting Connected Learners

We were able to take our learning to a whole new level this year through Project Based Learning (PBL). Using these tools enabled us to connect with students from several Spanish speaking countries, which created tremendous possibilities for more authentic learning and broadening our cultural understanding.

1) Edmodo: Virtual learning space, where teachers can set up a digital classroom to connect students with the resources they need, in a safe learning environment. Edmodo can be used for assessments and integrates with Microsoft Office and Google, making it easy to share files with students. Students relied on Edmodo to connect with students in Argentina, Mexico and Spain for their PBL. One student said “these connections enabled me to sculpt my PBL, and learn in ways that books, videos and regular classroom lessons cannot provide.”

2) Flipgrid: Video response tool, which became one of the most talked about tools this past year after launching new features, making it even easier and more fun for students to share their ideas. Students can record up to a five minute response, add emojis to their photos and access the “grid” quickly through a grid code. It is a great tool for helping students to become more comfortable and confident in sharing their ideas and sparking curiosity with their peers.

3) Padlet: Padlet, a virtual wall, is a favorite in our classroom. Students can create a digital portfolio by uploading files and links to projects, curate resources for PBL, or have discussions with classrooms around the world. Other popular ways to use Padlet are to ask questions, post homework, or as a classroom website. Newer features include being able to “like”, “grade” or “upvote” a post and directly transfer posts to another Padlet wall.

4) Recap: Recap 2.0 is a free video response tool, which integrates with Edmodo, Canvas, Schoology, Google Classroom and Blackboard, making it easy to implement right away. It provides a comfortable way for teachers and students to ask questions by setting them up in a “Queue”. Students can submit questions and receive direct feedback, in a safe moderated environment.

Tools to Engage Students in Learning

5) Quizlet Live: Quizlet Live is a fun way to encourage student collaboration by playing a team game using a set of Quizlet study cards. Teachers select a set of study cards, launch a Live game by providing students with a join code, and students are divided into teams. To play, you need at least four players and a study set with at least 12 unique terms. Only one member of the team has the correct answer and answering incorrectly bounces the team score back to zero.

6) Quizizz: Quizizz has launched some new features, including integrating with Edmodo and Google Classroom, which makes sharing or assigning games and reviewing results much easier. When playing live, students can see the class accuracy reflected as it updates the leaderboard live with each response. There are thousands of games available in the library, making it easy to get started or create your own.

7) Kahoot!: Some big changes to the layout and options of the platform make it easier to navigate and review questions in class. Teachers can now assign “challenges” to students as a fun way to practice by sharing a code. The new “Nickname Generator” creates fun and unique usernames such as “Mystery Panda” or “Fantastic Bat” to students. It definitely saves time rather than waiting for students try to come up with their own “creative” names.

8) Kidblog: Blogging has many benefits for helping students to express themselves and begin to develop their online presence. Teachers can provide students with a variety of writing prompts to not only assess student learning, but promote creativity, communication, collaboration and digital citizenship skills. With Kidblog, teachers can even AppSmash (use two or more apps or tools together to complete a task) by embedding other tech tools into the platform, such as Buncee, Flipgrid or by uploading images and documents directly from Google Drive.

Creativity, Assessments, Interactive Lessons and More

9) Buncee: Buncee, a versatile presentation and assessment tool, is great for creating multimedia projects full of animations, graphics, audio, and videos. Choose from thousands of templates, backgrounds, animations and other graphics to create invitations, classroom signs, and unique “Buncees” for any purpose. Buncee enables every student to find exactly what they need to add into their project and to bring out their creativity.

10) Formative: An interactive tool for creating formative assessments, for use in class or as student-paced practice. Students enjoy using Formative because they receive feedback quickly, they are able to “show” their work and when done as practice, move at their own pace. Teachers can create Formatives with different question types, content and even the ability to upload and transform files. Try having students create their own Formatives as a way to have more personalized and authentic practice.

Immersive Learning, Coding and Problem Solving

11) Nearpod: Nearpod continues to be a game changer in our classroom. It provides so many options for presenting material as well as assessing students through diverse activities. The chance to be immersed in the virtual field trips and explore places around the world is of tremendous value for students. Educators can quickly create interactive lessons which include multiple question formats, the ability to upload content, BBC lessons, PhET simulations, and even add in GIFS! Nearpod integrates with Google Classroom and Canvas, and most recently with Remind, making it even easier to share lessons. Nearpod also added 27 “College Tours”, available in VR, a great way to have students experience different schools by immersing in the campus, without having to travel the distance.

12) CoSpacesEDU: CoSpacesEDU provides students with a way to not only create their own “spaces”, but to be able to walk in the spaces created by their peers. To explore in VR (Virtual Reality) and problem solve by figuring out how to code using Blockly, offers students a truly authentic way to learn, create and problem solve. The Gallery is full of examples to get you started with ideas for your classroom. Use CoSpaces to have students represent a scientific concept, a book report, or create a scene representing something studied in any content area. Talk about creativity, imagination, innovation and critical thinking, and more all in one tool.

In the End

These are just 12 of the many tools out there for education. The most important thing to remember is the “Why”? behind using these in the classroom. While these 12 tools made a difference in my classroom, they may not have the same impact in yours, but I do recommend giving them a try. Think about the tools you are currently using to amplify or facilitate student learning. What is making a difference in how, what and where students learn? Could one of these be used in place of another, as a way to engage students more in learning, or even better, provide opportunities for students to move from consumers to creators?

My advice is to simply choose one of these 12 tools and give it a try. See how it goes, ask your students for some feedback, and then plan your next steps.

Rubicon Summit: Classroom’s Journey To Student-Led, Interactive Lessons

Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth Leave a comment

A Classroom’s Journey To Student-Led, Interactive Lessons

Written for the RUBICON SUMMIT

About two years ago, I found myself struggling to find ways to keep my students engaged in the lesson. I tried to get them involved more in class activities by offering more choices and providing opportunities for them to be part of the decisions made about what we were doing in the classroom. Why did I do this? Partially because I saw – and could feel – a decrease in student motivation and engagement. It was approaching the end of the school year, and the focus had shifted more to “when does summer begin?”

So I tried to do things a bit differently, think creatively, and take some risks. I wanted to keep us all moving, to finish strong at the end of the school year and begin summer vacation with a sense of accomplishment, to celebrate all that we had learned throughout the year and also what we had gained from these new experiences.

Educational Technology and Digital Tools with Purpose
Educational Technology provides so many resources that enable students to learn anywhere and at any time, and at a pace that is comfortable for each student. We can instruct from inside the traditional classroom, ​”​the brick-and-mortar​” ​as it is called, or from anywhere around the world. Using digital tools provides more differentiation and personalized learning, and provides opportunities for the students to move from consumers to creators. When students have choices in how to show what they have learned, they are more likely to be engaged and excited for learning. They will feel valued​,​ and the lesson and learning will be more meaningful because it has been made perso​n​al to them.

Creating Interactive Lessons
What did I change? I started by having my students create some interactive lessons using educational technology tools like Formative, Nearpod, and EDPuzzle, or even games with Kahoot! and Quizizz. It proved to be a very beneficial learning experience for all of us. By doing this, we had extra resources available that could be shared with students who might need some extra practice. I thought it went so well that I decided to take it a step further and start a “teacher for a day” activity during which the students create a lesson based on a grammar topic or vocabulary.

I stepped back and had the students lead our classroom. It was a really good way to learn a lot more about the students, to better understand what their needs were in terms of the content material, and for the students to learn about each other. Giving students the control and the opportunity to become the creators and leaders in the class has tremendous benefits and it has been something that we have enjoyed.

Giving Students the Control
At first when students created interactive lessons, I would launch the lesson and control it on the SmartBoard, but find ways to involve the student who created it during the presentation. I eventually decided to move aside, and took a seat in the back of the room, having the student lead the lesson, give explanations, answer questions, call upon students for answers, and provide feedback. Having the opportunity to sit back and experience this was tremendous. The students enjoyed the activity, supported each other, collaborated, and provided some positive feedback to each of their classmates. I was very impressed with how well they taught, led, and learned during each of the “teacher for a day” lessons.

Empowering Students in Learning
The use of these digital tools means ​that ​the “time and place for learning” is no​ longer​ confined to the ​traditional time and setting of the physical ​classroom​. It opens up the learning environment ​to​ anywhere​, at any time and at a pace that is comfortable for the students as well. Learning and having timely, purposeful and authentic feedback is critical ​for growth to happen. When we shift our focus to creating opportunities, giving students the control, leaving the decision making to students to choose ​how t​o show what they have learned, or ​letting them​ design their own assessments, they are more empowered in their learning.

What are the Next Steps?
Have a conversation with your students and ask for their honest feedback. What did they like? What did they not like? Which lesson or format seemed to help the most? What did it feel like to be in control, decide how to deliver the lesson, and experience being the teacher? You can have this as a face to face conversation, students can respond on paper, or use one of the many digital tools available for communication. No matter which way you choose, look to your students for the valuable feedback to decide your next steps. Be sure to ask yourself these same questions and continue to reflect on steps taken and progress made!

For more strategies about integrating technology into instruction, read Overcome

EdTech’s Problems With Blended Learning!