Edutech Musings

PLN's Help When You Least Expect It

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:37:00 +0000

On October 3, 2007 I opened my Twitter account. My wife had been on for a while (since it was introduced to the public the Spring before at the SXSW conference).

If you go onto Twitter and look me up (@cfanch ) you'll see that I have one list of people to follow: Edpros. Most of the people on that list were in my original group of people I followed or who followed me and a majority of those names have been on Twitter in excess of 5 years now.

These educators were my original PLN (Professional Learning Network) before we used the term on twitter. I can still count on them to provide great insight into all things education and when I need an answer to a tough question I will send it their way.

During the years from 2008 to now, I have tried to get teachers, who I work with, to get onto Twitter so that they can glean knowledge from educational experts. At Manor New Technology High School I was totally unsuccessful. I stopped trying and would just send links of great blog posts I had read because of my friends on Twitter. Or I would share a tech secret that I had learned about because of people sharing stuff on Twitter. But, as far as active users, I (again) was totally unsuccessful at showing them why it was a must to be connected to a PLN.

Now I am at a new school where the number of tech savvy teachers is at a minimum. Those that are good with technology are doing really great things. But there really is only one teacher (out of about 50) who are active on Twitter for professional reasons and a couple who have Twitter accounts but don't understand how to use them to help their teaching skills.

I have given up (or at least I think I've given up) on encouraging teachers to try Twitter. I am sharing blog posts, occasionally, with my fellow teachers at school but I rarely mention that I found the post on Twitter. And, to be quite frank, I have gotten pretty darn bitter about not being able to share information with anybody I work with.

This leads to today and an exchange I had with a wonderful person I met on Twitter a few months ago and was able to say hello to at an Edcamp in Waller Texas. {Don't even get me started on getting teachers to go to Edcamps. I ran my own Edcamp 2 years ago that about 25 people came to and only one of them was from my school or school district.}

There was a time when I was always on Twitter - sharing things, having great times with my PLN buddies, learning things. Now I get on occasionally but I feel like an outsider and not in on all of the jokes and innuendo. And so I noticed a group of people talking about creating a Twitter for Educators panel for next year's TCEA conference. Everyone on the list in the tweets is connected, doing great things with education, and are forward lookers in all things new and cool in education. I feel that that's where I was 3 or 4 years ago.

And so I said, " @RafranzDavis After 5 + years on here, if they havent' figured it out they won't ever figure it out (Twitter for PD), #mrnegative " And I meant it. Why even try to get people interested in this stuff they'll just ignore you and laugh and call you "Mr. Twitter." But Rafranz didn't give up. She replied " @cfanch which is why this "super panel" is needed !!!:) " She continued " @cfanch all that we can do is show how we use it. We can"t force people into changing how they learn best. However, we can't stop trying :) "

She's right of course. I just wonder if I have the energy to keep up the fight. At this Edcamp I heard teachers asking all kinds of questions about how to get onto twitter and how to use it. Part of me wanted to yell "Where have you all been?" But I smiled and helped people get through the beginning steps of getting connected.

My wife is in the business of showing people in the travel industry how to use social media and she has the same reaction when one of her clients asks how to do something that is (for me and for her) very basic. But she keeps reminding me that there are people who aren't connected. There are people who really don't understand how to use the space. There are people who are afraid of looking dumb. There are people with all sorts of excuses on why they haven't gotten connected yet. And they need people like Rafranz and people in her PLN - and, yes, they even need Mr. Cranky Pants.

Even though I knew everyone of those people she was talking with about the "Super Panel" for TCEA, I don't feel connected to them. Maybe I need to get back on Twitter and connect with them so I can feel like I'm a part of a PLN again. Because you're never really NOT a part of a PLN.

Consistency Is The Key

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:29:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petithiboux/

When I am asked about PBL and "how to do it" I often run across teachers who are worried that they won't be able to do their normal classroom procedures. This can't be further from the truth. Unless, of course, their normal classroom procedures aren't grounded in best practices. Then I'm hoping they do anything BUT their normal procedures.

Classroom routine, more than anything else I can think of, is the key to good classroom management. When the students are met at the door and they enter the room with the expectation that there will be an agenda and it will be adhered to, then they will meet the challenge. This is especially true in PBL classrooms where there is, not only, a teacher's agenda but each group may have their own expectations and agenda.

To help establish classroom routines, there are certain parts of the PBL process that should be present all of the time and will help students understand what learning is expected. This starts with the Driving Question (DQ). Once the Entry Event has been delivered the DQ should be posted prominently in the classroom and, I would add, on other materials given to the students as resources for the project. Within the first few days teachers should, purposefully, direct students to the DQ and remind them that this question is the reason for their learning.

Once the Entry Event and DQ have been delivered to the students it is customary to create a list of items that need to be understood for successful completion of the project. In most classrooms these items are called the Need to Knows or NTK's. This list of NTK's becomes one more thing that should be boldly displayed within the classroom. And, a good habit is to start class -every day- with a discussion of where the students are as far as learning about these key components of the project.

In New Tech classrooms we not only have a list of NTK's but we make a list of things that we Know. The combined list is our Knows and Need to Knows (K/NTK"s). When students are able to list their "Knows" they are reinforcing the idea that they come to the project with certain skills that will be needed for successful completion. In revisiting the lists each day we are able to line out NTK's and add them to the Knows section. Leaving the NTK's up but just lining them out helps students visualize their learning.

The final key component to successful PBL classroom management is well constructed rubrics. Rubrics let students know what they are being assessed on within the project. And, with set levels of below, on, and above proficient (as a minimum) the students know day to day how much work needs to be accomplished. A fellow teacher adds a special category for students who have completed all line items on the rubric - The Wall of Awesome. When students do everything required and do it well but want to go further then they are put upon the wall.

And so a teacher who has a set daily agenda, posts and revisits the DQ as well as the K/NTK's, and requires groups to have their own agenda, will have a classroom that glows with learning. At no point should a students ask "what should we do now?" Wouldn't it be great if everyone of your 32 students had their names on your Wall of Awesome?

A Chance of a Lifetime

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:47:00 +0000

Student Photo MNTHS

The fact I got to see President Obama was not a given. I'm not teaching at Manor New Tech (MNTHS) any more. Yes, I do a lot with PBL in our district but the fact is I am not a teacher at the school being visited by the President. But Steve Zipkes, the MNTHS Principal, told me his goal was to have all of the former teachers at the campus when Mr. Obama was there.

Finally, Tuesday night, I received an email from the White House advance team representative that I would be part of a group of "Volunteers" and I would have a meeting on Wednesday to get more information.

Wednesday afternoon there were about a dozen of us from around the district who were given assignments for the big day. At the beginning of that meeting we were told the layout and we knew that some of us might end up in the cafeteria where there would be a live stream of the speech. Again, I knew that I might just be there and not get to see the man in person. But I was asked to be at the entrance making sure students, staff, and guests entered in an orderly fashion. And I was told "when they close up you can go into the gymnasium for the speech."

As it turned out things went incredibly smooth and about an hour before the arrival we had closed up and I was inside tweeting and talking with many of our guests. Being "in the loop" I knew when the motorcade had arrived and that he had entered the main part of the building to see the student presentations. He was free to spend as much time as he needed so when he hadn't arrived in about 20 minutes I knew the students were getting maximum time with their President.

During the waiting time I started getting tweets and texts from friends around the country who were watching the live White House feed, online. They could see me and all of my actions so we started having some fun with strategic hand gestures and comments about the brightness of my bald spot. Then a really cool thing happened.

They had anticipated almost 200 press for the event and there was plenty of room in the gym for that number of people. The advance team wanted it to look full and so they invited the entire student body to come in and see the speech live. It was a little cozy but as the advance team had said, "we need it to be crowded with lots of happy cheering people."

Before the President came into the gym, he was introduced by a senior at MNTHS, Tevyn Washington. Tevyn was one of my favorite students and his introduction was well thought out and moving. Listening to his speech caused tears to well up in my eyes for the 2nd time that day.

The president's speech started out, as was expected, very presidential but he quickly got to talking about what he had seen during his tour of the school and he included the sound bytes that had been provided for him. It was a pretty emotional time for those of us who had been at the school for a while. His entire speech can be found here. I thought I could keep it together, but he still managed to get me teared up a couple of times.

Thanks to the military I've been in the presence of Presidents,Vice Presidents, Secretaries of State and Secretaries of Defense. But once I had left service I really didn't picture being able to see the President. Especially in a small town in central Texas.

Mr. Obama spoke the truth yesterday. He didn't embellish his remarks and his speech writer didn't make up statistics. We are doing good things in this district. We feel that we have such a long road to go to get where we want to be. We see the blemishes. We know where we are lacking. But for one day a school district and a town could stand together and beam with pride as the whole nation recognized the efforts of some of their own. It was a day none of us will ever forget.

Nothing to Write About Today...

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Sun, 05 May 2013 17:31:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbgrigby/

I really want to write a blog post today. I wanted to write one yesterday. This past week was pretty busy so I didn't think about it. But I wanted to write a post last weekend too. It's not like I don't have anything to say about PBL. It's not like I haven't read some great posts that got me thinking that I should write my own post on that certain topic. No, I just can't seem to get started.

As a matter of fact I'm making myself write this post that may, or may not, get published. I do that quite often. I write a few paragraphs and get distracted and get up from the laptop. When I return I don't have any interest in finishing the post and it gets deleted (usually) or saved as draft. Currently I have 134 published posts and 4 sitting in draft. One of those drafts is more like a diary entry and will probably never be published. But I do have a couple that I have kept and could dust off and finish and post in short order.

But not today. It's lovely outside and I don't feel like writing a post. Yet, ironically, here I am in my third paragraph - not wanting to write. What would I write about? There's PBL stuff I guess. I've done a lot of thinking about helping people get over their fear of trying PBL. I've thought about how schools, who are planning on using PBL as their primary mode of instruction, could set up their master schedule and their classrooms. Sometimes I feel like I'm ALWAYS thinking about PBL. But I won't be writing a post about PBL today.

Last week I went to Edcamp Waller (in Waller, TX) and I could write about Edcamps. No, just wrote one and there are tons out there right now because we're in Edcamp season. There were some great sessions about apps at the edcamp and I could write about them but I'm just not feeling techie today. No inspiration coming from edcamps......hmm.....maybe teaching, in general.

I'm about to conduct training, for our staff, tomorrow morning on C-SCOPE, which our district will be using next year. It houses curriculum and assessment pieces, as well as other great resources. C-SCOPE is a hot button topic in Texas because many school districts are using it as their curriculum, instead of a curriculum resource.

There are conservatives in this state upset with some of the lessons found within it. Can you believe they portray those great heroes of 1773 (Boston Tea Party) as potential terrorists? All they did was destroy a ship's (flagged by the Crown) cargo. I mean it's not like they attacked a U.S. Ship - oh wait, we were under British rule....don't let me continue, I might say something wrong. Not writing about that....

You see there's just nothing to write about today. So I'll wrap up here. It can really take forever to write a post. I've been at this for almost 15 minutes today. That's 15 minutes that I won't get back. Maybe I'll sit down tonight and start on a post. Or maybe tomorrow.... I've really got nothing to say.

Edcamps Are a Must

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

If you're reading this and either went to Edcamp Waller or another edcamp recently then I want you to send this to some friends who didn't go so they can read what I have to say.

Edcamps are the greatest thing since, well, just about any professional development (PD) you or I have ever been to in the last 20 years.

Yes that is an incredible statement. But anyone who has attended an edcamp knows that what I just wrote is true. The obvious reasons - it's free, there are great door prizes, and it's fun. The one simple reason that is important to your school and your students is that you will learn something you can use in your classroom.

How does an ecamp work? I'll leave that to the information at the Edcamp Wiki page and to this blog post from Simple -12. But the bottom line is that you sign up and then give up (usually) a Saturday. And then you have fun learning something.

While I have you (if you're from Texas), think about attending an edcamp in your near future. There's Edcamp San Antonio on July 15th (2013) and Edcamp Fort Worth on July 27th (2013). If you have to wait until the Fall there's Edcamp Dallas on October 12th (2013). (If you're from somewhere else just look at the link, above, for the Edcamp Wiki Page and you'll see a listing of edcamps and their dates.)

Still looking for reasons to attend? Here's a look at the line up of sessions held at Edcamp Waller:

There were 4 session times; two in the morning and two in the afternoon.

During the 1st session there were discussions about (1) Open Sources in Education (such as Ubuntu and Joomla), (2) Ways to use Google Apps, (3) A student presentation on a flipped classroom, (4) Standards Based Grading, (5) Twitter basics, (6) App sharing for the elementary level, and (7) Using SMART Notebook.

During the 2nd session there were conversations about (1) Increasing student engagement based on the Teach Like A Pirate book (TLAP), (2) Using Google Chrome, (3) Using Wiki's for authentic writing, (4) Getting Google Certified Teacher Training, (5) School Pad and Class Dojo, and (6) Tech in the multi-ability classroom.

During the 3rd session teachers talked about (1) Student discussion groups, (2) An intro to PBL, (3) iPad projects, (4) Basic Twitter, (5) Global/Connected classrooms, and (6) How to get free stuff for your classroom.

During the final session there were discussions about (1) What you need to know about going to Google Chromebooks, (2) Google Stuff, (3) Ways to implement iPads and BYOD, (4) Techie tips and tricks for the K-2 classroom, (5) QR codes, (6) Flipped classrooms, (7) Genius Hour - unleashing student passion, and (8) Unconference 101

That's 27 conversations with around 150 educators over four 1-hour periods. And in the middle, everyone went to lunch and continued conversations from the morning. In all there were 7 hours of incredible learning and sharing and everyone - and I mean EVERYONE - enjoyed themselves.

When was the last time you spent a full day at a PD in your district where everyone was happy at the end of the day? Heck when did you ever have a non-bitch session lunch during the middle of a PD day? Go out and support these people putting on edcamps in your area. You won't be disappointed. Then, when you get back, work with your district and host your own edcamp.

What Should a PBL Classroom Look Like?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 05:41:00 +0000

http://iaecconsultants.wordpress.com/tag/preschool-classroom-design/

I had some fun this morning with this google doc asking for thoughts on "must haves" for the PBL classroom. Here's what I wrote:

Tables that seat 4 to 6 and chairs that are easy to move around the room and into the hallways are a must. If it's appropriate, have areas around the school or in the hallways where groups can earn the right to go and work. Use "chalkboard" paint or other easily cleaned coating for at least one wall to brainstorm or create - or- use an easily cleaned metal so you can use magnets on the wall. Have an area of the room specifically set up for working creatively ( paints, scissors, paper, glue etc available and stocked ). Move the "teacher area " away from the door and somewhere central. Finally set up walls so that students can face any direction and still be facing the front of the room.

What experiences drove me to this list? First, collaboration is the key to PBL. And it works best, in my opinion, when all participants are able to see each other. With the need for a horizontal surface it makes sense to use tables. If the tables are too big or too heavy then the room can't be easily adjusted to meet the needs of the activity that is to be conducted.

The walls in the PBL classroom should be the canvas where students brainstorm or post ideas. These should be the places that they display their mid-planning sketches or passages. This allows for other students, the teacher, or another outside observer to post critical comments for consideration. When students enter the room they should see that they are entering a room where thinking and creating occurs. Engineering classrooms and art rooms shouldn't be the only rooms with this motif.

If you are going to foster creativity, then have the tools of creativity available to the students and have a set routine for when and how to get materials. Whether it is the arrangement of the furniture or some other distinct method, have this area of the classroom be, obviously, separate from the rest of the learning area. Many (most?) science classrooms are set up this way. The lab areas are separate from the instructional area.

Finally, avoid putting the teacher at the "front" of the classroom. This is a collaborative environment and everyone should have the opportunity to be the center of attention. If students know that at any time their area of the classroom could be the focal point then they have to be prepared to lead discussions or, in some other way, be a critical part of the learning that is going on in that classroom.

Designing a PBL classroom is an awesome responsibility. Take time to do your homework. Look at what others might be doing in their classroom. But most importantly do what you and your students need for successful learning.

Problem Based Math For Intervention Groups

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 00:09:00 +0000

Fancher Photo

This week I've been working with 7th grade students who have been identified as having the potential to fail the state standardized math test if they don't receive some extra practice.

I have been a proponent of using Problem Based Learning (PrBL) in math classes since I saw an overview of it at a New Tech Network Annual Conference by Geoff Krall (@emergentmath ).

I am also a firm believer that PBL (and PrBL) is great for ALL students. Well it was time to put up or shut up this week. As they came in on Wednesday morning I presented them with this problem: "Your company wants to sell individual koozies for soda cans and wants to determine the smallest size box they would need to fit a koozie that is 1/4 inch larger than a standard soda can." I also had a can of Diet Dr. Pepper on the table.

Our next steps were to do our Knows and Need to Knows. Some of their knows included the obvious but there was also the fact that we needed to use the volume formula for a cylinder. Rather than telling them that this wouldn't be needed I had them wait and actually calculate it and solve the final answer and then go back and see if we really needed it. If one of the students had questioned it right away I would have led them to the fact that it wasn't needed at that point.

This went well and the students were incredibly engaged so I attempted another problem the next day. In this problem there was a man with a patio that was in the shape of a semi-circle and he wanted to put planters along the edge (see the first photo above). The planters were 1 foot square and he wanted them to be 6 inches apart. I gave them a drawing of the situation and they came up with the word "semi-circle" in their "knows" section.

This went even better and I allowed them 5 minutes to attempt to answer the problem. I stopped them right at 5 minutes and we explored their different approaches. Most had created tables of lengths and number of pots. So, I took the opportunity (after we had solved the original problem) to show them how they could create an equation from the table of data (looking at the deltas between each X and each Y). And I showed them how you could solve that equation to get the same number of planters that we had gotten with the table of data.

These were two simple problems at the basic level. By presenting the information in this manner, I forced them to think more deeply about the situation. In the first problem, for example, I could have asked for the size of a box that would be needed for a can with a 2.5 inch diameter and 5.5 inches in height. But why would they even want to answer that?

In the first problem they had to use a ruler (from the test formula chart) to measure the can and then they had to figure out what the new sizes would be with an additional 1/4 inch (for the koozie). Then they had to make the connection between the height of the can, the height of the koozie, and the height of the box. Finally, they had to make the connections between the diameter of the can, the diameter of the koozie, and the width of the box.

Giving students a chance to solve problems like this and using the knows/need-to-knows process really gets students thinking rather than manipulating numbers. Give it a try. Take a problem that is on a homework or is one you want to use as an example in class and remove some of the information so that it becomes a "real" problem. Then watch your students learn.

Change Can be Scary

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 02:07:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/purplemattfish/

Our teachers are pretty darn good at what they do. Oh, we have a few who are struggling with classroom management and a few others who aren't the best team players, but overall they really come together for our students and that's what it's all about - the students.

Next school year our teachers will be facing a LOT of change and not all of our current teachers will be along for the journey. There are many reasons for that last sentence and I won't get into why I feel that way, but suffice it to say the changes we are about to encounter are scary.

If you've followed this blog you know that the current school year saw 1:1 iPads for our sixth grade teachers along with the requirement for them to use project based learning as their primary form of content delivery in their classrooms.

There were major technological hurdles to cross along the way and we are still having log-in issues for some of our students. In spite of these distractions, some of our teachers have been real troopers and have exceeded our expectations. And because of their tenacity we've even had students present their PBL/Tech skills to our school board. In turn the board has given us the green light to make some key changes.

For the 2013/2014 school year we will have 1:1 iPads for all 850 students and we will expect project based learning to be the primary mode of instruction in all of our content-area classrooms. This information was presented to the teachers this week at our faculty meeting. Most teachers had expected us to be adding the pbl requirement to the 7th grade (with or without iPads) next year and our 8th grade the following year. Now? Boom - they're all getting it.

The other change they are about to face is the addition of a curriculum management system called C-SCOPE which they will be getting more information on during the month of May. The teachers will be using the Year At a Glance (YAG) and the Instructional Focus Document (IFD) from C-SCOPE. For some of the veteran teachers this might require the loss of some of their favorite topics. And it might force a sequencing change to their "normal" flow.

These losses can be troubling. And whenever there is change we, as leaders, must recognize these losses. Over the course of the next 4 months I need to help our teachers deal with the changes and their perceived (and actual) losses. It will be a challenging time for all of us but because these are great teachers we will survive all things scary.

Edcamps Don't Have to be Techy

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 19:44:00 +0000

http://edcampcolumbus.wordpress.com/

This weekend there was Edcamp Houston but I had to miss it even though it was right down the road (about a 4 hour drive but in Texas that's almost neighbors!).

As I was looking through the Twitter stream coming out of there I was envious of those in attendance but I was also hit by the fact that nearly every tweet coming out was about some app that was being shared or some software or hardware that teachers were using in their classrooms.

Now I've been to a few edcamps, I've presented at edcamps, and I've hosted an edcamp. I'm also going to be attending Edcamp Waller at the end of this month. So I feel like I know what I'm talking about when it comes to having an opinion on these things. And what I see is that there are too many presentations at edcamps based upon the use of technology.

Many of you reading this might disagree. And many of you who have hosted or are about to host an edcamp might feel that the only way to ensure large numbers of participants is to guarantee that there will be some fun tech experiences to be had by attending. But I'm not saying that there can't be a large number of presentations based upon technology. What I am saying is that hosts need to encourage more people to present on meaningful topics in education.

We need to have discussions and conversations about all things education. We need to have people with opinions and points of view about interesting topics that spur others, in attendance, to agree or argue or just think. Edcamps need to be more like Educon Philly or the upcoming NOVANOW in Michigan. Those conferences are all about conversations. Presenters are not standing in front of their audience delivering a message for an hour. They are presenting ideas or concepts where the audience takes ownership of where the conversation heads from there.

It's time for educators to think outside of their classrooms. As I tweeted this weekend we need to have meat and not just dessert at these edcamps. Finding a cool new app to use in your classroom is fun. Sharing apps or links in a smackdown is fun. Discussing how to keep students engaged in the classroom is a bit more dry but, I would say, incredibly more important. Maybe using that new app will help with the engagement. But are there low-tech alternatives to bells and whistles?

Encourage your fellow teachers to attend edcamps. Encourage your curriculum leaders in your district to provide professional development in an edcamp-style setting. But also encourage teachers who are really good at what they do to present their secrets. Encourage teachers to discuss issues your school or district is facing. And encourage discussions on topics that are in the news about the education profession. Edcamps can, and should, be education camps first and barcamps second.

April Fool's Day and PBL

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:38:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shadowstorm/

A couple of years ago a co-teacher and I held a project where students had to create a prank on one of the teachers or administrators.

They needed to fill a room, drawer, cabinet, locker, car, etc with items as a prank. The winning group would be allowed to pull off the prank.

The standards for this prank were Geometry-based and dealt with volume and surface area. But the main thing we had in this project was authenticity and voice & choice.

Those kids had a definite purpose in calculating how many balloons would fit in a teacher's car or how many marshmallows would fit in a desk drawer.

As April fools day approaches I am reminded that PBL projects don't have to be mundane and boring. If you can't come up with ideas ask your PLN or, even better, your students for ideas.

If you need help thinking of practical jokes just google "pranks," or "office pranks," or other words that will head you in the right direction. But, better yet, just have your students create a prank that requires math to calculate and won't hurt anyone (other than maybe some pride).

"Doing PBL" Isn't Automatic

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 17:59:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/track24/

I've been meeting with my 6th grade science teachers in the last few weeks as they get ready to start a project. We've looked at the standards that they want to cover and brainstormed scenarios.

What I've discovered, as a first year instructional coach, is that some of my teachers need more help than others (well duh), and, that there isn't some magic switch that turns on in a teacher's head and they suddenly become PBL teachers.

There really is a leap of faith that a veteran teacher must make to let go of the learning process and put more of the learning in the student's hands. With some it is more of a hopping across stones instead of a leap. Let go (a little), evaluate what just happened, repeat.

So here we are in March and there is still a valid concern about getting all of the standards covered. Where I see how to set up the project so students find a need to know the material, these teachers still want to "teach stuff first" so that students have a foundation to work with. I know that the process will work but these teachers haven't gotten there yet.

Part of the problem is that they are good teachers. They have had success doing what they have been doing. Yes, they have been through a four-day PBL training program. Yes, they have been told teaching with the PBL process as the primary form of facilitation will work. But we have not required them to go full-bore with PBL. They have only had to do a few PBL units and practice does make perfect.

It may sound weird to some but teachers, and their students, must struggle and maybe even fail before they will really understand what makes for a good PBL unit. Part of being successful is being honestly reflective and making changes to what you have done. It is the fear of the unknown and the possibility of failure that keeps teachers from more freely embracing PBL.

As we move forward with PBL and add the 7th and 8th grade teachers to the mix I realize that we are going to have to be more demanding on the number of PBL units our teachers attempt in the coming school year. This will be especially important in those classes that aren't viewed as "tested" subjects. Those teachers who learn and understand the process will find success and their success will fuel the desire our other teachers will need to take the challenge for themselves. Next school year may be filled with a lot of work but the results will be worth it.

It's All About the Conversations

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 23:13:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rominasantos/

Anyone who has ever attended an Educon event knows that conversations are the key to having successful learning experiences at conferences.

In the standard conference we attend sessions where people talk to us, in a lecture format, and there may, or may not be time for questions. To truly have time to discuss what you just heard you have to join up (virtually or face-to-face) with others who attended that session or who have knowledge of the subject.

SXSWEdu is starting to have less lecturers and more facilitators of discussion and it is a welcomed change. There are many things that are different, this year, from that first disappointingly bad conference two years ago. But, unfortunately, there is still too much emphasis on the business of education rather than the art of education.

So, if you want to have conversations about topics of interest, it is the hallways, restaurants, bars, and lounges where you will have the best and deepest discussions. While in the hallways of SXSW you hear teachers talking with edtech people; startups talking with venture capitalists; and IT folks talking with school administrators.

Unfortunately, you don't hear many conversations between teachers and other teachers at SXSWEdu. As a friend of mine said to me this morning, when I asked him how his week was, "They should call it an Education Industry conference. It really isn't an education conference."

And this week was frustrating because of the huge emphasis on data. There were startups who could give you a better dashboard for your data. Edtech companies who could put all of your data from the various programs you are using into one data file. There were companies who could do more meaningful data management.

Analyzing data can help teachers provide better and more meaningful instruction for their students. That is a true statement. God knows I spend hours upon hours of spreadsheet analysis of student scores related to various data points. But with this much emphasis on data I felt like I was attending a math conference instead of an education conference.

SXSWEdu has grown in size and in scope. It is immensely better than the poor excuse for a conference in 2011 that I had to attend - at my own cost even though I was a speaker. [Side Note: speakers at the other SXSW events get a pass to the conference] But if we're going to call this an educator conference, let's bring in the educators in large numbers. Let's have the break down be 70% educators and 30% industry folks instead of the current 70%(or more?) industry and 30% educators.

As I said two years ago and last year: Let's put together educators in the Central Texas area to sit on a panel and select key educators from around the globe and truly make this the "Can't Miss" education conference on the planet. Then we can discuss the data of its success.

PBL Session WIth BIE's Alfred Solis

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:01:00 +0000

When I saw the schedule of sessions here at SXSWEdu this year I instantly saw the trade mark "8 Essential Elements" of PBL and knew it had to be from one of the incredible members of the National Faculty with BIE.org. And I was right. It was their nearly-famous (at least in PBL circles) Alfred Solis.

The room was packed and I wasn't surprised. When I mention I teach with PBL and that I'm associated with Manor TX, people always want to talk PBL with me. Educators are very interested in PBL. They want to know how to do it, why to do it, and whether they even should do it.

Alfred really got things rolling with some great music and some nice SWAG. But we weren't here for listening to cool music we wanted to know about PBL. He didn't waste any time. He immediately had us pondering the number 1,000,000 and when 1 + 1 doesn't equal 2.

As an intro to PBL Alfred showed us the video on Public Arts from the Edutopia website. He followed that by a listing of the 8 Elements: Significant Content, 21st Century Skills, In-Depth Inquiry, Driving Question, Need to Know, Voice & Choice, Revision & Reflection, and Public Audience.

Once he had given a brief explanation of each he rolled into another video of a project from the Edutopia library and he asked us to evaluate the project based upon the 8 elements. This gave us a chance to actively engage in the presentation

With barely 5 minutes left he opened it up to questions. There were some great questions but even more interesting were the number of audience members who stayed to engage him in conversation.

About an hour after the session ended I talked with Alfred and he was still continuing conversations over in the speaker's Green Room. PBL is a very hot topic these days and Alfred Solis provides a great presentation of the basics of this vehicle for instruction.

Greetings From the SXSWEdu Blogger Lounge

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:26:00 +0000

First day in the Blogger Lounge at SXSWEdu. We're located on the fourth floor fairly close to the Registration Desk. The lounge is being presented by Compass Learning and will have interviews of key presenters at various times each day. For example I'mm listening to an interview with Paul Smith of LearnSprout as I'm writing this post.

In the lounge you can relax, check email and twitter, write a post or just hang out with some cool folks. There's coffee, tea, and water and a decent amount of places to plug in and recharge your devices.

Come on in and say hello.

Fighting the Education Reform Battle

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 03:26:00 +0000

A Guest Post by Steven Zipkes, founding Principal/Director at Manor New Technology High School in Manor Texas

(Originally posted on Facebook - February 20, 2013 )

My head hurts from constantly fighting the educational reform battle. It is not about extending the school day, or mandatory Saturday school, nor selecting the "right"students or same sex school or AP courses, or wearing uniforms, or the other gazillion programs out there! It's about delivering authentic and engaging, yes engaging, curriculum that gets students excited about their learning.

I often wonder if it's really about change that meets the students' needs or perpetuating profitable and even so-called "non profit" programs. How naive I consider myself sometimes. Do we ever really listen to what successful companies are looking for in potential employees?!! Really, all I hear is blah, blah, blah from talking head, non-practitioners, and practicing pretenders who say "we know best." I say, try talking to the students and the businesses, not someone trying to make a name for themselves for ulterior motives.

By the way, there is no such thing as PBL's - especially with "unit." Can you say substitution for textbooks? Teaching through Project Based Instruction is not about the end-product but about the learning that takes place throughout the project and the scaffolding within the project. Finally, PBL is NOT STEM and STEM is NOT PBL. Project Based Learning is a process and modality of instruction. It requires a pedagogical shift in the delivery of instruction by the practitioner. STEM can, and should, use PBL as the modality of instruction as well as integrating content and the use of assessment of 21st Century Skills in every project. By doing this, a practitioner is better prepared to create deeper learning opportunities for transferring knowledge to application.

Get down to 21st Century Skills (such as collaboration, communication, problem solving, research, and work ethic) and deeper learning of transferring knowledge to application through Project Based Instruction. That is the path! It is really not rocket science. Oh, but it's not your idea or how you would do it or how can we profit. Real educators, parents, and students need to unite and say enough is enough. Experimenting with our children - just to line your pockets or make your name. Let's create real and meaningful systemic change once and for all and do away with all of the talking heads and rhetoric.

Our children are too valuable for the success of our country and their future. Does anyone agree with me? Or am I on my own Manor New Technology Island?

Stepping down from my soapbox now. Have a great day.

Where Have All The Good TImes Gone....

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 03:48:00 +0000

http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/peter__paul_and_mary

I opened my laptop for the first time in 3 days, took care of a half dozen emails that were waiting for me, and hopped onto Twitter to see what was happening. Then it hit me: in terms of educators on social media I was totally out of the loop; I had lost my edge; I was (am), sigh, irrelevant.

So, what the heck happened? Well, a year ago I had just finished a wonderful 3 days in Philly for Educon and I was getting ready for the TCEA conference. I was trying to figure out how to get into the SXSWEdu conference and was sad that I probably wouldn't be able to afford the ISTE conference in San Diego. But "hey,' I thought, "at least I have a couple thousand folks on twitter to interact with and stay on top of the latest and greatest things in education."

Fast forward a year. Not only did I not go to Philly this year, I didn't even have time to watch the twitter stream for Educon last week. Then, this week, I found out that I'm needed at my school every day next week and so I won't attend any of TCEA for the first time in a couple of years. That one really hurts because I love the interaction in the social media lounge and I've given short talks (or brought students to talk) on PBL for teachers coming into that area.

I should be going to SXSWEdu because I've signed up as a volunteer. That gets me a badge but I'm really not sure how much time I can get off for that. And ISTE is right down the road in San Antonio. I have a room but I haven't paid my conference fee yet because I'm just not sure whether I'll get the time to take that in.

So what happened? Simple. I changed jobs and am now much more tied to my work than ever before in my teaching career. It was a piece of cake being a teacher (in comparison) and it really wasn't that hard to get time off to go places. Little things were so simple to take care of. Hopping on Twitter each night and for hours on the weekend? Nothing to it. Life was pretty darn cushy.

What to do about this problem? I can start by helping out school kick butt on the standardized tests that are rapidly approaching. I can help my teachers so that they can still enjoy their free time. I can learn to more effectively schedule my day so that I get home earlier and have more time to participate with others on Twitter. And, I can put conferences that are important to me and my professional development on the calendar for my principal to see.

This year is starting out really sucky. There I said it. That doesn't mean the rest of the year has to be as equally bad. It's time to get things in gear. I need to put ISTE on the calendar and make it a priority. I need to put PBL World on the calendar too. And IPADPALOOZA, and, ......

Chat Overload!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 03:31:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andresmusta/

The other day I saw a great tweet and noticed the hashtag for a 1:1 educators chat. Then I saw another great tweet with a hashtag for a Nebraska Educators chat. And then I saw 2 or 3 other chat hashtags fly by and I realized that what was once just "Edchat" has really just gone bonkers.

If you aren't on Twitter then you may not be familiar with chats. In a nutshell, if you want to have a topic that others can comment upon then you use the pound sign ( # ) followed by a word that describes the topic. In the Twitterverse we call the #-sign a "Hashtag." With limitations on the number of characters and with people wanting to emphasize that they want to have a get together (a chat ) there are many abbreviations for these.

The oldest chat I became involved with was the Educators Chat or #edchat. It was (is still) on Tuesday nights and there really weren't many others. During the first year on #edchat I saw a handful of other chats pop up but none made me say "I need to follow that hashtag!" Then #edchat started to explode with hundreds of people "chatting" during the hour. This lead most people to use other dashboards besides the regular Twitter page. { Dashboards such as Hootsuite and Tweetdeck allow you to create columns which makes it easier to manage the chats. }

Then came my favorite Twitter application - Tweetchat. With Tweetchat there is only one column and it is totally devoted to the hashtag you want to follow. It even puts the proper hashtag at the end of your tweet. About this time I looked over at my favorite gatherer of information, Jerry Blumengarten (also known as Cybraryman (@cybraryman1)) His list of chats had, probably, 20 chats listed and I was amazed by that fact. Today there are well over 100 education chats listed. If you have an area of interest, there is probably a chat for you. Jerry just happens to be on the #edchat team, so he knows a thing or two about chats.

So where does this chat obsession go from here? Well the good thing is that there are educators learning from each other and helping each other all over the world and at all times of the day. But there are many of us who are amazed at the huge number of tweets with hashtags. Some educators are moving on to other means of getting together.

The one most talked about is Google Hangouts. With a Hangout you can have up to 10 people and you can share your screens. But then you can share the hangout with the world. So, even though 10 people are "talking" others can interact with the conversation through various means including, get ready for it - Twitter! Just think, you could have a google hangout and everyone outside of the initial 10 could be using a hashtag for the hangout! Makes my head hurt ( but in a good way...)

Don't be surprised when you see the following hashtag: #rthanded55yoeducoachchat. The chat for 55 year old education coaches who are right handed.

Umm...That's Not Exactly PBL

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 15:44:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosasay/

Have you ever had a teacher tell you a plan for an activity she was going to run in her class and she emphasized the fact that she loves "doing PBL?" This "project," that will last 3 days, is having the students demonstrate what they have learned in her 6th grade math class over the last 2 weeks.

Do you (a) tell her "that's not a project!"; or, (b) ask her "why are you wasting your student's time?"; or (c) tell her that she has great ideas and you'd like to help her plan for a more meaningful PBL unit. Hopefully, through discussion, all three of those answers come up.

This evening I saw a link to a "pbl" where the students were to calculate the volume of a soda can and then redesign a new can that would hold the same volume of soda. This is a standard activity and certainly is better than having students work 20 problems on volumes of a cylinder. I even used that same thing as a 6th grade math teacher back in 1995. I could easily have said (to this teacher), "Honey, that is NOT PBL! (while wagging my index finger)

So how should we, as fellow educators, handle this when we see it? Where do we take the conversation to make it truly meaningful for our co-teacher? We start by asking her to think about who might want to redesign a soda can. Why would they want to redesign it? How would they redesign it? Now we tell her to imagine the students being the designers. How would these designers be asked to make a change to the standard soda can? Then we tell her that she's thinking like a PBL teacher, now.

I worry, as more and more teachers become "experts" in PBL, that they will start squashing ideas and activities that other teachers want to do in their classroom. Some of these activities can make great idea starters for a pbl unit. Instead of squashing the ideas we need to be encouraging these teachers to use their ideas as jumping off points to greater things. Some of these activities are great as scaffolding pieces for the middle of the project, for example.

Take the time to help your fellow teachers learn how to build inquiry into their lessons. Help them teach their students to become better questioners. Be gentle with their (the teachers) egos. You want to help them not shut them down. It is your (our) duty to help fellow teachers be the best that they can be so that our students can be the best that they can be.

Hey! Where'd You Get That?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 17:13:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skemsley/

A good friend of mine, who has now been married for more than 30 years, used to use this expression whenever we saw a good looking woman: "It doesn't matter where you go for your appetite, as long as you come home for dinner."

The same holds true with your projects. Projects that you run in your classroom need to be your projects but it doesn't matter where you go for your project ideas. Projects that are taken, fully intact, from someone else and then run in your class just won't work the same. And your students will know that it isn't your project.

So stop beating yourself up about using someone's project idea. It's OK. You can use the idea. Just make it your own. Have your entry event totally unique to how you want to start the project. And figure out how you want your project to end. Allowing students to pick their own end product means that, even if a group wants to do something that was an end product in the original project idea, your students have ownership in it.

Now when it comes to some of the scaffolding activities, in the original project, you may really like some of them. That's OK. But, until you have run the activity you won't know what could go wrong. What material isn't listed that would really help. What time changes did the original teacher make when they ran it. Was it a "class period" activity and the original teacher was on a 90 minute block? Or, was it a "class period" activity for a 45 minute class and you have a 90 minute block? Work through the activity yourself (which should be your modus operandi anyway) to gauge the length of time needed.

Now that you've selected the project idea, you have your entry event, and you have determined how you will handle end products, it is time to really look at the theme of the project and see if there are any other things you might want to add or subtract to make it "your" project.

Hopefully you are starting to see that getting ideas from somewhere else is an incredible time saver BUT you still have to create your project. You still need to arrange your calendar with content, scaffolding, and assessments. I really like having someone's project to manipulate into my own. What I present to my students may not even look at all like the original project except that the original content is there.

Remember, it doesn't matter where you go for your project appetite, as long as you come back and create your own project meal. I know, bad statement. But I had to come back to my opening.

Where to get project ideas:

Regional Education Centers in many states such as Texas, Ohio, and South Carolina may have links to resources. Transformation 2013 in Texas has good project ideas, for example.
Edutopia has a whole section of their site devoted to Project Based learning.
Curriki is a resource I sometimes forget. They have classroom activities that can easily be molded into a project idea.
We Are Teachers is one I like to have in my pocket. Great resources and activities.
Discovery Education has some great resources and is not always thought of as a place to come up with project ideas.
Buck Institute for Education is the most obvious one for me but I thought I'd put it late on the list.
Your local newspaper, a magazine (hard copy or online), or current events aren't necessarily taking someone's project idea, but there may be a problem to solve or a concept to explore and there's your project.

Read Anything Good Lately?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:30:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moosterbroek/

I read this great editorial the other day by Ross Douthat encouraging people to read things that they might not normally read. His focus was on politics and how you learn more if you read from authors who you don't, necessarily, agree with.

I got to thinking what things I read related to education. Most people think of me as a high school level PBL guy. But I read about early childhood articles recommended by my friends who are teachers or administrators at the lower elementary level. I read tech articles that are both education and non-education related. I read posts by principals dealing with administration issues. I read posts and articles by higher education folks. And, I read articles about various teaching strategies and methods from all levels.

Most of the educators I interact with on Twitter seem to do the same as me but is that entirely true? Do those #kinderchat teachers also read things recommended during #educoach? Do the principals and superintendents I follow also read tech posts; and do they check in on various twitter chats not related to their school issues?

Well, they should. And so should I. That's what it means to be a professional. I should read any and every thing related to my profession. We all should. Let that be your mantra for 2013. If you need a list of people to read then start here. Or, start following the hash tag of a chat you wouldn't normally follow. Then read an article or blog post recommended by someone using that hash tag. This is the year that we all get smarter. Got to go read something.......

A New Years Rant

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 01:06:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixel_bunny/

It's New Years Day and my birthday is tomorrow. I'll be 55. I've been with my wife for nearly 25 years, my kids are 20 and 13. And, I have 3 cats. Other than the financial mess we've made, we have a pretty darn good life.

What makes me frustrated? There are not enough people in the world who are willing to work outside of "normal hours." What makes me mad? That I get frustrated with these people who seem to have wonderful lives and are content to work those normal hours.

I think it all started when I was growing up. My dad worked in a Ball Bearing Factory. He worked a basic 40 hour week but would work whenever he was needed. There was a time when he had to cycle his shifts working days for a couple of weeks, mid-days for a couple of weeks, and then grave yard for a couple of weeks. This seemed to go on forever but probably "only" lasted 2 or 3 years.

But that was work for pay. My dad would then come home and work around the house. He was very handy. He kept a very large garden (for Connecticut standards) that was probably more than 1000 square feet. He repaired lawnmowers and snow blowers and various other pieces of equipment for friends and co-workers. And, he always had time to throw the baseball or do some other father-son thing. Even though he was 46 years older than me.

I was certainly lazy, by the standards set in those days, but I also learned from watching and helping my father that there are times when you do whatever is needed to be done. And you did this until it was done correctly.

So, when I came home from college, the first summer, I decided that I would take a grave yard shift at the local Waring Blender Factory. I was on a four year scholarship with the Navy (Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps - NROTC) and I knew that when I graduated I was guaranteed a job as a Naval Officer. I'd NEVER have to work in a factory like my dad. But I wanted to experience that life. I learned a lot that Summer, but mainly I learned that I was right for saying that I'd NEVER work in a factory like my dad. Ironically, I worked there the next summer as well. Just not the grave yard shift.

In the military you learn that you do whatever it takes to get the job done right. There were days that ran together. And, you'd look back and realize that you hadn't slept in a couple of days. But that's just what you did. When you add that to my growing up you see that there is this work ethic there that won't ever be changed. And it is that background that gets me so frustrated with my current profession.

Teachers work hard. Let me get that out straight away. They don't get a chance to go to the bathroom or sit and make a run to Starbucks for a coffee. They come home and have to deal with calling parents of students even while they put their own children on the back burner. Since the profession is mostly women (and men in this world are pretty much the same as they've been for hundreds of years), teachers end up going home and cooking dinner and playing with the kids and putting the kids to bed and helping the kids with homework, and.....(but that's a topic of another post) - BEFORE they grade papers, call parents, and plan the next day's lessons.

Teachers, these days, are expected to be actively learning or providing learning to other teachers during a majority of their Summer Break. So very few ever take that 12 week vacation - even though there are a lot of cynics who decry the fact that "teachers don't even work during the summer!" So, I understand why teachers get defensive when additional items are thrown on their plate.

However, I think it's time for teachers to remember who their consumer is and what their product is. The consumer is the parent sending their child off to become all they can be. The product is that child. We need to do whatever it takes to make sure the product we deliver has been given every ounce of our ability.

All I ask is that teachers take a minute to think about my last paragraph. Are teachers doing everything they can to create the best product? Are administrators recognizing when teachers need a break and when teachers aren't putting forth the requisite effort? Are instructional coaches doing what it takes to make sure teachers are armed with the best tools available? Are instructional coaches identifying teachers who need a break or aren't putting forth the requisite effort?

Just because it is a Saturday or Sunday doesn't mean teachers can't meet and plan for the coming week. Just because it is the middle of a Spring Break, Winter Break, or Holiday Break doesn't mean they can't get together for a coffee and discuss upcoming plans. Just because it is 9 PM doesn't mean they can't get on social media or Facetime, or Skype, or IM and discuss things going on in the classroom that need attention.

Teachers need to work together better. Teachers need to have "study buddys" who they can bounce ideas off of or that they can ask help from. Teachers need to stop working in a vacuum. Gone are the days when a teacher came to school and spent the day inside the classroom only to leave at the end of the day and not have to interact with anyone else.

My wish for 2013 is that the 2 or 3 teachers who read this go out and find someone on their campus who they can get together with outside of "normal" hours. Then these same teachers need to get on twitter and find a group of teachers who is on twitter at times they are on and are willing to interact and help with plans and ideas. Then these same teachers need to pick one day a week when they can devote to a twitter chat and start being an active participant.

My wish is that every student has a teacher who is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure they are receiving the best education available. Happy New Year faithful reader(s).

Teachers With Guns? Sign Here.....

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 18:12:00 +0000

http://fairnessworks.com/page/2/

I avoided this post for a while now. I started writing it and stopped many times. But I just can't stand back any more.

There are people who want teachers to be allowed to have firearms on campus. I can go on and on about why I think this is wrong but, instead, I offer this contract that I want EVERY teacher, who wants to be in the same building as me and carry a weapon, to sign:

The following agreement is made between myself (the undersigned) and all parents, teachers, administrators, and students in _____________________ (name of school/school district)

1. I will attend annual firearm and use of deadly force training each year at my own expense.

2. I will send a letter to all parents of my students that I have a firearm in my classroom and I agree to allow any students whose parents are uncomfortable with my possession of a firearm change classrooms to another teacher.

3. I will clean my weapon, at least once a month, off of the school premises. And, I will let the principal or other administrator know that this has been completed.

4. I will, at all times, keep the firearm and the bullets separated and stored where students are unable to find them.

5. I agree to allow unannounced inspections, by police or other state sanctioned representatives, to verify I am following these rules.

6. I agree to discharge my firearm, when the need arises, in a manner that will stop the possibility of harm to students, faculty, or innocent visitors to my school. I further understand that discharging my firearm may hurt, maim, or kill anyone between myself and the person I am firing at. And, when necessary, I am prepared to kill the person causing harm to others.

7. I agree to psychological testing, by a school district or other state sanctioned psychologist, upon signing this agreement and, again, every three years from this date.

I hold a concealed weapons certification dated __________________ and do hereby sign this agreement without reservation. Signed this ___(day) of _____(month), _______(year)

If you want to carry a weapon then do so. After 20 years in the military I don't have a big problem being around people with firearms. However, I do have a problem with people carrying them without facing the fact that they are then telling me that they will use it to protect me, my children, and any other innocent person in my building. I will NEVER carry a weapon and find no reason to do so. I want to know that others are prepared to kill someone so that good people may live. Just give me that psychological test first - please.

Reflecting on my Life With PBL

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 16:20:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/caitlinburke/

In July of 2011 I wrote about attending training and how I realized that my perspective had changed when it came to experiencing new requirements with my teaching.

Having just re-read that post and reflecting on the year that is about to finish, I realize just how fortunate I am for embracing PBL. And, I realize how important it is for all teachers to discover what I have discovered about this teaching/learning process.

If you haven't considered PBL yet, or you are struggling with the idea of doing this, you might want to read through this post from last Spring on 6 things you can expect when you are a PBL teacher. There are hundreds of other posts on the subject with many just in my postings over the years.

Five years ago I considered myself a pretty darn good math teacher. I believed in (and used) cooperative learning groups. And I embraced the use of technology in the classroom. My fellow teachers and administrators would (probably) agree with the instruction piece of being a good teacher but they would definitely say that I had trouble with classroom management. My Achilles heal.

In PBL I was able to continue working on improving my teaching abilities but I still struggled mightily with classroom management. However I learned that, in PBL, I could do a better job at managing my classroom when I was organized with my daily plan. Who'd a thunk! Organization makes the classroom management easier. Wow!

And so, this school year, I've been able to see many teachers in their classrooms in my roll as an instructional coach. I no longer have to worry about how my students are acting (and neither do my neighboring teachers). I get to see effective and less effective teaching practices. I see good and not-so-good classroom management. I see students thriving and students not being given the same opportunity to learn. It's time to make a difference at my school.

With the new year I really need to share the good PBL practices I have used and the practices I have read about. I need to model teach and I need to help plan classes and projects. In short, I need to be a good instructional coach. I need to push data to hours outside of the school day. Our teachers need me during the normal school hours and I owe it to them to be available. And, my principal needs to know that I'm out there helping make our school the best it can be.

Thank you New Tech Network, Buck Institute for Education, and Edutopia for providing my PBL knowledge. And thank you to Steve Zipkes for hiring me at Manor New Technology High School back in 2008. This PBL rocket is heading for the stars and I'm loving every moment!

So, What Do You Think?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 16:33:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sea-turtle/

If this post sounds whiny I want you to tell me at the end of the post. If it resonates with you then feel free to leave a comment telling me that. If you found a typo in the third paragraph then feel free to let me know in the comments section at the end of the post. If all of these questions/statements in the first paragraph drove you crazy then I want to hear about that too.

I have been writing posts here since St. Patrick's Day, 2009. That's over 110 posts in 44 months. My total comments on these posts? Somewhere between the number of months and the number of posts. In other words less than one comment per post.

I can guarantee you that if I were to look at the last 100 "posts" I did on Facebook you would find plenty more than 100 comments. In fact you might just find kloser to 500 comments, I'm betting. I can always find 4 or 5 comments on things I say there. And, how many comments have you (or I) written on other people's Facebook posts? I have exchanges on single posts that went 30 or 40 comments - just by me!

Why don't I leave comments, more often, on blog posts? I do try to leave a comment whenever I find a post that hits home with me. I like to add comments after I read a good comment on a good post. But sometimes I am in a hurry and I finish the post and then send the link out to my twitter stream so others may find it. But does the author know I've sent out a link to the post? Does the author know I thought it was great?

I see posts all of the time about teaching students to be good communicators and leave comments on posts by other students. I even see students being told to leave comments on posts they read while doing research. So why don't we educators take the time to leave a comment? Well, I think it comes down to the time thing. It really does take about 4 or 5 minutes to write the comment, go through the Captcha sequence, and hit "submit comment." And do we have a spare 4 or 5 minutes?

Well, actually, I think we do. If you can spend 4 or 5, (or 30), minutes on Facebook commenting on and posting items, then I think you can do the same with some one's blog. It takes changing your mindset. It takes me changing my mindset too. I have gotten better about it. And I intend to get even better about it. Now it's your turn. Go find a blog post you have read this week and leave a comment on there. Then, the next time you read a post, at least scroll down to the comments section and remind yourself that you should leave a comment. Before long it will become a habit and bloggers will thank you for it.

I've Got A Lot of Questions...

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fancher) — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 18:40:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hp15/

Have you ever noticed that great teachers ask great questions? That actually wasn't a great question. I could have asked several related questions: (1) Why is it that great teachers ask such great questions? (2) What great questions have you ever been asked by a teacher? (3) Have you ever been asked a great question by one of your teachers? - or - (4) Have you ever noticed that one of your better teachers was really great at asking question?

Since taking on more of a leadership role in school I have noticed the importance of "good questioning." As a TAP ( Teacher Advancement Program) mentor teacher I was told to look at teachers and how they asked questions. And, as a teacher in a TAP school, I was observed and reminded to use good questioning techniques.

When I moved to a school using PBL as its main delivery method I learned of specific types of questions that were important to getting students hooked on the theme of the project - Driving Questions. In studying driving questions I discovered that it actually mattered whether the teacher presented the driving question or whether the students created the driving question(s). I decided that at the K - 5 level it might be better for teachers to present a problem statement and driving question. At 6 - 8, it was better to present a problem statement and help the students create a driving question that all of the students work on to answer. And, at the high school level, teachers should present a problem where the students then create a problem statement and driving questions that they will pursue during their examination of the problem.

As I continued reading more and more about the importance of having students derive a driving question, I became more sure that this was the necessary first step in having students "own their learning." While reading a blog post about questioning, I first saw a mention of "The Right Question Institute " or RQI. This group takes student ownership of learning to the next level by having them create questions around a central idea that they work on. So now we have moved beyond teachers asking great questions and are moving to students learning how to ask great questions that fuel their learning.

My first paragraph was actually based upon the first few steps of the RQI's Question Formulation Technique (QFT). Step one of the QFT, The Question Focus, was my blog post title. It tweaked some interest that got you to read the first few lines of the post and started you asking yourself questions about why I might be writing this post. In step two, The Rules for Producing Questions, are rules established by the teacher on how the students should create their questions. I omitted this step.

The third step is where the students Produce Questions. Like brainstorming in the Engineering Design Process or Scientific Method, this should be limited by only time. The students shouldn't think about whether it is a great question, they should just list their questions. My four additional questions were an example of this step.

Once they have their list of questions then they can think about the questions and they will have a chance to Categorize the Questions , (step 4). There are only two categories: Closed Questions or Open-Ended Questions. My first question was an example of an open question and questions 2 - 4 were all closed questions. While in the categorizing mode the students should be told to change one or two of the questions so that they might fit the opposing category. For example my question 4 (closed) might be reworded to "How might a teacher ask questions that stimulate a desire to learn about a topic?" That is a more open ended question.

With their questions categorized they are ready to go on to step 5: Prioritizing the Questions. The criteria for prioritizing can be set by the teacher or, for older students, stated by the students themselves. This is the point where students can focus their work and as they are prioritizing the are ready to consider step 6, which is their Next Steps. The next steps might be simple like getting ready for a summative assessment or completing an assignment. Or, they might be more involved like completing research for a project idea.

And so I end by asking, have you ever noticed that great students ask great questions? Take your students to the next level by helping them learn how to question. While they are learning the process remember that there really is a step 7 in the process. Have the students reflect on what it is that you have purposefully done in the classroom. Ask them to think about whether writing down and prioritizing questions helped them focus on what needed to be learned. Ask them how they might use this technique in life. Ask them great questions because, if you are using this, you are a great teacher.