Ed Reform? How? An #edchat response

For those people who like to call #edchat an echo chamber or a shallow attempt at real change or too fast to accomplish anything or all the above, tonight will hopefully change that perception.  The topic for the hour was "What actions are needed to move the education reform movement from conversation to action? Are educators up to the challenge?"  I think educators ARE up to the challenge.  Not all of them but not every citizen is up to political involvement and action either.  I'd argue that educators, at least the ones in my PLN, have a much higher percentage of ready, willing, and able people than the general populace.  There are some that are not and the reasons are as varied as the number of people.  That's okay.


So for those of us who are ready for the challenge, here is my two cent opinion on how to get it done.


1) We have to decide what "reform" means.  As usual, tonight's chat had at least three concurrent streams.  One dealt with policy and law-making issues.  Another dealt with tech integration.  And another focused on pedagogical changes.  Some may think the three are so intertwined that they cannot be separated.  I'd argue against that.  These issues are better addressed in separate spheres of varying sizes.  Pedagogy cannot be successfully "reformed" on a national level.  You cannot mandate PBL or any other current acronym as the method of choice.  However, you can advocate for its implementation within your building and see successful results.


Likewise with tech integration.  This is probably a district wide issue.  Districts control the filters.  Districts create the price lists of approved vendors.  Districts sign the contracts and divvy out the money for technology purchases.


Finally, there are big issues, really big issues that have to be addressed on state and national levels.  These are issues like mandatory standardized testing used to rank and sort schools, teachers, and students.  These are issues like NCLB and RttT.  Change, or reform if you prefer, can only happen at that level because these have become legislative issues.


2) Politics CANNOT be removed from the equations.  If it makes you feel better, think of it as relationship building.  Let's look at the scenarios above and see how this would play out.  For school level reform, who are the stakeholders, powerbrokers, and decision makers for the particular issue at hand?  Maybe the element that needs changing is something as simple as the attitudinal climate.  At my school, we had a lot of naysayers.  At least it seemed that way.  They put down any idea because it was someone else's idea.  There were a lot of teachers who seemed more concerned about how miserable they could make student lives than they were in creating a positive student-centered learning environment.  Our principal was pulling his hair out, trying to get them to change.  I asked him who the positive, forward thinking people were.  I gathered those people together and we began to talk amongst ourselves.  We realized there were more of us than we thought.  We began to talk to others.  There is still a slightly negative climate at school, but it is less acceptable.  Other people are stepping up and saying this isn't the way it should be.  It's all happening because relationships are being leveraged and built.


If you're trying to change pedagogy in your building, share success stories with your PLC or bring a positive conversation to the teacher's lounge for a change.  Talk about how much the students enjoyed it, how much they learned, and when/how you plan to do it again.  Do this enough and others will soon try it.  I watched it happen all last year.  I even changed some of what I was doing because of other people's success stories.


District level changes are a little tougher.  You might find some like-minded colleagues at another school.  They might be able to network through a third school.  Soon you can a diverse group from a broad range of schools that demonstrates the wide support the issue has.  Does your district have any type of teacher advisory council?  Is there anyone from your school who takes issues to the district.


If we look at the technology issue as an example, who pulls the strings?  Do you have a connection with the district level administrator?  If not, is there someone on the next level?  If your only relationship is with your school's technology person, how well connected is he or she?  In my case, I made a point to attend several district sponsored technology workshops last summer.  One reason was it enabled me to meet all the lead technology staff.  They do not have the power to make some of the changes I'd like, but they have the ear of those who do.  Several times throughout the school year they were happy to help me get small changes made.  I gunning for some bigger ones this year.


One last district level technology suggestion.  Push to make your class a pilot project.  Get parents to sign off on anything that's social media related.  Show examples of other places that have had success with whatever tech you're pushing for.  Get good records and at the end of the year show off everything you have done, even the things that flopped.  Just be sure to demonstrate what you learned through that failure and how you adapted to make the next time more successful.


I have absolutely no personal stories to share on how I helped bring about reform on a state or national level.  I think the same principals apply though.  Just do what citizens do when they want zoning changed, lotteries brought in, new and improved "bans" established.  Write your representatives.  Write them again.  Get someone else to write them.  Find a group that writing and calling them.  A teacher on my hallway is a local rep for one of the professional organizations.  She was invited to speak to the legislature this spring.  They know her face and name now.  I'm gonna call her.  Anthony Cody and Teachers Letter to Obama on Facebook is another great example.  Or maybe you simply are the one who is able to start the big ball rolling.


3) Finally, reform is not just about stopping something.  It's about advocating for something else.  What is the alternative you want to see put into place?  Don't come to the table without a solution.  Anyone can point out problems.  We don't need more of that.  We need viable answers.


So now, what change are you going to help bring about?  Who are you going to enlist to help you do it?

Does it really matter?

Teaching summer school this year has caused me to ask that question over and over again.  I have twelve 9th graders who need to pass my class, earth science, so they can be tenth graders next year.  They've all had it before.  A few I know because they went to my middle school.  One of these students is here because of chronic absenteeism - just like in middle school.  Another is here because she attended SIX different high schools in one year!  That student has even more problems going on in her personal life that make earth science the last thing on her list of important things.  More than a few are really here because they were discipline problems in the classroom.  They weren't paying attention.  They disrupted others.  They missed class time.  And when they semester ended and they were on the bubble - the bubble was popped from underneath them.  Perhaps what bothers me the most are the two or three who are behind at least three grade levels in their reading and writing skills.  Were they passed along?  Were they written off?  Why are they potential tenth graders and this hasn't been addressed?

So now, I have four and a half weeks to instill a love for something they probably hate.  Honestly, that doesn't matter.  My mission for the next four and half weeks is to help these kids be successful in life, whether they can repeat the theory of plate tectonics or not.  That's what matters.

Content vs. Concept or "How do I cover all this stuff?"

In anticipation of the January 26 edition of #edchat, @paulawhite and I are going to try to preload some thoughts for deeper discussion. I agreed to take on topic #1 in the poll – With an overloaded curriculum, what should be emphasized and what should be eliminated? A few disclaimers ahead of time:
1- There are a lot of people out there much smarter than I on this subject.
2- There are a lot of people out there much more articulate on the subject than I.
3- I'm very opinionated, handicapped by numbers 1 and 2 above.
4- I teach a course that "doesn't matter".  More on that later.

Here's where I predict #edchat will go on this subject. Eventually, if not quickly, the subject of end-of-year summative assessments and their knowledge based, level 1 questions will come up. The topic of NCLB, RttT, and all other insufficient (first instance of strong opinion) means of measuring success will get thrown around. We will all protest that these measures “require” us to squeeze in an impossible amount of content to be regurgitated at the end of year. We will all lament not being able to teach thinking skills, how to learn, creativity, etc. or as someone will call them, 21^st Century skills, starting a sidebar argument about that label.

I currently teach a course that “doesn't really matter” - sixth grade science. Here's why it doesn't matter – there is no end of the year test. In North Carolina, there are end of grade tests for fifth and eight grade science, but not sixth. This year, NC temporarily discontinued the eight grade computer skills test because of funding. The scores were not part of NCLB rankings, so money was diverted elsewhere. By the way, this goes to show that we aren't all that concerned about testing what really matters are we? (there's that opinion thing again) Last year when I taught seventh grade math, the stakes were much higher for me, or so it felt. All year my PLC was frustrated because, in our opinion, most of the standard course of study was above where seventh grade students are developmentally.

Before I answer the real question, a few paragraphs heavy on philosophy, opinion, and perspective. After school today my teammates and I were discussing this very issue in the context of whether we are adequately preparing our students for next year, i.e. next year's teachers. As a team, our quarterly assessment scores generally run higher that the rest of our grade level. We have far less behavior problems. Most students who have been predicted to not meet proficient standards (“pass”) on the end of year assessments are performing well above expectations. Our final grades for the grading period are generally higher than the rest of grade level.

The question we tried to answer was, “Are we being too soft or too easy on these kids?” We concluded that we are not. We are rigorous in the content and skills we expect the students to master. We have a shared philosophy regarding grades in that everything is basically seen as a formative assessment. You get to retake an assignment as often as necessary to master the material. We have frequent and immediate remediation on all tasks. NOTE: This does not mean simply re-doing the same exact assignment. In a nutshell, our philosophy as a team is that we believe we should be teaching skills and concepts, not force feeding knowledge.

As we discussed this matter, we had a sudden light bulb moment that enabled us to formulate a hierarchy of what the major focus should be in various grade levels of school. We concluded that we believe that elementary school (K-5) should focus on building prior knowledge and reading. Middle school (6-8) should focus on developing skills such as how to do research, how to learn, how to think, how to work collaboratively, problem solving skills, etc. High school then becomes a place where the focus can be to build specialized areas of content by building on prior knowledge and applying the skills learned in middle school.  This might not be original, but it was new to us today.

It became even more apparent why the current system just isn't working. As policy makers complain that we are not preparing students for the current economy and current high school students have tuned out because they don't understand the basics, it has been erroneously concluded that the solution is to push more of the content down to lower grades. Therefore, sixth graders need to start taking Algebra 1, which is false because most of them are not developmentally ready (another opinion but one I think is correct).

So, what does all this have to do with the question of what to emphasize in an already overloaded curriculum? If the division of education foci I propose above has any merit, then the answer will require some tweaking for each level. What I believe is constant across all levels is the need to identify those essential standards and connecting concepts across the standard course of study. As a sixth grade science teacher in North Carolina Public Schools, I don't think it's all that important that a kid be able to classify a sedimentary rock into any particular subgroup of said rocks. However, it is important that a student understand that the earth's surface is in a state of constant change as various geologic forces act together, shaping continents, providing the dynamics necessary to drive the rock cycle, and produce the various minerals and other natural resources we use in a variety of ways. Scott McLeod shares a similar story regarding knowledge of a neuron.

I am a firm believer that understanding of a concept leads to better content retention. I have colleagues who go from steps in a process to grasping the larger concept in their instruction. I tend to work from grasping the larger concept to guiding the students in discovering the steps themselves. Either way will appeal to different groups of individual learners. The common theme is getting to the point of grasping the concept. That conceptual framework provides connections to many more points of content.

Hopefully I have set the stage for a more in-depth discussion of this topic. Before #edchat ever takes place, seeds of thought can begin to germinate. Long after the unofficial time constraint of one hour has passed, this can be a place to debate and flesh out ideas as they surface. I haven't given any specific strategies. That's one place where we can all begin to contribute more, not just in 140 characters on Twitter, coming fast and furious, but in well thought out replies. #Edchat will provoke dozens of other ideas. Let's not lose the possibility to capitalize on those once the hour is done.

The Joy of Learning

My wife and I are both the oldest children in our respective families.  Naturally, we started having kids before our sibs.  It's interesting to watch all my nieces go through the stages we have already passed through.  Sometimes it's a relief to say, "I'm glad we're through that!" and other times it's "I miss when they were that age."  My youngest niece is 7 months old.  Her entire life centers around exploring and learning.  She is so excited about everything around her.  I really do miss that stage of my boys lives.  Samantha is learning so much in such a short period of time.

A kindergarten teacher told me today that she chose that grade level because "it's the last fun grade in school."  What?!  That can't be.  Certainly it takes us at least three or four years to beat the enjoyment of school out of them doesn't it?  Thinking about my niece made me think about how I could create that type of environment in my classroom.  What would it take to foster a "I want to learn and explore everything" attitude in my classroom full of learners?  Tonight's #edchat addressed that very thing.  How do we best promote student ownership in their learning?

There were a lot of great ideas thrown out.  I'm looking forward to trying some of them out.  Heck, I'm even looking forward to trying out some of my own ideas :-)  That's part of the problem.  My friend @kellyhines concluded her participation in tonight's #edchat with this tweet:

Something about tonight's #edchat isn't sitting well with me tonight. We know the what & the how, so why isn't "ownership" happening?

I confess.  Ownership isn't happening in my classroom as much as I'd like.  Sure, almost all of my kids enjoy my class, even love my class.  What kid wouldn't when their teacher is as big a goofball as I?  Plus, I'll stop a lesson on a whim or a student prompted question to go off on a tangent and project all the findings on the screen.  But where is the ownership?

Last fall I set up all sorts of goals.  My classroom was going to be a "learning community".  Students would be self-directed, wholly invested learners.  It went great for the first quarter.  Then I got tired of staying up until 1:00 am every night.  All sort of other deadlines hit me.  I was negotiating philosophical perspectives with my PLC.  All I had time for was the usual.  Our first week back from winter break, one of my kids asked, "When are we going to do all the stuff like we used to do?"  I was caught red-handed.  I was convicted of my own sin.

To answer Kelly's question, it's hard to make it happen every day.  Some of us have a lot of bad habits to unlearn and even more good habits to learn.  There is the reality of NCLB, RttT, and every other false measure of accountability (editorializing? yep!).  There is the pressure we all feel to make the grade.  We talk about wanting to dig all the way to the bottom of Bloom's, but something about those pacing guides and standardized testing keeps us from leaving the shallow end of the pool.  But we still have to strive for it everyday!

I'm idealistic enough to believe we will see more student ownership of learning.  I believe it will happen because the number of us who share our own joy of learning is growing each day.  It will happen because there will be enough of them who don't get sucked dry by the system and they will become teachers themselves.  They will force shared ownership/leadership in their schools and districts.  And I believe I will see it in my day.

No Textbooks?! Does it really matter?

It's been a while since I've posted anything here. I really need to go to bed, but a particular topic with my PLN (Personal Learning Network) on Twitter has kept me up tonight, so I figure I'll post while my own thoughts are fresh. The two posts that have helped stir my thoughts are by @kellyhines on her blog here and by @mbteach on her blog here.


All my teaching life, which goes back twenty plus years in one form or another, though I only have "eight" years of professional experience stretched out over that time, I have searched for a better way. I've always been project, inquiry based, hands-on oriented though I've not always had support for doing it that way. My major goal for my career is to teach the paperless math class that looks nothing like the way I experienced Algebra as a student OR a teacher. I say all of this because for me, just like it's not about the technology, I don't think it's about the textbook either. Textbooks are merely technology that happens to be 500 years old.

Whether you use a chalk board or an interactive white board; a textbook, a netbook, or a Kindle; paper and pencil with a slide rule and log table or graphing calculator, it's about the teaching. To paraphrase a former presidential candidate, "It's the teaching stupid." Are we trying to help students memorize content for testing purposes, or are we teaching them the love of learning, how to problem solve, and how to do it all collaboratively? Are we tapping into their passions and allowing THEM to create content of their own so that learning becomes something they own?

Even though the naysayers don't read my blog, I'll address them anyway. I know, it's always worked before. But let me ask the question, has it really? Or have students just been tolerant of it because they don't see any other options. I quote one of my former students

"I certainly remember with gratitude and recognition all the teachers that were
able to motivate me in some way rather than making the whole process seem like a
burden to get over with as quickly as possible. "

I hope I fall into the fondly remembered group for her.

This post has somewhat turned into a soap box, which was only part of my intent. For the yea-sayers out there, let's keep the conversation with our differing colleagues turned to what's best for the student - good teaching. Let's keep the conversation turned to the benefits of whatever tool or methodologies we use, not the tools themselves. Let's model honest reflection so they can see us change our own practices and prejudices when necessary. Let's focus on what really matters.

BTW, if you did not follow either of the links above, you really need to go back and do so. One will give some good ideas to implement, the other will give you food for thought about content ownership and control.

Must reads

Here are two articles that anyone who wants to make a difference in students lives should read.

The first one is about making sure methodology doesn't get overshadowed by technology.

The second addresses the faulty assumptions we make when talking about school reform.

As you reflect on these articles, how will they inform or change what you do in the classroom?

I came across this post about teachers and Twitter - Nine Great Reasons Why Teachers Need Twitter.  It's worth the read if you aren't using it yet.

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Welcome to Listen, Learn, Share. My hope is that you will do all three. You’ll find stuff for the teacher and the student in the traditional sense of the words. But if we really open ourselves to listen so we can learn what others have to share, we will all win in the process. Come back often and join the conversation.